Chocolate Peppermint & Murder

by Susan Gillard

  “Are you his neighbor?” Heather asked.

  “Yes. I live across the street. Please call me Beatrice.”

  “When was the last time you saw him, Beatrice?” Heather asked.

  “I suppose it was Friday afternoon. I saw him leaving, and he normally does around that time for work.”

  “You didn’t see him come home that night?” Heather asked.

  Beatrice shook her head. "It must have been quite late when he got home. I was watching a movie until at least ten o'clock, and I usually hear when cars drive by. I must have been asleep when he arrived home."

  “And you haven’t seen him all weekend or Monday?”

  "No," Beatrice said. "I didn't think it was odd at the time, but I usually do see him on the weekends. He does yard work, and I see him drive away to work. Do you think something happened to him?"

  “It’s hard to say, but that’s why we’re checking up on him,” Heather explained.

  “Well, I would be happy to help investigators make sure that my neighbor is safe,” Beatrice. “I have key to his front door on my key ring. He was always losing his keys and would ask me to open it for him sometimes. But he did say that he had a plan to not lose them in the future. I don’t know what it was.”

  She walked up to the door and unlocked it for them.

  Heather thanked her, and they began looking around the house. Beatrice followed them.

  “You said that women were coming and going here,” Heather said.

  “Perhaps I exaggerated,” Beatrice said. “He was a young, single man. There’s nothing wrong with dating.”

  “Did there seem to be any problems with these young women?” Heather asked.

  “Are you asking if any one of them could have hurt Stone? I don’t think so,” Beatrice said. “But there are things about young people I don’t understand these days.”

  “Like going by the name Stone?” Amy asked.

  Beatrice and Amy talked about his name for a while, but Heather continued searching.

  “Amy, look at this,” she called.

  The others ran up to her as she held up an electronic device.

  “What’s that?” Beatrice asked.

  “I’ve seen them advertised,” Heather said. “It’s a device to help you find things that you lose. You put another electronic device that’s rather small on something that you’re afraid to lose. Then if it is ever lost, you can use this to track the item down.”

  “Maybe that’s what he was talking about when he said he had a plan to not lose his keys,” Beatrice said.

  “This could be helpful to use,” Amy said. “It might lead us to where his keys are now.”

  “And just maybe it will lead us to Stone,” said Heather.

  Missing and Found

  “You’re sure we’re going the right away?” Amy asked.

  “I think I’m reading the map right,” Heather said.

  They were following the electronic map’s directions to find where Stone Hendricks’s keys were hiding. They were ending up near a deserted beach.

  “This just doesn’t seem right,” said Amy. “What? Has he just been lounging on the beach for days without telling his job?”

  “If he is having a problem with alcohol, then it could be possible,” said Heather. “But it’s also possible that Stone isn’t with his keys. He might have lost them earlier.”

  They reached the sandy area of the beach and noticed how far away they felt from other people and the main road.

  "It says that the keys are right here," Heather said, looking around. The keys were not within sight.

  “You think they’re buried?” Amy asked.

  “If this device is working, then they must be,” said Heather.

  The two women began digging in the sand in the area that the electronic map told them to. This soon resulted in Amy screaming.

  Heather kept the scream in her throat but also felt shocked and saddened. Instead of finding the keys, they had found a human hand under the sand. They had stopped digging, but Heather suspected that the rest of a dead Stone Hendricks remained in the sand too.

  “I’m never building a sand castle again,” Amy said. “Digging in the sand is going to be too traumatic after this.”

  “I better call Ryan,” Heather said, realizing that the police needed to be notified immediately about a dead body.

  Ryan and Detective Peters arrived on the scene quickly. With the help of their forensic assistants, they excavated the body and confirmed the identity as Stone Hendricks.

  “Poor Stone,” Amy said. “He lost his keys, then his shoes, and then his life.”

  After Ryan made sure that the medical examiner was all set and ready to depart, he joined Heather and Amy.

  “Is this the missing person that you mentioned your shop neighbor asked you to find?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Heather said. “I hate that I’m going to have to tell her how our case turned out. Is there anything we could have done?”

  "The medical examiner needs to conduct more tests, but on first examination, it looks as if the body has been there for several days,” Ryan told them.

  “Like he was there Friday night?” Heather asked.

  “Friday night or Saturday morning,” Ryan agreed.

  “Friday was the last time that anyone we know saw him,” said Amy.

  “Because he was found buried in the sand, I’m guessing that he was murdered before he was placed there,” Heather said.

  “That’s right,” Ryan said. “It looks like he was hit on the back on the head and that’s what caused his death.”

  “And then the killer moved the body here?” Heather asked.

  “Right,” Ryan agreed. “There’s no evidence that he was killed on the beach nearby. The killer must have brought the body here because he thought no one would find it.”

  “He didn’t count on the victim trying to keep better track of his keys,” said Amy.

  Detective Peters joined them with his open notebook and a frown on his face.

  “Now how did you track this victim down?” Peters asked. “And why couldn’t you have waited another hour?”

