by Bobbi Holmes
“Maybe she’s spent all her parent’s money. That happens, you know,” Lily suggested.
“I don’t know. I suppose that’s possible,” Danielle said with a weary sigh.
“I’m sorry, Danielle. I should have stopped her,” Walt said when he appeared by the table.
“Good morning, Walt. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Walt is here?” Lily looked around and sniffed the air. “I don’t smell cigar.”
“Please tell Lily I don’t have a cigar in my hand every minute.”
Lily’s eyes widened as she watched the chair seemingly move by itself as Walt sat down at the table.
“He’s not smoking right now. He’s trying to cut down. Not good for his health,” Danielle told Lily.
“Glad to see you still have your sense of humor,” Walt said.
“Really?” Lily asked with a frown.
“I’m teasing, Lily. He doesn’t have a body to worry about.”
“Well, that’s what I thought,” Lily mumbled.
“So where were you Walt, when she tried on the necklace?” Danielle asked.
“I’m afraid I got distracted in the attic. A couple of your guests were up there discussing my murder and speculating where exactly it happened.”
“And you couldn’t tear yourself away?” Danielle asked.
“What is he saying?” Lily asked.
“I would’ve thought you’d wait until I was in the room to let her try on the necklace, so I could keep her from taking it.”
“I certainly didn’t think she would just run out of the house with the necklace. Especially not in front of a room full of people.”
Walt shook his head and said, “Well, your friend Joe was certainly no help. None at all.”
“It’s not Joe’s fault,” Danielle said. “It all happened too fast. If I want to blame anyone, it’s Mr. Renton.”
“Your lawyer? Why is it his fault?” Lily asked.
“It was his bright idea for Cheryl to go look at herself in a mirror.”
Lily’s cell phone began to buzz with an incoming text message. Picking up the phone, she read the message and then sent a return text. “That was Ian, he wanted to know if we were awake and if Cheryl ever showed up. I told him she was still missing, and invited him over for coffee.”
Instead of coming up the front walk, Ian and Sadie entered the grounds by the side gate and came to the kitchen door. Lily got up from the table and let them in. Sadie immediately rushed to Walt and jumped up, her front paws landing first on his lap and then the chair.
“Get down, Sadie, you know better than to jump up on the table,” Ian scolded.
“That’s okay girl, but you better get down,” Walt said gently. Sadie let out a little whimper and put her front paws back on the wood floor. She sat next to Walt’s chair.
“Good morning Ian,” Danielle greeted after Lily gave her hello.
“Morning Danielle. Still no word from your cousin?”
“I’m afraid not.”
Lily handed Ian a cup of coffee. When he started to take Walt’s chair, she gently guided him to an empty seat. “No, sit here. I spilled something on that one and just wiped it down. It’s still damp,” Lily lied.
“So what’s going on?” Ian asked as he sat down.
“Joe called a little while ago. He tracked down Adam.”
“I thought Lily said Cheryl is still missing?” Ian asked.
“She is. Ian found Adam, but Cheryl wasn’t with him. Apparently they spent the night together at some beach house in his rental program. Adam insists she didn’t have the necklace with her. He says she left sometime during the night, but he doesn’t know when.”
“When he says she left during the night—did she take his car? I see hers is still parked on the street.”
“No. If Adam is to be believed, then she walked somewhere.”
“I take it you don’t believe him,” Ian asked.
“Think about it, I know he and Bill were willing to break in here to find the necklace before we did.” The night before Danielle had told Ian about Adam and Bill breaking into Marlow House.
“You suspect they broke in. I’m still not convinced they actually did,” Ian corrected.
“I told you, Bill fixed the window and didn’t balk when I refused to pay him.”
“There could be several explanations for that,” Ian said.
“Why are you being so contrary?” Lily asked.
“I’m not being contrary, Lily. I’m trying to be objective and look at the situation from all angles.”
“I’m worried about my cousin, Ian.”
“I thought she drove you nuts? Something I can understand.”
“That doesn’t mean I want something bad to happen to her.”
“Who says anything bad is going to happen to her?” Ian asked.
“How safe can it be, her running around town with that necklace?”
“I’m just not convinced she’s in any danger. Every day people walk around wearing expensive jewelry and nothing happens to them,” Ian said.
“Right, and you also hear of someone getting killed over a pair of expensive tennis shoes,” Lily quipped.
“True, Lily. But this is quiet Frederickport, not exactly a hot spot of criminal activity. It’s just that I’ve met Cheryl and spent a very awkward afternoon with her. I can see her sitting in some little beach cottage posing in front of a mirror as she models the necklace while all along laughing her butt off over the fact that she’s driving her cousin crazy.”
“But she took off with Adam, and now she’s missing and he claims she never had the necklace,” Danielle reminded.
“I’m not saying Adam is telling the truth. I’d be surprised if he didn’t know she had the necklace with her. But I imagine when he woke up this morning and found her and the necklace gone, reality sunk in. Who knows, she could have had him convinced she was one of the rightful owners of the necklace and had as much right as Danielle to be wearing it. But by this morning, it probably dawned on him that he might very well be seen as an accomplice to a very public jewel heist and that the only way to protect himself was simply to lie.”
