“Of course, it bothers us,” said the knitter. “But there’s nothing we can do. We didn’t know the man. And we didn’t do that obstacle yet.”
“None of you knew Gordon Masters?” Ryan asked.
“That’s right,” said the man carving a piece of wood into a bird. The others agreed.
“Why did you make your reservation to come here so early?” Heather asked.
“We wanted to get a date set in advance so that everyone could keep the day free,” said one sketcher. “That way we were all able to go together and do the events.”
“What was your challenge at the time?” Ryan asked.
The craft store team thought of how to best describe their challenge.
“We began by standing on a log together in a line. We needed to get to the end of this line of logs, but we couldn’t just walk across it. We needed to move the last person in line to the front, and then continue that until we reached the end.”
“It was really hard,” said the other sketcher.
“This sounds like a task where you would have noticed if someone was missing,” said Ryan. “Was anyone gone for any period of time?”
“No,” they all agreed. They were together the whole time, tripping and falling, and pushing and carrying one another as a team.
“Did you notice anyone walking in the woods?” Heather asked.
“We might have seen the killer?” One woodworker asked.
“Wow,” said the knitter.
“The only one I saw the whole time was Tessa,” said the first sketcher.
The rest of the group thought about it, and they agreed. No one had seen anyone else besides Tessa walking around. Tessa had checked on their progress and then moved on.
“We have an important question,” Heather said. “We found some white thread near the scene of the crime.”
“White thread?” The knitter asked. She was the one who had the flowers stitched on her shirt.
“Was it yours?” asked Heather.
“I lost it this morning,” she replied. “I brought it in case any of my stitches came loose. I wanted to be able to repair it. I know I had it when I came here, but then I couldn’t find it when I needed it. I assumed it fell out of my bag.”
“Is this it?” Heather asked, revealing the bag with the thread.
“That’s the same shade,” she said. “But mine was on a spool. There was a lot of it. This was only a little bit of it. It was found by the crime scene?”
“Yes,” Heather said. “Can you explain why it was there?”
“No,” the woman said. She looked to her teammates who were unable to provide any help.
“I’m sorry we can’t be more help,” said a sketcher.
“Are we almost finished having to stay here?” The knitter asked. “I don’t really like being outside where there could be bugs.”
“We’ll let you know when you can leave,” Ryan said. “We still have more questions for everyone.”
As they walked away from the group, the gears in Heather’s head were turning.
“What did you think of?” Ryan asked.
“What she said about bugs,” Heather said. “What if that spider web that Tessa walked into was really this white thread?”
“That makes sense based on the location,” Ryan said. “But what could be the reason for it being there?”
“I don’t know,” Heather said. “But I think it’s about time we talked to 3T Tech.”
Chapter 12
“Where did you get the idea that we were murderers?” The leader of team 3T Tech demanded. “Was it from Mallard? That vengeful fiend.”
“We need to talk to everyone about the death,” Ryan said. “Everyone at this place could have had the opportunity to tamper with the equipment.”
“But did you have an issue with Mitch Mallard, Mr. Duncan?” asked Heather.
“I had an issue with him because he had an issue with me,” he responded.
“How very mature,” Amy commented.
“He was accusing us of stealing his company’s ideas when really they were stealing from us,” Duncan continued.
“How do you know this?” Heather asked.
The four other members of 3T Tech looked like they had heard the soon-to-come speech many times before and all looked bored.
“He accused us of stealing our own laundry robot idea. We had been developing it for quite a while. But he also stole our idea for our product Better-Than-A-Balloon.”
“What’s that?” asked Amy.
“Why don’t you ask Mitch Mallard?” he retorted. “The man already started marketing it, even though we developed it first. I bet they haven’t completed their designs either. They just want to try and show us up.”
“Why is there all this animosity between you two?” Ryan asked.
“Because Mitch Mallard is evil,” said Duncan. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he killed his own employee. Either because he had a reason that was justifiable to himself, or because he wanted to frame 3T Tech.”
Heather remembered something. “My partner noticed this morning how similar your two companies’ names are. They both have three of the letter T in them.”
“Yes,” Duncan said. “Mallard and I used to be partners. But then I realized that I was pulling all the weight, and I left to form my own company. A much better company. One that would be extremely successful if they would just stop stealing our ideas.”
“You seem very passionate,” Heather said. “Could you have committed this crime in order to spite Mitch Mallard?”
“If I was going to spite Mitch Mallard, I would go after Mallard himself,” said Duncan. “But I didn’t. We were just trying to do some team building exercises in order to boost company morale.”
“Why did you choose this place?” Heather asked.
“Mark found it for us,” Duncan said, pointing to a handsome young man.
“Oh,” Mark said. “I chose this place because… I was looking for team building events and, well, this had three T’s in its name too. I thought it was a sign.”
“We didn’t know Mallard’s team would be here until we arrived,” said Duncan. “And then there was no way I was going to let him drive me away from something that I should rightfully be at.”
