Who Killed Uncle Alfie?

by Samantha Price

  “We might not need to, Elsa-May, we might not need to.” Ettie pushed herself to her feet and went to the front door and pulled on her shawl.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to talk to Jazeel. I think he knows more than he thinks he does.”

  Elsa-May frowned and looked at Ettie over the top of her knitting glasses.

  Ettie put her hands on her hips and stared at Elsa-May. “Coming?”

  Pushing out her lips, Elsa-May said, “I suppose so.”

  * * *

  When they got into the taxi, Ettie gave the driver Molly’s address.

  “Do you think Jazeel’s going to be at Molly’s haus?” Elsa-May asked her.

  “Jah, I do.”

  “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to try there first.”

  When the taxi turned into the street, Ettie saw Jazeel’s buggy tied up in front of Molly's place. “See?” she said to Elsa-May.

  “Good guess.”

  They knocked on the door and Jazeel opened the door and ushered them in quickly, before Tom could escape. When they were inside, Molly released Tom and he slinked into the kitchen.

  The sisters accepted an offer of hot tea, and sat in the living room.

  When Molly came back with the tea, Ettie said to Jazeel, “How long ago did Alfie tell you about…”

  “Bruno Gillespie,” Elsa-May said, filling in when Ettie hesitated.

  “Denke, Elsa-May.”

  “It would be a few years ago now.” He rubbed his chin. “My Aunt Emily was still alive and she won the competition around the same time.”

  “The one where she won the money to buy the diamond?” Ettie asked.

  “That’s the story,” he said.

  Elsa-May leaned forward and picked up her tea cup. “Do you mean you didn’t believe your Aunt Emily won a competition?”

  He hunched his shoulders. “It could’ve been true, but it struck me that a diamond was a weird thing to buy with the money.”

  “Why?” Elsa-May asked.

  “I don’t know. Don’t listen to me. I suppose if I won so much money I might go out and buy something impractical as well, but Aunt Emily was a sensible person.”

  “Did you ever see it?” Ettie asked.

  “Jah. Aunt Emily never had it off her neck. It didn’t look real if you ask me. It wasn’t a regular diamond. It was pink.”

  “That is unusual,” Elsa-May said. “I didn’t know they came in pink.”

  “Why are you so interested in the diamond, Ettie?”

  “I’m not. I was asking about Bruno Gillespie. Now I’m thinking about something else. Jazeel, do you know what the competition was? Who held it—that kind of thing?”

  “No one ever said—not to me anyway.”

  At that moment, they heard a car outside. Jazeel stood and looked out the window.

  “It’s Detective Kelly.”

  “I hope it’s good news,” Molly said.

  “Grab Tom, Molly, so I can open the door.”

  Molly went to grab Tom who was now sitting on top of the cat carrier.

  “Okay I’ve got him,” Molly called out as soon as Tom was restrained.

  Jazeel opened the door for the detective and Kelly walked inside. Jazeel closed the door behind him.

  Molly released her hold on Tom, who continued to sit atop his carrier.

  Kelly looked over and saw Ettie and Elsa-May. “Everyone’s here, I see.” Then he saw Molly at the side of the room. “Hello, Ms. Miller.” His eyes fell to Tom and he walked over. “And who do we have here?” He put his hand out to touch the cat, and everyone froze, too stunned to warn the detective. Tom sat there, perfectly still, and let Kelly stroke his fur. “What a lovely cat. What’s his name?”

  “This is Tom.”

  “He’s so friendly.”

  “Is he purring?” When Molly leaned down to hear if the rumbling was indeed Tom's purring, the cat turned around and hissed at her.

  “Yes, he’s purring,” Kelly said as he swung around to face a wide-eyed Jazeel. “Now, I have good news for you, Jazeel. We have CCTV footage of you getting on a bus, which puts you on a bus at the same time the coroner estimates the time of Alfred Graber’s death. That puts you in the clear.”

