Jewelry Can Be Deadly (Sage Gardens Cozy Mystery Book 6) (11 page)

“Shush!” Jo looked over at Roger with a sharp glare. “I don’t think that Drew is capable of murder.”

“But you don’t get to decide that, Jo. He showed up here didn’t he? Who is to say that he didn’t go looking for that necklace after Tony took it, only to kill Valda when she caught him?”

Jo’s heart dropped. She hadn’t really thought of that. When Tony admitted to stealing the necklace, she thought that cleared Drew, but it didn’t. Eddy was right. Drew could have murdered Valda. He could have also shown up at Roger’s when he did with the intention of killing him.

“I’m sorry, Eddy.” Jo looked down at her hands. “I guess I didn’t think it through far enough. Or maybe I just didn’t want to think that he was involved. I mean, he did save us from Tony.”

“Did he? Or did he just do that to solidify the idea of his innocence in your mind?”

Jo thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure.”

“That’s the problem. We have nothing. We have no evidence to point to anyone. We’re going to have to let this one go, Jo.”

“Seriously?”

“What about Valda?” Roger stepped in between them. “You’re just going to give up?”

“It’s not like you did much for her,” Eddy snapped. “You could have told the police about the necklace and your suspicions about her death if you really wanted her death to be investigated properly. Now we’ve spent a lot of time and effort to untangle the mess you made, Roger, but it’s still your mess. We couldn’t even get Tony arrested because you couldn’t admit to having the necklace in your possession at one time.”

“Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Jo held up her hands. “If Tony doesn’t have the necklace, then who has it?”

“Why are you back on that again?” Eddy narrowed his eyes.

“I think that we need to take a step back. We’re missing something here.” Jo shook her head.

“Yes, we’re missing the fact that there is no way to solve this crime. I’m ready to get out of here.”

“Wait a minute, you’re going to leave me here alone, after leaking the fact that I have the necklace?” Roger grabbed onto Eddy’s wrist. “You can’t do that. They’ll eat me alive.”

“So, call the cops.” Eddy shook Roger’s hand free. “You committed the crime in the first place, Roger, maybe you should just turn yourself in and take your chances with prison.”

“Eddy, please, we can’t…”

“Don’t, Jo.” Eddy shook his head. “I’m going home.” He stepped out of the villa and slammed the door closed behind him. Jo felt terrible because she knew she was the source of his frustration. He wasn’t angry that they couldn’t solve the crime, or even that Roger had stolen the necklace in the first place, but because she had protected Drew. She took a deep breath and looked over at Roger.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you tonight and by tomorrow we’ll have the rumor cleared up so that you won’t be targeted.”

“But what about Valda?” Roger frowned. “Someone should have to pay for what happened to my wife.”

Jo nodded as she turned to look out the front window of the villa. “You’re right, Roger. We just don’t know who. You lying about so much, hasn’t helped this investigation much.”

“I know. I guess once you get used to lying, it’s just what you do.”

E
ddy burst
into Walt’s villa without even knocking. Walt jumped up and nearly spilled his cup of tea. He caught it before it could hit the floor and shatter.

“I can’t believe her!”

“Who?” Walt stared at him.

“Jo! That’s who.” Eddy shook his head and balled his hands into fists. “You think you know someone.”

“What are you talking about, where is Jo?”

“She’s at Roger’s villa.”

“Wait a minute, are you saying you left her alone with a thief and potential murderer?” Walt stared at Eddy with disbelief. “How could you do that?”

“She’s a grown woman and decided to stay on her own.” Eddy shrugged. “Women’s lib and all of that, right?”

“Eddy.” Walt glared at him. “Stop trying to act big and tough, I know you better than that. What really happened?”

“What happened is that she lied to me, Walt. I thought we were past all of that.”

“Lied about what?” Walt paused. “Oh, you found out about Drew?”

“You knew? Is everyone lying to me now?”

“I didn’t exactly know. There’s a lot of history there, Eddy. You can’t blame her for doing what she thought was best.”

“What if he was the one who murdered Valda, Walt?” Eddy frowned.

“All the more reason not to leave her alone.” Walt picked up his coat. “I’m going over there. I’m going to let Samantha know to keep up the surveillance. Are you going to come with me or not?”

“Why should I if I don’t know if I can trust her?”

