“Is that Lance’s gun?” I ask, even though I already know it is.
“I couldn’t let the cops find it under his mattress. If there’s no gun to trace back to him, they can’t ever prove he had it. I won’t let him go to jail for trying to protect himself.”
“Detective Perry was working to keep Lance out of jail. He was helping him because Lance was helping the police. They made a deal.”
She scoffs. “A deal. You can’t trust cops to deal. I went to the police when my husband stole everything from Lance and me, and you know what they did about it? Nothing! Said his name was on the account. They didn’t even try to find him.”
“I’m sorry. That’s awful.”
“It is awful. We lost everything, and I nearly lost Lance. Do you know how hard I’ve worked?”
“Lance told me what a great mother you are. He came to see me last night. He said there was nothing you wouldn’t do for him.” All the pieces start to click together. “That’s why you didn’t put a stop on that check, isn’t it?”
“Good thing, too. Mr. Cromwell never did change his mind. It was that wretched son of his.”
“Right. We know. Gabe is going to pay for that. I assure you.”
“Amanda?” Jill calls from the other room.
Amanda points the gun at me. “Don’t say a word, or I will shoot you. You understand? You just sit there and act like everything is fine.”
I nod and swallow hard.
She walks around me to the door and peeks her head out. “Yes, dear?” she calls in a sweet voice.
“A line is forming outside. Should I open a few minutes early?”
“Oh no, Jill. We could get in trouble for that. The customers will understand we have to follow the rules. Don’t you worry.”
While she’s talking, I reach inside my purse for my phone and dial Cam. He’s the last person who called me, so his contact is still up. I put the phone back in my purse before Amanda can see it.
She shuts the door and comes back around the desk to face me. “What am I going to do with you, Joanna?”
“I’m getting a check from Mr. Cromwell. I was planning to give it to Lance. He can have it. I don’t want the money anyway.”
“That’s a good start, but I’m worried you might tell people about our little conversation this morning.”
“No. You cashed a check Lance was meant to have. You did nothing wrong.”
“As if you haven’t figured out the rest of it, too. Don’t play me for a fool. You know I was in Cup of Jo Monday morning.”
She was! I remember seeing her, but I didn’t know who she was at the time. She came in around mid-morning. “You weren’t there when Mr. Cromwell was, so I don’t know what you’re implying.”
“No, I wouldn’t have been that careless. I just came for a free muffin. I didn’t even order one of your macchiatos, though I hear they were quite good. I admit I regret not getting one.”
“Then you came for free samples. Most of the town did. No crime there.”
“Don’t patronize me, Joanna. You know why I was really there.”
To drop a fish oil capsule onto the floor. Playing dumb isn’t working, so I need to switch tactics. I just hope Cam can hear all this on the other end of the phone since my purse is muffling our voices. I shift in my seat, trying to get my purse to open up more in the process. “Okay, you’re right. I do know. You came into Cup of Jo so you could leave one of the fish oil pills there.”
“Very good.”
“But that’s not how you poisoned Mr. Cromwell.”
“No. That was just to possibly frame you or someone else who might have attended your grand opening.”
“Elena Reede. You knew her mother took fish oil, and you knew Sherman Cromwell was allergic to it. You also knew Elena didn’t want Sherman as a business partner anymore.”
“It’s funny how much you learn when you work with people’s money.” She smiles.
“And the chocolate-covered strawberries,” I say.
She laughs. “My, my, you did do some investigative work, didn’t you, Joanna? Please, go on. Let’s see how much you got right.”
“You knew Alec Whitaker was visiting his daughter last weekend and that he always brought gifts for the Cromwells. Flowers for Gwen and fruit for Sherman. Chocolate-covered strawberries were his favorite.”
“You must tell me how you figured that one out.”
“The autopsy. The coroner found two things in Mr. Cromwell’s stomach. My macchiato and a chocolate-covered strawberry, which you soaked in fish oil.”
“He would have tasted it, too, if I hadn’t given him the suggestion to dip it in the macchiato.”
So that’s why there were traces of fish oil in the cup. “Who were you actually trying to frame?”
“That’s the beauty of my plan. I framed several people, including you. I thought it would take the police forever to figure it out.”
“Because no one saw you with Mr. Cromwell. Jill said you knew he liked to have breakfast in the park.”
“That’s right. I met him there. Right after his phone call about stopping the check.”
“But you thought he was backing out of your son’s business. Weren’t you surprised when he wasn’t unhappy to see you?”
“I never argued on the phone. If I had, someone would have heard me. I was very calm, and I gave him a different name. I disguised my voice and everything. He had no idea he was speaking to me on the phone.”
“So you thought he was trying to pull something over on you then by being nice to you after putting a stop on your son’s check.”
“That’s right. I figured he was no better than any other snooty rich person, dangling their money in front of people who really need it, only to yank it away.”
“How did you get him to dunk the strawberry in the macchiato if you weren’t there?”
“Easy. I only gave him two. He ate one—a regular one because I couldn’t chance someone finding a poisoned strawberry on his body or him dying while he was with me. I suggested he eat that one first because it was the bigger of the two. Thankfully, he listened. Then I told him he simply had to wait to eat the other when he could dunk it in the macchiato.”
He had the container in his pocket. That’s why his vitamins fell out when he was in my shop. The container must have knocked the bag out, and he probably threw away the container when he took out the strawberry. There’s a garbage can right outside my shop.
“This was all for Lance,” I say.
“Yes, and what a happy coincidence that there turned out to be more money in the will. I admit I didn’t see that one coming.”
She wouldn’t have because she was under the impression Mr. Cromwell wasn’t as good a person as he actually was.
“But you were wrong about him. Surely, you see that now.”
