A Deadly Slice of Lime: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 6 Read online

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  Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright 2015 by Maven Publishing - All rights reserved.

  All rights Reserved. No part of this publication or the information in it may be quoted from or reproduced in any form by means such as printing, scanning, photocopying or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

  Table of 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

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 1

  “Mom, can I talk to you for a minute?” tall, golden-haired, Tiara asked, leading her petite, dark-haired mother, Marilyn, back to the office at SubLime Sweets, the best Key Lime pie shop in Key West.

  “Sure, honey,” Marilyn’s brow furrowed with concern. Her typically bold and brash daughter seemed unusually subdued. “Is Kelcie handling the front counter?” she asked, making sure that there was coverage in case any customers came in.

  “Yep, she’s got it,” was the brief reply.

  “Is there something wrong?” she queried, trailing down the hall at her daughter’s heels.

  “No.”

  Marilyn frowned again at the brevity of Tiara’s response, but didn’t badger her. Reaching the office, she sat down in her creaking leather desk chair, waiting not-so-patiently to find out what was going on.

  “Now, don’t freak out on me…” Tiara cautioned.

  “Oh my. How do you think I’m supposed to react when you start a conversation like that?”

  “Okay, it’s really not a big deal, or anything, but…”

  Marilyn’s eyes flew open wide and she cut her daughter off abruptly. “Oh no, please tell me that you’re not in trouble,” she demanded.

  “Seriously, Mom? No. I’m not in trouble, I just have something to talk to you about that might make you a bit uncomfortable,” she sighed, reluctant to get into the specifics of whatever it was.

  “Okay, I can’t take it anymore, out with it!” Marilyn commanded.

  Tiara shifted from foot to foot and looked at her mother, pleading for understanding. “I got a call from Dad today,” she mumbled.

  Her mother took a breath, then let it out with relief. This certainly wasn’t what she had expected. “Okay…” she said cautiously, waiting for her to continue.

  “He’s coming to Key West on vacation with a friend of his from work,” she blurted, hoping her mother would take the news well.

  Marilyn blinked, absorbing the information, and not quite knowing how to feel about it. “When?”

  “Tomorrow,” Tiara said, and winced, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

  “Tomorrow? He’s coming here for a vacation and he can’t be bothered to even let you know until the day before? Wow. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” she shook her head in disgust.

  Her daughter sat down on the corner of the desk, looking troubled and a bit forlorn, which was entirely out of character for the strong, confident young woman.

  “Look, Mom, I’ve harbored some really negative feelings about Dad for a very long time, and I’m smart enough to know that that’s not healthy. He called and said that he just wants to see me and try to get to know me now that I’m an adult,” she began.

  “Yes, of course, now that I’ve done all of the hard work of raising you on my own,” Marilyn interjected bitterly.

  “Yeah, he actually acknowledged that, and apologized for it,” Tiara stared hard at her mother. “He seems to have changed a lot, and I want to give him the chance to at least have some sort of relationship with me. It’s not like we’re going to be best friends, and he’ll never be to me what you’ve been, but I owe it to myself to find out what my father is like. This isn’t about him, Mom, it’s about me,” she said gently, hoping for understanding.

  Marilyn nodded slowly, clearly hurt and trying not to show it. “I understand, sweetie,” she said. “Your relationship with your dad is completely up to you. If you feel that it’s important to establish some kind of connection, I think that you’re making a very mature decision, and I respect you for that and support you one hundred percent,” she smiled, her eyes moist. “I’m sure you’ll understand if I practice avoidance maneuvers though.”

  “Yeah, I get it, and from what I saw when I was growing up, I don’t blame you at all for feeling the way that you do. Thanks for understanding, Mom,” Tiara knelt next to the chair and gave her mom a hug.

  “I’m your mom, it’s my job,” was the tearful reply.

  “Kelcie would probably appreciate some help,” her daughter stood, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

  “Undoubtedly,” Marilyn agreed, swiveling back and forth in her chair, staring into space long after her only child left the office. She hadn’t seen Daniel, Tiara’s father in years. He’d been unfaithful and unkind to her before she left, and she moved out of state, never looking back. Florida had been a literal escape to paradise for her and her young daughter. She knew that he contacted Tiara every now and again, and on occasion, she received a birthday card with a small amount of money from her father, but he somehow hadn’t found the time to visit since they’d left the mainland, and Marilyn had figured that her daughter was probably better off without him.

  It had been so difficult being a single mom at first. Daniel hadn’t allowed her to finish college, and baking was the only thing that she knew, so she made a living for herself and her young daughter by first, selling pies out of her tiny kitchen, then moving into a rented space, and finally, being able to afford to buy a prime spot across the street from the beach for her shop. She’d worked hard and lived lean for a long time in order to singlehandedly send her only daughter to college, and she felt more than proud when the lovely young woman had graduated with highest honors. Tiara worked at Sublime Sweets, taking care of the books, business plan and marketing, while sending out resumes in search of her dream job. She’d done such an amazing job that, in the brief time that she’d been on board, business had grown to an extent that they were now working toward expansion within the next year.

