Independence Day Murder Read online

  "It was kind of my only option today," I said with a shrug. "My car won't start. It also means that I didn't stop for the pizza."

  "That's okay, I'll just order one," Trevor said.

  I settled myself down on their living room sofa while Trevor ordered a pizza. Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang and we were digging into a fresh pizza. Living in a downtown apartment definitely had its perks. As I chewed on the gooey, cheesy slice, I wondered how to approach the conversation with Trevor. Finally, I decided it was best to just come right out with it.

  "Have you heard anything about Murray's murder case?" I asked as nonchalantly as possible.

  "Well they found Derek's wallet which is why he's in custody," Trevor said as he chewed his pizza. "That and the fact that he very publicly threatened him. But other than that, they are working on trying to piece together exactly what happened and searching the boat as thoroughly as they can."

  "What if I told you that I know Derek isn't the killer?" I asked.

  Trevor's eyes grew big and he set his half-eaten, third slice of pizza back down onto his plate. I couldn't stop a smug smile from spreading across my face. Another triumphant slice of pizza was in order, so I grabbed my second slice and took a big bite.

  "How do you know that?" Trevor asked. "The police are sure that it was him."

  "I talked to Greg and got his ironclad alibi," I said. "I've even seen the proof. The problem is that we can't tell anyone else the alibi, so I need to find another way to spring him so that your wedding can go on as planned."

  "I don't have any information right off hand, but I do know where the boat is," Trevor said. "I can take you there as soon as I finish this slice of pizza."

  Trevor started to munch through his slice like a gerbil shreds paper. It was almost amazing to watch him do it without choking. I finished my slice at a much slower rate as Trevor shut the cardboard box and ran to the kitchen to stash it in the refrigerator.

  When he came back out, he was holding a bike helmet. I had a mouthful of pizza, so before I could ask what he was doing, he shrugged at me.

  "My car is in the shop," he said. "Good thing you have a tandem bicycle."

  He winked at me and I tried to smile back, but I could feel it twist more into a grimace. I'd been hoping to convince Max to ride the tandem bike with me, but so far it was just becoming the investigation-mobile for me and my halfway incompetent partner in solving crime.

  We walked down the staircase to the alley door and got ready to cycle away. I jammed my helmet on my head and strapped it underneath my chin. Good thing I didn't care what people around town thought of me because if I did, this would be pure torture.

  I looked back at Trevor, who was wearing a bright orange helmet and grinning like an idiot from his seat.

  "I knew you were going to ask me to be your partner in crime," he said with a smile.

  "Ready?" I said, ignoring his comment while managing to not roll my eyes. "Let's go solve a murder."

  Chapter Twelve

  Our cycle through town was much more chaotic than my trip to pick up Trevor, mostly because even though I had my game face on and tried to ignore all of the stares, Trevor insisted on waving at anyone and everyone who so much as glanced our way. I was starting to think he should have kept this bicycle for himself.

  "You're slowing us down," I said, trying to pick up the pace a little.

  "I can't help it that I know everyone," Trevor said. "I just want to be polite."

  "I know everyone too, dimwit," I said. "It doesn't mean we have to lollygag."

  Once we were out of downtown, we stopped seeing as many people and our ride became a little more scenic and a little less parade-like. Trevor had told me that the boat was just parked up on dry land at the boat landing next to the beach, which made a lot of sense. I kicked myself a little for not just thinking to look there. Now I was having to explore it with an idiot on a bicycle built for two.

  The one nice thing I was finding with a tandem bike was that I could still go fast with only half the effort since there was someone else to share the workload with. Hopefully I wouldn't be as sweaty after this part of the bike ride. In no time at all, we were pulling up to the beach. I jerked the handlebars over, steering us into the parking lot for the beach instead of the boat landing.

  "Hey, you have to go further to get to the boat landing," Trevor shouted.

  "I think we should just park here," I said.

  "Why? There is plenty of parking there."

