Bully in the Burbs (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Book 8) Read online

  Bully in the ‘Burbs

  Garden Girls

  Cozy Mystery Series Book 8

  Hope Callaghan

  http://hopecallaghan.com

  Copyright © 2015

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Although places mentioned may be real, the characters, names and incidents and all other details are products of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  ______________________________

  Visit my website for new releases and special offers: http://hopecallaghan.com

  Thank you, Peggy Hyndman and Wanda Downs, for taking the time to preview Bully in the Burbs, for the extra sets of eyes and for catching all my mistakes.

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  About The Author

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Free Books and More!

  Monster Cookies

  About The Author

  Hope Callaghan is an author who loves to write Christian books, especially Christian Mystery and Cozy Mystery books. Born and raised in a small town in West Michigan, she now lives in Florida with her husband.

  She is the proud mother of one daughter and a stepdaughter and stepson. When she's not doing the thing she loves best - writing books - she enjoys cooking, traveling and reading books.

  Hope loves to connect with her readers!

  Get Free Books and More!

  Sign up for my newsletter for special offers and soon-to-be-released books!

  Click Here To Get My Other FREE Books

  Visit hopecallaghan.com for information on special offers and soon-to-be-released books!

  Email: [email protected]

  Facebook page: www.facebook.com/hopecallaghanauthor

  Other Series Books by Author, Hope Callaghan:

  DECEPTION CHRISTIAN MYSTERY SERIES: (Samantha Rite)

  Samantha Rite is in desperate need of a vacation. Her life is shattered when after 21 years of marriage her husband walks out on her, leaving her for another woman.

  As Sam is trying to pick up the pieces and start over, her family decides now would be the perfect time for her to take a relaxing vacation. Before she can change her mind, she and her older sister are booked on a week-long Caribbean cruise.

  Just days before the trip, her sister is involved in a horrible accident and is unable to go. Persuaded to take this trip alone, Sam finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly adventure of a lifetime. Will she make it out alive?

  Waves of Deception is the first book in the Samantha Rite Adventure Series and offers a perfect blend of blossoming romance and action-packed adventure and suspense.

  GARDEN GIRLS CHRISTIAN COZY MYSTERIES SERIES: (Gloria Rutherford)

  Nothing exciting ever happens in the small town of Belhaven. Nothing that is, until a body is found in the woods behind the local elementary school.

  With the entire town in an uproar, "Garden Girl," Gloria Rutherford makes it her personal mission to find the killer or killers and solve the mystery with some help from her friends.

  With a little amateur detective work, Gloria is able to uncover enough clues that point right to the murderer. She's about to discover, however, things aren't always as clear-cut as they appear.

  CRUISE SHIP CHRISTIAN COZY MYSTERIES SERIES: (Millie Sanders)

  What do you get when you combine a recently divorced and heartbroken senior female, with the most exciting job on the high seas? Millie Sanders, of course! She is the new assistant cruise director for the mega cruise ship, "Siren of the Seas."

  Within minutes of stepping on board the ship, Millie finds herself right in the middle of a murder investigation.

  With a little help from her new friends, this amateur senior sleuth begins to discover clues and secrets that could possibly turn the ship upside down!

  Will the old saying..."Loose lips sink ships" hold true or will Millie survive her first week onboard?

  SWEET SOUTHERN SLEUTHS: (Short Stories) (Loretta and Lacy Sweet)

  Loretta Sweet and her identical twin sister, Lacy, have recently inherited a home in Misery, Mississippi, from their distant relative, (Aunt) Tess McCoy.

  Their aunt's attorney insists that the girls meet him at the property to discuss the specifics of the will. When the sisters arrive for the meeting, they discover that there is more...much more to the will than just inheriting a home.

  As the attorney prepares to go over the details of the will, one of the "stipulations" makes a dramatic appearance, along with a body that is discovered in the bathtub.

  Will the Sweet sisters turn tail and run or will they stick around to help solve the murder?

  Chapter 1

  The tick-tock of the wall clock was about to drive Gloria insane. She stared at the minute hand as it slowly inched along, second by agonizingly slow second. She sucked in a deep breath and then slowly let it out. “Whew…”

  Liz, Gloria’s older sister, slammed her open palm on the kitchen table. “Will you please stop doing that? I’m already nervous as a tic!”

  Margaret, Gloria’s friend, jumped in. “Both of you, we need to exercise a little patience. David should be calling any minute now.”

  Three sets of eyes turned to stare at the clock again.

  Liz pushed her chair back and jumped to her feet. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the dime store rooster clock that hung on the bulkhead above Gloria’s sink. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Gloria started to giggle, which turned into a belly laugh. The stress of waiting for David to call was causing her to crack under the pressure.

