Marshmallows and Murder

by Christy Murphy

  I spotted Austin on the sidewalk. I waved. He waved back, and then he called out to the pretzel guy.

  "Ryan, you're supposed to be packing up."

  "But they wanted to buy some pretzels," he said. "And I'd just have to throw them out."

  "I'll take another," Jerri said.

  "Me, too!" Lacey chimed in. The other ladies ordered more pretzels to show that they were in demand.

  "We should get a discount if he's going to throw them out soon," Wenling said.

  I was sad I didn't have room for a pretzel after the sandwich at Al's house. They looked good.

  "You've got ten minutes to wrap up," Austin said. "We'll need your help breaking down the big stuff."

  Lacey handed Mom a pretzel, and the group quieted down to allow Mom's interrogation to begin.

  "Were you working yesterday morning when your boss was found dead in the diner?" Mom asked.

  "Sure was," Ryan said, doling out another pretzel to one of the ladies.

  "Did you see anybody go in through the back door?" Mom asked.

  "No," he said. "But it was hard to see back there from here with all that trash stacked up."

  "What trash?" Mom asked, looking over at the dumpster. There wasn't any trash stacked up there.

  "It's gone now," he said.

  "Let's go over, and you tell me where it was," Mom said.

  "I've got to wrap up all these pretzels, count out my drawer, and take down the signage."

  "We'll take care of it," Jerri said, motioning to the other women.

  Within seconds, Jerri had the cling film out, and Lacey had grabbed the till from the register. "How much is the bank?" she asked.

  "One fifty," Ryan said. "There should be about twenty-some-odd dollars' profit from the pretzels you ladies just bought," he said, handing her his clipboard.

  "We'll take care of it," Rebecca, another one of the reader's, said. The rest of the Nancy Drew Crew started packing and folding the signs.

  Mom, Wenling, Ryan, and I walked closer to the diner. Police tape blocked off the back entrance and alleyway, but we could see the dumpster from where we were.

  "I couldn't see anything, because of the garbage piled next to the dumpster," Ryan said.

  "Where exactly?" Mom asked.

  "Stacked up against the side of it, close to the middle. But I guess they took away the trash," he said.

  "Was the dumpster open or closed?" Mom asked.

  The guy shrugged.

  "What kind of trash?" Mom asked.

  "I don't know," he said. "It was just trash in bags and some junk."

  "What kind of junk?" Mom asked.

  "I don't know, ma'am. I was all the way over there. It was just trash, but it was stacked there, and I was standing at the stand over there, so I couldn't really see anything happening. Then the ambulance and the police came and closed the whole street down. I didn't even have time to pack up my stuff, because I ran out front to see the commotion and couldn't get back to my booth. Birds came and ate all the pretzels. It was a real mess."

  "I wish we could lift the lid and see if any of that stuff that was stacked is now in the dumpster," Wenling said.

  "But we're not supposed to cross the police tape," I warned.

  "I can use the corner of my skirt to lift the lid so I won't leave fingerprints," Wenling said as she started to duck under the tape. Mom smiled and started to duck, too.

  "No you don't," DC's voice said from behind us.

  Ryan held his hands up. "I wasn't going to cross it. The ladies just wanted me to tell them about the garbage." He backed away and returned to his booth.

  "I've got to ask him a few more questions," Mom said to DC.

  "Me, too," Wenling said, and they both left before they could get in trouble.

  DC turned to me.

  "I wouldn't have let them cross the tape," I said.

  "You're not good at reining them in."

  "It's two against one," I said in my defense.

  "I was going to see you at the Lucky Dragon, but as I was leaving, I saw you coming this way. Didn't you hear me calling your name?"

  "No," I said.

  "Are you avoiding me?"

  "I just didn't hear you. The workers tearing down the Ferris wheel were making so much racket."

  "Jennifer said her mom told you to watch the news the day of the accident."

  Not knowing what to say, I found myself just nodding yes. Was he going to let me down gently about the wife thing?

