by Woods, Lori
“Is she?” Molly asked, not needing to finish her sentence. She looked away from Rita, her already red hair a bit darker from the bloody mess.
“She’s dead,” Jeffrey said. “And from the looks of things, this was no accident. Rita was murdered.”
Chapter 4
The large crowd was a bit difficult to control. People were getting a little riled up, and some nosier ones were attempting to push past the crowd to try to get a glimpse of the crime scene. Jeffrey was the only cop present at the event, and he was on the phone with the station requesting backup and informing them to send a crime scene unit. Molly could tell he was getting highly frustrated with the antsy crowd standing around the tent while he was trying to talk to the station on the phone. “Back up!” Jeffrey would shout on occasion.
Molly attempted to intervene and give him a hand, but no one was really listening to her as the crowd had gotten a bit rowdy come this time. “Hey! You heard him! Back up!” Molly said; she knew Jeffrey was concerned that the crime scene was going to be tampered with. A few people listened to her, but even those who were listening were now having a hard time stepping back due to the number of people who had decided to crowd around the tent.
A rather unexpected face arrived to the rescue. Jack, of all people, was soon standing next to Molly. Jack had one of those loud, commanding voices that was a bit frightening when he raised it. “All right! Everyone, listen up!” he shrieked, and people instinctually stopped murmuring and trying to move forward. “We have an active crime scene here, and you all are about to traipse all over it! I’m Officer Jack, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have, but right now I need you all to step back. Right now! I’m not joking!” He shot a filthy look in a few people’s direction, and the crowd finally started to move as one away from Rita’s tent.
“Yeah, thanks, Chief,” Molly could hear Jeffrey saying as he stepped out of the tent. He nodded approvingly in Jack’s direction. “Thanks for that,” Jeffrey muttered after he hung up with the station.
Jack grunted a bit. “Look, man,” he said in a tone that suggested what he was saying he was saying half-heartedly. “Things got a little heated earlier. I shouldn’t have swung on you like that. Until your crime scene unit gets here, I’ll hang around and help you keep the nosey onlookers back.”
“I appreciate that,” Jeffrey said, somewhat reluctantly.
It didn’t take long before Jack was using this hint of permission from Jeffrey to start overstepping his bounds. He started looking around the crime scene as though this was somehow his case. “Jack!” Molly snapped when the man stepped into the tent. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re tampering with the crime scene!”
“Seriously, Moll?” Jack snapped at her. “You think I’m some rookie cop or something? Your old man called me his prodigy, remember?”
“Oh, shut up,” Molly snarled. “This isn’t your crime scene.”
“Molly’s right, Jack,” Jeffrey said. “I’m going to have to ask you to exit the tent.”
“Look,” Jack said, pointing a finger in both of their directions. “I know this isn’t my city, but I guarantee I’ve seen more crime scenes than you, pretty boy.”
Jeffrey puffed up, but thankfully, before things could get carried away between the two of them, the chief and the crime scene unit arrived. Chief Ragsdayle was a friendly enough gentleman; he usually didn’t mind Molly helping Jeffrey out on occasion after her proven track records, but when he spotted Jack walking around, he puffed up. “Get away from the crime scene!” he demanded.
“Thanks, Chief,” Jeffrey said.
“What are you doing letting some civilian walk all over the crime scene?” the chief hissed at Jeffrey.
“Believe me, I wasn’t letting him. He’s an Atlanta detective who thinks he has some sort of authority here,” Jeffrey said bitterly.
Jack puffed up, stepping out of the tent. He then smiled at the chief. “My apologies, sir. Was only trying to offer my assistance. Your officer here was having a hard time by himself controlling the crowd.”
“Well, we appreciate your help, but now you can take a hike,” Chief Ragsdayle said, and suddenly Molly was liking the man even more than she had.
