Murder to Go (The Heights Bed and Breakfast Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) Read online

  Murder to Go

  Susan D. Baker

  ©2015 Susan D. Baker

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author.

  2015 Copyright Collins Collective All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Your Gifts

  Other books

  Chapter 1

  Carolyn Jacobson drew the curtains back and relished the view of Grey Fox Lake from the Manager’s apartment of The Heights Bed and Breakfast. Carolyn reflected that she had never had a view as beautiful as this in all her life living next to the lake. Faced with all the struggles of the past year, she was thankful her daughter had offered to let them stay with her. It gave her a chance to get to know her son-in-law. She chuckled to herself, maybe getting to know him too much.

  Carolyn turned away from the window and found the morning paper lying open on the kitchen table. Relieved to have a moment to herself, She sat down with her lunch and started reading when her daughter, Sarah Patterson, walked in from the bedroom.

  Sarah flung herself down in the chair opposite Carolyn. “Oh, Mom. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “What’s the trouble?” Carolyn asked as she nibbled her turkey sandwich.

  “Mrs. Simms complained that the door to her room is sticking,” Sarah told her. “I don’t know when David will have time to fix it.”

  “You and David do too much already, you need to hire some more staff,” Carolyn remarked pointing a dill pickle slice towards her daughter before taking a bite of it.

  “That's not all,” Sarah went on. “When Mr. Alexandin checked in this morning, he decided he had to have the terrace suite instead of the regular downstairs suite he booked originally. He threw a fit when I told him it was already booked to another couple. He wanted me to kick them out, and when I refused, he stormed off and said he was never coming back again.”

  “Good riddance,” Carolyn exclaimed.

  “Come on, Mom,” Sarah chided. “We can’t let a good customer like him get away. He comes up to Grey Fox Lake every weekend and spends a fortune. I’ll have to call him up and apologize again or he’ll find another B & B to stay in.”

  “Since you were a child, you’ve always worried about people liking you,” Carolyn commented. “But you can’t go sucking up to every tyrant that throws a temper tantrum at your reception desk. If this Mr. Alexandin wants to go to another B & B after the work you’ve done to make him happy, you can let him go. Another guest will book that room, and they just might treat you better.”

  Sarah groaned. “Oh, Mom. Haven’t you learned anything since you’ve been staying here?”

  “Have you had time for lunch today?” Carolyn asked. “You should eat before telling me about the other crises in the making?”

  Sarah brightened up grabbing a pickle slice from her mother’s plate. “Dad has conquered the kitchen, I knew he would once he had a chance to get comfortable with our setup. The guests can’t stop raving about his wonderful food. I should have gotten you two to move in here years ago.”

  Carolyn nodded as she dabbed her mouth with a napkin after the delicious turkey sandwich he made her for lunch. “He is a wonderful chef. That’s one of the reasons I married him.”

  Sarah giggled. “Mr. Hoffman tripped over his poodle this morning and his toupee flew across the room and landed on the potted palm tree in the lounge. You should have seen it.”

  Carolyn laughed. “Be careful, darling. I’ve been a bad influence on you, poking fun at everybody behind their backs.”

  “You really shouldn’t do that, you know, Mom,” Sarah reprimanded her. “You know David doesn’t find it funny at all.”

  “I can’t help myself,” Carolyn replied as she raised her shoulders. Her face lit up with a smile. “I would joke all the time about the customers who used to come into your father’s restaurant. It’s harmless.”

  “It’s no way to treat customers,” Sarah pointed out.

  “That is why you are so successful,” Carolyn replied. “You two have built this B & B from the ground up.”

  “We’ve always loved The Heights,” Sarah told her. “Our dream is coming true. We want to make it the best it can be, and we’re both willing to put the time and energy into it.”

  “I’ll say you are,” Carolyn replied. It’s a good thing for The Heights David is such a competent handyman. I hate to think how much money you would have to spend to get carpenters, plumbers and electricians from town to do all the repairs and maintenance David does.”

  At that moment, Carolyn’s husband, Karl, came in from the other end of the apartment.

  Carolyn crossed the room and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  He kissed her back. “I missed you last night.”

  “I bet you enjoyed having the entire bed to yourself. You did miss out,” Carolyn told him. “It was the presidential suite. Barry, the manager at the Golden Hind Lodge, put me up in it for my overnight stay. I think he wanted to influence the review I was going to write for him.”

  “Did it work?” Karl asked as he grabbed the other half of Carolyn’s turkey sandwich.

  Carolyn gasped out loud. “Of course it didn’t work. I never let any perks of the job influence my reviews. My readers expect an honest opinion of the restaurants and hotels I review. I wouldn't let them down just because a I stayed in a fancy room.”

  “Still,” Karl remarked as he chewed, “it sounds pretty nice.”

  “You would have loved it,” Carolyn exclaimed. We could have soaked in the hot tub on the balcony overlooking the mountains, and had some wine. The whole place to ourselves.”

  Sarah cried out in surprise. “Mom!”