  “Don’t mind him,” Ryan said. “This apparently interrupted a bicycle ride or something. But solving someone’s murder is more important than that, isn’t it?”

  “Right, partner,” Peters said without much enthusiasm.

  Heather realized that it must have been the private bike tour with Janae that he was called away from when he told to report to the crime scene. She felt sorry for him but agreed with Ryan's sentiments. With so much time between the man’s disappearance and his body being found, some clues were already bound to have disappeared. They needed to work quickly so they could catch the killer.

  Heather answered his question about how they found the body by following his device for finding his keys.

  “So, he must have had his keys on him,” Heather said. “Did he have anything else?”

  "His wallet," Peters said. "His credit cards and money are still inside it, so he wasn't robbed."

  “This might seem like a strange question,” Heather said. “But was he wearing shoes?”

  “I bet you have a reason for asking that, so it’s not strange,” Ryan said. “But he did have shoes. He was wearing a pair of flipflops.”

  “Maybe they were his back up shoes,” Amy said. “And he didn’t leave work without shoes.”

  Heather nodded and then asked, “Did you find any other clues out here?”

  “We’re going to go through the sand more thoroughly and see if some pieces of evidence can be found,” Ryan said. “But three days have passed. Any footprints have gotten blown away in the wind. And right now, there doesn’t appear to be anything useful.”

  "The medical examiner will check the body too," said Peters. "He was pretty sandy so it was hard to tell if there were any small clues that might help point to his killer."

  “We’ll need to figure out where he went after he left the yoga studi
o,” Heather said. “If we could find out where he was killed, then it could help us figure out who killed him.”

  "We already spoke to the people in the class, and they didn't seem to know where he went," Amy commented.

  “That’s true,” said Heather. “But maybe they will be more willing to talk about him now that we know what became of him. Maybe they were holding something back.”

  “We should track down those dates that his neighbor Beatrice mentioned too,” said Amy.

  “And we should see if he has any family that has issues with him or any inheritance to bestow on someone,” said Ryan.

  “He apparently had a rough past,” Amy said. “We should see if his drinking ever hurt anyone besides himself.”

  “I can look into that,” Peters said.

  “Thank you,” Heather said, and then to ease his heartbreak said, “You know? I bet Janae would find it exciting to know that you had to leave because you needed to catch a killer. It’s a very brave thing to do.”

  “You think so?” Peters asked. “She won’t think I was blowing her off.”

  “I don’t think she could ever think that,” Amy said. “Not with all the attention you give her.”

  "I thought I'd see if we could reschedule," Peters said. "Maybe I'll mention how brave I am working on my new case."

  Peters seemed much more upbeat as he began searching through the sand.

  “Are you all right with this case?” Ryan asked his wife.

  “I’m disappointed that it changed from a missing persons to a murder investigation,” Heather said. “But I can handle it. I’m just not looking forward to telling Harmony about the change in investigation.”

  Breaking the News

  Harmony was very solemn as they told her what had happened to Stone. She leaned against the wall for support.

  “I’m so sad that he’s gone,” Harmony said. “But part of me is glad that it’s not my fault.”

  “What do you mean?” Amy asked.

  “Nothing,” Harmony said quickly. “Thank you for all your help. I know we’re disappointed that it turned out this way, but it’s not your fault.”

  Harmony started to walk away from them, but Heather stopped her.

  “Harmony, we are very disappointed that Stone is dead. But that doesn’t mean that the investigation is over.”

  “In fact, it’s kind of just beginning,” Amy said. “Now we need to find out who the killer is.”

  “Right,” Harmony said. “It does make sense that you would be investigating that now. You’re always catching killers.”

  “Well, not always,” Heather said. “But we do have some questions we need to ask you.”

  “Why?” asked Harmony. “I told you everything I knew about his disappearance. And I wouldn’t have contacted you about it if I had anything to do with hurting him.”

  “That’s probably true,” Amy admitted. “But you do want to find out what happened to him, right? You want to make sure that the bad guy goes to jail?”

  Harmony sighed. She sat down on the floor, resigned to answer the questions. Heather and Amy joined her, but didn’t find the position as comfortable as the yoga instructor did.

  “What do you want to know?” Harmony asked.

  “First, how long have you known Stone?” Heather asked.

  “About three years,” Harmony said. “He’s worked here part-time. I always thought he was a nice guy. We just started spending more time together recently when we co-taught a beginner’s class together. There were too many students for one instructor.”

  “When you say you started spending more time together,” Amy said, letting the question hang in the air. “What do you mean?”

  “Just that,” Harmony said. “Spending some more time together.”

  “Were you romantically involved?” Heather asked.

  Harmony blushed again. “Not exactly,” she said. “I started to develop some feelings for him recently after we started teaching together. But I thought that since I was technically his boss, it might be weird for me to express my feelings. I didn’t want him to feel forced into anything. But we ended up going out for Chinese food on Thursday night after a class because we were both hungry. It was a lot of fun. I let it slip out that I thought it would be nice for us to go out more often. He must have known that I meant as a date. He seemed really into the idea at the time, but then I didn’t hear from him.”

