The Body in the Wetlands (A Jazzi Zanders Mystery) by Judi Lynn
About the Book
Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series
Lyrical Underground (April 23, 2019)
Paperback: 208 pages
ISBN-10: 151610840X
ISBN-13: 978-1516108404
Digital ASIN: B07FZN7CVT
Read an ExcerptHigh summer in River Bluffs, Indiana, is always sweltering and sweet. But the heat is really on when a decidedly dead body turns up in the neighborhood.When established house flippers Jazzi Zanders and her cousin Jerod donate a week’s worth of remodeling work to Jazzi’s sister Olivia, they’re expecting nothing more than back-breaking roofing work and cold beers at the end of each long, hot day. With Jazzi’s live-in boyfriend and partner Ansel on the team, it promises to be a quick break before starting their next big project—until Leo, an elderly neighbor of Olivia’s, unexpectedly goes missing . . .When the friendly senior’s dog tugs Jazzi and the guys toward the wetlands beyond Olivia’s neighborhood, they stumble across a decomposing corpse—and a lot of questions. With Jazzi’s pal Detective Gaff along to investigate, Jazzi finds her hands full of a whole new mystery instead of the usual hammer and nails. And this time it will take some sophisticated sleuthing to track down the culprit of the deadly crime—before the killer turns on her next . . .
She was halfway through the long front board when Thane called for a break. The men started into the house when Jazzi noticed Leo and Cocoa waiting for her. She glanced at Ansel, but he grinned and gave her a thumbs-up before leaving her. Why was it her job to talk to Leo? He wasn’t even her neighbor. But he stood there, looking so ready for company that she trotted toward him.
“I hope you had a nice Sunday,” she said.
He grimaced, clearly upset. He was wearing plaid pants today and a lightweight sweater. It must be true that people’s circulation slowed down with age and they were always cold. She couldn’t imagine wearing long
sleeves in this weather. “I had a bit of unpleasantness. A neighbor two subdivisions down yelled at Cocoa and me.”
“Yelled at you?” Why would anyone scream at an old man and his dog?
“We stopped in front of his yard while he was arguing with his wife, and he got mad.”
“You just stood there and watched them?” Jazzi could see how that might annoy someone. If she and Ansel ever had an argument, she wouldn’t want an audience. “How mad was he?”
“Out of control. I wanted to make sure no one got hurt.”
“Was the man going to hit his wife?”
“His hands were balled into fists. It bothered Cocoa and me.” Leo reached down to scratch the chocolate Lab behind her ears. “He yelled for us to move on, that the argument was none of our business. So we walked in front of his neighbor’s yard so we were off his property.”
Good grief! It was a good thing Leo didn’t get punched. “Do you carry your cell phone on your walks?”
Leo patted his pant pocket. “I could have reported him.”
For arguing with his wife? Did police respond to that? If he’d hit her...yes. But couples fought. Chad had spewed plenty of vitriol when she left him. Leo didn’t need to provoke someone who was already on the brink
of losing control. “Did you ever think the man might fight with his wife, but hit you? That you were pushing your luck?”
“Cocoa wouldn’t like that. She’s a wonderful dog, but she can be protective.”
Jazzi bit her bottom lip. She didn’t think Leo understood what he could have gotten himself into. “Husbands and wives get mad at each other. Don’t you and Louisa ever argue?”
“I don’t make fists,” Leo said. “I’ve watched the news. I know how many women suffer domestic abuse. It won’t happen on my watch.”
His watch. Leo the Enforcer. That wouldn’t go over well. “Did the wife look afraid?”
Leo tilted his head, thinking about that. “No, she talked back to everything he said, just kept cranking him up more.”
“Then I doubt she’s abused.” Didn’t most women who got pounded flinch and cower? Try not to say the wrong thing? Try to become invisible until things settled down or their guy slept it off? She couldn’t imagine
living in constant fear. “It sounds like the wife has a temper, too, just kept goading him on. But you took a real risk, Leo.”
“I was only trying to do the right thing.”
“You might have cranked him up more.”
His shoulders slumped. “I see that now. I didn’t think it through. I used to warn Miles about that.”
“About arguing with people?”
“He didn’t understand. He was awfully gullible. His whole life revolved around how far he could ride his bicycle and watch people.”
“Watch people?”
Leo looked embarrassed. “He didn’t have a life of his own. He worked at the pet shop and lived with his parents. So if people had a barbecue and invited lots of company, it was an event to him. He’d climb a tree and watch them. And he liked to park his bike at night and look in people’s windows.”
“A voyeur?”
Leo looked away, bent to pet Cocoa’s head. “A bit of one.”
Jazzi wondered what else Miles had seen. Something he shouldn’t have? The kid lived through other people. “When he disappeared, did anyone find his bicycle, or did he take off on it?”
“That’s the thing.” Leo’s voice sounded sad. “A sheriff found it on Highway 114, close to Manchester. Miles would never have gone that far.”
“Even if he saw something that really excited or interested him?”
Leo shook his head. “Miles felt safe here, but after the accident, he was almost paranoid. He had so many fears, he could hardly function. He’d never go that far unless he was with a friend.”
“Did he have a friend?”
“Not that I know of. He talked a lot about some woman who was kind to him, but it was out of pity, I could tell. When I first heard that he’d disappeared, I thought maybe he’d met someone and was ready to spread his wings. But after I talked to you, I thought about it more. And now I think someone stuck his bicycle in their trunk and dumped it on 114.”
“And Miles?”
“I think Miles got dumped somewhere else.”
Jazzi shivered. It was eighty degrees, but Leo made the boy’s disappearance sound sinister. The sad truth was, she agreed with him.
About the Author
Judi Lynn received a Master’s Degree from Indiana University as an elementary school teacher after attending the IPFW campus. She taught 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades for six years before having her two daughters. She loves gardening, cooking and trying new recipes.
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Thanks so much for hosting me and helping me spread the word about The Body in the Wetlands! Hope the rest of your week is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome Judith!
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