by Jessica Beck
“How long did all of that take?” I asked, trying to nail him down further.
“Not as long as you might think,” he said. “I was in and out in 97 minutes. After that, I went to Myra Sedgewick’s place. Her washing machine drain line was clogged and started to back up. When I got to the root of the problem, I snaked out a washcloth from the drain. When I asked her about it, she said she was afraid sewer gasses might get into her house, so she’d stuffed it in there herself. She admitted that she must have forgotten about putting it down in there, and I had a devil of a time getting it out. The funny thing was she’d stored some potatoes in the laundry room, and she’d forgotten about them, too. Rotting potatoes smell pretty bad. I found them after I retrieved the sock, but it took me an hour to get that smell out of the space.”
“Wow, that sounds like a pain,” I said. “What did you do after that?”
“I took an hour off to go fishing out by the lake,” he said. “That’s another thing I love about my job. I can take off whenever I please, and I don’t have to ask anyone else’s permission to do it.”
“Did you go alone?” Autumn asked. She was picking up on how to confirm alibis, which I liked.
“Just me and nature all around me,” he said proudly. “For an hour, I turned off my phone, and I never saw another person until I got to my next job.” He added with a grin, “I didn’t see any fish, either, but that was almost beside the point.”
“How did you get along with Mrs. Marbury?” I asked him. “Did you two ever have any disagreements?”
He shook his head. “No, she wasn’t one to believe in debate,” he said. “I knew from the get-go that if I was going to work for her, I’d better keep my mouth shut and go about my business. You can ask Autumn. The woman wasn’t a big fan of considering someone else’s point of view. In fact, there was only one time in my life that I ever talked back to her.”
“When was that?” Autumn asked him.
“This morning, when I told her that it was wrong what she was doing to you,” he admitted. “I hate the fact that we had harsh words the day she was murdered.”
“Did anyone else hear you two arguing?” I asked him. That might be the reason he was making such an incriminating confession to us without provocation.
“As a matter of fact, Nancy Betlaw was walking her dog past your old place when it happened,” he admitted. “You know what a busybody that woman is. It’s probably all over town by now that I was the one who hit her, if Nancy’s passion for gossip in the past is any indication.”
That explained the admission. “Do you have any idea who might have done it?” I asked him.
“I don’t have a clue,” he admitted before turning to Autumn. “How’s Jeff taking it?”
“He thinks that I might have done it,” she said.
“Hang on. That’s not completely fair,” I said. “Adam said that, not Jeff.”
“He didn’t stand up for me though, did he?” Autumn asked, clearly still distraught about what had happened earlier.
“I can’t believe it,” Lee said. “I can’t even begin to imagine the circumstances that I would ever do that to you.” He looked at her meaningfully, and I had to wonder for a moment if he’d forgotten that I was even there. “Autumn, what I said before goes double. If you need me, and I mean for anything, I’m just a phone call away.”
As he said it, his phone rang, an eerie ringtone that reminded me of a fifties science fiction film. He glanced at it, and then he looked at Autumn. “It’s Jeff.”
“Go on. Take it,” she said.
“No, I’ll call him back later,” Lee said as he started to hit Ignore on his phone.
“He might need you, too,” I said, urging him.
“Please, do it for me,” Autumn added, picking up on my desire to hear what her estranged husband wanted from the handyman.
“Hey. Yes. No. Really? Hang on.” He put the phone against his chest and looked at Autumn. “He wants the locks changed right now, at your place and at his mother’s house, too. He offered to pay me triple what I usually charge if I’ll do it right now.”
“You should take the job,” Autumn urged him.
“I don’t know. I don’t feel right about it,” Lee protested.
“The truth is that I don’t care anymore,” my friend said. Whether she was talking about the new locks or her husband I did not know, and clearly neither did Lee.
“I’ve got four jobs ahead of you, and I’m probably going to lose business if I drop everything for you. I’ll do it for four times my normal bill, but I’ll need an extra hundred bucks to make the risk of losing some of my clients worth it.”
He paused a moment, and then grinned. “Okay then. Fair enough. See you in twenty minutes. Oh, and that quote was just for the labor. You’ll have to pay for new locksets, too.” After a pause, he said, “Then we’re all good. See you soon.”
“Wow, you really gouged him, didn’t you?” I asked him, wanting to get a reaction to how he really felt about Jeff.
“I know the man just lost his mother, but what he’s done to Autumn is unforgivable. Besides, he didn’t have to agree to any of it. If he wants to make it happen, he’s going to have to pay for the privilege.” Realizing that the transaction hadn’t cast him in the best of lights, he added, “I’ll make a nice donation to the animal shelter when I get the money. I won’t profit too much from it, but it’s only right that he has to pay for what he’s done.”
“Are you saying that you think that Jeff might have killed his mother?” I asked him.
“I’m not saying anything,” Lee quickly corrected me. “I just don’t think he should get away with treating Autumn the way he has lately. Ever since Adam came back into town, Jeff and Mrs. Marbury have been acting pretty odd as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think Jeff did it, but I wouldn’t put it past his brother.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Just a feeling, I guess,” he said. “Listen, I’ve got to run.” As he started for his truck, he turned back to Autumn. “Remember, call me if you need me.”
