When Tuesday morning rolled around, Gloria was up early. She couldn’t wait to get up and get the show on the road. Today was the day when she would quite possibly come face-to-face with a cold-blooded killer. Admittedly, she wouldn’t know them when she saw them but she was certain that person would be at Daniel Malone’s funeral.
On her way out the door, she called Lucy to make sure she was ready to go.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m ready.” She sounded doubtful. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, what if someone wants to know who we are.”
Gloria shook her head at the phone. “It’s not like we’re crashing a wedding or something. We’re just paying our respects,” she reasoned.
“Lots of people go to the funerals of people they don’t know,” she added. “I’m sure there will even be reporters there and they never knew Daniel Malone.”
Well, that did make some sense to Lucy. As long as they weren’t going to stand out like sore thumbs or anything.
Gloria swung into Lucy’s driveway and laid on the horn. She was anxious to get the first phase of her investigation under way.
Seconds later, Annabelle was back on the road making good time. Lucy gazed out the window as they drove down main street Belhaven. What on earth did I get myself into?
But she didn’t have the heart to complain to Gloria. She seemed so excited. “You brought the charm with you?”
Gloria patted the purse sitting beside her on the seat. “Yep. In here.”
Gloria pulled Annabelle into an empty parking space in the back of the funeral home parking lot. The place was already jam-packed. Gloria looked around. It was her turn to have second thoughts. “Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.”
Lucy shook her head as she grabbed her friend’s hand. Now that they were here, they were going in! “Too late now. We’re committed.”
Inside the front entrance was a small guest book. Lucy walked over to the table and picked up the pen.
“What are you doing?” Gloria hissed in a whisper voice.
Lucy glanced up in surprise, pen poised in her hand. “Signing the guest book.”
Gloria looked around before pulling Lucy near her and cupping her hand to her ear. “What if the killer looks at the guest book and notices an unfamiliar name?”
That seemed just a tad bit too farfetched to Lucy but she wasn’t going to argue with Gloria. This was her adventure. Instead, she carefully set the pen back down and started in the direction of the main parlor.
They spotted the deceased’s open casket front and center. Unsure of what to do next, Gloria stood silently next to Lucy. Haunting organ music filled the air.
Click. Gloria jerked her head around to look at Lucy. She was holding her right earring between her thumb and forefinger. Lucy smiled and tapped the front of the earring with a bright red fingernail. Gloria scrunched her eyes together as she studied the earring. It was shaped like a heart but when you got up close, the design looked like a mini camera.
“What on earth is that?” Gloria whispered in a low voice.
Lucy grabbed Gloria’s arm and pulled her to the side. “It’s a camera.”
Lucy reached up and pinched the earring. Click. “I just took a picture of you.”
Gloria glanced around hoping no one was paying attention to them. On the one hand, it was brilliant. It would give Gloria a chance to study the mourners later. But on the other hand, it was a tad bit over the top, even for Gloria.
The girls hesitated for a fraction of a second before making their way toward the front of the funeral home and the casket. After all, it would seem pretty odd to go to a funeral and not pay respects to the departed.
Lucy shuddered as they got closer to the corpse. She was not a lover of funerals or dead bodies and she was especially not looking forward to seeing up close the body of someone that had been murdered. She looked around the room. What if his unhappy spirit was haunting the place?
Gloria felt Lucy hesitate. She pressed a hand on the small of her back and nudged her along. “Keep moving.”
Moments later they were staring down at the face of the young dead man. Well, young to them. Forty was so twenty years ago.
Click. Lucy was at it again. Gloria gave her a stern scowl before taking a step forward to study his face. His expression was peaceful and serene. Not a bad looking fellow, Gloria thought to herself. What would make someone want to kill him? What could someone – anyone - possibly do that made another person so angry that they stabbed you to death? Or was it premeditated? Maybe Mr. Malone was worth more dead than alive.
Gloria swallowed hard and turned away. She whispered a small prayer for his soul as she made her way past the casket.
