Murder of a Smart Cookie: A Scumble River Mystery (31 page)

Wally scooted closer and gave her a sympathetic one-armed hug. “Any ideas?”

Before she could answer, Justin shot a disapproving look at Wally’s hand on Skye’s shoulder and said pointedly to Skye, “Aren’t you and Mr. Reid still going out?”

Skye’s cheeks flushed. “Of course.” Clearly Justin was seeing perfidy in the most innocent of gestures. Nevertheless, she moved away from Wally.

“Can’t prove it by what I’m seeing,” Justin said, his gaze rebuking her.

Skye ignored his comment and continued to try and figure out how Faith had gained confidential information. It finally came to her. “The file cabinet. She must have broken into my file cabinet.” Skye explained about the school refurbishing and why she was keeping the records at home rather than at her office.

Justin pursed his lips, plainly not entirely convinced of Skye’s innocence.

Wally grabbed his notepad and started writing. When he stopped a few minutes later, he said, “It’s all coming together. Look at this.” He showed them a list he had made. “First, let’s assume that Faith and Cookie were friends, despite Faith’s denial to Justin, and that she’s the one who has been calling in the tips to the sheriff’s department about Skye.”

“That’s the fifth question,” Skye blurted out, then had to explain her “referral” list to Wally and Justin, concluding with, “That’s what’s been bothering me. The fifth question is, how did the killer obtain the information to try and frame me?”

Wally nodded and continued, “Faith and Cookie’s friendship would explain how she knew about Cookie hitting Skye when she fired her and how she knew Cookie had been crying in Skye’s presence the afternoon before she was murdered, especially if she was the person who made Cookie cry.”

Skye agreed. “It really is the only answer, because no one in town seems to have been a close friend of Cookie’s, at least not someone she would’ve confided in.”

“Yep.” Wally concurred. “It also explains the earring found under Mrs. Griggs.” He turned to Skye. “I bet you left those earrings at your cottage, right?”

“Yes, I did. And I just now remembered what I did with them. I knew I wouldn’t be wearing any good jewelry for the duration of the yard sale, so I put my whole jewelry box in with the confidential files, since that cabinet was the only thing in my cottage that locked.” Skye looked at Justin. “That proves Faith broke into it, because otherwise how could that earring have gotten underneath Mrs. Griggs’s body?”

Justin stared at Skye, his expression showing both his desire to believe and his fear of further treachery. Finally, he nodded slowly. “That makes sense. And if she planted the earring, she’s probably the one who killed Mrs. Griggs and Cookie. But why?”

“I think Mrs. Griggs must have known something about Cookie’s murder, which is why Faith killed her. But
why
did she kill Cookie?” Skye tapped her fingers on the table.

Wally put his hand over hers to stop the drumming. “Okay, what do we know about Cookie and Faith?”

“They both were/are obsessive collectors, shrewd businesswomen, and not overly worried about ethical behavior,” Skye offered.

“So, how would two people like that maintain their friendship? Wouldn’t they be competing with each other?” Justin asked, staring at Wally’s hand until the chief removed it from Skye’s.

“The only way it would work would be if they didn’t go after the same collectibles,” Skye suggested. “And since Cookie was in the business, she probably steered Faith toward the items her friend was looking for, maybe even bought them for her and helped her set up the ‘finds’ for Faith’s TV program. If there was something that Mrs. Griggs had that Faith was
particularly keen on—say, old jewelry—that would explain not only Cookie’s fixation with Mrs. Griggs but also Faith’s.”

Wally made a note, then said, “In that case, Cookie would have a lot of control over Faith. Both personally as a collector and professionally as the star of her TV show. Faith wouldn’t want the world to know she didn’t find all those treasures on her own.”

“Hey, that reminds me.” Skye chewed her lip. “Cookie had a box she kept on a shelf near the counter that she would put things in all week, and then on Monday it would be empty. She told me that the items in that carton were not for sale.”

