by Rosie Sams
“Was anyone else here with you while you were working on the dresses?”
“Yes, Yolanda was working in the office. Tricia was here, too, but she left. She’s so sweet. She’s been really upset with us over the McGrath dress, but she made me a pot of fresh coffee before she left. She wanted to make sure I had the energy to catch up on the dress.”
“Did you take anything besides coffee to stay awake?”
“No! I do not take drugs. I just drink coffee.” Lollie sounded mildly offended.
“I see. Do you know how the blood got on your hands?”
Lollie shook her head. She suddenly looked terrified. “Sheriff, I didn’t kill Yolanda. One of your officers asked me if I did. I don’t know how the blood got on my hands, but I know I wouldn’t have killed her.” Her eyes rolled in her head. Melody could see she was fighting to stay awake. Alvin ordered the EMS to take her to the hospital, then turned to Wilbur.
“Send some officers with Lollie to the hospital. I want her kept in custody. If they release her, have them bring her to the station. She’s our prime suspect for now.”
Lollie overheard him and began to protest. “No! Sheriff, please don’t take me! I have to finish the McGrath dress!” Alvin motioned to the EMS to take her away.
“Sheriff Hennessey, the coroner is here,” a rookie said. Alvin acknowledged he heard him with a nod but turned back to Melody.
“There’s something that’s bothering me,” he said. “Lollie said that Tricia left the building, and it was just her and Yolanda here.”
“Right.”
“That means either she did kill Yolanda, and she’s in shock, or Tricia never left.”
“Or someone else came in after Lollie passed out,” Melody said.
“Right.” Alvin lifted his eyes to an officer on a ladder near the front door. He was attempting to deactivate the door chime. “We need to talk to Lollie again. She had to have heard that chime when Tricia left.”
“If she did, in fact, leave.”
“By any chance is Tricia a tall blonde woman with glasses?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“It would appear that Davis successfully deactivated the door chime. She just walked in.”
“What’s going on here?” Tricia Dearborn asked. Her eyes scanned the room, which was crawling with investigators and technicians. Panic only set in, however, when she laid her eyes on the bagged and tagged McGrath dress. That’s when she let out a blood-curdling scream!
Chapter Two Hundred Nine
“What happened here? Why is Lollie being taken away on a gurney?” Tricia Dearborn sounded as exasperated as she looked.
Melody thought this might be a good time to make introductions and bring Tricia up to speed. Smudge stood close to Melody, growling low at the sight of the anguished woman.
“Sheriff Hennessey, this is Tricia Dearborn. She is the deceased’s assistant,” Melody said.
“Deceased?” The word hadn’t really registered in Tricia’s mind, yet. “And why is Sophia McGrath’s dress in a bag…” Suddenly, she put two and two together. “No, no, no! You cannot take that dress!” Then, she glared at Melody. “This is all your fault!”
“Now, hang on, Ms. Dearborn,” Alvin said as he stepped in front of Melody protectively. So did Smudge. “None of this is Melody’s fault. In fact, we’re going to need to ensure it wasn’t yours, either.”
“Mine? Why would any of this be my fault? I tried to get Yolanda to do the right thing, but she just refused!”
“When was the last time you saw Yolanda?”
“Last night, when she was working in the office. We were angry with each other over the fact that she kept switching the alteration jobs around, including putting the Marshall dress before the McGrath dress.” She raked her fingers through her hair as she came to a terrible realization. “Sophia McGrath is going to lose her mind when I tell her that her dress is now evidence in a criminal investigation.”
“What happened after you left the office?” Alvin asked.
“I made a pot of coffee for Lollie. I convinced her to stay late and work on the McGrath dress, so I didn’t have to explain another delay to the woman. After that, I left.”
“Was Lollie… did she appear alert, normal, in full control of her senses when you left?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Can anyone corroborate where you went after you left the boutique?”
“Yes, my husband. I left here and went straight home. I really need to call clients and cancel their appointments. I don’t even know what I’m going to say to Sophia.”