“Thanks, I will.”
After he drove away, Autumn said, “At least we can strike one name off our list.”
“Really?” I asked as we walked up onto the porch and into the cottage. “Whose name might that be?”
“Lee’s, of course,” she said, acting surprised by my question.
“How do you figure that?”
“His time was accounted for,” she replied.
“First off, that body was cold when we found it, so it’s hard to say how long she’d been dead, and second of all, he admitted that they argued this morning in public, and that there was an entire hour that he couldn’t account for.”
“When he was fishing?” she asked me.
“He told us himself that he didn’t see a soul, so how do we know he was even at the lake?” I hesitated a moment and then added, “Autumn, that man has got it bad for you.”
“Maybe,” she finally admitted, “but I can’t imagine him killing Cecile. If Jeff had died, it might be possible, but why kill his mother?”
“I can think of a few reasons. Maybe he was tired of hearing her badmouth you and he lost his temper. Then again, if he could get rid of Cecile and frame Jeff for it, there would be no one to stand in his way.”
“But he didn’t frame Jeff,” Autumn pointed out.
“Not yet, at any rate,” I said. “In the meantime, we need to keep digging.”
“This is exhausting, Suzanne. I don’t know how you do it.”
“You could always just stay here,” I offered.
“No, this is my mess, and I’m going to help you clean it up. Who’s next?”
“I’d like to speak with Jeff and Adam, but they’re going to be tied up with Lee for the next hour or two. That leaves us with Annie and Mr. Charleston. Any preferences?”
“I suppose it needs to be Annie,” she said reluctantly.
“Really? I thought you’d want to tackle
her last.”
“I do. That’s why we need to track her down next. The sooner we get that interview over, the better as far as I’m concerned.”
“Then let’s go see if we can find your former rival for your husband’s affections.”
Autumn glanced at her watch. “Luckily, I know right where she’ll be.”
Chapter 16
THE SIGN ABOVE THE upscale boutique said simply, PLATINUM. I glanced in the window, but I didn’t see anything even remotely made of the precious metal. I knew she’d been trying to sound rich and exclusive with her name choice, but would it have killed her to put a bracelet or some small trinket in the window?
I was about to say as much to Autumn when I glanced over at my friend. She was visibly shaking at the very thought of going into the shop. “Hey, are you okay?”
“That woman seems to know exactly what to say to hurt me the deepest,” Autumn said. “I’m not sure I’m up for this.”
“I can do it alone if you’d like,” I offered.
I thought for a moment she might just take me up on it when she shook her head suddenly. “No, I’m fine. Let’s go in.”
“I really don’t mind,” I said as Autumn brushed past me and opened the door.
I had no choice at that point.
I followed her in.
Annie Greenway was helping an older woman dressed much like Gabby Williams did, the owner of ReNEWed back in April Springs. The only difference was that I was certain that this woman had paid full retail for her outfit, whereas Gabby only culled the best from her inventory of previously gently used stylish clothing that came into her shop.
Annie glanced up at us as she said, “I’ll be with you...” Then she noticed Autumn was there, and she shut down midsentence.
“That’s okay. We can wait,” I said as I started looking through the clothes for sale. I was fairly certain that I was the first woman in blue jeans and a T-shirt to ever browse in Platinum. I found a blouse that was kind of cute and pulled it out just for fun.
The price tag was three figures, and that was before the decimal point. “Check this out,” I told Autumn as I showed her what I’d discovered.
“It would look cute on you,” Autumn said, studiously avoiding Annie.
In a lower voice, I said, “I’m talking about the price.”
“Well, look at the label. It’s worth every penny.”
“If you happen to have that many pennies available to you for a blouse,” I said with disdain. “Have you ever bought anything this expensive? My first car didn’t cost this much.”
“Jeff bought me a few things from here,” she admitted.
“Okay,” I said, putting the blouse back on the rack. I was afraid at that point of even touching it. I glanced back to find Annie ringing up a sale for the woman in question, so she should be finished soon. I didn’t want to confront her in front of one of her customers. After all, we might be different in just about every way imaginable, but we were still women running small businesses, and there was an underlying loyalty there for me, even if wasn’t reciprocated. “See anything you like?”
“I’m not here to shop,” Autumn said tersely.
“You didn’t have to come in at all,” I reminded her.
“I’m sorry I snapped,” Autumn said in a quick apology.
I touched her arm lightly. “Hey, if this didn’t have you on edge, I’d really be worried about you.”
“Good-bye, Hennie,” Annie said as she held the door open for the older woman. “See you soon.”
“Good-bye, dear. Until tomorrow.”
Once she was gone, Annie turned to us. “I’m guessing you two aren’t here on a shopping expedition.”
“Does she really come in every day?” I asked as Hennie walked down the street outside the shop window. “She must spend a fortune over the course of a year.”
“She can afford it,” Annie said. “What do you want, Autumn? I’m surprised you have the nerve to show your face around here after what you did.”
