Murder at the Flower Shop Read online

  Murder

  at the

  Flower Shop

  a small town murder

  by P. Thompson

  To contact the author, please email: [email protected]

  copyright ©2020 P. Thompson

  Kindle edition

  Contents

  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

  AFTERWARDS

  Other works by P. Thompson

  Chapter 1

  It’s almost the middle of February and the coldest one on record. The snow is the deepest I’ve ever seen it in all my years on this earth. It’s hard on top and white and fluffy underneath. Crunches when you walk on it and then let’s you sink down to your calves. They say more snow is on the way tonight, ugh!

  It’s Friday night and Max has a CSI meeting in Nashville so Ming, my faithful cat, and I are curled up on the couch under one of Miss Massie’s hand knitted afghans. Miss Massie is my ninety year old friend who lives in a valley and still gardens and puts up the best strawberry jam and the sweetest pickles in the world. Ming and I are enjoying a crackling fire, one of many we have enjoyed, in our new country home. Last October Tony and Melonie were married and when she moved in their new home I bought her country home with the winnings from a lottery ticket. I sold my home in town to Sam who is now engaged to Cindy, our second shift dispatch girl. Sam got a big pay raise and a promotion after taking classes at MTSU and is now a new detective with the Sheriff’s department.

  The new catalog from our local on-the-square gift shop, Apple Junction, arrived in the mail on Monday. I’ve just now had the chance to sit and look through it and see what I can get for everyone on my Valentine’s list. When I opened the middle pages of the catalog a flyer fell out advertising a new flower and catering shop in town. I was surprised to see its owner was a girl I had gone to school with many moons ago. I noted her location and number thinking maybe I would send flowers to mom for Valentine’s Day and get reacquainted with an old class mate.

  A log dropped in the fireplace and sparks flew everywhere behind the glass screen. The glass screen Max made me buy so sparks didn’t fly out and catch anything on fire. Smart Max! The dropping of the log made me look up at the clock; I hadn’t realized the time. It is almost eleven o’clock and if Max made it through the heavy snow he would be here soon. No plows out here on the country roads. Last year when I was shot after Melonie and Tony’s wedding, Max’s truck was totaled, so with the new country home, Max also bought a four-wheel drive with snow tires for such occasions. With that I heard the crunch of tires on the snow outside and knew he had made it through with no problem.

  Max came through the door stomping snow off his boots and unwrapping himself from the coat and scarf he wore. A gift from me for Christmas.

  “I’ll make hot chocolate if you’d like a mug with some marshmallows?”

  “Oh that sounds great! It’s so cold out there my toes are frozen even with the wool socks you got me for Christmas.”

  “Good, I was considering hot chocolate, but didn’t want to make enough just for me.”

  I got up off the couch, disturbing Ming in the process, and headed for the kitchen. Ming stretched and followed me out to the kitchen and began to howl. Max got her a few kitty treats and she was good to go! I put milk in the pan and added the coco and sugar, just a drop of vanilla to make the flavor pop.

  “What are the plans for tomorrow?” Max asked me while digging out the marshmallows, as I stirred the milk mixture.

  “I don’t have any as of right now. How about you? With both of us off tomorrow we should do something together. Don’t you think?”

  “We could go shopping in Nashville and have dinner up there. The main roads are clear pretty much. You’ve been saying you want to get a few things for the guest room. Might be a good time.”

  “I’ll let you know in the morning when I wake up. I hate to make plans when it’s a day off, things always go wrong when I do.”