The sight of the dead man shook her up more than she cared to admit. So much so that she almost forgot her main objective was to get a good look at the grieving, especially his young wife. Gloria spied a petite woman nearby. She was standing in the corner, talking to an older gentleman. The man was patting her hand in an attempt to comfort her.
Gloria studied the woman. She was young and attractive with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing the customary black dress suit. Gloria eyed it critically. The cut was expensive. It looked like Armani. She glanced down at her ring finger. A large diamond glittered brightly from the delicate little hand the older gentleman was holding. Yes, it was obvious these people had money.
Maybe the widow was set to collect on a large life insurance policy or she had him taken out so she could inherit all his money…or maybe she had a boyfriend.
“We need to find a seat,” Lucy whispered in a low voice, pulling Gloria from her reverie. She was right. It wouldn’t do to be gawking at the bereaving widow.
Gloria was determined to find the perfect spot where she could observe the grieving parties. She spied two empty seats, front and center. She grabbed Lucy’s hand and dragged her down the narrow aisle. Once they were seated, she went back to studying the mourners.
There were a few interesting characters that needed closer attention. One of them was a large, portly woman who was sobbing into a red silk handkerchief. Beside her was a heavyset man with his arm around her shoulders, his head bent close to her as he spoke softly in her ear.
“I wonder who that is,” Gloria whispered to Lucy.
The woman behind them leaned forward. “That’s Mr. Malone’s mother.”
“Thank you,” Gloria whispered.
She studied the room some more. There was a gentleman in the first row, casually leaning back in this chair. He was wearing a dapper gray suit, studying his fingernails and looking slightly bored.
“Check him out.” Lucy looked in the direction of where Gloria was pointing.
“That’s the funeral director.” The lady behind them was answering again.
This time, Gloria turned around to face the eavesdropper. “Thank you, once again,” she replied, her voice dripping heavy with sarcasm.
The woman smiled. “You’re welcome.”
Gloria scowled. The woman behind her was putting a major damper on her investigation. She was too afraid to point anyone else out for fear of having Ms. Busybody wonder why she was studying different people in the crowd.
By the time the service was over, Gloria was almost certain one Mrs. Daniel Malone was the killer. After all, she had motive, she had opportunity and more than likely she had an antique charm bracelet with a missing charm.
I wonder if she’s noticed that her charm is missing yet?
That’s what Gloria should’ve been looking for. To see if the mourning widow was wearing an antique charm bracelet.
As they started to make their way out of the funeral home, Gloria eyed Mrs. Malone standing just a few short feet away from the women’s restroom. Gloria changed direction and made a beeline for the bathroom, convinced that if she could get close enough, she could get a good look at the woman’s wrist.
As she passed by the mourning widow, Gloria looked down at each of her wrists. Her heart sunk. There was no charm bracelet. Instead, she was wearing what appeared to be an expensive watch. She was no jewelry connoisseur but it looked like a Cartier.
Well, if she knows the charm is missing and there’s even the slightest chance she lost it when she got rid of the body, then she wouldn’t dare wear the bracelet in public. Gloria reasoned silently.
There was one more Click from Lucy’s spy earring before the girls made their way out the door and in the direction of Annabelle. They buckled their seatbelts, Lucy turned to Gloria. “Well, are you happy? Did you figure out who the killer is?”
“I think the grieving widow hired a hit man. There’s no way she would have been able to drag his body that far back in the woods by herself,” Gloria concluded.
Lucy crossed her arms and studied Gloria’s face. “Now how can you be so sure it was her?”
“Well, she had motive and opportunity,” Gloria reasoned.
“What about his business partner?” Lucy asked.
Gloria’s head whipped around. “What business partner?”
“Didn’t you read this morning’s paper?” Lucy lowered her sunglasses. “They mentioned Mr. Malone had a business partner. The police questioned him and then cleared him as a suspect.”
“How on earth did I miss that?”
“I have no idea. It was on the front page,” Lucy offered.
Gloria pulled out onto the main road and headed in the direction of the first antique shop on her small list.
