“Millie,” Hoskins said. “Where are you? We were looking for you at the restaurant.”
Hoskins looked confused by her response and looked to the group. “Sugar plum,” he said. “I’m going to put you on speakerphone for a minute, alright?”
Hoskins looked so concerned that Amy didn’t even make a comment about the pet name “sugar plum,” though she might have preferred it to “Hosky.”
“Everyone is here at the restaurant where we were going to meet,” Hoskins continued.
“The restaurant?” Millie asked. She sounded dazed.
“Millie,” Heather said. “Are you okay?”
“Okay?” she asked back. “No. Probably not.”
“What’s wrong? Where are you?” Hoskins asked.
“Hosky?” she said. “That’s you, isn’t it? I’m glad you called. I think I need help.”
“I want to help,” Hoskins said.
“I think you should call the police.”
Heather and Ryan exchanged a look. Something was definitely wrong. Not only did Millie sound stunned and confused, but she had also forgotten that her husband was part of the police.
“Can you call them?” Millie asked.
“Where are you?” he asked again.
“I went to see Vera,” she said, quietly.
“That’s a choir person,” Hoskins told them, before focusing on his wife again. “You’re at her house?”
“Can you hurry, please?” Millie asked.
“We’ll have the police come right over,” Ryan said. “But why do you need the police, Mrs. Hoskins?”
“Because there’s so much blood,” Millie answered.
Dinner was forgotten. The group rushed to find Millie.
Hoskins had found Vera Rogers’s address for them, and they arrived at the scene, fearing the worst.
“Millie,” Hoskins called, rushing inside.
The others followed, being a bit more careful not to contaminate potential evidence. They heard Hoskins cry out in the kitchen. They hurried inside.
A woman lay dead on the floor. She was covered in blood, and Heather guessed that she had been stabbed to death.
“Is that…?” Amy asked, trying to recognize the body that was not facing them.
“No,” Heather said. “It’s not her.”
Hoskins seemed to be regaining his composure.
“It’s not her,” Heather repeated to reassure him.
They heard movement from behind the kitchen island. Hoskins and Jamie jumped. Heather, Amy, and Ryan moved into fighting stances. Heather grabbed a nearby frying pan and then cursed herself for possibly destroying fingerprint evidence. The weapon proved to be unneeded when they saw what caused the noise.
Millie Hoskins had finally risen to her feet. She still looked confused. Her eyes looked unfocused until she saw Hoskins.
“Hosky,” she said. “How could this happen?”
“I don’t know,” he replied.
Millie stood there. Her arms and dress were covered in blood.
“Mrs. Hoskins,” Ryan said. “An ambulance is just arriving. Let’s have them check you over.”
Millie nodded and allowed them to escort her to the door.
“Wait,” Heather said. “Who is the victim? Is it Vera Rogers?”
“It’s Vera,” Millie said.
She started to feel faint, and Hoskins supported her.
“Not now,” Hoskins snapped at Heather. “Can’t you see she’s been through enough?”
He led his wife out towards the ambulance.
“Don’t worry,” Ryan said. “We’ll question her as soon as the medical professionals give her the all clear.”
Heather and Amy were left alone with Jamie and the dead body.
“I really don’t like crime scenes,” he said.
“Why don’t you go sit in the car?” Amy said. “I think I have a donut in there. It might make you feel better.”
He didn’t have to be told twice. He practically ran outside.
“So,” Amy said to her bestie. “What do you think happened?”
“It definitely looks like a murder,” Heather said.
“And do I have to be the one to say it?” Amy asked.
“About how Millie was found alone with the victim, and how her hands and arms were covered in blood.”
“Exactly,” Amy said. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it looked like she was caught red-handed.”
Chapter 4
The medical professionals deemed Millie uninjured, but that she appeared to have been in emotional shock. They recommended rest. Heather, Amy, and Ryan were sympathetic but knew that they needed to hear her story before she left.
Millie had a blanket around her shoulders and was sitting next to her husband. Hoskins looked up as the others approached.
“They said she’s okay,” Hoskins said. “I want to take her home and get her cleaned up.”
“You know it’s not so simple,” Ryan said. “And her dress should go into evidence.”
“Evidence? You can’t think Millie had something to do with this,” Hoskins said, defensively.
“We have to follow protocol,” Ryan said. “And follow every lead, no matter how unpleasant.”
“There’s no way she could be the killer,” Hoskins said. “I can’t believe you’d suggest it. What sort of partner are you?”
“I don’t want to think she did it. But look at this objectively,” said Ryan. “She was found at the crime scene, covered in blood. And she didn’t call the police. Remember? We had to call her. If she weren’t your wife, what would you make of the situation? She’d have to be considered a suspect.”
“But,” Hoskins said, weakly. “It’s Millie.”
“It’s all right,” Millie said, speaking up. “I can talk to them. I’d like to help if I can. I wasn’t much help before. I can see that now.”
“Thank you,” Heather told her.
