Mint Fudge & Murder

by Susan Gillard

  “Next time you run into her, why don’t you mention how you’d like to visit The Milburn but wouldn’t like to go alone?”

  Rudolph Rodney smiled and nodded. “Well, hopefully, I’ll see you both at the engagement dinner.”

  He tipped his hat and left them.

  “We better finish these donuts and get going too,” said Heather. “We have some more entrants to talk to.”

  “I suggest we talk to Gardenia,” said Amy.

  “You think she could be the killer?”

  “I want to see if I was right about her making the cottage castle.”

  Gardenia

  “I was right,” Amy said.

  “And she’s not hiding her castle,” Heather remarked.

  The two women walked up to Gardenia Daniels’ house. Her sand castle was in her front yard, built out of a large sandbox. It looked like the cottage in the picture, but with some more finishing touches added to the seashell floral display.

  They stopped to look at it and were soon greeted by a young woman with dark, curly hair.

  “It’s not quite finished yet,” she said. “But I think it’s coming along.”

  “It’s charming,” Heather said. “I feel like it’s from a storybook.”

  “That’s what I was going for,” she said, beaming.

  “The flowers have a lot of detail work,” said Amy. “I like that you have a whole garden of different flowers here to admire.”

  “I had to do something with flowers. My name is Gardenia.”

  “Then, you’re just the person we wanted to see,” said Heather. “I’m afraid we’re not here just to admire your sandcastle. We’re here to ask some questions.”

  “What about?”

  Heather explained how they were private investigators, and then Gardenia interrupted her.

  “David didn’t send you, did her?”

  “We’re working with the Key West Police to investigate Mac Dugan’s murder.”

  Gardenia frowned. “He’s the big sandcastle guy, right? Why was he murdered?”

  “We think it might have something to do with the contest,” said Heather.

  “And you think I could have something to do with it?” she asked. Her eyes widened.

  “Did you know Mac Dugan well?” asked Heather.

  Gardenia shook her head. “No. I’ve never met him in person. I knew him as the sandcastle guy. And this is my first official year in the contest. I didn’t have any reason to kill him.”

  “What made you decide to enter the contest this year?” Amy asked. “I was thinking of entering, but chickened out.”

  “I thought it would be a fun challenge. I’ve made sandcastles at the beach, but never in a competition. And my friend is also doing it, so I thought I might as well try.”

  “That’s what I needed in order to go forward with it,” Amy said. “A friend in the competition.”

  “Sorry,” Heather said. “Don’t look at me. My artistry extends to frosting, and that’s about all.”

  “I wish Kendall from the art studio wasn’t away this week. Maybe then I would have jumped on this opportunity.”

  Heather turned back to Gardenia. “You decided to make your castle out in the open?”

  “Well, the judges are going to have to come by and see it. And I thought it would be easier for the audience traveling the sandcastle route to see it out front rather than in the backyard.”

  “But you didn’t feel the need to hide it?” asked Heather.

  “Why would I do that?” Gardenia asked.

  “We’ve heard that some other contestants are more secretive about their castles. They keep them hidden so no one can steal their ideas.”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary. I think most artists know what they want to do and want to create their own unique work. They don’t want to steal it. And if anyone did copy my flower display, it would be pretty obvious.”

  “That’s a different attitude than the others we spoke to,” said Heather.

  “Personally, I think your view is healthier,” said Amy.

  “It means that you weren’t worried about anyone cheating,” Heather said. “Even Mac Dugan.”

  “Wait a second,” Gardenia said. “Did he find out who the celebrity judge was? I heard he was trying to uncover that.”

  “I thought you said that you didn’t know Mac Dugan,” Amy said quickly. “But now you know about his attempts to get insider information.”

  “My friend in the competition mentioned it.”

  “Oh, really?” Amy asked, not buying it.

  “That’s right,” said Gardenia. “Hank. He knows all about the competitions. He’s been in five of them.”

  “And he’s the one who told you about Mac Dugan?” asked Heather. “Did he have an issue with the man cheating?”

  “He didn’t kill him if that’s what you’re trying to imply,” Gardenia said, indignantly.

  Heather asked where she was at the time of the murder, and Gardenia brought up Hank’s name again.

  “We were with each other that night. Well, we were chatting, and it got to be late. He stayed on my couch.”

  “He was there the whole night?” Heather asked.

  “That’s right,” said Gardenia. “You can ask him about it.”

  “We will,” said Amy.

  The Alibi

  “I don’t know where she was. She might have been home, but she wasn’t with me” Hank said. “Nope. I wasn’t there.”

  Heather and Amy exchanged a look. They weren’t expecting so passionate a rebuke of what Gardenia had told them.

  “Are you sure that’s the right night?” asked Amy.

  “I’ve never spent the night there,” he said. “We’re friends that talk about the sandcastle competition and such, but nothing more. I don’t like that you’re implying anything else.”

  “Gardenia sounded so sure,” Heather said.

  Hank frowned. “You said you were private investigators, right?”

  “That’s right,” said Heather. “And we’re investigating Mac Dugan’s murder.”

