Champagne Cream & Murder

by Susan Gillard

  "He seemed not to know about the lipstick," said Heather. “But he was still there the night of the murder. He might be involved somehow.”

  Her cell phone rang, and she answered it with, "Shepherd."

  “How did your questioning go?” Ryan asked.

  Heather updated him and then said, "I think there are definitely other suspects in this case, but it's still looking bad for Kelly Catrin. If we could find out more about Ben's ex-girlfriend, it might help us."

  “Peters and I are going to go to Ben Shellingsworth’s house and see if we can find anything, but we need to be a touch sneaky about it.”

  “Why?” Heather asked. “Surely, you could enter a victim’s house. If you even needed a warrant, it should be easily granted.”

  “It’s not that,” Ryan said. “The chief is so convinced that Kelly Catrin is guilty that he doesn’t want us spending more resources on solving the crime.”

  “So, what are you telling him?”

  “Well, if the chief asks, Peters and I went fishing today.”

  Heather couldn’t help laughing. She already felt like they were fishing – fishing for answers!

  Home

  "It's the new year, and I need to be stricter about not giving you as many snacks," Heather said.

  “Come on, mom,” Lilly said in Dave’s defense. “It still is a holiday. It’s New Year’s Day.”

  Heather relented and gave the happy dog a little bit of her donut. Cupcake came to investigate and was rewarded with her own snack. Heather and the kids were seated at the kitchen table.

  "I'm sorry your New Year's Eve wasn't fun," Lilly said. “We had a nice time with Nina.”

  “It started out fun,” Heather said. “Until we got called to work.”

  “Are you close to solving the case?” Nicolas asked.

  "The problem with this case is that the police chief already thinks that he has the killer in jail,” Heather said. “But I’m not convinced it’s the right person, so we’re still investigating.”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Nicolas said.

  "Speaking of figuring things out," said Lilly. "Did you ever figure out what your New Year's Resolution should be?”

  “You know, I haven’t,” Heather said. “I got a bit distracted.”

  “Are you talking New Year’s Resolutions?” Amy asked, entering with Jamie and Miss Marshmallow. “The only good thing about this terrible case is that I’m still staying strong on my resolution. I haven’t screamed when I saw a dead body all year.”

  “That’s a very specific resolution,” Nicolas commented.

  “Mine is to take care of my business,” Jamie said. “I want my dog grooming van to be a success in the new year, and starting tomorrow I’m going to get down to business with my business.”

  “You could start by giving Miss Marshmallow a bath,” Amy said.

  “For when she meets her new family?” Heather asked coyly.

  “Yes,” Amy said. “Because we’re just fostering her. She’s not our dog.”

  Miss Marshmallow sat down right next to Amy as if she was claiming her. Jamie smiled.

  “Look,” Amy said. “We have enough to deal with at the moment besides that dog. We need to catch a killer.”

  “That’s right,” Heather said. “We need to figure out who had a motive and who had access to the lipstick.”

  “If we could find that ex-girlfriend of Ben’s we’d have a good suspect,” said Amy.

  "I wonder if it was the woman who gave Kelly those dirty looks in the ladies’ room,” Heather said.

  “It could be,” Amy said.

  Heather didn’t get much further in her thought about the case because Eva and Leila were joining the group.

  “Did Lilly and Nicolas tell you what fun we had this morning?” Leila asked. “I showed them some of the magic tricks that Wally the Wonderful inadvertently showed me how to do.”

  “She’s really good,” Nicolas said.

  “We should call her Leila the Likeable,” Lilly said giggling. “I couldn’t think of a more magical adjective starting with L.”

  “L can be a tricky letter,” Leila agreed. “I could call myself lovely. What do you think, Eva?”

  “What?” Eva asked, being pulled away from her thoughts.

  “What should my magician name be?” Leila asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Lucky Leila?” Eva asked.

  “What’s wrong?” Heather asked.

  “She’s been distracted like this all morning,” Leila said.

