“And even though you know it now, I’m not sure you should be printing it in the paper,” said Heather. “Talk to the police before you do anything. Rudolph Rodney’s life could depend on whether the killer thinks he can release him without getting caught.”
“This is so serious and important. Of course, I won’t do anything to jeopardize his safety,” Hope said. “But when I finally get to write about it, it’s going to be so great! I might win a Pulitzer.”
“We just hope it has a happy ending,” said Heather.
“Aw, gee,” said Hope. “Do you think there’s a chance it won’t have one?”
“I’m trying not to think about that,” said Heather. “I’m trying to focus on what I can do to save him.”
“I think I need a donut,” said Hope.
“Bring one for me too,” said Amy.
Heather tried to go through the pieces of the puzzle that they possessed to see how they fit together. She felt like there was something that she was missing. If only she could figure out what it was!
Hope returned with some Nutella Crunch Donuts, and she and Amy dug in.
“Wait a second,” Amy said, as she licked chocolate off her fingers. “How did you know about Rudolph Rodney’s disappearance in the first place?”
“You mean, besides that I’m a reporter, and it’s my job to stay on top of these things?”
“Yeah.”
“I tried to contact him to see what he thought about the article. I had been so busy making sure that people on the island picked up a copy of the paper and read it that I never actually spoke to him after the piece ran. When I couldn’t find him, I began to worry. He mentioned his general schedule when I interviewed him, and he didn’t have anything coming up that would make him hard to track down. So, then I did what I usually do when I’m looking for a new scoop?”
“And what’s that?” asked Amy.
“I check to see if you two are at work and if you’re not I check the morgue.”
Heather was glad that she wasn’t drinking anything at the moment because she would have spit it right out.
“Do you really do that?”
“I mean, it doesn’t always lead to anything. But you are on top of all the murders in Key West,” said Hope. “I saw that someone new had been brought into the morgue, but the medical examiner didn’t want to give me any information. I was upset. Not only because of missing out on a potential story but because I was afraid that it was Rudolph Rodney on the slab.”
“I’m sorry that you thought that,” said Heather. “It must have been distressing. We had a few scares ourselves.”
“I hoped that someone would have told me that the man I just interviewed had been killed,” Hope continued. “So, I thought there was a chance it was someone else. But I knew I needed to find out what was going on.”
The door opened again, and they saw Detective Peters enter the shop. Hope rose from the table. She placed her hands on her hips.
“You?”
“Me?” he asked. He realized who was talking to him and walked over to the table, looking decidedly unimpressed.
“Did you have something to do with this?”
“I don’t have a clue of what you’re talking about,” Peters said.
“Then you’re not a very good detective,” she retorted. “Did you tell these two not to come to me with stories? You’ve been weird when I interviewed you.”
“I didn’t tell them anything. I don’t talk about you,” said Peters, crossing his arms. “If they don’t want to talk to you, it’s not because of me. Maybe they think you’re too pushy.”
“Children, behave,” said Heather. Inwardly, she was thinking that her twelve-year-old was less childish than this pair that had begun to enjoy taunting each other.
“Yeah,” said Amy. “We have serious matters on our hands. Like the dead man. And the missing investor. And that I’ve just eaten all my donuts.”
“I came here to talk about the case,” Peters said. “But I’m not sure I should discuss this in front of a member of the press.”
“You can go ahead,” said Heather. “Hope won’t publish anything until it’s safe to do so.”
“That’s right,” Hope agreed. “My journalistic standards include ethical reasoning. I’m not going to write something that would make the kidnapper want to get rid of Rudolph Rodney. I like him a lot.”
Peters still looked unsure, but he took his notebook out and then addressed Heather. “We’ve finished our tests with the potential murder weapons.”
“And it was one of the hammers from the scene?”
“It was the one with the red handle,” said Peters. “There were still traces of blood on it.”
“That’s a great detail,” Hope muttered. They all stared at her, and she held up her hands. “For later.”
“That’s good that the weapon was confirmed,” Heather said to Peters.
He nodded. “It means that Mr. Mapleson’s tool was turned against him.”
“Any other updates?”
“Afraid not.”
Heather told him about their false lead with Sidney Wallace.
“That’s a shame,” Hope said. “I would have guessed that it was him.”
“Good thing you’re not a detective then,” said Peters.
She ignored him. “I guess I should get back to the paper and let you work. As long as you promise that you’ll give me the scoop as soon as this is settled.”
“Once this is settled, we won’t be so distracted,” said Heather. “We’ll remember our promise.”
“You better,” Hope said with a smile. “I don’t want to be conned.”
“What was that?” asked Heather.
“I meant that I didn’t want you to break your promise.”
“You said con.”
“Right. I meant that I didn’t want you to try and trick me.”
“Hope, you’ve just made me realize something. Part of it was all a con.” Heather hugged her. “You’ve just given me a clue.”
