Warrior, Fatal & Flawed Read online

  Book 3 in The Yoga Mat

  Cozy Mystery Series

  Warrior,

  Fatal & Flawed

  By Jacqueline M. Green

  Copyright © 2020 Jacqueline M. Green

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, events or towns, or even actual yoga studios is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  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

  About the author

  From the author

  Other books by Jacqueline M. Green

  Corpse Pose, Indeed (an excerpt)

  Chapter 1

  The red convertible cruising past the park should have been a red flag.

  I ignored it.

  Instead I sat down at an empty picnic table with the handsome detective and unwrapped my veggie sandwich.

  “Thanks for asking me to lunch,” said Neil, the afore-mentioned handsome detective, as he spread the sandwich paper and dumped potato chips on it.

  I swallowed before responding. “Thank you for going with me. It was a hard sell. By the way, I’ve been told I don’t pick up cues well.”

  He laughed and played with the potato chips. “I thought I might have to put a big sign in front of your yoga studio that said, ‘Mariah, will you go out with me?’ ”

  “Apparently, I’m a little dense in this area.”

  He reached across the picnic table and took my hand, smiling deep into my eyes. “We didn’t get off to such a great start when I first got to town, you know, what with the murder and all. Can we put it behind us now? I’d really like to get to know you better. Mariah?” He released my hand. “Mariah?”

  I covered my mouth, my eyes wide, as I looked away from Neil’s earnest face to follow the little red Corvette convertible with white racing stripes cruise past us on Main Street. This time, I paid attention. Even after three years, I would know that car anywhere. Neil turned and followed my gaze.

  I watched the red convertible chug around the corner with dread and not just because of the sounds it was making, like a piece had broken off and was chafing against the tinny insides.

  My lunch companion – was it a date? I wasn’t sure if it was a date since I had impulsively asked him – followed my eyes past the park and around the corner.

  “Do you know them?” Neil asked, taking a bite of his Italian sub as if it didn’t matter who it was.

  I nodded mutely, setting my veggie sandwich down, suddenly not very hungry. “It’s my ex-husband. That car always seems to be broken, but he just won’t give it up.”

  Neil kept chewing, nodding his head as if agreeing with everything I had said. “Is he here to see you?”

  I shrugged and shook my head all at the same time, then physically tried to shake myself out of it. “No idea. Let’s not worry about it now. How’s your sandwich?”

  Neil gave me a thumbs-up with one hand as he swallowed a bite. “About as good—”

  The chugging sound cut off Neil’s response as the convertible came around the park the other way, circling behind us, then chugged to a halt.

  I froze and took a deep breath, then took a big bite of my sandwich and ignored the commotion behind me, the sounds of yelling and slamming car doors.

  “Mariah! Mariah!”

  My ex-husband’s voice carried across the park. Neil raised his head and looked over my shoulder.

  “Dark-haired, mustache, decent build?”

  “Yep.”

  “Looks like your ex is here to see you.”

  I looked into Neil’s twinkling eyes, a smile breaking out on my face. Those eyes. Those blue-gray eyes. They’d had me from the first time he walked into my office at my yoga studio, The Yoga Mat. Of course, then he had arrested me for murder and the charm had rubbed off for a while, but still.

  I wanted to spend a lot more time looking deep into those twinkling eyes.

  But first…

  I slowly wrapped the rest of my veggie sandwich and took a deep breath, then turned toward the voice. Neil didn’t wrap his Italian sub sandwich. He just kept chewing, looking back and forth between my ex and me. Licking sauce from his lips, he seemed amused at what I might do.

  My ex-husband, Lee, jogged across the park from the street-side spot he had found to park, waving as he ran. A young blonde woman struggled to get out of the passenger side of Lee’s convertible, using one hand to shield her eyes from the sun.

  “Mariah! I’m so glad to see you. What are the odds I would find you just hanging around the park?”

  He flung himself toward me, both arms extended to pull me in for a hug. Instinctively, I crossed my arms in front of me, which made it awkward for his hug to last long. I stepped back as soon as I could.

  He stopped and looked at multiple cuts still healing on my arms and legs. “Mariah, what happened to you? You look like you’ve been through a slasher movie, you know, as the victim.” He laughed at his own joke.

  I waved off an explanation. He didn’t need to know that a week or so ago someone had tried to kill me with a shard of sharp glass from a broken vase. I had fought back and been successful in helping the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department solve the murder of a local businessman.

  “Lee, what are you doing here? And, more importantly, how did you find me?”

  Did that sound unfriendly? I tried to put a smile on my face to dull my words.

  Lee apparently chose to ignore the snark. “I heard you had moved here and opened a yoga studio. I was surprised. I didn’t think you’d ever leave newspapers.”

  “Really?” Now I was surprised. Had Lee not heard that the newspaper industry had been cutting back for the past decade or more? “Well, here I am and, seriously, what are you doing here?”

  Lee looked around me toward Neil, who was wiping his face with a brown paper napkin. I knew he hadn’t missed a nuance of the conversation. I turned toward him.

