by Maisy Morgan
“I’m glad to hear that,” Mary said with a smile.
“So, are we here for a haircut?” Margarette asked as the man, Noah, made his way out the door.
“I’m afraid not,” Preston said as he said while turning toward Josephine who was closing up the cash register. “I’m actually here to talk to you Josephine.”
“Oh, geez, is this about my spat with Roger?” she asked. “I mean, I know he had to walk home and all, but –”
“Josephine, Roger is dead,” Preston interrupted, and Josephine seemed to freeze.
“What?” she asked as though she did not hear him right.
“He was murdered this morning at Lake Horton,” Preston said, and Josephine continued to stand there staring at him as this bit of information slowly sank in.
“You must be mistaken,” she said.
“I’m afraid not,” Preston said. “We found him in the lake with multiple stab wounds.”
Josephine immediately started crying, and Margarette scurried around them both and put an arm around her. “Oh no, no! Please say this isn’t true! It can’t be!” Margarette exclaimed. Then she seemed to become a bit aggravated or perhaps angry. “You both need to sit down. You just barge in here and tell her that her boyfriend is dead? Just like that?”
“I’m sorry,” Preston said. “I’m not trying to be insensitive, but Lake Horton is currently an active crime scene and time is of the essence if we’re going to figure out who did this to Roger. Josephine, I need to ask you some questions.”
Margarette led Josephine to one of the chairs their customers would usually sit in, and once the woman was seated and Margarette had offered her a tissue, Josephine nodded her head. “What… what do you need from me?” she asked.
“This is going to sound unusual, but I promise you that it is important. Can you tell us about what sort of jewelry you usually wear?” Preston asked.
Josephine stared back at him as though he had just asked her what color the sky was. “Jewelry?” she questioned. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Please, it’s important,” Preston said.
Josephine looked at Margarette for a moment, dumbfounded, before looking back at Preston. “I don’t know. I guess I sometimes will wear a ring or two. I like large rings with colors like this one.” Josephine held up her hand where they could see a large, plastic ring with teal and purple swirls.
“What about necklaces?” Mary asked.
“I mean, sometimes,” Josephine said. “If they match my rings.”
“Can you and I maybe speak more privately, Josephine?” Preston asked after a moment. “We need to talk through what happened this morning? Maybe you saw something that could help with our investigation?”
“Oh, of course,” she said, and the two of them stepped out leaving Mary alone with Margarette.
“Have you ever seen Josephine wearing pearls?” Mary asked Margarette, deciding to take advantage of the fact that she now found herself alone with the woman.
“Pearls?” Margarette questioned with a hint of amusement in her voice. “Definitely not. You saw her showing off her plastic jewelry, right?”
“I mean, it was cute,” Mary said. “But, nothing extravagant like pearls?”
“If that poor woman owned a pearl necklace, she would have pawned it off by now,” Margarette said.
“Are you saying she has financial trouble?” Mary asked.
“Who doesn’t have financial trouble right now?” Margarette questioned but then nodded a bit. “Yeah, well, she used to own this building, you see. She’s still pretty fresh out of cosmetology school, and she jumped the gun trying to open up her own place. Between her student debt, the rent for these buildings, and the upkeep, it became too much for her. We worked out a deal, and I’ve been taking the building over, but she’s got herself a nice little setup at a new place in Newnan. She’s been slowly moving her clientele out that way. She’s making better money, so hopefully that will help.”
“How desperate of a financial situation do you believe she is in, exactly?” Mary asked.
“I don’t think it’s too bad but it is bad enough for her to be stressed,” Margarette explained. “The debtors have been calling her non-stop, I can tell you that much. However, I think she’s starting to get everything straightened out. The other location she’s working at in Newnan is helping a lot I think.”
