Wedding Bell Blues

Book 13: Tourist Trap Mystery

by Lynn Cahoon

Genres: Mystery; Culinary Cozy Mysteries

Synopsis

In the California coastal town of South Cove, Jill Gardner, owner of Coffee, Books, and More, becomes more engaged in sleuthing than wedding preparations when there's a murder in a dress shop . . .



Jill couldn't love police chief Greg King more—so why does that engagement ring still feel funny on her finger? At least she'll have a chance to show it off this Saturday at their engagement party. Just in time for the event, a new dress shop has opened in town, Exquisite Gowns for You, specializing in designer wedding gowns and other custom-fit dresses.



But Jill's excitement turns to shock when she comes by to pick up her dress for the party and discovers a dead body in the shop. New owner Harper Sanchez is behaving strangely and becoming more mysterious than anyone expected. Despite Greg's warnings to leave the case to him, Jill can't help looking into the murder. Somebody in South Cove is dressed to kill—and if Jill's not careful, she may not live to wear her wedding gown . . .

Release date: March 1, 2022

Publisher: Lyrical Press

Print pages: 246

Sample

Chapter 1

Spring in South Cove, California, is beautiful. The days are warm, the nights cool enough for a firepit in your backyard or a bonfire on the beach. Now that we were out of the rainy season, which seemed to get shorter and shorter every year, I could count on clear days to take Emma, my golden retriever, running after I got off work. It was a great stress reliever and helped to offset my other stress activity, eating. Eating sweets, specifically.

Times like today I regretted putting in the treat bar at my bookstore/coffee shop, Coffee, Books, and More. It was the first Tuesday of the month, and my shop swarmed with local business owners, city council reps, and worse, Mayor Baylor and his wife, Tina. I hosted and ran the business-to-business meeting as one of my side gigs. A job I really didn’t need to do anymore for the money. But I couldn’t seem to walk away. As I sat listening today, I vowed that next year, when Amy sent me the annual contract, I’d send it back unsigned with a big “Thanks, but No Thanks” in red pen over the top.

Of course, I wouldn’t. Amy Newman—no, now Amy Newman-Cross—was my best friend and sitting right next to me. I guess misery loves company.

Tina Baylor was at the podium introducing this month’s speaker. Harper Sanchez was the owner/operator of our newest South Cove business, Exquisite Gowns for You—a special occasion and wedding gown designer. I loved her shop. Located down the street across from the Train Station, and on the other side of town from Vintage Duds, Exquisite Gowns was the only other clothing shop in South Cove. Vintage Duds sold gently used designer creations and was run by Sherry King and Pat Williams. Sherry was my fiancé’s ex-wife. But Pat was the one who was usually at the store and in town where I could run into her. I wasn’t sure what Sherry did as her part of the team, but as long as she wasn’t around much, I didn’t care.

Oh, the joys of living in a small town.

“And I’m sure you’ll all be as fascinated as I am on today’s topic, picking the perfect outfit for your shape, age, and event.” Tina crooned into the microphone. “Harper? Come on up here and let’s get this show on the road.”

Harper followed Tina’s instructions and set a pile of index cards on the stand. She cleared her throat and scanned the room. She hit the microphone as she straightened the cards a second time, and it squealed its discomfort. “Sorry, I’m a little rusty on this talking thing. I don’t think I’ve done an hour talk since I was in college speech class. And I wasn’t very good then.”

“Great, put us in a receptive mood,” Amy whispered in my ear. “I’m already tired enough to take a nap. Justin was up until one last night talking online to his history group. You would think just the topic would put me to sleep.”

I shushed her. We were getting the glare from Tina. Man, that woman knew how to put the evil eye on someone. Deek Kerr came over and refilled our coffee mugs, leaving the carafe near us. At least we’d be caffeinated.

What felt like a lifetime later, Harper finally stopped talking. I knew more about her and her path to being a designer than I knew about my newest barista, Evie Marshall. And Evie had been in town for months.

Darla Jones, the town event planner, hurried up to the podium before Harper could start another story. “Well, wasn’t that interesting. Thank you for being here, Harper, and welcome to South Cove. Now, we really have to talk about our Welcome Spring Saturday festival that will occur in two weeks. I’ve got a list of committee assignments that still need filled. In addition, I wanted you all to know that Jill and Coffee, Books, and More will be sponsoring a read-a-thon for the local schools’ arts and cultural funding. We all know how strapped the schools are, and typically, the first to lose their extras are our band, choir, and art kids. So if you want to support the kids, be sure to pick up a pledge sheet. Jill’s keeping the store open overnight to keep the excitement going.”

