by Jack Parker
It was all falling into place in Gracie's mind. Next Justin tore up the office and ransacked the house, hoping to make it look like Dad had caught a burglar in the act and been shot. He took all the money and Jennifer's jewelry and all the other stuff. What was it the lieutenant had said? It was all easy to carry but worth a lot. He'd been smart enough to turn out his own room, but smart-ass enough to boast his stash hadn't been stolen.
That explained why the den had been torn up, too. He'd wanted it to look like Dad had had a fight with the thief in the den. One thing was for sure, she thought. Even if that smear turns out to be burned gunpowder it wouldn't be enough to prove anything. Justin would make up some weird story that sounded fake but the lieutenant might not be able to prove it.
The big question was, where was the loot? Jennifer had too much jewelry for him to put it all in his pockets, much less the other stuff. He could've carried it to school in a backpack and hidden it in his locker. Surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to put it in his room! Gracie found herself looking around, as if she would see an 'X' marking the spot of buried treasure.
She got up and started looking in all the flowerbeds for signs of recent digging. She found herself thinking about how they'd all decided Aunt Jeanine was too lazy to have committed a murder. Well, Justin would be too lazy to bury the stuff he'd taken and besides, he'd want to put it someplace he could get at it easily.
Gracie stepped out from behind the bushes and let her eyes wander over the backyard. The pool house. Nobody much went there since she and Mom had moved out, but she knew he went out there sometimes to smoke. She walked across the lawn and opened the door.
It took her a few minutes, he was more familiar with the place now than she was. Some old folding chairs were stacked in one corner, and the loot was in a pillowcase behind them. She pulled it out and looked inside to make sure. Cash, jewelry, coins, pill bottles; looked like pretty much everything that had been missing. She put it back in place, not quite knowing if that was the right thing to do.
What should she do? She didn't want to call Lieutenant Freeman without talking to Justin first, and somehow she was reluctant to do that. Justin would only accuse her of watching too much TV and run off somewhere. Jennifer wouldn't be any help, either, though she'd be thrilled at getting her jewelry back.
Gracie walked back to the patio in something of a daze and sat down without quite realizing what she was doing. She wasn't sure if she was excited or scared – or just amazed at what she'd figured out. She spied her cell phone on the occasional table and it came to her. She needed to call her mother.
* * * *
Clarissa was on her way to pick up Gracie. She'd had to take the afternoon off to work on the funeral arrangements, but she had to admit that Jennifer had done what was asked of her without complaint. Jennifer had, however, gone home after meeting with the funeral director which left Clarissa to speak to the florist. It was probably just as well, she reflected. Jennifer would've overdone the flowers, and Charles had never really cared for flowers anyway.
She'd intended to pick up a pizza, and go home to have dinner with Gracie. This would work just as well; she'd call for delivery instead and have some time to talk to Justin too. Besides, she could choose a suit for the burial now instead of tomorrow morning.
Surprisingly Jennifer accepted the offer of pizza. But neither she nor Justin seemed inclined to be social while they waited for the pizzas to arrive. Gracie seemed antsy about something, eager to talk, so she fixed herself a glass of water with lemon and they went out to the patio.
Gracie didn't even wait until they'd sat down. "I've figured it out, Mom!"
"Your father's murder?" Clarissa asked in surprise.
"Well, no, not the murder exactly – but part of it."
Clarissa sat down and took a sip of her water. "OK, calm down and start from the beginning," she commanded.
"It was Justin!" Gracie said.
"Gracie, what in the world are you talking about? You're not trying to tell me that Justin shot his father, are you?"
"No, but I think he shot at him," Gracie replied. "Then he stole the stuff and tore up the house so it would look like Dad had surprised a burglar."
"But why would he do that?" Clarissa asked. She was beginning to think all this detective stuff was going to Gracie's head.
"Well, I don't really know why," Gracie admitted. "But let me tell you what I think did happen, and see what you think."
