by Ella White
“Really recent then. It wasn’t Richard. He was holding a Spanish review session, and then he was with us the whole time.” Vickie paused to think. “Mary, on the other hand, has been completely under the radar since she was let go from questioning this morning.”
“It appears Mary is our best bet for murderer,” Susan conceded. “But how can we prove it? We have no evidence.”
“I don’t think I have to ask if you’re processing Randy’s crime scene?” Vickie smirked as she asked.
“Of course I am. Why?”
“See if you can find any evidence that connects Mary to the crime,” Vickie suggested. I need to get back to my café. I think I have an idea.”
Chapter 8
“Maybe you should start giving us hazard pay,” Kimberly teased her employer after Vickie finished explaining her plan. Vickie laughed. “Hey, I’m serious. This will be the second time you’ve brought potential murderers in here. We should get paid more for endangering our lives.”
Knowing that the sarcastic smile revealed Kimberly’s true feelings on the matter, Vickie shook her head and turned her attention back to the group of students gathering outside the Sip and Read Café. George Foster, the chemistry TA, had taken Vickie up on her offer and arranged a study time for the teaching assistants at the coffee shop.
Even Richard was there; he still had to complete his duties as a TA while he was under investigation by the school. Charles had not been happy to hear how one of the college’s most promising teaching assistants had been selling test answers to desperate students, and he immediately called the ethics board to conduct an enquiry. In the meantime, Richard still had to continue on as both a graduate student and teaching assistant in case he was found innocent. Vickie found this unlikely, but Richard was still hoping.
Once the meeting time arrived, the students filed into the shop. They settled at the largest table, which instantly became covered with books, paper, pencils, calculators, and a myriad of other school supplies. Rachel, posing as one of the servers, came over to take the group’s first order. She was sure Richard noticed who she was, but she gave him a stern glance when he looked at her. He immediately looked back down at his notes, and Rachel finished taking the students’ orders.
She returned to the counter and listed off the drinks. “Two espressos, one caffe misto, one caramel Frappuccino, one iced coffee, one gingerbread latte, and four black coffees.”
“That’s nine drinks,” Vickie counted. “But there’s only six students.”
“Mary ordered the four black coffees,” Rachel replied as Kimberly prepared the beverages. “I think she’s addicted or something.”
Vickie had to agree, but she also thought all the teaching assistants seemed addicted to caffeine to some degree. A few of their hands were shaking as they held their mugs, and Rachel reported that their handwriting was horribly sloppy because of the way they held their pencils and smeared the lead. The dark bags under their eyes were painfully obvious, and every so often one of them would put their head down to rest their eyes.
Lots of caffeine and sleep deprivation are not a good combination, Vickie thought, shaking her head a little at the crowd.
Of all the students, Vickie watched Mary the closest. She was flipping erratically through her biology textbook while somehow taking notes on the chapters at the same time. She went through three pens and all her coffee before ordering another round. She commanded the other teaching assistants like a military leader, either testing them on their knowledge from their leadership course, or forcing them to quiz her on either a shared course or biology. When one of the others wasn’t up to speed, she would hiss at them about staying on top of the game.
It doesn’t take a genius to know who’s in charge over there, Vickie mused. Now that I think about it, Mary was just as controlling when we questioned her and Randy too.
Rachel walked over to her mother again. “So, what is the plan from here?”
“Wait and see if Mary slips up,” Vickie repeated. “She’s so stressed out, she’s got to give away something sooner or later.”
“She’s so in control though, even when she frazzled.”
“I was starting to think the same thing.” Vickie glanced at the suspect out of the corner of her eye. “But I’m sure if we can find something that sets her over the edge, she’ll admit to everything.”
“There has to be something that will make her lose her cool.” Rachel bit her lip in thought.
There was more noise from the study group’s table. Vickie couldn’t make it out exactly, but moments later Mary jumped from her seat and pointed a menacing finger at another student.
“Anna, for the last time, don’t touch my study materials.”
“… Sorry.”
Mary sat again. As Vickie watched this exchange, an idea suddenly came to her, and she snapped her fingers.
“I’ve got it.” She put a hand up to Rachel’s ear.
