A Pinch of Sea Salt and a Dash of Murder (Outer Banks Baker Mystery Series Book 1) (6 page)

Chapter 9

“What a glorious day to be at the beach!” Logan raved to himself. The sun was out. A strong breeze was coming off the ocean. The thermometer read 88 degrees. Perfect surfing conditions! Looking out at the waves cresting about 75 yards out, the young man caught sight of his target – the coroner’s beach bum son, Tanner – as he strutted back towards The Surf Shack in his wet suit and toting a gleaming smooth surfboard. Yes, Tanner had the life! He didn’t have to work in the summers to help save money for college. He spent his days on the beach or on the waves. Not a care in the world.

Logan hailed his friend as he approached the shack. “Dude, you gotta get out there! The sea is ripe today,” Tanner stated with somewhat of a slur. Reaching into a small Yeti cooler, the under aged boy pulled out a soda can. At least it looked like a soda can of Mellow Yellow, but under inspection it was easy to spot the flimsy plastic covering a completely different type of beverage. Logan was amazed Tanner could always manage to obtain and keep booze out in the open without being hauled in by the beach patrol. It was a certainty that the boy’s father was unaware of his son’s habit. At sixteen, the boy was already a lush. However, this could work to his advantage. Maybe a little tipsy, Tanner would be more likely to open up and inadvertently leak any info he may have overhead from his dad. It was a long shot, since Tanner was as observant as a light pole and had the memory of a blank piece of paper. At this point though, the wayward youth was Logan’s best chance to uncover information to help his Aunt Mel.

Tanner offered Logan a can of …well a can of something which he refused. Instead he asked about the waves – a subject Tanner never tired of discussing. It took a while for Logan to transition the conversation to the death of Mrs. Stevenson. Yes, Tanner had heard about the cake lady’s demise. No, his father hadn’t mentioned anything about the autopsy at home except that it looked like someone bashed in the back of her head with a sharp object. That was the extent of the boy’s knowledge of the subject. Logan didn’t want the boy reporting back to his dad that the “bread lady’s nephew” was asking questions so he didn’t push the subject. Based on the stench of his breath, Tanner probably wouldn’t even remember the conversation anyway.

As he was about to leave Logan heard a familiar voice from behind him in the shack. It was one of the cops! He turned around to see the incredibly tall younger detective, well younger in relation to his old grump partner. Logan was surprised to see the dude decked out in a wet suit and carrying a board. Somehow it made him look younger. Tanner’s expression was priceless. Of course the cop would know his dad. If he smelled his breath or looked too closely at the contents of his cooler, he was in big trouble. The older boy stammered an excuse about being late to meet up with his mom and scurried away.

Detective Payne greeted Logan with a smile as he placed his board down to finish zipping up his suit. “It’s Logan, right?” he began. The boy nodded with his eyes wide, wondering if the cop was just being friendly or trying to work an angle to get him to slip up and incriminate himself or his aunt. “It’s okay, son. I’m off duty. No interrogations, I promise,” he continued. Not knowing whether to believe him or not, Logan shrugged and looked down at his feet.

Trying to break the tension and put the boy at ease the cop took a stab at small talk, “You surf?” Logan nodded again. “There’s nothing better than losing yourself in the waves. After everything that’s been going on, an hour or so out there will do wonders for one’s soul.”

“Detective Payne,” Logan began but was interrupted.

“Son, the name is Jason out here.”

Logan continued, “Ummm, okay. Jason, I’m not sure any amount of surfing would make me feel better right now. I’m not some ignorant little kid. I can tell you guys think my Aunt Mel had something to do with Mrs. Stevenson’s death, but I’m telling you the honest to goodness truth – she had nothing to do with it.” He wasn’t sure what he thought his declaration would accomplish, but couldn’t help himself.

Jason responded sincerely, “Logan, I don’t personally believe your aunt had anything to do with it. Just following the evidence as any good cop would do. Please trust me, no one in the department is railroading your aunt. I’m sorry for the disruption of your lives while we investigate but there’s not a lot I can do to alleviate that at the moment.”

“That’s not true,” the boy said defiantly. “You could at least tell her what’s going on. Everyone in town is talking about her. Mr. Stevenson is out there blasting her on the news saying all sorts of lies. And to top it off you guys won’t even tell her what happened even though it was her bakery where it all happened. You guys are telling her squat!” He hadn’t meant to blurt all that out, but the whole situation was enough to make him pull his hair out. The last couple days were starting to take a toll on him.

