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The grocery store was packed on Friday with people buying food for the Memorial Day weekend. When Sue got a break in the action, she turned off the light over her checkout lane. Her shift had ended fifteen minutes ago and she was taking her opportunity to leave.
A woman walked into her lane. “Is your lane closed?”
Zelda. She was back. Wearing a flattering pair of leggings and a tight shirt that barely covered her belly.
“Yes, I’m sorry,” she said. “You’ll have to go to one of the other lanes.”
“Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes,” she said.
“To me?” Sue repeated.
Zelda nodded.
This couldn’t be good. “I have to close my drawer and clock out,” she said.
“I can wait. Meet you in the parking lot in a few minutes?”
What was she supposed to say? What if Zelda had killed Derek? Zelda was still on the suspect list, after all. Sue might not believe Derek had been murdered, but there were an awful lot of unanswered questions. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be somewhere Zelda might make her disappear. Someone would surely come to her rescue, should it be necessary, in the crowded parking lot, but there were safer options.
“How about I meet you at the coffee shop on Main Street?” Sue suggested.
“I know the one. I’ll see you there.”
Sue took her drawer to the service desk and watched them lock it in the safe. Then she punched the timeclock.
She could blow Zelda off. Not go to the coffee shop. Whatever Zelda wanted to say couldn’t be good.
Zelda knew where she worked. She’d stopped in twice. Chances were she’d stop in again until she said what she wanted to say. Might as well find out what she wanted. Sue retrieved her purse and jacket from her locker and headed to the coffee shop.
“Took you long enough,” Zelda said when Sue joined her.
Sue considered leaving. “You in a hurry?”
Zelda scowled.
She walked to the counter, ordered an iced coffee and faced Zelda once more. “What’s on your mind?”
“I wanted to be sure you weren’t a cop.”
Sue laughed. “You think I work undercover at the grocery store? Why would you care what I do for a living?”
“You asked all those questions. About Derek.”
Sue brushed her arms to make sure the creepy sensation wasn’t spiders crawling on them. She didn’t want to talk about Derek anymore.
The barista handed Sue her coffee and she took a sip. Time to redirect the conversation. “Zelda. That’s an unusual name.”
Zelda led the way to a table by the window. “Blame it on video games.”
How could she prevent another visit from Zelda? “Look. I only just met Heath. He moved in next door.”
“No,” Zelda said. “Heath’s a nice guy, but I know I’m not his type. He’s even told me that to my face.”
“Then, what...?” Sue asked.
“He deserves to know what I know. Otherwise, you guys wouldn’t have come asking, right?”
Sue tensed her shoulders to brace herself for whatever Zelda needed to say. She folded her arms on the table.
“I shouldn’t bother saying anything. I mean it isn’t going to make any difference now.”
“Right.” Sue pushed away from the table to leave but Zelda reached out.
“I gotta tell someone.”
Sue nodded and waited.
“I went over to see Derek that night.”
Every muscle in Sue’s body cringed. She’d stepped into this mess. She’d have to see it through.
“I went to ask him for another chance. There was something about him, you know?”
Sue didn’t know, but Zelda wasn’t the first person to have said something along those lines. “And?”
“He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he kept brushing at his nose. I figured he’d been doing lines, which increased my chances of getting lucky.” Zelda lowered her gaze to her coffee cup. “He told me to go. Said he was expecting someone else and there wasn’t room for one more, which was funny because there was that other time he wanted me to invite...” She stopped short, pursed her lips and went on. “He told me I didn’t do it for him and I should go troll the club if I wanted to get laid.” She blinked several times.
For the life of her, Sue couldn’t figure out what that “something” about Derek was. From the stories she’d heard, he’d been a first-class asshole.
“Anyway, as I was leaving, someone got off the elevator as I was about to get on.” She raised her gaze to meet Sue’s. “It was Heath’s brother. The one who showed up every time the band had a show.”
C.J. had seen Derek the day he died? After Zelda? Did that take Zelda off the suspect list?
“Well, I went marching back to the apartment and demanded Derek let me in or I’d tell Heath who he’d been waiting for.” She stopped. Took a shallow breath. “Derek put his hands on my throat. Threatened to choke me. Said he’d heard being near death was a sexual experience, and if that’s what I wanted, he could take me there.” Her eyes grew glassy with unshed tears. “I told him he was crazy, and I left.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Sue said.
“Don’t you get it?” Zelda said, a tear sliding down her cheek. “I think Heath’s brother might have killed Derek. He was there. And then Derek was dead.”
Sue was at a loss. In her murder mysteries, the detectives always knew what to ask. “You said you went home? You didn’t go back in case Derek changed his mind?”
