Banana Split and Bodies Read online

  The sale of the house had been a source of tension between the siblings because while Lydia had inherited enough money and a blessing from their uncle to follow her dream and open up a taffy shop, Leo had just been left instructions on how to best sell the house.

  Lydia thought that the reason why she and Aunt Edie had been left money was because they needed a little nudge towards following their dreams, and Leo had already achieved his when he became a detective for the Ocean Point police. However, it had taken a while for Leo to come to this same conclusion.

  He had originally pawned off the task of selling the house to Lydia and had agonized about what he had done wrong to offend their uncle. It was only recently that Leo and Lydia had made peace and Leo seemed to remember that their uncle really did care for him.

  Lydia set the takeout containers on the counter when she got home. Then, she greeted Sunny. The lazy dog had pulled herself off of one of her many dog beds around the house when she realized her favorite human had arrived home with something smelling delicious. Lydia petted the French bulldog mix and then saw the pup’s pointed ears turn toward the door.

  “Looks like I had excellent timing,” Lydia said as Sunny wagged her tiny tail, anticipating the arrival of another Doherty that she loved.

  Lydia headed to the door and opened it just as a knock sounded. Her brother Leo grinned at the speedy greeting.

  He bent down to say hello to Sunny as Lydia said, “I hope you like lo mein.”

  Sunny barked to inform the others that she certainly appreciated the food and Lydia chuckled as she led Leo to the kitchen table and handed him a carton.

  “I love it and thanks for having me over,” Leo said. “I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

  “Trina and I were thinking of having one of our girl’s nights,” Lydia said, referring to her best friend. “But she’s sick. She thinks it’s a summer cold.”

  “And you didn’t think of inviting Daniel over?” Leo teased.

  Lydia blushed when she heard the lifeguard’s name but quickly recovered. “Daniel and I are just friends. Maybe it will grow into something more someday, but we’re taking it slow. We both have some baggage. And be careful. If you start prying into my dating life, big brother, I’ll start looking into yours.”

  “That’s not a deterrent right now,” Leo said. “There’s no special lady in my life at the moment. Actually, I haven’t been on a date since a disastrous blind one that the dispatcher set me up on. Still, it wasn’t as bad as the ones that Aunt Edie used to send me on. Remember the time she had me go on a date with someone she said was a very sweet and kind girl, and she punched me in the face when she didn’t like the dessert menu?”

  Lydia laughed at the memory. “Aunt Edie tried to make it up to you by making your favorite snacks all month. I got so tired of cheese fries.”

  “And she still tried to set me up on blind dates!” Leo said.

  It felt good to be able to reminisce and joke with one another again. Lydia could understand why Leo had been upset by the will, but she had been hurt by his cold behavior. She had missed her brother and felt like it was a time when they should have been there to comfort one another. She was glad that things seemed pretty much back to normal between them. They might drive each other crazy at times, but they also had one another’s back.

  “But I guess we should focus on what we need to discuss instead of my hatred toward blind dates,” Leo said.

  Sunny let out a small bark.

  “I think that’s a request for a lo mein noodle and not a comment on dating,” Lydia said.

  Leo pushed his half-finished food to the side and took some papers out of his pocket. He set them on the table, and Lydia leaned over to look.

  “I’ve made a note of the important instructions that Uncle Edgar had for the best way to sell the house. I talked them over with our new realtor, and he agreed that some of the ideas might help it be bought faster.”

  “I can’t believe Uncle Edgar made such detailed notes and that they were almost ignored.”

  Leo shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Well, I wasn’t in the best head space after he died. I missed him and was mad. Because he basically left me out of the will, I was afraid I had done something to offend him, and I didn’t know what it was. Now, I think you’re right that he was just trying to help you and Aunt Edie achieve your goals because you needed it. He knew that I would be all right. But at the time… Well, I was upset, so I decided to ignore his ideas about how to sell the house.”

  “I’m glad we’re looking at them now,” Lydia said. “I would have felt bad if we sold the house without honoring his final wishes about what to do with it as we pass it on to the next owners.”

  “I should have told you about his instructions earlier when I tried to push the chore of selling it off on you.”

  “Mistakes were made, but let’s now dwell on them,” Lydia said, purposefully ignoring how Leo had almost arrested her for murder around the same time. “What’s the next step that we take?”

  “Uncle Edgar suggested that we have a designer, Suzanne Peppercorn, work on the front porch, so it looks more inviting to potential buyers. I’ve emailed her, and she said she could stop by tomorrow around noon to look at it. Does that work for you? I could be here if you can’t.”

  “No. That works fine for me. I can be here then.” Sunny pushed her head against Lydia’s leg to remind her of her presence, and Lydia added, “And Sunny will be here too. She’ll act as a guard dog if Suzanne tries to make too drastic a change.”

