A Lovely Kind of Murder, page 1
A Lovely Kind of Murder
A Sandie James Mystery, Volume 5
Tessa Kelly
Published by Tessa Kelly, 2022.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
Copyright @ 2021 by Tessa Kelly.
No part of this book may be reproduced or retransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system — except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the web — without expressed written permission from Tessa Kelly.
First published in 2021
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Get Tessa Kelly’s | Prequel to the | Sandie James Mysteries | FOR FREE
Sandie and Family
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
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As always, to my mom. Thank you for cheering me on!
With special thanks to Anne Raven and Gail Lambert for their ongoing support and advice.
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end of A LOVELY KIND OF MURDER
Sandie and Family
Sandra (Sandie) James. Mystery author and reluctant amateur sleuth. Her career so far: four successfully solved murders and a published mystery novel. She’s getting ready to publish her second book.
Sandie is thirty-one, slender and attractive with hazel eyes and chestnut hair. Rather graceful from years of taking ballet classes. She works part-time in her sister’s bakery. Her boyfriend, Liam, is a bartender studying to be a high-school teacher. They’ve been together for over a year but still haven’t made plans for the future, and it’s starting to be a source of friction. Since their father moved back to his native Kentucky, Sandie and her sister have moved back into their childhood home with the chipping yellow façade and a backyard garden.
When not writing or working at the bakery, Sandie loves gardening and playing with Marlowe, her dad’s springer spaniel.
Katherine (Kathy) Thompson, older sister and owner of Kathy’s Bakery, the best bakery in the world (according to Sandie, anyway).
Kathy is thirty-nine, petite, dark-haired, and thin, despite being a bakery owner. Or, perhaps because of it—the job takes a lot of energy. She is going through a tough separation from her husband, Jeff Thompson, who is determined to get his money’s worth from the divorce. Recently, she’s been getting close to her long-time college friend, Tray Carpenter, a pastry chef with a successful internet cooking show. To the whole family’s great delight, Tray is Jeff’s opposite in every way that counts. He makes no secret that he is smitten with Kathy, but they’re keeping things friendly until Kathy’s divorce is final.
William (Will) James, younger brother, police detective at the local precinct.
Will is twenty-nine, tall, and lanky with blond hair and deep-blue eyes. Has a strong penchant (some would say obsession) with XTRA Screamin’ Dill Pickle Pringles, which he has to have every morning before going on shift as he believes them to be his good-luck charm. When not preoccupied with his job, his smile can light up the whole room.
Will is fiercely protective of his sisters.
Nicolas Andrew James, the gang’s father. Retired. Used to run a used bookstore from the first floor of his brownstone, where the siblings grew up, but has lately moved back to his native Kentucky, leaving the house to Kathy and Sandie.
Nicolas is sixty-two, has dark-brown eyes and shaggy, salt-and-pepper hair. Dresses mostly in faded t-shirts and jeans. Is the owner of a happy springer spaniel named Marlowe and two temperamental cats, Asimov and Hemingway.
Marlowe, of course, is named after the famous literary detective from the mysteries of Raymond Chandler, the writer with whom Nicolas is obsessed. (Perhaps even more so than Will is with the Pringles.) Nicolas’s collection of first editions of Raymond Chandler is still missing The Big Sleep, the first mystery in the series. This fact is a source of great distress to Nicolas.
Chapter 1
The restaurant was nestled in a quiet corner of Central Park and had been open for less than a month but already attracting a nightly crowd of enthusiastic patrons. Named appropriately The Hidden Treasure, it was surrounded by picturesque elms and dense azaleas that parted at the front to reveal a glowing façade of twinkling lights. Demurely inviting, like a young lady at a party casting coy glances across the room.
The spacious interior was accentuated by modern yet warm décor of sturdy wooden tabletops and plush, high-backed chairs, while the floor to ceiling window aligned with a break in the trees, providing our table of four with a spectacular view of a mauve and red sunset splashing over the cityscape.
I lifted my wine glass, letting the candlelight splash gold into the liquid. “You were right, Liam. Coming here tonight was a perfect idea.”
My boyfriend grinned as he reached over and tucked a loose strand behind my ear. “Not my first and hopefully not my last. Right?”
Was it my imagination or was there something different about him tonight? His voice and the way his eyes lingered on mine as he leaned toward me hinted at a hidden meaning behind his words. Before I could start theorizing, he turned to face our companions with his wine glass lifted for a toast.
“To Sandie and her new book deal. We’re so proud of you, honey.”
Across the table, my sister and her boyfriend Tray raised their glasses.
“Don’t forget we’re also here to celebrate the opening of Kathy’s new bakery,” Tray said.
“Great.” I made a pouting face. “Here I was hoping to be the center of attention for one night.”
