Whipped Wedding Woes: A Cozy Mystery (Caesars Creek Mystery Series Book 8) (3 page)

Chapter Three

After our laughter explosion, Greg, Brandon, Bruce and Paige caught up with us. Miss Trixie and her husband Ben stopped by the table.

Stormi stood and Trixie gave her a hug. “Oh darlin, you look so radiant tonight. I couldn’t be happier for you.”

“Thanks Trixie,” Stormi replied. “I’m feeling like the luckiest girl on earth right now.”

“It wasn’t luck honey. You deserve all the happiness in the world and that Greg fellow there is going to give it to you. Just be sure to offer some back to him.” They both laughed and Trixie and Ben bid us all adieu.

We decided to head over to Jeb’s table where he sat with Dottie and ol’ Charlie. He proceeded to tell us stories about how he struck it rich with stocks back in the 60’s and how the money has grown into the millions. This was Jeb’s usual story of how he invested in certain stocks that exploded and he became a millionaire. Of course, he didn’t live the life of one, so it was difficult to believe. No one had ever seen a bank account statement to confirm his ramblings. Jeb was known to blow things out of proportion and we all simply went along with it. His other child, Howie’s mother who lived in California (Howie’s dad passed away several years back), thought he might have buried the money on the property and forgot where it was. Dottie on the other hand thought it was all bull hockey and most of the town did as well. But everyone loved Jeb and simply let him tell his tall tales without arguing or correcting him.

Jeb beckoned Stormi to come over to him as I sat across the table from them. She put her arm on his shoulder and he looked up at her. “I wanted to give you and Greg some money for a down payment on a new house, but I’m having difficulty remembering where I put it all. I think some of it is in a bank in Atlanta, but I’ve also keep some on the property. As soon as I determine where it’s at, I’ll give it to you.”

Stormi kissed Jeb on the cheek and said, “Don’t worry about it Papaw Jeb, we’re doing fine.”

“No, I am going to give you that money,” Jeb said. “I just need to remember where it is. In fact my daughters and grandchildren will be rich after I pass on.”

Stormi shook her head. “Don’t talk about that Papaw. You aren’t going anywhere if I have anything to say about it.”

Jeb chuckled. “You’re just like your Momma…feisty and sassy.”

I spotted Luella a few tables over sitting by herself. Seemed like Howie had been gone awhile so I walked over.

“Hi Luella,” I greeted her. “Are you having a good time?”

“Yes I suppose so,” she said looking at her manicured nails. “Have you seen Howie? He’s been gone a while now.”

“No I haven’t,” I responded. “I noticed he left too and never returned.”

Luella stood and grabbed her designer bag. “I better go look for him. He’s probably in a deep conversation with someone about one of his inventions.”

She was likely spot on. “I bet you’re right Luella. I hope you find him.”

She wandered off to find Howie as I noticed other guests starting to leave. The bride and groom themselves were getting ready to depart for their honeymoon. They were spending a few days in Atlanta before flying to Bermuda. Paige and I hugged Stormi and she thanked us for helping make this day extra special.

“I’m so glad everything went smoothly,” I said to Stormi and Paige.

Paige nodded. “I am too. It’s not often a wedding goes so well. Maybe the hiccups were all at the beginning of this adventure.”

“Let’s hope so,” Stormi replied. “I think once I get to Atlanta I’ll be able to relax with my man.”

I turned to look at Greg who was talking with Bruce and Brandon. “He looks so happy Stormi. I don’t think I could have chosen a better match for you.”

“And to think, it only took a murder to bring us together.”

“Stormi, don’t say those things!” Dottie admonished. “It’s bad luck.”

Stormi looked over at Greg. “I have all the luck I need right there.”

“Okay, I can’t take much more of this mushy business,” Paige proclaimed. “Time for you two to take your love fest on the road.”

Stormi and Greg jumped into his SUV and headed down the road. Dottie rounded up Jeb to take him home as well. The rest of us sat down at one of the tables as guests headed to their vehicles. We decided to wait until the rush of traffic had dwindled before we took off.

“Well I think we can say this was a success,” Bruce announced. “What do you think dear?”

Paige nodded. “Thank goodness. I think we all could do with some serenity for a while.”

Alas, that would all change in an instant.

Chapter Four

Most everyone had left and workers were taking down the tables and dismantling the tent. The four of us headed to the parking lot when we heard screams coming from the courtyard where the wedding was held. We ran towards the screams and stopped suddenly when we saw Howie lying on the ground with Luella hovering over him.

