Turkey Trot Terror

by Kate Bell

  ***

  The Cup and Bean was bustling for being late morning. I ordered a cinnamon chestnut latte and Lucy got a holiday spice cappuccino. I turned and surveyed the room and saw old Mr. Winters sitting at a table in the corner near the front window, reading the morning paper.

  “Come on,” I said to Lucy, and we headed toward the back of the coffee shop.

  “So? Spill it. What do you know?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Honestly, not that much,” I whispered, and glanced at Mr. Winters.

  She looked in his direction, then turned back to me and shrugged.

  “I just can’t understand who would want to kill poor Todd Spellman,” I said in a slightly louder than conversational tone of voice. “He was such a good and kind person.”

  Lucy narrowed her eyes at me. “Oh, yes. Yes, he was,” she said, catching on. “He was always such a giver. It’s a shame that someone could mercilessly kill someone like him.”

  We both glanced at Mr. Winters but he was still reading his paper.

  “You know, I can’t imagine who it could be. Everyone knows what a wonderful person Todd was,” I said.

  “Oh, I agree. Maybe it was just some unlucky deer hunter that missed his mark,” Lucy said.

  I tsk tsked a little, but Mr. Winters wasn’t biting. That was odd. Mr. Winters owned a pair of fancy supersonic hearing aids, and he had always volunteered whatever information he had. I sighed and looked at Lucy.

  “Come on,” I said, and we picked up our coffees and headed to Mr. Winters’ table.

  “Good morning, Mr. Winters,” I said. “Can we share your table?”

  Mr. winters continued reading his paper. I looked at Lucy.

  “Mr. Winters?” Lucy said loudly. “Mr. Winters?”

  Mr. Winters looked up and jumped a little. “Oh, hello ladies.”

  “Good Morning,” I said. “Can we share your table? It’s getting crowded in here.” There were plenty of empty tables, including the one we had just vacated, but that was a minor detail.

  “Eh? I can’t hear you!” he said loudly, tilting his head toward me.

  “Can we sit?” I said loudly and pointed to one of the empty chairs at his table.

  He reached for his ear and touched his hearing aid. “I turned my hearing aid off to save the battery. Those things are expensive!”

  Lucy pulled a chair out and sat down and I followed her lead. What good were supersonic hearing aids if you turned them off?

  “How are you Mr. Winters?” I asked.

  “Oh, fine, fine,” he said. “Say, have you heard anything new about Todd Spellman’s murder?”

  “No, not much at all,” I said, and made myself refrain from looking at Lucy.

  “Well, I heard Rudy Gallo did it. He’s a deer hunter, you know. He hated Todd because he wouldn’t give him a home loan. Said Todd laughed at his credit score.”

  “I didn’t know he was a deer hunter, but a lot of people in these parts are deer hunters,” I said. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but maybe Rudy had a temper and being laughed at was just too much for him.

  “I’m not buying it,” Lucy said. “I mean, laughing at someone isn’t reason enough to kill over. Maybe it’s reason enough to punch someone, but not kill them.”

  “Well, there’s also the matter of Rudy’s underage daughter,” Mr. Winter said.

  “What? What matter?” I asked, leaning in.

  “Rudy has a seventeen-year-old daughter and word has it that Todd had his eye on her. She’s a looker, that one. A Cheerleader at the High School,” Mr. Winters said and folded over the paper he had been reading.

  My heart skipped a beat. Had Rudy’s daughter been responsible for the scratches found on Todd’s body?

  “Now that’s reason enough to kill someone over,” Lucy said, nodding.

  “It certainly is,” I said. If a thirty-something man had been stalking Jennifer when she was seventeen, I’d murder someone, too.

  “And don’t forget, in September, someone went over to Todd Spellman’s house and busted out all of his windows,” he said, nodding his head. “Every one of them, from what I hear.”

  “I never heard that,” I said. “Lucy, did you hear that one?”

  “Oh, you know what? I think I did hear about that. I forgot all about it,” she said, her brow furrowed in thought.