Zelda shook her head. “He made things pretty clear. And he was pretty high. That much was obvious. All things considered, if I had any chance with him, he wouldn’t have cared who else was there under those conditions. He’d let me in before. Taken me to the bedroom when he had company even when he wasn’t stoned.”
Prince of a guy.
Derek’s real-life murder, even if it wasn’t a murder, was far more gruesome than anything she’d read in a book. These were living, breathing people who were involved, not fictional characters she could leave between the pages or skim over when things got too ugly.
“Why are you telling me this?” Sue finally asked.
“I think Heath should know.”
“Then why don’t you tell him? Why me?”
Zelda managed a half a smile. “You were the one who asked when you came to see me. And I couldn’t hurt Heath that way.”
Oh, but it was okay for Sue to hurt him?
Heath had already told her he’d cleared C.J. “I’ll let Heath know, although I have no idea what he can do with the information.”
“Maybe then Derek can get justice, once the killer is found.”
Assuming Derek had been murdered.
~ ~ ~
RAPID KNOCKING SENT Heath to his front door. When he opened it, Sue stood on the porch looking highly annoyed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Your friend Zelda stopped to see me. She wanted to make sure I wasn’t working at the grocery store undercover, and when she was satisfied, she decided to ease her conscience with me.”
My friend Zelda. Well, she wasn’t entirely wrong. Sue probably wouldn’t have met her if it hadn’t been for him.
“First, she isn’t my friend,” he said. “Do you want to come in?”
Her expression softened. “I didn’t want to wait for our date tomorrow to tell you. I’d rather keep this whole mess with Derek separate since we’ve decided it’s nothing more than a fact-finding exercise.”
He opened the door wider. She walked in and took a seat on his sofa. He wasn’t sure how to respond to her mood, which radiated from her like uranium. He sat on the opposite end of the sofa, turned toward her. “Okay.”
Sue stared at him a long moment, studying him, and finally let out a sigh. “She says she went to try to win Derek back the day he died, but he turned her down and told her to leave. He was expecting someone.” She paused, stared at her hands. Folded them. Rubbed her thumbs together. “She said she passed your brother on her way out.”
So Zelda wanted them to believe C.J. had killed Derek. “My brother told me.”
Sue met his gaze. “Then he was the last person to see Derek alive?”
“He said when he left, Derek was expecting someone else.” How much did he want to tell her? He’d been the one to pull her into this mess. Might as well share what he knew. “They spent time together, but since I was due to come home, C.J. left so I wouldn’t find him there. Them there. Together.” He winced, still coming to terms with everything C.J. had told him. “He said Derek was alive when he left.”
Sue leaned over her knees, holding his gaze. “Would he have told you if he wasn’t?”
Heath laughed. “Considering everything else he told me about that night, yes. I think he would have.” Things that would undoubtedly change his relationship with his brother. Maybe now C.J. would stop telling Heath how to live his life.
“I asked Zelda why she gave up so easily,” Sue said. “Why she let Derek turn her away when she’d made the effort to go over there. I asked if she tried again after C.J. left. She said she didn’t. I believe her.”
“Well, we’re proving why we should let this go,” he said. “Seems like we’ve cleared Rich, and C.J., and Zelda.”
“We haven’t cleared your mother,” Sue said, then raised her palms. “I’m kidding. I don’t think your mother had anything to do with it.”
He managed a smile. “I suppose I could circle back to Jojo to complete our unofficial investigation. Jealousy is a good motive, but with all the other people coming and going out of my apartment that night, seems unlikely he would have showed up at exactly the right moment to do the deed.”
Sue shrugged. “You know, they say the killer is always the one who asks other people what they’ve found out so he knows if they’re onto him. Jojo did ask if you’d found the killer.”
Heath couldn’t imagine Jojo going after Derek. He said he’d been pissed off when Zelda left him, but enough to kill Derek? Then again, compounded with Derek’s litany of offenses, one more might have pushed Jojo over the edge. “We don’t have anyone else on our suspect list, right?” Heath asked.
“None that I know.”
He took a measured breath. “The police didn’t bother with anyone else, and they were willing to close the case. I don’t see a point in pursuing any other leads. Hell, I didn’t want to pursue the leads we identified, but now I want to talk to Jojo. Cross him off so we can let this go.”
“You want me to go with you when you do?” she asked.
“No. This whole experience has been traumatic enough for both of us. He’s my friend. He’ll speak more freely if it’s just me. Plus, I can tell when he’s bullshitting me.”
“Is it safe to talk to him alone?” she asked.
“Assuming he’s a cold-blooded killer?” Heath met her gaze, unable to think of Jojo that way. “I’ve known him half my life. I think I’ll be okay.”
“Meet him someplace public, and have backup at the ready,” she said.
Heath tilted his head back and squeezed his eyes closed. “I can’t believe it would come to that, but yeah, I’ll be careful.”