Alibis & Arranging

by Nancy McGovern

  Aurora began working within the closet, while Rosa went to the chest of drawers. Soon, there were three piles on the floor, an increasing mountain of clothes, gewgaws, wires and all the things that seem to pile up over a lifetime. Aurora had just emptied a sock drawer when she paused. One of the panels of the drawer seemed slightly loose. She pried it open and saw that there was a little space underneath. An envelope had been tucked into it.

  Heart hammering, Aurora took out the envelope, wondering if this was the will Russell had so desperately been hoping for. She peeked behind her shoulder - Rosa was busy in the other corner.

  Stealthily, unable to help herself, Aurora slid the envelope open.

  ″Oh.″ She gasped.

  Whatever she had expected, it wasn't this. The envelope contained photos and a single typed page. The photo showed Jonah Tanner, his face stormy with anger. Teresa was facing him, one hand cupping his cheek. In the next photo, Teresa was hugging him tight and Jonah was hugging her back, smiling broadly.

  The typewritten page was from a private investigator operating out of New York City.

  Please find attached the photos you requested. I estimate a week's work more should give you conclusive proof. As discussed, could you transfer the next installment to the bank account given below?

  Gratefully,

  M. M., Private Detectives NY.

  Aurora heard a rustling sound behind her and, instinctively shoved the envelope and its contents deep into her pocket.

  ″Phew, I could use a break,″ Rosa said. ″How are you doing here? I think I'll go down to the kitchen and grab a Coke or something. Shall I bring you one, too?″

  ″Er, no, I'm fine. Thanks,″ Aurora said.

  ″Are you sure? You look kind of…red.″ Rosa examined her critically. ″You might be getting overheated.″

  ″I'm fine, really.″ Aurora smiled. ″You go on. I'll just finish this closet and then come down.″

  ″Your wish.″ Rosa shrugged and walked away. As soon as Aurora heard her footsteps go down the stairs, she collapsed on a nearby armchair and exhaled the breath she'd been holding in.

  Part of her wanted to give the envelope over to Rosa immediately. After all, it belonged to her now. Legally or otherwise. Then again, that envelope could break Rosa's marriage entirely. Aurora really didn't want that on her conscience. Especially since all the photos showed was a hug between friends. It was perfectly possible that it was all innocent.

  Aurora could hear Joy's mocking voice in her head. ″I don't know if you're far too naive or just like to deliberately shut your eyes to the world sometimes.″

  Well, Aurora suspected she knew which one it was this time. Either way, she made up her mind not to act too fast. After all, she could always tell Rosa she'd found it a bit later - a day or two wouldn't hurt anyone. She was going to show Joy the note first, and give her time to dig out the truth. Maybe they could confront Jonah about his relationship with Teresa.

  20

  A Serious Conversation

  Joy and Aurora waited nervously in the kitchen, expecting the doorbell to ring any moment. As soon as she saw the photos and the note, Joy had called Jonah and invited him over for coffee. She'd made it very clear that he shouldn't tell Rosa, and that he shouldn't refuse. Jonah had caught on quickly, and agreed to come over in ten minutes.

  ″I just feel so bad for Rosa,″ Aurora said miserably. ″I still feel like maybe I should have shown her these pictures immediately.″

  ″No, you did the right thing. I mean there is a chance, however slight, that this is all an innocent misunderstanding. It wouldn't be right to break Rosa's heart and give her a lifetime of insecurity, would it? Jonah deserves a chance to clear things up.″ Joy snorted. ″Though I got to say, it doesn't look good for him.″

  ″No?″

  ″No,″ Joy said. ″If I were taking bets, I'd say Jonah married Rosa for the money, got scared when Hilda threatened to disinherit her and killed Hilda. Or maybe Hilda threatened to tell Rosa what Jonah had been up to, and he killed her. Either way, he's looking really suspicious right now.″

  ″I don't know,″ Aurora said. ″Both those are drastically different motives. One's love, the other's money.″

  ″Maybe it was a bit of both for Jonah,″ Joy said. ″Knock Hilda off, get money and keep Rosa. Win-win.″

  ″Mm. If you say so.″ Aurora sighed. She had a headache trying to sort all this out. ″Why can't we go back to our calm lives where the only thing I was worried about was what flavor of pie I'd get for a snack?″

