Sour Apple and Animosity

by Allyssa Mirry

  “That’s a great idea,” Trina agreed.

  Lydia took out her phone and showed her the pictures. They jotted down a list of all the clients and began to determine what they knew about them. Though Suzanne did often travel out of town for clients, there were several locals on her calendar.

  “I don’t think we should discount the people who are out of town completely,” Lydia said. “But if we’re working on the assumption that Megan Wilway is not a suspect in all of this.”

  “Because Detective Grey is already considering that possibility,” Trina acknowledged with a nod.

  “Then, she’s a victim in this too. It was most likely her phone that was the second one that was destroyed by the house. It would be easier for someone in town to follow Megan, Suzanne, or Teddy around and figure out when they would be at the Wilway house. It’s possible that it could be someone who is staying in town and doesn’t live here, but I think that to figure out when they would be at the house it would be more than a day trip for the killer.”

  “What if the killer didn’t expect anyone to be at the house?” Trina suggested.

  Lydia shook her head. “There was that black ski mask found at the crime scene. I think the killer might have been wearing it, but maybe Teddy grabbed it off him.”

  Trina gulped. “But that means that Suzanne and Megan saw the killer’s face when he didn’t want them to.”

  “I know,” Lydia said seriously. “This means that we don’t have much time. We need to start talking to these clients.”

  8

  The First Client

  After going through the list of clients, Lydia and Trina identified three people that they definitely wanted to speak to. Two of them were people that Trina had heard suspicious gossip about at the hair salon, and the third person had been marked with a question mark in Suzanne’s planner. Perhaps this was because Suzanne had doubts about this client.

  They started with the person that Trina thought was most likely because of what she had heard at work.

  “What was it that people are saying about him?” Lydia asked as they drove to the man’s address.

  “Multiple people have remarked that Mitch Wagner seems shifty and strange. He’s also a young, fit man so he would have been physically capable of carrying out a kidnapping and murder.”

  “If he does have two adult victims that he took, then being strong would help. But the murder was committed with a gun, so it’s possible that a weaker person could have done it.”

  They fell into silence for the rest of the trip, thinking fearful thoughts about Suzanne. When they arrived at Mitch Wagner’s house and saw a car in the driveway, they knew that they would soon be talking about Suzanne and hoped that their plan would be enough to get a conversation started.

  Lydia looked through the car’s window as she passed by it. She didn’t see any signs of blood, but it did look like there were wet towels left inside. She considered whether this could be from a beach trip or if it was the remnants of cleaning up a car after a crime was committed.

  “Can I help you?” Mitch asked as he opened his front door.

  Trina had been about to knock, but Lydia was still heading away from his car. Not wanting to make it obvious that she had been spying on his vehicle, she placed a hand on her hip as if she had a stitch in her side. She walked up toward the door as if this had been the reason for her slowness as Trina greeted the man.

  “Hello. We’re sorry to show up like this. I got your name from some women who come to my hair salon. We heard that you had used Suzanne Peppercorn’s design services.”

  “We’ve been chatting with her about decorating my new place,” Lydia said, continuing the excuse. “But we really wanted to see what some of her designs looked like in living space. Are they functional to live in? Do they look as nice in real life as they do in the pictures?”

  “We were hoping that we might be able to sneak a peek of the work she did for you,” Trina said.

  “You want to see the inside of my house?” Mitch asked, looking at them like they were crazy.

  “If it’s not too much trouble,” Lydia said. “It would only take a moment.”

  “I guess you could,” he said with a shrug. “But no funny business. Just look around and leave.”

  They thanked him thoroughly and followed him inside. Lydia noticed that though he was still wearing a wetsuit, his short hair was dry. Was this because he had never been in the water that day and this was a disguise? Or was it warm enough that his hair had dried quickly?

  “I don’t know if this would be the kind of design you’re looking for,” Mitch said, showing them a room with lots of clean lines and simple colors. “I just wanted my place to look a little less like a bachelor pad. I was trying to impress my girlfriend. I’m not sure it worked.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Lydia said.

  “Your living room does look rather nice,” Trina complimented. “Except for that picture being askew. Is that a design choice?”

  Mitch’s face reddened as he said, “No. I hit the wall yesterday, and I must have knocked it. I didn’t realize I had done that. I was just upset at the time.”

  He went to straighten the picture. Lydia saw that it was of Mitch and a young woman with a sweet smile. In the photo, she had the initials M.W. monogrammed on her shirt pocket.

  “M.W.?” Lydia asked.

  “Her name is Megan Wilway,” Mitch said. “But her initials are the same as mine. That’s why I first went up to talk to her. I’m Mitch Wagner.”