“I found him like this!” She exclaimed. “I’m not sure if he hit his head or had a heart attack or what’s going on.”

Paige reached into her purse and pulled her cell phone out. “I’ll call for an ambulance.”

“No!” Luella yelled. “That will take too long and I don’t know how long he’s been lying here. Put him in my car and I’ll take him to the hospital.”

When Bruce and Brandon hesitated Luella cried, “Please, I am a nurse with major medical background. I can take care of him, but time is of the essence.”

With that, the men grabbed Howie and carried his lifeless body to Luella’s car where they placed him in the back seat. As she was getting in the driver’s seat, she said she’d call us and let us know what’s going on. We told her we’d meet her at the hospital and she sped off. We stood looking at each other.

“What the heck just happened?” Paige asked. “How long was he gone from the reception?”

“It’s been quite a while,” I said. “I remember I noticed him leaving. That had to be at least an hour ago.”

“That’s not good,” Brandon said. “Especially if he was lying there the entire time.”

“Wouldn’t have somebody run across him though?” I asked. “Especially if he’d been lying there that long?”

“Not necessarily,” Bruce replied. “Most everyone had vacated this area after the wedding.”

“What do you think happened?” Bruce asked. “He’s way too young for a heart attack. Although he was really tearing it up on the dance floor.” Oh gosh, I hated to think of me and Stormi laughing at him and then he goes and conks out from the exhaustion or something worse.

“Maybe he slipped and fell,” Paige surmised. “He could have hit his head and has a concussion.”

“Should we call Stormi?” I asked. I really didn’t know what to do in this case. I hated to mess up what was one of the happiest days of her life with what might be news that could simply be a bump on the head, but then she might be upset if we didn’t let her know.

“Brandon, what do you think?” Paige asked.

“Let’s wait until we know something for sure,” Brandon said. “She isn’t leaving for a few days so we have time to find out what happened to him.”

I looked at my watch. It had been almost 10 minutes since Luella left. How could time rush by that fast? “Let’s get to the hospital so Luella won’t be there by herself,” I said.

As were headed for the vehicles Brandon’s cell phone chirped. “It’s Luella,” he said to no one in particular. “Luella, what’s going on?” He put her on speaker so we could all hear.

“Right after I left you guys Howie woke up. He’s very groggy and doesn’t remember what happened to him, but I decided to take him to the hospital where I work. The facility has state of the art equipment that can pinpoint what happened. I figured since he was awake it would be alright to go ahead and take him there instead of the small hospital in Caesars Creek.”

We nodded and Brandon said, “Yeah that’s a good idea. The hospital here may have sent him up there anyways after they evaluated him. Should we meet you up there?”

“No,” Luella answered. “You all have had a busy day and I’m sure you’re worn out. I can take care of Howie and I’ll let you know what we learn in the morning.”

“Good deal Luella,” Brandon replied. “And thanks for taking care of Howie.”

“No problem…goodbye.”

“I guess that settles it then,” Brandon said. “We’ll wait until we hear something from her tomorrow before alerting Stormi or my Mom.”

Paige nodded. “Yeah because there’s nothing to tell them right now and they’d only worry. By tomorrow we should have answers.”

We’d have answers alright, but nothing like we expected.

Chapter Five

The next day Brandon came over late since we both slept in. Neither of us could get to sleep that night wondering what happened to Howie.

“I’ve talked to Luella twice today,” Brandon said as we sat on the porch drinking sweet tea from canning jars turned into beverage glasses. “She said they’ve been running tests on Howie and when the doctor tells them something she’ll let me know.”

“Do you think we should go ahead and drive up to Atlanta to the hospital?” I asked.

“She said not to, that she could handle it. If she doesn’t have news by tomorrow though I’m heading up there.”

“Good idea. Does Howie‘s mother Doreen know?”

Brandon nodded as he took a sip of tea. “Yes, Luella called to let her know.”

“Think she’ll call Dottie?”

“Luella told her not to worry anyone, that he should be fine and Howie could tell Dottie and Jeb what happened when he‘s released.”

I knew Luella was a nurse and she was attending college to get her doctorate in medicine, so likely she knew the situation better than we did. But I wondered if perhaps we should take a more active part in this. Luella was just the girlfriend. Maybe his family should know more of what’s going on and be there.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Brandon said as he looked into my eyes. “I’ve been wondering the same thing…that it should be family up there with him. However, I’m going to give her until tomorrow and if he’s not released by then, I’ll find out what’s going on.”

