by Rosie Sams
“I wouldn’t buy a cake here if it was the last pastry shop on Earth,” the rude woman said, then scoffed. “The renowned chef, Pierre LaPoffeau, is the only one I would trust with my wedding cake. He’s flying in from Paris to make it himself.”
Her offensive statement took Melody aback. Smudge moved protectively in front of Melody and growled low. The woman dismissed Smudge’s growl. “Oh, please, I live with Great Danes. Back off, runt!”
Melody gasped at the very nerve of this woman to enter her shop, insult her, insult her business, and then insult Smudge!
“Listen, Sophia…”
“My name is Ms. McGrath. We are not friends, and before you showed up, my expensive, designer wedding dress was that little “towny” boutique’s number one priority!” Sophia said. “I’m here for one purpose only, and that’s to warn you to stay out of my way. You need to stop causing drama over your cheap dress that could easily be one of my hand-me-downs, so that depressing woman, Yolanda, and her little seamstress focus on what’s important – and that’s me and my dress!”
“My wedding is in three weeks, and my dress is far from cheap!”
Leslie came in from the back, confused by the exchange between Melody and the customer. “Is everything ok…”
“I don’t even understand why they would be shoving me to the back of the line for someone buying something off the rack! No dress can compare to my gown. So, tomorrow, when you steal my appointment again, you better make sure it’s the last time. Take that rag of a frock with you, or I’m coming back here again. And next time, I won’t be so nice.”
Without another word, Sophia McGrath twirled around and headed out the door. She touched the door with her elbow as if she was trying not to dirty her hands. Melody’s jaw dropped open.
Did that just happen?
“What just happened?” Leslie asked as if she was reading Melody’s mind.
“I’m not even sure!” Melody said, outraged. “That rude woman was the infamous Sophia McGrath. She’s getting married and the women at Wedding? Sweet! keep putting my dress alterations ahead of hers!”
“Clearly, she’s not happy about it, but the nerve of her to actually come in here and scold you about it is audacious!”
“To say the least!”
“It makes you wonder who would be desperate enough to marry a woman like that.”
“I pity the groom! Sheesh, I’m so furious right now!” Melody said as she headed for the door. “I’m locking the door.”
“Make sure you really lock it this time,” Leslie said, teasing her.
Chapter Two Hundred Seven
Early the next morning, Melody and Smudge returned to Wedding? Sweet! for her final fitting. She was surprised she had butterflies in her stomach, especially since she always felt weddings were more hype than anything. But now, she was starting to really understand firsthand why getting married was so exciting and stressful at the same time. As they approached the store, she noticed the front of the little boutique was still dark.
“Maybe they forgot I was coming early.” She pushed her face close to the glass window, cupping her hand around her eyes to reduce the glare. Smudge jumped up and pressed her puppy nose to the glass, too. “I don’t see anyone inside.” Smudge huffed in agreement. Just to be sure, she pulled the handle of the door and was surprised when it opened. “That’s odd.” Melody felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise.
The usual door chime played the first four bars of “Here Comes the Bride” as she and Smudge entered the boutique. No one came to greet them with arms wide open. In fact, it was eerily quiet once the chimes stopped.
“Hello!” Melody’s eyes searched the darkened shop. “Is anyone here?” As she called toward the back, Smudge sniffed the air. The little canine sleuth tried to pull Melody deeper into the store. “C’mon, Smudge, we’ll come back later.” But Smudge wouldn’t budge when Melody pulled her toward the exit. She was determined to investigate the new scent that she discovered! Her little black nose twitched in the air. Suddenly, the leash went taut, and Smudge stood on her hind legs, hopping and yipping.
“What is it, girl?” Melody asked as she relented and let Smudge lead the way. They stopped at the door that led to the dressing rooms. Smudge scratched at it relentlessly. It was slightly ajar, a soft light cast through the opened crack. Cautiously, she pushed the door, but it would only open so far. It felt like something was blocking it from the inside. Carefully, she gave it a more forceful nudge. It opened a little wider, so she steadily pushed it so that it opened just enough for her and Smudge to slip through the gap. To her shock, the thing blocking the door’s path was a body!