  “I have not,” said Eva. “Perhaps I just got tired of all the magic tricks.”

  “Okay,” Heather said. “As long as there’s nothing else that you want to talk about.”

  "No. What could there be? It's a new year, and things will be fine. I'm confident that you will catch the killer. And it was an enjoyable morning with the children. All is well," Eva said.

  “Something is not well,” Amy said.

  “There is something that I’ve been curious about,” Eva said. “Not that I’ve been too interested. But a thought did occur to me, and, well, why do you suppose that your assistant decided to kiss Vincent?”

  “Probably to get away from Peters and Fire Frank fighting,” Amy said.

  “And,” Heather said. “Vincent is a handsome man.”

  “Of course, he is,” Eva said. “But he’s much too old for her.”

  “He should find someone his own age?” Jamie suggested.

  “Exactly,” Eva said. “Oh, I mean…”

  “Eva, he did find someone his own age,” Leila said. “He’s crazy about you. You were the one who said you didn’t want a relationship with him.”

  “That doesn’t mean he should go off kissing others in front of me,” Eva said.

  "Oh, it wasn't his fault," Heather said. "It was New Year's Eve at midnight, and he appeared to be alone. Janae just gave him a little kiss because she was alone too."

  “I don’t know if she even knows that Peters and Fire Frank are both in love with her,” Amy said.

  “If you like him, you should just tell him,” Leila said. “If there was a nice man who wasn’t pulling cards out of my ears, I’d be gung-ho about it.”

  “I don’t like him,” Eva protested. “And even if I did, I’m too old to get involved romantically again. And even if I wasn’t, Vincent shouldn’t run around getting kissed by others.”

  Heather didn’t get a chance to respond because Ryan called her again.

  “How was fishing?” Heather asked.

  “We had to throw a lot of them back, but I do have one fish story to tell,” Ryan joked. “I asked Kelly about that fight that the Shellingsworths mentioned and she wasn’t sure what they meant. We didn’t find much at the house to help us, and couldn’t find anything on his ex-girlfriend. But we did find something that was interesting.”

  “What?”

  “Ben Shellingsworth had an engagement ring at his house,” Ryan said.

  “That is interesting,” Heather said. “Was he going to propose to Kelly? Or was it from a previous relationship?”

  “I hope we can figure out a way to track down his ex,” Ryan said.

  Heather laughed. “I think I might have just figured out a way.”

  “How?”

  “Hope.”

  Picture This

  “Did you come for that interview?” Hope Penwell asked when she saw Heather and Amy enter the newspaper office. “I think it would make such a great story.”

  “Hope,” Heather said. “Can’t you tell we’re not interested in having an article about ourselves? We don’t want to be thrust into the limelight any more than we already are. We don’t solve cases for the acclaim. We just want to do our part to make sure justice is served. We also don’t bake for the acclaim. We make donuts to make others happy.”

  “And so, we can have the donuts too,” Amy said.

  “So, please, don’t ask us about a story focused on us anymore,” Heather said.

/>   "You don't know how hard that is," Hope sighed. "Because what you just said would have worked great in the story too. Modest detectives."

  "Please stop," Heather said.

  "Fine," Hope said. "So, why are you really here? Besides to smash my writer-ly dreams?"

  “We’re here about the death that occurred at the New Year’s Eve party,” Heather began.

  “I knew it!” Hope said. “My editor said that we had to assume it was an accidental death until we heard otherwise, but I knew it was a murder. B.W. Shellingsworth was accusing Ben’s date of killing her. And now you’re here investigating. It had to be murder.”

  “It was,” Heather admitted. “But I don’t think you can report that until we know who the killer is.”

  “But the public should get the facts. Many of them were at the party. They want to know what happened – why they were pushed out right after midnight without more champagne.”

  “And you can tell them right after we know all the facts,” Heather said. “Because, honestly, we want to try and solve this today. Tomorrow, when the courts open for regular session, Mr. Shellingsworth is going to try and exert his influence. We need to make sure it’s against the right person.”

