Bourbon Creme Killer: Book 9 in The INNcredibly Sweet Series Read online

  CHAPTER THREE

  Echo Willis was the proud owner of a handmade candle shop downtown, and the adjoining bookstore that had been willed to her when its owner passed away. She’d made an open archway between the two shops and had hired a spunky young woman named Joyce Rutledge to run the bookstore, while she presided over the candle side. This morning, the book store had been abuzz, but the candle shop had been relatively quiet, for which she was thankful. She hadn’t planned on getting pregnant, and had had no idea of how tired she’d be all the time. The little one that she carried within her was only the size of a peanut, but its presence weighed on her mightily.

  “Whew! Lord, Miss Echo,” Joyce came over to the candle counter during a lull in the action, fanning herself with her hands. “I thought that line was never going to wind down.”

  Echo leaned wearily against the counter.

  “I’m so thankful that you’re here to help me handle this,” she smiled weakly.

  Joyce pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow, assessing her boss.

  “I know that you and I come from different worlds on this, ma’am, but that baby you’ve got is just crying out for some real food. That vegan stuff is fine for adults, but that child’s got bones and organs that need to develop and grow. You need to eat some meat, girl,” she admonished. “You just say the word and I’ll bring in some hearty helpings of soul food. My cornbread and barbecued brisket is just what you need, mark my words.”

  Echo blinked at her assistant, turned a pale shade of green and bolted for the bathroom.

  “Or not,” Joyce remarked dryly. “Take your time, Miss Echo, I got this,” she called after her boss, shaking her head. “Maybe if you ate some macaroni with real cheese instead of all those vegetables, your food would stay down better,” she muttered, picking up a vanilla-cupcake-scented candle and sniffing it.

  “Hey, Mr. Kel,” Joyce greeted Echo’s fiancé, when the chimes above the door tinkled, announcing his presence. “You’re looking a little pale. You got morning sickness too?” she teased.

  “Something like that,” he smiled wanly. “Where’s my lovely woman?”

  “In the ladies room losing her breakfast, I’m assuming. That girl needs some good old-fashioned protein,” she observed.

  “Good luck with that,” Kel replied, heading toward the restrooms.

  “Mmhmm…” Joyce folded her arms, watching him go.

  ***

  Kel rapped lightly on the bathroom door.

  “Echo, dearest… are you okay?” he called out.

  “I’m fine,” she answered weakly. He heard water running and waited until it stopped before trying again.

  “Is there anything you need? Can I help?”

  There was silence for a moment, then Echo opened the door, pale and with a sheen of sweat on her face. Her curly red hair was frizzy, and she leaned into her fiancé’s strong embrace.

  “I don’t feel good,” she sighed.

  “Let’s get you home,” Kel brushed damp strands of hair back from her face.

  “I can’t go home, it’s the middle of the work day,” she protested.

  “We’ll take care of that,” he assured her, propelling her gently toward the front of the shop, where Joyce was busy rearranging a candle display.

  “Joyce, do you suppose that you could handle watching over both sides of the shop for the rest of the afternoon?” he asked, one arm supporting his limp fiancée.

  “No problem at all,” she nodded. “You go on home, Miss Echo, and don’t worry about a thing.”

  “Joyce, you’re a treasure. I’m giving you a raise,” Echo murmured, her head against Kel’s broad chest.

  “You did that last week, ma’am, we’re good,” the lovely, mocha-skinned young woman chuckled. “I get to spend my days surrounded by books and smelling delicious candles. What more could a girl want?”

  “Thank you so much, Joyce,” Kel smiled appreciatively, guiding Echo from the store.

  “Take care, Mr. Kel,” she waved at the couple. “I’m gonna make her some ribs and disguise them as tofu, I swear,” she murmured as they left the store.

  ***

  Echo and Kel were nearly at her house before she realized how odd it was that her fiancé had stopped by in the middle of the work day.

  “Shouldn’t you be at the studio?” she asked, frowning.

  “Yes,” he nodded, keeping his eyes on the road.