I stood and pointed out Deek. “This was Deek’s brainchild, so make sure you sign up on my sponsorship page since he’s got two pages of sponsors already.”

“Now, Jill, it’s not nice to try to poach my sponsors.” Deek stepped toward the table. He was California-surfer-boy cute with blond dreadlocks and a killer tan for March to complete the look. He struck a pose and put on a blinding smile. “I’m sure supporting the cause is much more important than supporting either one of us, even though I am taking selfies with my crew.”

The table laughed, but I saw at least one of the women near me fan herself. Yep, I wasn’t going to beat out Deek for pledges, but as he said, it was all for a good cause. I just didn’t like to lose.

“Anyway, we’ll see you all next month. If you have time, be sure to volunteer. Spring Saturday is only two weeks away.” Darla held up the signup sheets, then spread them on the front table. “They’ll be right here, on your way out. We’re done here.”

The entire group seemed to rise at once and race out of the café’s front doors. I saw a few people stop and sign up, but Darla would have to do her famous face-to-face method of finishing the committees. She was strong willed, and not many people could tell her no to her face. Which was why so many people were trying to get out of the shop without making eye contact.

Loud voices from the bookstore section of the café drew my attention. Sherry King, my least favorite business owner, stood in front of Harper, shaking her finger at the poor woman. I hurried over to stand between them. “Sherry, what are you doing?”

“You just stay out of this. It’s not your fight. I can’t believe she even had the nerve to open a shop in my town. We already have a clothing shop, Vintage Duds. And we sell designer clothes. What am I supposed to do when people decide to buy new gowns instead of my used stuff? You’re going to drive me out of business. You should have opened a store in the valley. They have a lot of celebrities who need dresses. Here, we have to deal with weddings and such.” Sherry took a breath.

“Sherry, leave her alone. We’ll be fine.” Pat Williams hurried over and took Sherry by the arm. She glanced over at me, lowering her voice. “Sorry, she’s been a little upset since she heard the news.”

Sherry glared at me as they walked out, and I figured the news Pat was talking about had nothing to do with the new business moving into town. I glanced down at my hands, but the ring was at home, on the kitchen window. I’d forgotten to put it back on after rinsing out the coffeepot this morning.

Deek stood next to me, watching them leave. “That woman has a bad aura. Not completely black, but on its way.”

I ignored his comment and turned toward Harper. “Are you all right? I’m so sorry about Sherry. She can get a little emotional about things.”

“She tried to get into my shop yesterday morning. I thought I had a delivery, so I went out front when I heard the banging, but it was her, screaming about my shop driving hers out of business. Should I report her to the police? She’s scaring me.” Harper took the glass of water that Amy had poured for her and drank it down. “Thanks, I needed that.”

“Who needs to report what to the police?” Greg King, South Cove’s police chief in all but the name and my boyfriend—no, fiancé—stood behind me. I hadn’t seen him come in through the crowd.

Deek and Amy looked at each other, then Deek stepped away. Amy took Harper by the arm. “Come sit down with me for a few minutes. Let’s get you a brownie to calm your nerves. Nothing like a treat to get your sugar level back up.”

I turned to Greg and led him back to the office behind the coffee bar. I sat on my desk and took a deep breath.

“Okay, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?” Greg took my hands, but then he dropped them. “Hold on a minute, I’ve got something for you.”

“What?” I watched as he dug in his pants pocket and pulled out my ring.

He slipped it on my hand, then kissed me. “You left this at home, again. That’s the third time this week. Is there something you need to tell me?”

“No. I mean, yes, but not about the ring.” Now he had me flustered.

He studied me. “So leaving it at home isn’t a passive-aggressive way of telling me you don’t want to marry me?”

“No. I don’t think so.” I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “Look, I love you, and yes, I want to marry you. So stop asking. Anyway, we have bigger problems.”

He sat in one of the other chairs. “Okay, tell me what’s going on, then. Why did Amy and Deek take off like they were afraid I was going to throw everyone into my small two-man jail cell?”

“Well, before you came in, Sherry started yelling at that other woman. She’s Harper Sanchez, and she opened that clothing design shop down near Harrold’s Train Station. Sherry thinks she’s trying to run Vintage Duds out of town.” The words spilled out of my mouth, and I stood and went to the cooler to grab a bottle of water.