  Carolyn looked around. “What’s wrong with that? Your father and I haven’t been out alone since we moved in with you.”

  “I could have used it,” Karl replied as he rubbed his shoulder. “I knew I wouldn’t have made it back here in time to start breakfast if I went with you. You’ll just have to enjoy these nights out on your own.” He flung himself into a chair. “Oh, my feet.

  “What’s wrong?” Carolyn asked. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m okay,” Karl replied. “I’m just exhausted. I was up at five in the morning to make breakfast and spent the rest of the morning making lunchboxes for the guests.

  Carolyn patted his arm. “You’re a hero. I’m impressed as always.”

  “Mom, your blog is really taking off,” Sarah remarked.

  Carolyn gave her daughter a grateful smile. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.

  Karl snorted and turned away. “Blogging. Ha! We managed to run restaurants for hundreds of years without bloggers. Now anyone with a keyboard and some free time can take down your restaurant with their reviews.”

  “You didn’t have bloggers,” Carolyn pointed out, “but you had reporters writing reviews in the newspapers. It’s the same thing, only now it’s on the Internet.”

  “These bloggers don�
��t know what it really takes to run a restaurant,” Karl countered. “Show me one of them who could handle the pressure of cooking for a full house of customers.”

  “What about me?” Carolyn asked. “I think I know what it really takes to run a restaurant. That’s why I make a point of giving the establishments I review a fair chance. That’s more than you can say for a lot of the bloggers out there.”

  Karl waved his hand. “You? You’re just dabbling in this writing business. It's a hobby for you. It's not as though you're any kind of professional.”

  Carolyn and Sarah exchanged glances.

  The door opened, and Sarah’s husband, David, entered. He didn’t sit down at the table with the rest of the family, though. He leaned against the kitchen counter. Carolyn turned to her husband. “Where are the guests now?”

  “Everyone is down by the lake,” Karl replied. “I think I’ll take a nap until dinnertime.”

  “Seriously, Dad,” Sarah told him. “Don’t you think you’re working too hard? Maybe you need to take some time off.”

  “No, no.” Karl waved his hand. “I owe it to you to keep the kitchen running. I have to contribute in some way to pay you back for taking us in. I wish we didn’t have to crowd you out of your own apartment. This manager’s apartment only has two bedrooms, and you and David haven’t been married that long. You should have the place to yourself.”

  “I wouldn’t have you staying anywhere else, Dad,” Sarah murmured.

  Karl shook his head. “You don’t have to try to make me feel better. You two need your own space. If only I could have kept the restaurant going a little longer, none of this would have happened.”

  Carolyn and Sarah looked at each other again. He went through the same cycle of guilt and blame every morning. Carolyn patted her husband’s hand. “You do enough around here. The guests love your food. You deserve to take a day off now and then. We should go off together for a week’s vacation at that Mountain Veil Lodge on the other side of the lake. What do you say to that?”

  David came out from behind the kitchen counter and propped his hands on his hips. “We can’t spare Karl for a week. The guests have come to expect a much higher caliber of food coming out of the kitchen. We can’t go back to the food we offered before. We’d have to hire a chef to take Karl’s place. That would cost us a lot more than we spend keeping you two here.”

  Sarah cringed. “David, don’t.”

  David rounded on her. His voice rose in anger. “Why not, we can’t just whisper these things behind closed doors. If we don’t bring them out into the open now, they’ll fester and blow up in our faces later.”

  Karl sat up straighter in his chair. “It sounds like they festered too long already.”

  Carolyn cocked her head to one side. “What things are whispered behind closed doors?”

  David threw back his shoulders. “We all know you and Karl cost this B & B money. Last week, I had to hire someone to fix the outlet you fried in the bathroom. Karl’s work in the kitchen is the only payment we get for it.”

  “David,” Sarah whimpered, “Please don’t.”

  “I plugged in a hair dryer and roller,” Carolyn remarked. “How should I know that your old wiring couldn’t handle my beauty care?”

  David turned on Carolyn. “While I’m at it, I might as well tell you I don’t appreciate your sense of humor around the B & B.”

  Carolyn bit her lip to stop herself from smiling. “What do you mean?”

  “You know very well what I mean,” David shot back. “Everybody knows you pride yourself on your quirky sense of humor. You’ve crafted your blog around your famous comedic wit, but do us all a favor and keep it confined to your website. Don’t bring it around the B & B.”

  “I keep it out of the B & B,” Carolyn told him.

  “Who do you think you’re fooling?” David snapped. “You come up with those ridiculous joke names for all the guests. You’re always poking fun at something. You’re bound to get us into trouble one of these days.”

  “Please don’t do this, David,” Sarah pleaded. “You know Mom makes sure to use those names only in the privacy of this apartment, and we all get a good laugh out of her jokes. It helps us all release the tension. You laugh at them, too. You have to admit that.”

  “Sure, I laugh,” David replied. “I’ll be the first to admit the names are funny. But what happens when one of the guests finds out about them? You’ve worried about this yourself. You just never mentioned your concerns to your mother because you didn’t want to offend her.”