  “How in the world did you pat the cat?” Jazeel asked.

  Kelly stared at Jazeel. “Did you hear what I said?”

  Jazeel blinked a couple times. “I’m in the clear? Is that what you're saying?”

  “Yes. Your charges have been dropped.”

  “Thank you, Detective, that’s such good news. What a relief! Sit with us and have tea.”

  “I don’t have time today, sorry. I have to get right back to the station, but I wanted to deliver this news in person.”

  “Thank you.” Jazeel nodded and shook Kelly’s hand.

  “How are your investigations going?” Ettie asked as she stood up and started walking toward him.

  “Fine, fine. We’re following up leads.”

  Elsa-May called out from the couch. “Jazeel’s got interesting information you might want to hear.”

  Kelly whipped his head around to look at Jazeel. “You do?”

  “I don’t know if it’s interesting or not, but I was just saying how I never heard what competition Aunt Emily won the diamond in, and I always doubted it was a real diamond because it was pink.”

  “Pink?”

  “Yes.”

  “No one mentioned that to me before.”

  “Wasn’t the housekeeper wearing it at the funeral?” Ettie asked.

  “No, and that’s good because that would’ve most likely started World War Three.” He patted Tom again, and then he said, “I’ve got to check on a few things.” Kelly hurried out the door while Molly once more held onto Tom to stop him from running out.

  “You were such a good boy, Tom.”

  Tom yowled at her and ran to the front door, which was now closed. He sat there staring at the door.

  “Looks like Kelly’s made a friend,” Ettie said to Elsa-May as she sat back down.

  Elsa-May shook her head. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed it. He never pats Snowy.”

  “He must be a cat-lover. After this, we’re heading to the library,” Ettie whispered to Elsa-May.

  “I guessed as much.”

  Chapter 15

  Ettie and Elsa-May walked into the library and headed to one of the computers.

  “You’ll have to do it, Ettie. I left my glasses at home. I didn’t know we’d be coming here. You only said we were off to Molly’s haus.”

  “Plans changed.” Ettie sat behind the computer and Elsa-May pulled a chair over next to her. “Firstly I’ll look up Bruno Gillespie.”

  “Is Bruno a real name, Ettie, or is it short for something?”

  “It’s a real name. Remember Bruno Polk, who fixed the buggies when we were young girls?”

  “That’s right. He had long black and white hair. Salt-and-pepper hair, or so I've heard it called.”

  “Jah. Now don’t distract me. I haven’t done this in awhile.” Ettie looked through the search choices after she typed in Bruno Gillespie’s name.

  “What does it say?”

  “He was convicted on two counts of theft. Now this information is going back five years; that must be when he went to jail.”

  “Now look up about a large pink diamond and see if any were stolen before then.”

  “Okay.” After the search came up, Ettie said, “I found something. A large pink diamond was stolen from Brussels, just two months before Bruno’s trial.”

  “Could that be it? Could Alfie have been looking after the diamond?”

  Ettie was still reading. “It says here that pink diamonds can be worth hundreds of times more than the same size clear diamond.”

  “Hundreds of times? Not twice as much, but hundreds?”

  “That’s what it says here in this news article.”

  “I just asked you if you think that Alf
ie and Emily were looking after the diamond for Bruno?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “But why would Alfie give the diamond away to the housekeeper? He would’ve known the man would be coming back to get it.”

  “Uncle Alfie was a sick man. What if he was losing his mind and he’d come to believe the story that Emily won money and bought it, just like they told their daughter?”

  Ettie pulled a face. “I don’t think he lost his mind. He’d have to be really far gone to give the diamond away.”

  Elsa-May sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Unless the housekeeper forged that note she got with the diamond.”

  “Nee. Don’t you remember? Jazeel was there when he gave her the diamond and Uncle Alfie must’ve written the nice note to her afterward.”

  “And just as well he did or it’s possible no one might have believed the housekeeper that it had been given to her.”

