Framed by Friends: A Senoia Cozy Mystery

by Susan Harper

  The officer suddenly bucked up at Brian. “Whatever you say, pretty boy!” The man pointed a finger in Jefferson’s direction. “But we found his gun on the property in the room with the open window. And we already talked to Nick’s fiancé, and she says she used to date this guy. She even admitted to cheating on him with Nick, so this kid has motive! So don’t you come down here threatening me and the chief or I swear—”

  Brian interrupted, his voice raised. “I believe I asked for the room, didn’t I!”

  The chief ushered the officer out, and at last Jefferson was alone with Brian. Brian came and sat down across from Jefferson. “What are you doing here, Brian?” Jefferson asked.

  “My job,” Brian said as he opened a briefcase and pulled out a notebook and pen.

  “I can’t afford you,” Jefferson admitted.

  “Oh, I know you can’t. I’m doing this pro bono,” Brian said.

  Jefferson almost laughed at the thought. Brian had been nothing but cruel toward him ever since the man had started dating Felicity. “Oh, really?” Jefferson questioned. “Why, Brian? You’ve made it pretty clear to me that you’d prefer I’d get lost.”

  Brian clicked his pen a few times, sighed, and then put it down. “You really want to have this conversation now?”

  “Now is as good a time as any,” Jefferson said. “You’re a prick and sooner or later, Felicity is going to figure out that you’ve been treating Jack and I like trash.”

  Jefferson watched Brian as the man pursed his lips and leaned back in his seat. The man seemed to be thinking of an appropriate response. “I love Felicity,” Brian said at last. “I care about her. I would do anything for her, even come to the defense of a younger man who is obviously hung up on her.”

  “I’m not hung up on Felicity,” Jefferson said.

  “Sure,” Brian huffed. “Come on, Jefferson, I’m not stupid. You and Jack both turn into mush whenever she’s around.”

  “Well, you know what, Brian? I think she deserves better.”

  Brian rolled his eyes and leaned forward, propping his elbows up on the table. “Better? Oh, so the man who has actually made something of himself is not good enough for Felicity? What sort of saint are you looking for? I have a good job. A house. A future. I care about her. I respect her. I treat her like an angel. I’d do anything for her, including marching down here to deal with you. And you know what? I think I deserve Felicity too. I think we could have a future together, and to be honest, I don’t want to mess it up by always going toe to toe with you and Jack. You two have hated me since the moment she introduced us. I’ll admit I didn’t do anything to make it better. I was really callous toward you and toward Jack.”

  “Why?” Jefferson asked. “We were nice to you, or at least we tried to be. I mean, yeah, we were a little jealous. At least I was. But you never even gave us a chance.”

  Brian nodded. “You’re right. I didn’t want to. If we’re being honest, I was a little intimidated by you and by Jack.”

  “Intimidated?” Jefferson almost laughed at the thought. The rich guy in the suit and the charming smile was intimidated by him? “Why?”

  “Come on, you’re two good-looking guys who are always hanging around with my girlfriend. And the three of you have history. I just kind of…fell into this tightknit group of friends. You all have been friends for years. You even have holiday traditions with each other. I mean, seriously, last week, I had to spend an hour holding Felicity’s purse while she looked at socks? What was that about?”

  “She always gets us colorful toe socks and stuffs them with candy every year for Christmas,” Jefferson said.

  “See what I mean? It’s like you guys are family. It was intimidating coming into all of that. And Jack, he’s kind of new to the group too, but he’s Felicity’s ex-boyfriend. It was weird for me. So I distanced myself from you two, and I’m sorry. You’re right,” Brian said and picked up his pen. “I have been a jerk. Felicity cares about you, so I should too.”

  Jefferson nodded. “Well, I suppose that’s a start.”

  “Now that we got that out of the way, we need to talk about what happened at the coming home party,” Brian said, readying his pen and paper. “Jefferson, I need you to tell me what happened. Let’s start with the gun. How did a gun registered in your name wind up under the bed of your ex-girlfriends’ bedroom?”

  Jefferson took a breath. That was something he couldn’t answer. “I don’t know how it got in her house. But I know how it got to the party.”