“What event were you taking part in when the murder took place?” Ryan asked.
“We were at the archery range,” Duncan said.
“How did that work for team building?” he asked.
“As a team, you were supposed to get a certain score altogether. The targets had numerical values on them, and we had to try to gauge what we thought we could all get together. Some numbers were smaller targets than others.”
“We would have rocked that challenge by having Jung on our team,” Amy said.
“Were you all together the entire time?” Heather asked.
“Almost completely,” Duncan said. “Mark tried to find Tessa to ask for a new bow, but he couldn’t find her and came back.”
“It felt too small in my arms,” Mark said. “I just wanted to see if she had any different sizes for the bows.”
“So, you were wandering around by yourself?” Heather asked.
“Very shortly,” Mark said. “I realized I couldn’t find her quickly because she must have been moving around all over the grounds, so I gave up and came back. I didn’t want to leave my team for long.”
“Did anyone see you while you were searching for her?” Ryan asked.
“No,” Mark said. “But I really wasn’t gone for long.”
“How far away did you travel?” Heather asked.
“I’m not sure,” Mark said. “It turns into the woods and such. I just looked a little and came back.”
“Did you ever meet Gordon Masters before?” Ryan asked.
“No,” Mark said. “I never met him. And I had no reason to kill him. I definitely didn’t do it.”
“Even though he worked for the enemy, we wouldn’t have taken action against him,” Duncan said. “We�
�re not evil like Mallard.”
“You really think Mitch Mallard would have killed his employee?” Heather asked.
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Duncan said. “Remember he’s stolen my ideas and my business. Maybe he stole someone’s life.”
Heather didn’t think they were going to get any more relevant information from them at that time.
“Thank you all for answering our questions,” Heather said. “We’ll be in touch if we have anymore.”
Heather, Ryan, and Amy walked away from the group.
“Duncan seems a little crazy to me,” Amy said.
“And he’s convinced it was Mallard,” Heather said. “Both of the employers acted a bit over the top.”
“Mark left the group,” Ryan said. “He could have gone and committed the crime.”
“That’s true,” Heather said. “But we haven’t been able to find a motive for him.”
“This is a tough case,” Amy sighed. “I think it might have been easier to climb up the logs and run miles than solve this.”
“I think we can do it,” Heather said. “We have a lot of help this time too. Actually, let me check on them.”
She sent a text to Maricela to see where they should meet up to discuss their findings. Maricela responded with their location and with “Get over here ASAP!”
Heather told the others, and they hurried as speedily as possible.
Chapter 13
Heather, Amy, and Ryan hurried over to meet the assistants. They passed the archery range and found the assistants looking proud.
“Is everything all right?” Heather asked. “You didn’t do anything dangerous, did you?”
“We were just searching,” Jung assured her.
“And we found something we think is important,” Maricela said.
“What is it?” Heather asked.
“It might be the piece of the puzzle to solve the case,” Ken said.
“It might be the vital clue to expose the killer,” Angelica said.
“It might be the evidence that seals a conviction,” Emily Potts said.
“Stop building it up,” Heather said. “Let me know what it is.”
They revealed the evidence bag and Heather had to look closely to see the small sample that was inside it.
“I could see how this was overlooked,” Heather said. “This broken nail is small.”
“Could it belong to the killer?” Maricela asked.
“It looks like it belongs to Janet from Techy Tech Tech,” said Heather. “It matches the design on her other nails.”
“We could do a DNA test to confirm it,” Ryan said. “But for now, let’s assume it’s hers based on the design.”
“She did say she broke a nail as her excuse for not moving her rope correctly the entire time,” Amy said.
“But why was it found all the way over here?” Heather asked. “Can you show us exactly where you found it?”
Her team happily showed her the exact spot. It was behind two trees that provided some cover from being overseen. It was close to the archery range, but as Heather scanned the area she realized something. Because of the way the obstacles were arranged, it also wasn’t far from the wooded area where the players pulling the ropes for the flag box were standing.
“Janet said that she didn’t leave the area by her obstacle. She made it sound like she broke her nail on the rope,” Heather said. “And yet her broken nail was found here.”
“She lied to us,” Amy said.
“Why would she lie? And why would she leave her rope?” Heather wondered aloud.
“Because she was killing Gordon Masters?” Ken asked.
“It’s the opposite direction as the tower where Gordon Masters was standing,” Heather said.
“Maybe she came here first?” Maricela suggested.
“Right,” Amy said. “This could have been where she kept her tools for cutting the cable. She had to come here and grab them before she enacted her crime.”
“That’s one possibility,” Heather said.
“Why did she kill him?” Emily Potts asked.
“Maybe it had to do with giving away the company’s secret,” Jung said. “Either she caught him giving the secrets away and got so angry that she killed him. Or he caught her doing it, so she did away with him.”
