Spring Break Murder Page 13

  The officers both followed me into the sun room, but refused to sit down when I offered them a seat. Officer Mendoza declined with a polite shake of his head while Officer Johnson just stared at me. I wondered if their contrasting personalities helped them on the job or not. Kind of like a good cop, bad cop thing except they were friendly cop and lump-on-a-log cop.

  Bill came out of the camper first, his face set in a stern expression with his eyebrows furrowed. If the cops were coming for his baby girl again, he wanted the men to know that they'd have to go through him first. Sally came next, immediately scurrying towards the bar area to make up a plate of snacks. Was it the Minnesotan in her that decided she had to provide food and drinks to everyone, even the police officers who may be coming to arrest her daughter? I had to think it contributed because every woman over the age of thirty back in Minnesota seemed to move to snack preparation almost on overdrive when someone came over.

  Last of all was Mandy, who came out dressed in a pair of knee-length khaki shorts and a purple tank top with a gold lace design on the front. She had been so excited this morning to finally start her vacation and now here we were meeting with the police once again. The sad expression on her face tugged on my heartstrings and I hoped that no matter what happened, Mandy would come out the other side happy.

  "Ma'am, we will have to take you back down to the station again," Officer Johnson said.

  "But you said she was basically cleared as a suspect in the murder," Bill said, his voice booming without actually shouting. "What in the world are you going to take her in for now?"

  Sally walked over with a plate of lemon bars in one hand, putting her other hand on Bill's shoulder. While we couldn't do much to prevent them from taking Mandy in, we could try to keep Bill calm enough to not be arrested for obstructing a police investigation. Officer Mendoza took a lemon bar off of the plate, smiling with thanks at Sally while Officer Johnson stared at the plate like Sally was trying to poison them.

  "After reviewing the security footage from the park on the night of the murder, we now have questions about a different crime that was reported that night," Officer Johnson said. "We will be taking her in right now."

  "I think it would be better for everyone if Mandy came along without much of a scene," Officer Mendoza said gently. "There is no need for handcuffs or brute force. The crime we are going to question her about is nothing as serious as murder and honestly, this crime means that she is officially not a suspect in the murder of Hilda."

  I breathed out a small sigh of relief. I couldn't do anything about the stupid decision Mandy made to destroy Cindy's bicycle, but at least she wasn't a murder suspect anymore.

  Mandy was standing near the door to the trailer staring at the ground, nervously rubbing her arms. I walked across the sunroom and wrapped her in a big hug. I squeezed her tight, hoping it wouldn't be long before she was back with us again.

  "I'll talk to Trevor," I said quietly.

  "He's going to be so upset at me for this," Mandy said, her eyes filling with tears. "It was such a stupid thing to do and he came down to surprise me and here I am being the one to ruin it this time."

  "Everyone makes mistakes," I said. "Usually it's me, so I think you are due to be the one to flub it all up."

  Mandy laughed and wiped the tears away. She couldn't argue with that. For once, I got to help her out of a jam of her own making.

  After a hug from both of her parents, Mandy followed Officer Johnson and Officer Mendoza out of the sun room and down to the police car, where she slid into the backseat. As they backed out of the driveway, Mandy waved at us with a small, hopeful smile on her face.

  Bill and Sally were standing together, their arms around each other's shoulders. They watched the car drive away with Mandy in the back and in that moment, their love for each other seemed to be what kept them standing upright. Besides my own parents, Bill and Sally were the other couple that I longed to emulate. Through everything, they turned to each other and supported each other.

  "She will get through this," I said to them. "Mandy is so strong and even though she made a mistake, she will make it right again."

  Sally sniffled as they both nodded at me. I would have to be the one to call Trevor and explain that good news, his girlfriend isn't a murder suspect anymore but bad news, now she was being questioned for vandalism and we all know that she actually did it. I grabbed a lemon bar out of the sunroom and went into the trailer to call Trevor.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  "Go fish," Trevor said, taking a large bite out of another lemon bar. Each time Sally offered the plate of bars around, Trevor grabbed one. By now, he must have eaten at least five and I'm not sure if he was stress eating or if this was just his normal rate of goodie consumption. It was so distracting that I had actually stopped myself from taking more than one lemon bar because I was curious just how many Trevor would eat.

