by Milda Harris
Chapter 4
I was wrong. Chance wasn't heading straight for Penelope. He walked by the circle of people around her, his jaw set and his eyes focused on her manager, Tyler. The crowd, who had been chattering, went silent. The only sound was of the paparazzi cameras clicking thousands of pictures.
Tyler didn't even look up from Penelope as Chance walked up to him. His eyes only saw Penelope. Chance, on the other hand, hadn't even glanced at Penelope's body. All he saw was Tyler.
“This is all your fault,” Chance said, throwing a punch at Tyler's face.
Tyler looked up, but then he just took the punch. He didn't even move to block it. I wasn't sure if he didn't have time to react or if he was so numb from Penelope's death that he didn't care. His face whipped back at the contact of Chance's fist. A trickle of blood oozed from Tyler's bottom lip.
“Yeah! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” Cole yelled, and a couple of other people started chanting along with him.
Tyler looked over at Chance, finally reacting. His eyes were ablaze with anger as he moved to face Chance. “How dare you accuse me when you...”
Tyler didn't even finish his sentence as he took his own swing at Chance's face. He struck him hard with an audible crack. Whoa. Did he break Chance Fox's beautiful nose? Blood gushed out of it. I couldn't look away. Chance didn't seem to notice. He was already pulling his fist back to strike Tyler again.
The police swooped in before he could take another swing. An officer restrained Chance. A second policeman grabbed Tyler. The photographers continued to snap pictures. It was going to be a monumentally huge day in celebrity gossip. They had a murder, a celebrity brawl, and potentially a celebrity arrest. Killer Cupcakes, er, Celebrity Cupcakes and Coffee was about to get an infamous reputation.
I turned to Charlotte, surprised that she hadn't started a running commentary on the fight after her initial shock of seeing Chance in the flesh. I found that she wasn't standing next to me anymore. I looked around and saw her making her way toward Chance, who was now sitting on the ground, a policeman standing over him.
I did a double take. Had Charlotte climbed over the small fence around the patio to get to Chance? I watched her in awe. Saying anything that came to mind was one thing, but it looked like she did anything that came to mind too.
Chance was saying something to the policeman keeping him from restarting the fight with Tyler, but I couldn't hear anything. Maybe he was threatening a really expensive lawsuit since the officer was nervously eyeing all of the paparazzi cameras.
Charlotte walked up to both of them, saying something. She was lucky the cop wasn't wrestling her to the ground and arresting her too. The policeman said something back to her. Charlotte nodded and she held out a tissue to Chance. He looked up at her. Their eyes locked. I almost expected the swelling of a music score. There was most definitely something there. Chance took the tissue and held it up to his nose.
“Are you seeing this?” I asked Easton.
Easton turned to me, “A budding romance? It's totally unbelievable, but....”
“There it is. Wow, Charlotte's got game,” I said. “She was just telling me how hot he was during the ceremony and somehow she just made it happen.”
“Go Charlotte,” Easton said.
A thought ran through my brain and a ball of dread filled my stomach. Oh no. I kind of liked Charlotte. She wouldn't have killed Penelope to get her own shot with Chance Fox would she?
I squelched my rising panic. No. That wasn't realistic, was it? She'd have to bet that Chance would show up to the crime scene. He might not have. Heck, he could have been out of town filming his latest movie.
Easton broke into my racing thoughts, “Could Chance have killed Penelope?”
That hadn't even occurred to me. “He had no access to the cupcake.”
“True,” Easton said. “But maybe he hired someone.”
“Are you saying that he put a hit out on Penelope?”
Easton shrugged. “He has enough money to do that.”
I thought about it. “Well, if Chance hired someone, then we're back to one of the employees spiking the cupcake with poison. But which one of them could be a hit man?”
I scanned the group as I asked the question. None of them looked like a hit man to me. They were all around my age and just starting out in life. Still, someone had killed Penelope. I really, really hoped it wasn't Charlotte. She hadn't met Chance before today, had she? I cast a weary eye toward her. The paramedics that had been trying to resuscitate Penelope had walked over to take a look at Chance's face. Charlotte's hand was on his back, in a comforting gesture. Was that weird? Still, I didn't want to mention my suspicions about Charlotte to Easton just yet because I didn't want to believe them.
