“I’m sorry I accused you of murder,” Lorraine said.
“It’s okay,” replied Amy. “I have to question all my new neighbors and might have to do the same thing. It makes for a great first impression.”
“No one here is worth befriending anyway,” Lorraine said. “Or almost no one.”
“Besides the moving truck, did you notice anything out of the ordinary yesterday?” Heather asked.
“No,” Lorraine said. “I have a morning job, so I was home around one. I cleaned a bit, paid my bills after the mail arrived, and I read a book. Nobody did anything outside that I thought was odd. But I was inside with the air conditioning most of the afternoon.”
“So, you were here by yourself between three and four p.m. yesterday?” Heather asked.
“Yes. I was alone. What are you implying?” Lorraine asked angrily again.
“I’m just trying to establish your alibi for the time of the murder,” Heather said.
“Right,” said Lorraine. “Yes. I was alone.”
“What size shoe do you wear?” asked Heather.
“Eight.”
“Thank you,” Heather began, about to finish their questions, but Amy had one more.
“Oh,” Amy said. “There was another incident we heard just a mention about. Something about a hose. Do you know anything about that?”
Lorraine blushed again. “No. I don’t know anything about that one.”
They thanked her and left the house.
“What do you make of that?” Amy asked.
“I think whoever is involved in the hose incident is one man in the neighborhood she liked,” said Heather.
“That must be Nathan Greene,” said Amy. “He’s the only unmarried neighbor. Besides Jamie now. But he’s definitely taken. Very taken.”
“Very,” said Heather. “ And hopefully Nathan will be more helpful than the other witnesses.”
“Hopefully he won’t have any more dirt to inform me of about my neighborhood,” said Amy.
Chapter 11
“I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary yesterday afternoon,” Nathan Greene informed them. He was a muscular retiree who was more interested in his garden than in their questions.
“Where were you between three and four yesterday?” Heather asked.
“The same place I am every afternoon. I’m outside in my yard, caring for all my plants.”
“You could see the whole neighborhood while you were working outside?” asked Heather.
“Yes, I could,” said Nathan. “And that’s why I know that nothing looked out of the ordinary.”
“Something had to be different though,” Amy pointed out. “Because somebody was murdered.”
“True enough,” Nathan said. He stopped digging in the dirt to face them properly. “But besides you moving in down the street, nothing seemed unusual. The neighbors who stay inside stayed inside. The mailman delivered the mail at the regular time. The Pittmans made their usual walk around the block at 5 p.m.”
“And no one went up to Barry Rahway’s house?” asked Heather.
“No. He had very few visitors. I would have noticed if somebody went up to his house. Only his daughter ever visited.”
“Did he and his daughter get along?” Amy asked.
“I believe so,” Nathan said. “She used to visit a lot and hasn’t recently. But I heard that she might have broken an arm or a leg. Something like that.”
“Who didn’t get along with Barry Rahway?” asked Heather.
“Most of the neighbors found him annoying. But few actually fought with him. I believe Phil Pittman yelled at him a while ago about a prank. Most people grudgingly put up with him because he was older.” Nathan Green added, “Isn’t it nice that I have that to look forward to?”
“I think Lorraine Lyle said something similar about the neighborhood and Barry Rahway,” Amy said.
“Ah, you spoke to Lorraine,” Nathan said. “Nice girl.”
“But she wasn’t particularly fond of the neighborhood,” Amy commented.
“I guess not. Everyone has been so catty lately. Except, of course, Barry who took to being the neighborhood dog and barking at everyone. But everyone had been looking for reasons to annoy one another. It’s been quite off-putting.”
“What did you do to annoy everyone?” Amy asked.
“This wasn’t meant to annoy anyone, but it certainly succeeded in it,” Nathan said. “I water my plants at a particular time every day. And one day I discovered that my hose had been ripped in half. I’m still not sure if it was kids from a few streets over or one of my neighbors causing trouble. Well, I needed to water my plants. And I needed a long hose. So I borrowed both the Lovetts’ and the Tuttles’ hoses for my plants. I put them back, but no one liked that I borrowed without asking. Oh, the drama.”
“Barry Rahway wasn’t involved in this in anyway?” Heather asked.
“No,” Nathan said. “I would suspect a stranger of committing the crime if I hadn’t been so sure that I didn’t see anyone approach the Rahway house. No unusual people on the street. No one dressed all in black sneaking in. No one was wandering about with a fake story.”
“Mr. Greene, what size shoe do you wear?” Heather asked.
