Alice unfolded the paper she had brought with her and silently read the names she had carefully scribbled in her shop before coming over to Kelly’s. On the paper was written the names of everyone that had been her guest the day Jamie died. Kelly collected the paper and read the names on it out.
Richard Hampton, Haley Hampton, Mrs Greenheart, Mr Greenheart
Joe Sullivan, Mary Sanders, Kelly Wellington, Nova Holland, Harry Wendy, Simons.
“Oh”, Kelly started, “Mary Sanders owns the coffee shop down the street, doesn’t she? Although I think many do not know her last name is Bradley and not Sanders. Sanders was her mother’s maiden name. She took up the name after she broke off the relationship between her and her father because the old man broke his promise to her and married a younger woman years after Mary’s mother died. Of course, that was a long time ago. She told me herself.” Alice was sure Kelly knew the truth about this but she was not so sure she had found out through Mary like she claimed. Well, Alice is curious about Mary Bradley and wanted to know more.
“Well, Mary seems like a very good woman. She was the last to arrive that day and I noticed she hardly spoke throughout the conversation. Wait a minute, you came in with her and both of you seem like very good friends too.” Alice raised an eyebrow and waited for her curious words to do the trick. Sure enough, this brought the best gossip out of Kelly.
“Of course, I and Mary go way back too. My mother and her mother were old friends and while her father was grieving for his dead wife, my mother took care of his house. For some time, Mary came to live with us and we have been something like sisters ever since. Of course, I have to admit Mary can be secretive and weird sometimes. She played with deadly things as a child. Things like fire and poison interested her. She once poisoned my cat when we were fifteen and the poor thing just kept coughing till it died. My dad said it wasn’t poison but I could remember the smile on Mary’s face while the cat kept writhing in pain. Again that was a long time ago too.”
Mary Sanders definitely was starting to be number one on Alice’s suspect list. Besides, from the look of things, if Mary had been a friend to Kelly for a long time, there is a hundred per cent probability she knew Jamie too. Besides, a kid with a likeness to poison and fire could as well grow up to become a killer. Alice hoped she wasn’t becoming paranoid. When she was satisfied with the little Kelly could provide on Mary, she inquired about Harry Wendy and Simons. The biggest store in the street is controlled by these two. Their “Harry and Simons” is a popular supermarket in the area where most people got their groceries and fruits. In fact, their shop is where Alice got most of the ingredients for her pies.
“Harry and Simon? You need not ask anyone about them.
It is obvious what those two are. Harry likes Simon and vice versa, and I am not talking of we-own-the-same-business likeness if you know what I mean”, Kelly winked. “Anyways, do you know no one knows Simon’s full name. Wait, I don’t either and this freaks me out sometimes. Simon doesn’t allow people much into his life. Something tells me he has served jail time before. Well, he looks it. But Harry is just a nerd who doesn’t know what he wants. Trust me, I once stood naked in front of him and he didn’t even blink…weirdo!”
Oh good. A gay couple on my list of suspect killers and one of them might have served jail term! Alice thought. She laughed silently at the thought of someone resisting Kelly’s seductions. She wondered if Kelly had used one of those tactics on Jamie before and reminded herself to add Kelly strictly to her list of suspects. Who knows, jealous women kill the men they think they can’t have all the time. Well, Kelly had all the time to have Jamie to herself before you showed up Alice. You think your appearance could have threatened her if she wanted him? Besides, you and Jamie were just friends, right? That pragmatic voice in Alice’s head was always trashing out the truth and it often makes Alice’s thought seem silly or unreasonable.
Alice was about to ask for some information on another person on her list when one of Kelly’s customers came in in a rush. It would seem as if Kelly might be busy for some time and Alice had no choice but to excuse herself. Before Alice let herself to the door, she thought she heard Kelly’s customer ask, “Is that not the woman the news said was connected
to Jamie’s murder?” and she could swear Kelly’s response was a ‘ugh’ followed by “Yes, she sure killed poor Jamie…”
When Alice got home that night, she met Mrs Greenheart at the hallway that led to the every apartment in the second floor of the four-storey building. Mrs Greenheart was about to advance back to her apartment and lock the door again when Alice rushed to meet up with her. She made it in time to place her right leg in front of the door to stop it from closing.
“Hi Mrs Greenheart. I was hoping we could talk.” Alice made sure her voice and facial expression was adamant so Mrs Greenheart would have no choice but to entertain her presence.
“Wh...wha...what about Alice?” Mrs Greenheart was shaking as if she was afraid Alice had come to accuse her of something.
“Is Mr Greenheart around? I would love to see him too. Both of you have been avoiding me since the opening of my shop.” Alice noticed Mrs Greenheart sighed and left the entrance to her apartment more open for Alice to come in. Alice proceeded into the room and continued, “I know something bad happened that day but I want you to know I am a very good neighbour and I haven’t killed anyone my whole….” Alice noticed Mrs Greenheart had stopped moving behind her and turned to find her crying uncontrollably. She seems devastated about something.
