Ice Cream with a Side of Danger

by Meredith Potts

  Scott scoffed. “Who do you think you’re fooling? Nothing about this is standard.”

  “I assure you, I’m just following police protocol.”

  “You mean, the protocol you use when you’re speaking with a murder suspect?” Scott said.

  “Why don’t you just let me get to my questions?” David replied. “Depending on what your answers are, I might be out of your hair in a couple of minutes.”

  Scott folded his arms. “Or you could just leave now.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” David said.

  Scott groaned. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Mr. Hatcher, why don’t you stop being so difficult with us?”

  “Because I don’t like being hassled by the police.”

  “I’m not here to hassle you,” David said. “I’m just here to get answers.”

  Scott gritted his teeth and then took a deep breath. “All right. What do you want to know?”

  “Where were you last night?”

  “That depends.”

  “On what?”

  “What time you’re talking about.”

  “Between nine and ten o’clock.”

  “In that case, I was driving back from Luigi’s Pizzeria.”

  “Alone? Or was there someone in the car with you?” David asked.

  “I was alone,” Scott replied.

  “That’s a shame.”

  Scott threw out his arms. “Why?”

  “Because it means there’s no way of verifying your story.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Scott reached into his wallet and pulled out a receipt. “See for yourself.”

  David looked at the receipt.

  “Mr. Hatcher, the receipt doesn’t prove that you’re innocent,” David said.

  “Of course it does. Look at the time on the top of the receipt. I paid my bill at eight-fifty-seven.”

  “I see that.”

  “Well, there you go. I left the pizzeria shortly before nine o’clock, then got into my car and drove home.”

  “So you say,” David replied. “Truthfully, all that receipt does is tell me that you left Luigi’s around nine. But once you walked out to your car, there’s no way of verifying the rest of your story.”

  Scott scoffed. “You have to be kidding me.”

  David put his hand up. “I’m not done. On your way back here from Luigi’s, you could have easily stopped at Walter’s apartment. After all, he only lives about ten blocks from here.”

  “I already told you, I left the pizzeria and drove home. End of story.”

  “I wish it was the end of the story, but I can’t take the word of a murder suspect,” David said. “Not without proof.”

  Scott stared David down. “Speaking of proof, do you have any evidence that I did anything wrong?”

  David shook his head. “No. Not at the moment.”

  “Then we’re done here.”

  “You don’t get to decide that.”

  “Sure I do,” Scott replied. “I’m not answering any more of your questions.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  David and I tried to get a little more information out of Scott, but he gave us nothing else to work with.

  Rather than wasting more of our time, we elected to move on.

  Our next lead took us to the southeast corner of town, where Treasure Cove Race Track was located. Considering it was a weekday, the horse track had far more spectators in attendance than I expected.

  One of those spectators was Max Kingston. The tall forty-five-year-old was a staple at the track. He was more than just a horse racing fan, however. He was also a well-known loan shark.

  As David and I approached the mustached man, his brown eyes remained focused on the track. In fact, Max didn’t stop looking at the horses until David was only a few feet away from him. When Max did glance over at my husband, David was holding up his police badge for the loan shark.

  Surprisingly, Max reacted differently than a number of the other suspects had. He didn’t take a confrontational tone right from the start. Instead, he was congenial with David.

  “What can I do for you, detective?” Max asked.

  “I’m looking for some answers,” David said.

  “All right,” Max said. “I’ll help you in any way I can. But first, I would like to know what your questions are regarding.”

  “I’m interested in finding out where you were last night,” David said.

  “Is this about Walter Cobb’s murder?” Max asked.

  “As a matter of fact, it is,” David said. “By the way, how did you know he was dead?”

  “News travels fast in this town.”

  “Apparently, quicker than I ever realized.”

  “On the topic of speed, why don’t we get straight to the point?”

  David stared Max down. “Are you in a hurry, Mr. Kingston?”

  “I sure am,” Max said. “There are a number of races that I’m looking forward to this afternoon.”

  “I wouldn’t get too excited. Your plans might change in a hurry.”

  “I doubt it,” Max said. “On that note, shall we get down to business?”

  “I’m ready when you are.”

  “Let’s be brutally honest. I know you have your suspicions about me. You probably discovered that Walter owed me money. So, when Mr. Cobb turned up dead, my name jumped to the top of your suspect list. Am I correct?” Max said.

  David nodded.

  Max continued. “That’s why you’re interested in finding out where I was last night. You want to see if I have an alibi for the time of the murder.”

  “Well, do you?” David asked.

  “I sure do,” Max said.

  “In that case, tell me where you were.”

  “I was hosting a poker night at my house.”

  “If you’re telling the truth, then you should have no problem providing me with the names and numbers of your guests.”

  “Sure thing, detective. How many names do you want?”

  David reached into his pocket and pulled out his pen and pad of paper. “As many as you can give me.”

