Jake kept a protective arm around Jane’s waist as they walked to the table where the Miters sat, alone.
“Hey Jason, this is my wife, Jane. Tell her Trillium will be fine.”
Jason extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Jane squared her shoulders. It was a cover story; that made it okay to lie, right? “Thanks.”
“Jake was telling us that your daughter will start at Trillium next year.”
Jane did her best to keep a straight face. “I’m just not so sure anymore.”
Jake squeezed. “Babe, you had Tulip on the waiting list for a year. You’ve got to let her go now.”
“Tulip,” Jane said, barely stifling a gag, “could always go to the preschool at Prez Elementary, where we went.”
“Trillium is a great school. It’s worth every sacrifice.” Tammy sniffled into a tissue. “I just can’t believe she’s gone.”
“But will it be the same without Michelle? I mean, I know she didn’t live here anymore, but she still had an influence…she was still alive.” Jane choked up a little. Tammy’s grief seemed so real.
“I just wish we could have resolved our legal issues before she passed.” Jason’s voice was gravelly, as though he barely had his emotions in control.
“I think she understood our dilemma though, honey.” Tammy patted her husband’s arm. “She did what she had to do, and we understood.” Tammy’s eyes welled up again.
They seemed sad, and maybe in la-la land about how much the director of the school they habitually shafted really understood their situation, but they didn’t seem…guilty.
“It is an expensive school.” Jane used a wistful tone. “Part of me thinks it would be wiser to bank the money for college and just homeschool Tulip.”
“We’ve talked about this before, Janey,” Jake said. “We don’t want to have one of those weird homeschooled kids.”
Tammy laughed. “My kids aren’t weird.”
“Don’t listen to him, Tammy,” Jane said with a smile. “His ex-wife homeschools, and he’s really mad about it.”
Jason frowned.
“Er…they aren’t his kids.” Jane looked at Jake helplessly. As newlyweds with a preschooler they were just barely believable…as a second marriage…
“Still a little bitter about being jilted.” Jake chuckled. “And for such an old guy too…” He laughed in a knowing kind of way, and Jason relaxed. Jake had such an easygoing manner with his lies…just enough detail to make it sound like he had said his ex-wife left him for an old rich guy with kids, but not so many details that it sounded like a lie. He was kind of the master of the cover story.
“If it’s between Trillium and homeschooling,” Tammy said, “I’d recommend homeschooling all the way. I don’t regret one minute I’ve spent teaching my kids.”
Jane nodded slowly. “I’m really leaning that way.”
“You should call me. We can get together for coffee or something. I love helping moms start out.” Tammy pulled a phone from her purse.
So far they had failed to make the Miters even hint at guilt, much less confess all. Jane tried to turn her head and find Del, but Tammy was asking for the number.
Jane accepted her phone and typed in a number that was just a digit off. She smiled. “Thanks.”
The room was thinning now, and the table full of protesters was empty.
They crunched their way across the frosty gravel to the Jag Jake had inherited when his parents died. “If it wasn’t the Miters, it just had to be Del. But how can we prove it now?” Jane clicked her seat buckle.
“You’re going to have to pray hard about it.” Jake pulled into the almost-stopped traffic. “You’re really leaning towards being a homeschooling detective-missionary?”
“You’d name our only daughter Tulip?”
Jane spent the rest of the afternoon drumming her fingers, praying for inspiration, and getting ready for Jake’s family New Year’s Eve party.
Gemma lurked silently in the living room while Jane ran around looking for her earrings. She moped on the couch while Jane tried desperately to put curls in her stick-straight hair.
Gemma perched on the edge of the bathtub while Jane attempted to create subtle cat’s eyes with her new liquid liner.
“We’re going to have to come to some kind of new housing arrangement.”
“What?” Jane turned her head, smearing the liner.
“I can’t live with you if you’re with Jake.”
“But I’m not really with Jake.” Jane sucked in a sharp breath. Yes, she was. She was absolutely with Jake now. And probably had been, in her heart, for quite a while.
