Spring Break Murder Read online

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Other Books in the Series

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  The clouds outside the airplane window had been white and fluffy when we took off in Minnesota but the closer we got to Florida, the more gray and ominous they were. I didn't think that was a very good sign, but then again I hadn't been the one to think taking a spring break trip to Florida was a good idea.

  I think part of my hangup was the term "spring break trip" which brings up visions of crowded beaches, sunburns, and too much to drink. At the ripe old age of 30, none of that sounded appealing. I would have much preferred to spend this week on some sort of staycation in the downright frigid climate of Minnesota. There were plenty of hotels with indoor waterparks within driving distance of my hometown of Shady Lake, where we could just pretend we were in a tropical climate while we lounged poolside.

  That would have been the case if it wasn't for my best friend, Mandy, who was currently snoring in the seat next to me with a purple sleep mask over her eyes. She had volunteered to take the middle seat as she was planning to sleep the flight away. I'm not sure how she could possibly be comfortable, but somehow Mandy had fallen asleep sitting straight up with one of those pillows around her neck. I was amazed at her ability to not slump over to one side or the other.

  Mandy had planned this entire trip for us because her parents had retired to Florida. When Mandy and I had graduated high school, Mandy's parents had hightailed it out of our small Minnesota town, retiring to an RV that they parked permanently in Florida. Mandy had taken over running the Donut Hut which, hands down, made the best donuts in Shady Lake.

  But this week the Donut Hut would be shut down. Originally, Mandy was supposed to take this trip with her long-time boyfriend Trevor, but he hadn't been able to get time off of work. When Mandy told me that, I had to scoff a little bit because the only reason he hadn't been able to get the time off was because he had waited too long to put in the request. He worked as an emergency dispatcher and it was first come, first serve when it came to time off. The emergency lines still needed to run even if it was vacation time.

  Trevor and I were still not super fond of each other, but I had come around and we had a sort of unspoken agreement to get along because Mandy loved us both and we didn't want her to have to choose one of us over the other. So I kept my not-so-nice remarks about his immaturity to myself and he mostly just steered clear of me.

  I pulled out our itinerary for the week. When Mandy's mom Sally heard that I was coming along, she had immediately jumped into action, wanting to show me around everywhere. Ever since we were little, Mandy and I had been so close that we were practically sisters. Sally and Bill considered me like their second child and this would be the first time I'd seen them in person since they retired after I had moved away to college.

  "This is your captain speaking," came a tinny voice over the intercom. "It looks like we will be experiencing a little bit of turbulence but don't worry, it is just a little rain storm."

  True to the pilot's word, the plane started to shake around slightly as raindrops ran down the window. I didn't enjoy flying on a good day and I really didn't like flying on a stormy day. My stomach lurched as the plane dipped a bit and I grabbed the armrests to hold on tight.

  "Yowch," shrieked Mandy waking up with a start as my nails dug into her hand, which I had forgotten was occupying my armrest.

  She ripped off her sleep mask and rubbed the back of her hand. I tried to look apologetic, but that was interrupted by another dip of the plane that sent me clutching the armrest again. Mandy seemed to take pity on me and my absolute terror.

  I am obviously not much of a traveler. I would much rather take a road trip or even a trip on a train than in an airplane. I wouldn't say I'm scared of flying, but something about the idea that a metal container weighing a few tons being able to carry me safely through the air to my destination just didn't sit right with me.

  "It's going to be okay, Tessa," Mandy said. She patted my now white, clawlike hand that was grasping onto the armrest for dear life. "It's just a bit of turbulence."

  I tried to give her a little smile, but judging from the small smile that flashed across her face before it was hidden away, I had only managed to grimace in her direction. Reaching into my bag, I grabbed out a package of snack mix and tried to focus on eating all of it in order. I preferred to eat the breadsticks first, then the little rye chips, followed by the pretzels and then finally the cereal pieces, which were my favorite.

  As I snacked my way through the much too salty snack, the face of my boyfriend floated up to the forefront of my thoughts. Officer Max Marcus always laughed at how I eat my snacks in a particular way. By now, he knew the exact order I liked to eat any sort of snack that came with multiple shapes or flavors and he teased me about it every time.

  Max and I were once high school sweethearts. But after graduation, I had gone off to college while he stayed behind in town and we had grown apart. We ended up married to different people but through a cruel twist of fate, we were both widowed within months of each other. My husband Peter died in a car accident on the way to work one morning while Max's wife Anne had passed away from cancer.

  After spiraling down into darkness after my Peter died, my parents recognized that I needed help and they had rescued me, packing up my apartment and moving everything back to Shady Lake for me. It was a bit strange living with my parents again, but it was even stranger now because after most of my siblings and I had moved out, they had renovated their old Victorian style house and made it into a bed and breakfast with a new wing added on where they lived. When I moved in, I actually took over what was supposed to be their personal library but now that I was really getting my feet back under me, I hoped to be moving out soon.