“What exactly is that?” Autumn asked her pointedly. She’d been cowed before outside, but now my friend was finding her spine again.
“Come on. Who are we kidding? Everyone knew how you felt about Cecile.”
“She was my mother-in-law,” Autumn said.
“Not for very much longer,” Annie cracked. “Jeff is never going to want you back now, and the sooner you face that fact, the better it will be for everyone concerned.”
Autumn stood there, shocked by the onslaught, so there was no way that I was going to stand by and watch it happen. “Do you honestly think he’ll come running to you, even if they get divorced?”
“Who are you?” she asked me as she barely glanced in my direction.
“I’m Autumn’s friend, that’s who I am,” I said.
“And what is it that you do?” she asked as her gaze swept from my tennis shoes to my top.
“I’m a donutmaker. I run a small business just like you do.”
Annie’s laugh had no humor or warmth in it whatsoever. “I can assure you that what you do is nothing like what I do.” So much for the sisterhood of women small business owners. “Autumn, you need to leave.”
“Not until we have a little chat first,” Autumn said. “When was the last time you spoke with Cecile?”
“That’s none of your business,” Annie said, but I saw her cheeks flush at the statement. Was it possible that she really was that agitated, or had we struck a nerve? “Why aren’t you in jail?”
“Because I didn’t kill her,” Autumn said firmly. “Can you say the same?”
“Get out of my shop, you murderer!” Annie said shrilly, pointing to the door.
I might not have escalated the conversation so quickly until we could at least get an alibi from her, but clearly Autumn had decided to go another route. She said firmly, “Sorry, but we’re not going anywhere.”
“Then I’m calling the police. I have the right to refuse service to anyone I choose,” she said as she reached for her phone.
“Come on, Autumn,” I said as I tugged at her arm. “We need to go.”
“Listen to your friend,” Annie said, her finger poised to dial the police.
“Fine, but this isn’t over,” Autumn told her. Before she walked out the door though, she stopped and said, “There’s something you really need to understand, Annie. Jeff will never love you, even if we split up. You’re old news, ancient history, damaged goods.”
It was clearly Annie’s turn to be shocked into silence, so I grabbed Autumn’s arm and pulled her out onto the sidewalk.
“Wow, that was really brutal,” I said once we were outside.
“Was it too much?” Autumn asked. “I couldn’t seem to stop myself.”
“You just returned her fire,” I assured her. “She started it, but you finished it. Why did you call her damaged goods? That really seemed to hit home.”
“A long time ago, she was married to Jeff’s third cousin for about three weeks. They got an annulment, and no one really knows what happened between them, but the rumors are pretty crazy.”
“Do you know what really happened?” I asked her.
“No. That was probably a low blow adding that. Do you think I should apologize, at least for that crack?”
“I think we’d both be better off if we steered clear of her for a while to give her some time to cool off,” I said.
“So, where does that leave us?” she asked me.
“We need to call Mr. Charleston and make that appointment.”
“Are you sure you want to stick with the story that you’re about to come into money?” Autumn asked me.
“I’ve got a feeling that it’s the only sure way we’ll get in to see him,” I said.
“Then make the call.”
After dodging first a receptionist and then a secretary, I was finally speaking to the man himself. “Ms. Hart, how may I be of service to you?”
“I need some financial advice. You see, I am about
to come into a large sum of money, and I’m not at all sure what to do with it. I don’t have a very good head when it comes to money, so I’m hoping you can take it all over and have complete control of it for me.”
“You’ve come to the right man,” he said. I could almost hear him licking his lips after hearing my admission. “I have a tight schedule, but I can make room for you sometime late next week.”
“Oh dear,” I said. “I’m afraid I’ll need advice faster than that. Never mind, then,” I said.
I could see Autumn’s concerned look, but I had a feeling it was the right move. I’d put the phone up so she could hear both sides of the conversation.
He barely hesitated in his response. “Well, you’re in luck. It seems I’ve had a cancellation at seven this evening. I’d be happy to come by your home and discuss this with you in person.”
“Oh, I don’t take meetings at home. It’s a bit too intimate,” I said quickly. “Your office?”
“Of course,” he said, though it was clear he wasn’t thrilled with my demand. He probably wanted to size up my net worth by seeing what was around me, and I couldn’t have that. As it was, I was going to have to do some tap dancing to convince him that I was legitimate. “I’m afraid I have to insist on knowing the source of your windfall before we meet, though. It’s a matter of structuring your portfolio properly.”
“Is that absolutely necessary?” I asked him. Suddenly my “check is in the mail” story wasn’t going to work.
“I’m afraid so, yes,” he said.
“My mother is about to bestow a rather large gift of cash and stocks to me,” I said in a panic, not knowing what else to say.
“Very well. Her name?”
“Dorothea Hart,” I said. After all, in for a penny, in for a pound.
“Very well. I’ll see you at seven.”
The moment we hung up, Autumn started in on me. “Suzanne, that wasn’t going to be your story at all. Why did you tell him that? He can check her out.”
I held up one hand. “One second.” I dialed Momma’s number, and to my relief, she picked up right away.
