"It's not night. It's evening." I hadn't told him any of the details of my meeting with Dash. I didn't see any need to elaborate. I had more important things to discuss. On the short bike ride to the station another light bulb went on that had to do with Vernon, Molly and Vernon's vanilla scented sun block.
We walked into his office and I sat down. "What brings you here tonight? A new theory?"
"Yes and not just a new theory but a brilliant new theory. In fact two brilliant new theories." I held up two fingers for a visual.
His half grin was back again. I'd sure missed it. "Go ahead, I'm all ears."
I realized as I started that I was going to have to give the details of my trip to the marina. I decided to just rip off the bandage and tell him. "Remember when I told you Dash wanted to talk to me?"
"Like it was scratched in my brain," he said with less of a half grin.
"Right. Well, that's graphically put but good to know you remember." I took a deep breath. "He asked me to meet him at the marina. Mostly, I think, to avoid my mom's intrusion into our conversation. She sort of latched onto Dash once she met him."
He picked up a pen and made it into a teeter totter on his thumb, signaling he wasn't loving this whole conversation.
"Anyhow, none of that is important. Halfway through our conversation, Burt Bower rolled in on his calamity of a fishing boat. As you well know, it's so loud, it's impossible to hear anything over it."
The best thing about the way Briggs and I worked together was that our minds almost always came to the same conclusion at the same time. I'd only given the introduction to my theory, and I could already see the thrill in his eyes.
He dropped the pen and sat forward. "The murder didn't happen during the fireworks."
I crossed my arms and tilted my head. "I came up with it first. The least you could do is let me blurt that out."
"Sorry. Pretend I didn't say it." He sat back. "You were saying, Miss Pinkerton?"
"What if the murder didn't take place during the show?" I bit my lip. "See, the whole ta-da moment is gone. Lucky for you, I have one more big, giant nugget of brilliance, and there's no way for you to get there first because you weren't on the pier just now."
"What happened on the pier? And if at all possible, leave you-know-who out of the story."
I blew out an audible breath and rolled my eyes. "Glad you're working on that forgiveness thing. Anyhow, Vernon Stapleton walked out of the ice cream shop. He looked around suspiciously. He was wearing that strong smelling sun block that he coats his skin with. I could smell it because it has the distinctive smell of vanilla. Moments later, after Vernon had left the pier, Molly Brookhauser came out of the ice cream shop. She didn't look quite as guilty but that doesn't matter. Yesterday, when I talked to Molly on her driveway, she smelled like vanilla. Only, not baking vanilla. Vernon's vanilla scented sun block. Molly once bragged that she never wore sun block but she certainly had on some of Vernon's. Accidentally, it seems."
Briggs' brow lifted. "So Molly and Vernon are having an affair?"
"It seems highly likely. She had a red mark on her neck yesterday that she was working hard to hide behind her hair."
He laughed and then opened his notebook. "Then the alibis from the two women are useless if the murder happened before the show. Considering how Bower always pulls in at 7:30 we have a much smaller window for the murder. It takes him about ten to fifteen minutes to get that shambling noise machine moored.
"What if our first hunch was right and Molly was supposed to be the victim instead of Jenny?" I asked.
"Then we'd have a possible motive if Vernon's wife knows about the affair. But we don't have proof of that either. I need to ask both Molly and Carla where they were in the hour before the fireworks show. Once I know that, it'll be easier to connect things." He got up from his desk and picked his coat up off the chair.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Thought I'd head over to Molly Brookhauser's house and see if she has a new alibi." He stopped and looked at me. "Are you coming? After all, this started from your new brilliant theory."
I hopped up. "Woo hoo. Can I put my bicycle in the office?"
"I'll put it in my trunk. It'll be too dark for you to ride home after this."
We managed to get the bicycle into the trunk and more importantly we got the trunk to snap shut after three good tries. I slid into the passenger seat wondering what Molly would do when she saw me drive up with Detective Briggs. She wasn't too happy with me showing up to her driveway yesterday. But then Molly was rarely happy about anything. Except maybe ice cream with Vernon.
I knew the subject of Dash would come up on the way to Molly's. And it did.
"So you and Dash talked?" he said casually as if it hardly mattered.
"Yes and he is remorseful and embarrassed and trying to blame his youth. Which he does have a point there because we all do stupid things when we're young. And old. Let's face it—stupid is in human DNA. He did confess that he always looked up to you. In his own way, he wanted to be just like his friend James Briggs."
Briggs shook his head. "I don't know why. Dash was popular. He could sweet talk his way out of any detention slip. The women in the cafeteria piled extra mashed potatoes and gravy on his plate. Even the school secretary rarely marked him tardy because she liked him so much."
"I just know what he told me."
Briggs looked my direction. "And you believe him?"
I turned to him. "I have no reason not to. He's never lied to me."
"I suppose you're right. By the way, Olivia is back home now so you won't see her strolling through town anymore."
I watched his profile to see if I could read how he felt about that. There was nothing.
"Do you miss her?" I asked.
"No. We've hardly spoken in years, and I'm fine with that." Briggs turned the car down Maplewood Road. Molly's porch light was on but the house was dark. Her front door was open.
Briggs parked the car. "Why don't you stay here while I see what's going on." He climbed out and walked toward the house. He stopped on the porch and knocked on the open door.