“So you don’t think he has the necklace and…well…did something to Cheryl to make her disappear?” Danielle asked.
“I suppose anything is possible. But publicly leaving with her like that makes me doubt it.” Ian shrugged.
“Joanne’s here,” Walt announced. A moment later there was a knock at the kitchen door.
“It’s Joanne,” Danielle said from the table, waving for her to come in.
Joanne opened the door and walked into the kitchen and set her purse on the counter. “Good morning. If I can believe the morning paper, your cousin and the necklace are still missing.”
“I’m afraid so.” Danielle went on to tell Joanne about Joe finding Adam, while Joanne poured herself a cup of coffee.
“I wonder when I should call the insurance company?” Danielle asked a few minutes later. “I really didn’t want to go public with this yet. But since Joe and the local police department are looking for Cheryl and the necklace, it’s a mute point.”
“I was wondering,” Lily began. “Since Cheryl claims to rightfully own half of the Marlow estate, couldn’t the insurance company argue the necklace isn’t stolen—it’s with one of the owners. Therefore they aren’t required to pay?”
“According to Mr. Renton, the necklace legally belongs to me. So I don’t see why the insurance company wouldn’t pay the claim.”
“Yes, but if they prove she had a legal claim to the estate…” Lily went on.
“Wouldn’t Cheryl have to be here to do that?” Joanne interrupted.
“Oh…I suppose so.” Lily shrugged.
“So if the necklace isn’t found, it would be in Danielle’s best interest if Cheryl wasn’t found either. With her gone, there is no one to contest the will and Danielle can claim the insurance money,” Joanne suggested.
“Goodness Joanne, you ma
ke it sound like I had a motive to make my cousin disappear!”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking aloud. I didn’t mean to imply you had anything to do with her disappearance.”
“Obviously not,” Lily said. “After all, we all saw her take off with the necklace.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Shortly before noon on Saturday, Joe Morelli arrived at Marlow House. Accompanying him was his partner, Brian Henderson, another officer from the Frederickport Police Department. Lily showed them both to the library, where Danielle was waiting.
Danielle stood up when the two officers, both dressed in uniform, entered the room. “Any news?” She immediately recognized the officer with Joe. They’d met briefly the previous week when Joe had taken her out to lunch. Officer Henderson was much older than Joe, old enough to be his father, she guessed.
“Nothing yet,” Joe said. “We wondered if we could have a look at the room Cheryl was using.”
“What for?” Danielle asked.
“Maybe there’s something up there that might give us a clue as to where she went,” Joe said.
“Umm…okay…but there really isn’t anything up there. The room was straightened up for the party. It looks pretty much the same way it did before she arrived.”
“She didn’t take her things with her, did she?” Brian asked.
“No. As far as we can tell she just took her purse. We found her cell phone in the kitchen after she left with Adam,” Danielle explained.
“What about her other things? I assume she arrived with a suitcase, clothes.” Brian asked.
“Yes she did, but I don’t see how that’s going to help you,” Danielle said.
“Is there some reason you don’t want us to look at her things?” Brian asked.
“Of course not!” Danielle said quickly. “It’s upstairs, come with me.” She reluctantly led them upstairs while dreading what they would find in the suitcase. Damn Walt for trying to help, she silently cursed.
When they got to the Red Room Joanne had just removed the bed sheets. The mattress was bare, save for the quilted mattress pad. “Afternoon Joe, Brian,” Joanne greeted. She looked at Danielle and asked, “Do you want me to put fresh sheets on the bed or just the bedspread?”
“Probably just the bedspread for now. But I’m going to use the bed for a minute, so if there’s something else you need to do.” Danielle walked to the closet and opened the door. She pulled Cheryl’s suitcase from the closet shelf and tossed it on the bed.
“This is it,” Danielle said.
Instead of leaving the room, Joanne stood and watched as Brian opened the suitcase.
“Oh my god,” Brian said, wrinkling his nose. An unpleasant odor emitted from the suitcase, a result of the damp towels in conjunction with the assortment of spilled lotions and toiletries. Gingerly Brian lifted one item after another from the suitcase. “This is a mess. Why in the world would she cram everything in there like this?”
“She obviously didn’t intend to come back. Looks like she’s stained everything in her suitcase with that makeup,” Joe said, looking down at the jumble of fabric, now damp, stained and smelly.
Joanne took several steps toward the bed, looked down at the open suitcase and said, “She didn’t do that.”
“How do you know she didn’t?” Joe asked
“You were here, Joe, when I asked her about cleaning the room—the day before the party.”
“Yes. And I seem to remember Danielle telling you not to worry about it, that Cheryl would clean the room in the morning.”
“She also apologized to me later,” Joanne said.
“What do you mean?” Joe asked.
“I was up in the attic cleaning the windows when she came up, not long after her little scene about the room. She apologized for being rude and admitted she was upset with her cousin. I think she really believes half of this place is hers.”
“Did she mention the necklace?” Joe asked.
“The only thing I recall, she asked me where the safe was.”
“The safe?” Brian asked. “What safe?”
