“I didn’t notice,” Janine said. “Not until after the explosion. Then we had a ton of annoying visitors. Policeman and fake detectives.”
With that barb she retreated from the room, leaving Heather and Amy free to discuss their impressions.
“She is certainly good at deflecting reasons for having a motive,” Heather said. “Saying she didn’t know about the will.”
“But she was the only one inside the house when the explosion occurred. That’s where I’d be if I knew something bad was going to happen,” Amy said. “As far away and in shelter as would make sense. Especially if I could just give the excuse, I was looking for watermelon.”
“That’s true,” Heather nodded. “She also gave us a potential motive for Eddie. I think we should talk to him next.”
Chapter 12
“I loved my father, and I would never want to blow him up. But if I ever did try to blow him up, why in the world would I be outside next to him when it happened?”
“It does sound like a great alibi,” Amy said, looking up from her tablet. “What do you think Heather?”
“It does sound like it could have been planned to make us dismiss you as a suspect. After all, you were outside, but you were far enough away that you weren’t injured.”
“It’s insane though. If I knew it was going to blow, I’d have been inside hiding.”
“Like Janine,” Heather said. “Are you saying you think your sister did it?”
“I didn’t say that. And I don’t think so. Janine doesn’t even eat meat. She couldn’t kill anything or anyone.”
“Would you say that she and your father got along?”
“They actually bugged each other a lot. But that’s normal,” he said. “It’s family.”
“Do you believe that any of your family members did something recently that could have warranted them being written out of Mr. Templeton’s will?”
“No,” Eddie said. He thought about it and then nodded in confirmation. “Janine’s not that annoying.”
Heather looked around Eddie’s office before she changed her line of questioning. It seemed he worked for a small company that designed shoes. The office was clean and had a window view. However as Heather looked at the personal items around the room, she could see how they could reveal some money problems. The picture frame on the wall looked as if it had broken and been glued back together instead of replaced. There was an indentation on a shelf as if it had once held a statue, but now was empty.
As Heather looked at Eddie, she could also see how his clothes were not quite the right size. Either he had bought the incorrect size to save money, or he had changed sizes and not bothered to pay for better fitting clothes.
“We heard some rumors that you might be experiencing some financial troubles,” Heather said.
“Who told you that?” Eddie asked, giving a dirty look down the hallway toward the secretary.
“Is there truth to these rumors?”
“Whatever you’ve heard has been blown way out of proportion. Was I certain that a new shoe design I had was going to skyrocket and bring in a substantial amount of money? Yes. Did I start spending that money prematurely? Yes. Was I in trouble? No.”
“What sort of shoe did you design?” Amy asked. She was a fan a cute heels but was curious to see if what he designed was some sort of hideous failure.
“Well,” Eddie began. “Thinking of my father’s success with his bunion product and my working at a shoe company, I thought I could combine the two into one. I designed a show that was especially comfortable for people with bunions.”
“That seems like a good idea,” Amy said. “What went wrong?”
“I suppose I became a little too infatuated with Bunny Bunion as the mascot for the shoe. I used the likeness several times on the product. It began to look more like a children’s shoe than an adult’s. It also seems that people don’t like to advertise to the world that they have bunions, so having a shoe that proclaims it wasn’t very marketable.”
“Do you have a photo?” Amy couldn’t help herself. She had to ask.
Eddie revealed a picture of the shoe. It was as terrible as he described. The shoe itself looked comfortable, but the artwork killed any fashion sense it may have had. The cartoon bunny was holding her sore feet and looking sad on one shoe. On the other, she was wearing a pair of the special shoes and was hopping with joy. The shoelaces were also orange to look like a carrot and clashed horribly with the brown shoe.
Heather and Amy just managed to stifle their giggles. They knew that this mistake must be a serious sore spot for Eddie. They also had to discuss the serious matter of murder, but it was so hard not to laugh at the cartoon bunny’s sore feet.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out,” Heather said as evenly as possible. “What did your father think about this product?”
“He was very supportive of my error. But he said he wished he knew what I was planning before I did it. He might have been able to help. That’s certainly true.”
“So he wasn’t angry that you used his product as a stepping stone?”
“Not at all. He was proud of me for trying something. Even if it failed miserably.”
He hid the picture of the shoe again. Heather could see why he didn’t want to look at it anymore, though Amy was disappointed to see it put away.
It appeared that Eddie was not going to provide them with a motive for either himself or another family member to kill Mr. Templeton. She would have to focus on establishing the timeline if possible.
