Hot Fudge Sundae & Murder

by Susan Gillard

  They were wearing sandals but were otherwise not prepared to lounge by the sea. Heather hurried ahead, moving toward the sand dunes.

  “What murder investigation? I thought we decided Mr. Rankle was seeing things.”

  “It is still possible that he was mistaken,” Heather admitted. “But I’ve been thinking about those strands of plastic that we found at the crime scene.”

  “Alleged crime scene.”

  “What if those strands of plastic were from a tarp?”

  “What if they were from a child’s playset for digging in the sand?” Amy countered.

  “Will you bear with me for a moment?” Heather asked.

  “Fine,” said Amy. “But promise me that if there’s no evidence to the contrary soon, you’ll give up searching for a murder that never occurred.”

  “I promise,” Heather agreed. “But here’s what I’ve been thinking could have happened. The murder did happen just like Mr. Rankle said. The two men met here with a shovel and a bag, and one killed the other with that shovel.”

  “Right. The dark-haired man with the red bandanna,” said Amy. “Who was not the figment of an old man’s imagination.”

  “After the man with the shovel killed the other guy,” Heather began.

  “Should we call them John Doe #1 and John Doe #2? How about John Shovel and John Bag?”

  “Fine. So, John Shovel needed to dispose of John Bag. It’s a public beach, and he’d already taken a risk by killing him here. So, what did he do?”

  “The scary nightmare man caused Mr. Rankle to wake up from his dream?” Amy suggested, taking a seat in the sand.

  Heather stopped walking to stare at her friend. “He doesn’t want to bury him in the sand. That would take too much time. But he is very close to the water. If he could get the body out far enough into the water, he might be able to make it disappear.”

  “Oh,” Amy said, rising. “That does sound plausible. But how do we test it? Are there scuba diving cadaver dogs?”

  “John Shovel used a tarp to cover up the dead body and then drag it away from where he killed him. He also collected any sand that had blood on it, so there was only a faint scent left for the crime dog to smell. He dragged the body in the tarp over the sand, obscuring any footprints they may have left. Then he took the body to the ocean, disposing of it.”

  “You’re getting all this from those blue strands of plastic?” Amy asked.

  “I believe they came from a tarp,” said Heather. “And I wouldn’t have come up with the scenario if we didn’t have an eyewitness to the crime, but we do. That makes me think about how things could have happened.”

  “But is the body lost forever?” asked Amy.

  “I hope not,” said Heather. “I’ve been consulting tide charts all this morning, and if we can figure out approximately where he disposed of the victim, then we might be able to find where he would wash up on shore.”

  “All right,” Amy said. “Let’s look for John Bag.”

  The two friends searched the area. Following where someone could have hidden in the shadows of the dunes, they made their way to the water. It took a long time to figure out where the waves could have carried something.

  They were hot and sweaty when they arrived at the spot that Heather’s research indicated something could have washed up.

  They were just about to give up on Mr. Rankle’s version of events when they noticed something large rolling in the waves up the shore.

  “That does look like a body,” Amy said, paling. “But look at me. I’m not screaming. I’m still maintaining my New Year’s Resolution not to scream when I see a dead body.”

  “Come on,” said Heather.

  “Wait! That doesn’t mean I want to get any closer to it.”

  Heather ignored her and moved for closer inspection. She waded through the water to reach it.

  “Ames, you can call Ryan and Peters. It is a dead body.”

  “I can’t believe Mr. Rankle was right,” Amy murmured before making the call.

  However, as Heather examined the victim, she couldn’t help noticing some disparities between what Mr. Rankle had told them and what she was seeing.

  “Ryan is on his way,” Amy said.

  “Good,” Heather said. “Hey, Ames, how did Mr. Rankle describe the victim?”

  “Small and skinny with dark hair. Why?”

  “Because,” Heather said, frowning. “This murdered man is tall and blonde.”

