The Deadly Jellybean Affair

by Carrie Marsh

  When the gate was opened, Ray stepped over to Andrew with his hands raised in the surrender position. He was allowed to clean up, put on a pair of Morhollow Police Department sweat pants, and taken to an interrogation room where he was given a cup of coffee, a pad of paper, and a pen.

  “Please stay with me. I’m afraid she’ll come back,” Ray told Andrew.

  “Who?” Andrew folded his arms over his chest.

  “Summer.”

  Ray had said her name so matter of factly, for a second Andrew just nodded. But then he realized what his suspect had said and shifted from one foot to the other.

  “Summer Moran?”

  “Yes.” Ray took a sip of coffee from the small Styrofoam cup in front of him. His hands trembled so badly he spilled a few drops on the table. Wiping them up with his sleeve, he took up the pen and began to write.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Ray said, without looking at Andrew. “But I’m not crazy. I just don’t want to be left alone.”

  Ray talked to Andrew in bits and pieces as he wrote. He wanted her to come back but yet he didn’t. He never thought he could be scared of Summer. But now he was. He was scared of Summer.

  Mary walked into the police station with a dry mouth and crick in her neck. But other than that, she was feeling pretty good. She was afraid her impersonation of Summer Moran might not have been convincing but, taking Alabaster’s suggestion, she said very little and let Ray do most of the talking.

  “Hello, Mrs. Tuttle.” Officer Higgs smiled and waved from his desk. “How are you feeling?”

  “Pretty good, Tom. I never did say thanks for helping out last night. I was very glad to see a familiar face.”

  “It’s just part of the job.” Tom blushed. “What are you doing here?”

  “Andrew said that I needed to provide a statement. He said that Mrs. Hulka had skipped town so now I needed to report exactly what happened yesterday.”

  Tom scratched his head, looked in the direction of Andrew’s office and then back to Mary. “Well, I don’t think it’s going to be necessary.”

  “Why is that?” Mary asked innocently.

  “Something happened while Ray was in the holding cell. He started screaming and crying and now he’s providing a written statement to Andrew. They’ve been in there for over an hour.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. It’s one of those weird things that come with police work.”

  “I guess so.” Mary put her hand to her chest. “Should I wait?”

  Just then, the door to the interrogation room opened up and Andrew stepped out, rubbing the back of his neck and squinting at the floor as if he were looking for something.

  “Everything okay, Andrew?” Tom asked.

  “Yeah.” Andrew looked up. “Hi, Mom. Tom, could you please stay in here with Mr. Hulka. He’s, uhm, afraid to be alone.”

  Tom’s eyebrows went up but he did as he was told.

  Mary quietly walked to her son and looked up into his face. “Are you all right, honey? I’m here to make my statement but if you need me to come back…”

  “No. No.” He took a deep breath then let it out. “I don’t need a statement. Ray Hulka has confessed. He confessed to killing Summer Moran after carrying on an affair with her since the age of seventeen. They were cousins.” Andrew grimaced. “He also confessed to having ties with the Outlaws in order to see Summer and have Bruce McGovern beat up. And he confessed to at least half a dozen other affairs over the course of several years.”

  “A clean-cut guy like that mixed up with the Outlaws? How does a person even strike up a conversation with those kinds of people?” Mary looked seriously at her son but felt the tickle of a smile at the corners of her lips. “You said yourself that you can’t just go up to them and start talking.”

  “Ray said he spoke their language.” Andrew rubbed his thumb against his middle and index finger. “He paid over seven thousand dollars for them to break into Bruce McGovern’s home and to break Bruce’s face the other day.”

  “My gosh.” Mary tilted her head to the right. “Why the sudden change of heart? More importantly, do you believe him?”

  “I don’t know. A guilty conscience. Maybe reality finally sinking in. Whatever it is, it made him so scared he doesn’t want to be left alone.”

  “Well, he’s behind bars now. You did it.” Mary patted her son’s chest. “How about when it’s all over you come home for dinner and tell me all about it.”

