The Hobby Shop

10:30 AM-

Adrienne Banner was the manager of the Hobby Shop...She had been the Owner and Manager of the shop for close to 15 years...She surprisingly made a good profit...But she was tired of it..She was seriously considering closing up shop and selling the business..The reason was..She wanted to branch off into something else..

She knew that Geeky teenaged boys would be heartbroken...They came there to buy comic books, models, Action figures, and recently headphones and parts for their tablets and smartphones and tablets...and also to gawk at her.. She was an attractive woman....On the young side of 29 years old...She had stopped wearing her sheer white blouses...They gave the boys too much of a vision of the color of her lace bras...

At least that is what her co-worker Bradley Derringer said...  Bradley Derringer had been sweet on her since he started working there 11 years ago...She never took him seriously, just like she never took the teenaged boys seriously that flirted with her..

Bradley acted as if he was jealous of the boys,  Many just barely entering pubetry.. Bradley was a nice enough guy she thought, but he was weird..

She had told him on three occassions that she had no interest in him relationship wise or sexually, yet sometimes she thought that he didn't get the message..Anytime a man came in the store to talk to her, He hovered around, practically looking down the man's mouth...It was quite intimidating and she had told him about it before.

He was a recovering Alcoholic and also attended anger management classes...No way she was getting involved with someone like that...

Occassionally a guy walked in her store that she did like....Bradley would wind up taking over the entire conversation...Eventually the guy would just leave...

Bradley walked in ,He smiled at Adrienne.

''Sorry I'm late Babe." he said.

"It's okay...and stop calling me babe...I'm not your girlfriend..."said Adrienne..

"You did think about uh what I asked you the other night?" he said.

"No...I don't think it would be good for me to go out with you...I'm your boss..."said Adrienne..

"Age..This is a hobby shop...I'm the only employee here...Come on....How harmless is a little dinner? Some Drinks??" he asked.

"I don't want to date you....Now go find some work to do, There is a customer..."said Adrienne...

"Age!!!" he asked.

''Find something to do.."she said.

II-

I walked in the Hobby Shop...I looked around...It was nice...The geek in me could see me coming back here to shop for real..

"Can I help you?" asked Adrienne...

I walked over to the counter...

"Hi...are you the manager...?" I asked.

"Yes..I'm Adrienne Banner." she said.

"I'm Detective Nate Nellis, Homicide" I said ,showing her my badge and ID...

"Homicide?" she asked..

"You're not in trouble mam."I said smiling..."I'm investigating the murder of this man...He was in your store the day before he died...Do you remember him?" I asked.

"Oh My God..Yes..That was Blair...Yes...I do know him..He came here quite a bit..." she said.

"Yes..I looked at his credit card slips...He was quite the shopper..."I said.

''He didn't just come by here to shop Detective..."she said ,smiling sheepishly..

"Oh?" I said, raising an eyebrow.... Monica ,my wife and partner wasn't with me this morning..She was with her sister over at the Medical Examiner's Office..examining the body we had unearthed the night before and a head we had found in the park...

I wished she was here right now...

"Well his father had come here about ten years ago....His father used to like model cars just like he did..We talked about his dad and models and eventually, He and I hit it off...We went to lunch a few times and dinner and we shared musical tastes...Even a concert once..." she said.

"Ohhhh, so you guys were good friends?" I said.

She smiled..

"We were a -uhhh a little more than that...We were uh...intimate...." she said.

"I see...We think he might have been searching for his father...This was the last place his father shopped before he vanished 10 years ago.." I said.

She seemed surprised..

"It was? He never mentioned that to me...All he ever told me about his dad was that he walked out on him and his mom when he was 17...He did say he came here hoping to hook up with him...But when they told him that nobody knew where his dad was, He just assumed his dad had picked up stakes and moved on somewhere else...We only had like two conversations about his dad." said Adreienne.

"Really ?Did you know his father well?" I asked.

"His Father was just a customer...A frequent customer...Flirtatious...He asked me out once..but I declined..He was old enough to be my father...I never told Blair that..." she said..

Just then, her assistant, Bradley walked up..

"Are you buying something man?" he asked..

I didn't know who he was...

"What's it to you?" I asked.

"I noticed you've been talking to the lady for a good 15 minutes and you haven't purchased one damn thing..." he said.

"And you've got such booming business..."I said.

"What are you...a wise guy?" he asked..

I looked at him..He was big, about six foot four..and he wore Doc Martens....They looked like they had dried blood and dirt on them.... I made a mental note of that...

"Bradley....Go in the back!!....The gentleman and I are having a conversation....." said Adrienne.

"But...."protested Bradley...

"Go in the back....Please! Find something to do." she said.

He walked away...but he kept staring at me...

"Your boyfriend?" I asked..

"Bradley? Oh Hell no....He would love to be...But that's never going to happen...He's the Assistant Manager...Everytime a guy comes in here...I don't care if he's 14 or 54..He has to know what we were talking about...If they were trying to make a move on me...Whatever.....If I could find somebody else to help me run this place...I'd fire him..." she said.

"He's sweet on you huh?" I said ,smiling.

