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Chapter one of a cozy mystery book I am trying to write. |
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Case of the Peeping Tom v.2 Chapter 1 It was a beautiful day, and I was enjoying digging holes in my yard for the two orange trees I would plant. I was getting ahead of myself, though. I ordered them, but they hadn’t arrived yet. I had always wanted to have a garden, and now I had the land to do it. When I lived out west, I had a small apartment and was working all the time. Leaving Los Angeles three months ago was the best thing I had ever done. My name is Millie Sandford, and I am a semi-retired nurse by profession and a gardener by desire. I’m an average height of five foot four and about average weight, and I have gray hair and hazel eyes. Today, I am dressed in old jeans and a sweatshirt for digging in the dirt. The mornings are still a little chilly here in North Florida in early spring. My best friend Carol assures me that all the frost and freezes are done for the year so I can start making my garden a reality. I used to work as a nurse in a big medical center in Los Angeles. I left Los Angeles after this crazy nurse tried to kill me. Granted, I was trying to get her put in jail, but only because she killed two of the patients at the hospital where I worked. That’s a story for another time. I realized that life was too short to work fifty to sixty hours a week and not have time to do the things I loved to do. And, of course, an apartment is not conducive to having a garden, at least not the kind I wanted. How I ended up in the small town of Millsap is easy, though. I threw a dart at the map, and it landed in Florida. From there, I just took a much-needed vacation and drove around the state for several weeks. South Florida, while beautiful, was too crowded for me, and the middle of the state was too crowded and expensive. I was leaving Florida, stopped in Millsap for the night at a B&B, and fell in love. Millsap is a small town in North Florida. Its claim to fame is the plentiful springs in the area. They are gorgeous. Millsap is on the edge of a river that is fed by springs. It’s a great area to picnic, float down the river, fish, or swim. There are tall, old oak trees with Spanish moss. The town itself is small, with no big box stores or even a Walmart. The town is pleasantly old-fashioned, with lots of Victorian houses and stately southern homes. I live on a 5-acre plot of land that is mainly cleared in a house that is relatively new by area standards. Built in the 1950s, it had lots of windows, including a large bay window that faced south. The soil is good if a little sandy. There is lots of room for gardening. My phone rang as I dug in the dirt, creating the future home for the Satsuma orange tree’s roots. Answering it, I found out it was Ray Woodecker, the owner of the local hardware store and the Garden Center. “Good morning, Mrs. Sanford; this is Ray from the Garden Center. I was calling to let you know your Satsuma orange trees are here, and you can pick them up whenever you’re ready.” “That’s fantastic! I’ll be down shortly to get them. Thank you so much for calling and letting me know.” I hung up the phone, excited. Rushing into the house, I took a quick shower and changed into a clean pair of blue jeans and a soft blue tee shirt. Grabbing my keys and my purse, I hurried to my bright red pickup truck. I was so glad I had traded in my Corolla for a pickup. There was no way that two trees would fit into that Corolla. And I had been warned that the dirt roads around here could get impassable by a regular vehicle in the rainy season. So, a 4-wheel drive became mine because even though I lived on a paved road, my driveway was long, and it was dirt. I needed to be able to get out to go to work, even if I only worked one day a week. It only took about 15 minutes to reach the town of Millsap and Ray’s Garden Center on the west side of town. The parking lot was empty, which I thought was strange. I parked near the door and entered the main area; The cash register was to my left, but there was no one there. I didn't see anyone going in a little farther and looking around. Calling out a hello? brought no results. I was growing uneasy. Ray had just called me and couldn’t believe he would leave, knowing I was coming. I couldn’t believe he would leave the place unattended. Deciding to see if I could find the trees on my own, I started looking around. The plants that needed full sun were directly ahead, and to the back were the shade-loving plants. To the left was a path to the outside yard where dirt, pavers, bricks, blocks, and other garden paraphernalia were kept. I went that way, still looking for another person. I saw a bunch of trees standing up against the front fence, and I started that way, thinking that my trees would be there. There was a cart loaded with concrete blocks to the side of the path, and there was one on the ground. It appeared to be stained with a dark substance. I saw a boot sticking out from behind the tree pots. There was a foot sticking out from that boot with a body attached. It appeared to be a dark-haired man dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt. I stood there for a minute and realized that he was not breathing. Gingerly I felt for a pulse, but