“Spare me.”
“It’s not like we’re dating, Gemma.” Which was true. Because kissing and canoodling wasn’t exactly the same thing as dating.
“Because it’s been two days since you jumped him at the party. You haven’t had time to go on a date yet.”
Gemma had a point. Jane’s heart sank. “Are you asking me to move out?”
Gemma shrugged. “You and I—we’re more than just friends, aren’t we?”
“We’re family.” Jane wiped the black liner off of her face. She looked better natural, anyway.
“But we’ve always been good friends, too.”
“Of course.” Jane spritzed herself with a little White Musk—the only scent she had. Gemma would get over her funk. She had to. It wasn’t like she had stolen Jake from her or anything. This Jake thing was fate. Predestination. It couldn’t have been avoided.
“Well, you broke the code. Friends don’t go after each other’s men.”
Jane gritted her teeth. “Oh, grow up.” She stopped. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“Excuse me?”
Jane squared her shoulders, yet another of her constant attempts to appear more confident than she felt. “He tried to let you know nicely that he wasn’t interested. He really did.”
“That still doesn’t make it right for you to go after him.”
“I never went after him, I swear. I avoided him. I ignored him. I did everything I could to avoid falling for him.”
“You played games with him, then.”
Jane put her lipstick down. “I didn’t.”
“Rent is due next week. After that, move out.” Gemma walked out without a backwards glance.
Last time she had found herself homeless, she had moved into Jake’s family home. This time, that didn’t seem like the wisest idea.
Jake’s family party was larger than Jane expected. The party was upstairs at the old family house in Laurelhurst—in the ballroom she hadn’t seen since the funeral for Jake’s parents. Jake seemed to have cousins, and friends of cousins, spilling out of every corner.
The only person Jane recognized was Phoebe. Rather than cling to Phoebe, or Jake, who seemed to be in a place of complete Zen as party host, she hung back, in what had once been a small card room, googling the Willis family.
She couldn’t find anything about Isis’s peanut allergy incident on old news sites or on allergy blogs. She did learn that permanent brain damage was a rare, but real, potential risk of an anaphylactic shock reaction to anything, including peanuts.
Poor Isis.
And poor Rose of Sharon as well.
But what about Del? How protective had Isis’s much-older brother been?
The DJ switched from Frank Sinatra to Bruno Mars. The lights went down and the disco ball flashed bright snowflakes of light around the ballroom. Midnight was near.
Jake peeked around the door frame. “Put away the case for one song, Jane.”
He always made her smile. Even before the other party. She hadn’t told him about the homelessness situation yet. Her heart fluttered in her chest just to look at him. She pushed the phone aside. “Sure. Why not.”
“Come dance, it’s our song.” He took her by the hand and led her to the center of the action.
Jake could dance.
He spun her and turned her and dipped her until she was dizzy. “Our song?” She was breathless, but managed to ask as he pulled her against his chest.
“I think I wanna marry you,” Jake sang along as he spun her again.
She closed her eyes, but all she saw was the other ring. It was too soon—way too soon—for talking like this.
He pulled her back in and wrapped both arms around her. “I know what you’re thinking. Every time I look at you, I know what you’re thinking, but it’s our song. You know it is. I’ve been planning on marrying you for a long time now.”
“Maybe I need more dancing juice?”
Jake kissed her. “No. Not you. All you need is a little more time.”
She felt completely sheltered in his arms, even though he moved too fast—around the dance floor, in life, whatever. His lips never seemed to leave her neck, her cheek, her lips, but his touch was light, a hint of a kiss, a nuzzle, almost imperceptible. He turned with her, slowly around the room, and then stood still.
She was close enough to whisper anything, and no one else in the crowded room would know what she said. “Gemma kicked me out.”
“Guilting me into a rush wedding won’t work. You deserve the real deal.” Jake grinned.
“That’s not what I meant.” She swatted his bottom.
“That’s just going to make me say it again.”
“Never mind.”
The song changed, and Jane rested her head on his shoulder. He swayed in place like it was a junior high dance.