  “Okay, tell me.”

  “Jack called me up this morning and asked me if I wanted to go to the shooting range with him after the event,” Jefferson explained. “We’ve gone a couple of times together recently. Monte, he’s a real southern guy, you know? He wants to go on a guy’s retreat for his bachelor party this summer. Hunting, shooting things, that type of thing, but I really suck. I confided in Jack about it a while back—that I didn’t want to totally embarrass myself this summer—so Jack has been taking me to the range.”

  “Okay, so where did you put the gun?” Brian asked.

  “It was in the glove box of the Overton’s Events van,” Jefferson said. “I should have told Felicity it was in there, but I didn’t. Maybe she didn’t lock up the van…anyone at that party could have gotten it out. I should have given it to Jack to keep locked up in his car, since Felicity and I were getting in and out of the van the whole time!”

  “How long have you and Jack been friends?” Brian asked.

  “We weren’t for the longest time,” Jefferson admitted.

  Brian chuckled a little. “You know, it’s kind of funny. From what the others tell me, it sounds like you two used to hate each other. You didn’t bond over your mutual hatred over me, did you?”

  Jefferson frowned. “You really think we’re that petty, Brian?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I helped Felicity solve the murder of Jack’s little sister,” Jefferson said. “We’re two guys who care about the same woman, all right? Might sound like a crazy concept to you, but we can be friends and both still care about Felicity.”

  “Sorry I asked,” Brian said. “Okay, what else can you tell me about the event today?”

  “I was inside when the gun went off,” Jefferson said. “I heard it. But I was in the kitchen on the opposite side of the house and nowhere near the open window they’re saying I shot from.”

  “Was anyone in there with you? Any witnesses that could account for you during the time of the shooting?”

  “No,” Jefferson said and sighed.

  “Why were you inside the house in the first place?” Brian asked.

  “Whitney made me mad, and I went inside to cool off. She was talking to Dawn and Veronica about some private stuff from when we were dating. I never planned on telling Dawn or Veronica that she cheated on me because they’re all friends. But she was over there talking about me like I was some terrible boyfriend when I was keeping my mouth shut about what all she put me through. I just got mad at her and went inside. That’s all,” Jefferson swore.

  “Can you tell me about your relationship with Whitney?” Brian asked.

  “Not much to tell,” Jefferson admitted. “We dated for nearly two years. Eighth grade and a good ways into freshman year at high school. I guess it was a long time for a high school relationship. I found out she was cheating on me with Nick, who was a friend of mine at the time, and when I went to confront her, he was with her. I dumped her and then got into this screaming match with Nick. It got pretty heated, and we wound up throwing fists. But that was the end of it.”

  “And after the breakup, what happened?” Brian asked.

  “It was a little weird for a while because we had the same group of friends. They all stopped hanging out with me so it wouldn’t be weird for Nick and Whitney, so it stung a little, I guess. There was a good year or two where I didn’t have a lot of friends, but that’s just high school. I met Felicity during that time. And after I graduated, she hire
d me to help her run her side party planning business. I’m not angry at Whitney or Nick anymore. I told Felicity this morning that they seemed happy together, so I’m happy for them. I never would try to take that away from someone.”

  Jefferson could tell that Brian was listening quite intently. He ran out of things to say and wound up watching Brian scribble on his notepad for a few minutes. “All right, Jefferson, give me just a minute to make a phone call, okay?”

  Jefferson nodded as Brian stepped out of the room. For whatever reason, Jefferson felt confident having Brian come to his defense; he had a great reputation as a lawyer. He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to remain calm and to help mentally prepare himself for what he was certain was going to be a long day.

  Chapter 6

  Jack flipped on his Bluetooth when his phone started buzzing on his car ride to Whitney’s father’s home. “Jack?” Brian’s voice echoed in his car.

  “Yeah, Brian, how’s it going with Jefferson?” Jack asked.

  “I need you to confirm something for me, and don’t take this the wrong way that I’m questioning Jefferson’s honesty—this is part of the job, all right?” Brian said, his tone harsh.

  “Okay, what’s up?” Jack asked as he turned down a freshly paved road in Brooks.

