Chapter 1
Joe Wiggins scrunched his nose and turned his head when Anna mentioned the delivery of frozen pudding that was due at any moment. “I appreciate your concern for my health,” he said from his usual stool at the ice cream counter at Bella’s Dream, “but as I’ve told you a million times, I’m as fit as a fiddle. I walk every day, I have very little stress in my life now that I’m retired, and I only drink an occasional beer. My daily two scoops of ice cream are my only vice. Can’t a man have one vice?”
“I think it’s sweet that Anna is so concerned about your arteries,” Velma, the most faithful and experienced employee in Anna’s ice cream shop, said. “It can’t hurt to find a healthier alternative, and Anna’s not suggesting that you eat frozen pudding every day.”
“Maybe just every other day,” Anna said.
Joe opened his mouth to protest, but Anna squeezed his forearm and cut him off. “Just promise me you’ll try it. I’ll give you your first two scoops on the house, so you’ll have nothing to lose.”
Joe pushed back his empty bowl, which a few minutes ago had contained two scoops of peppermint stick ice cream, and let out a resigned sigh. “Fine. I can see that you’re not going to let this go. I’ll give it a try, but if it’s not amazing, I’m going right back to ice cream. I was thinking of switching back to chocolate chip, since the Christmas season is over.”
Anna smiled triumphantly.
Joe wagged his index finger. “I’m not making any promises. I’m only doing this to humor you.”
“That’s all I’m asking,” Anna said.
Snow crunched beneath the tires of the Finnegan’s Creamery delivery truck, which swerved abruptly toward the sidewalk and parked on a slightly crooked angle in front of Bella’s Dream.
“There’s Earl now,” Velma said. “You can try the frozen pudding tomorrow.”
“Wonderful,” Joe said.
“That was definitely sarcasm,” Anna whispered to Velma.
Velma nodded and winked at Anna.
“I ordered both chocolate and vanilla, but I think you’ll like the chocolate best,” Anna said, undeterred by Joe’s lack of enthusiasm. “Earl brought some samples last week, and I tried both.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to tasting it, in any case,” Velma said.
Anna appreciated Velma’s show of support.
A few minutes later, Jack, one of Anna’s high school employees, arrived for his shift.
“Thanks for coming in early,” Anna said. “Kathy called in sick with the flu, so I’ve been here helping Velma all day.”
“No problem. I came right from school.” Jack nodded towards the truck. “It looks like I made it in time to help with the delivery. Didn’t Finnegan’s already do a delivery this week?”
“This is a special order. I told Earl it could wait, but he was going to be delivering in Seagull Cove today, anyway, so he didn’t mind swinging by with the small order.” Anna explained the reason for the order to Jack, who smirked in Joe’s direction.
Anna pointed to the feral orange cat who was perched on a snowbank next to the truck. “It looks like Casper came over to greet Earl.”
The cat let out an impatient meow and turned his head in the direction of the ice cream shop, then back to the truck.
“Casper’s impatient this afternoon,” Anna said. “He must really like Earl.”
“Speaking of Earl, I wonder what’s taking him so long to come inside,” Velma said.
“Give the man some breathing room. He’s probably taking a break,” Joe said.
“He usually takes a break inside the store so he can chat with us. He doesn’t sit alone in the truck,” Velma said.
“You know, you’re right.” A sinking feeling crept its way into Anna’s stomach. “Just to be on the safe side, I’m going to make sure everything’s okay. I don’t like the way Casper is staring at the truck, and that is the worst parking job I’ve ever seen Earl do.”
Velma narrowed her brow. “Joe, go with her, just in case.”
Joe had already stood up. “I’m right behind you, kiddo.”
Anna and Joe quickly put on their winter coats and walked across the sidewalk to the truck.
Casper darted off.
Anna glanced inside through the passenger door window. Earl was lying on his side, with his back to Anna and Joe. “It looks like he fell asleep.”
“The poor guy is probably exhausted,” Joe said.
“I shouldn’t have let him make a special trip over just for the frozen pudding.” Anna knocked on the passenger side door, but Earl didn’t respond.
Joe grabbed the door handle and tried to open the door, but it was locked.
A moaning sound came from inside.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Joe said.
They raced around to the driver’s side door, and Anna pounded on the window.
Earl lifted his eyes and looked at Anna.
“Open the door!” she said, pointing to the electronic unlock button on the panel of the driver’s side door.
Earl lifted his hand and moved it toward the lock, but his arm fell limp. After two more tries, he finally managed to unlock the vehicle.
When Anna opened the door, Earl closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the seat, still slouched on his side. His right hand, red with blood, was on his chest.
“Oh, my goodness, Earl, what happened?” Anna asked, as Joe ran around to the other side and entered the truck.
Earl opened his eyes and groaned.
“Hang in there, Earl,” Anna said. “We’re calling for help.”
Joe had already taken out his flip phone and was dialing 9-1-1. He quickly recounted the situation and closed his phone. “Help is on the way.”
