Tapas, Carrot Cake and a Corpse (A Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Sherri Bryan

rather difficult that day as Ava, Harriett and Betty had spent the entire afternoon at the café, debating the murder at length with Leo and Harry.  They’d seen Samantha and Gabe in the town that morning, surrounded by reporters, and had rushed back to tell Charlotte that the couple had said to expect them for lunch on Sunday at 2.00 pm. 
    “And Gabe asked if you could chill a couple of cases of pink champagne,” Ava had told her.
    “Yes, evidently, they’re going to celebrate Samantha’s release in style,” Harriett had reported, excitedly, “and we’re all invited.”
    “Oooh, if the champagne’s going to be flowing, I think we’d better have our lunch early.  What d’you say, ladies?” Betty had suggested.
    “Suits us,” Ava and Harriett had replied in unison. 
    “Right, you’d better put us down for three roast beef lunches at 12.30 pm,” Betty had said.  “Oh, I do love a party!”
    As Charlotte cycled up the marina front, she saw Cody and his friends sitting in The Bottle of Beer , a music bar popular with other surfers, and which, as the name suggested, only served bottles of beer.  They waved when they saw her and she stopped the bike outside the bar.
    “Hi guys.  How was the surf today?”
    “Fantastic!  We, like, caught the tail end of last night’s storm and the waves have been, like, freakin’ awesome.”  As was usually the case, Cody did all the talking, the others happy to just sit back and drink their beers.
    He was explaining a complicated surfing technique to Charlotte in some detail, when she saw something that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.  Around Cody’s neck, on a silver chain, was a pendant exactly like the one Blake had worn.  It wasn’t on a leather cord, but it looked exactly the same. 
    Surely Cody can’t be the killer? 
    She cast her mind back to the day she’d met Blake.  Cody and his friends had been in the café that day, and Blake had spent some time chatting with them.  Perhaps Cody had taken a liking to the pendant, followed him onto The Lady Samantha the following day, murdered him and then snatched it for himself? 
    A thousand thoughts were racing through her mind as she reasoned with herself .  No, that’s just too far-fetched to be true.  And anyway, I can’t imagine Cody putting the time aside on his holiday to buy weed killer, let alone get hold of muscle relaxants and a syringe.  No, it can’t be him.  I’m just going to ask him where he got the pendant from – there’s bound to be a perfectly reasonable explanation.  If he is guilty of anything, there are enough people around that he’s not going to do anything to me here.  I can always call Nathan if I feel threatened.
    “So, yeah … there was like, this much air between like, the board and the wave,” he said, spreading his hands wide apart.  “Freakin’ awesome!” Cody repeated and put his hand in the air for Charlotte to high-five him. 
    “Oh, yeah … um, awesome,” she said, distractedly, smacking her hand against his.  “Um, Cody … that pendant you’re wearing.  Where did you get it?”
    “Huh?  Oh this.  I found it on the beach this morning.  Reckon it was washed up during the storm.  It had a piece of leather tied to it, but that was, like, broken, so I just put it on my chain.  Cool, huh?”
    In an instant, Charlotte’s heart-rate slowed, and all her concerns disappeared.  Unless he was an amazing actor, there was no way that Cody was the murderer.  He’s not a cold-blooded killer, she thought .  I just know it.    
    “Look, Cody,” she said.  “I think that pendant may have belonged to Blake – the guy who was found on The Lady Samantha last week – and I think the police may need it as evidence.  Who knows, it may not be his, in which case, they may even let you have it back … you know, finders keepers, and all that.”
    Cody listened intently to what Charlotte was telling him, all the time, his fingers