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Mitch went to the office to work on the case instead of going to church with Lauren. She promised to make his apologies.
“We can do something fun when I get back,” she told Annie, kissing the top of her velvety silver-gray head.
“Brrt.” Good.
Chris and Zoe gave her a ride, and they arrived at church a few minutes early.
“Hi, Father Mike!” Zoe waved to him.
“Hi, Zoe.” He smiled.
“Hi, Thelma,” Lauren greeted the reporter. She didn’t remember seeing her at church before.
“Hi.” Thelma looked a little uncomfortable in her outfit of a plain blue skirt and dove-gray blouse. “I thought I’d give church a whirl. It was nice seeing how much money was raised for the church fund.”
“I hope you enjoy today’s service,” Father Mike said in a welcoming manner.
“Hey, Zoe, I’ve been thinking if I can remember anything unusual I saw at the premiere – to help prove I’m not a killer – and now I recall a flash of pink and white,” Thelma said.
“Really?” Zoe’s expression became alert. “When was that?”
“When I was outside.”
“But Mitch said he found a witness saying you were outside when you said you were,” Lauren put in.
“He did.” Thelma nodded vigorously. “He told me yesterday. But I want to make sure he knows I’m innocent.”
“I get you,” Zoe said.
“Was anyone else around when you saw the flash of color?” Chris asked.
Thelma scrunched her eyes shut. “Not that I can remember.” She blew out a breath. “Gah.”
Father Mike called them in to church. During the sermon, which was about being true to yourself, Zoe nudged her. “We’re true to ourselves all the time – so is Annie.”
“And Martha.”
“Yeah.” Zoe nodded, then fell silent as Father Mike turned his good-humored gaze on them.
After the service, they said goodbye to everyone, including Father Mike.
“Great sermon,” Zoe complimented him with a grin.
“I thought you’d like it.” His eyes twinkled.
“We should visit the town hall this afternoon.” Zoe touched her arm.
“You think?” Lauren frowned. “I promised Annie we’d do something fun together when I got home.”
“What could be more fun than prowling around the town hall, looking for clues?”
***
“REMIND ME AGAIN WHY we’re doing this?” Lauren asked an hour later, standing in the middle of the town hall.
“Brrt!” Clues!
“Yeah, clues!”
“But Mitch and his team would have swept this place thoroughly, looking for anything suspicious.”
“I know, but it just seems logical. I don’t know why we didn’t do this before.” Zoe tsked at herself.
“Because we’ve been busy working at our real jobs?”
“That as well.”
“Brrt.”
“Where’s Donald?” Zoe looked around the large room, as if expecting him to pop up any second.
“Probably at home relaxing.”
“I guess he wouldn’t be at the town hall every second of the day.”
“It is the weekend, and there aren’t any events on tonight as far as I know,” Lauren commented. “Don’t forget, he’s a volunteer.”
She followed Annie around the room. Her fur baby thoroughly sniffed each corner and base board, but unfortunately didn’t find anything.
“Let’s go outside,” Zoe proposed. “Maybe Donald left a crucial piece of evidence somewhere that Mitch couldn’t find.”
“Like what?” She was genuinely curious.
“Like ... like ... a button he tore off Nathan’s jacket!”
“Did Nathan’s jacket have buttons?”
“Hmm. Good question.” Zoe tapped her cheek. “What about ...”
“Brrt.” Annie towed Lauren towards the door.
“It looks like we’re going outside.”
“Have you found something, Annie?” Zoe asked hopefully, following right behind Lauren.
“Brrp.” Not yet.
Annie sniffed this way and that, following the foundations of the old hall. She sniffed in a corner, and pawed at something white wedged tightly in a crack near a shiny silver trash can.
“What is it?” Lauren bent down. It looked like a crumpled piece of paper.
“Brrt!” Annie sat back, looking pleased.
“It’s Annie’s Lost and Found,” Zoe giggled. “Except this time not in the café.”
Lauren smoothed out the piece of paper. It looked like half a sheet torn out of a notebook. The initials JJ appeared at the bottom.
“No way!” Zoe’s eyes widened. “That’s—”
“A page from my notebook.” Jill rounded the corner of the town hall and strode toward them. “You can give it back to me now.” Her face was flushed but determined.
“What are you doing here?” Lauren asked, her pulse suddenly pounding.
“Our interview’s tomorrow,” Zoe said, “on the phone.”
“But how did this page get stuck in there?” Lauren held onto the notepaper and pointed to the foundation crack.
“I have no idea.” Jill shrugged.
Zoe peered over Lauren’s shoulder. “There’s nothing written on it.”
Lauren turned it over.
“Nope. Nothing on the other side, either. So why do you want it back?”
“Because ...” Lauren said slowly, her heart hammering, “Jill is the killer.”
“Brrt!”
“No way,” Zoe repeated. “But why? How? I mean, we know how, but why? And why at my premiere?”
“It’s all Nathan’s fault,” Jill ground out, her eyes flashing. “We had an argument out here, and he threatened to make up a lie about me and get me fired!”
“That’s not right.” Zoe frowned.
“You bet it’s not! I told him if he did that, I would tell everyone – and I mean everyone – how he slept his way into his job as a TV reporter.”
