by Rosie Sams
“Tell me what you mean,” Melody asked.
Hillary responded by running off into the night. Melody tried to run after her, but Alvin held her back.
“Let the girl be alone with her emotions.
“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Melody asked.
“You also want to have our wedding elsewhere – anywhere else. We were open to other options before, but now we know for certain.”
Melody laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “This inn has too much bad energy. Too bad, it is so beautiful here.”
They walked around the field and looked for Hillary every few minutes. The poor girl had only been at Bronwyn’s Country Inn for such a short time, and they wanted to make sure she got home all right. While they walked, Melody and Alvin shared which jobs had been their worst and how they were glad for where their careers had finally taken them.
Being a sheriff was not easy, especially in Port Warren. Alvin was glad for the job security and how every week there was a new challenge.
Melody described how being the town baker allowed her to feel as if she was involved in every Port Warren milestone, from birthdays to retirement parties.
“I guess we are luckier than most,” Alvin said.
“I will feel extremely lucky once we leave here. I wish we could leave now. Watching Ruth abuse her staff is so upsetting.”
Alvin and Melody agreed to retire for the night and pick up Smudge as soon as they finished breakfast with Kerry and Bradford. As the happy couple made their way toward their room, they saw Ruth and Shawn deep in conversation as Coleman glowered from a corner in the now empty dining room. Not wanting to get involved, they quickened their strides in an attempt to make it to their room faster.
When they finally made it to their room, they kissed in excited relief. After putting on their pajamas, Alvin and Melody stretched across the king-sized bed and looked at the beamed ceiling.
“It’s such a shame that such a beautiful inn is run by such a hard taskmaster,” Melody sighed, her mood was low, and she seemed so unhappy.
Alvin realized only Smudge could save the night.
“How do you think Smudge is doing?” he asked.
“Let’s FaceTime with Leslie to find out. I miss that wet little nose.”
Leslie answered and showed Alvin and Melody how happy Smudge was to be snuggled in her lap. They chatted for a bit about Smudge’s big night out and said their goodnights. Comforted by seeing Smudge’s happy face, Alvin lowered the lights, and the happy couple fell asleep in each other’s arms.
Several hours later, Melody bolted upright in her bed at the sound of a sharp scream.
Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four
Fumbling in the dark, Alvin flicked on the lights and made sure Melody was safe before thinking of the next step to take in the unexpected situation. They both pulled their robes on and braced themselves for what they would find on the other side of the door.
Alvin went first and threw open the door. He found Kerry in the hallway with Bradford, looking just as disheveled as all the other guests must have felt.
“Did you hear that?” Melody asked, peeking around him, and without really needing an answer for people were all out in the hallway.
Gradually, more guests opened their doors, and the recently silent hallway was quickly descending into chaos. Some guests were too afraid to leave their rooms but were shouting questions at each other and Alvin. Others were calling the front desk or posting on social media.
Alvin took charge and told them all to wait. It seemed to work, and he was trying to avoid a stampede in case there was an active shooter in the building or a robbery in progress. Quickly, he went back to the room and retrieved his gun from his bag. He showed everyone his badge as he walked down the hallway and directed the inn’s guests to go back to their rooms, shut the doors, and wait until he gave the okay for them to finish their stay or leave the premises.
Alvin knew it would be pointless to ask Melody to stay in the room. His fiancée would find a way to make sure he was safe if it was the last thing she did. It was different now that they were engaged; what happened to him would now always affect her.
The guests complied and shut their doors. Alvin had to assure a few of them that they would be the first to know of the situation. Once settled, the quartet of Kerry, Bradford, Alvin, and Melody headed downstairs, keeping close as they walked the stairs in unison. Alvin had Kerry and Melody walk in the center in case they needed to run first. The group had been through enough crimes and adventures to know that a scream in the night was rarely a good sign. What would they find?
In the middle of the expansive dining room, right under the chandelier, Ruth Bronwyn was lying face down with a knife in her back.
From the side, the quartet saw that her eyes did not blink, and her body did not move. The group stopped for a moment and stared in disbelief at the scene before them. The fierce proprietress, who had once commanded the inn, now seemed to be eternally quiet.
Stepping forward and telling them to stay back, Alvin shifted into “cop mode” and searched for a pulse. There was always a chance that the victim could survive such an attack; he had seen it many times in his career. The shock may have silenced her, but she could survive, albeit with a terrible wound and needing urgent care.
When Alvin did not find any sign of life, he shook his head and declared the dining room a crime scene. He ordered the space to be secured.
Kerry and Melody looked for materials to section off the area and were careful not to disturb Ruth’s body in case any evidence would be contaminated. Alvin used streamers Melody had found in a cabinet and tablecloths to create a large boundary. Thankfully, the guests were still staying upstairs as directed. Alvin asked Bradford, Kerry, and Melody to clear out so he could focus on his work. He stepped outside to call for backup. His police force would arrive as soon as they could, even though the inn was at the very end of Port Warren.
Melody stood on the other side of the streamers, looking at Ruth’s body.