  ″Boring,″ Joy said. ″Life's not exciting till you're in the middle of chasing down the truth. At least, that's what I think. Don't you feel alive, Aurora? Excited?″

  ″I just feel sick,″ Aurora said. ″Poor Rosa. Her entire life could come crumbling down. It's bad enough she just lost her only parental figure. To find out her husband had betrayed her would be too much.″

  ″Well, yes. But, look at it this way, if her life with Jonah is built on lies, this will give her a chance to set out and find a new one. Isn't that better? Sure, she'll be sad for a bit, but in a year or two she'll find a new guy and find lasting happiness.″

  ″I don't know if the dating world is that easy,″ Aurora said. ″Seems to me like, the older you grow, the more the pool becomes a puddle.″

  ″Well, aren't you sunny and cheerful.″ Joy shook her head. ″Chin up, Aurora. Besides, like I said, Jonah might have an explanation.″

  But Jonah went white with shock as he saw the pictures. ″I…I can explain.″ He blubbered, his eyes glazing over. He was the picture of guilt.

  ″You and Rosa haven't even been married a month,″ Joy said, managing to infuse both contempt and anger in her voice.

  ″I can explain everything,″ Jonah repeated again, pushing a hand through his hair. But instead of explaining, he sat down heavily on a chair and put his elbows on the table, bending his head down.

  Aurora and Joy looked at each other. He truly was the absolute picture of guilt. Poor Rosa, Aurora thought again, dreading the thought of having to tell her. ″Let me get you that coffee,″ she said out loud. ″Looks like we all need it.″

  She brewed a pot then poured it into three mismatched cups. Joy's was a birthday gift that said ″Shhh. I'm not ready to talk yet.″ in bright glittery letters. Aurora's own cup was an elegant thing, marbled with a thread of gold running through it. Jonah, as the guest, got a large, white mug with Cafe Ricci embossed on it.

  ″So…″ Joy said finally as Jonah raised his head up. ″Ready to tell us this explanation of yours? Or are you still making one up?″

  ″Look, it's complicated,″ Jonah said. ″Alright? I'm trying to find the right words.″

  ″No, what you're doing is stalling,″ Joy said. ″Speak up and speak loud, or we send this to Rosa.″

  ″No, not that!″ Jonah exclaimed. ″What do you two want? Money? I can arrange something.″

  ″We aren't blackmailers.″ Aurora was horrified. ″We just wanted to know if you had an explanation before we sent these to Rosa. She deserves to know.″

  ″There's nothing to know.″

  ″Oh, please. You were clearly having an affair with Teresa,″ Joy said. ″That much is obvious.″

  ″I was doing no such thing!″ Jonah cried. ″I told you…it's complicated.″

  ″You keep repeating yourself, and I'm hearing nothing of substance,″ Joy said. ″It was a waste of time calling you here.″

  ″No…look…I’ll tell you everything.″ Jonah took a deep breath. He held the mug with both hands, as if he were drawing strength from it, then sipped the coffee. He grimaced and Aurora found herself a little irritated. Surely the coffee wasn't that bad. She took a sip herself, then gently pushed the cup away from her. Maybe it was.

  ″Look, Rosa and I have been dating each other off and on for a long time now,″ Jonah explained. ″I guess you know that already. Everyone in town does.″

  Joy nodded.

  ″I don’t,″ Aurora said.
″I'm new, remember? If you don't mind, maybe tell me the whole thing from the start?″

  ″I've known Rosa all my life. Just like everyone in town knows everyone else,″ Jonah said. ″I've known Teresa all my life, too. Well, I should say I knew her. May she rest in peace.″ He crossed himself quickly. ″Before Rosa and I started dating, Teresa and I were together. I mean, everyone dates everyone else here in Bent River. You know that, Joy.″

  Joy shrugged. ″There's not much of a choice, I guess.″

  ″Exactly. But once you break up, it's not like you can stop talking to the other person. It's not like you can erase your history with them. Yet it's what Rosa wanted me to do. She thought we had no chance of a happy marriage until I stopped talking to Teresa forever. In a small town like ours, that's just impossible. I told her that. It only annoyed Rosa and, well, we had a lot of fights about it.″

  ″I'd say she had reason to get annoyed.″ Joy shrugged. ″Because I know what you're leaving out. You didn't just date Teresa before Rosa, did you? You dated her while you and Rosa were on the ‘off’ portions of your ‘on and off’ relationship.″

  ″It's not my fault, is it?″ Jonah flushed.