The next day I opened the Frozen Scoop ice cream shoppe at 10am. It felt strange not to have my friend and co-worker sliding in the door, railing at the Georgia humidity as she often would. I already missed her and she hadn’t even left on her honeymoon yet. Paige came in around 11 am to help in Stormi’s absence.

“So any word on Howie?” Paige asked as she slipped on her bright pink Frozen Scoop apron.

I shook my head. “I haven’t heard anything from Brandon this morning. He talked to Luella several times yesterday, but she said the hospital was running tests and she’d let us know when the doctors gave them the results. But Brandon said he was driving up there today if Luella still hasn’t gotten answers.”

“I don’t blame him,” Paige said as she refilled the napkin dispenser. “I would want to know what’s going on as well. So you haven’t heard from Brandon yet?”

“No, he said he was going to call her this morning, but I haven’t heard from him.” At just that moment, I saw Brandon and Dottie getting out of his truck and heading for the shoppe. “Oh there’s Brandon and Dottie now.”

As soon as Dottie entered, I knew something was terribly wrong. Her eyes were red and swollen and she was clutching a tissue. I rushed over to her. “What’s happened?”

Dottie grabbed my arms. “Howie died last night at the hospital.”

I looked at Brandon. “What?”

Brandon nodded. “Got the call from Luella this morning so I rushed over to Momma’s to let her know before she heard it from someone else.”

“Oh Dottie, I’m so sorry.”

Paige walked over. “I’m sorry too Dottie and Brandon. What in the world happened? I thought he was okay.”

“That’s what we thought, but Luella said he started seizing and then died early this morning. They think he may have had a bleed on the brain,” Brandon said.

“Shouldn’t they do an autopsy and find out?” Paige asked as I steered Dottie to a chair to sit down.

“I asked about that too,” Brandon said. “But apparently Luella talked to Doreen and they decided not to have one performed. That Howie wouldn’t want his body all carved up like that. Plus the police were never called in so they don’t consider it a suspicious death.”

“Well I think it’s suspicious,” Dottie cried.

I put my arm around Dottie’s shoulder. “Why do you think its suspicious Dottie?”

“Oh honey, I don’t know…he’s just too young to die.” She continued to sob and I had her sit down at one of the tables. I looked over at Paige who appeared skeptical as well. I handed Dottie a few napkins to dry her tears.

“Brandon, what do you think?” I asked.

Brandon shook his head. “I’m not sure, but it does seem odd. How can he be fine one minute and dead the next? I guess it happens of course, but he was in the hospital, couldn’t they have seen something wrong with all those tests?”

“It does seem peculiar,” Paige answered. “But if they didn’t get the results of the tests back in time they may not have known. Heck, I don’t even know what I’m talking about! Without a few facts, we’re in the dark.”

At that moment, Stormi burst in the door of the shoppe with Greg following. “What are you doing back here?” Paige asked.

Stormi headed over to her mother. “I got the call from Momma at the airport so we drove right back.” Stormi sat down next to Dottie and grabbed her head. “What the heck happened?”

Brandon told Greg and Stormi what transpired after they left the reception. Stormi wasn’t happy that we didn’t let her know, but she understood why. However, she didn’t appreciate Luella taking full control.

“I know they’re living together, but it seems odd she takes over and we’re sitting here in the dark.”

“I’m sorry Stormi,” I said. “We should have been more proactive, but Luella made it sound like everything was under control.”

“Yeah, I bet she did.” I could tell Stormi didn’t trust Luella as far as she could toss her sorry butt.

“What…do you think Luella had something to do with Howie’s death?” Dottie sniffed.

Stormi patted her mother’s hand. “No Momma, I’m just blowing off steam.” I knew that was a lie, but Stormi didn’t want Dottie getting more upset than she already was.

“When is the funeral?” Greg asked.

“That’s just it,” Brandon replied. “There isn’t going to be one. Evidently Howie specified he wanted to be cremated with no funeral.”

Dottie started crying again. “How can someone that young already have his death planned out?”

“Greg and I are going to take you home Momma. You need to get some rest.” Stormi walked over to Paige and I. “I’m going to drop off Momma and Greg is heading to the police station. I’ll be coming back here and we’re going to figure this thing out.”

