Red, White, and Blue Murder

by Kathleen Suzette

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” the other woman said, turning on her. Julie shrugged and shook her head. I didn’t know who the angry woman was, but she slightly resembled Julie. Except for the fact that Julie was barely 4’11” tall and wore thick coke-bottle glasses. The other woman was close to six feet tall, but she had the same straight blond hair and upturned nose that Julie had.

  Julie caught my eye, and I smiled and gave her a little wave. Her mouth made a straight line, and she shook her head and sat down on a blanket.

  “What do you think is going on over there?” Lucy whispered.

  “Looks like Julie Sommers has guests from out of town for the holiday.”

  “Well if I were Julie, I don’t think I’d invite them back.”

  I chuckled. “I wouldn’t either.”

  “Have you got something I can put the hotdogs and hamburgers on?” Alec asked me. “Some of these are done and whoever is ready to eat can get started making their plate.”

  I nodded and went to the duffel bag that I had packed paper plates and plastic ware in. I’d brought some large heavyweight plastic platters, and I took two of them out and brought them over to Alec. Balancing things without a table was tricky, but I had plenty of hands to help out.

  “This should do it,” I said as I held a platter out to him. He nodded and began putting hotdogs onto it. They were nice and crispy on the outside, just the way I liked them. Not burned, but done to crispy hotdog perfection.

  “Thanks,” Alec said as he filled up the platter.

  “Whoever is ready for hotdogs, come and get them,” I called to the kids on their blankets. They all jumped up and headed over.

  “I’ve had just about enough of all of you,” the loud woman said.

  I looked over my shoulder at her. She was hastily tossing things into a tote bag.

  “Anita, don’t leave yet,” Julie coaxed. “The fireworks here are spectacular and you don’t want to miss them.”

  “I don’t care about fireworks,” she said. She turned and looked at Julie. “I’ve had enough of this family. I didn’t come all this way to be treated like this. I’m going to get on the first plane that’s leaving this Podunk town and go home. For good.”

  “Oh, pipe down,” a man said from a nearby blanket. “We don’t want to hear it anymore.”

  “Who are you telling to pipe down?” The woman’s face went red as she turned to the man.

  “Uh oh,” I said to Alec. “We might have a fight on our hands.”

  “I’m not the police anymore,” Alec reminded me and grinned as he began putting hamburger patties onto another platter. “I don’t have to do anything.”

  I poked him with one finger. “You couldn’t sit by and watch a fight break out like that. I know you too well.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe I can. Let’s see.”

  There were some hushed whispers, and after a few moments the woman tossed her tote down and strode off.

  Fortunately for us, we got to enjoy a leisurely meal without any more shouting. The food was perfection, even if I did make most of it. But Alec was the barbecue king as far as I was concerned. It might have just been simple hotdogs and hamburgers, but they had turned out wonderfully well.

  When we finished our meal, including the tasty cupcakes, I went and lay down on a blanket next to Alec. The sun was setting, and we were waiting in anticipation of the fireworks. Julie was right about the fireworks, they were not to be missed. Sandy Harbor may have been a small town, but we knew how to do the Fourth of July up right.

  ***

  I lay back with my hands supporting my head and looked up at the sky. It was beautifully clear with thousands of twinkling stars. “Isn’t it a beautiful night?”

  “It certainly is,” Alec agreed. “Nights like this make me wish it could be summer all year long.”

  “Me too,” I said. “Oh look, a shooting star.” I pointed to the sky.

  “I see it,” he said. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

  I shook my head and turned to look at him. “No, what?”

  “It means we’re going to be lucky in love forever.”

  “I’ve never heard that before.”

  “That’s because I just made it up. Just go with it.”

  I chuckled and looked back up into the sky. As I did, the first firework exploded overhead. It was a brilliant golden yellow and red and fanned out. “Oh, isn’t that beautiful?”

