Coconut Chocolate Murder (A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Book 7) Read online

  Hawk nodded. “Young lady, someday you could make a good detective.”

  Lidia rested her chin on her right palm. “How is Nikki connected to Oliver Bates, though? Yes, the last name and location are striking, but there has to be more, Hawk.”

  “Yep,” Hawk agreed, “and that's where I'm running into a wall. Guys, I don't know all of Nikki's past. But it's clear Nikki doesn't know Oliver Bates or his wife. Or so it seems. Right now we need Nikki to piece some of the puzzle together for us. Until she can, all we can do is sit tight.”

  “How long will it be before the crime lab sends you the report on the chocolate?” Lidia asked Hawk. “The report should be very helpful.”

  “Tomorrow,” Hawk answered Lidia. “After Nikki and I came back to the station, Pop grabbed the chocolate and headed downstate to the crime lab himself. He'll be back tomorrow with the results.”

  “I'm worried about this Oliver Bates taking a candy bar from the store,” Lidia told Hawk. “He might try and frame Nikki for another murder.”

  “I've thought about that,” Hawk replied, equally worried.

  Tori looked past Hawk toward the kitchen window. She thought about Nikki's eyes. “Nikki is so sad.”

  “All she wants is peace,” Lidia said. “That woman seems to be a magnet for trouble, though.”

  Hawk looked down at his cup of coffee. “I know,” he sighed. “I just pray this is her last case. I was kinda hoping we would have a nice, quiet, winter filled with warm fires and long walks in the snow. After my wife and I divorced, I swore I wouldn't get serious about another woman. But Nikki, she sure is different. She knocked my socks off!” Hawk laughed and blushed. “I don't know what the woman sees in an old jerk like me. I... it's nice to care about someone and have them care about you.”

  Lidia reached over and patted Hawk's hand. “Nikki does care about you, Hawk. We all do.”

  “And you and Nikki are so good together,” Tori told Hawk. “I'm happy she has someone like you to care about her.”

  Hawk closed his eyes and rubbed his nose. “If I really cared about Nikki, I would take her and leave this town.”

  “No!” Lidia begged.

  “There's nothing wrong with our town,” Tori insisted. “Some of the people are rotten apples, but not everyone. Nikki loves her new life in Vermont, Hawk. I doubt she would run away.”

  “I know. That's the problem. Even if I wanted to run away with Nikki, she would refuse. Nikki is a fighter. Me... I feel like I'm getting older and older before my time. I came to this town to investigate unpaid traffic tickets, not murder. I left New York to get away from that life.”

  Lidia patted Hawk's hand again. “The Lord has His reasons. Let me get you a refill on coffee.”

  “Thanks.”

  An hour later, Nikki walked back into the kitchen. She saw Hawk, Lidia and Tori sitting at the table, talking and eating a slice of coconut cake apiece. “Jane Bates was my great aunt,” she said in a calm voice. “I've been online, studying my genealogy. Oliver Bates was my dad's adopted brother. No one in my family ever told me about him.”

  “Okay, we have a connection,” Hawk clapped his hands together.

  Nikki put the empty coffee cup in her hand down into the kitchen sink. “Hawk, we have a connection but more riddles than I can handle tonight. I'm fighting a lot of confusion and fatigue. I guess... what I'm really wondering is how Jane Bates managed to write the name of this town on her bedroom floor with lipstick... and why did I choose this town to call home?”

  “It's getting late. Maybe we should all try and get some sleep,” Lidia suggested.

  Nikki leaned against the kitchen sink. “This weather is going to be difficult,” she said and looked at the back door.

  “Nikki, dear, did you hear what I said?” Lidia asked worriedly. “Maybe we should all try and get some rest.”

  “Huh? Oh, uh, sure,” Nikki said. Feeling lost in a thick fog, she shook her head and forced a smile to her lips. “I'm sorry... I guess I'm a little scatterbrained tonight.”

  Hawk studied Nikki's face. He was worried. “We're all going to stand watch in three-hour shifts tonight,” he explained. “I'm taking the first shift. Tori, you'll take the second shift. Nikki, you can grab the third, and Lidia will finish the fourth.”

  “Why?” Lidia asked. “Do you believe someone might try and break into the cabin?”

