Murder By Lime: A Key West Culinary Cozy - Book 4 by Summer Prescott Read Free Book Online Page A

charges against me have been dropped,” Tiara announced with a tearful smile when she answered the door.
    “That’s wonderful, honey,” she said, wrapping her daughter in a hug. “They never should have been filed in the first place,” she accused, her eyes shooting daggers at Bernard over Tiara’s shoulder.
    “So how did you finally figure out what I knew all along?” Marilyn demanded, sitting down across from the detective in her living room.
    “When the fingerprints on the baggie of cocaine didn’t match your daughter’s, I assumed that it had been planted. I talked with her roommates, and it was pretty easy to figure out who had planted it. As part of my earlier murder investigation, I had gotten a warrant to search the house and car of the yoga instructor, and I found the car in front of a local bar. The bar that the car was parked at, was the same bar on the matchbook cover that had been used to break into your back door when your limes were stolen. When I looked inside the vehicle, I found a repair bill for the car’s radiator, which would explain the antifreeze puddle that was outside your back door after the robbery. I ran the prints from the back door and cold storage, along with those from the cocaine baggie against prints from the yoga instructor and found that they all matched,” Bernard explained.
    “What about the murder?” Marilyn asked. “Did Drew do that too?” she was horrified at the thought that her daughter might have been dating a drug dealer and murderer.
    “It looks that way,” the detective nodded. “His phone records showed frequent communication with the victim, and we think that he may have been transporting drug shipments for him. I listened to the messages on his cell, and apparently there was a pickup that Drew didn’t make for whatever reason, and Pedro was upset that his drugs were somewhere in the ocean. Threats were exchanged, and the messages suddenly stopped. Pedro had been stabbed repeatedly, and a knife that matches the wounds was found inside the spare tire compartment of Drew’s car. The damage to the boat was shown to be deliberate, and we’re speculating that the yoga instructor did it himself in order to try to dispose of Pedro’s body without looking suspicious, because we’d think that no one would be stupid enough to leave evidence on their own property,” he shook his head.
    “If we could find the stash of drugs tying the victim to Drew, we could establish that the homicide was committed because of a drug deal, and we could end up getting him off the streets and into a cell where he belongs for a very long time,” Bernard said gravely.
    “I know where they are,” Tiara whispered, her eyes brimming with tears.
    “The dive site!” Marilyn exclaimed, and her daughter nodded.
    They brought the detective up to speed on what had happened during her dive date with Drew, and Tiara let him know that if they took her out on a Coast Guard boat, she could pretty accurately point out the spot where they had dived that day.
    “Come with me, we’ll make that happen,” Bernard assured her.
    When the heavy-hearted young woman went to change, Marilyn spoke to him in a low voice.
    “She’s going to be fine now, right? The charges will be erased from her record?”
    “Of course,” he nodded. “She’s been nothing but honest and helpful to us, we’re going to make certain that she’s squared away.”
    “Have you captured Drew yet?” she asked.
    “I have officers on the way to his house as we speak.”
     

Chapter 13
    Tiara stepped gingerly onto the Coast Guard boat, assisted by Detective Cortland. On board, she was guided to a seat behind the crew member who would be navigating them to the site, and a bright orange life-jacket was placed over her head. The plan was that she would give directions to the site, and would stay on board with the detective while the Coast Guard divers searched the area. It took about half an hour of travel before they were