Heather looked at Amy. It looked like they knew who they were going to interview next. However, Heather still had one more question for Al.
“Do you have any other suspicions amongst the group on who it could have been?”
“Well, based on the time of someone wearing that costume,” Al said. “I’m going to have to say that whoever the killer was, it was the Easter Bunny. Find the bunny, and you’ll find the killer.”
Tony’s Tribulations
After hearing about Al’s suspicion Tony was being blackmailed, they decided to question him next. They arrived at the door and saw that he was nervous.
“My wife has been upset by this whole incident,” Tony explained. “She’s out right now, but should be home soon. I don’t want her to hear any more about the murder or the missing bunny head.”
“The missing bunny head,” Amy said. “I almost forgot all about that.”
“I wish my wife would,” Tony said.
“Why is she worried about the bunny head?” Heather asked.
“Yeah. And not as focused on the murder?” asked Amy.
Tony tried to shush them and lead them further inside.
“I’ll tell you everything,” he said. “But my wife can’t know.”
“We only want to know about the murder,” Heather said, diplomatically.
Tony sat down in a chair, looking sad. “The reason my wife cares about the giant chocolate bunny more than the murder is because she knows that I’m not the murderer. But she’s not certain that I’m not the chocolate thief.”
“Are you the chocolate thief?” Amy asked.
“No.”
“Then, why would she think that you might be?” asked Amy.
Tony sighed. “I used to have quite a big problem with my weight. It’s still not perfect, but my wife and I have worked hard to maintain it. But I’m afraid there are times when I’m weak. There are times when I cheat on her.”
“You cheat on your wife?” Amy asked. “This is becoming an ugly habit within this club.”
“I cheat on my diet with her,” Tony said miserably. “I don’t mean to, but there are sometimes I can’t resist. Like when I was working at the dessert tent, there were so many delicious things I wanted to try. I must have eaten six of those Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Donuts.”
“I both thank you for the compliment of liking them, and am sorry that they made you gave into temptation,” said Heather.
“I give into temptation too much, but I need to hide it from my wife. She’d be so disappointed in me. She worries about my health too.”
“Well, I still think this is better cheating than the other kind,” Amy said.
“I didn’t steal the chocolate bunny head, but she thinks I might have,” Tony said. “It’s been very stressful. I want her to trust me, but I also know I haven’t been completely forthright about my diet. That’s what Brian was holding over my head.”
“Brian was blackmailing you?” Heather asked.
“Yeah,” Tony said. “I assumed he was doing the same with everyone. The smug way he talked at meetings made me think that he had something on everyone – except Mr. Rankle. He’s too mean to accept any blackmail attempts.”
Amy laughed at the description that she agreed with of Mr. Rankle.
“Where were you at the time of his murder?” Heather asked, staying serious.
“Well, I was at the dessert tent for a while,” he said. “I was keeping an eye on things and protecting the bunny. However, then I couldn’t stop myself from eating the donuts and cookies. After I felt I had too many, I left the tent. I needed to get away from the food. I went for a walk. However, when I came back, I saw that somebody had taken the bunny head. I was afraid it was all my fault, but I still told Gilbert. He told me to ask you for your detective husband’s help. I didn’t know you were a P.I. too.”
“Did you see anyone in the club acting suspiciously during the egg hunt?” Heather asked.
“I don’t know,” said Tony. “I was focused on the foods I shouldn’t be focused on.”
They heard a car drive up to the house and Tony jumped to his feet.
“My wife is home,” he said. “Please don’t tell her about this.”
Heather and Amy agreed. When they spoke to his wife briefly, they only mentioned catching up on some leads in the murder investigation. Honestly, this was what they wanted to look into – not into cheating on diets.
They were thinking about what Tony had told them and the suspects in the case when Ryan called them with a development.
“The DNA results came back from the vomit,” Ryan said.
“Really?” Amy asked, listening in on the call. “That’s what the results came back from first. They must have really wanted those samples out of the lab.”
“What are the results?” Heather asked.
“They match someone in the club. He was in the system because he had been arrested before, though nothing as major as murder.”
“Who is it?” asked Heather.
“Ben McFee,” said Ryan.
“Wow,” Amy said. “The vomit might have just proved that Ben is the killer.”
A Confession
Ben McFee looked nervous. He didn’t like being in the interrogation room, and the investigators knew it. They were keeping quiet, waiting for him to talk.
“Look, what’s the big deal, really?” Ben asked. “I didn’t kill anybody. Now in the grand scheme of things, what I did doesn’t really seem so bad, does it?”
“Does it?” Amy challenged.
“And I returned what I could, you know?” he asked. “That counts for something, doesn’t it?”
“Why don’t you tell us?” Ryan asked.
“Fine,” Ben said. He slouched down in his chair, looking even sloppier than before. “It looks like you know what I did anyway, so I might as well say it.”
“Start from the beginning at the Easter Egg Hunt,” said Heather.