  Bill, Sally, Trevor, and I were sitting on the deck trying to take our minds off of Mandy being gone by playing the simplest card game we could. She had been at the police station for almost two hours now and we hadn't heard anything from her. Trevor had rushed over as soon as I told him what had happened and just as I thought, he was not upset with Mandy at all. Instead, he was just worried about how she was doing now that she was in police custody again.

  While we had hoped to be distracted by the card game, it was turning out to be the other way around. One simple round of Go Fish had taken us almost an hour because we kept losing track of whose turn it was.

  Then Bill's phone rang and the deck turned into a circus. After he managed to pull the smartphone out of his pocket, he was so jittery that he couldn't hit the button. Before he could try again, Sally tried to grab the phone out of his hand and answer it herself except instead she just managed to knock it to the floor of the deck. Trevor grabbed for it and was finally the one to answer. I simply sat back and watched the whole spectacle.

  "Hello, Mr. Bill's phone," Trevor said while Bill rolled his eyes. Trevor smiled and pointed at the phone while he whispered to us. "It's Mandy."

  Trevor nodded a few times, his smile growing wider and wider. He jumped out of his chair, accidentally bumping the table and sending the playing cards flying. Bill managed to grab the plate of lemon bars before they slid off to their demise. Sally and I started to gather up the cards.

  "Of course, I'll be right there to pick you up," Trevor said. "I love you and I will see you soon."

  Trevor punched the hand holding the phone up in the air in victory. Bill jumped forward to grab the phone out of his hand, like he was afraid the next step of Trevor's victory dance might be spiking it to the ground. Sally grabbed my hands in hers and squeezed them, her face shining with happiness.

  "Here's what I think we should do," Sally said, breaking away from me. "Bill and I will stay back and prepare a special dinner to celebrate having Mandy back again. Tessa, you go with Trevor. Now everyone put a smile on your face and let's celebrate."

  I nodded and dashed inside to grab my purse. When I came back out, Trevor and Sally were having a whispered conversation while Bill puttered around arranging things on the deck while he used up his nervous, excited energy.

  "Come on Tessa," Trevor said. "Let's go! Hop in the convertible and let's go pick up our girl."

  Sally winked at Trevor as we headed down the stairs and towards the red convertible. I walked around the back of the car and Trevor was so excited that he jumped over the driver's side door into his seat. I giggled as I climbed in and buckled up.

  After a fast drive with the wind blowing through our hair, we pulled up outside of the police station. It was still the same, non-descript building it was before but this time Mandy wasn't outside to greet us so we would have to venture inside.

  Trevor parked the car and practically skipped through the parking lot. That was something I never thought I would see. The more time I spent with Trevor, the less he seemed like a lazy skaterboy.

  Inside the front doors of
the police station, Trevor made a beeline to the front desk to ask a very bored looking woman about Mandy. The woman picked up a phone and pointed to the hard plastic chairs that we were supposed to sit in and wait. I took a seat, but Trevor was too jumpy and nervous to sit down so he paced back and forth.

  After a few minutes, a door opened and Mandy came out followed by Officer Mendoza. He towered over her, but the large smile on his face made him seem instantly less scary looking. Trevor flew over to Mandy, picking her up in his arms and twirling her around. Her face was so happy and she threw her head back as she laughed happily. Officer Mendoza smiled at the happy scene and I was glad he had been the one to accompany Mandy out instead of Officer Johnson.

  "Let me walk you all outside," Officer Mendoza said, throwing a friendly wave to the crabby lady at the front desk. She couldn't help but smile and wave back at the happy police officer.

  As we walked out the doors, the warm sunshine hit us and for a moment everything felt right. For just that moment, I could put the murder out of my mind and soak in the excitement of Mandy's release. But I just had to know what in the world happened with the vandalism charge.