Rachel listened as her mother whispered the directions to her and smiled as she learned the details of her role.
They had to wait a couple of minutes, but with the amount of coffee Mary was consuming, it was no surprise that she eventually went back up to the counter to purchase more drinks. Richard went with her seconds later, since his espresso cup had also dried up. Rachel took this opportunity to head over to the table, carrying a larger notepad than the normal one.
“Can I get anyone anything else?”
“You just missed them,” a woman named Carrie said as she pointed to Mary and Richard. “But I think I’m fine.”
“Anyone else?” Rachel shuffled some of the papers underneath her notepad. The rest of the group also said they didn’t want anything, so she picked up the papers and pad. “All right. Just call if you need anything!”
Making sure she kept the notepad on the opposite side of her body from the students, Rachel made her way back to the counter. Kimberly finished making the drinks, and Mary and Richard both returned to the table. Vickie looked at Rachel as she arrived, and the young woman simply smiled and tapped the notepad with her knuckles.
“Where is it?” Vickie turned her head at the sound of Mary shouting. She was glaring at Anna, the student she had criticized before. “Where did you put it?”
“Where did I put what?” Anna asked. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You’re always messing around with my study guides!” Mary cursed as Richard rifled through all his papers. “My biology test guide is missing! Where is it?!”
“My Spanish guide is gone too,” Richard added. He threw up his hands. “Did you take mine too?”
“For crying out loud, no one here took your stuff!” Joseph, the English TA, declared.
Richard and Mary stared at him for a split second before turning to each other. “You!”
“Looks like it’s working,” Rachel whispered to Vickie.
Her mother smirked. “You have them?”
Rachel lifted her notepad off the counter, revealing sheets of paper with both Spanish and biological terminology.
“I didn’t take it!” Richard insisted. “Why would I take your biology guide?”
“Why would I take your Spanish guide?” Mary demanded. “I’m not even taking Spanish!”
“You frequently take things that aren’t yours!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Vickie watched the two pupils have it out until the bell for the front door rang. She turned to see Susan Miles entering the café, who cocked an eyebrow at the arguing students and walked over to the counter. She stayed to the side of the café away from the occupied table, watching the group as she approached Vickie.
“I take it you did this on purpose,” Susan asked Vickie, crossing her arms.
“Trust me, this will work,” Vickie reassured her. She looked over at the arguing students. “…Hopefully.”
“It’s not like Spanish is going to do you any good anyway!” Mary spat, insulting her peer. “Maybe flunking out of something u
seful like biology or chemistry will make you realize how useless a degree in a foreign language actually is!”
“What’s wrong with a Spanish major?” Richard snarled. “I can do a lot with it!”
“Yeah right, like you’re going to become a translator for the United Nations!” Mary stuck her nose up. “Don’t tell me that traveling interpreter idea is really going to happen!”
“If you’re so brilliant, you don’t even need a study guide!” Richard crossed his arms over his chest.
“I better break this up before it explodes too much.” Vickie rushed over to the quarrelling pair and put a hand up to each of them. “Okay you two, hold on a moment.”
“I need my study guides more than you do! Any of you!” Mary cried, flinging her arm towards the other teaching assistants. “I’m the only one who takes anything seriously around here!”
“That’s not true, Mary,” Anna tried to interrupt, but Mary just glowered at her.
“Shut up, Anna! You’re a history major!” She pointed to almost every student in succession. “English! Psychology! And Lilli was a literature major! What good are those soft subjects?”
One of the last women frowned. “I’m a Physics major.”
“Beth, you and I both know there’s nothing you can do with that other than become an engineer,” Mary affronted. “And don’t get me started on you, George. You’re a chemistry major, which is too narrow to do anything other than research. I’m a biology major, which can become almost anything! I’m going to med school, which is more than I can say for the rest of you! I’m the only one who really matters in our class!”
“Is that why you murdered Lilli and Randy?” Vickie asked suddenly. “You felt entitled to kill them to protect your future?”
“What is she talking about?” Beth wondered out loud.
“You arranged for Randy to steal the rare German book that was on loan from the Library of Congress,” Vickie explained. “You hired an undergraduate student to do the actual stealing so you wouldn’t be caught. Lilli somehow found out about it, and she threatened to turn you in, so you killed her.”