“And who would you see over the weekend but a friend?” Justin finished her thought.

“You know, Cookie grabbed the sword she whacked me with from that box, and it was the sword used to kill Mrs. Griggs. So if Cookie was selling the stuff in mat carton to Faith, that puts the weapon into her hands.”

“Excellent,” Wally said. “If she was such an astute businesswoman, surely Cookie kept records of her sales, even sales to her friends.”

“But I told the sheriff that the sword had been at Cookie’s store. Wouldn’t he have checked her records?” Skye asked.

“You probably noticed that Buck isn’t the sharpest Cheddar in the deli case.”

“Yeah, I kind of picked up on that when he tried to arrest me.

“I’ll have one of the deputies check it out for me.” Wally got up and went to the wall phone.

Skye leaned over to Justin and lowered her voice. “Are we okay now? Do you believe that I’d never tell anyone what you told me in confidence?”

“Yeah. Sure. No big deal.” Justin stared at his hands. “Uh, do you think Frannie is still mad at me?”

Skye debated whether to say anything or not, then decided it was time. “Yes, she’s probably still upset, but only because she cares for you.”

“You mean she, uh, likes me?” He peeked up at Skye through his hair. “Like a boyfriend?”

“I think so, but maybe you should ask her yourself. That is, if you like her as a girlfriend.”

Justin lined up his pop can, chip bag, and magazine. “I do, but she never gives me any signals she likes me like that. You know, touches me, flirts with me like Bitsy does. Are you sure she likes me?”

“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I’m pretty sure. You need to talk to her.”

“But what if she says no?”

“Then you try to stay friends, and maybe she’ll change her mind.”

Before Justin could respond, Wally returned. “You were right. Cookie sold Faith a sword the night before she was killed. I wonder why she didn’t sell it to her a couple of months ago, right after she used it to hit you?”

Skye thought about his question. “Maybe Cookie and Faith had a fight and didn’t see each other until the yard sale started.”

“Could be.” Wally consulted his notes. “One more thing. The blood on the towel and T-shirt in the bag the lion found was Cookie’s.”

“That reminds me.” Skye’s eyes widened. “Faith loves purple. When she moved in, they took down all my towels and replaced them with purple ones. And both the towel and the T-shirt in the bag the lion found were shades of purple.”

“Faith is looking more and more like our killer.” Wally sat back down. “Too bad so far all we have is circumstantial evidence.”

“Are you going to tell Sheriff Peterson everything we’ve figured out?” Skye asked.

“I’ll give him a copy of my report, but I doubt he’ll do anything with it.”

“Are you going to do something?” Skye asked. “Surely she left her fingerprints at one of the crime scenes or at Cookie’s shop or apartment.”

“Maybe, but all she has to say is she visited those places as an invited guest. There’s no way to prove otherwise. There were no prints on the sword or the pin.” Wally shrugged. “I’ll keep trying to find evidence against her, but it doesn’t look good.”

“Then I guess she’ll have to confess.” Skye lifted her chin, a stubborn look on her face. “No way is she getting away scot-free.”

“
W
hat did you have in mind?” Wally leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

“It’s pretty obvious she’s trying to frame me. I don’t know if it’s personal or I’m just handy, but we need to figure out a way for her to think that she can really set me up. And we need to do it quickly, because she’s leaving Scumble River tomorrow.”

“How are we going to do that?” Justin asked.

Wally answered, “You’re not. I’m taking you home to your parents, and you’re staying there until Faith is either in custody or out of town.”

Justin started to whine, but Skye cut him off. “We know she’s dangerous, and she already knows you saw her with Cookie, so we have to let her continue to believe you’re AWOL. You cannot be seen around town. Besides, you’ve worried your parents enough by disappearing like you did.”

“Can I call and have Frannie come over?”

“Why don’t you wait until Monday?” Wally held open the door to the garage and motioned for the teen to go through. “The fewer people who know you’ve returned, the better.”