Alice had to set aside whatever she was about to discuss with the older woman. She gave the older woman a warm hug and motioned for her to sit down. Mrs Greenheart brought out a handkerchief from the breast pocket of her old lemon gown and sneezed on it. She sat down and kept sobbing.
“He left me!” She cried. “He simply packed his loads and left without goodbye. I don’t even know where he is…!” Alice was about to ask who left her but she noticed Mr Greenheart was nowhere to be found. In fact, since she had been coming home after Jamie’s incident, Alice just realise she hadn’t even seen him in his usual spot on the lawn in front of the building, where he sometimes plays with Big Joe’s dogs. So, the Greenhearts’ home wasn’t in order? Alice conscience started to hit heavy on her neck. And I have been secretly nursing the idea that the couple killed Jamie. They have only been avoiding their neighbour noticing how bad their relationship was! Mrs Greenheart was still talking.
“I and Richard have been struggling to keep our marriage together for a while now.” Oh so Mr Greenheart’s name is Richard.“He simply had stopped loving me. I don’t know, it started almost a year ago. At first, I thought it was nothing; he might have just been too suffocated with my presence and too much attention. So, I stopped bugging him too much. I am just like every woman who wants her husband attention all the time. I guess it was too much.” Mrs Greenheart stopped sobbing and wiped the tears off her face with the handkerchief.
“Well, I guess everyone noticed at your opening. We hardly spoke or look at each other throughout the time you shared your pie to everyone. That was very good pie by the way dear.” Alice was forced to smile back when the older woman managed to support her comment with one.
“I argued with Richard the night before and he kept ignoring me the next day. I had to remind him how good you have been as a neighbour and how we should honour your invite before he came to your opening…”
Alice told the woman to be calm. She was sure her husband had only take time away to think clearly about his marriage. She knew this couple loved themselves and could hardly leave away from each other. Mrs Greenheart was not so sure of this though.
“I don’t know. Something tells me he is seeing another woman. I am not so sure he is coming back…. I am sorry. You might just think I am a very weak woman who has no control over her emotions the same way she had no control over her failing marriage.” Alice wanted to argue this but Mrs Greenheart waved a hand to stop her.
&
nbsp; “I am sorry I have been avoiding you. I and Richard are just not always okay with our issues in the out. The town is a small place and people make small issues big ones. I am so glad you are not one of those people. I just wanted to avoid breaking down in front of you like I did moments ago. Besides, it is hard accepting that everything is real and Richard…”
It was Alice who waved a hand this time around. Alice told Mrs Greenheart there was no need to apologise. She finally understood that there was some truth in what everyone had been telling her. No one knew Alice well enough to trust her that she was unlike people in the town who gossip about others. Beside this, they just had innocently treated her case with Jamie indifferently. An idea came to Alice then. Perhaps she should start seeing everyone that was present at her opening indifferently.
If indeed one of them had killed Jamie, then she should start sorting out the murder by seeing everything and everyone that day as they have showcased themselves to her since she has known them. She does not need to investigate their past or how involved they were with Jamie. All she needed to do was to go way back to how and when she met every one of them and how each had related with her. Perhaps she could have suspicions on who could have poisoned her pie. At this level of her thought, Alice is also beginning to think Jamie’s death was more about her and her pie than it is involved with Jamie himself.
Alice abandoned those thoughts for now and stared at Mrs Greenheart. The woman rested her head on the sofa and seems to be in thought. This gave Alice the chance to examine the older woman’s features. Her long brunette hair covered most of her neck but the side curls made her oval face more than obvious. Alice noticed a wrinkle has started to find its way into the woman’s face. It formed a shallow letter C beneath her nose making its way towards the edge of her lips. Yet, the woman’s face is a beautiful sight and Alice could not but wonder how a man could want to cheat on such beauty that refuses to fade, even with the advent of old age and wrinkles.
Before long, Alice noticed Mrs Greenheart had dosed off. She found a blanket in one of the inner rooms in the house and placed it gently over her body. Alice pitied her. She wanted to believe Mr Greenheart wasn’t really cheating on her and had only given his wife space so he could handle his emotions as she was pouring out hers too. Perhaps Alice should get herself out of the town too and clear the burden of Jamie’s death out of her mind. But she can’t, the police had insisted that she shouldn’t. This was on Alice’s mind as she left their apartment and made way towards hers. As she got to her room, she noticed the phone was ringing. It was Nova. She completely forgot she promised to help with her pies order.
“Hey Nova”
“Alice, I have been on your line four times already. I guess you weren’t in your apartment. Anyways, the ball I told you about is in three days. I think we should begin working on those pies from tomorrow. I wished I didn’t have to stress you but…” Nova was starting to stammer again and Alice more than wanted to end the conversation so she could at least rest for the night.
