by Deany Ray
“And what would they think about you taking a non-bank employee inside?” I teased.
“Well, I trust you not to rob any banks tonight.”
“Thanks. I had planned that for tomorrow instead.” We giggled and walked through the door.
I followed Rosalie to the office where she said the check would be waiting in a box. But when she opened the box, it was empty.
“That's weird,” she said. “I wonder why it's not here. They always put the checks in here.”
“Maybe they forgot?"
She shook her head. “Let’s go see if Mr. Haggerty’s still here. He's the director of the bank and I heard he works late almost every night. Maybe he just doesn't have my check ready.”
The halls of the bank were dimly lit and the hall was empty, echoing our every step. When we got to the director’s office, the door was slightly open. We could see light inside, so that had to mean that he was there.
Rosalie knocked lightly. “Mr. Haggerty?” she said.
There was no reply and she looked at me. I shrugged, not sure what to do.
She pushed the door open the rest of the way. She walked in then suddenly paused. I followed, only to stop as suddenly as she had. We both stared, our eyes grown wide.
“Mr. Haggerty…,” Rosalie’s voice was tiny.
On the floor was the director’s body, a puddle of blood spreading onto the hardwood floor around him.
Chapter Two
I cried out and quickly backed away. Rosalie followed me, visibly shaking.
“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh,” she said. “What do we do? What do we do?”
I shook my head, shocked. “We need to call the police,” I finally managed to say.
Rosalie nodded, but neither one of us moved. Our eyes were glued on Mr. Haggerty's body.
“Ohmigod, do you think he was offed?” Rosalie’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“Offed? Where did you get that expression? But yes, it looks like it,” I swallowed a dry gulp.
After a moment, Rosalie reached into her purse and pulled her cell phone out. Her fingers fumbled as she dialed 911. She placed it to her ear and I could hear it ring for a second before the operator picked up.
While Rosalie told the operator the address of the bank and what the emergency was, I noticed something in Mr. Haggerty's hand. Something told me to look. I crept closer, careful not to step in any blood. When I grew close enough, I realized that he held a check in his hand. I bent closer and saw Rosalie’s name on it. Oh my God, he was holding Rosalie's check in his hand. He hadn't signed it yet, but it seemed he had written something.
“Rosalie,” I hissed, waving her over and pointing. “Look!”
She knelt down next to me.
“That’s my check!” She said. “What is he doing with my check in his hand?”
I shrugged, not knowing how to answer. “It’s not just that. Look at what he wrote on it.”
She turned her head sideways, inspecting the check. I saw her lips moving as she read the words he’d written. I moved in closer to see for myself. “Take the g...” or maybe it was “Take the o...” The last letter was smudged.
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
She shook her head. “I don't know. But this is creeping me out.”
The police arrived about ten minutes later, lights flashing. Rosalie let them in the front door, using her shirt sleeve to open the door so she wouldn't smudge any finger prints that may have been on the handle. She told me she learned that from a police TV show and pointed out again how educational TV watching is. I rolled my eyes.
The officer who was in charge closed off the office, allowing only the crime scene workers to enter. He made me and Rosalie wait outside, telling us we needed to stick around because he or some of his officers would have some questions to ask.
After waiting for about twenty minutes, he came back out, telling his officers where to go and what to do. Then he walked up to us.
“I'm actually going to need you to go down to the station and give us your statement. Are you okay driving yourselves or do you need a police officer to take you down?” he asked.
“We'll drive ourselves,” I told him, wrapping my arms around myself. In spite of the warm air, I was chilly. Butterflies fluttered through my stomach and I felt as though I might be sick.
The policeman nodded. “Thank you. When you arrive, just tell them that Officer Jones sent you and that you need to give your statement about what happened tonight.”
Dazed, Rosalie and I walked to our cars.
“Are you okay?” I asked. It was a dumb question, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.
She nodded, then shook her head, then nodded again. “I'll be fine but I still don’t know what to think. I mean, one only wants to pick up their pay check and then this happens.” She nodded towards the building. “We find Mr. Haggerty dead and he’s got my check in his hand. Poor Mr. Haggerty and lucky me.”
“I know, Rosalie. Everything’s going to be okay.” I gave her a big hug.
“Thanks hon. I just hope the police don’t start looking at me. She paused. “We have to figure out why he had my check.”
“We have to?” I emphasized the ‘we’.
“Sure we do. I sure don’t want to go to jail.”
“I think that’s a little far-fetched. You didn’t do anything wrong,” I said.
“I know that. And you know that. But who knows if they know that.” Rosalie had her I-set-my-mind-on-something-and-I’m-gonna-do-it face.
I decided to let her cool off, hoping she’d come to her senses.
“We should go now,” she said. “See you at the station?”
“Sure,” I said.
We climbed into our cars and drove off. I stayed behind her the whole way, making sure she made it safely. Once we got to the station, we pulled into spots next to each other.