  “Neil, this is Lee Whitten, my ex-husband. Lee, this is Neil.”

  Lee walked toward Neil, his hand outstretched, a wary look in his eyes. Neil stood and shook Lee’s hand, his paper napkin still clutched in the opposite hand. They nodded to each other.

  “I believe Mariah asked what brings you to Jasper, Lee.” Neil liked to get right to the point. I liked that he had my back.

  Lee turned back to me. “We need to talk.”

  Just then the blonde woman stepped around Lee, grasping onto his arm. “Hi, I’m Lee’s girlfriend, Serena, his girlfriend.”

  “Oh, you’re Lee’s girlfriend? Neil, this is Lee’s … girlfriend, is it?” I just couldn’t resist. Neil cracked a smile and looked away. “Nice to meet you.”

  Lee shoved Serena off his arm. I felt more than saw Neil tense. If I looked at him, I was sure he would be watching the exchange intently, ready to intervene if necessary. Off-duty or not, as a Jasper County sheriff’s detective, he wouldn’t let someone get hurt.

 
; “I told you to wait in the car. Now, get out of here.” Lee paused as if aware he was being watched. “Please.”

  Serena stepped away from him and lifted her head, then flipped her hair and turned back toward the car, waving her phone in the air. “Just for that, I’m going to call Buddy. He wouldn’t treat me like that.”

  “Knock yourself out,” Lee muttered as he turned back to me. “Sorry about that.”

  “Lee, why are you here? What could we possibly have to talk about?”

  He looked at me, his mouth working in different directions, then grasped my arm and pulled me a few feet away from Neil.

  “Mariah, I’ve realized I made a horrible mistake. I should have never divorced you. I came to get you back.”

  Chapter 2

  I laughed out loud. Literally.

  Then I shrugged off Lee’s arm, and laughed again, wiping my eyes from the tears that had formed in them.

  “Lee, you can’t be serious. We’ve been divorced for over three years. Don’t you think it’s a little late for … for this?”

  I waved my arms around to include him and his convertible. “Besides, who brings their girlfriend with them when they want to get back together with their ex-wife? Once again, planning is not your strong suit. Neither is timing.”

  At that, I looked pointedly at Neil, who had sat back down at the picnic table and was eating my potato chips. He held up the bag and wiggled it at me. I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

  I didn’t hate Lee. Our divorce, though painful, had been remarkably free of drama. When someone says they don’t want to be married to you anymore, you only have a couple of options: Marriage counseling or splitting up. I suggested seeing a counselor together, but Lee was adamant. We had grown apart, he told me, and he wanted to move on. So, Option B it was: We split everything, and I broke off contact with him.

  Of course, I was heart-broken at the loss of my marriage, which I had thought would last forever. Then I was surprised by a feeling of relief, not even realizing that for years I had carried the burden of being in a bad marriage. Lee wasn’t mean or abusive, though his drinking had been problematic from time to time. He just wasn’t there. If I’m being honest, I suspected he had been there for other women during our marriage, but I didn’t let myself wander too far down that painful path.

  I’d spent the first year after my divorce learning how to live on my own again after fifteen years, then another year planning to follow my dream of opening a yoga studio, which I’m proud to say sits a few blocks away on Main Street in downtown Jasper. Now I’d been in Jasper for nearly a year, running my own studio, reconnecting with my sister, who had moved here after college, and settling into the small town.

  Lee turned to look at Serena, who had reclined in the front seat of the convertible, her bare feet draped over the passenger-side mirror.

  “I told her she couldn’t come, but she wouldn’t leave my apartment and I wasn’t about to leave her there while I drove here. She would have cleaned me out.”

  I laughed again. Lee’s face flushed.

  “Lee Whitten, we are not getting back together. Go home. It’s lovely to see you, but you need to go home and move on with your life. Without me.” I waved toward Serena and the convertible. “Go home and deal with whatever you have going on here.”

  “Mariah, please, let’s just talk about it.” Lee grabbed my arms as I moved to step away. I tried to wriggle from his grasp, but he held me firm, pinching his hand into my arms so hard it felt like it was leaving bruises.

  “Lee, you’re hurting me.” I struggled to get free.

  “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to release Ms. Stevens.” Neil’s voice barked over my shoulder.

  Lee’s eyes left my face and darkened. “Who do you think you are that you can tell me what to do with my wife?”

  Reaching around me, Neil firmly placed one hand on Lee’s shoulder and held up his badge with the other. “Jasper County Sheriff’s detective. You can release her now or I can haul you down to the post to face an attempted assault charge. Your choice.”

  Lee quickly released my arms. I rubbed the sides of them as I stepped behind Neil, peeking warily over Neil’s shoulder. “Lee, it’s ex, by the way, ex-wife. I am so much an ex.”

  A smile played at Neil’s mouth as he glanced at me, then it disappeared as he crossed both arms in front of his chest. He made an imposing figure. If I were Lee, I’d run out of there as quickly as I could.