“Oh, I told you before Nova. It is no stress for me. I suggested this, remember.” Nova stopped talking. Good. “I will meet with you at your store tomorrow Nova.” Nova expressed again how much she appreciated Alice’s help and thanked her before saying goodnight. Alice was about to hang up when she noticed the red beep of her answering machine. She remembered someone had said something about reaching her and leaving messages on it. She clicked the button and started undressing for the night.
Sure enough, it was Kelly’s voice asking about Alice’s whereabouts and welfare. This got Alice wondering how it was possible for one person to have different personalities. One day, Kelly is the gossip who would speak so bad about your person to others, and another bright day, Kelly becomes the friend who would help you secure the perfect store for your business and would check up on you after you bailed out of an arrest. Well, Alice summarised the last act of Kelly to mean she wanted to know if Alice was still in custody of the police or was out and free. Another gossip topic for the gossip queen in her fine dress, Alice thought to herself.
Alice decided that she does not hate Kelly and she doesn’t want to start the argument that she might be jealous of her or not. But Kelly might equally have been responsible for Jamie’s death. The suspects on the guests list keeps getting smaller and yet, Alice cannot really point out one single person she was so sure could have done it. The Greenhearts surely couldn’t have, they have personal problems of their own that had only put them on the suspect list. Then the Hamptons too.
Alice had found out that the Hamptons left town for their honeymoon two days after Jamie’s death. It didn’t only arouse her suspicion; the police had been interested too. The police had gone deep, trailing the couple and digging on their past. Fortunately for the couple, both came out clean as their honeymoon location turned out to be something they had booked five months ago, two months before they even met Alice or Jamie.
This wasn’t the only convincing truth, the couple have a clean record and the husband is a forensic analyst that has helped the Federal Bureau of Investigations with more than three cases. They held no secrets and had no connection with Jamie or Alice except that they had heard about Alice’s pies and decided to try them out.
Alice reminded herself this information about the couple came from a trusted source. It was Morgan who called and told her how the police have started picking on the possibility that someone else besides Alice might have done it.
Morgan had called to check up on Alice as well as to check if Alice had been following her advice. When Alice promised her she wasn’t taking any drastic steps and that she had been extra careful, Morgan didn’t forget to drop another advice before she hung the call.
“Alice. Hang careful in there, okay? Don’t get into any more trouble than my position can handle. Your parents will be very proud. Goodnight.”
The tone that followed Morgan’s goodnight was like a beep that enforced what she had said and Alice felt guilty that she didn’t involve the woman with the little effort she had been disposing towards finding Jamie’s killer. Especially since the list keeps getting smaller and it seems I might never discover who it is on time. I am not good at this!
Alice repeated the rest of the list on her head as she noticed Kelly’s last message on the answering machine was playing. With the Hamptons and Greenhearts out of the way, six more individuals remains to be checked:
Joe Sullivan, Mary Sanders, Kelly Wellington, Nova Holland, Harry Wendy, Simons.
Well, Mary is the little girl that prefers dangerous objects like poison and fire. You might have the killer right on your list or maybe it is Harry, the gay convict? Alice found thinking about all the suspects at once rather exhausting but she continued by ruminating on Kelly Wellington.
Kelly seems like the cowardly type that can’t even hurt a fly. A lot is left unknown and unsaid about the remaining few; Harry, the co-owner of the biggest supermarket in town, the stammering and cheerful Nova, The gossip Kelly who Alice can describe with three words – Fainthearted and cowardly – and Big Joe whose love is for big dogs only.
Alice yawned. She really must work out a plan to proof Mary’s involvement with the murder. Alice noticed she had made up the image in her head already: a wicked Mary adding poison into her pie when no one was watching and handing it to Jamie. Who said being a detective was easy? Almost naked and yawning again, Alice vanished into her bathroom for a warm night’s bath before she hit the bed.
Her thoughts suddenly raced to the ball the Walkers are hosting in three days. The whole town was talking about it already.
The splashing noise of the shower in the bathroom took over the silence of Alice’s apartment. The darkness that enveloped the right corner of the room moved suddenly and a figure appeared. The answering machine had stopped playing the messages that had almost got Alice to notice someone had hidden behind the desk that housed the telephone.
The figure focused on the remaining darkness of the room and m
oved carefully towards the door that leads to the outside hall. The figure opened the door silently and closed it back. It was always easy getting in and out of her apartment. The figure whistled silently and walked briskly towards the darkness outside. It was a narrow escape that should teach anyone to be extra careful at searching other people’s homes next time, especially since what you are looking for is nowhere to be found. A hiss escaped the stranger’s lips.
Mary Sanders’ home was not easy to find. Alice had asked around and no one seems to remember if she had one. To many, she was simply the type of woman no one was keen to relate with or visit.
Of course, some testified that she is good looking and friendly, but the general comment is that there is something off about Mary Sanders that make people the least interested in getting personal with her. Well, off or not, with the on-going murder case, Alice wanted to get personal with her.
So, Alice had kept asking until someone had hinted that Mary once spoke about her little bungalow in the middle of nowhere along Ace’s street.
The Alpha Billionaire's Unexpected Baby: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance Page 60
