“I know you were at Harry Kerr’s,” she repeated in a calm, even tone. She wanted him to straighten up, not faint. “I know it was the night he died. You left tracks. The thing is, I don’t think you did it. So I’m here to help you help me figure out who did. You think you can do that, Bobby?”
“Holy crap.” He shoved himself against the back of his chair, as far away from her as he could get. “Who are you?”
“I’m just somebody who’s doing a favor for a friend.” Jesse held up her hands innocently and relaxed in her own chair, giving him even more room. “I’m trying to put the puzzle pieces together, Bobby. That’s all. And I know that you have puzzle pieces no one else has.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me why I was there?”
“At Harry’s?” She shook her head. “Later. Right now, I want to talk about the tapes. Why was Ginny doing it? And did Harry know?” Jesse asked again. “Can you help me with that, Bobby?”
“She wanted to marry him, but she was afraid he was getting ready to break up with her. So she thought the tapes would give her something to bargain with.”
“So you and she were talking while she was dating Harry. And she told you this?”
“She had me set up the camera for her.” He shrugged one shoulder and his whole face twitched in a nervous tick. “She didn’t know how to do stuff like that, so she asked me to help her.”
Jesse tried not to show her surprise. “That must have been unpleasant.”
He snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it.” He squirmed and his head dipped again. “I knew it wouldn’t work, anyway. A man’s got to have a conscience for something like that to work.”
“So did she show him the tapes?” Jesse leaned forward in an effort to hear him better. He was starting to mumble again, and she was pretty sure asking him to speak up wasn’t going to help.
“Never got a chance. She only made one before he broke up with her. He wouldn’t see her or talk to her after that.” Bobby squeezed the beer can hard enough to crush it, then rocked forward, huddling into himself. “But she was still sure she could make him change his mind. She hadn’t given up. And then she was dead.”
He raised his head and looked at Jesse with bewildered eyes. “I don’t know why she did it. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe she realized it was never going to work.”
“But she had more,” Bobby whispered. He looked over his shoulder as if someone might be lurking in the shadows, waiting to overhear what he shouldn’t be saying.
“More?”
He nodded quickly, then glanced nervously behind him. Jesse stifled a curse. He was not going to start this again.
“Bobby,” she said firmly, “Ginny’s dead. Harry’s dead. There’s nobody left who really gives a crap about what she was trying to hold over his head. So quit acting so paranoid and just tell me what you know.”
He blinked, and she watched his eyes slowly come back into focus. “I don’t think she killed herself,” he whispered. “I think whoever killed him, killed her, too.”
It was Jesse’s turn to blink. She hadn’t really thought about that. She didn’t think anybody had thought about that. Just a paranoid ex-boyfriend who’d spent too much time alone and had too many beers on more than one Sunday. Which was probably all it amounted to, but still…
“What more did she have?” she asked, willing him back from the brink he seemed to be teetering on. “And are you sure she never talked to him about it?”
“He was cooking the books at work.” Twisting as if he’d like to crawl out of his skin, Bobby’s words were hushed and harsh. “He’d been putting money into an account in the Cayman’s for years. He took two or three vacations a year down there. Said he was going fishing. He took Gigi with him over spring break. He didn’t even bother to hide it.”
“Hide what?” Jesse asked, growing confused by the twists and turns. And the surprises. This was definitely a surprise. “From whom?”
“Hide what he was doing. From Gigi.” Bobby sounded impatient, as if he didn’t like being interrupted once he got going. “He probably thought she was too stupid to know what she was seeing. He took her right into the bank with him and everything. And then he bragged about what he’d been doing.”
“Did he happen to mention why he was embezzling from his own company?”
“Because his wife actually owned the company, not him. So when he got enough stashed, he was going to leave her and go live on a tropical island or something.” Bobby leaned forward. “See, that’s why Gigi figured she could get him to divorce his wife and marry her. He had a bundle down there already.”
