Lemon Larceny (The Donut Mysteries) (22 page)

“No one can
verify much of that, can they?” I asked.

He looked
genuinely surprised by my line of questioning.
 
“Suzanne, correct me if I’m wrong, but I
wasn’t aware that the police chief was working under any other presumption than
Jean’s was an accidental death.”

“I can’t say what
he believes.
 
I’m not privy to his
thoughts,” I said.

“But you suspect
that it might have been foul play, is that it?”

“I have my
reasons,” I said.

“Perhaps you’ve
investigated too many real crimes in the past,” the attorney said.

“What do you mean
by that?”

“Aren’t you
willing to even entertain the notion that your past behavior has clouded your
current judgment?”

“Counselor, am I
under cross-examination?” I asked him.

“Of course not.
 
I just want to be certain that I’m not under
suspicion for a murder that may not have even happened.”

“We’re not ready
to point
any
fingers just yet,” I
said.

“You should both
be very careful where you tread,” he said.

“Mr. Jefferson, you’re
not threatening my daughter, are you?” Momma asked.

“No, ma’am.
 
I wouldn’t dream of it.
 
I’m just saying that there are
reputations at stake that might be ruined by your idle speculation.”

“Trust me,
there’s nothing idle about our speculations,” I answered.

He frowned a
moment before he spoke.
 
“I have to
say that I’m a little disappointed in you, Suzanne.”

“You know
what?
 
I’ll just have to find a way
to live with it,” I said, “because I won’t stop until I learn the truth, every
last bit of it.”

“It seems there’s
nothing left to say, then,” Adam said.

“I think a good-bye
might be in order,” Momma said.

“Good-bye,” the
attorney said, and then he was gone.

My mother started
in on me the moment Adam Jefferson left.
 
“Was it wise to antagonize him like that, Suzanne?”

“I was just
interrogating a possible suspect, Momma.”

“You did more
than that.
 
If he was the one who
killed my sister, you just alerted him to the fact that we suspected him of the
crime.”

“Momma, that
brick through the window pretty much told us that whoever did it knows that
we’re after them.
 
It’s time to push
harder now, not let up.
 
I look at
the message we got last night as a good thing.”

“I don’t see how
you can possibly say that.”

“Think about
it.
 
We managed to get under the
killer’s skin if he risked sending us such an overt warning.
 
I’m taking it as a good indication that
we’re getting closer to uncovering the truth.”

“So, we’re acting
as though we are firemen, is that it?”

“I don’t follow
you,” I said.

“As normal folks
are running away from the flames, the firemen are running towards them.”

I thought about
it, and the analogy fit beautifully.
 
“I’ve never considered what I do in that light, but I like it.
 
One of my favorite authors defined
bravery as showing courage in the face of fear.”

“Then we must be
very brave indeed,” Momma said.
 
“So, who do we push next?”

“I say we go down
the list.
 
After Hank has the glass
installed, we need to poke him a little as well.
 
Are you up for it?”

“You shouldn’t
even have to ask.”
 
After a moment,
she asked me, “Have you heard from Jake since you two spoke last?”

“Not yet, but I’m
sure that he’s still working on getting us some reinforcements up here.”

“And you don’t
think that it would be wise to wait for that outside support?”

“It probably
makes perfect sense,” I said, “but I can’t stand idly by while a killer goes
free, especially one who has robbed us both of someone so precious to each of
us.
 
Even you have to admit that no
one else has the kind of incentive that we do to catch the killer.”

“There’s an even
bigger reason to flush them out than that, now,” Momma said.

“What’s that?”

“To protect your
life.
 
You heard what Adam Jefferson
said yesterday.
 
If you don’t
survive the next few days, our murder suspects each get what they’ve been
coveting all along.”

“But you heard
him.
 
Aunt Jean’s supposed fortune
is mostly just smoke and mirrors.”

“Perhaps, but do
the tertiary beneficiaries know that?”

“Maybe it wouldn’t
hurt to educate them as we speak with them,” I conceded.
 
“The least it will do is get that target
off my back.”

“That’s assuming
that they believe us in the first place,” Momma said.
 
“Greed is a powerful force, and that’s
what appears to be motivating most of our suspects.”

“We’ll just have
to do the best that we can to convince them,” I said as I heard a truck door
slam outside.
 
As I walked back to
the front door, I said, “Unless I miss my guess, that will be Hank
Caldwell.
 
Follow my lead, okay?”

“I can’t imagine
doing anything else,” she said.

There was only
one problem.
 

Hank was there,
all right, but he wasn’t alone.

Chapter 19

“Ladies, this is
Greg Raymond,” Hank said as he introduced the young man he’d brought with him
who was helping him carry a large glass pane.
 
“He’s here to help me install your new
window glass.”

“Hey there,” the
tall and gangly teen said as he bobbed his air once up into the air.

“Let’s just set
it down here against the wall,” he instructed his helper.
 
“Easy there.”

The glass had
looked as though it was about to slip, but somehow Greg managed to keep it
steady enough to ease its leading edge onto the floor.
 
Once they had it safely leaning in place,
Hank made short work of removing the plywood.

“That sure lets
in a lot of light,” I said once the wooden barrier was gone.

“That’s what
windows do,” Hank said.

I assumed that it
would be a matter of just sliding the new glass in place, but Hank set about
doing a lot of prep work on the opening so the space would accept the new window.
 
As he worked, he said, “You know, you’d
get a lot more energy efficiency out of this if you used double pane glass.”

“Then it wouldn’t
match the rest of the house, would it?” I asked.

“No, but no one
would notice.”

“I would,” I
said.
 