“I want to help you catch whoever did that to Vera. It was so awful,” she said. “How can you look at that sort of thing all the time at your job?”
“Mrs. Hoskins, why don’t we start at the beginning?” Heather said.
“Please, call me Millie.”
Even though they had just befriended one another, Heather wanted to mentally maintain some distance between herself and a suspect. She was not going to call her Millie while she was questioning her about murder. However, for now, she bypassed the name and just asked her question, “Why did you go over to Vera Rogers’s house?”
“It was about the choir,” Millie said. “I thought I had some time before I had to get ready for the dinner, so I thought I could come over and talk to Vera. She had become a real bee in the bonnet of the choir in some regards. The other singers were complaining. I was annoyed myself. I thought I could talk some sense into her.”
“So, you came over here to see her while angry?” Heather asked.
“Well, I was certainly miffed.”
“Millie,” Hoskins warned.
“But I was,” Millie said. “I should be honest about everything, shouldn’t I? That’s what will help you with the case.”
“We appreciate the honesty,” Heather assured her.
“Why were you miffed?” Amy asked, enjoying the phrase.
“Vera had been in charge of the song selection for the group. However, she kept choosing old songs. We thought some newer additions would not only be fun but would attract more of an audience to our events. Our crowds had been dwindling of late, and we wanted to fix that. Several of the other ladies and I had spoken to Vera about choosing new songs. We thought we had gotten through to her. But then this morning, she announced the “new” song selection and they were even older than before.”
“How old are these songs?” Amy asked. “Golden oldies? Tarnished oldies?”
“I didn’t recognize the songs,” Millie said, “but they had a lot of “thee’s” and “thou’s” in them.”
“That does sound old,” Amy s
aid.
“So, you went to talk to her about this,” Heather prompted again.
“Yes,” said Millie. “I wanted to tell her that we felt like our ideas were being ignored and that we thought it was bad for the group.”
“Did anyone else know that you were coming over here?” Ryan asked.
“I mentioned that I wanted to give her a piece of my mind,” Millie admitted. “But I didn’t make the decision to come until right before I did it.”
“What happened when you arrived at the house?” asked Ryan.
“I knocked on the door, and there wasn’t an answer,” said Millie. “But that’s happened before. Sometimes Vera has music on, and she can’t hear when somebody arrives. I tried opening the door, and it was unlocked. I went inside, calling her name so she wouldn’t be surprised. But I didn’t hear any response or hear any music. There was a knife in the hall, and I remember thinking that somebody could get hurt with that. Then I checked the kitchen and I… that’s when I saw her.”
“And what did you do when you saw her?” Heather asked.
“I feel like I went numb,” said Millie. “I’m not sure what I did made sense. But I saw all the blood, and I remembered thinking that you’re supposed to apply pressure to a wound. So, I grabbed a kitchen towel and applied pressure. I think I tried some CPR too. But it wasn’t working. I’m not sure how long I tried. But at one point I realized that she was dead. That she was probably dead all along. That I had not been helping Vera at all. I just didn’t know what to do at all. I just sat there. I must have been in shock.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?” asked Heather.
“I know it doesn’t make sense,” said Millie. “But at the time, it just didn’t occur to me. It felt like the whole world was in this awful little room. I forgot the outside world and help were just out the door.”
“And then when Hoskins called?” Heather asked.
“I felt like I was on autopilot. I heard the phone ring and realized I should answer it. I was so glad it was you.” She reached for her husband’s hand but stopped as she realized there was still blood on hers.
“Are we almost finished?” Hoskins asked. “I think she should lie down.”
“Yes,” Heather said. “Thank you for all your help today, Mrs. Hoskins. I’m sure we’ll talk to you again soon.”
Ryan spoke to Hoskins before he left, reminding him that he needed to take a swab of the blood on her hands and add the dress to evidence.
When the Hoskinses left, the trio looked at one another.
“This is all really weird,” said Amy.
“I agree,” said Heather. “Though we’ve been accused of murder before. That couldn’t have been easy on you, Ryan.”
“I would like it if we could stop that from happening again,” Ryan said. “And I’m not quite sure what to make of Millie’s story.”
“So many things that she did don’t make sense, but it is possible that a person could act irrational if they found a dead body,” said Heather.
“I don’t know,” said Amy. “She seems nice and all, but why didn’t she call the police? As a detective’s wife, she should have thought of that right away.”
“We’ll just have to look at the rest of the evidence,” Ryan said.
“Yes,” Heather agreed. “The evidence will have to tell us what happened.”
Chapter 5
After the forensic team had finished collecting their samples, Heather, Amy, and Ryan re-entered the crime scene. Jamie had happily accepted their idea that he return home and that the Shepherds would drop Amy off when they were finished investigating for the night. Jamie was always supportive of their sleuthing work and liked to help when he could, but he didn’t like encountering the more unpleasant parts of the job himself.