“And nobody knew?” Jesse’s head reeled. She really hadn’t seen this one coming. Then she thought of the accountant’s wife and the conversation SueAnn had overheard and knew the two had to be connected.
“Who cares?” Bobby shrugged away her question. “The point is, Gigi knew, and she was going to threaten to tell his wife if he didn’t get a divorce and marry her.”
“Except she never got a chance to tell Harry that,” Jesse pointed out.
“No.”
“So, why would she tell you all of this, Bobby? About the money some other man had stashed and her plans to force him to marry her.”
“How should I know?” He threw himself against the back of his chair and stared off into the darkness. “Maybe because she was a cruel, self-centered little bitch?”
Jesse knew that line of questioning had gone as far as it was going to go. But somebody else did know, at least part of it. Harry didn’t have the accounting skills to do it by himself. Someone out there had been helping him.
Then she remembered the video. “Bobby, who has the camera equipment now? And the pictures?”
“I do. The equipment, anyway. She had me get the stuff out of her place a couple of weeks before she died. She kept a thumb drive and some photos she was going to use to put the screws to old Harry.”
“What happened to them when she died?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the cops have ‘em. The whole thing was a crime scene when they first found her. By the time I got in to clean up, there wasn’t much left. I think maybe her neighbor got in there ahead of me though.”
Jesse tucked that thought aside for the next day, when she planned to have a face to face with the neighbor in question. If Adele Culpepper had gone to the trouble to seek Jesse out, it should be a productive meeting.
Then she refocused on the most delicate, and exciting, part of her interrogation. “So, Bobby, you were going to tell me why you went to Harry Kerr’s on Friday night. Were you thinking of blackmailing him yourself?”
“Sort of. But not really. All I wanted was the truth, and I was going to threaten him with what I knew. At the time, I thought he might have been the one who killed her.”
“Did you argue? Did everything go wrong? Is that how he died?”
Bobby lifted his head, a confused frown contorting his brow. “Huh?”
“It would have been an accident,” Jesse explained, offering him a way forward.
The confusion on his face turned to disgust. “Hell, I didn’t kill him. I didn’t even see him. He didn’t show.”
Her gut reaction was to believe him, and she usually listened to her gut. It wasn’t always right, but it averaged a pretty high percentage. Remembering the note Bliss had found, Jesse hoped to clear up at least that mystery. “How did you set up the meeting? Did you give him a note?“
“Phone. I just called his office.”
To hell with her gut. She was going to get something concrete before she walked away from this. “Who did you talk to?”
“His secretary. I said I’d bought a car, and I had a complaint. I mumbled something about the Better Business Bureau, and she put me right through.”
“And then you set up a meeting with him? Just like that? For when?”
“He didn’t want her death stirred up again. So, yeah, just like that. He said come in the back way and meet him at his pool at
eight o’clock that night. When he didn’t show, I dialed the number Gigi used for him, which he didn’t seem too pleased about. He said he was tied up with business and set another meeting for the next morning. When I got there for that one, the place was swarming with cop cars so I kept going.”
Her gut felt fine with that explanation, and it would be easy enough to check with Maria about the phone call Friday afternoon. “Can you think of anything you left out?”
He thought for a minute, then added, “I think her neighbor knew about the pictures, but not the Cayman account. And there was some other lady who visited her from time to time, but Gigi never named her. She just seemed to be someone who befriended her. Gigi had a way of making people want to look out for her. Except for that fat bastard she was trying to reel in. He was worse than her when it came to just caring about himself.”
Drained from the effort of juggling so much information, Jesse rose and held out her hand. “You’ve been a big help, Bobby. I appreciate your honesty.”
He struggled to his feet and took the hand she offered. “You’re going to try to find out what happened to her?”
“I am. Just like you, I think her death is tied to Harry Kerr’s somehow. And if we can figure out what happened to one them, maybe it will tell us something about what happened to the other one.”
“God, I hope so.” He gripped her hand like a lifeline. “Not knowing is killing me.”
