“And,” Janae said, showing her final example. “This is his hat.”
Heather felt choked up. “This was a wonderful idea. I’m sure he’ll love it.”
“Why don’t you decorate some of them now?” Luz suggested. “We’ll take care of the shop.”
“And we’ll take over again when you rush off to catch the bad guy,” Digby assured them.
Heather thanked them from the bottom of her heart.
“That was so sweet of them,” Heather said.
“Rudolph Rodney will love it,” Amy agreed.
“This shows that they really think that he will be coming back.”
“And it’s an outlet for the stress we’ve been feeling,” said Amy, grabbing some frosting and beginning to decorate. “Come on. Let’s make something beautiful while we talk about something ugly.”
Heather nodded. “And they’ve really provided us with every color of the rainbow to proceed. I don’t even know what to start with.”
Amy handed her the closest frosting at hand, which was a shade of rich red. Heather began adding it to a donut in the shape of a heart.
“So, what are we missing?” Amy asked.
“It looks like everything we could possibly need to decorate is in front of us, so I’m guessing you mean about the case.”
“Right.”
“I wish I knew,” said Heather. “I think that whatever went down at Mr. Mapleson’s shop that morning happened very quickly.”
“And poor Rudolph Rodney was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“And it was a time before the shop opened, but those who knew Peter Mapleson knew that he would be working at that time.”
“So, that includes the assistant Tim Morris, the competitor Marvin Randall, and maybe the investor Sidney Wallace.”
Heather nodded. “Those two conniving neighbors might have known too, but I don’t think they were involved in the murder and kidnapping.”
“Maybe it was another customer we haven’t talked to yet,” said Amy. “Though Tim didn’t mention anyone else being unhappy.”
“Sidney Wallace and Marvin Randall both had motives,” Heather said, continuing to frost and think. “Rudolph Rodney was Sidney’s business rival, and Peter Mapleson was Marvin Randall’s.”
“Sidney had a pretty great alibi though,” Amy pointed out.
“I know. I keep wondering whether there is any way to fool the airline log. Maybe Sidney Wallace was just trying to concoct the perfect alibi. He was only gone for one day. He wanted to abduct his rival at a time when it seemed like he couldn’t possibly be involved.”
“Maybe he hired someone to do it?” suggested Amy.
“Maybe,” said Heather. “He would have the money to do it. But I think a professional killer would have done a better job cleaning up the scene. We didn’t come across it until hours later. And besides the body and murder weapon in the room, Rudolph Rodney’s belongings were also left there.”
“True.”
“Marvin Randall said that he was working at his home all the morning,” said Heather. “And Peters did ask the neighbors who confirmed hearing him early that morning using power tools. But nobody actually saw him.”
“What about the assistant? Could he have a motive in all this?”
“I guess sometimes people do have a motive for killing their boss.”
“Don’t worry,” Amy said. “You don’t have to concern yourself about that there.”
Heather looked at the extra work that her assistants had done to cheer her up and to welcome the Donut Delights investor back.
“So, we can’t eliminate any of those guys as suspects right now,” Amy said. “They all could have picked up the hammer and killed the victim. Can you hand me that icing back? I want to add lips to my picture.”
Heather handed her the red icing and then froze.
“What’s wrong?” asked Amy.
“I’m seeing red,” said Heather.
“Just take a few breaths,” her friend suggested.
“That’s what I was missing. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before.”
“Realize what?”
“The rainbow.”
“A rainbow is what has you solving the case this time?” asked Amy. “Is there a pot of gold this time?”
“No. But there is a murderer,” said Heather. “I need to call Ryan.”
Still unsure what her bestie really meant, Amy called the assistants to come back in and take over decorating, while Heather called the police to tell them of her colorful breakthrough.
The Weapon
Heather and Amy stayed back and on the street as Ryan and Peters marched over to Marvin Randall’s house. Ryan quickly read him his rights and arrested him.
He led the man to his car and made him wait in the back, while Peters acted out the warrant they obtained and searched his house.
“This is ridiculous,” Marvin Randall yelled from the car. “I didn’t do anything.”
Ryan just shook his head and looked towards the house, waiting to see what his partner would find.
“I hope that’s true in regards to Rudolph Rodney,” Heather said, moving closer to them.
“I never met the guy,” Marvin said, glaring at her.
“He was at Mapleson’s Woodworks the day that you murdered its owner,” said Heather.
Marvin scoffed. “I didn’t murder anyone.”
“You were mad at Mr. Mapleson because he was more successful than you were,” Heather pressed. “You probably weren’t thinking about what you planned to say to him when you saw him, but you prepared in case it escalated to murder.”
“I prepared?” he asked. His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“But not well enough,” said Amy. “Because we did catch you.”
“You left some power tools running so your neighbors would hear them and think that you were home working. It was unlikely that any of them would come over to talk to you, and later you could always claim that you didn’t hear them over the sound of your tools.”
“You tried to do that to us when we visited,” Amy reminded him. “Until we started opening your wardrobe and you wanted to stop us.”