  “I think that sounds great, Mom. It will probably be about two days. He called his lawyer so there will be some red tape over the fact he is giving us a statement without any legal suit present.”

  Mary reached up and smoothed her son’s hair. “You let me know. I’ll make spaghetti.”

  Andrew nodded, leaned down, and kissed his mother on the head. As he opened the door to the interrogation room, Mary peeked in and saw Ray Hulka look up. But he didn’t see Mary standing there behind the chief. He saw the beautiful, ghostly image of his cousin Summer just as the door shut.

  Mary walked slowly and carefully to her car in the parking lot of the police station. She was sweating and trembling but kept her focus on each step, biting her tongue between her teeth to make sure she didn’t faint.

  Finally, she collapsed into the front seat, breathing as if she had just run a marathon.

  Alabaster was right. She hadn’t done that kind of magic in a long time. But as she gulped the air and felt her head clearing enough to drive, she felt satisfied in her exhaustion. Like a body builder who just lifted his highest weight. It hurt for the moment as it was hoisted over his head. But when he let go and it fell to the ground, relief surged through every muscle.

  “I won’t be doing that again anytime soon.” Mary wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. The car slowly pulled out of the police station and merged into the evening traffic, heading toward St. Joseph’s Hospital.

  It was late but not too late for visitors.

  Mary pinned the little red badge on her shirt and walked down the long corridor with rooms on either side. Some rooms had televisions on. Flowers and balloons could be seen on the window ledges.

  While carrying her own bouquet of daisies and a silvery smiley-face balloon, Mary looked for the room Bruce McGovern was resting in.

  When Mary finally found it, her heart felt heavy. The room looked as if no one had set foot in it. It could have been mistaken as a spare room for storage except for the body lying in the hospital bed.

  She stepped in quietly and looked at the man there. Bruce’s face had been terribly bruised. The colors were turning a yellowish purple, which meant they were healing. Both of his eyes looks swollen still. There were three black, bug-like stitches—one over his right eyebrow, one on his right temple, and a third on his left cheek.

  His left arm was in a cast and he must have suffered broken ribs because tight, white bandages were wrapped around his chest and stomach.

  There were a couple of IV needles attached to his arm and oxygen tubes going up his nose. He looked as if he had been run over by a truck.

  Mary set the flowers down by the window. Then, she pulled a huge chunk of turquoise out of her pocket. Holding it in both hands, she whispered a quick spell over it then tucked it into the top of the cast on his arm.

  “What are you doing here?” came a female voice from the door. It was Crystal from the Little Dog Lounge.

  Mary looked down at Bruce then up at Crystal. “I just came to see how he was feeling.”

  “Yeah. Well, as you can see, he isn’t feeling much.” Crystal walked over holding a Big Gulp and a bag of FunYons from the convenience store down the street.

  Mary watched Crystal pull the chair next to the bed over with her foot and take a seat.

  “Are you done here?” she snapped. “Or are you filling in for your son? What’s the matter? He too busy chasing down jaywalkers and people who don’t put their recyclables in the right trash can?”

  Mary shook her head.<
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  “Well, you can go now. I’m here.” Crystal scooted the chair closer to the bedside and took a sip from her drink.

  Mary looked around the room. There was no other chair for her to sit in.

  “Have you eaten?” Mary asked Crystal innocently.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Dinner? Have you eaten?”

  Crystal held up her bag of Funyuns, giving Mary a look like she should be wearing a dunce cap.

  “That’s not dinner.” Mary squared her shoulders. “The cafeteria is open for another hour. Let’s get something to eat.” Mary started to walk toward the door but stopped short and waited for Crystal.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you, lady.”

  “You know what my late husband used to say about a free meal?” Mary put her hand on her hip. “The only thing stupid about it is not accepting it. You can enjoy your Big Gulp and FunYons when you get back. Let’s get you some vegetables.”

  Crystal thought for a moment then reluctantly set the drink and bag on the nightstand. “I’m not telling you anything.”

