Throw a Monkey Wrench (an Emma Cassidy Mystery Book 1) (11 page)

A stab of guilt tortured Emma as she
rounded the desk and stood in front of Jordan. “I’m sorry. If you don’t want me
involved in the funeral, I quite understand.” Although she couldn’t afford to lose
another client.

Jordan looked up, her face drawn and tired.
“Oh, I can’t lose you, too, Emma. Please, sit down, won’t you?”

With a silent sigh of relief, Emma took the
chair opposite Jordan. The bank statement was still drooping from Jordan’s
fingers. Emma lifted her chin at it.

“I couldn’t help noticing that Tony
withdrew something like six thousand dollars from that account in the last
couple of weeks,” she said gently. “Do you know what that was for?”

Jordan blinked at the statement. “No. The
police asked me that, too, and I couldn’t tell them either.”

“Oh? Chief Putnam asked you?” She couldn’t
believe the chief of police would be so thorough in his investigation when he’d
already made up his mind it was Sean.

“No, Officer Ackerman.”

Sherilee. Of course.

Jordan laid the bank statement on the desk
and leaned back in her chair, looking frail and beaten. “I suppose, like
Officer Ackerman, you assume Tony spent that money on a secret mistress. That
he was cheating on me.”

Emma heaved out a breath and reluctantly
replied, “Well, it did cross my mind.”

A spasm of pain contorted Jordan’s
beautiful face. Suddenly she heaved herself out of the chair and hurried to the
wall behind the desk. She pushed a button, and the abstract painting on the
wall swung open to reveal a hidden safe. She dialed the lock, opened the safe,
and pulled out a flat, rectangular box covered in black velvet. Without a word,
she dropped the box into Emma’s lap.

It appeared to be an expensive jewelry box.
Opening it, Emma gasped when she spied the pearl necklace inside.

“Oh my God, it’s gorgeous,” she couldn’t
help exclaiming. The exquisite necklace comprised of two strands of lustrous,
perfectly matched pearls together with an asymmetrical vine leaf decoration
worked in platinum and studded with diamonds.

Jordan’s lips twisted as she dropped back
in her chair. “Yes, isn’t it? I discovered it the other day when I had the safe
opened by a locksmith. But it’s not mine.”

“How do you know? Maybe Tony was planning
to surprise you.”

“No. Tony never liked seeing me in pearls.”
Pain filled Jordan’s voice. “He said they made me look like a wannabe.”

Poor woman
.
Emma examined the necklace more closely. The style was classical, something an
older woman would wear. As much as she hated agreeing with Tony, she had to
admit that this particular necklace wouldn’t suit Jordan. But he hadn’t only
objected to her wearing a necklace like this, but to all pearls. Why did he
have a thing against pearls?

“So he was always like that?” she asked.
“It wasn’t just something he came up with recently?”

“No, right from the very beginning he
didn’t like me in pearls.”

“Oh.”

Jordan sat up straighter. “You’ve thought
of something?”

“No, I…well, it seems like this aversion to
pearls started before you met Tony, so it’s quite likely that this necklace”
—she held up the black velvet box— “was intended for someone before he even met
you.”

Jordan’s eyes widened. “I never thought of
that before, but you must be right. Tony must have bought it for someone else more
than a year ago.”

“His ex-wife?”

“Oh wow, no! Tony detested Pamela, and
they’d already been divorced several years before I met him. It must have been
someone else.”

“Any ideas?”

“Not a clue. Tony never talked to me about
his ex-girlfriends, and I’ve never heard any rumors, and believe me, if there
were any, I would’ve heard them. When I moved here, everyone was only too eager
to gossip about Tony.” She shook back her long sweep of blonde hair, looking
much chirpier all of a sudden. “It doesn’t matter, though. It’s all in the
past.”

“Is it?” Emma stared down at the pearl
necklace. If it was all in the past, why had Tony hung onto this piece of
jewelry? It must have meant something to him. The woman he’d bought this for
must have played an important role in his life once upon a time.

“Yes.” The jewelry box disappeared from
Emma’s hands as Jordan snatched it away and pushed it back into the safe. She
locked the safe, closed the painting, and turned back to Emma. “I’m glad we had
this chat. That necklace has been weighing on my mind, but now I can sleep much
easier, thanks to you.”

But Emma didn’t feel as relieved as Jordan.
The pearl necklace still posed too many questions.

“What about the money? Why did Tony need
six thousand dollars in cash?”

“Who knows? Maybe he wanted to make an
anonymous donation.”

