Murder Strikes at Midnight Read online

  Murder Strikes at Midnight

  Rooftop Garden Cozy Mysteries, Book 6

  Thea Cambert

  Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Copyright 2020 Summer Prescott Books

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

  **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

  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

  Author’s Note

  Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Chapter 1

  “Here’s to Alice! Yet again, she successfully oversaw the Blue Valley Hometown Holidays festival—and this year, there wasn’t a single dead body in the giant bowl of jelly!” Owen James raised a mug of hot cocoa into the air.

  It was an odd toast, but the friends gathered together in the rooftop garden above Alice Maguire’s bookshop, The Paper Owl, all understood its meaning. The Christmas before, the three friends—Alice, along with Owen James and Franny Brown-Maguire—had run their first-ever race together. But the Bowl Full of Jelly 5k had turned into a nightmare when a body was found in the giant bowl of jelly.

  This year’s festival, however, went off without a hitch, without a murder, without a single malfunction right down to the town’s rousing annual performance of the beloved play, A Christmas Carol, starring Chester Lehman owner of Blue Valley Hardware, as Ebenezer Scrooge.

  After taking a generous swig of Franny’s signature hot cocoa (the secret was in the melted chocolate bars and swirls of marshmallow cream), Alice wiped a dot of froth from her nose with the back of her hand and smiled at her friends.

  “Mark my words: I will never be in charge of the Hometown Holidays Festival ever again!” she announced.

  “Oh, I doubt that,” said Franny, shaking her head.

  “Sure, you will,” said Owen with a snort. “Mayor Abercrombie will put on those sad eyes of his and beg you to do it, and you’ll succumb.”

  “Succumb?”

  “Cave in.”

  Alice rolled her eyes. “I will do neither of those!”

  “Exhibit A,” said Owen, taking out a small packet and handing it to Alice.

  “What’s this?”

  “This is the photographic evidence that supports my theory that you will always be in charge of every festival Blue Valley ever hosts for all time. And that’s a lot.”

  It was true. Blue Valley was a quaint little town, snuggled into a valley deep in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains. It wasn’t on any of the main roads, but happily lay just off the beaten path, surrounded by ancient, rolling green mountains. It boasted a lake and woods and a bustling Main Street. The locals knew they were the luckiest people on earth to live in Blue Valley—and the visitors who wandered far enough into the mountains and discovered the place, returned season after season for the many festivals and fairs the town put on.

  Alice opened the packet to find a small stack of photos.

  “You took these with your new camera? The one my parents gave you?” Alice raised a brow at Owen, who proudly smiled in return.

  “Yep. Martin and I both have this model now. We’re taking our cameras on our bird-watching expeditions.”

  It never ceased to amaze Alice that her parents seemed to have adopted Owen James. She was always surprised when he’d casually mention that he’d been baking with her mother, birdwatching with her father, even exchanging postcards with Alice’s globetrotting Granny Maguire! This year on Christmas morning, when the whole family gathered at the Maguires’ house over by Town Park, Bea and Martin had excitedly presented Owen with the camera, and he and Martin had rushed right outside, where they photographically captured Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-throated Sparrows in the wild—a.k.a. the Maguires’ backyard.

  Alice’s building housed three businesses that fronted Main Street: In the middle was The Paper Owl, where Alice always stocked the latest bestsellers, the classics, and hot-off-the-presses issues of several newspapers, including the Blue Valley Post. On one side of the bookshop was Sourdough, Owen’s bakery—famous for its decadent sin-amon rolls. On the other side was Joe’s, Franny’s coffee shop, which served the best coffee in town and quite possibly, in the world. The three friends were also neighbors, because they lived in the small apartments above their shops, and together, they had created the amazing rooftop garden that overlooked Main Street.

  In the fall, Franny—who’d been fast friends with Alice since their middle school days—had married Alice’s brother, Ben, captain of the Blue Valley police force. Ben had a cozy house by Blue Lake, and after they married, Franny and Ben spent time in both homes, because they just couldn’t choose one or the other.

  Alice leafed through the photos Owen had handed her, and Franny looked over her shoulder.

  “Ha! There we are at the finish line of the race!” said Franny. “We’re covered in jelly!”

  The Bowl Full of Jelly 5k Fun Run featured a gauntlet of silly obstacles. Participants had to climb up the new-fallen-snow slippery slope, leap over eight tiny reindeer, and slog through a giant bowl full of jelly, in order to earn their medals and commemorative t-shirts.

  “I was glad Barb went with sugarplum jelly this year,” said Owen. “So festive.”

  “What even is a sugarplum?” asked Franny.

  “Whatever the flavor, it didn’t feel all that festive when I was trying to get it out of my hair,” said Alice, whose curly red hair was both her crowning glory and her curse.

  “There you are, Alice, opening the Mistletoe Market,” said Owen, calling Alice’s attention to the next photo. “See how you have your little microphone and your little holiday outfit?”

