Vanilla Glazed Murder

by Susan Gillard

  “Maybe there are some other cases you could work on too,” Phil said. “After you finish this case, of course. Terrible business.”

  “Terrible,” Deb agreed.

  “Barry was a little odd,” Phil said. “But I didn’t think anyone would want to kill him.”

  “We were upset with him after that one prank,” Deb said. “But even we didn’t want to kill him.”

  “What prank was this?” Heather asked. This time she was taking notes of the questioning so that Amy could form a rapport with her new neighbors. If a neighbor wasn’t a murderer, then they wanted to be on good terms with them. Of course, Heather couldn’t resist asking questions even when she was writing down the answers.

  “A silly sort of thing,” Deb said.

  “You know that flaming dog poop prank that kids used to do?” Phil asked.

  “Where they set a bag of dog poo on your porch and set it on fire. They ring the doorbell and run away. Then when you try to put the fire out with your foot you step in dog poo,” Deb said.

  “Gross,” Amy said.

  “Agreed,” said Deb.

  “He didn’t use actual dog poop,” Phil said. “He used oatmeal.”

  “Which might have been better if I wasn’t allergic to some sort of spice in the dish,” said Deb. “I had a reaction, and I got hives all around my leg and ankle. It was very uncomfortable for about three days.”

  “Did you ever threaten him?” Amy asked.

  “Threaten him?” asked Phil. “I would never threaten anybody.”

  “You did speak firmly to him,” Deb said.

  “I suppose I did speak firmly to him,” Phil agreed. “I told him to never play any other pranks on him or my wife, or he would be sorry.”

  “And that’s not a threat?” Amy asked.

  “I wasn’t threatening to hurt him,” Phil said. “I meant that I would call a policeman or an attorney.”

  “Things a reasonable person would do,” Deb agreed. “We’re the reasonable people on the street. There are so many other troublemakers on the street. But we’re pretty easy going.”

  “You don’t like it when people park in front of your house,” Amy remarked.

  “Well, would you?” Phil asked. “It blocks your view of the street. What if more pranks or shenanigans were going on?”

  “Have there been more pranks?” Heather asked.

  “No,” Phil said. “Barry stopped after the oatmeal one. And my firm talking.”

  “He did still tell jokes,” Deb said. “But they were harmless. Sometimes they were funny.”

  “Occasionally,” said Phil.

  “Did you notice anything unusual in the neighborhood yesterday?” Heather asked.

  “Well, somebody was moving in,” Phil said.

  “That was unusual,” Deb said.

  “But seeing as you’re private investigators working with the police, I guess it would be unlikely that you had anything to do with the murder.”

  “Even if you’re new,” said Deb.

  “Was anyone else acting strangely?” Heather asked.

  “Not that we noticed,” said Deb.

  “The Tuttles always act strangely,” Phil scoffed.

  “They’re the ones who would park in front of our house,” said Deb.

  “And they have cats,” offered Phil.

  “Lots of cats,” Deb agreed.

  “But I don’t know what they would have against Barry,” said Phil.

  “Where were you between three and four p.m. yesterday?” Amy asked.

  “I think we were home watching TV together,” Deb said.

  “Yes,” Phil agreed. “It was hot, and we had already greeted the new neighbor. So, we had gone inside to relax that afternoon.”

  “You were wearing such a pretty blue dress yesterday,” said Heather. “Actually, I think both of you were in blue.”

  “We like to match when we can,” Deb said, smiling.

  “Are we almost finished?” Phil asked. “We really wanted to begin our exercise afternoon together.”

  “Just one more question,” said Amy. “What shoe sizes do you both wear?”

  “I’m a twelve,” Phil said. “I don’t think Deb should have to answer if she doesn’t want to though. A woman shouldn’t have to answer a question like that.”

  “It’s all right,” Deb said. “It’s just that I have big feet.”

  “How big?” asked Amy.

  “I’m a size eleven.”

  Heather and Amy nodded. They thanked them for their time and then left the house.

  “It’s one size too small to be the shoe that fits the crime scene print,” Amy said.

  “I suppose it’s possible to wear a shoe that is too big to mislead the police,” Heather thought aloud.

  “You couldn’t do it the other way around,” Amy agreed.

  “But it wasn’t a yard that kept a lot of prints,” Heather said. “It would require careful planning to decide it was worth wearing the wrong shoes. What do you think, Ames?”

  “They were wearing blue and were annoyed by a prank,” Amy said. “But they might just be particular and not murderers.”

  “I agree. I think we need to talk to some more neighbors. Maybe one of them saw something that could lead us down the right path,” Heather said.

