Hot Chocolate Hissy Fits & Murder Read online

  Saggy calves? Hunter wondered. Is that a thing? “Okay, so you went to his office? To ask about…your calves?”

  “Well, I called out to him but he didn’t answer,” Becky explained. “The Sweet sisters came out of the locker room and told me they’d seen him go into his office and that I’d probably find him in there.” As she described walking in and finding Bruce splayed out on the floor, her eyes once again filled with tears.

  “Did you see anyone else in the office when you walked in?” Hunter asked, tapping his pen on the notebook. He figured she would have said right away if there had been anyone else in the office with Bruce, but he knew it never hurt to ask.

  “I don’t think so,” Becky said, sniffling. “As soon as I saw him, I can’t really say I paid attention to anything else other than seeing if he was okay.”

  “All right.” Hunter put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you go ahead and head home, okay? We’ll let you know if we need to talk to you again.”

  “You’ll keep me updated, right?” Becky looked at Hunter with hopeful eyes. “I really want to know what happened to him. There’s no way it could have been a heart attack. He was healthier than any 20-year-old!”

  Hunter assured her he’d let her know and then walked back into the main gym where two other officers were just finishing up interviews with the other students. He saw that Kari and Kasi had been interviewed by Ben Duchamp, one of the newest officers on the force, and he regretted that he hadn’t had a chance to be there.

  “Anything?” Hunter asked Ben.

  Ben shook his head. “Nothing, really. We still don’t know if Bruce’s death was from natural causes. There weren’t any wounds we could see.” He sighed and ran a hand over his shaved head. “You know Bruce taught me a few moves when I was in high school to fend off bullies? I’ll never forget that.”

  Hunter nodded sympathetically. His memories of Bruce centered around the car accident he’d been in almost 20 years prior, when Hunter had still been in high school. Bruce had been gaining renown as a martial artist, but his dreams had ended when he’d experienced a serious head injury in the crash and his doctors had warned him that any more blows to the head could result in permanent cognitive damage.

  After he’d retired from competition, he’d used his savings to start Fight Lab and dedicated himself to teaching others how to fight. He had never gotten married, and Hunter had always thought that he’d been too involved with his mission to take the time with a relationship.

  “He really did a lot for the community,” Hunter said to Ben. “I know he’s donated a lot of money to anti-bullying programs in the local schools and has done quite a few free self-defense classes for the senior center and women’s groups in the area. There are going to be a lot of people upset at his death.”

  “Houston, Duchamp, we may have found something.” Pete Michaels came out Bruce’s office, where he and a crime scene investigator had been searching. He held up a plastic baggie with a silver canister inside.

  “What’s that?” Hunter asked, peering into the bag. The canister was about the size of soda can and had the words Pump’d Up printed on it.

  “We’re not quite sure,” Pete said. “Do you recognize the label at all?”

  Hunter shook his head. “I would assume it’s some sort of supplement? That would make sense with the name and with what Bruce did for a living.”

  “Yeah, that’s what we thought,” Pete confirmed. “There was also a note on it, which we put in a separate bag. It said ‘To the best coach in the world! From: Tiger.”

  Hunter looked from the bag to Pete, then back to the bag. “There would be only one reason why you’d take something like this out of his drawer as evidence,” he said.

  “And what’s that?” Ben asked.

  Hunter looked at him, his face grim. “They clearly don’t think that Bruce’s death was a natural one. If I’m thinking what they’re thinking, they believe that Bruce Wincott was poisoned.”

  Chapter 4

  Kari

  Why does this keep happening? Kari asked herself, attempting a roundhouse kick in front of her bedroom mirror. She was angry. Angry that another dead body had been found in Mills Township, angry that it once again had a connection to her and Kasi, and angry that another person who they had been close to was now gone.

  “Am I doing it right?” Kari asked her sister, who was sitting on her bed and watching her critically. Now that Bruce was dead, she needed someone to help her improve her self-defense moves and Kasi seemed to be the natural choice.

  “Lookin’ good,” Kasi told her, giving her a feeble thumbs-up. “Just make sure you watch where you’re kicking. You’ve been turning away, and you can’t see your target that way. It’s why you keep missing the bag and losing your balance.”

  “Oh, okay. Like this?” She executed another kick, this time making sure to meet her own eyes in the mirror throughout the move.

  “Yep, much better.”

  Panting, Kari flopped down on the bed next to her sister. “So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. What do you think happened to Bruce?”

  Though it was clearly weighing heavily on both of their minds, they hadn’t discussed the gym owner since they’d left Fight Lab.

  “Maybe he had a heart attack?” Kasi wondered out loud. “I mean, I know he was super healthy, but sometimes you just never know. He could have had an undiagnosed heart defect.”

  “Or maybe it had something to do with his car accident?” Kari said. Everyone was well aware of the crash that ended Bruce’s fighting career and was his motivation for opening Fight Lab. “A brain injury could lead to an aneurism? Or a stroke?”