But, it didn’t last. As usual, Jack knew how to work people. The next thing Molly knew, Jack and the chief were chitchatting while the crime scene unit took over. Jack was very in with various Georgia cops who were high up on the food chain, so of course Ragsdayle knew a number of names Jack was dropping in conversation. Then, Molly heard Jack say, “I’ll be in town for a while. I, of course, don’t want to overstep my bounds, but I’d be happy to look into things while I’m here.”
Jack had gotten to him. The man had a way with seemingly hypnotizing people with his confidence. “Well, I sure do appreciate the offer,” the chief said, much friendlier. “I don’t see what harm it would do.”
Molly groaned, as did Jeffrey. The two of them stepped aside for a moment. “Did he seriously just weasel his way into being allowed to look into this case? He’s from Atlanta. This is way out of his jurisdiction,” Jeffrey griped.
“That’s Jack for you,” Molly said. “Look, I am not about to let Jack come stomping into town, trying to make a show of himself. You need help on this case?”
“I’d love some if it’s from you,” Jeffrey said with a wink.
“Good. Because you and I are going to solve this thing before Jack does.”
Chapter 5
Molly was relieved that Jack seemed to have become a bit distracted with talking himself up to the chief. This allowed time for Jeffrey and Molly to dip into the tent with the crime scene unit to take a look around. Molly and Jeffrey went over to the body first, knowing that as soon as the coroner was there, it would be taken away for the forensic pathologist to determine the cause of death. Though, from the looks of things, the cause of death seemed pretty obvious.
“She was hit in the back of the head,” Molly said, judging this mostly off the pool of blood.
“Try again,” Jeffrey said, pointing up at the table next to where she was lying. There was a bit of blood on the table, and some of the commemorative plates had fallen from their displays.
Molly stood up, examining the bit of blood on the table, and then looking back down at the body. One of the photographers from the crime scene unit snapped a picture of blood splatter at the table. “She was pushed by someone and fell back and hit her head,” Molly said. She knelt back down beside Rita, surprised she had the stomach for this sort of thing. Obviously she wasn’t permitted to touch the body to examine it more closely, but she could tell there was only the single injury to the back of her head, as Rita’s head was turned slightly to the side. It didn’t seem like anyone had repeatedly bashed her head into the table or anything like that, so Molly felt she could assume that, while the assault had been intentional, Rita’s death might not have been.
“Look at her knuckles,” Jeffrey said, and Molly did.
Her knuckles were slightly split open and bloody. “Whoever went after Rita, she fought back hard. I’m a little impressed,” Molly said. “Whoever she went after, I’m sure, is walking away with some injuries themselves.”
“Take a look at this, Jeffrey,” the photographer said, turning Rita’s bloodier right hand open to show him her palm. The photographer snapped another picture.
There was a clear, thick gash across her palm. “Ouch,” Molly said, gripping her own hand.
“Looks like Rita had some sort of weapon,” Jeffrey said. “Glass maybe?”
“Or china,” Molly said, glancing around the tent. She spotted a few broken plates here and there, evidence of a clear struggle between Rita and her attacker. Amongst the debris, and not too far off from Rita’s body, she spied a bloody piece of a shattered plate. “Bingo,” she said, pointing Jeffrey in the right direction. The crime scene photographer took several pictures, and the woman nodded approvingly as she examined her shot.
Jeffrey had them bag up th
e broken shard for evidence. Based off the amount of blood on the thing, he suspected that it might also contain blood from the assailant — clearly Rita had used it in self-defense. “When we spoke to Rita earlier today, she did seem pretty feisty,” Molly said. “I guarantee her attacker has got some serious injuries.”
“If she was using that bit of plate violently enough to cut her hand up the way it did, I don’t doubt it,” Jeffrey said. “Hold up, careful. I think I spy a footprint… maybe…”
“I wouldn’t be too confident in footprints,” the photographer said as she took a picture. “I checked out her register, and the woman has had a lot of traffic in and out of this tent today. There’s probably fifty different footprints in the grass around here.”
“Good point,” Jeffrey said. “Take the picture anyway, though. You never know what might come in handy.”