  Liz, Margaret and Gloria had unearthed some rare coins at Aunt Ethel’s family farm in the Smoky Mountains several months ago. Liz had done some preliminary research on the coins and discovered they were worth money – a lot of money.

  The coins had been evenly divided: two for David, Ethel’s son, two for Liz, two for Margaret, two for Gloria and last, but not least, two for Sandy McGee, who may or may not have had a legal right to the coins, but to avoid future hassles, they had all unanimously decided to include her in the split.

  The State of Tennessee claimed they owned the rare coins and there had been a fierce battle waging in the courts for months now between the five of them and the state.

  David had phoned Gloria yesterday and asked her to round up Liz and Margaret for a 10:00 a.m. conference call. The courts had reached a decision.

  Gloria had tried to weasel the verdict out of David but he flat out refused, explaining it was best to give them the news at the same time, which is why they were sitting in Gloria’s kitchen at 9:58 a.m., waitin
g with baited breath for his call.

  Gloria had hidden her two coins in plain sight and that was what Liz had just noticed. She had stuck the coins inside her kitchen clock. One coin was on 12 and the other on the six.

  Gloria plucked the cordless phone from its base and set the phone on the table between the three of them. The group stared at the silent phone, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

  Gloria saw this as a blessing and a curse. Her life was almost perfect. She had all that she needed – her family and her friends. She and Paul, the man of her dreams, were now engaged. To her, this windfall might very well be the worst thing that could ever happen. Money changed people, changed attitudes. What would happen when word got out that they had all this money?

  No, it would surely upset the applecart. She was certain the others at the table had the exact same thoughts.

  She glanced at Margaret out of the corner of her eye. Margaret would probably fare best. Her husband was a retired banker, although the fact that she’d known there was the possibility of inheriting a windfall and had not mentioned it to Don, her husband, could pose problems for her friend.

  Next, she glanced at Liz. At least Liz didn’t have to explain herself to anyone, but Liz was single. Gloria could just envision both married and unmarried men coming out of the woodwork to court her. How could she ever find true love? If she were Liz, she would always wonder if the man loved her for who she was or loved her for her money.

  This was turning into a real pickle!

  Liz slammed her fist on the tabletop in frustration, which caused Gloria to jump. “You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

  Briing! All three women reached for the phone that sat in the middle of the table. Gloria got to it first. “Hello?”

  “Yes! Hi David! You don’t say!” Gloria was messing with the other two. David had just asked her to put him on speaker.

  Liz yanked the phone from Gloria’s hand and gave her hard look. She jammed her thumb on the speaker button and set the phone in the middle of the table.

  “Go ahead, David. We’re all listening now!” Liz glared at her sister.

  Gloria stuck her tongue out at Liz who promptly gave her the bird.

  “Stop bickering this instant,” Margaret hissed. “We’re ready,” she told David.

  “Great!” His deep voice boomed through the fuzzy line. “I have some good news and some bad news.”

  “Start with the good news.” Margaret wanted to savor at least a moment of happiness.

  “The court ruled in our favor. The coins are ours to keep!”

  Liz shrieked.

  Margaret clutched at her chest.

  Gloria twisted her brand spanking new princess-cut diamond engagement ring around her finger. The first person who came to mind was Paul, her fiancé. Her second thought was of her children.

  The girl’s joyous moment was short-lived. “So what’s the bad news?” Liz asked.

  “Inheritance tax. The government is going to get their share, one way or another,” he said.

  “How much is the inheritance tax?” Liz wondered aloud.

  “Forty percent,” David and Margaret answered in unison. Margaret had already done preliminary research.

  Gloria was shocked. “You mean if the coins are worth, say $2 million, the government gets $800k of that right off the top?”

  The girls could hear David’s laborious sigh over the phone line. “Yep. The good news is you don’t live in Japan where the inheritance tax is a whopping 55%.”

  That did little to make the girls feel better. Still, they would each end up with a cool million, minimum.

  Gloria’s head was spinning. She missed part of what David said. “…the auction house in New York.”

  Gloria tried to focus. “I’m sorry, David, I missed what you just said.”

  “That’s okay, Gloria. I’m sure this is a lot to absorb at once. I said that Heritage Auctions in New York is your best bet to get the most bang for your buck if you sell the coins.”

  All eyes turned to Liz, who had been in charge of locating auction companies. “I’ve got it covered,” she winked, “I’ve already set up an account.”

  The conversation ended with the girls thanking David for all of the hard work he’d put into winning the case.

  “We need to do something extra nice for him,” Margaret said, after the line disconnected.

  The room grew silent, each of the girls in deep thought.

  Liz spoke first. “I say we wait 24-hours before we breathe a word, so that we can give it time to sink in.” She slid out of the kitchen chair and headed for the door with Margaret and Gloria trailing behind.