  “Get ready to start writing,” Max said.

  ***

  Max supplied David with five different names and numbers. My husband then called all of Max’s poker buddies. Each of them verified his story.

  It was rare for a suspect to have such an ironclad alibi. Then again, Max wasn’t just any suspect. The man didn’t break a sweat during the entire interview. It was as if he had anticipated our arrival and had planned accordingly.

  I certainly couldn’t rule out the possibility that a loan shark would pay off some friends to vouch for him. On the flip side, I had no evidence of that being the case. In fact, my husband and I had no proof that Max had done anything wrong. Because of that, David and I had very little choice but to move on.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Of all the odd ways for our first round of suspect interviews to end, that was especially anti-climactic. But that’s just how things went sometimes.

  At that point, David and I needed to figure out our next step. Unfortunately, we were fresh out of suspects. We also had exhausted all of our leads. So, even though we had energy to spare, our investigative options were limited.

  My husband and I decided to grab a snack. Once we were done eating, David radioed the police station to see if there were any notable updates. Much to his chagrin, there weren’t.

  Rather than waiting around for something new to happen, David and I decided to call it a day. We headed over to my parents’ place on Sycamore Grove Trail to pick up our daughter.

  When we arrived, we immediately thanked my mother and stepfather for watching Jessica. After that, David, Jessica, and I headed home.

  That evening, David and I did our best to relax. Generally, there was no better way to unwind than by watching a few hours of TV. In addition, cooking shows also provided some much-needed distraction for my mind. After the terrible events of the day, it wou
ld have been easy to spend the entire night thinking about Walter. Thankfully, the cooking shows gave my brain a reprieve.

  A little after ten o’clock, I curled up in my bed. With any luck, I would crash out quickly. Unfortunately, it turned out that luck didn’t want anything to do with me.

  Instead of falling asleep, I spent the better part of two hours tossing and turning. I wasn’t alone either. As David rolled over and stared into my eyes, it became clear that he was having difficulty quieting his mind as well.

  “It’s going to be one of those nights, isn’t it?” he asked.

  “You mean, where we get very little sleep?” I replied.

  He nodded.

  “It sure seems like it,” I said.

  “What a crazy way to end the evening.”

  “Honestly, this is a pretty fitting end, given the kind of day it was.”

  “It was definitely the sort of day that you wish you could forget.”

  “Ironically, those are the days that you can’t ever seem to shake from your memory.”

  David let out a sigh. “Isn’t that the truth?”

  “It sure is.” I grimaced. “I can’t stop thinking about what a mess Walter’s life was.”

  “He certainly made a surprising amount of enemies.”

  I took a deep breath before responding, “And here I thought I was the only person he had done a number on.”

  “Instead, trouble followed him everywhere he went.”

  “I wouldn’t say it followed him. If anything, he seemed to seek out trouble at every stage of his life.”

  David groaned. “You aren’t kidding. That man burned every bridge that he crossed.”

  “And now we’re left to sift through the rubble.”

  “Which explains why clues have been hard to come by.”

  “At the same time, there have been numerous surprising twists.”

  “Especially considering that this case is less than a day old.”

  “Which makes me wonder, what’s going to happen next?”

  “I have no clue. But I think we should be prepared for the worst.”

  “That’s a good bet. Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if things get much worse before they get better.”

  “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

  I winced. “I’m afraid hope is something I have very little of at the moment.”

  David snuggled up behind me. “I’m sorry to hear that. I know this case has really hit you hard.”

  I nodded. “More than I ever expected. Frankly, I’ve been in shock most of the day.”

  “That’s understandable. If my father was murdered, I’d be reeling for weeks.”

  “Here’s the thing, though. With each new revelation that we discovered this afternoon, it really drove home how little I knew about my father. Truthfully, he might as well have been a stranger to me.”

  David grimaced. “Just when I thought this case couldn’t get any more depressing.”

  “Don’t remind me,” I replied. “It’s safe to say that the sooner we find Walter’s killer, the better.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  It took another hour, but I finally passed out from sheer exhaustion. When I woke up the following morning, I was really groggy.

  With such a rough start to the day, getting some coffee became a necessity. With that in mind, David and I got dressed and headed over to my family’s coffee shop.

  When we arrived at Daley Buzz, David elected to wait in the car. He was going to radio the police station to see if anything new had taken place overnight. Meanwhile, I went inside the coffee shop to order a double espresso for him and a latte for myself.

  After placing my drink order, I spotted my old friends, Kelly Hogan and Shannon Marlowe. Normally, I would just walk right up to them and start chatting away. At that particular moment, I needed to take a few sips of my drink first before I could engage in conversation.

  Once I got some caffeine in my system, I walked over to the table that Kelly and Shannon were sitting at.

