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  STORY OF A MURDER

  A Bookish Cafe Mystery Book 3

  HARPER LIN

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Story of a Murder

  Copyright © 2021 by Harper Lin.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  www.harperlin.com

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  About the Author

  A Note From Harper

  Chapter 1

  The words to “Yankee Doodle Dandy” played on repeat in Maggie Bell’s head as she stepped back to admire her latest creation for the Bookish Café’s display window.

  “I think you’ve outdone yourself, Mags,” she said while standing a little straighter with pride.

  Today was the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of Fair Haven, the place she’d called home for so long she could hardly remember anything else. But she couldn’t recall seeing the town so alive and excited for the celebration as this year. Sure, the Fourth of July was always a big deal with fireworks and barbeques and people from all over visiting the quaint, quiet country before returning to Boston or wherever the hustle and bustle was. But this festival was especially for the folks of Fair Haven, the proud folks who took pride in their little metropolis and were happy to hear the mayor give a grand speech in the middle of town. After that, they’d line the streets for a parade, where the fire engines and police cars would flash their lights and blast their sirens as they tossed candy to the crowd.

  Dogwood Grounds, the park not far from the Bookish Café, was filled with local vendors selling fresh honey, homemade soaps, hand-sewn quilts, and dozens of other delights. Maggie looked forward to exploring the booths during her lunch hour. The park also included people selling their antiques and vintage jewelry, and the night after this, there would be a display of old cars there that had the whole place abuzz.

  Maggie knew nothing about cars, but from what Babs had told her, Roy would be showcasing his 1956 powder blue Chevy. Nothing was more important to some of the men in town as their old-fashioned cars. Babs was the bubbly assistant who worked on the café side of the Bookish Café. She was a blond bombshell who had quick wit and a smart remark for every occasion.

  “You’d think those men had given birth to those cars, the way they carry on,” she said before flipping back one of her blond curls. She said the car show was such a big deal that the parking lot at the local grocery store was too small, and instead the Evangelical church was donating their spacious parking lot to the hot-rodders.

  But down Main Street, every storefront was decorated in the most patriotic colors of them all, red, white, and blue.

  Spotlight, the high-end clothing store, had glamorous red and blue dresses displayed on the mannequins in the windows. The beauty supply shop was as garish as always, featuring red, white, and blue hair extensions with matching fake eyelashes, blue and red lipstick, and a host of other oddball cosmetics that Maggie would never even consider wasting her money on. However, she was sure if she stepped into Tammy McCarthy’s Bakery down the street, she’d find Tammy decked out with the patriotic fake lashes and half a dozen matching bows in her bright red hair. Those hair bows would also mirror the red, white, and blue sprinkles on some of her baked goods. Somehow, Tammy could pull it off and look as normal as if she was born into the world looking that way. If Maggie tried that look, she was positive she’d resemble Bozo the Clown.

  The bank had tiny flags planted all around the property. Mr. Lorenze also had a tactful, solemn flag waving proudly in front of his funeral home. But no business looked as proud and elegant as the Bookish Café did, at least in Maggie’s opinion.

  Alexander Whitfield, who had been Maggie’s employer and friend for years before he passed, had amassed a large arsenal of random trinkets and pictures over the years he’d been in business. In his desk, the storeroom, and the closets in the upstairs apartment lay a bounty of patriotic-looking fabrics, knick-knacks, and posters, and of course, there were books. Ultimately, the collection Maggie had displayed gave the impression that stepping into the Bookish Café was stepping back in time. She never really thought she’d enjoy decorating the store for the special occasions being celebrated around town. But as it turned out, she was a natural at it. More and more people would come in not only to look at her displays but to actually browse the books that Maggie had so carefully and meticulously arranged on the shelves.

  As she put the finishing touches on her masterpiece, she saw the growing number of folks peering in and waiting for the doors to be opened. Of course, she wanted to believe they were there to dive into the books and rich history of Fair Haven. In reality, the people were there for the café’s coffee and pastries.

  Still, Maggie was proud. Without wasting any more time, she looked at her watch. Then she walked confidently over to the door, snapped the lock back, and gave it a push.

  “Good morning,” she said. Greeting everyone was also something new for Maggie Bell. Her introverted nature had kept her rather isolated. Although she was yet to call herself a social butterfly, the fact she uttered a good morning to a group of strangers was as rare and unusual as spotting a yeti.

  A few people smiled and gave her a “good morning” back. Some nodded, and others, as always, said nothing. Maggie always felt if she was willing to make an effort, they should be as well. Those individuals would get a stern look of scrutiny from Maggie and maybe, if she felt particularly bold, a slight eyeroll.

  But this morning, she felt nothing would bother her. The window was done. The sun was shining outside. Casper, the stock boy, had already unpacked the boxes of new books that had arrived the previous afternoon. The day would be an easy one.