  “Good. I don’t want to know anything. I’m just hungry.”

  They went down the elevator to the cafeteria in silence. At first, Crystal was going to pretend to be a picky eater. It only took Mary adding a green salad, a bowl of golden corn, a slice of pizza and a chocolate brownie to the girl’s tray in addition to the Reuben sandwich she had grabbed herself for the girl to crack a smile.

  Mary ordered them both an iced tea and they took a seat at a booth near the windows. Mary watched as Crystal ate like she hadn’t eaten in a week.

  For a little while, they were quiet. Taking turns looking out the window and watching the doctors and nurses come in to gobble something quickly before heading back to work or surgery or whatever it was they had to tend to.

  “I could never do this job,” Mary offered. “Not because of the blood. But because there are sometimes you can’t win. No matter what you do.”

  “I don’t like blood,” Crystal said quietly.

  “If I make a mistake at my shop, I go home and complain to my cat. If you make a mistake at this place, jeez, I don’t even want to know.” Mary shook her head.

  “I heard that sometimes people get surgical instruments left inside them after surgeries,” Crystal said before taking a big bite of her brownie. “I’m sure the settlements for those kinds of mistakes are huge.”

  “If you could do anything, what would you do?” Mary asked. “If money were no object and you could instantly have the know-how. What would you do?”

  “I hope you aren’t trying to get me to open up.” Crystal straightened her back as if she had caught on to Mary’s devious plan before it could take root.

  “I’d be an astronaut,” Mary added. “I’d love to go out in space. If they ever needed volunteers to start a colony on the moon, I’d be all over that.”

  Crystal looked at Mary but said nothing. She folded her arms over her chest and leaned back in the booth. When Mary had finished her iced tea, she started to clean up the plates and napkins. Wiping off the table, she made sure everything was back in order and tossed the garbage away.

  “I’m going to go home now,” Mary said. “When Bruce wakes up, tell him they caught Summer’s killer. And tell him I hope he goes back to school.”

  Mary left Crystal standing there with her mouth open and eyes wide.

  She didn’t need to become best friends with the girl. Sometimes, just a small act of kindness was what was needed. Who knew, there may be a time in the future Mary might need to talk to Crystal again. A little sugar went a lot further than vinegar. But at least now Crystal had another perspective from which she might see Andrew that may save Andrew’s life someday. Who knew?

  One Week Later

  “I’m glad you made it for dinner.” Mary stood over a boiling pot of spaghetti noodles as Andrew took off his hat and took a seat at the kitchen table.

  “I wasn’t sure I was ever going to get a break. You won’t believe the stuff that’s been going on at the station.”

  “Gruesome stuff?” Mary asked earnestly.

  “Truthfully, I don’t even know where to begin.” Andrew rubbed his head.

  “Let me get us a couple of plates and you can just jump right in anywhere.” Mary shrugged her shoulders and giggled excitedly.

  As soon as Andrew was seated, Alabaster hopped up on his lap, turning around a few times before plopping down and immediately closing his eyes.

  The smell of tomatoes and basil floated up from a big pot on the stove. When Mary opened the oven door, the garlicky scent of crispy bread mingled with it, making the entire kitchen smell like an Italian restaurant.

  “We finally caught up with Hillary Hulka.”

  “Where was she hiding?” Mary scooped a heap of noodles in a bowl, added two fist-sized meatballs, and slathered it in red sauce.

  “Turns out she was the real money in the Hulka family. She had some kind of trust from her parents, who had a share in a platinum mine or uranium or something insanely rich like that. Since divorce was the only option, she went and got all her ducks in a row. Ray will be looking at a public defender. No fancy power attorneys for him.”

  “But he confessed.” Mary fixed her own plate then walked to the table setting them both down. “Is he recanting?”

  “They always do. But the funny thing is, we have a recording of him in his cell talking to himself, claiming responsibility for everything. He’s standing there, staring at the wall, having a conversation and confessing to the murder.”

