by Moure, Ana
“So do I,” Sage said, gathering her things and sipping the last of her coffee.
On the way out, she managed to take a look at the two women who had stopped their conversation after Prim’s interruption. One of them, presumably the nurse, was a thin, smart-looking lady with thick, black-rimmed glasses and a short, raven-black bob, and the other one was an extravagant, plump woman with too much make-up and a dramatic, bright red hairdo. Sage felt sorry she couldn’t linger a while longer and listen to them, but Prim was practically dragging her out the door.
It seemed that whatever her sister needed to tell her couldn’t wait another minute.
CHAPTER FIVE
Two Detectives and a Roast
Back in the peach-and-cream kitchen, Sage inspected the large circles of sweat on her T-shirt with a wrinkled nose. It was impossible to stay in the same clothes for more than a couple of hours in this weather. She wasn’t about to jump in the shower just yet though. She needed to hear what Prim had learned in the home of the dead Natalie. Her sister had kept annoyingly quiet on the way home.
“I don’t want anyone to overhear us,” she’d explained, but Sage knew that was a ridiculous excuse since no normal person would venture outside during the hottest part of the day. They were alone in the streets of Rosecliff and even the large oaks that lined Seaview Street, the street that Prim lived on, didn’t provide much relief with their thick shade. The air was stifling.
“Here, shred these,” Prim instructed, shoving a large plastic bowl of peeled carrots in front of her dazed sister.
“Prim, come on, tell me already!” Sage whined. The last thing she was in the mood for was shredding carrots. “You made it look like a matter of life and death.”
“Okay, okay,” Prim said, settling on the opposite side of the kitchen island with a huge knife and a head of cabbage in front of her. “I’ll tell you, you shred. Dinner is not making itself.”
“Ugh,” Sage snorted and got started on her task. She genuinely wished dinner did make itself.
“So, I went to the Pendergrasses house, right?”
“Right,” Sage said, confirming the obvious with a roll of her eyes.
“And I think you might be right. Something’s just… well, off. First of all, Father Pendergrass acted like nothing had happened. I mean, he was so polite and even creepily bubbly, like I was there on a social call. Every time I tried to offer some condolences, he changed the subject. I think he might have still been overwhelmed by everything that went on. Then, the doorbell rang while we were having tea, and it was Kevin, the groom from the wedding. Then the Father flipped out and sent him on his way. He was so upset to see him and yet, he was very friendly with me. I don’t know what all that was about. And finally, I asked where Jasmine was and if she needed to talk to someone, you know, because her mom passed away a few years back. Then I heard a creak and looked up and saw her, Jasmine, peek through a crack in the door of her upstairs bedroom. As soon as she saw me, she closed the door and hid.”
Prim stood for a moment, staring at the untouched cabbage and blinking. Then she turned to her sister.
“Don’t you find it strange? I mean, with all the insisting that there be no examination of the body and then the lack of emotions…”
“Wait until I tell you what’s strange,” Sage said, concern ringing in her voice.
She left the shredder for a minute to go and retrieve her notebook and started recounting what had happened in the cafe. When she was done, Prim looked even more mystified. She had forgotten all about dinner.
“Should we tell Ben?” Sage finally asked.
“No,” Prim said, lost in thought, “He said we should leave the whole thing alone. He doesn’t want any trouble with his superiors. Plus, we could be wrong.”
“So, do you think it could be murder?”
“Well, what I think is that it was definitely not natural. Especially now that we have a secret baby in the picture. I think Natalie was going to reveal it at the wedding and someone wanted to stop her. Why else would she carry around the pregnancy test?”
“I know. But why at the wedding?” Sage thought aloud.
“Remember what you heard this morning in the village green? I think it must have been Natalie that you saw there and the father of her baby. They said they couldn’t let the wedding go through.”
“Do you think it was the groom then? Maybe he was in a secret relationship with Natalie. What was his name?”
