{"id":837,"date":"2011-10-04T19:32:16","date_gmt":"2011-10-05T00:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/?p=837"},"modified":"2011-11-15T10:05:54","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T16:05:54","slug":"chapter-3-clean-plate-club-murder-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/chapter-3-clean-plate-club-murder-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 3 Clean Plate Club Murder Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prior chapters can be found in the murder mystery category.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Laurel and Greenbay was just on the outskirts of the business center where it abutted the college campus.\u00a0 <\/span>This area included the usual array of college business, an all night pizza joint, a hemp clothing store and a second hand book store.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I parked the next block over and joined the bunch of rubber neckers straining at the slick yellow crime scene tape.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The EMTs had just snugged the corpse into the black plastic body bag and were zipping it up.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Clearly someone had died.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I inched my way over to the detective who had clipped his badge to his overcoat.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHi I am Liza Blue, are you Detective McNitt?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>I flashed him my PI license.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cYou called me about the victim here?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, is this your card \u2013 it\u2019s the only ID we found on her.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>He handed me my crumpled card.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, that is my card, but I am not sure if I have ever met with the victim, can you just unzip her a bit and I will let you know.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Rush pulled back the gurney, shielded the body from the murmuring crowd and unzipped.\u00a0 <\/span>There was not a mark on Penny\u2019s face, but I could imagine the mangling that lay beneath the black plastic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPoor kid,\u201d I said, \u201cDo you think that it is a college student?\u00a0 <\/span>Someone must have noticed her.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She looks very distinctive.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

McNitt caught my dissembling immediately and I was impressed.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cMs Blue, have you or haven\u2019t you met with her.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>What is her name?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell all I can tell you is that I got a phone message from a Penny \u2013 she didn\u2019t give me a last name, and I never met with her.\u00a0 <\/span>She said that she got my name from your Detective Grimes, so he might know more, but she didn\u2019t leave any details on the message.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She just wanted to meet at the coffee shop around the corner here, so I didn\u2019t get her home address.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>What happened to her anyway?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I was still dissembling, but hopefully I had ladled in enough details that Rush would feed me in return.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Also, I knew that Grimes was off camping in <\/span>Montana<\/span> and would not be in cell phone range for at least another day.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the campus police saw her lying here and called us in.\u00a0 <\/span>Hard to believe, but we have not found any witnesses yet.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But from the looks of it, it is a hit and run based on these skid marks.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Not really sure of the cause of death, we\u2019ll have to wait for those black crows down in the morgue to make the pronouncement.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Didn\u2019t see any obvious trauma, but that doesn\u2019t mean anything.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell sorry that I cannot help you anymore,\u201d I said.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHere is a fresh business card and give me a call if you think that I can be of any help. Grimes and I are friends so I will certainly be in touch with him.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>All I can tell you is that she was not a client of mine.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Dissembling again \u2013 for the purposes of this conversation, the definition of a client was someone who had signed a contract with me.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The ambulance took off and the crowd began to disperse.\u00a0 <\/span>The cops were trying to corral the bystanders to take witness statements, but many just faded into the misty night air.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I saw one young downcast woman with hands in her pockets, leaning against a store window.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>As she saw the police move outside the main throng of people to interview the next ring of bystanders, she quickly pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her eyes, turned and walked quickly down the street.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I like to think that I am a student of body language.\u00a0 <\/span>Give me three shadows, and I can usually pick out the most likely witness\/victim\/perpetrator based on the stoop of the shoulders, the crane of the neck or the angle of the jaw.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>There was something about this women that made me want to follow her.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Her slumped shoulders, clenched jaw and hurried pace were throwing off an interesting combination of dejection and defiance.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>My guess was that she had some vested interest in the victim \u2013 knew her at the very least.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She strode up the block turned right and then right again and right again, so that she was now only a half a block from the corpse.\u00a0 <\/span>However, this circuitous route meant that she avoided the crime scene and the cops canvassing for witnesses.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Interest definitely peaked at this point.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I saw her enter a coffee shop \u2013 called with a striking lack of imagination, \u201cCollege Coffee.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>A classic college joint with a few tables and ratty couch, and a corner reserved for live music.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I walked in and the stale smoky air washed over me, and I felt my shoes sticking to the floor.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I didn\u2019t see the women at first, but then she emerged from the back wearing an apron.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I sat down as she approached me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I get for you?\u201d she said as she handed me a delaminating plastic menu.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell what looks good here, do you have an specials?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She grimaced and shook her head.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cJust the basic stuff, but I\u2019m supposed to tell you that the soup is home made, but I wouldn\u2019t want to live in that home.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s chicken noodle today.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDid I just see you around the corner where that poor women got hit by a car.\u00a0 <\/span>Do you know what happened?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Do you know her?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not everyday that I see a dead body.\u00a0 <\/span>That was Penny, she worked her, I mean used to work here.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She gave my table top a perfunctory wipe down and headed back to the kitchen.