  “Megan Wilway,” Lydia couldn’t help repeating. “That’s your girlfriend?”

  “Well, to be honest, I’m not completely sure anymore. She’s been sending me mixed signals. I thought her moving to Ocean Point was going to be a good thing. But now she’s being confusing. She’s saying she’s having trouble accepting the house that her grandfather left her when her family used to be so upset that he was doing illegal things. And she says she wonders if she’s letting her family down. But I think this seems like a pretty convenient excuse to not move closer to me after I’ve been traveling to see her. And I think she’s pushing me away and I don’t like it. And if she doesn’t want me – fine! I don’t want her. And I don’t care whether she’s in town or not.”

  His face was even redder after this outburst, and it seemed he was starting to get self-conscious after letting off this steam in front of strangers. However, Lydia decided to press her luck a little further.

  “So sorry to hear that. Is she in town now ignoring you? How awful.”

  “I think she’s here to see the house. Not to see me. But I know she rented a car and was coming down,” Mitch said, crossing his arms. “But anyway, this is the room Suzanne Peppercorn did. I hope it helped you make your decision.”

  It was clear that he wanted them out of his house as soon as possible. Lydia wanted to know one more thing about the room.

  “Was there any work done on the house besides what Suzanne did? Did you need to hire a contractor?”

  “No. She just decorated it. And this really is all there is to see.”

  Lydia and Trina both graciously thanked him again and started toward the door.

  “We really appreciate this. And we are so sorry to have disturbed you,” Lydia said, trying to fish for an alibi on her way out. “I can only imagine what you were up to today when we showed up out of the blue. I hope we didn’t ruin any of your plans.”

  “It’s fine,” Mitch said. “I was just out on the water today. I have a Jet Ski that I like to take out. I was out there all morning, so you were lucky you caught me. It’s my day off, so I do have some errands to run today.”

  “Again, thank you,” Lydia said.

  She and Trina left the house. Two thoughts were clear in her mind. The lesser one was that Suzanne really was an excellent designer. The other was that Mitch really did make a viable suspect. He knew the two missing women, and it was clear that he had some underlying rage towards one of them.

 
9

  Beach Talk

  After speaking with Mitch, Trina and Lydia headed to the beach. Lydia realized that she hadn’t updated Daniel on what was going on, and she thought that she might need his help.

  The friends walked along the sand toward the lifeguard stand where Daniel was working. While usually, a trip to the beach be soothing, today there was no room for relaxation. Lydia kept wondering where Suzanne was and whether she would be okay. How could Lydia enjoy the sand under her feet and breeze from the ocean when Suzanne could be in danger at that very moment?

  “What do you think?” Trina asked and then clarified. “About Mitch as a suspect?”

  “I think he’s a great one,” Lydia said. “He knew Suzanne. He might even have been the one to suggest her to Megan Wilway if she was new to town.”

  “And now we know for certain that it was her rental car in the driveway,” Trina said. “Or at least it makes sense if it is. Mitch told us that Megan rented a car to come to town to look at the house she inherited. Did someone steal her rental and leave a new one?”

  “I think it is hers. And this does confirm in my mind that Megan is a victim in all this. I think the killer took Suzanne and Megan away in whatever vehicle that he drove to the Wilway house. I really wish there had been some witnesses by that house to tell us what happened that morning. But that area is built for views of the inlet and not for looking at your neighbors.”

  “It really is a shame. Someone might have seen Mitch leaving the place.”

  “I think he could be the killer. He might have wanted to scare his girlfriend by threatening her while in a ski mask. Or he did want to her hurt. He wanted revenge because he thought she was slighting him,” Lydia said. “Since he knew Suzanne as well, he might have been able to determine when they would be at the Wilway house.”

  “So, I do have to ask – if we think he is such a great suspect, why are we going to tell Daniel about him instead of the police?”

  “Because I don’t want to interrupt their separate investigation unless I have something concrete for them to go on,” said Lydia. “And part of that means making sure that Mitch Wagner doesn’t have a real alibi.”

  “It certainly seemed suspicious to me,” said Trina. “He told us he was out on the water all morning, and he was still in his wetsuit, but he wasn’t even wet.”

  “We don’t know how long he had been out of the water. And I think Daniel might be able to help us check on the alibi.”

  Trina accepted this, and they approached the lifeguard stand. Daniel waved when he saw them. However, the joy on his face soon turned to concern.

  “What’s the matter?”

  Lydia quickly told him about how a contractor had been killed that morning and how Suzanne and another young woman were missing. She updated him on what they knew so far and about the suspect they had just spoken to.

  Daniel shook his head. Though he was keeping an eye on the water to make sure that no one needed his assistance out there, it was clear that he was focused on their story and was thinking about the two women who needed assistance now.

