Murder in the Rose Garden: A Scent with Love Cozy Mystery (Scent with Love Cozy Mysteries) Read Free

straight off from the lounge area. The bedroom had a large queen-sized
bed which was draped in white linen. The top of the bed was covered in a mass of
scatter cushions in blue and white linen in various floral prints, stripes and
plaids. A large frameless glass stacking door opposite the bed allowed for
spectacular sea views.
    Beth sat
down on the bed, kicked off her heels, slipped out of her black knee-length dress
and put on a pair of linen slacks and a light blue angora sweater. She combed
her honey-blonde shoulder-length hair into a neat ponytail. She looked at her
face in the mirror and wiped away the black smudges that had formed under her
eyes. She had spent the entire memorial service fighting to contain the flood
of tears that had welled threateningly in her dark green eyes. Now that she was
safely within the walls of the guest cottage she felt secure enough to let her
grief show. Warm tears exploded across her cheeks and she was engulfed in a
sense of relief as she let her bottled emotions free.
    Beth walked
out onto the beach, barefoot. The sand felt warm between her toes and the ambiance
of the ocean brought a sense of calm to her mood as she paced at the edge of
the water trying to collect her thoughts. Hungry seagulls wailed overhead,
anxiously crying out as they scoured the water for anything that looked like
food. So much had happened in the last few days, so many questions needed to be
answered, it was so overwhelming that she barely knew where to begin. Beth had
a nagging feeling at the back of her mind, a suspicion that her mother had left
her the flower shop for a reason. Beth was an experienced bookkeeper and it
almost felt as if her mother had wanted her to look into the finances at Scent
with Love.
    The police
had been quick to rule her death a suicide and close the case without as much
as a second thought. Beth was no detective but years of watching television had
taught her that a suicide without a note was almost never what it seemed. After
her discussion with Jack she was even more concerned about the fact that there
was no note, and according to him her mother had cancer, which was news to
Beth.  Surely her mother would have left a note explaining this—for the benefit
of her only daughter if for no one else.  Then there was the mysterious note
from the elderly woman at her mother’s funeral. Beth had no idea what to make
of it; perhaps it was just a lonely old lady looking for a bit of attention.
    Her mother’s
financial trouble also seemed strange. Beth’s father had left her mother with
more than a million dollars in life insurance money when he had passed away as
a result of a heart attack five years earlier. Her mother had never been frugal
when it came to money but it did seem almost impossible for her to have
squandered that amount of money in such a short time. The cottage had been
bought with the proceeds from the sale of their Boston brownstone. The earnings
from the flower shop coupled with interest from the insurance money should have
allowed her mother to live comfortably . Beth was lost in thought as she
climbed the steps back to her cottage after her walk on the beach.
    Beth could
not help but think that perhaps her mother’s financial troubles were the cause
of her death. She thought that if she could figure out what had happened to her
money then she would possibly be able to find some evidence to support her
theory that her mother had been murdered.
    After an
hour of pacing on the beach, Beth decided to head back to the cottage for a
light dinner and some rest. She made herself a sandwich with the leftover
chicken from the night before, ordered a bottle of wine from the Tenth Hole and
called her boss at Anderson & Cole.
    “Hi, Andy…yes,
the service was today…as well as could be expected under the circumstances, I
guess… Listen, I know that things are a little crazy at the office right now
but I need a bit more time to wrap up my mother’s affairs.”
    Andy