Book One
A new cozy mystery series by
Denise Devine
Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
~*~
Chapter
One
June 3rd
Like a bad penny, I came back.
Seven years ago, I moved to Chicago
to pursue a new adventure. It was a great time in my life. I had a fun job and shared
a gorgeous downtown apartment with my BFF. We partied like it was 1999. Then
Ellie met the man of her dreams, and everything changed. Two months ago, she married
him and moved out, leaving me with a huge apartment to myself and sole
responsibility for the rent. Trouble was, I couldn’t afford it. So, I applied
for a promotion at work. My contact in HR told me confidentially that my name had
risen to the top of a shortlist of candidates for a management position, and I
had my fingers crossed as I waited anxiously for the congratulations
call from the general manager.
Well, I wish that was how
the story ended, but I got passed up on the promotion I was more than qualified
for and the raise I desperately needed. Disillusioned and living on my last
dollar, I decided to say goodbye to Chicago and temporarily move back home to
live with my parents while I planned what to do next. Move to California? Join
the air force? Go to college? I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. So,
in the meantime, here I was. Back in Minneapolis where I started.
And back into the family
routine. Two days after I arrived back home, my mother dragged me out of bed at
six in the morning to help her make potato salad, slice up a ham, and butter the
buns for the sandwiches for our extended family’s annual reunion that
afternoon. I wasn’t happy about getting up with the chickens, especially on a
Saturday—my day to sleep in—but I knew better than to argue with her. She and
my stepfather had always maintained the “my house, my rules” mantra and if I
wanted to live there rent-free, I needed to toe the line. That meant doing
chores, keeping my bedroom clean, and being home by midnight when I went out. No
kidding! I didn’t mind doing my share of the work, but I was twenty-five years
old, and all these rules made me feel like I’d just turned sixteen again.
Especially the curfew!
Needless to say, I was anxious
to get a job and get on with a new—and hopefully exciting—chapter of my life as
soon as possible.
By ten o’clock that morning, I arrived
with my parents at Long Lake Park in New Brighton. We parked next to the
open-air pavilion; a state-of-the-art picnic facility situated on a hill in a
200-acre park overlooking the crystal blue lake. I knew this place well. Nora,
my mom, had been renting the pavilion the weekend after Memorial Day for my
stepfather’s annual family summer reunion since I was a kid. A half-dozen women—members
of the reunion committee—were already there buzzing like bees in the pavilion’s
full kitchen, preparing dishes for the noon feast. I didn’t want to be in the
center of all those old biddies bossing each other around so I volunteered to clean
all forty-one picnic tables and decorate them with tablecloths and centerpieces.
By twelve-thirty, nearly every
table in the pavilion was filled with my happy step-relatives, chatting and
laughing, their paper plates stuffed with every kind of salad imaginable, fresh
veggies, ribs, burgers, and brats. Escaping from the hot kitchen to the buffet,
I spooned a few cold items on my plate, grabbed a can of chilled Coke from one
of the huge coolers, and looked around for a vacant spot to sit and quietly eat
my lunch.
“Hey, Stella,” a deep, throaty voice
echoed across the noisy pavilion. “Over here!”
My stepbrother, Randy waved his
long, muscular arm above the crowd to get my attention. We hadn’t seen each
other since last Christmas, and his appearance pleasantly surprised me. At
least I had someone interesting to talk to now. Our parents—both young
widowers—married when I was five and Randy was ten. We’d been getting on each
other’s nerves ever since then. These days, however, we simplified things by
agreeing to disagree. Same thing, but less drama.
He sat at a picnic table at the
edge of the pavilion clad in tight jeans and a gray T-shirt with a huge plate
of food in front of him. Next to that was a smaller plate filled with cake,
cookies, and a classic Minnesota favorite—a thick Rice Krispie bar covered with
melted chocolate chips. I scurried over to his table wondering if he’d share
some of that delectable bar with me. He scooted over a few inches on the seat
so I could slide in next to him.
Randy placed his arm around my
shoulders and enveloped me with an affectionate hug. “You’re lookin’ good, sis.
I called Mom last night and she told me you were back in town. I wanted to stop
by the house to see you, but she said you guys were busy getting ready for the picnic,
so I told her I’d catch you today.” He treated me to a handsome grin. “How does
it feel to be living at home again?”
I countered with a wry laugh. “Like
I never left. I’ve worked harder in the last two days getting ready for this
picnic than I have in the last two months working full-time. How have you been?
Mom says you bought a house and you’re remodeling it.”
His brown eyes twinkled. “It’s
actually an old church. A small one, late Victorian style. I’m preserving the main
features, like the stained-glass windows and the vaulted ceiling as I renovate the
interior into a unique dwelling.”
