Belle Harbor Cozy Mysteries: Books 1 – 15 by Sue Hollowell

Author:Sue Hollowell [Hollowell, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Gazing into Randy’s locker, David shook his head. Was he finally coming to the realization that Randy may have been involved? Perhaps Randy had teamed up with another person to contaminate the gum. Silently we all filed around the perimeter of the room, glancing in each locker. Without a word, David switched his flashlight on low and guided us down the hallway toward the dugout. I closed my eyes for a second to imprint the contents of the locker room in my brain.

Justin squeezed my hand, leaned in, and whispered, “Let’s go.”

I nodded, and we resumed our exploration of the vacant stadium. I felt in my gut we were getting closer to knowing details that could paint a picture of what happened to Ernie just a few nights ago. The only sound was our sneakers on the concrete and the moans and groans of a giant old building. In the distance, I could hear cars passing by on the road but nothing nearby. So far, we had escaped detection by the guard. We needed to continue our pace to keep ahead of his rounds. Did David know the guard? If so, perhaps if we did get caught we could talk our way out of it. While we were sleuthing for clues to Ernie’s murder, my brain needed to find that excuse.

We silently emerged from the hallway into the dugout. David switched off his flashlight and sat on the bench to his right. From our vantage point, we were closest to the first base side of the field. The security lights and stars shone just enough to make out all of the landmarks of the diamond. The bases, the pitcher’s mound, the opposing team’s dugout, and the bullpen where the pitchers warmed up. We still had a lot of ground to cover.

The closer we got to the actual location where Ernie had flopped onto the ground, the more confident I was that we would discover some insightful information. The trouble was if we did find a damning clue, how would I explain to Barney the circumstances behind our discovery? The excuse for our being here needed to materialize, and quickly.

I walked past Fiona and navigated to the far end of the dugout, turned, and scanned the entire area. Benches lined the wall inside the small space with an overhead shelf. Phones were at each end of the dugout for coaches to call the bullpen pitchers with instructions. Three sets of steps led to the field. One at each end, one in the middle.

Remembering the circumstances of the game, Ernie must have used a phone to call the dugout. There was probably no way to figure out which one he used. After hanging up, he eventually used one of the sets of steps to head out to the pitching mound to retrieve the ball from Randy and hand it to the new pitcher. I walked to the other end of the dugout to see the view from that angle.

Justin followed me and whispered, “I wonder if he used these steps to get to the field.

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