by Judi Lynn
“What about Tilly? Was she in the food line?”
Felicity let out a breath of frustration. “I don’t know. RJ had come inside to hide from his aunt. He’d told her over and over again that he and Jessica were still friends, that he’d wanted to break up with her and she made it easy for him. But his aunt didn’t see it that way. She took it as an insult to their entire family, that RJ wasn’t college bound and wasn’t good enough for her, so she dumped him.”
“Do you know where she was when Jessica fell?”
“No, sorry.”
“What about Alwin? Was he home for the party?”
She shrugged. “Even if he was, he wouldn’t associate with us. He didn’t mind coaching the basketball team, but since he was in college, he didn’t have time for high school kids. All I know for certain was that RJ was with me, so he couldn’t have pushed her.” She glanced at her watch. “I can’t stay long. I’m on school lunch break, and my aide’s covering recess. I have to get back soon.”
“Just one more thing. Did Jessica have any other relatives in Merlot? Aunts, uncles, or cousins?”
“Jessica’s mom’s sister lives near the river, but Jessica hardly ever got to see her. She couldn’t stand Jessica’s dad, so she was never invited to the house unless he was gone. Even then, Ruth Goggins told him every time she came, and he had a fit.”
Ruth Goggins again. What a gossip!
“Jessica’s dad’s younger brother came to visit twice a year at holidays. The men were two peas in a pod. Hodgkills walked on water.” She snickered. “The brother’s son turned out to be a rotter. The last I heard, he was in jail again.”
“What’s the aunt’s name?” Jazzi went to the card table to write it down.
“Lydia Jenkins. I liked her. So did Jessica.” She started toward the door. “I have to go, but if you have any other questions, give me a call. I’m in the phone book.”
“Any grandparents?” Jazzi called after her.
“None in town. Retired and living where it’s sunny.”
“Thank you.” Jazzi waved her away. When she and Ansel got home tonight, she could mark two more xs on the house plans Ansel had drawn. She zipped upstairs to get back to work and told the guys what she’d learned.
Ansel was carrying the medicine cabinet he’d ripped out of the wall to the big black trash can in the hallway. He tossed it in. “We’ll stop to visit the aunt when we leave here tonight.”
“Hey, cuz, give me a hand!” Jerod motioned to the toilet he’d drained. He took one side, and she took the other. Part of the glamour of renovating. They carried it down the stairs and out the back door. The bathtub already sat in the grass. That must have been fun to get down the steps. Thankfully, Jerod and Ansel were both big guys.
Jerod glanced up to see where the sun was. “Gotta be close to noon. We’re doing heavy work. I could break for lunch early. I’m starving.”
She nodded. “I’ll call up to Ansel.”
They’d turned off the water upstairs, so they washed up in the half bath off the first-floor hallway. When Jerod walked in the kitchen and saw the slow cooker, he grinned and took a deep breath. “It smells like soup.”
He’d been upstairs when she’d carried it in, so she’d caught him by surprise.
“White chili,” Ansel said, grabbing one of the bowls she’d brought. She had a set of melamine dishes that she lugged to worksites.
Gaff knocked on the door and let himself in while they ate. He found them in the kitchen and grabbed a bowl for himself. “I got your message about Alwin, and no one can vouch for him when he took his minivacation in Brown County. No one saw him after he left a restaurant at six or until he showed up for lunch the next day.”
“So he could have driven to Merlot and shot Darcie,” Jerod said.
“He could have, but we can’t prove it.”
“No one I’ve talked to can remember if he was at Jessica’s graduation party or not,” Jazzi said. “Even if he was home, he wouldn’t have mingled with her friends. The rumor is that since he was in college, he thought they were beneath him.”
“Pretty typical,” Gaff said.
Probably.
“Thanks for checking on him for me.” Jazzi opened another sleeve of crackers. The men had finished the first one.
“No problem. You’ve been talking to people who didn’t have much to say when my friend asked them questions. He’s starting to like working with you as much as I do. Are you coming up with anything new?”