“Well, let's go talk to the other employees then,” Easton said. “See if anybody has sociopathic tendencies.”
“Can't wait,” I said sarcastically.
Easton chuckled.
Truthfully, I was a little nervous. A hit man was even more dangerous than a murderer. Then again, all we had were theories. We needed more facts to make a real analysis.
We walked over to the group of employees. They were still clustered together. The only one missing was Vicki because the police were talking to her. I was a little nervous about my turn on the hot seat. There were tons of pictures of me holding the cupcake, so it wasn't like I could lie and say I hadn't been alone with it. I didn't have a motive, but would that matter to the police?
I focused on the present. The only thing I could do to sway the police from suspecting me was to have a really good theory about who actually did it. I looked around at our fellow employees. How were we even going to start this conversation? None of us really knew each other. We were all still strangers. It wasn't like we could outright ask who did it.
“Okay, who here did it?” Easton asked with a laugh just as I thought that.If I'd said that, people would have just thought I was weird. Then they would have made snarky comments. It worked for Easton, though. People smiled. Then again, a couple people ignored him too. I would definitely never have been so bold.
“I think the butler did it,” Max joked. “Or her limo driver.”
“Yeah, sure, Max. You probably offed her because you're just way cooler than her,” Riley said sarcastically.
“Hey!” Max said. “Down kitty.”
Riley about turned purple.
Skylar jumped into the conversation. “I personally think that it's her manager. It's always someone you know.”
“I just wish the cops had let him and Chance Fox fight longer. I wanted to see if Chance was as badass as his movie characters,” Cole said.
Max snorted.
Lucy piped in, “Of course he's not. He's just an actor. I think it has to be one of her fans. All celebrities have stalkers.”
“Why would one of her fans have done it? They love her,” Riley was taking personal offense to Lucy's theory.
“Because some people are crazy,” Lucy said.
“Nolan?” Easton asked since he was the only one in the group that hadn't said anything.
Nolan looked up from his phone, the definition of an unaffected hipster. “I'm not playing this game.”
“And I'm not playing this game either. It's morbid. Someone just died. It's not amusing,” Riley was getting really angry and I thought I could see tears about to fall from her eyes. “So can you all just stop? Penelope meant a lot to a whole bunch of people and now she's gone.”
The atmosphere immediately became uncomfortable. Easton hadn't meant it that way of course. I knew that he was just trying to lighten the mood to get people to talk. Now, it was the opposite of that and we still didn't have any more clues. We only had more theories.
Then again, were people's responses to the murder a clue? Max, Skylar, Cole, and Lucy had been willing to talk about it and some of them were even jokey. Riley was upset. Nolan hadn't said anything at all. We hadn't even talked to Vicki yet. I glanced over at the two other emplo
yees not in the group. Nina was still talking to the police and Charlotte hadn't moved from Chance's side.
I glanced at Easton. He looked uncomfortable. He saw my eyes on him and turned to look at me, giving me a slight smile. My heart began to race and I immediately smiled back. He raised his eyebrows.
“Any ideas?” He whispered in my ear.
I shook my head. How could we ask anyone more about the murder now? I needed to talk to Easton in private. We had to brainstorm. At any point the police were going to take me away for questioning. I didn't know how many ways I could explain to them that I hadn't put anything into the cupcake in my brief time holding it. I'd prefer to give them the name of Penelope's killer instead.
“Let's talk,” I said.
“Sure,” Easton followed me away from the others, to the other end of the patio.
When they couldn't overhear us, I turned to face Easton. “Maybe we should try and get some of the employees alone. I mean, try and talk to them one on one. I know the patio is crowded, but we can at least try and see if they might let something slip in a personal conversation versus a group one. I know I'm more comfortable talking one on one.”
Easton thought about this, “That's worth a shot. Who do you want to take first?”
