“I’m such a fool,” Roxy said, bending over to pick each chip off the steps one by one. At least now she had a plausible reason for blushing—and an activity to hide it.
“Hey, leave the chips for now,” Sam said, placing a hand gently over hers as she continued to scrabble around. His touch was like an electric shock coursing through her body, and she jumped. He let go. “Accidents happen. Do you want to see how the loft is coming along?”
“Yes, yes, of course!” Roxy pushed strands of her short hair behind her ear and brushed her face in confusion.
Sam put down his lunch, and they walked up the remaining stairs. At the top, there was a landing and a door that opened up to the loft space Sam was converting.
“Wow,” Roxy said as soon as she stepped inside.
It was a long way from being finished, but the room looked a lot better than the last time she’d seen it. Before they had started on the project, she and Sam had sorted through boxes and boxes of items that could be credibly called junk, but out of respect for Evangeline—who had accumulated it all—they had tactfully marked it “miscellany.” It had been an exhausting process.
“Oh, I haven’t seen that in thirty years!” Evangeline would exclaim, as she took items out of their dusty old boxes and set them on the floor. This was usually followed by, “I must keep it!” Many frustrated looks had passed between Sam and Roxy until they became resigned to the fact that Evangeline wasn’t to be parted from her memories. They needed to come up with a solution that respected her wishes but also allowed them to renovate the space.
Roxy had confided her frustration to Elijah during one of their regular “business and coffee” chats one day. Elijah offered Evangeline some unused storage space above the bakery and he and Roxy, along with Nat, Sage, Sam, a couple of Sam’s laundrymen, and Elijah’s two bakery assistants had spent an afternoon forming a human chain to move the boxes from the Funky Cat to Elijah’s Bakery.
It had been an exercise in teamwork and cooperation that had warmed Roxy’s heart. They had all kept their cool, respected each other’s wishes, and had come up with a resolution that made everyone happy. Roxy couldn’t have imagined concluding an issue so successfully before she had arrived in New Orleans. Until that point, her life had seemed a neverending round of power struggles. Struggles she had usually lost.
After they had cleared the space, Sam had cleaned the loft from top to bottom. It hadn’t been touched in a very long time, and the dust lay so thick in places it was like carpet. Sam had filled multiple vacuum bags with nothing but gray dust, and then he had set about scrubbing the room down.
“Are you sure you want to be doing this?” Roxy had asked him.
“Yup, it’ll give you a new room to play with. I’m mostly glad there are no rat hideouts or bird nests up here. If there were, we’d have been looking at a whole different operation.”
As it was, the only major issue was some minor dry rot that was easily remedied. Handy as he was, Sam had simply cut out the old damaged wood piece by piece and replaced it with new lumber. Roxy could see his repairs had made things as good as new, if not better. After that, Sam had set about renovating the space.
Now, when Roxy stepped into the loft, her heart swelled with joy. The room was going to look awesome! Beams had been installed across the high, sloped ceiling and painted a rich mahogany color. The rickety window at one end had been replaced with a brand new frame, and it was gorgeous. It was circular with leaded glass that splayed out from the center to the edges like spokes. It looked like a giant wheel and let in plenty of light especially in the afternoon when the sun’s rays showered the room with a golden glow and made it perfect for a nap or a relaxed drink while taking in the magnificent views across the city. Roxy knew that Nefertiti would be sure to find her way into the room unless they kept the door shut. Neffi was a sun worshipper and heat-seeking missile rolled into one.
At the other end of the room was a platform. A small, spiral staircase led up to it. It was encased in a delicate, filigree, wrought iron balustrade. Next to it, Sam planned to install another circular window that would offer the room even more light and even more of a view. Next to the room, on the landing, a luxury bathroom had been built and there was even access to the rooftop. It was the perfect, romantic hideaway, one that Roxy hoped would be popular with honeymooning couples and others wanting to get away from their regular, stress-filled lives.
“Sam!” Roxy said. “It looks incredible!”
“Yeah?” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking modest. “It does look pretty good, doesn’t it? It’s coming along.”