“I imagine she’s talking about the safe I installed to keep the necklace until I could return it to the bank,” Danielle said.
Joanne nodded. “Yes.”
“What did you tell her?” Joe asked.
“I told her she needed to talk to her cousin about that. I really did not want to get involved. Oh, I didn’t tell her I didn’t want to get involved. I just told her she would have to ask her cousin about the safe.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re certain she didn’t pack the suitcase,” Brian said.
“Because on Friday morning I came upstairs to get the brochures out of Danielle’s room to put in the library. I noticed the door to Cheryl’s room was shut and there was a note on it. Curious, I read the note. It said something like private resident or private quarter. Something like that, and to stay out. From what I understood Danielle wanted all the rooms open for people to see, plus Cheryl had agreed to clean the room. I knocked, when there was no answer, I peeked inside. The room was a mess, clothes everywhere. Wet towels on the floor. I decided to ask Danielle what she wanted me to do about it.”
“And what did she say?” Brian asked.
“She never asked me,” Danielle answered.
“That’s true, I didn’t.” Joanne said. “I went to the library first, to put the brochures on the table and clean up some potting soil that had spilled on the floor. While I was cleaning up I noticed Danielle going up stairs. I figured she’d see the mess for herself. When I was done in the library I went upstairs to see if I could help Danielle, but she was in the bathroom taking a shower and by that time the room was already straightened up. I just assumed Danielle cleaned the room. But if she didn’t, I suppose someone else in the house must have.”
“Did you see Cheryl go up the stairs? Clear view from the library door to whoever is going up and down those stairs,” Brian said.
“I only saw Danielle going upstairs—but that doesn’t mean someone else didn’t. I wasn’t watching the door. Yet I’m fairly certain it wasn’t Cheryl.”
“Why do you say that?” Joe asked.
“When I came back down stairs I found Cheryl in the parlor. I didn’t want her to snap at me again, so I didn’t say anything about the room. Yet, I did ask her how long she’d been in the parlor. She said all morning. But I suppose it’s possible she went upstairs and I didn’t see her and she didn’t mention it.”
“Was the room cleaned up when you came up to take a shower?” Brian asked Danielle.
“I honestly didn’t notice,” Danielle lied. “There was just so much to do.”
“Did you pack your cousin’s suitcase?” Brian asked.
“Of course not,” Danielle said.
“Did Lily?” Joe asked,
“No, Lily wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Then who did?” Brian asked.
“I have no idea, but does it really matter?” Danielle asked.
“I’m sorry,” Joanne blurted out. “I didn’t mean to imply Danielle or Lily were responsible for the suitcase. People were coming and going that morning. Excuse me, I need to get back to work.” Joanne turned and quickly left the room, shutting the door behind her.
“In answer to your question, Ms. Boatman, everything matters,” Brian said seriously. “Did you have some idea that Cheryl was planning to leave Marlow House without her suitcase?”
“Of course not. Why would you ask that?” Danielle frowned.
“That would mean you intended for her to find her suitcase like this.”
“I told you I wasn’t the one who put all that stuff in there. Anyway, what does any of that matter? Even if I had done it, which I didn’t, what does that have to do with the fact she ran out of here—with a room full of witnesses, including Joe—with the necklace?”
“I’m just trying to get a better idea of your relationship with your cousin.”
“I w
ill admit I’ve never been fond of my cousin,” Danielle said. “I would be perfectly happy to never see her again. But that doesn’t mean I would ever hurt her.”
“No one has suggested you hurt her,” Brian said.
“What I mean, I don’t want anyone to hurt her. I’m frightened for Cheryl. She’s missing, and having that necklace makes her vulnerable.”
“So you believe she’s in danger? Who do you know who would want to hurt her?” Brian asked.
“I don’t know anyone in particular, aside from maybe Adam. After all, he was the last one seen with her. And I know he was interested in that necklace long before I found it.”
“What are you talking about?” Brian asked.
“Danielle seems to believe Adam and Bill Smith were the ones who broke into Marlow House. Remember, Craig called me when he found the library window broken and the front door wide open,” Joe explained.
“I don’t remember anything about Adam and Bill being questioned,” Brian said, looking from Danielle to Joe.
“I didn’t want to upset Marie,” Danielle explained. “And I didn’t have any real proof. But I knew both men heard Marie tell Ian about Walt Marlow possibly taking the necklace.”
“And because of that you think they’re the ones who broke in?” Brian asked incredulously.
“Well…” Danielle took a deep breath. “I decided to test my hunch. I called Bill to fix the window—the window I believed they broke. When he was done, I told him I wouldn’t be paying him for the repair because I knew he and Adam were the ones responsible.”
“What did he say?” Brian asked.
“He asked me why I wasn’t calling the police if I was so convinced he and Adam had broken into the house. I told him I didn’t want to upset Marie and since he fixed the window I’d consider us even.”
“What did he do?” Brian asked.
“He just looked at me, sort of dazed, and left. That was the last time I saw him. I found the necklace after that and didn’t feel they were really a threat anymore. After all, everyone knew I kept the necklace at the bank.”