”I may have some more questions later on, and if you learn anything else, you know where to find me.” She slid her hand from his and motioned toward the grill, just then remembering the food they all seemed to have forgotten. “I guess I’ll let you get back to your cooking now.”
“Oh, crap.” He whipped his head toward the grill. “Yeah.”
“Watch your leg,” Jesse cautioned. “How’d you do that, anyway?”
“Tripped over my dog coming down the steps. Kind of embarrassing, actually.” He limped toward the grill. “It kind of stiffens up when I sit for a while.”
“I’m probably going to have to share some of what you told me with the sheriff.” Jesse was careful of her tone. She didn’t want it to sound like a threat, but she would definitely have to let Joe Tyler know she had located the owner of the crutch and boot impressions. Some other things she would like to hold onto until she’d questioned a few more people.
Bobby sagged in the process of lifting the grill’s lid, much as he had earlier in the evening. “Yeah, I knew sooner or later he’d get around to me. Guess it’ll be sooner.”
“I don’t think he’ll do anything but talk to you. Did you happen to spend some time with anyone after you left the Kerr’s on Friday?”
He straightened and turned toward her, grinning. “I sure did. I hadn’t even thought of that.”
“What did you do?”
“Met some friends at a bar, hooked up with a really nice girl, and stayed with her until I left to go back to meet that pig Saturday morning. I even have her name and phone number. Do you think I should tell the sheriff everything?”
Jesse turned toward SueAnn. “Why don’t you head on to the Jeep. I’ll be right behind you.”
SueAnn raised a skeptical brow as she stood and wiggled her fingers in parting. “Nice seeing you again, Bobby. Hang in there. Things’ll get better.”
“Thanks, SueAnn. I’m really glad ya’ll dropped by. I feel better already. I really do.”
SueAnn bobbed her head with a smile, turned and left. Jesse let her get a few yards away before saying, “What you say is up to you. It is generally recommended, however, that you answer the questions that are put to you and don’t offer information that isn’t asked for.”
Bobby nodded. “I’d heard that.”
“I have a tendency to run off at the mouth on occasion, and it has not served me well,” Jesse confided.
“When the sheriff finds out about that account in the Cayman Islands and how ol’ Harry was planning to leave his wife and run off to parts unknown with the millions he’d swindled from their business, that’s not going to look too good for Mrs. Kerr, is it?”
“I think it may cloud the issue even more than it has been,” Jesse agreed.
“Is that a ‘yes’?”
She nodded. “That’s a ‘yes.’ But that story about the video might be a good bone to throw to him. That could get them to looking into Ginny’s death again, maybe.”
“If he doesn’t haul me off to jail, I’ll try to work that in. When do you think you’re going to tell him?”
“Probably tomorrow.” Jesse cupped both hands against the small of her back and stretched. “I’m too tired for any more drama tonight.”
He paused with a chicken breast halfway to the platter. “Thank you for believing me. And thank you for caring what happened to a spoiled, self-centered little college girl. She deserved a chance to grow up and be more than that.”
“She was lucky to have you.”
“Find out who did this. She’s already been forgotten once. Don’t let them do it again.”
This time Jesse knew she saw tears in his eyes. She wasn’t sure anyone had cried yet for Harry Kerr. But Ginny Spurber had someone who still loved her, and still cared. And that gave Jesse one more reason to stick her neck out.
It looked like no matter what Joe Tyler threatened to do to her, she wasn’t going to be able to walk away from this. The deeper she dug looking for a killer, the more victims she turned up. And the more people who asked for her help, the more helpless she felt.
She was no hero. But for right now, she seemed to be all some of these people had. Lord help them all. This was going to get ugly.
Chapter Twenty-Four
As she got into the Jeep, Jesse glanced into the back seat and saw Connie asleep on Matt’s shoulder. SueAnn had the motor running and the heater on. Only when the warmth hit her did Jesse realize how cold she was.