  A Watery Grave

  You went searching for a body, and you didn’t want to include us?” Ryan asked.

  “I didn’t want to waste your time again if I was wrong,” Heather said. “We already spent a good amount of time looking for the victim Mr. Rankle described without any results.”

  “And I thought Rankle was crazy so we wouldn’t actually find anything,” Amy added.

  “We knew you were busy with the robbery case,” said Heather.

  Ryan stood with them on the beach. His detective uniform was wet from when he and Peters moved the body to dry land. The medical examiner had done a preliminary exam with the detectives and then left, bringing the body back to his lab for an autopsy.

  Detective Peters was searching the beach for anything else that could be related to the crime that had washed ashore. Heather had already done a quick sweep of the area, but she didn’t travel too far away from the body because she didn’t want it disturbed until the police arrived. Peters was expanding the search.

  Ryan looked at this wife. “I appreciate the thought, but I’m never too busy for a murder case or for you.”

  “Funny how often those two things go together,” said Amy.

  Heather ignored the quip and asked, “How is your robbery case going?”

  “We’ve been able to determine the exact time that the robbery took place. It was at two a.m. Sunday morning.”

  “Did you see who did it?” Heather asked. “Or were they wearing masks?”

  “Unfortunately, because the security system is old it needs to reset itself in order to record more footage. There’s a three-minute gap every night at two a.m. when the system is resetting.”

  “Either the robbers are incredibly lucky, or they knew about this gap,” Heather said.

  “The employees all had really great alibis, didn’t they?” Amy asked.

  “That’s right,” said Ryan. “We’ve begun going through the tapes during the day to see if it looks like anyone was casing the place to prepare for the robbery.”

  “Any possibilities so far?” asked Heather.

  “We did see Big CC in the shop, and I don’t believe he was buying a bracelet,” said Ryan.

  Heather groaned. Big CC was Chief Chet’s little brother who liked to get into trouble on the island. He thought the nickname “Big CC” made him sound tough, and had even tattooed a letter “C” on each hand. He had been involved in some minor crimes like gambling and petty theft, and it was always very difficult to convince the chief that his baby brother was up to no good. Was it possible that he had stepped up his criminal game and committed a jewel heist? If so, they would need concrete evidence to connect him to the crime.

  “But enough about the robbery,” Ryan said. “We should focus on the murder case.”

  The others agreed, but Amy added, “It’s just difficult because we don’t even know who the victim is.”

  “He didn’t have any ID on him,” Ryan said. “But we can check his fingerprints to see if they are a match to something in the system. We can also check dental records.”

  “I have a feeling that he won’t be a John Doe for long,” Heather said.

  “But is he the John Bag?” Amy asked.

  “What?” Ryan asked, confused.

  “Never mind,” Heather said, quickly. “Soon we’ll figure out who he is and the codenames won’t be necessary. He has a very distinctive scar on his cheek, and I’m sure someone would recognize that description.”

  Despite the body being in the water for so lo
ng, Heather had taken notice of his scar. The way it danced along his cheek reminded her of a snake crawling up his face. It didn’t look recent, unlike the head injury, so she was sure that someone would be able to identify him because of it.

  “How was he killed?” Amy asked.

  “The medical examiner will be able to tell us more after he conducts his autopsy,” Ryan said. “But on the first examination, he believes the body wasn’t in the water for more than a day. He’s hoping the salt water doesn’t distort any results, but it appears that the victim was hit on the head. That’s probably what killed him.”

  “Was it a shovel?” asked Heather.

  “It was a flat instrument,” said Ryan. “It might have been a shovel.”

  “But what does that mean?” Amy asked. “This guy might have been killed around the time that Mr. Rankle thought someone was murdered and in the same way he thought the guy was killed? It’s just not the same victim?”

  “Maybe Mr. Rankle was just hazy on some of the details,” Ryan suggested.

  “He was pretty adamant about everything he saw,” Heather said. “And he said the victim was short, skinny and had dark hair.”