  “What do you mean, my little microphone?”

  “Look at you in that one,” said Franny. “Flipping the switch for the millions of twinkle lights at Winter Wonderland.”

  “I believe that was . . .” Owen grabbed the stack of photos and flipped through it. “Yes, here it is. That was right before you led the first round of skating at the faux ice skating rink.”

  “But . . .” Alice started to say.

  “No buts about it,” said Owen. “You like to be in charge. Admit it.”

  Alice reclaimed the photos, flipped through them, and found the one of the three friends at the end of the 5k. “I guess being in charge is kind of like running a race. It feels awful while you’re doing it, but you get a strange sense of accomplishment when it’s over.”

  Owen and Franny thought about this for a moment and nodded.

  “We accept that answer,” said Owen, stoking up the fire in the small fire ring they had added to the garden the year before. “Now. Let’s talk about New Year’s Eve,” he said.

  “It’s going to be the best one ever,” said Franny, grabbing her leather backpack and pulling out a crisp, white invitation with dark green lettering. “Because we’ll all be together at the lodge.”

  The lodge—a.k.a. the Great Granddaddy Mountain Preserve and Resort Lodge—was a brand new addition to the town. Phase One had just been completed, and t
he entire town, along with a few out-of-town visitors, was invited to the grand opening party on New Year’s Eve. Even Alice, who wasn’t one for big parties, was excited about the event.

  “I can’t wait to see the nature trails,” she said. “I’ve heard there’s going to be a bonfire in the woods.”

  “And stargazing,” said Franny with a sigh.

  “And cake,” added Owen, who had been contracted by the lodge to create a spectacular cake, which would include five tiers arranged on different levels, featuring the winter constellations in shimmering gold icing, set against a midnight blue fondant background. On one of the tiers, the words “Happy New Year” would be spelled out in metallic copper-colored stars. The whole creation would be wrapped in a string of tiny gold lights to set off the sparkling icing. “I’m bringing my new camera,” said Owen. “That way I can get plenty of shots of the finished cake for the bakery blog and website.”

  “We should definitely get a shot of the senator eating a piece!” said Alice.

  “Ooh, you’re right,” said Owen. “I can see it on the front page of the Post now: ‘Senator Says, Let Them Eat Cake.’”

  State Senator Adam Matthews was the celebrity guest who’d been booked for the lodge’s grand opening, and he was the perfect match for the event. Both he and his wife, Nan, were outspoken supporters of environmental preservation, and the lodge had been built around that theme.

  “I hear the Fenders are good friends of the senator and his wife,” said Franny.

  Chad Fender, the developer of the lodge, was a thirty-something, nature-loving, granola-toting hipster, and Alice, Owen, and Franny had gotten to be friends with him since he’d followed his dream and moved to Blue Valley to stay. Chad’s wife—whom nobody had laid eyes on as yet—was a rising-star architect. Together, they’d created a master plan that was both luxurious and comfortable, that protected and honored the environment, but also served as an upscale getaway for discerning travelers. There had been a lot of mystery surrounding the lodge because almost no one had yet been allowed to see it other than those who were helping to construct it—although Jane Elkin, editor, owner, and reporter for the Post, had been covering the development with weekly articles.

  “Anybody home?”

  Alice’s heart beat faster at the sound of Luke Evans’ voice. He and her brother emerged from Alice’s apartment and came out into the garden.

  “Honey, I’m home,” Ben said to Franny, giving her a peck on the cheek. “Alice, your door was unlocked,” he added, giving Alice his sternest big-brother look.

  Alice never locked the front door of her apartment when Ben and Luke were coming over—although, she always locked the bookstore downstairs, and had given both Ben and Luke keys to that door. At the back of the first floor was a hallway which was accessible from each of the three shops, and in the hallway was a beautiful old wooden staircase that led to a landing above, and the three apartment doors.

  Alice’s cat, Poppy, immediately ran out into the garden and jumped into Ben’s lap as he took his seat next to his wife.

  “For crying out loud, Poppy!” said Ben, as the cat rubbed a whiskered cheek against his chin, purring loudly.

  “How was work today?” Franny asked.

  “Another crime-free day,” said Ben.

  “Yep, you can all rest easy tonight,” said Luke. “The town is secure.”

  “What about the rash of crime in the park I read about?” asked Alice.

  “You mean the popcorn bandit? We solved that,” said Ben.

  “Really? So, who was taking people’s popcorn?” asked Franny.

  “A small gang of chipmunks,” said Ben.

  “How adorable is that? I can just see them now, being taken down to the station in tiny handcuffs,” said Owen.

  “We found we could pretty much leave the chipmunks alone if people would just stop leaving popcorn lying around,” said Luke. “Ever since Ollie Watson started parking his Kernel Pop’s Popcorn cart in the park, it’s been mayhem.”

