For Letter or Worse

by Vivian Conroy

  “We can listen to her story. We need not take her side. Maybe it can give us a clue as to who the killer is. She might know something vital.”

  Jonas sighed. He let the wheel roll smoothly through his hands. Delta realized how safe she felt by his side. She only wished he also valued her input. Jonas was a loner who liked to do everything by himself. Someone you couldn’t really get close to.

  “There it is.” She pointed ahead to where giant, fake bull horns sat on top of a square, one-story building. The parking lot was full of SUVs and pickups, and Jonas squeezed the Jeep into a narrow space. As they got out, they could already smell roasting meat. And stale beer.

  Jonas grimaced. “Classy spot for a meeting.”

  “It was Lena’s choice. Probably because it’s such an unlikely place for her to go to. You lead the way, I’ll follow.”

  Inside, a roar of voices washed over them. To their left, men were playing darts and pool. Balls clanked against each other, and the maker of the good shot waved his cue in the air, almost stabbing another man in the eye. Beer glasses were everywhere. Waitresses wearing cowboy hats moved quickly through the crowd.

  To the right were booths along the wall with diners. Mainly men, probably truck drivers or bikers. Delta felt like all eyes were on her when she walked through the steakhouse searching for Lena. The former model had to have drawn attention coming in here.

  “There.” Jonas nodded to the last booth.

  Delta didn’t see what he meant. In the booth, a figure sat slumped over a beer, with a woolen knit hat pulled down over their hair and a tattered blanket around their shoulders. There was an empty beer glass on the table and a plate with the remains of a steak dinner.

  Jonas walked over and sat down opposite the figure. When Delta slipped into the booth beside him, the figure looked up. Lena Laroy’s startling blue eyes peered at her. Delta gasped. “With that disguise I would never have guessed it was you.”

  “Good job making this all even more dramatic than it already is.” Jonas leaned back and folded his hands on the table’s edge. “But I want some answers and fast. You knew your brother was in town. You knew he was at the party, trying to get his hands on something. You should have reported that to the police. Anonymous or otherwise, if you were worried about him finding out it had been you giving information to the cops. But you let it pass. You did nothing to alert anyone, and you let him walk about freely. With a gun. This morning, he could have shot the deputy. Or Delta.”

  He didn’t mention himself.

  Lena said, “He wouldn’t have shot anyone. He’s not really violent.” She wrung her hands. “At least, I hope not. Look, he ruined my life before. I didn’t want it to happen again.”

  Jonas looked cynical. “I’m not here for a sob story. I advise you to call the police and tell West what you know. Maybe it can save your skin. Maybe not. But I don’t care either way.” He moved like he wanted to get up.

  “Jonas.” Lena reached out quickly and put her hand over his. “Please hear me out. Calvin hired you to protect me. He knew I was under strain. He didn’t know where the danger was coming from, but—”

  “You should have told him.” Jonas sounded tight, but he didn’t pull his hand away. Was he seeing how far she’d go to play him? Or did the beautiful model really have some influence over him? Delta’s heartbeat skittered.

  Lena said, “I knew my brother was back in my life, because he had had some groceries delivered. Things he knew I liked from the days we were in college together. We shared rooms then. I was trying to get my degree, but my brother was coasting. Going to parties, off on vacations. He always knew how to fall in with the right crowd.”

  “The wrong crowd, you mean,” Jonas corrected.

  “No, the right crowd. Rich people who could offer him free stuff. He made friends with the boys, became entangled with the girls. He was always at some resort enjoying free drinks and meals and… He was smart, but he was also greedy. He stole a diamond necklace from a girlfriend’s mother, and although no one ever proved it was him, it damaged his reputation, and he wasn’t asked on trips as much as he used to be. I told him it was his own fault, but it only made him angry and more determined to make everyone pay. My modeling career took off, and I started a relationship with a country star. My brother, whom I hadn’t talked to in years, suddenly appeared and wanted me to give him money. I did, a few times, and then it became other demands. Stuff from the villa where I lived with my fiancé.”

