by Cindy Bell
“No, Ally I’m not. I’m more concerned about who would have done this to Julia. She was a good woman. If someone did this to Julia they are a cruel person. We have to be cautious, a murderer might be on the loose.”
Ally parked in front of the cottage and sighed. “I hope the police figure it out fast.”
“Hopefully they won’t have to investigate anything.” Charlotte followed her into the cottage.
“Hopefully.” Ally frowned.
“Why don’t we just try to enjoy our evening until we find out more?”
“Okay, I’ll get the popcorn started. The movie is on top of the DVD player if you want to put it in.”
Charlotte turned towards the DVD player. The shrill ring of her cell phone startled her. She took it out of her pocket and answered it.
“And you’re sure about this? Well of course, we’re happy to cooperate in any way possible. Certainly.” She hung up the phone. Ally shifted her attention from the sharp pops of the popcorn in the microwave to look at her grandmother.
“Who was that?”
“Officer John Frank. He called to let me know it’s official.” Charlotte tucked her phone into her pocket and closed her eyes for a moment.
“She was really murdered?”
“Yes. It has officially been ruled a homicide. She was poisoned. We can expect a visit from the police for questioning.”
“Oh no.” Ally cringed. “They think we had something to do with it?”
“They’re just doing their job. Right?” She smiled at her. “We have nothing to worry about.”
Ally nodded, but she wasn’t convinced. “I just can’t believe this happened.”
“I know, it’s horrible.” Charlotte shook her head.
“Yes, it is. Now we have to prove that our tarts weren’t tainted with anything. But what if someone got to them? What if they slipped the poison inside one?”
“They were never out of our possession. How could that happen? You didn’t leave them alone did you?”
“Not even for a second. Unless.” Ally’s eyes widened.
“Unless what?”
“Well, the waitresses were walking around with them on trays. I guess someone could have slipped something into them then.”
“That’s a bit far-fetched don’t you think?”
“I guess, but it’s possible. Or maybe…” Ally said thoughtfully.
“Maybe what?” Charlotte asked.
“Well, after we made them they were at the shop for some time before I picked them up. What if someone broke in and poisoned them then?”
“Did you notice anything out of place at the shop?”
“No nothing.”
“We can drive ourselves crazy over this, but we won’t know anything for sure until the tests come back on the tarts. Either they will show signs of being poisoned, or they won’t, and we’ll just have to go from there.”
“I can’t do nothing and just wait. I need to do something and find out who poisoned Julia,” Ally said.
“I agree. We need to get to the bottom of this. I’m sure we can if we work together.”
“Are you sure you want to look into the murder? With everyone involved, we could upset the wrong people.”
“If they’re upset because a murderer needs to be brought to justice, then they aren’t people I want to associate with anyway. It can’t hurt to have more minds on the case,” Charlotte said. “We can figure things out on our own.”
“It would be fun to do a little investigating.”
“It couldn’t do any harm to help the police a bit.”
“That’s true.” Ally nodded. “Where do you think we should start?”
“We should start nowhere now. We should start on this tomorrow, the best place to start is after a good night’s rest. We can watch our movie, share our popcorn and try to relax. A stressed mind never finds the truth. We can figure out what really happened if we put our minds to it.”
“You’re right.” Ally emptied the popcorn into a bowl. “Let’s get the movie started so we can relax.” She carried the bowl into the living room. Arnold followed her every move. Charlotte reached into the bowl and tossed him a few kernels as she sat down beside Ally on the couch.
“Watching movies helps me zone out and clear my head. I think Arnold senses that you’re on edge.”
“Yes, he does.” Ally stroked her hand along his back. “You are one perceptive pig, Arnold.” She patted the top of his head.
As they watched the movie, Peaches nestled between them on the couch. Ally tried to enjoy the movie, but she could not get Julia’s murder out of her head. As the movie came to an end she stood up and stretched her arms above her head.
“All right, Mee-Maw, I’m going to bed. Let me know if you need anything.”
“I’ll be fine.” Charlotte stood up and gave Ally a tight hug. “I’m sorry our sleepover wasn’t exactly ideal.”
“It’s okay, we’ll have the chance for many more.”
Charlotte disappeared into her bedroom with Arnold following faithfully behind her. Charlotte’s room still had a bed so she could sleep over whenever she wanted to. Ally and Peaches went into Ally’s bedroom. Ally lay on the bed. A moment later, Peaches jumped up onto her stomach. She kneaded it a few times, then settled into a ball on top of Ally. Instead of giving her a gentle shove to the floor, Ally stroked her fur.
“What is the world coming to, Peaches? One minute you’re giving a speech the next you’re dead. The person who did it was probably there at the party with us. How did I miss it? You’d think there would be some kind of sign of what was to come. Instead, Julia never even got to finish her speech.” Ally thought about the woman’s speech. Was her coughing a sign that she was being poisoned? She struggled to fall asleep as she ran over the events of the evening in her mind.