“Maybe that isn’t the problem, Eddy. Maybe the question you should be asking yourself, is, why doesn’t she trust you?” Walt brushed past him. “At this point, I wonder if you would turn so easily against any of your friends. What are you really angry about, Eddy? The fact that she lied, or the fact that she still feels the need to hide things about herself from you?”

Eddy watched as Walt walked through the door. “Lock up behind you please.” Walt closed the door. Eddy stood alone in the middle of Walt’s living room. He didn’t want Walt’s logical nature to creep through his fury and force everything he said to make sense to him, but it did. He decided that he needed to go back to Roger’s as well. If he wanted Jo to believe that she could trust him, he had to give her reason to.

J
o paced back
and forth in front of the window. Her mind traveled from the past to the present. She wanted to be angry at Eddy. She wanted to be able to declare that he was dead wrong. But the truth was, he was right. She had given Drew far more benefit of the doubt than he deserved. If he was involved in the crime, if he was a suspect, she should have been honest every step of the way with Eddy. Instead she tried to protect Drew from the scrutiny of her friends, or maybe it was more about protecting herself and her past choices from their scrutiny. Either way she put the entire investigation at risk. Not that there was an investigation left to speak of now, anyway.

“Could you please sit down?” Roger looked over at her from the couch. “You’re making me dizzy.”

“Did you kill your wife, Roger?” Jo turned to face him.

“How many times do I have to answer that question?” He stared up at her. His glare and the tone of his voice bothered Jo to the point that she decided not to hold back any longer.

“Let me throw a scenario out there. Let’s just say that you came home from the buffet, and you found Valda, only she was still alive. She was upset. She wanted to go to the police about the stolen necklace. She wanted to turn Tony in, have him arrested for the crime. You, never told her how you really got the necklace, did you Roger?”

Roger’s eyes widened. “No.”

“Right. So you come home, Valda’s in a panic, she’s got her phone out, she’s dialing the emergency line. You try to get her to stop, to listen…”

“No.” Roger shook his head.

“But she won’t listen. She wants her necklace back. You try to get the phone from her.”

“No I didn’t,” Roger whispered. “I didn’t do any of that.”

“She’s getting irate, she doesn’t understand why you are trying to stop her. She starts screaming, maybe cursing, threatening you!”

“No!” Roger stood up. “None of that happened!”

“Yes, you’re angry. You’re angry because Tony stole the necklace, and you’re angry that your wife won’t listen to you and wants to call the police. You just want her to keep quiet.” Jo met his eyes and took a step towards him. “So what did you do? You picked up a muffin. You shoved it into her mouth, just to make her be quiet. That was all you were going to do. You just wanted her to be quiet long enough that you could figure out what to do.” Jo paused for a moment and crossed her arms across her chest. “I think I’m right, Roger. You didn’t mean to kill her you just wanted her to keep quiet. The lie you’d been living for so long was crashing down around you, and you knew that if Valda told the truth, you would be in prison for a very long time. You just wanted her to be quiet. That was all.”

“No, no, no!” Roger turned away from her. Just as he did there was a knock on the door. Jo jumped at the sound. Roger gasped. “This is it. I’m going to die tonight. I deserve to die anyway.” Tears streamed down his cheeks. Jo crept towards the door.

“Who’s there?” Jo asked cautiously.

“It’s me, Walt.”

Jo jerked the door open and found Walt on the doorstep.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to stay with you, to make sure that you’re safe.” Walt met her eyes through his thick glasses. Jo couldn’t help but smile a little. She was about to thank him, when there was a crash. She spun around to see that Roger had barreled through the back door.

“He’s bolting!” Jo started to run after him, but Walt grabbed her arm.

“What are you going to do if you catch him?”

“Walt! He’s getting away!” Jo tried to pull away, but Walt was stronger than she expected.

“What are you going to do if you catch him?” Walt asked again. “Are you going to arrest him? Tie him up? What?”

“He killed his wife!”

“Did he actually admit that?” Walt raised an eyebrow.

Jo paused. Then she shook her head. “No, I guess he didn’t. But I still think he did it. It’s the best explanation I’ve come up with.”

“It doesn’t mean it’s true and even if it is that doesn’t mean you can prove it.”

“So, you’re going to be just like Eddy and say that this is all over? We have to give up?”