“I did?” Hope said, happily. “I’m part of the story?”
“A vital part,” said Heather. She turned to Peters. “I think we need to talk to those neighbors again.”
Friendly Neighbors
Brian Drake was willing to come outside and talk to them again, but he looked unhappy when he saw a moving van on the street. He was even less happy when he saw Lilith Van Vanders joining the group at Peters request.
The two neighbors looked at one another and then at Heather, Amy, and Detective Peters.
“What’s going on here?” Lilith asked.
“We’re going to take care of your problem with the tables,” Heather explained. “We have a moving van here to take away the furniture you hate.”
“We’ll get rid of those hideous eyesores,” Amy agreed.
“And the Mapleson estate can process your refund because they received the property back,” said Peters.
Lilith rubbed her hands together nervously.
“Look,” Brian said. “We appreciate what you’re trying to do. But don’t you have other things that you need to work on? Wasn’t someone murdered?”
“And we are working on that case too,” said Heather.
“In fact, my partner is running down a lead right now,” said Peters.
“But we want you to know that we take care of all problems on the island,” Heather continued. “After you paid top dollar for your custom woodwork, Peter Mapleson built you those pieces.”
“Those disgustingly ugly tables that make my eyes burn,” said Amy dramatically.
“He was practically defrauding you,” said Heather. “And we’re not going to let him get away with that. Not even in the afterlife.”
“That’s right,” said Peters. “Now, which table do you want us to carry away first?”
“Brian,” Lilith said through gritted teeth.
“We don’t want you to have to do all this work,” Brian said, moving in front of them and trying to
block their progress. “Not for us.”
“It’s no bother,” Peters assured him. “How about ladies first?”
He started walking towards the Van Vanders’ home with the private investigators at his heels. Lilith hurried after him.
“Wait a moment,” she called.
They turned towards her. Brian stayed to the side.
“We do appreciate this. Especially what you said about the estate getting us our money back. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. A custom table costs so much money.”
“We’ve heard,” said Amy.
“And we really would like our money back, so we like that part of it.”
“Careful, Lilith,” Brian said quietly.
“But, don’t you think – considering everything that happened – the hardship of having to deal with these tables and learning of the man’s death like we did and being questioned about it – well, don’t you think we might be entitled to something?”
“Like what?” asked Heather, taking a step towards her.
“Well, like those tables for example,” said Lilith. “I know that they’re not much to look at, but I’m sure I could find a use for it. Donate it somewhere for a tax write-off or something like that.”
“You want to keep the table?” asked Peters.
“My point was that they’re not worth what he charged and we should get our money back,” she continued. “The table would be like a consolation prize.”
“I suppose that seems fair,” said Peters, nodding his head.
Lilith let out a sigh of relief, and Brian appeared to relax too. The investigators took a few steps away as if they were leaving.
“Hey,” said Heather. “Did you want us to leave the truck to help you move the tables to each other’s houses?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lilith said. “My children can help us carry them.”
She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
“That’s what this was all about,” said Heather. “You were trying to con Mr. Mapleson out of his furniture. You hoped to get your money back by complaining, but to keep the tables. To keep up the ruse, you couldn’t keep the pieces in your house down the line. So you arranged to each order one another’s custom table. You planned on switching them when you trick played out.”
“You don’t know that,” said Brian.
“Oh really?” said Amy. “Lilith wasn’t already planning on having her kids help you switch your furniture?”
“How did you know?” asked Lilith. “Before I said that.”
“You mentioning that you wanted to keep the table and get a refund was a clue,” said Heather. “But I had to realize that you were both in on the con to get the complete picture. And it was the designs that gave you away.”
“Designs?”
“The tall table had diamonds on it, which suits Lilith’s décor. And the other table had ducks on it, which is fitting for a man with the last name Drake.”
The two neighbors stood close to one another.
“What are you going to do about this?”
Heather sighed. “Nothing. You’re going to stop asking for your money back and won’t bother Mr. Mapleson’s heirs. You can do what you want with the tables.”
“But we’re not going to actually lend you the moving truck,” said Amy.
“We wanted to make sure that you weren’t involved with his murder,” said Heather. “But killing him wouldn’t have helped your plan.”
They left the neighbors looking relieved. Heather was glad that she had figured out how some of the pieces in the puzzle fit together, but she still hadn’t uncovered the piece that displayed who the killer was.
Late Night Thoughts
Heather was still awake when Ryan arrived home late that night. She sat in the kitchen with notebook and pencil, hoping to write down some connections between the crime that could spark an idea. Dave and Cupcake were cuddling with Lilly, even though Heather was stationed in the room that contained donuts, and she knew that they were comforting the girl.
Ryan joined her at the kitchen table, looking exhausted. She leaned over and gave him a kiss. He took her hand and held it for a while.
