The Murder in Red Arch

by J. Valentine

  “I was right about you being a dork I guess lol!”

  “Do you want to join me. I can protect you from that storm you seem to be so worried about. Sweet summer child.”

  The Game of Thrones reference delighted her, “You know winter is coming.”

  “Are you?”

  He is bold! Olivia was ecstatic. It had been some time since Olivia had been with a man. She had been single for well over a year, having broken off an engagement. Jacob was a good man, but Olivia just couldn’t get over the idea of only being with one man the rest of her life. He was heartbroken after she gave him back the ring, begging for another chance. She just felt as if they had slowly grown apart, and she didn’t want to be one of those people stuck in a dead bedroom, dragging themselves to couples counseling once a week. The relationship had lasted five years. She knew if they got married, that they wouldn’t make it another five.

  “I think I’d like that. Maybe we should actually go out once or twice first! Us southerners have principles!”

  “I’d love to take you out!” Brad was ecstatic now as well.

  “What are you thinking? Dinner?”

  “How about coffee and donuts. I know how you cops love your donuts!” Olivia hoped he wouldn’t be offended by the poke.

  “I’d be angry if that stereotype wasn’t true. Alas, I love nothing more than a honey cruller and dark roast with cream and two sugars,” he agreed.

  “Seattle Coffee Spot? Tomorrow morning, 11am?”

  “Lucky it’s my day off, hey no cop talk when we’re there okay? ;)”

  “Deal ;) see you then!” Olivia hoped he wouldn’t mind her asking just a few questions.

  Chapter 11

  Olivia woke up that morning, blissfully excited about the coming day. A date with Brad Wilson, all her teenage dreams were coming true. The former captain of the Red Arch High hockey team, and detective on the small Red Arch police force. She was surprised he’d even be able to get a day off considering the recent murder, but she was happy to get the chance to spend some time with her dreamy crush. After waking up Alvi who had fallen asleep next to her again, she went downstairs to make some of that delicious coffee.

  She hadn’t heard Max get in the night before. He probably had a good night, Olivia thought. Stephanie seemed like the perfect girl for Max. Sometimes introverted geeky guys need a bold girl like that to help get them out of their shell.

  “Yo Max, how was your night?” Olivia texted her brother.

  She continued on her morning. She peered outside after preparing herself for the snow that was forecasted to fall overnight. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw there was only about five centimeters on the ground. Weatherman… she laughed to herself.

  Frying two eggs over easy, some high quality fresh rye bread from the bakery, and sausage links that Max had picked up from the butcher made for an excellent start to the day. She looked down at Alvi, who had made a puddle of slobber on the ground.

  “Alvi!” She complained, as she cleaned up the mess with paper towel. She opened the kitchen door leading to the large backyard, perfect for a dog like him, and threw a sausage link as far as she could. She laughed as he dived into the snow head first, using his impressive sense of smell, and hunting instincts to find the sausage. She’d fill up his bowl with the fancy dog food Max provided him when she was ready to sit down to eat.

  Leaving the boiling water to brew with the coffee grounds in the bottom of Max’s french press, she flipped the eggs, waited a few seconds until the thin layer had formed over the yolk, and flipped them back over. Perfect, she was impressed with her skills. The toast popped just in time as the sausages started to crackle. She applied pressure to the french press and watched as the water forced itself through the grounds, bubbles forming atop the coffee. Another perfect cup, she poured it into the novelty toilet mug Max had left in the pantry. So tacky, she thought to herself.

  “Alvi!” She called the dog after opening the back door. He shook the snow off his body before stepping through the door. “Max sure did train you well,” she told him. He seemed more interested in the breakfast she had put in his bowl for him, then her kind words, darting to the bowl of dog food. Olivia sat down and ate as well.

  “Max?” He hadn’t messaged her back. Usually he was the kind of guy to text back too fast rather than too late. Olivia worried a bit, but didn’t think much of it, she thought perhaps his phone had died the night before.

