“I... I-I don’t understand...” Thea whispered out, placing a hand on her forehead. She was beginning to feel herself get dizzy. Her head was spinning. “You and Aunt Tiegen... the both of you told me that–”
“I know, Thea. And I’m sorry. It’s a long story that we’ll have to explain to you because I want to tell you everything. I don’t want to keep this a secret from you anymore.”
Before she could respond, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out to see a notification from Blaine, notifying her that they were releasing Miranda from custody and to talk to him soon.
Thea felt her throat go dry. She didn’t know what issue to tackle first. At that moment, everything was too overwhelming for her. The air within the library simply wasn’t getting to her. She needed to step out for a moment and recollect her thoughts.
“G-Granny, I need to take a minute,” Thea told her shakily, gripping onto her phone tightly as she made her way to the exit.
Granny watched her sympathetically, but she said nothing all the same.
“We’ll talk about this later, okay?” Thea reassured her, just as she was beginning to feel a weakness in her legs that she didn’t like. “I promise you that.”
Chapter 24
Her hands were trembling significantly as she dialed Blaine’s number and hit the green button to call. He mentioned to call him as soon as possible in his text, so that’s what she did. She needed something to take her mind off the information Granny just told her. It felt like a blow to the stomach.
After a few seconds, the call went straight to voicemail. Deciding to try one more time, she was confused when the outcome was the same. She was just about to send him a text, asking him what was going on, when she saw an incoming call flash up on the screen with his name attached to it.
“Blaine?” she said, the moment she placed her phone next to her ear. “Can you hear me? What’s going on–”
“Thea, I’ll call you back in a minute, okay? I just...” Blaine trailed off. She was able to hear a few voices in the background, but they were too muffled to make out anything distinct. “I have something to clear up. I promise I’ll call you back.”
“Okay then,” she replied softly, hearing the soft click of the call hanging up as she lowered the phone.
Well, that was anticlimactic, she thought to herself. She didn’t want to head back to the library so soon, so she decided to head back to the one place that could help clear her thoughts and settle her restless mind. A Stitch in Time.
When she made it back to the shop, Jesse and Pippa were there already. They were talking eagerly with one another. Pippa was figuring out how to knit with a pair of pins and a ball of yarn. Beside her, Jesse was doing his best to give her some pointers.
“Hey there, Thea!” Jesse said, waving. “Are you doing okay? How’s the case going?”
“It’s been... moving along,” she replied, eyes flickering as she thought about her brief stint at the police station as well as Miranda’s arrest and subsequent release. “Blaine texted me that they freed Miranda from prison already.”
“What, really? That’s great news!” he exclaimed.
“So what’s gonna happen now?” Pippa asked. As she spoke, she was tangling up her own hands with the yarn. “What about the other suspects in the case? Will the police start looking into them more now?”
“I’m pretty sure they will,” Jesse added on. “I’m just glad Miranda was cleared. She was so scared at the police station and I felt really bad seeing her like that.”
While Thea and Jesse continued to speak about the case, they didn’t realize how Pippa had managed to wrap almost the entire ball of yarn around her upper body. Not to mention, her knitting needles managed to get stuck somehow.
“Hey guys,” Pippa said, looking down at the mess she made. “I kinda need some help here.”
“How did this happen?” Jesse asked, trying to force down a laugh. He immediately went over and began untangling her from the yarn. “You messed up your hair.”
“My hair was messed up anyways,” she said, waving it off.
“B-But it’s fine! You still look good though,” he responded quickly, almost wincing at the way he fumbled his words.
Thea noticed how his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, which amused her. She stayed silent about it. She also took note of the way Jesse’s eyes lit up when he saw Pippa smile at his comment.
“Aw, thanks so much!” Pippa answered him happily, wiping away the stray lint that clung onto her clothing. “I think I’m gonna need some more practice with knitting.”
Thea’s phone began vibrating in her pocket at that moment, and since she was anticipating a call from Blaine, she was quick to pull it out. Sure enough, his name was flashing on her screen. She moved away from Jesse and Pippa before accepting the call.
“Blaine?”
“Thea,” he said, breathless. “I have news that I don’t think you’re going to like.”
She let out a small sigh, shaking her head. “Well? Get on with it.”
“The police are seriously thinking that you’re the prime suspect of the case now, along with Ashley. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you this earlier, but there were some things I had to take care of first.”
Feeling her stomach drop, her eyes almost watered at his words. How was this possible? How did things get so out of control that she was now in the center of a murder case? She swallowed thickly, thinking long about the next words she would say.
“...Was it because of the fingerprints on the knife?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
“Yeah. For the most part, at least. I think you were right in thinking that someone had planted the knife in Miranda’s yard, but because your fingerprints are the only ones that showed up during the analysis, they’re now thinking it’s you who put it there,” he explained. Based on his tone, he sounded upset. “I’m sorry, Thea.”
“It’s alright, Blaine, I... I should have known something like this would happen. I should have been more careful.”
There was a long pause.
