CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I scrolled through Heidi's Instagram feed and landed on a cozy picture of Heidi and Justin, proof Penny had found the right Heidi.
"And the mall?" I asked. "How do you know she works there?"
"Check her stories," Penny said.
I clicked on the little circle around her profile picture, and an image appeared of Heidi standing in front of Victoria's Secret. The words on the screen read Another day, another dollar. "She works at Victoria's Secret?" I asked.
"Apparently so," Penny replied.
The mall in Abbottsville was forty minutes from Star Junction. Rose Lake was between the two towns. Some residents from Star Junction commuted all the way to Abbottsville for work, but it was much more common in Rose Lake. With a population hovering around a hundred thousand, Abbottsville provided a source of employment often lacking in the small, rural towns around it.
"Let me get this straight," I said after scrolling through more photos, many of which were sprinkled with Justin's presence. "We're going to the mall to do what?" I asked. "Confront her about Justin? How do you know she's even still there?"
Penny reached over and tapped the phone screen. "Heidi posted the story about being at work twenty minutes ago. She's still there. I can feel it," Penny said with a confidence I wasn't sure I shared. "Plus, we're not going to confront her. We're going to innocently ask some questions, feel her out, get a sense about whether or not she's torn up about Justin's death, maybe confirm those pregnancy rumors once and for all."
"All without tipping her off or making her angry," I said doubtfully.
Penny shrugged. "If you want to tip her off and make her upset, that's your prerogative. This is your investigation. Think of me as the Watson to your Sherlock," she said.
"So, I'm the genius who ends up causing a scene, and you're the calming influence who cleans up my messes?" I asked dryly.
"At least I called you a genius," Penny said with a smug grin.
"I'm not so sure I'd call you a calming influence—more of a pot-stirrer," I teased.
"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Penny said as she exited the highway near the mall.
We'd be there in minutes, and our plan was more an idea than any actual steps toward success, but I had to admit I was curious about Heidi. Had she known she was the other woman when she was dating Justin? Had she been okay with that? Was she angry like Samantha? Grieving Justin's death?
We parked near the food court entrance and hurried across the parking lot, our heads ducked against the bitter wind. Once inside, we cut through the food court toward Victoria's Secret. I looked longingly at the people enjoying their dinners. "I haven't eaten dinner yet. Have you?" I asked Penny.
"Case first, dinner second," Penny said, moving at a determined clip.
We turned to the right, and I had to resist the urge to go into Anthropologie and smell all the candles. "When did you go from 'This is a job for the police' to gung-ho private investigator?" I asked.
Penny's eyes lit up as she said, "We should do that."
"Do what?" I had a bad feeling about where this was going.
"Become private investigators," she said as if she couldn't believe I hadn't understood what she meant.
The Victoria's Secret storefront came into view.
"We're going to do that in all our free time?" I asked dryly. "Last I checked, we both had full-time jobs we loved."
"It could be our side hustle," Penny said, her hazel eyes dancing with delight.
"And what are we going to investigate? Donna Mayor's missing cat?" I deadpanned. Penny started to respond, but I hushed her, grabbing her arm. "There she is," I whispered. Heidi stood next to a rack of lacy underwear, her distinctive red hair giving her away immediately. "What's the plan?" I asked quietly.
Penny hooked her arm through mine and pulled me toward the store. "Don't worry. I've got a plan," she said confidently.
Just those words were enough to make me worried.
Penny approached Heidi and said, "I was wondering if you could help us."
Heidi turned to us with a smile. "Of course. What can I do for you?" she asked, her voice light and sweet.
"My friend here, she's got a big date this weekend, and she needs something spectacular, something out there." Penny leaned in and stage-whispered, "It's going to be her first time, and she's really nervous."
Heidi looked at me with a mixture of awe and pity. Heat rushed across my face. I was going to kill Penny.
"Something spectacular but also out there?" Heidi asked Penny as if I wasn't even there. "Are we talking elegant? Sexy?"
"Maybe something kind of scandalous," Penny said. "I haven't been in this store in years." Penny fingered a see-through teddy. "How risqué do you guys get?"
Heidi scanned my body. "Why don't I pull some things. I'd say you're a size small, but I'll also pull some mediums to be safe." She pointed toward the back of the store and added, "Meet me at the dressing rooms."
Heidi set off on her mission to find risqué lingerie for me while we headed toward the back of the store.