  “Mac was murdered?” Hank asked. He leaned against his doorframe.

  “I’m afraid so,” said Amy.

  “Will the competition still be going on?”

  “That’s interesting that that’s the first question that springs to your mind,” said Heather.

  “Obviously, it’s distressing that a man is dead,” Hank said. “And it’s a shame that it was Mac. But I need to know whether to spend any more time fixing my castle. If the contest is canceled, I shouldn’t waste my time.”

  “What are you building for the competition?” Amy asked.

  “I suppose I can show you,” he said with a bit of a sigh.

  He led them through his house and into the backyard where his large medieval sandcastle was. It appeared to even have a drawbridge.

  “It’s the medieval one from the pictures,” said Amy. “I guess that leaves Rusty with the boat.”

  “You haven’t covered your castle up with a tent,” said Heather. “You weren’t afraid of anyone spying on it?”

  Hank shook his head. “Why should I worry about that? My castle is going to be a masterpiece regardless of who sees it when.”

  “Then, it didn’t bother you if Mac Dugan was spying on the other entrants?” asked Heather.

  “I hadn’t heard that,” Hank said, frowning. “But why would he need to do that? He was probably the best sand sculptor on the island.”

  “Did you hear that he had found out who the celebrity judge was going to be?” asked Amy.

  “I knew he was trying to figure that out,” Hank said. “I didn’t know he accomplished it.”

  “Did you tell Gardenia about that?” asked Heather.

  “It might have come up,” Hank said. “I knew that Mac was intent on figuring out who the celebrity was because then he could cater his entry to what that person would like. I thought if he could find it out, maybe we could too. But Missy wouldn’t
tell me anything. And I needed to get started, so I began building my own design.”

  “Did Mac’s behavior make you angry?” asked Heather.

  “I think that all the artists should be on a level footing for a competition, and he was trying to undermine that. I didn’t like it. But I wouldn’t have killed him over it.”

  “Not even for the grand prize?” asked Amy.

  “Not even for a million dollars. I’m not a killer.”

  “Well,” Heather said. “You’ve told us that you definitely weren’t with Gardenia Daniels on the night of the murder. Would you mind telling us where you were?”

  “Well,” Hank said starting to trail off. “Are you really only here about the murder?”

  “What else would we be here about?” asked Amy.

  “Maybe I better call Gardenia.”

  Heather and Amy were annoyed but decided to wait and see how this situation would play out. Eventually, Gardenia arrived at Hank’s house. Hank stopped explaining the architecture of his castle and went to meet her.

  “I think they’re really here about Mac,” Hank said.

  “We can tell them,” Gardenia agreed.

  They took a deep breath and held hands.

  “I was with Gardenia that night,” Hank said.

  “But we are more than friends,” said Gardenia.

  “She’s going through a rough divorce.”

  “And our relationship just blossomed. But we didn’t want my ex to use this against me during our divorce settlement.”

  “It wouldn’t have been fair,” Hank agreed.

  “When you said you were private investigators, at first, we both assumed that David had sent you to find out about our relationship. We didn’t know someone had been murdered.”

  “I just didn’t want to get Gardenia in trouble,” Hank said. “But now it seems that denying our relationship gets us into more trouble. I don’t want you to think that we’re murderers because we’re afraid of admitting our love.”

  “You were together all night?” Heather asked.

  They both nodded.

  “That’s right,” said Hank. “I left right after breakfast.”

  “Of course, this gets us into a different kind of situation,” Amy said. “Are they lying about their alibi this time to protect one another?”

  “We’re telling the truth,” Gardenia said. “The only thing we fibbed about before was our relationship. But everything else was honest. I didn’t know Mac, but I heard from Hank that he was trying to figure out the celebrity judge.”

  “I knew him a little, but I wasn’t irate about his attempts to find the judge. I didn’t know he would spy on the other entrants, and frankly, I don’t see the point.”

  “Do either of you use shovels when you build your castle?” Heather asked.

  “Sometimes,” said Gardenia. “I’m finished with it now that I’m focusing on the flowers.”

  “And I have a shovel that I used when I was doing the walls,” said Hank. “Why?”

  “Oh my goodness,” Gardenia said. “Is that how Mac was killed?”

  “That’s what the medical examiner thinks,” said Heather.

  “We’d be happy to let you analyze all our shovels,” Hank said.

  “Thank you,” Heather said. She knew that they didn’t have to make that offer, but she was certainly going to accept it. Any potential murder weapons that they could rule out would be helpful.

  “And you’re sure the competition isn’t going to be canceled?” Hank asked.

  Gardenia nudged him. “Talking like that makes you look guilty.”

  “I have nothing to hide,” he said. “I’m even offering up my shovels.”

  “It seemed like Missy Egan was ready to move forward with the competition,” was what Heather said aloud. However, silently, she agreed with Gardenia.

  Rusty

  Heather and Amy drove over to meet the last contestant in the S.A.N.D. castle competition. On the way, they discussed how Gardenia and Hank had flip-flopped on their story. They couldn’t decide if they believed them or not. However, which person was covering for the other? Did they commit the murder together?