  “Good idea,” Gloria agreed.

  Gloria and Mally stood on the porch and watched as Margaret and Liz climbed into their vehicles and pulled out onto the main road.

  Deep down, Gloria had always thought this day would never come, that somehow the government would find a way to claim ownership of the coins.

  Liz had told them before she left that the last quote the auction house had given her was a flat 12% commission for selling the coins. The representative also said that the coins could go for as low as $1.8 million and as high as a cool $2.5 million for two coins.

  Gloria wandered over to her desk in the corner of the dining room and pulled out the chair. Sound asleep on top of the chair was Gloria’s cat, Puddles. She lifted her cat and settled him on her lap. He opened one eye for a quick glance before he closed it again and fell back asleep.

  Gloria did some quick calculations on her desktop calculator and at $1.8 million after the auction house’s commission and the government’s inheritance tax, she would end up with less than a million bucks!

  Almost half the money would go to pay taxes and commissions. Gloria still had a hard time swallowing the amount of taxes she would have to pay.

  She spent the rest of the afternoon mulling over how to divide the windfall. After contemplating several different scenarios, she decided to split half amongst her three children, with a stipulation that a percentage of the money go into college funds for all four of her grandchildren.

  The other half would be for Paul and her to keep since they planned to marry later that year. Now it was time for her to break the news!

  Chapter 2

  Gloria paced the kitchen floor of her old farmhouse nervously. She glanced at the clock every few minutes. The girls had sold the coins a few days earlier and after taxes and commissions paid to the auction house; she had netted a cool $1.1 million. One million, one hundred seventy-five thousand, three hundred sixty dollars and twelve cents to be exact.

  She had told her children and Paul about the coins and the money, and then explained to each of them her plan to divide the windfall. She was proud that there was nary a gripe or groan from any of them. They all took it quite calmly, even calmer than Gloria herself had hoped.

  If Gloria’s announcement had surprised Paul, he had done an excellent job of hiding it. He told her whatever she felt was best was what she should do. They had almost $600k to invest, to take care of much-needed repairs around the farms – both his farm and hers - and to take a nice long honeymoon…

  That left $196k for each of her children. Gloria had wired Ben’s money to an account that he and his wife, Kelly, shared. She also wired money to her son, Eddie, and his wife, Karen’s, account.

  That left her daughter, Jill, and her husband, Greg. They were on their way over.

  Gloria stopped wearing a hole in her kitchen linoleum and Mally and she wandered out to the back porch to wait.

  Fall had come early and there was a brisk chill in the air. She gazed at the thick carpet of leaves that covered the ground. Perhaps she could have her grandsons, Tyler and Ryan, over for the weekend to help rake the leaves…

  The sound of gravel crunching on the drive caught her attention and she watched the familiar dark sedan pull into the drive. Four doors popped open. Her grandsons raced across the yard to reach their beloved Grams fi
rst, while Greg and Jill brought up the rear.

  The boys hugged Gloria, and then ran off to check on the tree fort they had built during their last overnight visit. Tyler and Ryan scampered up the ladder and disappeared inside.

  Gloria opened the porch door and waited while her daughter and son-in-law stepped into the kitchen.

  The check was on the kitchen table, under the glass sugar bowl sitting in the center. Gloria plucked the check from under the bowl and handed it to Jill.

  Gloria hadn’t told Jill the exact amount and she had asked her sons to keep it quiet. She wanted it to be a surprise and it was, judging by the look on Jill’s face.

  Her daughter swallowed hard and handed the check to Greg. The color drained from his face and his hand started to shake. He looked up at Gloria. “Are you sure? I mean, this is a lot of money…”

  Gloria nodded. “Yes. One hundred percent sure. This is for you to use as you see fit. The only thing I ask is that you set aside some of the money for each of the boys’ college funds.”

  It finally began to sink in. Jill’s eye lit. “Greg! We can move! We can finally move into a bigger house!”

  Gloria smiled. Greg and Jill had outgrown their small two bedroom bungalow years ago, but money had been tight and with the downturn in the economy, Greg’s company had all but eliminated overtime hours, which meant no extra income. The couple was able to make ends meet but there wasn’t much left over at the end of the month and certainly not enough money to buy a larger, more expensive home.

  “I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Gloria agreed.

  The boys stampeded up the steps and burst through the kitchen door. “We’re hungry.”

  Gloria reached for Tyler and hugged him tight. “I’m hungry, too,” she declared. “Let’s head down to Dot’s. My treat.”

  “Dot’s” was Dot’s Restaurant, the only restaurant in the small town of Belhaven. Dot Jenkins, Gloria’s close friend, and her husband, Ray, had owned the restaurant for decades.