I waited until Heidi was out of earshot before turning on Penny. "What the heck?" I hissed. "I've got a hot date? It's my first time? Did you see the look she gave me?"
"Relax," Penny said, seemingly unfazed by my whispered outburst. "We've got her right where we want her. You try things on. I'll chat her up and get what we need."
I wanted to argue that we could've done that without the elaborate backstory, but Heidi returned with her arms filled with options for my big date before I could say anything else. She unlocked one of the dressing rooms and hung the slips of barely there fabric on the hooks.
"Let's start with these," Heidi said. "If you need any other sizes, let me know."
She closed the door, leaving me alone in the dressing room. What was I supposed to do now? I had no intention of trying any of these on.
Penny's voice reached my ears. "How long have you worked at the mall?" she asked Heidi.
If I'd had to guess from Heidi's Instagram and her appearance, I'd say she was in her early twenties, several years younger than us, which also meant several years younger than Justin.
"Over a year," Heidi said, pride evident in her voice. "It's a good, steady job."
"We're from Star Junction," Penny said. "Driving over here is the only break we get from all that boredom."
Star Junction had certainly felt less boring in the last week.
"Tell me about it," Heidi said. "I'm from Rose Lake. Born and raised. It's sad when work is the most exciting part of your week." Someone tapped on the door, likely Heidi because she said, "You doing okay in there?"
"Just peachy," I called back, eternally grateful that the door went all the way to the floor. I reached over and rattled the hangers on the hook to sell the idea I was trying things on instead of what I was really doing—sitting on the bench prepared to take notes on my phone of anything useful Heidi might say.
"Don't forget to show me some of the options," Penny called back.
Now I was really going to kill her. Finn could investigate Penny's murder, and I could use my newfound sleuthing skills to get away with it. "Not going to happen," I called back.
"This new boyfriend of hers has her all distracted and nervous," Penny said in a patronizing tone. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Penny's delivery was about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but I had to give it to her, it was working so far. Silence descended on our trio. What was happening out there? I heard sniffling, and then Penny said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
That was it. Time to take over. I opened the door to see Heidi quietly crying with Penny awkwardly patting her back. "What's going on?" I asked.
"It's nothing," Heidi said, wiping away her tears. "I sort of had a boyfriend, but…"
"What is it?" Penny asked when it was clear Heidi wasn't going to continue on her own. "You can tell us anything."
A wave of guilt washed over me. We were pretending to care about this sweet girl, all the while caught up in our ulterior motives.
Heidi looked around, but thankfully we were the only customers in the store at the moment. She said, "You said you guys are from Star Junction?"
Penny nodded.
"I'm sure you heard about the guy who was murdered last weekend," Heidi said, wiping away the tears on her cheeks.
"Gwen here is the one who found his body. We were all friends from high school," Penny said.
I guess we were going the brutally honest route now. I put my hand on Heidi's shoulder. "Are you saying Justin was your boyfriend?" I asked.
Heidi pulled in a shaky breath. Her tears dried and her expression hardened as she said, "I thought he was, but apparently he was still seeing his ex-girlfriend."
If looks could kill…
"He lied to you?" I said, injecting just enough outrage into my voice to be believable, although the longer I thought about it, the angrier I was on Heidi's behalf. Justin lied to both Samantha and Heidi.
"Lied, cheated. Don't get me wrong, I'm upset he's dead, but…" Heidi trailed off but didn't finish, as if no further explanation was needed.
I'd assumed her tears were grief over Justin's death. If they were more about the fact that he'd dated her while also dating Samantha, that was a check in the jealous lovers column as far as I was concerned.
Penny picked up a pair of underwear from a table to our left, the first full-coverage pair I'd seen since we walked in. Cotton even. "I'm sure you can imagine all the rumors flying around Star Junction about who killed Justin. Is it the same in Rose Lake?" Penny asked, making it sound like it was an innocent question.
I had to admit, Penny had nailed it with that question.
Heidi glanced over her shoulder and said, "I'm going to need to get back to work before my manager notices how long we've been back here. I can't afford to lose my job." She looked at the untouched lingerie in the dressing room. Hopefully she thought I was just really good at rehanging the merchandise. "Did you find something that works?" she asked me.
"Nah, nothing today," I said.
Penny threw her arm around my shoulders. "That's okay. Sometimes wearing nothing at all is better." She turned back to Heidi. "Now about those rumors?"