“Do you know when the burgers for the barbecue were purchased?”
“Do you really think it was the burgers that caused the explosion?”
“You said you saw them being put down right before the explosion happened. When the flames hit the meat, it blew up,” Heather said. “And that’s why the dog was sick.”
“Poor Bingo. It’s a shame he got so sick, but I suppose that’s why you were able to decide this was a murder. So maybe there was some good in it. The vet seems to think he’ll be okay.”
“Yes,” Heather said. Meanwhile, she thought about how Eddie didn’t want to bring the dog to the vet. Could he have realized why Bingo was ill and was trying to cover up the evidence of his crime? He tried to explain it away by saying he thought Bingo was depressed. But was that just a cover story?
Heather decided to repeat her earlier question about when the burgers arrived.
“I think they were already in the fridge the day before,” Eddie said. “I came over for dinner. It was spaghetti night. I think I might have seen them when I got the extra cheese. I didn’t think anything of it at the time though, so I’m not completely sure.”
“And one last question,” Heather said. “Do you know if anyone else came by the house before the barbecue?”
Eddie thought about it. “Now that you mention it, I think a neighbor stopped by. But I wasn’t really paying attention. You’ll have to ask Mrs. Templeton about it.”
Heather nodded. They would definitely do that.
Chapter 13
Nancy Templeton stared at them in disbelief. “I still can’t believe you think this was murder.”
“It does certainly look like it now.”
“I thought it was an accident,” Nancy said. “His grill was so unusual. And there was such firepower to it. Are you sure it was something malicious? And not an accident?”
“We’re fairly certain,” Heather said. “We believe the burgers were tampered with so they would cause an explosion when set on the grill.”
“Oh my goodness,” Nancy said. “I need to sit down.”
She sat down at the kitchen table, and Heather and Amy joined her. She poured herself some water, but her hand shook as she tried to drink it.
“I was upset, but I could understand an accident. I can’t understand this,” Nancy said. “Who would want to hurt Ed?”
“We were hoping you could help us figure that out.”
“Everybody liked Ed. That’s w
hy this is so hard to believe.”
Heather looked at Amy. Was this true grief or an extended acting scene? Amy shrugged and set up to take notes.
“Maybe we should focus on who had access to the meat,” Heather said. “How long were the burgers in the house?”
“I bought them the day before the barbecue. I did the shopping then. I wanted everything to be fresh for the party. I think it was around 2 o’clock.”
“And you, Janine and Eddie were all at the house that night?”
“And Ed too,” Nancy nodded. “We all had dinner together.”
“Did anyone else come into the house that day?”
Nancy thought about it for a while. She tried to take another sip of water, but her hand still shook. “Yes,” Nancy finally said. “I remember now. A neighbor did stop by. Brad Troyce. He lives a few doors down.”
“Did he come inside?” Heather asked.
“For a few minutes, yes,” Nancy said.
Heather nodded, encouraging her to say more. If Brad Troyce had been inside the house and been alone at any point, he could have tampered with the burgers. This could be a new suspect to add to their list. However, Nancy didn’t say anything more of her own accord.
“Why did he come over?” Heather prompted.
“Well, he wanted to apologize. He knew he was going to have to miss our barbecue and he felt bad about it. I told him it wasn’t a big deal. Ed loved to grill. I was sure there would be more parties this summer. I didn’t realize how wrong I would be.”
Heather wanted to cut off the tears by asking more questions. “Was Mr. Troyce alone at any point?”
“Actually he did go to the restroom at one point. He asked to wash his hands.”
Heather looked at the setup of the house to determine if Brad Troyce could have snuck into the office and kitchen without Nancy noticing. It would depend on where she was waiting.
“Where were you when he was in the other room?” She asked.
“I think in the living room,” Nancy said.
Heather nodded. From their position at the kitchen table, she wasn’t sure what Nancy would have been able to see.
“Did Mr. Troyce and your husband get along?”
“I don’t think they knew each other very well, but they were neighbors. They got along fine.”
“So there’s no reason Mr. Troyce would want to hurt your husband?” Heather asked, trying to find out as much as she could about their newest potential suspect.
“Of course not,” Nancy said. “Oh, I can’t believe you think this was murder. How can this be murder?”
“We believe Mr. Templeton was planning on changing his will. Do you know any reason why he might want to do that?”
“Where did you hear that?” Nancy asked.
“From his lawyer,” Heather said.