  “Were you and Jefferson planning on going to the shooting range after the coming home party today?” Brian asked.

  “Yeah,” Jack said. “We’ve been going together for a couple of weeks now. Getting ready for Monte’s bachelor party this summer. He’s wanting to go hunting and shooting, and Jefferson’s never really been a big gun guy. He came to me about a month ago and asked me to teach him how to shoot so he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of Monte—his brother and cousin are big gun boys like Monte. Between the three of them and me, Jefferson didn’t want to be the one guy who had no idea how to fire a weapon.”

  “Okay, good,” Brian said. “That’s exactly what Jefferson told me.”

  “You can trust Jefferson,” Jack said, almost annoyed that Brian had felt the need to call him to confirm Jefferson’s story. “He’s a good guy, and I’m telling you right now that someone is letting him take the fall for this.”

  “I know,” Brian said. “But it’s still a good idea for me to make sure I can confirm anything he tells me.”

  “Well, I just confirmed that for you,” Jack huffed. “I’m pulling up to Whitney’s father’s house now. You think you can play nice with Jefferson?”

  “I am playing nice,” Brian retorted.

  “Excuse me if I find that hard to believe, Brian,” Jack spat.

  “Whatever, man. You just take care of your business, and I’ll take care of mine,” Brian said, hanging up the phone.

  “Prick,” Jack grumbled as he climbed out of the car. If I find out that Brian is giving Jefferson a hard time, I’ll break his nose, Jack thought and then almost laughed to himself. It was hard to believe how he and Jefferson had gone from enemies to friends so quickly. Jack had felt indebted to Felicity and Jefferson ever since they had helped him solve his sister’s murder. He shuddered slightly to think about it; his aunt, who had been the culprit, her court case was coming up soon. Brushing the thought aside, Jack made his way up to the Lull household.

  Evidently this was the home that Whitney had grown up in. He rang the doorbell, and Mr. Gregory Lull, Whitney’s father, answered. He looked a bit stressed. “May-may-may I, may I help you?” the man stuttered through his question.

  “Officer Jack Hudson,” Jack said, wishing he hadn’t had his badge taken away. “I’m sort of a friend of a friend of Whitney’s.”

  “Oh, I-I-I see,” the man said. “Would you would you like to-to come in?”

  “If it’s not too much of an inconvenience, I would,” Jack said, and he entered the man’s home.

  Despite having raised two daughters, the house was clearly a man’s home. There was Navy memorabilia all over the house—the man was a proud, retired Navy officer. “How is Whitney doing?” Jack asked. “And Nick?”

  “Haven’t-haven’t heard from Whitney y-yet,” Mr. Lull said. “Gonna-go gonna-go to the hos-s-spital in a b-bit to sit to sit with her. Been on the ph-phone for the past for the past hour ca-calling people about what happened to her.”

  “Dad!” a perkier young voice called from the stairwell around the corner. “You about ready to go?”

  “We-we have a-a guest,” Mr. Lull called back.

  A young woman came zipping around the corner. She nodded when she saw Jack. “I saw you at the party earlier,” she said.

  “Yes,” Jack said. “I’m friends with Veronica and Dawn, some of your sister’s friends. I just came to talk. I’m just trying to piece together what happened today.”

  “You-you-you t-te-tell me!” Mr. Lull snapped. “My-my-my son my son-in-law g-got shot in the in the neck!”

  “Dad, chill. Your stutter gets worse when you get ramped up, and no one can understand you,” Brittany said.

  The old man shook his head at his daughter, but chuckled ever so slightly. “I-I know. S-sorry.”

  “Do you mind if I ask—” Jack began, but Mr. Lull didn’t let him finish the question before answering.

  “My ex-w-wife st-stabbed me in the-the throat,” he said and then laughed at Jack’s surprised expression. “W-wanted the life ins-surance.”

  “Oh!” Jack exclaimed. “I am very sorry that I asked.”

  Both Mr. Lull and Brittany seemed to snicker slightly at his sudden discomfort. “That’s Mom for you,” Brittany said.