  Luke was Blue Valley PD’s detective. He’d moved to the town from Nashville about a year and a half ago, and had literally swept Alice off her feet—or knocked her down, more accurately—shortly after his arrival. Alice’s first impression of Luke was not the best—although she’d certainly appreciated his rugged good looks right from the get-go. Where Ben was a kind of studious, sweet handsome, and Owen was a kind of polished, charming handsome, Luke was an outdoorsy, intense kind of handsome. When she’d first met him, Alice would never have dreamed that a year and a half later, she’d be very much in love with him.

  “We were just talking about the party at the lodge,” said Franny, pouring mugs of hot cocoa for Ben and Luke.

  “Tomorrow night,” said Ben, nodding. “New Year’s Eve already.”

  “Alice and I are going over there early to help Owen deliver and assemble the cake,” said Franny. “We need to get there around four o’clock. You two can meet us there at five.”

  “It’ll be good to see Chad,” said Ben.

  “And finally meet his wife,” added Franny.

  “Roz Fender,” mused Owen. When all heads turned his way, he added, “I’ve never met the woman in person. She was the one who arranged for the cake, so I talked to her on the phone. And via email. And text messages. She even faxed me once.”

  “Really? All over one cake?” asked Alice.

  “The woman is some kind of famous architect,” said Owen. “She’s a creative, like me. Very . . . what’s the word?”

  “Micromanage-y?” asked Alice.

  “Particular,” said Owen. “She strikes me as the kind of person who wants things the way she wants them.”

  “Chad is the poster child for ‘laid-back,’” said Alice. “Sounds like his wife is the polar opposite. But then again, opposites do sometimes attract. Maybe she’s the yin to his yang.”

  “That would be the yang to his yin in this case,” said Owen. “Roz is definitely the yang.”

  “I’d better be heading home,” said Luke, drinking down the last of his cocoa and standing.

  Luke lived in a cabin out on the lake, just down Lake Trail from Ben and Franny—when they were in residence there. Alice found herself spending more and more time in Luke’s cozy cabin, and even when she wasn’t there, she sometimes daydreamed about sitting by the stone fireplace with him, or having dinner on the big back porch, or snuggling into a blanket together down on the dock that overlooked the water.

  “We’re staying in our town house tonight,” said Ben, smiling at Franny.

  The lake was a ten-minute bike ride from Main Street, but Franny and Ben sometimes jokingly referred to their tiny apartment over Joe’s as their “town house.” The police station was half a block away, just up Main and a quick right on Phlox Street. All the streets in Blue Valley were named for wildflowers that grow in the Smokies, so the town map included names like Trout Lilly, Trillium, and Azalea, among many others.

  “I’ll walk you out,” said Alice, following Luke into her apartment, to her door.

  He turned back and made a stern face. “Now, you lock this door, Alice Maguire,” he said in his all-business voice.

  “I will,” said Alice, rolling her eyes. “I’ll do it right—”

  Luke didn’t wait for Alice to finish her sentence before grabbing her arm, pulling her close, and kissing her, all in one swift movement.

  “Wow,” said Alice, after he’d release her.

  “That’s what I think every time I’m near you,” Luke whispered, tucking a curl behind Alice’s ear. “Wow.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow at the lodge?”

  “Yep.”

  “Everyone will be there, you know.”

  “Yep.” Luke grinned. “I hope I get a moment alone with you.”

  “That sounds awfully nice,” said Alice.

  “I have something I want to ask you.”

  Alice felt the heat rise into her cheeks. Even though they’d been dating for over a year, Luke sti
ll had that effect on her. “What is it?”

  “No. Not now,” said Luke, stepping through the door and starting down the stairs, a twinkle in his eyes. “Tomorrow night.”

  Chapter 2

  “Is Beth covering the coffee shop for the rest of the day?” Alice asked Franny as the two of them stood in the garden the following afternoon, looking down over Main Street.

  “Yes, and since we’re closed for New Year’s Day, I feel like I’m on vacation already.”

  “You haven’t really taken time off since you and Ben’s honeymoon in the fall, have you?”

  “Nope. Other than Christmas.” Franny turned a smile on her friend. “How long has it been since you took a vacation? I mean a real vacation where you aren’t in charge of anything.”

  Alice thought for a moment. “It’s been a while,” she admitted. “Good thing I love my job.” Alice sighed contentedly. “I love my little bookshop. I love it that I get to be around books and book lovers every day. And that I don’t have meetings or a lot of stress. And, of course, best of all, I get to work right next door to my two dearest friends in the world.”

  “And, you have a very short commute from home,” said Franny with a laugh.

  “That’s the truth,” said Alice. “Now, we’d better get ready to go out to the lodge. What are you wearing?”

  “My new sweater and those comfy black leggings I just got. This is the first invitation I’ve ever gotten that calls for outdoor casual.”

  “Isn’t it great?” said Alice. “Can you imagine us in cocktail gowns, taking a nature hike, and standing around a bonfire? That would not work.”

  “Where’s Owen, anyway? I know he’s excited to break in his new designer hiking boots.”