  She stared ahead, her eyes shiny with tears. “I got caught. I didn’t want to turn my brother in, so my fiancé believed I was stealing for myself. He loved me enough not to report me, but he did break up with me.”

  “The breakup no one understood,” Delta said. Lena nodded.

  Lena nodded. “I was so depressed after that. I told my brother I never wanted to hear of him again or I would turn him in. He seemed to have listened.”

  “Until he came back into your life, here in Tundish,” Jonas supplied.

  “Right. This time he wanted parts of Calvin’s art collection. I told him Calvin would notice right away, and I’d be in deep trouble. He said that I had to lie that I had seen someone else take it. The dog walker or a housekeeper or someone who did chores for us. Anyone I could think of. He told me I was clever enough to shift the blame.” Lena chewed her lower lip. “I didn’t know what to do. At the party, he put pressure on me again.”

  “So, you told him about Sally, the art expert who had left LA in a rush, and he went after her,” Jonas said quietly.

  Lena perked up. “Sally? No, I… What about Sally? She didn’t have anything. She had lost her job and was about to get a divorce that would leave her with practically nothing. She whined about that every day. What could my brother get off her?”

  “The jade statue she stole from the museum before she left LA. Come on, admit you knew about that.”

  “What statue?” Lena’s eyes were wide. “Sally didn’t tell me anything. She was close to Calvin, not me.”

  “She would have told Calvin about it?” Delta pressed.

  “I don’t know. She valued his opinion, and she wanted into the company, so I doubt she would have told him she’d stolen something.” Lena grimaced. “She wanted him to like her and trust her, and that wouldn’t have helped, right?”

  Jonas glanced at Delta. She wasn’t sure whether she believed the woman.

  Lena said, “I don’t see why he would have wanted anything to do with Sally. Her murder must be unrelated. I mean, it was her husband who came after her.”

  “Yes, her husband. Did you know Jarvis? Did you see him at the party? Did you know he was going to meet her?”

  “No, I had no idea he was even in town.”

  “And Una Edel?” Delta asked. “Were you two really together at the time of the murder?”

  “Yes. Una was inside the villa with me, discussing some things she had noticed at the party that weren’t up to par, you know, a caterer slacking off, that sort of thing. She’s a master of organization.”

  “And when you talked to her, she didn’t have the key chain in her hand?”

  “No. I didn’t see it at all that afternoon. One of us either has it or it’s in a porcelain pot on the sideboard, so whoever needs it can get it.”

  “Who could have fetched it from there?”

  “Calvin, Una, Zara, Randall. Everyone who lived at the villa, really. If I were you, I’d look at Zara. There’s something off about that girl. I have no idea why Calvin is so protective of her. Other than he’s having an affair with her. After all, he betrayed his first wife with the babysitter. What can I expect?”

  “If you didn’t trust him, why did you marry him?”

  “I did trust him before.”

  “But then you also knew he had betrayed his first wife with the babysitter.”

  Lena blinked. “I’m sorry, but my
private life is really none of your business. I want to make it very clear that my brother ruined my life before and I won’t have him do it again.”

  “Then go to the police and tell them what you’ve told us so West has something to charge him with.” Jonas grabbed her hand. “You could be in danger as long as your brother has a chance to walk away free. He’s a dangerous man, and he won’t spare you just because you’re his sister.”

  Lena stared into his eyes. “Oh, Jonas…” She burst into tears. “I can’t go on like this anymore. My husband doesn’t love me, he’s betraying me with the dog walker, and…I feel so terrible.”

  Delta couldn’t believe she was making a scene like this, with another woman present. What did she expect? That Jonas would lean over and wrap her in his arms? Across the table?

  “Come, come, it can’t be all that bad.” Jonas patted her hand. “Maybe you misunderstood what’s happening between him and the dog walker. You also owe him an explanation about your fears when those groceries were delivered. He has no idea your brother sent them as a reminder he was near. The perfume bottle with ‘death’ on it came from him as well, you think?”

