by Mel McCoy
“She has a solid alibi…”
“I know,” Emma said, “but who else is a tenant of Jacobs?”
“Henry Fudderman, but remember, he was at his nephew’s grad party that night.”
Larry stepped into the kitchen, stretching as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Won first place,” he said, then took a sip of his coffee and plodded off to another part of the apartment.
“Grandpa’s in his own little world today,” Emma said. “Wait till he finds out about everything we know…”
“Hold off on telling him. Let him enjoy the morning without fear of a killer on the loose.”
Emma nodded.
“So Patricia Greensmith, Henry Fudderman, and Orloff Minsky are all cleared. Who else is there?”
“We’ll have to make a list, then go walk around to talk to people.”
“Yeah,” Sarah said. “But we need to be discreet. We can’t raise any suspicions that we’re helping the police at all. Remember, people will talk to us because they like us, trust us, and have known us since we were little.”
“Right. We’ll be like ninjas.”
Sarah rolled her eyes, realizing she and her cousin were two peas in the same pod.
After breakfast, Sarah and Emma met Larry in the boutique. He was sorting the display of bowties and waved at them as they walked in. At the other side of the boutique, Rugby and Winston were causing a ruckus, and Misty dodged them as they played.
“So, it’s confirmed,” Larry said, forehead glazed with sweat. “A killer’s on the loose in Cascade Cove.”
Larry stepped over to the counter and grabbed a donut off a plate, taking a bite.
“How did you find out so quickly?” Sarah asked.
“I wasn’t open more than fifteen minutes before Henry Fudderman rushed in to give me the news. He also brought us some donuts, on the house.” He lifted the donut.
“Word spreads quickly around here,” Emma said. “Is that a Cascade Cruller?”
“Sure is,” Larry said, still chewing. “You want one?”
“No, thanks,” Emma said. “Sarah and I are going out on the town a bit.”
Larry’s brows furrowed. “Emma, you promised to cover for me while I run errands today.”
Emma huffed. “Oh yeah, I forgot.”
“Looks like I’ll be going alone, then,” Sarah said, eyeing up the donuts. She grabbed a cruller and ate it in only five bites.
“Well, be careful out there, Sarah,” Larry said.
“Grandpa, it’s daytime. And I’ll just be around Cascade Cove. Police are on high-alert, no doubt. I’ll be fine.”
Sarah strolled out of the boutique, waving goodbye to her grandpa and cousin. Outside, more and more shopkeepers were preparing their stores for the coming weekend—the beginning of the season.
Sarah waved to Henry Fudderman, who stood outside his bakery.
“Did your grandpa relay what I told him?” Henry called from across the street.
“Yeah,” Sarah called back.
“Be careful.”
“I will.”
Sarah continued along, passing by Patricia’s Tea Room.
“Don’t have to worry about Patricia,” Sarah muttered to herself.
She walked along, though none of the businesses on that end were open yet, so there was nobody to question.
She realized she should have gone the other way first. She could have stopped in at Gordy’s Deli or stopped to see Kacey. Neither had any motive she could think of, though both could have given her some leads. Right now, she didn’t have much.
But there was a reason she came this way first. There was something she had to check out.
Sarah saw the beginning of an old wrought iron fence off to her right. She continued walking along the fence. The house beyond was foreboding, but that was mostly because Sarah knew its significance.
“Jacobs Manor,” she said.
Sarah sighed. Beyond the house was the pier. The same pier she remembered seeing the police at when she first came into town and was sitting on the boardwalk behind Patricia’s Tea Room.
The place was huge up close, and the property equally vast. She wondered how they found the small spot of blood—would have been like finding a needle in a haystack.
“I wonder what happened here…”
There was no way to know, but Sarah figured whoever offed Jacobs did it at his house. Perhaps the murderer knocked Jacobs over the head. Then they carted him off to the pier, inadvertently leaving a little bit of blood behind. From the pier, they dumped his body, probably thinking it would wash away with the tide. The fishermen then found his body. Her guesstimate of the timeline of events was a probable scenario.
Sarah looked around. On either side of the road, there were other houses past the Jacobs estate, though there was not a soul in sight. This coming weekend, however, these houses would be rented by all of the tourists who would, hopefully, flock to town. Now, the scene was as quiet and eerie as a graveyard in the middle of the night.
She thought of knocking on the doors of some of the houses, especially the place across the street from Jacobs Manor. Then she thought it would be futile for now—all of the houses looked empty—no cars anywhere.
Besides that, something just didn’t feel right. Perhaps she shouldn’t be out this way all by herself, especially with a killer on the loose…
Sarah turned and walked back, intent on talking with a few people past where her grandpa’s place was. On the way, she saw a man in a hoodie leaning against one of the buildings.
Sarah slowed her pace, apprehensive.
The man looked familiar…
Was it really him?
Sarah’s voice came out as a mere whisper: “Orloff?”
Chapter 13
The man stood looking blankly out into the street. His face was a mask, and the fact that Sarah couldn’t read him disturbed her.
Was it Orloff?