Lucy rolled down the passenger window to enjoy the late summer breeze. “Now where are we going?”
Gloria patted her purse. “To find out if anyone remembers the charm.”
“Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot. But if you’re so sure the widow did it, why bother?”
Gloria looked at her friend incredulously. “Every good detective needs to check out every single lead.”
Lucy leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Now she thinks she’s a detective. Still, she didn’t want to burst her friend’s bubble.
They came up empty handed at the first thrift shop. The store owner shook her head as she studied the charm, certain she’d never laid eyes on it before.
At the second thrift store, “Trinkets and Treasures,” the middle-aged man pulled out a large magnifying glass and closely inspected the gold charm. “Nope. This didn’t come from my shop.”
Instead of handing it back, he turned the charm over and studied both sides. “This is certainly a one-of-a-kind. Looks like an Olivia Collings piece,” he concluded.
Gloria was intrigued. “Who’s that?”
The man set the magnifying glass down and placed the piece in Gloria’s outstretched hand. “She specializes in antique jewelry from the mid 1800’s. She’s also a highly respected jewelry designer.”
Lucy looked down at the delicate locket. “So is it worth any money?”
“If it’s from the 1800’s, I’d have to say it’s worth somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000.”
The girls gazed down at the charm with a new appreciation. They thanked the owner and made their way outside.
Lucy shook her head. “Wow, I had no idea.”
Gloria carefully tucked the valuable piece back inside her purse. “We have one more stop. If we’re lucky, this last one will turn up something.”
Ten minutes later they were standing inside the front door of “A Moment in Time Treasures.”
They wandered into the small, dusty shop and made their way over to the long glass counter. Gloria gazed around the room. It was crammed full of oddities and antiques. There was a little bit of everything - from a dated Singer sewing machine, complete with foot pedal to a large, metal wringer washer to a vintage Holly Hobby rag doll still in its original box. “We should come to these places more often. They have some cool stuff in here.”
Lucy nodded. “Sure does bring back some memories, huh?”
Just then, an elderly man stepped up to the counter. “Can I help you?”
Gloria pulled the charm from her purse and set it on the glass top. “We were wondering if you’ve ever seen this charm before.”
The man picked it up for a closer inspection. “Hmm. As a matter of fact, I have.”
Gloria’s heart began pounding in her chest. They were onto something!
He turned it over. “I sold this to a couple not too long ago. Maybe two weeks.”
He set the locket back on the counter. “This one would be hard to forget. It’s a one of a kind. Worth a pretty penny, too,” he added.
Lucy was curious. “Do you remember how much they paid for it?”
He paused for a moment, deep in thought. He studied the old metal ceiling tiles directly overhead as if that would give him the answer. “Fourteen grand. Cash.”
He looked back at the girls. “The man pulled a huge wad of $100 bills from his pocket and calmly counted them out on this very same counter.” He tapped the glass countertop for emphasis.
“Never had anyone pay in cash like that. Didn’t even bat an eye,” he added admiringly.
Lucy was just as intrigued as Gloria now. “Do you remember what they looked like?”
The old man looked beyond Gloria’s head and out the front picture window. “Yeah. They were kind of an odd couple. He was a bit older than her. My guess is maybe he was in his mid-40’s. Tallish with slicked-back blonde hair.”
“And what about the woman?” Lucy prompted.
“She was a pretty little thing. Blonde, petite. Much younger than him.” He shrugged. “Could’ve been his daughter for all I know.”
“Definitely an odd couple,” he confirmed. “Boy, was she excited to get that charm.”
The man went on, as if he didn’t notice that Lucy and Gloria’s mouths were hanging wide open. They had the killer!
Gloria tucked the charm in her bag. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name…”
“Mr. O’Donnell. I’m the store owner.” He reached behind the counter and handed Gloria a business card.
Gloria slipped the card into her purse. “Thank you, Mr. O’Donnell. You’ve been very helpful!”
With that, the girls stepped out of the store and back onto the sidewalk.
