Untitled (22 page)

   "I found her, Annie." Eve's words were nearly lost beneath her sobs. "I went to Gillian's because . . . because I hated sitting around doing nothing while you and Kegan were doing all the work. I figured I'd help you out in the office, and that's why I picked up the message. And then when I heard it was from Gillian . . . well, I wanted to help with the case. And I went to her house and the door was open and I walked into her study and . . . and . . ."

   I patted Eve's arm. "How did it happen?"

   She made a face. "Someone stabbed her."

   "And you called the police?"

   "I didn't have a chance." Her shoulders rose and fell along with her voice. "I knelt down on the floor to see if she was still alive. And the knife was right there. And I knew I shouldn't pick it up, I mean, that's what all the stupid people in the movies do, right? They pick up the murder weapon and get their fingerprints all over it. So I knew I shouldn't, but . . . but I did anyway, and just as I did . . . the housekeeper walked in."

   The ice water in my veins solidified. It was hard to breathe. "She called the cops."

   Eve nodded. "Only I didn't do it, Annie. I didn't kill Gillian. I didn't even know Gillian. I never talked to her. I'd never even seen her before. Not until I saw her dead. I just thought—"

   "I know." I chafed Eve's hands between mine. "You just wanted to help."

   A wave of panic engulfed her, and she dropped her face in her hands. "I didn't do it, Annie. I swear I didn't do it."

   She was still crying when Tyler and the young officer walked into the room.

   "Ms. DeCateur, you're going to need to stay here tonight. Until you're arraigned." The officer was almost apologetic. "We'll get you to a cell and—"

   "Annie, you've got to help me!" Eve's plea cut across the policeman's voice. "You've got to!"

   "I will," I promised. "You know I will. And we'll get you out of here first thing in the morning. I'll stay in Middleburg tonight," I added, just as the officer took Eve out of the room. "I'll be in court tomorrow morning. You can count on it."

   "That's what real friendship is all about."

   I didn't bother to honor the comment from Tyler with a reply. At least not until Eve was out of the room. Then I turned both barrels on him. "You think this is funny, Tyler Cooper? Then you really are as much of a cold-hearted bastard as Eve always said you were. You know this is a crock. No way did Eve kill someone. She didn't even know Gillian. Doesn't that prove anything to you?"

   For a moment, I thought I was actually going to get a reasonable response out of Tyler. That's how thoughtful he looked. But the moment didn't last long, and the next thing I knew, he shook his head.

   "You just don't get it, do you? Eve didn't have to know Ms. Gleeson to be jealous of her."

  "Jealous?" I have to admit, this was one scenario I had never even considered. That was because it was impossible.

   I propped my fists on my hips. "You're nuts," I told Tyler and, since my voice was loud enough to wake the dead, I guess I didn't care who heard me. "First you thought Eve killed Brad because she hated him. Now you think she killed Gillian because she was jealous because Brad and Gillian were getting married. Make up your mind, Tyler. You can't have it both ways."

   A smile came and went across his somber expression. "Sure I can." He sauntered out of the room. "Eve wants Brad, Brad doesn't want Eve. Brad chooses someone else, Eve gets more jealous than ever. It's a sad story, but it's nothing new. We both know how bitter Ms. DeCateur can get when she's dumped."

can to make it up to you."

   Since Eve was saying this to Jim and not to me (who'd not only stayed in an old country inn I couldn't afford the night before when Eve was in the Middleburg jail, paid for a room for Kegan, too, and had taken the day off from the bank because I was so worried about paying for those rooms, I hadn't slept a wink), no one could blame me for being a little miffed. Especially since I didn't know what they were talking about.

   "What's going on?" I was done playing games; it was easier just to come right out and ask. "What do you mean you owe Jim? For what?"

   Since she'd gotten out of jail on bond, Eve had been more emotional than ever. Her eyes filled with tears. "Why, for the—"

   "It's not but nothing." The bar didn't need to be cleaned, but Jim swiped it with a wet cloth, anyway. "She's just being burbly. You know, on account of her having a felony record and all."