  “It is,” Alec said as we lay there and waited as one by one, more and more fireworks were released into the sky. There were oohs and ahs all around us and Alec and I lay side-by-side, silently watching the spectacular beauty of man-made fireworks against the stunning beauty of the natural skyline.

  The fireworks lasted for a little over half an hour and I was disappointed when the finale ended. Alec and I lay quietly on the blanket while the people around us began gathering up their belongings. I turned to look at Alec. “That was beautiful.”

  He turned and looked at me. “You can say that again. Too bad it only comes around once a year.”

  I sighed. “That’s the shame of it. But I guess if it came around more often, we might not appreciate it as much as we do.”

  He sighed. “I guess you’re right. I hate when you’re right, but you are.” He sat up and sat cross-legged and I did the same.

  “I guess we’ve got to gather everything up,” I finally said, looking around at our belongings.

  “I don’t know, we could hang around a while longer. What’s the hurry in getting home?”

  I shrugged. He had a point. The night sky was beautiful, and the only thing we had to hurry off for was to get stuck in a traffic jam with all the cars trying to leave the beach.

  “We can hang out a while longer,” I said to him.

  “Let’s do it.”

  We lay back down and as soon as my head touched the blanket there was a scream from some place nearby. We both sat up quickly and scanned the dark beach. Another scream sounded. Alec jumped to his feet as everyone stopped and turned in the direction the screams came from.

  “What’s going on?” Alec shouted as he ran. I scrambled for my phone and then jumped to my feet.

  “She’s dead!” someone cried.

  I hurried after Alec and almost stepped on a woman who was trying to get to her feet, but I was able to sidestep before I crashed into her. Alec was a few steps ahead of me, and I saw him hold up his phone and turn on the flashlight app. He stopped at the blanket where the woman that had been so loud all afternoon had been. I had lost track of her after she had stormed off at dinnertime.

  I hurried to catch up to Alec as people stood around. Alec shined his flashlight on the ground and then knelt down. When I got beside him, I looked at what he was shining the light on. The loud woman had a large pool of blood on her chest and her eyes were staring sightlessly up at the sky.

  Chapter Three

  I turned on my flashlight app as Alec dropped to his knees and began searching for a pulse on the woman’s neck. After a few moments, he turned to look at me and shook his head.

  “Oh no,” said the teenage boy we had seen speaking angrily to the dead woman earlier. He was standing next to Alec now. “What’s going on? What happened? Is she okay?”

  Alec glanced at him and then looked back at the woman. There was a blanket lying nearby, and he grabbed it and put it over her, then turned back and looked at Ed, Thad, and Dylan. “Can you boys help me and have everyone move away?” He dialed 911 and put the phone to his ear without answering the boy.

  Other people on the beach began turning on flashlight apps on their phones so we had more light to see by.

  The boy swallowed and his hands tightened into fists. He wore a blue bathing suit, but no shirt, and the ends of his hair were still wet from swimming.

  “Anita?” someone said, and I glanced over and saw Julie Sommers standing near the edge of the blanket the dead woman was lying on. She wore a black bathing suit and had a towel wrapped around her s
houlders. “Oh no. Please don’t say she’s gone.”

  The boy looked at her but didn’t say a word.

  Thad, Ed, and Dylan began asking people to back up. Most of them did, but they only backed up as far as they had to.

  “What’s going on here?” The man who’d been wearing the flowered shirt earlier asked, and came to stand beside the boy. “What is this?”

  Alec pulled his phone away from his ear. “Can you hold on for just a minute?”

  The man looked down at the woman lying on the ground. “No, I can’t hold on just a minute.” He dropped to his knees and lifted the blanket. “Anita?”

  I moved over to where Julie was standing. “Julie, did you see what happened?”

  She looked at me, shaking her head. There were tears in her eyes. “That’s my cousin. I don’t know what happened. Why did he cover her with that blanket? She has to breathe.”

  I shook my head. “He checked for a pulse. She’s gone.”