“Who would have done this? I mean, I know she wasn’t the nicest boss. But to be killed like this? It is so horrifying,” Melody said as she felt her heart ache for the woman.
There was a murmur of agreement.
Melody looked at Kerry and bit back her tears. Kerry looked so shocked. “She had the rest of her life ahead of her,” she said, her voice shaking a little.
“It’s okay,” Bradford pulled her close.
“I don’t know too much about her,” Melody said, “she mainly kept to herself and only talked about the business. I’ve been baking wedding cakes for the inn’s brides for at least a decade, and earlier tonight was the first time I had ever had a conversation with her that lasted longer than a minute.” Though she wanted to look away, her eyes were pulled to the body.
“Do you think it was one of the staff?” Kerry asked.
Melody shrugged. “I know she was a mean boss. I imagine she was terrible to work for… but who would have done this?”
Not wanting to stare at the body for a second longer, the group, now consisting of Bradford, Kerry, and Melody, moved to the entryway of the inn. Melody looked at the life-sized portrait of Ruth near the front door and sighed. Such a horrific crime to have happened on Ruth’s beloved property. Although she had a terrible way with her employees, Ruth had simply wanted to ensure the success of her business, which looked to be in jeopardy now, due to her unexpected death.
“It’s okay, Melody,” Kerry comforted her friend. “The police will figure it out. Alvin always does. This time next week, everything will be solved.”
“This was the craziest evening,” Melody said. “She seemed to have a problem with everyone but our replacement server, Shawn.”
“I’m sure none of them could have done this,” Kerry said. “What real reason would they have?”
Melody hadn’t really spoken with her friends since they parted after dinner. She shared how they had taken a stroll because neither she
nor Alvin could sleep. Melody described the beauty of the stars as they had walked the fields on this balmy night and how they had forgotten about Hillary being fired. The girl had been obviously so new at her job, dropping things and getting orders wrong. To have been monitored by such a demanding boss could have driven the young girl to her breaking point. Then there was Terrance. The accountant had been crunching numbers and chugging coffee in his office way after his normal working hours had been completed for the day. He clearly had too much caffeine running through his veins. It may have clouded his judgment and made him unable to control his anger and palpable anxiety. Not to mention the fact that Ruth had stared daggers at him when Terrance suggested Kerry go with a smaller reception to stay within her budget. Then there was Chef Coleman, a rising star who was being held back by the woman who “discovered” him. Surely, she would not have let him go without a fight. And maybe he had fought back without realizing what he had done until afterward. Ruth had yelled at her chef for his enthusiastic and liberal use of pistachios, saying he would only continue to use them over her dead body.
Melody gathered her thoughts enough to continue detailing how she and Alvin had found Hillary sobbing and how it took the girl a while to share how Ruth had fired her after only a few days on the job.
“But the really weird part was how Hillary said she could never fully get away from Ruth because she had ruined Hillary’s life in other ways besides firing her,” Melody said. “I asked her to elaborate, but she ran off into the night.”
“That’s really an odd thing to say. It could have just been an upset girl too caught up in her emotions to know what she was saying.” Bradford said.
“Well, it certainly does not look good for any employee – former or current – now that Ruth is dead, especially Hillary,” Kerry said.
Melody and Bradford nodded in agreement. Hillary looked like the most likely perpetrator at this point. Her alibi would have to be airtight for her to escape charges.
“I think we need to move beyond why and focus on who. Someone wanted to send their proprietress to her premature grave, and they did,” Melody said.
Melody’s mind went back to flashing through the night’s obvious suspects. She was interrupted when Alvin walked into the entryway and gave Melody a reassuring hug.
“I believe I already solved the case,” he stated.
Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Five
Back at the Port Warren police station, Hillary was in custody.
As Melody, Kerry, and Bradford were reviewing every suspect in the entryway, Alvin had been outside looking for clues. Sometimes the culprits panicked when fleeing the scene and would drop the murder weapon. Alvin walked the perimeter and found his figurative smoking gun. Before him stood a shaking, crying girl covered in blood. The inn’s former waitress held her hands out to the town sheriff and repeated in a daze that she didn’t know where the blood came from. Alvin was certain it was Ruth’s.
As Alvin’s officers put Hillary in handcuffs, she looked at Alvin with such disbelief and terror he had to look away. He went back inside and told Melody to get their things for them to leave together. Alvin knew Melody would be upset at the sight of Hillary being put in the squad car and wanted her distracted.
It was a few hours later, and Kerry and Bradford had driven home and Alvin was taking Melody with him to the station. As he did, he shared what had happened. He told her how Hillary had held up her hands, and they were covered in blood. “I asked her if she did it, but she denied it. She looked surprised and said she didn’t know where the blood came from.”
“I wonder if that is all too convenient; remember me?” Melody said and saw Alvin nod across the dark car. “I know she was upset. She wasn’t angry, though. Ruth was killed with one stab of the knife. It would take a lot of physical and emotional force to do that. Hillary doesn’t look strong enough or unstable enough to do that.”
