A Killer Necklace
Page 20
They continued to reminisce about their wedding and everything that came before and after.
Gina recalled the original suspect list she and Becki had cobbled together.
ambulance crew
2 police officers
developer—Douglas Spellman
Lottie
entertainment mogul—Garry Davenport
mob
Cathy
Sylvia
They laughed at the ‘ambulance crew’ and ‘2 police officers’ notations.
“How ridiculous!” Gina said.
“How Nancy Drew!” Tony said.
That merited another love tap.
“Spellman…now Spellman—”
“It’s sometimes hard to tell a plain old jerk from a cold-blooded murderer, isn’t it?” Tony said, his face a portrait of innocence when she turned toward him.
“You never know what lies beneath,” Gina defended herself. “I bet you never pictured that dear senior, Lottie, as a jewel thief!”
“Got me there.”
“Becki caught her wandering down Main Street, Black Currant Bay, after our wedding, wearing this amazing necklace and a pair of dazzling earrings. Totally incongruous with anything Lottie would wear on a normal basis, you understand.”
“I find her story so sad,” Tony admitted.
“You’re right, dementia is terribly sad. They think poor Lottie wandered into Louisa’s house in a sort of stupor, picked up the jewels and pocketed them.
“It may have made sense to her at the time. Or maybe it didn’t. Hard to know. When pressed, she handed the jewelry back. It’s anybody’s guess who those gems will go to now. Maybe Lottie is mentioned in the will, which will finally be settled when the investigation is complete.”
“I love how you wrote down ‘mob’ on your list. What do you think now?”
“I think Garry was involved with the mob. Probably with more than one crime outfit. Maybe that’s why he’s hiding out now.”
“Not because he tried to run over Sylvia and because he kidnapped you?”
“That too. But not because he murdered his wife.”
“Because he didn’t. We know who murdered Louisa.”
“We do,” Gina agreed.
“Not Sylvia, the last name on your list.”
“Not her.”
“You told me what happened to her. She read about Gina’s kidnapping and Garry’s flight out of the country and finally came forward regarding who put her in the hospital.”
“Yes,” Gina stated the facts as she knew them, “before the murder, Sylvia witnessed Garry say to Louisa, ‘If you change your mind, give me a call.’ He opened his wallet, scribbled on a receipt and handed it over. Later while cleaning, Sylvia picked the note up from a side table, saw the phone number and added it to a neat pile on Louisa’s desk.”
“After the murder, when Sylvia thinks she’s put two and two together, she goes back for the note.”
Gina rolled her eyes. “She foolishly thought she’d make some money by blackmailing one of the biggest racketeers around.”
“Garry couldn’t risk being incriminated. Being sent back to jail. Do you think Sylvia has learned her lesson?”
“I think so.”
“So that leaves Cathy. When did you decide it was her?” said Tony.
“After having been tied up for hours and hours, and stewing and stewing over how I got where I was. It was my love for you that set me on the right track.”
“I like this part of the story. Tell me again.”
“Some tough former federal agent you are!”
“I need to know it by heart so we can pass the tale down to our children.”
“My blood was boiling,” Gina explained. “I would willingly have eaten through duct tape to break away and get to you.”
Tony squeezed her tight.
“I realized that hitting a woman over and over with a chair and shoving her down the stairs might have been the result of a similar feeling of desperation. A rage totally in the moment. The only highly emotional and interpersonal dynamic going on amongst our suspects was the one between Cathy and Garry. Who stood in their way? For the longest time, I was convinced Garry did away with his wife.”
“Were you now?” Tony smiled.
“Then I played it from a different angle. My theory was cemented when I finally exited my prison and noticed the Do Not Disturb sign plugged into the door’s card slot. Cathy had promised me the maid would come in about two hours to make up the room.”
“She lied.”
“And if you lie about one thing, it’s highly likely you’re lying about everything.” Gina finished with a little self-satisfied nod.
“You want to know what I think?” Tony said.
Gina strained her neck around to look at him.
“We won’t see those two again, but it won’t be because they’ve left the country.”
“Where…?”
Tony frowned. “You were right about the mob. I did a little asking around. Garry’s connections go deep. He owed them a bundle, and now that he was out of the slammer, they wanted payback. That’s where the jewelry came in. It doesn’t pay to try to screw the mob.”
“So you’re saying justice will eventually be served.”
Tony smiled. “Oh, a form of justice. Maybe not our kind.”
Gina settled back into his arms. “And all over a silly necklace.”
“Not silly,” said Tony. “What did you girls call it? Killer.”
~ * ~
If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a short review and posting it on Amazon, Goodreads and/or Barnes and Noble. Reviews are very helpful to other readers and are greatly appreciated by authors, especially me. When you post a review, drop me an email and let me know and I may feature part of it on my blog/site. Thank you. ~ Melodie and Cynthia
mcampbell50@cogeco.ca or cynthiast-pierre@rogers.com
Message from the Authors
Dear Reader,
There are crimes of fashion, and there are crimes of passion. We have fun with the first, but are deadly serious about the latter.
The Fashionation with Mystery Series explores the kinds of passion that lead to crime. In A Killer Necklace, the second book in the series, murder is once more on the menu. Is it a small town murder? Or is this one imported, like haute fashion, from the big city?
We think you—like us—will conclude that passion knows no limits, wherever one lives. And we hope you will enjoy this second mystery in the series, as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Yours truly,
Melodie and Cynthia
Works by the Authors
Fashionation with Mystery Series
A PURSE TO DIE FOR (#1)
A KILLER NECKLACE (#2)
About the Authors
Melodie Campbell
Billed as Canada’s “Queen of Comedy" by the Toronto Sun, Melodie Campbell achieved a personal best when Library Digest compared her to Janet Evanovich.
Winner of nine awards, including the 2014 Derringer (US) and the 2014 Arthur Ellis (Canada) Melodie has over 200 publications, including 100 comedy credits, 40 short stories, and nine novels.
Her first book, Rowena Through the Wall, was an Amazon Top 100 Bestseller putting her just ahead of Nora Roberts, and just behind Tom Clancy. Critics have called it “Outlander meets Sex and the City.”
She is the Executive Director of Crime Writers of Canada.
melodiecampbell.com
fashionationwithmystery.com
Facebook: MelodieCampbellAuthor
Twitter: @MelodieCampbell
Cynthia St-Pierre
In marketing Cynthia wrote promotional, packaging and communications materials; penned articles for business periodicals; and a chapter of How to Successfully Do Business in Canada.
A member of Crime Writers of Canada, she has one award for fiction and has been a writing contest judge.
Best of all for a mystery writer, Cynthia has received a Yo
rk Regional Police Citizens Awareness Program certificate, presented and signed by Julian Fantino, former Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.
Cynthia grows vegetables in her backyard, makes recipes with tofu, and speaks English-accented French with husband Yves.
vegetariandetective.blogspot.com
fashionationwithmystery.com
twitter.com/stpierrecynthia (@stpierrecynthia)
google.com/+CynthiaStPierre
IMAJIN BOOKS™
Quality fiction beyond your wildest dreams
For your next eBook or paperback purchase, please visit:
www.imajinbooks.com
www.imajinbooks.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/imajinbooks
www.facebook.com/imajinbooks
IMAJIN QWICKIES™
www.ImajinQwickies.com