Alvin exchanged glances with Melody then said, “All right. Go on and cancel the appointments. Then go straight home and wait for us to call. We’re going to have more questions for you. Don’t leave town.”
Alvin pulled Melody aside. “So, if she’s telling the truth, we’re back to Lollie being alone with Yolanda.”
“I just don’t see how Lollie could have killed Yolanda in her physical state,” she said.
“I need to catch up with the coroner. Why don’t you get your things together, and you and Smudge can meet me outside? We’ll head over to the station as soon as I’m done here.” He offered Melody a quick peck, but she stole two more before leading Smudge outside.
A few hours later, Melody, Alvin, and Wilbur sat in Alvin’s office at the sheriff’s station eating take out while they updated each other on the case. Smudge played with a toy under Alvin’s desk. He always kept a few small items for her at his office to keep her entertained when she visited.
"So, according to the coroner’s initial findings, the victim had been dead for several hours,” Alvin said. “He confirmed that the murder most likely happened last night rather than this morning. Whether Lollie is the killer, or not, still remains to be seen."
Lollie had been brought back to the station and now sat in an interrogation room waiting for Alvin. She'd been thoroughly examined at the hospital but found to be without injury. However, her lab reports were still pending.
As Alvin entered the interrogation room, Melody watched and listened via a monitoring device in Alvin's office.
"Sheriff, I didn't kill Yolanda. I swear to you." Lollie buried her face in her now clean hands. Once the blood had been swabbed as evidence, she was permitted to clean them.
Alvin repeated all the questions he asked her at the boutique to see if her story remained consistent. It did.
“You said Tricia brought you coffee, but then left right after. Did you hear that door chime go off when she left?”
Lollie nodded. “Yes, of course. It always goes off when someone comes and goes, but she didn’t bring me a cup of coffee.”
“Earlier, you said she made you some coffee. Do you remember that?” Alvin reminded her, but Lollie shook her head.
“No, she made a pot of coffee, then left. Yolanda brought me a cup a little while after Tricia left. In fact, that was the last time I saw her. After she brought me the coffee, she went back into her office.”
Back in Alvin’s office, Melody listened carefully to the interview. Something wasn’t adding up. Lollie was still the prime suspect, but to Melody, she just didn’t fit the bill.
"Hey, is the sheriff around?" An officer Melody didn't recognize asked as he entered Alvin's office. He set a box down on the desk.
"He's interviewing Lollie Webber at the moment." Melody pointed at the monitor.
"Right, well, this box contains the contents from her sewing cart. Can you let the sheriff know it's here?"
"Isn't that breaking the chain of custody?"
"No, it's all sealed, and the sheriff requested it. Are you a new detective?" he asked her. As she was about to answer, Wilbur walked into the office and signed for the evidence. The officer left with a huff.
"Rookie," Melody muttered under her breath.
Wilbur laughed as he started to go through the evidence. Smudge jumped up on a chair close to the desk and sniffed the plastic bags. Each contained an
individual item.
Casually, her nose went from bag to bag until it reached one in particular. That one, she sniffed furiously and nudged the bag with her nose while barking at Wilbur.
As Alvin left the interrogation room, he stared at them curiously. "She's sticking to her story, but what's going on in here?"
"Smudge is onto something." Melody pointed at the seamstress’s plastic-clad coffee cup. Alvin took the cup and lifted the bag closer to his face. Without opening the bag, he rotated the cup around examining its outer surface, then examined the inner one. His brows knitted as he spotted something unusual.
“Hmm, I think we better get this tested. There’s residue in there. Smudge may have just saved Lollie Webber from a jail cell."
Wilbur took the cup, leaving them to discuss Lollie privately.
"Tell me what else you know about these women, Mel. Had you seen anything unusual when you were there for fittings?"