there was none. His skin was cool to the touch. I called 911 and backed away from the body. Looking at him, I knew I could do nothing to help him. The police arrived, cordoned off the area, and asked me to stand back by the register. While I stood there waiting, I looked around. The register was closed, and the little door to the cash register kiosk was closed as well. Nothing seemed to be out of place. A tall, well-built man in a blue suit with a white shirt with an open collar entered the store, hesitated when he saw me standing there, then went back to talk to the police officers. After a short while, he returned and said, “I’m Detective Mark Henderson from Butlerville. You found him?” “Yes,” I said. Start with your name and address, then tell me everything that happened from the very beginning. I described how I arrived to find an empty parking lot and no one on the premises. “I went looking for my trees and found …” My voice trailed off. “There was no one here when you arrived. Didn’t you think that was strange, Mrs. Sanford?” The detective from Butlerville asked again. I had answered this question several times. “Yes, I thought it strange. No one was here when I got here; I called out and got no answer. And yes, the parking lot was empty.” The detective, a tall, muscular man with gray hair at his temples, wearing black pants and a black suit coat open, the collar of his blue shirt open, handed me a business card. “Call me no matter the time if you think of anything else. And don’t leave the area. I will want to speak with you again.” I took the card and watched the detective turn and talk to the team processing the crime scene. I was ready to leave just as Ray came hurrying through the door. He walked right by me and went straight to the detective. “Well, I guess I won’t get my trees today.” I pulled myself up into my truck and made my way home. The first thing I did when I got home was make sure all the doors and windows were locked. Then I called Carol. “I couldn’t believe it, Carol. He was just lying there. The cop thinks I did it! He told me not to leave town. What am I going to do? I didn’t do it!” “Calm down, Millie. I know you didn’t do it. I am sure that the police know that, too. It’s got to be just routine. If he thought you did it, he would have taken you to the police station. Are you ok? Do you want me to come over?” “No, I think I’ll be ok, just a little shook up. I never expected to see something like that here. In LA, sure, you wouldn’t believe the things I saw in the emergency room. But that was a big city, not a small town like Millsap. They only have two police officers here. That detective was from Butlerville, not here. I’ve met both Hank and Jamie. It just was scary, Carol. What if I had gotten there a little earlier? Would the murderer still be there?” “It probably was somebody passing through and thought of getting some easy money.” “I wonder if it is Tom Bender. He works for Ray, either at the hardware store or at the Garden Center.” “I haven’t met him yet. What does he look like?” “He is about my height and has dark hair that is starting to go gray.” “This guy had dark hair, but it’s hard to tell how tall he is. I heard the police say that there was still money in the cash register, so there was no robbery.” “I don’t know then. I’ll watch the news tonight to see if there is any mention of it.” Carol and I talked a little more about this and that; by then, I was calmer but felt exhausted by the morning and decided to take a nap. When I woke up, it was dark outside, and I was a little confused. Why was I in bed? The alarm clock said it was only eight p.m. I don’t usually go to bed this early. Then, the memories came back, and a chill ran through me. I remembered the day and shuddered again. Getting up, I went to the kitchen and made some tea. I fixed myself a sandwich, not because I was hungry, but because I hadn’t had anything to eat since early morning. I knew I would get shaky and irritable if I didn’t eat. So, I ate a sandwich and sipped my tea. After that, I went to the living room to get my book and then remembered that my book was a murder mystery. Did I really want to read that tonight? I looked on my bookshelf for some light reading that might help me fall asleep again. Seems that my tastes in books ran to murder mysteries. I would have to start trying to read other genres. I sat quietly, sipping my tea and reliving the day’s events. What really bothered me was the sheriff saying that I couldn’t leave town until he told me I could. If the sheriff was suspicious of me, I could be arrested! Just because I was alone with the body, and there was no sign that anyone else had been there. I didn’t even know who the guy was, let alone kill him. I was going to need to help myself with this one. I was afraid that the sheriff wouldn’t look too far for another suspect. As I sat there and thought about the situation, I realized that even though I was not a detective, I had some idea of the procedure for catching a criminal. I had certainly read enough about it in my books. I knew the police procedure that had occurred this morning. Everything they did was familiar to me. Tomorrow, maybe I would ask some questions and see what I could find out, especially the man’s name. |
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