“Kevin. And he certainly does have a motive if she was threatening to show he hadn’t been faithful to Jasmine.”
“But how did he do it? I was racking my brain all day,” Sage said, “And all I could think of was poison, since we were all there and there wasn’t a gunshot or anything. That’s why I asked Dan about them having breakfast. Natalie was there before the wedding, but Kevin wasn’t, so he couldn’t have slipped her something then.”
“Well, maybe someone else was in on the whole thing. Maybe someone helped him.”
“Now that’s getting a bit too grim. They all looked like a bunch of normal teenagers at the wedding.”
“They did,” Prim said gloomily, “And what about Father Pendergrass? Why would he react so irrationally to the whole thing? Though I doubt he would kill his own daughter…”
“You are forgetting the purity circle. Maybe he was more upset than we think when he found out she was pregnant.”
“But,” Prim said, “I thought he only learned about that after the nurse told him. If he knew beforehand, it would make sense. Everyone knows how insanely strict he is with his daughters. He made them wear those promise rings and gave out similar ones to their best friends, who were also in the circle. Maybe you don’t know that, but the Pendergrasses are the richest family in town and the oldest and keeping up a good name has always been a number one priority for the Father. Not to mention he is also the head of the church, so it makes sense he would want his daughters to set a good example to the other kids. He even went as far as declaring that he’d disinherit either of them if they had any relations with boys out of wedlock.”
“What a strange little town this is,” Sage said, “It all looks so calm and peaceful on the surface.”
“I have an idea,” Prim said suddenly, jumping to her feet, “Wait here, and start shredding already! I’ll also need you to cut the cabbage and put the roast in the oven. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”
“Wait!” Sage tried to stop her, but Prim was already out the door.
Sage hadn’t the first clue about how to put a roast in an oven.
“What’s going on?” Prim said as she stormed in the kitchen, sniffing the air, “I don’t smell anything burning, but I don’t smell anything either.”
“I did what you told me,” Sage said apologetically, “I cut and shred everything and put the roast in the oven.”
Prim, despite her so far serious expression, started laughing.
“You are serious?” she managed to say in between her convulsions, “You thought I asked you to just put it there?”
“You could have been more specific, Prim! How do I know what you meant? Plus, I know every oven’s different. I didn’t want to mess it up. You were out so fast. I hate when you do that.”
“Okay, okay,” Prim said, catching her breath, “Half an hour shouldn’t be too much of a delay. My poor little sister!” She ruffled Sage’s hair playfully. “How are you going to take care of your own family?”
“I’ll improvise,” Sage countered, “I’ll just feed them candy or bring them over to your place. Like every day, six o’clock sharp, and leave them in your expert hands. Where were you anyway?”
“Oh, you’re going to love this!” Prim said, clearly proud of herself. “I went over to Emily’s house. Emily’s the other bridesmaid by the way. I know that she was the one with the camera, filming everything from before the ceremony. She asked me to film the flowers and decorations. Only later she passed the camera on to her mom when she had to start walking down th
e aisle.”
“Oh, yes! I remember. She was filming me too, when I was delivering the bouquets. So?”
“Well, I apologized that it was probably not the best of times, but that I needed the film for my portfolio as I had another wedding in a nearby town coming up soon.”
“And she gave it to you?”
“Yes. It didn’t take much convincing. The girl was still pretty upset about the whole thing. I don’t think she could’ve protested less.”
“Well, at least we know she is not the one who killed Natalie if she was filming everything the whole time. It would have been kind of tricky.”
“Yeah, and we also know that the breakfast in the Cheshire’s Cat is not on the tape, since Emily was with Jasmine in the hair salon at that time. Like Dan told you. But still, we could watch the thing and see if anything comes across as suspicious.”
“You are amazing Prim!” Sage said in awe of her sister’s cleverness, “I wouldn’t have thought of that myself. Let’s watch the thing.”