Mary was starting to believe full-heartedly that the pearls probably did not belong to Josephine. Plus, if the woman had been at the lake that morning in a jogging suite as Preston had told her, she had a hard time believing that she would have opted for a string of authentic pearls as an accessory piece. She headed outside to check in on Preston and Josephine who were standing out front having a soft discussion about Roger. “Is everything all right?” Mary asked.
Josephine wiped her face. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just a little shaken up is all. I needed the fresh air I think. Thank you for asking, Preston.”
“Of course,” he said. “Josephine was just telling me about the morning run she and Roger had.”
“Yes, we would go running together around Lake Horton usually three times a week before we both had to head into work. But I didn’t see anyone at the park other than Nathan. I mean, I know that Nathan and Roger got into it, and Roger even punched him in the face. I just have a really hard time believing that Nathan would retaliate by killing him,” Josephine said. “I mean, it’s just so… wait…” She stared at them both for a moment. “Oh my goodness, you two came here to talk to me because I’m a suspect, didn’t you?”
“We only know of two people who were at the park with Roger,” Preston said. “As of right now, yes, we are looking into both you and Nathan.”
Josephine looked rather sick by this realization, but she poked out her chest and put her hands on her hips showing a bit of confidence building. “Then, I’ll just have to show you I had nothing to do with this, won’t I?” she declared. “I know I was mad at Roger this morning and that I had broken up with him, but I wouldn’t kill him. I cared about him and still care about him. He was acting like a jerk, so I dumped him and left him at the park.” She paused and covered her mouth. “Gosh, if I hadn’t have left him at the park like that…” She started to cry again, but she quickly got a hold of herself. “Look, whatever you need, just tell me. I don’t know what you want of me, but if there’s something I can do to make your investigation easier, I want to know who killed Roger.”
“Well, we’re going to get a warrant to search Roger’s home,” Preston said. “Was he a regular visitor to your place?”
“Yes, he had his own drawer and everything at my house,” Josephine said. “In fact, his car is still parked in my driveway. If you want, you can search the place.”
Preston smiled. “That is very helpful, Josephine.”
“Anything to clear my name. I know what this must look like to you both; I know I am probably coming off as the scorned woman.” Josephine added with a grunt. “I don’t want to look guilty, so if there’s anything I can do to help I hope you know I will.” She started digging around in the little black apron she was wearing and after a moment, she pulled out a keychain full of keys. She looked at them for a time before removing one and handing it over to Preston. “This is the key to my house. I’m renting a property out in Newnan. You can go look through Roger’s things. In the bedroom the second drawer from the top of the dresser was his drawer. That is where he kept his stuff. He kind of took over my hall bath too. The key to his car should be on the kitchen counter.”
“We really appreciate your cooperation Josephine,” Preston said. “This will really speed our investigation up.”
“You’re going to be looking into Nathan too?” Josephine asked.
“Yes,” Preston said. “We’re also trying to find out if there was anyone else at the park at that time.”
Josephine nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Hold on, let me get my phone, and I’ll text you my address.” She dug
through her black apron once more, and she promptly texted Preston her address. “I will do anything to help you find out what happened to Roger,” she said shaking her head. “I can’t believe this happened. I think I’m still a bit dazed about it. I still can’t believe he’s really gone.”
“Yes,” Preston said. “I’m afraid so. I’m very sorry for your loss Josephine.”
Josephine nodded, but she didn’t say much more. “I guess I need to get back inside. We have a few hair appointments showing up in about ten minutes, and I still need to sweep up from the last one.”
“I’ll bring your house key back by when we’re done searching through Roger’s belongings at your place,” Preston said.
“Okay,” Josephine said as she was still very flustered making her way back inside.
“She seemed sincerely surprised about Roger’s murder,” Mary said.
“Shock is one of the most difficult emotions to fake,” Preston said. “I feel like it was authentic, but I think it’s too early to say for sure.”
“I’m going to go check in on Tripp before we head to Josephine’s house in Newnan,” Mary stated.