  “Even if this guy got his hair dyed, he couldn’t change how tall he is,” Amy said.

  “So, you’re suggesting that this murder had nothing to do with what Mr. Rankle said he saw?” asked Ryan.

  “Well, it’s clearly not the same guy,” Amy said.

  Ryan frowned. “Either we have an unreliable eye-witness account of a murder on the beach, or we have a different crime, and you two just happened to stumble across a dead body.”

  “It has happened before,” Amy pointed out.

  “That’s true,” Heather agreed.

  “I think I’ll still ask for the sand that we took from the potential crime scene to be expeditated in its testing now,” Ryan said.

  Peters came into view and began waving at them.

  “Any chance he’s just saying hello?” Amy asked.

  “I bet he’s found something,” Heather said.

  She hurried over to him, followed by the others. When she reached him, she thought it was funny to see him in his full uniform except for his shoes. He had been wading in the water to search for evidence.

  “I’m not completely sure that this is related,” Peters began.

  “Then why did you have us run over here?” Amy teased.

  “But it is something that Heather expected to find. I found a blue tarp,” he said, leading them to where he found it washed up on the beach. “It was in the water, so there don’t appear to be any traces of blood.”

  “But it might match the strands that we found before,” said Heather.

  Ryan congratulated Peters on his find and began looking at the tarp. His partner was right. There were no traces of blood.

  “But again, what does this mean?” asked Amy. “This doesn’t match exactly what Mr. Rankle saw. And we’re at a different location, and it’s a different victim.”

  “That’s true,” Heather said. “What’s going on here?”

  Another Rankle

  Janae was humming as she cleaned the counters at Donut Delights. She had practically been walking on air all the morning since they opened shop. Heather figured that things must be going well between Janae and the firefighter that she had begun dating.

  Heather wished that she was feeling as cheerful, but she felt weighted down by the murder case on her mind. It was so strange that Mr. Rankle told them he witnessed a murder, and then they had stumbled across a different victim. The two cases had to be related, didn’t they? That was unless Mr. Rankle really had imagined the attack he saw.

  However, Heather did smile when the door openedand Amy walked in. She brought two Hot Fudge Sundae Donuts over to a table in the corner so they could discuss the murder.

  When Heather saw the grin on Amy’s face, she realized that the case would have to wait. She expected to see a ring on her bestie’s finger and leaned over the table to look. Amy raised her hand to show it was still empty.

  “Not yet,” Amy said. “But I think he was getting ready to this morning.”

  “What happened?”

  “He had just fed Miss Marshmallow because, you know, the princess needs a special diet. And then he brought waffles that he made for us out. Normally we’re in a rush in the morning, so it was very sweet that he made breakfast.”

  “And you think he was going to propose?”

  “He had that look on his face like he wanted to ask me something. And he spent a little too much time preparing the plates. I think he was debating about whether he should put the ring in the food or not. Luckily, he decided against it. The ring would have gotten sticky in the maple syrup.”

  “That would be one way to make sure that your ring doesn’t fall off,” Heather teased.

  “Unfortunately, he got a phone call and had to head to work right after he ate. I figure the thought of having to groom a St. Bernard wore off some of the romance, so he’s waiting for a better time.”

  “There are plenty of opportunities for a perfect beach proposal in Key West,” Heather said.

  “As long as we don’t stumble across any dead bodies,” Amy agreed.

  The two friends smiled at each other. Heather couldn’t help but be excited for Amy. They had been best friends most of their lives, and Heather knew of the heartbreak that Amy had experienced in the past. Amy had finally found the perfect boyfriend, and if they were reading the signs correctly, soon he would become the perfect fiancé.

  The door to the shop opened again, and Heather chuckled.

  “Love really is in the air today,” she said.

  Nick entered the shop and walked up to the counter. Janae stopped humming to call for Nina to come out and help a customer.

