Chocolate Cherry and Chills Read online

  Chocolate Cherry and Chills

  Sticky Sweet Cozy Mysteries, Book 10

  Allyssa Mirry

  Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Copyright 2019 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

  1. Diamond Rings

  2. The Festive Flounder

  3. Bad Date Discussion

  4. The Dead Date

  5. Statements at the Station

  6. Thoughts on Poison

  7. Hot Coffee

  8. Report on the Proposal

  9. An Unexpected Dinner Guest

  10. Taffy Talk

  11. The Boss’s Thoughts

  12. Ring and Reasons

  13. Leo’s Laments

  14. The Man in the Windbreaker

  15. Thinking Aloud

  16. The Killer’s Plan

  Epilogue

  Also by Allyssa Mirry

  Author’s Note

  Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  1

  Diamond Rings

  Lydia Doherty stared at the row of diamond rings in front of her. Normally, if she ever entered this jewelry shop, she would admire the artisan sea glass pieces. However, today, her focus was entirely on the shiny engagement rings. The diamonds sparkled enticingly, and each band had an interesting design on it. They were all lovely and could be worn proudly until death did one part.

  “Which one do you like?”

  Lydia wanted to let price be the determining factor, but she was pretty sure that the man she was with would be able to detect that this was the reason for her choice. She took a piece of her newest flavor of taffy, Chocolate Cherry, out of her purse. She quickly unwrapped it and stuffed it into her mouth to give her a moment to avoid responding. As she tasted the sweet confection, her thoughts drifted to the taffy shop she owned and how she would much rather be there than in this jewelry shop right now.

  “Well?”

  Lydia finished her taffy and looked up at her brother. Impatience was creeping into his face.

  “They’re all beautiful. It’s hard to pick,” she said finally.

  He seemed appeased that she answered him but still wanted to make a final decision. Lydia wasn’t sure what to tell him. She was glad, however, that they had finally gotten the saleslady to give them a moment alone. That had made the discussion even more unbearable as the young woman with curly blonde hair stressed how every girl dreamed of the moment she would be proposed to and how the ring should be perfect. She was now assisting another customer, so Lydia and Leo could look at the diamond rings by themselves.

  “So, you think Suzanne would like any one of them?” Leo asked.

  “I think she would,” Lydia told him. “But do you think that maybe you’re rushing into this? Is it possible that you’re buying a ring too early?”

  “I love Suzanne, and she loves me,” Leo said with a shrug. “What else is there to consider?”

  Lydia bit her lip. She thought that there was actually quite a bit to consider. She thought Leo and Suzanne were a great couple. She really did. She also liked that Suzanne had gotten approval from the people who raised her and her brother. When their Aunt Edie had briefly returned to Ocean Point in between stops on her world travels, she had said how much she like “that sweet” Suzanne. Though he has since passed on, Uncle Edgar had also shown how much he approved of Suzanne by orchestrating that Leo and Suzanne would meet again when work needed to be done on the family home. Lydia thought that Suzanne would make a great sister-in-law.

  However, despite how good they seemed together, they had not actually been together that long. They hadn’t even been dating the entire summer yet. Lydia couldn’t help thinking that Leo was rushing into an engagement, though she knew the reason why.

  Suzanne and another woman had been kidnapped when a killer’s plan went awry. It was only due to some quick thinking and code-breaking on Lydia’s part that Suzanne and the other woman were saved. Leo was someone who liked to jump into action, and as a detective for the Ocean Point Police Force, he usually got the chance. However, he had been placed on desk duty for that case because it was the woman he loved who was in danger, he was “too close to it” to see the clues objectively.

  It seemed that now he was jumping into action to try and prove to Suzanne how much he loved her. However, Lydia wasn’t sure that right after a trauma was the best time to make life-changing decisions.

  Lydia tried to figure out the best way to phrase everything that she had been thinking into something that her brother wouldn’t be offended to hear. There had been some bad blood between her and her brother for a while after Uncle Edgar had given out what seemed to be an unfair split of the inheritance between them. However, things between them had been getting better. This was in part due to Suzanne. Uncle Edgar had given Lydia enough money to open up her own salt water taffy shop on the boardwalk of the Jersey Shore, but he had also given Leo a gift too. He had provided an opportunity for Leo to reconnect with the person he had a crush on in grade school. Now the relationship between Leo and Suzanne was blossoming.

  “Leo, you know that I think Suzanne is amazing. And it’s not just because she offered to help me decorate my new house. I think she’s creative and smart and kind.”