“Maybe her boss put her up to it,” Ken said. “He told her to kill Gordon Masters for him because of the trade secrets.”
“I promise that killing people will never be part of your job descriptions,” Heather said.
“Why did she put up the thread?” Emily Potts asked. “That was on the other side of the obstacle. That was part of the crime somehow, wasn’t it?”
“If it was taken from the craft store crew, then it had significance of some sort,” Heather said.
“Maybe she’s not a killer,” Maricela said. “Maybe she just hated her coworkers and wanted to get away for a little bit. I don’t know what that’s like because I love you all. But if you don’t like your coworkers this day could be intense. This seems like a good spot to be alone.”
“It does have some privacy,” Heather agreed. “And I think Janet came here for a reason.”
“But you’re not sure about the reasons we came up with?” Jung asked.
“What if Janet was meeting with someone?” Heather asked.
“Like who?” Ken asked.
“Someone who was involved in the trade secrets?” Amy suggested.
“She couldn’t have been meeting Gordon Masters,” Angelica said. “He was stuck in the tower.”
“The rest of the team should have noticed if two ropes weren’t moving,” Jung said.
“So, it was someone from the 3T Tech team,” Maricela said. “She was meeting the person she gave the secrets to?”
“This is a good place to have a sneaky secret meeting,” Ken said. “It would be hard for passersby to see you.”
“So, did they know of this place in advance?” Emily Potts asked.
“And who was she meeting?” Jung asked. “That Duncan guy. You said he was acting crazy and mad about their secret inventions being talked about. Maybe acting is the key word. Maybe he was faking to throw suspicion off of him.”
“Mark was the guy who left the group,” Amy said.
“Exactly,” Heather said. “I think he’s the one who she met with.”
“Because they were sharing invention ideas?” Maricela asked.
“I think so,” said Heather.
“These are great ideas,” Ryan said. “But right now, this is all conjecture. We’ll have to prove this.”
“I think I know where to start,” Heather said. “I think we should conduct some interviews away from the groups. And I think we need to talk to both Janet and Mark.”
“Let’s see if she can explain about that broken nail again,” Amy said.
Chapter 14
“I don’t know why you wanted to talk to me again,” Janet said. “There’s nothing else that I can add to this investigation. Mitch knows a lot more than I do.”
“I doubt that,” Amy said. “You’re up on all the company’s secrets, aren’t you?”
Janet faced Heather and Amy. “I don’t know why somebody would want to murder Gordon. Why do you need to talk to me?”
“We’d like to talk about your broken nail again,” said Heather. “How did it happen?”
“Oh, you know how annoying breaking a nail can be,” Janet said. “Right, ladies? I was pulling at my rope, and it caught and broke. It was so painful and so annoying.”
“You were at your rope?” Heather asked again.
“Of course,” said Janet. “Because I was part of the challenge. I just had to stop for a minute because of my hurt finger.”
“We found your broken nail,” Heather said.
“Really?” Janet asked, somewhat bewildered. “I guess it makes sense that you would.”
“It wasn’t by your rope station,” said Heather. She pointed. “It was found over
there in the trees. How could that be if you never left your rope?”
“Well,” Janet said. “I guess you caught me. I did leave my rope for a little bit. But only because I wanted to get away from my team for a moment. They were being too competitive. I needed some air.”
“You needed some air?” Amy asked. “Even though this entire event is an outdoor activity?”
“I needed some space,” Janet clarified. “And I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want you to think that I had anything to do with the murder when I didn’t.”
“Were you alone over there?” Heather asked.
“Alone?” Janet asked. “Why, of course, I was. Who would I be meeting?”
Ryan brought Mark over to meet them. Janet frowned and then acted confused.
“Who is he?” she asked. “Someone from 3T Tech?”
“Let’s not play games,” Heather said. “We know the two of you had a secret meeting.”
“I told you I needed some air,” Janet said.
“And I was looking for more arrows,” said Mark.
“Really?” Ryan said. “Before you told us you needed a new bow. Not arrows.”
“I was looking for both,” Mark said.
“We know you two met,” Heather continued. “But we don’t know why you killed Gordon Masters.”
“Wait a second,” Mark said. “We didn’t have anything to do with that guy’s death.”
“And we’re supposed to believe this?” Heather asked. “You’ve both already told us two different stories about what you were doing today.”
Janet and Mark shared a look.
“We should just tell them,” Mark said. “It’s better than them thinking we are murderers.”
“We’re just trying to figure out what happened to Gordon Masters,” Heather assured them.
“We didn’t kill him,” Janet said. “We weren’t lying about that.”
“We had no reason to kill him,” Mark said. “I barely knew the guy.”
“And his death brought un unwanted attention,” Janet said.
“But we were meeting during this challenge,” Mark said. “We wanted to see each other.”
“We like seeing each other as much as we can,” Janet said. “So, when I found out we were doing this challenge, I thought it might be fun if Mark’s team came too.”
Coconut Cream Murder Page 5