She told him Darcie’s plan and how she was marking people off who could alibi one another.
“When you finish your list, will you share it with us?”
She nodded. “Right now, I can tell you that Damian, Jillian, RJ, and Felicity are in the clear.”
He took out his notepad and wrote down their names. Then he carried his bowl to the sink. “Gotta go. I have an afternoon court date. One of my regulars was out on parole, but it looks like he wants to be behind bars again.”
She’d heard about people like that, who’d spent so much time in jail or prison, they couldn’t function in society. It was sad.
After Gaff left, they finished lunch, then went back to work. By five, they’d gutted all three bathrooms. That was the easy part. Putting them back together again was what would take time.
They were grubby and dirty when they left the job, so Ansel asked, “Do you still want to stop to see Jessica’s aunt?”
“Might as well. We won’t look much better any time this week.”
He laughed. “You’ve got a point.” So he headed toward the edge of town to the houses that bordered the river. The college was on the north edge of Merlot, the river on the other. She was surprised at how big and lovely the houses were.
For whatever reason, she’d assumed Jessica’s mother didn’t have money until she married Jessica’s dad. Now, she reconsidered. These houses screamed old, wealthy lineages. Had Jessica’s mother married into the Hodgkill family because of true love? If so, could it possibly have lasted? Did she still love her husband? How was that possible?
Chapter 30
They left George in the van and walked up the sidewalk to the tall, Federal-style house. It was topped by a widow’s walk. Jazzi leaned back her head to appreciate the railed walkway that encircled the top of the roof.
“It’s impressive, isn’t it?” a voice asked from the house’s open front door.
Caught off guard, Jazzi jerked her attention to the speaker. A tall, thin woman with stooped shoulders stood, smiling at her. Her gray hair was pulled back in a no-nonsense bun. “Sorry to bother you—” she started, but the woman cut her off.
“Two attractive blondes. I’ve been hoping you’d show up here. I’ve heard so much about you.” When Ansel blinked, she laughed. “Merlot’s a small town. If a person slows down to sneeze here, we know about it, but I’m sure you have questions you want answers for. Come in. My husband’s already poured wine for us ladies, and he has beer for you men.”
They followed her into a formal foyer and past that to a cozy living room. Two overstuffed, flowered sofas faced each other, with wingback chairs on each side. A tray with drinks sat on the coffee table.
The aunt gestured toward her husband. “Clyde’s a professor at the college—English lit and Greek myths. Don’t bring up a subject he’s interested in or you’ll never get out of here.”
Jazzi laughed, then looked around the room. “You have a lovely house.” Big rooms with high ceilings and polished wooden floors. An arch led to a huge dining room with lots of built-ins.
The aunt’s expression softened, pleased. “It was my parents’ house, and they left it to me after Lorraine married that awful Hodgkill man. By the way, I’m Lydia. My parents liked alliteration.”
Clyde’s blue eyes twinkled. “And thank goodness they liked me, or we’d have been disinherited, too.
”
Jazzi couldn’t hide her surprise. “They disinherited Jessica’s mother?”
“My sister. Yes.” Lydia took a sip of her wine. “They loved us all, but none of us could see any good coming from leaving anything worthwhile to Lamar. Never met anyone so greedy and status hungry. That’s why he married Lorraine. Our family comes from a long line of judges and lawyers. My brother practices law in Chicago. So do his two sons.”
Ansel frowned. “And none of you could put enough pressure on anyone to find Jessica’s killer?”
Lydia sighed. “We tried, and we can’t fault the law or detectives for coming up empty. At the time, everyone who was at Jessica’s party was so stunned and shocked, they couldn’t give very much useful information. And those horrid, fork-tongued vipers—Ruth Goggins and Lila Mattock—spread so much untruth, no one was sure of anything.”
Clyde focused on Jazzi. “But it seems you’ve caused quite a stir, and people are serious about finding the truth this time. We hope you do.”
Jazzi sighed. “But another woman died because of it.”