“Sherry’s Sherry. I can talk to this Harper and see if she wants to press charges, but if Sherry was just upset, it’s kind of a stretch.” Greg grabbed my water bottle and took a drink before handing it back.

“That’s not all. Harper said Sherry came over yesterday to her shop and tried to break in. Harper’s scared. You need to talk to Sherry and tell her to knock it off before Harper does press charges.”

He took my hand and squeezed it. “I will. But you do me a favor and keep that ring on. I didn’t spend all that money to have to cut it out of your dog when Emma thinks it’s a treat you left lying around.”

“Greg, there’s more.” The ring, with its large marquise stone, felt heavy on my finger. I bit my lip before telling him what Pat had said. “I think Sherry’s upset about our engagement. Pat said she hasn’t been herself since she found out.”

He shook his head. “No. She can’t lay that on me or you. We’re divorced. That’s what she wanted, so she got it. And now I’m happy, so she’s feeling bad? Jill, it’s typical Sherry. She only wants what she can’t have.”

“I know, but I figured you needed to hear it before you fell into one of her traps.” I leaned down to kiss him.

“Sherry’s traps don’t work on me anymore. I’ve gotten attached to a new female who knows all new tricks to play on me.” He stood and pulled me into a hug. “You let me worry about Sherry. You just keep that ring on your finger and get ready to have a huge engagement party this weekend. I even bought a new suit.”

By the time we came back into the main dining room, Harper and Amy were gone. Deek had moved the tables back into their regular spot and was now serving up regular customers who’d been waiting for the meeting to finish.

Greg slapped him on the back and headed to the door to go back to work. He’d promised to go talk to Sherry and tell her to leave the new designer alone. I didn’t think it would be that easy.

I checked the ticket Deek was working on, and after washing my hands and pulling on a clean apron, I dished up two of Pies on the Fly’s new cheesecake brownies. I was kind of surprised we even had any left to sell since I’d been mainlining them since Sadie, Pies on the Fly’s owner and local baker, had dropped them off on Friday with our weekly delivery. Since we were friends, she knew I was a stress eater.

The woman at the register beamed at me. “It’s about time you two got hitched. You make such a lovely couple. Are babies on their way? Is that why you’re getting married now?”

I about choked. “I’m sorry, what?”

Deek snickered next to me. “Mrs. Landstrom, I can assure you that Jill and Greg aren’t expecting. I hear they’re planning on at least a year-long engagement.”

My face felt hot as I glanced around the room. Everyone was watching me now. I took off the apron I’d just put on. “Deek’s right, no babies on the way. Maybe a second puppy soon. But I do need to leave. I just remembered I have a lunch date.”

In the back room, I sank into my desk chair and laid my head on the desk. Seriously? Was that what everyone was thinking? That I was pregnant? I glanced over at a batch of double Dutch cookies that Deek had pulled out of the cooler to warm up before putting them in the sale case out front. They were better at room temperature, but I went and grabbed one anyway. It was cold to the touch, and I really wanted a cup of coffee to dunk it in. But I didn’t want to go back out to the dining room in case I’d be asked more questions.

I wondered if Amy had been getting these same questions about her recent marriage? Or maybe it was just at the engagement stage that people liked messing with the newly engaged. I dialed city hall, hoping Amy was back from wherever she and Harper had taken off to.

She picked up on the first ring. “South Cove Mayoral Office. Amy Newman speaking. How may I help you today?”

“I thought you were taking Justin’s last name?” Ouch, maybe everyone was too involved in this marriage convention, even me. “Never mind. I didn’t mean that. Anyway, are you free for lunch? I need to clear my head.”

“I saw Greg give your ring to you. Did you forget it at home again?” Amy’s tone dropped from professional to that of a caring friend. Way different that the random woman at the counter.

Deek knew her name, I just knew her coffee order. Large regular coffee with two squirts of chocolate sauce to add some flavor, like a mocha without as many calories. I’d even suggested she try it when she’d been complaining about needing to give up the sweet coffee treat for her diet plan. Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of customers that I could rattle off their coffee and treat preferences and even the last book they’d bought, but I had no idea what their names were. Or their stories. I needed to get better about that.

“Jill, are you still there?” Amy broke into my mental wanderings.

“Sorry. Yes, I forgot the ring again. Greg thinks it’s a red flag that I’m giving up on the marriage idea.”

Amy was quiet for a minute; then she asked, “Are you sure it’s not?”

“Amy, I love Greg. You know that.”

“Look, I’ve got a couple of things to finish for Tina before I can leave, but I’ll meet you at Diamond Lille’s in about fifteen?” Amy’s voice had changed back from her worried friend tone to professional.

