The Bead Seller Read online

  “Sounds like Rocky got more than just some money for his friend,” Brenda commented. “How much is the acting troupe paying him? Surely they don’t have the budget for a huge salary, but he’s living quite comfortably.”

  Jackson shifted in his seat and grimaced. “Yes, I believe his friend may have passed some of the money back to him. He had stashed away enough to live well. He cheated me out of so much, I admit maybe I was just glad to see him go, when it was all done, and the investors wanted us to avoid a lawsuit and legal trouble. Clearly Rocky was more than willing to do whatever it took to continue his lifestyle. The friend apparently had opened special bank accounts for this whole scheme, too. If not for my kindheartedness, they’d both be in prison today.”

  “Who was the friend who did all this and opened the bank accounts for him?” Brenda asked.

  “I never knew for sure…until today. She always used a false name at the restaurants and none of the staff could identify her. It was Tiana Lockser. If that’s her real name, anyway. Apparently, she was his lover for years. I never knew who he had in the wings but after listening to her spew off today at the bed and breakfast, I’m certain now.”

  Mac leaned back. “That means she has never been charged with any of it.”

  “No, she hasn’t. Right now, I’m glad she will be charged with the murder of my daughter, along with Rocky, and I’ll let the rest of it stay where it’s been the last few years. They are both vindictive and cruel people to kill my daughter in revenge. What kind of monster does that? My little girl deserved so much better,” he said and wiped a tear away from his eye.

  Mac’s office phone buzzed. The bead seller had arrived.

  Grace Baker rolled her small vendor cart into the waiting area. Brenda told her it would be secure in the corner in view of the clerk. The woman’s hands trembled when she grasped the handle and placed it at the end of the room. Mac came from his office followed by Jackson Reed, who nodded at the star witness. Grace stood still, her wide eyes displaying fear.

  “Will they see me through the glass?” she asked.

  “They won’t see you. We’ll put the man in the line with other men similar to his build but not too much alike. Usually witnesses find that the suspect will stand out in subtle ways. If you cannot point him out with certainty, it won’t be a problem.”

  Mac walked with her and Brenda to the observation window. The bead seller pulled back and asked again whether she could be seen.

  “You can see them, but it is a one-way window,” Brenda said again. “It just looks like a mirror on their side. They can’t see any of us.”

  “I want you to understand,” Mac said, “that the criminal may not be in the lineup at all. Look closely at all of them before deciding.”

  The five men paraded out and formed a horizontal line. Grace peered closely. Her eyes moved from one man in the middle to one on the end and back again. When she asked timidly, Mac instructed an officer to have the men turn to face the rear wall, so she could look closer at their build from behind, the same way she had seen them that fateful dark night.

  Finally, the strange old woman nodded, her beads jangling. “It looks like number three. I remember seeing his upper body lean forward a little when he walked and saw that his shoulders were bent.” Mac waited until she looked again at someone at the end and then back at number three. “I’m sure it’s number three. If the one at the end, number five, bent some at the shoulders, I wouldn’t be so sure. But he stands straighter than the other one. I’m sure it was number three.”

  Mac sent word to take number three back to his cell and keep him locked up. A few minutes later, five women paraded into place and faced the observers.

  Grace peered closely. After a few minutes, she stated number four could be the woman in question. “She didn’t have long hair like that, but I am sure that’s her.”

  “Can you describe her hair as you recall it?” Brenda asked.

  “It was about that color I think but it was nighttime, and it could have been lighter or even darker. The rest of her fits.” She looked at the others and back to number four. “The woman I saw had her hair pulled back from her face, so I suppose it could have been long.”

  Brenda asked her to show how it was pulled back. Grace swept her thick hair back from over her right eye and tucked it behind her ear. She brushed the left side over her shoulder. Mac called for the female officer near the door of the lineup room. He asked her to tell the suspects to sweep their hair to the side in the manner Grace demonstrated to the officer.

  Once that was completed, Grace nodded with satisfaction, looking at the woman she had picked out. “That’s her for sure. There is no doubt in my mind she is the one who watched the man choke that lovely girl.”

  The bead seller’s confidence increased until they turned to go. Her hands shook again when she clutched the handle of her cart. Brenda worried about her day as a witness in a courtroom, but she would have no choice.

  Jackson Reed asked if he could speak with the woman alone. When asked, Grace agreed once she understood who he was. She waited silently after they sat down. He had every right to blame her for not saving his daughter’s life. A quick glance made her realize the deep sorrow in his eyes. She thought in sorrow that she should be behind bars as much as the two criminals she picked from the lineup.

  “I want to thank you for coming forward, Miss Baker. I know it wasn’t easy for you.” Grace didn’t look at him but nodded her head. “Can you tell me what her last moments were like…before the person took her by surprise?”

  Grace swallowed hard. Her voice quivered. “She was beautiful and so happy. I could see it was her nature to be happy no matter what in her life, or at least she made me think that way. She danced on the sand and stretched. I watched her reach her arms to the sky and I heard her laugh. All was beautiful and calm, and she appeared caught up with the environment. She was…happy.” Grace realized she repeated herself but that was the emotion Kelly Reed left for her. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn her in time. I’m so very sorry.”

  “If you had called out, you wouldn’t be here to help the police find justice for Kelly.”

  Grace nodded, only a little consoled by his words. When she retrieved her cart, Jackson watched as she deftly maneuvered it through the doorway and onto the street again. The bead seller described his Kelly perfectly and he was glad for her joy on the beach. He had been told her death was quick and he imagined the smile that probably was on her lips just moments before. It was a cruel ending, to be sure, but the moments just before had been beautiful, joyful, exactly as his Kelly had always been.