  Hawk bit down on his lower lip. “It's dark and freezing outside. This is the kind of night killers love to work in. We need to all be alert.”

  Nikki closed her eyes and imagined outside. In the icy darkness, she saw two hideous eyes staring at her cabin. Nikki... Nikki Bates... I’m coming for you... coming for you... coming for you... Nikki flung her eyes open. “I think I'll go soak in a hot bath for a while and then get some sleep. Tori, wake me for my shift, honey, okay? ’Night, everyone.”

  Nikki hurried out of the kitchen and into her bedroom. Closing the bedroom door behind her she clasped her nervous hands together. “I was brought to this town for a reason….” she whispered and then ran into her bathroom and slammed the door tightly shut.

  Chapter Seven

  Nikki was shocked when she woke up and saw morning light coming through her bedroom window. Alarmed, she grabbed a pink, fluffy robe, threw it on, and ran out into the living room. Finding the living room empty, she rushed into the kitchen. Hawk was sitting at the table, eating a sandwich and drinking coffee. “Why didn't anyone wake me?” she asked.

  Hawk yawned. “Blame Tori. She didn't wake anyone. She pulled your shift and Lidia's shift. I put her to bed about twenty minutes ago. Breakfast?”

  Nikki looked out the kitchen window. The winds were screaming viciously. She shivered. “I'll have some coffee. Forgive my appearance.”

  Hawk found Nikki's messy hair and sleepy face beautiful. “You look like a princess.”

  Nikki examined her messy hair with her hands. “No make-up, messy hair... I look awful.”

  Hawk stood up, walked over to Nikki, and kissed her before she could run away. “You look beautiful,” he insisted. “Now sit down. I'll pour you a cup of coffee.”

  Nikki smiled and sat down. She looked at Hawk's sandwich and smiled again. “A bachelor's breakfast, huh?”

  “Turkey, cheese, tomato, all sprinkled with cayenne pepper,” he told Nikki, pouring her a cup of coffee. “Cayenne is good for the heart and wakes up the taste buds.”

  “I see,” Nikki said and wondered how anyone could put cayenne pepper on a sandwich so early in the morning.

  Hawk set Nikki's cup of coffee on the kitchen table and sat down. “Ice is sticking to the trees and the roads. Power is out in certain areas. I'm surprised we still have power here. As you can hear, the wind outside has settled in pretty good. It's going to be a rough day, Nikki. I called Pop. He's stuck downstate. Our best bet is to chance getting back to the station and sitting still for a while.”

  Nikki picked up her coffee cup and took a careful sip. “One step at a time, Hawk. Has Chief Daily received the results from the crime lab?”

  Hawk nodded. “He didn't let the crime lab close until he got the results.”

  “And?”

  “Years back,” Hawk told Nikki in a cop tone, “the military experimented with chemicals that would induce an immediate coma. The idea was to spray the substance on the battlefield, paralyze the enemy, and save lives... or so the reports on the darn stuff states. But this chemical, C5T-91, did more than put someone into a coma. It lowered the heart rate to the point the heart could no longer function.”

  “Research grants were canceled, and the chemical was transported to a high-security warehouse and stored, right?” Nikki asked.

  “That's the official story.”

  “The storage location of this chemical is right here in Vermont, right?”

  “A few miles away from the Center for Disease Control,” Hawk confirmed.

  “So how did our killer get this chemical?” Nikki asked herself rather than Hawk.

&nb
sp; “Nikki, Oliver Bates may be playing a game of some sort with you,” Hawk answered in a worried voice. “No one can just waltz right into a secure warehouse and walk out with a deadly chemical.”

  “But someone—the killer—obviously did,” Nikki said, and then a theory struck her. “Hawk, what if Oliver Bates killed Mrs. Grove in an attempt to blackmail me? He did say he would send me evidence.”

  “Evidence that could be altered to match a need,” Hawk confirmed.

  Nikki took a sip of her coffee. “It's possible. We need to find out who Oliver Bates worked for.”

  “I'll find out today,” Hawk promised Nikki. Looking into her face, he noticed a peculiar expression. It was if Nikki were lost inside her own mind. “Are you okay?”

  Nikki put down her coffee cup. She began to speak but then paused. Closing her eyes, she struggled to clear her mind. “Hawk, ever since yesterday, I feel like I'm lost in this thick fog. I feel like I'm trapped inside myself, searching for the answer to a very dark secret. I can't explain what I'm feeling...”

