Shades of Murder

by J A Whiting

  As Nell stared at the words in the email, a vague anxiety pulsed through her veins. What am I missing? Closing her eyes and leaning her forehead into her hands, she sat quietly at the table thinking through everything she knew. The details swirled in her head like a whirlwind and she tried to grasp at the different strands to make sense of them.

  Colors began to flash in her mind. Red, black, orange, green. Over and over. Faster and faster until she began to feel ill.

  Nell’s eyes popped open.

  Green. Green.

  Nell tapped away at her laptop while spots of perspiration beaded up on her forehead.

  When the photo in the obituary she was looking for showed on the screen, Nell gasped and grasped the edge of the table.

  The photograph of Melinda Prince, the woman who died in the car crash with Pepper and her fiancé, looked very much like the woman standing in the photo next to Bobby that Nell saw in the desk drawer in the workshop on the inn’s grounds.

  Jumping to her feet, she nearly knocked over her chair as she darted into the large pantry off the kitchen where she and Violet kept a small file cabinet for their personal papers and receipts. Yanking open the file drawers, Nell searched for the manila folder she was looking for and when she found it, she opened it and stared at the contract.

  Her heart sank into her stomach and her breathing came hard and shallow.

  Bobby’s signature on the deck contract was in green ink.

  The rental car contract had been signed with green ink.

  The rental car clerk was fairly certain the man who leased the vehicle had used his own pen.

  Nell had watched Bobby sign the contract with one of his handmade pens … a pen with green ink.

  Lifting the contract for the deck repair closer to her eyes, she tried to make out the green ink scrawl of Bobby’s signature. What is his last name? How do we not know his last name? Does this say Prince? Nell groaned. Would he write his real name on the contract?

  Nell rushed to the door of the pantry to return to the kitchen. She wanted to call Violet.

  Stepping out of the pantry, Nell stopped dead.

  Bobby was standing in the kitchen.

  23

  Nell’s throat was so tight she could barely breath. Bobby stood on the other side of the kitchen by the door. His face was moist with sweat and a few strands of his hair stuck to his forehead. His expression was blank.

  “You need something?” Nell squeezed the words out.

  Bobby didn’t say anything, he just held her eyes with his.

  Although the urge to run pulsed in Nell’s head, she knew it was a stupid idea. She couldn’t get far without Bobby being right at her heels. Darting away would only enrage him. No. It would be better to stay in the kitchen close to the door to the outside. Maybe if she got him talking, she could buy time until Violet returned home. Maybe she’d see them in the kitchen and would call for help.

  Nell’s heart sank thinking about Violet walking into danger. She had to get Bobby out of the house. She had to keep Violet safe.

  “Do you need something?” Nell asked again trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

  “Why are you so interested in Pepper Forrest?” Bobby’s upper lip twitched.

  “What do you mean?” Nell pretended not to know what he was talking about.

  Bobby’s voice sounded impatient. “Why are you going around town asking so many questions about her?”

  “Am I?”

  “Are you working with the police?” Bobby demanded.

  “The police? I’m an artist. What use would the police have for me?”

  “You tell me.” Bobby took a step towards the young woman.

  Nell turned the tables on the handyman by questioning him. “Why are you asking me these things? Why are you in my kitchen asking me foolish questions? What are you trying to get me mixed up in?”

  Bobby looked taken aback for a second. “Why were you snooping around my desk?”

  “I told you. William needed your help. I left a note for you so you’d go to the inn to help. The desk drawer was open. I didn’t open it.” Everything she said was the truth. The drawer was open. She hadn’t been spying on Bobby. Nell decided to play-up being wrongly accused. “How dare you accuse me of snooping.”

  Nell moved her feet a few inches forward wanting to get as close to the door as possible without triggering the man to attack. She said, “You’re acting like you have something to hide. Why don’t you go back and work on the deck and I’ll forget you came into my home uninvited?”