  "I'm so glad that everything worked out," Officer Mendoza said. "You've been through enough in the last few days."

  "Thank you so much for everything," Mandy said. She was absolutely beaming, mostly at Trevor.

  "Wait a minute, what exactly happened?" I asked. "Mandy, do you need to pay a fine or something?"

  Mandy giggled and Officer Mendoza let out a loud guffaw. They glanced at each other like they were hiding some sort of secret.

  "Well, in an instance like this, we would usually have the person pay a fine that is equal in value to the property they destroyed," Officer Mendoza said. "And since Mandy already replaced the original bicycle with a bicycle of greater value, there isn't much we can do. I did strongly suggest that Mandy write a very heavily heartfelt apology letter."

  "Officer Mendoza, did you meet Cindy?" Trevor asked. "I'm not totally sure, but I don't think she is going to accept that."

  A vision flew through my mind of Mandy down on her knees literally begging Cindy for forgiveness for that stupid bike. Even if Mandy decided to do that, I don't think Cindy would accept it. She didn't even want to accept the brand new bicycle.

  "Either way, I'm hoping this is the last time we have to bring you into the station," Officer Mendoza said.

  "We are all hoping that," I said.

  Officer Mendoza handed me his card, telling me to call if we needed anything else. After a few more goodbyes and thank yous, Officer Mendoza walked back into the police station and Mandy and I started towards the convertible. Trevor didn't follow, instead pacing a bit on the sidewalk and kicking the rocks he came across.

  Mandy and I paused halfway to the car and looked at each other. We had known each other so long that we could talk without talking and right now we were both saying we had no idea what Trevor was doing or why. With an exasperated sigh from me and a shoulder shrug from Mandy, we headed back towards the police station.

  The closer we got to Trevor, the more nervous he looked. He was sweating, but I don't think it was from the heat. He was walking back and forth in front of the door and glancing at Mandy and back at the ground.

  "Trevor, I think we should get back to the RV park, don't you think?" Mandy said sweetly.

  "Umm yeah, we will but I just really wanted to go to the beach today," Trevor said. "And I know that there is a beach just two blocks that way so let's just walk over there."

  "Shouldn't we wait until it is not nearing evening and we have swimsuits to actually swim?" I asked.

  Trevor turned and looked at me like he had just remembered I was there. He narrowed his eyes at me like he was confused, not actually sure what I was talking about. I stared back at him, wondering why he was being so weird.

  "Okay honey, let's go to the beach," Mandy said, putting her arm through his arm.

  I used my telepathy to ask her what in the world was happening, but the message she sent back to me told me she had no idea what was going on. I had an inkling about what was happening, but I guess I'd have to wait and see.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  We walked past a few half-filled parking lots and an autobody shop before we came to a tiny path leading to a very small, mostly rocky beach. There was a restaurant on one end of the beach and a fishing pier on the other end. It was maybe only twenty feet across and, if I was right about what we were actually doing here, it was not the kind of beach Trevor had been hoping it was.

  The sun was starting to set over the horizon and while the beach wasn't the most beautiful, it had a great view of the sunset. I wished Max was here and that we could be sitting on the deck of that restaurant eating a romantic dinner while we watched the sun go down.

  "Mandy, maybe you want to go on a little walk with me down by the water?" Trevor said as he cleared his throat. "Tessa, maybe you could watch from, uh, over there."

  "Sure, that sounds lovely," Mandy said.

  I looked to where Trevor was pointing and saw a gross, moss covered rock where I was apparently supposed to wait. I did not take his suggestion, but I did find a small spot on the sand where I could sit down and be alone with my thoughts. Mandy set her purse down next to me and took Trevor's outstretched hand.

  Walking up and down the beachfront, Mandy and Trevor couldn't take their eyes off of each other. Sparks of love were flying back and forth between them. I envied the fact that they got to spend this vacation together even if most of the time had actually been spent apart.