  “Try,” Hawk gently urged her.

  Nikki kept her eyes closed. Listening to the howling winds outside, she fought to place her confused thoughts into words that would somehow make sense. “Hawk, why did I choose Maple Hills as my new home? Or maybe I should ask: How did I choose Maple Hills as my new home?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Nikki slowly opened her eyes, against her will, as if they were being pulled open by a cruel prison guard. “When I decided to leave Atlanta, I didn't choose Vermont as my new home. I chose a little town in North Carolina that was snuggled up against the Smoky Mountains. Yet somehow, I ended up in Maple Hills. How?”

  Hawk shook his head. “You tell me.”

  “I can't,” Nikki said in a frustrated voice. She walked away from the kitchen counter and began pacing around the kitchen. “Up until yesterday, I never even questioned how I arrived in Maple Hills. My conscious mind just assumed that I had somehow made the decision to relocate here, but after my meeting with Oliver Bates at my store... I don't know, Hawk. It's like a crack formed in my subconscious mind, and these ugly, dark secrets are leaking out like invisible ink... and I'm trying to see what the ink is writing on my mind. Does any of this make sense?”

  Hawk watched Nikki as she stopped walking and looked out the kitchen window into the dark, stormy morning. “No,” he answered honestly. “Nikki, you're the one who has to make sense of what is going on inside your mind. When you do, we'll solve this case.”

  Nikki thumped the kitchen counter with her fist. “Hawk, why did I come to Maple Hills? Who brought me here?”

  “What?” Hawk asked.

  She turned and faced him. “Huh?”

  “What did you say?” Hawk asked.

  “Why did I come to Maple Hills?”

  “No,” Hawk said carefully, “after that.”

  “I...” Nikki began to speak and then stopped. Her eyes grew wide. “Who brought me to Maple Hills?” she whispered as a horrible, deep chill grabbed her heart. Closing her eyes, she saw a shiny object swinging before her eyes. “Who brought me to Maple Hills?” she whispered again.

  The telephone hanging on the wall next to the refrigerator rang. Startled, Nikki threw her eyes open. Hawk was staring at her but didn't say a word. “I better answer the call,” she said.

  “Okay.”

  Nikki picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Horrible weather we're having, isn't it, Ms. Bates?” Oliver Bates greeted Nikki in a low voice.

  “Could be worse,” Nikki said and pointed at the phone. “It's him,” she mouthed to Hawk.

  Hawk got to his feet, hurried over to Nikki and pushed his ear close to the phone. “Tell Detective Daily to sit back down,” Oliver told Nikki in a stern voice.

  Hawk looked at Nikki and then threw his eyes around the kitchen. Without saying a word, he moved away from the phone and sat back down. “Okay, he sat back down,” Nikki told Oliver as anger erupted in her heart. “You broke into my cabin, didn't you?” she demanded.

  “I'm a very cautious man,” Oliver explained to Nikki, “but to answer your question, no, I did not trespass and violate your privacy. I have many resources at my disposal, Ms. Bates. Satellites, floating far above our heads, allow one to have eyes in numerous places.”

  Some distance away, in a pleasant, comfortable rental house, Oliver sat at a wooden kitchen table looking at the screen of a large laptop. And there on the screen was Nikki Bates standing in her kitchen, wearing her pink robe. Picking up a brown mug, he patiently took a sip of hot honey water with just a dash of lemon. As he took a sip of it, he watched Nikki glance over her shoulder toward Hawk and then focus on the kitchen wall. “Talk,” she finally said.

  Oliver set down the mug. He felt cunning and brilliant—dangerous and daring. Dressed in a gray suit that always made him feel empowered, Oliver calmly clasped his hands together and stared at Nikki on the screen. The woman was obviously very sharp, yet she was no match for his mind. “Detective Hawk made a few interesting phone calls last night, did he not?”

  “Stop it,” Nikki snapped. “We know your name is Oliver Bates, okay?”

  Hawk watched Nikki slowly begin to fall apart at the seams. Some hideous enemy hidden inside her mind was tormenting her, crippling her ability to remain in control of her emotions and thoughts. “Get it together,” Hawk told Nikki in a stern voice.