Jason calmly put down the surf board. Sitting down on the sun-bleached wooded picnic table he motioned for Logan to join him. “Please, have a seat,” he said. He then proceeded to explain to the teenage boy that no one was trying to implicate his aunt. Perhaps his partner had seemed a bit anxious to close the case but that the investigation was nowhere close to being over. He expressed his sorrow that Logan’s aunt’s name was being dragged through the mud but there was always going to be talk and even the cops couldn’t stop people from talking. The officer tried his best to placate the boy’s concerns but he could tell Logan was not to be easily swayed so he offered to meet with his aunt to discuss the case, unofficially of course, if he thought that would make her feel better.

Logan considered the detective’s offer and decided that he couldn’t possibly hurt things at this point. He pulled his phone out of his shorts and speed dialed his aunt. After explaining Jason’s offer to her, they agreed that she should meet with him. Since she had been on her way to the precinct to start asking questions there, Melissa altered her route and swung by The Surf Shack.

Chapter 10

As the sun rose higher in the sky and the temperature rose in unison, Melissa walked up to The Surf Shack where Logan and Jason were quenching their thirst with bottles of orange soda. The boy gave her a Cheshire grin as she approached, knowing he was not allowed soda. It was his aunt’s one pet peeve. He was hoping she would overlook the transgression just this once.

While they awaited Melissa’s arrival, the two gentlemen had lapsed into a more casual, friendly conversation about surfing and fishing, and even video gaming. Logan was surprised how much the old dude - okay he was only 49 years old but still old in the teenager’s eyes – knew about these subjects. He figured the cop was only interested in catching bad guys and donuts. When she found the two together they were laughing as they watched an obvious tourist tween with pasty pale skin trying to boogie board for the first time.

As Melissa walked up to the picnic table, Jason stood up and offered her a seat. Logan noticed a slight glint in the man’s eyes and that his aunt blushed ever so softly. “Adults?!” he thought with exasperation.

After exchanging pleasantries, Melissa decided to get to the gist of the matter. She informed Jason that she was keenly aware of the trouble it appeared she was in but she swears she had nothing to do with what happened to Linda. She expressed her sorrow for Linda’s death, but she was frustrated with having to stand by while Mr. Stevenson and others were spreading lies that she had any reason to want to hurt Linda because she absolutely didn’t. While the other woman’s body had been discovered in her bakery, she asserted that she was the one that called the cops in the first place and had since been treated as a suspect instead of an additional victim. Her business was broken into. A grisly murder had happened in there. She wasn’t even allowed back in to assess the damages or determine if something was missing. Frustrated, she asked, “How exactly am I supposed to clear my name and get my life back if no one at the police department will even tell me what’s going on?”

Jason listened intently to the captivating baker for quite a while before attempting to reply. He kept having to remind himself to stop staring into her large, almond-shaped hazel eyes and to keep his brain from fixating on how the gold flecks in her eyes flashed as she passionately stated her case. He had to physically shake his head to re-focus on what she was saying.

Still, her words sunk in and he was compassionate to her plight, but he couldn’t allow compassion to blind him to the evidence that was currently sitting in clear plastic bags in the department’s evidence room. He didn’t believe it was fair that she was completely unaware of just how much all the clues were pointing to her.

Melissa continued, “I realize that the case is ongoing and all that gibberish, but this is my life on the line here. My good name. While that may not mean much to anyone else in this town, it’s all I have left.” Without realizing what he was doing, Jason reached across the table and took her hands in his own.

While Jason couldn’t reveal specifics he was able to fill her in on a few facts as it related to her bakery. Forensics had taken a number of fingerprints. Most of the prints had been ruled as belonging to her, Britney, and Linda. There was one other partial print that they had not been able to identify. It was being sent off to the local FBI office for further analysis. Additionally, the back door had been broken into but it didn’t appear the intruder knew a lot about breaking locks. Most likely the intruder was an amateur and the police had not ruled out that Linda had been the one breaking into the bakery. The question on everyone’s minds was “Why?”

Melissa asked about her office. Since he was already aware she had visited the scene, she didn’t think it would hurt to broach the subject. Jason told her that they had noticed the door to the office was unlocked and had taken evidence from the room, but that only a couple recipe cards had been located in Mrs. Stevenson’s fanny pack which she was wearing at the time she was found dead. They had not been aware any cash was missing. Melissa explained that she usually kept $1,200 petty cash on hand which should have been in the safe. Jason agreed to add that to the case file but he doubted they would find such a small sum of cash.

By the end of their conversation, Jason and Melissa agreed that they should go back to the bakery together, in an official capacity so he could log a list of missing items. That way she could also see the place in broad daylight and pick up any items she might need between now and whenever the police department gave the go ahead to re-open the shop. When asked for a guesstimate for when that may be, Jason only shrugged his shoulders. He decided to forego his surfing expedition for the day and instead would change back into his street clothes so they could head over to the Kill Devil Delicacies bakery.