An anonymous donation? Tony Barnet? And
pigs might fly, too. But Jordan wasn’t worried about the cash now that Emma had
helped her conclude that Tony hadn’t been cheating on her. Emma couldn’t blame
her either. Tony had kept a lot from her, and six thousand dollars in cash was
just another of those secrets that she didn’t want to examine too closely.

Perching on a corner of the desk, Jordan
folded her arms and tilted her head to one side. “So if Sean didn’t murder my
Tony, who do you think did?”

Emma chewed her bottom lip, reluctant to
reveal all her half-baked theories. The truth was, she didn’t have a clear
suspect in mind, and she didn’t want to appear befuddled.

“I’m not sure, but I think you should be
vigilant about the security in this house.”

Jordan’s eyebrows lifted. “You think I’m in
danger?” Her voice squeaked.

The last thing she wanted was to make the
poor woman unnecessarily scared. “No, of course not,” she quickly replied. “But
you’re on your own here, and there aren’t any neighbors close by, and, well,
when I arrived here I noticed a suspicious-looking character in the orchards
opposite your house.”

“What did he look like?”

“Big, heavily built, short dark hair,
dressed in a navy blue jacket and black pants. He slunk away as soon as he
spotted me.”

“Hmm.” Jordan frowned as she took in Emma’s
words. “Well, I guess what you’re saying is common sense. A woman living on her
own can’t be too careful, and I have had a few things go missing.” Her gaze
went to the display case housing Tony’s Lego collection. “I’ll make sure to set
the alarm system at night and whenever I go out. And if I notice anything
suspicious, I’ll call the cops straight away.”

Emma nodded. Jordan was a survivor, and she
wouldn’t take any unnecessary chances.

“I’m not the nervous type.” Jordan lifted
her chin, looking defiant. “Tony’s dead, but I’m not going without a fight.”

On the way back,
Emma checked her cell phone and found a text message from Scott, the liquor
store owner, asking her to call him. Since she had to pass his store on the way
into Greenville anyway, she decided to stop and talk to him in person.

Scott’s liquor store was situated on the
edge of the town center between a Laundromat and a karate studio with a parking
lot out the front. As she pulled into a spot, a large pickup truck roared into
the lot and headed straight for the liquor store, looking like it would smash right
into it. At the last second, the driver slammed on the brakes, and tires
squealed as the vehicle skidded to a halt just a few feet away from the glass
windows of the store. A couple of college students tumbled out, guffawing and
slapping each other.

Emma gingerly climbed out of her car,
thankful that she’d parked a few spots away from the store. The smell of burnt
rubber hit her, and she saw that the truck had mounted the sidewalk.

Scott came running out of the store, his
face red with fury. The college boys wanted to buy some beer, but Scott chased
them off, vowing to call the police if they didn’t leave. Sulkily chastened,
the students climbed back into their behemoth and rolled away, this time a lot
more sedately.

“Lunatics!” Scott was still fuming as Emma
came up to him. “Did you see that? Those idiots almost went right through my
store front. I just had it fixed a couple of months ago.”

“I didn’t realize the college students were
getting so unruly.”

“Nah, wasn’t a college student back then.
It was none other than Tony Barnet.”

Emma glanced at the shiny new store front.
Something prickled at the back of her mind. “Tony Barnet drove through your
window? When was that?”

“April third at two am.”

“You know the exact time it happened?”

“Sure. Because of that.” He pointed at the
security camera mounted high up on the left hand side of the store’s front
wall. “Caught the whole thing on camera.”

“Wow. Who’d have thought?”

“Yeah, my security system is top notch.” Scott
hitched up his pants, appearing to enjoy her awe. “I’ve still got the footage
on my computer. Want to take a look?”

Oh yes, she definitely wanted a look. The
more she delved into Tony Barnet’s life, the more she was intrigued. She nodded
and followed Scott into the store. He took her into his office at the back,
typed a few commands into his computer, and swiveled the monitor toward her.

Color footage of the area outside the store
appeared on the screen. It was dark, and the sidewalk was deserted. Seconds
later, a black SUV hurtled into view and slammed into the store, shattering the
glass, before coming to a rest a few feet inside the building. Several moments
ticked by before a man staggered out through the gaping hole and surveyed the
wreckage. The man was clearly Tony Barnet. He scratched his head as if in a
daze, then pulled out a cell phone and walked out of view.

“He doesn’t look drunk,” Emma observed.