A policemen placed Rosalie and I in separate rooms. As I waited for an officer, I noticed my ex-fiancé Roger walking past the window. He was the deputy chief. He must have heard about the murder and our involvement because he didn't say anything. We just nodded to each other. We certainly weren't friends, but we could at least manage to be civil around each other.
It took a while to give my statement. The officer kept asking me why I thought Mr. Haggerty had Rosalie's check in his hand, but I had no answer. Other than the fact that my best friend had worked there, I had no connection to the bank. I did get a warning that in the future I should never step into a bank after it’s closed, even if I’m accompanied by an employee. It was only a warning due to the fact that Roger was the deputy chief. Oh my, having had a relationship with him did have advantages. I never would have thought of that.
Finally, they let me go, telling me first that they thought Mr. Haggerty was killed by a sharp object although they didn’t know what or where it was now.
“Can I please go be with Rosalie?” I asked the officer. “I promise I won't say anything. She just needs some support right now.”
The officer studied me then nodded.
“It's against protocol, but I understand that you want to see her. I'm sure she would feel much better with a friend by her side.” He led me to the room where Rosalie sat. “I'll explain to the officer she's been talking to about what's going on,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said as I sat by her side.
“How are you holding up?” I asked her. She was waiting in the room for the officer to come back again.
“I’m dying for a hot bubble bath.” She paused. “Okay, bad choice of words.”
I nodded.
“Look at this room where they make us wait,” said Rosalie. “It’s just like in a cop show with the one-way mirror. I’d never thought I’d be in one of these rooms. I’ll bet they’re on the other side watching us.” And with that, she abruptly stood and walked to the mirror.
“Rosalie, what are you…,” I started, but it was too late.
She sto
od in front of the mirror, hands on hips, looking directly at herself.
“I know you’re in there!” she shouted.
“Good Lord, Rosalie. You’re not supposed to do that,” I said.
“What? We might as well have some fun while we’re in here.”
“I’m glad you’re thinking about having fun while you’re at the police station of all places.”
I called Houston to let him know what was going on. He was shocked.
“Are you okay? Do you need me to come down to the station?” he asked. I could hear the worry in his voice.
I shook my head even though he couldn't see me. “No, you don’t have to. I'll probably be spending the night with Rosalie anyway.”
“Okay,” he said. “But tell me if you need something. I know some good lawyers.”
I loved how he was always so pragmatic.
“I will see you tomorrow, all right?” he added.
“Can’t wait,” I replied.
“Try to get some sleep, babe.”
“I will,” I said. “Good night.”
After I hung up, I looked up and saw Rosalie’s wide grin.
“What?” I asked.
“Such a cute couple,” she said.
The officer who had been questioning Rosalie finally returned. He handed her a glass of water and she took a few sips. She then proceeded to answer his questions with an I-have-nothing-to-hide-attitude.
It was another hour before the police let us go. They told Rosalie not to leave town. They needed to get to the bottom of why the bank director had her check in his hand.
The officer walked us out. “Most importantly,” he said, “we need to figure out what it was that he was trying to write on the check. Oh, and since you're already here, we need to take your fingerprints so we can match them to any we find at the bank.”
After we agreed, the officer led us to a desk where he took out an ink pad. While he took our fingerprints, the officer speculated about what might have been going on.
“I think he most likely wanted to leave some sort of message and grabbed the first thing he could find which ended up being your check. I could be wrong, and of course we'll have to look into it some more, but there you have it. I really don't think you have any reason to worry.”
That's one of the advantages of living in a small town. The police force is pretty chatty even with ongoing investigations.
“Well, thanks,” Rosalie said.
“And one more thing.” The officer moved closer and whispered to Rosalie. “You’re really not supposed to be shouting things to the mirror.”
“I knew it! There was somebody watching us.” Rosalie’s face lit up.
While I didn’t quite understand why she was so happy about it, Rosalie kept saying how cool it was that she knew some of the insights of police work.
When the officer was done, we thanked him before leaving the station.
“I'll follow you to your house, okay?” I said.
“Yeah, that would be great. Can’t wait to dive directly on the couch. Guess we can grab a pizza some other time.”
At her house, we discussed everything that had happened as we lay on the couch with a bowl of popcorn.
“This was not how I expected the evening to go,” I said.
She shook her head. “Yeah, tell me about it. This is going down in history as the worst possible last day at the job.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said, taking a handful of popcorn.
“I just can’t imagine who would want Mr. Haggerty dead. He was such a nice man. It’s really a shame.” Rosalie shook her head.
“I can’t believe it. A murder in Ouna Bay.”
“I know,” she said. “Guess crime strikes everywhere when you at least expect it.” She took the bowl of popcorn onto her lap.
I nodded.
“So,” she stood. “What’s our next move? Where do we start? I’ll bet Mr. Haggerty had enemies. Being the bank director and all. Maybe he wasn’t such a nice man after all. We should look into that and then…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not so fast. What are you up to?” I was afraid of the answer.