  "I usually like to investigate quietly instead of pulling up on some ridiculous circus bike."

  At this point, we were just riding in big circles in the parking lot as we argued about where to park. I managed to glance back and see Trevor's hunched shoulders and hurt expression. He did not agree with my assessment of the ridiculous bicycle and indeed, thought it was very hurtful.

  I rolled my eyes and steered us back onto the road and the rest of the way to the boat landing. A bit of deja vu passed over me as I realized that Max was standing next to his squad car. I had been so busy arguing with Trevor that I hadn't even noticed Max. He had a quizzical expression on his face as he once again watched his girlfriend roll by on a tandem bicycle with another man. I couldn't help but giggle as I thought of how scandalous this situation might have been a hundred years ago.

  We slowed down and parked our bike next to a tree. I was hoping the shade would keep the black seats from getting too hot in the July sun. My poor legs needed a break from scalding hot seats. We took off our helmets and hung them from the handlebars.

  "So are you guys a bicycle duo now?" Max asked as he strode over to us. "You know, I'm perfectly fine with you and Trevor riding that silly bicycle together because it stops you from asking me to go with."

  Max winked at me and I playfully nudged his arm. He gave me the sort of smile that he gives when he'd really like to kiss me, but he is in uniform and on duty. Max takes his position very seriously and flat out refuses most PDA while on duty which both annoys me and endears me to him.

  "We are more of an investigative duo," Trevor said with a smile.

  Max immediately frowned and I wanted to shove Trevor, but this time it wouldn't have been playful. Interfering with police business was not something Max looked kindly on and Trevor had just totally given us up. He didn't seem to notice though, as he had a wide grin and vaguely vacant expression on his face.

  "Pack it up and move it on out," Max said. He walked over and took my helmet off of the bike, pushing it into my hands. "You know I can't let you poke around on an active murder investigation scene."

  "We won't touch anything," Trevor said. "But we just want to see the boat. Tessa said she has proof Derek isn't the killer and we need to find a way to exonerate him."

  Max's frown deepened which I hadn't thought possible. There would be no backyard grilling and hammock swinging tonight because Max was not happy with me.

  "You have evidence and you have not handed it over to the police?" Max said. "You've gone too far this time."

  "I don't actually have the evidence, but I have seen it," I said, trying to skate around the issue of the videotape and the promise I made to Greg. "And I know for sure that Derek didn't do it. I know you think you have physical evidence, but you don't. Murray stole Derek's wallet from him. That's why you found it in the boat."

  "Yeah, he tried to tell us that too," Max said. "But why would Murray pickpocket someone? That doesn't make any sense."

  "Sometimes stealing doesn't have to do with what they are stealing," I said. "Sometimes people steal for the adrenaline rush. Plus, Murray's cockiness would just increase every time he got away with it because he thought he was just so smart."

  Max crossed his arms and scowled at me. He knew I may be right, but I refrained from rubbing it in. Trevor, who had been standing between us snapping his head back and forth like he was watching a tennis match, put his hands up.

  "Guys, guys, let's just agree to disagree about that," he said. "But we wou
ld like to just get a small, tiny look at that boat if we could."

  For a minute, I wondered if Max was in such a rage that he didn't hear Trevor as he just kept staring at me. But finally he turned and acknowledged what Trevor had said.

  "Here's the deal," Max said. "I will walk to my squad car and sit inside for three minutes while I eat a small snack. What happens in that time is none of my business. But no one gets in the boat. No one even touches the boat, understand?"

  Both Trevor and I nodded our heads like bobblehead dolls. I couldn't help but have a dumb smile on my face now. Obviously not touching the boat would make things a bit harder, but it was better than not seeing the boat at all.

  "There is just one thing," Max said, holding up a very authoritative finger. "I will only allow this if you swear to me that you know Derek isn't the killer. And I mean definitive proof, not some mamby-pamby gut feeling that you are following."