“Excuse me? You really think I would do something like that?” Mary huffed and gave her a sarcastic smile. “Then again, you were a literature professor, another soft subject. You would jump to conclusions with nothing to back it up.”
Rachel looked like she wanted to tackle the younger woman. How dare she insult her mother like that! Vickie, on the other hand, being much older and wiser, didn’t let this insult get to her. However, it was actually Susan who broke into the conversation to speak next.
“As a matter of fact, there is some evidence.” She took out her phone and showed a few photographs to the group. “After questioning you, the Eugene police and I were able to get a warrant to search your apartment. Take a look at this.”
Most of the photos were uninteresting, but what really stood out were the heavy coat and sweater, both of which had splotches of glowing green at the end of the sleeves.
“See that green stuff? That’s latent blood, revealed using Luminol,” Chief Miles described. “The Eugene police already have their forensic department working on finding a DNA match. I’d bet my next year’s salary it belongs to Lilli.”
“I’m a biology student.” Mary kept saying this as if she didn’t want anyone to forget it. “I deal with bloody stuff a lot during dissections.”
“Aren’t animal cadavers drained of blood before the students dissect them?” Anna asked, although no one seemed to have noticed.
“But Randy probably wasn’t the best person recruit to steal the book,” Vickie said, continuing her train of thought. “He was getting worried about being discovered as the thief, especially since he knew Lilli had died. You decided you had to kill him as well to keep him quiet.”
“I did no such thing!”
“What I would like to know…” Vickie narrowed her eyes at Mary. “…Is your motive behind it all.”
“I can tell you that,” replied Anna, the TA Mary had accused of taking her study materials. “Her parents just cut her off because she was getting complaints from the students about being a horrible teaching assistant. She needed the money, so she forced Randy to steal that book.”
“Med school is expensive!” Mary shouted. “I have to pay for it somehow!”
“You could have just worked on being a good TA,” Rachel suggested, although her advice came much too late. “Instead of focusing just on yourself.”
“How do you even know I was involved?” Mary questioned. “Or might have been involved? I know Randy never said anything.”
“Lilli told me.” Vickie watched with amusement as Mary’s face twisted into a flummoxed expression. “Right before you stabbed her, she gave me a small clue: a list of all the teaching assistants. One of them had to be the person behind the book theft.”
Mary stared at Vickie. Her entire body shook as she tried to suppress her rage, and tears broke out from her eyes.
“I couldn’t take the book myself! I’d be expelled if I was found out!” she yelled as she burst out crying. “My parents weren’t helping me with money anymore, and I needed to pay for school! I’m going to be a great doctor someday!”
“No, you’re going to be a great inmate,” Susan scolded as she pulled out her handcuffs. “You were right, Vickie, she did spill the beans.”
“Do you have enough to convict?” Vickie inquired.
“I’ll keep working with the Eugene PD to make sure this girl is put behind bars for a long time. We still need to have that book returned to the school as well.” Susan put Mary’s hands behind her back and put the handcuffs on her. Mary didn’t even try to fight as she continued to cry. “Mary Gillan, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law...”
As Susan continued to read Mary her Miranda Rights, Vickie looked around at the remaining teaching assistants.
“Well, I know you kids need to study, but I think this is something to celebrate.” Vickie turned to holler at Kimberly. “Hey Kim! Free round of coffee for everyone!”
The students all cheered as Mary was taken away. Susan glanced over her shoulder at Vickie one more time and smiled before leaving the café. Vickie waved at her, and Rachel gave her a thumbs up. Once the chief of police and suspect were gone, Rachel went over and plopped herself on one of the beanbag chairs. She pulled out a magazine with a title about the process of candle making, and Vickie just smiled at her daughter.
“You’re really getting into this candle store thing, aren’t you?
“I’ve got to admit, it’s really cool.” Rachel returned the grin. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll get into it too.”
Vickie laughed, although it was drowned out by the renewed amusement at the student table. “Don’t get your hopes up.”
* * *
Find out what Vickie discovers in part three of the Carriage Cove Mystery Here: http://amzn.to/1R35ns8