  “Sh-she’s in p-prison for it,” Mr. Lull said. “Has been since Whitney w-was in gra-grade sc-school.”

  “So you raised Whitney and Brittany on your own, then,” Jack said.

  He smiled. “I think I-I d-did a fi-fine job ra-raising up two g-girls,” he said with a wink and put a hand on Brittany’s shoulder. “And don’t think th-that just because I w-was a m-military guy that I-I didn’t su-suffer through b-ballet re-recitals and ch-cheer camps. I-I was m-mom and dad to th-these g-girls.” He laughed again and gave Brittany a quick peck on the cheek.

  Jack smiled slightly at Mr. Lull. “I’d say you did. You have two smart, strong-willed girls as far as I can tell.”

  “Ju-just wish Whitney hadn’t go-gotten stu-stuck with Nick,” Mr. Lull groaned. “I-I always hoped sh-she and Kri-Kristopher w-would get together, but sh-she al-always w-went after N-Nick.”

  Jack raised a brow. “Oh? You’re not a fan of Nick’s?”

  Brittany elbowed her father. “Dad, be nice.”

  “I-I wish you-you’d cons-sider d-dating Kris,” Mr. Lull said, and Brittany stuck out her tongue.

  “Um, no thanks,” Brittany moaned. “Besides, he’s a little old for me, Dad. Why don’t you go on out to the car, and I’ll meet you there? Give me five minutes to close the house down, all right?”

  Mr. Lull nodded in agreement, and soon Jack found himself alone in the house with Brittany. “Your dad really doesn’t like Nick, huh?” Jack asked.

  “No one is good enough for Daddy’s perfect princess,” Brittany griped as she walked about the house checking to make sure they had turned off the lights in every room. Jack followed, since no one was asking him to leave.

  “Let me guess, Whitney was the perfect older sister you always had to live up to?” Jack asked.

  “That obvious?” Brittany asked as she snatched up her purse from a small table in the hallway.

  “I just sense a little animosity,” Jack said. “Kind of noticed it at the party too.”

  “Whitney has always been really full of herself,” Brittany said and then looked at Jack with a narrow gaze. “And I know you’re friends with Jefferson and that’s why you’re here. I saw you two talking at the party.”

  Jack frowned. “I didn’t think I should lead with that seeing as how he’s accused of shooting your sister’s husband.”

  “Probably a smart move in front of my dad, but you can drop the act with me. I’m confident that J
efferson had nothing to do with it and that the police will figure that out sooner or later,” Brittany said. “Out of any guys my sister ever dated or hung around, Jefferson would have been the real winner. She and Nick broke up at one point in high school and she dated like a hundred guys before they got back together. Out of all of them, Jefferson always treated her the best. But he had no ambitions of going into the military and that was a major turnoff for her, even back then. She always wanted to be a military wife. I always thought that was weird to lust after a specific career type, but that’s Whitney for you.”

  “So…you don’t think Jefferson had anything to do with this?” Jack asked.

  “No way,” Brittany said. “He’s too sweet. And he and Nick used to be friends before my sister got in the middle of things. Whitney and Jefferson were never serious enough for him to hold a grudge, though. They were still, what, thirteen when they started dating? Fourteen maybe? Jefferson’s too mature to get too crazy over that even if their friends all ditched him afterward. They were all jerks; I’m sure Jefferson figured out he was better off without all of them. My sister and Nick included.”

  “You don’t really think that highly of your sister, do you?” Jack asked.

  “Should I?” Brittany questioned. “She treated Jefferson like garbage when they dated. Then she got with Nick, and she is always bossing him around like Miss Queen Bee. And you know what? Nick is actually a decent guy, but he’s always getting compared to Kristopher by my dad. Nick deserves better than a wife who cheats on him every time he is deployed.”

  “Whitney was cheating on Nick?”

  “Was? Oh, she still is. I think with Kristopher and a few other guys—not sure if Dad would be thrilled or disappointed with Whitney if he found out Kristopher shacks up with her whenever Nick is on deployment. Then again, Whitney can do no wrong in his eyes,” Brittany mumbled.

  “Do you believe your father shows her favoritism?” Jack asked.