  “You were afraid that he wasn’t showing up to work because he didn’t want to face you after admitting you liked him?” Heather asked.

  “At first, yes,” said Harmony. “But the more time that passed, the more I began to worry. I tried to get in contact with him to let him know that dating me and teaching here would be completely separate matters. But I couldn’t find him.”

  “And you were also afraid that he might have started drinking?” asked Amy.

  “Right,” said Harmony. “I don’t know how many other people knew about that, but he confided in me. That’s part of why I thought we were close. That’s not really something you tell your employer, but it is something you could tell a friend or girlfriend.”

  “Was there any evidence that he might start drinking?” asked Heather.

  “No,” said Harmony. “I didn’t see him with anything. But he did mention how he used to disappear for days at a time back when he had the problem. I was afraid that I had caused the stress and that sent him spiraling. I had other dark thoughts too.”

  “Like what?” asked Heather.

  “Well, a few of our supplies have gone missing,” said Harmony. “Part of me wondered if he stole them and was running away. Nothing cost very much, but it was strange that they were gone.”

  “What were they?” Heather asked.

  "Some yoga mats and Pilates cords," Harmony said. "Maybe a weighted ball too, but we're a bit disorganized with them."

  “And none of these items could be sold for much profit?” Heather asked.

  “No,” said Harmony. “But I suppose they could be useful if you were planning on starting your own studio.”

  “Do you think Stone planned on doing that and leaving you?” Heather asked.

  “Not seriously,” said Harmony. “But when I didn’t see him for so long, it did cross my mind.”

  “Harmony, do you know anybody who would want to hurt him?” Heather asked.

  “No,” said Harmony. “That’s why this scenario never crossed my mind. Everyone liked him. He was such a good instructor and so caring and handsome.”

  “If you were considering dating him, then there was no other woman in his life?” Heather checked.

  “He had mentioned that he went on dates occasionally,” Harmony said. “But he didn’t have a girlfriend. He was waiting for the right person. I thought it might be me,”

  “And when was the last time you saw him?” asked Heather.

  "After we had that dinner Thursday night," Harmony said. "I was only in on the morning on Friday. I wish I had stayed later, but I didn't want to pressure him. I wish I stayed and saw him one more time. Please promise me that you'll figure out who did this."

  “We promise,” Heather assured her.

  She was adamant in her promise, but also felt a little unsure about it. This case was already shaping up so strangely.

  Brain Exercise

  Heather was glad that Dave felt like walking slowly today. Her mind was wandering with thoughts of the case, and so she was happy to let the dog meander and sniff the sand to his heart's content.

  Amy was walking Miss Marshmallow who also like to stroll at a leisurely pace. Miss Marshmallow was a dog that Amy and her boyfriend were fostering. They kept insisting that they were not planning on adopting the dog themselves, but they had already pushed off finding a new home for her until the new year.

  Today the energetic animal was Cupcake, the kitten. She loved going on walks with her canine companions and bounding along the path. Heather was happy to let her daughter and her best friend, Nicolas, deal
with the kitten's boundless energy.

  “Mom,” Lilly said when Cupcake paused to bat at a flower. “Do we have a plan for our Saturday outing yet?”

  “Eva had a suggestion, but it’s not set in stone,” Heather said. “Did you have something in mind?”

  "I just want to make sure that it's something special," Lilly said. "Nicolas's winter break is almost over, and then he'll have to fly home to Hillside."

  “I am really excited to hear that you’ll be back there for Miss Mona’s wedding,” Nicolas said. “You’ll make sure to visit me while you’re there, won’t you?”

  “Of course, we will,” Heather assured him.

  "But first, we'll enjoy the rest of your visit here," Lilly said. "And I've been telling him about all our Saturday trips when all our friends get together, and we do something exciting on the island. I want it to be wonderful."

  “This trip has already been wonderful,” Nicolas said. “I’ve seen you, which is the best part. I got to be a part of Christmas and go to the beach. And we’ve had Eggnog Cream Donuts and Vanilla Sprinkled Donuts and Chocolate Peppermint Donuts.”

  “Careful,” Amy teased. “Or they’ll think that you’re visiting just for the snacks.”

  They all laughed.

  “We’ll make sure that we go to the beach again before Nicolas leaves,” Heather said.

  "That should be an easy promise to keep," Amy agreed. "There are beaches everywhere here."

  “And for Saturday, I think Eva’s suggestion is a good one. There’s a lighted boat parade that sounds beautiful,” Heather said.

  "That sounds great," Lilly said, and the two children cheered.

  Then, Cupcake saw a chipmunk that urgently needed her attention and rushed after it. Lilly and Nicolas followed as she pulled on her leash.

  “They were easy to please,” Amy commented. “Donuts and boats, and they’re happy.”

  “It’s much easier than solving this case,” Heather sighed.

  “Don’t get down on yourself,” Amy said. “If you look at it the right way, we already solved the first part of the case.”