“He wasn’t. He called the cops, and they
came over straight away. Of course he was tested for alcohol, but the tests
came back negative. He said he drove into the parking lot to do a U turn, but
when he was turning, he mistook the gas pedal for the brakes, and shot through
the window.”

“Lucky it happened at two in the morning or
someone might have been seriously injured.”

“I know.” Scott played the footage one more
time. “I lost thousands of dollars worth of stock, plus the entire front of my
store had to be replaced.”

“His insurance would’ve paid though,
right?”

“Yeah, but I lost about two days’ business,
and I wasn’t compensated for that. But what can you do? I didn’t want to chase
after Tony Barnet; he was a good customer, and now the guy’s dead anyway. At
least I can make up some of the money I lost by supplying the drink at his
funeral.” He turned away from the computer and picked up a sheet of paper. “I
just want to go through this order with you one more time.”

“Sure, Scott.” Emma settled down to
concentrate on business.

***

Twenty minutes
later, Emma was back in her dad’s car and heading for home. She had already
called Caitlyn, and her assistant was parked outside Emma’s house, waiting to
drive her to Sean’s repair shop. Emma parked her dad’s car in the driveway,
then hopped into Caitlyn’s car.

“Thanks for doing this,” Emma said as they
drove off.

“Not a problem. Getting a car fixed is
always a hassle.”

“Tell me about it.”

Caitlyn dropped Emma off at the auto repair
shop and quickly zoomed off. Sean’s business appeared quiet once more. The
reception lobby was empty, and Chelsea, the receptionist, was nowhere in sight.
Feeling uneasy, Emma walked into the main workshop and saw her little white
Toyota hatchback standing there. Well, that was an encouraging sign. At least
her car was here, and it seemed ready for her.

“Hello?” she called out. It wasn’t dark
yet, but somehow she felt a little nervous standing here in this empty, echoing
workshop. “Is anyone here?”

A metallic clatter from behind had her
nerves screwing up. She jumped around, hoping it wasn’t that lunkhead Bart
McCluskey, and breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw Larry Durant
sauntering toward her, rubbing his hands on a dirty rag.

“Hi, Larry. I got a call from Chelsea
earlier saying my car was ready?”

“Yeah, sure.” He seemed in a glum mood
today. “Just need to go into the office and finalize the paperwork and
payment.”

He led the way into the empty reception
lobby and moved behind the desk where he fumbled through a stack of papers.

“Where’s Chelsea?” Emma asked, wanting to
break the dour silence.

“She ain’t here.” Larry’s jaw clamped up,
and his face grew more sullen.

Well, someone got out of bed on the wrong
side. Emma pressed her lips shut. If Larry was going to be surly, then let him.
A door in the corner of the office opened, and Sean stepped out.

Emma turned to him in relief. “Hi, Sean.
I’m just here to pick up my car.”

“Oh yeah. Larry did the work on that one.”
He glanced at Larry. “Is it all set?”

Larry merely nodded as he pulled out some
papers and shoved them at Emma. “Here’s the bill,” he said, sounding resentful.

“Thanks, Larry, I’ll take it from here,”
Sean said to his sullen employee.

“Sure, boss.” With a shrug of his
shoulders, Larry stalked away.

Had there been a trace of sarcasm in his
voice, Emma wondered.

“What’s up with him?” Emma asked. She
couldn’t make out Larry. In her previous dealings with him, he’d seemed quite pleasant,
especially compared to Bart McCluskey, but today there was something ‘off’
about him.

Sean sighed as he looked over the
paperwork. “I had to tell him off today. A client saw his car all the way in
Murrieta when it was supposed to be getting a tune up here. Seems Larry was
using the car to run his own errands. We lost the customer, of course. Larry
can be such an idiot sometimes.” He shook his head. “Today I had to tell Chelsea
and Bart to take some leave, seeing as we aren’t too busy at the moment. Can’t
afford to pay wages when I’ve mortgaged my house to make bail and I could be
facing a huge legal bill.”

“I’m so sorry, Sean.”

“It’s not your fault.” He gave her a tired
smile. “At least you brought your custom here.”

“Business will pick up, I’m sure. You’re
one of only two auto repair shops here in Greenville. People will get sick of
going all the way to La Quinta to have their cars fixed, and they’ll come
back.”

“Hopefully when they do I’ll still be in
business—and free, of course.”

“Hey, I saw some footage of Tony Barnet’s
car crash,” Emma said. “I was at the liquor store, and Scott showed me the
security recording. Looked like a pretty big smash.”