  “Or maybe one of them is the murderer,” said Amy.

  Chapter 9

  They knocked on the door of the Tuttles and heard cat’s yowling as a response. Amy jumped back from the door.

  “Relax,” Heather said. “If you won over my kitten Cupcake, you could win over any cat.”

  “I just don’t want the scratch marks to show for my trying,” Amy answered.

  The door opened, and two women looked back at them. The women looked remarkably similar. They were sisters, if not twins. They both had brown hair braided back and were both holding a cat.

  “Can we help you?”

  “Are you the Tuttles?”

  “Yes. I’m Nan, and this is Fran Tuttle.”

  “I’m Heather Shepherd, and this is Amy Givens. We’re private investigators, and we’re working with in conjunction with the Hillside Police on a case.”

  “Thank goodness you’re here,” said Nan.

  “Come in, come in,” said Fran.

  They followed the women inside. There were several cats inside the house that they saw. A few ran away at the sight of strangers, but a tabby cat rubbed against Heather’s leg as the women all sat down together. Heather hoped that she wouldn’t make her pets, Dave and Cupcake, jealous by having another animal’s fur on her.

  “This was such prompt service,” Nan said.

  “It was yesterday,” Amy said. “But this is something serious.”

  “We quite agree,” said Nan.

  “We didn’t quite expect private investigators to take on the case, but we’re so glad you did.”

  “Sometimes the police call us in to help with certain cases,” Heather said. She and Amy had proven their worth in helping with such murderous matters.

  “Of course,” Nan said. “And they must be all tied up with that murder that happened.”

  “So, they sent you to help us with our problem,” said Fran.

  “And what problem is this?” Amy asked.

  “The top to our cat castle that hasn’t arrived,” said Fran.

  “We’re afraid it has been stolen,” said Nan.

  “And it was rather expensive.”

  “Why would someone want to rob you?” Amy asked.

  “There has been some drama in the neighborhood,” Nan said.

  “Great,” said Amy.

  “Amy is not only a private investigator, but she is also your new neighbor,” said Heather.

  “Oh, that’s wonderful,” said Nan.

  “You can be so helpful,” said Fran.

  “First, you can help us get our cat castle topper back. And then you can straighten out the neighborhood.”

  “Is this about your parking in fro
nt of the Pittman’s yard?” Heather asked.

  “Good gracious,” said Nan. “That was a year ago.”

  “And it wasn’t a regular occurrence,” agreed Fran. “We were having a party and had many guests.”

  “You should be able to have friends park on your own street,” said Nan.

  Amy nodded. “I agree. But why is there such drama on the street.”

  “It just seems that one neighbor had a problem with another neighbor who has another problem with someone else.”

  “The landlord didn’t mention this when I looked at the house,” Amy grumbled.

  “Oh, Amos Hucklebine?” asked Nan. “He is such a nice fellow. He always found good tenants to stay at the house. You must be good.”

  “Thanks,” said Amy.

  “What were some other issues that neighbors had?” Heather asked. “Did any of them have to do with Barry Rahway?”

  The sisters thought about it.

  “He didn’t have anything to do with the garden gnome,” Fran said.

  “No. I’m pretty sure that was Lorraine,” Nan agreed.

  “And he didn’t have the hose issue.”

  “He would play pranks sometimes,” Nan said. “But I don’t know the specifics of them. Only the one related to us.”

  “He used to bark,” said Fran.

  “Bark?” Asked Heather and Amy together. They weren’t sure that they had heard right.

  “Yes,” said Nan. “He said we have so many cats and there were no dogs in the neighborhood to even it out.”

  “He did ask me if I had a pet,” said Amy.

  “And so, he would bark at our house and pretend he was a dog. I think he barked at the mailman too,” said Fran.

  “It wasn’t very amusing,” said Nan.

  That certainly could have been annoying. But was it a motive for murder.

  “Where were you between three and four yesterday?” Heather asked.

  “We were at the vet’s yesterday afternoon,” Fran said.

  “Abernathy wasn’t feeling very well. And if one cat is sick, we need to care for him right away, so he doesn’t pass it on to any of the other cats.”

  Heather asked for the vet’s name so they could check the alibi, but if what they said was true then they couldn’t have killed Barry Rahway.

  “What shoe size do you wear?” Heather asked, making sure to be thorough.

  “We both wear size six,” said Nan.

  Then there was a knock at the door. Nan and Fran hurried over to it and opened it to face the mailman.

  “There was a package that wouldn’t fit in your mailbox,” he said.

  The sisters looked momentarily happy, but when they looked at the return address, their faces fell.

