Tag Archive | mysteries

Chapter 16—Pray

Oct18

Start the story here if you’re new to it. This is a completely free write with very little to no editing. Comments are encouraged!

Chapter 16

Pray

 

Feeling guilty from her overindulgence the night before, Erin decided to go for an early-morning run before Scott picked her up to head to Hazel’s. She hadn’t slept very well, which wasn’t surprising, so she needed to make sure she had her thoughts together and her emotions ready for what she might encounter at Hazel’s.

It amazed her as she thought about it that, in all the years she had known Hazel and interacted with her, she had never been inside her house. Gordon had known her for more years than she, obviously, but even he had not been inside her home in the 20 years since Bernie and Bryan had died. It was exceedingly sad. Hazel really had no one she let into her life.

Of course, she had been completely devastated by the loss of her family. She and Bernie had waited 15 long years for a child, so to have that precious boy taken just five years later was a trauma Erin knew not many people could recover well from. So Hazel’s inward turn and her mental collapse, for lack of a better term, was understandable, but still very sad.

Erin didn’t even know what Hazel had done for a job before Bryan came along. She added that to the questions she would ask her dad when they got together with Ellen and Ty and his family later that evening. She sure hoped Hazel was OK.

Arriving back at her apartment sweaty and hungry, Erin took a quick shower, pulled on a long-sleeved Raider’s T-shirt and jeans, and headed to the kitchen where Einstein eagerly awaited her appearance. He wound his body around her legs and meowed pitifully as she shook food into his bowl and refreshed his water. As she set it on the purple and white plastic mat used to keep the slops off the laminate floor, it occurred to her that she didn’t even know if Hazel had any pets. That thought send her into a bit of a panic as she pictured some pitiful kitty going without food for all these days. She glanced at the clock on the stove and saw that she had 30 minutes to get some breakfast before Scott showed up. Cereal and toast it would be.

 

At exactly 9:00, Scott pulled up outside. Erin had been antsy so she was waiting on her steps, scrolling through Facebook as she waited. She ran down the stairs and hopped into the car. “Good morning,” they greeted each other simultaneously, and then grinned.

Scott pulled away from the house and asked, “Think you’re ready for this? We really have no idea what we’ll encounter.”

Erin shook her head, “No, but it’s necessary, isn’t it? We can’t just do nothing at this point.”

“We went ahead and got things cleared through a county judge so there wouldn’t be any problem with you going in, just in case it’s a crime scene or anything. You let me go first just to make sure it’s safe, and then we’ll still want to use shoe covers and gloves to handle anything.”

“Got it,” Erin acknowledged. But the knot in her stomach tightened just a bit more. Good thing she hadn’t eaten a heavy breakfast.

In just a few minutes, they were pulling into the short drive in front of Hazel’s house. Nothing had changed from a few days before, but Erin still studied every detail. Badly chipped paint. Overgrown weeds. Plywood on the windows. Dead plants on the porch. Oh, Lord. What were they going to encounter inside?

Erin sent up a quick prayer that they actually would not find Hazel, because there was no doubt in her mind that Hazel would not be alive if they did. Scott took a small toolkit out of his glove box and approached the front door, Erin right behind him. He knocked. “Hazel!” He called with a loud voice. “Hazel, it’s Scott Preston, Clairmont PD!”

No sound came from inside the house. So Scott used a tool to slip between the door and the frame and unlock the deadbolt, and another to unlock the door handle. Boy, Erin thought, he made that look easy. Note to self: get better locks!

“Stay here,” Scott reminded her, and then he opened the door and stepped through. After just about a minute he called out, “Erin, you’re definitely gonna want to see this.”

Now even more curious than ever, Erin pushed the door further open and stepped into the entry hall. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped open. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

 

 

Chapter 15—When

Oct18

If you’d like to start from the beginning of the story, and really, that is the very best place to start, click here! This is an unedited free write that is a challenge for the month of October. Comments are encouraged!

Chapter 15

When

 

The rest of the week went quickly for Erin as she had to open the store both Thursday and Friday. Harry had mercy on her and gave her Saturdays and Sundays off. That was definitely a luxury in the restaurant business. But since her job was mostly administrative, she felt OK with that plan.

Friday night, she and Cory and Pepper and Scott (not a double date, mind you, Scott was just a friend!) went to the Grand Lake Theater in Downtown Oakland to see the newest Marvel movie. Pepper insisted. She was a Marvel addict. The others liked them well enough, but Pepper was a fanatic.

After the movie they decided to indulge and head to Fenton’s Creamery for the most amazing ice cream creations ever. It was a little more than a mile’s walk, so they decided to enjoy the October weather and make the trek on foot. Pepper’s chosen footwear of three-inch heels to accent her black and white polka-dotted cold-shoulder dress proved to be a challenge, so within a block she decided to just take them off and carry them.

