“Why don’t you stop taking dictation and talk to us about what you know?” Heather suggested.
“Why don’t you check both of our notes and see who has fewer typos?” Rose suggested back.
“You’re very competitive,” Heather noted.
“I’m not competitive,” said Rose. “I’m just the best at everything I do. Even silly things like typing. Test me.”
Hoskins attempted to chime in and repeated a tongue twister, but he ended up getting twisted and said, “She sells she shells by the she shore.”
“Perfect,” Rose said. “Now look at what I did.”
Heather was getting agitated, but when she read what Rose had written, she saw an opportunity. “But that’s incorrect,” said Heather.
“What do you mean?”
“You typed up the correct tongue twister, but Detective Hoskins said, “she shore.” You made a mistake,” Heather said.
“But he made the mistake,” said Rose.
“You were supposed to type up what you heard and not what you expected,” said Heather. “You did it wrong.”
“No. I didn’t do it wrong. I’m not the one who is wrong,” Rose said angrily.
“That’s quite a temper, you’ve got,” said Hoskins.
“I noticed that too,” said Heather. “And you seem to become livid over trivial things. I could see how an argument with Vera Rogers could lead to murder.”
“Wait a second,” Rose said. “Maybe I am a little competitive. Maybe I do have to learn to control my temper. But I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Where were you yesterday afternoon?” Ryan asked.
“I was at an audition,” Rose said. “I was singing. In front of a panel of judges. I was hoping to get onto a TV show.”
“How did it go?” Amy asked.
“I was perfect,” said Rose. “But I don’t think they realized it. I don’t know why they were selected to judge. It was clear that they didn’t know anything.”
“Right,” said Amy.
“We’ll be checking on that alibi,” said Ryan. “If we have any other questions, we’ll be back.”
“I understand,” said Rose. “But I don’t think you’ll be back. I think I answered all your questions perfectly the first time.”
The investigators left, and Amy was the first one to voice what they were all thinking.
“What a nut job,” she said.
“She had the temperament that could lead to murder,” said Heather. “But it looks like she has an alibi.”
“We’re never going to find the real killer,” Hoskins said, hopelessly.
“Yes, we will,” said Heather. “Detective work is just what it sounds like. It’s work. But if we keep following through, we’ll see that justice is served in the end.”
Hoskins nodded, and then he asked somewhat incredulously, “Are you saying you do this much work on every case? On every single case?”
Heather sighed. They always put this much work into their investigations, but this case felt like it was lasting forever.
Chapter 12
The final member of the choir that was suggested to be suspicious was Bob Bevel. They were told he was a bit of a diva, but they didn’t expect him to sing his responses to their questions the way he did.
“What happened to Vera was sad, was sad,” he sang. “The person who did this was bad, was bad.”
“Did you get along with Vera Rogers?” Heather asked.
“She was a complication. But she gave motivation. She would silence my song. And I felt that was wrong. But she did love music and the tune. She was taken way too soon,” he sang with a dramatic ending note.
“Is that your way of saying you had a complicated relationship?” Amy asked.
Bob nodded. Then he sang again, “She had the most passion, the most heart, and the most will. But truth be told, she was kind of a pill.”
“Okay. I am a little impressed with your rhyming,” Amy admitted.
“I’ll be impressed if you can lead us in the direction of Vera Rogers killer,” said Heather.
“It was not me,” said Bob. “It couldn’t be. Couldn’t be.”
“Do you know anyone who would want to hurt her?” Ryan asked.
“The choir was on the brink of riot. Rather than sing some of her suggested songs, they’d be quiet,” he sang.
“But would that escalate to murder?” Ryan asked.
“There’s one who I’d pick as suspect if I chose,” he sang. “A crazy wacko by the name of Rose.”
“We met her,” Hoskins said. “She had an alibi. That seems to be the problem in this case. Everyone has an alibi. I bet you have one too.”
“That is something we would like to know,” said Ryan. “Where were you yesterday afternoon?”
“I cannot say,” Bob sang. “No way. No way.”
“You’re not really saying anything,” Amy pointed out. “You’re singing everything.”
Bob shook his head.
“We’re not here to embarrass you,” Heather assured him. “We’re just trying to find out what happened to Vera Rogers. If you can prove that you had nothing to do with her murder, then we can move on to our next suspect.”
“What suspect?” asked Hoskins, morosely.
Still, Bob would not speak.
“It can’t be worse than us thinking that you’re a murderer, can it?” Heather asked.
Bob nodded.
“Look,” Hoskins said, standing up. “I’ve had enough of this. I want this case solved, and I want it solved now. A person I love is being accused of this crime, and I know for sure it wasn’t her. I’m prepared to turn over rock and stone in this town until I find the answer. Right now it looks like you know something, and I want you to tell me. Right. Now.”
Bob gulped. “It’s not about her murder. I don’t know who did it,” he said, speaking for once. “I’m just embarrassed by my alibi. I was applying for a job. I was applying for a job at… A bank.”