“It was. Had to replace a lot of parts.”
Sean pulled a face. “That’s eight thousand dollars I’m never going to get.”

“So that’s the bill you were arguing about?
I wonder why Tony didn’t want to pay? It’s not like he’s short of a dollar.”
Although, if he was drawing out large sums of cash, maybe he had been.

“But that’s how he makes a dollar, by
screwing every last cent from anyone he can. He came up with some excuse about
the repairs not being up to scratch, but he’d had the car back for a couple of
weeks already and he’d never said a thing.”

That sounded odd. Emma tapped her fingers
on the counter. “Did you do the work on his SUV?”

“No, Larry did, but I checked the vehicle
before Tony came to collect it, and everything was fine. He didn’t have
anything to complain about.”

“Why didn’t he settle the bill when he
picked up the car?”

“I had an arrangement with him because he
gave us some pretty regular business. We did his cars, his girlfriend’s car,
and his son’s car. I sent him an invoice at the end of the month, and he
usually paid two weeks after that. A couple of times in the past I had to chase
him up on a bill, but he always paid up eventually. Except for the last time.
He was real nasty about it, too. Said he wasn’t going to pay because we were
all bloodsucking leeches and he’d see me in hell before I got another dime out
of him. Those were his exact words. Bloodsucking leeches. See me in hell.”

Emma stared at Sean. “Why would he call you
a bloodsucking leech?”

Sean lifted his shoulders. “Why was he a jerk
to everyone he met?”

A muffled sound came from just outside the
office. She peered over her shoulder, but there was no one beyond the glass
door. Still, she couldn’t help wondering if someone had been eavesdropping on
their conversation.

Sean didn’t appear to have noticed the
noise. He slid a sheet of paper over the counter to Emma. “Here’s the repair
bill for your car. Comes to three hundred and ten dollars. Larry had to replace
the muffler and piping. They were just about rusted through.”

Biting her lip, Emma pulled out her wallet.
That was three hundred and ten dollars she really couldn’t afford at the
moment. But Sean was doing it tough, too, and he had the extra burden of a
murder charge hanging over his head. She handed a credit card to him, hoping it
wouldn’t be declined.

The payment went through, and Sean handed
her a receipt.

“How are things with you and Madison?” Emma
asked as she put her wallet away.

Sean’s face lifted. “Great. She’s the only bright
spot in my life right now. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

But who was the mystery man Madison had met
in secret in her garden? The question nagged at Emma, especially when she saw
how Sean depended on Madison.

She thought about bringing up the subject
of the wedding. Time was marching on, and if they were going to cancel the
wedding, then it was better to do it sooner rather than later. But when she
looked at his moony expression, she didn’t have the heart to talk about a
wedding cancellation. Leave that until later, she thought. Right now, the man
needed something to keep him going.

***

Emma suppressed a
shiver as Tony Barnet gazed down at her in triplicate. She had arrived early
this morning at the photo shop to collect the printed portraits of her deceased
client. The portraits were huge, and Tony’s larger-than-life smile jarred with
her less-than-pleasant personal experience of him. She was glad when the store
clerk wrapped them up and carried them out to her car for her. After several
minutes of careful maneuvering, they managed to fit all three into the rear of
her hatchback.

At Jordan’s house, she had to knock a
couple of times before Jordan finally answered the door. Her black dress was as
form-fittingly fashionable as ever, but her face was blotched with tears and
her lipstick was smudged.

“Jordan, what’s wrong?” Emma said.

“Oh, what isn’t wrong?” She sniffed. “I had
to fire the cleaner today, and it wasn’t very nice. I know she’s been stealing
things from the house, but I couldn’t confront her, and, well, it all became
very awkward. I wish Luisa would get better and come back to work. Things were
so much easier when she was housekeeping.” She sighed, then shook back her
hair. “Anyway, enough of my domestic problems. What can I do for you?”

“I brought over the photo portraits of Tony
that you wanted.” Emma waved at her car nearby. “There’re all in there.”

Wiping her tears away, Jordan quickly
perked up. “Oh, how fantastic. Let me help you get them inside.”

It took a couple of trips for them to haul
the portraits out and carry them and their matching stands to the great room.
They pulled off the wrapping paper and arranged the portraits in a semi-circle.
When it was complete, Jordan stood back and clasped her hands to her breast.

“They’re wonderful. If only Tony could see
them.” Her lower lip trembled before she caught herself. “They’re everything I
wished for. Thank you, Emma. I couldn’t have done this without you.”