  “Really? That could be kind of important. How could you not remember that?” I asked her.

  She shrugged. “That was over two months ago. Besides, who says that has anything to do with his murder?”

  “Because I think someone busting out every window in someone’s house probably shows a lot of rage. Enough rage to want to kill that person,” I said. I really thought that would be obvious, but I guess I was wrong.

  “Seems that way to me, too,” Mr. Winters said.

  “How do you two know about this?” I asked. I needed facts if I was going to present something to Alec.

  “Well, I don’t really recall,” Mr. Winters said, stirring his coffee.

  “I can’t remember either,” Lucy said. “Oh, no, wait. I think it was Diana Bowen. Yes, that’s it. She had gone to a Chamber of Commerce meeting and everyone was talking about it.”

  Great. Diana was dead and Mr. Winters had no idea who he’d heard it from. These two were never going to be detective material.

  --15--

  “Surprise!” I whispered, poking my head around Alec’s office door.

  He jumped and squealed a little, then tried to cover it up with a cough. “What are you doing here Allie?”

  “I just stopped in to say hello. Can I get a hello from you?” I asked, offended.

  “You could have knocked,” he said. He gave me a frown.

  “It’s not like I barged in. Your door was open a crack,” I pointed out. “I would think I would garner a little happier greeting.”

  “Sorry,” he said and stood up and leaned over his desk and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked as he sat down again.

  “No, nothing,” he said quietly. “Well, actually, yes. The police chief doesn’t want you riding along with me. It’s not like I can blame him. It’s a tremendous risk for you.”

  “He doesn’t have to know,” I pointed out. By his demeanor, I suspected Sam Bailey had said more than what Alec was letting on, but I decided not to press him. I didn’t want to cause trouble for him.

  “No Allie, no more riding along. I just can’t have it. It’s too risky,” he said, looking at his computer screen. We sat in silence for a few minutes. He never looked in my direction. It kind of hurt my feelings that he was ignoring me, but I decided to chalk it up to pressure from the job.

  I reached over and closed his office door. “I found out a couple of things that are interesting,” I whispered.

  He glanced at me. “Why are you investigating on your own?”

  “I wasn’t investigating. At least not in the traditional sense. Lucy and I ran in to Mr. Winters at the Cup and Bean. Mr. Winters said that back in September, someone broke out all the windows in Todd Spellman’s house. All of them. I would think he would have filed a police report.”

  Alec glanced at me again and then started typing on his keyboard. He shook his head. “I’m not finding a report. You’re right I would think he would have reported that. His house has a lot of large windows. It had to cost him a small fortune to replace them.”

  “It would be hard to convince the insurance agency that it was an act of nature,” I pointed out.

  “For sure,” he said, still looking at his computer screen.

  “I found out something else, too. It seems there was a seventeen year old girl that Todd had his eye on before he was murdered.”

  He looked at me. “Who? And how do you know this?”

  “Rudy Gallo’s daughter. Mr. Winters told me,” I said, sitting back in my chair. It was freezing in his office and I regretted putting my hair up.

  “How would Mr. Winter
s know this?”

  I shrugged. “He’s not big on details sometimes. He said he couldn’t remember who told him.”

  He began twirling the pencil in his hand, deep in thought. “That could be why Rudy was so happy that Todd was dead.”

  “That could be why Todd’s dead,” I added.

  He slowly nodded his head. “I suppose it could be.”

  “So? Good info?”

  He looked at me again. “I don’t want you doing anything with this, do you understand? I need for you to stay out of this. And don’t talk to anyone about it.”

  “Well,” I said slowly. “Remember, I said Lucy was with me when Mr. Winters told me. So she already knows.”

  He sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. “Is anything a secret in this town?”

  “Oh, I’m sure there are plenty of secrets in this town. It’s just that sometimes they leak out.”

  ***

  “Hi honey, it’s Mama. How are you?” I asked when Jennifer answered the phone.