“We need to be quick though. Ben is coming back in about an hour and the boys will be here soon as well. I don’t want Ben to know we’ve been snooping around.”
“So, we are doing this?” Sage asked.
“Doing what?”
“Investigating a murder?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but let’s face it. There are too many questions here. We both know we won’t be sitting around and ignoring this whole puzzle.”
“Alright then!” Sage squealed, but toned it down once she saw the reprimand in Prim’s eyes. “Let’s watch a movie!”
CHAPTER SIX
Popcorn and a Scary Movie
Primrose and Sage settled in the large, soft sofa in the living room with two giant bowls of popcorn. The entire house seemed to smell of salty butter. While Sage lay sprawled in her shorts and tank top, shoving fistfuls of popcorn into her mouth, Prim was sitting with her back straight, carefully picking a single piece of popcorn and putting it in her mouth gracefully as if a million strangers were watching and judging her. Sage looked sideways at her sister and burst into laughter.
“What?” Prim said, offended.
“If you could see yourself! Do you ever relax?”
“Not when I’m in company. I think I owe it to you not to behave like a pig.”
“Oh, if that’s how it’s going to be…” Sage said, the smile not leaving her face. “Too bad we are related and soon the whole town will know what kind of family you come from.”
“Stop it, will you? Just hit play. We don’t have all day!”
“Alright, alright,” Sage mumbled with her mouth full of melting popcorn. “But the film is four hours. We don’t have all that time. I’ll just fast forward through it and you tell me to stop if you see anything, okay?”
“Okay,” Prim agreed.
The TV screen came alive and the other two sisters, Jasmine and Natalie, came into view. It all seemed comical when the film was put on fast forward. Jasmine was walking about in her bedroom, which still bore signs of her childhood, wrapped in a towel, her hair twisted in another one on top of her head. Natalie was ripping off the tags from the bridal lingerie and tossing the pieces of white lace on a chair. Sage slowed down, so they could hear what the sisters were talking about.
“Do you need those? I’m throwing everything out!” Natalie called from somewhere outside the camera scope. Jasmine and Emily were laughing at something and didn’t seem to hear her.
“Stop the camera, you crazy girl!” Jasmine giggled, “We don’t want my naked butt on my wedding film! Nat, did this bra come with an extra strap?”
“I told you I was throwing everything out! You could have asked earlier,” Natalie groaned and the camera followed her as she knelt in front of the trash bin and started fishing out the lost plastic bag with the strap.
“Okay, rewind,” Prim said, “This is just girls being silly. There’s got to be something better later on.”
Sage agreed and pressed the button. There was more laughing, throwing of clothes, trying on shoes. A phone rang and more laughing followed. Sage and Prim looked at each other in desperation. This was completely useless. It had been fifteen minutes and none of their suspects had even entered the scene. Sage increased the speed of the rewind and the little figures started dancing like puppets in front of them.
“Sto-o-o-p!” Prim yelled and Sage jumped, spilling popcorn into her lap. She paused the film.
“What? I didn’t see anything!”
“I can’t believe it! What is that?!”
“What? Prim? Come on, tell me!” Sage almost stood up in anticipation, staring at the screen.
“Play it!”
The figures started moving on screen again.
“Ouch! This thing’s thorny,” Natalie whined as her sister was tying a corsage on her wrist.
“Hold on,” Jasmine said, “I’m just trying to see how they look. I’ll get rid of these stupid thorns.”
“What are we looking for?” Sage asked, bored as she watched Jasmine tie another flower bracelet on Emily’s extended arm.
“You see those corsages? They are purple! Purple!” Prim was outraged. “How did I miss that at the wedding? Stupid little girl, asking for an all blue wedding and messing up my whole design with purple?! Where did she even get them? I know she didn’t order them from me…”
“Okay, you are officially sick,” Sage declared, sinking back into the sofa pillows. “Can we concentrate on the murder here?”