"Well, Yolanda and Lollie seemed fine together, but they seemed to have some tension with Tricia, the assistant. From what I could tell, it stemmed from this client, Sophia McGrath. She is such a bridezilla that she came into the bakery to accuse me of taking the bridal staff's attention off of her dress by distracting them with mine. She also threatened me if I didn’t get out of her way."
"She threatened you?”
“Yes, but I don’t think it was a serious threat. I think she just wants all the attention.”
“Wilbur’s arranging for her to come down to the station for questioning. Why do you think Yolanda and Lollie had tension with Tricia?"
"Yolanda told Lollie to move dress alterations ahead of Sophia's. Tricia was against it. It's probably why she blames me for everything." Melody's eyes drifted away from Alvin's.
"A murdered shopkeeper is not your fault." Then, he teased her as he took her hands in his. "Or do I need to lock you up and interrogate you, too?" He searched her eyes, forcing her to look at him again. She couldn't help but smile as she got lost in the warmth of his deep brown eyes.
"Listen, I don't think Lollie did it. It doesn't make sense that she would kill Yolanda and then go take a nap."
"Sheriff, we got something." Wilbur handed a stack of reports to him, then explained the findings. "The crime scene unit was able to do a quick test on the cup. It tested positive for a sleeping draught, in other words, crushed up sleeping pills."
"Well, that makes sense. It explains why Lollie was so out of it," Alvin rationalized.
“Yes, the lab report also shows Lollie had zolpidem in her system. Lots of it.” Wilbur confirmed. “The blood on her hands and the wedding dress are also matches to Yolanda’s.”
"Tricia Dearborn said that she convinced Lollie to work through the night, and she made her a pot of coffee to help get her through it," Melody reminded them.
“Yes, but Lollie just told me that Tricia didn’t give her an actual cup of coffee, but Yolanda did,” Alvin said. “Hey, Wilbur – check with the teams and see if they found any sleeping pill bottles around the boutique. Also, check if any of the women had a prescription for them.” Smudge barked happily. Alvin scooped her up into his arms. “Good work, Smudge!” He gave her a squeeze before setting her back down.
Melody winked to Smudge. “Some pup will be getting extra butter cookies tonight.”
“Let’s go take a ride over to Tricia Dearborn’s place. Maybe she knows something about the sleeping pills, too. We might be able to get some information faster than Wilbur.”
“Tricia is not a fan of Smudge. I’m not happy about it, but can I leave Smudge here with Wilbur?”
“Yep,” Alvin said. “Wilbur needs all the help he can get.” Alvin grinned.
Chapter Two Hundred Ten
“I’m just as surprised as you, Sheriff,” Tricia said as they sat together in the living room of her apartment. “Lollie has always been such a gentle and kind person. It’s hard to believe she’s involved at all, but if that’s what the evidence shows ...” Her voice trailed off as she brought a cup of tea to her lips.
Melody stared at her own teacup suspiciously. She chose not to drink from it - just in case.
“Each time I was in the boutique for a fitting, I witnessed bad blood between you, Lollie, and Yolanda. Can you explain the strain in your relationship?” Melody asked, hoping Tricia would reveal something useful.
Tricia scoffed as she set the teacup down. “Ms. Marshall, the only bad blood between us was due to Yolanda’s poor management. As I said before, she kept switching the alteration schedules. It was causing a lot of friction between us because it was also creating stress for our brides, especially Sophia McGrath.” She paused a moment as if she was considering how best to express her next thought. “I’ll try to be somewhat delicate here…”
More like condescending, Melody thought.
“…I know it may be hard for you to understand since your dress was pushed ahead of the others, but Sophia McGrath didn’t deserve to have her money taken, and her project delayed again and again.” Tricia smiled smugly.
Alvin, knowing his fiancée all too well, placed a hand on hers in an attempt to keep her fiery red-headed temper at bay.
“You appear to be directing your frustration with your boss’s business choices at me,” Melody said with an eerily calm voice.
“Oh, boy,” Alvin said under his breath.
