Teddy Bear Murders

TEDDY BEAR MURDERS The Four Deadly Hellos By Jack Fitzgerald Prologue Hello 1 Ava Fisher was a flamboyant mess. Everyone said it no matter what the occasion. This doesn’t necessarily mean that she was an unkempt person. It denotes that in spite of her being basically pretty and in her late thirties, she was the sort who gave bottle blonds their bad name. She had just enough of the tart in her to get on people’s nerves after about five minutes. The only person who didn’t seem to mind was her husband Danny, who obviously believed he had won the grand prize when it came to wives. Also her black and white cat Gomez was a fan of hers too. Her thirteen-year-old daughter Heather didn’t exactly see eye to eye with her mother and really couldn’t be called a fan. Ava often said she was a lousy parent and if it weren’t for Danny, she didn’t know what would happen to Heather. Of course she said this as though she were joking and most people assumed she was. Ava had an accent that was hard to trace. She claimed on one occasion that she had grown up in South Africa and at others times, she counted Canada as her homeland. In any case she had a rather mid-Atlantic accent, which was what most folks called an effected, quasi-British accent. She was fun at parties and knew how to say all kinds of cute things. She loved meeting new people and thought nothing of inviting them to her home on one pretense or another. Rumor always abounded that she was unfaithful to Danny but he never took any notice of it. On this particular day in her modest home in West Los Angeles, Ava was doing her makeup in the bathroom. She literally took forever to do it. She had been known to get so upset over all the varied cosmetics not performing their magic that she would re-shower, re-wash her hair and begin all over again. Today she was making fantastic progress and had only been working on herself a little over an hour. She sang a little unwritten song as she proceeded. Gomez jumped up on the counter, watched and gave her warm, loving rubs and looks. Her cell phone rang and in her excitement to answer it, she knocked over a little jar of teal blue eye shadow, which she was in the process of applying. “Hi there. Who’s speaking?” she said in her most dramatic mid-Atlantic accent. The voice on the other end identified itself and in a large coo, she said in an excited voice, “Oh, it’s you, you sweet thing. I’m here all alone and waiting for you. I hope you have a present for me.” Obviously the caller gave her the answer she was seeking because she cried out in glee, “Oh you precious thing. Two presents? You’re too good to me. Now hurry on over, you hear?” She blew the person a kiss over the phone, pressed the end button, put the phone down and finished doing her eyes as quickly as she could without making some kind of calamitous error. Before long, the doorbell rang and she jumped in anticipation. She stepped back, looked at the finished product in the mirror, smiled as though quite pleased with herself and then ran to answer the door. She opened the door with a big smile and in her best Ava voice sang out, “Hello.” Hello 2 A group of campers ranging in age from 14 to 18 were seated in a campsite open-air theater in Lake Arrowhead, California. The surrounding area was very beautiful and the tall pine trees shaded the little amphitheater. On stage several adults of varying ages were seated. A serious man in his mid-forties got up and walked to the center of the stage where there was a microphone. “Good morning, science campers,” he said in a loud voice. The campers responded with a good morning and applause. “As most of you probably know, I’m Dr. Nesbit, chairman of this year’s science fair. It’s been a terrific two weeks up here with all you campers, your teachers and my fellow corporate engineers. It has been the pleasure of our company to sponsor this High School Science Fair this year. Our company, Resources Science Corporation of Pacific Palisades, California, is always looking for America’s future scientists and where would be more ideal than here at beautiful Lake Arrowhead? We have finally finished our difficult task of judging which among your worthy science projects has won first place this year. I know how excited each of you must be and so I won’t prolong the anticipation any longer.” He looked at a colleague who brought him over an envelope. Dr. Nesbit opened it, silently glanced at its contents, and with a smile said in a forceful voice, “This year’s first prize for scientific excellence goes to Kenny Summers. Kenny, would you please join me on stage?” He began a round of applause that was then echoed by all of the campers. Kenny got up from his seat rather self-consciously and made his way to the podium. He was tall, probably six feet, wore glasses and had a decided brainy look. He also had an all-around nice guy air about him. You knew at once he was a kind and nice person. He wasn’t much in the looks department and he seemed a tad awkward but he projected intelligence and a warm personality. He made it up to the stage and was welcomed by Dr. Nesbit with a handshake. The older man quieted the audience down and spoke. “Kenny, it is indeed a pleasure for Resources Science Corporation to award you the top prize this year in the Senior Division of our science fair. I hope everyone got to look at your project. For a 17-year-old student, we were amazed at your knowledge of liquid depleted UF6 uranium. Your project showed many new uses of this waste product in the areas of ceramic glaze, colored glass, X-rays, integrated circuits and solar cells. Congratulations!” He led the campers in a round of applause and they stood in honor of Kenny. After a few moments, Dr. Nesbit got their attention once again. He looked over at a colleague who brought over two gift packages—one large and one small. Kenny looked surprised and pleased at the same time. He gave Kenny the first gift and said, “We are delighted to award you a top-of-the-line Apple laptop computer to help you when you go away to college this fall.” Kenny opened the box and pulled out the striking computer for all to see. He was very pleased and smiled and thanked Dr. Nesbit and the audience. Dr. Nesbit seemed pleased that Kenny had won because he appeared to be such a deserving person. He then quieted the audience once more. “We also have another gift for you, Kenny.” He presented Kenny with the smaller box. The young man had no idea what could be in it and was completely taken by surprise when he found out that there were two keychains inside. He held them up so the audience could see. They laughed and applauded. Dr. Nesbit came over and, with a chuckle, put his arm around Kenny’s shoulder. “I know you are wondering what these are. They are keychains with a Magic Eye Pattern in marine blue. If you stare at the pattern long enough and concentrate, you will soon see a 3-D image of Albert Einstein. We would like for you to be inspired by this great scientist and think of these keychains as symbols of your future—as well as unusual keepsake mementos of this year’s Lake Arrowhead science fair. Thank you, Kenny, and thank you one and all for making this such an auspicious occasion for America’s future scientists.” Afterwards they presented the winner of the Junior Division, which turned out to be Terry Lynn, Kenny’s younger sister. They hugged and both waved to the audience with big smiles. Later that afternoon Kenny attended the final showing of all the projects. His and many parents and others had come to the exhibition tent to view the young people’s projects. After a solid two hours of answering questions and being the center of a lot of attention, he decided as soon as it was over to go for a walk in the pine forest and give his brain a rest. He walked a while and ended up in a very secluded area. He suddenly heard someone come up and say hello.