  “I guess we won’t know until the autopsy results come back,” Kasi said, standing up and stretching. “Are you still hungry? I can get that pasta going.”

  “That sounds great,” Kari told her, even though the last thing on her mind was food. She thought it might be good for Kasi to keep busy and take her mind off her coach’s death, though, and there was nothing more comforting than stirring a steaming pot of pasta. “I think I might just lie down for a few minutes. Yell at me if you need any help.”

  “Will do.” Kasi gave her sister and sad smile and left her bedroom.

  I really hope she’s going to be okay, Kari thought as she stretched out on her bed. Bruce really meant a lot to her. He was there for her after the stalking incident and gave her back her confidence. I know she never talked about it, but he really was one of her mentors. Kari reached over to her bedside table, grabbed her headphones, and plugged them into her phone. She thought some soothing music was just what she needed to relax before dinner.

  I know it sounds awful, but I just really hope the autopsy comes back as a heart attack or some other form of natural causes. I don’t know if this town can take another murder.

  “How much garlic do you want in the pesto?” Kasi called up the stairs.

  “That sounds like a challenge!”

  Kari smiled. Her sister really was trying to keep her spirits up, or at least was pretending to. She knew Kasi was aware of how much she worried about her and that she’d try to put on a brave show. But it’s okay to lean on me every once in a while, Kari silently told her. That’s what sisters are for.

  As she settled the earbuds in her ears, she heard a dinging sound and saw a text message pop up on her phone. It was Hunter.

  Hope you and Kasi are all right the message read.

  Yes, we are Kai typed back, smiling. She was tempted to add What’s going on with the case? but she stopped herself. She knew it was too early for a cause of death and besides, she didn’t want to always be hounding Hunter about police work. She knew she’d pushed the envelope too far too many times already and she never wanted to be a nuisance. Instead, she typed Thanks for checking on us and stay safe.

  To take her mind off Bruce, Kari daydreamed about Hunter and how safe she felt whenever he was around—even if there was danger. Before she knew it, she had
dozed off and was woken by Kasi poking her in the ribs.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead!” Kasi said, peering down at her. “Jeez, I’ve been calling you down to dinner for like the past ten minutes!”

  “Oh, sorry,” Kari mumbled. “I had my headphones in, and I must have fell asleep.”

  “You had me worried there for a minute.” Kasi’s features clouded briefly, then she shrugged and said, “Well, dinner is served! You better get down there before I scarf all the garlic bread. I know I’m biased and all, but I think this is the best batch I’ve ever made.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.” Kari followed her sister down the stairs and was immediately greeted with the welcomes smells of garlic, basil, and warm, fresh bread. “Oh my gosh. This is just what the doctor ordered.”

  Sitting down to the already-set table, Kari shoveled some pasta onto her plate and broke off a large piece of the loaf of garlic bread. “Sooooo good,” she said around a mouth full of food.

  “So, I was thinking,” Kasi said, watching her sister eat and twirling her fork in her pasta. “What are your thoughts on Becky?”

  Kari swallowed. “Becky the beauty shop owner?” she asked.

  “Becky the woman who found Bruce’s body,” Kasi corrected. “And yes, the beauty shop owner.”

  “What do you mean, what are my thoughts? She seems like a nice enough lady.”

  “You don’t think she’s been…overly pushy with Bruce?”

  Kari blinked. “You mean pushy like flirtatious? Well yeah, we laugh about it all the time. I’ve always thought it was pretty funny how Bruce would high-tail it out of there whenever Becky made a move on him.”

  “You don’t think that upset her?” Kasi asked, finally lifting a small fork full of pasta to her mouth. “I mean, if you get rejected enough times, it’s bound to make you angry, right?”

  “I never saw her get angry,” Kari pointed out. “She seemed to be pretty oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t at all interested in her.” She lifted some bread to her mouth, then put it back down. “Wait. You’re not insinuating that Becky might have had something to do with his death, are you?”

  Kasi shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe she did.”

  “But we don’t even know that his death was anything other than a stroke or a heart attack!” Kari put her fork down. “Come on, Kas, we can’t just assume it was murder.”

  “Listen to yourself!” Kasi said, leaning over the table to stare her sister down. “We live in Mills Township, a place where murder seems to be the norm these days! Don’t you think it’s a little naïve to assume that a perfectly healthy man would just drop dead out of nowhere due to natural causes?”

  “It happens all the time.”

  “Not here it doesn’t.” Kasi threw her napkin on the table and stood up. “Not anymore.” She started pacing around the kitchen, her voice agitated. “Lately, delivery men show up dead in our doorway, fake nuns go flying off balconies, and up-and-coming rap stars get strangled with microphone cords! Lately, it seems we’re living in Gotham City and not Mills Township.”