  Nina emerged from the kitchen, holding a tray of strawberry donuts. She almost dropped them when she saw Nick standing in front of her.

  “Oh, hello there. I didn’t know you were the customer who needed help.”

  “I’m taking a lunch break, and I thought I’d follow your advice and try some more donut flavors.”

  “That’s nice,” Nina said. “They’re all good flavors.”

  The two conversed about the pros and cons of each flavor. Janae headed into the kitchen to give them some privacy. However, Digby took the opposite approach. Learning that Nick had entered the shop, Digby came up with the excuse of filling the display case to spy on the couple.

  Nick finally came to a decision about what donut to try, and Nina put it in a takeaway bag for him.

  “Thank you,” Nick said. “I’ll try to come on my lunchbreaks more often.”

  “I’d like that,” Nina said.

  “Or,” Digby said, dropping his ruse of filling the display case and inserting himself into the conversation. “If you’re not doing anything Friday night, you could take Nina out to the movies.”

  “Digby!” Nina rebuked as she blushed.

  “What?” Digby shrugged. “It was ridiculous how long it took Janae to figure out Fire Frank liked her. I think we should cut to the chase here. Besides, Nick is only here until Mr. Rankle’s cast comes off, right? That’s only a few weeks.”

  “Well, I don’t have to disappear right after he returns,” Nick said. “I do live on the island, and he is my uncle. But I would love to go to the movies on Friday. If you want to, Nina, and it’s not just Digby talking.”

  “I’d love to go with you,” Nina said.

  “Wait a second,” Digby said, ruining the sweet moment. “Did you say Mr. Rankle was your uncle?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You, nice guy that you are, are related to the mean old man?”

  “I better get back to Sun and Fun Novelties,” Nick said. “I’ll see you later, Nina.”

  Nick left the shop, and Heather and Amy exchanged a look.

  “Did you know Nick was Mr. Rankle’s nephew?” Amy asked.

  “No,” Heather said. “But now that I know, I
think I can see a family resemblance. And Ethel did say that Mr. Rankle was handsome when he was younger.”

  “With a personality like Mr. Rankle’s, he could be the most handsome man in the world, and I still wouldn’t want to deal with him,” Amy said.

  At the counter, Nina was telling Digby that she forgave him for being so pushy. However, Digby couldn’t focus on what she was saying.

  “He’s a Rankle,” Digby said, shaking his head.

  Amy finished her donut and said, “We better hope that Nick doesn’t have the same flights of fancy that his uncle did. Otherwise, he’ll start seeing murders too.”

  “I’m not convinced that Mr. Rankle didn’t see something,” Heather said.

  “Okay. He might have seen something,” Amy said. “But we can’t let ourselves be blinded by what he told us when we investigate this case. He’s not going to be right just because we want to believe him.”

  “True,” Heather said. “But there were a lot of similarities between what he told us and what we found. The injury on the victim could be from a shovel. We found the victim because we followed the most logical path from the crime scene that Mr. Rankle described. And Detective Peters found a tarp that matches the strands we found at the scene.”

  “It still doesn’t explain the dead guy being different.”

  “You’re right,” Heather said. “Something must have happened after Mr. Rankle wasn’t able to keep watch. We just need to figure out what it was.”

  “How?”

  “We can start by talking to him again.”

  Amy groaned but followed Heather out the door.

  Cranky Witness

  I’m so glad to see you again,” Ethel said, opening Mr. Rankle’s door to the investigators.

  “I’m not sure he’ll have the same reaction,” Amy grumbled.

  “We brought some donuts,” Heather said. “But you can tell him that we brought them only for you. We know he doesn’t like them himself.”

  “Thank you,” Ethel said, leading them into the living room. “So, what brings you here? Did you just come to check on him? I’m afraid he’s feeling rather disheartened. He’s been looking out the window at the same spot all the time now. I suppose he’s looking for a sign that he did see what he thinks he saw.”