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She can back with my soup \u2013 broth the color of bilge water with a few dispirited peas and carrots bobbing around.\u00a0 <\/span>There was no chicken in sight.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?\u00a0 <\/span>I met Penny the other day \u2013 she responded to an ad that I placed for a babysitter and we discovered that we both knew the Browns here in town, but I didn\u2019t catch her last name.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell I can\u2019t imagine that she would make a good babysitter, she rarely came to work on time, and spent more time on her cell phone.\u00a0 <\/span>This is not the first time I have had to cover for her. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m sorry, it\u2019s certainly not her fault she missed her shift tonight, but she was not my favorite.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Never covered for me.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHas she worked here for a long time?\u00a0 <\/span>Was she a student or what?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell she was only around for about a month, and I don\u2019t think that she was a student.\u00a0 <\/span>Not sure where she lived either \u2013 sometimes I think that she even slept in the back.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I think that the manager was going to fire her, so maybe that is why she was looking for another job.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell I would like to notify the Brown\u2019s,\u201d I said, perpetuating my lie.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDo you think that her information is in her personnel file?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDoes this look like a place that has an HR department?\u201d she snorted.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI think that she just wandered in one day, and Johnny, the manager put her to work.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIs Johnny here?\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps he has more information \u2013 she must have filled out a W2 form, that sort of thing.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJohnny is not here, in fact he is hardly ever here.\u00a0 <\/span>The last time I saw him is when Penny showed up.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And that\u2019s the thing that really pisses me off.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He pays her cash plus lets her snitch food \u2013 and I am on a measly hourly wage with taxes taken out.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s just not fair.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Now I even have to work her shift and I\u2019m sure that overtime is a novel concept to<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Johnny.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You know she left her purse here and I was going to take it down to the police station after my shift, but I don\u2019t really want to get involved.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Will you do me the favor?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSure I can do that,\u201d I said as I pushed the tasteless soup away.\u00a0 <\/span>She scooped up bowl, went back into the kitchen and returned with my bill and large lumpy bag which she dumped into the chair next to me. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to tell you the soup stunk,\u201d she said.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cBut make sure you tell all your friends to come here.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And thanks for taking the purse.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThanks for the info, and keep the change,\u201d I said as I handed here a $20.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI\u2019ve worked my share of double shifts in my life, and it\u2019s a bitch, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I slung the bag over my shoulder and headed out, eager to start the purse post-mortem in my car.\u00a0 <\/span>As I walked down Greenbay toward <\/span>Laurel Street<\/span>, I realized that I was kitty corner from the Goddard Todd Photography studio.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I could see a banner announcing the opening of \u201cSelf and Sib.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I crossed the street to take a quick look, and noticed Nick Nichol\u2019s handiwork \u2013 a series of pictures and quotes from GQ magazine.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>There were a couple of photographs of a very tan Goddard decked out in tight white Levi\u2019s and open shirt.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He was casually sitting at an outdoor caf\u00e9, legs crossed with one espadrille hanging from his toe.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The story was called \u201cThe Essentials:\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What is your favorite breakfast?<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Making my sister\u2019s favorite blueberry pancakes on her birthday.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Favorite place to eat breakfast?<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the sun comes up on Machu Picchu<\/span>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Mystical and inspiring.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Favorite clothes?<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My white Levi\u2019s and a pair of espadrilles.\u00a0 <\/span>My mother says that I should not wear white after Labor Day, so I try to follow summer all year long \u2013 <\/span>Bondi <\/span>Beach<\/span> in <\/span>Sydney<\/span>, kayaking in Patagonia in <\/span>Argentina<\/span> \u2013 all highly recommended.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Favorite accessory?<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My backgammon board.\u00a0 <\/span>I like to sit in a caf\u00e9 near the Acropolis and play with some old codgers.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>No need for English when you have backgammon!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Who are your peeps, dare we call them your God Squad?<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I know that I have a name that is easy to make fun of, but it\u2019s a family name and I\u2019m proud of it.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ll tell you my sister Dessa got off easily.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Here given name is Teresa, but if I\u2019m Goddard, she might as well be a Goddess and from\u00a0there Teresa just got shortened to Dessa.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Besides it fits her.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She is my best friend and muse.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Seriously, Goddard, most people would think that you got it made \u2013 out of a corner office to all corners of the world.\u00a0 <\/span>How did you get involved in photography?<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I like to say that photography chose me.\u00a0 <\/span>I am grateful to my parents who gave me the opportunity to travel throughout my life, and I just started taking my camera along.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I also had a great teacher, Ned Houston at <\/span>Santa <\/span>Teresa <\/span>University<\/span>, and one thing lead to another.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>My latest exhibition is something of a departure since I am showing my portrait photography for the first time.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What is your one piece of advice?<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Always follow your bliss.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I hoisted the purse back on my shoulder and followed my bliss back to my car.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\nFollow Liza Blue on: \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>Share: \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prior chapters can be found in the murder mystery category. Laurel and Greenbay was just on the outskirts of the business center where it abutted the college campus.\u00a0 This area included the usual array of college business, an all night … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-murder-mystery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iVc8-dv","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}