by Cindy Bell
“Sure you can. He was there for you when you needed him. Yes, your lifestyle was different then, but his friendship was the same as mine. Loyal, and unwavering.”
Jo looked over at him with a small smile. “You always know how to calm me down, Walt.”
“Trust me, I’ve spent years calming myself down. It’s easy to get caught up in the details of things, but when you get down to the core of any relationship, it’s the same essential connection. Two people care for each other. That sounds simple, but in order for one human to care that much about another human there has to be more than just common interests, there has to be an instinctive connection. Kind of like how dogs sniff each other’s bottoms.”
“I’m sorry, you lost me at that last part?” Jo laughed.
“But you smiled didn’t you?” He grinned. “Just like dogs sniff each other’s bottoms, our instincts tell us when someone feels safe, or dangerous. Even in the middle of a very dangerous lifestyle your instincts told you that Bruce was safe, someone who genuinely cared about you. Honestly, we don’t get many of those connections in our lives, so we deeply value the ones we find.”
“That’s it.” Jo nodded and stared out through the windshield. “Even though he was involved in a life I wanted to leave behind, I still valued him. I still do. He helped me when I needed it.”
“Then he was a good person, Jo.” Walt patted her hand as it rested on her knee. “You don’t have to be afraid to call him that.” Jo bit into her bottom lip and remained silent as Walt turned the car into Sage Gardens. As he drove towards his villa he looked over at her again. “And so were you, Jo, no matter what you tell yourself, no matter what crimes you committed, you were and still are a good person.”
“I have to go.” Jo pushed the door open the moment the car stopped.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just need a walk to clear my head.” She stepped out of his car. “Thanks for the ride.” She smiled at him and then turned away. She felt Walt’s eyes on her as she walked away from his villa and towards the lake. What Walt had said to her struck a chord. Not once in her younger years did she consider herself a good person, but maybe that was why she lost herself so easily in criminal acts. When she reached the lake Jo slipped her shoes off and stuck her toes in the edge of the water. It was murky and cold, but the subtle ebb and flow against her skin made her relax and think clearly. A few minutes later she became aware of another presence. Her heartbeat quickened as she thought it might be Dodge. However, when she looked over her shoulder she saw the three familiar faces of her friends.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Walt rubbed her shoulder. “But you shouldn’t have to be alone.” Without another thought Jo turned to face Walt. He pulled her close. She rested her head against his shoulder.
“Thank you, Walt.”
He kissed the top of her head, without worrying about germs, dandruff, or shampoo residue. “It’s what friends do.”
“I’m glad you’re all here,” Jo said as she pulled away from him. “I hope you can help me sort this out.” She pulled the receipt from her pocket. “It’s for the same restaurant that David visited with his unknown girlfriend. I’m not certain, but I think the dates are the same, too. Leela said Bruce never took her there. So who did?”
“Hm.” Walt skimmed the receipt. “Yes, it’s the same date, and for a similar amount. Maybe they split the bill?”
“You think that Leela was cheating on Bruce with David?” Jo asked.
“Maybe.” Samantha took a look at the receipt. “David said that she was having an affair. He was so ready to throw Leela under the bus, maybe so that he could protect himself from suspicion.”
“Then perhaps while David ate and gave himself an alibi, Leela was at the gallery ending her relationship with Bruce.” Eddy rubbed his chin. “Maybe she decided that she wanted to be with David instead.”
“If they were working together to steal the paintings and Bruce found out, then they might have both wanted to get rid of him.” Jo sighed. “I hate to think it of Leela, but it’s beginning to add up.”
“So, if David was lying to us the entire time, we can’t take anything he said as valid information.” Samantha groaned. “We’re back to square one, with no one to tell us the truth.”
“That’s not necessarily true. Our only real lead is Robert. He was the last person to have seen Bruce alive. Even if he didn’t see the killer there might have been something that he knew about Bruce, he may not even realize that it relates to Bruce’s death.”