  "The reporter made me nervous," he said.

  I wasn't sure what he meant by that. "How so?"

  "You probably couldn't tell while watching, but beforehand she was kind of hitting on me, and I didn't like it."

  I didn't like it either, but I said nothing.

  "I guess I wanted to let her know I was taken without making her feel bad," he paused. "It didn't seem right to say you were my girlfriend, because I wanted her to know it was more serious than that, but then later that night—

  He paused. His face contorted into a look of frustration and confusion or something I couldn't read.

  I was glad he didn't like the reporter flirting with him and that he thought of us as serious, but I didn't understand the look on his face. He seemed really upset.

  "What's wrong?" I asked. "Whatever it is, it's okay."

  "It's not," DC said. "Things were going so perfect. We were back on track. And now…"

  He stopped himself again.

  I did not like the sudden turn in the conversation. The idea that he was using the past tense regarding things being "on track" and going "so perfect" made my stomach drop.

  "You know I care about you, right?" he said, his voice tender and his eyes shining.

  I knew that look. It was the look of a man who didn't want to break my heart, but was going to. Something major was going down.

  Except, that didn't make any sense. We were better than ever with an exception to one little slip up on the news.

  My brain replayed the bits of the conversation. He mentioned something about later that night when talking about the reporter. Did something happen between them? She was very attractive, and a person had to be good at their job to win a slot on the news.

  Was he going to suggest a break to slow things down?

  I couldn't compete with Miss Thin Young Reporter. My stomach turned. Things had been going so great between us. If only we'd had more time to solidify our relationship.

  Good thing take time like gelatin. Well that isn't necessarily the best thing, but you know something that takes time to harden before it's ready.

  I wondered how long we've been standing here staring at each other. My ability to reason had unwound itself in my neurotic worry.

  This all had to be in my head. I told myself to look around and see how everything was totally normal. And if everything was normal, then all the crazy thoughts were in my head.

  Except when I looked around, everyone was looking at DC and me. The pretzel guy. Jerri, Lacey, and the other ladies from the San Fernando Mystery Readers group. And especially Mom and Wenling.

  They knew something was up. DC said something, but it didn't register in my brain. "What?" I said as I looked back at him. Our eyes locked, and I swear his eyes shine like he was holding back crying.

  "This is probably not the time for this, but," he paused looking down as he took a step back.

  He couldn't even look at me. Tears swelled in my eyes and my heart broke into a million pieces. In that second I knew DC was the guy for me. Why didn't he realize that? We just needed more time.

  "Listen," he said. "We can take our time. Things don't have to move this fast, but I just need you to know what's in my heart. I can't hide it anymore."

  Confusion.

  Then, he got down on one knee. Right there in the parking lot. This couldn't be happening.

  Everything slowed down. I told myself to be calm. It would be so embarrassing if I assumed something, and it turned out to be something else.r />
  "Christy," he said pulling a small box out of his pocket. "Don't feel rushed or worried. I know how you worry."

  He knew me.

  "Will you marry me?" he asked opening the box with the ring.

  Holy smokes! This wasn't a dream or a test. This was happening!

  Of course I said yes! Sure, I was the kind of person who was stupid enough to think that he was breaking my heart when he was proposing, but I'm not the kind of person stupid enough to say no.

  DC jumped up and slipped the ring on my finger. "You had me worried there for a second," he said.

  "How could you not think I was going to say yes?" I asked.

  "I was such a jerk being so jealous about your ex-husband," he said looking down at the ring. He looked back up at me. "I know this is sudden, but we can have a long engagement."

  "I already said yes," I said, "and a long engagement is perfect." I looked down at the ring and exhaled all of my insecurities and inhaled a breath of happiness. There would time to figure out things in my life, but now I knew for sure that the rest of my life would include Detective DC Cooper. And for once, I was certain that I'd made a great decision.

  "Turn this way!" Mom yelled.

