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Jojo? The keyboard player from the band? Jojo might have been angry over losing his girlfriend to Derek, especially if he had a fragile male ego. A question Sue wanted to pursue.
“Would you like to join us?” she asked.
Heath flinched. Did that mean he didn’t want Jojo to join them? Jojo was attractive, a year or two older than Heath. He had straight black hair and dark, almond-shaped eyes that gave him an exotic look.
“Just for a minute,” Jojo said. “I’m meeting someone I met online. First date. Don’t want to miss her.”
Heath seemed to relax.
“Do you know something about Derek’s death that I don’t?” Heath asked.
“No, but he was way too full of himself to die without help, if you know what I mean.”
Heath had told Sue the guys in the band didn’t care for Derek. Would Jojo tell her why? “You don’t sound like a fan,” she said.
“First the asshole steals my girlfriend,” Jojo said, then frowned. “Sorry about the language.”
“I’ve heard worse,” she said, hoping he’d go on. The tidbit he’d shared certainly gave him motive and a ticket to the suspect list.
He seemed disinclined to go on until Heath prompted him. “Did you know he made a play for Rich?”
Jojo grimaced. “Yeah, Rich told me. I told Zelda, hoping to win her back when she found out Derek swung both ways, but she didn’t believe me.” He twisted in his chair to face Heath. “You think Derek was serious when he propositioned Rich? Or just messing with him?”
Heath shrugged. “I saw Zelda disappear into his bedroom, heard enough noise to believe they were enjoying their time in there. He asked me to join them once. At the time, I thought the invitation was her idea. Now I’m not so sure.”
Jojo straightened, his expression dark. “He invited you to a threesome? Did you go?”
“Hell, no.”
Time to redirect this conversation. “You said he didn’t have a girlfriend when he died,” Sue said to Heath.
“He didn’t,” Jojo said. “He stole mine, then dumped her like a hot rock a month later.”
If Derek dumped her, the girlfriend belonged on the suspect list, too. Hell hath no fury, and all of that. A question for Heath—after Jojo left.
Had these guys not talked about all of this before now?
“So did Derek like men better?” Sue asked.
Jojo shot her an annoyed glance. “If you ask me, I don’t think he cared who he was with as long as he got his rocks off. He was high half the time. A user, in every sense of the word.”
Sue shuddered. “Sounds like a prince of a guy.”
“I gotta go,” Jojo said. “My date should be here by now. She’ll think I didn’t show.”
“We should get together. Jam session,” Heath said. “Rich, too.”
“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Jojo bowed to Sue. “Nice to meet you, neighbor.”
Sue took another bite of her pizza.
Heath kept his voice low. “Interesting that he thinks Derek was murdered, too.”
“What about this Zelda person? What’s she like?” Sue asked.
“I didn’t think she was a groupie when she was dating Jojo, but when she left him for Derek, well, I might have changed my mind. She liked being arm candy, the status of being the lead singer’s girl. She was definitely pissed off when Derek cut her loose.”
“Sounds as if lots of people might have had a motive to kill him.”
Heath wiped his face with his napkin and inclined toward her. “The police would have talked to everybody, wouldn’t they? Ruled everybody out? Not just me?”
“I can ask my friend.” Sue had promised to have drinks with Rod. Not something she was looking forward to, but she could ask if the police had interviewed anyone else. “Did you ask the other guys in the band?”
“They sort of shut down. This is the most I’ve talked to either of them since, well, you know. Maybe they thought I’d killed him and wanted to distance themselves.” His face darkened.
“If that were the case, they wouldn’t have bothered to say hello when they saw you now.”
“By the way,” Heath said. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For helping me think this stuff through.” He shot her a sheepish smile. “And you don’t seem so sad anymore. Not everyone would care that their ex had died.”
“Well, I was married to the guy.” As much as she’d cared about Mike, been glad to have him to talk to, lately she’d been wondering if she’d ever truly loved him.
~ ~ ~
SUE HAD GONE QUIET while they finished their pizza. Heath paid the bill and searched for something to say as they started the walk home.
“What do you call it when cows lie down?” he said.
“Do I want to know?” Sue asked.