  Detective Mac Rivers was relieved to observe the touching conversation between the witness and the victim’s father. He turned to Brenda and said, “Let’s go home for a while. I’m starved.”

  Jackson asked Brenda if he could come to Sheffield Bed and Breakfast the next morning and pick up Kelly’s belongings. “I’d like to see the room she stayed in as well.”

  Brenda agreed right away.

  “Feel free to spend as long as you need there. If you’d like to have breakfast, my chef will prepare something for you along with the rest of us.”

  Jack declined and stated he would be there at nine-thirty the next morning.

  At the bed and breakfast, all eyes were on Brenda and Mac, waiting to hear details. “Let me eat something first,” Mac said. “This saga can wait.”

  The others allowed him to savor the stew and Mac complimented Morgan more than once. The conversation moved to the upcoming wedding of Morgan and Tim. The engaged couple rolled their eyes as soon as Phyllis and Brenda started telling everyone their ideas for the wedding reception.

  “You both agreed not to go overboard,” Tim said.

  “You’ll lose on that one, Tim,” William said. “Mac and I tried that route with these two before and they didn’t listen to us either.”

  Brenda smiled sheepishly. “We did promise, but neither of you has given us an inkling of what you want.�
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  “We just discussed all of this with you, Brenda,” said her father. “The key word is simplicity. Besides, there’s plenty of time yet.”

  Phyllis exchanged a knowing look with Brenda. Mac placed his soup spoon on the side of the bowl and leaned back. Everyone watched expectantly.

  “Okay, okay. What do you want to know about the case?”

  “Everything,” Jenny said.

  “I’m interested in how Tiana and Rocky explained their actions,” Phyllis said. “What reasons did they give to kill such a talented and lovely woman?”

  “It was all about revenge in their minds.” Mac related the relationship connections among the people involved. “They ran through their part of the money swindled from the business partnership, and when nothing was left, the resentment increased until they came up with the plan to take Jackson Reed’s most precious gift from him in revenge. They convinced themselves in the end that he had stolen from them and so they would take from him. So far, no other reason on their part has come forth. They are vindictive to the core.”

  “Is Tiana Lockser a genuine psychic or not?” Jenny asked.

  “She made that up, too,” Mac said. “She’s also been a cook, a janitor, a carnival worker…oh, all kinds of scams and lies along the way, no doubt.”

  Bryce chimed in. “I wonder how Allie and Hope will feel when they find out she fooled them. There is no such thing as a psychic.”

  Mac disagreed with his son-in-law. “I believe there are those who have abilities to see things most of us ignore or don’t see for whatever reason. She wasn’t one of them, but they do exist.” He went on to tell how his department once used a psychic who gave them good leads that panned out. “She didn’t know the name of the perpetrator, but she gave a good description that later matched.”

  Bryce smiled at his boss. “I had no idea you believed in such things.” Mac ignored him and asked for more stew.

  “Bryce and I have better news,” Jenny said. “Some of you haven’t heard it yet. We are expecting our first child in late autumn.”

  Chairs scraped, and Brenda and Phyllis rushed to hug Jenny a second time.

  “Congratulations to you and Bryce,” William said.

  Detective Bryce Jones beamed as he was clapped on the shoulder and a toast was raised to their future child.

  Later that night, Brenda and Mac recalled the reckless young man who arrived in their town just a few years previous. Bryce had been cocky and flirtatious.

  “Who would have believed he would undergo such a transformation?” Mac said.

  “He will be a perfect father,” Brenda said. “Did you see how he looked at Jenny? It was as if he thought she would break. I wonder how long he will allow her to run her busy shop.”

  Mac laughed. “You don’t know our daughter at all, Brenda. She will determine that.”

  * * *

  Tiana Lockser stared deeply into the eyes of her two cellmates as she told them of her abilities. One scoffed and accused her of making it all up.

  “If you really knew the future, how did you land in this cell?”

  Tiana ignored her and directed her attention on the one woman who waited to hear more. Tiana closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them and gazed back. She told her she would have a long stint behind bars and the woman began crying. Tears streamed down her rouged cheeks. She gasped and choked when she finally was able to speak.

  “I didn’t kill anyone. They have the wrong person.”

  “I feel the same way about charges against me,” Tiana said, “but here I am in spite of my innocence.”

  The first woman curled up on the flat cot in the corner of the cell and covered her face. There was no doubt in her mind that all three were guilty of their crimes.

  “Say, you ladies want to get in on a good con I’m cooking up?” Tiana asked quietly when the other woman’s tears had begun to dry.

  The first woman began to call out for the night guard. If this strange woman’s cons were as bad as her fake psychic abilities, it was going to be a long night indeed.

  Dear Reader,

  Hi there. Thank you for reading.

  I hope you’ll leave a review and/or rating at the retail website where you purchased it, I appreciate you and your feedback.

  Thanks again,

  Wendy Meadows

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  About the Author

  Wendy Meadows is a USA Today bestselling author of cozy mysteries. She lives in “The Granite State” with her husband, two sons, two cats and lovable Labradoodle.

  When she isn’t working on her stories she likes to tend to her flowers, relax with her pets and play video games with her family.

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  Also by Wendy Meadows

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  Sweet Peach Bakery Cozy Series

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  Candy Shop Mysteries

  Pineville Gazette Mystery Series