Chapter Four
When Ally woke the next morning her mind was still on Julia. She tried to recall the woman’s every movement. The more she skimmed through her memories for a sign that someone meant Julia harm, the less she trusted them. It was strange how everything could become such a blur all of a sudden.
Though there were many reasons why Ally would have been distracted, it was difficult for her to fathom that a murder had played out right before her very eyes and she hadn’t noticed a single thing. Then she recalled the man who sidled up next to her and pointed out the flaws in Julia’s relationship with her husband. Was he someone that she should be focused on? He obviously had animosity towards the woman, and her husband. Where had he gone after he left her side? Back to the table with his wife.
The man mentioned that politicians didn’t know what it was like to do any real work. Maybe that information would help her get to the bottom of who he was. She decided a good place to start in the investigation was to get a list of everyone who attended the party that night. The only problem with that was access. Would the staff at the country club be willing to tell her that? She picked up her phone and dialed the number of the country club. After three rings a soft, perky voice answered.
“Freely Country Club, this is Belle, how may I help you?”
“Hi Belle, my name is Ally. I’m calling to see if you could do me a favor.”
“I doubt it, I’m just the receptionist. Is there a department I can transfer you to?”
“Actually, you’re probably the best person to help me. I need to get a copy of the guest list from the party last night.”
“Are you some kind of tabloid? I’ve had enough of your calls already this morning.”
“I’m not a tabloid.” Ally winced. “I don’t work for one. I live in Blue River, and I was at the party last night. I met an old friend, and we got to chatting. I had every intention of getting her new contact information, but then, what happened with the deputy mayor happened, and everyone left so fast I didn’t have the chance to see her again. I can only remember her nickname, but I’m sure if I had a list of names I’d remember who she was. I’d just like the chance to contact
her.”
“I see.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that we’ve had so many horrible phone calls from people today wanting to know all of the sordid details about the party last night. I just assumed you might be doing the same thing.”
Ally grimaced as she realized that she kind of was, but for good reason. She wanted to solve the murder, not publicize it.
“No, I really just want to figure out her name.”
“You aren’t Ally from the chocolate shop are you?”
“I am,” Ally said hesitantly.
“Oh, why didn’t you say? Just give me a second.” Ally heard the keys tapping on her keyboard. Then she cleared her throat. “I can send it to you if you like. Do you have an e-mail address?”
Ally rattled it off to her. “Thank you for your help.”
“No problem. I will send it off to you in just a few minutes. Have a great day, Ally. See you in the chocolate shop soon.”
Peaches jumped up on top of her as she hung up. It was a reminder that food was a very important part of Peaches’ life. She stumbled to her feet and headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for one cat, one pig, and one Mee-Maw. She took her time with the oatmeal and seasoned it just the way her grandmother would for her. By the time Charlotte walked into the kitchen, the aroma filled the air.
“Oh, Ally that smells divine.”
“I hope you like it.” Ally dished the oatmeal into two bowls for them.
“I could have made breakfast.”
“I know that, but once in a while I like to do things for you.” Ally kissed her cheek. “You deserve it.”
“Thanks darling.” Charlotte hugged her. “This is a good way to start the day after what happened last night.”
“About that, I was thinking about it this morning. I remember that there was this one man I talked to. He seemed especially bitter towards Julia and her husband. Maybe he had something to do with it?”
“Maybe. I’m sure she had quite a few enemies, as the job she does created them.” Charlotte stirred her oatmeal, then took a bite. “Even better than mine!” She smiled.
“Thanks, but it isn’t.” Ally smiled as she had a spoonful. She checked her e-mail on her phone. As Belle had promised, there was an e-mail with the guest list. “I have a list of people that attended the party. Of course that doesn’t include the staff and any plus ones, but it is a start to work from. I’m going to try to figure out who that man was that I talked to.”
“Here let me see, I can probably eliminate a bunch. I’m familiar with just about everyone that was there.”
“Oh good, I’ll print it off so we can cross out names.” Ally sent the list to the printer and then looked across the table at her grandmother. “I know your policy is not to worry, Mee-Maw, but I think it’s important we get ahead of this. If there’s going to be an investigation, we may even have to shut the shop down during it.”
“I understand that. It’s not so much that I’m not concerned, Ally, it’s that there are things that I can control, and things that I can’t. The investigation is something that I can’t control. If it leads to the shop being shut down, I can’t control that either. What I can control, is whether we try to find out who the killer is.”
“I agree.” Ally stood up and headed to the printer to retrieve the list of names. When she returned Peaches was perched on the table, about to attempt a bite of her oatmeal.
“Hey!” Ally laughed. “That’s mine, you kitty thief.”
“Hm, interesting.” Mee-Maw rubbed her hands together. “That’s something that we hadn’t even considered.”
“What, that Peaches needs to go to kitty reform school?” Ally shooed her off the table and handed her grandmother the list of names.
“No, that Julia might not have even been the target.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Well, we can’t know for sure that what was poisoned was intended for her. She could have taken food off her husband’s plate. Just like Peaches was about to take a bite of your oatmeal, which considering how good it smells you can’t really blame her for, maybe Julia took a bite of something that wasn’t meant for her.”