  “Well good thing we have our very own Batman.” Kari retorted, pushing her chair back and standing up. She hurried over to her sister and put her hands on her shoulders. “Kasi. You need to calm down. Yes, there is a possibility that this was murder and you’re right. With everything that’s been going on here lately, it’s probably more of a possibility than we want to think about. But Hunter is on it. He’ll figure it out, like he always does.”

  Kasi met her sister’s eyes and the tension slowly drained out of her face. “I’m assuming you were referring to Officer Houston with the Batman comment?” she asked, a smile starting to tug at the corner of her mouth.

  Kari, relieved to see her sister displaying some of her normal temperament, smiled back. “Yep. I was.”

  “Well, you know that Batman never got anywhere without his sidekicks,” she said, then put her arm around her sister. “Lucky for him, the Sweet sisters are the best Robins a guy could ask for.”

  Chapter 5

  Kari

  “Wow, who died?”

  Kari blinked at Bubba’s question and froze mid-way through the door to On Bitter Grounds. They’d asked Bubba to open the coffee shop that morning as both girls had known they’d have trouble getting a good night’s sleep after the incident at the gym on Sunday. Since he’d started, Bubba had proven to be dependable, professional, and great with customers. He had definitely been the right hire.

  “What did you say?” Kasi asked in a small voice, peeking around her sister’s shoulder.

  The smile started to drop off Bubba’s face when he saw the reaction his words had caused. “Uh, I just mean that both of you look really sad. Did you have a bad weekend?”

  Kari pushed through the door, ready for the warmth of the shop and a steaming mug of coffee. “Well, you must have ESP or something. Someone did die over the weekend.” Saying the words made her mood dip further. Even though she and Kasi had tried to enjoy the rest of their day off with a delicious meal and a few feel-good movies, it hadn’t worked for either of them.

  Bubba’s face lost some of its color. “Uh-oh. I had no idea!”

  “Yep,” Kasi confirmed morosely, shrugging out of her jacket and hanging it on one of the hooks by the front door. “I’m sure everyone will know soon enough.”

  Bubba ushered the sisters behind the counter and started tinkering with the espresso machine. “Why don’t I get you both something hot and highly caffeinated?”

  “Thanks, Bubba,” Kari told him, leaning against the counter and watching him work.

  “Can you tell me who it was?” Bubba asked. Though he’d only been with them a short time, he’d already heard plenty of stories of how the sisters had been involved with the town’s other murders. He’d also heard all the gossip from their customers about how the girls had brought a curse on the town, but he’d reassured his employers that he didn’t believe a word of it.

  Kari glanced at her sister. She didn’t know what they were supposed to do. Had Bruce’s next of kin been notified yet? What was the procedure for telling other people when you’d seen a dead body? Figuring that, with the fifteen or so other people in the gym, the news was already out, she said, “It was Bruce Wincott. The owner of Fight Lab?”

  Bubba nodded slowly. “I didn’t know him very well, but I saw him around town a lot. Really fit guy in his 50s? Looked kinda like Chuck Norris?”

  “That’s him,” Kari confirmed. Or it WAS him.

  “You guys went to that gym, right?” Bubba asked.

  Kasi nodded. “Yeah. He was a really good guy. He really helped me learn how to defend myself. He’d stay after class to help me out and never would take any extra payment. He was even teaching Kari a few things.” She gave her sister a sad smile.

  “Do you know what happened?” Bubba asked, his eyes wide. “An accident? A heart attack?” He didn’t voice the third option that was on all their minds: murder.

  Kari shook her head and booted up the computer to check their online orders. “Not yet. We’re waiting on the medical examiner’s report.” She looked up and met Bubba’s eyes and said sheepishly, “I mean, Hunter is waiting on the report.”

  “That’s just awful. I’m sure it’s hitting you two really hard.” Bubba put a cup of espresso before each sister, then grabbed a couple of blueberry donuts out of the weekly special display case and gave those to them as well. “I know it’s not exactly our special of donuts and hot cocoa, but it’s close enough.”

  As the chill in the air enticed customers to stream in and take advantage of the weekly special, Kari gratefully busied herself around the shop. Staying busy was always the best way for her to clear her mind of unwanted thoughts and thinking about Bruce’s dead body was certainly high on that list.

  She knew that Kasi was also grateful for the distraction and she was happy to see a smile on her sister’s face the few times she had an opportunity to glance at her throughout the morning. Being ar
ound people always made Kasi happier, and it certainly didn’t hurt that she got to improve their days by serving them delicious drinks and food.

  “Hey, are we still planning to head over to have lunch with Clementine and Agnes?” Kasi asked when they finally had a lull in customers at around 11 o’clock.

  “Oh my gosh, I completely forgot!”

  Agnes Gaines and Clementine Fisher were residents at a local retirement community that the sisters often took the time to visit. Even though Agnes was actually their landlord, they had become as attached to her as if she were their grandmother.

  Kari and Kasi met Clementine while investigating the death of her niece, Lila, they quickly formed a tight bond as with her as well. Knowing the two retirees often got lonely and bored, they tried their best to visit them as often as possible.