  ″I don't know,″ Aurora said, ″Is it?″

  ″Look, like I said, I've known Rosa all my life,″ Jonah repeated. ″But we never officially started dating till we were both fifty. Even after that, it took us ten years to get married. Why do you think that is? I'll tell you why. It's because Rosa was so controlled by Hilda. I was a grown man sneaking around like a teenager. Of course, she and I broke it off a couple of times. I wanted an adult, not a girl with a domineering aunt. I mean, you lose your patience for these kind of things after a certain age.″

  ″The way I heard it in town is that Rosa was always the one chasing you, while you ran around wondering what your options were,″ Joy said. ″I mean, it's no secret you're the most eligible bachelor for anyone above forty here in Bent River. The women certainly outnumber the men.″

  Jonah shook his head vehemently. ″I don't care what the gossip mill told you. Rosa was the one who resisted the marriage because she was afraid of her precious Aunt Hilda. The truth is, I would have married Rosa ten years ago if her aunt didn't hate me and my family so much. For no reason, too.″

  ″She had a reason. She believed all Tanner men were trashy because your grandfather broke her heart,″ Aurora said. ″He left her at the altar years ago and then had a marriage…and a child…with another woman just eight months later.″

  ″Oh, that.″ Jonah rolled his eyes. ″Sounds to me like Hilda was a bitter loser if she couldn't get over it for sixty years. Things happen. Life happens. It's not my fault she spent the rest of her life bitter. And, oh yes, she was no saint. She had four marriages herself! At least my grandfather stayed with my grandmother for the rest of his life after he married her. He respected the sanctity of marriage.″

  ″The same way you did?″ Joy tapped the photos lying between them. ″If I didn't know better, I'd say that's a man having an illicit affair.″

  Jonah flushed.

  Aurora frowned. ″Tell me something,″ she said. ″If Rosa had forbidden you to see Teresa entirely, how did she approve of you lending Teresa your car?″

  ″She…didn’t,″ Jonah said. ″I mean, she doesn't know.″

  ″She has to know now, surely,″ Joy said. ″It's all over town that Teresa died in a car crash, and that the car was yours.″

  ″She didn't know about that car,″ Jonah said. ″It was always in the big garage covered in tarp and she's never seen it. I guess the talk about it being my car hasn't reached her yet and, if it does, I'll just say I'd sold it to Teresa or something.″

  ″Or something. Great foundation for a marriage you're building, with all these lies.″ Joy tapped her chin. ″And how about these photos? You claim it was all innocent?″

  ″I haven't cheated on Rosa,″ Jonah said. ″I'm just scared she'll think I have if she sees these photos. That was surely Hilda's intention all along. She knew I was meeting Teresa and she wanted to convince Rosa to leave me.″

  ″What were you talking about when these photos were taken?″ Aurora asked.

  ″She was asking to borrow my car, as a matter of fact. She hugged me when I told her to keep it as long as she finds necessary.″ Jonah shrugged. ″What was I going to do, refuse an old friend? I've been brought up to be generous and never turn down someone in need.″

  This Joy knew to be true. For all their reputations as womanizers and wild men ready for a brawl, the Tanners were loved around town as people who gave freely, down to the last cent in their pocket. Jonah didn't brag about it, but Joy knew that he'd given ″loans″ to people in need of a little cash plenty of times over the years. He never asked for the money back, either.

  ″So, that's it? Teresa asked to borrow your car and she hugged you when you said yes. Correct?″ Aurora asked.

  ″Correct. Teresa has only been a friend for a long time now. Rosa is the woman I love and adore,″ Jonah said. ″So I'm pleading with you two…please don't tell Rosa. She won't see sense. She'll just go off into a fit of jealousy and divorce me or something. Teresa's gone anyway. Why should I lose my marriage on top of losing a friend?″

  ″I'll tell you why. Because you aren't telling us the whole truth,″ Joy said. ″You're still lying through your teeth.″

  Jonah sucked in a breath. ″What?″

  ″Why did Teresa come to your tent at the farmer's market that day?″ Joy asked. ″You were having some sort of intense conversation with her, or so it seemed.″

  ″Oh…that.″ Jonah sighed.

