Chocolate Hazelnut & Murder_An Oceanside Cozy Mystery Book 27 Read online

  “What’s going on?” Mr. Rankle asked, wheeling himself away from the group to come towards the investigators.

  “We’ll address the group in just a moment,” Ryan said.

  “But your cop partner is here,” Mr. Rankle said. “This is serious, isn’t it?”

  “Let’s not pry,” Ethel said, coming up to his side.

  “There’s no need to pry,” Mr. Rankle said. “I know what’s going on here. This woman comes here, and trouble starts.”

  He pointed at Heather who crossed her arms. “I don’t think that’s really fair.”

  Mr. Rankle just shook his head. “It happened again, didn’t it? There’s been another murder, and you’re on the case.”

  “I’m afraid so,” Heather said.

  “And I thought this day couldn’t get any worse after getting sand in my cast,” he groaned.

  Jill Spills

  Heather, Ryan, Detective Peters, and Amy decided to talk Jill Stanton first. She was one of the people who helped plan the event, and Heather thought it was unlikely that she was involved with the murder. Jill had been within Heather’s sight during all of the Easter Egg Hunt. She had been helping the guests to use the metal detectors. She would have to have been extremely sneaky to use a detector to kill Brian Silver and get back to her spot on the beach without Heather detecting that she was gone.

  Heather knew that Brian Silver had been alive at eleven o’clock when Gilbert gave this little speech about the Key West Beach Detector Club and began the Easter Egg Hunt. She wasn’t sure where all the other club members wandered off to during the hunt. However, she had come across Brian Silver’s body at approximately eleven forty-five. That was the window of time when the murder had to have occurred.

  They brought Jill into one of the tents without the detectors or snacks. Jill sat down in a chair and hugged her arms around herself.

  “Thank you for talking with us,” Ryan said. “I know that this is a shock for you.”

  “I just kept hoping that the blood you found on the metal detector wasn’t a person’s blood. Now I know it’s not just a person’s, but Brian’s. I can’t believe it. How did this happen?”

  “That’s what we’d like to find out,” Peters said.

  “Firstly,” Heather said. “Who had access to the metal detectors here?”

  “Well, they were in the tent since this morning,” Jill said, thinking about it. “They were all there when I went to get a detector for your family. I gave the first one out to you.”

  “Were you there when all the others were given out?” Heather continued.

  “I was there a good portion of the hand-out time, but we did switch off. Nadine and Al were both helping with it. Some other club members might have come in the tent, and I wouldn’t have thought it was odd.”

  “Could a guest have taken one of the detectors and headed towards the palm trees?” asked Ryan.

  “The guests had to be given their metal detectors,” Jill explained. “I suppose it’s possible that a guest could have gotten one from me and gone to the trees, but they couldn’t have stolen one from the tent. We were afraid of that. Not because it could lead to murder, but because they are expensive. We were all keeping an eye on the tent and the guests on the beach.”

  “But you might not have noticed if another club member took one of the detectors?” asked Peters.

  “I guess not,” Jill said.

  “It’s not that weird,” Amy said. “If Heather saw me at her shop eating a donut, she might not pay attention. But if she saw someone that she never saw before behind the counter, she would wonder about it.”

  “I think I did see Kaylee with a detector at one point,” said Jill. “But I can’t see her as a killer.”

  “Can you see anyone in the club as a killer?” asked Heather.

  Peters readied his pencil to take note of what she said. After a moment, Jill let out a little laugh.

  “I’m so sorry to have done that,” she said, covering her mouth. “It’s just that when you asked that – well, my first thought – it was that if I thought anyone in the club might turn out to be a killer, then I would have suspected Brian.”

  “Why do you say that?” Heather asked, surprised.

  “He was just a little off-putting,” Jill said. “He could act a tad superior to others. I know that doesn’t translate to a killer attitude, but it was the way he acted. I think he tried to blackmail me before.”

