Murder, Mayhem and Bliss

by Loulou Harrington

  “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 awhile.”

  “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’s and how he was planning to leave his wife and run off to parts unknown with 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… 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.

  “How much of it did you hear?” Matt asked.

  “I don’t know, but the part I heard was really good. It’s a shame he’s not the one who did it. I had high hopes for getting this thing solved tonight. And now it looks like we may have a second murder on our hands. And, hey, what about that Cayman thing? Wow!”

  Jesse turned to face the couple in the back seat. “It sounds like you heard all of it.” She turned her cautionary finger to Connie. “And this is all a secret until we know more.”

  Connie laughed and waved her hand at the finger. “Put that thing away. I heard that part, too.” She turned her wobbly smile toward her husband. “And, now, my prince, would you please help me out of this thing? I think I may have trouble standing up.”

  The party broke up with hugs all around. Matt assisted a slightly limping Connie to their car. SueAnn climbed back into her Jeep and drove away with a wave to everyone.

  Jesse let herself in the front door and went to the kitchen where she found the cinnamon rolls baked, iced, and ready for delivery the next morning. Bowls of bread dough had risen and were waiting to be made into loaves. After washing her hands and prepping the area, she divided the dough, reshaped it, and put the loaves into baking pans. Then leaving them on the counter to rise once more, she quietly climbed the stairs, hoping not to disturb her mother, who had apparently been busy the whole time Jesse had been gone.

  Upstairs, she tiptoed across the landing and slipped inside her apartment, closing the door with only a whisper of sound as the latch caught. Inside, the TV flickered in the otherwise dark room. The low mumble of the show changed to a louder commercial, and Sophia lifted herself up onto one elbow.

  “Hi, hon.” Her voice sounded groggy as she swung her feet over the side of the sofa and sat up. “I guess I fell asleep.”

  “The dough had risen. I made it into loaves before I came upstairs.” Jesse turned on a floor lamp at the end of the sofa, not wanting to flood the dark room with too much light. “You didn’t have to do that all by yourself, you know.”

  “Oh, pooh,” Sophia answered with a wave of her hand. “It relaxes me. I’ll reheat the pizza while you get into something comfortable, and then you can tell me everything.”

  Jesse didn’t argue. It was an old tradition, going back to Jesse’s high school years, for her mother to wait up for her at the end of an evening out. However late the night was, Sophia would greet Jesse when she came in, and the two of them would stay up for hours more, sitting around the dining room table, sharing tales. Jesse would tell her mother about her night, and then Sophia would recount stories from her own youth, many of them more lively than anything Jesse had ever done.

  The time spent talking into the early morning hours, laughing, confiding, comforting, had given them a bond that bridged the generation separating them and made them more than mother and daughter. It was a gift her mother had given her, of friendship and of trust, and Jesse would be forever grateful.


  And tonight, especially, Sophia would need to know everything that had happened if they were to begin again in the morning. The pizza and several beers were long gone before their conversation finally died away in exhaustion.

  “We’d better get some sleep. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us and not much time before it gets here.” Jesse rose and cleaned away the remnants of their meal.

  At the door, Sophia stopped and looked back. “We’re all out of our minds to be doing this, aren’t we?”

  “Matt and I pretty much came to that conclusion earlier tonight,” Jesse agreed with a tired laugh.

  “You’re telling Joe Tyler about this in the morning?”

  Jesse nodded. “Some of it. Once we’re out of the house and on our way so he can’t find me.”

  “He’ll be looking for your truck, so we can take my car.” With a wink, Sophia was out the door. “See you downstairs in the morning,” she called over her shoulder as she went. “You did good today, hon.”

  Jesse turned out the lights and climbed into bed. The last thing she remembered before she dropped off to sleep was that, in the excitement of the evening, she’d forgotten to call Vivian and give her an update. In the morning, while Jesse tried to tie up some loose ends, Vivian would be meeting with the auditor she was hiring to check the books.

  With what Jesse had learned from Bobby Donald and hoped to add to with Adele Culpepper, plus the accountant Marjorie Dawson was dropping hints about, there would be plenty to tell Vivian by midmorning.

  Day three promised to be one giant snowball rolling downhill, and Jesse only hoped she could stay far enough ahead of it to avoid being flattened.

  ∙∙∙•••●●●•••∙∙∙

  The sun was well up. Birds were chirping, and Jesse and Sophia had finished the baking they had to do before setting out to pump multiple strangers for the secrets they would probably rather keep to themselves. But first, there was the matter of a phone call and a secret Jesse herself would just as soon not discuss.

  “About how long before we’re out of here, Mom?”

  Sophia looked up from a loaf of bread she was wrapping in brown paper. “Ten minutes?”