Death by Intermission

by Alexis Morgan

  “So what happens next, Chief Logan?”

  He left the table to set his empty cup and plate on the counter. “First up, Jada, I’d like you to come back to your house with me. I’m not quite ready for you to put things back in order yet. But if you’re feeling up to it, I would really like you to go through the place again to see if anything is missing or if you can figure out what the guy was looking for.”

  Before answering, Jada gave Abby a hopeful look, a clear hint that she should volunteer to go with her. There was no way she could refuse the simple request. It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do, and it would get her out of the house—and away from her mother—for a while. A win-win situation as far as she was concerned.

  “Gage, if you don’t mind, I’d like to come with Jada. I promise not to interfere, and maybe another pair of eyes might come in handy.”

  He gave her a considering look. “Fine, as long as you keep anything we talk about or discover at the scene to yourself.”

  She held up her hand as if swearing an oath. “My lips are sealed, honor bright.”

  Gage just rolled his eyes. “Fine. Now that we have that settled, let’s go.”

  “I’ll grab my purse and keys. We’ll follow you there.”

  There was one more thing. “Jada, since Gage is still investigating your break-in, why don’t you plan on staying with me for another night or two?”

  The instant relief in the girl’s body language was unmistakable, making Abby glad she’d extended the invitation. Even so, it took seconds longer than Abby expected for her to respond. Finally, Jada took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I have to go back sometime. You know, to stay by myself. I was just starting to get used to the empty quiet since Dad died.”

  Abby could sympathize. “True, but it doesn’t have to be today.”

  Jada slowly nodded. “If you’re sure, I’d really appreciate staying here another night.”

  Gage had listened to the conversation without interfering, but he also nodded as if he approved of their arrangement. “I’m going to head out. I’ll see you at the house in a few minutes. I’ll let myself out.”

  After they heard the front door open and close, Jada cleared the rest of the dishes off the table. As she worked, she glanced up at the ceiling. “Are you going to tell your mother where we’re going?”

  Abby didn’t want to, but she didn’t like to think of herself as a coward. “Yeah, I should. Give me a minute.”

  She forced herself to walk up the steps at a quick pace, even though it was tempting to go much slower to put off another confrontation as long as possible. It was no surprise to find her mother’s door closed. Abby softly rapped on it. “Mom?”

  No answer.

  She tried again, knocking a little louder. This time she was rewarded with a grumpy, “What?”

  “I’m driving Jada back to her house to pick up a few things so she can stay with us again tonight. I thought we could have lunch at Frannie’s diner afterward. Would you like me to swing back by so you can go with us?”

  As peace offerings, it wasn’t much. But to her surprise, the door opened just enough for her to see her mother standing on the other side. “Call me when you’re on the way. I’ll meet you outside.”

  “Sounds good, Mom. It could be a while, so don’t think I’ve forgotten you.”

  Rather than push her luck, she started to walk away. Her mother reached out to catch her arm. “How is Jada holding up?”

  “She’s stronger than she knows. Gage is going to meet us at the house so the two of them can go through the place together. I invited myself along for moral support.”

  “That’s good. I’m glad you’re going to be there for her.”

  Her mother looked a little wistful. “You know, I would’ve liked to have had the chance to be here for you back when you were going through so much. I don’t mean just the divorce, but everything that’s happened since you moved into this house. Sometimes it feels as if you’ve cut me out of the important stuff in your life and share it with the people you’ve met here in Snowberry Creek instead.”

  Abby’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I never meant to do that, Mom. It’s just that I needed to prove to myself that I could stand on my own. You know, like you did when you and Dad split up. I wanted to be that strong, too.”

  Evidently it was her mother’s turn to be stunned. “Really, is that how you saw me? As strong?”

  “Yeah, I did. I know there were some rocky times, but I always knew we’d make it.”

  She hated to keep both Jada and Gage waiting, but she suspected they both would agree that her taking a few seconds to hug it out with her mother was worth the short delay. She wasn’t the only one blinking back a few tears when she took a step back. “I’ll call you when we’re done at Jada’s. Start thinking about which flavor of pie you’re going to want with your meal.”

  Her mom grinned, looking more like her usual cheery self. “For the sake of my hips, I really shouldn’t.”

  “But you will. We can always walk it off after dinner tonight. Zeke will be glad to go with us.”

  Her mother wrinkled her nose and gave an exaggerated sigh before once again smiling. “Fine, we’ll indulge ourselves this afternoon even if we have to pay the price later.”

  Abby trotted back down the steps in a lot better mood than she’d been in going up. Now, if only Owen’s and Jada’s problems could be solved with something as a simple as a hug or a piece of Frannie’s pie.

  * * *

  When they reached Jada’s place, it was obvious the repairs were well underway. The shattered wood in the door frame and the door itself had both been replaced. The naked wood was a raw scar on the house, but it was the first step back toward normal.

  She smiled at Jada. “Once it’s painted, you won’t even know it had ever been damaged.”

  Before they could continue the conversation, Gage came walking around the end of the garage. “I circled around the house to make sure no one has been messing around in the backyard and didn’t see anything suspicious, so that’s good.”

