Previously in Niceville: Carrie Cooper discovered her friend and local business owner, Sylvia, dead on Sylvia’s coffee shop floor. With a request for investigative help from the local police, Carrie and Mandy set out to question citizens of Niceville. After a rough night, Carrie learns some news about the local Chief of Police. The following day, she has a date withe Connor. While on the date, she gets a text from Mandy, who thinks she’s being followed.
Season 1: Caramel Macchiato Murder
Episode 10: Danny’s Promise
The drive to Mandy’s was a short one, but it felt like it took an eternity. When we pulled up, her little Honda was in the drive, and for just a second I was filled with hope that she had just gotten straight in the shower, forgot to text me. I hoped a lot of things. And then she didn’t answer the door. I also noticed her purse was on the ground near the porch. That cemented the terrible spiral of doom.
I have to give Connor his due. He was being a complete champ about everything that was going on, and he didn’t even freak out when the tears started rolling.
To make things worse, I realized that Mandy must have been running for her house and dropped her purse because even though she didn’t answer the door, there were signs of a break-in. I tried the handle and found it unlocked. With my last grain of hope welling up within me, I called out for her, “Mandy girl? You here?”
Something inside me cracked wide open when I remembered that last time I called out like that I found my other friend dead a few seconds later. Despite knowing better, I took off into the house. The living room was a mess, but as far as I could see as I traipsed through the house, there was nobody home. Connor was right behind me. He never left my side.
I looked up at him, feeling the dredges of our food rising up in my throat. “Hell of a first date, huh?” I said.
He stepped forward and wrapped his big arms around me, pulling me to his chest. “We are gonna find her. I promise you that I’ll be right by your side until we do. Okay?”
I nodded at him, but finding her was actually becoming a terrible fear of mine. I wanted to find her alive, but I didn’t say that out loud because I think he was thinking the same thing, and neither of us wanted to be the Debbie Downer of the situation.
“Look,” Connor started. “I know that you might not be able to tell me everything, but can you catch me up to speed here? What’s the big picture kind of thing?”
“Oh, yeah. I should do that.” I turn to walk towards the couch when Connor pulls me back to him.
“Uh, we sort of already traipsed around the entire crime scene. Maybe we should take this chat out to my car?”
I slapped my hand to my forehead. “I know better, but this isn’t just some case. This is Mandy. This is Sylvia. It has me fried.”
“I get it.” He laced his big fingers through mine and lead me back to the front door, down the porch steps, and to the passenger side of his car. He opened the door and helped me in.
He hurried around to the driver’s side and got in. “Okay. Now, tell me anything you can. Start at the beginning.”
In any other situation, this would have been hella romantic. This hunky guy swooping in to rescue me. Except I wasn’t a princess in need of saving. He wasn’t a knight in shining armor. I could save myself and my best friend. Probably. I was a witch after all.
I forgot he had my hand because he grinned at me. “Romantic, huh? We will discuss that later.”
I felt heat creep up into my face. “Or not,” I said. “This is all gonna get so jumbled, but I’ll try. It all started when I found Sylvia. I was just going to check on her and grab a cup of coffee before I went to work myself. I’m out of coffee at my house and can’t seem to find time to go to the grocery store. Anywho…”
“Why check on her?”
“Oh, well we were friends back to our school years. And the day before she died, she seemed a bit upset, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to her about it. So I was gonna catch her early before any customers were around to make sure she was all right. I got there right before six, and she wasn’t open. It made me uneasy, especially once six hit.”
“Yeah, she was always there early. I used to stop in from time to time.”
“Right. But that’s not even the worst of it. I went around back and found her back entrance open. That freaked me out. Well, she was dead on her kitchen floor. I can see ghosts, and I saw hers briefly. It was all too much. I was still standing there five minutes later when Danny, uh, Deputy Danny to you, arrived. We have been friends for a long time too.”
“Okay. Danny is a good man. His wife Kelsie is a good egg, too.”
“Well, he got everything rolling. I ended up out front waiting on Chief Jefferson to get there. Mandy had showed up too. Anyway, he really wanted me to open up shop even though I didn’t want to open my restaurant for the day.”
“That seems weird.”
“See! That’s what I told Mandy. Anyway, we went ahead and opened up that day. Lots of gossip. Chief came by and told me he’d cleared me as the key suspect.”
“Wait. Did you know that you were a suspect in the first place?”
“Nope. I was as mad a s a cat in a thunderstorm. I’m telling you, but he asked if I’d consult on the case. Mandy and I work together. So I told him I needed to think on it. Then, I consulted with her. We agreed we should, so we closed up early and went to the station. He asked us to be all hush hush about it when we were there. Turns out, he isn’t comfortable with people knowing he is using a witch or psychic to do some of his work.”
“Asshole.”
“Exactly. Anyway, Mandy and I have been asking around. Turns out that Ms. Pinky, you know her?”
