Chapter 33
“Florrie! Is something wrong?” asked Mom.
“A little bit.” I emailed the photo to my phone. “I met him once before. He was Delbert’s roommate.”
“The dead boy?”
“The very same.”
Mom looked over my shoulder at the photo. “How sad for Scott to lose his roommate.”
I wasn’t sure how much to tell her. It would come out eventually. “Would you be sympathetic about his other girlfriend? He’s been seeing Helen, too.”
Mom clapped her hand over her mouth. “What a scumbag! Veronica will be devastated.”
“I think I have to tell her, don’t you?” I handed Mom her phone. “He hasn’t called Helen in a couple of days, so maybe he chose Veronica over her.”
Mom hugged me. With a sad expression, she said, “Veronica has to know. Maybe it won’t be so bad. They’re not married or engaged. I don’t even know if they have a mutual understanding yet.”
She knew as well as I did that Veronica would be crushed if Helen were still in the picture.
To make matters worse, I was mighty irritated with my sister because she hadn’t mentioned that she was dating Delbert’s roommate.
I hated to leave Frodo with my parents, but he was their dog, after all. I might have kept him longer if I hadn’t seen how much he loved being home. I went to hug him and thank him for being my sidekick for a few days, but he was already sacked out in his dog bed, snoring.
I would have gladly stayed longer once Norman was gone, but as it was, I had to close the store. Armed with a cooler filled with more leftovers than four people could possibly eat, I hopped into my car and Veronica joined me for a ride home.
I tried to keep the annoyance out of my tone when I asked, “How come you didn’t mention that Scott was Delbert’s roommate?”
“I didn’t know until tonight.”
“How is that possible?”
“Who is Sergeant Jonquille’s roommate?”
“He doesn’t have one.” At least I didn’t think he did. Had he said that he lived alone?
“Then that doesn’t count,” said Veronica. “I didn’t interrogate Scott about who he knew.”
“Seems like he might have mentioned that his former roommate was just murdered. That has to be a pretty traumatic event. You never went to his house?”
“Not yet. He usually picks me up and takes me somewhere when we go out.”
“Speaking of which, thanks for the information about how to dress for Club Neon.”
“Did you have fun?”
“It’s not exactly my kind of place.”
“Florrie, you can’t always stay home and draw or read a book. Besides, that’s where I met Scott, so now that Jonquille isn’t working out, maybe you should go once in a while. You might meet someone nice, too.”
“Were you there Saturday night a week ago?”
“I think that was the night my pearls exploded. Can you imagine how hard it was to find them on the floor in that dark place?”
“Did you see Delbert there that night?”
“I wouldn’t know Delbert if he came up and said hi.”
The muscles in my jaw relaxed. I hadn’t realized that I had been clenching my teeth in fear. “You never met Delbert?”
“Not that I know of.”
She wasn’t the woman Sonja had seen at Club Neon. What a relief. “So who was the guy who sabotaged you at work?”
“Ugh. Why did you have to bring him up again? I’ve been trying to forget Berto Woodley.”
“Are you kidding me? What did he look like?”
“You think you know him?”
Good grief. Now I felt sick to my stomach. “Possibly.”
“I don’t know. He had a strange face.”
“Strange how?”
“I don’t know. Just different. Why are we talking about him anyway? He’s out of my life forever.” She switched on the radio.
My thoughts were all jumbled. I needed my sketch pad to help me make sense of everything. All I knew for sure was that I didn’t want Veronica to have been involved in Delbert’s murder and that I felt incredibly guilty for even thinking she might have been.
The local news came on the radio.
The car of beloved local author Jacquie Liebhaber has been located partially submerged in the Potomac River. Liebhaber, author of dozens of bestselling women’s fiction novels, has been missing for over a week. Tragically, upon hearing the news of the discovery of her car, her husband collapsed and is now in serious condition in a local hospital.
Veronica screamed.
I almost drove off the road. It was a good thing I-66 was clogged with Sunday afternoon traffic as residents returned to town, so I had been driving slowly.
“Which hospital? Did they say?” asked Veronica.
“I don’t think so.”
Veronica pulled out her cell phone. “I’m texting Scott right away. I can’t believe I let him go alone. I should have gone with him.”
All I could think was that Jacquie’s fears came true. The people she was running from had found her.
Tears welled in my eyes. It was my fault. I had promised Jacquie that I wouldn’t say anything about seeing her. But if I had, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe Jonquille and the police could have helped her.
It was a brutal lesson. Sometimes keeping promises was a bad idea. I didn’t want to learn this lesson. Not this way. Not at Jacquie’s expense. What had happened to her after she left the carriage house? I hoped she hadn’t suffered. How stupid of me. Of course she had. She had been so afraid, and now her fears had come to fruition.
