by Cindy Bell
Chapter 4
When Ally woke in the morning she was greeted by the aroma of toast and coffee. She quickly dressed and headed into the kitchen to discover Luke buttering toast.
“Good morning.” He smiled at her.
“Good morning. Did you sleep okay on the couch?”
“Yes. How about you? Did you get any rest?”
“Some.” She sat down at the table as he placed two plates down.
“I hope you don’t mind, I rummaged through your kitchen.”
“Not at all. Thanks for doing this. I didn’t even realize how hungry I was until I smelled the toast.”
“I can make some eggs, too, if you’d like.”
“This is perfect, thank you.”
He sat down across from her and met her eyes. “How are you doing this morning?”
“Better than I thought I would be. I hope we get some good news today and there will be an arrest in Shane’s case.”
“We just might. If a homicide is going to be solved easily it’s usually solved in the first day or two.”
“And if it’s going to be more difficult?”
“Well, that’s something we cross when we get to it.” He finished his toast. “I haven’t heard anything new so far today.”
“It’s still early. I’m sure they’ll come up with something soon. But like you said, there wasn’t much evidence at the crime scene.”
“Not that I could see, but maybe the crime scene investigation team found something.”
“Maybe.” She finished her toast. “Want another cup of coffee?”
He glanced at his watch and sighed.
“I’m late. I have to go.” He looked back up at her and frowned. “Are you going to be okay? I can see if I can switch shifts if you need me to stay with you.”
“No, the streets will be much safer with you at work. Besides I have to go in and open the shop early this morning. I’m sure that I will be having a visit from Mrs. Cale, Mrs. Bing, and Mrs. White.”
“They’re probably already lined up outside. At least let me drop you off?” He leaned down to kiss her forehead.
“Okay, that’s probably a good idea. Mee-Maw will be there and she has my car.”
“Just be careful who you talk to about this. You don’t want to step on peoples’ toes. Especially Mario’s.” He paused beside the table.
“I understand.” She met his eyes and smiled. “I’m not going to put myself in the line of fire.”
“Good.”
“Let me just grab my purse.”
As they headed out the door Ally caught sight of Peaches perched in the front window. She stared out forlornly at Ally as she got into Luke’s car. Peaches could always tell when she was nervous or upset and became rather clingy. Ally blew her a kiss through the window as Luke pulled out of the driveway. When they arrived at the shop she noticed that her car was already parked outside the building.
“It looks like Mee-Maw had some trouble sleeping.” Her grandmother was always an early riser, but she wouldn’t often be at the shop so early.
“How do you know?” Luke looked over at her.
“When I was a little girl if there was anything ever bothering her she would wake me up at the crack of dawn and take me into the shop with her. Then she would bake and make chocolates until she had it all figured out.”
“That sounds like a great way to deal with stress to me.”
“I could agree with that, I just wish she didn’t lose any sleep over this. She’s not as young as she used to be.”
“And she’s not as fragile as you might think.” He leaned across the car and kissed her. When she pulled away, she smiled at him.
“Have a good day.”
“Thank you. Remember, I’m just a phone call away.”
“I won’t forget.” She winked at him then walked towards the shop. As soon as she opened the door she was tantalized by the aroma of chocolate that wafted through the air.
“Mee-Maw?” She followed the smell to the kitchen.
“Morning Ally.” She turned around with a tray of brownies between two potholders.
“I thought I was opening today.” Ally cleared a spot on the counter for her to set the pan down.
“I know, but I was restless.”
“I had a hard time sleeping last night, too.” Ally sighed. “I can’t get it out of my head.”
“We shouldn’t.” Charlotte turned off the oven. “A young man was killed, and we can’t just move on from it.”
“I agree, but what can we really do? There’s no evidence to go on, and the only lead I’ve found so far is an angry review on Shane’s website from a powerful man, Mario Mazzalli, that Luke warned me to steer clear of.”
“Hmm, the name doesn’t ring a bell, but if Luke is so cautious of him he must be a dangerous fellow.”
“But would someone really kill over a bad wedding video?”
“It depends on the person of course, but a wedding can be a big stressor. Especially if you consider that you only have one chance at capturing that perfect moment. You can’t go back and record things you miss, or change what you did record, so I guess it could be something that would set off a person who was already prone to criminal things.”
“So, do you think we should go talk to him?”
“No.” Charlotte shook her head. “If Luke warned you to be cautious of him, we should respect that. He wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t warranted.”
“You’re right. I guess talking to Mario is best left to the police. But what else can we do?”
“I think we should pay a visit to Shane’s parents and offer our condolences.” Charlotte wiped down the counter where she’d prepared the brownies. “That’s who I made the brownies for.”
“Good thinking, Mee-Maw. We can pick up some flowers from the shop down the street as well. I know it won’t ease their pain, but at least it’s a gesture of support.”
“It’s the best we can do.”
“Unless.”
“Unless?”
“We try to figure out what happened to Shane.” Ally looked into her grandmother’s eyes. “We were there when it happened, maybe we saw something and didn’t realize it.”