“No.” Eddy stepped through the door behind Walt. “No, that’s not what we’re going to do.”

“Eddy?” Walt looked over at him and smiled. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m sorry for earlier, Jo. You know me and my temper.” Eddy rolled his eyes.

Jo sighed with relief. Only moments before she had felt completely alone, but here were her friends, ready to help.

“Roger took off.” She pointed to the open back door. “I was trying to get him to confess to killing Valda after Tony took the necklace.”

“Do you believe that’s what really happened?” Eddy closed the door behind him.

“I honestly don’t know what to think anymore. I mean the timeline doesn’t fit with Roger being the murderer.” Jo shook her head. “Even if Tony took the necklace, he was a thief, not a murderer.”

“You don’t know that. He had decades in prison to plan his revenge on Roger,” Eddy said. “Maybe he found it too hard to have the self-control to only take the necklace from Valda without causing her any harm.”

“I find it hard to believe that Valda would give it up without a fight.” Jo shook her head. “It’s all too confusing. None of this is adding up. Something is still missing.”

“Well, we’re not going to find out anything else standing here.”

“Do you think it’s safe to leave?” Jo frowned. “What if Roger comes back?”

“Roger made the choice to take off.” Walt crossed his arms. “He’s on his own now.”

“All right.” Jo nodded. “But just in case.” She jotted down her phone number on a piece of paper and stuck it to the refrigerator.

“Do you think that’s wise? Now if someone breaks in they’ll have your number.” Eddy frowned.

“Trust me, if they wanted it, they would already have it.” Jo walked past the two men and out of the villa.

“Jo, let me walk you home.” Walt stepped up beside her.

“No, thank you. I’m going to walk a bit and try to clear my mind.”

“Are you sure?” Eddy frowned.

“I appreciate your concern, I really do. But I need some space. Okay?” She looked from Walt to Eddy. “Why don’t you check in with Samantha and see if she needs any help putting out the fires we started.”

“Jo, what about Drew?” Eddy reached for her arm. “Just because he protected you this time, that doesn’t mean that you can trust him.”

“I know that, Eddy.” She gently pulled her arm away from him. “I don’t trust him at all. I’m glad that he was here today, but the fact that he was here today is even more reason for me not to trust him. But I think that the police turning up today would have spooked him enough to leave me alone. Drew is not going to risk going to prison for any reason.”

“Don’t forget that Tony is out there, too. He’s probably feeling pretty cocky about the fact that he got away with what he did today.” Walt sighed. “But if you insist on walking alone, there’s nothing that can be done.”

“I do insist.” Jo smiled at them both. “I am capable of taking care of myself, I promise.”

“But you don’t have to do everything alone.” Eddy met her eyes. “Call us if you have any trouble.”

“I will.”

Jo walked away from the pair with a warm sensation in her cheeks. It meant a lot to her that they were both so ready to protect her, even if she didn’t feel as if she needed protection.

Jo wandered the streets for some time. She wasn’t really looking for anything in particular, she just wanted to be outside in the open air. After confronting Roger multiple times she was beginning to believe that he was not guilty. He didn’t crumble or confess. Maybe when he seemed a bit cold about his wife’s death soon after she passed away it was because he was in shock. But now he seemed genuinely distressed by his wife’s murder. But he was also the most likely person to have the necklace. Tony showed up, even Drew showed up, to look for the necklace. That meant that if their theory was correct neither of them had it.

Jo pulled out her phone to check in with Samantha to see if she had dug up any new leads. When she did she realized she still had the phone on silent from her search through Roger’s villa. She had missed three calls from Roger. There was a voicemail as well. Jo turned her phone off silent and then she dialed in to listen to the voicemail. Roger’s voice was high and frightened.

“Jo, someone is here I know it. Someone is looking in the windows. How could you leave? Where are you? Why did you make me a target? Please send someone to help me!”

Jo’s heart stopped for a second, then began to race. She dialed Roger’s number. The phone rang then went to voicemail. She broke into a sprint towards Roger’s house. When she reached it, the windows were dark. There was no sign that anyone was inside. Jo called Roger’s number again. Again the phone went to voicemail. She tried the doorknob. It wasn’t locked. When the voicemail beeped she began to leave him a message.

“Roger, I’m at your place to check on you now.”