“Yeah. She loses her keys a lot.”
I laughed. “Can’t say I blame her.”
He grinned at me.
“Well, she heard Sylvia have a dispute with a customer the day before. I think it was harmless, but worth noting. Anyway, she also heard her have a fight with Becky and fire her.”
“Who is Becky?”
“Oh yeah. She’s her employee. Was. Was her employee. Weird thing is, Mandy and I ran into Becky the morning of the murder. She didn’t say she had been fired.”
“Oh! That’s suspicious.”
“My thoughts exactly. But then I also found out, when I was asking around, that Chief Jefferson has been trying to buy Sylvia out. He didn’t say a word about it. I can’t help but feel like he should have mentioned it.”
“Uh, yeah. Sounds like a major conflict of interest. Well, when you think about it, it could be a motive, too.”
“Exactly,” I said. “I don’t know if it’s anything really, but I can’t help but feel bothered by the whole thing. I mean, maybe he was trying to remove himself a bit by having me investigate, but it didn’t feel that way.”
“Okay. So that’s a good enough reason not to call him. But why aren’t you calling Danny?”
“I tried to tell him, and he didn’t seem to believe me. I just don’t know what to do.”
“Makes sense, but I can see why it would all be a bit of shock to him. Don’t you think it might be worth trying again with him?” Connor asked.
I mean, I knew he was right, but I could still be stubborn. “I guess so, for Mandy.”
I pulled out my cell phone and clicked Danny’s name in my contacts.
It rang twice before he picked up. “Danny here.”
“Is that how you always answer the phone?”
“Hi to you too, Carrie. I thought you weren’t talking to me?”
“I’m not. Or I don’t know if I am. That’s really up to you over the next couple minutes.”
“All Right. Hit me.”
“I’d love to, but assaulting a police officer is a big crime…”
“Hilarious. Get to it.”
“Fine. I need you to promise that you won’t tell Chief Jefferson anything I’m about to tell you until we know more or can clear him from the suspect list.”
“I mean, if that’s what you need to feel better, you better believe I’ll do it. Just know, I’m putting my job on the line if this is valuable info.”
“Are you willing to do that to save Mandy’s life?” I snapped.
“Of course,” he said without a second of hesitation.
That’s why I’ve always loved Danny. He might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but he has a huge heart, and it always wins out in important situations.
“I was out on a date tonight when Mandy text saying she thought she was being followed.”
“Who with?”
“I don’t know.”
“No. Not who was she being followed by. I doubt she knew. Who were you on a date with?”
“Is now the time?”
“Nope, but I’m curious.” He said.
“Connor Click. He’s here with me now.”
“Oh! He’s a friend. Good choice. Anyway, continue.”
“Oh thank god you approve,” I said sarcastically. “Anyway, I tried to call her. She didn’t answer. We hurried to her house. She isn’t here. Her purse is outside on the ground, and I walked through the house.”
“You what?” He asked, sounding exasperated.
“Don’t start. I panicked. I walked through the house. It looks like there was a struggle. I think there were some signs of forced entry, but the door was unlocked.”
“Okay. I’ll come right over. Do not touch anything.”
“I’m out in Connor’s car right now. I don’t think I touched anything but the door. I even left her purse on the ground.”
“Good job. Why can’t we tell Chief about this?”
“In case he has her or…” I trailed off.
“We will get her back alive. I promise.” Danny said.
“Thanks, Danny.”
“I’m not gonna lie to you. I don’t think Chief had anything to do with it, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll start off looking around and trying to figure out what I think.”
“It will.”
“Okay. Now, it will take me about thirty minutes or so to get over to Mandy’s. I’m gonna be honest and say Kelsie and I were on a date. I need to drop her off, and then I’ll be right there.”
“I’m sorry to ruin your date.”
“No worries. Sounds like your date wasn’t peaches either. Hold tight, and we will get this figured out. Don’t touch anything. Stay put and call if you hear from her again, okay?”
“Okay.” I said. “I promise.”
He hung up the call. I just sat there looking at my blank phone for a few seconds.
“Well?” Connor asked gently.
“Oh yeah. Sorry. He said he’ll be here within thirty minutes.”
“That’s not an awesome response time for the police.”
I laughed. “Yeah, but he wasn’t on duty. He was out with Kelsie. He has to drop her off and then head this way.”
“I’m just saying, I get to my calls quicker than that when they come in at three AM.”
We both laughed for a second. “Yeah, I guess that’s true,” I said. “But he’ll be working all the info in his head long before he gets here.”
“Yeah, not much I can do in my head for my job. Kinda more of a hands on sort of situation,” Connor said. “So what do we do in the meantime.”
“Apparently nothing. He said to hold tight and not touch anything. If we’re lucky, he will find something that is a valuable piece of evidence. If we aren’t, then our first forty-eight are ticking away. And you know what they say about the first 48, right?”
“Yeah. Unfortunately I do.” Connor said.