“Veronica, I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to come right out and say it.”
“Oh no. This is a lecture, isn’t it? You are not the boss of me, Florrie.”
“Scott is dating Helen.”
“Why would you say something like that? Is this some kind of weird sibling jealousy? That was just hurtful.”
“I’m so sorry, Veronica. I know how much you like Scott. But it’s true. Even Mom agreed that you have to know.”
“You told Mom?” she screeched. “That was so mean. Now Mom and Dad will hate him. Let me out of the car.”
“Don’t be silly. I can’t let you out on the highway.”
“How would you feel if I told you Jonquille was seeing someone else?”
“It wouldn’t make me happy. But I would be glad I knew the truth about him.”
“Oh sure. That’s easy to say when it’s only hypothetical. Did Helen tell you this?”
I felt slightly better. She was beginning to consider that it might be true. “Yes.”
“You know she doesn’t like me. I don’t know why you would believe her. Scott has been a perfect gentleman. Everything I could ask for in a man.”
Veronica was still seething when I dropped her off. Nevertheless, I asked her to keep in touch about Scott’s dad.
The roads were horribly congested, so I took back roads to Key Bridge. When I pulled into the mansion driveway, Jonquille was there waiting for me.
I was running late. I parked and stepped out of the car. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d walk over to the store with you.”
I couldn’t help smiling like a fool. Maybe this would turn into a relationship after all. We rushed over to the store, and I completely forgot to keep a vigilant eye out for anyone sinister. On the way over, I filled him in on Scott, Jacquie Liebhaber’s car being found, and Scott’s dad collapsing.
We hurried up the steps to the front door and walked inside just in the nick of time. The music had been turned off. Bob and Helen were getting ready to leave. Both Bob and Helen wondered why I had come. I had to fudge a little bit.
“It was recommended that we change the alarm password after Delbert’s murder. After all, someone broke into the mansion, as well. We didn’t know if the killer would come back here. If I’m the only one who knows the code, you guys are in the clear if anything else happens.”
“Are you saying that we’re suspects in Delbert’s murder because we knew how to disarm the alarm?” Helen was indignant.
“The person who killed him knew how to cut it off. As it happens, the password was fairly well known, so that theory didn’t really pan out,” I explained, hoping to sooth her.
“This is all so annoying.” Helen grabbed her purse. “Excuse me. I’m in a rush. I barely have time to change before I meet Brian.”
Brian! Scott had used a different name with Helen. “Just a second, Helen.” I looked for the selfie of Veronica and Scott on my phone and handed it to her.
Helen’s mouth opened, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t take her eyes off the picture. Finally, she choked, “What is Brian doing with your sister?”
Bob peered over her shoulder and muttered, “Uh-oh.”
“So that is Brian? Your Brian?” I asked just to be absolutely certain.
Jonquille took it all in, his brow furrowed.
“Why is he posing with Veronica?” Helen’s delicate skin had flushed with anger.
“His real name is Scott Southworth. It looks like he’s been dating both of you.”
“No! No, no. Why are you doing this to me? There’s no date on this picture. It could have been taken months ago.”
“I’m sorry, Helen.”
She shot me a dirty look and stormed out of the store. But she turned around and came right back. “Bob, do you have plans for tonight?”
“I thought I’d get a pizza.”
“How would you like to help me get to the bottom of this?” Helen smiled at him.
“When did you hear from Scott last, Helen?” I asked.
“Around three this afternoon.”
“I think he’s at a hospital with his dad.”
“Which one?” she asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Come on, Bob,” she ordered. “Brian . . . Scott is going to need a hospital when I’m through with him.”
Good-natured Bob jumped at the chance. He handed me the bag of cash to be deposited at the bank and grinned like his wishes were coming true. Wiggling his eyebrows, he said, “See you tomorrow morning, Florrie.”
I hoped Helen wouldn’t break his heart. But that was useless wishing. Poor Bob.
With their departure, the store lay quiet. As though it had been put to bed.
Jonquille gazed around. “It must have been like this when Delbert let himself in the night he was murdered. I wish we knew what he was thinking that night.”
He didn’t seem capable of rational thought. Did he think he would empty the cash register? Steal a treasure map?
I stood at the bottom of the stairs. “Someone else was here that night, too. Why aren’t I psychic? I wish I could see the two of them sneaking about the store.”
One of them had opened the hidden door under the stair landing. And one of them had retrieved the spear from the professor’s office.
“Two people up to no good. But who?” asked Jonquille.
I set the alarm, we stepped outside, and I locked the front door. Jonquille and I stood in close proximity on the stoop. “I didn’t want to believe this, but I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that there might have been three people present that fateful night. And one was a woman.”