  “What?” Amy asked.

  “For what?” Heather asked instead.

  “For something stupid. He said I didn’t clean up after my dog on a walk. And yes, it was true. But it only happened once. And it was because my pickup bag had blown away. I laughed at him when he tried to blackmail me though,” Jill said. “In fact, I marched right over to the police station and confessed my crime. I was willing to pay the fine, but the Chief just told me not to let it happen again.”

  “I think I remember Chief Chet telling me about this,” Peters said with a smile. “He used it as an example of how law abiding and honest people on the island were. I guess that was before we had a murderer in our midst though…”

  “Did you tell the chief about the blackmail?” Heather asked.

  “No,” Jill said. “I didn’t want to cause trouble at the club. Brian was so bad at it that I figured he didn’t do it to anyone else. And hopefully, I embarrassed him too much for him to try again.”

  “You’re sure he wasn’t blackmailing anyone else?” Ryan asked.

  “Pretty sure,” Jill said. “I mean, it didn’t look like he had gotten any extra money.”

  Heather decided to switch gears. She looked around the tent where they were questioning her and wondered who had been there at the time of the murder.

  “I’m not sure where everyone was during the Egg Hunt,” Jill said. “I was assisting guests. Someone was supposed to watch the tents, but it seems like that slipped through the cracks if the chocolate bunny was disturbed too. And Gilbert was supposed to be the Easter Bunny at the end of the egg hunt.”

  “So, he was by the trees at that time?” asked Ryan.

  “He should have been before the end of the hunt,” said Jill. “But it doesn’t mean he was there during the murder. Gilbert is very caring. He can’t be a killer.”

  Peters checked his notes. “Now, Gilbert’s Easter Bunny costume was left by the trees. Is that right?”

  Jill nodded. “He set it up before the guests would arrive. He didn’t want any of the kids to see the costume and told me he could change there.”

  “How many people knew about that costume spot?” Peters asked.

  Heather smiled. That was an excellent question. If the killer had planned this murder out, then escaping in the bunny costume might require prior knowledge.

  However, Jill frowned. “I’m not sure how many people knew. It wasn’t a secret, but it wasn’t something everyone in the club needed to know. He told me because I was supposed to direct the children’s attention to the trees when he emerged.”

  “Did you see anyone by the tree during the Egg Hunt?” asked Heather.

  “Honestly, I was so focused on helping the guests that I didn’t notice. I wasn’t paying attention to the other club members. I’m not sure where anyone was. Well, except for Mr. Rankle. He was on the beach with his lady friend the whole time.”

  Heather nodded. She hadn’t suspected Mr. Rankle or Ethel of the crime. It was partly because she knew them, and partly because she knew Mr. Rankle would have had trouble lifting the metal detector high enough to hit Brian on the head from his wheelchair.

  “Do you know where the three people that were missing at the end of the hunt went to?” asked Ryan.

  Jill thought about it. “That would be Ben, Kaylee, and Jeff. No. I’m not sure where they went.”

  “One more question,” Ryan said. “Do you know anyone who would have wanted to hurt Brian Silver?”

  “No,” Jill said. “He could be a little strange, but I can’t imagine wh
o would have wanted to kill him. Especially like this.”

  Heather had to agree. It was pretty heartless to kill a man at an Easter Egg Hunt.

  Pictures

  After speaking to Jill, Ryan and Detective Peters decided to take initial statements from the club members that were there. Then, they would let everyone go home, so they could continue going over the scene with a forensics team.

  Heather wanted to help, but she thought that she should go home and check on Lilly. Ryan would update her on his findings, and she and Amy could conduct further interviews in the morning.

  “I can’t believe it’s still the afternoon,” Heather said to herself as she arrived back at her house. It felt like an entire day had passed because so much had happened.

  She greeted her mixed-breed dog Dave who was excited to see her come home, and her kitten Cupcake who was trying to act like a dog to express her affection too. They both licked her face.

