by Jessica Beck
“Is that even possible? I know you’ve had luck doing it in the past, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“You don’t have to know. That’s where I come in,” I said.
“Okay, I can see that, but before we get started, you need to know something.”
Was this going to be a revelation of something she’d neglected to tell me before about what had happened at the house? “I’m listening.”
“I’m not entirely sure that I want to get back together with my husband, but I’d at least like the opportunity to try later.”
I nodded. “Got it. Is that it?”
“That’s all I had to say,” she answered.
“Then let’s talk about who might have wanted Cecile Marbury dead.”
“We’re going to have to open up some old wounds, aren’t we?” she asked me.
“If it’s the only way to get at the truth, then yes, we are. Autumn, you need to realize that there’s a good chance we’re going to anger some innocent people with our investigation. Are you ready to accept that as a consequence?”
“Are you talking about Jeff?” she asked me as we continued to walk.
“Yes, and every other person we interrogate. This isn’t the time to spare anyone’s feelings, not even your husband’s. I’ve lost more than one friend myself in the past because of the questions I had to ask.”
“I can do it if it’s the only way to get the truth,” she said.
“Even if it’s with Jeff?”
“Suzanne, I’m not sure how I feel about him right now, but one thing I do know is that I don’t want him to think I could have killed his mother, and apparently the only way I’m going to be able to do that is to help you solve Cecile’s murder.”
She sounded sure of herself, and I hoped that she would stick with that resolve. It was one thing to say you were going to do something that might be painful to someone else, but it was an entirely different matter actually doing it.
“Okay, let’s start with the people in Cecile’s life and try to come up with possible motives for them to want to see her dead,” I said. I’d nearly added that we had to focus on anyone who stood to gain from her murder, but I decided my word choice had been good enough for the moment.
Before I could bring it up, she did it for me. “We have to start with Jeff, obviously,” she said. “Though I don’t know what motive he could possibly have to want to see his mother dead.”
“Really? I can think of a few,” I said cautiously.
Autumn stopped and looked at me oddly. “Seriously? Like what?”
“Before I say another word, I have to warn you that you’re not going to like what I’ve got to say, but is it possible for you to keep an open mind and not comment until we’re finished listing our possible suspects?”
“I’ll try,” she said.
“You need to do more than that,” I replied, still standing there on the sidewalk staring at her. Things were about to get touchy, and I didn’t want my friend hating me for voicing what law enforcement was already thinking, unless I missed my guess.
“I promise,” she added after a few more moments’ thought.
“Okay. First there’s financial. I’m assuming that he’s named in his mother’s will.”
“Of course he is, but so is Adam,” she snapped.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get to him in a minute,” I said.
She took a deep breath and then said, “Go on.”
“From the look of things, I’m guessing that she was well off.”
“She was loaded,” Autumn said. “She tried to use her money like a club to get us to do what she wanted, but we mostly fought her on it. I think Jeff managed to get in and out of the will a dozen times since we got married.”
“Seriously?” If it were true, it just might have provided Autumn’s estranged husband with motive enough for murder.
“She never meant it,” Autumn said. “It was always a power play with that woman, an underlying threat that she could pull the plug financially at any time, but I doubt seriously that she ever followed through with it.”
“Well, there’s no way we’ll be able to find that out, given attorney/client privilege. We might ask Tom if he’s heard anything about it later.”
“Jeff would never kill her for money,” Autumn said firmly.
“What about for love?” I asked her.
“What do you mean?” she asked me in return as she stopped in her tracks again. At this rate we’d be lucky to get back to the cottage by nightfall, we were taking so many stops along the way.
“If Cecile pushed him into divorcing you, they could have had an argument. Things could have gotten heated, and in the moment, he might have struck out at her to defend you, and his marriage.”
Instead of a quick blanket denial, Autumn hesitated before she answered. “Things were a bit rocky between them lately, probably mostly because of me, but also because Adam came back into their lives. Are we ever going to get to talk about him?”
I’d covered my two points of possible motive for Jeff, and clearly Autumn was ready to move on. “Okay, let’s talk about Adam.”
“He’s a bad seed, a black sheep if ever there was one,” she said. “Not only do I not trust him, but the man gives me the creeps. He finds a way to worm himself into any conversation, and he almost always steers it around to the fact that he deserves a better lot in life than he’s gotten.”
“Does he ever say anything specific?”
“Despite being Jeff’s older brother, he claims that my husband always got the lion’s share of attention and money from their mother. It’s absolutely absurd, since we took hardly anything from Cecile while she was alive, and there is no way that Jeff ever got more attention than Adam. Unfortunately, his older brother has a royal family way of looking at life.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Those two men were always nothing more than an heir and a spare, at least in Adam’s mind. He thought it was his birthright to get the biggest slice of everything, including money and attention. Cecile treated Adam as though he was perfect and Jeff as someone who never measured up, which was just the opposite of the truth, at least as far as I was concerned.”
“Is it possible that you’re biased towards your husband?” I asked her.