“Maybe. I guess we’ll know more when they figure out where the poison actually came from.”
“If you describe the man to me, I might recognize him.”
“He was a burly man, reddish brown hair and a mustache, definitely not a politician.”
“No, I can’t think of anyone that I know of that looks like that.” Charlotte shook her head. “I’ll go through the list and eliminate who it definitely isn’t.”
Charlotte crossed name after name off the list. “These are the only names that I don’t know. As for the man you spoke to, he could be one of these people I guess.”
“I wonder who he is.”
“I do know that Mayor Malcolm invited a lot of local business owners and staff, as well as business owners and staff from other towns that are city service providers.”
“He was there with his wife so there should be a plus one.”
“Unless she was invited and he was the plus one.”
“Good point, Mee-Maw.” Ally nodded.
“Those are the ones I don’t recognize.” Charlotte pushed the list across the table back to Ally. Ally skimmed through the names that remained. There were only a few left.
“I’ll see if I can look into them,” Ally said as she started looking up the remaining names on the computer.
“I’m going into the shop to get some things organized. Maybe I’ll get an idea of what’s going on around town while I’m at it.”
“That sounds like a good plan.”
“I’ll catch up with you…”
“Bingo, Scott Brally,” Ally said as her grandmother turned to look over Ally’s shoulder at the man’s picture on the computer screen. “That’s the man that was bad-mouthing Julia.”
“I don’t know him.”
“Well, I think I’m going to try to find out as much as I can about him.”
“Okay. But just remember if he was that open with you about his feelings, it’s not likely that he’s the culprit, unless he really wanted to get caught.”
“I guess, but something he said really sticks in my mind. He wanted to do something to shake them up, to give them a dose of reality.” She tapped the name on the list. “If that was his plan, maybe he doesn’t care about getting caught.”
“Maybe he was just letting off steam. But see what you can find out, and update me.”
“I’ll drop you off at the shop and meet you around lunch. Okay?”
“Perfect.” Charlotte nodded and had the last spoonful of her oatmeal. “I’ll let you know if I come across anything fishy.”
Chapter Five
After Ally dropped her grandmother off at the shop she took time to do some searching on her phone. It didn’t take long for her to find more information about Scott Brally.
“He owns a garbage business,” Ally said to herself as she tapped her phone. “The same business that picks up trash around town. No wonder he thinks politicians have no idea what real work is like.” She looked through his information and found that there was an article about him being arrested for assaulting his competitor, but the charges were dropped.
Ally looked through the information to find an address. Once she found it, she plugged it into the navigation application on her phone. When she saw that the drive was over an hour away she hesitated. Did she really want to drive that far just to knock on a man’s door? He might not be home, and if he was, he might not answer. She decided to enter the address of his business. It was in close proximity to his home so it was still quite a distance. Instead of driving all that way for nothing she placed a call to his business office, because she believed that there was more of a chance that he would be there. A cheerful voice greeted her.
“Disposal Services, this is Maddie, how can I help you?”
“Hi Maddie. I’m tr
ying to reach the owner of the business, Scott Brally?”
“Oh Scott? He’s not in right now. May I take a message?”
“I was wondering if I could schedule an appointment to see him?”
“Can I ask why you want to meet with him?”
The woman’s clipped tone made Ally uneasy. Did she already know that Ally was up to something?
“I just have a few questions for him.”
“You can ask me. I’m sure I can answer anything business related, and likely personally as well. I’m his wife.”
“Oh.” Ally’s voice dropped. She hadn’t expected his wife to be the one answering the phone. “I met Scott at the party last night.”
“The mayor’s party?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re calling now because?”
“It’s just that he seemed to know the deputy mayor personally.”
“What business is that of yours?”
“It’s not.” Ally sighed and realized she’d just struck out. “It’s not my business at all. Thanks for your time, Maddie.” She hung up the phone and stared out through the windshield.
It was difficult to accept that she’d just blown her first lead. There was no way that either Scott or his wife would talk to her after that botched attempt to get an appointment. Of course there was always the option of breaking in and taking a look around their home. However, that was a huge risk to take for something that was just a hunch. She decided to investigate Scott a little more before doing something so risky.
Ally drove to the library and settled in front of one of the computers. As she sorted through all of the information she could find about Scott, she came across a newspaper article that showed him shaking hands with Mayor Malcolm. Mayor Malcolm looked quite pleased as he smiled for the camera. The reporter who wrote the article had a very poor opinion of the mayor, due to him selecting some service providers outside of Freely even though there were some viable providers from Freely.
Ally glanced at her phone and noticed it was almost lunch time. She gathered her things and drove back towards the shop. The moment that she saw the patrol car in the parking lot her heart skipped a beat. Had they arrived to arrest them? Ally parked and strode towards the door. When she heard voices she stopped and put her ear to the door to listen. She wanted to hear what the officer asked before she decided whether to sneak away or enter.
