Chocolate Hazelnut & Murder_An Oceanside Cozy Mystery Book 27 Read online

  “I wouldn’t say wonderfully,” Mr. Rankle said, maintaining his grumpy demeanor.

  “I think it’s wonderful,” Ethel said, undeterred. “It allows you to enjoy the beach again.”

  Heather smiled. Ethel seemed to enjoy challenging Mr. Rankle’s grumbles. They had recently reconnected at Valentine’s Day, and Ethel had been caring for him since he broke his leg. He normally wouldn’t have accepted help from anyone, but he enjoyed Ethel’s company.

  “I’m a part of the Beach Detectors Club,” Mr. Rankle said. “Did you confuse it with the word detective?”

  “I’m here delivering donuts for the Egg Hunt,” said Heather.

  “Oh, isn’t that nice?” Ethel said. “I love your donuts so much.”

  While everyone was fairly certain that Mr. Rankle liked Heather’s donuts as any sane person should, he made a big show of disliking them. Ethel somewhat put up with the ruse.

  Jill returned with the metal detector, and Lilly and Ryan were at her heels. Ryan lifted the detector’s pole. It seemed quite hefty.

  “This could do some damage in the wrong hands,” he said. “The kids better be careful.”

  Heather took a step towards her family. “Well, it was a pleasure seeing you, Mr. Rankle.”

  “Bah,” he responded.

  “We better go meet up with the rest of the group,” Heather continued.

  “Fine,” Mr. Rankle said. “You go and take part in the egg hunt. You just better not be involved in any murder business here at my club.”

  “We’re definitely not planning on it,” Heather said.

  The Egg Hunt

  “Great job, Lilly!” Heather called.

  “Or should we say egg-cellent!” Lilly shouted.

  Eva and Leila giggled. The four women were sitting on beach chairs and watching the egg hunt take place. Ryan and Jamie were enjoying the metal detector as much as Lilly was, and they were wandering the sandy beach with the other family groups, searching for eggs. Lilly had already found three eggs. She gave one to her mom, Eva, and Leila, and promised to find another for Amy.

  Heather had said that Lilly was welcome to keep the eggs for herself since she was doing all the hard work, but Lilly said she would rather share. Eva was already wearing the bracelet that had been found in her egg and saying what a charming gift it was.

  They had started off all helping with the metal detector but found that they were too large a group to function with one rod. Because Ryan and Jamie had been so excited about the hunt, Heather suggested that they help Lilly first.

  She and her female friends were enjoying sitting under their beach umbrellas. Eva and Leila had found the perfect ones for the occasion. They were decorated like Easter eggs with pastel patterns on the cloth.

  Heather was finding the whole day relaxing. Mr. Rankle was on the other side of the beach, and she hadn’t needed to make small talk with him again.

  Eva and Leila were taking turns snapping pictures of the beach. They assured Heather that they got some lovely shots of Lilly and that there were some good crowd scenes of the event.

  Amy had already visited the dessert tent. She was told the chocolate bunny was to be eaten later because the person who found the golden egg in the sand could take the first bite. There had been much speculation among the club members about whether an ear, a foot, or a tail would be selected for this first bite. Amy laughed as she recounted this to her friends, and they had all jokingly agreed that the rabbit’s foot was the correct choice to make. After all, chocolate or not, it was lucky.

  Amy was now enjoying a Chocolate Hazelnut Donut and amusing herself by singing classic Easter songs with her own lyrics.

  “With you Easter Donut, with all the frill up-onut. ‘Twill be the grandest dessert at the Easter Parade,” she sang.

  Heather was enjoying the company and seeing her daughter find the hidden eggs, but she was also people watching.

  There were about twenty-five families taking part in the Easter Egg Hunt. Many of them were working all together to search, but some people were sitting in beach chairs and watching from the audience area like Heather.

  Jill was on the beach, helping different groups who needed help with the metal detectors’ settings. She seemed to love working with the children.

  Heather looked around for the other members of the Key West Beach Detectors Club, but couldn’t see many of them. They had been introduced at the beginning of the event, and Gilbert had given a short speech about their club before announcing the start of the Easter Egg Hunt.

  She had counted eleven people, which included Ethel helping Mr. Rankle with his special chair, so the whole club was there. She recognized the people who had stopped by the tent earlier and saw the other members were a mix of men and women.

  Heather cheered as Lilly found another egg. She was really doing well searching for the buried egg-like treasure.

  A man with a bowl cut approached her. She recognized him from when the Beach Detectors Club had been introduced but had not actually met him before.

  “Are you the donut lady?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Heather said, not even going to pretend that she hadn’t been called that multiple times.

  “I’m Tony,” he said offering a hand. She shook it, smiling, until he continued with, “Is it true your husband is a cop?”

  “Yes,” she said, a tad worried. “He’s a detective.”

  “Do you think we could ask for his help? We have a bit of a situation here.”

  Heather was on her feet instantly. Her friends followed suit. Eva and Leila said that they would help Lilly continue with her searching, along with Jamie.