  I touched Neil’s shoulder and shook my head. He glanced my way as if he knew that’s what I’d want him to do. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded, then he turned back to Lee. “Mariah doesn’t want to press charges for now. Sir, I’d suggest you return to your car and your friend.”

  Lee just stood there looking at him, his mouth open.

  “Now would be a good time.” Neil anchored into the ground.

  Lee backed away, his eyes pleading as he looked at me. I turned away. I did not want to see that.

  Neil stood between Lee and me. When Lee had stalked back to this car, Neil turned to me, rubbing my arms with his hands. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

  I nodded sadly and looked into Neil’s eyes. “I don’t remember him being like that.”

  He held up his hands, palm up. “People change.”

  “I wonder if it was me or him.”

  Neil chuckled as he pulled me in for a comforting hug. I had just laid my head on his chest and started to breathe a little easier when I heard the car door slam and the convertible roar to life. Then it clicked a few times and died. Curse words flew across the park.

  I closed my eyes and looked at the sky. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  Neil motioned for me to stay at the picnic table. I wasn’t hungry anymore, particularly since he had eaten my potato chips, but I sat down, unwrapped my sandwich and watched Neil approach the car, his cell phone at his ear. He spoke with Lee, pointing down Main Street toward the only hotel in the downtown area.

  Neil stood at the side of the road for several minutes until a tow truck rumbled toward him. He waved down the driver, turned to say something to Lee, who hadn’t even got out of the car yet, and walked away.

  Neil ambled back toward me and settled into his seat at the picnic table.

  “What did you say to him?”

  “I called Garry’s Garage and had them send the tow truck, then I told your ex-husband to stay away from you, his ex-wife, get his butt to the hotel and stay there until his car is fixed.”

  I chewed on that as well as my sandwich for a few moments before I spoke. “I’m sorry about all this.”

  Neil shrugged. “Not your fault. I’ll keep my eye on him while he’s here. Let me know if he bothers you.”

  I lifted my head and stared at Neil. “Don’t go all macho on me, detective. You know I can take care of myself.”

  “Yes, I see that.” He stared pointedly at the cuts still showing on my arms and legs.

  “Hey, I won that fight.”

  A poignant look played across Neil’s face. “Yes, you did, Mariah. But I don’t want you to have to fight all your battles by yourself. Let me help.”

  I fixed my gaze on him. “Frankly, Detective Samuelson, I’m not sure I can trust you.”

  “What? Why? What are you talking about?” Surprise and confusion washed over his face.

  “You ate all my chips.” I laughed and threw the empty bag at him.

  He picked it up and crumpled it in his hand, smiling in relief. Then he cocked an eyebrow at me.

  “You need to know, ma’am,” ‒ he paused for dramatic effect ‒ “that I’d do it again.”

  I was glad lunch ended on a positive note. Neil walked me ‒back to my car parked behind my yoga studio. I had already finished my classes for the day, so I headed home. My part-time assistant, Stormy, would clean and look after the studio until my sister, Cindy, showed up.

  Cindy would teach the evening yoga class, then come over later to watch a movie. I wanted t
o tidy the house before grabbing takeout Chinese food for dinner. We usually had pizza, but we were both a little pizza-ed out.

  As I cleaned the kitchen, wiping down the counters, I paused and looked out the window above the sink to the backyard. It was large enough for a dog to run around in, though I didn’t yet have a dog. The fence and gate backed up to a pathway that eventually ended up at the river. I loved my yard and the peaceful solitude it provided. Occasionally, loud hikers would wander by on the other side of the fence, but I never felt like they were intruding.

  By early evening, Cindy met me in the driveway and helped carry the food into the house. She studied my face as I unpacked the bags.

  “I hear a familiar face showed up in town today. Any reason I had to hear that from my detective instead of my sister?”

  I froze, my eyes moving to her face. “Oops.”

  Cindy wasn’t just my sister and fellow yoga instructor. She was the duly elected sheriff of Jasper County, which made her my new boyfriend’s boss. Wait, was he my boyfriend now? I still wasn’t sure.

  “Why didn’t you call me?” Cindy reached for plates from the cabinet as I went to the refrigerator for sparkling water. I gestured at her with the bottles in my hands.

  “I didn’t want to make it a big deal. Neil already had to step in. I figure Lee will be gone by tomorrow morning, so why worry about it?”

  “Well, I heard his car is stuck in Garry's shop, so I wouldn’t count on him leaving tomorrow. Or his girlfriend.”

  My heart sank even as I hoped Cindy was wrong. She usually wasn’t. There wasn’t much that happened in Jasper that she didn’t know about.

  Cindy sat down at the table and pulled a plate toward her, not making eye contact. “He always was a schmuck. I don’t know why you married him in the first place.”

  “Schmuck? That’s where we’re going?” I joined her at the table and picked up my own plate, then opened the vegetarian fried rice and started scooping it out. “He was exciting and adventurous. He really was fun, at least, until his business started doing well, and then he was all business.”