“He did?” Lauren asked.
“Yeah. See, we were both interviewing for the same job. It’s always been my dream to be a TV reporter and it was down to me and Nathan. Someone at the TV station even told me I was the frontrunner. I was thrilled! And then, when I’m waiting for the phone call telling me I was successful, instead I find out Nathan got the job instead of me.”
“But how do you know he got it by sleeping with someone?” Zoe wanted to know.
“I overheard him with his female boss. We were both covering the same story a few months ago and they thought nobody could see them. They were kissing behind a car and things started to get heated, and I heard her say that he was doing a great job of earning his position, just like during the interviews.”
Lauren’s mouth parted a little.
“Wow,” Zoe breathed.
“You can imagine how I felt. I always knew he wasn’t as good a reporter as me, and this proved it. But what could I do? We already disliked each other because he was always getting in my way when we covered the same story, and he thought he was all that and more – just with the way he walked, and talked and – ooh! And he was always rubbing it into my face that he got the TV reporter job and I was just an ordinary journalist on a small newspaper.”
“That must have hurt,” Lauren sympathized.
“It does – did.” Jill nodded. “The last straw was at the premiere. I’d come out here to gather my thoughts and quickly jot down some more notes before rushing back to Sacramento, when he came swaggering out – as usual – and told me to get out of his way. I said no, and he said he was tired of seeing me chasing the same stories he covered, and if I didn’t watch out, he’d make up something outrageous about me and tell my boss and then I’d get fired. Then he grabbed my notebook and tore a page in half, crumpled it up, threw it away, and laughed in my face!”
“That’s terrible.” Zoe frowned.
“Brrt,” Annie agreed.
“I’m sorry,” Lauren said.
“I just snapped! I was so sick of his macho attitude, especially since I knew exactly how he got the job – the job that should have been mine. I grabbed the first thing I saw, which was the trash can lid, and hit him on the head with it. He fell down, I wiped off my fingerprints on my new dress, and ran, hoping nobody saw me. And no one did.” She sounded proud.
“But why did you come back here now?” Lauren asked.
“Because you two – three, including that Martha lady – were busy asking questions. And when you spotted the torn page in my notebook – the page he tore – I realized I hadn’t found that torn piece with my initials on it. I’d been trying to forget the whole thing. So I came back today to see if it was around somewhere. I thought if the police had found it, they would have asked me about it by now, but they didn’t. But it was windy that night, so maybe that’s how that ball of paper ended up somewhere else.”
“Annie found it just now,” Lauren said.
“Brrt!” Yes, I did!
“So the argument we heard outside the hall on the night of the premiere – right here in fact–” Zoe flung out her arms, “—was you and Nathan.”
“Very good,” Jill replied.
“And the flash of pink and white that Thelma saw out here was you, as well,” Lauren added.
“Yeah. If I knew what was going to happen that night, I would have worn something plainer.” Jill frowned.
“We’ll have to call Mitch,” Lauren said.
“No.” Jill narrowed her eyes.
Lauren pulled out her phone from her purse.
Jill picked up a trash can lid and held it menacingly.
“That’s not the same one she used to kill Nathan, is it?” Zoe’s eyes widened.
“No, it’s being held as evidence,” Lauren answered. “They replaced the whole thing.”
“Oh, phew.”
“Brrt.” Annie tapped Lauren’s leg.
She looked down at her fur baby, who sidled over to the crack in the foundation. A few small stones littered the ground.
“Awesome, Annie!” Zoe grabbed the pebbles.
“What are you doing?” Jill glared at them.
“Self-defense!” Zoe held up her closed fist, the stones inside them. “Put down that lid and we won’t hurt you.”
“Ha!” Jill waved the metal weapon menacingly in the air. “I’ve already killed one person with this thing – I bet I can get you as well!”
Lauren bent down and unclipped Annie’s lead. “It looks like we might have to make a run for it,” she whispered in her fur baby’s ear.
“Brrp.” Annie nodded her head slightly.
“Saying goodbye to your cat – how sweet. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her – I like cats.” Jill advanced toward them.
“Do you like this as well?” Zoe threw a pebble at Jill’s leg.
“Ow!” Jill rubbed her calf, hopping on the spot. Then she recovered and strode forward.
Zoe aimed for her other leg.
“Ow! Stop it!” Jill nearly lost her grip on the trash can lid.
“Let’s go!” Zoe commanded.
Lauren looked behind them. Unfortunately, part of the town hall was in the way so the only path open to them was past Jill.
“I’ll keep pelting her, and you and Annie run and get help,” Zoe said.
Lauren nodded, her heart pounding.
When Zoe threw another pebble, Lauren and Annie charged forward.
“Ouch!” Lauren accidently hit the garbage can with her hip, which tottered and fell sideways – onto Jill.
“Arggh!” Jill crashed onto the ground, striking herself on the face with the trash can lid. Garbage poured out, covering her.
“Brrt!” Annie pounced on Jill’s stomach, finding a spot that didn’t have trash on it.
“Good job, Annie,” Lauren praised.
“Yeah. We’ve caught the killer – again!”