   He was going for funny. It didn't work. The waterworks burst, and Eve dropped her head into her hands.

   Jim's expression fell. "I didn't mean to—"

   "Of course you didn't." I grabbed the rag out of his hand and tossed it back on the sink. "Now, would somebody please tell me what's going on?"

   "No." This from Jim, at the same time Eve lifted her head and said, "Yes."

   Of course I was more curious than ever. Luckily, the phone rang. The lunch crowd was gone. We were the only three people in Bellywasher's, and I made it clear that I wasn't going to answer the phone, so Jim had no choice. Once he was gone, I dropped into the chair across from where Eve sat.

   "What are you thanking Jim for?"

   "Don't you know?" She sniffed and gently dabbed her nose with a tissue. She'd done so much crying since the night before when she was arrested, her nose was raw and red. "Well, of course you don't. He wouldn't tell you, would he? He's not like that, not looking for praise or anything. Which only goes to show that he—"

   "Eve!"

   She glanced toward where Jim was still on the phone and lowered her voice. "I promised not to tell."

   "But you're going to, anyway."

   It was proof of her weakened condition that she didn't argue. "It's how I got out on bail. I know, I know . . . I told you I got the money from my parents, but that's not true. They couldn't come up with enough, and I know you tried, too, but there's no way you have that much money. And he made me promise I'd lie about it, but . . . Jim . . ." Eve sniffled, and a fresh cascade of tears started. "He put up Bellywasher's as collateral."

   I was surprised. Only I really wasn't. It was just like Jim to come to the aid of a friend and then not make a big deal out of it. My heart squeezed with affection, and when he finished on the phone and hung up, I didn't give him a chance to say a word. I raced over and gave Jim a big, sloppy kiss.

   Obviously, he knew Eve spilled the beans, but he wasn't very good at pretending to be mad about it. A smile threatened to destroy what he thought was an angry expression. "Well, I don't know what I did to deserve that."

   "You certainly do."

   Jim rolled his eyes. "It was naught. And I told her not to tell you, besides."

   "But she did tell me." There was no use wasting the chance of being that close to Jim. I gave him a hug. "Have I told you lately that you're the greatest guy alive?"

   Jim wrapped his arms around my waist. "You have not. But I'm more than willing to listen, if you'd like to tell me now."

   "Didn't I just do that?"

   "Not in so many words. But I've been thinking, with all the stress of what's happening, if we could get away . . . just the two of us. There's little happening here at the restaurant tomorrow that Marc and Damien can't handle, and you do have vacation time coming, don't you? We could—"

   Believe me, when I was standing that close to Jim, and he had his arms around me, it wouldn't have taken too long to convince me to do anything. No matter what his plan. Unfortunately, I never had a chance to get the details. The front door flew open, and Fi and the girls paraded in.

   Jim's expectant smile vanished, and he glanced toward the phone on the back of the bar. "That was her on the phone. She called to say they were just parking the car. She's got another doctor's appointment," he said, keeping his voice down so Fi wouldn't hear him. As if she could. The girls were making so much noise, I could barely hear him. And he was right there next to me. "I'll lose my mind with these wee bairns here."

   "Only maybe you don't have to." After I gave him another peck on the cheek, I pulled away from Jim and signaled to Eve. "You want to know what you can do to thank Jim for bailing you out of jail?" I guess the look I gave the girls made it easy for Eve to read my mind.

   Good sport that she is, she clapped her hands and spoke nice and loud, like she was up on stage talking to a dozen beauty pageant judges and the hundreds of people who watched from the audience. "Girls! Let's get our acts together." She breezed through the room and in a jiffy; she had the girls lined up, oldest to youngest, near the door. "We're going out," she told them. "And you're going to behave like the little ladies you are. Every single one of you."

   Did I believe they would? Honestly, no. But I knew we'd found a solution to Jim's problem and a perfect way to keep Eve occupied, too. With the girls under her wing, she wouldn't have any time to think about her own troubles.