  Holding up a pair of keys dangling from a small ring, he nodded toward the front door. “Mr. Smiley, the handyman, said it will be a couple of days before he’ll be back to paint. He has a couple of other jobs he couldn’t reschedule.”

  “That’s fine. There’s no hurry. I’m just glad he could do this much so quickly.” Jada headed up the steps to the front door. “Should we get started?”

  Gage nodded. “Take your time, Ms. Davidson. I know this isn’t easy for you.”

  She turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open. “What are we looking for?”

  “Anything that seems off.” He took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated. “Look, maybe this was just a random burglary. We don’t get a lot of them in Snowberry Creek, but we do get a few. We may never know why your house was targeted.”

  Abby stepped inside and looked around. “But you don’t think that’s what this was.”

  “No way to know for sure.” Gage scanned the room with eyes that had seen so much of the darker side of life. “But if our perp was looking for stuff to turn into quick cash, logic says he should’ve at least taken the laptop. Even allowing for my deputy’s quick arrival, he could’ve grabbed it and a few other items and been out the door in no time.”

  Finally, Jada started a slow walk around the room, stepping over the stuff that had been scattered on the floor. There was no mistaking the pain in the girl’s expression as she no doubt relived the terror of the break-in. Abby knew her fear would gradually fade, but it would take time. No one liked living with the knowledge that their home was no longer the bastion of safety they’d thought it was.

  While Jada continued her slow survey of the room, Abby edged closer to Gage. “You think this could be connected either to her visit to her father’s office or the murder itself, don’t you?”

  He didn’t seem inclined to answer, but he finally shrugged
. “It’s more of a gut feeling than anything. It just seems odd the break-in came so close on the heels of the other two incidents. That said, I’ve never been a big fan of coincidences.”

  By that point, Jada had made a careful lap through the living room. From there, she walked down the hall and disappeared into a room. Gage waited a few seconds before following after her. Since he didn’t tell Abby she couldn’t, she joined the parade. Before they’d gotten as far as the doorway, Jada popped back out and waved them forward. “Come take a look at this.”

  The room held a large desk, a couple of bookcases, and a four-drawer filing cabinet. When Jada pointed toward the lock at the top of the cabinet, they both leaned in for a closer look. There were gouges in the beige paint surrounding the lock, which were deep enough to show streaks of the silver metal underneath.

  “Sorry I didn’t notice that last night, but I barely glanced around this room because there was nothing obviously out of place. I know for a fact those marks weren’t there a few days ago when I last vacuumed and dusted in here.”

  “I’ll send my people back out to go over this room again.” Then Gage used his cell phone to take pictures. “Are the files in this cabinet work-related or personal?”

  “Both, actually. The top two contain our personal papers. The bottom two were related to his business. Old stuff, though. His active files and things were kept at the insurance office.”

  She opened the closet and reached up to retrieve something from above the door on the inside. Oddly enough, it turned out to be the small silver key needed to unlock the filing cabinet. Seeing the puzzled look on Abby’s face, Jada flashed her a grin. “Dad always said no one ever thinks to look above the door frame when they peek into a closet.”

  After unlocking the filing cabinet, she did a quick check of the first three drawers, only hesitating when she got to the bottom one. It was easy to see why when she finally pulled it open to reveal a stack of plaques and framed certificates.

  Gage leaned down to study them. “I’m guessing those are some of your dad’s personal items that you wanted returned.”

  Jada trailed a finger over the top one, tracing her father’s name. “Yeah, Dad was proud of these. It wasn’t right that Mr. Anders kept hanging on to them. They meant nothing to him.”

  But they clearly did to Jada. Abby found herself once again getting angry that Mitch Anders put Jada in a position where the only avenue open to her was to break in to steal back what should’ve been hers in the first place. Hadn’t the man realized they represented an important connection to her late father?

  She noted Gage didn’t comment on how they’d ended up in the filing cabinet. Instead, he looked around the office as if searching for something in particular.

  “Where’s the picture? The one that was missing from the wall behind the desk at the insurance office?”

  Looking a bit sheepish, Jada returned to the closet and lifted a couple of folded blankets down off the top shelf. She handed them off to Gage, who laid them on the desk. From where Abby stood, the shelf looked empty, but maybe the picture was pushed too far back for her to see it. But maybe she wasn’t wrong, considering the increasingly frantic way Jada started patting the shelf.

  “What’s wrong, Jada?”

  She looked back at Gage, panic rolling off her in waves, as she pointed toward the empty shelf. “It’s not here. The picture is gone.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Gage frowned as he motioned for Jada step away from the closet. “Let me look, just in case it got pushed too far back for you to reach.”

  It didn’t take him long to verify the picture was nowhere to be found. “Was it still in the frame?”

  Jada clenched her hands in white-knuckled fists at her sides. “Yes, and I swear that’s where I put it. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

  Gage put his hand on her shoulder, doing his best to offer her a bit of comfort. “I believe you, Jada.”

  Abby moved up close enough to offer Jada a tissue to blot the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. After giving her a few seconds to regain control, she said, “For the moment, let’s keep going through the house. Maybe the picture will still turn up.”