  When Max and I got back together, we originally wanted to keep things very casual. We were both still grieving and didn't want to jump into a serious fling before we had actually sorted out our emotions. I had even been casually dating another man, Clark Hutchins, but things had cooled down with him just as Max and I decided we wanted to take the next step in our relationship.

  I closed my eyes, trying to focus on Max's handsome face instead of my stomach, which was still turning somersaults. Max was short and stocky, but in a muscular way. He worked as a police officer for the town of Shady Lake, so he made sure to stay physically fit. His sandy blond hair and blue eyes were still exactly the same as the boy I had started dating so long ago. Max was the kind of person who never really seemed to age. Sure, he seemed a bit more mature b
ut if he was compared to his pictures from high school, he looked exactly the same.

  On the other hand, I suppose I still looked mostly the same also. The only thing that had really changed was my waistline, thanks to my proclivity for baked goods specifically the ones from the Donut Hut. Mandy didn't approve of my sweets-eating habit but couldn't help herself from bringing me a fresh donut every once in a while. Heck, even this morning she had been ready and waiting with a day-old sugar twist donut for me as the shuttle van to the airport pulled up to her apartment.

  I must have nodded off thinking of Max's ruggedly handsome face because the next thing I knew, I woke up to another tinny announcement from the pilot. I rubbed my eyes a little, trying to bring everything back into focus.

  "We are starting our descent," he said. "The air temperature is 75 degrees, which should feel extra good for all of you Minnesotans today."

  A small cheer erupted from the plane along with a bigger cheer when the plane landed and we could see palm trees out the window as we taxied to the gate. Mandy, the seasoned traveler she pretended she was, simply put her hand on my arm as I rushed to try to gather my things and get off of the plane.

  "Just wait," she said. "No sense in being stuck trying to get out. Relax a little more and we will get off eventually."

  I plopped back into my seat and grabbed the trashy magazine I hadn't had time to read yet and paged through while we waited for the plane to empty. Once most of the passengers had gone by we gathered our things and casually exited. Mandy was right; that was much better than trying to be the first ones off the plane.

  Even better was the fact that the plane's luggage had already been unloaded by the time we got to the baggage claim. Instead of pacing around, we got to just saunter up and grab our bags off of the half empty carousel. I had followed Mandy's advice and put a big, multi-colored pom-pom ball on my black suitcase so I could spot it right away and spot it right away I did.

  "Mandy! Tessa!"

  We whirled around to see Sally running in the automatic doors. Her arms were up over her head as she squealed, looking like a young girl. She was in her early 60's, but if I didn't know her age I would have pegged her at least ten years younger than that.

  "I'm so happy to see you girls," Sally squealed as she crashed into us, a bundle of joy and sweet perfume wrapped up in a sleeveless polo shirt and knee length shorts. She wore a beautiful pair of pearl earrings and pinned to the front of her shirt was a big pin that had a picture of some tasteful flapper girls and it said "THE DOLLS" over it. At the bottom, it had Sally's name etched on it. I wondered what it meant, but I didn't have time to ask as Sally hustled us out the door.

  "Let's go, your father is parked in a no parking zone," she said, scurrying out into the bright sunshine in front of us.

  Mandy and I grabbed our suitcases and followed behind. Sure enough, a big maroon truck was parked just outside the door in a spot clearly marked LOADING ZONE. Mandy's father Bill was calmly ignoring a man who was yelling at him to move the truck and waved at us as we walked out.

  "See, my girls are right there," Bill said, flashing a smile towards the grumpy parking man.

  He strode toward us and grabbed our suitcases, tossing them into the bed of the truck as Sally opened the door to the backseat. Mandy climbed in first, crawling over to the far side as I hauled myself up into the backseat next to her.

  I dug through my purse, pushing aside the trashy magazine and my miniature flashlight to find my sunglasses. As we drove down the highway, I watched the palm trees go by, happy to be taking a break from snowy Minnesota. The only thing that could make this vacation better was if Max was here with me.

  Chapter Two

  The first thing that greeted us at the RV park was a gigantic, barn-like building painted in red and white stripes. A big sign stretched over the entrance to the park that said WELCOME TO CANDY CANE PARK. The big, patterned building was labeled CANDY CANE PALACE in gigantic letters and for just a moment, I wondered if the entire park was Christmas themed.

  But it must be just a name because the rest of the park looked like what I thought an RV park should look like. Rows and rows of mobile homes were as far as the eye could see with palm trees dotted up and down the streets. The Christmas theme did extend to the street names, I noticed, as we drove past Pine Tree Place and North Pole Avenue.

  As we crept slowly through the park, Sally practically hung out the window chatting at everyone we drove by. She was just like Mandy; not only did she know everyone, but she was friends with everyone. Apparently she was just as good at gossiping as Mandy because everyone we passed asked if 'the girls' were here yet. At that point, Sally rolled down the back windows and we were made to wave and smile at everyone we passed until I felt like I was part of a float in the Fourth of July parade.