Brandon left as he had a couple of carpenter jobs to work on today. Paige took care of the customers while I filled my ice cream cake orders in the back. I kept wondering how this could occur so quickly. Perhaps Howie wore himself out on the dance floor and collapsed, but he’s so young. Unless he had some kind of heart defect, that no one knew about. Or maybe he fell and hit his head and the damage wasn’t lethal until a few days later. My mind was spinning with so many possibilities, but without knowing any test results or questioning Luella further, we were left in the dark. The afternoon flew by and before we knew it, Stormi was back during the afternoon lull.

“We have to find out what happened to Howie,” Stormi said as I brought us all a cup of coffee and we sat down at a table to commiserate.

“I agree, this stinks,” Paige said as she poured a packet of artificial sweetener into her coffee. “I just wish I could remember more of what happened that night. Everything happened so fast.”

“I agree,” I said stirring my coffee. “It just seemed like he was in her car within seconds of us finding him.”

“Don’t you think it strange that she took him to a hospital so far away?” Stormi asked.

“I do now,” Paige answered. “But at the time it seemed like the right thing to do. She said he was awake and coherent and that the hospital she worked at had more state of the art equipment to find out what happened. It sounded plausible at the time.”

I nodded. “I agree…we figured our small hospital would send him up there anyway. We felt she was doing the right thing.”

“And she called yesterday saying he was fine and they were running tests?” Stormi asked.

“Yes, that’s what she told Brandon,” I replied. “But, he never got to talk to Howie, only Luella.”

“Why didn’t he talk to Howie?”

“She would say he was sleeping or the hospital was running tests.”

“Where is she now?” Stormi asked. “I want to know where they sent him.”

“No one’s heard from her since she called to tell us about Howie,” I said. “Maybe Doreen knows.”

Stormi shook her head. “She didn’t know. Luella told her she’d have his ashes shipped to her. Doreen said that was fine since she can’t afford to make it here from California.”

Paige pointed to Stormi’s cell phone sitting on the table. “You have her cell number. Call her and ask what funeral home is performing the cremation.”

Stormi grabbed her phone and punched the screen. She held the phone to her ear and then after a few seconds held it out for the rest of us to hear. A robotic voice came on the line to tell us the number was no longer in use.

We stared at the phone. “What the heck is going on?” Paige asked. “Wait a minute…what is Luella’s last name?

Stormi and I looked at each other and shook our heads.

“Huh?” Paige asked. “You don’t know her last name?”

Stormi shrugged. “It never came up or I forgot it.”

“Well, this is a pretty pickle,” Paige exclaimed. “How are we going to find this gal without knowing her last name?”

“Wasn’t she going to the Southern State University up in Atlanta?” I asked. “Maybe we can call and ask if they have a Luella going to school there. Surely there aren’t many Luella’s at the college.”

“It’s worth a try,” Paige said.

Stormi got the number and called the university. Sure enough there was one Luella Vance enrolled at the school, but they couldn’t give out her phone number for privacy reasons. They did say she had a dorm room on campus, but couldn’t give the address out for that either.

“Did you know she had a dorm room on campus?” Paige asked Stormi.

“No, but maybe she had it before she and Howie met and then moved down here. Apparently she kept the dorm room.”

“That’s not so odd,” Paige said. “If she and Howie didn’t work out she had a place to go back to.”

“Now we just need to find out her address or real phone number,” I replied. “Do you think Greg could find that out for us?”

“At least he can run a background check on her and find out if she’s ever been arrested.”

“You think something shady is going on don’t you?” I inquired. I knew she did, but we might as well get it out in the open and quit dancing around the subject.

“You bet I do,” Stormi answered. “Her and Howie…it never felt right. They’re just too different, what with her high society ways and his homespun charm.”

Paige grimaced. “Homespun charm? Is that what it was?”

Stormi took a sip of coffee. “It’s better than saying he was crazier than the old aunt you keep locked in the attic.”

“You know, Bruce had one of those,” Paige announced as we stared at her. “The family didn’t keep her locked in the attic,” she said with a wave of her hand. “But she swore the planes flying over her house were Russians spying on her. Whenever the planes would fly over, she’d run out into the yard, raise her fist in the air, and cuss at them. She was a hoot alright,” Paige chuckled.

“Okay, enough about Bruce’s crazy aunt,” Stormi replied. “Although I wish to revisit the subject at a later date.” Ha, me too. I’m sure Bruce would cringe knowing Paige had spilled the beans on that tasty tidbit.