Dingaling

'Hi there, what can I get you?' the elderly lady behind the counter asked me.

'Good morning ma'am, I am police detective George Alpha. I'd like to ask you some questions about the events of this morning?'

'Oh yes, of course officer.' She turned around and called to the back. 'Fred! Fred! There's a police man here to talk about this morning.'

Baker Fred came waddling from the back room, dusting his hands on a piece of cloth. He nodded to me in greeting.

'I am Myrtle,' the lady said, 'this is my husband Fred. We're the Brothels, this is our bakery.'

'Hello Myrtle, Fred. I already talked to Travis this morning, but just to be complete I'd also like to hear your version of the events. Could you tell me what happened?'

'Well,' Myrtle started, 'I was waiting for our first customers when Eddie came in and bought some cupcakes, five vanilla, five chocolate and one rum special.'

'So you know Eddie?'

'Oh yes, he comes by about once a week to buy cakes for miss Panache.'

'I see, please continue.'

'He paid, we said goodbye and as soon as he was outside that other man snatched the bag from his hands and ran off with it! I had seen him out there when I opened the store this morning and had even thought about shooing him off, it's not good for business if homeless people are sitting at your window, but I had no idea he was going to steal from our customers!'

I nodded, 'Then what happened?'

'Eddie ran after him and Fred told Travis to take the back alley and try to cut him off.'

'You saw it happen as well then, Fred?' I looked at the baker.

'Yes sir,' he replied, 'me and Travis were just putting out the breads when it happened. I figured the thief was probably going to take a right to Rowdy, but the back of the bakery has an alley leading there directly, so I told Travis to make a dash for it and try to stop him. I mean... in my younger days I might have myself... but I think Travis is much more spry than me now.'

Remembering Travis' athletic appearance and comparing it to the baker's girth, I understood what he meant.

'Travis came back after a while and told us what happened,' Fred continued. 'I went back with him to have a look. The other man had already notified the police and a lot of people were standing around. I had to come back here but I told Travis to stay there and tell the police what he saw.'

'That was the right thing to do,' I thanked them, 'he has been very helpful.'

'He's a good kid,' Myrtle said.

I turned to look around the store, through the shopwindow I could clearly see onto Pleasant street.

'Tell me,' I asked, 'were there any cars here around that time?'

'Only the black one from miss Panache, it was parked right there,' Myrtle shrugged.

'Did it move at any time?'

'I'm not entirely sure but I think it stayed there the entire time, only left a while later.'

'And did you happen to see any other cars, or anyone else suspicious for that matter?'

Myrtle and Fred looked at each other, then back at me, shaking their heads. 'No, sir.'

I closed my notebook, convinced I had gleaned all information from the Brothels.

'Thank you for your cooperation, mister and missus Brothel.'

I walked back to the crime scene and had a last look around before I had sergeant Rascal pack it all up and send it to the lab. The lab would perform an autopsy to establish exact time and cause of death... although I wasn't expecting any surprises there.

Who would shoot a homeless guy that's running away with some baked goods? And why?

I figured maybe the victim could shed some light on the situation, so I decided to go talk to him.