Heidi fidgeted with the tape measure hanging around her neck. "I don't know about rumors, but Justin had a black eye a few weeks ago. He wouldn't tell me where he got it. Just kept telling me not to worry about it," she said.
A black eye? I hadn't noticed a black eye when I'd seen him at Chris's building or Bucky's. It had clearly happened long enough ago to have healed. "Do you have any guesses about how he got it?" I asked Heidi.
Heidi shrugged and said, "I didn't push."
"How'd you meet Justin?" Penny asked.
Heidi eyed us suspiciously. "You guys sure have a lot of questions about this."
"We're just a couple of curious gals," Penny said.
It was time to take control of this conversation before Penny turned this into a scene. Heidi didn't seem to know anything helpful. She seemed both broken up about Justin's death and angry with him for lying to her.
I wanted to either cross her off my list of suspects or nail her to the wall for Justin's murder, although standing in front of her, I couldn't imagine her killing someone in such a violent way. Too bad he wasn't strangled with a Victoria's Secret bra. That would've made things easier.
"Did you and Justin ever hang out in Star Junction?" I asked, trying to see if she'd admit to being in town around the time of his death.
Heidi wrinkled her perfect little nose. "No, which should've been my first clue something fishy was going on. He always had all these excuses as to why we needed to hang out at my apartment. I haven't been to Star Junction since the holiday market before Christmas." She blew out a breath as if the conversation was taking a toll on her. "That would've been about a month ago."
Penny leaned in and said boldly, "I'm going to cut right to the chase. We heard a rumor you were pregnant."
Heidi and I both sucked in a breath, me from shock, but from the way Heidi's face turned red and her brows snapped together, her gasp was from anger. "That's none of your business," she snapped.
"Is that a no?" Penny pressed.
"That's a it's none of your business," Heidi spat out.
"Did you kill Justin?" Penny asked, leaning in. "Find out he was cheating on you, or really cheating with you and decided he needed to pay with his life?"
I wasn't sure if I was mortified that Penny had been so blunt or thankful that she'd asked the question I hadn't had the guts to ask.
"No, I didn't kill him," Heidi said with a sneer.
"Although a killer wouldn't have any problem lying," Penny challenged.
Heidi's hands clenched at her side, but instead of responding, she flounced off toward the registers, leaving us standing alone in the back of the store.
I turned on Penny and said, "What was that, Watson? I think we switched parts."
"I told you the plan was loose. Let's get dinner. I'm starving," Penny said, seemingly unbothered by the scene she'd just created.
I followed Penny from the store, glancing over my shoulder to see Heidi shooting daggers at us from behind the registers. Maybe she hadn't killed Justin, but it didn't mean she wasn't hiding something.
We spent dinner debating whether or not we thought Heidi was lying about killing Justin. I'd been hopeful to find a solid suspect in Heidi but had my doubts that she was our murderer. I couldn't imagine she'd have any reason to be at Chris's building with Justin. Why Justin was there so late at night was still a mystery. I made a mental note to ask Chris if he had any theories about that.
I stirred the remnants of my soup and said, "Ready to head out? I'm exhausted."
"Yeah, I've got to get to school early tomorrow," Penny said. We stood to throw our trash away and headed toward the doors. "I just wish we'd found out something definitive," Penny said.
"If she's being honest, we can at least cross her off the list," I said optimistically.
"That's a big if," Penny said glumly. "It would've been perfect if she'd confessed."
"That would've been nice," I agreed. What kind of life did I live that I was hoping someone would confess a murder to me?
The temperature had dropped since we'd gotten to the mall, and the air crinkled inside my nose. Penny set off in the direction of her car, but I stopped short. "I need to use the bathroom."
"Want me to pull the car up?" Penny asked.
"That'd be great. I'll be fast," I promised.
I headed back inside, toward the long hallway off the food court, and turned the corner to see Heidi standing near the restrooms checking something on her phone. I debated whether or not to just hold it. We hadn't left things on the best of terms. Before I could decide, the door to the men's bathroom banged open. Heidi jammed her phone into her back pocket. A man walked up to her, and she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him with passion.
What?
The two parted, and they turned to walk down the hall, their gazes locked on each other. My mouth hung open. Heidi was kissing Derek Thompson. The same Derek Thompson who relentlessly asked me out. The same one who'd asked me out earlier today.
I ducked back into the food court before they could see me. What was Heidi doing making out with Derek?
