The Chopsticks Clue

By Earl Staggs

“What are you doing here?” Lieutenant Sue Twomey was shocked to see her former partner and her closest friend until that thing with Harry three years ago. “And you’re in uniform. What gives?”

Millie Walker chuckled. “If you’d remembered what I taught you about observation, you’d see I’m a Meter Maid now.”

“Well, forgive me, but we’re not all blessed with a photographic memory and total recall like you.”

Millie held out her hand. “Good to see you, Sue.”

Sue didn’t want to shake hands with a slut. To avoid it, she stepped aside to allow the Medical Examiner and a Crime Scene Tech to squeeze past her. “I thought you took that early retirement package.”

Millie looked at her hand, shrugged, and lowered it. “I did, but I got bored. I do this part-time to keep active. What’re you doing here? This is Plano, not Dallas.”

“I transferred here a week ago.”

“Well, it’s great to see you. There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time.”

Sue shook her head. “You have nothing to say to me except why are you here at my crime scene?”

“I was working this street when the owner saw me and waved me down. I thought I’d secure the scene until someone got here.”

“Well, I’m here now so you can go write some more tickets.”

“I could stick around and help.” Millie waved a sweeping arm around the room.

In addition to the table where the victim had eaten dinner, six other tables in the small Chinese Restaurant were occupied with two to four people each. “You have a lot of witnesses to interview.”

“Whatever.” Sue really didn’t want help from the woman who slept with her fiancee a week before the wedding, but no one was better than Millie at working a crime scene. She had that incredible ability to remember every detail.

Sue located the owner of the restaurant, and learned that Martin Ballister stumbled out of the Men’s Room at 7:15 PM and fell where he now lay beside an overturned table.

Sue walked over and watched the ME pull a black-handled knife with a six-inch blade out of the victim’s back. Mr. Ballister lay flat on his stomach. His arms were extended forward and in each hand, he gripped a chopstick, one crossed over the other. Shattered plates, white rice and Egg FooYung from the overturned table decorated the floor around him. 

“Whattaya got?” Sue asked.

The ME dropped the murder weapon into a plastic bag. “From the blood patterns, it looks like he was stabbed in the men’s room but managed to walk out here.”

“. . .where he knocked over the table when he went down,” Sue added. “I wonder why he grabbed the chopsticks.”

“Not hard to imagine,” the ME said. “A victim is falling, knowing they’re going to die, they grab onto anything, a reflexive survival instinct.”

Sue sighed. “Too bad it didn’t work for him.” She turned to walk away and almost bumped into Millie.

“Sorry,” Millie said. “The man at the table in front wants to go home.”

“Someone followed this man into the men’s room and stuck a knife in his back. No one leaves.”

Millie smiled. “I knew you’d say that. That’s what I told him.”

“You didn’t let anyone leave before I got here, did you?”

Millie shook her head. “No one left after I came in. So how’ve you been, Sue? I heard you married a great guy.”

“Yes, I did. Mike is the most wonderful man in the world, and I couldn’t be happier.”

“I’m glad.” Millie placed a hand on Sue’s arm and squeezed gently. “You deserve the best.”

Sue pulled her arm away. She’d enjoyed telling Millie about Mike, letting the woman who double-crossed her know she picked up the pieces and found happiness with a good man. “Let’s just get to work.”

Sue took statements from the owner, three waiters, and the patrons at two tables. By then, the ME and the Crime Scene Tech had finished their work and left with Mr. Ballister’s remains.

All the witnesses told the same story. Mr. Ballister had dinner alone, and no one noticed anyone else entering or leaving the men’s room while he was in there.

When Millie reported back, her results at the other tables were the same.

“Not everyone.”

Sue looked at her “What do you mean? You said you made sure no one left.”

“I said no one left after I came in, but there’s one customer not accounted for.”

Sue looked around the room “Who?”

Sue perked up. “Let’s find out who was sitting there.”

The owner slapped his forehead when he learned why he and his employees had been gathered. “I am so sorry. I should have told you. That nice young pastor had to get to the church for their weekly Bible service, so he left before this lady officer came in. I was sure it would be all right since he was a pastor, and was wearing a white collar and everything.”

Sue said, “Don’t worry about it, Mr. Lee, but I still have to talk to him. Do you know which church?”

“Yes, he said the All Faith Church over on Third Avenue.”

Sue checked her watch. “Okay, if they’re holding Bible service tonight, I’m sure it’s still going on. I’ll head right over there.”

“Don’t waste your time,” Millie said. “He won’t be there.”

“How do you know that?”

“That church is part of my area, and their Bible service is on Tuesday night. There’s never anyone there on Wednesdays.”

“So? Maybe they changed their schedule.”

“There’s something else. Did you notice how the victim was holding those chopsticks in his hand with one crossed over the other?”

“Yes, like an X.”

“Or,” Millie said, “it could have been a cross. The message could be that his killer was a man of the church.”

Sue thought about it for a moment. “All right, let’s get a description of our fake pastor. Someone here must have noticed him.”

Millie eased out of her chair and headed for the front door. “I have a better idea.”

Millie was back within two minutes. “The fake pastor might have been driving a 2004 dark blue Caprice, license plate number FKG 726. There were seven cars in the restaurant parking lot and I checked them against my hot sheet like I always do. There are only six cars now, so there’s a good chance the missing car is the killer’s.

Sue didn’t question it. She’d seen Millie’s powers of recall in action before. She pulled a cell phone from her jacket pocket. “I’ll call this in and get the owner’s name and address.”

After releasing the other patrons of the restaurant, Sue accepted a cup of tea from the restaurant owner and sat at a table to wait for the call back. Millie joined her after a while, but Sue ignored her. After the call came and Sue wrote on her note pad, she spoke but did not look at her former partner.

Millie took a deep breath. “All I want is for you to listen to me for a minute. Nothing happened between Harry and me.”

“He was seen leaving your apartment the next morning. Tell me another fairy tale.”

“Harry came to my apartment -- uninvited -- and, yes, he stayed the night. He was drunk and he hit on me. He got rough with me and I knocked him on his ass.  I must have hit him harder than I thought because he was out cold. I didn't feel like fooling with him, so I dragged him into the bathroom and cuffed him to a plumbing pipe. He was a lying, cheating piece of crap, Sue.”

Sue stared at Millie for along moment. “Then why didn’t you deny it when I accused you?”

“Oh, come on, Sue. You were a pushover for that scumbag and his lies. I was afraid if you knew nothing happened, you’d take him back and marry him.”

“So you let me believe you slept with him to break us up.”

“Like I said, you deserved the best. Harry was the worst. I’m glad you found Mike and you’re happy.”

Sue leapt from her chair and paced back and forth. “Dammit, MiIllie! You expect me to believe this after all this time?”

Millie stood up and headed for the door. “Believe what you want. I’m just glad you found a really good man and are happy. Good-bye Sue.”

Before Millie reached the door, Sue called out. “Millie, wait.” 

Millie turned.

“Have you had dinner?”

Millie shook her head.

“Neither have I. Come back here and let’s have some Chinese.”