  “We’ll have to find out if the diamond is the same diamond as the one that was stolen from Brussels. Here it is on the screen. Can you see it?”

  Elsa-May squinted. “Jah, I can see it.”

  “It says here it’s a third of an inch across and it says it’s two karats. And five years ago it was worth over one million dollars.”

  “Nee!” Elsa-May gasped.

  “Jah. We have to tell Kelly.”

  “Okay. You do that.”

  Ettie turned to face her sister. “Won’t you come with me?”

  “Didn’t he tell us to keep out of things.”

  “He knows us well enough to know that we won’t.”

  Elsa-May sighed. “I’ll come with you as long as you do all the talking.”

  * * *

  An hour later, they were sitting in front of Detective Kelly.

  "I must admit, I was thinking along the same lines as both of you.”

  Elsa-May leaned forward. "You mean, as Ettie?"

  Kelly raised an eyebrow and continued, "That diamond was stolen from Brussels. I know the one you mean because it was all over the news at the time. But that stone was recovered six months after the robbery."

  Elsa-May dug her sister in the ribs. "You should've searched that on the Internet, Ettie. It would've been there. Why didn't you think of that before you came and bothered Detective Kelly?"

  Ettie looked at her sister and her mouth fell open. "Why didn't you think of that, Elsa-May?"

  Kelly chuckled. "It was a good line of thought, although probably a tad far-fetched. Bruno Gillespie has never left the country. We know that for a fact. I must say though, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Lutz, the diamond hasn't been sitting right with me along. I see you Amish as plain-living people. Even though Alfred and his wife had left the community, as far as I could see from their house, they still lived modestly. So, what would they want with a large diamond?" He shook his head. "Something is wrong there. Since the diamond has caused some drama, I've got two men looking into the competition that Emily Graber had reportedly won. So far, they’ve come up empty handed. As far as Bruno Gillespie having any involvement in Alfred’s death, he's got a solid alibi for that whole day."

  Ettie’s shoulders drooped. "What about the pink diamond being so valuable? Wouldn't it have been worth more than twenty thousand back then even if it was a colourless diamond?"

  "Ettie found out that a pink diamond would be worth so much more," Elsa-May said.

  "And that's why I've asked Alfred’s housekeeper if we can kindly examine the diamond. We'll have it appraised, and then we’ll see if that helps us move the case forward. It's my job to look at every angle of this case."

  "And what other angles are you looking at?" Ettie asked.

  "I don't think that there's anything you can help me with this time, Mrs. Smith. I have appreciated your help before, though, when I've had issues in the past related to the Amish community."

  "Could Gillespie have paid someone to kill Alfred?" Elsa-May asked.

  Ettie stared her sister. "I thought you wanted to keep out of this."

  "I'm just asking a question, Ettie."

  Both sisters then stared at the detective, waiting for a response.

  "It is possible, but then again, he could've done that from prison at any time if he’d wanted to. Firstly, we’d have to establish if he had a motive; examining the diamond might give us a bit more information. That's what we're hoping."

  "When will you know about the diamond?"

  "We've got an appraiser looking at it tomorrow, so we’ll know more by tomorrow evening." Kelly stood up. "Now if you’ll excuse me, ladies, I’ve got some appointments to get to."

  Chapter 16

  “Thanks for throwing me under the bus in there,” Ettie said, glaring at Elsa-May once they were outside the station.

  “What do you mean? Kelly said he was thinking along the same lines as you that something’s not right with that diamond.”

  Ettie sighed. “Jah, but I was wrong. I felt such a fool. That pink diamond was found.”

  Elsa-May gleefully added, “And Bruno Gillespie has never been out of the country.”

  Ettie huffed.

  “Don’t worry, the police have access to all the information that tells him these things, but do you know what we have that they don’t?”

  “Nee, what?”

  “We aren’t police and people talk to us because they think we are a couple of silly old ladies.”

  Ettie giggled.

  “Let’s go up the road to your favorite coffee shop and I’ll buy you lunch.”