"Oh My God!!!....For awhile...I tried not to hurt his feelings...But he just doesn't seem to get it..I've got a room full of flowers he's sent me for any little occassion...He's asked me out several times...He's just too intense..He scares me sometimes ,with his drinking and his outbursts of anger..."she said.

I scanned the shop and I noticed a huge Sword...Priced at a cool grand...

"Wow...A sword replica...And for one thousand dollars.."I said.

"That's no replica...That's real...That thing will slice your head off...Bradley found it....Nobody is going to buy that thing..."she said.

"Hmmmmmm." I said, smiling. I knew I would be coming back here..

"I'm so sorry about Blair...I really,really liked him...Between me and you...I was thinking about selling this place..or closing it and going back to Toronto with Blair.." she said.

"He was going back to Toronto?" I asked, now surprised..

"Yeah..He had asked me to move in with him and then to come with him to Toronto...I was seriously thinking about it." she said.

"Wow.....Well thanks for your time Ms. Banner..I'm really sorry about what happened..This is my card..If you hear anything...Give me a call.." I said.

"I will detective....That's a beautiful ring you have on...You just got married recently didn't you?" she asked.

"I did!!!...I married my partner...She'd be here right now...but she's working on another aspect of our murder case right now."I said.

''She's a lucky woman...You're cute." she said and we both shared a laugh.

"Thank You...I'll be seeing you." I said.

I wasn't gone five minutes before Bradley approached her....

"Who was that?" he asked.

"Nobody Bradley...." she said..

"Well for nobody ,you sure had a lot to say to him...All that laughing and giggling...Did he ask you out on a date?" asked Bradley....

"He's married...And no he did not..." she said.

"Well what did he want?" he asked...

"None of your business...Go away!" she said.

III-

I arrived at the Medical Examiner's Office , a little while later..

Monica kissed me softly and slowly....

"Ummmmmm..How is my hussssband?  I missed you.." she cooed..

''Hey baby..I missed you too." I said.

"Well Brother in law...Dental Records and DNA proves it..This is the body of the long missing Sinclair Reynolds...and this head of course belongs to his son, Blair Reynolds...

"Which means whoever killed Blair, was burying his head with his father's body for some strange reason...We are looking for the same killer." said Monica..

"Yeah and I think I may have found our killer and a motive." I said.

"At that Hobby Shop?" asked Lt. Cotton...

"Yeah..I talked to the manager...ah owner..She knew both men....The Father flirted with her and asked her out...She refused...but loved talking to him...Junior here was a different story...They were sleeping together and she was thinking of closing the store and moving back to Toronto with him...

"So you think it was her?" asked Monica..

"No...Not her...She was genuinely upset when I showed her photos of the dead Blair...But she has a not so secret admirer...He's a bit off... Assistant Manager..Fits the description of the big hulking figure we saw at the scene of both crimes...and I think I saw the murder weapon too. A big Excalibur Sword..." I said.

"WHAT?" said Lt. Cotton...

''We need probable cause to get a warrant.."said Monica.

"Yeah, but I got an idea..A way to get around that...I'll need your help Lieutenant..."I said.

"Me?" said Lieutenant Cotton...

"Yeah, You got one thousand dollars on you?" I asked.

IV-

Later that afternoon at home...

"That's a nice plan you got partner..." said Monica..

"Yeah...I think so...I'm going with my gut on this...but I think this guy is so crazy about her that any guy that gets too friendly with her becomes his enemy...Blair and her were sleeping together and she was going to close the store and leave town with him...He wasn't going to put up with that.."I said.

''What about his father?"asked Monica.

"The father flirted with the girl a little too much..She blew him off..but she still enjoyed talking to him..maybe a little too much...I don't even think our killer realized who the son was..." I said.

"This thing seemed a lot deeper than it actually is."said Monica.

"Yeah...Did your sister get a boot print...?" I asked.

''Sure did...A Doc Marten...only thing is..That boot is so common, thousands of people could have that boot and could have purchased it anywhere..I'm cross checking sales in local stores going back five years.."said Monica.

''Forget it...This creepy guy I saw today not only had on Doc Martens...but I thought I saw blood stains ,still on them.."I said.

"Hmmm, we need to go back out..recanvas that area's dumpsters and laundromats...."said Monica.

"Now?" I asked.

"Yeah Honey Bunny.."she said as I took her in my arms and kissed her softly...

"You're getting my lipstick all over you."she laughed..

"I don't care."I said.

We kissed passionately for close to ten minutes...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmm..ouuuuu girl..." I moaned..

"Nate..we'd better stop..I'm just minutes from taking my clothes off.." she moaned..

"Take em off..We worked a  13 hour day.."I said.

"Babyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..I want to crack this case ...I want to give you some  as bad as you want it....and if we crack this case...We have a few vacation days coming our way...We can stay in bed all day..And you can have me all day.." she said and rubbed my hands softly...

"Awww okay...Come on..."I said.

We got in my flying car and took off...

We had no idea that a sinister figure was standing outside of our house....With a sword!!!!

It was Bradley.!!!

''HE IS MARRIED!!! To a pretty girl....Owns a Flying Car and lives in this spot...Hmmm....Maybe he isn't interested in Adrienne...Wonder what he does for a living?  I know one thing..He'd better leave Adrienne Alone...I know that!!! Good thing he's married!" he said.

(CONCLUSION NEXT)