“SueAnn says you’re awesome,” Matt said quietly so as not to disturb his sleeping wife.
“Awesomely exhausted.” Jesse shivered and buried her hands in the pockets of the sweatshirt she’d had the good sense to wear. “You were pretty awesome yourself,” she said to SueAnn.
Concentrating on turning around on the narrow road, SueAnn said nothing until she was driving off in the opposite direction.
“I don’t know why you would say that,” she finally answered. “Since I did absolutely nothing the entire time. While you, on the other hand, got him to confess everything but what he had for breakfast, and that’s just because you didn’t ask him that. You were a machine back there. I don’t even know you. But I will recommend that no one ever try to lie to you, because…well. Wow!”
With that, her voice sputtered to a halt and she continued driving in silence.
Jesse wasn’t sure she had ever seen SueAnn at a loss for words, but she was tired enough to take whatever she could get. She had a lot to think about anyway and a little peace and quiet would be wonderful.
“So,” Matt asked, “did he kill anybody? I saw the crutch. He wouldn’t by any chance be the one who left those impressions next to the path at the crime scene, would he?”
“He didn’t kill anybody, I don’t think,” Jesse answered, giving up her fleeting hope for silence. “He appears to have an alibi for the time of the murder. He did leave the tracks, but it was earlier in the night. And he thinks Ginny Spurber was murdered. There’s more, but it all dovetails with the people I need to talk to tomorrow. And I’d like to know more before I go into detail.”
“Is Joe going to be upset?”
“Oh, Lord, yes,” Jesse said with a huge sigh. She laid her head against the back of her seat and closed her eyes. “Joe’s going to be furious. He’s probably going to arrest me, so I need to stay out of his way until I’ve talked to all the people I need to tomorrow.”
“If it’s okay with you,” Matt whispered, “I think I’m going to arrange for Connie to miss that party.”
“Sure. Mom’s going with me in the morning,
and Connie already said that she didn’t think she would be an asset with Cindilee. So, I’m doing that one by myself. Probably nothing to find out anyway.” Her eyes still closed, she continued, “I just wanted to tie up a few loose ends there, although at the moment, I can’t remember what they are.”
“Are you talking in your sleep?” Matt asked. “Because you sound like you might be.”
Jesse nodded and indulged herself with a huge yawn before answering, “If I drop off, will you make sure SueAnn doesn’t fall asleep and go into a ditch?”
“Excuse me,” SueAnn spoke up indignantly, “but I’m the nineteen-year-old in the group. I don’t think I need any help staying awake. And do you all realize that it’s, like, 8:30? That’s not nearly bedtime.”
“My brain hurts,” Jesse complained.
“That’s no excuse for you not to tell me everything you heard,” Matt insisted. “How am I supposed to have your back, if I don’t know anything?”
“I can tell you,” SueAnn answered. “I heard everything.” She nudged Jesse with her elbow. “Can I tell him?”
“Okay.” Jesse held up a finger without turning around. “But you are sworn to secrecy. Joe Tyler does not get everything we know until I’ve had a chance to piece it all together. I’ll tell him about Bobby and the shoe print in the morning.”
“I’ll avoid him until you tell me I can look him in the eye again,” Matt promised.
Jesse’s finger pointed to SueAnn. “You may proceed.”
“Okay, here goes.”
And with that, SueAnn spent the rest of the drive back to Myrtle Grove recounting the entire conversation between Jesse and Bobby with an accuracy that was astounding. Jesse listened with her eyes still closed, prepared to make corrections, but there was nothing to correct. It was like driving with a verbal court reporter.
Before exiting the car at the curb in front of her house, Jesse laid her hand on SueAnn’s head in benediction. “You, my child, are a marvel.”
Connie uncoiled herself from Matt’s shoulder, stretched and smothered a yawn. “That was like listening to a movie.” Her voice was lazy with sleep.
Murder, Mayhem and Bliss (Myrtle Grove Garden Club Mystery Book 1) Page 20