  “He’s just talking to the wall?” Mary asked.

  “Yup.” Andrew swirled the spaghetti around his fork and shoveled it in his mouth, sucking up the stray strands with a smack and a roll of his eyes. “This tastes so good, Mom.”

  “The garlic bread is from the Deitzs.” Mary dabbed the corners of her lips with a paper napkin. “Speaking of which. Grace’s niece Lola will be coming to town soon. I told Grace you’d show her a good time.”

  “Mom. I have to work.”

  “I saw her picture.”

  Andrew waited for the description.

  “Oh, now you’re interested?”

  “Mom.” Andrew smirked.

  “She’s pretty. Maybe too pretty for you.” Mary laughed.

  “There is no such thing,” Andrew teased, sounding just like his father.

  Alabaster purred in agreement underneath the table.

  EPILOGUE

  EPILOGUE

  The sordid details of the murder of Summer Moran were spilled, in all their disgusting glory, across the front page of the Morhollow Bugle for everyone to wallow in now.

  Mary didn’t care to relive the events and everything she had come to discover about some of the places and people in her town. Sure, she knew in her heart that most of the folks here were good, decent people. They were kind and funny and had families and jobs, but she couldn’t shake the fact that Raymond Hulka had had all that too. What did it mean?

  Grace and Dawn Williamson and the other members of the crafting brigade, who were, at the moment, spread out across the work table in the back of Beads and Baubles, were enjoying the discussion.

  “With your own cousin?” Rose Hashberg, Dawn’s sister gagged as she spoke. “That’s just nasty.”

  “Well, it’s really all in the upbringing.” Mimi Sinclair, Dawn’s very best buddy, interrupted. “You have to wonder if that sort of thing was normal in that family or had been done before.”

  “I don’t think so.” Linda Miff shook her head as she continued her chain stitch. “In this day and age? Am I the only one who saw Deliverance? That doesn’t happen to two adults unless those two people want it to happen. But the really bad thing is that he killed her for it. Quite frankly, I don’t know what’s worse.”

  The conversation continued for quite some time as Mary wandered from the table to the front of the store and back again, petting Alabaster, who curled up snuggly in a square of
space that was actually home to one inch wide beads of onyx.

  Comfy? Mary asked as Alabaster purred up at her. He flicked his tail in the affirmative. What do you think about all of this?

  I think I’m wondering why no one is talking about the real offense. Raymond Hulka threw me against a wall. Alabaster licked his paw and brushed his right ear.

  Yeah, well, I’m sorry the newspaper didn’t pick that up. Mary soothed. I was afraid if I had your picture in the paper, people would be hypnotized by your beauty and want to steal you from me.

  Alabaster purred.

  “What do you think, Mary?” Grace broke up the private conversation.

  “About what?” Mary walked to the table.

  “About the sentencing. Fifteen years? Don’t you think that’s kind of lax?” Grace bit her lower lip as she tried to maneuver her crochet needles. “Fifteen years for having an inappropriate relationship with your cousin…”

  “Adult cousin.” Mary stated, but realized it barely made the argument better.

  “Tomato. Tomaaahto.” Grace flipped her hand as if her wrist had come unhinged. “Then you murder that cousin and you only get fifteen years. It just doesn’t seem right. Especially since she was so young. Had a life ahead of her.”

  “I heard he’s already gone off the deep end.” Dawn stated as she crocheted with the ease and grace of a surgeon performing a routine appendectomy.

  “What?” Mimi queried.

  “What did you hear?” Rose nudged her sister with her elbow.

  “I heard that after he was arrested, he started seeing hallucinations of Summer telling him to repent. If he didn’t make it right, she’d haunt him to the grave.” Dawn nodded her head without looking up from her project. She was already halfway to completing what would be a lovely scarf. The rest of the girls would have some very pretty ribbons they might be able to wrap around a gift for someone.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. That girl was into some weird things. If anyone was going to come back as a malevolent ghost, I could see it being her.” Mimi shrugged.