  Nikki turned and looked at him. “I'm trying,” she whispered desperately. Tears slowly began falling from her scared eyes. “What did you do to me?” she begged Oliver.

  “I told you that I could destroy you,” Oliver informed Nikki. “Now that I have your full attention, perhaps you will do as you're told. You were assigned a task. You must find a killer. Are we clear?”

  “We're clear, yes,” Nikki said and wiped at her tears. “I will do whatever is needed to find the person who killed your wife.”

  “We are family, Ms. Bates, are we not? And shouldn't one family member tend to the needs of another family member?”

  “You're not my family,” Nikki told Oliver, disgusted. “You're a monster.”

  “Now, now, was that very nice?” he asked. “Watch your words with me, Ms. Bates, or I will be forced to punish you.”

  “I don't know what is happening,” Nikki said, “but since our meeting yesterday, I feel as if some hidden door in my mind is slowly opening up. I became aware of that feeling when I returned home last night. But when I found out you were the adopted brother of my daddy, the feeling intensified. Whatever game you're playing, after I find the person who killed your wife, I'm going to end your game.”

  “Such rudeness!” Oliver snapped. “But for now, I will ignore your hateful gestures. Today, Ms. Bates, you have work to do. Get out and begin your search. If you refuse, I will make sure your son is the one punished for your refusal to work instead of you.”

  Nikki closed her eyes. The image of a sweet, warm, newborn baby smiling up into her face graced her mind. “Leave my son out of your sick game,” Nikki warned Oliver. “If you touch him, I’ll go after you with every resource I have.”

  “Do not threaten me,” Oliver hissed.

  “You need me,” Nikki snapped. “If you didn't need me, you would have chosen someone else to track down the person who killed your wife. You have faked your death, sold your stocks and investments, and now you're hiding out in Maple Hills hoping I will find the person who killed your wife? Why, Oliver? You're obviously a man with many talents; why do you need me? Why not hire a slew of private investigators to track down the killer?”

  Oliver gritted his teeth. “Get to work, Ms. Bates, or your son—”

  “My son isn't a coward, and neither am I,” Nikki stated, “but let me make this promise to you, Oliver Bates: If you touch my son, it will be you that I go after. I will send your information onto every social media platform known to mankind. I will write story after story about you. I will go to every news and media outlet there is and mak
e your name viral. And since the governor of Vermont has personally stated that he is indebted to me for my services, I will ask him to repay his debt by supporting me in my quest to destroy you. And before you reply, let me also remind you that a person who fakes his own death isn't someone the government is pleased with. No, you faked your own death because whoever you were working for decided it was time to dispose of you, isn't that right, Oliver?”

  “That's my girl,” Hawk whispered proudly.

  Oliver kept his hands clasped together. Feeling anger boil up into his chest, he nearly exploded in rage. Instead, he drew in five deep breaths and forced self-control over his words. “Tick-tock, Ms. Bates. The sand is draining. Find the killer. I will be in touch.”

  Nikki slammed the phone down and wiped at her tears. “No more tears,” she said in a desperate voice. “I've got work to do.”

  Hawk stood up and walked over to Nikki. Gently, he pulled her into his arms. “It's going to be okay,” he promised.

  “Is it?” Closing her eyes, Nikki saw the shiny object swinging back and forth before her eyes. “Oh Hawk, what did that awful man do to me? Why was I brought to Maple Hills?”

  Hawk knew every word he or Nikki spoke would reach the ears of Oliver Bates. “Get dressed,” he told Nikki in a low whisper. “We have work to do.”

  “Work?” Nikki almost laughed to herself. “Hawk, are you serious? How am I supposed to find the person who killed Jane Bates? Look outside. No one will be in town today. I guess the diner might be open, but that's all.”

  Something in Nikki's voice struck Hawk as odd. Looking deep into her eyes, Hawk quickly caught a glimpse that only he could understand. “You have to try,” he told her. “Go get dressed, huh?”

  Nikki left the kitchen, looking like a woman who was severely confused and beaten down. She walked to her bedroom, threw on a thick, gray sweater dress, dark green winter leggings, a pair of brown walking boots and a gray ski cap. When she returned to the kitchen, Lidia and Tori were waiting. “Where are you going?” Lidia asked, concerned.