  “I wondered if she’s related to the Peppercorns who used to live in town,” Leo said. “They ran a boat tour company when we were in school, but then they moved.”

  “I don’t really remember that,” Lydia admitted. She was a few years younger than her brother, but she often knew the people he spoke about from school.

  “Oh, well, I had a big crush on Annie Peppercorn. So, I was somewhat devastated when the family moved. But that was a long time ago.” Leo looked down as if embarrassed after admitting that. He picked at his food. “But, what’s going on with you? You looked a little down when I arrived. Is it about selling the house or something else?”

  “Something else, though I’m hoping it’s nothing. Amber from the ice cream shop accused me of sabotaging her. I don’t know if it’s better to ignore her claims or fight back. I don’t want to upset her too much because her best friend is a reporter.”

  Leo’s phone began ringing, and he excused himself. “Just a minute. I need to take this.”

  Lydia looked down at Sunny as they heard bits and pieces of Leo’s conversation. It didn’t sound like good news.

  “I’m sorry to eat and dash,” Leo said when he walked back into the room. “But that was my partner. I need to go to a crime scene.”

  “A crime scene?”

  Leo paused. “I know you’ve gotten involved in some of my cases before even though I told you not to. But you said that you only did that because someone you cared about was involved. That’s not the case this time. There’s no need for you to try and do any sleuthing. Can you promise me that you’ll stay out of it this time?”

  Lydia didn’t like being put on the spot, and she didn’t like that she wasn’t getting any credit for her help in putting several killers behind bars. However, he was right that she had only started investigating the crimes because they affected someone she cared about. She supposed she didn’t need to put herself in harm’s way for no reason.

  “Fine,” Lydia said. “As long as there’s no pressing reason for me to get involved, then I won’t.”

  “Thank you.” Leo did indeed seem grateful with her answer.

  “Did someone die?” asked Lydia. “Is this another murder case?”

  “Yes. But this is my business, not yours,” he said as he walked to the door and left.

  Lydia frowned. Sunny moved closer to show her support and Lydia petted the dog’s head. It felt strange to know that something terrible had just
happened in town, but that she didn’t know any details about it. Why couldn’t Leo have told her anything? Now she was concerned, and her curiosity was ignited. Who was just murdered?

  4

  Suzanne and Sharing Secrets

  “And you don’t have any idea what happened?” Trina asked.

  “Not at all,” Lydia said into her cell phone. She was trying to update her best friend on her dinner with Leo, but the fact that he was called away to a murder scene was distracting her from discussing their house selling plans.

  “I didn’t see anything in the paper,” said Trina. Her voice sounded strange and stuffy because of her cold.

  “I think it was too late for it to make it into today’s paper. It was late to begin with when Leo came over. I think it was about eleven when he left.”

  “I hate being sick. If I was able to work at the salon, I’m sure I would have learned some details by now. I bet I would have at least learned who it was that died.”

  “It bothers me that I don’t know,” Lydia admitted. “But I’m sure Leo would have told me if it was someone that we knew that had been killed, and I know that my employees are all okay. I checked in with them before I came back home to meet the designer.”

  “I wish I could be there,” Trina said, sounding miserable. “I’d love to see what the plans are for the house instead of sneezing on my couch.”

  “I’ll take pictures if they do anything today,” Lydia promised. “And I’ll bring you some soup and taffy later. But I should get going before Suzanne arrives.”

  “Okay. See if you can find out any details from Leo!”

  Lydia agreed and said goodbye to her friend. She sat on her front porch with a cup of coffee and looked around. She thought that it looked homey, but it was possible that more could be done to make it eye-catching.

  Sunny found a spot of sunshine to lie in and was snoozing but woke up when she heard someone approaching. Lydia was surprised to see her brother arrive.

  “I didn’t think you’d be here,” Lydia said. “I told you I could meet the designer and I figured you’d have to work on your new case.”

  “I’m not going to tell you anything about the case,” Leo said first thing as way of a greeting.

  Lydia crossed her arms. “I wasn’t asking you to. I was just surprised to see you.”

  He eyed her, but then seemed to be appeased. He sat down on the porch next to Sunny and started rubbing the dog’s belly, making her very happy.

  “I wanted to show that I was really on board with selling the house now and that I could be supportive,” he said. “And Detective Grey can survive without me for an hour.”

  Lydia bit back her tongue. She wanted to ask how difficult the case could be if it could allow for one of its lead detectives to take care of personal business in the afternoon. Did they already have a lead and thought that it would be solved soon?

  She decided to tease him about something else so she wouldn’t be tempted to ask about the case immediately and put him in a bad mood right before they had company. She knew it was sweet that he was taking time off to show that he wanted to make up for abandoning Uncle Edgar’s instructions earlier. She might be able to find out about the murder later on.