“At a bank?” Heather asked. “That’s what you found so embarrassing?”
“Yes,” Bob said. “It’s not a performing job. It’s a job where I’d have to wear a tie, and tell people to have a good day. But I need some more consistent income. I had to take the interview. I just didn’t want the other choir members to know. They look up to me.”
“There’s no reason that we have to tell them,” said Heather. “As long as it has no bearing on the murder.”
Ryan took down the bank’s information so that they could verify his alibi. They thanked him for his time and started to leave.
Bob had one final song for them, “I know you’ll find the killer for you’re all so brave and true. You’ll find justice for Vera because that’s what you do! You’ll keep Hillside safe and sound, while I provide the tune. And with your skills and steadfast ways, I know you’ll solve it soon!”
They walked away from the house. Amy was swaying to the music, but Hoskins was angry.
“I can’t believe it,” Hoskins said. “Where are we supposed to go now? We’ve run out of suspects.”
“We’ll just have to examine the evidence again to see what we missed,” said Heather. “Then we can find more suspects.”
“Of course, you missed something,” Hoskins said. “You’re not trying on this case. You want Millie to be convicted.”
“We’re not trying?” Heather asked, indignantly.
“You’ve solved tons of cases before because you wanted to,” said Hoskins. “It’s obvious you don’t want to solve this one.”
“We do want to solve it. Investigating takes time, work and effort,” said Heather.
“Something you wouldn’t know anything about,” said Amy.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hoskins asked.
Heather was too frustrated to keep her cool. She said what was on her mind. “It means that maybe now you’ll realize what happens when you try and take the lazy way out of a case. Think about if a killer got free. Think about if the wrong person
was convicted. And now think about what you’re doing on this case that’s different from any past ones. What if it wasn’t someone that you loved and believed in? Millie would be in jail by now if it weren’t for investigators like us.”
On that note, with Amy at her side, she marched away without a backward glance.
Chapter 13
“What’s wrong, dear?” Eva asked. “You don’t look very happy, even surrounded by your beautiful creations.”
“I’m happier now that you’re here,” Heather said, looking up at her favorite customers. She prepared some donuts for them and brought them over to their usual table.
Eva and Leila both took a bite of their donuts and then turned their attention to their friend. “Now, what’s bothering you?”
“This case is getting to me,” Heather said. “I feel like everything we do leads to a dead end. I’m not quite sure what we should do now.”
“Are you talking about the case?” Amy said, joining them at the table.
“What little there is to talk about,” said Heather. “We don’t know any new information.”
“Let’s see if we missed anything,” said Amy. “We have fresh ears to help us, and some donuts to keep our spirits up.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Eva.
“We’re all ears,” said Leila. “Well, maybe mouths too. I don’t want to stop eating these donuts.”
“What’s proving problematic with this case?” asked Eva.
“All of our suspects seem to have alibis,” said Heather.
“Except for Millie Hoskins,” Amy pointed out.
“I don’t believe she did it,” Heather said. “But right now the evidence only points to her. Even though she does have mostly rational explanations for everything.”
“Who are your other suspects?” Eva asked.
“There were some choir members that had some friction with the victim,” said Heather.
Amy nodded. “There was Bob the diva, Debbie who wanted to hire us to catch her cheating husband, and Rose the crazy competitive chick.”
“This sounds like quite an exciting day of questioning,” Leila said.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Amy said. “Rose was practically fighting with me about who could type better on their tablet.”
“I could believe her capable of murder,” Heather said. “At least in the heat of the moment. But she has an alibi. She was at an audition.”
“Anyone else?” asked Eva.
“I would suspect the nieces if they didn’t have an alibi,” said Heather.
“One of them seemed completely unconcerned about the murder,” said Amy.
“That was Veronica,” said Heather.
“And the other was a tear factory.”
“Virginia.”
“Maybe she was faking,” Amy said. “Because she really killed her aunt. Or maybe it was the first one who didn’t even feel like faking.”
“She did seem very interested in her inheritance,” Heather agreed.
“And maybe it really was Millie Hoskins,” Amy said. “And we’re just looking for reasons why it couldn’t be her.”
“I’m sure we’re missing something,” Heather said. “We just need to figure out what it is.”
“If these really are all the people who could possibly have killed your victim,” Eva began.
“There doesn’t seem to be any other leads for suspects,” Heather agreed.
“Well, they can’t all have alibis then,” said Eva. “One of them has to be a lie. Maybe that’s what you should investigate.”
“That’s a really good idea,” Heather said. “If we ignore the fact that Millie Hoskins stumbled onto the scene and caused us to look at it one way, then the killer really did nothing to cover up that a murder had occurred. All they did was wipe their fingerprints off of the knife. Maybe this was because they didn’t expect us to consider them a suspect because of their seemingly airtight alibi.”
“Okay,” Amy said. “But which of these alibis are allowing air to seep in?”
“I guess that’s what we have to figure out.”