My sister grinned at me, knowing full well that I was kidding. After all, I had as much reason as her to celebrate the opening of her new bakery. I had been there every step of the way, holding her hand through the hell of the petty fights and legal disputes her ex-husband had put her through as he tried to hold Kathy’s original bakery by the waterfront hostage in the divorce. All that was finally and officially behind us.
The opening of the new bakery was about much more than a change of location: it truly felt like a new beginning. A life without Jeff in it. Kathy’s surly ex was in the past. It was certainly something to celebrate, and the four of us intended to enjoy every minute of it.
The waiter arrived with our appetizers. Liam frowned at the jumbo shrimp cocktail in front of him and glanced at the next table where a guy was clearly enjoying his order of juicy mini burgers. “I’ll have an order of those too,” Liam said.
“Good choice, sir.” The waiter nodded placidly. “I’ll let the kitchen know right away.”
“Didn’t you order a sirloin steak with potatoes for an entrée?” I asked in a whisper.
“Yeah.” Liam shrugged. “I’m starving.”
“Speaking of starving, I’m surprised Will isn’t here,” Tray said, digging into his fried calamari. “Would’ve been nice to see him. It’s been weeks.”
“We haven’t seen him much either,” I said. “Every time I call him, he says he’s swamped at work.”
“But you invited him tonight, right?” Kathy asked. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Liam eyeing her roasted figs with goat cheese.
What was with him tonight? If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought he was stress eating.
“He said he couldn’t come,” I told them. “Too busy with the new murder case.”
The front door of the restaurant opened and Will walked in dressed in his usual work clothes: dark suit, tie and a white shirt. He glanced around, spotted us, and headed straight for our table just as a man at a table directly in his path rose from his seat, upsetting a wine glass. The dark liquid splashed across Will’s white shirt as the glass shattered into small pieces on the floor.
“Watch where you going!” My brother’s mouth tightened in fury.
I couldn’t see the other man’s face, so it was impossible to tell if Will’s obvious unfairness had upset him. He made no answer, perhaps sensing it would be prudent to avoid a fight, and brushed something off his sleeve then bent to pick up his dropped phone. He strode out of the restaurant without a word, his tan overcoat an almost exact match to his light hair.
Will made the rest of the way over to us, his expression dark. My hand impulsively closed around the Irish marble pendant hanging from the leather string around my neck. The feel-good talisman I’d picked up in Dublin over five years ago had become sort of a protection charm, a ward against worry and anxiety. I squeezed the stone with my fingers, wondering why my brother’s apparent bad mood made me uneasy. Having grown up under the same roof, I’d seen him angry before, even if it was rare.
I caught Kathy’s gaze across the table. She looked just as surprised by Will’s behavior as I was. It wasn’t typical for our brother to lash out at a person he’d knocked into. As he drew level with the mini burger guy’s table, Will nodded at the empty chair across from him.
“Mind if I borrow it?”
Mini burger gave a quick nod of acquiescence. Having witnessed Will’s outburst, he looked ready to give up the whole table in exchange for being left in peace.
Will gave us a strained smile as he pulled up the chair and sat down. “Glad to see you’re still here. I wasn’t sure.”
Liam, used to dealing with disgruntled types as a bartender, reached over to bump fists with my brother. “Good to see you, man. We thought you weren’t coming.”
Will shrugged. “Just happened to be in the area. Working a case a few blocks down and thought I’d make a quick detour.”
“Is everything alright?” Kathy asked with a look of apprehension while I discretely brushed a few golden crumbs from Will’s collar. The remains of XTRA Screamin’ Dill Pickle Pringles, of course. My brother never went anywhere without them.
Will opened his mouth then closed it again and shook his head. “I’m fine.” He smiled, but looked anything but fine.
What was it he was going to say before he changed his mind? I knew from years of experience the futility of trying to get information out of Will once he’d decided to clam up. Being able to keep things to himself was one of the traits that had made him such a good detective. In day-to-day living it often made people want to pull out their hair. Which was probably why his girlfriends never stayed around for long.
Will sighed. “Quit worrying, guys. I’m just having a rough day on the job and it’s not over yet.” He raised his hand to stop Kathy from asking another question. “And no, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I was just going to ask where you left your partner,” she said with a frown.
Will’s face relaxed a little. “Ryan’s gone back to the precinct. I told him I’d only be a few minutes, so I can’t stay long.”
I glanced at my fingers that had fine golden dust from the Pringles still clinging to them and wiped my hand on a table napkin. “Have you been snacking on chips again?”
“Guilty. There was no time for lunch so I had to snack on the go. Usual story, no big deal.”
Kathy’s frown deepened. “This isn’t good, Will. Those things aren’t healthy for you, especially in the amount that you eat them. You’ve got to start being more health-conscious.”