  “Then why are you here? I told you that you shouldn’t worry about me so much, honey. I’ll be fine. I just need to drink some mushroom broth or something,” she leaned her head back against the seat, placing her hand on his knee as he drove.

  “There’s something that I’d like to discuss with you, my darling girl,” he replied, not looking at her.

  “Are you okay? Is something wrong?” she sat up, concerned.

  “I just have a lot on my mind,” he hedged, and she immediately knew something was wrong. Kel was a master of conversation, and usually loved nothing more than to share his thoughts. Seeing him quiet and pensive was more than a bit unsettling.

  “Pull over,” Echo demanded, putting her hand over her mouth.

  Kel swerved over onto the shoulder, and she leaned out of the car, dry heaving as her concerned fiancé stroked her back and held her hair. When the spasms passed, she sat back against the seat weakly, her eyes closed.

  “I’m so sorry you’re not feeling well,” Kel lifted her hand and kissed it softly.

  “I just want to go home,” she moaned, not bothering to open her eyes.

  “We’re almost there, sweetie. Do you feel well enough to get back on the road?”

  Echo nodded, refastening her seat belt and groaning a bit at the contact with her tummy.

  “You poor thing,” Kel murmured. “Let’s get you home.”

  ***

  After Kel got his weak and weary fiancée settled on her sofa with a cup of herbal tea and a handful of soda crackers, he sat down next to her and took her hands in his.

  “What is it?” she put her cup down, and stared at him, worried.

  The artist sighed, and gazed at her as though he was trying to find just the right words.

  “Did you change your mind?” she whispered, her lower lip trembling.

  “Change my mind? About what?” Kel was baffled.

  “About marrying me and having a baby and all of that? Is this scaring you? Is it too much? Am I not what you expected?” she asked tremulously, her eyes welling with tears. Clearly hormones were trumping common sense at the moment.

  “Oh love, how can you even ask that?” he chided gently, pulling her into his arms to ease her fears. “Nothing in this world could change the way that I feel about you,” he soothed, letting her snuffling wet the front of his shirt for a bit.

  When her tears had subsided, he drew back a bit, and tilted her chin up for a chaste kiss.

  “I love you, dearest, and because I love you, I’m hoping that you’ll be very understanding about what I need to tell you,” he began, stroking her cheek.

  Echo’s eyes widened, and she dabbed the tears from her face, staring at him with trepidation.

  “Okay…”

  “I had a visitor at my house this morning.”

  “Who?”

  “A young man named Scott Hammond.”

  “Okay.”

  Echo was bracing herself for bad news and wondering what on earth he was going to tell her.

  “He’s from Illinois, and his mother is missing.”

  “I’m confused as to why any of this is important,” she frowned, hoping that her fuzzy pregnancy brain wasn’t causing her to misunderstand something.

  “He needs my help.”

  “He’s from Illinois and he needs your help? Who is this guy?”

  “He’s… oh dear Echo… he’s my son,” Kel’s eyes pleaded for her understanding.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “He has a what?” Missy demanded, putting down her mug of coffee.

  “A fifteen-y
ear-old son named Scott,” Echo replied, shaking her head and staring down into her oatmeal.

  She had met Missy at the cupcake shop, Cupcakes in Paradise, and had expressly forbidden her fiancé from joining them because she desperately needed some quality “girl time” with her best friend.

  “Why didn’t he tell you about him?”

  “He had no idea. Apparently his girlfriend found out that she was pregnant, broke up with him and left town. He says the boy looks just like him,” Echo poked her spoon into the tasty mushy goo that Missy had made, not eating a bite.

  Missy reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand.

  “How are you feeling about all of this?” she asked.

  Echo shrugged her shoulders.

  “Well, it seems to me that now that he knows Scott exists, he should help him. I don’t know why the boy’s mother decided to keep the secret from Kel, but the cat’s out of the bag now, and he can be a part of his life. He should be part of his life.”

  “How did I know you’d say something wonderful like that?” her friend grinned proudly.

  “Wonderful? Hardly. It’s just the right thing to do,” was the pragmatic reply.

  “Well, I’m still going to think of you as an amazing human being. Not all women would have taken the news so well,” Missy pointed out.