  She walked further inside and thanked Eva and Leila for watching Lilly.

  “It’s no problem at all, dear,” Eva said.

  “We’re happy to help,” said Leila.

  “And we’re hoping to help some more,” said Eva. “So, we’ll be back in an hour.”

  “Why an hour?” asked Heather.

  “That’s right,” Leila said to her friend. “With today’s technology, it might not be an hour anymore.”

  “In that case, we’ll be back soon,” Eva said.

  “All right. You ladies continue to be cryptic,” Heather said. “I’ll see you later.”

  She watched them head out the door and looked down at Dave and Cupcake. “Sometimes I think it’s easier to understand you two.”

  Dave barked, and Cupcake mewed in response.

  Heather chuckled. “Of course, I usually know what’s on both of your minds. Pet my belly or give me some donuts.”

  After hearing the word donuts, the animals started dancing excitedly. Heather headed to the kitchen to get some snacks for the animals and for her and Lilly. She called for Lilly to come and join her.

  Lilly was still holding the golden egg that she had found in her hand. She accepted a Hazelnut Cream Donut and sat down at the table with her mom.

  “I’m sorry not a lot of people got to enjoy your donuts this afternoon.”

  “The reason for it is a shame,” Heather said. “But the people who did try them early seemed to enjoy them.”

  “Is the reason that the Egg Hunt was cut short because someone was murdered?” asked Lilly.

  “I’m afraid so,” Heather said. “How are you holding up?”

  “Well,” Lilly said, thinking about it. “I was really happy that I found the golden egg. Not so much for the prize, though I would have chosen to eat the chocolate rabbit’s foot.”

  “That’s what Amy and I decided was the best spot,” Heather said with a grin. “It should be lucky.”

  “I liked knowing that I was good at the detecting. It’s not the same as the detecting that you do, but it was still cool,” Lilly said. “But now when I look at the egg, I also think about how somebody died near this fun event, and that doesn’t seem fair to him. He might have died when I was finding it.”

  “Sweetie,” Heather said. “You couldn’t have known that was happening. Unfortunately, we can’t stop every terrible thing that happens in life. But we do what we can to make the world a little better.”

  “Like you and Dad finding the person responsible for this?” suggested Lilly.

  “Yes, but you do lots of things to make the world a better place too,” said Heather. “You didn’t have to share the eggs that you found, but you did. The bracelet you gave Eva made her very happy. And you always make sure that Dave and Cupcake are cared for, even if you do the same thing that I do and give them more donut pieces than I should. And you make me feel loved, which certainly makes my world better.”

  “Well, I do love you, Mom.”

  “I wish we could have stopped what happened in the trees today too, but you can’t let every bad thing that happens stop you from enjoying the good things too. It’s okay to be happy about finding the winning egg, even if there were sad things that happened during the day.”

  “It doesn’t make me a bad person to feel happy about winning?” Lilly asked, looking down at her plate.

  Heather lifted her daughter’s chin, so she was looking at her. “Lilly, you’re one of the best people I know.”

  Lilly smiled. They chatted some more over their donut snacks, talking about school and her friend Nicholas’s upcoming visit over spring break.

  Then, Eva and Leila returned and joined them at the table.

  “It was less than an hour,” Eva said, triumphantly.

  “That’s great,” Heather said. “Do you want to tell me what you were doing?”

  Eva and Leila began spreading photos on the table. They were the pictures that they had been snapping on the beach.

  “We printed the photos from this morning,” Eva said.

  “Not only did we want to see how adorable Lilly turned out in pictures,” Leila began. She picked one up and handed it to the girl. “That’s a good one.”

  “But we also thought that they might be helpful for your case,” said Eva.

  “You’re right,” Heather said, happily.

  She started flipping through the photos. There were some wonderful shots of her family that she would consider framing, but there were also lots of crowd shots of the event that could help her place where people were.