  "Let's make a deal," Hope said. "I won't print the story early, and I'll help you with whatever you came here for, but I get an exclusive on the Shellingsworth murder story."

  “Fine with us,” Heather said.

  “But,” Amy said. “You need to stop asking to do a story on us too.”

  “That’s not fair. You’d be such a great subject,” Hope said.

  “Take the deal now before I keep adding to it,” Amy said. “I could ask for ads about Jamie’s pet grooming van, but I’m restraining myself right now.”

  "Fine," Hope said. "It's a deal. Now, what do you need help with?"

  “We remembered that you were taking photos during the party,” Heather said.

  "That's right," Hope said. "Junior writers don't get their own photographers, so I needed to take my own pictures. Also, I think all the photographers wanted New Year's Eve off."

  “Can we see them?” Heather asked.

  “Sure,” Hope said. “Do you think there’s something there that could help you catch a killer?”

  “Possibly,” said Heather.

  Hope moved quickly. "I don't have printouts, but I uploaded them to the computer. They're still on the camera too."

  She handed her camera over to Heather who began to scroll through them.

  "There were a lot of pictures that I thought would work when it was just a fun party to report on," Hope said. "You can see how happy most people look in the photos. But when I needed to report vaguely that something went wrong at the party and someone died, it felt wrong to use the smiling picture. I used some crowd scenes showing more of the room as a whole instead."

  “I’m not seeing anyone near Kelly’s bag,” Amy said.

  "I'm seeing very few pictures with Kelly holding her bag at all," Heather said. "It must have been in the safe when these were taken."

  They kept scrolling through the pictures until finally, they saw one that looked useful.

  “That’s her,” Heather said.

  “Who?” Hope asked. “The killer?”

  “No,” Heather said. “Just someone we would like to talk to.”

  "In connection with the murder?" asked Hope.

  “She made a comment to the victim’s date in the ladies’ room that night,” Amy said. “We want to know more about it.”

  “We have what she looks like,” Heather said. “But how do we find out her name?”

  "Let me check my notes," Hope said. She flipped through her notebook and then said, "Aha! After taking her picture, I questioned her about the party and her New Year's Resolution. She said that she liked the decorations in the room. She thought the color scheme was quite fetching."

  “Her name?” Amy said.

  “Her name is Sabrina Winkle,” said Hope triumphantly.

  “Thanks for all your help, Hope,” Heather said. “We’ll make sure that someone talks to you and gives you that exclusive on the case.”

  “But—“ Hope started.

  “As soon as we solve it,” Heather said.

  “But—“

  “We have to go and talk to her first before we decide if she’s a real suspect or not,” said Amy.

  “Don’t you want to hear what her New Year’s Resolution was before you go?” Hope asked.

  Heather and Amy paused. Maybe they did want to hear this after all.

  “She said her resolution was to make him sorry,” Hope said, reading from her notes.

  Heather and Amy exchanged a look. They ran out the door to go talk to the suspect.

  Sabrina’s Story

  “What do you want?” Sabrina Winkle asked as she opened her door.

  Heather and Amy recognized her as the woman who they had seen give Kelly Catrin the dirty looks to at the New Year’s Eve party. She had the same dark hair and still was making an unhappy expression.

  They were still wondering whether she was Ben Shellingsworth’s ex-girlfriend or not. Mr. Shellingsworth has said that she was an heiress, and yet, the address they had found for her was tiny and seemed to be one of the only houses on the island that didn’t have a view of the ocean.

  “I’m Heather Shepherd, and this is Amy Givens. We’re private detectives working with the Key West police to investigate a murder. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?”

  “A murder?” Sabrina asked. “Who died?”

  “Ben Shellingsworth,” Heather informed her.

  Sabrina looked stunned. “Come on in,” she said without thinking.

  The house looked even smaller on the inside. Sabrina sank into a chair, and Heather and Amy squished onto the teeny-tiny love seat in the room.

  “Ben is dead,” Sabrina said. “I can’t believe it.”