  Mom and all the of the women had their phones out to take a photo. Everyone rushed over to congratulate us.

  Sure, I'd just gotten engaged three yards from a dumpster in a parking lot surrounded by crime tape, but I wanted to remember this moment forever. It was perfect.

  Our perfect moment ended two minutes later when DC got a work call.

  He stepped away from the group of us. I could tell from his facial expression when he came back that he had to leave.

  "Is it about the Wayne Boggs case?" Mom asked him when he came back.

  "You know I can't tell you that," DC said with a smile and then he kissed me on the cheek. "I'll call you tonight."

  I smiled and nodded.

  "What about the time of death?" Mom asked.

  “Was it in the morning or the night before?" Wenling asked.

  DC shook his head and laughed. "I want to see those photos of my future wife and me later." And then he left.

  "Oh my gosh," Mom said. "For a second there I thought you were going to tell him no."

  "Me, too," Rebecca said. A general murmur of agreement came from the rest of the crew.

  "Way to play hard to get," Wenling said.

  "I wasn't playing hard to get, I was just a little stunned," I said. "And before anyone asks, we're going to have a long engagement."

  "Plenty of time to plan a big wedding," Wenling said.

  "I love weddings," Lacey said.

  A few other people chimed in about knowing the perfect photographer, bridal shop, and all kinds of things. A sense of overwhelm descended on me. Could I even afford a wedding?

  "There's plenty of time to think about that later," Mom said. "We have a murder to solve, and an innocent mayor to save."

  "You think the body was stored by the dumpster," Jerri said.

  Mom looked around. "Let's go across the street to The Mocha Muse and talk."

  Everyone knew that Mom wanted to talk out of earshot of the carnival employees. The pretzel vendor seemed to be lingering even though the ladies had packed his entire booth up for him.

  "I could use a mocha," Wenling said.

  And with that, my newly engaged self and the gang headed for the Mocha Muse.

  "Hey Nancy Drew Crew!" Darr said to everyone as we entered the shop. "We have the whole place to ourselves."

  Edna from the adjacent bookstore came over to greet her best customers.

  "Ladies," she said. "I just got a delivery. If you'll be in here in a little bit, I'll have the new releases out right away."

  "That is one handsome driver," Dar said. "I've missed him."

  Edna wasn't exaggerating about the delivery just coming in. I turned to see the driver getting into his brown truck. He was handsome, but not as handsome as DC–my fiancee.

  Then Dar turned back to me and screamed.

  I let out at startled yelp. I thought there was a spider or a bug somewhere with on my arm from the way he was pointing at yelling. But then I realized he'd seen my new engagement ring on my hand.

  "You got engaged. You got engaged!" he said rushing from behind the counter to hug me and get a close up view of the ring.

  "When did this happen? How could you not tell me?" Darwin asked looking slightly offended.

  "It just happened five minutes ago. Right across the street," I said.

  He smiled. "And you came straight here to tell me about it." He went back to looking at the ring and made a face that showed he was impressed. "For such a thrifty man, he has impressed me with this ring."

  I knew nothing about jewelry. He could have put a plastic ring out of gumball machine on my finger, and I would have set yes. But I was glad Dar approved. I looked down at it. It was white gold with a thicker band and a modest diamond.

  I'd once mentioned to DC that since I didn't have dainty hands like Mom that I preferred chunkier jewelry. The tiny stuff always made me feel manly and large, and he remembered that.

  Even though I was married before, I never was engaged. One day when Robert realized he needed health insurance, he said we'd always planned on getting married and so we ran off to Las Vegas.

  I can't believe I settled for that. But I'm older and wiser, and I planned on enjoying being engaged.

  "Dar," Mom said after the ring appraisal had finished. "You haven't been getting deliveries, because the fair was closed, have you?"

  "No one has," he said.

  "And no garbage pick up either?" Mom asked.

  He shook his head no. "I was worried about it filling up after we were so busy on the first day of the fair, but it's been so dead since the whole dead body and Mayor of Murder Town story came out.

