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DANA HAD SHOWN THE note to Troy and he was looking it over carefully. Still, she was on edge. That meant that she was getting closer. Really close to the truth or to a horrible family secret, probably. Maybe this was too much for her.
Troy sat there for a moment mulling over the note. He looked upset, but still oh, so handsome. She had to remain focused.
She sat across from him in his office at the police station.
“We’re going to look into this,” he said, his voice very stern.
“I really appreciate that, Troy.”
“Dana, I'm not going to lie to you. I find this very disturbing.” He leaned forward in his chair still grasping the note. His mouth seemed to tighten in a clench. If she wasn’t mistaken she thought she saw a muscle twitch in his handsome jaw. “I would go crazy if anyone even tried anything with you. If anyone so much as hurt a hair on your head...”
She was caught off guard by his words. Troy really did care for her, didn’t he? She tried not to get her hopes up but was this more than just work-related?
Troy seemed to catch himself on his expression of concern over Dana. “I mean if anyone does anything to you, I'll see to it that they’re punished to the full extent of the law.”
“Troy, I...”
“As a matter of fact I think I'll have a car watch your house,” he said before she could say anything else. “I don't want to take any chances.” He then got up from his chair.
“Oh no, Troy. I don't want you trying anything like that. I'll be fine, really. The last thing I want is for the neighbors to be talking.”
“You care more about neighbors talking about you then your life?”
“Yes. I mean, of course not. It's not like that at all. I just don't want to draw attention to myself. I really think it's fine. I think whoever sent it was just trying to scare me off.”
“Well, you be sure to call me if anything. Do you need me to come over?” After he said it, he hesitated for a moment. Why was he getting all flustered all of a sudden? This was probably all in Dana’s imagination. It was probably because of the case and nothing more. Nothing personal. Or was it?
Dana’s heart flip-flopped in her chest. Was Troy asking to come over to her house? As tempting as she was she answered, “My cousin Katie is sharing the house with me. I'll be fine. We’ll be fine. Besides Truffles is really perceptive. If anyone dodgy tries to enter the home she'll hiss them away and probably scratch out their eyes,” she joked, trying to make light of her feelings of the situation.
He grinned.
She just hoped and prayed what she was saying was true that it was just a scare tactic.
But the real question was how close was she getting to the truth? Who was more at stake in all of this?
“I'm just wondering who could have sent the note,” Troy said, almost to himself.
“It could be from anyone really? It’s a good thing I went to Dr. Hatchett’s office to find out about Mr. R’s health status. That puts things into perspective about who the killer could be.”
“I wish you hadn’t gone there on your own.”
“I had to find out about the note Mr. R received that morning. The morning of his murder.”
“Like I said before, you know you should've come to me first,” Troy said.
“I know that Troy. I just didn’t want to bother you unless I had a solid lead. I know you have a lot of things on your mind as it is. You hands are tied. The last thing you need is a wild goose chase. Besides, at least I found out that old man Renaldo didn't have much time left. That would explain maybe why he read the note and tore it up. But then again I’m wondering if the butler saw the note. I'm just wondering if either Renaldo tried to kill himself or if they killed him.”
“Now that doesn’t make much sense. Why would he try to kill himself? As I said before, he was planning his own engagement party, remember?”
“That's true.” Dana felt flustered. This mystery was more mysterious than any of the riddles on her blog.
“What's on your mind?” he asked, curiously.
“Oh, nothing. Just that’s it’s true what they say.”
“What’s that?”
“That truth is stranger than fiction.”
* * *
THE FOLLOWING WEEK Dana and Katie got out of the car to attend the memorial service for Mr. Renaldo.
"I still can't believe that you declined getting help from the police after you got that suspicious note last week,” Katie said to Dana as they walked up to the grey stone steps of the Berry Cove Baptist church. Katie looked around suspiciously.
“Katie, I'm fine really.”
“Actually how do you know that, cuz? It could be any one of these people here who left that note. And just to think that we’re all going to be in the same church together celebrating the life of Mr. Renaldo.”
“That's true,” Dana agreed with a sigh. “But we can’t back down now. Besides Troy did say that he had our backs. He said that he was still looking out even though he didn't have a man posted at our door. And that was so sweet of him to be drop by our house pretty much every day since the note.”
