Seeds of Suspicion (Lack of Luxury Cozy Mystery #1)

Chapter 22

It was late morning of the following day, long after Floyd headed to the barn and Liz was on her way to the fixer-upper before she got around to calling Gloria.

She filled her sister in on what had happened the previous evening at the café, how Carol confronted Liz and Echo and then watched them leave.

“She wasn’t happy about me being there or asking questions about her, which leads me to believe she may be hiding something. Why would Carol live above the design store when she could easily have lived above her uncle’s café?” Liz asked.

“Maybe it needs to be renovated or isn’t up to code. Maybe she doesn’t want to live under her uncle’s roof,” Gloria theorized .

“True, but if that was the case, why is she working for him?”

“You have to admit, if you had two jobs, it would be pretty convenient if they were only a few doors down from each other.” Gloria’s voice grew muffled. “Paul left for the day. Do you need any help?”

Liz grimaced. “We’re going to need help for the next few years until this place is habitable. If you’re offering a hand, I’ll gladly take it.”

“I’m on my way over.” Gloria promised to be there within the hour, and Liz got to work tackling the exterior of the wood-burning fireplace. The brick, although blackened from years of use, was in excellent condition. She mentally added a chimney sweep to the growing list of contractors they would need.

Gloria arrived as promised and hit the ground running. Noontime rolled around, and Liz ordered sandwiches for delivery. They took their lunch break and ate out on the front porch .

Liz let out a low groan as she eased onto the folding chair and winced at the sharp pain running down her back. “I’m getting too old for this.”

“It’s good to feel a few aches and pains.” Gloria reached for her soda and accidentally bumped into Sunny the bunny. “How’s it going with your surveillance? Have you caught your neighbor in action?”

“You know what? I completely forgot about it.” Liz juggled her sandwich in one hand and cell phone in the other. There were several camera alerts, most of them vehicles passing by. It also caught Christi on camera, leaving the farm and then returning an hour later. Thankfully, the app was able to jump ahead. View after view played out, to the point Liz’s mind wandered. They were wasting precious time, time she could spend getting the house ready. “I could do this all day.”

“Wait.” Gloria stopped her. “Did you catch that?”

“Catch what? ”

“The little red car creeping past.”

“No.” Liz paused the app and then slid the bar to move back a few frames. She pressed the play button again, and both women watched as a compact red car drove slowly past.

It moved out of the frame and then reappeared less than a minute later, heading in the opposite direction. As it drove slowly by, Gloria glimpsed the driver.

“Can you freeze the frame?”

“Sure.” Liz tapped the button and then gently slid the bar back again. She popped the last bite of food in her mouth, freeing up both hands to enlarge the picture. “No way.”

“I recognize her,” Gloria said. “She was with Deanna Andretti that day.”

“It’s Carol Wright, the woman who lives above Designer Diva. She’s the one Echo and I ran into last night at her uncle’s café. ”

“What is she doing way out here?”

Liz noted the timestamp. “She was here around seven last night, not long after we left the restaurant.”

The sisters finished watching the rest of the recordings, but there was no third sighting of the woman or her car.

“There’s something fishy about her,” Liz said.

“I agree.” Gloria polished off her potato chips. “Maybe it’s time for a stakeout.”

“I was thinking the same thing, and since Carol lives above Designer Diva, we can stakeout both places, to see what those other two lovely colleagues of Deanna’s might be up to. Taking my SUV is out. Carol watched us drive off in it last night.”

“Annabelle would work in a pinch, but I have a much better idea,” Gloria said. “If I invite the other Garden Girls, there will be too many of us to cram into my car. ”

“We could ask Ruth to drive the spymobile,” Liz said.

“That’s what I was thinking. Ruth has all the latest spy equipment, not to mention field surveillance is her forte. I’ll give her a call.”

Ruth was easily on board with arranging a stakeout and after some discussion, they agreed to get things rolling shortly before Designer Diva closed for the day.

With Ruth’s blessing, Gloria sent a group text to the rest of the friends, filling them in on the plan and inviting whoever wanted to tag along to meet at Liz and Floyd’s new place at four.

Ruth was the last to arrive and, with all the women assembled, they began going over their game plan.

Floyd, who had been working out in the barn, made his way over. “I figured you gals were here to help, but with Ruth rummaging around in the back of her van, I’m thinking something else is going on.”

“We caught Carol Wright scoping this place out last night and are going to return the favor by setting up surveillance on her apartment and the Designer Diva building,” Liz said.

Floyd shook his head. “The cops are already breathing down our necks. If they find out you’re spying on her place, they won’t be thrilled.”

Ruth waved dismissively. “They’re used to having us hang around. In fact, Officer Nelson would probably be shocked if we weren’t.”

“I’m not one to tell you what to do, but fair warning, the state police stopped by the farm again this morning asking a bunch more questions about Deanna.”

“They still aren’t any closer to figuring out what happened to her?” Dot asked.

“I guess not. I’m heading over to Treece’s place to help him move some furniture and won’t be home until later this evening.” Floyd tapped his wife’s arm. “I got a little surprise for you, sugar lips. I know you’re overwhelmed and I’m determined to do everything I can to make your life as easy as possible.”

“We’re moving into a rental until this place is ready.” Liz clasped a hand to her chest.

“Not…quite. I don’t want to ruin the surprise. I still have a few more details to iron out. Once I do, we’ll be snug as a bug in a rug until our dream home is ready.”

Gloria waited until Floyd returned to the barn. “I wonder what he has up his sleeve.”

“I don’t know, but I’m scared,” Liz sighed. “Floyd would be just as happy setting up a couple of cots in the barn’s hayloft and living there.”

“Maybe it is the barn,” Lucy joked.

“Very funny. I just want a normal, happy life, free from dead people, cows, pigs, and manure, not to mention nosy neighbors. ”

“At the risk of stating the obvious, you should not have married a farmer,” Ruth said.

“Love can make you do some crazy things,” Margaret said.

“It can,” Liz agreed. “I’m ready to get this stakeout under way.”

Ruth’s hand shot up. “Garden Girls activate.”

The friends all high-fived before climbing into the spymobile.

Liz could hear the excitement in their voices as each of them threw out theories on what they might find and an inkling of concern filled her as she wondered what she’d gotten herself into.