The woman did as she was told, and once Jeffrey had finished examining the body, they covered Rita up in anticipation for the coroner. Molly followed Jeffrey out of the tent, where Jack was still chatting it up with the chief. Molly was a little disappointed in Chief Ragsdayle. Of all people, she never would have guessed the chief would fall for Jack’s fake charm. She watched the two of them enter into the tent together to examine the crime scene, and it made her a little sick to her stomach. “Honestly,” she griped, sticking close to Jeffrey.
“What are your initial thoughts?” Jeffrey asked her.
“She fought back pretty hard,” Molly said. “And other than her head injury and the cut on her hand, I didn’t notice any serious injuries herself, but I didn’t look under her clothes. That’s for the forensic team to deal with. All I mean to say is that I think the fight was over and done with pretty quickly. I mean, if it had gone on too long, a lot more of those plates would have gotten broken. There were only maybe three shattered, including the one Rita used as a weapon. And only a few more had fallen from their displays onto the lower tables. So I think we would have a lot of witnesses coming forward if it had lasted longer than a couple of minutes.”
“She is pretty close to those other vendors,” Jeffrey said, nodding at the tents on either side of Rita’s. “I’m going to interview those vendors and find out if they saw anything.”
“I should probably get back to Bonnie and Braxton. They’re probably wondering what in the world is going on,” Molly said. “I imagine the event is going to be shut down, so they’re going to need help with closing up shop. So, we’ll probably need to catch up later.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jeffrey said, grimacing when he heard Jack and the chief laughing a bit together. “Your ex-boyfriend is a creep.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Molly said, and she wished him luck with his interviews before hurrying across the park towards her ice cream truck. Surprisingly, there was still a bit of a line wrapped around the truck. People were bobbing for apples, chewing on caramel apples at the small tables, and, of course, everyone was eagerly trying out ice cream flavors. It looked as though the last of the teacher gift baskets had been given out as well.
“What’s going on?” Braxton broke away from his sister, who was helping the customers in line.
“Someone was killed,” Molly said under her breath. “Pretty sure they’re going to close up shop early today.”
As if on cue, an announcer came over the speakers up by the stage, stating that vendors needed to start packing up. The last performers on stage would continue playing music as everyone began closing up shop. Molly, Bonnie, and Braxton worked to help the last of the customers who were in line wanting ice cream, and once everyone had been served, they worked quickly to load up the tables and chairs into the back of the ice cream truck.
Bonnie looked a bit nervous. “Braxton said you told him someone was killed?” she asked.
“Yes. A woman named Rita running a collectible plates booth,” Molly said. “Do you know her?”
“Can’t say that I do,” Bonnie said. “Are you going to be helping out with the case again? I know Jeffrey likes having you as backup.”
“Yes,” Molly said. “This time is a little different, though.”
“Different how?” Bonnie asked.
Molly rolled her eyes. “My ex has cozied up to the chief. Now he’s been given permission to look into things while he’s in town.”
“Oh, I get it,” Bonnie said. “You want to solve the case before your ex-boyfriend does.”
“Is that childish of me?” Molly asked. “He was acting like a real creep, and he even punched Jeffrey in the jaw. I just want to show him that he’s not as big of a hotshot as he thinks he is.”
“I don’t think it’s childish,” Bonnie said, climbing into the passenger’s seat of the ice cream truck. Molly got in the driver’s seat, and Braxton sat in the back with the ice cream.
“You don’t?” Molly questioned.
“I mean, you’ve mentioned this Jack guy a couple of times before, and if he’s anything like you’ve said, it sounds like a little kick to his ego is just what he needs,” Bonnie said confidently. “So that means you’ve got Braxton and I on the case with you. Anything we can do to help one-up Jack.”
Molly grinned. “What would I do without you two?”