  "I swear to you," I said. "I have seen the proof but if it gets out, it may ruin Derek and Greg's business. I can't let that happen, especially not right before Mandy and Trevor's wedding."

  Max nodded. Then he turned around and headed towards his squad car, whistling amicably. Trevor and I scurried towards the boat that was roped off with police tape in the middle of the parking lot. I turned to watch Max as he reached his squad car. He looked at me and tapped his watch, letting me know that time had started.

  "It mostly just looks like a boat to me," Trevor said as I joined him just inside the police tape. "Nothing special about it except the blood stain right there."

  The middle of the floor of the boat had a big, dark stain that was covered by some sort of plastic so that it wasn't exposed to the elements. All of the life jackets that had been on top of Murray were nowhere in sight, probably back at the police station evidence locker.

  I walked around the entire boat, slowly trying to take everything in and look for anything out of place. Trevor was kind of right that it did just look like a boat. Everything seemed very tidy. Nothing jumped out at me. I hadn't expected to find a large clump of the killer's hair or a note from the killer saying they had done it, but I had hoped to see something I could add to the very small arsenal of clues I had in my head.

  Every once in a while, I would glance at the squad car to see what Max was doing. He was contentedly eating a bag of snack mix. I had to cringe a little as he was just pulling out handfuls and eating them indiscriminately. I preferred to dig through and eat each thing separately. At one point, Max caught my eye and smirked at me, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

  Then as I watched, Max started to fold up the bag of snack mix and stick it back in the passenger seat. This was the final countdown for our boat search. If I didn't find something now, I wouldn't have a chance to look again.

  "Trevor, get over here," I yelled.

  He scurried over and I shoved him by the shoulders down into a squat. Trevor put one knee down to steady himself.

  "I'm getting on your shoulders so I can see better into the boat," I said as I swung my leg over one of his shoulders.

  The nice thing about Trevor is that he is a go with the flow kind of guy. Instead of protesting or asking more questions, he just accepted it and helped me get my other leg over. Once he stood up, I had a nice, almost bird's eye view of the boat.

  "Go around the boat," I said. "Not too fast, but not too slow. We don't have much time."

  Trevor started to power walk around the boat as I leaned as far over as I could without toppling us. It still just looked like a boat that happened to be the scene of the murder.

  Until I spotted it. Something was laying under the plastic, right next to the blood stain. It was close enough that it had to be connected to the murder, but it was far enough away from the stain that someone who wasn't being very careful must have missed it.

  I didn't know what it was, but I could just tell that it was the clue that we needed.

  Chapter Thirteen

  "Get off of his shoulders, you guys look ridiculous."

  Instead of reacting like a normal adult and helping me get down, Trevor instead assumed we should be detectives on the lam and started to run. He was circling the boat as fast as he could run with me on his shoulders. For some reason, Max played right into his hands and started to jog after him.

  "Stop it," I said, smacking Trevor on the head. "We haven't done anything wrong, but we might get in trouble if we are literally running from the cops."

  "Oh yeah," Trevor said before coming to a dead stop.

  Max ran around the edge of the boat and straight into the back of us. Thankfully I had a pretty good grip on Trevor and managed to counterbalance him as he lurched forward. Trevor found his balance again and bent down while Max offered me his hand to help me down.

  "Alright, you've had your fun," Max growled. "Now get back on your clown car and let us get back to our official business."

  "Hey, we came on a bike, not in a car," Trevor started to protest, but stopped when I put up one of my hands.

  "We were just leaving," I said. "I just hope you found the clue I spotted in there sometime soon."

  Max's eyes narrowed at me, trying to assess if I was lying to him. I nonchalantly walked by him and over to where we had left the bicycle. Shoving Trevor's helmet into his hands, I jammed mine on my head and clicked it under the chin. I didn't even wait for Trevor to get his helmet on before I started wheeling the bike away, leaving Trevor to jog after me as he buckled his helmet.

  "Stop Tessa, what are you talking about?" Max asked. He was definitely stern Officer Marcus right now.