  Marilyn was startled out of her reverie by the sound of feet pounding down the hall toward her, and Kelcie, her lovely, young, mocha-skinned assistant, calling out to her with an urgency that was alarming.

  “Ms. Hayes! Ms. Hayes! Come quick, we have an emergency!”

  Chapter 2

  Marilyn was out of her chair like a shot, running down the hallway behind Kelcie, through the kitchen door and out into the front. As soon as she stepped behind the front counter, she caught a glimpse of a frail-looking elderly woman lying on the floor, in front of the door, moaning.

  “Oh my goodness!” she exclai
med, dashing over to the woman, whose purse had spilled its contents all over her entryway. “What happened, are you okay?” she asked, kneeling down.

  “There was water on the floor. I slipped and I think I might have fractured my hip,” the white-haired woman dressed entirely in lavender replied. She frowned at Marilyn, seeming more angry than hurt, but when the concerned shop owner offered to help her sit up, she shook her head and refused, demanding that an ambulance be called.

  “Of course, right away,” Marilyn assured her, pulling her cell phone out of the back pocket of her jeans.

  She called 911 and requested an ambulance, going through a litany of questions regarding the incident and the woman’s condition. When she gave the woman’s name, Elizabeth Melman, the operator replied, “Oh, it’s Lizzie.” Puzzled, Marilyn was about to ask the operator how she was acquainted with Elizabeth, but the woman cut in, telling her that a unit was en route, before she had the chance.

  “Okay, Ms. Melman, the ambulance is on its way,” Marilyn soothed. “Is there anything that I can do to make you more comfortable? Would you like some water? Or, can I put a towel under your head or something?” she asked.

  “You can wrap up a pie to go,” Elizabeth muttered. “I’m sure I’ll be hungry when they get done with me at the hospital. I’m not paying for it though,” she insisted. Marilyn was surprised at her rude tone and unusual request, but, knowing that some people handle their pain differently than others, she just asked Kelcie to box up a pie.

  It took just a few minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and the EMT’s both had strange looks on their faces when they saw the patient. They greeted Elizabeth not only by name, but by a nickname, referring to her as Lizzie, which seemed to only heighten her anger. The techs carefully examined her and lifted her onto a board, amidst much moaning and wailing, taking her away in the ambulance, clutching her purse and the box containing her pie. Marilyn watched them go, arms folded across her middle, hoping that Elizabeth would be okay.

  “Something isn’t right,” Tiara mused, standing beside her mother.

  “Oh, don’t say that, honey. It’s possible that she just bruised her hip or something,” she replied optimistically, absently patting her daughter’s arm.

  “No, that’s not what I mean. I mean, that something about this whole “accident” seems really off kilter,” Tiara shook her head, glancing around the eating area.

  “What do you mean, sweetie?” Marilyn asked.

  “I mean, she said that she slipped in some water on the floor, but I don’t see any water, do you?” she asked, looking closely at the floor, and then at the ceiling, which was clearly dry, so apparently nothing had dripped down, and she observed that it wasn’t raining outside.

  “Well, no, but maybe her clothes absorbed it all,” her mother shrugged, not seeing her point.

  “I didn’t see any dark, wet spots on her light purple outfit either, but it’s more than that,” Tiara frowned. “She acted like she was angry, not like she was in pain, and some of the time it seemed like she forgot that she was supposed to be hurt and was just acting completely normal.”

  “Are you saying that Elizabeth was faking?”

  “I can’t be sure, I’m not a doctor, but that’s certainly what it looked like to me,” she nodded.

  “Kelcie, did you see what happened?” Marilyn asked.

  “No ma’am, I was standing with my back to the door, taking some Lime Tarts off of the tray and putting them into the display case when I heard the door. By the time I turned around, which couldn’t have been more than a second, she was already on the floor, yelling at me.

  “She yelled at you? What did she say?” Tiara asked, eyes narrowed.

  “She said that somebody was going to pay for this, and asked what kind of shoddy business this was and said that broken hips are expensive,” Kelcie recounted, eyes wide.

  “That’s a rather odd response,” Marilyn mused. “You’d think that she’d be crying out in pain and saying that her hip hurt, or asking for help or something. What did you say to her?”

  “I told her that I’d be right back and then I went to the office to find you.”

  “You’re right, Tiara, this does sound like an odd set of circumstances,” her mother nodded. “Well, I hope she gets to enjoy the pie, at least.”