  “Hi Mama, I’m fine,” she answered.

  “Honey, the reason I’m calling is, I was wondering, do you know a girl from High School with the last name of Gallo?”

  “Sure. There’s Trisha, Sandy, and Amy. Trisha and Sandy are sisters and cousins to Amy. Why?” she asked. I could hear water running in the background.

  “Are you taking a bath?” I asked.

  “Yes I am,” she said.

  “It’s dangerous having the phone in the bathtub,” I said. “Why do you insist on living dangerously like this?”

  She sighed loudly. I could imagine her rolling her eyes at me. “Mom, I’m going to finish my bath. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “No, no!” I said. “Which one of those girls is a cheerleader and seventeen?”

  “Why do you want to know?” she asked. Kids. They never answer a question without asking a question.

  “Which one?” I asked.

  “Amy and Sandy are both a year behind me in school, so are probably both seventeen. But only Amy is a cheerleader.”

  “Have I met her? The name sounds familiar. I know her father because of the plumbing shop, but what about her?”

  “Yes, she came to the ‘80’s party I had at the roller skating rink last Halloween. She dressed like Pat Benatar.”

  “Awesome, honey. Thank you!”

  I hung up before she could ask me any more questions. I trotted down the hall to her bedroom and looked over her bookcase. The girl read too many romance novels. No wonder sometimes she didn’t have much sense. After another minute, I found what I was looking for. Last year’s Sandy Harbor High yearbook.

  I flipped through it, looking for the Junior’s section, then looked at the G’s. And there she was, alongside her cousin. Mr. Winters was right. She was very pretty. Now I vaguely remembered her as Pat Benatar. She also looked older than her age and I wondered if she played that up. Maybe she was a teenage vixen and had seduced Todd Spellman. Then I remembered how many people had said Todd was a jerk and decided he had most likely pursued her.

  I flipped through the book, looking for candid shots of Amy. She was a cheerleader, so I wasn’t disappointed. She had blond hair and fine features and displayed the prerequisite cheerleader smile in each picture. Except for one. In that one, she was sitting at a table by herself, nose buried in a book. Was it my imagination, or did she look sad? Maybe it was a sad book she was reading.

  I tried to imagine this little wisp of a girl breaking out every window on Todd’s house. Alec was right in that he had a lot of large windows. Even if she had a baseball bat, I doubted she could have done it on her own. If she had a boyfriend with a baseball bat, that could explain it, but I didn’t see many pictures of her with boys. Only two, and it was a different boy in each picture. They weren’t touching, so I doubted either was her boyfriend. Maybe daddy Rudy didn’t allow his princess to date.

  That could explain some things.

  --16--

  “Hi Amy, I’m Allie McSwain. Do you remember my daughter Jennifer McSwain from last year?” I asked, holding my hand out to shake hers. The poor thing had a deer-in-the-headlights look. I may have startled her when I ran to catch up with her. Lucy had been driving us down Center Street and I saw her walking toward Fancy Pants, one of Sandy Harbor’s dress shops.

  She stuck her hand out automatically, and I shook it.

  “Sorry for startling you. My daughter Jennifer and I were just looking at her yearbook last night, reliving her Senior year, and she saw a picture of you. She mentioned how sweet you were,” I said, thinking fast.

  “She did?” she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

  “Yes she did. She said you were the best cheerleader Sandy Harbor High has,” I said. I was laying it on thick, but I didn’t care. I needed to ask the girl some questions.

  “Hey, Allie, wait up,” Lucy called, trotting through the snow covered sidewalk to catch up. Lucy had gone to park the car after letting me out.

  “Oh, there’s my friend Lucy. Lucy, this is Amy, Amy, Lucy,” I said. I was aware that I probably sounded a little insane and told myself to tone it down.

  “I really have to be going. My mom’s expecting me to get home as soon as I find a dress for the winter formal,” she said, heading into the shop.

  “Hey Amy, sorry again if I startled you,” I said, following her into the shop. “I wondered if I could ask you a question?”

