Heather applauded along with the rest of the audience when the show ended. She had figured out who the killer was, but still had a fun time.
The characters had been considering that the stolen rubies and the murder were connected. However, once you realized that they were two separate crimes, then it became obvious (at least to Heather) who the killer was. The older sister’s rogue fiancé stole the rubies when he realized that their wedding would be called off. The neighbor killed Emily because he was jealous that she chose another man over him. It was impossible for the neighbor to have stolen the rubies because he was having tea with the Middlewick parents at the time of the theft, but he had more than enough time to murder Emily. He was also the suspect to accidentally reveal that he knew how many times she had been shot. This was something that both Heather and the detective character Maisy Mulligan had picked up on.
Heather chatted with her friends about the case. Eva and Leila were suspicious of the gentlemen callers right up until the end, while Jamie had suspected the butler.
“I thought the butler always did it in these old things,” he explained.
Amy laughed. “There wasn’t even a butler character that we saw,” she said. “We only saw the maid.”
“I thought that would make it even more of a twist!” He said.
“I was suspicious of that smarmy fiancé,” Eva said. “But he was only a thief and not a killer.”
“You’ll have to keep an eye on me,” Leila said. “And make sure that none of my gentleman callers are only out for my riches.”
“I will,” Eva said. “But I’m not exactly sure what riches they could steal from us.”
“We do have access to unlimited donuts,” Leila said.
“They’re definitely worth their weight in gold,” Eva agreed with a smile.
“That was a good meal and a good show,” Ryan said. “I’m glad we did this.”
“Me too,” said Heather. “And I’m glad that no real murder occurred here tonight.”
Chapter 4
After the show, Heather and Amy exchanged compliments with the restaurant owner. He told them how everyone had enjoyed the Wild Raspberry Donuts as a dessert, and they told him how much they had enjoyed the show that was performed.
As they walked away, Amy said, “I would definitely recommend this play to others, if I could remember the title of it.”
“It is a long one,” Heather agreed.
“The Case of the Middlewick Murder and Stolen Rubies and Heartbreak? Something like that?”
“Something,” Heather laughed. “It’s The Case of the Stolen Heart, Rubies, and Life of Emily Middlewick.”
“We need to condense that. Could we use an acronym?”
“That would be T.C.O.F.S.H.R.A.L.O.E.M.,” Heather said, with a little thought.
“Fine. I’m just going to call it the good murder show with cheese sticks,” Amy said.
Heather was laughing when they joined the rest of their group.
“What’s so funny?” Ryan asked.
“Just that Amy is trying to rename the play,” Heather said.
“I think it could use a nickname,” Eva said. “It is rather long.”
“What about Maisy Mulligan Mysteries?” Leila suggested. “I thought she had a good name and it’s much simpler to say.”
“Let’s contact the writer,” Eva said.
They all headed outside to collect their cars. Amy and Jamie were going to leave in the car that Jamie had parked before the show started, but the Shepherds and Eva and Leila needed to wait for their car to be retrieved from valet parking.
By the time that they had finished talking with the restaurant owner, all the audience members inside had dispersed. They had expected most of the other theatergoers to have gone home already. However, there was still a large crowd of audience members waiting by the valet parking attendant’s box of keys. They didn’t seem to be too happy about waiting either.
“They’re taking forever,” a young woman complained to her date, who happened to be the audience member who was taken hostage before.
Amy started to regret her offer to stay with the group until their car was retrieved and tried to hide her frown. However, her bestie understood the look.
“Why don’t you and Jamie head out?” Heather said. “There’s no reason for everybody to wait.”
“It doesn’t really seem fair though,” Amy said.
“We used your car to deliver all the donuts, so it’s already done its task for the day.”
The other audience members were getting antsy. Some were pacing. Someone had gone inside to complain to the management.
“Has anyone gotten their car back?” The young woman asked to the group. “Has anyone seen the valet parking attendant since the show ended?”
There were grumbled complaints, and no one admitted to seeing the young man after the show. A few more people went back inside to complain.
“If it’s going to be a long wait, maybe we should give Eva and Leila a ride home too?” Jamie suggested.
“Are you saying we’re old ladies who can’t wait while standing and need to get into bed at an early hour?” Leila asked.
“He might be right about it,” Eva said with a laugh.
The two ladies accepted a ride with Jamie and Amy, and promised the Shepherds they would check on their pets. Heather wished them all a goodnight and said she would see them soon.