“I think we should start in Bruce’s office. Maybe he has something there about Dodge being released from prison. If he does we might be able to use it to highlight Dodge as a suspect.” Jo shrugged. “Or maybe he knew more than he told me about the paintings, and there will be a clue that points directly at his killer.”
“There is no way that you can break into his office.” Eddy grimaced.
“Why not?”
“No way, Eddy’s right, Jo. If you’re caught breaking into his office there won’t be any chance to keep you out of handcuffs. You have to stay clear of the gallery,” Walt said.
“It has to be one of us, it can’t be you, Jo,” Eddy said.
“So, one of you is going to risk getting caught?”
“Maybe.” Eddy rubbed his chin.
“Why don’t I just get you in,” Jo suggested.
“And then you’ll disappear,” Eddy said.
“Yes.”
“That might work,” Samantha said. “But it’s risky.”
“It will only take me a couple of minutes,” Jo said. “I’m the best option for you to get in there.”
“I don’t like that idea,” Walt said. “What if you get caught?”
“I won’t, I studied the gallery’s alarm system and lock when I was looking into the missing paintings for Bruce.”
“Okay, I don’t like it though.” Walt stood up. “If we’re going to do this, we’d better eat first. I don’t want to have a nervous stomach.”
“Maybe you should stay here with Jo when she comes back.” Eddy nodded.
“Actually, if Walt is willing, he should go. His attention to detail is flawless. He might notice something that you and Samantha wouldn’t,” Jo said.
“Oh, good,” Walt said, but he looked nervous.
“I’ll drive Jo there in my car then we can come back here and try to find how connected David and Leela’s lives were,” Samantha said.
“Let’s get something to eat before the games begin.” Eddy wrung his hands.
They gathered at Samantha’s house to review the case, share a meal, and plan what to look for in the office.
“Anything with Robert’s name on it would be good. I want to know why Robert and Bruce met privately without David there. How much did Robert know about Bruce’s suspicions of David?” Samantha tapped the notebook she’d drawn a chart on. “Robert might have tipped David off, and set the plan in motion to murder Bruce.”
“That’s possible.” Eddy studied the flowing handwriting on the paper. “When we spoke to him he acted as if he had nothing to say, but my instincts told me he was hiding something.”
“We’re going to find out what.” Samantha smiled.
Eddy and Walt geared up for the search of the office, while Jo got everything ready to break in for them.
“Be careful, both of you. You don’t want to have to face the consequences if you’re caught.” Jo looked between them. “And thank you.”
“Don’t worry, Jo, we’ve got this.” Eddy winked at her. Walt patted her shoulder, then they left the villa.
“I’ll see you there.” Jo and Samantha followed after them in Samantha’s car.
Chapter 17
“Hurry up, Jo.” Walt frowned as he stood in the shadow cast by the overhang of the gallery roof. “We’re going to get spotted out here.”
“Don’t worry. I never fail.” Jo smiled as she walked up to the back door of the gallery. She looked up and down the street
as she fiddled with the lock. Within mere seconds the door clicked open. She walked in and pressed a few buttons on the alarm control panel. “It’s disabled.”
“Good work, Jo,” Walt said with a hint of admiration.
“We’ll see you at Samantha’s,” Eddy said sternly.
“But…” Jo started to protest.
“No arguments,” Eddy said. Jo’s shoulders slumped as she turned away.
“We’re in, Walt, let’s make this quick and clean.” Eddy gestured to Walt in the shadows beside the gallery.
“Sh, Eddy.” Walt frowned as he hurried past him into the gallery. Eddy rolled his eyes and followed after him. Once inside Eddy was careful not to touch anything.
“Look with your eyes, Walt, not with your hands, if you can help it.”
“I can assure you I don’t want to touch anything that I don’t need to. I think we should start in the office. If there was any record of Dodge threatening Bruce it would be there.”