  “Okay, in the morning it is. Right now let just sit by the fire and drink our coco.”

  ~~~

  Morning brought sunshine, but still temps below freezing. My cell rang around nine o’clock and I could see it was the sheriff’s office. Cindy was on today so there must be something special happening or she would call someone else.

  “Good morning, Cindy. What’s up on this bright sun-filled morning?”

  “I got a call from that new flower shop out in the strip mall, Anna’s Flower Boutique. A Miss Anna Brown called and asked for you. It seems that someone broke into her shop over the night and wreaked havoc in her shop. She asked because she said you went to school together. I told her it was your weekend off, but that didn’t deter her. I told her I would call and see if you were available. Right now Sam and Hank are there, along with Butch the K9. What should I tell her?”

  “Call her back and tell her I won’t be available till late this afternoon. Ask for her home number or her cell, whichever she prefers. Max and I are headed for Nashville.”

  “Will do. Anything you want me to tell Sam and Hank?”

  “Such as?”

  “I just thought you might have some insight into her personality, a way they can handle her best.”

  “No kid gloves needed there. Just tell them to do their job like any other break-in.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell them.” And Cindy hung up.

  I hung up and turned to see Max smiling at me. “Guess we’re going shopping.”

  “Right you are. Days off are few and far between and I’m not going to a break-in. A murder maybe, but not a break-in. Get showered and dressed and let’s hit the road.”

  Shopping was fun and dinner was great. I love German food and there is only one place that serves the best, Little Germany. It was late when we got home and the light on my home phone was blinking up a storm. What now! Max brought in our shopping bags and I headed to the kitchen to stop a howling Ming with wet food and fresh water. Next to tend to the blinking light. I hit play and this female voice came on, “You said late this afternoon and its five o’clock and I’ve not seen you yet!” There were three other messages similar to that one, all from Anna. On the last one she left her cell number for me to call back. Sounds like same old Anna: pushy!

  Max was standing in the doorway and said, “You best call the little lady back or you’ll have no peace tonight.”

  “You’re right. I’m on it.” I dialed her cell and got a busy signal. “Busy,” I told Max.

  “Keep at it. I’m going to put the wine in the rack and start some coffee.”

  “Hey, make that decaf tonight. I need a good night’s sleep.”

  I dialed again and this time it rang through. When she answered I said, “Anna, its Jenny. Sorry to be so late in getting back, but I was out of town and just came through the door. How can I help you?”

  “Oh Jenny, they just don’t want me in town. I get threatening calls and messages left in my mailbox. I don’t know what to do and now this break-in and they tore the place up and broke vases and threw fresh flowers everywhere.”

  “Anna, who are they you’re talking about?”

  “Why, the other florists in town, of course.”

  “Do you have any proof of this? Are any of the messages signed?”

  “No, I just know because they hate I’ve taken business from them.”

  “How ab
out the catering business, any messages about that?”

  “One or two back when I first opened, but not like the ones about the flowers.”

  “Okay, you hang in there till Monday. I’ll have one of our guys ride by every so often to keep a check. I’ll come by first thing Monday morning and you can tell me more on this.”

  “Thank you, Jenny. See you Monday morning.”

  “Well,” Max said, “that sounds like there are a bunch of catty women in this town who don’t like completion. Think you can straighten things out?”

  “Who knows? I don’t live in that world, but I’ll sure as hell try.”

  Chapter 2

  Monday morning came with a cold rain and the promise of melting snow which would turn to ice by night fall. The road into town was slushy, but once into the city limits they had things cleaned up nice and neat. When I got to The Table, short for Table Number Nine, and the diner that Ralph, my main chef, Betty, my main waitress, and I own together, the parking lot was clean and clear and packed full of hungry people. That’s a good sign. I stuck my head in and asked Betty if she needed any help and she shook her head yes, so I grabbed an apron and started taking orders. Thank God Ralph has Sammy in the kitchen with him now. Sammy is sort of slow, but a natural born short-order cook. By nine o’clock things slowed down and I headed for the sheriff’s department. I checked in with Loraine, our day dispatch girl, and there was nothing she needed me for so I told her I was headed out to the flower shop to see what I could do.

  Anna had a nice little shop and she had fixed it up so it had a real homey appeal. I found her in the back working on some flowers arrangements.

  “Hey, Anna, longtime no see.” She looked up, smiled and came around the counter to give me a hug. We were never the hugging kind back in the day. Maybe age has made a difference.

  “You look great!” She exclaimed.

  “So do you. Flowers must be good for you.”

  “Well not when they are all broken and scattered around the room.”

  “So fill me in on what’s been going on, in detail.” I pulled out my recorder and asked, “Do you mind if I record this? It just makes it easier later on to write up.”

  “No, not at all. Anything to stop this.”

  Anna rattled on for about thirty minutes about how some of the other shops had come in to check her out and she knew they were from certain shops in town, because she had done the same thing to see her competition before she decided to open a business in town. When she was through telling me about all the messages and phone calls and threats, I turned the recorder off and sat on a stool in front of her counter and asked, “What made you decide to come back home and open a shop anyway?”

  “Frank, my husband, died in a plane crash about eighteen months ago. He flew a small craft for work with his company. After his death I couldn’t stay in Texas any longer. I sold our place. I sold his business and brought my business back home. I needed a fresh start away from the prying eye of family. His family. They never accepted me as I wasn’t from the great state of Texas. After my dad died, my sister and I had to put mom in a nursing home in up-state New York. She and dad lived there for the past fifteen or so years and my sister lives there now too. Not for me. I’m a southern girl from the get go so I came home. That’s about it in a nutshell.”

  “Do you have any help here, or are you doing this on your own?”

  “Oh, I have Carmen. She does a lot of the catering. She’s a marvelous cook and baker. She’s a lot older than us, but gets around like a spring chicken. And I trust her and that’s most important to me.”

  About that time the door opened and a small plump lady came through the door with apron in hand.

  “Speaking of the angel, this is Carmen. Carmen, this is Jenny. She’s one of the detectives from the sheriff’s department and a good friend from high school.”

  Carmen stuck out her hand and said, “Nice to meet you Miss Jenny. Are you going to help get to the bottom of this mess?”

  “I sure hope to do just that Carmen. Well, let me get out of here and I’ll call on a few flower shops around town and see if anyone has anything to say.”

  With that I left and headed back to the office. At this point I was almost praying for a murder to take me away from this. There’s not much excitement in break-in’s.

  Back at the office I caught Sam in the conference room and said, “How would you like an assignment for the day?”

  He rolled his eyes and said, “I know all about the flower shop. Hank already told me about it last night. He said she was a little dingy. What’s your take?”

  “I’ve looked over the report and if it was my shop I would be greatly concerned about the damages that were done. I think it needs to be taken seriously. Let’s split up the shops and you cover one half and I’ll cover the other. You can even pick the ones you want to cover.”

  “Okay, there can’t be that many flower shops in town can there?”

  “I don’t know. Get the phone book and let’s look.”

  There were six, which is a lot for a small town. There were only two other caterers and I decided just to handle those myself.