“And that’s where I should have been paying more attention,” said Heather.
“To my wardrobe?”
“To your decorative tools,” Heather explained. “You had tools with all sorts of colorful handles and designs on them.”
“I particularly liked the screwdriver with pictures on watermelons on it,” added Amy.
“We didn’t think anything of it at the time because we also have colorful work environments. And you were trying to distract us. You almost succeeded. But I noticed your hammers inside there.”
“My hammers?”
“Is anyone else getting tired of his one or two word repetitions?” asked Amy.
“We saw that you had a collection of colorful hammers,” said Heather.
“So?” Marvin said, glaring at them and offering a few more words. “I’m a carpenter. We have lots of tools that we use, including hammers.”
“You had an orange hammer, a yellow one, green, blue, indigo, and violet.”
“Yeah?”
“Where was the red one?” asked Heather. “That’s what I realized this morning. The red one was missing.”
“I didn’t have a red one,” Marvin said, starting to sweat.
“Oh really?” asked Amy. “You had every color of the rainbow except for red?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not so,” Ryan said, joining the conversation. “We did a search for hammers sold in sets like a rainbow after Heather realized this. There were only a few places that sold them. But they offered a perfect match to the murder weapon with the red handle. And they remember selling the set to you.”
Marvin Randall began sputtering half sentence answers to this.
“We got stuck on the idea that the killer used one of Peter Mapleson’s tools against him because he also had m
any hammers. But his weren’t as colorful,” said Heather. “He only had ones with black and brown handles. The one outlier was the red one that you brought there.”
“Which means this was premeditated,” said Ryan. “You brought a weapon there because you were planning on killing him.”
“If you have such a rock solid case against me,” Marvin began.
“We do,” said Amy. “Means, motive and the murder weapon.”
“Then, why are you searching my house?” he asked. “You must not have enough evidence.”
“We have enough to convict for the murder,” said Ryan. “But we’re looking for an indication of where you’re keeping the kidnap victim.”
“Kidnapping?”
“There you go with those short repetitions again,” said Amy.
“I didn’t kidnap anyone,” Marvin said. “Why would I?”
“Because Rudolph Rodney interrupted your plans,” said Heather. “You didn’t know anyone was there when you killed your rival. You could have killed the witness to the crime, but you realized that he was worth a lot of money.”
“His picture was just in the newspaper saying so,” added Amy.
“You thought it might be a better idea to take him hostage. You could demand a ransom for him to try and get more money – which was deciding factor for killing Mr. Mapleson. You felt like he was taking your jobs and therefore your money. But you got nervous about your kidnapping plan. You were afraid that he would identify you as the murderer. You needed to make sure that he wouldn’t give you away before you let him go.”
“This is crazy,” Marvin said. “I didn’t kidnap anyone.”
“You better not have hurt him,” said Amy. “Or you’re going to have it worse than you already do.”
“I’m telling the truth about this. I didn’t do anything to Rudolph Rodney or whatever his name is.”
“Should we remind him that kidnapping is a federal crime?” asked Heather.
Peters emerged from the house. He was alone, and the investigators sighed.
“There’s no sign of anyone inside.”
“I told you I didn’t have anything to do with a kidnapping,” said Marvin.
“But,” Detective Peters continued. “I did find all those other hammers with different colored handles. Only the red is missing. And I found a shirt that had been through the wash, but it’s still not completely clean. There’s blood on it.”
Marvin leaned back quietly in the car.
“He’s going away for a long time,” said Peters.
“Yes,” said Heather. “And he should for what he did. But where is Rudolph Rodney?”
At the Station
“I don’t understand it,” Heather said. “Why isn’t he talking?”
She paced around the police station, unsure what to do. Ryan and Peters were deep in thought. Amy and Chief Chet were eating donuts to try and cheer themselves up.
“Why won’t he tell us where Rudolph Rodney is?” Heather asked. She knew that no one had the answers and that they were all wondering the same thing, but she couldn’t help but think aloud.
“His lawyer is with him,” said Peters.
“But shouldn’t that make him want to tell us where he is more?” asked Heather. “Shouldn’t he be asking for a plea deal in exchange for our friend?”
“Maybe that’s what he and his lawyer are talking about now,” said Ryan.
“You don’t think…” Heather trailed off, but then found the courage to speak. “You don’t think that Marvin killed him already, and he’s afraid this information won’t be as valuable?”
“It would still be information that a good lawyer would try to bargain with,” said Ryan. “Even terrible news like that is closure for worried loved ones. They could learn definitively what happened instead of wondering for their whole lives.”
“If the news is that Rudolph Rodney is dead, I’d rather never hear it and wonder,” said Amy.
“Don’t be so glum,” Chief Chet said. “You’ve all done amazing work on this case. You’ve caught the killer and found more than enough evidence to keep him locked up. He has to realize that. So, it’s only a matter of time until he gives us the information we want.”
“I hope so,” said Heather.
Amy cleaned the donut residue off her hands and hugged her friend.