“I agree with you,” Alvin said, and Melody breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t know why, but she wanted Hillary to be innocent. Maybe because she felt sorry for her and that was not logical, but there it was.
“The problem is,” Alvin said, “we found Hillary’s fingerprints on the knife. She was covered in blood and she had motive. This looks like a closed case to me, and it will to the citizens of Port Warren, too.”
“If someone wanted to frame her, they could have used the knife she dropped at our table or another one. It is an inn she worked at; her fingerprints are bound to be everywhere. It just all looks too convenient.”
“Look, Melody, I am open to the possibility that Hillary was framed. Right now, I have a bunch of frightened guests and a town to appease. They will want an explanation soon.”
“It wasn’t that long ago that I was covered in someone else’s blood, and I didn’t know where it came from,” Melody said, biting back the fear those memories brought. “Strange things happen in Port Warren, but there is usually a good explanation for them if we look a little deeper. I am giving Hillary the benefit of the doubt, for now.”
Alvin took one hand off the wheel and squeezed Melody’s hand. She knew he would be choosing his words carefully to avoid upsetting her further and bringing up more memories of the Swan murder.
“I admit that it’s a possibility that she was framed. But that doesn’t explain her being covered in blood. You were there in the field with her when she blamed Ruth for losing her job. Yes, Hillary had been there only a few days. And I agree that Ruth’s management style is very different than yours. Ruth humiliated her. That means that Hillary had a motive. She also blamed Ruth for ruining her life and did not share why. Hillary may have been in such a state that she didn’t know what she was doing. It happens. Crimes of passion aren’t just between two lovers; Hillary was rejected and may have felt her life was over. She may have wanted to take Ruth’s as revenge. We weren’t there. Thankfully, evidence never lies. We will get to the bottom of this soon enough. I need to nip back into the station and check on the proceedings. You can visit with Hillary. Once we are done, we’ll pick up Smudge and try to put this behind us. This case, however, does seem closed.”
Alvin parked his car and headed into the station. Melody felt uneasy at being back in a place that she desperately wanted out of not that long ago. She knew that Hillary would be frightened and needed to see a friendly face. She also knew she needed to be open to the fact that Hillary might be guilty. Still, Hillary was a frightened girl and deserved the benefit of the town’s doubt. Melody pulled herself together and greeted the officers at the station.
After saying her hellos, Melody ventured back toward the holding cells. She held her breath as she approached where Hillary was being held. Melody found Hillary pacing the tiny cell and muttering to herself.
“I didn’t do it,” Hillary whispered, not knowing she was being watched. “I just don’t know how all that blood got on me. It is all so strange. Ruth was just so mean to everyone…”
“Hi, Hillary.”
Hillary paused and turned to the first friendly voice she had heard in this whole tragedy.
“Melody, I promise I didn’t do it. I swear I don’t know how all that blood got on me.”
“We will figure it out. I know this isn’t the best question to ask, but how are you?”
“I know everything looks awful for me… but I didn’t do it, even though I don’t mind that it happened. You won’t catch me shedding any tears over that woman’s death,” Hillary whispered.
“Tell me what happened. Start from the beginning.”
“After Ruth brought me into her office to fire me, I went to the wine cellar and opened her best vintage. I drank it straight from the bottle. It seemed like such a small way to get payback, but it felt like it was the only thing I could do at the time. That was all I planned to do, to drink an old bottle of wine and curse her out in my mind. I didn’t want to do anything else.” She paused, and Melody nodded for her to continue.
“I heard some people milling around outside the
cellar, so I snuck out through the back to drink my sorrows away in the field.” Her tears started, and she had to wipe at her eyes.
“It’s okay,” Melody said. “Take your time.”
“I hate violence… I don’t even eat meat. I wouldn’t be capable of murder, even if it was the woman I hated most in the world. I just wouldn’t do that despite all she’s done to me. You have to understand, I’m not capable of murder. You have to believe me. The walls are so close… will you help me get out of here, please?”
“I promise to help you,” Melody said and reached through and squeezed the girl's hand. “Believe me, I know how you feel. I know not everything is what it seems in life or Port Warren. Off the record, I believe you. I am going to see what I can find out.”
“Really?”
“Really. Trust that the truth will come out. Until then, try to stay calm. I’ll see if I can get you some books to keep your mind off everything. I know it seems impossible right now, but this will pass.”
Melody squeezed Hillary’s hands once more in reassurance and smiled at her. Hillary’s eyes were wild, and she just seemed defeated. Melody knew it was important that she helped her out, telling her to stay strong she went to find Alvin.
Alvin was finishing his final notes on the case when Melody approached his desk.
“Hey, Melody. I am just wrapping up here. We can leave in a few minutes. Man, I am starved. We need to get some food in us…”
“No, Alvin. What we need to do is head back to the inn right away.”
“I’m sorry, Melody. I truly am, but there’s no need. This case is finished. Justice has been served. Everything points to Hillary. This is actually one of the easiest cases we have had in a while.”
“But, Alvin…”
“We are not going back to the inn. Everybody has had a long night. Some food and a few hours of sleep and will clear our heads.”