Roxy walked over to the window. “It’s just…wow!” She looked out. There was a fabulous view over the rooftops of New Orleans. “This is just…well, I can’t find the right word for it. ‘Special’ isn’t enough.” She turned to him. “Thank you, Sam.”
“You’re welcome.” He hesitated before venturing, “Perhaps you’d like this room? We could switch things around so that guests stay in what are your personal rooms now.”
Roxy walked up and down the large loft—it was the first time she’d been able to do that without worrying dry rot was going to bring down a beam on her. She turned and grinned at him, but shook her head. “Nuh-uh. We can charge a premium for this room.” She looked around again. “It would be lovely to sleep here, though.” She smiled at the thought. “So, tell me, how d'ya get so good at everything, huh?” Excitement over the room was overwhelming her shyness of earlier.
Sam shook his head. “I’m not good at everything,” he said, “by any stretch.”
“Aw, come on! You’re courteous and kind, for a start. You can play the sax like a professional. You have a successful laundry business that you run standing on your head. You can do electrics and plumbing and just about every type of DIY trick known to man.” She also wanted to add the fact that he clearly had tons of money, but she observed their rule of not speaking of it and held her tongue.
“You’re too kind, Roxy,” he said. “But look at you. You came here and started a new life knowing no one and nothing about New Orleans. You solved two murders, no less, and took control of managing this place without any experience at all. Took it from a rundown, if somewhat charming, guesthouse to a luxury boutique hotel that is constantly sold out…And you’re still kind and as down-to-earth as ever. You’ve got a lot of things going for you, too.”
“Thanks, it’s sweet of you to say so,” said Roxy. They smiled at each other for a long moment before Roxy started, her expression switching to deadly serious as a memory hit her. “That reminds me…murder. Dr. Jack called Sage and me down to the police station this morning. He asked us to investigate the case of Meredith’s shooting. He says the police think it’s him, but that they’ve got the wrong man. He maintains he’s innocent. Sage is working on her side of things, asking angels and spirits for help and whatnot. I agreed to look into it, too, but for information the police will accept as evidence.”
“Now that’s a dream team,” Sam said.
Roxy began pacing. It helped her thought process. “The people in the room with Meredith Romanoff when she died were George, Charles, Dr. Jack, a businessman called Royston Lamontagne, and an old childhood friend of Meredith’s.” Roxy looked at the plain wooden floorboards beneath her feet and counted the names of the people on her fingers. “Terah…Terah…I forget her last name. Jonas? Oh, I know, Jones! Terah Jones. And me. We were all in the room. Any of us could have done it.”
“You’re going to need to talk to them all.”
“Yeah,” said Roxy. “It’s a fine line to walk, you know? With Charles and George. They are devastated, understandably, and I absolutely can’t upset them further. If they’re innocent, that would be terrible. At the same time, they could easily be involved. One or both. I’m not quite sure how to handle it. Now, concerning the other two, Royston Lamontagne and Terah Jones, I have no such qualms, but getting them to talk to me will be the issue. The thing is…well, Lamontagne s
eems to be the kind of person who’s ‘too important’ to talk to likes of me. He’ll be easy to find, though, with a name like that. I’ll just Google him. Meredith said he was in the music business. I’ll Google Terah Jones, too, I guess.
“Give it a go now,” said Sam. “But wait here. I’ve got something to show you. One sec.”
Sam walked over to his toolbox at the other end of the loft. He began to rummage. Roxy, in the meantime, hit up Google on her phone. As she expected, searching on Royston Lamontagne brought up hundreds of hits that all pointed to the same person. He appeared to run a company called Lamontagne Promotions. Terah Jones was more of a mixed bag, with results popping up from all over the country. She tried again. Terah Jones New Orleans was much more fruitful.
“Ooh!” said Roxy out loud. “She’s a dog walker! Terah Jones Dog Walking Services! And there’s a number right here. I can call her now. Great.”