“I thought you wanted to leave this to the police?”
“They can handle Mario, but there are other avenues we can investigate. Shane was such a nice man, and I don’t want to leave any stone unturned. I’m sure Geraltin has a great police department, but it can’t hurt to have more eyes on the case. At least I’d feel like we were doing something for Shane’s family.”
“I’m all for it.”
“Luke has to be careful because if he’s seen investigating the crime it can create conflict between Blue River and Geraltin PD. But Geraltin already made a huge mistake in the case by letting all of the witnesses go without questioning them.”
“That is ridiculous. Where are they going to begin if they don’t know who was there at the time of the murder?”
“I have no idea.” Ally shook her head. “I’m assuming they’ll figure out that they need to talk to Mario, but maybe Shane’s parents will know something about what was going on in his life.”
“Let’s head out now.”
“Oh, we should take that bag of fudge and chocolates that Shane left here yesterday, too. I’m sure they would want to have them.”
“Yes, I’ll add some more, too, so they can share them with guests.” Charlotte washed her hands and put on some gloves and then opened up the bag. She moved an open bag of fudge and chocolates aside and began to rearrange the individually wrapped chocolates so that she could fit more in the bag. However, when her fingertips brushed over the smooth surface of the chocolate wrappers she bumped into something harder. “There’s something else in here.” She opened the bag wider and peered inside. Scattered between the chocolates were three small flash drives. She pulled all three out and set them on the table. “How would these get in here?”
“I don’t know. I certainly didn’
t put them in there. They must have belonged to Shane.”
“What are they?” Charlotte stared at them.
“They’re flash drives. Portable storage devices. You can save files on them from your computer then take them with you anywhere.”
“It seems like an odd place to store something like that.” Charlotte scrunched up her nose. “He could have contaminated the open bag of fudge.”
“It does seem very odd. He could have just as easily stuck them in his pocket. Do you think maybe he was trying to hide them? I wonder what’s on them?”
“If he wanted to hide them, why would he stick them in a bag of chocolates, there were plenty of other places that he could have hidden them.”
“I’m not sure why, but I think we should check out what’s on them. Then we’ll notify the police if there’s anything on them that might help with the case.”
“All right, will they work on the store’s computer?”
“They should.”
Ally and her grandmother walked into the office with the drives. Ally turned on the computer and inserted one of the drives. What flashed on to the screen surprised her. It was a video clip of two men in a heated argument. They stood beside a red pick-up truck in a wooded area.
“I said ten kilos, this isn’t even close.”
“For what you paid it’s more than fair. If you have a problem with it, you know who to take it up with.”
“I’m taking it up with you!” The taller man shoved the smaller man into the truck behind him. As he pulled out a gun, the video clip ended.
“How frightening.” Charlotte drew back from the computer. “Do you think one of those men might have hurt Shane?”
“It sounded like an argument about a drug deal of some kind. It’s possible, but Shane was in film school so maybe it was acting. Let’s see what’s on the other drives.” When she inserted the next drive she found more film clips. As she played the first one, Shane’s voice began to come through the speakers. The image on the screen was of the river that ran through Blue River.
“So this is my first attempt at making my own film. I’m going to use real people as much as I can to give it a gritty edge. The general idea behind the movie is a quiet town that is overrun by a power-hungry crime family. The setting might look peaceful, but what lurks behind closed doors and down back alleys would shock you. Yes, this is a work of fiction, but I think it represents some of the truths about life.”
As the clip ended Ally looked over at her grandmother. “I guess that first clip must have been part of his movie.”
“I don’t know, it looked so real.” Charlotte stared at the screen. “I suppose they could have been very good actors.”
“Let’s watch the others.” Ally clicked on the other video files. A few were of different settings throughout the town. When the last began to play the setting was unfamiliar to her. “Where do you think this one is?”
“It looks like a house, maybe a mansion. A whole lot bigger than we normally see in this town though.”
Ally shivered as Shane’s voice played through the speakers in a whisper. “I know I shouldn’t be doing this. But I had to find out the truth. If I’m right, then this is going to rock the entire town.” The entire clip consisted of the house, with very little movement. At the end of the clip the sound of an engine interrupted the quiet just before the video cut off.
“Mee-Maw, do you have the last flash drive?”
“Here it is.” Charlotte handed it over with a tremble in her hand. “Do you think that was part of the movie, too?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore.” Ally inserted the final flash drive. The video began of the same house again, but a few minutes in, the camera began to jump and twist, as if Shane was moving. She could hear his heavy breathing, and see bits and pieces of someone behind him. Even though she knew it was a video, and that Shane was already dead, she had to fight the urge to try to help him. “He’s being chased! Either he really wanted this film to look real, or something else is going on here.”
“I don’t know how we can tell either way.” Charlotte sighed. “Maybe when the police review it they can figure it out.”
“First, I’m making copies.”
“Ally, is that legal? I mean we don’t want to get ourselves into any trouble.”