Gracie proceeded to tell her mother, in great detail, how she'd put the pieces together. Clarissa asked a few questions, but only a few because Gracie seemed to have covered everything.
"Have you talked to Justin about this yet?" Clarissa asked.
"No, I wanted to talk to you first. And I want to show you something." Gracie stood up and beckoned for her mother to follow.
Only when she saw the pillowcase full of loot did Clarissa finally believe Gracie's story. She hadn't wanted to, even then. It was still possible, she told herself, that Jennifer had been the one to shoot at Charles and cover her tracks with the supposed burglary. Not her son.
Clarissa told Gracie to stay outside while she went in the house and upstairs to speak to Justin. She wasn't looking forward to this.
She knocked on Justin's door. "Justin? It's Mom. I need to talk to you."
"I'm busy! Is the pizza here?"
"No, it's not," she said to the closed door. "This is about your father. I need to ask you some questions, and if you don't come out in about three seconds I'm coming in. It's important."
Justin opened the door and told her "Gracie already told me about the funeral. I'll wear the freakin' suit but I'm not riding there with Jennifer and her girlfriend, guess you'll have to come get me."
Clarissa stepped past Justin into the room, pulled the chair out from under the desk and sat down. "I'll be happy to take you to the funeral, and I want you to know I truly appreciate your wearing a suit. I know you hate them. But that's not what I wanted to talk about."
Justin flopped down on his bed and picked up his headphones, toying with them nervously. "So whadda you want?"
"Your sister thinks she's figured out what happened during the burglary."
"What, is she trying to pin it on me?" he asked.
Clarissa met his eyes. "Did you do it?"
"No!" Justin said, outraged. "How could I do it, I was in school that day. Talk to the step-bitch, she probably got pissed because he wouldn't give her more money and took a shot at him."
"It seems you failed to pay off the source of your purchased alibi," she told him in a deadly calm voice. "Tina's not going to lie for you now. And we found your cache of jewels."
Justin stared at her for a moment, his eyes big and round with shock. Then he just seemed to collapse in on himself, covering his face with both hands. He began to sob.
"I didn't mean to hurt him! I really didn't! He was yelling at me and I had the gun in my pocket and thought maybe it would scare him if I shot it and he'd calm down."
Clarissa got up and patted Justin's shaking shoulder. "I know you didn't," she told him. "Let's go down and talk to Gracie and you can tell us all about it."
"I don't want to talk to Gracie! She'll never let me live it down. I told you I didn't mean to do it, now please just go away," Justin blubbered.
"I'm afraid you'll have to talk to more than just Gracie, Justin. I'll have to call Lieutenant Freeman and tell him what happened. But first I want to hear what you have to say. And since Gracie thinks she's figured it out, you can tell us both."
Reluctantly, Justin stood up and his mother gave him a big hug. "I love you, Justin," she told him. "I always will. But we can't just pretend this didn't happen. I'm afraid you may be in some serious trouble, but I promise I will do everything I can to help."
Clarissa and Justin went out to the patio and sat down with Gracie. Justin sat slumped in his chair and refused to look at either of them. Gracie watchedhim for a moment, then turned to give her mother a questioning
look. Clarissa simply nodded.
Gracie broke the silence. "I know you weren't shooting at Dad, Justin."
He looked up at his sister. There was no emotion on his face; he had no emotions left at this point. "You do?" A little spark of the old Justin surfaced and he said, "If you're so damned smart why don't you tell me what happened ?"
Gracie did just that. For the third time today she went through the sequence of events she'd put together. She started with the torn jeans pocket and the bitter-smelling smear on the lining and her guess that it was gunpowder and how she'd figured out things from there, ending with finding the stolen items in the pool house. Justin just sat there, dumbly nodding his head during the entire explanation.
When she was done he said, "You got it, Sis. It happened just like you said."
"Except I'm not sure why you fired the gun," Clarissa said. "Were you trying to frighten your father?"