Sam came back. “Now you can start getting somewhere. I’ve gotta get back to work myself, but I wanted to ask which floor stain do you like the best?” He held out some tiny samples. “I want to keep the original floorboards for the most part. I switched out the couple that had dry rot and aged them so that they fit in. But now you need to decide on a color. Cream White, Rich Pine, or Mahogany? Which do you think will be best?”
Roxy took a look around the room. She imagined the cathedral ceiling and all the walls painted in white, and the room flooded with daylight. “Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but a navy blue or forest green, even an aquamarine stain would give it so much more character, and provide an amazing start for the color scheme.”
Sam dropped his hands holding the rejected stain samples. “Genius! I’d never have thought of that. You’re a little wilder than you know, Rox.”
Roxy grinned. “Hardly, but thanks…I’ll take that as a compliment…I think?”
“It is definitely a compliment.”
“Well, on that note, I’m going to walk on the wild side and call Terah Jones right now. I’ll see if she can talk.”
“Great plan,” said Sam. “I’ll install the other window this afternoon.”
“Amazing, I can’t wait to see it.” Roxy hurried out. “See you later. Don’t forget what’s left of your po’ boy on the stairs. Watch out for chips underfoot. I’ll send Nat to vacuum them up!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HALF AN HOUR later, Roxy was at the waterfront waiting for Terah. The waters of the Mississippi sparkled in the early afternoon sun, creating a glare that made Roxy squint. When she had called Terah on the phone earlier, Meredith’s friend had confirmed that she was a dog walker, and she was about to take two dogs out for some exercise. Would Roxy like to join her? They’d arranged to meet by the river in Audubon Park, next to where the boat tours started.
The park was a little way from the Funky Cat Inn, so Roxy took a cab as far as she could. It was a lovely change of scenery, a truly serene setting. As she strolled across the park to the meeting place, Roxy was surrounded by towering trees and abundant stretches of green lawn. Flowers and shrubs bloomed everywhere. “I should come here more often,” she said to herself as she walked down to the waterfront.
“Hello, Roxy,” someone said behind her.
Roxy turned to find herself a few feet away from Terah. With her were two ferocious-looking German Shepherds who strained on their leashes, their teeth bared. Roxy jumped back in shock.
“Rex! Tyson! Down!” Terah commanded, but the dogs took no notice. “I’m sorry,” she said, backing away. “These boys are a little over the top.”
“You don’t say,” Roxy said, looking at the dogs warily. She was much more of a cat person.
“The look of relief on the owner’s face when she hands them over to me says it all,” Terah continued. “I’d stop walking them in a heartbeat, but she is by far my highest paying client, so I’m hanging on for as long as I can. They need some serious training.” She pulled again on the dog’s leashes as they strained against her. Despite the challenging and fearsome dogs, Terah seemed to Roxy to be more relaxed than she had been at the botanica the previous evening.
“Right,” said Roxy. “Great.” She blew out her cheeks. “Perhaps they can smell my cat.”
“I’ll put their muzzles on. Just give me a few moments and stand well back.” Terah tied the dogs’ leashes to a nearby bench and got to work. “I hate to see dogs muzzled,” Terah said. “But if they bite someone, we’ll all have bigger problems, so it’s the lesser of two evils.”
It was warm, and Terah was sweating. With a tissue, she wiped her forehead, then under her good eye. As she discreetly lifted her eye patch to wipe sweat from her cheekbone Roxy caught a glimpse of an eyelid that was closed, permanently, it looked like.
Terah saw her looking. “Car crash. Years ago now,” she explained simply. She pointed to the path ahead, “We can walk along, but you’ll need to keep some distance between you and the dogs. They obviously sense something. They were being quite good until they saw you.”
“I don’t know much about dogs, honestly,” said Roxy. “I’ve never had one. I have a cat, Nefertiti. She’s as soft as a snowflake.” They started to walk.
Terah smiled, although in the circumstances it looked more like a grimace. “I shouldn’t complain. As jobs go, dog walking is pretty cushy.”
“How did you get into it? Dog walking, I mean.” Roxy asked. The dogs were calming down a little now they were moving, but Terah was having to lean back to counteract the strong forward motion of the dogs. Her arms were outstretched and taut.
