Murder in the Rose Garden: A Scent with Love Cozy Mystery (Scent with Love Cozy Mysteries) by Tabitha Tate Read Free Book Online

replied Beth.
Chase nodded excitedly. “How does roast chicken with potato salad and grilled
vegetables sound?”
    “I’m a
bachelor, so anything that is not a TV dinner or takeout sounds great to me.”
    Beth got
started on dinner and Chase got started on telling her everything he knew. “I
didn’t tell you the whole story this morning, Beth. Sheriff Hunter is involved
in a really big case at the moment. He is trying to catch a gang of drug
smugglers operating in the Bay area. He has been conducting an undercover sting
operation for the last few months; my connections at the police department have
told me that he is pretty close to making an arrest. His investigation is at a
very sensitive stage and he can’t risk having anything go wrong.”
    Beth looked
up from peeling onions. “What did this have to do with Mom? I know that she was
working with your mother and that the two of them were supplying medical
marijuana to the elderly residents in the Bay area. Surely Sheriff Hunter
wasn’t going to arrest them though?”
    Chase
laughed. “No, old Walt found out about their little operation a few months
back, gave them both a stern warning and turned a blind eye. He knew they were
still running their operation but seeing as they weren’t really selling it,
just giving it away he left it at that.”
    Beth was
surprised. Giving it away? Where on earth was Mom getting all the money?
This could possibly explain why she was broke!
    Chase
continued, “Well that was until your mother started getting letters in the mail;
someone was threatening her. They wanted her to sell the flower shop and
threatened to report her to the police. What they didn’t realize was that she
wasn’t afraid of the police finding out about her little side business because
they already knew!”
    Beth placed
the spiced chicken and roasting vegetables in the oven and started on the
potato salad. “Do you know who the blackmailer was?”
    “I have my
suspicions but no concrete evidence. Jack Reynolds was my prime suspect.
Slippery character, can’t get much intel on him.”
    Beth gasped.
“He was managing my mother’s financial affairs, why would he try and blackmail
her if he knew she didn’t have any money?”
    “That was
the part that didn’t make much sense to me either. All my investigations
indicated that the flower shop was in trouble and your mother had no money left
but she didn’t act like a woman who was under financial stress. According to Mom
she was planning on opening another shop and she certainly wasn’t counting her
pennies.”
    “Yes I heard
about her plans for a second flower shop from Bernard too but I wasn’t sure if
he was telling the truth. If she told your mother then perhaps she really was
planning to expand the business. Where is all her money then?”
    Chase was
deep in thought. “Perhaps Bernard knew more than he was letting on. Maybe there
is something we are missing here. What if he was interested in the property
itself? A shop on the main road is worth a fair sum of money, even more if a
big developer is planning a new development. I think you should look into
Bernard in a little more detail. You will also need to try and find out if
there are any new developments planned on the main road.”
    Beth placed
the salad in the fridge and turned to Chase. “Shall we take a walk on the
beach? We have another forty minutes before dinner will be ready.”
    “Sounds
great. Nothing like a walk on the beach to clear the cobwebs,” replied Chase
and got up from the table.
    The sky was
a misty shade of pink, orange and blue. The sun, a glowing orange ball, sank
into the distant horizon, gently swallowed by the calmness of the ocean. It was
a cool summer evening and the sound of waves rolling onto the sand was the only
sound that could be heard.
    “I love the
beach,” Beth said as she walked, admiring the beauty around them. Lola ran out
front, chasing the gulls and sniffing at bits of driftwood and seaweed that