"I'm not really sure, myself," Justin said shaking his head. "I felt like I was pissed off at Dad all the time. I couldn't ever do anything right. I didn't make good grades like Clarke – and I wasn't a girl like Gracie. I'm not into football, and I couldn't stand that music he liked, it sucks."
Gracie laughed, remembering she'd thought the same thing. She told Justin about it.
"Unfortunately you're the middle child," Clarissa said. "You had the misfortune to have a smart older brother and your younger sibling was the only girl in the family. I tried to help – you take after me in more than just looks. You're sensitive, and more than a little artistic. Your father couldn't accept that, he thought of it as weakness."
Justin nodded. "I told myself I didn't care, that I'd do whatever I wanted." He paused and there was deep pain in his voice as he said, "But I did care. I wanted him to accept me the way I am."
"I know about that," Gracie told him. "Dad always acted like my interest in the ecology was stupid. No, silly, and that's worse. He just tolerated it because I was the Princess. And before you say anything, I didn't like being treated like a princess. It wasn't fair to you or Clarke; I mean, it wasn't your fault you were born males!"
Justin stuck his tongue out at her, but only half-heartedly. "You wanna know what the fight was really about?"
"Of course," Clarissa said.
"I was mad because Zack would rather go to lunch with that goody-two-shoes Carrie than take me home to get the money. I think that's part of why I took the gun, thought I'd go shoot something and it'd make me feel better. It didn't fit in my pocket well, I had to kind of wiggle it in. Then I decided I'd get high first – and do it in the den. It seemed like a great idea at the time, kind of like getting back at Dad by doing it in the house."
"But didn't you hear your father come in the front door?" Clarissa asked.
"No, guess I was already stoned. He came in the den yelling about the money and the pot and how I was such a big disappointment to him. By the way, I didn't know about the trap, he never told me. Guess he figured if it wasn't his wife it had to be me. He'd put the money in a different drawer, I found the gun while I was looking for it. I saw the paper-clip, but didn't think anything about it," Justin explained.
Clarissa and Gracie didn't say a thing, waiting for him to continue.
"Anyway, his yelling just made me madder and all I could think of was that I wanted him to stop. He wouldn't even let me say anything. I stood up thinking maybe I'd just run out the door, I knew I could outrun him. But when I did I felt the gun in my pocket. I don't know, I just pulled it out and pulled the trigger. And then...and then Dad fell over and hit the floor. I thought I'd killed him."
"Didn't you check? Feel his pulse or something?" Gracie asked.
"I was too scared," Justin admitted. "I didn't know what to do. You're right, Gracie. I shoved the gun in my pocket and the trigger guard caught on the edge and tore it. But I didn't realize it at the time, I just stood there. That shot was so loud I expected the cops to knock on the door any second! When that didn't happen I finally started to think."
"That's when you got the idea to set up the 'burglary'," Gracie said.
"Yeah. I started throwing pillows all over the place, knocked some stuff off tables, even smashed a bottle of Dad's Scotch – the really expensive one that's forty gazillion years old or something. At some point I realized the gun had fallen out of my pocket, so I wiped it off with my T-shirt and dropped it by the body. What I thought was the body, anyway. I was about to leave when it occurred to me that I might as well take the rest of the money and tear up the office, too. While I was doing that I thought about Jennifer's bling and figured I might as well take it too."
"I thought you might've put it all in your backpack and hidden it in your locker," Gracie said. "Why didn't you? No one would've thought to look there because who would've suspected you?"
"Because I didn't want to get caught with it," Justin explained. "I was scared, remember? I thought if the cops found it in the pool house they couldn't prove I'd put it there."
"That makes sense, after a fashion," Clarissa said. "They'd have been more likely to suspect Jennifer than you."
"Yeah, I figured that out later," he said. "So I ran back to school and gave Tina that line about getting back at Zack. But I was scared all afternoon, and it got worse when we got out of school."
"You must have been terrified," his mother said.