  “Everyone has a past. Kel just happens to have a past that produced a child. I was incredibly lucky, or that would be my story too. If Scott is a part of Kel, I’m sure that I’ll love him.”

  “When do you meet him?”

  “Tonight. I’m kind of nervous.”

  “I can’t even imagine,” Missy shook her head.

  “I’m hoping that we all get along well and that we can involve him in the wedding.”

  “That would be wonderful. So, where is Scott’s mother, and why is he here?”

  “That’s the thing… the reason that Scott searched for Kel in the first place is because his mother is missing,” Echo sighed, finally taking a tiny bite of oatmeal, to Missy’s delight.

  “Missing? Oh my goodness, that’s awful. Do the police have any leads?”

  “He says that he can’t go to the police because he feels like she might be with her boyfriend and that telling the police might put her in more danger.”

  “Yikes,” Missy frowned. “So… how can Kel help?”

  “You know Kel,” Echo smiled faintly. “He’s already been in contact with Jeanette’s mom, and is going to see her later this afternoon.”

  “That had to have been an awkward conversation.”

  “I don’t even want to think about it,” Echo took another bite of the goo, washing it down with a sip of mint tea.

  “So, is Scott staying with Kel now?”

  “Yes, and I think that if Kel doesn’t get any good info from Jeanette’s mother, he’ll probably be traveling back to Illinois with him to find out what’s going on.”

  “Not to sound callous, but… what about the wedding?”

  “It’ll just have to wait for a while, I suppose. Some things are more important.”

  Missy tilted her head and regarded her friend fondly.

  “You’re pretty special, you know that?” she grinned.

  “Nah, I’m just knocked up and patient,” Echo winked.

  ***

  “Hi, I’m Echo,” she offered her hand to the shy teenager, who shook it and blushed.

  “I’m Scott. You’re really pretty.”

  “Like father, like son,” she chuckled. “I like you already.”

  Kel came into the room with a tray of sandwiches. Echo looked quickly away from the platter, not wanting to trust her stomach at the moment.

  “So, what did you find out?” she asked him after he and Scott had helped themselves.

  “Very little. Jeanette’s mom gave me the name of the boyfriend, and the firm that he works for, so I’ll have some leads to follow up on, but I don’t know how helpful they’ll be. She definitely wants to see you, though, young man,” he turned to Scott, who was chewing a huge mouthful of sandwich.

  “Cool, I haven’t seen Grandma in a long time. I’ve never been to her house, she always comes to see us.”

  “His grandparents live right here in the same town as you and they never…” Echo began, irate, until Kel shot her a warning look and held up his hand to interrupt.

  “We’ll talk about that later. In the meantime, let’s just get to know each other a bit,” he suggested diplomatically.

  “Sure, of course,” Echo nodded, forcing a smile for Scott’s sake.

  This was going to be a whole new world for her. Scott’s resemblance to Kel was so striking, that there was no doubt in her mind that he was Kel’s son. They even had some of the same mannerisms and expressions. The three of them chatted for the next several hours, getting to know each other, and Echo found Scott to be utterly delightful. His laugh was contagious, and, despite the fact that he was desperately worried about his mother, he actively participated in the conversation, which inevitably turned to theories and speculation on a pretty consistent basis.

  “Is she going to be okay?” he asked at one point.

  “We’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that she is,” Kel assured him, handing him another sandwich.

  ***

  “So, what was he like?” Missy asked excitedly, taking a huge bite of her Mocha Cappuccino cupcake.

  Echo was feeling a bit better today, and had been craving peanut butter, so Missy had whipped up a batch of vegan Peanut Butter cupcakes with creamy whipped peanut butter buttercream frosting, just for her. Echo savored every bite.

  “He was charming, well spoken, really a sweet boy,” she licked a smear of frosting from her thumb.

  “So, basically a younger version of Kel?”

  “Basically,” Echo grinned. “It’s really kind of fun seeing them together.”

  “I bet. So, what’s happening with the investigation of his mother’s disappearance?”