“It’s that kind of redirection that makes me wonder if you decided to take matters into your own hands by crushing up sleeping pills in Lollie’s coffee, then murdering Yolanda. With Lollie drugged, you could have easily re-entered the shop, had words with Yolanda, and then killed her.”
Alvin took his hand away from Melody’s, realizing that his calming technique was useless.
Tricia shook her head vigorously, denying Melody’s accusations.
“Drugging Lollie? That’s outlandish!” She was furious, raising her voice and shifting her body to the edge of her seat. “Why would I drug Lollie? She’s the one person I needed to get the McGrath dress finished on time, which was our biggest bone of contention with Yolanda.” Tricia set her cup down hard on the table. “Look, I don’t know what to tell you two. I didn’t drug Lollie, and I didn’t kill Yolanda. She was my friend! We started the business together!”
“I thought you were just her assistant. Did you own part of the business?” Alvin asked.
“No, but I’ve been with Yolanda since she started it. We were always friends. The plan was that Yolanda would let me buy into the business if I proved I could contribute to its success by driving more sales. Sophia McGrath was my client. She was perfect because she had money to burn on this elaborate dress. She paid any price we named. But from the moment we started taking her money, Yolanda made all of these bad decisions, it’s not like her, it seemed personal against Sophia.” Tricia inhaled deeply as she sat back in her chair. She crossed her arms over her chest defensively.
It was clear to Melody that the assistant was trying to control her anger.
“Tell us what you consider to be bad decisions on Yolanda’s part,” Alvin asked. “You mentioned the schedule changes. What else did she do?”
Tricia threw up her hands. “The list is a long one. She agreed to take Sophia’s money, told her she was going to treat her like a queen, and the moment Ms. Marshall came in and purchased a dress far less expensive, Yolanda immediately put Sophia to the bottom of the list and turned her full attention toward Ms. Marshall.” Lifting her head, she posed a question to Melody and Alvin. “Why would she jeopardize the McGrath account over Melody’s cheap dress? Ms. McGrath already threatened to walk several times as it was.”
Melody’s skin flushed.
“Enough about Melody’s dress. I’m sure the dress is stunning, and every client deserves to be treated with respect regardless of the size of their wallet,” Alvin said.
Melody squeezed his hand tightly with her left hand.
Tricia’s eyes widened as she glanced down, noticing their shared touch with Melody’s engagement ri
ng prominently on display. Melody could tell the assistant finally realized why Alvin may have been tired of hearing about Melody’s dress.
“But that’s not the whole story,” Tricia said. “For reasons unbeknownst to me, Yolanda was quite vicious toward Ms. McGrath. Yolanda would constantly insult Sophia to us on a very personal level. She commented on how Sophia looked terrible in the dress. She also commented on Sophia’s family, and even her fiancé, calling him names and saying how dumb he is for marrying her.”
“Did Yolanda know Sophia on a personal level?” Alvin asked.
“Not that I know of, but I’m sure that’s an excellent question for Ms. McGrath.”
“I think we’re done here for now. Don’t leave town until the investigation concludes. Good day, Ms. Dearborn.” Alvin stood and helped Melody to her feet.
As they left the Dearborn apartment, Melody said, “I hate blaming the victim, but I think we need to take a deeper look at why Yolanda had it in for Sophia McGrath. We’re missing something.”
“Agreed, let’s check out Yolanda’s office again. Maybe we were too focused on the business when we should be looking at her personal life, too.”
Chapter Two Hundred Eleven
Back at the bridal shop, Melody and Alvin looked through Yolanda’s files in her small office. Smudge sniffed about the office, then roamed through the rest of the shop exploring.
“I can’t find anything in these files that would indicate why Yolanda would have a personal vendetta against Sophia McGrath,” Melody said.
“Did she have a personal calendar - maybe one that Tricia Dearborn wouldn’t have known about?”
Melody shrugged. “I feel like the answer is right in front of us, but we keep missing it,” she said, as she flipped through loose papers on Yolanda’s desk until one caught her eye.
“Hey, Al, check this out.” She passed it over to him.