Randy had always liked carpenter
work and it made no sense to me why he’d gone into law enforcement instead. I thought he liked being a cop, too, but according
to Mom, he’d quit the force a few months ago and started his own business as a
private detective.
I chuckled inwardly. My
stepbrother was thirty years old and owned his own business, but to me, he
would always be the bratty kid who pulled my hair, teased me until I cried, and
tattled on me incessantly. Randy looked a lot like Mel—my stepfather—with thick
black hair, a permanent five-o’clock shadow, and a sexy dimple on his chin. He
stood six feet and four inches tall in his socks. All my life he had always towered
over me, but I never let a small detail like that deter me when we fought like
crazy as kids. And I still didn’t.
He smiled at the mountain of
barbequed ribs on his heavy-duty paper plate. “H-m-m-m… I’ve been dreaming
about this meal for a week.”
“How is your detective agency doing
these days?” I asked and shoved a forkful of cold salad in my mouth. The tangy
flavor of strawberries and whipped cream blended with whipped Jell-O tasted
like heaven on my tongue.
“Great!” he replied a little too
fast. He paused. His fork, heaping with potato salad, halted mid-air. “But it
could be better.”
I shrugged, wondering what he
meant by that. “Then make it better.”
“I could if only—” His phone
beeped. He picked it up, frowned at the number then set it back on the table. “I
need someone to manage my office and answer all my calls. I’ve installed a
landline and ordered business cards with the new number on it.”
I swallowed a bite of ham
sandwich and reached for my Coke. “Why? What’s wrong with your cell phone? You
carry it with you wherever you go.”
He shook his head. “I can’t
answer it when I’m meeting with people, or I’m on a recon, or working
undercover. It’s disruptive, so I put it on silent, but then I miss a lot of
calls that I should have taken. I need someone to screen all my calls and
handle the easy stuff, so I only have to deal with major issues. Any client I’m
working for, of course, will get my private number. Those calls are my number
one priority.”
He shot me a sideways look. “Mom
says you’re looking for a job. Why don’t you come and work for me?”
I almost choked on my Coke. Work
for him? As in…take orders from him? Uh-uh. I rolled my eyes. “You’re
kidding, right? You know our working relationship wouldn’t last more than a day
or two. We’d get on each other’s nerves and start fighting. We’d drive your clients
away!”
He gave me a pleading look. “Ah,
come on, Stel. It’ll only be for a couple of weeks until I can get someone
permanent. I promise!”
“Ran-dee…” I said, noticing my
childhood whine creeping into my voice. See? I thought to myself with
irritation. The drama is already starting! “I need to get a job in my
field,” I argued. “So I can get the heck out of Dodge as soon as possible. Mom
and Dad are already driving me crazy.” I’d filled out an application on several
online job search engines but hadn’t come across anything located in the Twin Cities
yet that fit my qualifications.
He took my hand in his, letting
me know he wasn’t too proud to beg. “Help me out here, sis. It’ll only be until
I can get someone permanent to fill the job. I’ll even let you hire
her.”
“Look, I’m a sales associate and
a darn good one, too. Not an HR specialist,” I said pulling my hand away. I
stuck out my foot to show my favorite pair of designer sandals. “My expertise
is in high-fashion retail. I don’t know anything about the private investigator
business.”
“So what? You’re not stupid,”
Randy said with a mouthful of barbequed rib. He gave me a stubborn look. “You
can figure it out.” He put down his rib and wiped his hands on a napkin.
“How much will I get paid?” I
asked as I picked at my frosted brownie.
He gave me a figure. I burst out
laughing.
“Think about it, okay?” he asked
with a hopeful smile. “You can let me know by Monday.”
“Right,” I said as I forked
potato salad into my mouth. He sounded like he expected me to take the job. But
then, his ego had always been bigger than his brain. With any luck, I’d have a permanent
job by then.
I decided to change the subject.
“Are you sticking around for a while or are you leaving after lunch?”
He took another bite of his
barbequed rib. “I’m going to catch up with a few people I haven’t seen since
last year’s picnic and then take off. I want to get some work done on the
house. Why?”
I looked around to make sure my
mother wasn’t within hearing distance. “I need a ride home to get my car. I
want to go to the Mall of America to buy some makeup.”
And check out a couple of job
possibilities.
He frowned. “Why are you
whispering?”
I motioned with my eyes toward the
auburn-haired woman approaching us. “Why do you think? I’ve got to get out of
here before I get stuck washing pots and pans.”
Too late. The look on Mom’s face
indicated she needed an army to handle the cleanup and she had me in her line
of sight. To my dismay, my best-laid plans had been thwarted. I had just been conscripted
to report to the kitchen for KP duty.
Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited
Only 99 cents on Kindle! Get your copy today!
~*~
Want to find more authors who write
sweet romance?
