by R A Wallace
Megan looked at the note again. “Is there any way to narrow down a timeframe that these may have been put into the book?”
“We’re fairly certain it must have been Tuesday,” Becca said.
“Part of the closing routine is to make sure all the books are back on the shelf,” Linda explained as she slid a book over to Megan. “This one was found on the mobile cart we use to move books around the library. Someone put it there without either one of us seeing them.”
Megan made a face indicating her confusion. She pointed at the terminal they use to check books in and out. “You couldn’t just lookup who checked the book out last?”
Becca twisted the terminal monitor around so Megan could read it and showed her the last entry for the book.
“This hasn’t been checked out recently.”
“Someone just used the book to give you a message.” Megan understood now. “There’s no way to track who it was.”
Megan saw Becca and Linda share a look.
“What?” Megan asked.
Becca pointed at the note again. “Look at the note closely.”
Megan did. That was when she noticed it.
“This was done with a real typewriter,” Megan said as she ran her finger over the printed words.
“Exactly,” Linda said. “More specifically, it was a manual typewriter. You can tell by the indentations it left with the letters. It’s not quite as good as a fingerprint left at a scene, but it’s close.”
Megan had read about such cases. “No two are exactly alike?”
Linda smiled like a teacher pleased when a pupil gets a particularly difficult concept.
“Exactly. The differences are dependent on each specific typewriter. If keys aren’t cleaned, sometimes you have a smudgy letter.”
“Like if the ink builds up on the hammer where there is a space, such as how the hole in a o or an e is formed, it can leave a smudge,” Becca added.
Linda nodded. “If you have a fast strike, where the keys move very quickly but don’t collide, the spacing of the letters might be printed closer together.”
Becca pointed at the words on the note. “Sometimes a hammer is bent so one letter might be struck lower or at slight angle.”
“Which means if you found the typewriter, you could match it up to the note. Might be tough to do.” She looked from Becca to Linda. “Find the original typewriter, that is.”
Becca looked deflated. “Yeah, we thought the same thing. We’re also not sure how to figure out where the photo came from. Not unless Tyler knows.”
Megan reached for the picture. “You didn’t ask him?”
Becca shook her head.
“Actually, I may be able to help with that.” Megan narrowed her eyes at the picture. She’d seen the girl in the photo recently but it took her a moment to remember where.
“That’s Holly’s girlfriend. I remember because of the outfit she was wearing. What she’s wearing here is actually the same outfit she was wearing in the group photo I saw.” The same group photo that had Aaron Sorenson in it, Megan thought.
Becca looked relieved. “Well, that’s good to hear. I mean, I didn’t doubt him.”
“I understand. Mind if I take pictures of these with my phone?” Megan asked. At Becca’s nod, she snapped a couple of pictures. She was putting her phone away when a voice spoke from behind her.
“Are you working on another puzzle?” Archie asked.
Megan turned to smile at the elderly man who had helped her with other puzzles in the past.
“I am. Can you help?” Megan asked.
Archie chuckled, his bushy brows dancing with his amusement. “Well, I need a clue. What’s the puzzle this time?”
Megan explained the situation with the diner.
Archie leaned against the counter. “The Jammin’T, eh? I remember when that was first opened. Bert and Betty were a lot younger then, of course.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Weren’t we all.”
He pointed at Megan and Becca. “Of course, you weren’t even born yet.”
“I was but it was too long ago for me to remember,” Linda said. “I was too young at the time.”
“You remember the other diner, don’t you?” Archie asked Linda.
A small frown formed between her eyes. Linda gave a half shake of her head as she tried to remember what Archie referred to.
“I don’t think so, no.”
“What was the name of it?” Becca asked.
“Sorenson’s.” Archie pushed away from the counter.
“You’re sure?” Megan asked. She could hear the surprise in her own voice.
Archie pointed to his bald head with a smile on his face and his bushy eyebrows animated.
“My mind is like a steel trap.” He laughed at himself. “I can remember forty years ago clearly. Just don’t ask me what I had for breakfast.”
Megan thought about what she had learned as she drove to Anderson’s Florist. She found a parking space around the corner and quickly pulled in next to Tea & Thyme. As she walked past the shop, Cy came out and stopped to speak with her.
“Megan, how have you been.”
She smiled a greeting. “Good, thanks. And you?”
“Oh, can’t complain for an old guy. Course, there have been a lot of strange goings on lately.”
Megan nodded her agreement. “Is there anything you can tell me about it?”
Cy rubbed a weathered hand against his chin.
“Nothing good, I’m afraid. I was at the diner when Tyler had his argument with the guy that was killed. I told the police, of course.”
“Of course,” Megan murmured her understanding. She would have done the same thing.
“Not that it was much help to them, I’m sure. Didn’t make much sense to me. I had the same thing the guy was complaining about. I thought it was great. That girl is a fine cook.”
