“What did he look like?” Ted asked. “Was he big? Was he out near the pond?”
Jack cleared his throat and shot his father a look that he hoped would get him to stop talking. His father was handing Betty details, and Jack wanted her unfiltered recollection.
Betty nodded. “He was the same height as Neil, my late husband. Same build, too. When Neil was younger of course.” She smiled at the memory. “Neil’s long passed, but I’m certain. This man alongside the pond—it looked as if he was walking along the path toward the Jacksons’.”
“Did you recognize him or notice anything particular about him?”
Betty shook her head. “My eyes aren’t what they used to be, and it was dark. He was a shadow.”
“You mentioned you couldn’t nap earlier that day. Why not?”
“They were putting in those bushes.” Betty pointed to the small bushes outside her window. “They were here all day digging and making a big production out of it.”
Kiara walked in with a bamboo tray of iced tea, water, and assorted cookies. As she set it down on the coffee table, she leaned so close to Jack that her breath tickled the skin on his neck. “May I please have a moment with you?” she whispered.
Alice stiffened beside him.
Jack nodded. “Please excuse me.”
Kiara walked out into the hallway, and Jack followed her. He pulled up short when she suddenly stopped and turned around. She stood so close to him that she was practically speaking into his mouth.
“I need to talk with you,” she whispered, “but you must promise me something.” She grabbed his forearm and stepped even closer, if that was possible.
The personal space that Jack preferred was shattered. He didn’t think she realized the awkwardness, but Kiara pressed against him. Her perfume rose to his nose.
“It’s about the necklace.” Her brown eyes rounded.
Jack angled his head slightly, and once again she was whispering in his ear.
“When Mrs. Manning told me about the break-in and the missing necklace, I got worried for her safety. Her daughter asked me to call her about anything of concern, so I did.”
“Are you her full-time nurse?”
“I am. Mrs. Manning is getting frail, so I worry about her. Especially at night when she’s alone. She can’t afford round-the-clock care.”
“What did her daughter say?”
“She doesn’t remember her mother ever having a necklace like that.” Kiara cast a nervous look back at Mrs. Manning. “Her daughter comes here every other weekend to visit. She thinks maybe her mom is just mistaken.”
“So her daughter doesn’t think a necklace was even stolen?”
Kiara sighed; her breath tickled Jack’s ear. “She thinks her mother imagined it in a vivid dream or got confused. Please don’t say anything. Mrs. Manning is a little worried about forgetting things. She gets agitated when anyone brings it up.”
“I won’t say a word.”
As Jack walked back into the living room, Betty was patting the back of Ted’s hand. “Thank you so much for stopping by.”
Ted set his drink down. “All set?” he asked Jack as he got to his feet.
Jack nodded. “It was nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Please let me know if you find my necklace.”
“I’ll do my best, ma’am.”
Betty gave Ted a smile with her lips pressed tightly together, and Kiara led them out.
When they got to the car, Alice said, “So, Jack. What did the nurse say when she was trying to climb on top of you?”
Ted chuckled.
“She didn’t want Mrs. Manning to hear and get upset.”
“Well, I’m sure you heard her, seeing as the words only had to travel, what, a millimeter from her mouth to yours? For a second, I thought she was giving you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
Jack smiled at Alice and ran through his conversation with Kiara. “It’s the reason I wanted to talk with Mrs. Manning first. The stolen necklace doesn’t fit the pattern of the other crimes. I think Kiara is right: Mrs. Manning just got confused.”
“But what about the man she saw at the pond?” Alice asked.
“I think she may have been confused about the shadow man too.”
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t say anything to Betty,” Ted said. “With the dialysis, the last thing she needs to worry about is if her mind is going.”
“Ready for the next one?” Alice said.
“Wagons ho!” Ted laughed and pointed forward. His hand trembled slightly as he held it out.
“You feeling okay, Dad?”
“Me? Fit as a fiddle.” Ted looked straight ahead. “One anomaly down, two to go.”
20
Give the Man a Cigar
“Six Cypress.” Jack looked out the window at the little ranch house.
“You sure there isn’t a different house we can go to?” Ted asked.
“What’s wrong with this one?” Alice asked.
“Brad Cox,” Ted muttered. “The man just rubs me the wrong way.”
“Well, besides Mrs. Ferguson and Betty, he’s the only other person who had something stolen from inside his house. And he said he saw someone.”
Alice looked at the sheet. “He was interviewed by the police too. He listed one thousand dollars in cash and two watches as stolen.”
Ted sighed. “You’re in charge.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Brad Cox came to the door in a pair of Hawaiian shorts and no shirt. He was a short man with a beach ball belly. His skin was darkly tanned and leathery. The scent of coconut tanning lotion filled the air.
“Good to see you, Ted. What can I do for you?” He leaned against the doorframe.
“Actually,” Jack stuck his hand out, “I wanted to speak with you, sir. My name’s Jack Stratton. This is my girlfriend, Alice.”
Brad shook Jack’s hand and then looked back and forth between Jack and his father. “He your nephew or something?” he asked Ted.