Heather had to admit that she was happy that the body had been removed. However, there was still lots of blood at the scene. There were lots of clues that they could examine at the scene, and Ryan had been doing a little digging about who the victim was.
“What do we know about Vera Rogers so far?” Heather asked him when he got off the phone.
They were standing in the doorway, more hesitant than usual for looking at the scene. The potential for finding evidence of Millie Hoskins’s guilt was weighing on their minds.
“Vera Rogers lived here alone,” Ryan said, listing off the facts he knew. “The family that she does have lives in town. She has two adult nieces in the area, Virginia and Veronica Rogers. They’ve just been informed of the death.”
“Does she have a job?” Heather asked.
“Yeah,” Amy continued, realizing her subtext. “A job with lots of shady characters that could be suspected of murder.”
“She was retired,” Ryan said. “But we know she was involved in the community choir.”
“Anything else?” asked Heather.
“I’m afraid the only other thing we know right now is that she was stabbed to death,” said Ryan.
“I suppose we better start going through the crime scene then,” Heather said. “We’ll go wherever the evidence leads us.”
“The first thing is that there doesn’t appear to be any sign of a break in,” said Ryan.
“So, the killer had a key?” asked Amy.
“Or Vera left the door unlocked herself,” said Heather. “It wasn’t that late. It was before dinner. She might have felt safe enough without locking it.”
“I’m glad Jamie installed the security system in our house,” said Amy.
“I’m grateful for ours too,” said Heather. “There were too many close calls.”
“Don’t remind me,” said Ryan.
“But about the case,” Heather said, trying to get refocused. “Millie said that the door was unlocked when arrived. Either Vera left the door open, or the killer did.”
“Right,” Ryan said, leading them further inside. He pointed to a spot on a small hallway table with a few family photos. “This is where the knife was found. Based on the shape, it appears to be the murder weapon.”
“The knife was left there?” Heather asked. “That seems like a strange location.”
Amy nodded. “Not hidden. And not next to the victim. It’s an in-between spot.”
“Did forensics find any DNA or fingerprints on it?” asked Heather.
“They did find some fingerprints and will begin searching for a match in the database. However, the weapon was at least partially wiped. There were only trace amounts of blood on it,” Ryan informed them.
“So, the killer left the body in the kitchen, thought he was wiping the weapon off, but left some fingerprints behind, and then put it on the table?” Heather thought about the timeline aloud.
“That’s what it seems to be,” said Ryan.
“It just seems odd,” Heather commented.
“This whole case is odd,” said Amy. “Right now our prime suspect is Millie Hoskins. Tell me that isn’t weird.”
“Was there anything special about the knife that could lead us to the killer?” Heather asked.
“It appears like it belonged to Vera Rogers,” said Ryan. “Its handle matches the set in the kitchen.”
“So, this might have been a crime that happened in the heat of the moment,” Heather said.
“Like if someone were really mad about their community choir, and their leader was being a jerk,” offered Amy. “It’s not looking good for Millie.”
“It could have been someone else who came to the house and became murderously angry,” said Heather.
“And it still might have been planned,” said Ryan. “The killer could have been familiar with Vera Rogers’s home and knew about her knives.”
“I guess we’ll know more when we find out about those fingerprints,” said Heather. “But what else do we know now?”
“We know that the crime took place in the kitchen,” said Ryan. “And the wound is on her back.”
“So, it’s possible she could have been snuck up on,” said Heather.
“Got stabby?” Heather repeated.
“You know what I mean,” Amy said. “All the psycho stuff.”
Heather grimaced, but then decided she should focus on some of the more grisly aspects of the crime scene.
“There’s a lot of smears in the blood,” she commented.
“If we believe Millie Hoskins’s account of things, that could be from when she tried to apply pressure to the wound. Then she moved away from the body after she had blood on her hands,” said Ryan.
“It seems like a reasonable explanation,” said Amy. “But maybe it’s all a contrived excuse. If you did kill someone, how are you going to explain the blood on your clothes? Better come up with a valid reason.”
Amy was making sense, and Heather frowned. She looked around the house to see if she was missing a clue. The house was a mix of clean and cluttered.
Heather commented on it, and Ryan responded, “It looks like our house right now. With our moving boxes starting to be filled, but still needing things from them.”
“Was Vera Rogers moving?” Amy asked.
“Maybe it’s the reverse,” said Heather. “Maybe she’s bringing more things into her house. Like a spring cleaning.”
“It’s not spring,” said Amy.
“I know, but not everyone gets around to it then,” said Heather. “But the areas that are clean look really clean.”
“There were some parts of the house where there weren’t any fingerprints,” Ryan said.
“And the areas with piles of things look dusty,” said Heather. “Maybe she brought them out of a garage or attic.”
“Does this have any bearing on the case?” Amy asked.
“I don’t know,” Heather said. “It might also depend on whether areas with no fingerprints were cleaned by the victim or the killer.”
“The killer wasn’t very thorough cleaning the knife,” Amy pointed out.
Black & White Glazed Murder Page 2