“Good idea, the gallery is mostly paintings. The computer will probably still be gone for processing so we’ll have to hope that Bruce kept some kind of hard copy records that the police might have overlooked.” Eddy pulled his sleeve down over his hand and turned the knob on the office door. He pushed it open and stepped inside. The office was spacious enough for both of them to look around together. Walt began to sort through the desk, while Eddy checked behind paintings to see if there might have been a safe that was overlooked.
“There’s nothing.” Eddy shook his head. “The police have picked this place clean. Whatever we hoped to find, isn’t here.” He turned at the sound of a click.
“I think you’re wrong about that, Eddy. Bruce knew his way around hiding places. There’s a secret drawer in here.” Walt tugged at something underneath the desk. Eddy walked over to take a look. Walt slid a long thin drawer out from beneath the desk and set it carefully on top. It was filled with papers and a leather bound book.
“It looks like the police might have missed something after all.” He held up the book for Eddy to see.
“What’s in the book?” Eddy peered over Walt’s shoulder to have a closer look. Walt flipped the cover of the book open and scanned the handwritten text inside.
“It looks like a record of all of the paintings in the gallery. There’s a photograph of each of the paintings at the time of purchase as well.”
“Interesting.”
“He kept good records. He’s also noted the paintings that have gone missing with details and a photo of each.”
“Let me take some pictures of this, we can’t take the book, but we can create our own on my phone.” Eddy began to snap pictures of the paintings while Walt looked through the rest of the papers in the drawer.
“I don’t see anything about Dodge in here, but there is this.” He held up a slip of paper. “It looks like it was torn out of a date book. From what I can tell Bruce had an appointment with Robert Plathe, the day before he was killed. Before the meeting at the gallery.”
“If they had a meeting scheduled the night Bruce died, then I wonder why Bruce was meeting with Robert the day before?”
“I’m not sure, but Robert will know. We need to have another conversation with him.”
“Here, let me get a picture of that, too.” Eddy snapped a picture with his phone. “Anything else of interest in those papers?”
“I don’t think so, but let’s get as many pictures as we can.”
“Then we have to get out of here as quickly as possible. David could come to the gallery at any moment.”
“I can’t believe they cleared him considering that he was having an affair with his partner’s wife.”
“At least, we think he was.” Eddy pursed his lips. “It’s easy to make assumptions.”
After they finished documenting every record in the hidden drawer Eddy replaced the drawer. Then he sent a text to Chris to let him know about the hidden drawer. Hopefully, he wouldn’t ask too many questions. Then the two slipped out as quickly as they had entered the gallery. When they returned to Samantha’s villa, they shared the information they had found.
“Robert again, hmm?” Jo frowned. “He seems to have been more involved with Bruce than he’s admitted.”
“Oh, boys, I think we have a problem with our affair theory.” Samantha held up a piece of paper that she had printed out. “Even though David has been to many of the same places that Leela has, I spoke to some of the waitresses and they were never there together. They were sometimes there on the same days, but they never dined together.”
“So, you think it’s all a coincidence?” Eddy narrowed his eyes.
“No, I don’t, but I think we don’t have any evidence that can prove that David was seeing Leela, which means we still have nothing to turn into the police.”
“That’s it.” Jo stood up from the couch. “I think it’s time I have a face to face conversation with Robert.”
“Do you think that’s wise, Jo? Again it puts you in the middle of an investigation that you are the prime suspect in and you should be staying out of.” Eddy quirked a brow. “When I spoke with him, he wasn’t very interested in finding the killer.”
“It’ll just be a friendly chat. I don’t know Robert, he doesn’t know me, and we can have a conversation about what happened without me accusing him of anything. Besides, I’ll take Walt.” She smiled and grasped his shoulder.
“Me? Why?” Walt frowned.
“You’ll notice if anything is off in Robert’s gallery. Plus, you’re great at spotting a lie.”