After seeing the raven tattoo, she was certain it was.
Stepping closer toward him, she kept reminding herself that he’d been exonerated. Solid alibi.
Still, she was uneasy.
She was tempted to try to avoid him completely, so she looked to her right into the street. Out of the corner of her eye, she realized he was staring at her.
On his face, she noticed a flash of recognition. “Sorry if I frightened you last night,” he said.
Sarah slowed her pace even more and turned to look at him. He now seemed kind. Maybe she was too wrapped up in her own imagination of who she thought he was that she hadn’t even given him a fair chance.
“Oh, yeah. No worries.”
Now was her chance to talk to him. Get more information about what he knew. Though she was sure Adam would have told her any key information gleaned from his questioning, it was possible that Orloff had forgotten to mention something of importance to the authorities, either accidentally or deliberately.
“I’m Sarah, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Sarah. I’ve seen you around the pet boutique. I’m Orloff.”
Sarah saw a police cruiser pass them and sighed.
“A lot of stuff going on lately,” Sarah said.
“I’ll say.”
“Sorry we were gawking out the window last night—police activity is a rare thing around these parts.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m used to gawkers. I’m the only Russian in this town.”
“How long have you been here?”
“A few months.”
“Do you like it here?”
“It’s nice, when I’m not hounded by the cops.”
“Yeah,” Sarah said, trying to read the guy’s body language, but he stayed oddly neutral. Perhaps it was just the way he normally behaved, or maybe there was more to it.
“Why were they hounding you?”
“Oh, it was something dealing with my ex-boss, Mr. Jacobs. If you hadn’t heard, the old man has kicked up the daisies. Or is it ‘petunias’? Well, he’s kick
ing up some sort of flower now…”
Sarah’s heart beat a little faster. The way he talked about Jacobs’ demise, without a hint of emotion, bothered her. Still, she had to dig a little deeper.
“I heard about that,” she said. “Were they questioning you?”
Orloff nodded.
“Why?”
“Like I said, I used to work for Mr. Jacobs. Apparently, you can’t get fired from a job now without being suspected of something.”
“Well, you have to admit, the timing was a bit odd.”
Orloff raised an eyebrow. “Coincidences happen. This was one of them.”
“Yeah. So where were you that night?”
“To be honest, I was losing my shirt.”
It was Sarah’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “I don’t…”
“Poker night.”
Sarah nodded. So is that why Orloff looked so upset, even before the police took him in for questioning? He was probably still brooding over the fact he’d not only lost his job, but lost money playing poker as well.
“Sorry to hear that,” Sarah said.
Orloff looked at Sarah. “Was up big, then lost it all, plus some. Stupid of me, though; I just lost my job. Oh well.”
A bright yellow Beetle passed by them on the street, and Orloff glanced at it. Then his brows furrowed.
Sarah said, “What’s wrong?”
“That car.”
“What about it?”
“That yellow Bug…I think I saw that car before.”
“Where?”
“It was parked outside Mr. Jacobs’ place when I was walking to poker.”
“The night of his death?”
Orloff nodded.
“Did you tell the cops?”
Orloff shook his head. “I didn’t think of it. They only asked where I was and who was there that could corroborate my story.”
“Do you know what time you saw it?”
Orloff considered her question. “Hmm. A little before nine. We start the first hand at nine, and I was running a little late.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. The sun hadn’t quite set yet. And I remember looking at my watch once I arrived to the game, and it was exactly nine o’clock then. I only remember because the guys were giving me a hard time because they were already dealing.”
“I see.”
“And I also…” he started, face scrunched up.
“What?” Sarah asked.
“I don't know. It might be nothing.”
Another car zipped by them, the sound of its engine loud in Sarah’s ears. She waited until the sound faded away, then asked, “What?”
“On my way to poker that night, past where Jacobs Manor is, I saw a small dog roaming around.”
“A small dog?”
“Yeah. Little fellow, about this big.” Orloff used his hands to describe the size of the dog. “I didn’t think anything of it, figured it belonged to one of the residents or someone on vacation…”
Sarah’s chest tensed. “What kind of dog?”
“Hmm. It was short and long…mostly brown, with perky ears…”
Sarah pulled a copy of her flyer from her back pocket, unfolded the paper, and showed it to Orloff.
“Did it look like this?”
Orloff stared down at the flyer, studying the picture of Winston.
“It was hard to see, with all the late-day shadows, so I can’t be sure…” Orloff studied the picture. “Hmm, did kind of look like—”
Orloff’s phone suddenly rang. He pulled the phone from his pocket and checked it. “Need to take this.”
“Okay,” Sarah said. “See you later, Orloff.”
Orloff answered his call, nodding at Sarah as he started talking in Russian to the person who’d called him.
Sarah continued along, feeling her heartbeat pounding in her chest. The fact Orloff had seen Winston made sense. The little dog had come from the part of town where Jacobs Manor was. It could have wandered past the old man’s house, having nothing to do with the incident that night. Or maybe there was more to it…
Then her mind drifted back to the yellow Beetle parked outside Jacobs’ house that night. That, too, could be merely coincidental, though she knew she had to figure out who that bright yellow car belonged to.