   That taken care of, I brushed my hands together and waited for them to march out of the restaurant. Once they were gone, it was time for me to get down to some work of my own.

   I kissed Jim one more time, then ducked into my office to call the Arlington Police Department. Once I was connected with the right desk, I started talking, almost before Tyler had identified himself. I didn't want to give him the chance to hang up on me.

   "You said it wasn't important," I blurted out. "How do you know that, Tyler? How do you know the package Brad sent Gillian wasn't important? Unless you know what was in it."

   "So . . ." I could picture Tyler making himself comfortable. He'd lean back and put his feet on his desk. "You've been thinking about that all night, haven't you?"

   "It was better than thinking about what I was paying for the room at that chichi inn in Middleburg." The very memory made me wince. "If I was thinking a little more clearly last night, I would have asked you then. The package was there, wasn't it, Tyler? Just like Gillian said it was. Only when she left me that message, she told me she hadn't opened it. But she obviously did after she called me. Otherwise, you wouldn't know what was inside it, and you wouldn't know that whatever it was, it's not important to the case."

   I can't say for sure, but I think Tyler was going to blow me off. It was a knee-jerk reaction, and I guess I couldn't really blame him. But then maybe he thought about those cases I'd solved for him, because the next thing I knew, he was talking to me almost as if I was a colleague. "The package was there, all right," he said. "But not in the house. We found it out in the garden, ripped to pieces."

   "Are you telling me Gillian wasn't the one who opened it?" I thought this over. "Then someone else did. And that someone else might have found something in it after all. Something that same someone else took because that someone else didn't want us to find it."

   "I dunno." I heard his desk chair squeak, and I pictured Tyler sitting up and putting his feet back on the floor. "The package was from Brad Peterson and addressed to Brad Peterson, all right. There was nothing in it but cruise tickets and a note in Brad's handwriting addressed to Gillian. Apparently, he was going to give it to her when he opened the package."

   "And it said?"

   "It said he wanted to surprise her. The tickets were for their honeymoon."

   "Oh." This piece of information pretty much negated my theory about Gillian being an angry suspect. If she really was willing to marry Brad . . .

   I set this thought aside and got down to business. "You said the package was out in the garden. Like someone had found it in the house and taken it out there to look through it, right? And when that someone didn't find whatever he was looking for, do you think that someone confronted Gillian? That that's how she ended up being killed?"

   "Someone? Or Eve?" Tyler didn't give me a chance to get mad. He went right on. "I think you're right, and that's probably what happened. Or there was something else in that package. Something the killer took."

   "Either way, Eve's fingerprints aren't on that package, are they?"

   There was the slightest pause while Tyler collected his thoughts. I knew what it meant, and for the first time since I saw Eve in handcuffs, the tightness behind my breastbone uncoiled. "She didn't do it, Tyler," I said.

   He didn't agree with me. But he didn't disagree, either. It was another point in my favor, but I wasn't about to take it for granted. Especially when Tyler said, "Then who did?"

   Thinking, I chewed on my lower lip. "That's what I'm going to find out," I told him.

   "Darn it, Annie." I heard a noise and realized that Tyler had slapped a hand against his desk. "You're just not going to give up on this detective thing, are you? You know it's none of your business, right?"

   "I do, but—"

   "You know there are professionals with way more experience and better resources to handle this, don't you?"

   "I do, but—"

   "You're aware of the danger?"

   I wasn't so quick to reply to this question. Oh, I knew the answer, all right, it was just that I remembered how I'd been face-to-face with the danger part of my detective avocation, and I wasn't looking forward to putting myself in harm's way again.

   Except . . .

   I gulped down my misgivings and cleared my throat. "We're talking Eve here," I told Tyler. "Not just her reputation, but her freedom. I'm not going to say the danger doesn't matter, because then you're going to say I'm a real dope, and if there's one thing you know about me, Tyler, it's that I'm not stupid. I am going to say that there are some things even more important than danger. Friendship is one of them. So, go ahead, tell me I'm sappy. Or just plain crazy. I'm ready for it."