  “I have to say, during a morning like this, coffee is an absolute life saver,” I remarked.

  “I guess it’s safe to assume that you didn’t sleep well last night,” Shannon said.

  “I sure didn’t,” I said.

  “In that case, here’s hoping that latte is just what you need to carry you through the day,” Shannon said.

  “What I really need is a break in this case,” I said.

  “I was just about to ask you how things were going,” Kelly said. “But that desperate look on your face tells me everything I need to know.”

  I grimaced. “Things could certainly be going better, that’s for sure.”

  Shannon looked at me with sympathetic eyes. “I wish there was something we could do to help you out.”

  “Maybe you can. Have either of you heard any particularly juicy gossip?” I asked.

  Shannon shook her head.

  “Me neither,” Kelly added.

  I exhaled. “It was worth a try.”

  “If I do hear anything, I’ll definitely let you know,” Kelly said.

  “In the meantime, I’ll say a number of prayers for you,” Shannon replied.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “Of course,” Shannon said.

  Kelly switched gears. “You know, if you come into my crystal shop later, I’d be happy to perform a good luck enchantment on you.”

  “Thanks, but David and I have a full day of investigating ahead of us,” I said.

  Shannon put her hand up. “Besides, no offense Kelly, but didn’t Walter come into your shop about a month ago looking for a crystal that would bring him good luck?”

  “Yes,” Kelly said.

  “And look how things turned out for him,” Shannon said. “So much for a good luck charm.”

  “Shannon, there’s something you don’t understand,” Kelly said. “A crystal can only do so much.”

  “Clearly,” Shannon replied. “That’s why I prefer to rely on prayer.”

  “Hey. Why can’t you have both in your life?” I asked.

  “I suppose you’re right,” Shannon said.

  “The way I see it, every little bit helps,” I replied. “And right now, I can use all the help I can get.”

  Kelly reached into her purse and pulled out a small crystal. “In that case, take this.”

  I stared at the crystal. It was dazzling.

  Kelly then continued talking. “I hope you end up having better luck than your father did.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  When I returned to the car, I asked David for an update, but he had no additional information to share with me. While that wasn’t entirely surprising, it certainly was not what I wanted to hear.

  In the middle of a case, I didn’t care where the next break came from. I just wanted justice to be served, by any means necessary.

  Right then, I was open to all ideas.

  David, meanwhile, focused his attention on his double espresso. While he waited for the jolt of caffeine from his drink to kick in, I thought about where to take the investigation next.

  One safe bet was to assign a deputy to keep tabs on each of the suspects. There was always a chance that one of them would slip up. If they did, David and I would be ready to seize whatever opportunity came our way.

  Once deputies had been dispatched, David and I had a decision to make. Namely, what to do with our time. The obvious choice was to head over to the police station. If we poured over the case file again, perhaps we would dig up a new lead. Then again, maybe we would spot something that we had missed earlier.

  As David cracked open the case file, I opened up my laptop and did some internet searches. I wanted to see if any of the suspects had posted new material to their social media accounts. Then again, if they had gone quiet, that could be rather telling as well. Changes in posting patterns were always something to look out for. It was also worth my time to dig into
the post history of each of the suspects. Not just as a mirror to the past, but also to determine if any of them had recently deleted some of their old content.

  Even though I started out my search with a lot of optimism, after a few hours of digging around on the internet, I had nothing to show for my efforts.

  Unfortunately, David didn’t fare any better than I did. Despite going over the case file a number of times, nothing new jumped out at him.

  At that point, my husband and I tried to take a different approach. We made an attempt to spitball ideas. It didn’t matter how strange they were. Or how random they were at first glance. The goal was to think outside the box. Sometimes a little creative thinking worked wonders.

  I wish I could tell you that our spitballing session produced the results we were looking for. That just wasn’t the case, though. Instead, it felt like it just wasn’t our morning.

  By the time the lunch hour rolled around, David and I were no closer to finding answers. I felt like I had spent the entire day running in place. It was so discouraging to expend a great deal of energy and yield zero results.

  With each minute that ticked by, my frustration mounted. Finally, I reached a point where I couldn’t sit at a desk any longer waiting for inspiration to strike. I had to take a breather.

  It was amazing what a difference a little fresh air could make. Being outside really cleared my head. It also made me realize how hungry I was. That wasn’t exactly surprising, considering that it was one o’clock in the afternoon. My stomach had every right to rumble.

  Suddenly, my thoughts turned away from the case. I began to ask myself, what was I going to eat for lunch? David and I could always order delivery, but I felt like heading out to a restaurant would be a better idea.

  When David suggested that we drive over to Shannon’s Sandwich Shop, I put up no argument. Instead, I started daydreaming about the bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado sandwich that I was going to order.

  In a strange twist of fate, it was at that exact moment that David got a call on his police radio that would change the complexion of this case dramatically.