  “Sure,” she said, glancing at me. “Oh, I remember you. You were at the Halloween party last year and you brought all those cupcakes to the cheerleader meeting that one time. The little pompom frosting was cute!” she gave me a genuine smile.

  “Yes I did. I had so much fun making them,” I said. “Let’s come over here and look at these dresses.” I pointed to a rack that was close to a corner of the store. There were only two other people in the shop, but I didn’t want anyone to overhear our conversation.

  “These are cute,” Lucy said, pulling a purple dress off the rack.

  “I like that,” Amy said, touching the taffeta.

  “Do you have a date for the dance?” I asked.

  “No. My dad won’t let me date,” she said, and then looked around the shop. “But I’m meeting Brian Jones at the dance.”

  I smiled. “Well, your secret’s safe with me. Listen Amy, I have a question. Did you know Todd Spellman?”

  Her face clouded over and she looked away from me. That gave me my answer.

  “No,” she said, and started looking through the rack of dresses.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  She turned back toward me, her face red with emotion. “He was a dirty old man!” she hissed. “He would park across from the school and watch me come out when school was over.”

  “How did you meet him?” Lucy asked gently.

  “He came into my dad’s shop to buy plumbing parts. I work there a few hours on Saturdays and he kept asking me questions. I didn’t really think anything of it at first. He seemed really nice. He was friendly.”

  “Did you tell your dad?” I asked.

  “Not at first. I didn’t even think about it. But then he started following me home and no one’s at my house in the afternoon. It scared me.”

  “I don’t blame you. I would be scared too,” I said. “What did he do?”

  Her face clouded over again. “I told him to go away, or I’d tell my dad. He did stop for a while. But then he came back. One day he came to my door and asked to come in. I told him no, and he put his foot in the door so I couldn’t close it. I’ve never been so scared before.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “My dad came home. I don’t know why, he never comes home before he closes the shop. If he had been a few minutes later, I don’t know what might have happened,” she said. Her voice cracked when she said it and I thought I’d cry.

  “What did your dad do?” Lucy asked. She had lowered her voice when the middle-aged woman working in the shop approached.

  “Is there
anything I can help you ladies with?” she asked. Her voice was shrill and the happiness in it sounded forced.

  “No thanks, we’re just looking,” I said, sounding just as fake as she did.

  “All right, let me know if I can help you with anything,” she said and wandered off.

  “My dad got mad. Really mad. He asked him what he was doing there, and when Mr. Spellman said he had rung the wrong doorbell, my dad got mad. He knew he was lying. He threatened him and told him he better not ever come around me again.”

  “Did he stop?” I asked.

  “For a while. But then he started again. He kept sending me friend requests on Facebook, so I blocked him. But then he made fake profiles, pretending to be girls from my school. I told my dad, and then he didn’t bother me again for about a month.”

  “Wow,” I said. “I had no idea he was crazy like that.”

  Tears formed in Amy’s eyes. “He tried to hurt me,” she said, her voice cracking. “I was at a football game and he was under the bleachers. I walked by on my way to the restroom, and he jumped out and grabbed me and pulled me under the bleachers.”

  “Oh, my gosh, what happened?” I asked, afraid of what the answer would be.

  “I fought with him. I scratched him and hit him, and then I screamed for help when he took his hand away from my mouth. Then I ran.”

  “Did you tell your cheerleading coach? Or your dad?” Lucy asked.

  She shook her head. “No, I didn’t want anyone to know.”

  “Oh, Amy, you shouldn’t have been afraid to tell,” I said. I could feel tears forming in my eyes and I blinked them back.

  “You don’t know my dad. He can get so mad. I was afraid of what he would do,” she said, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

  I put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Amy, don’t ever be afraid to tell when someone is hurting you. Please. You need to let someone know.”

  She looked at the floor and didn’t answer me.

  I put my arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “I’m going to give you my phone number. Will you call me if you ever need anything? If you just want to talk?”