After their friends had departed, gaining a few jealous looks from people whose keys were held in the valet parking’s locked box, Heather and Ryan made their way to the front of the crowd.
“What if there’s no attendant?” The young woman asked. “What if we’re all just waiting here for no reason?”
The former hostage that she was standing with was looking angrier and angrier but was keeping his comments to himself. Some other people were sharing his angry sentiments but were about to become more vocal.
“Let’s all stay calm,” Ryan said. “A few people have already gone inside to report the problem to management. I’m sure this will all be resolved soon.”
“And who are you?” The woman asked.
“I’m Detective Shepherd of the Hillside Police. I was just here as an audience member tonight, but if there are any issues that require police intervention, I will be happy to assist. For now, I say let’s wait and hear what the restaurant management has to say. I’m sure they will return our keys and cars shortly.”
Most of the crowd was reassured, knowing that there was already law enforcement that would support them if there were issues with their vehicles. Heather was proud of how easily he was able to communicate calmness to a group. It was one of the many traits he possessed that she admired and found endearing.
One person who would not be reassured was the young woman who kept asking questions to the group. However, she began to direct all her questions to her date.
“What if he just drove off?” She said.
“You think he could have stolen my car?” Her date asked.
“He could have stolen a car,” she said. “He had all our keys. We didn’t know anything about him except that he was wearing a vest. What’s to stop him from taking one?”
“If he did take a car, it probably was mine,” he said. “It’s a half-a-million-dollar car, and I just had it waxed.”
“The show was several hours. He has a long head start. If he wanted to steal it, he could have driven it anywhere,” she said.
Heather tried to stifle a groan. This woman was fanning a fire, and they were making accusations without knowing the whole story. Why did having to wait make some people so crazy? It wasn’t her favorite thing in the world. Heather had had a long day of baking and would like to go home, but she wasn’t about to start a riot over having to wait.
“If he stole my car, I'd kill him,” the man said. He glanced over at Ryan and looked away, hoping that he hadn’t heard him. He started cracking his knuckles to express his anger instead.
“H
e could be selling the parts of the vehicle,” the woman continued.
“Chopping up my baby? Selling her rims and parts? Only a monster would do that. He’d better hope I don’t find him,” he said more quietly.
“Or maybe he didn’t intend to “steal a car” steal a car. Maybe he just meant to borrow one. Go for a joyride.”
“They’ll be no joy for him if he so much as scratched my car.”
“Maybe he took one out for a spin, and something went wrong. He can’t face coming back here.”
“All I can say is that my car better be unharmed,” the man said. “I love that car more than anything else in the world.”
That finally seemed to quiet the woman down, who obviously thought she was higher on the man’s list than the car.
Heather was starting to get a bad feeling about what had happened that night but suspected it didn’t have to do with grand theft auto. She was pleased when the restaurant owner, who had been so appreciative of her donuts earlier, arrived on the scene.
The restaurant owner apologized to the crowd. He explained how he had arranged for valet parking that night to add some class to the event, but somehow things had gone wrong. He had trusted the young man, Vinny, who he put in charge of the cars. However, it seemed that no one had seen Vinny since the show ended and he was not answering his phone.
“Joyriding,” the woman said under her breath.
The restaurant owner apologized again. He unlocked the valet parking box and then eyed all the keys. He looked at the crowd in front of him. It was overwhelming.
Heather stepped in. “Why don’t we show you our tickets and you hand us each our keys? I think we can agree that we don’t all need our cars brought to us tonight under the circumstances. After we get our keys, we can all walk to our vehicles.”
Perhaps it was because Heather’s idea made sense, or perhaps it was because the police officer next to her seemed to support the idea, but the crowd all agreed to the suggestion.
The restaurant owner and Ryan handed out all the keys to their proper owners. Some of the magic of the performance was lost as people grumbled and walked away to the distant parking lot. However, it was the most practical and efficient way to deal with the annoying situation.
Ryan had handed out all the keys and had picked up his own when he realized that there were still two people waiting. Unfortunately, it was the couple that was most upset about the situation and most concerned about their car.
The young woman and her date were smoldering nearby.
“Officer, I think we’re going to have to fill out a report for grand theft auto,” the man said.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Ryan said. “First, can you tell me your names?”
“I’m Elvin Fordham, and my girlfriend Brooke.”
“We’ve never been robbed before,” she said. “It’s very upsetting.”
Ryan turned to the restaurant owner. “Is there any other place that Vinny could have kept the car keys?”