  She shook her head harder. “That can’t be true. Tell me that isn’t so.”

  “I’m sorry, Julie,” I said and laid a hand on her shoulder. She began shaking and sobbing. “Julie, is there someone I can call? Is your husband here tonight?”

  She nodded. “He was just over there a minute ago.” She pointed to a blanket twenty feet from us. “He’ll be devastated. We were very close to Anita.”

  I looked up and saw her husband, Jack, coming toward us. As he got closer, he realized something was wrong and his eyes went to the body covered by the blanket. He glanced at Julie and headed in our direction.

  “What’s going on? Julie?”

  Julie shook her head. “Anita is gone. She’s dead.”

  His eyes went wide. “What are you talking about? What do you mean she’s dead? I just talked to her less than an hour ago.” He looked at me. “I just left a few minutes ago to find our son so we could get ready to go home.” He glanced behind himself. “He’s around here somewhere.”

  I nodded. “There was some blood on her chest. I’m not sure what happened yet,” I said. I looked over and saw Ed and Lucy directing people to step back. Lucy was glancing over her shoulder at Alec as he talked to the 911 operator. Then Alec put his phone into his pocket.

  “Tell me what’s going on here,” demanded the man I assumed was the dead woman’s husband.

  “I’m not sure what’s happened yet,” Alec said. “The police will be here soon, and for now we need to clear the area.”

  “Don’t tell me I need to clear the area,” he said. He dropped to his knees and picked up the blanket, looking at the woman. Then he pulled his phone out and shined it on her face and then down to her chest where the wound was. He shook his head. “No. No. This can’t be right. What happened? What happened to her?” He looked up at Alec.

  Alec shook his head. “I didn’t see anything. The police will have to investigate,” he said, lowering his voice. People were still hanging around on the outskirts of the light being provided by phones, waiting and watching.

  The man shook his head and put his hand on her arm. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe she’s gone.”

  A lifeguard with a whistle on a lanyard around his neck appeared from the shadows. “What’s going on here?”

  “A woman has died and the police are on their way. Can you help keep people back?” Alec asked.

  The lifeguard appeared to be in his early twenties. He looked at the blanket-covered woman and nodded and began asking people to step back.

  “Dad, what happened to Mom?” The teenage boy suddenly stepped forward, as if coming out of a trance. He came and kneeled beside his father.

  “How should I know?” his father answered harshly. “You know as much as I do right now.”

  The boy leaned back as if he’d been hit. I took a step forward.

  “Can I get your name?” Alec asked the man.

  “Bill Towers,” he said slowly. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Mr. Towers,” Alec said quietly. “Your son doesn’t need for you to shout at him. The police will be here soon and will speak to both of you about what happened.”

  The man sighed and turned to his son. “I’m sorry, Mike, I didn’t mean that. I didn’t mean to speak to you that way. I’m just confused about what’s going on here.” He looked down at his wife and shook his head slowly.

  The boy nodded and leaned toward his mother. “Mom,” he said and shook her shoulder.

  “She’s gone,” his father said, his voice cracking. He laid a hand on his son’s shoulder. He glanced at the people standing nearby as they whispered to one another, then turned to Alec. “Can’t you do something about these people?”

  “Let’s cover her up,” he said and squatted down, pulling the blanket back over the woman.

  I turned to Julie. “Julie, did you see what happened?”

  She shook her head. “No, I didn’t see a thing. Anita and her family are visiting from Omaha. We all decided to come here to the beach because, of course, they don’t have a beach in Omaha. Or at least, not beaches near the ocean. All she wanted to do was come to the beach and enjoy the fireworks with us.” Her voice trailed off.

  I wondered about that. If she was enjoying herself earlier, she was hiding it well. “Who all came with you?” I asked.

  “Just my husband and son, my cousin and her husband, and their son.” Her eyes got big. “Oh my gosh, where is my son? Craig? Craig?” She turned and shouted her son’s name.