“Not your fault, dear. Who could have guessed the killer felt so insecure after all this time? All the deaths stopped after Jessica fell.” Lydia shook her head. “Her death ruined Merlot for my poor sister. She couldn’t bear living here, knowing the killer might walk up to her and smile without her ever knowing.”
“Did she ever mention any suspicions she had of who might have pushed Jessica?”
Clyde cleared his throat. “It was my opinion that a small part of her feared it was her own husband, but thankfully, he was grilling at the time. She could put that worry aside.”
Jazzi wasn’t as sure of that as he was, but she meant to find out. “Had Jessica shared any secrets with you that might shed light on her death?”
Lydia sadly shook her head. “Not many people really knew my niece or understood her. My sister, of course, thought the world of her. Lorraine and Jessica shared a zest for life. You’d never think it, but Lorraine loved to laugh, loved to entertain and throw parties. What she ever saw in Lamar, I’ll never know.”
It was a mystery to Jazzi, too. “Were you close to Alwin?”
Lydia and Clyde shared a glance. Lydia sighed. “We sympathized with the boy. He loved his mother and his sister, but his father put him in an impossible situation. I’m sorry to say that Alwin wasn’t an especially strong individual and could be browbeaten easily. He never stood up for himself. Or for anyone else. He lacked the intelligence and sparkle of Jessica, but Lamar was determined to mold him into a keen businessman. It was a daunting task, and poor Alwin often floundered.”
Ansel finished his beer and sat back patiently until Jazzi smiled at him. She told Lydia, “I promised Ansel I wouldn’t take up much of your time. We have more errands to run tonight, but thank you for talking to us.”
“Our pleasure.” Lydia stood to usher them out of the house. “Both of us wish you luck, dear. And if you have any more need to question us, please feel free.”
“Thank you.”
They returned to their van and headed to River Bluffs. On the way home, Jazzi remembered that Ansel had wanted to stop to shop for Halloween decorations. “We have time before we go home,” she said. “Want to look for your witches?”
He pulled into Lowe’s, and when they left, he had three witches stirring a black cauldron when their motion sensor went off. Then he stopped at a party store and bought motion-sensored owls that hooted to put on each step leading down to the basement, along with orange and black crepe paper, paper plates, and serving platters shaped like caskets.
Once home, they carted the witches into the basement and put them in the back corner. Then they fixed a quick supper and settled in for the evening.
More determined than ever, Jazzi went through more of Jessica’s journals, working her way through her eighth grade.
Mom was so proud of me when I showed her my report card with straight As that she decided to bake a special cake to celebrate. Alwin loves chocolate cake, too, so we all worked on it together. When Dad came home and Mom served it after supper, he flew into a rage. “Where’s your report card, Alwin?” he yelled. When Alwin showed it to him, he shook his head. “All Cs. Is that the best you can do, boy?” Then he pointed at me. “And you? Do you always have to show up your brother?” He ripped my report card off the table, tore it into pieces, and threw them in the trash. Then he took Mom’s cake and threw it, upside down, on the table. We all stared at him in shock. Mom rose from her chair, grabbed her purse, and told Alwin and me to get in the car. “Where are you going?” Dad yelled. “To a restaurant to buy my children whatever they’d like for dessert. You’re not invited.” Dad stared at her, but I’d never seen Mom so angry. He stormed to his den while she drove us to town. But when we returned, he swore he’d never touch anything of Mom’s again.”
Jazzi wanted to stand up and cheer, Yay, Lorraine! But she knew this was just a small victory against an impossible man.
Chapter 31
We were laying floor tile and installing a whirlpool tub in the master bathroom upstairs, huffing under the heavy load and trying to position it correctly, so none of us heard the doorbell ring. It wasn’t until a voice called upstairs that we realized someone was there.
“Hello! Is anyone home?”
Jerod gave me a nod, so I went to see who it was. Felicity was standing at the top of the stairs with another woman in tow. When she saw me, she grimaced. “Sorry. I caught you in the middle of something, but I wanted to introduce you to Molly Kroft, another one of Jessica’s friends.”