“Okay, you’ve got a point.” Katie agreed. She then gave Dana a funny look with a smirk.
“What's that look for?”
“Oh nothing. It's just that well you two have been getting pretty close lately. He does seem to really like you.”
“Okay, Katie, it's not like that at all. Besides I'm through with romance, remember? He's just doing his job.”
“Oh yeah. I bet you that's not all he would like to be doing.” Katie arched a brow.
“Katie! Stop that. We’re at a funeral for goodness sake.”
“Sorry. You’re right. We’ll discuss this further later.” Katie grinned.
Dana felt her heart flutter when she saw Troy’s car not far away from where they were. It was nice that he would be attending the service today.
For some reason she felt much safer knowing that he was going to be around. Especially after what Katie said about the killer possibly being among the guests today.
She’d be surrounded by a lot of family members and many of them were not happy that she was poking around in their family affairs. After all, it had to be one of them who did away with Mr. Renaldo. Even Troy knew that.
That's one of the reasons Troy said he would be attending. He said that suspects always tend to turn up at the funeral services of the victims. It was going to be his job to watch and observe everybody.
But little did he know that so was Dana. Of course, why wouldn't she help out the local police station? That was her specialty after all, wasn't it? Solving mystery riddles.
Not long after they started entering inside the chapel, the grieving fiancée strutted her stuff down the aisle as if walking down the runway of a Milan fashion show with her faux fur scarf swinging off her shoulder and her Louis Vuitton monogram handbag with gold bling dangling from it. She wore a black body-hugging above the knee dress, sporting a black wide rimmed hat fit for a widow with a black mesh net over her face. The fiancée also donned black fishnet stockings for the occasion. Her designer perfume lingered in the air with strength. It was quite a sight and scent, Dana had to admit.
She tried hard not to gape. The last thing one wanted to do was to gape at the grieving family at a funeral, right? She certainly was putting on quite a fashion show though.
Stop that, Dana. She’s probably a nice lady. You don’t know if the rumors are true about her being a gold-digger. And she’s probably not the one who left that suspicious note.
Dana looked around the church and observed the daughter, Jackie, and her brothers throwing dagger looks at Goldie. And then there was the butler and the maid who were giving bad looks to the children of the deceased. How odd. Miles tried to put his arm around Jackie again and she shrugged him off and kept eyeing Goldie with contempt.
“Never mind. Let’s just keep the peace,” Miles whispered loudly to Jackie. But it was too late.
“No. I will not keep the peace,” Jackie pouted aloud to the chagrin of the guests who by now all spun their heads around.
“She should not be here.” Jackie’s eyes were narrowed on Goldie who was escorted by two young beefy bodyguards. At least the men in suits looked like they were bodyguards.
“What do you mean I shouldn’t be here?” Goldie raised her voice back. “I have just as much right as you do. You spoiled brat!”
“Spoiled brat? Who are you calling spoiled brat? You cheating gold-digger!”
“Gold digger?”
Dana noticed and found it odd that Goldie never repeated the word cheating.
“All right ladies, please.” Troy stepped in. “This is a memorial service. And I think it best to keep the peace. Your father hired the police before his passing as an arrangement in his memorial to ensure it went smoothly. So I would appreciate you setting your differences aside.” Troy arched his brow.
“Fine. I’m going to get some fresh air.” Goldie turned around and left the chapel but instead of heading outside, Dana noticed she made a beeline to the ladies powder room. Maybe Dana should visit the ladies room, too, to freshen up her...lipstick or something.
“Is everything okay?” Dana spoke to Goldie in the powder room a few minutes later, just before the service was to begin.
Dana observed Goldie’s eyes through her lightly tinted Ray Ban shades. Her eyes looked swollen and red.
“No.” She sighed heavily. “Everything is not fine.”
“I know it must be very terrible for you with what's going on with the family.”
“Yes it is terrible,” she said. “And it’s funny they think I’m the one who was draining my boo but failed to even mention that Junior has a huge gambling debt.”
“He does?”
“Yes. He does. As a matter of fact he wanted me to pay off one of his bookies. I heard him have an argument with his father in the study over this.”
“Does the police know about this?”