“Lilly is worried about Rudolph Rodney,” said Heather. “So are Eva and Leila. And so am I for that matter.”
“We’re doing the best we can,” said Ryan. “That’s all anyone can ask. I just hope it’s enough.”
“How was your search today?”
“It didn’t pan out the way I hoped,” he admitted. “I was running all over the place today. I checked all the property that Rudolph Rodney owned in case he was hiding somewhere on one of them. I looked at Peter Mapleson’s address and the storage area where his extra wood projects were made and no luck.”
“So, he wasn’t brought somewhere with a connection to either victim,” said Heather.
“Then, I started looking into other places that our suspects might own. To see if someone had a wood cabin where they could be hiding him. But no luck there either. Those two neighbors and Marvin Randall don’t own any additional property.”
“Any luck getting the warrant to search Marvin Randall’s main home?”
Ryan shook his head. “We need additional evidence before we can proceed there.”
Heather frowned. “I don’t even want to search for little bits of evidence about his guilt. I just want to see if he is hiding a human being inside his house.”
“I did get an officer to wait on the street in an unmarked car to see if there were any signs of someone being kept inside. We might be able to get enough to get a warrant, or if ample probable cause is provided, the officer could take action.”
“I should have volunteered for that job,” said Heather. “I doubt I’m going to get much sleep tonight anyway. I could have gone on a stakeout.”
“I was considering it myself,” Ryan said with a small smile. “But I wanted to try and get some rest. I am pretty tired from running around all day. And I did want to see you.”
“I’m glad,” said Heather. “I missed you today. And I don’t blame you for being tired. It sounds like you were traveling far.”
“Most of that came from looking into Sidney Wallace’s buildings and businesses,” said Ryan.
“You looked into him?”
“It was smart of you to remember that Rudolph Rodney mentioned him as a rival. Even though he denied any involvement when he spoke to you, I still thought it was a good idea to doublecheck. But, boy, does he have a lot of property.”
“I can imagine,” Heather said, sympathetically.
“Most of them were businesses in operation, and it was easy for me to subtly check that no one was being hidden there. There were some vacation homes that were locked, but I was able to check for signs of life inside.”
Heather frowned. “So, Sidney Wallace is only involved if he killed Rudolph Rodney and had hidden his dead body inside one of the vacation homes.”
“It’s easy to feel disappointed when it seems like time is slipping away. But all this legwork has to be helpful. We’ve learned many places where the man isn’t being kept. Sometimes crossing potential places off a list is still helpful.”
Heather nodded. “You’re right. We shouldn’t get discouraged. That won’t help us move forward with the case.”
“You did a great job figuring out the scam that those two neighbors were up to,” Ryan said, proudly.
“Thanks,” she said. “I wish it ended up being related to our main crime, but it doesn’t seem like they are involved.”
“And we’re crossing suspects off of our list too.”
“Ryan?” she said turning to her husband and confessing something that she rarely admitted. “I’m scared.”
“Me too, honey.”
He moved his chair closer to her and placed an arm around her. She hugged him back. They stayed together, holding each other like that, for quite a while. It was reassuring to know that the other person was there.
It didn’t
seem like there was much else that they could accomplish that night, so eventually, they decided to go to bed. All they could do for their friend until the morning was hope.
Donut Designs
Heather arrived at Donut Delights with Amy that morning right after seeing Lilly off to school. What she saw there made her heart feel light despite the circumstances.
“Uh oh,” Digby said when she walked in. “She’s early.”
“The boss is never early or late,” Amy joked. “She’s always perfectly on time.”
“What are you all up to?” Heather asked, staring at each of her four employees.
They led her into the kitchen. It was normally full of donuts and batter at this time in the morning, but they had outdone themselves today. Every conceivable color of icing had been spread out on the counters.
“We’re planning a party,” Luz said.
“A donut party,” said Nina.
“For when Rudolph Rodney comes back,” Janae explained.
Digby showed off around the room. “We’ve made the usual donut flavors for the day, including the Nutella Crunch Donut that he liked so much. But we have some other surprises too.”
“We made Vanilla Glazed Donuts,” Luz said. “Which, if we listened to your stories correctly, was the first flavor that you ever served to him in Texas and what ultimately led to this shop here.”
“And we made Chocolate Hazelnut Donuts, which were the first new flavor you made in Key West,” added Nina.
“And then we got a little more artistic,” said Janae.
“Think of it as a theater stage with a food backdrop,” said Digby. “Or an artist’s canvas in sugar.”
“We’ve been decorating donuts with either simple pictures or symbols that are significant to Rudolph Rodney.”
“This is him at the grand opening,” said Digby.
“This represents him trying his first donut,” said Janae.
“And this is the time that he went across the street to deal with Mr. Rankle when he was spreading false rumors about our food making people sick,” said Digby. “Remember that?”
Nutella Crunch & Murder Page 5