“Size twelve,” he said.
Amy almost shouted “aha!” before she realized it was size twelve in women’s sizes that they were looking for.
“I hope you catch the person who did this,” Nathan Greene said. “I don’t like thinking that I’m living next door to a killer.”
“Me neither,” said Amy.
Chapter 12
“Barry Rahway was a weird guy,” Jill Lovett said. “But he shouldn’t have been murdered.”
“You’re the one who gets to decide that now?” James asked his wife.
Heather and Amy were finding this interrogation to be extremely awkward. The couple enjoyed insulting each other more than answering questions.
“I seem to be better at making decisions that some other people in this room.”
“What do you mean by that?” He asked.
“I mean that I’m not the one who decided that buying that lemon outside was a good idea.”
“We really just want to talk about the victim,” Heather said. “About what happened to Barry Rahway.”
“Did anyone in the neighborhood have a reason to hurt Mr. Rahway?” Amy asked.
“I can’t think of anyone,” said Jill.
“You got the first part right,” said James.
“What?”
“The “I can’t think” part,” James said.
“You’re as funny as Barry,” Jill responded.
“So, no one held a grudge against him?” Heather asked for clarification.
Finally, the couple gave a real answer.
“Not that I know of,” said James.
“The Pittmans didn’t like one prank that he played, but I think they eventually made peace,” said Jill.
“Now where were you between three and four yesterday?” Asked Heather.
“I was at the library in the afternoon,” said Jill.
“Can you believe it?” James asked. “Somebody who actually still goes to the library.”
“Maybe if my husband wasn’t so cheap, I could afford to buy things instead of borrow them,” said Jill.
James was about to respond, but Heather intervened. “And where were you at that time, Mr. Lovett?”
“I was home,” he said.
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“He better have been,” said Jill.
“And did you notice anything unusual on the street?” Amy asked.
“No,” he said. “I was outside for a while. Just drinking some iced tea on the porch.”
“More likely a beer,” said Jill.
“And nothing seemed off,” he continued, ignoring her. “There wasn’t anybody who wasn’t supposed to be there on the street.”
“What size shoe do you both wear?”
Asked Heather.
“I’m a thirteen,” James said.
“Don’t lie to them,” said Jill.
“Fine,” he said. “I guess I’m a ten.”
“And I’m a seven.”
“Thank you for your time,” Heather said. “We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions.”
They left the couple bickering about who had been better at answering the questions, which seemed to be leading into a fight about the broken washing machine.
“If Jamie and I ever turn into that,” Amy said. “I want you to promise to push us both off a cliff.”
“I promise,” Heather said. “But only because I know that that will never happen to the two of you.”
***
After all the chaos outside, Heather had forgotten about how nice it was inside Amy’s new house. Jamie brought them out some chips in one of their unpacked serving bowls so that they could have a snack as they discussed the case.
“I’m sorry we don’t have any donuts at the moment,” Jamie said.
“That’s all right,” said Heather. “Thanks for providing a snack. I think today was just as tiring as yesterday.”
“I met all our neighbors,” Amy said. “Not under the circumstances that I wanted to.”
“I’m sure they’ll understand that you had to ask all those questions,” Jamie said. “They all want the killer caught.”
“They’re not the neighbors I would have picked if I got to choose my own neighbors,” Amy said.
“Well, not all neighbors can be like the Shepherds,” Jamie said.
“Yeah. But there’s a lot of animosity and ill will for silly things here,” said Amy.
“And there was a murder,” Heather reminded them.
“Do you have any idea who did it?” Jamie asked.
Heather and Amy shared a look and then shrugged.
“I feel like we questioned so many potential suspects today,” said Amy. “But I don’t know if any of them are the killer.”
“There were blue fibers found at the scene. But there were many blue things that we encountered,” said Heather.
“The Pittmans matching outfits yesterday,” said Amy.
“Lorraine’s blue couch.”
“And the killer could have changed his clothes,” Amy added.
“Exactly,” said Heather. “Too many variables right now.”
“And the shoe size doesn’t seem to have gotten us anywhere,” said Amy. “Though I did learn a lot about our neighbors’ feet. I guess we could give socks for Christmas.”
Jamie laughed and then said, “What about motive? You two are really good at discovering that.”
“I usually think so,” said Heather. “But there’s only been annoyance at pranks so far. It might have pushed someone over the edge, but everyone has been downplaying how they were affected by the victim’s pranks.”