“She’s standing right there, isn’t she? Don’t answer that. I’ll see you at Lille’s.” I hung up the phone and looked around for something I could do for a few minutes since I was still hiding from the customers.

I pulled out a piece of paper and listed out the things I knew about the woman who’d asked if I was pregnant. Then I wrote the name Deek had called her—Mrs. Landstrom. I tried to remember all of my commuters and put names to the ones I knew. It was about half. Tomorrow, I’d check their credit cards for names. Then I’d add them to my list. By the time the week was over, I should know most of my morning customers by name. The other shifts, well, they weren’t on phase one of this new Jill plan.

I wasn’t quite sure my brain had enough room for all these new names, but if I could remember how someone liked their coffee, I could remember their name. It was just a matter of focus.

Pleased with my new personal development goal, I put my notes into my tote. It wouldn’t do for my aunt to find them and question the fact that I didn’t already know my customers by name. Aunt Jackie had run a coffee shop with my uncle Ted before he’d died, and I was certain she knew each and every one of her regulars. But my aunt was like that. I’d rather chat with someone about a book they loved than about their three kids and the house they were remodeling.

Maybe I was a bad small-town business owner.

As I was tucking the pages into my tote, I saw a note in my aunt’s handwriting. “Jill and Jackie at Exquisite Gowns at one p.m”. I checked the date. Yes, this was the third. How could I have forgotten the appointment that my aunt had called me about three times last week? I checked my watch. I was meeting Amy at eleven thirty. And Harper’s shop was right across the street from the diner. I’d be fine, but I set an alarm on my phone, just in case.

Aunt Jackie didn’t like it when I was late. And I didn’t like it when my aunt was angry at me. She was like that superhero who turned green and into a raving monster. Except Aunt Jackie got quiet and her face froze into a polite blank stare. For weeks.

It was awful. I wasn’t going to make her mad just before my and Greg’s engagement party. It would be horrible. I tucked the tote under my arm and left the store through the back door just to avoid the people out front.

Yeah, I worried too much about what others thought. But in my defense, I did live in a small town where the rumor mill was active and vicious.

Chapter 2

Amy walked into Diamond Lille’s and saw me in our favorite booth. She hurried over and slipped into the bench across from me. I’d already ordered dessert to eat first. A slice of apple pie and a scoop of ice cream sat half-devoured in front of me. “I came as soon as I could get away. What’s wrong? Well, besides Sherry’s stunt at the coffeehouse. And Greg and the ring.”

“Wow, I am a little predictable, aren’t I? It’s not about Sherry. Or Greg.” I stopped talking when Carrie, our favorite waitress, paused by the table.

“What can I get for you?” Carrie asked Amy. She nodded toward me. “Jill’s already ordered fish and chips to go along with her dessert. Do you want your usual? Cheeseburger with fries? Or are you going to do dessert first too?”

“I’ll take the cheeseburger. No dessert, thanks.” Amy pushed the menu away. “And an iced tea.”

“Sounds normal. Not like your friend here.” Carrie shot me a pained look, and I felt my face heat.

Amy leaned down after Carrie left. “Okay, now you’re scaring everyone. What’s going on?”

I would have stopped eating the pie, but Tiny, Diamond Lille’s chef, made amazing apple pie. “I don’t know. I just feel like everyone’s expecting Greg and me to be this couple and pop out babies and, I don’t know, just settle down? Did that happen when you got married?”

“He asked you to marry him, not give away all your brain cells and become a Stepford wife. And when did you start worrying about what other people thought?” Amy thanked Carrie for the iced tea and then waited for my answer.

My breathing slowed, and for a second I felt sick after eating that pie so fast. Tiny would be ticked if I got sick. I pushed the almost-gone pie away and then broke off a piece of crust and popped it in my mouth. So good. “Okay, so that was weird.”

“It was probably a panic attack. You’ve been on the edge for weeks now, since Greg asked you to marry him. You’ve really got a keeper there.” Amy saw my eyes widen and patted the air in front of me. “Calm down. You know that’s true. Why are you freaking out about this marriage thing?”

“I’m not good married. I already ruined one relationship. Why should this one be any different? Maybe I should just break it off now. We’d both be better off.” I wished I had a paper bag to breathe into. Maybe that would work. I started digging in my tote to see if I had anything. I found a bag with two brownies inside that I had taken home for dessert. I took the brownies out and set them on a napkin, then started breathing into the small Coffee, Books, and More b. . .