  ~~~

  Bo came in before Sam left and Sam told Bo to watch out for me or he would be doing flower shops too. Bo said, “Not on a bet.”

  Bo is my Miami-Cuba detective and best friend. He and Bubba, my very red neck friend and detective, have always had my back and taken care of me ever since I lost my partner, Steve.

  Bo came around the conference table and planted a kiss on my forehead. “Looks like the flower shop lady caught up with you. What’s it looking like?”

  “Like I wish she had never called me. I don’t do break-in’s, just homicides, you know that. It’s just we went to school together and she lost her husband and so much more. I feel like I should help her.”

  “You go be a good do-bee and I’ll take care of the homicides.” He said with a twinkle in his eye. Not to mention the grin on his face. So I gave him the finger and left.

  As I was about to go out the door, Bubba come in stomping his feet, and saying, “Where’s Bo? We have a brawl at that new bar outside of town and Dean’s been hurt and Lyle needs help.” Bo came a running and the two of them were out the door before you could shake a stick. There I was on flower shop patrol. Ugh!

  Chapter 3

  I don’t very often send flowers so I don’t really know any of the owners or workers in the flower shops. I was like a duck out of water. In the first shop I asked if anyone knew of any threats that had been made to the new shop in the strip mall, but no one knew there was a new shop out there. The next shop said she knew of the shop and had even been in, having a look around, you know, seeing the competition. She said she had no reason to make any threats to her at this point; she had all the business she could handle and then some. The last flower shop said when she first opened she got some nasty letters put in her mail box, but never had any trouble out of anyone. With that I went to the caterers. The first one said business was brisk and she didn’t have time for such nonsense. Didn’t I know that Valentine’s Day was just around the corner? The next one was a big question mark. I plan on keeping an eye on that one. He was not the least bit friendly and left a bitter taste in my mouth. I would have to get with Sam and see what he turned up.

  My cell rang and it was Max. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked him.

  “Lunch is what’s up. What would you like to eat?”

  “Mama Leoni’s is what I need after all these flower shops this morning. Want me to meet you there or at the office?”

  “Meet me at the office and we’ll ride together,” Max said with a giggle.

  “Now that sounds like you have something up your sleeve.”

  “Not a thing. I was also thinking of Mama Leoni’s too. Great minds think alike.”

  I let Loraine know where I was off to and she made a note of it in case the sheriff came through and needed me, or wanted to join us for lunch.

  ~~~r />
  It’s getting harder and harder to get a table at Mama Leoni’s. Seems word has traveled far and wide and it’s standing room only. Except for me. Mama keeps a table in the back corner for special guest and today was my turn. She spied me as I came through the door and was out of the kitchen and had me by the arm, pulling us to the back table.

  “Your poppa came by on Saturday and had your mama with him. Said he couldn’t find you and you didn’t answer your phone. He was worried and then he talked with Cindy and she told him you were in Nashville with him,” she pointed at Max.

  “Mama, this is Max, and he is the man in my life. Poppa understands when we have a weekend off we turn our phones off so we’re not disturbed. I should have called him to tell him that, but with the weather I didn’t think he would come out on the roads.”

  “So, are you working any homicides?”

  “No, just a flower shop break-in.”

  “Sounds boring.”

  “You have no idea,” was my dry reply.

  After lunch I went back to the office to find Sam in the conference room with a bag of donuts and a red rose in a vase. I raised my eyebrow at him and he said, “Don’t ask.”

  “I have to ask. What’s with the rose?”

  “That flower shop out on Main Street. She was so nice and when I got through interviewing her she pulled a rose out of the cooler and a piece of fern and put it in this vase. She said to take it to my girlfriend. She thought I was sweet. Can you imagine?”

  “Well aside from her, did you get any hits on possible criminal activity in any of them?”

  “No, they were all too busy with getting ready for Valentine’s Day. Guess it a big day for them. How about you?”

  “Not with any of the florists, but one caterer was sort of questionable. He was downright ugly. I’ll keep an eye on him for a few days, but my best guess is they all are going to be too busy for the next week or so getting ready for the big day.”