“I think you may have found the killer – or killers.” Lucy shook her head. “But now what do we do? Turn it over to the police and tell them what we know?”
Gloria hadn’t really considered turning it over as evidence. At least not yet. “I dunno. I need to think about it. After all, this is someone’s life we’re talking about.”
On the way back through Belhaven, they stopped by the post office to see if Ruth had any new gossip, err, information, on the murder.
When Ruth spied the girls coming through the door, she looked like she was about to explode. There were two others inside the post office checking their boxes. She quickly waved the girls over to the front counter. “You’ll never guess what I found out today,” she whispered.
Gloria and Lucy leaned close to Ruth. “Malone was a bookie!”
Lucy shook her head in confusion. “What do you mean a bookie?”
Ruth pressed a finger to her lips. “Shhhh!! Not so loud!!” She glanced over Lucy’s shoulder to see if anyone else was listening. “You know, he took illegal gambling bets.”
Ruth couldn’t get the words out fast enough. “He fronted it with a so-called “Insurance Agency” but how he really made his money was illegal gambling.”
Gloria was intrigued. “How on earth did you find that out?”
“Ahem.” Gloria spun around and came face-to-face with the hunched over, cane carrying, bun-wearing figure of one Judith Arnett. Judith was the ringleader of the town’s unofficial socialites. If you could even call her that. She and her small band of cronies acted as if they owned the town of Belhaven. They made it their personal mission to be the first ones to start malicious, hateful rumors in hopes of ruining a good person’s reputation.
Ruth sighed in exasperation. “What can I get for you today Judith?”
“I hate to break up your little party here but I need a book of stamps!” she snapped.
Ruth opened the drawer and slapped the stamps on the counter. “That’ll be ten bucks!”
Piercing gray eyes peered over the rim of a pair of round, metal glasses. “I thought they were $9.80.”
Ruth rolled her eyes. “Well, $9.80 then.”
The old battle-ax counted out the exact change, handed Ruth the money and then tucked the stamps into her bumble bee flowered purse. “Humph!”
She thumped her way over to the exit door, turning back once to glare at the threesome. With the slam of one large glass door, she was gone.
Gloria shook her head. Good riddance you nasty old bat!
Ruth leaned back over the counter. “You remember Derrick Johnson?”
Derrick Johnson was a local politician. City Commissioner of nearby Green Springs. That is, he “was” city commissioner until he got caught running an illegal table games business from his garage.
Lucy and Gloria nodded. Everyone remembered that scandal. “Well, it appears that Derrick Johnson and Daniel Malone were bookie buddies, working together. Apparently Derrick Johnson was being investigated and when he got caught, investigators did some more digging around and discovered he and Mr. Malone were partners in the bookie business.”
Gloria let the news sink in. Maybe it wasn’t a “slam dunk” Mrs. Malone was the killer after all.
Ruth straightened. Story time was over.
She remembered another little tidbit as she leaned forward one more time. “Oh, and rumor has it there’s a third, silent partner in the illegal gambling ring. But no one seems to know who the mysterious third person is.”
Well that made things a lot more interesting.
By now, more customers stepped into the lobby. Lucy and Gloria said goodbye to Ruth and made their way out to Annabelle.
After Lucy climbed in the passenger seat she turned to Gloria. “That sure complicates your case.” She might as well start talking to Gloria in detective lingo, seeing how Gloria was now convinced she was some kind of self-appointed undercover agent.
Gloria didn’t bother replying as she started the car. The wheels in her head were spinning wildly.
When they got to Lucy’s house, Bill’s car was already parked in the driveway. “So what are you and Bill doing today?”
“Squirrel hunting, remember?” Lucy tugged at the door handle. “And tomorrow night we’re putting up the deer blind. Bow season’s opening up in a couple weeks, you know.”
No, Gloria didn’t know. Nor did she care to know. “Are you going bow hunting with him?” she asked.
Lucy was out of the car by now. She popped her red head inside the window. “Yeah, I might give it a try.”
“So you’re going to go out in the woods and murder an innocent deer?”
