Melt Down Murder

by Gretchen Allen

  “No. I need to be looking for Marissa Raven. You need to be doing nothing of the sort.”

  “But…”

  “No.” Heath gave her a small smile. “You really need to stay out of this. The woman may have killed her fiancé and essentially gave a fake name. I appreciate your dedication to this, but you need to let me do my job.” Heath stood and offered to walk Yvette to the door.

  Frustrated, she agreed.

  “Go home and enjoy your day off,” he told her.

  Yvette decided to stop in at Sundae Afternoon to see if Tonya had heard anything else. Going home to enjoy what was left of her day wasn’t going to happen. Even if Tonya didn’t have any more information, something about being at Sundae Afternoon with the buzz of happy customers always made her feel a little better about things. One way or another she was going to do what she could to settle her nerves, whether it be solving a murder or drowning herself in cookie dough ice cream.

  15

  Stepping into her little shop, Yvette couldn’t believe how busy they were. Tonya and Vanessa were running around from table to table, taking orders and making sure the guests were happy. Joey was dashing back and forth from the dining area to the kitchen, hands full of dishes. Sundae Afternoon’s newest employee, Stella, and Sage were trading between scooping ice cream and running the register. She saw at least four families waiting by the door for a place to sit and even the outdoor tables were full. Tossing down her things, she hopped behind the counter to help dish out a few sundaes.

  “Yvette, hey! Can you make me a kid’s banana split, hold the cherries? The little boy that it belonged to dropped it,” Vanessa asked as she breezed past the counter.

  Cutting a banana in half, Yvette dropped a half scoop of each of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice creams, added a drizzle of hot fudge and marshmallow, tossed a few strawberries on top and a dollop of whipped cream and passed it to Vanessa as she dashed by again. She was heading to help clean up the mess when she saw Joey already on his hands and knees taking care of it. Seeing that each member of her staff was effectively doing their jobs, Yvette decided to make a loop around the dining area to greet her customers.

  Barry Bradford and his wife Kelly were at one of the tables outside and she headed in their direction first. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her neighbor Jamie and her fiancé Evan sitting on a bench by the door waiting for a table.

  “Hi, you two! I’m so glad you came in. I made sure to order some Malibu Mango for you.” Yvette winked at Jamie.

  “You’re here! We’ve been sitting for about ten minutes or so and were looking around for you. We were hoping to talk to you about something, but it looks like it’s a little too busy in here today for that.”

  Yvette glanced around the shop. “That’s for sure. I just came in for a few minutes and when I saw how busy it was, I jumped in to help for a bit. Seems like I have quite the staff though. Everything looks to be pretty much under control. How about, once you get seated, I’ll stop over and we can talk?”

  “That’d be great. We were hoping you could do us a small favor, is all.” Evan tucked his hands in his pockets.

  “Of course.” Yvette smiled warmly at the young couple. “I’ll do whatever I can.”

  “Hello, miss. Are you the owner?” a small voice came from behind her.

  Turning around, she saw the boy that had dropped his sundae. “I’m the manager,” she said, kneeling down to the boy’s level. “My name’s Yvette. What can I do for you?”

  “I’m Jerry Pursley and I’m eight years old. I wanted to say that I was sorry for making a mess.” He stuck out his hand and proudly offered her a small coin and a business card.

  “What’s this?” Yvette asked.

  “It’s a token for my lemonade stand and my business card that has my address on it. I open my stand every weekend in the front yard. I wanted to give you one, so you can come over and get a free cup. I pass them out to people sometimes and I thought that since I made such a mess that you might like one.” He pulled another token out of his pocket. “If you could, give one to the nice man that helped clean up.”

  Yvette looked in the lanky blonde-haired boy’s eyes. “That’s very generous of you, Jerry. You are quite the business man. I will absolutely give this to Joey and tell him what you said. I’ll make sure we both stop and see you and your lemonade stand and we’ll even bring along friends.”