  Amy insisted on going with Heather and Ryan who followed a solemn Tony to the food tent. Heather was nervous. Was something wrong with her donuts? No. That wouldn’t warrant bringing the police in. Could something heinous have happened? Could a murder have taken place?

  They entered the tent and Heather braced herself for the worst. However, she didn’t really need to do so.

  “I don’t know who could have done such a thing,” Tony said.

  “I don’t know what they’ve done,” Amy said.

  Heather pointed at the chocolate bunny. Its head had been removed.

  “The first bite of the bunny was supposed to be a prize,” Tony said. “But someone has vandalized it. It’s going to make the kids pretty disappointed.”

  “What would you like us to do?” Ryan asked.

  “I’d ask you to recover the head,” said Tony. “But I fear it will be inedible if found. I don’t know if someone took it as a joke or to be mean. I don’t know if they ate it or threw it out. I do know that the Beach Detectors Club is not happy about this.”

  “I can have a look around and see if I can determine who did this,” Ryan said.

  “Good. Because this is theft or vandalization,” Tony said, stomping his foot on the ground for emphasis.

  “If we find him, we can see if he’d be willing to replace it,” Heather said. “It was a mean thing to do to the kids.”

  Heather, Amy, and Ryan checked the tent and found some traces of chocolate on the back of the tent.

  “I think the bunny eater didn’t come in the front entrance,” Heather said.

  “That seems right,” said Ryan. “He could have slipped out through the back here.”

  Tony was pleased that they were searching and left them.

  “How about that?” Amy asked. “We’re brought in for a new case, and it’s about chocolate bunny ears.”

  The Metal Detector

  Heather couldn’t help feeling annoyed as they searched the beach on their own hunt. She had wanted to spend the day with her family, but now she had to be on the lookout for a chocolate thief.

  She thought that Ryan felt the same way. He took his duty as a detective on the Key West Police Force seriously, but he did want to enjoy some time off with his loved ones.

  Amy seemed amused by the whole situation. She joked that instead of trying to ca
tch someone red-handed, they were searching for chocolatey fingers.

  They walked around the beach, watching the other families use the metal detectors and find Easter eggs. They didn’t see anyone who looked like they had sticky fingers or a guilty conscience.

  Heather thought about the time she had spent people watching while people were hunting for eggs. She didn’t remember seeing any people wandering away from their groups at the start of the event.

  She told her friends. “I can’t be certain of it. But I don’t think I saw anyone leave their group and head towards the tents, except Amy. Everyone seemed excited to watch the beginning of the hunt.”

  “I was at the dessert tent shortly after the egg hunt began,” said Amy. “The bunny was still fine when I left.”

  Heather nodded. “I really can’t remember anyone going to the tent after Amy.”

  “The person would have snuck around the tent to get inside and left those smudges,” said Ryan.

  “Should we send some prints to the lab?” Amy teased.

  “I don’t know,” Ryan said. “Tony did seem upset, but I don’t know if they really want to press charges. It’s possible that a five-year-old is the guilty party.”

  They looked up as they heard Jill, clapping. Someone had found the golden egg – and it was Lilly.

  Heather was doubly pleased. She was proud that her daughter had done well in the search, and she knew that Lilly wouldn’t cause a scene about the ruined bunny prize. Heather would make sure that she got some extra donuts if they Beach Detectors Club didn’t have a backup prize.

  “Congratulations, Lilly!” Jill said. “There are still plenty of eggs with prizes to be found, but Lilly has found our golden egg. Let’s give her a round of applause.”

  Everyone who wasn’t holding the hefty metal detectors with both hands clapped, and Heather joined right in. Eva took a picture of Lilly holding up the golden egg.

  “More excitement,” Jill said, turning. “It looks like our special guest has arrived early.”

  An Easter Bunny was walking across the beach. It was actually a person in the white fur costume, and it looked like it was a tall person too. He wasn’t hopping though. He was moving quite quickly.

  Jill waved at the bunny. “Hello, Mr. Easter Bunny. Do you want to take pictures with the searchers now? Or wait until afterward like I thought?”

  The bunny seemed to have no intention of doing either. He kept walking across the beach from the trees to the tents. He didn’t pause to say hello to any of the players and looked intent on leaving.

  “Not a very friendly bunny,” Amy commented.

  “I wonder who that is in costume,” Heather said.

  “One of the club members?” suggested Ryan.

  “They should have asked Digby to do it,” Heather joked. “He is an actor. And at the very least, he would listen to directions about stopping to say hello to the kids.”

  Jill tried to salvage the scene. She addressed the others on the beach. “Well, the Easter Bunny is very busy with Easter only a few days away. He must have a lot of chores that he needs to hop on. And we’re still busy here too. There are still a lot of eggs to be found.”

  The children seemed appeased and continued searching.

  Heather, Amy, and Ryan continued looking around too.

  “They seem to be having bad luck with bunnies,” Amy commented.

  Heather had to agree but also felt like they were having bad luck too. They didn’t have any idea who the chocolate thief was, and it was starting to feel like a waste of time investigating if they didn’t want to stop the event and question people.

  They saw Gilbert walk away from the palm trees and call for Jill. He looked upset, so they decided to follow. Maybe it was related to what Tony wanted them to investigate.