"At least," he said in understatement. "When Zack turned the corner I expected to see cop cars and yellow tape all over the place. I didn't know what was going on, especially when I saw Cindy's car was there. And when we went in Jennifer was freaking out about the burglary but didn't say anything about Dad. I finally realized that I'd only thought he was dead."
"So you figured you were home free," Gracie told him.
"No!" he said. "I figured my problems were just starting! Dad was gonna be majorly pissed. I thought he was probably out signing me up for military school or something. And when we got back to the house later and Jennifer told me Dad had been shot for real, I didn't know what to think."
"It's all over now, Justin," Clarissa said. "Don't you feel better for having told us?"
"Yeah. Except now you're gonna call that cop and he'll throw my ass in jail."
"I'm not so sure about that," she told him. "I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me there were definitely extenuating circumstances involved. I promise you I will help you get through this.
"Would now be a good time to say the pizzas are here?"
All three turned in surprise to see Jennifer standing by the patio doors, pizza boxes in her hands.
CHAPTER 19
Clarissa jumped up and then stood there awkwardly. "Jennifer. I'm sorry, we didn't hear you come out." She finally moved to take one of the pizza boxes and put it on one of the small tables.
"I'm sorry, Jennifer," Clarissa told her. "You must've heard some pretty ugly things."
Jennifer set the other box down and opened it. "It's OK, Clarissa. I know everyone thinks I might have killed my husband. I didn't but, I mean, I make a great suspect, don't I? The much-younger second wife who clearly married him for his money. I did, too. I might as well admit it and get everything out in the open."
"Jennifer and I had a long talk this afternoon," Gracie said. "We talked about what was important and taking control of your own life. I told her it would be OK with us all if Cindy moved in here."
"You really love Cindy, don't you?" Clarissa asked.
"Yeah, I do," Jennifer replied. "I know a lot of people think it's, like, gross. But I really appreciate you guys understanding. I can't wait to tell her tonight when she gets off work! Oh, and I promise we won't make a stink at the funeral."
"Jennifer's thinking about going back to school, Mom," Gracie said.
"Oh, Jennifer, that's wonderful!" Clarissa said. "At least there will be one happy ending to this terrible event."
"I hope so!" Jennifer replied. "I guess a lot depends on who did kill Charles and why. Until then I can't, I mean, I won't feel really safe."
&
nbsp; "You don't think he'll come after you do you?" Gracie asked. "It's been four days now, whoever it was is lying low and probably wants as little to do with you as possible."
"You mean if he was going to shoot me he'd have already done it?"
Gracie winced.
"That's a big part of why I stayed with Cindy for a couple of days," Jennifer said. "But what I meant was that I'm still a suspect. Lieutenant Freeman, " there was a slight stress on the correct title, "hasn't completely ruled me out. I can see it in his eyes." She gave them an arch look. "I mean, it could have happened like Clarissa said, with me shooting at him and faking the burglary."
"I only said the lieutenant might have thought that, not that I did," Clarissa said hastily.
"But that's exactly what I'm talking about!" Jennifer responded. "People are gonna think I'm guilty until the police find the real killer."
"I'd love to talk about this some more," Gracie said. "But I'm starving and that pizza smells good! Can we eat while we talk?"
They spent a few minutes getting napkins and drinks, then pulled four chairs around a small table and sat down to eat.
"Justin," Jennifer said. "I know we haven't always gotten along very well, but, I mean, I want to tell you that I understand how you must've felt. If I hadn't had Cindy I'd have gone crazy living with your father! I've been thinking about it, and I can see how, like, frustrating it would have been for you. He never had time for anyone but himself."
Justin mumbled, "Thanks," and took a big bite of pizza to cover his discomfort.
"So now we know that it wasn't the same person that shot at Dad all three times," Gracie said. "Where does that leave us?"
"It means we don't care where anyone was during the morning, just from lunchtime on," Clarissa said.
"Well, we know Justin was in school," Gracie said.
"Never thought I'd be glad to have been sent to the principal!" Justin laughed a little weakly.