  “Probably.”

  “But footage shows Sally putting it on the table,” Delta pointed out. “Does that mean Sally did know your brother and was in league with him?”

  “Sally put it on the table?” Lena stared at her through wet lashes. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. The parcel holding the perfume bottle was put on the gift table by Sally. Images don’t lie.”

  “That little snake.” Lena hissed through gritted teeth. “She must have been working with my brother. I have no idea how they met or why she’d help him, but—”

  “No idea at all?” Delta said. “You must have sensed the tension between her and you. She wore a similar dress to your own party. That’s rude to say the least. Taking attention away from you as hostess.”

  “When she came down in it, I asked her to choose something else, but she snapped back that I had to change, if it mattered that much to me. I had bought my dress especially for the occasion, so I wasn’t going to change it for her.” Lena’s voice carried a venomous edge. “Sally always wanted what I had. Calvin’s affection—” She swallowed hard. “If my brother contacted her to somehow harm me, Sally might have agreed to help him. And then he killed her because she knew too much.” She sobbed in her hands.

  Jonas looked at Delta. His frown told her he wasn’t sure what to believe. But Delta had the impression Lena was genuinely shocked by the idea that Sally had put the threatening bottle on the gift table. Maybe she had never given her quiet sister-in-law much credit? But from what they knew now, Sally had stolen a valuable statue from the museum’s depot and had threatened her sister-in-law during her birthday party. Not exactly what you would have expected, based on people’s opinions of her.

  Jonas pressed, “You do have to go to the police. You know things about the household that can be really helpful. I’ll go with you if you like.”

  Delta inwardly shook her head. West didn’t like Jonas and might not even want to talk to Lena, but on the other hand, he would see the importance of Lena Laroy’s testimony for the case and might even appreciate that Jonas had brought her in.

  Lena took a deep breath. “Look at me now. I’m sitting here in this miserable joint, with my dog walker lounging on the sofa at my home, and my brother possibly having…” She sniffed. “If that gets into the papers, I can forget about ever having a life again.”

  Jonas gestured at her. “Shall we go?” A waitress who halted at the table to take their order scowled when he told her they were leaving. He asked, “How much was the lady’s tab?”

  “Ten for the steak, five for the two beers,” the waitress said.

  “Here’s twenty, keep the rest. The lady isn’t feeling well, and we’re taking her home.” Jonas got up and put an arm around Lena, who hung against him like a wilting lily. The waitress hitched a brow but pocketed the twenty without comment and disappeared to serve other guests.

  Outside, Jonas asked, “How did you get here?”

  Lena whispered, “With my own car. It’s in the back of the lot.”

  “We’ll go to the police in that one, I’ll drive.” Jonas pulled out his car keys and threw them to Delta, who caught them with one hand. “You take my Jeep. Follow us.”

  * * *

  “What time did you come home last night?” Hazel asked the next morning while she poured coffee.

  “I don’t know.” Delta yawned. She had sat at the police station for a while, waiting while Jonas and Lena were in with the sheriff. Jonas had come out for a few minutes to tell her the sheriff was putting Lena up at a safe place for the time being, and he was also required to make a statement about their meeting at the steakhouse. “You’d better leave before he wants your statement too. Call a cab or something.”

  Delta had taken his advice and been glad to roll into bed. She rubbed her gritty eyes. “I hope this will be a quiet day. I just want to sell washi tape and eat Jane’s cake for a bit.” As she said it, her phone beeped, indicating new messages.

  “Hmm, I doubt it will be quiet,” Hazel commented amid continuing beeping.