  When they heard what Gilbert was saying, Heather raised an eyebrow. Things were becoming even more suspicious.

  “Jill, do you know what happened to the bunny costume?” Gilbert asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that I left it here, so I could make my entrance as the special guest after the Egg Hunt was finished. But now it’s missing.”

  “It wasn’t you who walked across the beach?” Jill asked.

  “What are you talking about?” asked Gilbert.

  The trio of investigators reached them and joined the conversation. They helped explain to Gilbert that the Easter Bunny had already made an appearance and a quick disappearance.

  “But why would somebody steal my costume?” Gilbert asked. “It can’t have been comfortable. The only reason to wear it is to make the kids happy.”

  “Unless it was a disguise,” Heather thought aloud.

  “You think the bunny was the bunny head thief?” asked Amy.

  “It’s possible,” said Heather. She looked to Gilbert. “Where was the costume kept?”

  “By those trees there,” he said, pointing. “It provides enough cover for me to slip the costume on over my clothes without anyone seeing. I kept the costume in a bag.”

  Heather and Amy hurried over to the trees and looked around.

  “The bag is still here,” Amy said.

  Heather started looking further into the trees and sand beyond it. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking for, but she thought she might find something to explain the oddness of the day.

  She found something, but it wasn’t something she was happy to see.

  “Ryan, come over here,” she said.

  He joined her, and she pointed at what she found. It was a metal detector like the others were using on the beach for the Egg Hunt, but this one was covered in blood.

  The Crime Scene

  Jill and Gilbert were having trouble staying calm after the discovery. Gilbert kept repeating how this was supposed to be a fun family day, while Jill was concerned over whose blood was on the detector.

  While Heather was afraid they might be even less calm if they found any other unfortunate discoveries, she thought it was better that they stay close to them instead of upsetting the children.

  “We’ve never had anything like this happen at one of our events before,” Gilbert said. “Who would want to impersonate the Easter Bunny?”

  “Whose blood is it?” Jill asked. “Do you think he’s okay?”

  Heather decided not to answer and continued looking around the area with Ryan and Amy. Ryan had called his partner to join them so that Detective Peters would be there soon.

  “I found who the metal detector was used on,” Ryan said.

  “He was killed?” Heather asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “I think I’m going to go keep an eye on Gilbert and Jill,” Amy said. “But, let me know if you need me.”

  Heather nodded. Her friend had made a resolution that year not to scream at dead bodies. However, she was mostly upholding this resolution by ignoring them whenever possible.

  Heather understood. She didn’t particularly like looking at the victim’s bodies herself. However, analyzing all evidence available was important to a case.

  She joined Ryan and saw that the victim looked like he had been hit on the head with the metal detector. He had binoculars around his neck.

  She recognized him. “That was one of the men who came into the dessert tent this afternoon. He is in the Beach Detectors Club. I think his name was Brian.”

  Ryan exhaled. “This is officially a crime scene now. We’ll have to stop the Egg Hunt.”

  “You don’t have to tell the children the reason why do you?” asked Heather.

  Ryan shook his head. Together, he and Heather made quick work of ending the Egg Hunt. Jill called everyone’s attention, and they announced that due to incoming weather conditions, they would have to end early.

  Some adults looked confused, but everyone seemed to accept the announcement. Most of the eggs had been found anyway.

  Amy and Jamie made sure to take everyone’s contact information before they left. Heather and Ryan wer
e already thinking that it was unlikely that one of the family members on the beach was the murderer, but they knew they had to cover all bases.

  After getting a big hug from her parents, Eva and Leila took Lilly home. She knew that her parents had work to do, which could only mean that they had gotten a new case.

  Jill and Gilbert collected all the metal detectors from the families on the beach with Heather and Ryan keeping an eye on them. When it was all finished, Jill reported. “We’re still missing one metal detector.”

  “I think that’s the murder weapon,” Heather said.

  Jill looked faint.

  After all the families from the Egg Hunt had left, Ryan gathered the Beach Detectors Club together. A few members were missing. The sloppy young man from the dessert tent and two people that Heather hadn’t met were missing. Where could they have gone to?

  Detective Peters arrived on the scene. He was a young detective who was always eager to solve cases but wasn’t always confident in himself. He and Ryan worked well together, and he enjoyed Heather and Amy’s help on cases – mostly because of the free donuts.

  “What’s going on?” Peters asked. “Did a murder really happen at an Easter Egg Hunt?”

  “I’m afraid so,” said Heather.

  She and Ryan recapped what they knew. They were not sure if the chocolate bunny incident was related, but they thought the missing bunny suit was important. The killer might have been escaping from his crime in disguise.

  The victim was named Brian Silver. He was a member of the club - and had been clubbed with the metal detector. They were certain that the hit on the head was the cause of death, but were waiting for the medical examiner to give them confirmation.

  “So, we need to find the man in the bunny suit?” Peters asked.

  “That’s our best lead so far,” said Ryan.

  “And it had to be someone with access to the detectors,” said Heather. “It was someone in the club or a guest, and I’m leaning towards it being someone in the club.”