Molly's scream broke the quiet. Briggs drew his gun out of the holster and raced inside. I climbed out but stayed near the car. My heart was thumping wildly. Worry urged me forward. I crouched low and moved toward the front of the house. Loud footsteps pounded the floor in the entryway. I ducked down next to the steps and held my breath as Carla stumbled out the front door swinging a hammer around like a madwoman. She found her balance and ran down the steps. I stuck my foot out at the bottom and sent her flying face first onto the lawn. She landed with a thud just as Briggs burst out of the house after her.
Before she could get up, he had her hands behind her back. "Carla Stapleton, I'm arresting you for attempted assault."
Molly came to the door, whimpering and sobbing and looking white as a ghost. I hurried up the steps to lend her support.
"I don't understand it. Why would Carla try and kill me?"
I turned toward her. "I think you know."
The grim white pallor was quickly replaced by an embarrassed blush.
Briggs called for a female officer for backup and helped Carla to her feet. Her face was beat red as she zeroed in on Molly. "It was supposed to be you. Not Jenny."
It seemed Molly might collapse from shock. I braced her elbow with my hand.
Carla continued with her rant that was turning into a confession for murder. "That stupid hat tricked me. You and Vernon have been carrying on long enough, making a fool of me." Carla's bad eyesight and the matching hats had caused a terrible tragedy.
Briggs walked her to his car reciting her rights as he led her away.
I walked Molly back into the house and into her kitchen. She sat down while I got her a glass of water.
She looked dazed. "I don't understand. So I was supposed to die and not Jenny?"
"Seems that one of a kind hat saved your life but cost Jenny hers."
Molly turned pale again. I gave her the glass of water, which she readily drank. Red lights and sirens lit up the quiet country road. It seemed Detective Briggs and his assistant, Miss Pinkerton, had solved another murder case.
Chapter 36
I hugged Mom and Dad and then Mom once more for good measure. They climbed into the convertible. "Remember to come for Thanksgiving," Mom reminded me for the hundredth time.
"I won't forget."
Briggs' car pulled up just as we were saying our final goodbyes.
Mom tugged my arm. "There is that detective again." She leaned to look at him in the side view mirror. "Looks like he has a box of chocolates. But flowers are more romantic."
Dad rolled his eyes. "Hey, Peg, did you happen to notice that your daughter owns a flower shop?"
"Oh right," Mom said. "In that case, chocolate is very nice."
Briggs reached the car. "Mrs. Pinkerton, I just wanted to apologize for the other night." He handed her the box of chocolates. (I admit, I was a tad disappointed.)
Mom made her usual scene, hand to chest and all. "Oh my, you didn't need to do that. I was intruding on your work. You had every right. But thank you so much. Really wasn't necessary."
Dad stepped in to stop her from gushing. "Sorry, we didn't get to talk more Detective Briggs. My daughter speaks highly of you." He pointed his Dad finger. "You make sure she stays safe and out of trouble."
Briggs smiled. "I will do my best. Though the trouble part might not be easy."
Dad got a kick out of that. "Don't I know it." He started the car. "Take care, kiddo."
Mom reached for my hand. "Bye, sweetie."
"Call when you guys are safely home." Briggs and I waved and watched as the convertible pulled out of the driveway and turned onto Myrtle Place.
"No chocolate for me, I suppose?"
He pulled out a tiny gold box. "I picked up a few truffles for you."
"Yum." I led him to the porch. "How about a glass of iced tea?"
"Sounds good."
Nevermore was in one of his many daytime hideouts. Kingston looked up from his nap just long enough to see who had entered and then tucked his beak under his wing.
"Should I be insulted by that greeting?" Briggs asked.
"Not at all. He only acts like a big puppy when he sees Lola. I don't get more than a head turn either, and I feed him and put clean newspapers in his cage."
I walked to the kitchen and poured the iced tea.
"He likes Lola?"
"He adores her. Huge crush."
"So Lola and the Fruit Loops toucan?"
I handed him the glass. Our fingers touched as he took the tea.
"I think his toucan crush has ended. I can credit my dad with that. He got such a kick out of it, he kept holding the box up to the cage to see Kingston's reaction. Now I think King is afraid of the toucan. Like he's a stalker or something."
Briggs laughed. "Don't know if you realize this, but you have a crazy life."
"Oh, I'm fully aware." I placed my tea on the counter and Briggs did the same.
Without warning, he took hold of my hand. His fingers were still cold from the tea but they heated up fast. I could have sworn I felt the warmth run all the way up my shoulder to my face.
"Thank you for your help solving the murder. This one had me baffled but you figured the whole thing out." He squeezed my hand and let it go. I was disappointed he released me.
"It was easy to be baffled considering right from the start we had the wrong victim and the wrong time for the murder."
"Yet, you filled in all the holes. And you saved Molly's life in the process. Good move on the porch, by the way. Even though I told you to stay in the car."
I batted my eyelashes dramatically. "Did you?"
He stepped forward. We were face to face. I was slowly losing myself in his brown eyes when he took my hand again.
"Now, where were we before all the chaos of the week started?" he asked.
"Chaos?" My mind drifted back to that lost kiss.
"Wait. I remember." He leaned toward me and pressed his mouth against mine for a kiss. My knees were like jelly.
After a good, long moment, he straightened. His half smile, the one I adored, appeared.
I smiled in return. "I guess it's true what they say. Some things are worth waiting for."
Red White & Blueberry Delight
Click photo to view the recipe online.
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London Lovett is the author of both the Port Danby and Firefly Junction Cozy Mystery series. She loves getting caught up in a good mystery and baking delicious, new treats!
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