“If the new owners want to
change them out, that’s certainly their prerogative, but I’m leaving things
exactly the way I’ve found them.”

“I can respect
that point of view,” Hank said.
 
After a few more last-second touches, he said, “Okay, we’re ready.”
 
As he reached for his end of the glass,
he said, “Greg, remember what I told you earlier.
 
Nice and easy, okay?
 
Don’t try to jam it into place.
 
It’s a delicate job, but I know that it
will fit.”

“How can you be
so sure?
 
The glass looks way too
big for the opening to me,” his helper said.

“I know because I
was careful when I took my measurements,” Hank said patiently.

They each picked
up their respective sides of the glass and slid it gently into place without a
hitch.
 
Greg started to let go when
Hank said, “Keep pressure on it while I attach the points and putty that holds
it into place.”

“Okay.
 
I just didn’t want to get any
fingerprints on the glass,” Greg said.

“Don’t worry
about that now.
 
We’ll clean it
before we go,” Hank said.
 
Finally,
he finished the job.
 
As he stood
back to admire his work, he said, “You can let go now.”

“Are you
sure?”
 
It was clear that Greg
wasn’t all that convinced.

“I’m positive.
 
You’ve got to learn to trust me if
you’re going to keep working for me.”

The assistant
pulled his hand back, but he kept it hovering near the glass just in case it
managed to fall out after all that Hank had done to secure it.
 
When he saw that it wasn’t going to
move, he breathed a sigh of relief.
 
“Boss, do you mind if I take my break now?”

“That’s fine with
me,” Hank said.
 
“I’ll join you in a
few minutes by the truck.”

“Got it,” he
said, and then after a wave good-bye, he was gone.

Hank immediately
began apologizing for his assistant.
 
“Sorry about that.
 
Greg is
my sister’s kid, and I hired him as a favor to her.
 
Boy, it’s true what they say.
 
No good deed goes unpunished, you know?”

“I think it’s
sweet of you,” I said.

“Maybe,” Hank
replied as he lightly buffed the glass surface.
 
“There you go.
 
It’s as good as new.”

“Thank you for
your prompt service,” Momma said as she reached for her checkbook.
 
“What do I owe you?”

“Don’t worry
about it.
 
You can pay me later,”
Hank said.

“Nonsense,” Momma
said.
 
“I pay my bills promptly and
in full.
 
Is it the same price as
the quote you gave me earlier?”

“Right on the
nose,” Hank said, and Momma wrote him a check that covered the new window and
the hasp replacement.

As she handed the
check to him, she said, “We spoke with Meredith Pence last night.”

Hank looked at
her suspiciously.
 
“What were you
doing at the library?”

“Trying to
confirm your alibi,” I told him.

Hank shook his
head in obvious disgust.
 
“I can’t
believe that you actually checked up on me.”

“You shouldn’t
feel all that special.
 
We confirm
everything we’re told,” I said.

“So, did I pass?”
he asked, clearly confident that Meredith would cover for him as he’d asked her
to do earlier.

“As a matter of
fact, she told us that you slipped away for awhile, but that you didn’t want
anyone to know that you were gone.”

His face reddened
when he heard that.
 
“So what if I
did?
 
There’s nothing sinister about
it.
 
I can’t believe that she told
you that, after she promised not to say anything to anyone.”

“Don’t blame
her.
 
We were very persuasive,” I
said.
 
“So, where did you go?”

Hank looked at me
with open contempt for a moment, and then he just shrugged.
 
“You’re not going to let it go until you
find out, are you?”

“We can’t afford
to,” I assured him.

“Okay.
 
What I’m about to tell you is said in
strictest confidence.
 
You can’t
share it with anyone else, do you understand?”

“If it doesn’t
pertain directly to my aunt’s murder, we’re willing to agree to that.”

He looked
surprised by my condition.
 
“What
are you talking about?
 
Jean
fell.
 
Everyone knows it.”

“We believe that
she had a little outside help,” I said.

Hank looked
genuinely surprised by that idea.
 
“I had breakfast with Chief Kessler this morning and he didn’t say a
word about that to me.”

“Perhaps that’s
because he doesn’t agree with us,” I said.

“He might be a
small town cop, but he’s good at what he does,” Hank said in the police chief’s
defense.

“That remains to
be seen,” Momma said.
 
“We’re still
waiting for your alibi, the real one this time, if you don’t mind.”

“I was with Sasha
Usher,” he said softly.

“Why is that such
a secret?” I asked him.

“Her husband,
Harry, doesn’t know anything about it.”

My mother’s
eyebrows both shot up.
 
“Indeed.”

“Before you get
the wrong idea, nothing’s happened between us, at least not yet.
 
Sasha’s been planning to leave him for
years.
 
I told her I wouldn’t get
involved with her until after she made a clean break from Harry.”

“And did she
agree to that?” I asked, amazed about the complications we uncovered in some
people’s lives.

“That’s the problem.
 
She’s promised me that she’s going to
leave him for the past two months we’ve been talking about trying it together.”

“Hold on.
 
I thought you were seeing my sister,”
Momma said.

“It was never
exclusive; she made that plain enough to me from the start.
 
Jean wanted things casual between us, no
matter how much I tried to make our relationship more serious.
 
It finally got through to me, so I
started looking a little harder at some of my other options.
 
Sasha moved from the back burner all the
way to the front when Jean spurned me the last time.”

“How pragmatic of
you,” Momma said, the condemnation thick in her voice.

Hank shook his
head.
 
“Think what you will about
me, but I never did anything with Sasha that I would have been ashamed of doing
at a picnic in the town square in broad daylight.”