  “Why did you go to the car rental place with that cop?” Bobby’s eyes had darkened.

  You followed me, Nell thought, her blood starting to boil. “Were you following me? Why were you? That cop is dating my best friend. We socialize. We do things together. He wants to rent a car for a trip,” she lied. “I went with him to get the information.”

  When Bobby leaned forward, his face was tight … it looked mean. “That’s not what the counter clerk told me. He told me you were asking questions about the guy who rented the car that hit that professor.”

  Nell’s stomach turned to ice, but she managed to keep her anger audible in her voice. “I’m nosy. So what?”

  “What’s the purpose of your nosiness?” Bobby dared her to explain.

  “That woman was in our shop moments before she got hit. Violet and I wonder what happened.”

  “She got run over. That’s what happened.” Bobby moved slightly and Nell spotted the hammer he held in his hand. Her vision dimmed a little from the terror racing through her veins. She would have to face the situation head-on. It was her only chance.

  “Why don’t we go into the shop?” Bobby suggested.

  “Why?” Nell asked.

  Nell knew he wanted to get her away from the door and the windows. Then he would attack.

  “I want to look around,” Bobby told her.

  “Why are you suddenly moving away from Massachusetts?” Nell asked, trying to distract him.

  Bobby narrowed his eyes. “Because.” The word came out like a hiss.

  Nell looked for something close by that she could use to strike Bobby with. She spotted the frying pan on the cooled burner, and as she took a step closer to the stove, through the open kitchen window she heard the click-click-click of a bike.

  Returning from her early morning ride, Violet walked her bicycle towards the garage and when she glanced into the house through the window, Nell met her eyes with an expression of dread and gave a tiny shake of her head.

  Bobby hadn’t noticed the slight exchange between Nell and her sister. The man’s chest was rapidly rising and falling. He clenched and unclenched his free hand. Nell knew he was getting ready to strike.

  “What’s your last name?” Nell asked the man. “I’ve never heard it.”

  “The last name I was born with? Or the one I changed it to?” The bright red color covering Bobby sparked and flared.

  “Melinda died in an accident, didn’t she?” Nell asked, referring to his late wife. “It seems you blamed Pepper Forrest and her then-fiancé for your wife’s death.”

  Bobby’s body shook. His eyes nearly popped from their sockets. “They killed her,” he shrieked. “So I killed them.”

  “And now because of an accident, you’re a murderer.” Nell watched the man’s face. She was ready.

  When Bobby lunged, Nell grabbed the cast iron frying pan from the stovetop and bashed him in the face just as Violet, swinging a crowbar she’d taken from Bobby’s truck, crashed into the kitchen. The dog flew past Violet to get to the man who had fallen to his knees.

  Then the two-person backup charged through the door behind Violet and the dog. Ida held a baseball bat at her shoulder and John wielded a metal rake, and they weren’t afraid to use them.

  Bobby slumped to the floor, his nose spouting blood.

  “We called the police,” Ida said. “They’ll be here soon.”

  “You okay, sis?” Violet put her arm around h
er sister’s shoulders.

  “Just fine. Now that all of you are here.” Nell sank into one of the kitchen chairs as Violet, Iris, John, and Ida stood ready to handle Bobby Prince should he make the wrong decision to move.

  24

  “Things just started to click, and then the pieces fell into place,” Nell told Chief Lambert. They sat in the police chief’s office with the door closed. “I finally found some articles I was looking for on the accident Pepper and her fiancé were in and a story about the crash that killed her husband, Justin. When I read someone died from the collision with Justin and Pepper’s car, and that the woman’s husband survived with head injuries, I became very uneasy, but didn’t understand why.”

  “Then you remembered the friend telling you Pepper received a threatening note that contributed to her decision to leave California?” the chief asked.

