Marriage and Murder (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 4) by Dianne Harman Page A

were
finishing dinner, Mike said, “I don’t know how you can make a simple sandwich
taste so good, but that was a perfect way to end the day. Now for that
raspberry tart.”
                “I’ll be back in a
minute. I never brought the pieces in from the refrigerator in the garage,” she
said, carrying their dinner plates over to the sink. When she walked back into
the room with the two tart pieces she saw Mike talking on his cell phone. She
set a piece of the tart in front of him. He mouthed the words “Thank you,” and
continued to listen as someone talked.
                “Thanks Leo, at least
that gives us something solid to go on. I appreciate your calling after hours.
Enjoy your evening.”
                “Who was that, the
coroner?”
                “Yes. This is starting to
get interesting,” Mike said, putting a piece of the tart on his fork. “This has
to be the prettiest and best non-chocolate dish ever.” He continued, “Leo said he
was pretty sure that the bullet he took from Jesse’s body was fired from a .38
caliber pistol. He’s sending it to the state police and they’ll give it to
their ballistics expert for confirmation. Considering how long Leo’s been at
this, I think I can take it to the bank that Jesse was killed by a .38 caliber pistol.”
                “If he’s right, that’s
the same caliber gun that was in Celia’s nightstand.”
                “Believe me, sweetheart, I’m
well aware of that, but the question remains, is that the gun that killed
Jesse? Even if it is, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Celia did it. I know
it’s quite a coincidence, but it still wouldn’t hold up in a court of law or
before a jury. They want facts, and the fact they would demand to know is who
used that gun to kill Jesse.”
                “I see what you mean.
Don’t forget about Sydney, his ex-wife. If she knows about the life insurance
policy, that’s a pretty good motive, and she and Celia are good friends. She
might have even known that Celia had hidden the gun in her nightstand. She
could have removed the gun from under the nightstand drawer, shot poor Jesse with
it and then returned the gun back to its hiding place in the nightstand. Once
Jesse is dead, she gets the life insurance money.”
                “Well, I see that I have
my work cut out for me for the next couple of days. Should be interesting.”
                That it should be, Kelly
thought . Now I need to see if I can find out some more about the Book Nook
guy. I have a feeling about him.

CHAPTER 13
     
    Kelly had just finished putting the
dishes in the dishwasher and was getting ready to join Mike and watch one of
their favorite television shows when her cell phone rang.
    She looked at the monitor,
and saw that it was Julia. “Hi, darling. Appreciated the message from you last
night that you and Cash made it back safely, and that you were able to get him
to the airport in plenty of time to catch his flight. Actually, I was going to
call you later on and thank you for coming up here and for all your help with
the wedding. I do have some bad news. Remember Jesse Allen, the man who
provided all the wine for the reception? The sad thing is he was shot and killed
yesterday in his shop. Mike and I were the ones who discovered him. Mike has no
idea who did it, so that’s kind of overshadowed our post-wedding plans. We only
had a honeymoon for about half a day.”
    “Oh, Mom, I’m so sorry. He
seemed like such a nice man. Was he married or did he have any children?”
    “No, he’s divorced, and to
my knowledge he never had any children. I know his mother and sister. They both
live here in Cedar Bay. His father passed away about a year ago. He was one of
the regulars at the coffee shop, and towards the end I used to take his
favorite foods to him at home a couple of times a week. I feel sorry for his
mother. She’s a nice