  Trevor had one hand intertwined with Mandy's but his other hand was deep in his pocket. Looking closer at his pocket, I spotted what I already knew was there. A small cube shape made a barely noticeable lump in his pocket. Ah ha! I'm not sure that this was what Trevor had in mind for his proposal, but he was making it work.

  As the sun got lower and the sky became more colorful and more beautiful, I could see Trevor talking to Mandy. She was blushing, but in the sort of way that she was hearing the sort of compliments that she wasn't sure how to take. I'd have to ask her later what Trevor was saying because so far, apart from the scenery, he seemed to be nailing this proposal.

  On the next go-around, Trevor slowed down and then stopped in the middle of the beach. He grabbed both of Mandy's hands, holding them tenderly. They had somehow stopped with the setting sun perfectly centered between them.

  'This would be a perfect picture,' I thought to myself. 'Wait a minute, I could be the one to take the picture.'

  My flip phone was not ideal for picture taking, but I pulled it out and grabbed a quick, grainy picture of them with the sun between them. It was nowhere near perfect, but it would have to do. Flip phones don't come with a great camera for whatever reason. I wished I could take a better picture because the colors in the sky were the most beautiful I'd ever seen.

  That's when I spotted Mandy's purse next to my feet. While Mandy can be a bit of a smartphone addict, I was pretty sure it would be somewhere in her bottomless purse. I just had to find it first.

  Mandy's purse was one of those large totes that she seemed to carry her life around in. I couldn't really judge because I usually carried one that size also. I rummaged around, feeling for the phone and mostly pulling out old gum wrappers and various packages of gum in different flavors. Someone really needed to talk to that girl about her ridiculous gum habit.

  Finally, I felt her phone in the very bottom of her bag and I pulled it out triumphantly. I swiped over to the camera and started snapping away, hitting different parts of the screen to pull the right amount of light in. Back when I was Big-City Tessa, I used to run a beautifully curated social media feed and apparently I still had what it took to take a good picture with a smartphone.

  I clicked on and on and on as Trevor finally got down on one knee and pulled the ring box out of his pocket. As he opened it, Mandy put her hands over her mouth and while I couldn't see her face very clearly, I knew she wa
s crying tears of happiness.

  After Trevor said a few things, I could see Mandy nod her head yes and lean down to kiss Trevor. He took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. Popping up from his kneeling position, he scooped her up in his arms again, kissing her hard on the mouth.

  A cheer went up from both the fishing pier and the restaurant where the curious onlookers were enjoying the positive outcome of the strange proposal at the beach that wasn't really a beach. I cheered along with them, excited to finally see Mandy get her happily ever after.

  The sun was still setting, slipping quickly over the horizon. Watching the happy couple as they took in the dregs of the day, I felt a twinge of loneliness. I took out my phone and sent a quick message to Max. It was a bit more difficult considering my hands were all bandaged up.

  Just watched Trevor and Mandy get engaged. Now I'm watching a beautiful sunset. Both of these things made me miss you. I love you.

  My phone buzzed right away with a message back from Max.

  I love you too. I wish I was there watching the sunset, except I would be watching the beautiful girl beside me instead. :)

  I smiled and even though I was still alone, I didn't feel lonely. Vacation was fun but I couldn't wait to be back in Max's arms. Minnesota might be cold and snowy, but it had Max which meant it would always be home.

  Mandy and Trevor were headed back up the beach toward me. I stood up and Mandy scampered toward me, holding out her left hand toward me. I grabbed it and took a good look at the ring. Good engagement rings come in all shapes and sizes, so I was ready to ooh and ahh over a tiny diamond but I was very impressed with not only the large size of the diamond, but also the tasteful setting that made it look beautiful instead of gaudy.

  "Nice job Trevor," I said, elbowing him a bit in the ribs.

  Trevor was grinning like an idiot but for once it wasn't grating on my nerves. This time there was excitement behind his smile rather than the stupidity I normally sensed. I couldn't help but smile back, mirroring his happiness.