  “Mags?” said a female voice from behind her. She’d seen a specific face among the crowd of morning visitors, but it didn’t register. She’d recognized it, but it was part of a dream, wasn’t it? That was a foggy remnant from something in her subconscious. It wasn’t real. Was it?

  Maggie turned around and saw the very real face of her half sister.

  Chapter 2

  “Angel? What are you doing here?” Maggie asked.

  “Good to see you too. Is that how you greet your baby sister?”

  The young woman put her hand on her hip. Her belly button stared at Maggie from between a pair of cutoff jeans and a simple halter top. Silver rings with multicolored stones decorated most of Angel’s fingers, and around her neck hung a delicate silver chain that looked all too familiar to Maggie. The charm was a silver teddy bear. Maggie had an identical charm that their father had given her. She didn’t wear it, simply because it wasn’t her style. She always thought her father should have known that, but he tended to pay much more attention to her sister. Maggie and Angel had
an eight-year age difference, so the baby was allowed to be carefree and weird, especially when the baby was the polar opposite of the introverted bookworm that Maggie was.

  “Well, it would have been helpful to know you were coming,” Maggie said as she gave her sister a stiff-armed hug. Angel squeezed her tightly, making Maggie’s voice go hoarse. “Did you bring the rest of your… group with you?”

  Angel let go of Maggie and nervously tucked a few strands of hair behind her ears.

  “I’m not with them anymore,” Angel said.

  “What’s the matter? Not enough kale to go around? Did you find another crowd with a bigger compound—oh, wait, I mean commune—to spread out on?” Maggie snapped.

  “It’s not like that, Mags,” Angel said. “Do you have to start with me the second I get here? It’s like you’ve been waiting all this time, planning to unload on me.”

  “That would mean I was planning on you showing up here.” Maggie pretended to look at a watch on her wrist. “I didn’t know you were coming. Remember?”

  “You’re the only family I’ve got in the area, Mags. Can’t you not be mad at me, just until I get back on track?” Angel said with an eyeroll.

  “I’m not mad at you, Angel. You’re the youngest. You’re supposed to be the one who does the dumb things,” Maggie said.

  “Yeah. I really did step in it this time, Mags. I should have listened to my big sister,” Angel said just as Joshua Whitfield passed by.

  If Maggie didn’t already have a reason to be annoyed with Angel showing up unannounced, she certainly had one when she saw Joshua’s reaction to her. He stopped so quickly she was sure he’d given himself whiplash.

  “Did I hear that right?” he said as he looked the pretty stranger up and down and then looked at Maggie. “Sister?”

  “Joshua Whitfield, this is my half sister, Angel Bell. Angel, this is Joshua, my boss.” Maggie looked all over the room as she tried to avoid seeing Joshua’s reaction. She knew exactly what it would be. He’d be smitten with Angel just like the boys always were, and she’d eat it up as if no man had ever talked to her in her life.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Angel said as she shook his hand and smiled.

  “Well, I hope you don’t mind my saying, but I don’t think there could be two women more opposite than you ladies. Wow,” Joshua said, making Maggie’s blood pressure rise.

  “We get that all the time,” she said.

  “We do,” Angel concurred.

  “What are you doing in town?” Joshua asked.

  “I came to visit and spend some time with Mags. We haven’t seen each other in a long time. We need to do a lot of catching up, and I was hoping Mags would show me around town. It looks like everyone is planning for a big party,” Angel said and looked at Maggie as if hoping she’d go along with the story. Maggie wanted to tell her sister to go pound sand. It wasn’t that she hated her. She just didn’t know her at all. It was like having a stranger ask for a personal tour of your life.

  “Yeah. You might have a hard time finding a hotel room,” Maggie said, not realizing how rude she sounded.

  Angel chuckled and looked at Joshua, who looked at Maggie. “Maggie, you’ve got room at your house, don’t you? Don’t be silly, Angel. She’s just teasing. You don’t need to look for a hotel,” Joshua offered.

  Maggie glared at him.

  “We’ll work something out,” Maggie said diplomatically. The last thing she wanted to do was show her real emotions and start screaming at her half sister like she had the last time they saw each other, almost four years ago.

  “How can you just up and leave? Let me guess, there’s a guy involved,” Maggie had hissed.

  “He’s not just a guy. He’s my soul mate,” Angel replied. “You wouldn’t understand, Mags.”

  “Soul mate? Are you serious? What the heck does that even mean?” Maggie scoffed.

  “He’s who I was made for,” Angel replied. “Together we make a perfect unit.”

  “Unit?”

  “Being. We’re just perfect for each other. He makes me happy, Mags. Don’t I deserve to be happy?”

  “Not when it breaks our father’s heart and leaves me all by myself,” Maggie replied.

