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“SO DO YOU MIND TELLING me your side of the story, Ms Sweet?” Troy asked Dana as they stood off to the side while the scene investigation was happening.
Ms Sweet?
Shouldn’t they be on a first name basis now? What was going on there?
A light bulb appeared in Dana’s mind. He probably didn’t want to let on how close he knew Dana. Not that they were close, of course. They’d only been sort of involved in two murders already. The first being the horrible critic who’d slammed her grandmother’s café. Then there was her uncle’s late wife who’d been poisoned. Dana was by no means a pro, but she certainly knew a thing or two about solving mysteries since she hosted and created a popular mystery riddles blog.
“Well, there isn’t much else to say, except, I was assigned to cater Mr. Renaldo’s engagement party this afternoon.”
“This afternoon?” Troy said. He paused his pen from writing for a moment. “Why are you here now?” He glanced at his expensive-looking gold watch.
“Well, Mr. Renaldo called and asked me to deliver some more cupcakes.”
“More cupcakes?” Troy scribbled on his notepad.
“Yes, more cupcakes. The café brought some over this morning as per his request.”
“Isn’t that odd.”
“What’s odd about that?”
“Why would he want to have pastries delivered in the morning for an afternoon event? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have it ready for the party so they’re fresh?”
“Yes, you’re right. I was thinking about that.”
“Can I see a copy of the order request?”
“The order request?”
“Yes, a copy of the order verifying his request to bring over the cupcakes early.”
“Well...actually, come to think of it. He just called it in.”
“So you spoke to Mr. Renaldo this morning then?”
“Well, no. Inga did. Inga, the baker.”
He sighed deeply. He wrote Inga’s name down and a question mark beside it to call her later, probably. Troy then let out a yawn. Poor thing. Seemed as if he’d been pulling an all nighter and then some. She knew that some cops did twelve hour shifts at the station, but she figured Troy was probably doing some over time. It looked as if his bed was calling him.
“You don’t think he was...poisoned, do you?”
“It’s hard to say right now until we get the lab results, but we’re going to look at every angle.”
What she wanted to ask him was if he thought there was any sign of foul play. She didn’t have time to properly look around or observe the body too closely.
Just then, a loud scream from behind then interrupted their conversation.
“Oh, my God! Daddy! Daddy?” The voice came from a young woman with sandy blond hair with dark roots and bright, sky blue eyes that were clouded in tears. She ran over to the body.
She had on a shimmering pink satin or was that silk night gown and pink slippers. Her hair looked as if it was disheveled from sleep.
Dana couldn’t help but notice her attire. It was after twelve o’clock noon hour and she was still in her night clothes?
Not long after that, three men came downstairs along with George and Molly who probably alerted them of the incident.
“Father? Father? No!” The other two men said, over the body. Both man had dark brown hair and looked like twins, but not quite. One had glasses and the other didn’t.
The other man with dark blond hair was hugging the young woman.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay, sweetie. Everything’s going to be okay,” the blond man comforted the young woman. He tried to put his arms around her but she shrugged him off.
“What do you know?” she shrieked. “It’s not going to be okay, you idiot!”
Ouch.
Dana guessed everyone probably grieved a little differently. Still, she felt terrible for the blond guy. He was only trying to comfort her.
She hovered over her father’s body, kneeling down and touching his arms sleeves and Dana noted she touched the breast part of his jacket.
“I’m sorry about your loss, ma’am,” Troy said. “But I’m afraid you can’t touch the bod...your father, right now. We’re still going over the crime scene.”
“What happened, officer?” the man in glasses with dark brown hair demanded as he stood up.
“And you are, sir?”
“Tierry Renaldo, Jr. I’m his son. And this is my sister, Jackie. Her fiancé, Miles and my brother, Tony.”
Dana noted that the two brunet men were Renaldo’s boys and the blond woman with dark roots, his daughter and the blond guy, was his daughter’s fiancé. Seemed like everybody was dressed, or undressed, in their PJs. Were they up late on a Friday night partying? Or probably not. Dana did think it was odd, though.
“Sorry about your loss, sirs.” Troy’s voice was firm, yet compassionate. Dana admired seeing Troy in action for some reason.
“But we’re still going over some details,” Troy continued. “And if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask all of you some questions, too.”
“We’ll co-operate, officer.” Junior swallowed hard and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
Something was very odd about that whole scene. Dana sensed something but she just couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
But here was the billion dollar question: Where on earth was Goldie, Mr. Renaldo’s supposedly loving fiancée?