“Jack’s my son.”
Brad raised an eyebrow. “Good thing he didn’t get your height.” He laughed at his own dig.
Jack could already understand why his father hadn’t wanted to see Brad Cox. In less than ten seconds, he already disliked the man.
“What did you want to ask me?”
“It’s about the break-in you had after Christmas.”
“Are you a cop?” Brad’s wrinkles deepened.
“No. I’m—”
“Don’t tell me you’re helping those Miss Marple wannabes.” Brad chuckled. “Are you two the Hardy Boys? Then she must be Nancy Drew.” He laughed so hard he started hacking and coughing.
“You saw the thief?” Jack asked.
Brad pounded his chest and coughed again. “Come on, guys. I’m kidding. Lighten up.”
“Did you see the thief?” Jack repeated.
“Just a glimpse of his back. He was hightailing it around the bushes. He was a little guy. Had jeans, a green shirt, black hair. You know what that means?”
Jack shook his head.
“The green shirts here ain’t got green cards, if you know what I mean.”
“He’s talking about the lawn maintenance crew,” Ted said. “They wear green uniforms.”
“Lawn maintenance?” Brad scoffed. “Fancy name for grass monkeys.”
Jack’s anger flared, but his father reacted before he did.
“Those men work harder than you ever did, Brad.”
Brad put his hands up and stepped back. “It was a joke.”
Jack stepped in front of his father. “Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
“Ted, I was kidding. Don’t go getting all politically correct on me.” Brad put his hands down. “I saw what I said I saw. Small guy with a green shirt. He stole a thousand dollars and two of my watches from my nightstand.” He turned back to Ted. “Are you upset I thought he was your nephew?”
“No.” Ted adjusted his glasses. “Your language was offens
ive.”
“Look.” Brad hiked up his shorts. “I don’t mean nothing by it. They do a good job when they’re working. And look at your kid. He’s like a foot taller than you.”
“Do you normally keep a thousand dollars in cash in the house?” Jack asked.
“No. I was getting my bathroom redone. I even got an estimate. Insurance company still hasn’t paid my claim.”
“Thank you for your time.”
“That’s it?” Brad said.
“Yes. Thank you,” Jack repeated. He walked back toward the car, and his father and Alice followed.
“I hope you get my stuff back,” Brad called out. “And I didn’t mean nothing about you two looking so different. But you know what they say—Momma’s baby, Daddy’s maybe.” He let out a bawdy guffaw, which was cut off when Alice and Ted spun around.
Brad ducked back inside and slammed the door.
Ted marched back toward the door, with Alice right beside him.
Jack grabbed his arm. “Dad, come on. Alice, you too.”
They both glared at the house.
“You were right,” Jack said. “He’s an ass. But what are you going to do? Punch him in the nose?”
“If you hadn’t had the alligator taken away, I would have brought Brad down to the pond,” Ted grumbled.
Jack laughed. “Now I see where I get my anger issues from.”
“Don’t be silly. You got those from your mother.”
Jack laughed harder.
“What a disgusting racist,” Ted said as they got back in the car.
“And a rude scumbag,” Alice added.
“You can include insurance fraud on Brad’s list of faults,” Jack said.
Alice leaned forward. “What?”
“I’m sure the insurance company thinks so too,” Jack said. “That’s why they haven’t paid his claim.”
“How can you be sure?” Ted asked.
“The cash for a home repair job and the amount of money. Most places don’t want cash anymore. And most people want to pay with credit cards or with a check so they have a record of payment if there’s a problem.”
“I didn’t think home insurance covered cash.”
“It can, but there’s a limit. Want to guess what it is?”
“A thousand dollars?”
“Give the man a cigar. Either way, I think Brad’s credibility is zero.”
21
A Singing Frog
As Ted drove away from Brad’s, Alice sat forward. “You know, I just can’t get over the work Carl put into this list. Everything’s categorized and color-coded.”
“If every crime got as much attention when I was a cop, my arrest rate would’ve skyrocketed,” Jack said. “What did Carl do before he retired?”
Ted chuckled. “Accountant. But it’s not just him. The whole book club is into it. Your mother made the first version of that spreadsheet, except she did it the old-fashioned way—on a bunch of index cards. Carl and Ellie put it together in Excel.”
“Mrs. Stratton did a great job,” Alice said.
“She’s a mystery nut,” Ted said proudly. “She and Jack used to watch them together all the time. So when someone stole Beverly Nash’s solar rooster a year ago and all hell broke loose, your mother picked up her deerstalker.”
“Her what?” Alice asked.
“Deerstalker.” Ted chuckled. “That’s what they call the hat Sherlock Holmes wears.”
“Wait a second,” Jack said. “Did you say someone stole a solar rooster?”
“Yup. Truth be told, most everyone was glad someone shut the thing up.”
“What’s a solar rooster?” Alice asked.
Ted shook his head and sighed. “It was this awful solar-powered whirligig thing that crowed when the sun came up. Every morning that thing went off and got the whole neighborhood out of bed. But Beverly loved it—even offered a reward for its return. And your mother’s book club looked into it like the Lindbergh kidnapping, Hoffa’s disappearance, and who shot JFK all rolled into one.”