“I fell into it, really—and only recently. I used to work in human resources for a corporate in Dallas, but I started getting a lot of pain in my hands and back. Eventually, I was diagnosed with arthritis, probably a much-delayed consequence of my car wreck. The drugs didn’t work, and I don’t like taking them anyway, so I came here to see a holistic doctor, and his treatment worked! I rarely have an attack anymore. I mean, I’m pretty skeptical when it comes to these things, but if it works, it works, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“After a while, I felt much better, and I realized there was no way I wanted to go back to my old job,” she laughed. “I started this dog-walking gig by walking my doctor’s dog, would you believe? Word spread, and my books are full now.”
“That’s awesome,” said Roxy. “It sounds like you’ve come a long way.”
“Yes,” said Terah. “But,” her face darkened, “I just can’t believe what’s happened to Meredith.”
Terah and Roxy continued to walk through picturesque Audubon Park, Roxy a little way off to Terah’s left to avoid the attention of the German Shepherds. Terah shook her head. “I just find it so unbelievable that this Dr. Jack person would kill Meredith over a simple argument. There’s got to be a bigger backstory. Maybe they crossed in the past, and he finally got his revenge.”
“What makes you think that?” said Roxy.
“Well, no sane person would kill over a few angry words, would they? Maybe his sanity is the issue. Perhaps he’s insane. That might explain it.”
“Dr. Jack isn’t insane,” said Roxy. “I know him.”
“For how long?”
“Oh…well, a few months.”
“You see,” Terah said, as if she’d solved the case already. “You can’t really know someone in that short length of time. You only know the personality they’ve presented to you. The right person can easily put on an act. Some can keep it up for years.”
“I would agree with you, but my friend Sage has known him much longer. Many years.”
Terah shook her head. “Never trust a friend’s view of their friend, Roxy. They can’t see clearly, and they are biased. I’ve found that out to my peril more than once.”
“Oh?”
“Back in the day, Meredith and I had a mutual friend who swore to me that Meredith was utterly trustworthy. But Meredith, when she was younger, had a dark side. I sensed it was there but ignored my instincts and believed my
friend’s judgment. The result was I let myself get close to Meredith, and she led me on a merry dance, that’s for sure.” Terah laughed.
Roxy frowned. “What happened exactly?”
“I knew Meredith forty years ago, and I knew her well, good and bad. I certainly didn’t see her through rose-tinted spectacles like those hordes of credulous fans she has now. The fame, the public image of Meredith Romanoff doesn’t affect or fool me. I believe it to be merely a façade. I doubt she has changed much since high school, and she made many enemies back then. Does that surprise you?”
Roxy thought for a moment, looking out over the trees. “Well, she does—did—have, well, an abrupt way about her. But…she could be charming, too.”
“Exactly!” Terah exclaimed. “Charming and abrupt, some would say rude. She was such a contradiction. Knowing her as I did, it was shocking to see her become so rich and famous with a public brand that presented her as an all-knowing, kind, beneficent actor. Her fans treated her like a goddess, almost like she was the second coming.
“So what was she like in high school?” Roxy asked.
Terah was in full flow now. “Well, I first knew Meredith by reputation only. We went to school together, a small Texas town. She was kind of a big deal in high school, but I wasn’t a friend of hers. She was a friend of my friend, Lizzie Jo. At the time, I had a boyfriend who was captain of the football team. He was the first guy at school with a motorbike, long, flicky brown hair, big shoulders, and dreamy eyes. You know the type. He was smart, too, the whole package. Very unusual.”
“Yes,” said Roxy. The type of boy she’d never gone anywhere near in high school. And who had never gone anywhere near her.
“I’m not sure why he liked me. I was into art, not cheerleading or anything like that. I was overweight, too, but back then, I did have this lovely long wavy blonde hair that all the girls envied, and he said he loved my eyes. Anyway, all the popular girls—including Meredith—were furious when he chose me over them. It made me something of an outcast but I didn’t mind too much. I wasn’t one to run with the cool girls.
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