  “Kel is checking into the boyfriend while Scott is over at his grandmother’s house today. I just can’t understand why the grandparents never said anything to Kel,” Echo shook her head, taking another bite of cupcake.

  “Maybe their daughter never told them who the father was,” Missy suggested.

  “Hopefully it’s something like that. I’d hate to think that they knew all this time and never bothered to let him know that he had a son who looks just like him,” she covered her mouth with her hand as she chewed.

  “Are you going to go to Illinois with Kel if he goes?”

  Echo shook her head again. “Probably not. I really don’t want to be away from the candle shop that long. I know that Joyce will say that she can handle it, but it’s not fair to her to make her work both shops full time every day.”

  “Have you thought about hiring a helper? You’re going to have to take maternity leave, you know,” Missy reminded her.

  “Oh definitely. I figured I’d still work full time until I’m around seven months along, then I’ll make Joyce the General Manager and hire an assistant for her.”

  “Good plan, although Joyce might prefer the title Manager General,” she giggled. She loved Joyce’s sassy, quick-witted nature, and could see her transitioning quite naturally into a leadership position.

  “Oh gosh, she’s the best. I seriously don’t know what I’d do without her,” Echo replied, drinking down an entire glass of iced water in a few large gulps.

  “Whoa, slow down there, sister,” Missy teased. “We don’t want to see that coming back up again.”

  “The sickness comes and goes these days,” her friend admitted. “I’m actually keeping way more things down now.”

  “Thank goodness. You were thin enough to begin with. I didn’t want to have to start force-feeding you vegan cupcakes.”

  Echo chuckled. “You’re not the only one. Joyce has been threatening to switch out my vegetables for soul food.”

  “Oooo! If she does, bring it over to me,�
� Missy ordered playfully.

  “I’ll be sure to do that. Well, now that I’ve wolfed down my cupcake, I’d better get to the shop,” she stood to go.

  “All right, sugar, you take it easy and don’t forget to eat,” Missy hugged her friend.

  “Okay Mom,” Echo teased.

  “Soon a sweet little angel is going to be calling you that, darlin,” Missy’s eyes welled up a bit.

  “Stop! Emotion is not allowed,” she held up her hand in protest. “I cry at the drop of a tissue these days, don’t get me started,” Echo warned, heading for the door.

  “Love you, sugar.”

  “Love you, too,” she sang out as the door closed behind her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Kel looked over the notes he had taken when he spoke with Scott’s grandmother, Jean. Jeanette’s boyfriend Stanton Vincenzo seemed to be the most normal, boring guy on the planet, at least on paper. He was an accountant at Parnelli and Sons Accounting, and had been since he’d graduated from a state school in the Chicago suburbs. The firm was located in the college town of Champaign—a couple of hours south of the Windy City—and, as far as Kel could tell, as they had no high-profile clients, they made most of their money during tax season.

  The artist did an internet search on Stanton Vincenzo, and noted that he was around the same age as Jeanette. He searched for images and saw an average-looking, olive-skinned man with thick curly black hair. There wasn’t much online about him, and he had no run-ins with the law, but Kel did notice that in the images section, there were photos of him with a handful of other men in exotic locales: on a yacht, at the beach, and apparently in several foreign countries. He wondered why an accountant would travel so much on business, and tried a few different searches to see if he could determine where Stanton had been and when, but nothing showed up. Either the guy had nothing to hide, or he was really good at hiding it.

  There was one photo which caught Kel’s attention, simply because it featured Jeanette, with Stanton’s arm slung casually over her shoulders, at what looked like a holiday party. She was still as lovely as she’d been the day that she’d left him without looking back, pleading a “need for space.” Her once-flowing chestnut hair was now shoulder-length and fashioned into a suburban “mom cut;” although she was smiling, her eyes looked a bit sad. Or perhaps he was just projecting. The artist ran a hand through his hair and stretched. He needed to take a break and step back a bit. Time was of the essence, but he needed to tamp down the sadness that had risen up within him when he realized that Jeanette hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him about Scott, and that she’d been alone all this time, raising their son. He hoped for his son’s sake that she was okay, and he was prepared to travel to Illinois if he needed to.