“Shhhh! She is right over there…”
I avoided Jolene at every opportunity ever since tenth grade when she told Bertha Hopkins that I wrote the story in the school newspaper slamming the guards on the girl’s basketball team for loosing ten straight games in a row. Bertha threatened to catch me and beat me where my own mother couldn’t recognize me. So if you asked me, Jolene was certainly capable of getting a person killed.
Jolene and Wayne had gone steady in high school. After college, they decided to marry and return to Mimosa, the perfect school sweetheart fairy tale. Money marrying money, doing the town a favor. To tell the truth, they both irritated me, and if it were not for my reputation, I would have been glad Deanna was putting a bug in that marriage.
One evening I spotted Wayne downtown and decided to follow him a bit. He drove to the outskirts of town where he met a fellow by the name of Cotton Jeffers. Cotton had a reputation as a petty thief and it had been rumored that he had done some arson jobs for folks. On down the road, I pulled my car over and sneaked behind the building where they were talking.
“You said if I cleaned it up, I’d get five grand extra,” said Cotton.
“Yes, but a lot of things still need cleaning.”
“Is the sheriff on to you?”
“Could be. My alibi can be checked, but they are unable to verify the time I left Culver City,” said Wayne. “They’re watchin’ me like a hawk.”
“So, five grand, and you got that lawyer to help me later?”
“I’ll see what I can do; let’s wrap this up,” said Wayne.
With those words sounding in my brain, I ran for my car. I would wait awhile and dig a little further before I brought Sheriff Dockins in on this possibility.
Mona Lewis mixed plant food in the back of the flower shop. She was a widow around age forty-five who told everyone she desired to lead a quite life in a small town. Mona had the capital two years ago that was necessary to keep Buds A Bloomin’ afloat and she wanted everyone to know it. Darn, I’ll bet Deanna’s death came at a bad time. Why did she have to die before doing her part to get the roof fixed? Mona was more concerned about meeting her new boyfriend, Odell at Frank’s Bar.
In discussing Mona, some things bothered me about her. She really didn’t want to discuss her past in detail. She never seemed to miss her husband who died in a mysterious car accident. Upon his death, I found that she received a large sum of insurance money. Why move to a small town like Mimosa? Mona’s family had sure been unlucky. Both her mother and an aunt had died and left her an inheritance. It was also rumored that this new boyfriend was heavily into gambling. Mona sure seemed to need a lot of money.
Such was life in Mimosa as Sheriff Dockins narrowed his possibilities. When all concerned were questioned, the sheriff ended up with three suspects who had a motive to kill Deanna. Those were my three choices exactly. Of course he couldn’t name suspects, but he did drop a few clues over a glass of lemonade.
Why it is just horrible how people go around murdering other people. What gives them the right to play God and decide who can live in the world and who can’t? The world is just becoming so violent….
Ugh, the suspense is killing me! I used to think Mona, but Cotton could be the hit man for Wayne… I guess I’ll have to wait for more clues.
Ha ha…we are getting down to the wire!
Clues, clues, clues…
Yes indeed… 🙂
Lovin’ it. My money’s on Mona, at least for now. But maybe the honey-sweet librarian narrator isn’t as sweet as she seems. Keep ’em coming… PS: If you’ve never read it, check out Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross. You sound just like her… I think you’d love it.
Thank you…We are getting down to the wire, closing in on the killer 🙂 I have not heard of Ann B. Ross, but I will have to check that out, thanks!
I find fiction a good way to get important information out to readers. Sometimes fiction based on fact is more believable than overdone, dramatized news media.
I am a fiction freak…I always have been. I guess it is the escape factor, I feel I just get bombarded by the real world.
I edited technical reports for so long for the Army; now I want to read, write, and edit fiction. It is my passion. I collect classical books.
The plot thickens.
It does…happy weekend Marissa!
Interesting. I’d like to know what happens next.
Thank you….the ending is just around the corner 🙂
It is truly gripping. I’m clearly not alone in wondering what happens next
Thank you..there seems to be a lot going on in this small town 🙂
Hmm…I guess I must be patient! Not my forte. Thoroughly enjoying this.
The end is drawing near 🙂
Oh, now I have to wait! I also am leaning toward Mona at this point. 🙂
You really have to watch those unscrupulous business partners 🙂
I know it’s a good story when I can read part 2 and want to go back to read part 1 🙂
Thank you, here is the link for the 2nd part : https://broussardlana.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/murder-in-mimosa-part-2/
I will have to go back and read Part 1!
Sure thing 🙂 I will put links for the other two sections at the top of the last chapter so if anyone didn’t get a chance to read it, otherwise they might be lost in all those suspects 🙂
[…] https://broussardlana.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/murder-in-mimosa-part-2/ […]
This town has a few people who don’t follow the rules, Lana. I like going back and reading it now that I know the ending! I won’t reveal for latecomers or new readers, though. 😉
They were some interesting suspects, or at least I tried making them so.
You created interesting suspects and some threw me off the trail. . .
Thanks, Robin. I wrote this story many years ago for a competition and it had to be a “mystery.” I really can’t write mystery or sci-fi because I don’t read those genres 😀