“I admit the wrong man died. Yes. But that is on his son’s hands.”
No, it’s on yours, you lunatic!
I can hear people in the bank. “What happens now? You can’t just walk out of here with me. There are people in the bank.”
“We are going to walk right out those doors, Joanna. Then you and I will take a little ride and have a little snack.”
“I’m not allergic to shellfish.”
“I have something else that will work just fine on anyone, allergies or no allergies.” She walks over to me and grabs my arm. My phone falls deeper into my purse as I stand. “Now, no sudden moves. Do everything I say, and no one else needs to get hurt. Understood?”
I don’t trust her not to open fire on a bank full of people, so I nod. I’ll figure out how to get away from her once I’m out of the bank.
“Very good.” She grabs her jacket and slips it on, placing the gun inside the right pocket where she can keep a grip on it. “After you.”
I open the door of her office.
“Big smiles now. Don’t want to alert anyone that anything is wrong,” she whispers to me.
I try to keep a neutral expression as I walk into the lobby. To my surprise, not many people are in here, despite Jill wanting to open early because of a crowd. I walk by the center island where you can write out deposit slips and notice the man standing there is angling his head down, but his eyes are up on me. It’s Quentin.
I continue to walk, hoping he has a plan. I’m about three steps past him when he tackles Amanda to the ground. Someone pulls me toward the doors and shields my body with theirs.
“Get off of me! What are you doing?” Amanda yells. “Jill, call the police!”
“Jill’s not here, and I am the police. Arms behind your back,” Quentin tells her.
The officer in front of me turns to face me. “Are you okay, Jo?”
“Officer Stiles, I didn’t recognize you out of uniform.”
“That’s the point of being undercover,” he says with a wink.
Quentin has Amanda on her feet, hands cuffed behind her.
“That’s her gun by the way. Not Lance’s. She’ll tell you the same,” I say, knowing Amanda loves her son enough to lie for him. Poor Lance really doesn’t have a soul left in the world. He needs people on his side.
“That’s right. He was lying to protect me earlier. The gun is mine,” Amanda asserts.
Quentin nods in understanding. He knows Amanda and I are lying, but he’s going to play along. Maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all. A terrible boyfriend but a decent cop who can see when a guy is down on his luck.
Officer Stiles brings me outside. The bank staff is nearest to us since they clearly helped the police pull this off. Mr. Englert rushes over to make sure I’m okay. Once he’s satisfied I am, he thanks Officer Stiles and the other officers who went in posed as customers.
“Jo, I have that check,” Jill says waving a paper at me. “The financial advisor just dropped them off.”
I hold out my hand. “Do you have a pen?” I ask her.
She hands me the check and the pen. “Eager to cash it, I see.”
I turn it over and endorse it. “Actually, I’m signing it over to Lance Tunney.”
Amanda gives a sharp intake of air. “Why? After… Why would you do that?”
“There’s a right and wrong way to help someone. Sherman Cromwell knew that, and so do I.”
Quentin puts her in the patrol car and slams the door. “That was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”
“Yes, because I knew it was her when I went in there.” I roll my eyes.
“You didn’t?”
“No. Not until she started talking.”
“Cam recorded the call, so we have her confession on tape,” Quentin says.
“Jo!” Cam yells.
I turn to see the police aren’t letting anyone through, so I rush over to him. He wraps me in a hug.
“I’ve never been so scared in my life. I raced to the station and got Quentin.”
I’m sure it killed him to go to Quentin for help. “Thank you. I probably wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t.”
“Jo, I need you to come to the station to give a formal statement,” Quentin says.
“Okay. Sure.”
“I’ll drive you,” Cam says.
“Jo!” Mo rushes over to me. “Oh my God. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Really. Cam got the police here in time.”
“They held everyone outside,” Mo says. “I saw it from my office window.”
“What were you doing working on a Saturday morning?” I ask.
“I was doing some pro bono work for Lance. I wanted to help out.”
“The police wanted to go in posing as civilians,” Cam says. “They figured it was their best option for not tipping off Amanda that something was wrong.”
“Yeah, if no one had come in after Jill told Amanda there was a crowd outside, she would have known the police were here, and I… I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Neither do I,” Mo says, hugging me.
Neither Mo nor Cam is willing to let me go anywhere on my own. Mo even comes to the bathroom with me at the station. It reminds me of when we were kids and Mom would send us to the restroom together in public places because there’s safety in numbers.
Quentin takes my statement, and I’m sure to throw in a good word for Lance.
“Lance never knew anything about it. It was all his mother. She thought Gabe was really Sherman on the phone, and she lashed out.”
“How did she pull it all off so quickly, though?” Cam asks.
“According to Lance, his mother takes fish oil. All she really had to do was buy some chocolate-covered strawberries, and her plan was in action within minutes,” Quentin says.
“Lance told me she was really smart, and he was definitely right.”
“She knew just about everything about everyone in town,” Quentin says. “She knew about Cromwell’s allergy. She knew Mary Ellen Reede took fish oil pills. And she knew Alec Whitaker brought Sherman Cromwell gifts when he was here, including chocolate-covered strawberries. She had all that knowledge at the tips of her fingers, and she used it.”
“It’s scary how some people can just snap like that,” Mo says.
“It is. Why don’t you all go home? We’re finished here.” Quentin stands up and walks us to the door. “Jo?”
“I’ll be right there, guys,” I tell Cam and Mo.
They reluctantly go on ahead without me.
“What else can I do for you, Detective? Don’t tell me you need me to solve another case.”
He laughs. “Nothing like that. I wanted to say thank you.”
I raise my brows. “You’re welcome. Now, no offense, but I’ve spent way too much time with you lately, and I want to go home.”
He nods, and I walk away.