“I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not. Because everyone's pointing fingers at me, I’ve been fighting to defend myself and clear my name.”
“Well, Goldie I think you should mention this. It’s very important. This could make a whole lot of difference.”
“But who's going to believe me?” she said.
“The police will. They’ll investigate what you say.”
“Do you realize that most of the family have been accusing me of being a gold digger? But what they don't realize is that Booboo was fearful of them.”
“Boo boo?”
“Yes, Tierry.”
“He was?”
“Yes, he was. He was very fearful of them. They all had their bad debts. There’s Junior who lost everything to his ex-wife. And he has a drinking problem and gambling problem.”
Dana got out her notebook and decided to take notes. “Hope you don't mind if I write this down, Goldie. I think it's important for the police to know this. Right now they don't have many good leads.”
“Sure. Go right ahead. I want them to find out who did that to my Boo Boo. Because as I told you before, it makes no difference to me right now. And as far as the cheating accusations.” She sighed heavily again. “You seem like a girl I can trust. I can tell you this. Boo and I had an understanding. He wasn’t taking any Viagra or anything and, well, he said he couldn’t give me what I needed so he didn’t mind me keeping relations as long as I give him companionship.”
“Oh, Goldie. I...don’t know what to say.”
“I made him happy in more ways than one. I gave him lots of joy and jokes and happiness and wasn’t out to judge him. He liked having me around. I wasn’t always talking about his money like everybody else. But the kids wouldn’t understand that would they?”
“No, I imagine they wouldn’t.”
Well, this new information changed a lot in Dana’s mind.
It would seem that Goldie wasn’t a good suspect after all. And she sure as hell didn’t write that note. Dana felt it in her heart.
So that left Mr. Renaldo’s three kids and the maid and butler as possible suspects.
Oh, goodness.
This was going to be a lot harder than she imagined.
“Come. Let’s go to the service. It’ll be starting soon.”
“Thanks for understanding, Dana. I don’t have too many friends around here. People always judge me based on their perception of me. And my past. With me being a former model and all. And yeah, I like fancy things. So what? I know I can be a bit bossy at times. Tierry liked that about me. I was sassy, he used to say. My contract ended with Shey Cosmetics and I was out of work. Tierry saw me when I was in my transition period and he felt sorry for me. My ex dumped me because I no longer had modeling contracts coming in. Tierry understood what it felt like to be judged based on age or used. We had more in common than most people realize.”
“I’m sure you did. It looks as if you made each other happy.”
“We did. He told me to go out and have some fun. Go to the parlor. Do my nails and my face. He liked that. He liked when I looked good for him. Even if...well, you know.”
“I see.” Dana was lost for words for a moment.
“Goldie, did Tierry ever tell you about his medical condition?”
“As a matter of fact yes he did. I know about it all. It was kind of unexpected. We knew that he wasn't that well. But then he got bad news. He told me to not worry about anything. But we really thought he had more time. And no, I don't think he was suicidal,” she added as if reading Dana’s mind.
“Tierry loved life too much,” Goldie continued. “He would more likely want to spend each last moment just having fun. In fact, he still wanted to have the engagement party. Because he knew that he might not be around for the wedding day. I think someone might have seen the note and speeded up the process.”
Goldie’s red lips formed a pout and her eyebrows furrowed. Dana noted she was probably wearing Maybelline. Why on earth did that thought slide into her mind at a time like that?
“Okay, so you think someone saw the note then?” Dana said getting back on track. “So you knew about the note, the delivery then?
“Yes, I did. He was very angry and he just ripped up the note and tried to burn it in the fireplace. I was there with him that morning. We had a little argument and I was due to go out and buy a the dress for the party, but then when I got back...” She swallowed hard.
“I see. I’m sorry you went through that.” Dana felt sorry for Goldie. How awful to have had an argument just before her fiancé was found dead.
“You know the police should know about this.”
“I already told the police everything about that morning. I was at May’s Boutique trying on a new outfit for the party. So you can imagine my surprise when I got back and well, he was found dead.”
“Of course it must've been quite a shock for you.”
“Yes, it was a shock.”
Well, this conversation made things a bit clearer, didn’t it? And narrowed Dana’s list of suspects.