  “This is the new shipment of collars,” Nan said. “Not our cat castle topper.”

  “It was supposed to arrive yesterday,” Fran said.

  Heather and Amy left the sisters to barrage the young mailman with questions about their mail. He fearfully said that he didn’t remember whether a package was delivered or not because he had delivered so much mail along his route the other day. He held his blue hat close to him for protection.

  “I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I don’t know where your package. I deliver everything that is labeled and given to me. I made all my deliveries yesterday.”

  Heather and Amy walked away from the house, considering what they had learned.

  “It doesn’t look like those two are our killers,” Amy said.

  “I don’t think so,” said Heather. “Though I’ll check their alibi with the vet.”

  “But we did learn about some more drama in the neighborhood,” Amy said. “What do you think the garden gnome issue is?”

  “I don’t know. But I think it means we need to speak to all our your and Barry Rahway’s neighbors,” said Heather.

  “I think this means I chose the wrong neighborhood,” said Amy.

  Chapter 10

  After they had introduced themselves as private investigators, Lorraine Lyle crossed her arms and said, “All right. Whose husband am I supposed to have slept with this time?”

  She was an attractive young lady with blonde curly hair and bright red lips.

  “We’re not that kind of investigators,” Heather assured her. “We’re looking into the murder of Barry Rahway. Do you mind if we ask you some questions?”

  “Oh. Of course not,” she said.

  She led them inside. They sat down on her blue couch.

  “Why did you think that we were accusing you of having an affair?” Heather asked.

  “There’s a lot of jealousy in the neighborhood,” Lorraine said.

  Amy tried to contain her sigh.

  “Deb Pittman accused me of trying to steal her husband before. Now she won’t let him out of her sight. But believe me, Phil Pittman is not my type,” Lorraine said.

  “Is anyone in the neighborhood your type?” Amy asked.

  Lorraine blushed and then said, “No one who is married. And I don’t believe he feels the same anyway. But you’re here about a murder. Let’s talk about that.”

  “Did you know Barry Rahway well?” Heather asked.

  “What are you implying?” Lorraine asked angrily.

  “We’re not implying anything,” Heather said. “We just want to find out more about a murder victim.”

  “Oh,” Lorraine said. “I’m sorry. Some of my female neighbors can be so cruel. They’re always implying that I’m… well, you can imagine what they say. I can’t help it that I’m pretty. But I’m not cheap.”

  “How did you get along with Barry?” Amy asked. “We heard he liked to tell jokes and play some pranks.”

  “He did, but nothing was directed at me. He was very nice to me. I think he felt protective because I was a young woman living alone,” Lorraine said.

  “Do you know anyone who would want to hurt him?” Asked Heather, as she took notes on her tablet.

  “I think a lot of people were annoyed with his sense of humor. But most of the neighborhood is annoyed a someone or other,” Lorraine shrugged.

  “Can you tell us about the garden gnome?” asked Amy.

  Lorraine groaned. “I’m never going to live this down.”

  “What happened?” Amy asked, even more intrigued.

  “The Lovetts had this garden gnome on their lawn. And it looked demonic. It had a creepy little face and eyes that seemed to watch you,” Lorraine started. “Actually, Barry made funny pranks with that statue. He used to put silly costumes on it. He put a lion’s mane on it one time, and another time turned it into a baseball player.”

  “What does that have to do with you?” Amy asked.

  “Nothing,” Lorraine admitted. “What happened with the gnome and me is that I accidentally crashed my bike into it and broke it. But, of course, it wasn’t really an accident. And everybody knew. It just freaked me out, and I hated the little statue. Then Mrs. Pittman said that I broke it because I was mad that James Lovett wasn’t falling for my charms. As if! James Lovett is not my type.”

  “Did you notice anything unusual yesterday?” Heather asked.

  “Now that you mention it, yes,” Lorraine said. “There was a lot of hubbub going on. Somebody was moving into the Hucklebine rental. I bet they killed Barry Rahway.”

  “Well—“ Heather started.

  “No. Hear me out,” said Lorraine. “All that moving furniture and stuff was a distraction. Nobody noticed the murder because there was too much going on. It was the perfect cover. And we never had anything like this happen before. The thing that’s changed is the new neighbor. That’s who you should question. The new neighbor.”

  Lorraine looked triumphant in her discovery until Heather introduced Amy. “I’d like to introduce you to your new neighbor.”

  “Hi,” said Amy.

  “Oh,” Lorraine said. “I guess it wouldn’t make sense for the investigators to be investigating his death if they did it.”

  “It is nice t
o meet you,” Amy said.