“Yeah. He came back from his really amazing vacation to tell us,” Amy said. “And to tell us about that amazing vacation.”
“I don’t know why he would want to change it,” Nancy said. “There haven’t been any major changes around here.”
“We believe that he was going to remove someone from it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense either,” Nancy said. “Maybe he was going to add someone to it. Or a charity. Ed sometimes spoke about donating to charity. I didn’t know it would be on such a grand scale though.”
“We know that Eddie created a failed shoe line using some of the bunion ideas that Mr. Templeton created.”
“Yes. With Bunny Bunion,” Amy said, trying to keep from laughing again. Nancy Templeton seemed close to tears, so it would have felt cruel to let her laughter at the cartoon escape.
“Did that cause a rift between father and son?”
“There might have been some slight tension between them. I didn’t place it until now. But I don’t think it was that serious. I don’t believe my Ed would have written off his son for that.”
They double checked on Nancy’s position during the explosion, and she confirmed that she was reading at the table when it happened. She was a little further back than Eddie.
Then Heather had one more request. “Do you mind if we conduct a little experiment in your house?”
Chapter 14
“Maybe experiment wasn’t the right choice of words after what happened,” Heather mused.
However, she and Amy were given free range of the house to check sightlines and inside Ed Templeton’s office. After they had determined that the chemically infused burgers had been the source of the explosion and not the grill itself, a team had made a more thorough examination of the office than they had when they were first called in.
They stepped inside and looked around. It looked as if Mr. Templeton had used the office mostly for the writing and research side of his science. However, one corner was set up with scientific instruments. Heather recognized a microscope and a few others. Some devices she did not recognize. They were either extremely high tech gadgets or something of Mr. Templeton’s own invention.
There was a cabinet with some chemicals that were labeled inside. It had a secure door latch but was not locked. Mr. Templeton must have thought that with adult children in the house there was no chance of someone playing with the items inside by mistake. It must never have crossed his mind that someone would use the contents to harm him intentionally.
“They’re sure the chemicals for the burgers came from his office?” Amy asked.
“They do match up,” Heather said. “He probably used some of these in ‘souping up’ the grill. And the more dangerous ones from the list were what the killer used to cause the explosion.”
“Why didn’t we think of this before?”
“At first we thought the chemicals came from inside the grill. I think they did look at what was in here right after the explosion but didn’t realize the significance for murder.”
“Fingers crossed that they found fingerprints.”
“No such luck,” Heather said. “Ed Templeton’s prints were all over, and there were some family member prints around the room as you would expect. On the chemicals, there were no prints.”
“The killer wiped them down?”
“Possibly,” Heather said. “Or less diabolically, Mr. Templeton used gloves when handling the chemicals.”
“Maybe he and the killer both did.”
“That’s a distinct possibility,” Heather said. “The police didn’t mention finding any gloves, but we can keep an eye out for them.”
Amy looked around. “I have a serious desire to play with these high-tech devices, but I feel like I might end up breaking something and turning them into really expensive paperweights.”
Heather laughed. She had been having some similar thoughts.
“Is there anything else we can learn from this room?” Amy asked.
“Not exactly,” Heather said. “But it’s time for our experiment.”
They moved into the living room and were ready to check sightlines.
“Okay,” Heather said. “This is where Mrs. Templeton said she was when Brad Troyce went to wash his hands. Who do you want to be?”
“I’ll be Brad, the cat burglar suspect.”
“Well, we’ll see if it’s possible for him to get away with it.”
“So, as Brad, I’d say something to the effect of – do you mind if I wash my hands? They’ve gotten a little dirty from being outside before.”
Heather appreciated her dedication to the part, as she had tried to speak in a lower octave when she asked her question.
“Then you’d say something like – of course. You go ahead. I’ll stay here and read another romance novel.”
Heather indulged her, and then waited as Amy snuck off down the hall. She heard the water turn on and thought the rushing water did a good job of masking any footsteps. Based on the way the walls were set up, it was hard to see where Amy was. Especially if she didn’t expect her guest to be up to no good and was trying to see if she could see her, it seemed likely that the h
ouseguest could commit a caper.
“Did you see me?” Amy asked, returning to the room.
“No,” Heather said.
“Good. Because I was prancing around like the evil rent collector in an old melodrama, twirling my oily mustache for good measure.”
“Then I wish I could have seen it.”
“I guess this means that Brad Troyce could have been the killer.”
Blueberry Spangled Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 48 Page 5