  Then she checked the time on her cell phone. “And don’t forget, we still have to pick up my mom before heading to the diner for lunch.”

  Jada dried her eyes and shoved the tissue into her jeans pocket. Throwing her shoulders back in a show of determination, she drew a slow breath and managed a shaky smile. “That’s right, and we don’t want to get there too late for pie.”

  “Boy, I’m jealous,” Gage said, offering them an unhappy smile. “I wish I had time to go with you. I hear Frannie has strawberry rhubarb this week.”

  His comment seemed to brighten Jada’s mood a little. After one last worried glance back toward the closet, she headed down the hall to the next room.

  * * *

  It took another twenty minutes to finish going through the entire house and the garage. Gage checked all the high spots while Jada and Abby covered everything else. The downside was that the picture was nowhere to be found. The upside was that it looked to be the only item the thief had taken. The couch cushions were strewn on the floor and a few things knocked over on the bookshelves, but nothing else had been disturbed. When they’d completed the circuit, Gage got out his ever-present notebook and asked Jada for a detailed description of the picture.

  She closed her eyes as if seeing it in her mind. “It was just a photo of my dad and his buddies back when he was in the army. You know, a bunch of young guys looking all cocky and tough.”

  Her mouth kicked up in a small grin. “It’s the only picture I’ve ever seen of Dad with a big, grungy beard. I wouldn’t have even recognized him if Mom hadn’t pointed him out to me.”

  Then she used her hands to give Gage a rough idea of the size of the frame and the picture itself. “It was about this big with a plain brown frame. The mat was cream colored with a small decorative pattern around the edge. One of the guys from his unit had the color enlargement made and surprised my father with it as a Christmas present. Dad had it matted and framed for the office. I can’t imagine why anybody would take it.”

  Abby didn’t get it either. Why steal someone else’s photograph? Trying to give Jada a little hope, she asked, “Maybe the guy who gave it to your father could make another copy of the picture for you.”

  Sighing, Jada said, “That would be nice, but Jack passed away a couple of years ago. Cancer, I think. Dad took it hard.”

  Gage joined the discussion. “Was your father in contact with any of the other guys? Maybe they have a copy and could have it duplicated for you.”

  Jada’s immediate reaction was to slowly shake her head in denial, but then she stopped. “Maybe I could ask my godfather. He wasn’t always in the same unit as my dad, but they served in a lot of the same places. It’s a longshot, but I can ask him next time I hear from him.”

  Not for the first time Abby was tempted to hug Jada, but she wasn’t sure the gesture would be welcome right now. “I hope he can help you. For now, though, why don’t you pack whatever else you’ll need to stay at my place for a few days? Then we’ll go have lunch.”

  Gage opened the front door. “We’ll be outside, Miss Davidson.”

  Abby waited until they were in the driveway to speak. “You know, now that she mentioned him, I actually met Jada’s godfather the day I stopped to look in the insurance office window. His name is Will . . . something.”

  She paused, hoping his last name would come to her. “Darn, I’ve forgotten his last name. You can always get it from Jada, though, if it’s important. Anyway, he stopped to check the place out, too.”

  Gage made another quick note. “I won’t bug her about it today. She’s been through enough. But I’ve got to ask, does it seem weird to you that Jada didn’t call him instead of you?”

  Come to think of it, that did seem odd. “Maybe the two of them aren’t particularly close or something.”


  She hated to bring up Owen Quinn, but her mother had to be going crazy worrying about him. “Gage, I hate to ask, but about Owen . . . How long are you going to have to keep him locked up? I mean, now that you know he was probably covering for Jada’s absence from the food truck.”

  He muttered something under his breath. The words were unintelligible, but there was no mistaking the cold frustration in each syllable. “Abby, you know I can’t share the details of an ongoing investigation, but this much is obvious—if Owen was Jada’s alibi, she was also his. Now, thanks to her confession and the eyewitness statements, I know precisely where she was during the time of the murder.”

  Which left Owen with no witness to his whereabouts during the crucial time frame. If Gage had found anyone who had seen him elsewhere, he would’ve said so. Add in the fact the murder weapon had belonged to Owen, and Gage might have no choice but to charge him with killing Mitch Anders, even if any possible motive remained unknown. She wondered whose fingerprints, if any, they’d found on the knife. Not that she was foolish enough to ask.

  “I won’t bother to ask if Mom can visit him again.”

  “That would be best, although she won’t think so.”

  Then, in that calm cop way of his, Gage stuck his notebook in his pocket as he took a slow look around their surroundings. “Listen, I don’t have to tell you to be careful, Abby. There’s something about this whole mess that doesn’t make sense. Keep a low profile and encourage Jada to do the same. For sure, I’m glad she’s staying with you while we figure out what’s really going on. Hopefully, the guy got what he came for and won’t come back, but . . .”

  His thoughts on the matter drifted to a stop, or at least his willingness to share them had. She considered pressing him to continue, when he gave his head a little shake and then stepped back. “I need to get going. Remind Jada she can call me or the department if she needs anything at all. Even just to talk. Meanwhile, my deputies will keep a close eye on her place while they’re out on patrol.”