Megan smiled her agreement as he piled more compliments on Holly. She wished him a good day and continued on her way to Caitlyn’s. She found her friend behind the counter working on her computer.
“Hey, stranger.” Caitlyn finished typing then moved away from the computer. “I wondered when you’d get here.”
“Sorry I’m late. Linda called me to the library just as I was leaving the house.”
“Were they able to help with your puzzle?”
“I think so, yes.”
“I might have something useful too,” Caitlyn said. “That’s why I texted you to stop by. I figured you could pass it along to Erica and if she thinks it’s important, they can come and see me.”
“You think the police would be interested?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I didn’t pay any attention to it at first. I don’t even know what made me think of it this morning. Maybe it was because I saw another truck making a delivery when I stopped for gas this morning.”
“You lost me,” Megan said.
“The other day while I was out making my own deliveries, I saw a food truck parked in an odd place,” Caitlyn said.
“Okay.” Megan dragged the word out.
“The thing is, the guy was unloading boxes into his car in the middle of a parking lot, you know?”
“So, not a real delivery.”
“Right. I’m not positive, but the guy that was offloading the boxes may have been the one they showed on the news last night,” Caitlyn said.
Megan raised her eyebrows. She’d seen the news also.
“The victim?”
Caitlyn nodded. “But I wasn’t paying much attention, you know? It didn’t have anything to do with me.” Caitlyn shrugged. “I could be wrong about it.”
Chapter Thirteen
Megan reached across the kitchen table and placed her hand on top of Dan’s.
“You okay?”
Dan pushed away his empty breakfast plate.
“Yeah. Just still thinking about my visit with LeAnn yesterday.”
Megan glanced at his mug. “More coffee?”
Dan pulled his hand out from under hers.
“I’ll get it.” He stood. “How about you? More tea?”
“Sure.” She leaned back in the chair and watched him put the kettle on the burner.
He filled his mug with coffee then walked over to the tea tin.
“You’re sure she isn’t going to change her mind?” Megan asked.
“About moving my brother’s things out of the house before he gets back here?” He shook his head. “She was pretty adamant. She says the marriage is over. No sense pretending otherwise.”
Megan thought about Dan’s brother. She didn’t really know Gabe Parker all that well. He was a few years younger than she and Dan were. He seemed nice enough. But she couldn’t blame LeAnn either.
“I wouldn’t like it if you took off for months, or even longer, to follow the racing circuit. That had to be tough on her for all these years.”
“In his defense, he never wanted to do anything else. She knew that going into the marriage. Of course, they married young. Maybe neither one of them knew what they wanted at that point.”
“Yeah. I’m not saying I know what went on between the two of them. Or that it’s any of my business.” She watched him pour the hot water into her tea mug.
Dan set the mug in front of Megan and sat back down with his coffee.
“I feel the same way. I want to help, but I’m not qualified to play marriage counselor.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked as she dipped the bag up and down in the water.
He shrugged. “What LeAnn asked me to do. She has his stuff all packed. I’m going to pick it up and find another place for him to live. At least he’ll have some place to go when he gets back here.”
“Still. It’s going to be a surprise,” she pointed out.
“Yeah. And not a good one,” he agreed. “But it’s better than not doing anything for him.”
“What made him decide to come back here now?” Megan pulled the tea bag out and set it on Dan’s empty plate before curling her hands around the hot mug.
“I have no idea. Maybe he knows something is up with LeAnn and he’s finally worried about it?” Dan’s face showed the confusion he felt. “Who knows with him. Maybe he’s finally ready to settle down.”
“Only to find it’s too late?” she said.
“Yeah. Anyway, what are you up to today?”
“I think we’re ready for our guests this weekend.”
“May, Lotta, and Nellie, right?”
“Yes. They’ve stayed with me several times before. They enjoy knitting while they visit with each other.” A smile played at her lips.
“Any special needs?” he asked.
“You need to have a good sense of humor,” Megan nodded before blowing on her tea.
“Humor would be good, right about now.” Dan stretched out one long leg. “What about the puzzle?”
“I called Erica last night and explained everything that I’ve learned so far.”
“Did she think it might be helpful?”
Megan made a face. “She seemed to think so. They’re going to follow up on some things today.”
“Maybe they’ll be making an arrest soon.” Dan stood and picked up his plate.
“Maybe.” Megan watched him put his plate in the dishwasher. “I’m sure Tyler and Holly would be happy to hear it.”
“They’ve been having a tough time of it lately.” Dan leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “I need to finish getting ready for work.”
“I’ll probably be going back into town today for a bit.”
“What else do you need to look for if Erica and Jerry think they got the guy?”
“It can’t help to have more information. Besides, they aren’t positive yet. They’re just leaning that way.”
“Be safe,” he said as he left the kitchen.
Megan sipped her tea as she planned her day.
***
Erica finished adding the information that they’d accumulated to the murder board. Some of it was from Megan and some of it was what Erica and Jerry had found on their own. There was a clear pattern developing.