“Uh...” I hadn't thought this through. I had to purposely get someone alone, talk to them about the murder, and figure out if they were a suspect? By myself? I kind of preferred Easton's presence next to me while we investigated. “You know, on second thought, I'm not sure they'll even talk about the murder. Riley was getting really pissed.”
Easton shrugged, “So, we start with some of the others and leave the cantankerous ones for last.”
"Uh..." I started.
Easton frowned at me, “Aw, come on. You're not chicken are you?”
I looked at him. “What? Are we twelve? That does not work after high school.”
Easton laughed. “Well, it sometimes works.”
“Maybe on someone like Cole,” I said.
“Now you're just typecasting,” Easton said.
“Maybe,” I admitted.
“Come on, Ava. It's just talking to someone for five minutes,” Easton said.
That was true. It just brought me out of my comfort zone for the millionth time today. I expected to get to know the other employees over the course of working together, not while trying to solve a murder mystery on my first day of work.
“Fine. Five minutes,” I said, although my stomach was already twisting in knots.
“I'll let you choose who to talk to first,” Easton said.
I looked over at the other employees. Who would be the easiest person to discuss the murder with? Lucy? Max? Cole? Maybe Skylar could be added to that list too, although I didn't really want to talk to her. I felt like I was about to draw the first straw in a series of short straws.
Then I heard the paparazzi cameras going off again. What was happening now? I followed the direction of their camera lenses to the commotion they were capturing. The police were arresting Tyler. I looked at Easton.
“Well, I guess we don't need to talk to the others after all,” I said, feeling surprised. I really hadn't thought that Tyler was guilty.
Easton was watching Tyler's arrest now too, “Really?”
“Yeah,” Still, I found I shared Easton's incredulousness despite the fact that the police definitely had more experience solving cases than we did.
Easton sighed. “Well, I guess we wouldn't be series regulars on Whodunit. I knew we gave up on that lead too quickly.”
That was completely my fault. Easton would have pressed Tyler harder. I should have let him.
“Yeah. Well, on the bright side, at least we won't be arrested now, right?” I said.
Easton nodded. “That's a definite plus. Still, let's try and get closer. I want to see if we can hear anything. I want to know why he did it.”
We walked over to a spot on the patio where we could get a better look at what was going on. Tyler was protesting. Chance looked amused as he talked to a police officer. Charlotte stood next to him with a lovestruck look on her face.
“They're charging him with assault,” Skylar said just as I wondered what was going on.
I spun around, surprised to see her standing next to us. “Wait. Assaulting who? It's murder if anything.”
Skylar looked at me like I was stupid. “They're arresting him for assaulting Chance Fox.”
I turned to Easton, frowning. “Is this really happening?”
“Yeah,” Easton couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene either.
“How?” I asked.
“Because he's a celebrity,” Skylar deadpanned.
I forced myself to keep my composure and not give her a dirty look. Then I noticed that she was trying to weasel her way in between Easton and I. Seriously?
I stepped a little closer to Easton, “But Chance hit Tyler first. There's even paparazzi pictures of it all.”
“Yeah, looks like even the cops bow down to celebrities,” Easton said, completely absorbed in the Chance/Tyler drama and not in Skylar's and mine.
I forgot Skylar for a moment and looked at Chance. He was grinning at Tyler's fury. He might be hot, but I didn't think he was a nice guy at all. Charlotte was still standing next to Chance, though, looking at him with lovestruck puppy dog eyes. She seemed unaware that there was anything off about him. That made me nervous. Penelope's murder was still unsolved. Charlotte really wouldn't have committed murder for Chance Fox, right? I still didn't think so, but I glanced back at Chance. There was definitely something about him that I really didn't like. Underneath his celebrity, I got an impression of a really slimy actor who did anything and everything for his career or himself.
I turned to Easton, “You know what? I think the murderer is Chance Fox.”
No, I wasn't trying to get out of talking to each of the other employees about the murder. I was just suddenly pretty sure. I only needed to prove it. As an added bonus, I really wanted to wipe that smug look off of Chance Fox's face.