by Diana DuMont
I laughed. “Yup. That about sums it up. Oh, gosh. I shouldn’t be laughing. You must think I’m a horrible person. It’s just that after repeating the same story about a thousand times today, it seems to lose some of its horror. It almost doesn’t seem real anymore.”
Molly smiled kindly at me. “Don’t worry. I understand.” Then, she gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth. Alarmed, I asked her what was wrong.
“Oh dear!” she answered. “I completely forgot to take a selfie with my pie before I started eating it. Better late than never, I guess.”
She dug in her purse for her phone, and once again held it out to take a selfie, this time with her half-eaten slice of pie.
“You really do like taking selfies, huh?” I asked.
Molly looked a bit guilty. “Yes. I guess I’m a bit old to be so obsessed with such shenanigans. But I just like to document everything. Who can blame me? Life is filled with so many moments of unexpected little pleasures. I’m not rich, but I find joy where I can.”
“Wow. I think that’s the most philosophical attitude toward a selfie that I’ve ever heard.”
Molly beamed as though I’d just awarded her a gold medal. I beamed back at her. Something about her just made her easy to talk to. She seemed genuinely nice, and she looked to be about my age. I had a feeling she might be the first good friend I made in Sunshine Springs. And really, it only took one insider friend, right? Once I was in with one person here, I’d be in with everyone. I would no longer be an outsider. The thought gave me the courage to ask a question I’d wanted to ask of just about everyone who came in today, but hadn’t dared.
“Speaking of rich, what can you tell me about Theo Russo?”
Molly’s eyes darkened somewhat. She pushed a small piece of pie around her plate with her fork before answering, as though carefully considering her words. “Theo’s alright. I went to high school with him, actually.”
My eyes widened. “You did?”
“Yeah. He was a year ahead of me, and all the girls had huge crushes on him, myself included. Of course, he was never interested in a mousy bookworm like me.”
“Mousy? You don’t look mousy to me.”
It was the truth. In fact, Molly looked quite glamorous. She was dressed in a bright, colorful sundress, and her hair was pulled up into a tight but fashionable bun. Loose tendrils of her hair had escaped from the bun, nicely framing her face. Her makeup was done to perfection. Not too much, not too little. It accented her features well and brought out the deep blue of her eyes.
Standing across from her, I was the one who felt mousy. After working all day, my hair was anything but neat, and I didn’t have a speck of makeup left on my face. Still, Molly was shaking her head.
“Oh, I guess I’m not as mousy as I once was. But back in high school I’m sure I fit the nerd stereotype perfectly. Still, that didn’t stop me from daydreaming about winning Theo’s heart. Those dreams were eventually crushed by reality, of course. And I have to admit that I’m rather glad about that. Theo is smart and rich, but can act like a jerk sometimes. He’s got a bit of a haughty streak.”
I looked around my now empty café, as though worried someone might be listening in on my conversation. There was no one around, of course, but I lowered my voice anyway.
“Have you heard the rumors about him? The girl who died yesterday was here to investigate rumors that Theo was blackmailing the Sunshine Springs government and stealing money from them.”
I’m not sure how I expected Molly to react. I probably expected her to be shocked. But she merely lifted her shoulder in the slightest of shrugs before shoving another bite of pie into her mouth. After slowly chewing and swallowing, she shook her head.
“I don’t buy it. I’ve heard those rumors, but I don’t think there’s any truth to them. Theo might act like a jerk sometimes, but he’s not a criminal. I just can’t believe that he would steal from the government, especially when he has so much money already. Besides, his dad was so upstanding and moral. I remember hearing about how Theo had to endure long lectures from his old man on the importance of being honest.”
I frowned. “But high school was a little while ago, no? How long has Theo been in charge of the winery? People change, you know.”
Molly frowned. “Well, it has been about ten years since Theo’s dad died and Theo took over the winery completely. But I just can’t see him doing something like stealing from the town government—though goodness knows that I would love to see him arrested for something. He’s so full of pride that it would do him some good to be taken down a few notches.”
Molly laughed, as though just the idea of Theo taking a hit to his pride gave her great delight. But before I could make another comment about how you never knew about people’s character, the bell above the café’s front door jingled. My heart sank as I realized that it was now past five and I had forgotten to actually lock the door. I looked up to tell my newest customer that I was closed for the day and sold out of everything. But the words stuck in my throat when I saw a group of three stern-looking policemen standing in my café.
“Isabelle James?” one of the officers asked.
I didn’t like the tone of his voice. It made something in my stomach clench up nervously.
“Yes, that’s me.” I eyed him warily.
“You need to come with us down to the station.”
“What for?”
“We need to take a statement from you, and you might be in a whole lot of trouble.”
I stared at the officer, trying to process what he’d just said. He looked quite gleeful when he told me that I might be in trouble.
“What in the world is this about?” I demanded. “Am I under arrest for something?”
The officer sneered. “You will be, if you don’t come willingly.”
Molly had turned around in her seat, her hand on Sprinkles’ head. Sprinkles was growling, but Molly’s soft touch seemed to calm him.