  Chapter 3

  It had been a long day at the shop. Tiara manned the front counter while Marilyn and Kelcie whipped up Key Lime pies, strawberries with Key Lime filling, tarts, cupcakes, puff pastries and even Key Lime cream cakes, gearing up for what promised to be a busy weekend. Marilyn had just settled in on her favorite back patio lounger, with a glass of Merlot and her latest novel, when she heard an all-too familiar voice speaking to her from the other side of the trees that separated her house from that of her crazy neighbor, Tim Eckels.

  “She left with a man,” Tim said, trying to be mysterious.

  Marilyn sighed. After a hard day’s work, all she wanted to do was relax with a good book. She had neither the time, nor the patience, to deal with her omnipresent and insufferably strange neighbor.

  “I know, Tim, it’s nothing to worry about,” she called out, hoping he’d catch her tone and go away. No such luck, he stepped through the trees.

  “He was an older man, and they left together,” he blinked at her owlishly from behind his coke bottle lenses.

  “I’m aware of that,” Marilyn sighed, rapidly losing what little patience that she might have had. “Tiara met her father here because they have a dinner date, not that it’s any of your business,” she looked at the pale, doughy man with utter annoyance. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m busy,” she said, opening her book and pointedly ignoring him.

  Tim stood, staring at her for a couple of minutes, but when she refused to acknowledge his existence, he turned and made his way back through the trees muttering something that sounded like, “Yes, I mind, I mind very much.”

  Marilyn tried to take her mind off of the thought that Tiara was out with her father by immersing herself in the book, and it actually ended up working well enough that the sun set without her noticing it. When it got too dark to see the words on the page, shivering a bit, she closed her book, picked her wine glass up by the stem, and headed inside. Fluffy, the sweet grey tabby that Tiara had rescued, met her at the door, twining between her ankles, begging shamelessly for affection, which Marilyn gladly gave. She set her book and glass down on the kitchen counter, and picked up the purring feline, burying her face in the downy fur on the top of Fluffy’s head. Carrying her through the kitchen, she happened to glance down, and saw with dismay that she’d been so distracted when she came home, that she’d forgotten to refill the cat’s bowl.

  “Oh, poor kitty,” she cooed to the animal thrumming with pleasure in her arms. “That’s why you were trying so hard to get my attention.” Setting Fluffy down next to the bowl, she reached for the jar of dry food in the cubby above and refilled the bowl, also taking the time to empty the water bowl into the sink and refill it with fresh, cool water for good measure. “There you go, pretty kitty,” she sang out, scratching the contented creature between the ears as she began to crunch the little brown pellets.

  Seeing the empty top tray of the organizer that rested atop the kitchen desk, Marilyn realized that she had also forgotten to check the mail when she came home. Shaking her head at her absent-mindedness, she went out the front door and down the porch steps to the mailbox, hoping desperately that she wouldn’t encounter Tim Eckels again, she was in no mood to be polite. A sizable stack of mail awaited her and she began flipping through it on her way back into the house. Plopping down on the couch, she continued to sort, tossing junk mail into a pile to be recycled, putting personal mail on the coffee table, and bills on the couch next to her. She saw an official-looking letter, and noticed that the return address included the name of a local law firm. Using the mahogany handled letter opener that she’d bought at a souvenir stand when she’d first moved to Key West, she slit open the en
velope and unfolded the contents.

  She read the letter once, twice and a third time, just to make certain that she was interpreting it correctly, and her mouth fell open in shock. Elizabeth Melman was suing her for four million dollars. Her heart sunk. Four million dollars would bankrupt her – she’d lose everything that she’d worked so hard to achieve. Marilyn’s head spun with the implications of the lawsuit. An elderly woman had fallen, and she could potentially be rendered penniless because of it.

  Chapter 4

  “I knew it,” Tiara muttered, shaking her head as she read the letter from Elizabeth Melman’s attorney. “She was faking – she’s just doing this for the money. I’m glad that I took pictures of the dry floor, the dry ceiling and the sunny day outside while she was lying there on the floor.”

  “That was obviously a smart thing to do, sweetie,” Marilyn nodded, thankful for her daughter’s intuition and quick thinking. “I guess I’ll have to get an attorney,” she sighed, thinking of the expense.

  “Maybe not just yet,” Tiara mused, perusing the letter. “This says that the preliminary hearing isn’t until 60 days from the date of the accident, which was three days ago. She must’ve filed the lawsuit while she was in the Emergency Room,” she grimaced, disgusted. “I say that we do some poking around and see what Elizabeth Melman is all about. If we can somehow prove that she was faking it, we may be able to get her attorney to drop the case, and not have to even bother going to court.”

  “That would be a relief,” her mother nodded. “Let me do some research – I’ll see what I can find out.”