Cupid's Corpse: A Cozy Mystery (Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery Book 3) by Willow Monroe Page B

were FBI but after doing some research, he discovered who I was. When he called to tell me that, he also told me he was willing to share all of the evidence of the blackmailing scheme with me if I could help him work a deal with the police,” Nick explained. “Why wouldn’t I believe him?”
    “Um, because he’s as guilty as the rest of them?” Gemma suggested.
    Nick laughed and then grimaced and touched his lip.
    “Yeah, he was guilty alright. The cameras were constantly running and being downloaded to a hard drive right there at the front desk. Every few days he would change out the CPU, take it home and do the editing from there.”
    “And no one paid any attention to what he was doing because he worked on the computers all the time,” Gemma guessed.
    “Right. Muzak and Cunningham would approach the victim, show him the video or sometimes just part of it, and threaten to upload it to their website if they didn’t pay up. It was a pretty lucrative scheme.”
    “And Holland was getting a cut?” Gemma asked.
    “According to him, not a very big one. That was the real reason he called me. After Muzak’s death, he wanted to make sure someone knew that Joel was involved in that as well as the murder.”
    “He wasn’t involved in the murder,” Gemma said.
    Nick looked surprised. “Really?”
    “Really,” Gemma said and covered her mouth as she yawned. “But I’m too tired to talk about it now.”
    “I’m going to take a hot shower, assess my wounds and get some sleep myself,” he said, patting her leg gently.
    “Nick, I’m glad you’re safe. It looks like you’re going to get some good stories out of this,” Gemma told him.
    “And possibly some job offers. We’ll see. I just know the next few days are going to be crazy,” he said.
    “We are still going home tomorrow, right?” Gemma asked.
    “Yes, I’m sure the sheriff has everything she needs, thanks to you. I may have to come back up at some point but we can go home tomorrow,” he assured her. “Gemma, listen I’m sorry this romantic weekend turned out to be such a bummer.”
    Gemma just nodded and said quietly, “Don’t worry about it.” Settling back onto the pillows, she pulled the covers up to her chin. She was asleep within minutes.
    When she awoke the next morning, Nick was passed out on the sofa next to the fireplace. She found that curious, but then remembered that they were no longer playing a part. The cameras were gone, the culprits were going to prison for hopefully a long time, and she was happy to be going home. Humming softly to herself, she showered and dressed in jeans and a sweater. She dried her hair, pulled it back into a pony tail and put on a minimum amount of make-up.
    “Happy Valentine’s Day,” she sang to Nick when she saw him sitting up on the sofa, his hair a tousled matt of curls.
    “Thank you. Do I smell coffee?”
    “Yep, and hot cinnamon rolls were just personally delivered by the chef,” Gemma told him.
    In the kitchen, she poured his coffee, placed two of the gigantic rolls on a plate and carried it to him.
    “How did you make that happen?”
    “I just know how to sweet talk a man out of his...” Gemma hesitated and then laughed aloud. It felt like the first time she’d laughed in weeks. She’d almost said buns.
    Nick laughed too when he realized what she had almost said and they sat side by side on the sofa in front of the fire, friends again.
    Nick had just stepped out of the bathroom dressed in jeans and his trademark bulky sweater when someone knocked at the door. They exchanged glances and Nick shrugged.
    Gemma opened the door to find Sheriff Donna Burton standing there, hat in hand.
    “Well, hello, Sheriff,” Gemma said. “Please come in.”
    “Good morning, Nick,” she said, stepping in out of the cold.
    “Would you like some coffee?” Gemma offered.
    “No, I really just came to tell you that we got full, written statements from Joel, Holland and Natasha last night confessing to