Chapter 43
Jane’s phone buzzed, alerting her to a text message. She read it, then elbowed Cora.
“We need to go and repair something on the set,” Jane said.
“Ack, why don’t you go without me?” Cora said.
“I think it will do you good to get out of here for an hour or so, don’t you?” Jane said after a beat.
Cora’s mouth puckered while she was thinking. “I guess.”
“Ruby, can you handle things?” Jane asked.
“You know I can,” she said, chin up. “I hadn’t planned to go to the French beading class, but I can sit in for a while. It sounds like a few of our crafters won’t be attending either.”
“It’s fine,” Cora said, standing. “They can do whatever strikes their fancy, or not. It’s their retreat.”
Jane and Cora exited the room and headed for the front door. Lena was standing near the table in the foyer, examining the floral arrangement.
“We’ll be back soon,” Jane said.
“Okay. Not coming to the French beading class?”
“Sorry we’ll miss it, but Ruby will be there,” Cora said.
“I’m sorry. French beading is my signature,” Lena said. “Maybe some other time?”
“Maybe,” Jane said, opening the door. Cora walked through and turned and gave a little wave to Lena before she and Jane started off down the street.
Just a hint of the coming autumn was in the air. Sun warmed the chill. Shadows fell across the mountains, dappled by the sun. The trees hadn’t turned yet, it was far too early. Jane swore she could smell autumn coming on—or was that rain?
“What broke?” Cora asked.
“One of the kids kicked the edge of the wall, and someone fixed it, but they’d like us to paint over it. Evidently, nobody else knows how to paint?” Jane grinned at her sarcasm.
“Well, you do have a unique technique,” Cora said, with a joking tone.
“In oh so many things,” Jane said, wriggling her eyebrows and impishly grinned.
“Too bad you’re so out of practice,” Cora said.
“Well, I guess I could find someone to practice with,” Jane said, and laughed.
“I guess you could,” Cora said.
The theater was only a fifteen-minute walk from Kildare House. Cora thought it seemed much farther today.
Several minutes later, they arrived at the theater and opened the door just as someone was coming out the same time they were heading in. Brodsky!
“Hey!” Cora said.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he said. Haggard, nervous, Brodsky stood with the door open to let Cora and Jane walk through.
“What are you doing here?” Cora asked.
“What do you think? I have a murder case that I considered solved. Not just once, but twice,” he said.
“Are you okay?” Cora said.
“No, but I will be,” he said. “Just took one of my pills. These stage mothers? They are enough to make a man want to kill. That’s all I’m saying.”
Cora and Jane laughed, which prompted a smile from Brodsky.
“And by the way, I just shut the show down.”
“Come again?” Jane said. “We were just called to come and fix a set.”
“Won’t be needed. The theater is a crime scene. By this point, it may be moot. It’s all I got. I’m calling in a special team from Raleigh. Infrared equipment and such. Hopefully, we’ll find some blood.”
“What?”
“Even when it’s cleaned up, blood leaves a trace. It takes special equipment to find it.”
“What good would that do?”
“Specialists examine the blood and it’s like an intricate puzzle. They can tell a lot by the patterns.”
“How interesting,” Cora said.
A young mother entered the lobby as the three of them stood chatting. Harried, she looked up at Jane and Cora. “I’m so glad he closed this show. I wish my daughter had never gotten involved with these people. I’ve had it.”
“What’s wrong, Gladys?” Jane asked. Both Brodsky and Cora moved toward her.
“It’s just that my daughter wanted to do this so badly. She’s never done anything like it before. We didn’t know what to expect.” She tucked hair back behind her ears, with trembling fingers.
“What happened?”
“Oh, nothing really,” she said. “It’s just that when I think of my daughter being here, where a killer was lurking. And then I think of the kind of women some of these mothers are, well, I don’t want to be like them.”
“You’re nothing like them,” Cora said. “Believe me.”
Jane wasn’t buying that nothing happened. A woman didn’t tremble like that unless she was frightened. She wasn’t going to tell them a thing as long as Brodsky was there. And he stood like an immovable tree.
“I better get going,” Gladys said. “I need to pick up my son from soccer practice.” And she slipped through the door onto the streets of Indigo Gap.
“There’s more to that story,” Cora said, crossing her arms.
“I agree,” Brodsky said. “I’ve already talked to her and all of the mothers.”
“Maybe something happened after you left,” Jane said. “She certainly wasn’t going to tell us.”
“Maybe she would,” Cora said. “Maybe she’d talk to us if Brodsky wasn’t here.”
His head tilted, and he leaned in. “We’ll make a cop of you yet.”
Cora’s face heated and she laughed awkwardly.
“I’d suggest you wait awhile. Let her calm down a bit,” he said.
Jane found herself liking Brodsky more and more. He was a good cop, a good guy, and he thought highly of Cora. In any case, she didn’t want Cora getting herself into a dangerous situation, as she had several times before. Simply talking with Gladys wouldn’t be harmful. Not at all. In fact, Jane was keen on the idea.
“I want you to let me know what she says,” he said.
“Okay,” Cora replied, standing a bit straighter with her new assignment from her detective friend.
“How is Roni?” he asked. “Has she left yet?”
“She started to leave, but I asked her to stay until she’s rested,” Cora said.
He nodded. “Good.”
“What happened with Jo?” Jane asked.
“We’ve got nothing on Jo. She just wanted to get home to her kids,” he said.
“That’s good to know, although I feel sorry for her. I think we should probably refund her money,” Cora said, pushing away the image of the woman she thought was Jo last night at the theater. There one minute and gone the next.
“We’ll do no such thing,” Jane said.
“Who knew she was such a hard-ass?” Brodsky joked.
“I’ve learned to be one the hard way,” she retorted.