“Of course it is, but I know for a fact that Cecile was financing Adam’s partying lifestyle until recently.”
“How do you happen to know that?”
“Why do you think he suddenly decided to come back home? She cut off his allowance, so he had no choice. Cecile was finally tired of him mooching off her, and she laid down the law. Either Adam came home and became a real part of the family, or he’d seen his last dime from her while she was alive. That last bit were her words, not mine. I happened to overhear them arguing when he first arrived and I was still living with Jeff. First he tried to ingratiate himself with her, but when that didn’t work, he threatened to leave the family forever if she didn’t reinstate his allowance. She told him that he’d never leave all that money of his own free will, and the argument escalated from there. The two of them were still arguing when Jeff came in, and the discussion shut down immediately. After that, Cecile started looking troubled around Adam, and I had to wonder if they were still battling about money even up until today.”
I shook my head. “Did you tell the police any of this?”
“I didn’t think it was my place to say anything,” she told me.
“Autumn, they have a right to know. It will give the chief of police someone to focus on besides you.”
“Us, you mean,” she said.
“Us,” I agreed. “At least call Tom and tell him what you overheard.”
“When we get back to the cottage, I will,” she said. “Anyway, I don’t doubt that Cecile left the lion’s share of her estate to Adam, despite their arguments. He always was her favorite, and Jeff knew it, which was painful for him.”
“So, Adam could have killed their mother f
or her money, or in anger because she kept refusing to continue to finance his extravagant lifestyle,” I said, summing it up.
“When you put it that way, it sounds pretty convincing,” Autumn allowed.
“It’s still just speculation at this point. Who else do we have to consider?”
“Annie could have done it and tried to frame me,” Autumn said softly. “She’s obsessed with my husband.”
“Just to get Jeff?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that be a little extreme?” It sounded crazy to me, but maybe my friend knew more than I did about the situation.
“She’s been trying to get rid of me ever since Jeff and I first met,” Autumn said. “Until recently, I believe she had a willing ally in Cecile, but they weren’t getting along great lately. I had the feeling that Cecile wasn’t sure she’d be upgrading daughters-in-law if Annie replaced me.”
“We both know that’s true enough,” I said.
“How can you say that? You don’t even know her,” Autumn countered.
“I don’t have to. I know you,” I said. “Speaking of framing someone else for the crime, I suppose we have to consider Lee a suspect.”
She looked shocked by the suggestion. “Lee? What motive could he have?”
“Autumn, he had access to the house, and if he could make it seem as though Jeff killed his mother, that would leave you free for the taking, and probably rich as well.”
“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” she said violently, protesting just a little too much for my taste.
“I hate to have to ask you this question, but I don’t have much choice. Has anything ever happened between you and Lee? Don’t lie to me. I need to know the truth, no matter what light it puts you in.”
She bit her lower lip for nearly a minute until she finally said, “Maybe.”
When she didn’t elaborate, I insisted, “You’re going to have to tell me more than that.”
“Last month he was at the cottage rewiring a switch for me, and as he worked, I caught him looking at me. When I got embarrassed, he said, “You know I’m here for you, no matter what. There’s no job I wouldn’t do for you.”
“That sounds innocent enough,” I said.
“I’m not finished. When I asked him about it, he said that if Jeff weren’t in my life, he’d be the first in line to court me. Can you believe he actually said court?”
“What did you say?”
“I didn’t know what to say, so I panicked. I tried to make it sound as though he was just joking, and he got the point and played along, but he was serious.”
“I thought you told me he was just your handyman,” I reminded her.
“That’s all that he is. I never lied to you about that,” she said.
I decided not to push her on that. “Is there anyone else? Was Cecile dating anyone that you know of?”
“You’re kidding, right?” she asked me.
“I know a lot of women her age that lead very active social lives,” I said.
“I’m not saying that it’s not possible because of her age, I’m referring to her disposition. I can’t imagine that there is a man alive who would put up with her.”
“You’d be surprised by what I’ve seen people do for money,” I said.
“That’s the thing though, isn’t it? If she’d recently married someone new, I could see it as a possibility, but what good would it do a secret suitor to kill her before the nuptials?”
“Maybe she pushed him too hard, and he lost sight of his end game,” I suggested.
“I suppose it’s possible, but I don’t know how she’d manage to date anyone, let alone seriously, without me hearing about it. We live in Cheswick, not Asheville. If it was going on, someone would have said something to me about it.”
“Okay, we’ll put a pin in that line of questioning for now,” I said. “Is there anyone else we should consider?”
We were fifteen minutes from her cottage, at least we were if we didn’t make any more unscheduled stops along the way. “There might be one man,” she said.
“Who am I missing?” I asked her.
“Henry Charleston,” she said.
“I’ve never heard of him,” I allowed. “Who is he, and what is, or was, his relationship with Cecile?”