“We found them. It’s not as if we stole them from the evidence locker. I want to make sure that Shane’s last films aren’t lost.” She pursed her lips. “If he was that afraid, why didn’t he go to the police? He might have had a reason, don’t you think?”
“Maybe. I still wonder why he left them in the bag of chocolates.”
“Maybe he just didn’t want to carry them around with him. Or maybe they slipped in there when he reached in for a chocolate and then he forgot about them.”
“Strange.” Charlotte shook her head. “It doesn’t make much sense to me.”
“Me neither. I have a strong suspicion that he didn’t want someone to find these though. Now that we have copies I should get these over to the Geraltin Police Department, but I’ll tell Luke about them first.” Ally called Luke and told him about what was on the drives. She explained that they thought it was probably acting, but maybe they still held a clue to the murder. After hanging up the phone Ally turned to her grandmother. “Luke agrees that I should take them in. I hope they can help with the case. When I get back, we can head over to Shane’s parents’ place.”
“Okay, I’ll finish cleaning up and we can close up the shop for a little while. I’ll send Mrs. White a text so the ladies don’t show up while we’re closed.”
“Good idea. I’m surprised they’re not here yet.”
“It’s still over an hour before we open.” Charlotte checked her watch. “Hopefully I’ll catch them before they start heading this way.” A moment after she sent the text she received one back.
“Oh, they’re busy today. She said they’ll see us tomorrow.”
“Too busy for free chocolate and gossip?” Ally raised an eyebrow.
“Must be something important.”
“All right, I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
Chapter 5
Ally took her car and drove towards Geraltin. It wasn’t a place she visited too often. Geraltin had quite a bit more to offer than Blue River. The town was slightly bigger than Blue River, but it had many more activities, including the drive-in, a concert hall, and other entertainment. Once in a while she and Luke would visit the area for a date, but most of the time she was perfectly happy to remain in Blue River.
When Ally was in high school there was always a rivalry between the two towns, so maybe that explained her slight aversion to the place. Shane’s parents lived in Blue River, but Shane had lived and worked mostly in Geraltin. She studied the places she passed and recognized a few of them from the photographs on Shane’s website. However, she didn’t see the large house, or the wooded area from the film clips.
When Ally parked at the Geraltin Police Department she noticed that there were quite a few cars in the parking lot. Far more than she expected early in the morning on a Sunday. When she opened the door she encountered a very crowded lobby with almost every seat taken. It was easy to believe that half the town of Geraltin was inside the building. She waited in line to speak to the desk sergeant. The line moved very slowly. She noticed that several people were sent to wait in the lobby while others were escorted down a side hallway. When she finally reached the desk, the sergeant was busy on his computer.
“Can I help you?” He didn’t bother to look up.
“I’d like to speak to the detective that is working the Shane Smithson murder case.”
“Oh?” The officer smiled. “Sure, I’ll just text him for you, and he’ll be right out to see you.”
“Great.” She smiled. The officer’s smile faded. “Oh, you were being sarcastic?”
“Yes.” He furrowed an eyebrow. “He’s a little busy right now.”
“And I have evidence that may hel
p his case.”
“What kind of evidence?”
“I prefer to give it to the detective.”
“You’re not a reporter are you?”
“No, I was just a friend of Shane’s. I’d like to see his case solved, and if there’s something I can do to help that happen, I will do it.”
“All right, let me see if he’s available.” He picked up the phone on his desk and punched a few numbers. Ally leaned against the counter as she waited. The Geraltin Police Department was not nearly as friendly as the Blue River Police Department. Then again the officers there knew she was Luke’s girlfriend, maybe that was why they were nicer to her. The officer hung up the phone and looked back at her.
“He’ll see you in a few minutes. Just take a seat.” He pointed to the crowded waiting area.
“What is going on here?” She frowned. “Some kind of warrant round up?”
“No, more like a witness round up. We’re trying to get everyone who was at the screening last night in for an interview.”
“Oh. Well, I was there.” She cleared her throat. “Does that get me back to see the detective any faster?”
“Nope, sorry. You’re going to have to wait a little while.” He pointed to the chairs again. Ally made her way to a chair between a woman with an infant in her arms and a man that had more tattoos than she’d ever seen in her life, and those were only the visible ones.
As Ally waited for the detective to be available she thought back over her interaction with Shane the day before. Could there have been something that she missed? He came into the shop and ordered the chocolates. They chatted about how film school was going. He didn’t mention anything about working on a private project. But then Shane was always a little bit shy. Maybe he was scared to talk about it. She tried to recall if he seemed nervous or upset. From what she could remember he was his usual friendly self. But when she handed him the chocolates and fudge, instead of leaving, he sat down with his computer. She was distracted as another customer entered the shop. As she took care of the other customer, Shane seemed to get annoyed or upset with whatever was on his computer. He snapped the lid shut. When the other customer left, he asked to leave the chocolates with her until the next morning, then hurried out of the shop. She remembered thinking he seemed a bit stressed as he left. So what changed in the time between their friendly banter and the moment that he left the shop? She couldn’t place it, but she guessed that something had.