“I will never let you be homeless, you know that, right?”
“Mmm.” His words were nice, and she believed him. But of course she wouldn’t take a hand out.
“I’ve got a lot of restaurants you could clean for rent money.” He nibbled her ear.
“It’s time to count down!” the DJ hollered.
“Ten!” the whole crowd shouted in one voice.
She counted in her head. The New Year did not look anything like she pictured. By the count of five, Jake had managed to ease her to the back of the crowd, a darker, more private corner.
“Listen, Jane, I know you don’t take help, but whatever. That’s lame, by the way. Anything you need, okay? Whatever I have is yours. And…if you wanted to—”
“One!”
Jane didn’t want to hear him propose, so she put both of her hands on his face and kissed him like they were playing sardines again.
He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.
Without stopping for a breath, he carried her to the card room where he had found her.
He dropped her on the table and stepped away. “Phew.” He panted. “No more of that, all right?”
Jane was hot. She knew her face was red. Her heart beat so hard it made her rib cage shake. “Yeah. Yes. You’re right.”
“I’m right.”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Yeah. I am.”
“Of course. No more of that.”
“Right.” He stepped closer, and rested his fingertips on the table she sat on.
“Nope.”
“Exactly.”
“Because.”
“Of course. Exactly.” He leaned down and kissed her again.
“Crap.”
“Exactly.” Jake smiled, and exhaled slowly. “Yeah, I’ve got to…do something else now.” He left.
Jane buried her head in her hands. This was going to be a problem.
Jane bunked in her old room that night. The Crawfords hadn’t had live-in help—a real live-in maid—for at least a generation, but they kept the little staff bedrooms furnished for extra guest beds.
She had a feeling that Jake knew she was there. She was only a little disappointed that he didn’t come visit—because, really.
That would have been a problem.
Despite not having any of the “dancing juice” she suspected had been available last night, she had a headache. Gemma’s roommate-drama tantrum wasn’t going to be a long-term problem. Gemma would get over it as soon as she needed Jane to front her a month’s rent. But the situation with Del…getting away with murder…that had weighed on her for most of the few hours she spent in bed.
Their idea at the funeral had been to goad him into a confession. Right now, he was weak. He had been taken off work, had had a little trouble with his girlfriend, and had a murder on his chest. She was sure she could get him to confess, but she would love Jake’s help with it.
Which begged the question: did Jake really have time to be her partner in the detective business? His job running the family restaurant business had been all-consuming over the summer and fall. She chalked his recent spate of free time up to bad winter sales and the holidays. But when things got back to normal, would he have time to play Nick and Nora with her? And was it selfish of her to hope he would?
Yes. Of course it was. She didn’t want to change her life plans for Isaac. Why should Jake have to adopt her dream?
Fortunately, today was a holiday, and Jake was the boss. If he wanted to, he could probably take the day off to hunt down a killer.
Jane pulled her hair into a ponytail. She was glad she wore leggings with her miniskirt last night, but wished she had realized she was going to spend the night and had packed a toothbrush. Feeling more than a little scuzzy, she went downstairs for breakfast.
“Mi vida.” Jake sat at the breakfast bar, dark shadows under his eyes. His voice was hoarse and his hair stood on end. He yawned. “What are you making for breakfast?”
Jane looked at her watch. “A quick getaway. I’m so sorry.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“I have two post–New Year’s Eve houses to clean today.” Jane took a deep breath. She’d have to run home and face Gemma, since real life didn’t stop for pouting cousins.
Jake rested his head in his hand and closed his eyes with a smile. “Hard work is cute.”
“When I’m done, I’ll call you.”
“That’s nice.” Jake laid his head on the table. “I hate mornings.”
“It’s nine.” Jane kind of wanted to sit on his lap, but refrained. She was going to have to learn to keep it together if she wanted to have half a chance at a nice, long courtship.
“Exactly.” He stretched his arms over his head. “Are you sure you have to go?”
“Even if I had won the lottery last night instead of getting kicked out of my apartment, I would need to go. I made a commitment.”