  “I do too,” Leo said affectionately.

  “And I like the two of you together too,” Lydia continued. “But I think that it might be too early for a proposal. You don’t want to do it based on fear…

  Leo cut her off. “Are you sure that you’re not projecting your own issues about engagements onto this?”

  She opened her mouth to protest but then paused. This was something she hadn’t considered before, and he might have a point. Lydia had been engaged before, but she had ended up throwing her engagement ring back at her fiancé before leaving him. Her fiancé had not been supportive when her uncle became ill, and she began to recognize his pattern of selfish behavior. Until that moment, she had considered herself in love with him. This relationship had certainly affected her in regards to dating. She was more cautious now, and she was taking her new relationship with a handsome lifeguard who had helped her with some investigations before slowly.

  However, Lydia hadn’t thought that this had affected her views on marriage in general. Was it possible that her worries for her bother were just her jaded feelings toward engagements because hers had ended badly? Or was she really being practical and hoping to help him avoid a mistake?

  “I don’t think this has to do with my engagement,” Lydia said slowly. “And I would love to see you propose to Suzanne. I just think it might be a better idea if you waited a year. Or at least a few months.”

  Leo didn’t seem to want to hear this. He shook his head. “If you’re not going to be helpful, I can pick out the ring on my own. I thought it would be nice to have a female’s opinion, but I’m sure I can figure this out on my own.”

  “Oh, so I’m not here because I’m your sister? I’m only here because I’m the one woman you could ask to help you with something like this?”

  “Well, Aunt Edie isn’t in town,” Leo mumbled.

  Lydia took a deep breath. She had to admit that it hurt a little to hear that she was only asked here by default. However, it was possible that Leo felt this way because of
her attitude toward his idea to propose so soon. She would have to appear more supportive to let him know how much she cared about him. She had been so glad that they had been getting along and she didn’t want to lose her brother again.

  “That one,” Lydia said, pointing to a ring with a braided band and two smaller stones offsetting a larger one. “I think that’s the one that matches Suzanne’s style the best. She needs something timeless but also unique and just a touch eccentric. This is like the rooms she decorates – classic but fun.”

  Leo grinned. “I was leaning towards that one myself.”

  Lydia returned his smile, happy that the one she picked wasn’t the most expensive of the options. He gave his sister a small hug.

  “Thanks for being a part of this. I know you’re nervous that I’m making a mistake, but I know I’m not. I want to spend the rest of my life with Suzanne, and I’m sure she does too. We’re going to be very happy. I’ll just need to find the perfect way to propose.”

  Lydia nodded, trying to absorb his optimism and ignore the nervousness she really felt.

  2

  The Festive Flounder

  Lydia looked at the appetizer that had been delivered to her table a few minutes before and let out a laugh. Her date, Daniel, looked up at her.

  “I’m sorry,” Lydia said, trying to contain her giggles. “We’ve been looking forward to trying this new restaurant together, but it’s clear that we’re both distracted tonight. I keep thinking about my brother, and something is clearly on your mind too. We haven’t started eating. We both have these glum faces on, and I realized what a stark contrast it was to this place.”

  Daniel joined her laughter. They had been excited to try the new seafood restaurant that opened on the boardwalk, both because they had heard it was a fun place to visit and because they were looking for a place to enjoy seafood that wasn’t affiliated with the seafood market that was owned by the ex-boyfriend of Lydia’s best friend, Trina. However, the Festive Flounder was more of a tourist trap than they expected. Everything had silly names and the mini crab cakes that they had ordered were arranged to look like a tap dancing crab.

  “Leo told me that I should scout out this place to see if it would be romantic enough for a proposal,” Lydia said. “Can you imagine it here amongst all the singing fish on the wall?”

  “It would make for quite a story,” Daniel said.

  “He’d have to tell Suzanne that she is quite a catch,” Lydia joked.

  “And that he is glad he caught her,” Daniel replied. “And that he will no longer have to look at the other fish in the sea.”

  They continued laughing and then began to enjoy their appetizer. Though they had thought the arrangement was silly, they found that the food was very tasty.

  “What was bothering you?” Lydia asked as they made their way through their food.

  Daniel looked away. “I suppose I was thinking that I’m still the loner I was when I first came to town.”

  “Oh?” Lydia asked, feeling a tad insecure. Maybe going out to eat on what felt like an official date was putting too much pressure on them.