Earl started to speak, but Joe stopped him. “Save your strength, Earl. Once we get you some medical help, you can tell us who did this to you. Right now, you need to focus on staying conscious.”
Earl shook his head. “Listen.” His breathing was labored. “Muuu…eee.”
Anna couldn’t understand what Earl had said. She looked at Joe, who shrugged his shoulders.
Earl tried again. “Muuu…eee.” Then he closed his eyes and was motionless.
Joe tapped Earl’s cheeks. “Come on, buddy. Stay with us.”
Earl forced open his eyes, but after a couple of seconds, they fell shut again.
Sirens sounded in the distance, growing louder until an ambulance parked behind the delivery truck.
Velma ran out of the store without a coat and observed from the sidewalk. She gasped as two EMTs gently moved Earl onto a stretcher and put him into the back of the ambulance.
Just after the ambulance sped away, a black Ford Bronco parked in front of the truck. Charlie Doyle, the detective for the Seagull Cove Police Department, hopped out of the vehicle. “What’s going on here? I was taking a late lunch and running some errands in the area when I heard the ambulance.”
Two officers arrived just after Charlie.
Anna pointed to the blood-stained steering wheel.
“We don’t know much. Earl Drysdale is the delivery driver for Finnegan’s Creamery in Boxford. He was supposed to make a special delivery to my shop this afternoon. The truck was parked out front for a while, so we came to check on him, and he was barely conscious.”
“Someone shot him in the chest,” Joe said. “Judging from the way the truck was swerving and since we didn’t hear anything unusual from inside Bella’s Dream, it looks like he was injured before he got here.”
“He didn’t beep the horn or call for help?” Charlie asked.
“He must have passed out as soon as he arrived.” Joe stepped back and examined the door handle inside the truck. “There’s blood on there, too. It looks like Earl made a feeble attempt to open the door, but he was obviously unsuccessful.”
A group began to gather, so one of the officers handled crowd control while the other taped off an area around the perimeter of the truck with crime scene tape.
“Why don’t you three wait inside,” Charlie said to Anna, Joe, and Velma, who was shivering as she watched from the sidewalk. “I’ll be in to talk to you once we have things under control out here.”
Jack had remained inside to mind the shop, but with a crime scene right outside the door, there had been no customers for him to wait on. So, he watched through one of the shop’s floor-to-ceiling-windows.
“What happened out there?” Jack asked. “Did Earl have a heart attack?”
“Earl was attacked all right, but not by his heart. Someone shot him,” Joe said.
Jack’s eyes flew open. “That doesn’t make any sense! We could see the truck the whole time. Nobody could have shot him without us noticing something.”
Joe put a comforting hand on Jack’s shoulder. “He was probably attacked somewhere else and managed to drive here. He was barely conscious when we found him. He was unable to tell us much. Once the doctors take care of him, the police will get more information.”
Anna tried to will herself into believing Joe’s words, but Earl had been as white as a ghost, and a there was a lot of blood on his chest.
“Who would do this to Earl?” Jack asked. “He was just doing his job and minding his own business.”
Anna’s recent sleuthing experience taught her that that was rarely the case. “Don’t worry, Jack. Charlie will get to the bottom of this.”
Joe and Anna went into the dining area and sat in a booth while Velma and Jack cleaned behind the counter. The store was already squeaky clean, but Anna guessed that Velma was trying to keep the teen busy.
“I wish we knew what Earl was trying to tell us,” Anna said. “It sounded like, ‘Money’. Do you think he was robbed?”
“I had the same thought. It did sound like he was saying ‘money.’”
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to ask him once the doctors have treated him.”
Joe frowned. He didn’t seem as confident as he had a few minutes ago.
Just as it was sinking in that there could potentially be another murder in Seagull Cove, Charlie entered Bella’s Dream. He made a beeline for Anna and Joe and took a seat next to Joe. He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but this is now a murder investigation. I just received word that Earl Drysdale died shortly after arriving at the hospital.”
Tears stung the back of Anna’s eyes. “Not Earl. He was such a lovely man. Why would anyone kill Earl?”
“Tell me everything, from the time Earl parked the truck on Main Street,” Charlie said.
Anna and Joe recounted everything that had happened, including what Earl had said that sounded like the word ‘money.’
“I thought you just got a delivery earlier this week,” Charlie said, after they gave him a detailed statement. Charlie happened to be in the shop when Earl made the last delivery. “What was Earl doing here today?”
“Anna here decided that I needed a healthy alternative to ice cream, so she put in a special order for some frozen pudding,” Joe said.
“Earl said he was going to be in the neighborhood delivering to other customers, and that he’d drop off the items so Joe’s arteries wouldn’t have to wait until next month for some relief.”
“That wasn’t a bad idea,” Charlie said, forcing a smile. “We want Joe with us for a long time.”
Joe looked at Charlie. “Healthy is relative. Frozen pudding didn’t exactly turn out to be a healthy choice for Earl.”
“Fair point,” Charlie said.