Molly was five ten with flaming red hair in a pixie cut that accented her delicate features. “Felicity said that you’re trying to place who was at the graduation party and who they were with. I was on the back patio and couldn’t get away from Nadia Ashton when Jessica fell past us. I’ll hate Nadia forever. She looked at Jessica’s broken body and said, ‘It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person.’”
Jazzi stared. “You’re kidding.”
“There’s nothing funny about Nadia. She has a nice life now but can’t let the scholarship thing go, hangs on to it like a pit bull with a bone. She didn’t go to college; she moved in with her life partner, Stephanie Osgood. A truly lovely person. They run a grooming shop together and are doing well.”
“So she’s happy.”
“Until she talks about the past.”
There had to be more to it than that. Jazzi had met a few people like that. Maybe home life wasn’t too great for Nadia and she needed someone to blame for her misery. “That means I can cross off Damian Dunlap, Nadia, and RJ, along with you, Jillian, and Felicity.”
Molly sniffed, giving Felicity a sideways look. “RJ wasn’t the great guy everyone thought he was, but he genuinely liked Jessica, even if he used her.”
“Used her?” Felicity frowned. “How?”
“Grow up!” Molly snapped. “He only asked Jessica out as a ploy. He’d been wanting to get into Tilly’s pants the entire time he dated her. He thought if he broke up with her and went out with Jessica, Tilly would put out to get him back.”
Felicity’s shoulders sagged. “That was pretty rotten of him.”
“He’s a guy. They were all hormone-crazed in high school. But once he got to know Jessica, he really liked her.”
Jazzi interrupted. “Can you place anyone else at the party?”
“I saw Alwin. When the police asked his dad about him, Lamar swore he wasn’t there, but I saw him. He was home from college for the weekend.”
“Do you know where he was when Jessica fell?”
Molly shrugged. “He came to grab food and then he disappeared. I think he went up to his room to hide from us.”
“And his room was upstairs?” Jazzi asked.
Molly blinked, as if she’d just put that together. “One door down from the balcony. I
was surprised he didn’t mingle more. The little slimeball loved to hit on Jessica’s friends. We nicknamed him Hands.”
That was news. Jessica never mentioned it in her journals. “Did he ever get lucky?”
“Have you seen him?” Molly shook her head. “Not even Nadia would let him corner her. Not that Jessica’s dad was much better. He never touched. He just leered. I swear, he needed a drool bib when any of us stopped by Jessica’s house.”
A whole new spin on father and son. They left a bad taste in Jazzi’s mouth. “Did you notice Tilly in the food line, or Ruth Goggins? I can’t place Lila Mattock either.”
Molly sneered. “Maybe she was curled under a rock.”
“Molly!” Felicity gave her a look, but Molly shrugged.
“Ruth might have joined her there,” she added.
“But you didn’t see them?”
Both women shook their heads. Felicity looked at her watch again. “I’m almost out of time, but Molly and I were wondering if we could have a quick tour of the house.”
“Sure.” Jazzi took them from room to room. When she finished, Molly smiled. “I’m a decorator, you know. You three couldn’t have done a more beautiful job. I hope someone buys this house who will love it as much as Jessica did.”
Everyone mentioned how attached Jessica was to it. “That’s what we’re hoping for.”
Molly and Felicity said their goodbyes, and Jazzi went back to the master bathroom to help Jerod and Ansel. They installed two pedestal sinks before breaking for lunch. George hadn’t appreciated the white bean chili yesterday and trotted over to beg when he saw sandwiches again.
When Jazzi told them what Molly had shared, Jerod wrinkled his nose. “Jessica’s dad just gets better and better. Sounds like he was a pervert, too.”
“Alwin doesn’t come off too well either.” Ansel tore off a piece of ham to feed to George.
Eyes glinting, Jazzi tilted her head to study her Norseman. “Your sister must have had lots of friends. Were you in to any of them?”