Jake grinned. “You did win the lottery last night. And if you don’t call me by noon, I’m coming to find you. Do you understand?”
With an act of self-control that surprised her, Jane did not leap into his arms. “Yessir.” She scrambled out of his house as fast as she could, only hoping the neighbors weren’t asking what that nice Adler girl had been doing at Jake’s house all night. When she turned to look one more time, she noticed that the driveway was still full of cars.
They hadn’t been even remotely alone.
She stared at the cars. They hadn’t been alone, but she had thought of nothing but…that since he kissed her at the other party.
This was not how God wanted her to fall in love. This was not okay. She sat on the curb and shivered. So much for being ready for the mission field. She was no better than an adolescent kid.
Perhaps that was what her parents, and teachers, and everyone else had been talking about when she tried so hard to run away with the missionaries the year before. Perhaps…she wasn’t as grown-up as she thought.
She took five minutes to pray, heartfelt and contrite. Whatever path God had for her, it had to include a lot of growing up if she was ever going to be the woman she had thought she was.
She had an hour before she needed to get to her first house, so when she noticed something familiar about one of the cars in the driveway, she didn’t mind taking a minute to check it out.
It was just a series of bumper stickers, that was all. One that said “HLP.” One that said “I like to eat” and had a picture of an apple and a banana on it. A stick figure family with a dad, mom, and two girl figures, each with long hippy braids. Another sticker that said “Vegan Pride.”
Had a Helper come to Jake’s family party? And if so…would that person know anything about Del’s relationship with his sisters?
Jane leaned casually against the car, hoping no one would know she was looking inside. She fiddled with the door handle, not really expecting it to pop open, but it did.
She crawled inside and popped open the jockey box. The registration was right on top.
Del Willis.
Jane shot out of the car and ran back into the house. She slid into the kitchen and caught herself on the breakfast bar.
“He’s still here, then?”
Jane nodded. She needed to catch her breath before she could start on her questions.
“Before you yell, remember my head.”
“I won’t yell—he could hear.”
“Ah, my only saving grace.” Jake passed Jane a cup of coffee. “I had hoped you’d come back.”
“What’s he doing here?” Jane kept her voice at a whisper.
“I invited everyone I could think of and had them pass the word along. You didn’t really think I was related to all of those people, did you?”
“But why didn’t you tell me?”
Jake held his finger to his lips, though she hadn’t raised her voice. “To be completely honest, it was because every time I looked at you, all I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss you. It was New Year’s Eve. I planned on making a citizen’s arrest. But every time you walked past, or I walked past you, since you stayed cooped up in that card room most of the night, I forgot.”
“Well, what do we do now?”
“We find him. I assume he’s not the only one still here?”
“No, there are five other cars out there, too.”
“The let’s keep this chill, okay? Let’s just go around the house looking for guests and asking them if they want to stay for breakfast.” He took her hand and kissed it.
They went upstairs first, knowing that a mixed crowd of random invites from the grapevine had likely ended up in bedrooms. Phoebe was in her own room with four girlfriends all getting dressed. Jake covered his eyes. “Breakfast orders?”
“You can’t cook. We’re going out.” Phoebe tossed a pillow at her brother. “And shut the door.”
The next bedroom had been slept in, but was empty. On their way to the third, Del came padding down the hall in yesterday’s clothes.
“Breakfast order?” Jake squeezed Jane’s hand.
“Ah, no thanks.” Del raked his hand through his hair. “I’ve got to run. Beth is meeting me at her mom’s house.”
“Before you go…” Jane smiled. “Did you guys have fun last night?”
Jake snorted, but quietly.
“Sure.” Del pulled his phone out and checked the time.
“It was the second-best party of the year, in my opinion.” Jane was doing her best to drag the conversation out. Del couldn’t leave yet.
“Yeah. It was fun.” Del eyed the open bedroom door.
Jake pulled Jane to the next room. “Keep it chill.”
“Good morning—” Jane stopped.
Aunt Marjory sat on the bed.