  “We’re trying to find out more about his personal life,” Heather said. “Do you think you can help us?”

  “I don’t know what I can tell you now,” Sabrina said, crossing her arms. "I haven't been a part of his life for a while."

  “But you were a part of it?” Heather prompted.

  "We used to date," Sabrina said. "Then about six months ago, he said it was over."

  “And why was that?” Heather asked.

  "He thought I was only interested in him for his money. Can you believe that?” Sabrina asked. “Sure, I had grown up with wealth only to lose it all when my father decided to get himself caught for embezzling. But I wasn’t obsessed with money. I liked Ben for many other reasons besides his money.”

  “Like what?” asked Amy.

  “He was cute,” Sabrina offered.

  "Mr. Shellingsworth said that he thought Ben’s last girlfriend was an heiress,” Heather said.

  “Well, I should have been,” Sabrina said stubbornly. “If Daddy hadn’t lost all our money, I would have exceedingly rich.”

  “And you never met his parents in person?” Heather asked, remembering what B.W. Shellingsworth had said.

  “No. I don’t have the wardrobe that I used to, and I was embarrassed. I didn’t want them to see me living like this.”

  “But Ben knew?” Heather asked.

  “Of course,” Sabrina said. “I couldn’t keep something like that from him. We dated for nearly a year. He wasn’t materialistic. He always said how he didn’t care about money. But I’d like to see him try to live without it.”

  “How do I ask this?” Heather said. “Miss Winkle, do you believe that there was a time when Ben Shellingsworth was going to marry you?”

  “I certainly hoped so. I could imagine the wedding. Lavish and huge with a celebrity band,” Sabrina said. “But what makes you ask?”

  “An engagement ring was found at his house,” Heather said.

  "What?" Sabrina said, rising. "I dated him for a year, and he never asked me. He dates this blonde for a few months and buys a ring? That tramp!"
>
  “That got a reaction,” Amy said.

  "So, you weren’t a fan of his new girlfriend?” Heather asked.

  “I wanted him back,” Sabrina said. “The only reason why I went to that stupid New Year’s Eve party was because I wanted to see the girl that he had been dating.”

  “You were there the night that he died?” Heather asked, even though she knew the answer.

  “I guess so,” Sabrina said. “But I left before anything crazy happened. I didn’t know he was killed that night. I left soon after I saw his girlfriend. She was too pretty. It annoyed me. I didn’t want to be there for midnight and see them kiss when I had nobody.”

  “Did anybody see you leave?” Heather asked.

  “I don’t know,” Sabrina said. “There were a ton of people there. I bet somebody saw me.”

  "Were you alone with Kelly Catrin at any point that night?" Heather asked.

  “That’s her name?” Sabrina asked. “I followed her around a bit. I saw her putting on her makeup in the bathroom and made a comment. But I was never alone with her.”

  “You told her that her lipstick was smudged,” Heather said. “Were you trying to get her to reapply it before midnight?”

  “I was trying to make her feel bad about the way she looked,” Sabrina said. “That was the best I could do because she was so pretty. I hate her.”

  “So, you might say it would be killing two birds with one stone if you killed the lover who jilted you and framed his new girlfriend?” Amy suggested.

  “What?” Sabrina asked. “That doesn’t help me at all. I wanted Ben’s money back. I mean – I wanted Ben back. We can’t be together now that he’s dead.”

  "Maybe it just makes you feel better?” Amy suggested.

  “I didn’t kill Ben,” Sabrina said. “He was alive when I left.”

  “What about that New Year’s Resolution that you made?” asked Heather.

  "What?"

  "The one you told the reporter," Heather said.

  “You said that you wanted to make him sorry,” Amy pointed out.

  “Sorry that he left me,” Sabrina said. “I thought I was looking really good that night, and I wanted him to want me back. I wanted him to feel sorry that he didn’t have me anymore, and then I’d reluctantly allow him back into my life. But it wasn’t going to happen because he was there with that stupid Kelly.”