“Yolanda!” Melody dropped to her knees to check for a pulse.
Smudge sniffed all around the shopkeeper’s body.
“There’s no pulse, and she’s cold!” Melody said, but now she could see that Yolanda’s head and the floor under it were covered in blood.
As she pulled her phone from her pocket, she noticed Smudge sniffing intently around Yolanda’s hand. Gently, she moved the little dog away and spotted that the woman’s death grip clutched a shredded piece of deep purple paisley fabric. It was the same fabric from Yolanda’s scarf, which was now missing from her neck.
“It looks like we walked into another bloody mess. I better call Alvin.” Melody tapped her phone with her thumb, but hearing a noise from one of the other rooms, her heart leaped into her throat. She scooped Smudge up and tiptoed toward the source of the sound. It sounded like someone was moaning.
Part of her wanted to run, but what if someone was hurt? What if the killer had struck one of the other ladies, and they were still alive?
She followed the sound until she found Lollie stirring on one of the white loveseats near the presentation area. The McGrath dress hung on a rack nearby. Lollie must have been working on it, but now it was covered with reddish-brown handprints!
“Oh, no,” Melody said. Surely, Sophia was going to flip out when she saw her dress was stained. She set Smudge down quickly and ran to Lollie. “Are you all right?”
The seamstress stirred but didn’t fully rouse.
Melody’s eyes searched the area for something to help wake the woman. She saw Lollie’s cart was nearby. All its items were in order, except for her coffee cup. The cup was tipped over on the floor near Lollie’s hand, which dangled from the couch. Its contents were spilled on the rug. Melody assumed the stains on the McGrath dress were coffee stains now that she had spotted the spill.
At least, that was her theory until she noticed Lollie’s hands. They were covered in blood! Melody grabbed the woman by her shoulders and shook her. “Lollie! Wake up now!”
“Where - where am I?” Lollie said as she pressed a hand to her forehead. When she pulled it away, it left a bloody handprint on her skin. Melody gasped!
“Oh, Lollie - what have you done?”
“Ms. Marshall?” she asked, recognizing Melody although her eyes didn’t seem quite focused. “You’re here for your early fitting, aren’t you?” Lollie tried to get up from the loveseat but was unsuccessful. She caught sight of her own bloody hands, but they didn’t seem to register with her foggy mind. “My head hurts so bad. Maybe I can do your fitting later? I think I need to sleep a little bit longer. I’m exhausted…” The sleepy seamstress was already drifting back to unconsciousness before she finished her sentence.
Melody picked up her phone again, but this time she completed the call to Alvin.
“Hey, I need you over at the bridal boutique, right now. The owner’s dead and I may have just caught the seamstress red-handed.”
Chapter Two Hundred Eight
It wasn’t long after Melody’s call that Alvin and Wilbur pulled up in front of the boutique. The lights on their patrol car flashed, but the sirens were silent. Melody and Smudge met them outside.
“Hey, are you ok?” Alvin asked as he swooped her up into his arms. He hugged her tight.
“I can’t breathe,” she said.
Melody thought he looked relieved to see she was unharmed. “Al, I’m fine. Hi, Wilbur.”
Smudge rubbed against Alvin’s legs. He scooped her up into his arms.
“You two found yourself some trouble, again, huh?” Wilbur asked.
“I suppose trouble just has a way of finding us,” she said.
“Why don’t you bring us up to speed?” Alvin asked as he gave Smudge one more squeeze before setting her down gently.
“Yesterday, I had a fitting, but I needed a few more minor alterations. Yolanda asked if I would come by this morning for the final round. They were expecting me early. When I arrived, the lights up front were still dark, but the door was unlocked.” She pointed to the front window, then the door. “I touched the glass here, and the handle when I pulled the door open.” Alvin could see Smudge’s nose print on the glass.
Melody led them inside. The door chime played its usual tune, it made both Alvin and Wilbur jump!