Health-conscious? Since when did my sister who was usually up to her elbows in chocolate and confectioners sugar start talking about healthy eating? At least, that got a smile out of Will. He stretched lazily and his eyes strayed to the mini burgers on Liam’s plate.
“You gonna eat those?”
No, man. I just ordered them because the table looked lonely.” Liam pushed the plate Will’s way with a laugh and made a signal to the passing waiter. “Can I get another order of mini burgers? The first one got snatched up by a mountain lion.”
“We’ll also need another wine glass over here,” Tray added.
Will waved his hand in protest as he hurried to swallow. “No alcohol for me, I’m still on duty. I’ll just have a Coke.”
The waiter disappeared and came back a minute later with a frosty can and a glass of ice. Will raised it to the success of our ventures, then wolfed down the rest of the mini burgers and pushed his chair away from the table, just as another waiter carried over a huge tray with our entrées.
“You sure you can’t stay and have dinner with us?” I asked. “You can have my grilled salmon and I’ll order another entrée for myself.”
He bent to give me a one-armed hug, looking less like a grizzly bear and more like his own self again. “Thanks, Sis, but I really can’t. I’m sorry, I know this is a big night for you all. I’ll make it up to you.” He hugged Kathy and shook hands with Liam and Tray, then dashed off, his shoulders tense as he strode out the door.
“Did he seem troubled?” I asked. “More than usual, I mean.”
“He did.” Kathy brought the wine glass to her lips and her eyebrows wrinkled.
“You guys are always worrying about him,” Tray observed.
“He’s our little brother and he’s in a dangerous line of work,” Kathy said, sounding defensive, then added in a softer voice. “We can’t help it, Tray. It comes with the territory of being the older sisters.”
Tray put his hand on top of hers and leaned in to give her a conciliatory kiss. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that you care. Just don’t forget that your brother’s a big boy now. He looks more than capable to do his job and stay safe.”
Kathy smiled as she nodded, but I knew what she was thinking.
It was fine to say intelligence and skill would keep my brother safe from harm, forgetting that, according to cold, hard statistics plenty of cops as smart and capable as my brother die on the job every year. A bystander gets shot in a gun fight and people shake their heads and say he shouldn’t have gone there. Not a safe neighborhood. But that’s exactly where the police rush headlong every day. It’s the nature of their job to be where the danger is. It was hard to argue with statistics.
“We should do something for him,” I said. “When this case of his is over we should have a big celebration at our house. Just relax and have fun, like when we were kids.”
Kathy’s smile widened. “I love that idea. It would be perfect.”
“Will it be strictly family or are we also invited?” Tray asked.
He looked so hopeful it made us all laugh as Kathy assured him that he was invited.
We finished dinner and got ready to leave the restaurant. I pulled on my trusty green jacket and left it unbuttoned over Liam’s favorite blue dress that I had worn for the occasion. As we stepped outside, the evening’s freshness embraced us in its tranquility. It had that special something that only comes once a year.
Spring. After weeks of grayness and cold there wasn’t a New Yorker alive, no matter how surly or jaded, who didn’t feel even a smidgen of gladness at the onset of warm weather.
I took a deep breath, rejoicing in the fragrance of new leaves and grass. “Even if it hadn’t been for my new book and Kathy’s bakery, the fact that it’s spring again is reason enough to celebrate.”
Kathy and Tray grinned at me.
“Look who’s feeling sentimental,” Tray said with a wink. “But I know what you mean. It’s always a relief when it starts to get warmer out.”
“Plus it’s such a lovely night,” Kathy added.
“You guys want to take a walk through the park?” I asked.
Kathy looked conflicted for a moment then shook her head as she threaded her arm through Tray’s. “We can’t. There’s a food show downtown and we really wanted to go. It starts in an hour.”
“Then I guess it’s just you and me,” Liam said. He took my hand, looking enthusiastic at the prospect.
We said good night and my sister and Tray headed toward the nearest exit from the park. Liam and I strode down the narrow alley that led to the more crowded areas of the park.
Liam walked in silence and seemed to be deep in thought. I let him have his quiet moment, pausing to look at a small colony of white crocuses, spring’s early messengers freshly hatched from the ground in the shelter of dark juniper bushes. A glint of something metallic deep among the bushes caught my eye. Was it a cell phone? I moved toward it to get a closer look.
Liam cleared his throat. “Sandie, I’ve been thinking...”
I was only half listening—the something in the bushes suddenly held all my attention. Slipping my hand from Liam’s, I walked across the grass but stopped before reaching the branches as the metallic thing resolved itself into a silver flat shoe on a slender foot. Despite the warm air and the wine flowing through my veins, I suddenly felt cold.