They emerged from the hallway and headed straight toward Starbucks, Heidi's arm wrapped possessively around Derek's waist. Derek said something to Heidi. She threw her head back and laughed in response. Was this the same girl who had been crying about the death of her boyfriend an hour ago? Had she been faking her feelings about Justin for our benefit?
Finn's comment that a woman wouldn't have been strong enough to murder Justin flitted through my mind. What if he was wrong? Or maybe he was right. Maybe Derek wanted Heidi for himself and took out the competition. My stomach churned at the thought. Those guys were friends. Had been friends, at least.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I checked it to see a text from Penny letting me know she was out front. I took one last look at Derek and Heidi as they stood in line at Starbucks. Derek's hand wandered down Heidi's back. He slid his hand into her back pocket, and she leaned into him.
My phone buzzed again with the message Where are you?
Be right there. I took off down the hall toward the bathroom. Wait until Penny heard about this.
"What took you so long?" Penny asked as I slid into the front seat of her car a few minutes later. "The security guard was starting to give me some serious side-eye."
I buckled my seat belt as Penny steered away from the curb. "You're never going to believe what I just saw," I said breathlessly.
Penny glanced at me. "What?" she asked.
I paused for dramatic effect before saying, "Heidi making out with Derek Thompson."
The car swerved as Penny turned to look at me in shock.
The light in front of us turned red. "Watch it," I said, bracing my hand on the dashboard.
Penny slammed on the brakes, stopping just inches from the car in front of us. "You. Are. Kidding," she said, emphasizing each word.
"Full-on making out in the hallway by the bathrooms," I said, sharing in Penny's shock.
The light turned green, and Penny followed the white car in front of us through the intersection and onto the highway that would take us back to Star Junction. "What did they say when they saw you?" she asked.
"I ducked back into the food court before they could spot me," I said.
Penny tapped out a staccato beat on the steering wheel. "Let me get this straight… The same Heidi who was just crying about Justin was locking lips with Derek Sleazeball Thompson?"
The bare branches of the trees along the side of the highway whipped past in the light of the car's headlights. "I guess," I said as my mind struggled to understand the stark difference between the two Heidis I'd seen tonight.
"Maybe she's a sociopath," Penny said before gasping. "Maybe she killed Justin. What if she lied to us? What if she is pregnant? What if it's not Justin's baby at all? What if it's Derek's? What if it's Justin's, and she wants to convince Derek it's really his? What if—"
"Whoa! Someone has been watching too much true-crime TV," I interrupted with a laugh.
Penny shook her head and said, "Too much? Or just enough to keep us alive?" She rushed ahead without waiting for an answer. "Are you going to tell Finn about this?"
I pulled my hair over my shoulder and absently started braiding it. "I have to," I said definitively.
"Think he'll be mad you talked to Heidi?" Penny asked. She didn't sound worried. She sounded like she was gearing up to have a prime seat to some first-class drama. "What am I talking about?" she continued. "Now that he's got the hots for you, he'll probably be glad to have the information."
"He's got the hots for me?" I said with a disbelieving snort. "What kind of fantasy world do you live in?"
"The best kind, and he's definitely interested. I saw the way he was looking at you during the pie social." Penny shot me a glance before returning her attention to the road. "I also saw the way he looked when Chris walked into the church hall that night and you threw yourself into his arms."
"I didn't throw myself at anyone," I argued.
"Semantics. All I'm saying is he's interested," Penny said, tapping her forehead. "I have a sixth sense for these things."
I couldn't help but laugh, although I didn't want to encourage her wild ideas. "Does that mean you're going to open a PI business and a psychic business?" I teased.
"I probably could," Penny said with more confidence than my joke warranted. "Why am I wasting all this talent on teaching?"
"Because you love it," I said, trying to bring her back to some semblance of reality.
"You're right," Penny agreed. "I love the little buggers, and I love teaching them to love reading."
I stared out the window, pondering everything I'd learned, not the least of which was Penny's observation about Finn's supposed feelings for me. I'd felt a spark of attraction between us often enough, but I no longer trusted my ability to judge another person's interest. Chris was prime example number one of my failure in that area.
"Don't forget about bowling tomorrow night," Penny said, her words interrupting my scattered thoughts.
"I don't know," I hedged. After the week I'd had, I was looking forward to a quiet night at home with no intrigue, no drama and, most importantly, no threatening notes scribbled on rocks and thrown through my windows.
"It'll be fun. I promise. Just take one night off from murder. Justin's killer's not going anywhere," Penny pointed out.
That's what I was afraid of.