  By the time they arrived at Rusty Smith’s house, they had talked themselves in circles. They knocked on the door and were greeted by a young man with reddish-brown hair.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “Just don’t lie about your alibi,” Amy said. “It takes an annoyingly long time to sort it all out, but it does get sorted out.”

  “Pardon?”

  Heather jumped right into introductions and explained why they were there.

  “I’m happy to help if I can. Mac was a legend,” Rusty said. “But I don’t know how much I can help. This is my first real competition.”

  “What made you decide to enter?” asked Amy.

  “It was probably seeing that giant sandcastle last year,” Rusty said. “It made me want to see if I could build one myself. It was so cool that they were big enough for a person to stand inside.”

  “And the prize money helps,” Heather suggested.

  “Well, sure. Who doesn’t want to win ten thousand dollars?” Rusty said.

  “We think the money might be the reason why Mac Dugan was murdered,” Heather said.

  Rusty sighed. “That’s really sad then. But I guess it could be true. Some people take this contest too seriously, and then if you add a lot of money to it – well, I can see how it could create trouble.”

  “Who takes it too seriously?”

  “Most of the people I met seemed like they wanted to win at any cost. I just never considered that they might kill anyone. Larry Spooner, especially. He really wanted to beat Mac in the contest,” Rusty said. “Hey, you don’t think I’m in danger, do you?”

  “It’s your first year in the contest,” Amy said. “I don’t think anyone would consider you a threat until they saw your castle. And then it would depend on how good it was.”

  “That is,” said Heather. “Unless you made your castle out in the open where anyone could see it. We've heard mixed ideas on how secretive one’s design should be.”

  “I guess I’m in the middle in that regard,” Rusty said. “I built mine in my backyard. I didn’t want people to see it right away. It is my first year, and I wanted to make sure that it was done right before anyone saw it. But I wasn’t trying super hard to keep it hidden. Does it really matter if anyone saw it beforehand?”

  “Well, Mac Dugan seemed to think so,” said Amy.

  “I never saw his,” said Rusty.

  “No one has,” Amy said.

  “Well, now, that’s a shame,” Rusty said, frowning. “Will nobody ever be able to see it? He always made such special projects. Could it be shown as a memorial or something like that?”

  “The castle was destroyed when Mac was murdered,” said Heather.

  Rusty shook his head. “That’s just awful.”

  “Can we see your sandcastle?” asked Amy.

  “Sure. But I don’t think it could compare to what Mac would have made.”

  Rusty led them around the side of his house and through his fence into the backyard. It was shady because of the palm trees around the perimeter.

  “Those trees provide some good cover,” said Amy. “Both with providing shade and helping to hide your castle from prying eyes.”

  “I guess so,” Rusty said, shrugging. “They’ve always been there, so I didn’t think much of it.”

  He made a grand gesture as he presented his castle. It was a massive structure that was covered with dinosaur statues made out of the sand.

  “Tada! It is my first year, but I think I’m doing pretty well. I have some skills with the sand. I chose to do dinosaurs because I thought the kids would love it. I was considering making dragons, but the wings were too hard. But dinosaurs are cool, right?”

  Heather had to admit that her dinosaur-fan daughter would have loved this castle, but she tried to focus on business.

  �
��It’s not boat-themed,” she said.

  “What?” asked Rusty. “Who said I was making a boat?”

  “Someone was taking pictures of the entries this year,” Heather said. “Spying on them. We thought it was Mac, but one picture doesn’t match.”

  “I don’t know anything about that. It seems like cheating to spy on the other castles though and take pictures.”

  “It might make someone angry enough to kill,” suggested Amy.

  “Not me,” said Rusty. “I’ve been too busy working on my castle. My dinosaur castle. Not a boat one.”

  “Did you ever see a drone flying near your house?” Heather asked.

  “No. If I did, I would have guessed what it was up to,” Rusty said, angrily. “I can’t believe there was cheating going on.”

  “There was the spying, and some people were trying to figure out who the celebrity judge was,” said Amy.

  “Who is it?” asked Rusty.

  “We can’t tell you that,” said Amy. “If we even knew, which we don’t.”

  Rusty nodded. “That sort of cheating I guess I understand. Everyone in the contest is interested in learning who the judge is. Is he a movie star? A singer? Are there people who are famous because of sand and beaches? We all want to impress the judge and look good on TV.”

  “Is that another reason you wanted to join this year?” asked Heather. “Because of the publicity?”

  “Sure,” Rusty agreed. “Being on TV is a great opportunity.”

  Heather scanned the yard, trying to see if there was anything else that could be relevant to the case. She saw a shovel leaning against the fence and moved towards it.

  “This is your shovel?”

  Rusty nodded. “I used it when I needed to move a lot of sand. Why? Are you looking for a good brand? I could recommend one. Or you could borrow that.”

  “I’d really appreciate being able to borrow this,” Heather said.

  “We’re going to have a car full of shovels by the end of today,” Amy muttered.

  “We just have one more question,” Heather said. “Where were you on Sunday night?”