  We pulled onto Santa Claus Street and the truck turned into the second driveway on the right. A large RV sat with a more permanent sun room and covered deck attached to the side of it. A large banner attached to the sunroom and a palm tree hung over the deck reading "Welcome Mandy and Tessa" and a small group of older women were standing on the deck, waving, hooting and hollering at us as Bill stopped the truck.

  "Oh the Welcome Committee," Sally cheered as she ripped off her seatbelt and threw herself out of the truck before Bill could even manage to shift it into park. She dashed up the stairs and into the arms of the women. After a big group hug, she turned and joined the women, who were starting to chant as Mandy and I stepped out of the truck.

  "Welcome to our glorious park. We hope you'll stay a spell. If you decide to overstay your vacation, we promise we won't tell!"

  At that end of the chant, the women came down the stairs, surrounding Mandy and I in a sea of gray hair and the smell of sunscreen and perfume. I was hugging friendly lady after friendly lady who all seemed to know my name. I squeezed them back with a smile plastered on my face. If I hadn't been raised in a small town, this would seem strange. But Shady Lake had prepared me for meeting strangers who inexplicably knew me.

  "Okay Dolls," Bill said as he walked up rolling both of our suitcases behind him. "Let the girls breathe a little. Also, show me to the cake."

  The ladies all laughed and as a big blob of people, we moved up the steps and onto the giant deck which was obviously used for entertaining. The deck was smattered with tables and chairs with a large table set up under a window against the wall of the sun room. A large sheet cake sat in the middle with a large picture of Mandy and I as teenagers frosted onto it surrounded by other snack trays of food.

  Each woman quickly introduced herself. Besides Sally, there were Kathy and Karen, who were twins who appeared to be identical and were even dressed in coordinating outfits. Susie wore a necklace with a bicycle charm and was so fit she looked like a yoga instructor. Louise seemed to be a bit on the outskirts of the crew, so I couldn't tell much about her. There was also Marie, who was wearing a large gaudy necklace and had so many bangles on her arm that she clinked anytime she moved, and Lynn, whose hair was put up in an almost impossibly high, but still chic up-do. I tried my hardest to remember each woman's name, but I knew I would forget most of them. I remember faces but names go in one ear and out the other. I did notice, however, that each one was wearing a pin that matched the one Sally had clipped to her shirt and each one was personalized, which would definitely help me not make a fool of myself when I inevitably forgot their names.

  After we all got a piece of cake and settled into the shade of the deck, the ladies finally stopped talking a mile a minute. I ended up sitting at a table with Louise Templeton. Louise was a short woman with a gray bob haircut. She was wearing a khaki skort with a lime green button up top that was just a few shades too bright to be elegant. A large, gold necklace was hanging around her neck, so large and shiny that it couldn't possibly be real gold. At least, I assume it wasn't since Louise lived in an RV.

  "I'm just so glad you are here," Louise said, patting my hand. "Sally has been talking about you and
Tessa coming for a while. Of course I've met Mandy before, but you are like her second daughter! Getting you down here was a long time coming."

  "I was glad to leave behind the snowy tundra to hang out here for a little while," I said, looking around at the palm trees.

  "Well I come from Minnesota originally and my son still lives there," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "By the way, are you seeing anyone? My son is about your age and I'm always on the lookout for a lovely young lady like yourself to set him up with."

  "Sorry, I have a boyfriend," I said, my thoughts flashing once again to Max. "But I bet your son loves that you do that."

  Louise threw her head back and let out a large, endearing guffaw. I was glad she had picked up on my humor rather than getting upset. I knew that if she was good friends with Sally, she had to have a good sense of humor. I took the break from Louise doing the talking to ask her about something that had caught my eye. There was a large sign above the table that said "Clubhouse of the Guys and Dolls."

  "What does that sign mean?" I asked, pointing to it before I took another bite of cake.

  "Oh that's the name of our club," Louise said as she tapped me on the arm. Her eyes were shining and she looked like an excited teenager as the words came spilling out of her mouth. "It is our social club. I mean it's mostly the Dolls, but sometimes we make our husbands come to meetings and they are obviously the Guys. We meet here once a week and take it upon ourselves to organize the social get-togethers here at the park. We welcome visitors, find new activities and volunteer opportunities to offer, and sometimes we just drink mimosas and play cards. It really depends on the day."

  "That sounds just like the Sally I know," I said, thinking back to all of the clubs and activities Sally had been involved in when she lived in Shady Lake. While Mandy wasn't quite as busy, she was just as involved in the community as her mother. "So can just anyone join your club?"

  "Oh no, of course not," Louise said with a smile. "I mean we invite people, but we want to maintain a certain level of participation in our club. Before we made these rules, anyone could join and believe me, it was a lot of people sayin' they were in the club and not doing anything to help. Sally changed all of that when she moved down here."