“What on Earth is that?” Alvin asked as his eyes searched for the source of the chime. “That thing went off, and no one heard you come in?”
“Nope, and usually, Yolanda comes to greet me. She’s got a very boisterous personality so that right there should tell you something.”
“Wilbur, find out how to deactivate that thing. We don’t need it going off every time the investigators come in and out.” They could hear sirens nearing the little shop. It was only a matter of time before crime scene investigators, EMS, and the coroner were combing the place for clues.
“At this point, Smudge picked up a scent. She led me to the dressing room area. Show ‘em, Smudge.” Smudge trotted ahead of the pack, leading them directly to the door that was wide enough for Melody and Smudge to slip through, but they didn’t go this time.
“Yolanda Wyatt’s body is on the other side of this door. It’s in the way of the door opening fully. When you get in there, you’ll see that she’s bleeding from the head. There’s blood on the floor, too, but I think that’s from the head wound.”
Alvin smiled proudly as he listened to Melody describe the scene.
“Sheesh, boss. You taught her well,” Wilbur said.
“Sometimes, I think she’s the one teaching me.” Alvin examined the door. He tried to push it a bit, but the body was indeed blocking it from fully opening. “Wilbur, come help me with this.” Wilbur pushed on the door just enough so Alvin could squeeze inside. “Mel, is this the shop owner?” He knew she told him a story about the woman, but he couldn’t remember any names.
“Yes, that’s her. Look in her hand. She’s clutching a piece of paisley fabric. Do you see it?”
“Yes, I see it.”
From the dressing room area, they heard the door chime ring it’s first four bars of “Here Comes the Bride.”
“I’ll head up front and get the guys sorted,” Wilbur said.
From behind the door, Alvin continued, “Mel, you said on the phone that the seamstress is here. Where did you find her?”
Smudge immediately trotted in Lollie’s direction. Alvin followed her.
As the EMS team entered, Wilbur called them over and sent them through the gap in the door, to examine Yolanda. He’d then continued to work with the other deputies to cordon off the building, assigning Davis to disconnect the door chime. Smudge made her way back to Melody, and Alvin went back to the body.
“Yolanda was so full of life. It really saddens me that she’s dead,” Melody said to him through the half-opened door.
“Well, from what you told me, she tried to go above and beyond for you. I can understand why you’d be sad to see her like this.”
Smudge pressed her body against Melody as they waited for Alvin to exit the dressing room section.
“So, it looks like there must have been a struggle.” He filled Melody in on what he’d found at first glance. “She’s got a blunt trauma wound to her head, but I think she sustained it when she hit the floor. There’s no blood on the doors, and there doesn’t seem to be much splatter. There’s a bit of a red mark around her neck, but not enough to indicate she was choked to death. The coroner will be able to tell us more.”
“The paisley fabric in her hand is from her scarf. Yolanda was wearing it every time I saw her. I got the sense that it was one of her favorite accessories. But, I didn’t see the scarf near her today.”
“Maybe the killer took it as a souvenir. At least we know if we find it, it should be torn.” Alvin noticed Melody looked upset. “Hey, why don’t you go up front and get some air? I can handle this.” Smudge nuzzled Melody’s ankles.
“You know, I love a good mystery, Al. But for some reason, this one’s got me feeling a little more down. These three women were just trying to create a nice experience for brides-to-be. Still, there was a lot of tension here these last few days. I’m so grateful that my relationship with Kerry and Leslie is not as dysfunctional as theirs was. And, I can’t help but wonder if Sophia McGrath, the other bride, finally lost control and attacked Yolanda.” Her eyes started to well with tears. “What if this is all my fault? The attention to my dress was overshadowing Sophia’s, and it was really causing a lot of drama.”
“No, Melody. This is not your fault.” He hugged her tight to him and caressed her soft red hair. “We’ll find out exactly what happened. We always do.”
She lifted her head from his chest, and he wiped her tears away with the soft pad of his thumb.
“I’m going to need your help, and Smudge’s, too. We’re a team. We always get the bad guy or girl.” He smiled, then kissed her softly.