“I guess I am pretty good at that.” He smiled a little.
“Then it’s settled, Jo and Walt will talk to Robert. I’ll look into him more from here, and Eddy you need to check in with Chris about whether there is something the police know about the stolen paintings,” Samantha said.
“Yes, I already tipped him off about the hidden drawer we found. Hopefully the police won’t figure out that someone else found it first. I haven’t heard back from him yet, so I’ll give him a call. You two make sure you’re careful. We don’t know how Robert is involved in all of this yet, but he could be connected with Dodge, or even David for that matter, so make the conversation light and don’t back him into a corner.” He locked eyes with Jo. “Got it?”
“Yes, I’ll be as gentle as a feather.”
“Ha.” Eddy winked at her. “If you say so.” He glanced at his watch. “The place might not even still be open.”
“It’s worth a shot. A lot of galleries stay open late on the weekends.”
“I’ll call you if I find anything of interest about Robert.” Samantha sat down at her computer and began to type.
“All right, I guess it’s you and me, Jo.” Walt offered her his arm.
“I guess it is.” She wrapped her arm around his. As they left Samantha’s villa Jo led Walt to her car. For once he didn’t complain about the state of it, though she did spend more time cleaning it since meeting Walt. He was quiet as she drove towards Robert’s gallery. When they were about five minutes away she looked over at him.
“Are you sure you’re up for this, Walt? You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“I’m sure.”
“You seem nervous.”
“I’m just regulating my heartbeat and temperature to prevent any indication that I’m lying.”
“Seriously?” She looked over at him.
“Yes, it’s quite easy to do really. With the right pace of breath and deep focus on a single calming image I can put myself in a near-meditative state.”
“I thought you weren’t into spiritual things?”
“There’s nothing spiritual about meditation.” He quirked a brow.
“There’s not?” She laughed. “You could have fooled me. When I’m in yoga class it seems very spiritual to me.”
“I can see why it would seem that way, as when the body is calm and relaxed it can create a sense of euphoria that could be confused with a spiritual exp
erience.” He shrugged and looked back through the windshield. “Whether you believe it’s connecting you with the universe, or understand the scientific mechanics of meditation, it benefits the body and the brain so there is no risk involved. I don’t mean to belittle any spiritual experience that you’ve had, I am in no place to say that it wasn’t genuine. I just personally have not experienced it for myself, and have no interest in that use of meditation.”
“Maybe you just haven’t done it right.” She smiled as he looked over at her.
“Maybe I haven’t. You’ll have to show me your version some time.”
“I’d love to.” She parked a short distance from the gallery and watched the door for a moment. “Let’s give it a minute to be sure there’s no one else in the gallery. Having company could complicate things.”
“Good plan.” Walt sat back against the seat and closed his eyes. He continued to regulate his breathing. Jo’s focus was on the front door as it opened. She gasped when she saw the person who walked out with Robert. She grabbed for her binoculars so fast that Walt jumped in reaction to the sudden movement. Jo put the binoculars to her eyes and watched the two at the front door. She was able to confirm that the woman she looked at was Bruce’s wife, Leela. As she watched, Robert wrapped his arms around her and planted a heavy kiss on her lips. Jo dropped the binoculars.
“Jo, what is it?” Walt reached to the floorboard to pick up the binoculars, by the time he started to sit back up, Jo’s hand was on his back with the strength to force him back down.
“Stay down. I know that woman. That’s Bruce’s wife. I don’t want her to know that I saw her.”
“Okay.” Walt looked into her eyes as they hunched close together. “Do you think she had something to do with Bruce’s death?”
“I didn’t before, but now I think she might have. She’s clearly having an affair.”
“Bruce is dead, Jo, she’s a widow. She can kiss whoever she likes.”
“Oh believe me, Walt, this isn’t the first time they’ve kissed.”
“You’ve seen them together before?” His brows knitted.