“I’m sorry,” Prim sighed deeply, “You are right, keep going. It’s just very upsetting when someone puts in as much effort as I did… Yes, keep going. I’m done now.”
Nothing much happened in the next hour of film, so Sage skipped it, slowing down only when Natalie, Jasmine, Emily and the two groomsmen sat down at a table in the Cheshire Cat. Dan served them coffee and Sage mentally scolded herself for noting how attractive he looked when he was still a bit sleepy and his eyes slightly puffy. Before she could stop herself, she wondered what it would feel like to wake up next to him, but immediately reminded herself that all men were liars and concentrated on the film.
As Emily and Jasmine stood up to leave for the hair salon, Natalie was sorting through the various packets of sugar and apparently couldn’t find what she was looking for. Trevor, one of the groomsmen, went to another table to bring her what she needed. It was a small, pink packet of sweetener, which he gentlemanly emptied into her cup by himself. Then all three girls hugged, which made the camera lose focus and Emily and Jasmine left the cafe.
“That’s it! It’s him,” Sage shouted, pausing the movie.
“You don’t kill with a pack of sugar, Sage,” Prim said.
“You don’t know that! We couldn’t really see what happened. Was he good friends with the groom? Remember, we thought Kevin might have an accomplice.”
“Yes they are good friends, but these six have all been good friends since they were little children. Trevor and Natalie even used to date, but it didn’t work out in the end.”
“Well, maybe the groom isn’t the father at all. And Trevor is. Maybe Natalie wasn’t about to reveal anything in front of everyone and just wanted to tell him, but her father somehow caught on, and… Oh, Prim, it’s all such a mess!”
“Let’s just finish watching the thing,” Prim said, grabbing the remote from her sister’s hand.
The girls in the film were back in Jasmine’s bedroom and she was all ready and glorious in her wedding gown and full make-up. She was tying up the corsages to the other two’s wrists (which made Prim cringe once again), when a knock came on the door. Natalie went to check who it was and started screaming.
“No! Get out of here! You can’t see her just yet. Don’t you know it’s bad luck!” Then she squeezed out through the slightly open door and closed it behind her. Apparently Natalie was out there with Kevin and it took a while before she finally returned to the room.
“Okay, he’s gone now. We should hurry, he
says that almost the whole town is gathered at the sea terrace already.”
The door opened again and this time Father Pendergrass came in.
With that, the camera suddenly died and the screen went blank.
“So, what do you think?” Prim asked, getting up to gather the bits of popcorn sprinkled on the sofa, mostly around Sage.
“I’m a bit disappointed,” Sage said, “I thought there would be more in the film that we could work with. Still, I wonder what happened when Natalie and Kevin were out in the hallway. If it was the two of them earlier in the park, maybe she just pretended to be sending him off, so she gets another chance to talk to him right before the wedding. Maybe it was his last chance to stop her from revealing his wrongdoing. But how would he kill her in the hallway?”
“You know what?” Prim said, “We might get a chance to talk to him tonight. He comes to tutor my boys in Math every now and then. I know he’ll probably be upset right now, but I’ll call and invite him over after dinner. The boys have a Math test tomorrow anyway, so it’s not like we are completely setting him up.”
“Perfect! Now I just have to find a reason to stick around for my nephews’ Math lesson…”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Math Lesson and a Groom
It had only been a few hours since Sage jumped out of her sister’s truck to help her decorate for a wedding in the morning, but it felt like days had passed. As Sage was carrying the tray from the kitchen over to the living room, carefully balancing the teapot and porcelain cups and saucers, she realized that she hadn’t thought about Derek all day. A whole entire day!
This was a first. Her mind had been so preoccupied with the mystery that she barely had time to eat and take a quick shower, before she returned to her notes and started pondering once again who could have done it. Who could have killed Natalie? It was strange that it was a murder that finally made her snap out of her depression and made her interested in the world around her.