“I have something else that we have to figure out,” Amy said. “What is Hoskins doing here?”
“What?” Heather asked. She turned around and saw that Hoskins had indeed entered the donut shop.
“I guess the best thing to do for this investigation is to question him,” Heather said, wryly.
She and Amy walked up to him.
“Do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?” He asked.
They sat down at a table out of the way. Heather wasn’t sure if he was going to make a scene. They hadn’t parted on happy terms.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said. And you might be right,” he said. “I hadn’t thought of it before. But maybe I don’t always give it my all when I’m working. Maybe sometimes I do look for the easy way out. But I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to make sure that the right person is always caught, especially in this case.”
“We’re glad to hear you say that,” said Heather.
“Please don’t give up on this case because of what I said before,” he continued. “I think Millie needs all of us working together.”
“We wouldn’t dream of giving up,” said Heather. “In fact, we were just talking about the case. Thanks to some help from our friends, we realized something. If all the suspects we have are truly all our suspects, then somebody is lying about their alibi. Or it’s not as complete as it sounds.”
“Who has a fake alibi?” Hoskins asked.
“That’s what we’re going to discover,” Heather said. “And I think I know who I want to talk to next: the Rogers nieces.”
Hoskins stood up, ready to go solve the case, but then he paused and said, “Well, since I’m here, maybe I should grab a donut for the road.”
Chapter 14
“Does your coming here mean that you have good news about the case? Or bad news?” Virginia Rogers asked.
“We just have a few more questions, ma’am,” Hoskins said. “May we come in?”
Virginia allowed Heather, Amy, and Hoskins inside.
“You and your sister both live her?” Heather asked.
“Yes,” Virginia said. “We decided to be roommates. It has its ups and downs, but I’m really glad we’re together now. Losing a family member, especially someone we were so close to, is really hard. Veronica is very strong. She’s been getting me through it. She’s taking care of all the business-like things that need to be done after a death, like informing her credit card company of her death and telling everyone in the choir. I wouldn’t have thought of it, and I’m not sure would be able to do it on my own.”
“I noticed as we drove up today,” Heather remarked. “Your house isn’t too far away from your aunt’s.”
“That was one of the appeals about it,” said Virginia. “Being close to family. You could technically walk there, but it is a long walk. However, driving only take a few minutes.”
“That sounds very nice,” Heather said.
“It was,” Virginia agreed.
“Did both you and your sister get along with your aunt?” Hoskins asked.
“Of course,” said Virginia. “She was family, and she was very good to us. After our dad died, she looked after us. We were legal adults, but it was still upsetting. Aunt Vera always made me feel safe.”
Virginia went to reach for a tissue but found her box was empty. Amy took one out of her purse and offered it to her. Virginia gratefully accepted.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to know her,” Virginia said. “She was a great aunt.”
“I did meet her before. My wife is in the choir,” said Hoskins. “Vera seemed like a good woman. She had a good singing voice too.”
“She was amazing,” Virginia said. “She liked older music, which not everybody else did. But she had the most beautiful voice. That’s what I liked about going to choir rehearsals. I couldn’t sing myself. At least, not very good. But I
loved hearing her. Veronica can sing too. But I guess she does practice more than me. It’s not really my thing. I like playing video games as a hobby. But I did like doing musical things with my family.”
“You mentioned that not everybody liked her taste in music,” said Heather. “Did it upset anyone especially?”
“It was just a general sort of dislike,” Virginia said. “I could pick up on it, but Aunt Vera either didn’t notice or didn’t care. I didn’t think anyone was mad enough to hurt her, though. Not even ridiculous Rose.”
“That’s a fitting nickname,” Amy commented.
“Was there anything else about your aunt and the choir that could have caused anger?” Heather asked.
“I don’t think so,” Virginia said. “Everyone liked her except for her taste in music. But it was a preference she really had. She didn’t pretend to like these songs that no one else did. You should have seen her face when we found the old sheet music in her attic. It was like she had uncovered buried treasure. She wondered how long it had been since the song had been sung. She was so happy.”
“What are they doing here?” Veronica asked, entering the room.
“They had some questions about the case,” Virginia told her sister.
“Why are they bothering us when they should be out there searching for the real killer?” Veronica asked. “You had a suspect before. Why don’t you arrest that person?”
“We want to make sure we arrest the right person,” Hoskins said.
“And just to be thorough,” Heather said. “We wanted to double check on your alibi.”
“We told you,” Veronica said. “We were here together all afternoon. And there were other witnesses here too.”
“That’s right,” her sister agreed. “I had some friends over to play some video games. They can vouch for us. We were here the whole time.”
“Nobody left the house at any point at all?” Hoskins asked.
“Of course not,” said Veronica.
“And we wouldn’t hurt Aunt Vera,” said Virginia. “We loved her.”
Veronica nodded. “Now are you almost done solving this case or not? We’d like to be able to make plans. We need to organize her funeral, and we’d like to hear about our inheritance.”
Black & White Glazed Murder Page 5