  It was close to nine when Max walked through the door, and greeted Olivia at the table. His hair was messy, and shirt was unbuttoned.

  “Looks like someone had a fun night!” She told him.

  “Yeah Stephanie sure knows how to party, I could barely keep up,” he smiled at his sister.

  “Did your phone die or something? You didn’t respond when I texted you this morning.”

  He took his phone out of his pocket to reveal a cracked screen, “isn’t that great?” He said, sarcastically.

  “Ooh,” Olivia winced, “I’ve been there bro. I’m sure it won't be too expensive to get repaired. Is there a shop in Red Arch?”

  “There is. I should get there right away. I don’t want to miss a work call or email when I’m away from my workstation,” he explained.

  “Oh come on Max, that can wait! I want to hear about last night,” she begged for more details, “tell me everything.”

  “I don’t think you’d want to hear everything,” Max warned.

  “Ew, now who’s the gross one?” She laughed. “Spare me some details.”

  “Let me just make a coffee, Lord knows I need it.”

  Max went to the kitchen and Olivia continued eating her breakfast, scrolling through her phone, looking at the community group on facebook. More whiny people complaining about the city. Evidently a city councillor had had the brush cleared in front of just his house facing the lake. Sure that’s a little shady, but Olivia couldn’t imagine how they’d react to the corruption in southern Ontario. The former mayor of Toronto had a crack smoking problem, and now his brother is premier!

  Max sat down with his sister and talked about how great the night before was. They’d gone to dinner, had a few glasses of wine, then went back to her place. Max seemed really happy, which made Olivia happy for him. It was all she wanted for her lonely brother.

  “That’s really good to hear, Max. I’m meeting detective Wilson for coffee and donuts, so I should really head out. I know you got your phone to deal with, and I’m sure you have some programming to do.”

  “Coffee and donuts?! Whose idea was that,” Max laughed.

  “Mine, it was a shot, but he went for it,” she laughed with her brother.

  ***

  Brad was at the counter, ordering when Olivia walked into Donato’s, the aroma of fresh roasted coffee and pastries delighted her senses as she entered.

  The coffee shop / bakery split was a staple of Red Arch, everyone knew and loved it. Even after the Tim Horton’s opened shop, Donato’s stayed successful and business even increased. A lot of people were upset the corporation had moved into town, and they showed their support by frequenting the small bakery. All the better for the owner, and the waitstaff was happy their tip cup was always being added to by the residents.

  Olivia admired his body. He stood towering over her at 6’3”. He wore a blue, collared dress shirt with a dark tie, and black slacks. Overtop a wool business coat, draping down to his mid thigh. She could just make out his side arm through the outerwear.

  “Excuse me detective,” Olivia said in a deep voice.

  “Olivia,” Brad laughed.

  “And for you, miss?” The pretty girl at the counter asked her, telling by the friendly nature of the two that they were together.

  “Dark roast, two cream, two sugar, and a honey cruller,” she said.

  “Same as the detective’s, will do,” she turned around and began pouring the double doubles.

  Brad smiled at Olivia, thinking back to the texts they had been sending th
e night before. She returned the smile, then went back to looking at all the delicious looking pastries through the glass display case attached to the front counter.

  “I can bring it over to you,” the girl offered.

  The two sat down. Brad removed his coat and placed it over his chair. The shirt gripped his arm nicely, showing off the many hours he had put in at the gym, and at the police academy. Olivia fantasized for a moment about watching his muscles bulge during his hand to hand combat training exercises. She was certain that his large frame and physical hockey background ensured he was one of the best in his class.

  The bakery wasn’t particularly busy this morning, so the shop girl could put in the extra effort, possibly hoping for a bigger tip. They exchanged pleasantries, while waiting for the girl to bring them their food.

  “This looks delicious, thank you,” Brad said, making eye contact with the shop girl.