  “The little details began to add up,” Nell said. “I didn’t understand the whole picture at that point, but my subconscious must have been on the right path. I found the obituary picture of Melinda Prince and she looked a great deal like the woman in the photo I saw in Bobby’s desk. The green ink signature on the rental car agreement kept coming into my mind. The clerk at the rental place thought the man used his own pen to sign the contract. That’s when I recalled that when Bobby signed the deck restoration contract, his pen produced green ink.”

  “You found the contract in the file cabinet,” the chief stated. “You knew it had to be Bobby who killed Pepper Forrest. And you were right.” The chief rubbed at the back of his neck. “As it turns out, Bobby changed his last name from Prince to Price. He stopped using J. R. and used only Bobby as his first name. He also kept plenty of notebooks over the years, filling them with angry rants against Pepper and Justin, love letters to his late wife, complaints about his life. Over the years, Bobby kept tabs on Pepper. He used the internet to find out where she was and what she was doing. Bobby’s wife had been a Ph.D. student at the time of her death. It seems he resented Pepper for obtaining her Ph.D. when his wife never got to achieve that goal for herself.”

  Nell’s eyes were wide with disbelief that Bobby held a murderous grudge for so long.

  The chief continued, “Bobby decided to act against Pepper when he discovered she’d secured a position as a professor at Fuller University in Boston. He looked for work in the Boston area, found the job at The Sandy Rose, and started working there last January. The job was flexible and gave him free lodging. He used his days off to follow Pepper in Boston and learn her routines. He detailed all of this in his journals. His plan was to kill Pepper by running her down with a car. As fate or coincidence would have it, Pepper came to Bluewater Cove to attend a symposium and she booked lodging at The Sandy Rose. Bobby saw her at the inn and couldn’t believe his luck. He delighted in slipping a note under Pepper’s door telling her to watch her back. He wanted to frighten her in order to make her miserable. He rented a car, and completed his mission.” Chief Lambert’s eyes were heavy with sadness.

  “All of this was in Bobby’s notebooks?” Nell asked.

  “Yes, and plenty more,” the chief said. “Bobby’s notes tell us he tampered with the brake line on Justin’s car and caused the crash that killed him. It took Bobby years to plot and carry out Pepper’s murder, but he finally achieved his goal of taking the lives of the two people he blamed for his wife’s death.”

  “I guess Bobby believes in the saying, an eye for an eye,” Nell said sadly. “I wonder if Pepper thought Bobby Prince was responsible for both her husband’s crash and the threatening note she received?”

  “She may have suspected Bobby, but the police in her California hometown have no record that Pepper reported her concerns to them,” Chief Lambert said. “She may have talked to them about it, but it isn’t on record.”

  “When Bobby lived in California, he went by J.R?” Nell asked.

  “His legal name is Jason Robert Prince. He used J.R. until he found out where Pepper was living and followed her to the Boston area ... then he started going by Bobby Price. Before he left California, he arranged to have false IDs created and obtained a credit card with the name Justin Carr on it. Bobby took the job at The Sandy Rose because it was part-time at first, was close to the city, and it gave him time to scout out Pepper’s daily movements. He initially thought of attacking her in the city, but decided to wait until she was in a less crowded location. We’ll never really know for sure what Pepper knew or what her plans were.”

  “Why didn’t she just go to the police with her concerns?” Nell sighed. “She shouldn’t have tried to do things on her own. If she spoke to the police about her worries, maybe she’d still be alive.”

  “Unfortunately, there would be little the police could do if Pepper went to them only with concerns,” Chief Lambert said as he cocked his head to the side. “You said you saw colors in your mind when you were thinking over the details of the case. The flashing colors made you think of the green ink? That’s what made you remember Bobby’s pen had green ink?”

  Nell nodded. “I closed my eyes for a minute and then the colors began to flash. Green became the dominant color, and then I realized why. Bobby signed the deck contract with his own pen. It had green ink. The car rental contract was signed in green ink, too.”

  “Fascinating,” the chief said. “There was something else in Bobby’s notes. He heard you and The Sandy Roses’s owner discussing Pepper right after she died. He was suspicious of you so he made a late-night visit to your house to see where you lived.”

