Mystic Wedding Bell Blues (A Mystic Isle Mysteries Novella) by Sally J. Smith

Author:Sally J. Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: women sleuths, amateur sleuths, mystery novella
Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing

* * *

Between the early morning hour when they'd hauled Andy off to the hoosegow and now, Cat and I hadn't gotten much sleep. Excitement and worry over the uncertain state of the pending nuptials and the post-adrenaline crash from the elevated state of tension surrounding the murder had kept us both awake. From the looks of the two men sitting across from us on the terrace outside the Presto-Change-o Room, it had kept them from sleeping too.

I'd always thought Jack looked kind of adorable when he was sleepy, those heavy lids and relaxed features. It made me want to curl up beside him, stroke his eyebrows, and softly sing "Stars on the Wind" to him until he drifted off—just the way both my mama and grandmamma had done when I was a little girl.

Quincy and Jack had been talking nonstop. It seemed that once Quincy had finally managed to get home after filling out reports on the homicide and subsequent arrest of Andy Garrison, he'd been so tired he'd fallen asleep at the kitchen table before he could even troll the internet for a minister who could come to the resort that afternoon to marry him and Cat.

Ever since he'd sat down with us, Quincy had been filling us in on the details of last night's arrest. "The lab confirmed that the bee pollen capsules found with the body were laced with heavy doses of strychnine. Andy still had the health food store receipt for the purchase of that brand bee pollen in his pants pocket." He shook his head, as if a killer who kept receipts was beyond his scope. "Seems he'd seen Bocephus on TV bragging about how he used it day and night to keep his allergies under control. Once fingerprints connected Andy to both bottles, we had him. His confession was pretty much just icing on the old cake. Did provide motive though."

"Which was?"

Quincy had taken a gulp of his coffee to wash down the big bite of waffle. He shifted his gaze to Jack, who took the handoff and stepped into the ring.

"You"—Jack pointed at Cat—"are especially going to like this part. It seems a few years back Andy Garrison met an older woman, one with a substantial bank account. He wooed her, and they got married. The late Reverend Bocephus Jones officiated at the ceremony. Evidently Andy didn't turn out to be the prize catch his wife had been hoping for, and the bloom came off the rose pretty fast. Andy didn't care. There was no prenup, and Andy stood to walk away a moderately wealthy man. The wife went to file for divorce, and in the process discovered that the good reverend had never bothered to be ordained or certified as a minister, and…" He let his voice trail off.

I'd been listening closely to the tale, and it all came together in my head, so I let it out. "Andy and his wife were never legally married, so when she left him, he was flat broke.

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