  “Not in regards to you,” Daniel said quickly when he saw her face. “No. I’m very glad that we’ve been spending time together. Even if it does occasionally involve chasing down killers.”

  “Then, what makes you want to stay alone?”

  “Well, I decided that I would try to get more involved in the town. I wanted people to stop commenting on how mysterious I seemed to be. I never meant to be mysterious.”

  “Saying something like that makes you seem mysterious,” Lydia teased.

  “I liked my privacy. But I am warming up to this town too. And I wanted to help it. You remember the shenanigans we uncovered on one of our cases and how money for the community center had gone missing?”

  Lydia nodded. “How could I forget? We were accusing the mayor of being a suspect.”

  “Well, since I also do give swimming lessons to children at the community center, I thought helping it to raise the money that was lost again would be a worthwhile investment. So, I joined a committee.”

  “A committee? Daniel, you are becoming a true member of the community. You’re on your way to becoming a resident and not a tourist.”

  “I’m regretting it,” Daniel said. “All of the fundraising ideas sound like they’ll have me doing something I don’t want to do.”

  “Like being a part of a dunking game where kids throw balls at a target to make you fall into a pool of water?” Lydia joked.

  “That’s the least awful of them all.”

  “That’s really something that they are considering?” Lydia asked, surprised.

  “I don’t want to dwell on this anymore,” Daniel said. “It’s bad enough that it occupied my attention earlier and there’s nothing I can do about the committee’s decisions tonight. I want to hear about your day.”

  She smiled at him. “Well, my new taffy flavor is doing well. But I had to leave the shop to help Leo with his engagement ring shopping. And you know that I have mixed feelings about this. I want to be supportive, but I think Leo is acting rashly.”

  “You’ve told him your opinion. There’s nothing else you can do right now,” Daniel said, supportively.

  “I know. But the love lives of the people I care about keep distracting me. I’m also worried about Trina.”

  “Because of her break up?”

  “I do think it’s for the best,” Lydia said. “I never really thought that Carl gave her the attention she deserved.”

  Daniel shrugged. “I liked him when we went on that double date, but I also thought he was a murder suspect. You’re probably a better judge of his character.”

  “He wasn’t a bad guy, but he wasn’t a good boyfriend either,” Lydia summed up. “And I know in the end that Trina will find someone who truly makes her happy. But she’s nervous about dating new people, and she’s on a date tonight. I hope it goes well.”

  “I bet it will,” Daniel said. “Even if they don’t have Festive Flounder Flatbread wherever they ended up going.”

  Lydia chuckled and picked up her menu to finally decide on her entrée. She and Daniel enjoyed discussing the names of the dishes and finally settled on what they wanted. Lydia was commenting on how she would never have thought that she would order a dish with the word “scintillating” like the salmon steak she had picked, but then her cell phone started ringing.

  “It’s Trina,” Lydia said, looking at her phone.

  “Answer it,” Daniel advised. “If she’s on her first date after the breakup, she might need to hear from a friend. And I don’t mind.”

  Lydia thanked him, and she answered the call.

  “Liddy, it’s awful!” Trina said.

  “What happened?” asked Lydia, wondering why their waiter had chosen this moment when she had clearly just answered a call to come and take the rest of their order. Daniel spoke to him as Lydia focused on her friend’s anguish.

  “He left me!”

  “He left you?”

  “We saw a movie together, and it seemed fine. Traditional date thing to do. Then, we went out for coffee, and I thought things were still going well. And when I went to the ladies room to wash my hands, one of the female employees pulled me aside and told me that my date lived right around the corner and he would probably try to invite me back to his place. And it made sense because then I realized that he got our drinks in to-go cups even though we were seated at a table. I wasn’t sure whether I would accept this invitation or not. I was considering it. But then he never asked me. He pretended he was feeling sick and left the coffee shop. He barely said goodbye and just ran away. I don’t know what I did wrong.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Daniel waved to get Lydia’s attention, and she asked Trina to wait one moment.

  “I ordered the meals we picked to-go and added a third dinner for Trina,” Daniel said. “It sounds like she needs you.”

&
nbsp; Lydia paused, looking at him for a little too long. He finally asked, “What?”

  “I think you might be perfect,” Lydia said finally.

  He laughed it off, but she had meant it. Now she knew what it meant to have someone who supported you and the people and things you cared about.

  She told Trina that she should go directly over to her house where they would all have some seafood with silly names and would try to turn the night around.