  Carolyn turned to her daughter. “Is that true? You’re concerned, too?

  Sarah covered her eyes with her hand. “Oh, Mom.

  David waved his hand at Sarah. “Don’t you see how you’re making her life harder with your flippant attitude?”

  Carolyn stiffened. “My.... flippant attitude? When have I ever had a flippant attitude?”

  “You don’t care about our business,” David returned. “You don’t have to care. Your reputation and your livelihood doesn’t ride on this B & B. All you care about is your stupid blog. I’ve tried to get Sarah to crack down on you, but she’s too soft-hearted. If I had my way, I’d tell you right now to pack your bags and go mooch off someone else for a while.”

  Karl rose from his seat. “How dare you talk to her that way, boy!”

  Carolyn held him back. “Sit down, dear. I can defend myself. I don’t see any harm in cracking a few jokes on the side. Like you say, it’s the best way to decompress after a long, hard day. I would never let the guests find out about them, and I’m sure you and Sarah wouldn’t, either. Now why don’t we all lighten up? We should have some fun while we have a moment before the guest come back for dinner.

  David pointed at Sarah. “Go on. Now’s your chance to get them to clean up their act instead of complaining about it all the time.”

  “Don’t take this out on Sarah,” Carolyn told him. “If you have a problem with me or Karl, that’s one thing. You don’t have to drag my daughter into this.”

  Sarah glanced around the room. “Why can’t we all just get along?

  “What do you expect?” Karl asked. “This is the first time we’ve ever heard that it is a problem we are staying here.”

  At that moment, a knock sounded on the door, and silence fell over the room.

  Sarah jumped up from the table to open the door relieved to have an excuse to leave the awkward conversation. A curvaceous woman with bright red hair stood outside the apartment. “Kat Coeur d’Alene! What can we do for you? Do you need anything for your performance in the bar tonight? I thought you were all set up.”

  Kat looked around, but she didn’t see anything in front of her. “I don’t need anything. I just....” She trailed off.

  Sarah frowned. “Is anything wrong, Kat?”

  Kat shuddered. “I was just down at the lake. There were a bunch of people swimming down there today, you know.”

  “I know,” Karl growled. “They all took lunchboxes with them.”

  Kat didn’t hear him. “I just found a man and woman lying on their beach towels by the side of the lake. I recognized them from my performance in the bar. I think they had the room across the hall from me.”

  Sarah glanced at her parents. “What do you mean you found two people lying on their beach towels?

  Kat shook her head. “They weren’t moving.”

  Carolyn came to stand next to her daughter’s side.

  Kat opened her mouth and closed it again. The family stared at her in shock. Carolyn shuddered. Then she burst into action. “You better come inside, Kat.” Carolyn told her and waved her daughter over. “Sarah, you make Kat a cut of tea. I’m calling the police.”

  Chapter 2

  A tall woman with grey roots showing under her dyed orange hair stood within the frame of front door. She scanned the interior of The Heights with her quick, sharp eyes. Then her eyes crinkled when she smiled at Carolyn. She stuck out her hand. “I’m Babs Gillespie, Homicide
Detective. I’m here to investigate why you have two dead bodies sun bathing next to the lake.”

  Carolyn shook her hand. “So they really are dead?”

  Babs nodded. “The coroner is down there right now. I understand the person who found them is here.”

  Carolyn stepped back and waved Babs into the apartment. “Follow me.”

  Babs came in, but she stopped on the threshold and peered at Carolyn. “Are you Carolyn Jacobson?”

  Carolyn started. “Why, yes. Why do you ask?”

  “I thought I recognized you,” Babs replied. “I didn’t know you lived here.”

  “I’ve lived in Evergreen Cove for years,” Carolyn told her. “I never met you, either.”

  Babs shrugged and turned away. “How long had the couple been staying with you at The Heights?”

  “A few days, maybe,” Carolyn replied.

  Babs eyed narrowed, “I see. Where’s the person who found the couple?”

  Carolyn led the way into the living room. “This is Kat Coeur d’Alene. She’s our lounge act this week.

  Babs sat down on the couch next to Kat. “Can you tell me what you saw down at the lake?”

  “I’ve never seen a dead body before,” Kat murmured as she blew her nose. “They looked like they just finished a swim. They were still wearing their bathing suits and had their towels wrapped around them.”

  Carolyn sat down on Kat’s other side and put her arm around her shoulders.

  “Did you touch anything?” Babs asked. “Did you disturb the scene at all? It’s okay if you did. We just need to know about it so we can take it into account for our investigation.”

  “I didn’t touch anything,” Kat replied. “As soon as I realized they were..... they weren’t moving, you know, I came back here. I wasn’t sure they really were.... really were.....”

  Babs interrupted. “That’s all right. I think we can let it go for right now.” She stood up and faced the family. “The coroner found two lunchboxes which had The Heights logo on them next to the bodies. There were signs that the couple may have been poisoned.”