The four friends enjoyed their companionable argument about whether the villain was really a villain or an anti-hero with Pepper feeling sorry for the circumstances he was thrown into and Scott insisting that he was a villain who just needed to be put away. They laughed and joked and punched each other in the shoulders as they made their way down Piedmont Ave., finally arriving at their destination about 30 minutes later.

Wanting to save room for the real stuff, Erin and Pepper both ordered the amazing crab sandwich while the men went the burger route: Mushroom Swiss for Scott and Western Bacon Cheeseburger for Cory. They said they needed their energy for their big pick-up basketball game in the morning. It was going to be the ice cream creations that were going to take a lot of decision making skills. In the end, the girls decided to be smart and split a Saddleback Brownie while Scott got the Black and White in honor of his patrol car, and Cory went with the Cookie Connection Sundae. Too bad they couldn’t just jump to dessert, but they were responsible adults after all.

As they were finishing up, scraping their containers of the very last vestiges of ice cream that they could, Scott suddenly said, “Oh, hey, Erin, I was taking to my captain about Hazel and he has given us permission to go ahead and enter her residence to check things out, since she’s still missing.”

“Whaa?!” Erin exclaimed, shocked and surprised by this sudden announcement. “Are you serious? When? Who?” Pepper and Cory made exclamations of surprise as well. All eyes were on Scott.

“Tomorrow morning, early as you want,” Scott replied, wiping his lips of the last of the sugary treat.

“I get to go?” Erin again exclaimed. This was getting better and better. Finally, they were making progress. At least she hoped they would be making progress. She felt sure the answer was in the house.

Scott chuckled. “Cap figures that since Hazel called you, you’re the closest thing to family that she’s got. Have you ever been in her house?”

Erin shook her head. “She never let anyone in her house. I’m not sure why, but judging by the outside, maybe she was ashamed or something.” She hadn’t really stopped to consider what she might be getting herself into. She’d be sure she brought some disposable gloves along.

The group got up from their table, a good bit heavier than when they had sat down, and started the hike back to their cars at the theater. Cory and Erin walked hand in hand, flanked by Pepper on the left and Scott on the right. Pepper wanted to make sure nobody mistook them for a couple. Erin determined to get her friend alone again and find out what was going on in that big stubborn brain of hers.

Scott and Cory settled on an 11 a.m. start time for their pick up game at the local high school, so Erin determined that 9:00 would work for Scott to pick her up to head to Hazel’s. They walked the rest of the way in companionable, over-stuffed silence. Sleep wasn’t going to come easily on these full bellies, but boy had it been worth it.

 

 

Chapter 14—Ask

Oct18

Start at chapter 1 if you’re new to the story by clicking here. This is a free write with no editing, so your comments or concerns are welcome! Enjoy.

Chapter 14

Ask

 

“Are you serious?” Erin’s dad looked at her from across the table in the brightly lit Bo’s Burger Bistro three blocks west and two blocks south of the bagel shop. As always, Gordy had been right on time and they beat the dinner crowd that always seemed to fill the Village favorite. They had already ordered from the extensive menu and were enjoying a basket of crispy onion rings and glasses of lemonade while they waited for their culinary delights. Bo’s burgers really were the best.

“So, let me get this straight,” Gordy began. “Hazel hasn’t been seen around the village for two days, and you’re worried something has happened to her because she left a voicemail for you late at night and she sounded scared.”

Erin nodded her head. “I know that’s not much to go on, but you always taught us to observe what’s going on around us, and if we see something, say something, right? Well, I’m saying something, but nobody’s taking it very seriously.” She grabbed another onion ring and chomped down on it in frustration.

Trying to channel her inner Kinsey Malone, Erin tried a different angle. “What do you know about Green Glass Vineyards and Winery?”

“Did we just change subjects here,” Gordy asked, “or does this still have to do with Hazel?”

Not wanting to admit to her dad that she was snooping around Hazel’s house, yet really wanting information that might help her make heads or tails out of what was going on, Erin hesitated. Deciding to just jump in with both feet she said, “It’s still about Hazel. I found a business card outside her garage that didn’t look like it had been out in the elements very long. It made me wonder that her disappearance and the winery might be connected.”

Their server arrived with their burgers just then, steaming plates of golden wheat buns and thick, juicy burgers that set Erin’s mouth to watering as soon as she caught sight of them. Had she forgotten to eat lunch again? All the works on her Red Zone burger and bacon and avocado on Gordy’s Touchdown were definitely the right choices. As was their habit, they cut each burger in half and swapped so they could share. It was too hard to narrow it down to just one choice.

This delay gave Gordy an opportunity to let his frustration over Erin’s foolhardy trip to Hazel’s cool down a bit before he made any comment. She cared, that was the main point, and he didn’t want to derail her completely from her concern for Hazel’s wellbeing. “OK, let’s look at this logically,” he said, swallowing his first bite. “I’ve known Hazel for a long time. She was destroyed by Bernie’s and Bryan’s deaths. She’s literally never been the same.”