“What’s this all about?” Molly asked. “This is no way to welcome our newest town member!”
The officer sneered again. “I’m not sure our newest town member deserves a warm welcome. That death in front of her café yesterday? Turns out it wasn’t an accident.”
Chapter Four
I followed the officer into the station quietly. Turns out he was the sheriff. He introduced himself to me as Sheriff Mitchell, but all the other officers just called him Mitch.
Mitch was anything but quiet. He laughed boisterously, cracked his knuckles constantly, and generally acted as obnoxious as humanly possible. That was probably a good thing, because he was the handsomest police officer I’d ever met. He had that sort of rugged and handsome look that made you think he would be better off being a police officer in the wilds of Montana than in a little old wine country town.
But his good looks were overshadowed by his horrible attitude, and even if I had had any sort of interest in him, it wouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t want to date someone who acted like a jerk. I’d already spent enough of my life in a relationship with someone who was a bit too full of himself. Never again.
After we entered the station, Mitch left me in the front reception area to await my fate alone. I sat there for a long time, wondering if I was really in trouble. I had experience as a lawyer, but only as a contracts lawyer. If I was actually going to be accused of murder, then I needed to get a criminal lawyer. My mind couldn’t process everything that was going on. It was impossible that I was being accused of murder, wasn’t it? Surely, I had misunderstood something. This must all be a mistake. For one thing, I had seen with my own eyes as Caitlin lay under the wheel of Violet’s sedan in the middle of the street. Surely, no one would blame me for that! The whole thing was just a horrible accident. It’s not like I had held a gun to Violet’s head and told her to run over Caitlin.
Rationalizing everything that was going on didn’t help calm the uneasiness in the pit of my stomach. Sitting there alone for what felt like hours didn’t he
lp either. In reality, I had probably only been alone about fifteen minutes when the front door of the station opened. To my great relief, in stepped Scott, the delivery guy. I didn’t know him very well, and I had no reason to think that he would defend me in this situation. But still, he had been a friendly face yesterday, and I was clinging to any bit of friendliness that I could. Molly had actually offered to come with me down to the station, which was kind of her since she’d only known me for all of about thirty minutes. It’s not like she knew me well enough to trust that I wasn’t a murderer, if I truly was being accused of murder.
But I had declined her offer, asking her to instead take Sprinkles to Grams and tell Grams what was going on. I hated to upset Grams, and I knew she would be quite upset when she learned I was at the police station. But I had a feeling I was going to need help getting out of this, and Grams was the best one to help me.
Scott raised an eyebrow when he saw me. He set down the box he was carrying with a heavy thump, dusted his hands off on his khaki pants, and gave me an appraising look.
“Don’t tell me that you’re mixed up in all of this,” he said. “Although, I suppose it makes sense, since the girl died right in front of your store.”
“But it was an accident,” I protested. “Everyone saw what happened. She fell, and got run over.”
Scott looked around the room suspiciously, as though making sure that no one else was there. Then he took a step closer to me, leaned in, and spoke in a low voice. “I overheard Mitch talking with one of his officers down at the Morning Brew Café when I was making a delivery there this morning. Apparently, the autopsy report came back and showed that Caitlin had already been dead at the time Violet ran into her.”
I blinked in confusion. “But that’s impossible. She had just walked out of the café, and trust me, she was very much alive. She was screaming at the top of her lungs because she was so angry at her sister for dating that photographer.”
Scott looked around uneasily again, then turned back to me. “Well, the autopsy report showed that the actual cause of death was poison. It must have been a horrible coincidence, but it sounds like what happened was not that Caitlin tripped. She was overcome by poison, fell into the street dead, and Violet happened to be driving down the street at that exact moment. Of course, when Violet ran into her, it appeared at first glance that the obvious cause of death was the head trauma from the car. But that wasn’t it at all.”
My jaw fell open at Scott’s words. Everything suddenly made perfect sense. If Caitlin had died of poison, of course the sheriff would call me down here to the station. I would be a top suspect, since she’d been eating food and drinking wine from my café right before she died. A cold chill ran through me.
“But I’m sure there was nothing poisonous in my pies. Maybe someone dumped something into her drink. One of the other two sitting with her. Goodness knows they were angry enough at her.”
Scott looked around uneasily again, then lowered his voice so low that I almost couldn’t make out what he was saying. “Look, you seem like a nice person. And you definitely don’t seem like the type that would murder someone, especially someone you don’t know. I’m sure this will all be cleared up quickly. But it’s going to be hard to convince the sheriff that the victim’s own sister killed her. Just be careful what you say, and maybe get a lawyer. The judges here aren’t nice to outsiders. Luckily for you, the girl’s sister and the sister’s boyfriend are also outsiders. It’s an equal playing field, if you know what I mean.”
I groaned. “Great. It’s an equal playing field, because everyone here will hate all three of us just as much. They’ll be just as happy to pin the murder on any of us to whom it will stick.”
Scott looked genuinely distressed at my words, but before he could say anything else, the loud sound of Sheriff Mitchell’s voice reached my ears from somewhere down the hallway.