  "I'm talking about the clue I could clearly see next to the blood stain underneath the plastic tarp in the boat," I said. "It wasn't that hard to spot but if you don't want my help, I won't give it to you. I'm sure someone will find it eventually."

  Trevor caught up to me with his helmet strapped on and we both hopped on our bike seats. Max was fast walking next to us, lost in thought about what he should do. I felt for him because it was quite a gray area when it came to letting a private citizen help with a police investigation, especially when that citizen happens to be your girlfriend.

  We pedaled out of the parking lot and were turning onto the road when I heard Max shout. After making sure there was no traffic, I steered us in a wide circle to come back around. As we rode back into the parking lot again, Max was jogging towards us, coming to a stop next to us.

  "Fine, show me what you found," Max said. "But don't tell anyone else about it. The same goes for you."

  Max pointed one finger directly at Trevor's nose. Trevor nodded, not wanting to jeopardize his job or friendships with other first responders. After a moment, Max turned and walked towards the boat while we parked our bike back in the same spot.

  When I got to the boat, Max climbed in and took the plastic off of the floor of the boat. A large, dark spot was covering the floor and it was hard looking at it and knowing it had come from a dead body. I looked around for the clue I had seen.

  "Where is it?" Max asked. There was an edge to his voice which I took to be a mixture of impatience and annoyance.

  I scanned the floor of the boat until I found it again. It was so small that I could see where it would be easy for someone who wasn't paying attention to miss, but the little red spot jumped out at me.

  "There!"

  I pointed and Max got down on his hands and knees, careful not to touch the blood stain. He got so close that his nose almost touched the carpet.

  "I'll be danged," he said as he stood back up. "It's a little gemstone."

  Max pulled out his phone and took a few pictures of where the gemstone was laying in relation to the blood stain. It was not exactly in the stain, but was right next to it and from the way it was pushed into the rough carpeting, it looked like Murray had been laying on top of it when he died.

  "I need one of you to go to my squad car and grab out a bag for me to put this in," Max said.

  Trevor dashed away and was back soon with a pai
r of gloves and a little plastic evidence bag. Handing it to Max, Trevor stepped back next to me and nudged me with his elbow.

  "I think I could make a pretty good cop," he whispered to me.

  I tried not to roll my eyes back at him.

  Max put on the gloves, carefully picked up the gemstone with one hand and dropped it into the open bag he held with the other. As he zipped the bag shut, I realized I was holding my breath, nervous about whether he would fumble that tiny little clue. If he dropped it and we couldn't spot it again, we would be almost back to square one.

  "Can I see it?" I asked. "After all, I found it and it is in a bag now so I can't contaminate it."

  Standing in the boat, Max shielded his eyes and looked at me. I could still see a hint of annoyance in his face but after thinking about it, he handed me the bag. As he climbed out of the boat, I looked it over.

  It wasn't a valuable gemstone like a ruby or anything, but it was something a step above a rhinestone. It was pretty obvious that it had fallen out of some sort of jewelry, but I wasn't sure what kind. It was almost too small to be from a ring.

  I wracked my brain to think of the suspects and what they had been wearing. Derek didn't wear any jewelry besides a watch. It was a standard, masculine, metal watch without any flashy gemstones or anything. If this came from the killer, then Derek wasn't the killer.

  "I know what you are thinking," Max said. "And I agree with you. Derek isn't really the gemstone type. But we need to test this and see if there is any evidence on it. It may or may not be connected to the murder."

  I nodded, still trying to figure out where I had seen someone wearing jewelry with these types of stones. As someone who was not into fashion, I didn't always look at what people were wearing or how they accessorized unless I spent a lot of time with them.

  "This needs to be brought in," Max said. "I'd appreciate it if you and Trevor would go so that I can call in some backup. As thankful as I am that you helped me out, I don't want anyone thinking that I just let my girlfriend traipse around crime scenes."