  "Of course," Lacey and Jerri said. The rest of the mystery readers echoed their sentiment.

  My mind was so jumbled with my engagement, I didn't put understand. Mom pulled out her cell phone and was looking for something.

  “What?” I asked.

  "The stuff piled by the dumpster wasn't garbage," Wenling said to me. "It was the body."

  "Oh!" I said feeling kind of ridiculous that I hadn't put that together.

  Mom's phone rang. "I was just looking for your phone number to call you, I wanted to ask—" She stopped talking and listened with a concerned and surprised expression.

  "Are you with her?" Mom asked and waited. "At Olive View?"

  Wenling and I exchanged a look. Olive View was the hospital in the neighboring town.

  Mom hung up the phone.

  "Did someone else die?" Wenling asked.

  "Hannah Boggs tried to kill herself," Mom said.

  "The dead guy's wife?" one of the readers asked.

  Mom nodded yes.

  "Was she sad because she killed her husband?" Wenling asked.

  Mom shrugged her shoulders. "Al called her about carnival business, and he said she sounded drunk. But she said something about taking a whole bottle so he called the ambulance. They're taking her to Olive View."

  "We should go there," Wenling said.

  Mom agreed even though I wasn't sure it was such a good idea. Mom turned to Jerri and the other ladies in the San Fernando Readers Group. "Can you guys ask any of the fair workers that come into the shop or you see on the street if they saw Wayne Boggs with anyone the night before the murder?"

  "Of course," Jerri said.

  "But do it casual," Mom added.

  "Absolutely," Lacey said.

  "We've got this," Rebecca confirmed.

  The squeak of the front door of the Mocha Muse snared my attention. One of the ladies in the group had just left. We wall watched through the glass storefront as she chased a fair worker down Main Street. It didn't look very casual.

  "Oh Laverne!" Lacey said.

  Cafeteria and Confessions

  Olive View Hospital was only twenty minutes away. We
didn't even have to get on a freeway.

  Parking was terrible, so I pulled up and dropped Mom and Wenling off at the front while I parked.

  I circled the parking lot hoping to find a spot. A loud honk startled me. Being a terrible driver, I'd assume someone was honking at me.

  I checked my rearview mirror and didn't see anyone behind me. I proceeded to look around hoping I wasn't blocking someone from pulling out. The sound of yelling made me roll down the window of the van. Some dude in a Range Rover was yelling at another car a few rows down.

  Luckily, my pausing to try and find out who was honking, gave the person a few cars in front of me a chance to pull away, and I took the spot. Hallelujah.

  I parked the van, hopped out, and headed to the entrance where I dropped off Mom and Wenling.

  "I'm not driving when I'm upset!" a woman's voice said. "Find another spot!"

  "How long are you going to be?" a man said.

  "Forever!" she shouted.

  I turned. The woman sounded like she was crying.

  The dude in the Range Rover sped off, which was so ridiculous, because he had to stop at a stop sign two yards away.

  I didn't want to stare, but I walked a little closer to catch a side glance and make sure the woman was okay. Just to be safe, and that's when I recognized her. It was the young woman from the cotton candy booth.

  I racked my brain for her name.

  At that exact moment she looked up and saw me. "You're the one from the fair," she said.

  "Are you okay?" I asked walking up to her car. I could tell from her red nose and wet cheeks that she'd been crying.

  "Did you hear about Hannah?"

  I nodded yes.

  "Do you know if she's going to survive?" she asked.

  "I just got here. I haven't gone inside yet," I said.

  "Me neither," she said.

  Her name popped in my head. "Morgan, what's wrong?" I asked.

  "It's all my fault," she said. "Everything. It's all my fault. I wanted to say I was sorry to Hannah, but I can't. She's not taking visitors, and I just can't do this. Tell her I'm sorry if you see her. Tell her I'm sorry."

  "Sorry for what?" I asked, but she pulled away. "Are you going to be okay to drive?" I asked.