  ″Yes…that,″ Joy said.

  ″Alright, I'll admit it,″ Jonah said. ″She came to me that day because…because she wanted to tell me she still loved me and wanted me.″

  Joy and Aurora looked at each other.

  ″But I can't help that! I told her it was too late, that I was married and happy. I told her to find someone else,″ Jonah said. ″I promise you…I promise you that's the truth. I was actually angry at her about it.″

  ″Why would she just randomly come and pour her heart out to you?″ Joy was suspicious. ″You must have done something. She must have believed there was a reasonable chance of you responding positively.″

  ″I don't know, ok? How would I know what Teresa was thinking?″ Jonah protested. ″I wish I'd never lent her that car. I wish I'd done what Rosa asked and just never spoken to her again. I regret it, all of it. Just please don't show Rosa those photos! Because I promise you…I. Didn't. Cheat. On. Rosa.″

  21

  Childhood Memories

  ″What do you think?″ Aurora asked Joy.

  It was night time. Jonah had gone a long time ago and they were both prepping dinner together. Joy, who always handled dinner, had declared that, in confusing times, spaghetti and meatballs were called for.

  ″I don't know what to think.″ Joy sighed. ″He sounded very sincere when he said that he didn't cheat on Rosa. On the other hand…I'm still not sure he wasn't being shady.″

  ″I see.″ Having minced the garlic and chopped the veggies for a salad, Aurora was now sitting at the table while Joy moved around the kitchen. ″You look so much like your Aunt Giulia when you cook.″ Aurora smiled. ″You both get this determined, yet blissed, look on your faces.″

  ″I'll take that compliment.″ Joy flashed a smile at her over her shoulder. ″I need a break from all this thinking anyway. I've never known a case this complicated. We're not even sure that there is a murder. Well, the police aren't. Then add to the mix a possible missing will, a missing-yet-magically-reappearing dog statue, a possible affair, a strange car crash…″ Joy shook her head. ″I feel like I've lost track of all the details.″

  ″Don't forget Aunt Hilda had a private investigator set upon her niece's husband,″ Aurora added. ″I'm with you. I just don't see how all of these things can fit together.″

  ″Maybe they do, maybe they don’t,″ Joy said. ″Did I tell you
this is my Nonno's recipe for meatballs? He'd make it as a treat every once in a while and it always tasted better than anyone else's. I'm the only one in the family who knows the secret. So now I'm the official meatball maker of the Russo/Ricci family.″

  ″What's the secret?″ Aurora asked.

  ″Ah-ah. You think it's that easy? I waited twenty years before I was given the secret.″ Joy winked. ″You didn't even wait twenty seconds.″

  ″Go on, tell me. You know I'll never be able to make it anyway. I promise I won't tell anyone else, either.″

  ″Alright. Since you promise. First, while you're making the meatballs, you save a bit of the meat from the beef and pork mix to add to your sauce,″ Joy said. ″Second, and most important, when you saute the garlic in olive oil, add the breadcrumbs in. They soak up the oil and garlic and, when you toss them into the meatballs later, it gives a sort of rich, buttery, garlic flavor to them.″

  ″Noted,″ Aurora said. She rubbed her hands together gleefully. ″I wonder how much money Aunt Giulia would give me for this top secret info.″

  ″Traitor.″ Joy laughed. ″Is the water boiling yet?″

  Aurora took a peek into the pot. ″Mm. Yeah.″

  ″Great. Shove the spaghetti into it, will you?″ Joy began humming to herself as she moved to the sink and began washing. A little while later, they sat down to a delicious meal together, with Aurora appreciatively sniffing the aroma.

  ″It's still not the same as when Nonno did it,″ Joy said. ″One of my best childhood memories is being invited over here for Sunday dinner. My parents and I would walk in to a fragrant house, and my cousins would rope me into a game of hide and seek. We weren't addicted to video games back then. Anyway, all the time we were playing, wherever I was in the house, this smell would follow me and I'd know…really know…that I'd be getting the best meal of my life soon.″

  ″You're lucky.″ Aurora smiled. ″Mom preferred take out because she was often too tired to cook after work. Plus it was just her and me. I think my favorite childhood food was the immortal PB&J. Or maybe instant ramen. Sometimes Mom would swirl an egg in and add some chives and we'd feel fancy.″