Lucy was aggravated with all the questions. “Not if you put it like that.” She glanced in the direction of the house. Bill was standing on the porch, waiting.
“Listen, I gotta run. Bye.” And Lucy was gone.
Gloria waved in Bill’s direction as she circled out of the driveway. To her, it seemed like a one-sided relationship. Lucy always doing whatever Bill wanted to do and never what Lucy wanted to do. But then, Lucy was a big girl. Not if, but when, Lucy got tired of it, Gloria was certain she’d let him know.
Back at her house, she decided to park Annabelle in the garage for a change. Pretty soon the snow would be falling so she might as well get used to being cooped up in the garage again.
She tossed her keys in her purse as she made her way up the porch steps. She had been so certain Mrs. Malone was the killer. Now she was back to square one.
She grabbed the knob as she peeked through the glass pane of her porch door. Puddles was standing right in front of it. His little mouth was moving in a “meow” motion. Puddles didn’t like it when Gloria was gone all day and he could be very vocal about his displeasure.
She slowly inched the door forward, scooting Puddles out of the way when something caught her attention. There was a folded up piece of paper tucked in the door frame. It drifted to the ground and swirled around on the kitchen floor for a moment before settling next to Puddles’ furry paws. She bent down to pick it up as she absentmindedly scratched Puddles behind the ears. Maybe Jill stopped by the house and left a note.
She slowly unfolded the piece of paper. It wasn’t Jill’s handwriting. Gloria set her purse on the counter and reached inside to grab her reading glasses. She flipped on the light to get a better look. The note was handwritten. The letters spelled out in bold, block ink:
“Stop snooping around Daniel Malone’s murder or you could be next.”
Gloria’s eyes widened in fear. She frantically glanced around her kitchen. What if the killer or the person who wrote the note was inside? After all, her door wasn’t locked when the note was dropped off.
She quickly grabbed her purse and darted out the door. She stood there on her front lawn, staring up at her house. The one place she’d always felt safe and secure now seemed dark and menacing. Fear crept up her spine as she stood there wondering what she should do…
Just then her cell phone rang. It was Jill.
“Hello?”
“Hey Mom. Greg and I were wondering if now would be a good time to come over and change the locks on your doors.”
Whew!! Would it ever!!
“Yes. Now would be a perfect time.” Gloria was so relieved, she felt like bursting into tears.
“OK, we’re on our way. We should be there in about 20 minutes,” Jill said.
“Are you bringing the boys?”
“No. Not this time. They’re over at the neighbors playing,” Jill explained.
“OK. Thanks.” Gloria paused. “I’ve been thinking about what you said and it probably would be a good idea to put a new set of locks on this old place.”
Jill was relieved. Her mother wasn’t going to put up a fuss. “Good! I’ll worry about you a lot less once they’re on.”
After they hung up, Gloria made her way back up the porch steps. Just to be safe, she decided to wait for Jill on the porch. As she settled into the old wooden rocker, she could hear Puddles inside, meowing his silly head off.
She reluctantly shuffled over to the door and nudged it open, just far enough to let him slip out. Puddles waited for Gloria to settle into the chair before he jumped up on her lap and started purring.
She still wasn’t sure about going back inside the house. Maybe once Jill and Greg got there, she’d casually poke around inside, just to make sure the killer wasn’t hiding in the closet or something.
A few minutes later, her daughter and son-in-law pulled into the drive. Gloria set Puddles down and made her way out to the car. It was nice to see Jill and Greg. They rarely came over these days. Those energetic grandkids kept them hopping for the most part.
Jill called her mom every Saturday afternoon, asking if she’d like to come over for Sunday dinner. Once in awhile Gloria would go, but 99% of the time she turned her down. She and some of her church friends usually ate lunch together. And now that the “Garden Girls Club” were visiting shut-ins, Sundays were even busier.
Greg started on the locks straightaway as Gloria led Jill into the kitchen. “Would you like a glass of tea or a cookie?”
