Soup...Er...Myrtle!: A Myrtle Crumb Mystery (Myrtle Crumb Mystery Series) (10 page)

* * *

Melvia had done gone home by the time Cooper called me
back. In fact, I didn’t hear from him again until after supper.

“I think you should call up the M.E.L.O.N.S. to see if
any of them would like to meet with us at the soup kitchen tomorrow morning,”
he said. “Of course, if they don’t want to be there in person, it’s fine
because they’ll see the press conference on the news at noon.”

“So this thing is solved?” I asked. “Thank goodness! Did
Heather have anything to do with it?”

“Nope. As for everything else…wait and see.”

Well, I’ll have you know, I had a hard time sleeping
that night. I did call the M.E.L.O.N.S., and they all said they’d be there.
None of them could stand to miss any kind of excitement. I guess you could lump
me in there with them. And I
am
a member of the club, so….

Besides Cooper and Mac, his undercover man with the
pretty brown eyes, I was the first to get there. I bragged on what a good job
Mac had done, and he told me they wouldn’t have even known about this identity
theft ring if it hadn’t been for me.

That was about all we had time to say to each other
because the press and the M.E.L.O.N.S. started straggling in after that. Faye
even took a couple hours off from work and brought Sunny. Faye said it wouldn’t
hurt Sunny to go to school a little late today.

Coop had chairs set up in a semi-circle behind him, and
he stood at a podium. He looked so nice in his uniform…not a single hair out of
place…those baby blue eyes of his just made for television….

Mac, Sunny, Faye, and the M.E.L.O.N.S. sat in the chairs
behind him and then Cooper began the press conference at nine o’clock on the
dot.

“Good morning,” he said. “Thank you all for coming here
this morning. I won’t take up too much of your time. As some of you might be
aware, an identity thief had taken up residence here in Backwater, and we only
discovered it due to the observation and diligence of Ms. Myrtle Crumb. “ He
turned and grinned at me. “Ms. Crumb, would you please stand?”

I stood up as straight and tall as I could, lifting my
chin proudly.

“Our community owes you a debt of gratitude, Ms. Crumb.
Thank you for calling this matter to the attention of our department. It’s the involvement
of citizens like you who make a difference not only in Backwater but all over
the world. Thank you.” He nodded, and I sat back down.

He also thanked Melvia, Faye, Sunny, and “the wonderful M.E.L.O.N.
organization” for their help in solving this crime and for volunteering to help
the people of Backwater. He then went on to praise Mac for his role in
ferretting out the criminals. He turned back to face the press.

“Mrs. Doris Philips and Homer Jackson were taken into
custody late yesterday afternoon. Both parties have been charged with identity
theft, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and check forgery. Mr. Philips and
other members of the Jackson family have been cleared of any related charges.”

I was glad Frank was innocent. I couldn’t get over Doris
fooling nearly everybody with that Goodie-Two-Shoes routine of hers. On the
other hand, I reckoned we all want to think the best of folks.

As soon as the press conference ended, we M.E.L.O.N.S.
got the soups, biscuits, and cornbread ready for the lunch crowd. I was a
little surprised to see Heather walking in with a scraggly little man who
didn’t look to be but a year or two older than her.

When she spotted me, Elizabeth grabbed that man’s bony
arm and came running toward me as hard as she could.

“Look! Look! It’s our Daddy! He’s back!” she squealed.

“I’m pleased as punch to meet you,” I said to the man.
And I truly was. He still had some things to answer to the police for, but he’d
come back to his babies. That meant a lot in my eyes.

Gayle
Trent is a full-time writer who lives in Southwest Virginia with her family and
a Great Pyrenees she calls “the world’s largest toddler.” Please visit Gayle
online at
http://www.gayletrent.com
.