“It’s so sad,” Erin responded, picking up her burger and holding it over her plate so that all the gooey goodness dripped there instead of on her shirt. “Bernie worked for the government, right?”

Gordy nodded because his mouth was full. “We weren’t completely sure what area he worked in, but we never got the idea that it was very dangerous. But they never talked about his work much.”

“So it’s conceivable that he could have gotten on the wrong side of some bad guys,” Erin insisted, offering Gordy the last onion ring, which he waved off. “You didn’t answer my question about Green Glass Winery. What do you know about them?”

Gordon chewed for a minute, trying to recollect what he knew over the years. “I know that a lot of the vineyards in Napa Valley and Sonoma and all over up there hit a hard time financially in the early 90s, but I don’t know too many of the details. That wasn’t really my realm.”

Erin looked up from her burger with interest. “Do you know if Green Glass was among them?”

“I don’t know specifically,” Gordon answered, pushing his gold-rimmed glasses further up on his nose, “Wine is a really big business in California, in case you didn’t know.” He grinned. He might be the economist in the family, but Erin held her own in the business end of things. “I know that many had to take out huge loans in order to stay in business. I don’t know specifically about Green Glass, but I do know that they’ve been around for a really long time.”

“So, it’s not outside the realm of possibility,” Erin pushed, “that Green Glass could have found some illegal way to stay afloat, and Bernie found out about it and wanted to blow the whistle.”

“No, it’s not,” her dad conceded, “But we never had any reason to believe that Bernie’s job had anything to do with criminal activity.”

Erin tucked all this information into the filing cabinet in her brain, and they finished their meal in companionable conversation, not wanting to spend the whole time on a heavy subject. Erin was very grateful for the relationship she had with her dad. Every since her mom’s death seven years earlier, they had been even closer than before.

As they settled the bill and were walking out the door, Erin took his arm. “Thanks for letting me ask all these questions. Gives me some things to think about. So, are we going to see Ellen this weekend?” Ellen was the 50-something widow “friend” her dad had been spending a lot of time with in the past year. Although she was an economist for the city of San Diego, she made the trip to the Bay Area often to see her adult kids, and a certain graying economics professor she had taken a liking to.

“I think that’s the plan,” he answered. “I’d like to see if you and Tyler and family could come for Sunday dinner. Haven’t seen enough of that grandson of mine lately.”

“Sounds good,” Erin said as they approached the parking lot where their cars were parked. “Just let me know when and if I should bring something. I was just thinking of texting Ty to see if I could see them, so this would work out great. “ She gave her dad a big hug, opened the door of her car and started up the distinctive VW Bug engine. Her dad waved as she backed out and he headed to his own car.

 

 

Chapter 13—Talk

Oct15

Click here to start from chapter 1 of this freely written, non-edited, month-long fiction project! Comments are encouraged!

Chapter 13

Talk

 

Erin spent the rest of her workday chatting with customers, helping behind the counter, and replenishing the fall items they sold in a small corner of the shop. Local artisans needed a place to sell their wares that didn’t cost them an arm and a leg in rental for booth space or an actual store of their own. Erin and Harry were more than happy to help them out. So jars of amazing apple butter, homemade fig cookies, candied orange slices sat alongside greeting cards with iconic pictures of the area’s bridges and other sites around the Bay Area.

Erin had lived in Clairmont her whole life. Day trips to San Francisco and Alcatraz, or east to Sacramento to visit the capital, or weekends in Mendocino or Carmel colored her childhood. She loved everything about the area. She was loyal to the area’s sports teams and attended games whenever feasible. And because her father was a professor at Cal, and she herself was an alumna, season tickets to the Bears football games were always a must.

Talking to customers was part of what she loved about working at the bagel shop. There were definitely regulars, like Ronald, who always ordered a poppy seed bagel (Led Bagelin), but never before he had a drug test. Ronald had some difficulty staying out of trouble, but he wasn’t a bad guy. Or Jerry, a reclusive loner who always came in alone, never talked to anyone, and was a mystery to everyone. Even where he lived was a mystery. But he showed up every Thursday for his large black coffee and Simon and Garbagel (known in the regular world as pumpernickel).

And Hazel. Nearly every day, Hazel would come into the shop around mid-morning. She always dressed in a long wool coat and galoshes, no matter the weather. Her graying hair was long but well kept. She spoke quietly and politely and ordered different things, saying she liked the variety. Occasionally she would peruse the items in the small retail area and maybe buy a jar of something or a trinket. She drove a little white Mazda that she’d had every since Erin could remember. The paint was peeling off a small dent on the left rear bumper, and there was a bumper sticker on the right side of the trunk that said “Save the Whales.”