The owner shook his head, looking pale. “He should have put all the keys in the box because it could be kept locked. It was a security feature to protect the cars. But he should have been here all night. I don’t know why he ran off. He seemed like a good guy.”
“He seemed like a good guy?” Elvin Fordham said. “That’s great to hear. My car is missing, but the guy who stole it was a great guy.”
“Calm down,” Heather said. “We don’t know that your car is missing. We just know the key isn’t where we thought it was.”
“If anything happened to my car, don’t think that I’m letting the restaurant off the hook,” Elvin said. “I’m holding you responsible too. For all I know, this could have been a giant scam. Put on a show so you can steal the audience’s cars.”
The restaurant owner looked even paler. He didn’t understand what was happening and was scared by the threat. Heather’s heart went out to him. He was a kindly man and someone who appreciated her donuts.
“Stop it,” Heather said. “Let’s look and see if something really happened to your car before you go around making threats.”
“That’s a good idea,” Ryan said, bringing out a flashlight. “Let’s go look.”
Chapter 5
Heather and Ryan led the group through the parking lot. Most of the cars had departed. However, the shape of the lot and the decorative trees made it so they couldn’t see every place that the car could be hidden on the semi-deserted lot.
Heather sighed as they passed their own car, but then focused on their mission. They had to see if Elvin Fordham’s car had been stolen. He and Brooke certainly thought so and wouldn’t be quiet about it. The restaurant owner walked behind them, with a certain trepidation in his step.
“This is truly unbelievable,” Brooke said. “We used valet parking, thinking that we wouldn’t have to walk at all. Now we’re trudging across a huge parking lot, just to prove that our car is missing.”
“I can’t believe my car is missing,” Elvin said. “That car was like family to me.”
“We’re going to have to walk all the way back, too,” Brooke said. “That’s double the amount of walking. And in these shoes.”
“No chance that you have some ear plugs in your pockets?” Heather joked quietly to her husband.
“Under these circumstances, I wish I did,” he said quietly back.
Elvin and Brooke were anything but quiet.
“That car is probably worth more than your whole restaurant,” he said turning to the owner. “If anything happened to my metal four-wheeled baby, I’m going to take you for all you’re worth.”
“Can we please be calm?” Ryan asked. “These threats aren’t helping us to find the car.”
“We’re not going to find the car!” Elvin shouted.
“Plus, I’m getting blisters,” Brooke said. “Maybe that’s another reason to sue. Both bodily and emotional distress.”
“I understand that you are upset,” the restaurant owner said. “But this is a very unusual circumstance. I had every faith in that parking attendant. He was a very nice young man and was somewhat involved with the theater. If he did something dishonest, it would hurt his friends in the show.”
“Why are you defending a car thief?” Elvin said.
“I’m saying I don’t believe he is a car thief. He must have had a good reason for leaving early tonight. Maybe he became ill and had to leave suddenly. Or maybe he had a family emergency and was too distracted to tell anyone. It would be unprofessional. But I don’t believe he would do anything malicious.”
“You say that,” Elvin said. “But my car is missing.”
“Calm down,” Ryan said. “We haven’t finished our search.”
“I wish we were finished. My feet hurt,” said Brooke.
“We’re going to find your car. Wait and see,” said the restaurant owner.
“I’ve been waiting! Getting my car back is taking longer than the dinner and show.”
“And the longer we take looking for the car, the more of a head start that hooligan gets on us,” Brooke says. “He could be escaping to Mexico by now.”
“I don’t believe that of him,” said the owner.
“Then where are my car keys?” Elvin asked. “If he didn’t steal my beautiful car, then where are my keys?”
“I don’t know. But I’m sure there’s an explanation.”
“The explanation is that you hired a criminal.”
The restaurant owner took out his cell phone and tried calling Vinny again. It appeared to just keep ringing.
“See?” Brooke said. “He’s not going to answer. He’s making a break for it.”
“He stole the most precious thing in my life,” Elvin said.
“Quiet!” Heather said.
She had wanted to silence the obnoxious group for a while but now had an excuse. She heard a cell phone ringing.
“Do you hear that sound?” She asked.
“This way,” Ryan said.
The
y followed the detective in the direction of the sound. When the ringing stopped, they had the restaurant owner make the call again. The ringtone played again.
“I’m pretty sure that’s Vinny’s phone,” Heather said.
They turned a corner around a tree and saw two things, one was desired, and the other was not. Elvin Fordham’s shiny silver car was in a parking spot. Vinny, the parking valet's body, was on the ground next to it, covered in blood.
Wild Raspberry Murder Page 2