“Ground beef.”
She groaned, but didn’t comment.
“I got an invitation to come to the neighborhood barbecue,” he said. “Do the neighbors get together often?”
“I wouldn’t say often, but they’re a friendly group. The Memorial Day picnic? You going?”
“Yeah.”
They crossed Main Street and she shot him a sideways glance. “I’m curious about Zelda. How long was she going out with Jojo before she and Derek hooked up?”
“It was a while. Not a year, but close.”
“Isn’t it curious that Jojo asked if they’d found Derek’s murderer?” she went on. “In the books I read, that’s the kind of question the guilty party asks to make sure no one has uncovered their secrets.”
“You think Jojo might have had something to do with it?”
She bowed her head. “I’d rather assume the police got it right. Who are we to question their methods? But I’d sure love to hear what Zelda has to say about all of this. If Derek dumped her, well, is she the kind of woman who’d want revenge for being discarded?”
“Then you think Zelda could have killed Derek?”
“I’m not sure anyone else was involved in Derek’s death,” Sue repeated, “but you’ve lit the Mission Impossible fuse inside my imagination and now I’m curious. This isn’t like in Perry Mason where the guilty party is going to stand up and confess. If there is a guilty party.”
Heath considered for a moment. Did Zelda still work at the coffee shop? He glanced at Sue. An excuse for another date? “I could introduce you. To Zelda.”
“Right. And how is that going to go? My neighbor wants to grill you on what you know about Derek’s death? And by the way, how mad was Jojo when you broke up?” She sputtered.
“You’re smoother than that,” Heath said. “And smart.”
“I’m not sure how smooth it would be for you to call her and say someone wants to talk to her.”
This was his opening. “She used to work at a coffee shop in Schaumburg. We could go there. When you have free time.”
Sue stopped. Turned to look at him. Her gaze fixed on his. “What if she doesn’t work there anymore?”
“Then I’d suggest the music club at the casino. She dated two musicians. Maybe she’s on the prowl for another one.”
Sue continued to study his face, her pretty blue eyes sparkling beneath the streetlights. His attention wandered to her lips, so soft and sweet. Would she let him kiss her again?
She flexed her hands while she walked, as if she was nervous. The conversation had come to a halt.
They were half a block from home. He didn’t dare tell another bad joke, but he also didn’t want the night to end.
He’d suggested the coffee shop, or the music club. She hadn’t answered, which was as good as a no in his book. Still, he walked her to her door. He glanced at the juniper bush in the garden between their front stoops. “Well, thanks again.”
“I’m reading a book about antigravity,” she said.
Heath searched her face.
Her lips twitched as if she was fighting a smile. “I can’t put it down.”
He blinked. Thought about what she’d said, and then the joke came together. Heath laughed. “Did you just tell me a dad joke?”
She hiked one shoulder. “So this coffee shop. We could go tomorrow morning. Do they have pastries?”
He nodded.
“My treat, but it’ll have to be early. I’m helping out with a fundraiser at Roxbury Gardens tomorrow afternoon. What time do you get up?”
“Meet you here at eight o’clock?”
“Sounds like a plan.” She slid her arms around him and hugged. “Thanks for the pizza. ’Night.” She unlocked her door and disappeared inside.
He unlocked his own door, replaying the evening in his head as he went in. Jojo hadn’t seen any signs Derek might have been suicidal, either. Then again, Heath had read dozens of articles that said suicidal people were good at hiding their intentions. Still, it didn’t make sense. A guy with an ego like Derek’s? Heath had been so relieved to be cleared he hadn’t considered who else might have wanted to kill Derek.
Sue’s list included his friends and family. Certainly, Derek had other enemies. Heath couldn’t imagine someone he knew as a murderer. Hadn’t Sue said something about accidental death?
Who accidentally hung himself?
Too wired to sleep, he went to the home studio. A couple of hours producing an audiobook should clear his head. While he waited for the equipment to boot up, he set an alarm so he wouldn’t miss his date for coffee.
Not a date. Introducing Sue to Zelda. If Zelda still worked there. He doubted she’d know more than anyone else, but it was a chance to spend more time with Sue.