“Uh-oh,” Scott said, quickly pushing the package he’d brought toward the front desk of the reception area. The receptionist’s desk was empty, which wasn’t surprising since it was almost six o’clock at this point. The receptionist probably went home at five. Sunshine Springs didn’t seem like the sort of place that had a whole lot of crime, so I doubted the staff here worked much overtime.
“I have to run,” Scott said. “Mitch will kill me if he knows what I told you. He wants to be the one to break the shocking news to all of you.”
“I swear, I won’t tell him that I know or that you told me.”
“Thank you,” Scott said gratefully. “And I’ll keep my ears open for you. If I hear anything around town about what might have happened, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Before I could thank Scott, Mitch appeared in the room. His face turned purple with anger when he saw Scott.
“Get out of here!” Mitch yelled at Scott. “This here is a murder investigation. It’s not a circus open to everyone in town who wants to gossip.”
“Sorry,” Scott said as he backed away toward the door. “I was just dropping off a package. I’ll be going now.”
Before Mitch had time to reply, Scott had disappeared through the front door. But the door didn’t immediately close behind him. As Scott walked out, Grams walked in. She looked angry, and Violet was with her. Violet held shakily onto Grams’ arm, grasping the bright purple fabric of Grams’ shirt as though letting go might cause her to slip straight through the floor.
I didn’t care how angry Grams was. I had never been so happy to see her and her ridiculous hot pink hair.
“Grams! I’m so glad you’re here. There’s been some sort of terrible misunderstanding.”
“Molly told me,” Grams said. “I was over at Violet’s house, trying to comfort her after that horrible ordeal yesterday. Molly called and told me that you’d been asked to come to the police station. She said I’d better get down here right away, and then a cop stopped by and told Violet she had to come in, too.” Grams turned to look at Mitch. “What is the meaning of this?”
A haughty smile spread across Mitch’s face. “Agnes,” he said, putting on an air of great, gentlemanly authority. “I’m sorry to tell you that your granddaughter here is suspected of murder. I’ll need to get a statement from her, at the least. It’s good that you’re here with Violet, because I’ll need to get a statement from Violet, too.”
Violet’s eyes widened at the Sheriff’s words, and her shaking increased. “A statement?” she asked in a trembling voice. “But I already gave a statement yesterday. I just want to put this behind me!”
“I understand, Violet,” the sheriff said. “And I understand that this whole situation has been stressful for you. But I hope you’ll feel better knowing at least that you were not responsible for Caitlin’s death. She was already dead before you ran into her.”
Sheriff Mitch looked at me when he said these words. I knew he was hoping for a big reaction, and even though I’d promised Scott not to tell Mitch that I already knew about the poison, I wasn’t going to give Mitch the satisfaction of thinking he’d shocked me when he hadn’t. So I remained silent and gave him a stubborn look.
That turned out to be a mistake, though. Mitch’s haughty grin widened.
“I see that news doesn’t shock you very much, Isabelle. But I suppose it wouldn’t, if you’re the one who murdered Caitlin.”
I started to protest, but before I could say anything much, Grams interrupted.
“Enough with the games, Mitch. If you have some accusations to make, then make them so that my granddaughter can answer properly. I’m sure there’s an explanation for all of this. Izzy would never murder anyone. And really, is it necessary to have Violet here? She’s already been through so much, and her nerves are shot. She’s liable to have a heart attack! If she does, that’s on your conscience!”
Mitch looked slightly chastised. Only slightly, but I supposed that was better than nothing.
“I understand. Violet, please don’t worry. One of the officers will explain everything, get a quick s
tatement from you, and then you can go home to rest. But as for you, Isabelle, I’m not sure you’ll be going home for quite some time.”
I resisted the juvenile urge to stick my tongue out at him, and instead followed him, along with Grams and Violet, toward the back of the police station. I wasn’t sure where we were going. I hoped it wasn’t a jail cell, but either way, being in the bowels of the station wasn’t a good feeling.
Actually, I was quite surprised at how large the police station was. For a small town like Sunshine Springs that had supposedly very little crime, they sure needed an awfully big police station. Looking at Mitch, though, I shouldn’t have been that surprised. He seemed like the kind of guy who needed a big old police station to make him feel good about himself. Size matters and all that mumbo-jumbo guys like him always bought into.
Thankfully, when we finally stopped walking we weren’t at a jail cell. We were at some sort of interrogation room that didn’t look very cheerful, but anything was more cheerful than a jail cell.
To my surprise, when Mitch opened the door wider, I saw that Josie and Todd were already there. They were holding hands, and were flanked on either side by two of Mitch’s police officers. They eyed me warily as I walked in, and I looked away. I’m sure anything I tried to say to them would only make matters worse.
As soon as we sat down, Mitch stood facing all of us. He proudly crossed his arms in front of him as though he were a school principal and had just caught the lot of us stealing extra Jell-O from the school cafeteria.
“Thank you all for joining me here this evening,” he began. “As though you had any choice.”
He laughed as if his poor attempt at a joke had been truly funny. I scowled at him, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He looked sympathetically at Violet as he continued.