Justin nodded unhappily and walked out. “Bye, Ms. D.”

“Bye, Justin.”

“This should only take a few minutes. Don’t go anywhere,” Wally told Skye.

She nodded and waved until the door closed behind Wally, then immediately unzipped her fanny pack and pulled out the letters she had taken from Cookie’s secret stash. She hadn’t wanted to explain how she got them in front of Justin. He had a highly developed sense of right and wrong that didn’t leave room for many flaws in the adults he respected, but she was dying to see if they were important.

Skye spread the letters out over the table. There were a baker’s dozen, all the same pale lilac stationery, smelling faintly of lavender.

None had a return address, but Skye knew before opening them that they were from Faith. Now that she had remembered the TV star’s fondness for purple, the scent and color of the paper were enough of a hint.

Skye put them in order by cancellation date. The first one was from just after Cookie had moved to Scumble River. The last one was sent a few days before the yard sale started. In it Faith apologized and asked to talk to Cookie during the sale. Skye’s guess had been correct as to why the sword took so long to get into Faith’s hands. Cookie and Faith had had a fight and didn’t see each from the middle of June until the yard sale.

By the time she finished reading the small stack of letters Skye felt like slapping herself. She had been wrong, wrong, wrong. How could she have been so clueless? Faith and Cookie weren’t friends—they were lovers!

Cookie had been miserable living in Scumble River, and Faith had played on Cookie’s desire to please her, to keep Cookie tucked away in the small town and out of the way. It was clear from what she wrote that Faith was afraid that after the very public death of Cookie’s husband, word of her relationship with Cookie would get out and her TV career would be ruined.

Skye wondered if that would have happened. After all, Ellen DeGeneres’s and Rosie O’Donnell’s sexual preferences hadn’t hurt their careers. Still, they were Hollywood personalities, and maybe that was the difference. Faith’s audience was more Midwest middle class, people not generally known for their liberal points of view.

Skye met Wally at the door when he returned and immediately exclaimed, “Look what I found at Cookie’s.” She thrust the letters at him. “They were hidden in a pillow safe that the deputies must have missed when they searched her apartment.” Skye avidly watched him examine the stack of letters. “Cookie and Faith were lovers! Faith was desperate to keep that relationship quiet. I’ll bet Cookie was going to reveal their affair and that’s why Faith killed her.”

Wally nodded and continued to read.

As soon as he finished, Skye blurted out the plan she had come up with while he’d been gone, ending with, “Then I tell her I have the letters, and as soon as she admits to killing Cookie, you pop out from where you’re hiding.”

After a lengthy discussion, with Wally trying to talk Skye out of her scheme, he finally agreed to run the idea past the city attorney.

When Wally came back from making the call, Skye asked excitedly, “What’s the verdict?”

“He said to make sure you get the key back from Faith before she admits anything. That way the cottage is yours again, and she doesn’t have the expectation of privacy. He also said it would be best to have you wired.” Wally’s good mood had dissolved, and he looked worried.

“Do you have the equipment to do that?”

“No. I’ll have to borrow it from the sheriff’s department. Just cross your fingers that Buck is already gone for the weekend or he’ll want to run things, and we don’t need that bozo involved.”

“True,” Skye agreed. “I was thinking we should do it tomorrow. The yard sale ends at noon. I’m supposed to get my key back from Faith at three. We just need to make sure her staff has left before I go over. She needs to be alone when I talk to her. Any idea how to do that?”

“The truth is always good. Call her tomorrow morning and tell her you want to speak to her alone when you come for the key.”

“Brilliant.” Skye smiled at Wally. “What time should I be here to get wired for sound?”

“Better come at one. We want to have plenty of time to do this right.” Wally walked her to the door, but before he opened it, he said, “The only reason I’m going along with your idea is because I know if I don’t, you’ll go ahead and do it without me. At least this way I can protect you.”

“You’re right.”

“If this were a bigger city or a larger police department, you know I wouldn’t be able to do something like this.”