“Just the tea, thanks.” Jill pulled out a chair and plopped down at the kitchen table. “We thought maybe after the locks are on we could run down to the restaurant and have dinner with you.”
Gloria eyed her daughter suspiciously. That was a rare occurrence. The two of them coming to this little rinky dink town for dinner? Something must be up.
Jill clasped her hands together and looked up at her mom innocently. Gloria saw right through it. She couldn’t pull anything over on her. One look from her mom and she was busted. Even at her age.
Gloria put her hand on her hip as she studied her only daughter. “And?”
“We want to talk to you again about selling the farm and moving closer,” Jill confessed.
Gloria stopped pouring the tea as she turned to face her daughter. “You can talk all you want but I’m not budging. This is my home,” she said.
Jill held up a hand. “Let’s wait til dinner to discuss this, OK?”
Gloria was adamant. “Well, I’m not going to change my mind.”
Jill didn’t answer. Just slowly shook her head.
“But I will take you up on the dinner offer. Let me go freshen up. Help yourself to a cookie or whatever…”
With that, Gloria made her way to the back of the house. She quietly tiptoed from room-to-room, peeking under beds, poking her head into every single closet. She even pulled back the bathroom shower curtain.
After checking every room, she let out a sigh of relief. There was no one lurking in the house.
By the time she made her way back to the kitchen, Greg was just finishing up. “So is your mom going to dinner with us?”
Jill nodded. “But she’s already insisted she’s not moving.”
Greg knew better than to get in the middle of that discussion. “Let’s head on over there. We can try out your new locks on the way out the door.”
Greg put the key on Gloria’s key ring and handed it back to her. She slowly inserted the key and clicked the lock. For good measure, she shook the door, just to make sure it wouldn’t budge.
Jill looked at her, eyebrows raised. Her mom hadn’t even put up a fuss. Very unusual.
The five minute ride to Dot’s was spent talking about the boys. Gloria had two grandsons. Tyler was 10 and Ryan was 8. Tyler was a real stinker, always getting into some kind of trouble and Ryan was right behind him, following in his big brother’s footsteps.
Jill sighed as she glanced over at her husband. “We had a little problem with Tyler at school the other day.”
Gloria wasn’t one bit surprised. “What happened to my little angel?”
“Your “little angel” pulled the fire alarm. Sent the entire building outside. They caught him on camera. At first he denied it until they showed him his plain-as-day mug shot on video.”
Jill shook her head. “I just don’t know what we’re going to do with him. He seems drawn to trouble like a magnet.”
Gloria reached over the front seat and patted her daughter’s shoulder. “This too shall pass. And we’ll keep praying for him.”
She leaned back. “At least you won’t have to worry about him being a follower,” she reasoned.
Jill shook her head. “That’s part of the problem. He’s a leader all right. Leading himself, his younger brother and all his friends into trouble!”
Greg found an empty parking spot right in front of the restaurant. The place was already hoppin’. Tuesday nights were popular with their all-you-can-eat-spaghetti and meatballs special.
Gloria led the way inside. She waved to at least half a dozen diners she recognized.
The trio passed Margaret and Ruth sitting at one of the smaller tables. “Well if it isn’t our sweet little Jillifer.”
Jill forced a smile as she gave Margaret a small hug. Jill hated being called Jillifer.
The threesome stood there for a minute as they made small talk before moving on to an empty table in the back.
“I hate that name!” Jill hissed.
Gloria could only pat her hand. “I know, dear. I know.”
Dot made her way over to their table. “Well if isn’t one of my favorite people in the whole world.”
Jill half stood as she hugged Dot in a warm embrace. “So what brings you two to our boring little town?”
Gloria spoke first. “They changed the locks on my doors. Jill’s been fretting ever since they found Daniel Malone’s body out behind the school.”
Dot nodded her head in agreement. “That was a good idea.”
“And they’re going to try to talk me into selling the farm and moving closer to them,” Gloria added.
Dot threw her hands up in the air. “Well, I’m going to stay out of that one!”
She quickly jotted their orders down on her notepad and left.?