She smiled softly back at him. She couldn’t help it. Alvin always knew how to make her feel better. Smudge snuffled and rubbed against their legs. She also always knew how to make Melody feel better.
“Ok, let’s get this murder solved. We’ve got a wedding to finish planning.” Melody clapped her hands together to get focused.
“Tell me about the seamstress. You said you think you caught her red-handed. Is that right?” Alvin asked. “Let’s go see her.”
As they walked to where Melody found Lollie, they saw the EMS techs examining her, while Wilbur asked her some questions. They had managed to get her to sit straight up. Her bloodied palms were face up while one of the crime scene investigators swabbed them.
“That’s Lollie Webber.” Melody pointed to her. “Right after we found Yolanda, I was about to call you. But, Smudge and I heard a woman moaning. We found Lollie on the white loveseats, where she is now.”
“She looks a little out of it.”
“I think she is. She almost seems like she collapsed from exhaustion. She’s been working day and night on the dresses. Her hands are covered in blood, and she didn’t seem to notice it. Do you see that dress hanging near her? That’s Sophia McGrath’s designer dress. I thought it was stained with coffee, but I’m pretty sure it’s blood now that I’ve seen Lollie’s hands.”
“Why did you think it was coffee?”
“Lollie seems to drink coffee like Kerry does. She’s got a big coffee cup that’s turned over on the floor. I saw that before I saw her hands.”
Wilbur walked over to them. “I spoke with the seamstress. She says her name is Lollie Webber and that she was working over-time to finish some alterations on a McGrath dress, whatever that means. I don’t speak ‘wedding.’”
“Melody said that dress hanging up next to her is the McGrath dress. The one with the stains,” Alvin said.
Wilbur looked back over his shoulder at the dress. “I’ll make sure the crime scene team checks those stains. Ms. Webber doesn’t know how she got blood on her hands. She claims she was working on the dress when a wave of exhaustion came over her. She still sounds a little loopy, but she claims all she had to drink last night was coffee. She drinks a lot of it to stay up and work all-nighters to catch up on alterations.”
“Make sure the medical team gets a toxicology report on her. We need to know
if she has anything in her system, like uppers. Maybe she was using more than coffee to stay awake. I want to talk to her before they take her to the hospital.” Wilbur nodded, leaving Alvin and Melody to talk.
“Remind me which of these ladies was angry with the other,” Alvin said.
“Yolanda, the deceased, and Lollie, the main suspect, were both at odds with Tricia Dearborn, the assistant.”
“And you haven’t seen any sign that Tricia is around?”
“No, I haven’t.” Melody’s eyes caught the investigators bagging and tagging Sophia’s dress. “Wow, she’s going to be so angry.” Alvin followed her line of sight.
“We have to take it in. There could be vital clues on that dress.”
“Oh, I understand, but that’s not going to make Sophia any less angry.”
“She’s got motive. We’ll have to have a little chat with her, too.”
The EMS techs put Lollie on a gurney, but before they could wheel her away, Alvin approached with Melody and Smudge in tow. He held a hand up to the techs directing them to wait a moment.
“Hi, Lollie. I’m Sheriff Hennessey. How are you feeling?” Lollie looked up at Alvin wide-eyed. Her pupils weren’t fully focusing.
“Hello, Sheriff. I’m sorry about all the trouble.”
“Why are you sorry, Lollie? Did you hurt Yolanda Wyatt?”
“No, sir. I would never hurt Yolanda. She was like my sister. We were very close, not just employee and employer.” Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment, but she forced them open.
“Did you go home last night, Lollie?”
“No. I remember finishing up Ms. Marshall’s dress last night.” She smiled proudly to Melody. “You are going to love it, dear. The roses are perfect.” Melody blushed as Alvin smiled to her over his shoulder. He wiggled his brows before turning back to Lollie.
“What did you do after you finished Melody’s dress?”
“I stayed to finish up Ms. McGrath’s dress. She was really upset that we were falling so behind on her alterations. Her wedding is coming up soon, too. But I couldn’t finish it. I got so tired, I collapsed from exhaustion.”