“I hope you know that I believe in your innocence,” he said. “I don’t think you’re involved in this case at all. And if I could, I would check out your alibi, Sybil. The thing is, that piece of evidence just isn’t going to work out. Not in a mundane court, anyways.”
“I see,” she replied. Even though she kind of expected that response, it still made her head spin to know that she didn’t have anything solid to clear her name. “I appreciate your warning though. Thank you for letting me know what’s going on.”
“Of course. Be safe, okay? I’ll talk to you later.”
With that, their phone call ended. Her day managed to get worse by the minute. All it took was one clumsy mistake on her part to suddenly tip the scales against her. Thea couldn’t believe her luck.
She turned back towards Pippa and Jesse, who were both laughing amongst themselves as they recollected their time at their university.
“Guys,” Thea called out to them, catching their attention. “I’m gonna close up the shop for the day. Can you guys come back with me to my house?”
“Of course!” Pippa said, taking a few steps forward. “But why, what’s going on? Are you feeling alright?”
“You’re looking a little pale, Thea. Did you catch a cold or something?” Jesse asked.
She felt at her forehead, realizing that she seemed a little warm. The stress was getting to her, she knew it.
“No, I’m feeling okay,” she reassured them. “I just need your guys’ help. We need to talk about Rebecca’s case.”
Chapter 25
Back at Thea’s house, she managed to brew up some coffee for the three of them to enjoy. Sybil wandered into the dining room and hopped onto the table. The kitten took a seat beside Thea, who was hunched over in worry as she thought about everything that was happening to her. As a way to comfort her, the familiar rubbed against her arms to cheer her up. It somewhat worked.
Aft
er getting Pippa and Jesse caught up, the three of them were left wondering what their next move should be.
“Okay, so I think we can all agree that someone planted that knife there,” Pippa said, looking from Thea to Jesse. “I mean, it looks like somebody wanted to frame Miranda for the crime by leaving that knife right outside her house. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have done it.”
“And I didn’t do it,” Thea mumbled out, shaking her head as she stared into her coffee. “And now I have to convince the police that I didn’t kill Rebecca. That’s great.”
“Don’t worry about it, Thea,” Jesse said, offering some words of encouragement. “We’ll sort things out together. Pippa and I aren’t gonna leave you to the wolves.”
Still musing about the case, Pippa tapped at her chin in thought. “Hold on... there could be another side to this story. I think there’s a chance that someone planted the knife there. It could have been the potential killer or it could have been someone who just wanted to see Miranda take the blame for the crime.”
Thea and Jesse nodded, following along with her explanation. Sybil quietly lapped at her paws, still listening in on the conversation.
“But what if it was Miranda who planted the knife there? Think about it. What if she planted it herself, just to throw everybody off? In that way, she was able to still act as if she had no idea what was going on while getting rid of the evidence against her!”
Jesse grimaced. He still wasn’t buying the idea that Miranda was guilty. It just didn’t sit right with him.
“Do you think that’s even possible?” he asked. “That sounds so hard to pull off without getting caught.”
“Hey, I’m just throwing out a storyline here,” Pippa replied, raising the brim of her cup to her lips. “But it could have happened. After she planted the evidence outside her home, she could have called in the tip afterwards. It was at night, too. Not a lot of people were out in the street during that time. This gives us a very limited number of people to consider.”
“I... I’m not sure,” Jesse replied, resting his head on his hand. “I’ll admit, I didn’t think about that at all, Pippa. But still. I don’t think Miranda is capable of killing anybody.”
“Are you sure?” Thea asked, raising her head slightly to meet his eyes.
“I’ve seen how she acts. I’ve seen the type of person she is and she’s not vengeful at all,” he said.
“She sounded bitter when she talked to me about Rebecca,” Thea pointed out, which made Jesse frown. “She really didn’t like her. Rebecca was the reason she lost her job as an art teacher.”
“I say we still have to keep our eyes on her,” Pippa suggested, shrugging her shoulders. “Even though the police let her free, we can’t just ignore her bad history with Rebecca.”
Thea agreed, nodding her head. Jesse was still reluctant, averting his gaze to the table surface instead of the girls in front of him. Pressing his lips into a line, he didn’t like the idea that Miranda potentially killed one of her students out of spite. He kept quiet, not wanting to push into the matter further.
“You know what I’m thinking?” Sybil eventually piped up, making her way towards the middle of the table so she could be the center of attention. “What if someone is trying to frame you for all of this, Thea?”
“Me?” she asked, baffled. “Why would anyone want to do that?”
“Who would want to blame Thea for this?” Pippa asked, scrunching up her face in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense!”
Sybil tilted her head. “Well, don’t you think it’s a little bit strange how the tip came in at just the right time to get you in trouble? What if somebody planned for all of this to happen?”
Thea considered that momentarily, unsure whether to go on with the idea or disregard it as some sort of coincidence. However, Sybil did have a point. She was surprised that Blaine managed to catch her in Miranda’s yard at such a perfect time. Was it possible that her familiar was onto something?