“I saw you at the tent,” Ben said. “And you heard I was hungry. I was hungry then. But, well, I didn’t pack a lunch like I thought I did. So, later I came by, and I started taking some snacks. They were all pretty good, but I started thinking about the bunny.”
“The giant chocolate bunny?” Peters asked.
“That’s right,” said Ben. “I guess I started fixating on it or something because it became what I really wanted. When Tony left the tent, I saw that it was empty. I snuck inside from the back, and I took the bunny’s head off. I know it was supposed to be a prize, but it’s not that great a prize, is it?”
“You wanted it,” Amy pointed out.
“Yeah. I guess so,” said Ben. “But I did leave the rest of the body for people to eat. It’s not like I was eating the entire thing by myself. There was still bunny left.”
“A child was supposed to win the right to have the first bite,” Heather said. “And then it was supposed to be for everyone.”
“I know, I know,” said Ben. “And I do feel bad about it. But I was hungry.”
“What did you do after stealing the head?” Ryan asked.
“I left the tent by going through the back too, and I hid back there, eating the chocolate bunny head. I didn’t want anyone to see me, so I ate it quickly.”
“The whole thing?” Amy asked.
Ben nodded. “But then I started to feel not very well.”
“I think we have a picture of that,” Heather said.
“I wanted to get away from the crowd because I thought I might be sick,” Ben explained. “I headed over to the trees because I thought they provided better cover. I threw up in the woods, but that wasn’t the worse of it.”
“It gets worse?” Amy asked.
“I got my shirt dirty,” he said. “I knew that if I walked back on the beach, someone would notice and realize that I was the one who took the chocolate bunny’s head. You see, I was thinking that they might blame a child for taking the chocolate. Then, there would be no consequences for anyone. The kid had jus
t made a mistake. But if there were evidence that it was me, everyone would have been mad at me.”
“With just cause,” Amy muttered.
“So, you put on the Easter Bunny costume?” Heather asked.
“It wasn’t my plan when I went over to the trees, but once I realized that Gilbert was going to be the Easter Bunny and emerge from the trees later, I realized that his costume might be there. I found it and put it on and used it to make my getaway. But I did return the costume to him the next day. He got it back.”
“The day after he needed it,” said Amy. “How often does one need to dress up like the Easter Bunny?”
“Did you see anything suspicious in the trees while you were over there?” Ryan asked.
“No,” said Ben. “I wasn’t feeling well, so that distracted me. And then I was focused on making my escape.”
“The problem is that a murder occurred close to the same time as all this,” said Heather.
“But, I didn’t know that!” said Ben. “I wouldn’t have been barfing there if I knew there was a dead guy I knew nearby.”
“Unless this is all a story to cover this up,” said Amy.
“Right,” Heather agreed. “Maybe Brian Silver caught you stealing the chocolate head and tried to reprimand you. You decided to whack him on the head instead. Thinking of what you did made you sick and you stole the bunny costume to escape your crime.”
“No,” Ben said. “No. All I did was steal some chocolate and borrow a costume temporarily.”
“We’re going to hold you for twenty-four hours,” Ryan said. “We’ll see if we can fill in the holes of your story.”
He and the other investigators left the room.
“I think he’s telling the truth,” Heather said. “His crime was destroying the prize for the children at the Easter Egg Hunt.”
“Which is the real reason, I’m going to hold him here,” Ryan said. “But I have a feeling that if he is the murderer, he will talk during this time period.”
“But if he’s not the killer, then we still need to figure out who is,” said Heather.
Heather sat at a table at Donut Delights and sighed. She picked at her Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Donut but was feeling frustrated. Amy was feeling the same but was eating her donuts at a faster pace.
“I feel like we started out with ten suspects by including everyone in the club and Ethel, but we slowly got down to no suspects,” said Amy.
“That can’t be right,” said Heather.
“I know. But that’s how it feels.”
Heather nodded. She knew that it had to be one of the members of the Beach Detectors Club, but she wasn’t sure who. So many of their leads had ended up being minor crimes and indiscretions that weren’t related to the murder.
“Who have we dismissed completely?” asked Heather, trying to review facts.
“Jill, Mr. Rankle, Ethel,” said Amy. “And of course, the victim himself.”
“And if we decided that the love triangle of Nadine, Jeffrey and Kaylee dismisses them from the opportunity to commit the crime, then that gets rid of more suspects,” Heather said, thinking aloud. “Ryan and Peters did confirm Jeffrey and Kaylee’s alibi at the ice cream shop. I suppose Nadine could have done it. Part of the reason why we dismissed her as a suspect was because she was too short to wear the bunny costume, but now it seems like the bunny costume isn’t related to the murder.”
“That threw me for a loop,” Amy said. “I was sure that it was the killer getting away from the crime. It turns out that it was just a chocolate thief trying to hide his messy clothes.”
“Gilbert still had an opportunity to kill Brian Silver in the woods before looking for his bunny costume. He did make those phone calls to chocolate makers, but it could have been near the tents or the trees.”
“And it could have been Al or Tony,” said Amy. “No one can vouch for exactly where they were at the time of the crime.”