  “Yeah, right. Maggie, you are the last person who needs anyone. All your life you’ve been alone, and you make it very clear that you like it that way,” Angel snapped back.

  “What happens every time I try to reach out to you or anyone for that matter? Remember, Angel? You and your little group of friends had quite a few laughs over your half sister talking about the job she took at the bookstore, didn’t you? As soon as I left the room, that soul mate of yours said what? What did he say?” Maggie snapped.

  “You weren’t supposed to hear that,” Angel said, looking down at the ground.

  “He said I was already as dried up as the books I’d be selling,” Maggie said sternly. “I didn’t care what he thought of me. But then you laughed. You laughed along with him,” Maggie’s voice trembled, and her eyes filled with tears, but she quickly choked them back.

  “It was just a joke. Echo didn’t mean anything by it. He was just joking around,” Angel pleaded. “It’s not like you made him or any of my friends feel welcome. Heck, you didn’t even make me feel welcome.”

  “Sure, I didn’t. Maybe that was because I knew you were making a mistake. Maybe it’s because I do care about you, and for once someone needs to ignore your feelings and tell you that this is not a commune but a cult, and it is wrong. Don’t you see what they are asking you to do? To leave your family?” Maggie shook her head and crossed her arms.

  “Only because no one supports me. You aren’t supporting me!”

  “My gosh, Angel! Since when does support require I hand you the rope to hang yourself with?” Maggie shouted.

  That was the last thing she said to Angel. Her sister turned her back and left, climbing into a Jeep with some dude with long hair and a goatee. Her new family was called the Great Society of Atonement. They were a group of what Maggie called numbskulls who loitered around young people’s hangouts like the college grounds, bars, and coffeehouses for an opportunity to blow smoke then sweep them into the fold.

  She’d never admit it, but when Angel left, Maggie cried. She was all alone and had only just started working for Mr. Whitfield. No one else would have noticed the difference, but Mr. Whitfield picked up on her sorrow almost immediately. He was the only person in Fair Haven who knew Maggie even had a sister. Up until now.

  “Hey, I think I’ve got room upstairs,” Joshua said, snapping Maggie back into the present.

  “Oh my gosh, no. She’ll stay with me,” Maggie quickly replied. “I’ll give you my address. It’s easy to get to, and I’ve… got… room.” The words felt clunky tumbling out of her mouth. Going home to a quiet house was one of Maggie’s most favorite parts of the day. All of this went against the grain.

  “Thanks, Mags. Since you are working, I’m going to go and take in some of the local flavors. What time do you get off work?” Angel asked as if they’d never uttered a cross word in their whole lives.

  “I’ll be done around five. Here.” Maggie reached in her pocket and pulled out her keys. She removed one of them from the chain and handed it to Angel. “This is my house key in case you get tired. If I find out anyone other than you was in my house, you will be finding new accommodations. I don’t…”

  “I get it.” Angel rolled her eyes then smiled at Joshua. “Get all the boys and beer out before you get home. Understood.”

  “The sarcasm certainly runs in the family,” Joshua chuckled.

  “Yeah, it’s a family tradition,” Maggie said with a smirk before stepping to the counter to write down her address. She handed the scrap of paper to Angel and pinched her lips together. Angel stuffed it into the back pocket of her shorts. She strung the key onto the silver chain around her neck, fastened it, and then touched it gently.

  “I’ll see you tonight,” Angel said. “It was nice meetin
g you, Joshua.”

  “You, too, Angel.” Joshua’s smile made him look like a big, dopey hound to Maggie. It was her turn to roll her eyes. With a jingle of the bells over the door, Angel was gone, and Maggie groaned.

  “Your sister seems really nice. What’s the matter?” Joshua asked as he walked to the closed door to watch Angel walk away.

  “We have nothing in common. Nothing,” Maggie said as she straightened her blouse and proceeded to dive into her work. She had enough to keep her busy, and a few customers had books in their hands as they scanned the shelves. She’d wait at the counter to ring them up and decided not to look at Joshua.

  “I’m sure you’ve got more in common than you think. You just haven’t seen her in a while. How long has it…”

  “Four years. I haven’t seen her in four years, and she’s eight years younger than me. And she’s lived a totally different kind of existence from me. I just wonder why she’s here.”

  “Maybe she just wants to see her sister?” Joshua was trying to be kind, but Maggie knew Angel enough to understand she had a reason to just show up. It wasn’t like her to come seeking out approval or help.

  “Yeah, maybe.” Maggie forced an awkward, crooked smile and nodded. Maybe Joshua was right. But still, he hadn’t been there the day Angel left. He hadn’t heard her nonsense about the Great Society of Atonement. Sounded like the name a bunch of Goth kids would give their little clique. Fortunately, one of the customers who had been collecting books from almost every aisle came to the register, and she had to tend to him. Joshua smiled and went back to his work on the café side.