“But that still doesn’t answer the question of who it could be,” Jesse stated plainly. “Who could have that much of a grudge against Thea to do something like that?”
A small laugh erupted from the kitten as she turned Jesse’s way. “Do I really have to spell it out for you? Who was the one person who threatened to get the police involved if Thea didn’t stay out of her business?”
Pippa gasped, covering her hand over her mouth. “Ashley Smith.”
“Sheesh...” Jesse whispered out, leaning back into his chair to think about that. “You think she went as far as to set Thea up like that?”
Sybil hummed. “Well, I wouldn’t put it past her.”
Thea’s nostrils flared at the idea that someone framed her. She was in a world of trouble with the police because of what happened. Even though she didn’t want it to be true, Thea conceded that Sybil was making a lot of sense by bringing up Ashley. She remembered how angry the girl was at the café when she confronted Thea about sneaking into her home.
Similar to her familiar, she wouldn’t put it past Ashley to do something like that out of vengeance either.
“We can’t consider Eric as a suspect anymore since his alibi was confirmed,” Thea said, holding up three fingers to represent the three suspects of the case. She lowered one when she mentioned Eric. “Miranda isn’t totally clear yet.”
“She’s like half and half,” Pippa replied.
Jesse shrugged, not wanting to give input on that. Thea somewhat lowered her second finger, still unsure. The third finger, however, stayed upright the entire time.
“That leaves Ashley. And I don’t know about you guys, but she’s the one that makes all kinds of alarms go off in my head,” Thea told them.
That managed to be a point that they all agreed upon. Jesse, Thea, and Sybil all nodded, knowing that Ashley was the most dubious of the three remaining suspects.
Chapter 26
The following day as Thea took a walk through the town, she passed by the park again. It looked drastically different from the last time she saw it, thanks to the efforts from the citizens of Ardensville. A major renovation was underway and many people offered their time to help.
Most of the pollution that littered the area was picked up and thrown away. People began tending to the grass, pulling out the weeds and watering the soil so that the land could turn green again. Not to mention, the gazebo was refurbished. It didn’t look as if it was one blow from falling over anymore. All in all, Thea had to admit that the park looked great.
It was a shame that it took a tragedy to get people to act for the better, however.
As she neared the gazebo, approaching where most of the action was, she managed to catch sight of Zach and the rest of his friends near some garden plots along the edge of the park. They were on their knees, pulling out the weeds from the soil. They wanted to plant fresh flowers in the plots.
“Guys, can you hurry it up?” Zach asked his friends impatiently as he held onto a thick clump of soil that held up the flower and all of its roots. “The soil is getting all over my shirt.”
“Well, what did you expect was going to happen?” one of his friends asked, snorting. “That kinda comes with the job, y’know.”
“Man, just hurry up and dig,” he snapped back, already lowering his flower into its designated hole.
Thea, who had watched this interaction, seemed surprised that Zach was acting this way. Considering that these were efforts to commemorate Rebecca and honor her memory, it seemed out of place for him. Regardless, she made her way towards him and decided to join in to help.
“Hey there, Zach,” she greeted, lowering herself down onto her knees next to him.
His eyes widened since he hadn’t expected to see her. Soon enough, the shock on his face subsided. He sent her a small smile.
“Hi, Thea.”
“How have you been doing?” she asked him, taking one of the flowers that was waiting to be planted. “Things have been a little crazy these last few days.�
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“Yeah, I know,” he huffed out. “But I’m doing better. I haven’t gotten over what happened. I’m still mourning her, but... I don’t know. I’m just taking it day by day now.”
“That’s good,” she replied. “I’m glad to hear that. That’s the best thing to do in a situation like this. Have you been keeping up with the case?”
“Somewhat,” Zach said, taking the garden trowel and digging up a hole for Thea to plant the flower. “Whenever the cops manage to talk to me, they give me updates. I kinda have a sense of what’s going on. I heard Miranda Hoff was arrested.”
“She actually got released already.”
“Really?” he asked, perking up a brow. He hissed out a quick breath. “Man... so that means they couldn’t find any evidence against her. The killer is still out there.”
“Yep, and it’s scary,” Thea agreed. “But I’ve been thinking about this case a little bit and I wanted to get your opinion. Do you think it’s possible that Miranda is the killer and she planted the murder weapon in her own yard?”
Zach blinked. “Why would she do that to herself? If she was the one who killed Rebecca, wouldn’t she want to get rid of the weapon?”
“I know. From a logical perspective, that’s what most people would have done. But what if she’s trying to throw people off on purpose?” Thea continued, hoping that he would catch on. “Miranda is a teacher, after all. She’s pretty smart. That seems like a calculated move someone would do if they’re trying to avoid attracting too much police attention to themselves.”
“Huh... I never thought about it like that,” he whispered, setting down his tool. “I’m not sure about it, but Miranda does seem like a pretty smart woman. It could have happened.”
“Or I could be wrong,” she remarked, shrugging. “Miranda isn’t the only suspect left in this case, though. Ashley is still being considered.”
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