  “Really? You’ll buy?” Ettie asked.

  “Jah.”

  “You never pay for lunch, or anything.”

  “I am today.”

  Elsa-May and Ettie walked arm-in-arm two blocks up the road to their special place, a shop that made delicious cakes and food.

  As they walked in the door and stood looking at all the cakes in the glass display case, Elsa-May said, “I normally let you pay because you’ve got a lot more money than me.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t mind. What else will I do with it?” All Ettie’s children who had stayed within the community were financially stable, so she had no need to help them out. Two of her daughters had left the community years ago. One was doing okay, and the other, she had neither seen nor heard from in years. Ettie figured if she hadn’t heard from that daughter, she must be doing okay too.

  “What will you have Ettie?”

  “Um, are we having lunch or a snack?”

  “Whatever you like.”

  “What time is it?” Ettie asked.

  “It’s twelve, but don’t go by time. If you’re hungry eat, and if you aren’t, then don’t.”

  “I’m never really hungry.”

  “That’s why you have no meat on your bones. Hurry up, the lady’s waiting to take your order.”

  Ettie ordered a salad sandwich and a piece of chocolate cake to follow it with, and Elsa-May ordered the same. They sat at one of the small wooden tables and waited for their food.

  “What’s our next step?” Ettie asked her sister.

  Elsa-May scratched her face. “I was thinking we might visit the housekeeper, but if the police have the diamond, they’ve been in contact with her so maybe we should keep away.”

  “What about the whole drug deal gone wrong? Do you think one of those men might have done it to Uncle Alfie?”

  “Would they have had to? He was a sick old man. If someone came into his house to take something, he wouldn’t have been able to stop them. They would’ve walked in, taken it, and walked out. Easy!”

  “I suppose so.”

  The waitress brought their food over.

  “Denke, Elsa-May, this looks good. We won’t have to eat dinner tonight.”

  Elsa-May picked up half a sandwich. “Are we missing something? Maybe it’s someone else entirely.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Ettie took a bite of her sandwich while wondering again, who killed Uncle Alfie?

  “Etti
e, why don’t we visit Marlene today?”

  After she’d swallowed her mouthful, Ettie said, “We could do that, but would she know anything? She hadn’t seen her father for years.”

  Elsa-May raised her eyebrows.

  “Oh, you’re thinking she might have had something to do with his death?”

  “That’s what we thought at the beginning. Remember?”

  “Jah, that’s right. Okay let’s do it. I remember at the funeral her husband was telling Detective Kelly she didn’t work, so we know she’d most likely be home.”

  “We just need to find out where she lives, and on the way there we’ll figure out what questions to ask her.” Elsa-May munched into her sandwich.

  Ettie nodded. “I just hope she doesn’t live too far away.”

  Elsa-May waved the waitress over and asked to borrow their phone book. When she brought it to the table, Elsa-May looked in the book.

  “You remember her married name?” Ettie asked.

  “I do. I remember it from the funeral. It was Clark. Her name is Marlene Clark. I remember thinking that the three middle letters of her surname shared three letters with her first name, but the outside letters were different.”

  Ettie shook her head. “I’ve got no idea how your brain works to even think of such a thing.”

  Elsa-May smiled as she leafed through the phone book. “His name is Max, which could be short for something, but hopefully it still starts with an M. Here we go, 'M & M Clark.' I hope that’s them, and they only live about ten minutes from here.”

  “Good. We can go by taxi.”

  “I only hope it’s them.”

  “Are there any other M & M Clarks?”

  Elsa-May looked down at the page again. “Nee.”

  “There’s a good chance it’s them. Shall we ask for pen and paper to write down the address?”

  “Nee. I’ve already got it up here.” Elsa-May tapped on her forehead.

  Chapter 17

  Ettie and Elsa-May got out of the taxi and knocked on the door of the house they hoped was Marlene’s. It was a small red brick house with a single garage to one side.