  As she looked across the shots, it really did appear like the families were on the beach the whole time and didn’t wander off. Combined with what Jill had told them about the metal detectors being guarded against from guests but not from other club members, Heather was starting to feel certain that it was a club member who was the killer.

  She scanned the photos, looking for the club members. She wanted to establish who was where when, and if anyone was doing anything suspicious.

  Jill could be seen in many crowd photos, helping guests. Gilbert was also walking around in the pictures. A woman in the club with red hair was seen in a few photos near the tents and seeming to scan the crowd. There was one picture with the sloppy young man named Ben, looking rather ill.

  Then, there were a few photos that were interesting. One of them showed Mr. Rankle watching the Egg Hunt. He actually seemed to be enjoying himself, but that wasn’t what was unusual. Ethel wasn’t at his side. While Heather didn’t think of Ethel as a killer, it was strange to think that she could have slipped away undetected.

  There was a picture that showed the victim Brian walking towards the trees. There was also a picture where, in the background, Gilbert was headed towards the trees.

  “Was this a good idea?” Eva asked.

  Heather assured them it was and thanked her friends for their help.

  “These pictures really are worth a thousand words,” Heather said. “But now I just need to determine if one of those words is guilty.”

  What’s Eating Gilbert?

  Heather had interviewed many sad people before, but talking to Gilbert Paul that morning was a whole new level of sadness. Even his mustache seemed to droop. It wasn’t all directed towards the loss of Brian Silver, but that it could have happened at the Beach Detectors Club’s family holiday event.

  After yelling through the door, Gilbert had finally gotten up and admitted Heather and Amy into his house. He showed them into the living room where he promptly laid down on the couch. He appeared to be hugging a white blanket.

  “Thank you for talking to us,” Heather said.

  “Or crying to us,” said Amy.

  They pushed some tissues aside and awkwardly sat down on some of the other furniture in the room. Gilbert sighed.

  “I don’t know what the point of talking about this is,” Gilbert said. “The worst has already happened. Someone has killed Brian. He did it near all those children, and he dressed up as the Easter Bunny to get away. Could this person be any m
ore evil?”

  “That’s why we think talking about it might be good,” Heather said. “We want to figure out who killed Brian Silver and have him arrested.”

  “How could he have dressed up as the Easter Bunny?” Gilbert said. “He walked right through the beach, and nobody knew what he did.”

  “Well, we’re not certain that the person who stole your costume was the same person who committed the murder,” Heather said.

  “You’re not?” Gilbert asked, sitting up a little.

  Heather smiled at him, encouragingly. “Can you take us through what you did that day?”

  It looked as if Gilbert was gathering all the energy he could muster to answer the question. “I was so excited for this event. I love Easter, and I love metal detecting. I thought this was the perfect way to pair some of my passions together. I thought searching for the eggs in the sand would be a lot of fun for the families.”

  “It was,” Heather said. She elbowed her friend to encourage her to say the same.

  “Yeah,” Amy agreed. “I was just watching, and it seemed like fun. Of course, I did have some donuts with me while I enjoyed the show.”

  “The weather was nice, and there was a good turnout. It should have been the perfect day,” Gilbert said. “But then one thing went wrong after another.”

  “Where were you when all these things went wrong?” Heather asked.

  “Well, I was wandering around the beach a lot, making sure that everything was ready,” he explained. “Not all of our members are as focused as Jill or me, so I needed to make sure that everything was coming together. Then I gave a little speech about what the club was and started the Egg Hunt. I yelled Go.”

  “Everyone in the club was there for that speech,” Heather said. “Including Brian Silver.”

  “That’s right,” Gilbert said. “Then the club members seemed to split up. I was wandering around. I checked to see that all of the metal detectors had been checked out from the tent. Then, I was on the beach watching the hunt. Then, I was going to get into position to change into my bunny costume, but Tony told me that someone had vandalized the chocolate bunny.”