She strode back to the mid-way section of the main strip and hurried over to her grandpa’s shop.
Inside, she saw Emma behind the counter.
Emma looked up from her laptop. “There you are!”
“Where’s Grandpa?”
“He’s gallivanting around town in his old rust-bucket. So where did you go so far?”
“Walked out to Jacobs Manor.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, it’s like a ghost town out that way.”
“It’s pre-peak…that’ll be hopping soon,” Emma said, now staring into her laptop, mesmerized. Her fingers tapped lightly on the keyboard as she typed.
“Yeah.”
“So, what else did you find out?” Emma asked, still fixated on her computer.
“I ran into Orloff.”
Emma looked up at Sarah, no longer typing.
“Go on…”
“He said he saw Winston the night of the murder, out past Jacobs Manor. It was at least three hours before the time of Jacobs’ death.”
“I see.”
“And Orloff said he saw a yellow Beetle.”
“A yellow Beetle?”
“Yeah, this brand-new, bright yellow Beetle that drove past us.”
“Hmm.”
“Orloff’s face was unreadable until he saw that Beetle. Turns out he saw the Beetle parked outside Jacobs Manor several hours before the murder.”
“So Winston and a yellow Beetle…”
“Yeah, I’m sure Winston is a pure coincidence, but I want to find out who owns that yellow Beetle.”
Sarah picked up the last Cascade Cruller from the Fudderman’s box and took a bite. She continued, “I’m going to scope out the town a bit more. See if I can track it down.”
“Don’t forget to check over at the strip mall,” Emma said.
“Good idea.” She finished the last of her Cruller. “Okay, I’ll be back in a little bit.”
On her way out, a customer walked in, a pug by their side.
Sarah walked by them and nodded, then strode out the door, Emma’s greeting—“Welcome to Larry’s Pawfect Boutique!”—barely audible with the street sounds filling Sarah’s ears.
She walked past the Bait and Tackle shop and then turned right to traverse the road. When she didn’t see any oncoming traffic, she stepped out to cross the street. While in the middle of the road, she stopped and scanned the main strip. It was straight as an arrow, and so she peered in both directions. A bright yellow car would have stuck out like a sore thumb if parked on that street, though she didn’t see any cars of that color.
On the other side of the road, she made her way to a side street. Down that way was the largest grocery store in town, located at the end of a strip mall. It wasn’t on the town’s main road, though it was still within walking distance. Sarah wanted to check it out to see what she could find, since the store’s parking lot was large, and she crossed her fingers that she’d see that car coming or going.
After a half-mile walk, she saw the store’s parking lot off in the distance.
During peak season, there wasn’t usually an empty parking spot to be found in the lot, but now, it was only a quarter full.
Stepping closer, she scanned the parking lot and it didn’t take long for her to spot the yellow Beetle parked near the store’s entrance.
Hurrying along, she saw that the car was empty.
Whoever owned the Beetle was still in the store.
Sarah walked up to the front of the store, watching a few people with shopping carts leaving the place. None approached the yellow car. She sat on one of the benches outside and leaned back.
Hopefully it wouldn’t take long for the car’s ow
ner to emerge.
But when they did, she was certain she’d have her next lead.
A half hour passed, and Sarah’s back was beginning to hurt. She stared at the yellow Beetle intently, as if it would help its owner emerge from the grocery store.
What if the person wasn’t in the store, after all? Perhaps they parked here for the day and walked to the beach.
Sarah pulled her phone from her pocket and texted Emma, utilizing her phone’s talk-to-text feature: “Found the car.”
Emma replied in a matter of seconds: “And???”
“No owner in sight. Waiting outside the grocery store now.”
“Keep me posted!”
“Okay.”
Sarah pocketed her phone and looked up. There, she saw a woman standing at the side of the Beetle, loading groceries into the back seat.
The woman’s back was turned to Sarah, but something about the woman’s clothing was familiar.
Sarah stayed seated, anticipating a glimpse of the woman’s face at any moment.
The woman finished putting the groceries in her car, and when she returned the cart to the front of the store, Sarah got a good look at her face.
“Could it be…”
Though the woman was wearing big sunglasses and her hat shaded much of her face, Sarah was certain she knew exactly who this woman was.
“Uh…” Sarah started, but the woman was quick to return her cart and rush off toward her Beetle before Sarah could get another word out, or even mutter her name.
Not in the mood for small talk, Sarah thought. But she also noted the hurried way in which the woman walked. Something about it wasn’t quite right.
The woman sped off, and Sarah fished her phone out of her pocket in a hurry.
“You’ll never guess who it is,” Sarah said into her phone, watching her words quickly appear on the screen.
“Who???” came the reply.
Sarah took a deep breath and smiled. She knew this revelation would make Emma’s day.
Chapter 14
Before she could mutter the woman’s name into her phone, Sarah saw that she was receiving a call from Emma.
Sarah answered the call in one ring. “Impatient, are we?”
“Just tell me,” came Emma’s voice.