  She placed the food and beverages down at their table, and left them. The coffee was given in very nice ceramic mugs, and donuts on matching plates. Clearly the owner had made some improvements to the place since Olivia had last been there. The new tables, and comfortable chairs, also helped confirm her deductions.

  “A long time since high school eh?” Olivia asked him.

  “Yeah, I miss it sometimes,” Brad thought back to the time pleasantly.

  “I don’t! I had the biggest crush on you back then you know?” She laughed, thinking back to her old self conscious self. Before she was the cool girl, with the cool job. Things had only gotten better for her since her difficult adolescent years.

  Brad looked embarrassed, face reddening, “I wish I would’ve known it.”

  “Like you would have done anything,” she quipped, “you were all about that Stacey girl.”

  “Rebecca was her name,” Brad corrected her.

  “Oh that’s right,” Olivia put her hand to her chin, doing her best to not let Brad know that she remembered Rebecca Abrams, all too well. “Whatever happened to you two?”

  “Marriage, cheating, seperation, losing the house, and divorce. Thank God we didn’t have kids.”

  “Cheating?” She pried further.

  “Not me, her. And with quite a few people too.”

  “I’m sorry, that must have been difficult,” she tried to comfort him, reaching across the table to touch his forearm. The girth and strength of his arm excited her deeply. She caught herself gazing down towards his arm, but caught herself, and re-made eye contact with the detective.

  “It was,” he told her.

  They paused for a moment before he re initiated the conversation.

  “So, how’s the case going?”

  Olivia smiled, “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that stuff? At your request I might add.”

  “Professional curiosity,” he shrugged.

  “So you haven’t got too far in the case either eh?”

  “I’m afraid not, I hope we solve it soon. A lot of people are calling us transphobic now because we haven’t been able to yet,” he chuckled.

  “I haven’t gotten any big suspects or big breaks yet, maybe you can help me out, what do you think about the case?”

  “I mean it could just be a normal hate crime, it’s always most difficult to catch someone not attached to the victim. If you murder some random person you don’t know, we have to get pretty lucky to actually catch you,” he explained.

  “That’s not too often the case though is it?”

  “No, most of the time it’s someone you know who kills you.”

  “What do you think of Barry? Layla and Anna seem pretty convinced,” she asked him.

  “I mean it’s possible, but his alibi held up, and the lawyer confirmed that he likely didn’t know about the will, unless Maryam told him of course.”

  Olivia cleared her throat preparing for the next difficult question, “what do you think of Layla or Anna?”

  He paused for a moment, took a minute to think and sipped his coffee. “I don’t know if I should be telling you all this, it’s fairly unprofessional. But we need all the help we can get at this point. Part of me thinks this case may go cold.”

  “What?” She pried.

  “We thought maybe it was them, but they would have had no way to transport the body. And we know from the crime scene analysis that Maryam was murdered, then moved to the forest where the hunter found her.”

  “They couldn’t have used their car?” Olivia asked.

  “That’s what we thought. We took their car from them, and had our forensics team go over it with a fine tooth comb. They took that thing apart looking for blood, or any evidence at all that they moved the body. Nothing. It’s not like in the movies where you can throw a body in the trunk, and clean it out with bleach afterwards and be home free. If you put a dead body into a car, we can find evidence, period. So we ruled them out.”

  “Interesting. They couldn’t have used another vehicle?”

  “Not when they were up at the cabin. And their cell phone records checked out, there is no service up there, and neither of their phones pinged any towers,” he explained.

  “So it wasn’t Barry, Anna, or Layla. Who else could it have been?”

  “That’s why we were thinking it was a trans thing.”

  “Any suspects there?” She asked.

  “There was one guy, but we couldn’t get him to talk. He’d sit there for hours refusing to speak, citing his charter rights. He didn’t even ask for a lawyer. There isn’t any evidence to charge him, so we had to let him go.”

  “What’s his name, and why him?”