  “I’d like that. Thank you.” Jerry smiled brightly and hurried back to the table to where his parents sat, beaming proudly.

  Yvette’s heart swelled at the young boy’s kindness. She’d said coming into Sundae Afternoon would calm and rejuvenate her, but she’d not expected something like this. In her mind, the good in the world outweighed the bad every time and she refused to get sucked up in any negativity. Meeting Jerry was exactly what she needed.

  Getting back to work, Yvette glanced out the window and saw that Barry and Kelly were gone from the table and Evan and Jamie sat in their place. She looked around the shop and took the cordless phone from the wall so she could at least answer calls if they came in, but saw that things had calmed down a little and decided to go see what they’d needed from her.

  “Have you ordered yet?” Yvette asked once she’d reached their table.

  “Yup. Our friend Tonya took our order. I didn’t know she worked here,” Jamie answered.

  “You guys know Tonya? That’s great. She’s been here a little less than a year but she’s only part-time right now. We love having her around.”

  Evan shifted in his seat, “She’s friends with my cousin. They used to work together back in the day.”

  “Small world,” Yvette giggled. “That’s the thing about small towns though, everyone ends up knowing everyone.”

  “Anyway, we know it might be a little inconvenient, but as you know we are getting married soon and the restaurant that was supposed to cater for us isn’t able to anymore. We were hoping you might have some time and wouldn’t mind doing it for us?” Jamie asked, softly.

  “Well,” Yvette said gesturing around the shop, “as you can see we don’t really do anything besides ice cream here so I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to offer you exactly what you’re looking for.”.

  The couple looked at one another and exchanged a grin. Evan spoke first, “we know but that’s okay. We had actually discussed doing an ice cream social at one point, until my mom basically threw a hissy fit when she’d heard. She’s very particular about our wedding. Maybe it all worked out just how it was supposed to.”

  “We’d love you to do it if you are able,” Jamie looked hopeful.

  “What’s the date of your wedding? I can check our schedule and see if we have any conflicts but aside from that I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible.”

  “September fifteenth,” they said in unison.

  Yvette tried to hide any hint of realization on her face when she’d heard the date of their wedding. That was the same date that Marissa had used, and Evan just said that Tonya was friends with his cousin. Could they be the couple that Marissa was referring to?

  “I’ll look over my calendar as soon as I get to my office.”

  Yvette had never been more grateful that she’d slid her phone in her pocket before coming over to the table. Pulling it out as discreetly as she could, she used speed dial to call the shop’s number.

  “Oops, I better get that! Everyone is so busy,” Yvette mumbled. “I’ll check on your order while I’m up.” She put the phone to her ear, pretending to answer the call.

  Yvette got up from the table as quickly as she could and dashed to her office.

  16

  Pounding on Gavin’s door as hard as she could with one hand, and texting Amelia in the other, Yvette was ready to burst.

  “What’s wrong?” Gavin asked after he’d opened the door.

  Yvette pushed to door open further and blew past him to his kitchen. “Tell me everything you know about Evan and Jamie,” she demanded.
/>   “I don’t know any more than you, I don’t think, why?”

  Yvette rattled off the story about Marissa and Jordan and what Evan and Jamie had just asked her. Gavin was shaking his head the entire time. “What? Why are you doing that?” she snapped at him.

  “You are still interfering in this? Have you told Heath?”

  “I don’t need to hear that right now. I need your help. Amelia is already on her way over and I need you two to help me figure this out.” Yvette put her hands on her hips.

  “How much more do you need to know? Mark rented the place out to a couple of weirdos, the girl killed her boyfriend and took off, end of story. Seems pretty cut and dry to me.”

  “I see what you’re saying but it just doesn’t feel right.”

  Gavin rolled his eyes. “You think Heath uses his feelings to solve a crime?”

  “Of course not.” Her face was getting redder by the minute. “There are several suspects now and every one of them could be responsible for killing Jordan.”