“I see you stayed over, yet again.” Marjory pinned her hair back. “Quite a ‘little’ family party last night, Jake.”
“Well, you know how these things are, Aunty. That Pheebs of yours is quite a social butterfly.”
“Ahh. Sure, she is.”
“And, um, I didn’t stay the night with Jake, just so you know. Really. I was upstairs the whole time.”
“Shhh,” Jake whispered.
“Alone.” She let go of his hand.
Marjory raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have to justify yourselves to me. I’m not in charge here.” She stood up and cleared her throat. Jake stepped aside.
“I won’t be staying for breakfast.” Aunt Marjory left.
“Why didn’t you tell her?” Jane searched Jake’s face. A rosy shade of embarrassed spread across his cheeks.
“I had invited a killer to the house, you know.”
“And?”
“And I couldn’t leave you up there by yourself when I knew for certain everyone else who stayed would be staying in one of the many nice bedrooms on this level.”
“So?”
“So I stayed up all night by your door. When I heard you get up, I left. But…Marjory saw me coming away from your room this morning. She said she was assessing the damage.”
“Ahh.” Jane gritted her teeth. Jake was destined to ruin her good name. Innocently, of course, but that wouldn’t matter to people who liked gossip.
“The point to remember is that Del Willis did not sneak into your bedroom last night and stick a knife in you.”
“What?” The voice behind them was deep, shocked, and belonged to Del.
“Oh, ah, ha ha.” Jake tried to laugh.
Jane tried to smile.
“I didn’t hear that right, did I?”
“He was attempting to be my knight in armor, I guess.” Jane managed another nervous laugh.
“But…” Del looked confused. “Why would you think I—?” His face began to show recognition. “Because of the bag of trash. Someone told you about that.” His face blanched.
“It doesn’t look good, bro. Between that and your sister.” Jake shrugged.
“We would understand why you had a grudge for so long,” Jane added.
“A grudge? Against who? Michelle?” Del took a step back.
“Because of Isis,” Jane said.
Del took off down the stairs. He hesitated at the bottom.
Jane was frozen in her spot. Was he scared or guilt ridden?
Jake was almost to him when he turned and ran towards the back door.
Jane took the steps two at a time and caught up with both boys outside.
“Is that why you invited me here? Because you thought I killed Michelle White?”
Jane and Jake stood silently, Jane behind his car, and Jake between Del and Del’s only way out.
Del held his hands up. “You can’t pin this on me.”
Was that a confession? Jane’s phone shook in her hand. She wanted to call the police this second, but…was it a confession? She fished around in her other pocket and found the card for the snotty Detective Benedict. She kept silent, and so did Jake.
Del was pinned between the other cars and Jake. Jane counted on him not driving away while she stood at the back of his car. He pulled open the car door anyway, but then just stood there, shaking. “You cannot pin this on me. I didn’t touch that woman.”
“How did you know she was going to be there?” Jane asked.
“I didn’t know anything.”
“Did you see her on the security camera and decide to get her while you could? Your one shot while she was in town?” Jake added.
“Or…” Jane went slowly, the idea forming while she spoke. “Did you see she was there on the security camera and call your mommy to come? And then she did it?”
Del spit.
“It wasn’t his mom, remember, Jane? It was a man in black.”
“Jason Miter?”
“Why not? Did you see Michelle at the party and call Jason? You know him because his kids went to school with your sisters? Something like that? You knew about his money troubles because this is just a big small town and gossip spreads?” Jane was on a roll. “No! You knew about his troubles because his son Ethan, who we guessed was fifteen and definitely went to school with your sisters, talks too much.”
Del gripped the door.
“I’m going to make a guess,” Jake said. “If I’m right, panic, okay? I think Ethan keeps in touch with Clove, and you heard from Clove that her parents were really, really upset with Michelle, right?”
Del’s jaw flexed, and sweat popped out on his forehead.