They all looked up as someone new entered the station. Tim Morris was holding a piece of paper.
“Ah, young man, we’re glad you came in,” said Chief Chet.
“You are?” he asked.
“That’s right,” said the chief. “These detectives are going to have you swear a statement about the tools found in your shop. Your boss only had hammers with certain color handles, is that right?”
“Yeah. I guess so. They were all black and brown. Why?”
“We have good news,” Chief Chet said. “We’ve caught the man who killed your boss.”
“You did?” Tim asked, putting the piece of paper in his pocket.
“Yes. It was a competitor of his, a Marvin Randall. He has the motive. We’ve connected him to the murder weapon that he brought to the scene, and Detective Peters found a bloody shirt in his home. Yes. There’s no denying it. He’s the guilty man.”
“That’s good news,” said Tim. “Well, I guess I’ll let you finish up with the case. I won’t stay in your hair. Let me know when you want me to make that statement.”
Tim started to leave.
“Wait a moment,” Ryan said. “What was the reason you came in today?”
“I just wanted to see how you were doing with the case. And it seems like you did even better than I hoped. I’m glad you caught the guy who murdered Mr. Mapleson and took your friend.”
Tim waved and left. The others had turned their attention back to Marvin, but something was bothering Heather.
“Something is wrong,” she said.
“What?” asked Amy.
“There’s another possibility to consider,” Heather said, slowly. “What if the reason why Marvin Randall isn’t telling us where Rudolph Rodney is hidden is because he really doesn’t know?”
“Meaning?” asked Chief Chet.
“Meaning that he wasn’t the one who kidnapped him,” said Heather. “What if someone else did that?”
“The killer and the kidnapper are two different people?” asked Ryan.
Heather nodded. “That’s what we should ask Marvin. Was someone else there at the shop?”
“Was someone there when he committed the murder?” Amy repeated.
“I bet Marvin thought he was alone when he killed Peter Mapleson, but we’re pretty sure that Rudolph Rodney was actually in the shop too. What if someone else was as well? The kidnapper thought that he could use the murder to cover up his crime.”
“Because Rudolph Rodney is worth a lot of money,” said Amy. “And the newspaper article about him was right on the counter, so the other person knew this.”
“But if the other person kidnapped Rudolph Rodney for the money, why hasn’t he asked for a ransom?” asked Ryan.
Heather covered her mouth. “Oh my goodness.”
“What?”
“He just tried to,” said Heather. “I bet that’s what the paper he was carrying was.”
“You think Tim Morris did this?” asked Peters.
“His alibi was just that he wanted a day off from work to go to the beach,” said Heather. “What if it was a regular workday for him and only later he wanted to deny it? What if he was there when Marvin Randall came in?”
Ryan nodded. “Rudolph Rodney was in the bathroom, and Tim Morris was doing some work at the shop. Marvin Randall didn’t know either of them was there. He killed Peter Mapleson in a fit of rage. Then he heard one of the other men in the shop.”
“He hurried away because he didn’t want to get caught,” said Heather. “That’s why he never bothered to take the murder weapon with him. He had to leave too quickly.”
“And then Tim Morris saw an opportuni
ty to make some money,” said Peters. “His plan was to release Rudolph Randall after receiving the ransom, and the killer would be blamed for the kidnapping too.”
“Only we’ve just ruined his plans,” Heather said, running towards the door. “Because the killer is caught, he can’t lay the blame on him anymore. He might try to get rid of Rudolph Rodney!”
The other investigators sprinted after her.
Rudolph Rodney
The investigators ran outside, hoping that they weren’t too late.
“There he is,” Heather said.
She pointed to Tim Morris’s car. Inside he looked stressed, and he appeared to be talking to himself. The car was pulling away from the station.
“We need to follow him,” Peters said.
“He might lead us right to Rudolph Rodney,” said Heather. “And we can stop him from doing something drastic.”
“He might panic if he sees a police car tailing him,” Ryan said.
“Then, we’ll take my car!” said Heather.
They all piled into her red Chevy Spark. Amy wanted to drive, but Ryan insisted that an officer of the law drive and took on the responsibility himself.
They thought that they lost Tim Morris once but soon regained the trail after a red light. They followed him all the way until he reached his house. Tim didn’t go in the front door. Instead, he walked around to the backyard.
“What is he doing?” Heather asked.
“Stay back,” Ryan said.
He and Detective Peters exited the car and quietly followed Tim’s path to the back of the house.
“We’re not just going to sit here, are we?” Amy asked.
“He said stay back. Not stay here,” Heather rationalized.
They followed everyone else and peeked out from behind the house. Tim was holding a ski mask in one hand, and the other was on the door to a large shed.
Ryan had drawn his weapon.
“Open the door slowly and then back away.”
Tim obeyed. When the door swung open, Heather could make out the outline of a man.
“I was going to let him go,” Tim said with his hands in the air. “I didn’t kill my boss, and I wasn’t thinking when I decided to do this. I came here to let him go.”
Nutella Crunch & Murder Page 6