“Okay, I’ll go get my truck and swing by and pick you up,” he said as they headed opposite directions.
Chapter Eleven
Mary entered into her shop where she spied Tripp shuffling through some paperwork he had strewn out on the counter. She stared blankly at him for a moment before approaching, nearly tripping over Sweet Feet who attempted to dart between her legs while she was walking. “How’s it going?” she asked.
“Pretty good,” he said smiling up at her. “I organized your bookkeeping. It was a mess.” He finished placing the last of the paperwork into a three-ring binger before handing it over to Mary to look at.
She raised a brow as she began sifting through it all, and she smiled. “You’ve done all this since I’ve been gone? It’s only been less than an hour,” she said admiring how well thought out his new bookkeeping method seemed.
“I mean, it hasn’t been too busy this morning, so I had to do something,” he said.
“Tripp, this is very impressive,” she said as the door opened and Preston made his way inside. She turned to him and smiled. “Thought you were just going to swing by and pick me up at the front?” she questioned.
“Yeah, well, I think I need some of that key lime pie first.”
Tripp laughed and went to fetch Preston one of the mini key lime pies finishing up his transaction in record time. Preston wasted no time in popping the little dessert into his mouth. “Look at what he did while I was gone. He organized the shop’s finance paperwork.”
“Nice,” Preston said, taking the binder from her. “You want to do my taxes for me in April?”
Tripp laughed. “I’m not sure if I could figure that out.”
The door to the shop opened, and a lively young blonde boy came burling in with an enormous brown satchel at his side and a Superman cape sticking out the side. “Hey, Tripp!” Draco greeted. He was one of Tripp’s new and more colorful friends he had made in Brooks. “Oh, hey Ms. Mary and Officer Preston,” Draco said with a nod.
“Did you come for some snacks?” Tripp asked.
“I saw on the social media pages that you have mini key lime pies,” Draco said. “I thought I’d come try one. I also just went by the comic shop this morning. and Mom got me the latest New 52 graphic novel, so I wanted a place to sit and read.”
Tripp smirked, always seeming to be amused by his friend’s geekdom, and he fetched Draco a key lime pie as well. Draco paid for it before plopping down in one of the pink chairs and digging through his bag for that specific graphic novel. His eyes now glued to it immediately. Eventually, Preston and Mary headed out still intending to go to Josephine’s place in Newnan to search it before she had a chance to change her mind about giving an officer free range of her dwellings.
They loaded up into Preston’s truck and sped off towards Coweta County. “I’m glad to see that Tripp has befriended Draco,” Preston said. “Draco could use a good friend.”
“I’m under the impression that he didn’t have too many of those?” Mary asked.
“The first time you met him he was wearing Doctor Who cosplay in the middle of the Brooks ballpark, what do you think?” Preston asked shaking his head. “He’s a good kid. He’s just a little different I guess.”
“I like different,” Mary said, and Preston agreed.
Eventually they arrived outside a small rental house in the midst of Newnan, and sure enough, Preston recognized the small car sitting in the driveway. “That’s Roger’s,” he said as they walked past it. “I’ve seen it around town in Brooks before.”
They used the key Josephine had given them and headed inside where they immediately began their search. They headed to the bedroom locating the drawer that had been assigned to Roger. Preston dug through it only to find mostly socks, underwear, and a handful of t-shirts. While he did this, Mary looked around the room locating a small jewelry box. She opened it up, and as she suspected, all of Josephine’s jewelry was fake plastic. She found mostly rings as she had said was her preference with a handful of plastic necklaces. “Okay, so nothing that would go with those pearls we found,” Mary said as she dug through the jewelry box. “I’m really starting to think that the pearls we found were definitely not Josephine’s.”