Heather thought about it. “I suppose any of those suspects could have snuck over to the tree area without us noticing and then rejoined the group after the murder. However, I’m not sure how they got the murder weapon over there. Jill told us how they had been accounted for and handed out.” She sighed again. “I don’t know. What do you think?”
“I think we need more donuts,” said Amy.
“Agreed.”
Heather waved to Digby and Janae who were behind the counter. Digby finished filling a box with a dozen donuts and handed it to a customer with two hands. Janae realized that Heather was asking for more donuts. She put an empty box that she was holding on one hand down and began to gather some donuts for her boss.
Heather paused. She realized that she was seeing something important. There was something about this that related to the case. She could feel it. She just needed to wait until her brain caught up.
She smiled as she realized her discovery. Janae had arrived at the table and handed the donuts to them with two hands.
“You used two hands to hand these to us,” Heather said.
“I guess so,” Janae said. “I hadn’t really thought about it. It was automatic.”
“You only used one hand while holding the empty box,” Heather said.
“I guess it was lighter,” Janae said, shrugging. “What’s the significance? Does this relate to the case?”
“I think so,” said Amy. “But I’m not sure how.”
“It’s how the murder weapon was carried. It’s obvious when I think about it,” Heather said. “And I assume that the motive is blackmail. But how do we prove it? It’s not much of a case based on a bag.”
“Is it time to set another trap for a killer?” Amy asked.
“I think so,” said Heather. “Maybe Jill can help us out.”
Buried Secrets
Heather and Amy hid behind the fence, knowing that Ryan and Detective Peters were behind another section of fencing.
Heather hoped that their hiding place would be good enough. She thought it was a good plan to trick the killer. She was fairly certain that the motive was blackmail. If this were true, then the person being blackmailed would want the evidence against them back.
Jill had called the suspect and according to Heather’s plan told the following story. The police had learned that Brian Silver was blackmailing several people. Apparently, he had hidden the evidence against these people in his backyard. The police were asking to borrow a metal detector to search for the evidence the next day. Jill’s extra strength detector needed to be repaired, so was it possible to borrow his?
Heather waited, keeping an eye on Brian Silver’s yard, hoping that the killer would take the bait. Finally, it appeared that he did.
Al Jessum carefully snuck into Brian’s backyard. He removed his metal detector from its carrying bag and began to search the area. Heather and the others waited. He eventually found a tin box and broke it open. He was shuffling through the papers and pictures when the investigators interrupted him.
“Find what you’re looking for?” Amy asked.
“Oh, officers,” he said. “I heard that you were looking for evidence of blackmail, so I went searching for you.”
“No,” Heather said. “You were looking for what was being used against you.”
Al seemed to deflate. “You’re right. I was hoping to find it before anyone saw it in Brian’s stash. I didn’t want anyone to know.”
“To know what?” asked Heather.
He hesitated.
“The evidence is right in front of us,” Amy said. “The police could just take that box from you. You were trespassing.”
“He knew that my treasure collection was fake,” Al said. “I didn’t find it on the beaches. I ordered it online.”
“That would explain all the shipping boxes in his recycling,” Heather said.
“I was so proud of my collection. I had been telling everyone that I had found these items through the years. I couldn’t have Brian tell people that I had been lying all along. I had my pride.
”
“Well, it cometh before the fall,” Amy said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“We don’t condone blackmail,” Heather said. “But we don’t condone murder either. You shouldn’t have killed Brian Silver.”
“Who said I killed him?” asked Al. “All I’ve said is that he blackmailed me about my treasure.”
“That was your motive,” said Heather. “And I know how you did it too. You told us that you were carrying a big bag to give to Gilbert. You thought he needed it to put a metal detector in so it would have been empty.”
“Right,” he said. “But Gilbert just wanted a bag for his costume. He didn’t need mine.”
“You were carrying the bag with two hands,” Heather said. “If it was light and empty, you could have used one. However, with a heavy metal detector in it, you needed both hands. We have a witness who can confirm that the bag looked weighty.”
“But I… It could have… Brian deserved it,” Al said. “He was a bad man who needed to be stopped.”
Ryan and Peters took Al and led his towards their police car. Heather and Amy stayed behind and picked up the tin box and its contents.
“I can’t believe the blackmail and the murder was all because of where some treasure pieces came from,” said Heather.
“Yeah,” Amy said. “What do you think of this treasure?”
She handed Heather some of the photos and documents from the blackmail box. It actually consisted of photos that Eva and Leila had taken and some pages that Lilly wrote up on her pink typewriter. They had used it as part of their trick.
Heather smiled. “This is a fine treasure indeed. From people I love to help with the noble purpose of seeing justice served.”
Happy Easter
Easter was celebrated with another Easter Egg Hunt, but this one was much more low-key. Lilly searched for eggs in the three houses of their three-family home.
* * *
Eva and Leila had hidden pieces of jewelry and photographs in their plastic eggs. The most inventive place they had hidden one was taped to the underside of a table.
Chocolate Hazelnut & Murder Page 6