“Well we have to look into things if we want to solve the crime, hon,” she said as if catching a killer were the most normal thing in the world.
“I really think we should leave this to the police, Rosalie.”
“And who knows how long that’s gonna take? They don’t even have a lead. Meanwhile, they’re wondering why Mr. Haggerty had my check in his hand and who knows what they’ll conclude,” she said.
I knew her too well. I knew there was no stopping her. I also knew that the police force was working more efficiently than we would and they would probably find the killer before Rosalie got any more wild ideas. Hopefully.
“Fine.” I sighed. “I’m in.”
Rosalie clapped her hands. “We’ll be the Cagney and Lacey of Ouna Bay,” she said.
I rolled my eyes again.
Chapter Three
After spending the night at Rosalie's, I woke up Saturday morning and drove home so I could shower and change into clean clothes. I needed to be at the café early so I could have everything ready for the book club at noon.
I stopped at Dev's kiosk first and browsed through his cooking magazines. It took only a few minutes to find one that intrigued me, so I quickly paid for it.
Maia had the day off, so I was going to have to manage by myself. First I made the muffins which on most days sold out first. They were a better breakfast-slash-brunch item than cupcakes and brownies though Rosalie might have disagreed.
I was stirring cupcake batter when I heard the front door open. Every morning Houston would stop by the café on his way to the office.
I smiled when I saw him. Even though we'd been officially dating for just a little bit, I still felt my knees melt every time he walked into a room. Today he wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a black button down shirt and his ash blond hair was still damp from the shower.
He opened his arms and took me in and I was sure that this time my knees would literally melt.
“I was worried about you last night,” he said in a muffled voice.
“You were? That’s sweet of you,” I smiled, looking into his eyes.
“Of course I was. It’s not every day that you find the director of the bank dead in his office. I would’ve come straight to you last night, but I know you girls wanted to be by yourselves.”
Ah, another thing I liked about him: He understood the importance of the relationship between two best friends.
“So how are you feeling today?” he asked.
He followed me as I walked to the back so that I could continue working on the cupcakes.
“I'm okay, I guess.”
He sat on a stool by the counter while I finished up the cupcakes. “Do the police have any suspects?”
I shook my head. “I don't think so. But the cop last night told Rosalie not to leave town because they need to get to the bottom of the whole check thing.”
“This whole thing is awful,” Houston said. I poured him a cup of coffee.
“It sure sounds like the director just grabbed the piece of paper that was closest to him, but the police need to follow every lead to make sure,” he said sipping his coffee.
“I know. Guess they’re gonna do that and then they can rule out Rosalie. I just keep thinking about what it looked like to see his body on the floor. I won’t forget that anytime soon.”
“What does Rosalie think of everything?” he asked.
I sighed. “She feels like the fact that he was holding her check was a sign that she should investigate the murder. She wants to prove her innocence, because she doesn’t want to go to jail.”
Houston chuckled. “That doesn't surprise me. She seems to want to take matters into her own hands whenever she can.”
“Yes, she certainly does.”
“Although, I don’t think she needs to worry about jail,” he said.
&nbs
p; “That’s what I told her, but you know Rosalie.” I poured the batter into the prepared cups.
Houston nodded his head.
“And you're going to help her?” he asked. He didn’t look so happy.
“I kind of told her I would,” I sighed. “Rosalie has some very convincing ways.”
I heard the door open again.
“It's just me!” A voice rang out and Rosalie appeared. “Well hello you two. I hope you don't mind,” she said as she sat next to Houston. “But I need to figure out where to start with my investigation.”
I shook my head, pouring her some coffee as well.
“So what do you have so far?” I asked.
“A big fat zero,” she said, looking disappointed.
For a moment I had a spark of hope that she might drop the whole thing. But just for a moment.
“Anyway, I have to go back to the police on Monday to talk about that stupid check,” she said. “Maybe I can find out what the police already know and then I can go from there.”
“What else do they think they’re going to get from you?” Houston asked.
Shaking her head, Rosalie sighed.
“I don't know. I've told them everything I can. Maybe I’ll see that cute officer again. What was his name? Dwight?”
I laughed. “Isn't that the officer that spilled coffee all over himself trying to bring it to you? Then the second time he tripped over his shoelace and spilled it on the desk?”
Rosalie beamed. “Yeah that's him. He's cute.”
Checking on the muffins in the oven, I chuckled. “I guess that's one way to woo a woman.”
She stood and took the spoon that I'd been using to stir the batter. “Maia's off today, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, I'm on my own today.”
“Nope,” Rosalie said, shaking her head. “I'll help you out. If you want, that is.”
I smiled. “Getting a head start on your job here?”
“Sure,” she said, rolling up her sleeves.
Houston stood, finishing the last of his coffee. “Well, I've got to get to the office. Becky, would you walk with me for a moment?”
Wiping my hands on my apron, I shot Rosalie a look that said “No spying” and followed Houston to the front door.