  Nell’s eyes went wide. “My neighbor and I thought we saw someone in the shadows snooping around near the house one night.”

  “You were right,“ the chief said. “I want to thank you for your help with this case. Would you be interested in working with us again should the need arise? I think you’re only tapping the surface of what you’ll be able to do.”

  A shiver ran down Nell’s back. She never again wanted to be involved with a police case, and she almost declined the chief’s request to work with them in the future … and then she realized that her strange skill of seeing colors on and around people could be used for good … it could be used to help the good guys win.

  Nell took in a long breath. “If you need me again, you know where to find me.”

  A wide smile brightened Chief Lambert’s face.

  * * *

  Under the sparkling stars, Ida, John, Nell, and Violet sat around the circular table on the deck enjoying a meal of spaghetti and meatballs with green salads.

  “I hope that monster did enough work on this deck so it won’t give way while we’re out here,” John said.

  “I jumped up and down on it before you came over,” Nell smiled. “I didn’t fall through.”

  “You don’t weigh as much as all of us out here at the same time,” John said.

  “Well, if it collapses, at least we’ll all go down together.” Violet passed the bowl of parmesan cheese to the older man.

  “That’s not that comforting.” John sprinkled some cheese over the pasta.

  “If it’s any consolation, it’s not that far to fall,” Nell offered.

  “Great.” John chuckled. “Just don’t forget to help me up.”

  Ida shook her head. “We’ll leave you to fend for yourself.”

  “I won’t leave you,” Nell promised. “I owe you. All of you. I’ll never forget how you came to my aid, armed and ready to do damage.”

  “You don’t owe us anything, my dear,” John told her. “We take care of each other. You’d do the same for us.”

  Iris woofed from her resting spot on the deck.

  “I’ve never been so frightened in all my life.” Nell wiped at her eyes.

  With a smile, Violet reached over to her sister. “You did a good job of hitting him with that frying pan. I bet you could have handled him all by yourself.”

  “I’m glad I didn’t have to try.”

  “Your skills saved the day,” Ida told Nell. “It was s
uch a small detail. If you didn’t think of the green ink, Bobby Prince, or whatever name he uses, would have gotten away with the murders of those two people.”

  “The police would have figured it out eventually,” Nell said.

  Ida raised an eyebrow and gave her a look of disbelief. “No, they wouldn’t have.”

  The front doorbell rang and Nell rose to go see who it was. “Who would be here at this time of night?”

  After looking through the peephole, Nell opened the door wide and saw the huge bouquet of flowers in the man’s hands. “Rob. What are you doing here?”

  “I know I texted you a bunch over the past couple of days, but I wanted to see with my own eyes that you were okay. I was worried.” With a smile, Rob handed her the bouquet. “These are for you. You are okay, right?”

  “I’m fine. I’m good.” Nell sniffed the beautiful white flowers. “Thank you for these, and for the texts, too. I appreciated them.”

  “I picked all white flowers because I know you find that color calming. I thought you might need some calm after what you went through.” Rob shifted his feet on the front step.

  “You’re very thoughtful.” When Nell looked into Rob’s eyes, she was surprised by the warm feeling that spread through her chest.

  “Well, I just wanted to check on you. Sorry I didn’t call first. It was a spur of the moment thing. I’m really glad you’re okay. Why don’t you come to the lab next week? We can run together if you’re up for it.” Rob started to turn away.

  “Wait. Stay. John and Ida are here having dinner with me and Violet out on the deck. Have you eaten? Come join us.”

  “Oh, no. I don’t want to interrupt.”

  “You’re not interrupting.”

  Rob hesitated. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive.” When Nell reached for his hand to encourage him to come inside, unexpected little sparks seemed to jump between them causing her heart to flutter. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I’m glad I’m here, too.” Rob’s smile melted Nell’s heart … and the two friends headed out to the deck to join the others.