Thinking about Hazel caused Erin to grow worried once again. Yes, it had only been two days, but she felt such a need to talk to someone who would take things seriously. Maybe she could play the voicemail recording for Scott, show him the Green Glass Vineyards and Winery card. Get him to start taking some action. What Erin really wanted to do was get inside Hazel’s house. But what possible reason could she use that Scott would accept? She didn’t know, but she had to try.

After going through the routine of closing the store, Erin sat back down at her desk and picked up her cell phone. She noticed that she had missed a text from her dad: “Swinging by at 5 to take you to dinner. Unless you have other plans.” Checking the time and seeing that it had only come in about 10 minutes ago, Erin texted back a thumbs up emoji and then focused on finishing up the few tasks she still needed to do. It would be good to talk to her dad. He always took her seriously.

Chapter 12—Praise

Oct15

Getting close to halfway through this project, and I am getting so excited! I know there’s a ton of work to be done if I ever want to publish this little puppy, but I have never gotten so far along in a story. Remember this is just an unedited free write. Comment if you find things that don’t make sense or really couldn’t happen. Also let me know what you like! Click here to start on chapter 1 if you’re new to the story.

 

Chapter 12

Praise

 

After a fruitless hour of searching through the Green Glass Winery website for clues to something that could be nailed down about as well as cream cheese in the warm sun, Erin gave up and tried to focus her attention on the work that actually needed to be done for the shop. Harry had mentioned some numbers not seeming right on the invoice from their food service company. So she spent the next hour and a half combing through every charge and checking the original order form. It was a tedious process, but she finally discovered that an order for 10 boxes of 100 paper plates was billed at 100 boxes. Oops. Someone’s fingers got a little happy on the keyboard.

Erin called her contact at the company, explained the error and worked out a credit to their account for the next order, plus a 20% additional for the mistake. This was why she loved working with Hiller Foods. They took care of their customers.

Getting up to stretch, she poked her head into the kitchen to tell Harry she had found the error, but didn’t see him. Charlie was busily washing industrial-sized pots and utensils, earbuds in as he danced to his favorite jam. She smiled. The curly-haired teen was a good worker, even if he was a little ditzy. Catching his attention, Erin motioned for him to take out an earbud and then said, “Morning, Charlie. Know where Harry went?”

“He left about 20 minutes ago, Erin,” Charlie answered. “But he didn’t say where he was going.”

Waving her thanks, Erin went out into the front of house. Several of the small tables in the dining area were occupied, and Gretchen was serving customers lined up in front. Erin stepped in to lend a hand. Gretchen smiled her thanks and continued helping the young mom, Lauren, and her twin boys, Barton and Banner, who were jumping up and down with excitement at the mid-morning treat. It was their usual Wednesday morning outing before story time at the library. Leaning over to give high fives to the boys and ruffle their bright blond hair made Erin miss her nephew, TJ. She’d call Liz later and see if she could see them this weekend. She made a mental note.

A few minutes later, Harry came in the front door, holding a newspaper in his hand. “Where’d you go?” Erin asked him, as she finished ringing up the elderly gentleman who was making his first visit to the store after moving to the Village just two months before.

Harry waved the paper at her as he enthusiastically answered, “I didn’t tell you last week that the ‘Clarion’ interviewed me for an article leading up to our 30th anniversary. Listen to this: ‘Praise for Be My Bagel.’

“’There’s nothing better for breakfast or a mid-morning treat than a bagel and schmear, and there’s no better place in the Bay Area to enjoy this chewy treat than the locally owned and operated Be My Bagel in the Village. The 60’s vibe appeals to young and old alike as owner Harry Harrison, sole proprietor for Be My Bagel’s nearly 30 years of business, stocks his shop with not only the highest quality and creative product, but also with employees who treat everyone who enters like family.’”

“It goes on,” Harry grinned. “Lots more mushy stuff. You can read it when you get a chance.”

“That’s great, Harry!” Erin responded with enthusiasm. Free publicity was always a good thing. Their little local newspaper didn’t have a huge reach, but food reviews sometimes were picked up by the bigger city papers. “You and I need to sit down and plan our promos for anniversary week.”

“We’ve got more than a month,” Harry assured her. “How about Monday morning?”

“Sounds good,” Erin replied. I’ll put it on my calendar. Oh and, hey, I figured out that invoice error. Someone at Hiller got a little over zealous with their zeroes and charged us for 100 boxes of paper plates instead of just 10. It’s all settled with an additional 20% credit for our trouble.”

Harry gave a thumbs up as he headed over to the table where the elderly gentleman sat to introduce himself and welcome him to the Village. Soon they were knee deep in a laughter-filled discussion on some topic that Erin could just grin at. Harry had made another loyal customer, no doubt. The man had a gift.