Murder So Sweet: A Frosted Love Cozy Mystery (Frosted Love Mysteries Book 3) by Carol Durand, Summer Prescott Page A

called to let him know that there was a very insistent little old lady at the station demanding to see him. Beckett asked what she wanted and was told that she refused to talk to anyone but him. When the sergeant told him that the woman’s name was Clara Clements, Chas jumped up from the table, threw the remnants of his lunch in a trash barrel, gulped down the dregs of his coffee, and headed out to his unmarked car, speeding back to the office.
    “I found some things in Elmer’s safe that might be of interest to you, Detective,” Clara Clements was wide-eyed and clutching a file folder to her bosom.
    “Please, sit down, Mrs. Clements. Can I get you a cup of tea or a soda?” Chas offered.
    “No, thank you, young man, I’m just fine.”
    “So, what is it you’d like to share with me?” he asked kindly.
    Handing him the folder, she recounted the years-long history of conflict between her husband and a woman named Chanel Thibedeaux, who had a nasty habit of sending her goons to harass and threaten the elderly couple and their business. Unbeknownst to Clara, Elmer had been collecting names and copies of transactions between local businesses that had bowed to the pressure and allowed themselves to be extorted by Chanel’s sinister empire. One of the nasty woman’s customers was Darryl Davis, the previous owner of Missy’s Dellville shop. Chas noticed that the transactions were not only deposited into an account for Chanel Thibedeaux, but a portion of the funds was also being funneled into an account under the name of Calvin Goins. Detective Beckett wracked his brain trying to remember where he had heard the name before (aside from dealing with the Sheriff), finally realizing that the rude cop he encountered at Missy’s place was named Goins. He wondered if they were related, but Goins was a pretty common name in Louisiana, so it could go either way.
    The evidence linking Thibedeaux to extortion was pretty substantial, with the receipts, canceled checks, statements of harassment, and other documentation that Elmer had kept in his safe. If the business owners on the list would be willing to testify against Chanel Thibedeaux and Sheriff Calvin Goins, the case would be solid enough to put them in jail for a very long time. Clearly, Elmer had been killed because he knew too much, now all Chas had to do was prove it.
    “Would you excuse me a moment?” he asked Clara, and when she nodded, he picked up the receiver on his desk and dialed the lab, asking the tech who answered the phone if his results for the murder weapon were back yet. The tech came back on the line after checking and told him that the results were back and he’d bring them right over, because he had some news that he thought the detective might be interested in.
    Chas asked Clara if he could make copies of the contents of the file, but she said that he should just keep it. She wanted nothing more to do with the whole mess and was eager to leave what she had found in Detective Beckett’s capable hands. He thanked her for her time and help and walked her to the door. They shook hands and the little woman shuffled slowly to her car. Chas waved as she drove away, and saw Gus, the lab tech pull into the space she had just vacated. He greeted the shy tech and took him back to his office to see what he had to say. The young man looked about furtively, as though he was afraid to be seen.
    Gus handed over the reports that the detective had requested, along with a manila folder. Beckett flipped through the evidence, noting that the fingerprints on the jerry can that was left at Missy’s matched the fingerprints that were on the matchbook he had picked up in her yard after someone had vandalized her house, a thumb print on the door jamb at the Dellville store, and a partial fingerprint on the churn blade that had killed Elmer Clements. The blood on the blade had indeed been Elmer’s, and the coroner’s report showed that he had been killed hours before his body