  Amelia knocked on the door a single time and let herself in. “Hey, Gavin, good to see you.” She raised her hand in half a wave before sitting down next to Yvette at the table.

  “I swear, the two of you are something else. Just call Heath. I’m staying out of it.” Gavin walked out to the porch.

  “Before you say anything, I have something to tell you.” Amelia looked frantic.

  “But, this is important!” Yvette replied.

  “I met Marissa,” Amelia blurted out.

  “What? She’s still here? Where?”

  “She came to my office with another woman. I assumed it was her mom. She wanted to talk to me and apologize for renting the house and for everything that happened before she went to the police. She felt like she needed to get it off her chest.”

  Yvette tilted her head. “How did she know where you worked or that it was your house?”

  “I didn’t ask. I just figured you told her when you talked to her.”

  “I guess I might have, I don’t know. I’m sorry, I was so flustered.”

  Amelia continued, “it’s okay. I thought she was nice. She was so upset about losing her fiancé and didn’t understand what could have happened. They’d been arguing about their wedding and how annoyed he was with her for agreeing to put it on hold. She felt like she did the right thing since they were only going to have a small gathering. She told me that she got really angry when Jordan told her that he’d called the caterer for her cousin’s wedding and canceled, pretending to be the groom. She told him she didn’t want to marry a guy that could do something so awful and then she took off.”

  Yvette’s eyes were wide and her body was tense. “Canceled the caterer?”

  “Umm, yeah. That’s what she said. What does that have to do with anything?”

  “The reason I called you here was because I just left Jamie and Evan, my new neighbors. I’m pretty sure Evan is Marissa’s cousin. They stopped in at Sundae Afternoon to ask if I’d cater their wedding because theirs was no longer available.”

  “Do you think one of them could have done it?”

  “I don’t know but I think Gavin was right, we need to go see Heath at the police station. These people could be dangerous.”

  * * *

  “I’m going to need you girls to go somewhere safe. Stay together and make sure you don’t get involved any more than you already are,” Heath told the women once Yvette had relayed everything she knew.

  “I know you’re mad, but we were only trying to help,” Amelia tugged on the collar of her shirt.

  “I’m not mad, I’m worried. Neither of you should be this deep in the case. I know it was your house Amelia, and you were both there but that doesn’t mean the next logical step is to solve the crime. Now, go and keep to yourselves. I’ll be looking into the information you gave me.”

  Yvette and Amelia left the office both feeling like they’d helped at least a little. They did their part, and now, it was up to Heath to do the rest.

  “I don’t see how there are so many people that could have potentially killed someone in our sleepy little town. Marissa could have killed her fiancé because of his bad temper. Jamie and Evan could be responsible because they were forced to adjust their wedding plans and I know that would make me angry… maybe not enough to kill someone, but still. And then there’s Tonya. She’s spunky and never tolerates anything. If she didn’t like the way her friend was being treated, then it’s certainly possible she did something about it.” Amelia rambled as the two headed back to their car.

  “Don’t start. There is no way Tonya did this. Last time everyone thought it was Joey so I’m not gonna get it stuck in my head that all my employees are potential killers.”

  “I’m just saying. It’s definitely not cut and dry.” Amelia sunk into the passenger seat of Yvette’s SUV and sat in silence as they made their way back to Yvette’s house.

  17

  Doors locked, and curtains drawn, Yvette carried two plates of cookies from the kitchen while Amelia followed behind with glasses of milk. They’d listened to Heath and gone back to Yvette’s house for the remainder of the day. The women sat picking listlessly at their snickerdoodles and milk while streaming romantic comedies to try and take their minds off things.

  “Do you hear that?” Amelia asked nearly jumping out of her chair.

  Yvette strained to listen. “What is it? Are you turning into me? The other day I was afraid of the postman. We’re just anxious, everything’s fine.”

  “No. I hear sirens. Shhh, listen.” Amelia put her finger to her lips.

  Yvette got up from the couch and walked over to the window, peering outside to see if there was anything out there. “I don’t see anything, but I definitely hear faint sirens.”