  “Suzanne was a delight at your party,” Daniel said. “I hate to think that anything could have happened to her.”

  “The blood on the headband is a little scary,” Lydia said. “But I really do think it was made from a superficial wound when she was found under the table. I think that she and Megan are alive somewhere. I know that we have to act fast to make sure it stays that way. But I really believe that they can be saved if we can just figure this out quickly.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Daniel promised. “I can have coverage for my shift here within the hour, and then I can do whatever is needed.”

  “Since you have an eye on the water most of the day and are getting to know a lot of the people who come out regularly, I thought you might be able to check on Mitch Wagner’s alibi while we talk to some more of Suzanne’s clients.”

  “I’d be happy to. He said that he was on a Jet Ski this morning? I think I know where the best spots to start out onto the water are. I’ll see if I can get some information about when he left. I’ll make it seem like I’m looking to borrow the water vehicle and not like I am looking for a killer.”

  “Good plan,” said Lydia.

  “And if this alibi falls through, we’ll tell the police?” asked Trina.

  Lydia nodded. “If he has no alibi, then we’ll tell them right away and have them haul him in for questioning. But if he wasn’t lying to us and we can prove it, I don’t want to waste their time when they could have other leads to follow.”

  “Do you know what the other leads are?” asked Daniel.

  “The last time I spoke to them, Detective Grey was looking into Megan Wilway as a suspect. He might have moved on from that though because we’re pretty certain that she is a victim in all this.”

  “Do you think it’s possible that she’s an accomplice?” Daniel asked. “That she and Mitch are in this together?”

  “That would mean that the objective was to kidnap Suzanne or kill Teddy,” Lydia said. “I don’t think Suzanne or her family has that much money. And so far, we don’t know of a connection between Teddy and another client. But, I suppose, it could be possible.”

  “However, we want to look into some of the other clients that Suzanne worked with. Maybe one of them was the person she was referring to on the phone,” said Trina.

  “There are two more people that we definitely want to visit in person,” said Lydia. “But I think I’ll ask my staff at the taffy shop if they would like to help with this case. They usually volunteer for things like this. At least, Kelsey, Jeff, and Mona do. Maybe we can get them to call some of Suzanne’s out of town clients and confirm that they were out of town this morning. We’d just have to figure out the proper ruse so that no one would get suspicious.”

  “I’m sure that they are up for the task,” said Trina.

  “Then, we all know what we are going to do. We just need to hope that something leads us to the right answer to find Suzanne,” said Lydia.

  “Can you promise me something before you go?” Daniel asked. “That you will be careful.”

  Lydia squeezed his hand. “Of course, I will.”

  They said goodbye and started away from the beach. Lydia hoped that she would be able to keep that promise to Daniel, but part of her knew that she might have to break it. She was going to do everything in her power to save Suzanne.

  10

  Another Suspect

  “You and Daniel are a good couple,” Trina said.

  “Pardon?” Lydia asked.

  She was driving to the next suspect’s house and had been focusing on the directions and the questions she wanted to ask. Trina’s words seem to have come out of the blue.

  “I just wanted to let you know that I thought that. I know I was pushing for the two of you to get together before because I thought he was handsome and mysterious, and I thought that you needed to get back out there after your fiancé turned out to be a dud. But now that you and Daniel really are together, I want you to know that I think you’re good for each other. He helps you with your cases. You helped him come out of his shell and take part in things. You’re good together.”

  “Thank you,” Lydia said, though she was still confused why this was being brought up.

  “I hate thinking that Suzanne thinks that I didn’t approve of her and Leo. I was making faces last night. But I was unhappy, and I just meant to tease. She and Leo are really good together too. I didn’t get to let her know what I really thought, and I wanted to let you know what I thought about your relationship.”

  “We’re going to find her,” Lydia said. She was projecting confidence because she thought it was possible and, therefore, just needed to find a way to make it happen.

  “Are you sure, Liddy? Because there’s a lot that could go wrong.”

  “We are. We are going to catch the person who killed Teddy Thomas, and we are going to save Suzanne and Megan. Daniel is loo
king into Mitch’s alibi, my employees jumped at the chance to help with the out-of-town clients, and we’re going to talk to some more suspects too. Leo is going research, and Detective Grey is tracking down leads. Between all of us, we’re sure to solve this.”

  “I have confidence that we’ll solve it and catch the bad guy,” Trina said. “We’ve done that before. But we’ve never had to catch someone before he hurt someone else that he kidnapped. I’m really worried about that.”

  “We can’t dwell on that. We need to stay sharp. Otherwise, we won’t be able to question the next client properly.”