“For a rooster?” Jack said.
“You’ll understand when you get older.”
“You’ve been saying that my whole life. When will I understand?”
“When will he be older?” Alice joked.
Jack rolled his eyes. They were ganging up on him.
“So, where am I supposed to be driving next, anyway?” Ted asked.
Alice fingered the list. “The only other person who had something stolen from inside the house was Janet Ferguson.”
“Ah, yes,” said Ted. “The infamous Frankenstein’s monster cat figurine. But what about Tom Cummings? He had a post-hole digger taken from his garage.”
“The post-hole digger didn’t require a break-in,” Jack said. “Carl noted that Tom Cummings left his garage door open, so I’m classifying that one with the outdoor petty thefts. For now anyway.”
“Fair enough,” Ted said. “But if we’re going to visit Janet Ferguson, perhaps you’d better speak to your mother first. Laura and Janet get along like gasoline and a match.”
Jack’s mouth twisted into a wide grin. “Actually, we don’t need to see Janet again just yet. I have an idea, but I’ll need to pick up a couple of things to make it work. Do you have a pet store around here?”
Ted parked in front of the pet store. “Can I see the list again?” As he reached for the list, his hand trembled.
“Why don’t you both wait here in the car?” Jack shot Alice a glance. “I’ll be right out.”
Alice nodded and leaned over the seat to look at the list with Jack’s father.
Jack went into the pet store and grabbed what he needed. By the time he came back out, he’d settled on the rest of the plan.
“That was fast,” Alice said.
“Are you all set?” Ted asked.
Jack held up his bag. “One extra-strong dog leash, and one dog collar with a built-in locator in case the leash isn’t as strong as advertised.”
“Smart man.” Ted smiled.
“I’m so sorry. Again,” Alice added.
“It’s not your fault that Lady’s as strong as a horse.”
As Jack buckled in, Ted asked, “Where to next, Detective?”
“I need to find a place that sells statues. Is there a hardware store around here? Somewhere with a lawn and garden section. We can head home after that, if you’re getting tired of all this.”
“Who, me? I’m having the time of my life. Besides, figuring this out means a lot to your mother.”
“I get that, Dad. Believe me, I get it.”
A few minutes later, they were walking down the wide, long aisles of the lawn and garden section of a Home Mart. They passed shelves of garden gnomes, birdbaths, and wind chimes.
Jack stopped in front of a large garden gnome feeding a larger-than-life-sized duck.
“We only have a small backyard,” Ted said.
“Mom’s got a birthday coming up…” Jack grinned. “The perfect gift, I think.”
“Jack, if you buy her that monstrosity, I swear I’m giving Alice two season passes to the Darrington ballet.”
Alice giggled, and Jack laughed.
“You win.”
Jack moved on. His eyes lit up when he saw a frog statue with a sign that read:
ADD MUSIC TO YOUR GARDEN WITH A SINGING FROG.
SURPRISE YOUR GUESTS AND WARN OFF PESTS!
SINGING FROG WITH BUILT-IN MOTION SENSOR ON SALE $39.99
Jack picked up the display model. The statue was twenty inches tall, a foot wide, and hollow; Jack’s hand fit easily inside the bottom. He turned it on and waved his hand in front of its mouth. The frog loudly croaked “At the Hop” by Danny & the Juniors.
Ted made a face. “I hope you’re kidding, because I wasn’t.”
“Nope.” Jack grinned and picked up a brightly colored lawn pinwheel, too. He blew on it. A rainbow of color sparkled as it spun. “Perfect.”
22
What Happened to the Door?
Jack held the door open for Alice as they followed his father into the house.
“Laura?” Ted shouted. “What happened to the screen door?”
Jack’s mother was in the living room, speaking softly to Lady and holding on to her collar. “I put it in the garage.”
“You lugged that thing to the garage all by yourself?”
“I couldn’t just leave it on the walkway.”
Ted looked confused. “But why is the door not on the house?”
Jack and Alice both looked down at Lady and sighed. “Lady.”
Lady lowered her head and whimpered.
“It’s not her fault.” Laura rubbed Lady’s neck, and the giant dog looked up at her with intense brown eyes, her long tongue hanging out of her mouth. “The delivery man needed a pen and followed me inside. Lady barked and ran at him. I’m sure she was just trying to protect me.”
“Is the delivery man okay?” Ted ran a hand over his mouth.
“He’s fine. Just shaken up. The door, on the other hand…”
“I’ll pay for the door, Mom. Sorry, Dad.”
“I’m just glad everyone’s okay,” Ted said.
Laura walked over to Ted, kissed his cheek, and whispered something in his ear. He leaned over and whispered back, and Laura wrinkled her brow in concern.
She touched Ted’s cheek with the back of her hand. “Do you want something to eat?”
Ted shook his head. “I’m fine. I’ll let Jack fill you in about his plan.” He excused himself, headed to his bedroom, and shut the door.
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