  They paused to listen for a little longer before Amelia froze. “They aren’t so faint anymore are they?” she asked.

  “It does sound like there are getting a bit closer.” The two huddled together to see out the window.

  “Ohmigosh. They just shut off their sirens and turned the corner onto your street. Do you think they’re coming here?”

  “I don’t see why they would but...” Yvette hesitated and began again, “they might be going to Jamie’s house.”

  “Jamie’s house? She lives near here?” Amelia chewed on a fingernail.

  “She’s my neighbor. She’s living here alone until after the wedding.”

  “You didn’t think to tell me that before we came here to be safe?!”

  Yvette had thought that the safest place for them was her house. Gavin was right next door and she wasn’t that far from her parent’s house either. After all, she expected Heath to have Jamie and Evan meet him at the police station.

  “We are safe, the police are here,” Yvette tried to joke.

  “It’s not funny! I’m scared,” Amelia exclaimed.

  “They just pulled in next door. Let’s go outside and see what’s going on,” she said eagerly.

  “Ugh, fine.”

  Amelia cowered behind Yvette as the two stepped out the front door and onto the porch. Jamie’s house was on the other side of Gavin’s apartment, so they had to go to that side to see what was going on.

  “Shhhh. Look!” Amelia pointed to the house.

  Yvette looked up to see Heath Briggs walk out of the front door followed by Jamie. She was handcuffed and being led down the stairs by another officer but was screaming, “it wasn’t me. You have to believe me. I didn’t do this!”

  “Jamie?” Yvette was stunned.

  “Wow. Who would have expected that?” Amelia stepped back.

  “Is that Evan?” Amelia asked, noticing someone standing in the doorway of the other house.

  Yvette nodded. “It’s him. Gosh, he must be devasted.”

  “Let’s get inside before Heath sees us snooping,” Amelia said, opening the door and letting Yvette in ahead of her.

  18

  I’m still not completely convinced.” Yvette sat
in her living room, looking between Gavin and Amelia.

  “What’s there to be unsure of? They obviously arrested Jamie for a reason,” Gavin asked.

  “Something just seems off. How would Jamie have even known where to find Jordan? Marissa made it pretty clear that they weren’t on good terms.”

  “I see what you mean.” Amelia nodded. “We have to assume that there was evidence that pointed to her though.”

  “None of it makes sense. Marissa may have said Jordan was a good guy, but I feel like there was more to it than that. He basically tried to ruin Jamie and Evan’s wedding.”

  “Sounds like he dodged a bullet to me, seeing as she killed someone and all,” Gavin laughed at his own joke.

  “So, you still think it was Marissa that killed her own fiancé?” Amelia asked.

  Yvette didn’t know what to think but one way or another she was going to find out. She was going to call Tonya to see if there was any information she might have that could be useful.

  “I think I’m gonna head into work for a few hours,” Yvette told her friends.

  Gavin huffed. “Oh please. Five seconds ago, you were positive that a person was falsely accused of murder and now you want to go to work? We know you better than that.”

  “I have a gut feeling that I can’t ignore you guys. I am going to work but I need to talk to Tonya first. She’s not on the schedule today so I’ll be going to her house.”

  “Smart idea telling us where you are going. This way we can call the police if you don’t show back up here soon.” Amelia said sarcastically.

  “You won’t be teasing me when I solve this murder.” Yvette grabbed her purse and dashed out the door.

  * * *

  Lost in thought, Yvette drove mindlessly to Tonya’s. She had only been there once before and couldn’t remember exactly which house it was. Yvette pulled over to the side of the road to check the contact list in her phone for the address. Putting her phone back in her purse and her car in gear, Yvette checked her mirrors, making sure nothing was nearby. No matter how secluded the road was, she still wanted to be careful. She stopped when she saw a car coming down the road at full speed. It was heading right for her. The car swerved just in time to miss Yvette’s SUV, before sliding to a stop and landing in a ditch.