They searched the rest of the apartment, including the hall bath that Josephine had said that Roger had taken over. Other than an odd flavor of mouthwash, there was nothing out of the ordinary there. The house was clearly a starter home, if that, and it didn’t look like the kind of place a woman who would wear elegant jewelry, like a strand of pearls, would live. Eventually, they came across the car keys that Josephine had mentioned sitting inside a little bowl on the kitchen counter.
Mary followed Preston outside, where they unlocked Roger’s car and began searching. Preston busied himself in the front of the truck, looking under the seats, in the center console, and in the glove box for anything out of the ordinary. It was a quad-cab, so Mary climbed into the back and dug around in the mess. “He’s got all sorts of crap piled up back here,” she grumbled, pulling aside piles of dirty clothes. “I swear, this guy lived in his truck.”
Preston smirked. “He drove a lot from what I understand. The company he worked for had him going on weekend trips all the time out of state, so prepare yourself. You might come across several underwear that may be several days old or something.”
“That’s just gross,” Mary said as he touched something moist, and she let out a shriek. It was just a half empty to-go cup of Coke, but it had still surprised her. “This is just disgusting. There are burger wrappers all back here on the floorboard.”
“That’s nothing. I’ve found three wads of gum inside tissues. I’m going to need to wash my hands later,” Preston grumbled. “I was defending him talking about all the travel he does, but this is just plain nasty.”
Mary shoved aside a few pairs of blue jeans only to come across a black duffle bag. She stared at it for a moment before opening it. The site of it caused her mind to go straight to that day at the bank. She could see it so clearly sitting there on the counter as a masked man wavied his gun around at the bank teller while demanding she stuff it full of money and items from the vault. “No way,” she quietly said telling herself that there were probably a million of these black duffle bags. She unzipped it while her heart raced to discover the contents of the bag.
“What? Did you find something?” Preston asked from the front seat.
She pulled open the bag only to be met with a horrid stench and the view of wads and wads of dye-covered cash. “Yikes!” she screamed, and she and Preston both hurried out of the vehicle. They threw the bag down in the driveway. They stared down at the bag full of money hardly being able to take their eyes off of it in disbelief. “What’s all that red crap in there?”
“Looks like a dye pack went off,” Preston said.
“A what?�
� Mary questioned.
“It’s used to foil bank robberies,” Preston said. “If a teller is forced to put money in a bag, they slip the dye pack inside so that when the robber leaves the bank, the dye pack will go off and mark the money. If the robber tries to spend the money, it’s usually noticed and they’re able to catch the robbers that way.”
“That means that this money was clearly taken from a bank!” Mary exclaimed. “Oh my gosh, do you realize what this means, Preston?”
“Sure do,” he said. “Looks like Roger was our missing bank robber.” Preston knelt down by the bag and carefully pulled out some of the cash. “I’m going to call and see if we can confirm some of these serial numbers on the cash. If so, it looks like Peachtree City police will owe us a thank you for identifying their missing thief.”
Mary stood by while Preston talked on the phone with the Peachtree City police department. Sure enough they were able to confirm that the cash in the duffle bag Mary found was indeed the same cash stolen from the bank less than a week ago. When Preston hung up the phone, he looked rather excited. “The Peachtree City sheriff is on his way here personally to pick up the evidence we just found. He’s really glad to have gotten that call.”
“This means that Roger robbed the bank,” Mary said. “He was the loose cannon who got away which makes sense considering how he punched Noah in the face over a petty argument. Fits his character, I guess. However, here’s a question. Was his girlfriend being at the bank at the time of the robbery intentional or a coincidence?”
“That…is a very good point,” Preston said thinking for a moment. “Do you think there might have been a fourth robber at the bank? Perhaps, one who wasn’t wearing a mask?” he questioned with suspense.
“Possibly,” Mary said. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions just yet because even though her boyfriend was involved doesn’t mean she was. Plus, if she was involved, you’d think she would have known he had a duffle bag full of stolen cash in his truck, right? You would also think she wouldn’t have given us permission to go search the place if she knew it might lead us back to her, right?”