She turned to Jerry when he entered the main office area carrying a print out.
“You got it?”
“Yeah. I ran everything I could under both Aaron Sorenson and Leonard Leftwich with all of his aliases.”
“Any luck?”
He handed her the print out. “Had a hit under Aaron Sorenson.”
Erica read through the first page.
“That’s a storage facility on the edge of town, right?” she asked him.
“Yeah. I got the address if you want to take a ride.”
“The judge signed off on us having access?”
“Yep.”
“How much you want to bet we find some food there that used to be frozen?” Erica asked as she followed him out.
Jerry wouldn’t take the bet. He was glad of it when they stood in front of the storage unit thirty minutes later.
“Looks like we need to pick up one Aaron Sorenson and ask him some serious questions,” Erica said.
“You would think he’d be smarter about what he did with the stolen goods,” Jerry commented with a shake of his head.
“Who knows what goes through the minds of thieves,” Erica pointed out.
***
Giselle felt compelled to check the list again as she waited for someone to arrive at Togs. She hadn’t wanted to call the police at all, but it was getting pretty ridiculous at this point. She couldn’t continue to eat the loss of the income for the items that were now routinely going missing. Something had to be done. She hoped the Teaberry police department knew what that something was. When the officer finally did arrive, she recognized him but didn’t know his name.
“Ma’am? Did you call about a theft?”
Giselle looked at the muscular man in uniform who appeared to be around her age. Although he was wearing a regulation jacket, it was obvious that he worked out. He was maybe a couple of inches taller than she was which put him at five ten. He removed his reflective sunglasses when he entered Togs and tucked them into his shirt pocket. His blue eyes scanned the clothing store.
“Yes, I did. You are?”
“Officer Riordin.” Ian stood in front of her. “Can you describe what is missing?”
“That’s just the thing,” Giselle said. “There are several things missing.”
She turned and picked up the list she’d been examining and handed it to him.
“As you can see, it’s been happening for quite a while now.”
Ian skimmed the list.
“Can I keep this?”
“Yes, it’s a copy.”
Ian looked up from the list.
“Why did you wait so long to report this?” he asked.
Giselle hesitated before answering. Finally, she let out a sigh.
“I was hoping I was wrong.”
Ian raised his brows.
“You’re not sure these items are missing?”
“No, they’re missing alright. It’s mostly just small things, but they add up in price.” Giselle motioned to one of the displays of jewelry and other accessories located in the store. “I was just thinking maybe it was a high school kid. I didn’t want to get them into real trouble, you know? I was hoping I could catch them and speak to them myself.”
Ian thought of a million ways that could have gone wrong for her.
“It’s best to leave the police work to the police,” Ian said sternly.
Giselle straightened her spine.
“I’m aware of that. But sometimes kids make mistakes. They shouldn’t have to pay for it for the rest of their lives.”
Ian looked at the set of her jaw.
“And nice people shouldn’t put themselves in harm’s way when they aren’t trained to handle it,” he pointed out.
“Be that as it may,” Giselle said. “Do you have any suggestions now?”
Ian looked around the shop.
“Where are your cameras?”
“There’s one focused on the cash register,” she pointed out.
“But nowhere else in the store?” Ian looked around again.
“It was never a problem before.” She folded her arms.
He looked back at her. “But it is now.”
She grudgingly nodded agreement.
“Have you noticed any patterns?” he asked.
Giselle tilted her head to the side once.
“That’s what led me to believe it was a school kid. It seems to happen in the afternoons. Maybe sometimes on weekends.”
“Have you noticed a pattern to your customers at those times? Any that seem to be here more often than others?”
Giselle hesitated again then let out a sigh.
Ian pulled out his notepad and began making notes.
Chapter Fourteen
The Jammin’T was winding down from the breakfast crowd and had yet to get hit hard with the Friday lunch crowd. Megan timed her arrival hoping there was enough of a lull to speak with some of the employees.
“There you are,” Tyler greeted her as she entered the diner. “I told the employees that you would be here to speak with them and that they should answer you honestly.”
Tyler waved around the dining area.
“I’ll be out on the floor here if you need me. Lynn is still on the clock. Danny is in the back in the kitchen. They were both here when Aaron and Lefty were here.”
Megan glanced at another waitress on the other side of the room.
Tyler followed her gaze. “Sissy wasn’t here either time, but you’re welcome to speak with her if you’d like.”
“Can you remember any customers that might have been here?” Megan asked as she looked around the diner.
Tyler ran his hand through his short hair as he thought back.
“I think Patty might have been here? I’m not sure. Maybe Casey?”
Megan nodded. It was a start.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll try not to take up too much of anyone’s time.”
“Hey. You’re trying to help me stay out of jail. I appreciate it, really.” Tyler nodded to someone across the room. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Megan watched him take off across the room then went over to the counter. Casey was at one end, Patty was at the other. She went left and sat down next to Casey.