  With a groan, Delta fished for the phone. Several Paper Posse members alerted her to a new article on Marc LeDuc’s website, saying “Security expert pointed out risk before murder.” She scanned it quickly. The man who had put up security cameras at Drake’s villa had told LeDuc that he had advised Drake to have a camera film the edge of the forest where Sally Drake had been murdered, but Drake had not seen the use for it. LeDuc emphasized that said forest led down to the boathouse where, back in the fifties, Athena Barrows had been murdered, which made it all the more poignant that Drake hadn’t listened to the well-intentioned advice.

  Hazel shook her head when Delta told her. “I bet that security expert is only eager to avoid people whispering that his system wasn’t good enough to prevent the murder on Drake’s premises, and him losing business. I mean, why else would he even talk to the press? So unprofessional when you work for high-class people who value privacy.”

  “Right.” Delta yawned again and reached for the coffee Hazel put in front of her. “I feel like not even the strongest coffee can fully wake me up today. I wish I could get back into bed for an hour.”

  “Why don’t you? I can drive out to the shop by myself and open up. I used to do it on my own when you weren’t here yet.”

  “I know but—”

  “Come on. Do it.” Hazel pulled the coffee away from her. “A bit more sleep, and then you will feel brand-new.”

  Delta did admit that the idea of her soft bed was tempting and dragged herself out of the kitchen and up the stairs. As her head hit the pillow, she vaguely thought that something about Marc’s observations could be relevant, but she had no idea what or why. Her eyes slipped closed, and she drifted off.

  * * *

  When Delta woke up, there was bright light seeping through the curtains, and she pushed herself into a sitting position and checked her alarm clock. Eleven? Then she recalled Hazel had sent her back to bed and gave a relieved sigh. She felt a lot better and showered and dressed at leisure. Coming downstairs, she thought she heard a sound in the kitchen. Had Hazel come back to see how she was?

  A bit on edge, Delta sneaked to the kitchen door and peeked in. Gran was standing at the sink, putting lovely flowers into a big vase. Delta opened the door. “Good morning. What are those?”

  Gran swung around. “Good morning. I hope you feel better. These are for you. I admired the fresh flowers on the breakfast table at the Lodge Hotel, and Ray kindly told me where they get them. He took me over there, and I bought these for you, and then he dropped me off here.”

  Delta grinned. “Ray is going out of his way to be nice.”

  Gran eyed her with a serious expression. “He might have felt oblig
ed to help an old lady who was a bit…emotional.”

  “Emotional?” Delta narrowed her eyes. Suddenly, all her senses were on full alert. “Why? Is something wrong? Do you miss your own home? I know how much you hate to go away.” She went over and hugged her grandmother. “I’m sorry. It’s selfish of me to want to have you here.”

  “I’m forced to leave my house, Delta.” Gran stared up at her. “I got a notice that they are going to change the neighborhood. They are buying people’s houses for a new road. It’s all been decided. No way to protest against it. I have to move.”

  “No.” Delta couldn’t believe her ears. “You’ve lived there for all your life. Dad was born there. You love that house.”

  “I looked into every possible way to stop it, but…the lawyers tell me I don’t stand a chance. Other house owners have already accepted all the money they can get, and the road is important for the area. I have to go as well.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I came here to tell you personally. I wanted to do it last night, but…that phone call interrupted and—”

  “I’m so sorry. I feel like I haven’t been there for you.”

  “You’re more there for me than anybody else. I came to you because I know you’ll understand what the house means to me. You grew up there.”

  Tears pricked behind her eyes at the memories of all her holidays spent there. Delta hugged her gran tightly. “I can’t believe it. What will you have to do? Where can you live?”

  “I do have money in the bank. And they will pay a fair price for the house. So, I can actually choose what to do. Which state, what kind of house. A fresh start full of opportunities. Your father told me to take a cruise first and delay my decision. I don’t feel like cruising right now.”

  “I understand.” Delta stepped back and held her gran by the shoulders gently. “I’ll help you work through this. You can stay here for as long as you like, and then…we’ll see. I can also help you pack up your things when the time comes. It will be less sad doing it together. We’ll remember all the good times we had in that beautiful house.”