"Shortest kid in his class, Lorraine says. Didn't get a growth spurt until seventh grade, and then he never stopped. Just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger."
Jack downed the last bite of his funnel cake, which he'd devoured in seconds, wiped his hands, and then whipped his head to the side. "Do you hear that?"
"Let's just always assume this from now on: if you have to ask me, I didn't actually hear it."
"It's Judd."
We were pretty clear on UltraShopMart as the culprits, but we still had the shoes with what might have been blood on them and the missing alibi to think about.
Judd was with his wife, both of them in festive holiday colors. When they saw us, he waved and strolled toward us.
"Tess, Jack, nice to see you. We'll be open for pizza in Booth Nine in an hour, if you get hungry," Judd said.
Mrs. Judd elbowed him. "Honey! Don't push your pizza on everyone we see. If it's good enough, they'll come."
Judd's face flushed, and he cleared his throat a couple of times. Then he looked at Jack. "This is kind of embarrassing, but I figured you heard us arguing when you were at the shop. I know about shifter hearing and all that."
Mrs. Judd's eyes widened. "Oh. Oh, dear. I'm so sorry. I never would have inflicted our private conversation on you if I'd known."
Jack's face was nearly as red as Judd's now. "No, I … I really didn't hear much. Went back into the store right away to give you your privacy."
"Well, anyway." Judd cleared his throat again. "I, ah, I'd slipped out to go to Orlando at four in the morning on Sunday. A friend of mine … Well, he had to file for bankruptcy. Close his restaurant down. I, ah, I bought one of his ovens at the auction. Felt guilty and ashamed, like I was taking from his mouth and the mouths of his kids, but I saw him there and he said he was glad it was me. He's going to open a frozen yogurt place next."
"Maybe get to the point, honey," his wife said, patting his arm.
"Yeah. Right. I had to pick the thing up Sunday morning at five. Didn't tell anybody, because I felt guilty. Then I was in a foul mood and cut my dang arm, lifting it into the truck. Got blood all over my shoes. Wiped it off the best I could and took my friend out to a big breakfast at the Waffle Manor."
"At five in the morning Sunday? In Orlando?" I'd heard but wanted to be absolutely sure.
"Yep. Finally had to break down and tell my wife." Judd put an arm around her. "All she said was that next time, she wanted to come get breakfast with us. I'm a lucky man, I tell you. A lucky man."
Jack and I both smiled and, after a bit of small talk, they wandered off to find some hot chocolate.
"A lucky man," Jack said. "And now not a murder suspect, because that alibi would be the easiest thing in the world to check."
I grinned at him, feeling a weight lift. "Rooster didn't do it; he was napping and cooking breakfast. Emeril didn't do it; he was having a new romance. And now Judd didn't do it; he was picking up a new oven and having breakfast with a friend."
"Pretty glad none of our friends are murderers, I've gotta say. Also, it's weird how often that issue comes up since I moved here." Jack shook his head. "Very weird."
"Weird, maybe, but there's Andy, and I think it's time we tell him our theory."
Andy saw us heading toward him and jerked his chin toward the jail. We followed him in, and when he turned to face us, all three of said the same thing at once:
"It's UltraShopMart."
I held up a hand. "Jinx?"
39
Tess
We laid out our theory and reasoning for Andy and told him about Judd's alibi, and he nodded along with all of it, only asking a few questions along the way. Then he clapped his hands together once and told us what he'd learned.
"This Merks is a really bad guy. He's wanted on assault warrants in three different states, and for a federal weapons charge. I called your buddy Alejandro, who put me in touch with the right people, and then I made cops in Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia very happy. Now it's just a fight over who gets him first—and that's allifhe didn't kill Darryl or commit any of the crimes here, in which case we'll keep him in Florida."
My phone buzzed, and I glanced down at it. "You'll like this, then. Dallas just texted me the information you already knew about Merks, but he went in a different direction. He and Austin looked into crime sprees in places UltraShopMart was trying to establish new stores. Surprise, surprise: the last five places they've built stores experienced exactly what we're going through. Thefts, vandalism, and minor assaults. In every case, the town used some of the UltraShopMart tax dollars to beef up the police department."
Andy whistled. "Wow. I almost don't know whether to be furious or impressed. That's a pretty devious scheme. I'm not surprised that nobody has linked the crime waves with UltraShopMart before—I sure didn't."
