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

Fisher
was a slim woman in her mid-fifties with dark auburn hair cut short, black
square-framed glasses and a sharp beaked nose. Beth recalled seeing her sitting
two rows behind her at the memorial service. She was dressed smartly in black
dress pants and a black fitted pinstriped shirt with a white collar and cuffs.
She looked like an accountant from a large corporate accounting firm in the
city.
    Beth held
out a hand. “Afternoon, I am Elizabeth Andrews, Mary-Ellen’s daughter. I do
recall seeing you at the memorial but we were never introduced.”
    Jean Fisher
squeezed her hand softly and welcomed her in. They sat down in the small formal
lounge area at the front of the cottage.
    ‘What can I
do for you, Elizabeth?” asked Jean.
    “Well I am
currently busy looking into my mother’s affairs…” Beth didn’t want to alarm the
woman with talk of murder. “I understand that you were taking care of the books
for the flower shop.”
    Jean shook
her head. “I did her books for three years and then suddenly, a couple of years
back, she asked me to hand everything over to her. I didn’t mind, I just
figured that she had decided to take on that responsibility for herself. I
assumed that she was using an auditor to check everything with Jack’s
assistance.”
    Beth was
disappointed. She had hoped to learn more from Jean but it was obvious that she
knew nothing about the current financial affairs of Scent with Love.
    “Thank you
for your time, Jean. I must get going.” Beth got into her car and drove back
into town. Beth decided to spend the rest of the afternoon looking into Jack
Reynolds. She needed to find out if he was blackmailing her mother. She also
needed to find out if he knew more about her mother’s financial affairs than he
was letting on.
    ~
    Beth parked
in a diagonal parking spot right outside Jack’s offices, a modern white five-story
office block, the tallest building in town. She walked up the stairs, taking
them two at a time. Jack’s offices were on the fifth floor with a panoramic
ocean view. Olivia was not at her desk. Probably sneaking around with
Bernard .
    Beth took a
seat on the black leather sofa in the corner. The reception area was enclosed
in thick laminated glass, giving a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the ocean.
Beth could see the harbor; there were a number of boats on the water and Beth
wondered if any of them were filled with drugs. She had almost forgotten that
Sheriff Hunter was going to be conducting a sting operation at the harbor that
evening. She wondered if Piper Pots was a dirty cop. She sure hoped not
otherwise Sheriff Hunter would be in grave danger. If Piper was the one
blackmailing her mother, then who knows what else she was capable of—perhaps
she had fallen for the gang leader.  Beth chided herself. Stop letting your
imagination run wild!
    The sound of
raised voices coming from the conference room startled Beth. She got up and
peered down the hall. She couldn’t see Olivia and she wondered if Jack was in
his office. She tiptoed down the hall to knock on his door but was distracted
by the conversation in the conference room.
    “….Pots, I’m
telling you, Jack…the woman has no idea…we need to act fast.” Beth was
listening so intently that she almost had a heart attack when the door was suddenly
flung open and a woman stormed out into the hall, almost knocking her off her
feet. Beth gasped.
    “Sorry…I…um…”
The woman stormed out of the office and slammed the door without even looking
back to see if she was alright.
    Pots! That
name just keeps popping up all over the place. What did she mean by ‘the woman
has no idea’? What if it means that something is going to happen tonight when
Sheriff Hunter conducts his sting operation? What if Piper Pots and the sheriff
are in danger?
    Jack hurried
out of the conference room. His eyes bulged from their sockets when he saw her
standing at the door of his office.
    “Beth…I
wasn’t expecting you