“The Pittmans faced the fiery oatmeal prank, the Lovetts had their garden gnome dressed up before Lorraine ran it over, and the Tuttles were barked at,” Amy listed.
“None of these things would lead to murder?” Asked Jamie.
“It is possible,” Heather admitted. “But nothing jumps out at me as the real reason to kill.”
They all pondered the answers. Then they were pulled out of their respective reveries by a knock at the door. Amy carefully checked who it was, and then admitted their landlord, Amos Hucklebine, into the house.
“I just wanted to check that you were doing okay,” he said. “I want you to know that this sort of thing doesn’t normally happen here.”
“It’s okay,” Amy said. “We’re almost getting used to murder by now.”
Amos Hucklebine looked shocked for a moment before Amy explained, “Heather and I investigate murders with the police. We’re P.I.s.”
“Then you might be better prepared for this than I am,” he said. “This is very upsetting to have something happen so close to one of my properties.”
“Did you know Mr. Rahway?” Heather asked.
“Not well,” Amos said. “But he did tell me this very funny joke about a parrot before. I forget exactly how it goes. But it ended with the birds just repeating and repeating each other. It was very funny.”
“Do you mind if I ask where you were late yesterday afternoon?” Heather asked.
Amy gave her a look, but Heather shrugged. They had to ask everyone who knew the victim.
“Not at all,” Amos Hucklebine said. “I was at the dentist. I still have all my natural teeth.”
He proudly smiled, and everyone smiled back.
“Thank you for the lovely move-in welcome card,” Jamie said.
“You’re welcome,” Amos said. “I meant every word of it. I want this, your first home together, to be as special as it can. If there are any problems with the house, let me know, and I’ll see that it’s taken care of. It’s a good house though.”
“We think we’re going to be very happy,” Jamie said.
“Just as soon as we catch the killer,” Amy added.
“When I got the card today, I realized how lucky we are to have you as a landlord,” Jamie added. “We’re very excited to be in this house.”
“You got the card today?” Amos asked. “That’s funny. I thought I had expedited it so it would arrive yesterday, the day of your real move-in.”
“Regardless, it was a very nice gesture,” said Jamie.
“Yeah, thanks,” said Amy.
Amos responded to their thanks but looked distracted. He bid them a good night, and left them with something clearly weighing on his mind.
“What do you think was wrong?” Heather asked.
“I don’t know,” said Amy. “I hope it wasn’t about manners. It was already so sweet that he sent us a card. It doesn’t matter that it was a day late.”
“Oh, speaking of late,” said Heather. “I better hurry if I want to catch Ryan and Lilly for dinner.”
She said goodnight to her friends and hurried home to her family. Maybe after a good meal and some hugs, she would have a clearer mind so she could figure out who the killer was.
Chapter 13
“What’s wrong with my girls?” Ryan asked.
Heather and Lilly suddenly looked at each other. They had both been staring glumly at their finished plates, lost in thought, without realizing that the other person was in the same boat.
“Is this because there’s no dessert on the plates?” Ryan joked.
“No,” Heather said. “But I’m certain that will help.”
Dave, the dog, barked in anticipation of his favorite food being brought out. Heather tried to avoid giving him too many donuts these days because his love handles had been becoming too much to handle. However, it was a force of sheer willpower to stop herself from giving in to the puppy dog eyes.
“Just a little piece,” Heather said.
She gave the grateful Dave a piece of donut and then had to do the same with the kitten Cupcake. She liked to do what Dave did and basically thought she was a dog too.
The humans enjoyed their dessert too.
“Now what’s the matter?” Ryan asked.
“Just thinking about the case and Amy’s neighborhood,” Heather said. “But now I’m more worried about what is troubling Lilly.”
“I think Nicolas and I are fighting,” Lilly said.
Heather looked concerned. Nicolas was Lilly’s very best friend. Eva and Leila hadn’t mentioned any fighting during their outing to the movies.
“What happened?” Heather asked.
“He would barely talk to me after the movie,” Lilly said. “And when we went to say goodbye, he said he knew I’d rather be going out with my new friend Marlene.”
“Did you say that you didn’t want to spend time together anymore?”
“No,” Lilly said. “I showed him a dance move that Marlene had shown me. I thought he would find it funny. But instead, he seemed to get mad.”
“You’re not a bad dancer, so it can’t be the move itself,
” Ryan said with a smile.
“Why is he acting this way?” Lilly asked.
“Did you tell him about all the time you’ve been spending with Marlene?” Heather asked.
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