“So, you were sitting in your little office, and you saw Michelle waltz into the party.” Jake leaned templed his fingers and lifted an eyebrow. “Then you called the senior Mr. Miter, Jason, to come take care of a mutual problem.” While Jake spoke, Jane dialed Detective Benedict’s number.
“I didn’t call anyone.” Del stood up straight, an almost cocky look in his eye. “You can check the phone records. And the cameras. I didn’t call anyone that night.”
“Of course not.” Jane smirked. She had her finger on this one. “Because your stepmom is still friends with Michelle. Michelle told her about the party, which is how the Helpers ended up there to protest, and how you knew in advance that Michelle would be there.” Jane smiled at Jake, who gave her a thumbs-up.
Del dove into his car and slammed the door shut. He hit the locks and started the engine.
Detective Benedict answered. Jane tossed the phone to Jake and lay across the back of Del’s car.
Nonviolent protest was a language Del spoke.
“Hey there, buddy,” Jake said. “We just solved your murder. If you want to know what we know, you might want to get here.” There was a lengthy silence from Jake, but Del revved his engine.
Adrenaline pumped through Jane, tinged with a touch of mind-rattling fear, but mostly she just wanted to win. Del could not leave before the police got here.
“Nope, we’ve got the killer right here. Do we have to? Are you absolutely sure?” Jake didn’t hide the disgust in his voice. Then, “Let him go, Jane. We aren’t allowed to keep him here.”
Jane stood up. “Really? We have to let him go?”
Jake rolled his eyes. “No evidence, yo.”
Del backed out of the driveway as soon as Jane had stepped to the side.
“But we caught him.”
Jake shrugged. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.” He hung up.
“What now?” Jane kicked a rock.
“Now we go to Detective Benedict and tell him everything we know. We tell him how Del reacted to our story. And we let the cops arrest them.”
“Why can’t we do it?”
Jake draped his arm over her shoulder. “Because we’re private investigators, not cops. But I think we did good, and I don’t think they’ll get away with it.”
Jake hadn’t given Jane enough time to get changed, so they met the detective at his office in last night’s party clothes. They laid the whole story out for him.
“But you don’t have any evidence. Any proof that what you are saying is true.” Detective Benedict could only have had a deeper frown if he had had a big, droopy mustache.
“You could check and see if the Miters were telling the truth about paying off their debt,” Jane said.
“I’ll ask the charity to try and cash the donation tomorrow,” Jake said.
Benedict shrugged. “Murders take a long time to solve, kids. This one is only a week old.”
“But that doesn’t mean Jason Miter and Del Willis didn’t do it.” Jane’s voice trembled. She’d have to figure out a better way to fake strength. Or…she’d have to practice relying on God to be her strength. That idea alone calmed her down. “And some murders are solved very quickly. When you know who did it, but don’t have evidence, what do you do next?”
Detective Benedict smiled, just a little, but his eyes were still hooded. “We start asking a lot more questions, and we do it at the station.” Detective Benedict stood up. “And now, I have a few questions to ask Del Willis about this conversation he just had with you.” He paused. “Too bad that stepmom of his is so good at working the system.”
He escorted them outside. “Thanks for the tip. You might, just might, not be the worst investigator in the world. But if I were you, I’d steer clear of murder from now on.”
Back in the car, Jane exhaled slowly. “I am so disappointed.”
“Don’t be. You did great. Totally earned your keep.”
“Do you think Benedict believed it?”
“More to the point, Del believes we know everything. So, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll just hang out with you while you clean, yes?”
Jane nodded. She was too confused to speak. She might not be a bad investigator. This was the first time anyone but Jake had suggested this could be the case.
They had the radio on while they cleaned both houses, listening for any news. But the only thing Jane learned was that Jake wasn’t completely useless at mopping.
“You didn’t think my dad would let me work for him if I didn’t start at the bottom, did you?”
Jane laughed. Jake was so comfortable. He just…fit. Didn’t ask her to change, didn’t expect her to be someone she wasn’t. She couldn’t help but compare him to…well. It wasn’t fair, really. Isaac wasn’t meant to be, so he’d never compare well.