  I glanced at Alec and he had his eyes on Julie.

  “I couldn’t find him when I went to look for him,” Jack said, glancing around the beach now.

  “We’ll help you find him,” I promised them. Julie’s son Craig was fifteen or sixteen and I hoped he had just wandered off. “Craig? Craig?”

  “Craig!” Julie cried.

  “I’m over here,” Craig said, sounding irritated. “What do you want?” He headed over to his mother.

  Julie grabbed him and held him close to her. “Oh, my gosh. I was so worried. Where were you?”

  He shook his head and tried to push her away. “I was in the water. I told you that’s where I was going.”

  “Something’s happened to cousin Anita.” Craig looked over her shoulder and saw Anita’s body beneath the blanket. His eyes got wide.

  “What’s going on?” He managed to escape Julie’s grip and walked closer to where Anita was laying.

  “Don’t go over there,” Julie said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back to her. “You don’t want to see that.”

  “What happened?” His eyes were still on Anita’s body.

  I went over to where Alec was standing. “I don’t how we missed that.”

  The frown on his face told me he was angry with himself for not knowing someone was being murdered so close to where we sat. “Everyone’s attention was on the fireworks.”

  I nodded. He was right of course, but it still shocked me that she hadn’t been more than fifty feet away from us and she’d been murdered without us hearing a thing.

  “I can’t imagine how it happened,” I said as I glanced around to see who was standing nearby. Many of these were familiar faces, but there were tourists here as well. The summer season always brought tourists to Sandy Harbor. “The killer could still be here. You can’t let them all leave.”

  He looked at me. “Allie, I can’t keep an entire beach full of people corralled. As much as I would like to, all I’m able to do right now is to keep an eye on the family and the body.”

  I nodded. “Of course,” I said. Sirens split the air, and a murmur went through the crowd.

  “Did anyone see anything?” Alec asked the crowd as they stood around. “Anything at all? Did you hear anything?”

  People shook their heads, but then an older woman stepped forward. “I heard something, but I don’t know if has anything to do with this. It was almost like a gurgling sound, but I just thought somebody was getting excited about the fireworks. Honestly, if I’d had any idea s
omething like this was going on, I would have checked into it. I would have looked around to see if somebody needed some help.” She shook her head sadly, placing one hand on her chest as she looked at the woman’s covered body.

  “Did you happen to notice what time it was?” Alec asked as he walked over to her. He looked back at me. “Allie, do you have something I can write on?”

  I nodded and hurried over to my beach bag. I rifled through it and found my paperback and a pen and ran back over to him. “I’ve only got my book. It has some blank pages.”

  He nodded and took it from me and opened it to the inside cover. He took down her name and phone number and jotted down a brief description of what she heard, then he asked her a few more questions. But like the rest of us, she had been too interested in the fireworks and hadn’t noticed anything wrong.

  “I saw a man talking to her,” a man who looked to be in his early twenties said, stepping forward. “Over by the restrooms.” He pointed in the direction of the public bathrooms. “It was about an hour and a half ago. This is the woman that kept shouting, right?” He looked around for confirmation.

  “Yes,” Alec said. “Do you remember what the man looked like?”

  He thought about it a moment. “Yeah, he was blond, tall, and probably in his early forties. They were arguing.”

  “It wasn’t her husband?” Alec asked, nodding to the man kneeling beside the woman.

  He shook his head. “No, it wasn’t him.”

  Alec took down his name and contact information as Officers George Feeney and Yancey Tucker hurried across the sand. Alec went to join them and filled them in on what he knew so far.

  I sighed and went and stood near Lucy as four more police officers joined the first two and began spreading out among the people. “How awful,” I said, crossing my arms in front of myself.

  She nodded. “It is. I can’t imagine how this happened and no one saw it. It seems like she would have screamed or something.”

  “Maybe she never got the chance,” I said. “I feel terrible for her husband and son. Can you imagine? They were close by, and yet she ended up being murdered.”