  “Richard Miller. He was a waiter at the country club, and apparently Maryam got him fired. We don’t know why. He wouldn’t even agree that he worked there, knew a Maryam, hell he wouldn’t even agree that Richard Miller was his name.”

  “Sounds like quite the piece of work, maybe I’ll try to talk to him.”

  “Good luck,” Brad told her.

  “Thanks,” she said, taking another bite from her donut, and rolling her eyes.

  “What did you think of Layla and Anna?” Brad asked her.

  “It’s horrible what happened to them. It’s hard to judge a person while they’re grieving, but they seemed like nice people,” Olivia said.

  “Yeah, for sure,” Brad said, hesitantly.

  Sensing that he was hiding something Olivia asked, “what is it you’re not telling me?”

  Brad smiled, “a lot of stuff is public record Olivia, but this is an older town, you’ll have to go request a public record check at the police department.”

  “If it's a public record, why not just tell me,” Olivia begged.

  He laughed, “fair enough.” His voice got quieter, checking the perimeter for any eavesdroppers. “Maryam has a record for domestic violence.”

  Olivia’s eyes widened, “why would they keep that a secret? They pretended to be so happy when I spoke with them.”

  “It confused us too, but they’re the kind of people who like to stay fairly private. They tried to play it off like it was just an argument that got out of hand when we asked them about it. Anna even said she was partly to blame, which may very well be true, a dirty secret about domestic violence is that a lot of it is reciprocal. Then we saw the pictures. Maryam did quite a number on the both of them. She had a good fu*kin lawyer and was able to get a suspended sentence. That still shows up on a record check though.”

  “Wow I had no idea,” Olivia told him.

  “Seriously, let me know if you find anything. The only reason I’m telling you this is because I know you can help. I’ve read a lot of your stuff, and followed your cases.”

  “I don’t have to follow all the same rules you guys do either,” she added.

  “Exactly. Let me know what you find. We should be working together on this. A collaborative effort.”

  They finished their coffee and got up to leave. Olivia was surprised that the detective embraced her in a hug, she could feel the warmth of his bre
ath on her neck. Tingles shot through her body, upon feeling his touch. She wanted more.

  Chapter 12

  Could it be so simple? A disgruntled waiter, angry at the woman who got him fired, who decides to take his revenge in the form of cold blooded pre-meditated first degree murder. It didn’t seem entirely likely to me, but it’s one of the very few leads I have. I have to pursue it. I have to speak to him, and find the truth. If he would even talk to someone like me, that is.

  Olivia left the coffee shop, and decided not to upload this on her blog. Another entry she’d save until after the case. If this Richard Miller person really was the killer, she didn’t want to tip him off that she was coming for him.

  Driving to the country club, she admired the beauty of Red Arch, driving again beside the lake, and up north towards the club. The golfers curled in the winter, and given the time and day, the ice would likely be open. The sweepers sweeping, the curlers curling. Olivia never quite understood the appeal to the Canadian pastime, but she planned on keeping that fact very quiet. People were… intense about the game, especially in this part of the country.

  The hockey players usually used the rinks later in the day, except for the peewee and junior leagues, where dads would coach, and hockey moms would scream from the bleachers. Young puck bunnies from the high school would often come and watch the 20’something men play in their more intense league, often paid for by the mining corps. Olivia thought back on doing that in her youth, and smiled. Her friends and her got quite a kick out of making the older young men feel uncomfortable about their attraction to them. And attention from older men was always intriguing to the girls.

  She carefully watched the snow fall from the overcast sky, curious if tonight would be the night of the big storm the weathermen were predicting. The club was about 15 minutes out of town, down one of the old mining roads. The richest people in town, and long timers of Red Arch were all members. A beautiful place for weddings, and other summer events. Golf, tennis, in the summer, curling, snow shoeing, and cross country skiing in the winter. There was talk of building a ski hill in town to attract more tourism, something that Olivia would quite enjoy, but that would require a slight increase in the town’s property taxes to fund it. It was the topic of much discussion on the community facebook page.