“He handled her investments, and from something Adam said the other day, he’s not doing a very good job of it. She’s lost far more money than he’s comfortable with, and he’s been goading his mother into auditing the man’s books. From what I’ve heard, she was starting to waver in her defense of Charleston.”
“We need to speak with him, then,” I said.
“Do we really? On what pretense would he ever talk to us?”
I wished that I had Grace there with me. She took great joy in taking on other personas for the good of our investigations, but Autumn wasn’t like that. “We can say that I’m about to come into a great deal of money and ask him to help me with my investments.”
“Is that true? Is your mother well?”
“Momma’s fine. I’ll be as vague as possible, but I might mention that I could be getting a windfall any day.”
“From?” she asked, openly curious.
“Well, before I left home, I got a notice in the mail that I may already be a winner,” I said with a grin. “Who knows? Somebody’s got to take home the grand prize.”
“I don’t think I’d mention that part of it to Mr. Charleston if I were you,” Autumn said with a quick flash of a smile. It wasn’t much, but given the circumstances, I’d take whatever I could get. “So, we need to speak with, in no particular order, Jeff, Adam, Annie, Lee, and Mr. Charleston.”
“How on earth are we going to get any of them to talk to us, despite your planned ruse with the investment manager?”
“We’ll tailor our story for each suspect,” I said.
“I really wish you’d stop referring to Jeff as a suspect,” Autumn scolded me as we finally left the pavement and started walking up the grassy path to her place.
“How else should I refer to him?” I asked her.
“My husband,” she said.
“Estranged husband,” I corrected her.
“Fine. I just can’t bear to think of him as being a potential murderer,” she said.
“We don’t really have any choice,” I told her. “After all, someone killed your mother-in-law, and they have to pay for what they’ve done. If it clears you in the process, so be it, but they left that woman’s dead body in your home, knowing that there was a chance that you’d be the one the police would blame for it. That alone makes it something we need to figure out, and fast.”
“Okay,” she said finally. “I’m convinced. I still don’t know where to start.”
As we turned the last corner, it was clear that we weren’t going to have to make that decision ourselves.
Lee Graham was sitting on the tailgate of his truck, clearly waiting for us to show up.
Chapter 15
“I JUST HEARD THE NEWS,” Lee said as he swung his legs off the tailgate and approached us. “I’m so sorry you had to go through finding her like that, Autumn. What were you doing back at the house, anyway? I thought you told me that you’d never step foot in that place again.” There was almost a tone of hurt recrimination in his voice as he said it.
“I had to speak with Cecile,” she explained. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
I looked at Autumn and frowned, which she caught. “How did you hear about what happened?” I asked him.
“I was at the Blue Ridge Café when Deputy Pickens showed up and told Davis all about it,” he explained. “Listen, Suzanne, we need to respect Autumn’s wishes. If she doesn’t want to talk about it, then she shouldn’t have to listen to me, either.”
I smiled at him, but I had to force it. Was Autumn going to miss my signal and blow this opportunity? I hoped not.
“You know, maybe it would do me some good to discuss it after all,” she said. I offered her a qui
ck smile. She’d caught on after all. “When was the last time you saw her, Lee?”
“Like I told you before, I was over at your old place early this morning.”
“What else were you doing there?” Autumn asked. “Besides getting ready to change the locks, I mean.”
“This and that; just a bunch of little nitpicky stuff,” he said reluctantly. “You know how Mrs. Marbury was. Everything had to be just so. I did my best to look out for you and the way you like things to be.”
“I appreciate that,” Autumn said as she touched his arm lightly for a moment. He looked at her hand on him and then smiled for just a split second. Oh yes, this guy was smitten, there was no doubt about it. The only question was how far would he go to get the fair maiden?
“It was nothing,” he said as she pulled her hand back.
“Did that leave the rest of your day free?” I asked him. We didn’t have anywhere near an exact time of death, making getting an alibi from anyone problematic, but I wanted to see if he had one ready, just in case he needed it.
“I wish. No, I’ve got a list a mile long of folks waiting to get work done. Being handy is a lost art these days. I’m never lacking work.”
“What exactly did you do?” I asked. “Your line of work fascinates me.” When I saw that he was curious why I was so intent on getting an answer, I had to make something up on the spot. “My husband is thinking about becoming a handyman himself,” I said. It wasn’t a total lie. Jake had mentioned it once in passing, though he’d quickly dismissed it. Still, he had thought about it, if only briefly.
“It’s good work, but you have to be able to do a lot of things well,” Lee said a little proudly. “Take today, for instance. When I left Mrs. Marbury at Autumn’s place, I went to Homer Buncombs’s and swapped out a kitchen faucet, fixed a patio door that was out of alignment, cleaned his gutters, and swapped the batteries out on all of his smoke detectors.”
“Couldn’t he have done at least some of that himself?” Autumn asked.
Lee grinned at her. “He could have, but he didn’t want to. I’m happy to do whatever people want me to do. I charge by the job, not by the hour, so it doesn’t matter to me if they hit me with a bigger list than I was expecting when I show up.”