A Taste of Magic (A Sugarcomb Lake Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Alaine Allister Page A

recovered.  “No ma’am.  I’m a police officer.  I’m here to inform you that you are under arrest for the murder of Jed Black.”
    “What?” Bonnie asked in stunned disbelief. 
    She dropped the new bottle of wine she had opened.  That right there was probably a hundred dollars down the drain, at least!  Thankfully this time it was white wine – but Clarissa knew that stained hardwood was the least of Bonnie Black’s worries.
    “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” the officer informed Bonnie matter-of-factly.  “I’ll tell you right now there are a lot of media people lined up outside the station.  If you would like a moment to get dressed before we head over there, I’ll allow it.”
    Bonnie glared at him.  “This is absurd.  I did not kill my husband!”
    “Save it for your lawyer,” the cop told her with blatant disinterest.  He waved his handcuffs around, seemingly a bit drunk on his own power.  “Are you going to cooperate or do you want to come down to the station in these and your bathrobe?”
    “I’m not coming down to the station at all!” Bonnie insisted shrilly.  “I’m innocent!”
    “The hard way it is, then,” the officer sighed.
    As he read Bonnie her rights and wrestled her into handcuffs, the drunken widow looked over at Clarissa.  Tears were streaming down her face, leaving dark streaks of mascara on her cheeks.  It was hard not to feel sorry for her in that state.
    “You believe me, don’t you?” Bonnie pleaded desperately.  “You know I didn’t kill Jed, right?”
    Clarissa didn’t know how to respond.  So she went with the truth.
    “Yes,” she said, surprising even herself.  “I believe you.”  Her gut said Bonnie was being honest.
    “Please help me!” Bonnie wailed as the officer led her down the driveway to his police cruiser.  “Please, you have to help me!  I didn’t do it!  I didn’t kill anyone!  This is a terrible mistake.  I’m innocent!  I’m innocent!”
    As she watched Bonnie get loaded into the back of the police car, Clarissa wasn’t sure what to do.  Feeling helpless, she shut the front door.  Then she went out to her car and followed Bonnie and the cop to the police station.
    It was a short drive.  Everything was a short drive in Sugarcomb Lake.
    It was utter chaos down there at the police station. 
    Clearly someone had tipped off the press, because swarms of cameramen and reporters from Green City lined the streets.  As Clarissa looked at the logos on the sides of the vehicles, she noted that every newspaper and TV station in Minnesota seemed to be represented.
    She couldn’t help but feel sorry for Bonnie Black as she was paraded into the station while reporters shouted questions and camera crews filmed her in a rather unglamorous state.
    In fact, Clarissa couldn’t even bring herself to whip out her phone and snap a few photos of Bonnie’s perp walk.  She knew that was exactly what the police wanted.  They wanted the whole state to know they had caught a killer less than 24 hours after the crime.  They wanted a pat on the back and bragging rights.
    But Clarissa refused to be manipulated like that.
    She had a bad feeling about what was going on. 
    The knot in the pit of Clarissa’s stomach tightened when she saw Parker Tweed approach her vehicle.  She looked away so they wouldn’t make eye contact.  When he paused outside her car, she pretended to be rummaging around for something inside her purse.  But when he tapped on the driver side window, she couldn’t really pretend to be oblivious to his presence any longer.
    She rolled down the window a crack.  “What do you want?”
    “Hello to you too,” he replied.  “How did you get here so fast?”
    “I could ask you the same thing.”
    “Oh come on, you and I both know how it works.  A source at the police station called all the big news agencies in the state to make sure we would be here.  You know how these guys love a press