Chapter 6
Molly had just finished cleaning up the counters by the ice cream when she realized that Whip and Dazzle had been missing for more than just a few minutes. They had been in and out of the kitchen a bit more than usual that day, and for a split-second she thought that maybe they were avoiding work. It didn’t really seem like them, but at the end of the day, the two of them were teenagers. She poked her head into the back, where she spied Whip and Dazzle standing over the counter.
“Ah! It’s not working!” Dazzle groaned. “The caramel just slides right off them!”
“It seemed like such a simple idea,” Whip said.
“What are you two doing?” Molly asked from the doorway.
Whip and Dazzle both jumped back in surprise, and Molly was able to see the strange creation they were working on. The idea itself was good. They had taken a miniature ice cream scooper and used it on apples to make small, bite-sized apple pieces. They had then stuck the bite-sized apple pieces on sticks and dipped them into caramel; however, the caramel was not sticking to the apple bits because of the texture of the interior of the apple. “Somebody tell me what I’m looking at,” Molly said.
Dazzle sighed. “It was supposed to be a new idea. Caramel apple pops. We noticed at the event that a lot of people passed up on the caramel apples because they just didn’t want something that big, but we thought if we could sell small caramel apple pops like this, we would be able to sell a lot more of them. Small, quick bites. But the caramel won’t stick to the pieces of apple the way it would to a whole apple.”
“I got to say the concept is solid,” Molly said. “I’m actually very impressed with the idea.”
“Yeah, but it didn’t work,” Whip said. “We were trying to…” He looked awfully embarrassed.
Molly crossed her arms. “Okay, what’s going on, you two?”
Dazzle looked a bit flushed. She crossed her arms and avoided eye contact with Molly. “Bonnie and Braxton always have these awesome ideas for the shop. Braxton makes all your shop’s posters and advertising. Bonnie does your social media pages. You’ve even used Bonnie’s carrot cake recipe in the shop before. We just wanted to be helpful. But our first idea was a major flop and all we’ve done is waste your caramel.”
Molly laughed. “Do you two think everything just happens around here? Bonnie and I went through several recipes for her carrot cake before it made its way onto my specials board. And you should have seen my lemon bar disasters over the summer. You got a good idea here. Carmel apple pops. And you’re right about the full-sized caramel apples — it’s a lot. Having a nice, bite-sized version of that would be awesome. You just have to think a little outside the box. Assess the situation and see if you can find a way to make it work.”
“
Maybe if we kept it in the freezer for a while?” Dazzle suggested.
“That’s not going to make the caramel stick to the apple,” Whip said.
“Why not?” Dazzle asked.
“I think you two will be able to figure something out. Just don’t give up, okay?” Molly said. “And you guys are great. There is no reason for you two to try to compete with Bonnie and Braxton.”
“Yeah, because it’s no competition,” Whip muttered.
“Why would you say that?” Molly asked. “You guys are incredible. Everyone has their talents. I mean, I would probably break my neck trying some of the stuff I’ve seen you two do on stage.”
“Thanks,” Dazzle said. “We just really appreciate you giving us this job and working with us so well on hours so that we can pursue our dancing. So we just want to return the favor by working really hard here at the shop. Not a lot of people want to hire high school dropouts, you know?”
“You two are wise beyond your years,” Molly said. “And it’s not like you don’t have GEDs. You are two dedicated individuals, and anyone who doesn’t see that is blind. And I love the caramel apple pop idea. You’ll figure out a way to make it work. Now, I’m about to go back to the front of the shop. We seem to have left it completely unattended.” Molly winked in their direction before slipping back out. She saw from the corner of her eye a figure standing near the front of the shop, observing Whammy’s empty cage — Molly had just let Whammy out a little while ago, and the bird was flying around up near the ceiling. “Sorry about that!” she called. “Hope you weren’t waiting too long.”
“Nope. Just got here,” the man said, and he turned around. It was Jack.
Molly frowned. “Jack, what are you doing here?”
“I came to check out your shop,” he said. “And I got to say, Moll, you really turned up the heat. The place looks great.”