  “Are you sure that’s why you’re here? And that you’re not here to try and find out if this designer is related to your lost love?”

  “It was seventh grade, so I hardly think it was love,” Leo protested. “And I don’t need to be here. I could leave if you want.”

  Sunny protested and pawed at his hand that had stopped petting her belly.

  “I don’t want you to go,” said Lydia. “But I do want to remind you of a song from our childhood, and I’ll personalize it. Leo and Annie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

  Leo rolled his eyes as Lydia sang the silly song. Sunny was the only one who didn’t let the shenanigans distract her from the arrival of a newcomer. Though she didn’t roll off her back in case she could still get tummy rubs, she let out a bark to announce the new person.

  “Am I interrupting something?” the woman asked.

  She had blonde hair pulled back in a bright headband. Her dress had a funky design on it, but it was partially covered with a suit jacket. She was holding a binder and looked like she was holding back laughter.

  Lydia started blushing and stammered to explain why she had been acting so juvenile. However, Leo soon took the focus away from her. He jumped to his feet and took a step toward the designer.

  “Annie?” he asked.

  She stared at him for a moment, and then recognition dawned on her face. “Leo Doherty?”

  “I didn’t know you moved back here, Annie,” he said.

  “I go by Suzanne now instead of my nickname. But I moved back here about a year and a half ago.”

  “I haven’t seen you around,” Leo said. Lydia could tell that he was trying to sound casual, but that he was disappointed that he hadn’t run into her before. He must have had a really big crush on this girl when he was in school.

  “I’m always traveling these days to look at places for clients and work on designs for them,” Suzanne said. “And I suppose you had a difficult year. You said in your email that your uncle passed away and that’s why you needed to sell the house, right?”

  “That’s right,” said Lydia, before introducing herself. “And it’s very nice to meet you.”

  Sunny stepped forward, and Suzanne bent down. “And who is this? Is this your dog, Leo?”

  “This is Sunny, my sister’s dog. I don’t have any pets right now. My job keeps me pretty busy.”

  “I feel the same,” Suzanne agreed. “Though I would love to have a pet. And what job do you have now? I think in school you wanted to be a detective.”

  He nodded. “And that’s what I became. I go by Detective Doherty these days.”

  “Congratulations,” Suzanne said. “I’m impressed that you knew what you wanted to do and achieved it. It took me a long while to figure out what I wanted to do, but I think I found it.”

  “But you were always talented in art class,” said Leo. “And my uncle obviously thought that you were skilled since he told us to hire you.”

  “I can’t believe it’s been so long. I keep running into people I used to know in Ocean Point, but it’s still surprising to see how people have changed. You’re really a detective now?”

  Leo tried to shrug it off. “I just do my best to protect and serve.”

  Lydia saw an opportunity to get Leo talking and decided to take it. “He’s being too modest. He does a lot to keep our community safe, and he’s solved many difficult cases.”

  Leo smiled as he saw how impressed Suzanne looked. “I suppose I have caught a few dangerous criminals and seen my fair share of action.”

  “And he just started on a new murder investigation,” Lydia continued. “And I’m sure he’ll make short work of it.”

  “A murder?” Suzanne asked.

  “That’s right,” Leo said, putting on an air of bravado. “A man was killed last night on the boardwalk. He was bludgeoned to death. But I’m sure I’ll catch the person responsible soon.”

  “I hope so,” Suzanne said, biting her lip. “It’s scary to think that a killer is loose in town. The victim wasn’t someone we knew from school, was it?”

  “His name was Norman Nunn,” said Leo.

  “Norman Nunn,” Lydia repeated, trying to place him.

  Leo must have realized what she was up to then and clenched his jaw. He glared at her. “That’s right. And it’s not anyone you know, is it? And his death didn’t happen by your taffy shop. So, you have no reason to get involved, right?”

  “I guess not,” Lydia said.

  “My sister has tried to insert herself in several cases,” Leo explained to Suzanne.

  “If by insert, you mean solve,” Lydia mumbled.

  However, she let him change the topic of conversation away from the case and back toward changes to the porch. Suzanne seemed to think tha
t adding a few objects would make it more attractive to potential buyers. She explained that playing up a beach or nautical theme, which was usually subtler with year-round residents, would help attract someone looking for a beach house.

  “I have some things that I think could help,” Suzanne said. “Would you like me to bring them over?”

  “That would be great,” Leo said. “I’d love to see you – I mean, I’d love to see them.”

  Lydia smiled. She had discovered some information about Leo’s case that she could tell Trina, and it looked like hiring a decorator had been a good idea. She might be able to speed up the sale of the house, and it didn’t take a detective to see that Leo was still interested in her.