by Judi Lynn
Wade grimaced. “Every time I’m around a cop, he’s trying to escort me to jail. Mostly so I’ll sober up.”
Will gave him a dirty look. “It would be nice for Mom if she didn’t have to go collect you in the morning.”
The conversation stopped when Donna returned to take the brothers’ orders. Wade went for a burger with a fried egg on top and a glass of water. When Olivia raised her eyebrows, he said, “If I drink one beer, I’ll drink more.”
She nodded.
Will ordered a burger, too, then returned to their earlier topic. “Why do you and Gaff have to pester our mom? She lives two hours away from here, hasn’t talked to Cal since we moved to Michigan. Why not leave her alone?”
“Gaff says one small lead can lead to a bigger one.” Jazzi studied him. “Why wouldn’t he talk to your mom? He’s interviewed everyone else who knew Cal. She’s his sister.”
He pointed a finger at her. “Why does he cart you around with him? You’re not a cop. You’re just a flipper who snoops in other people’s business.”
Wade stared. Jazzi gave him a long, assessing look. “You must take after your mom. I’ve heard she’s not pleasant either.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Why does Gaff want you to go with him?”
She didn’t like his tone. “I’d guess that was obvious, but I don’t care whether I answer you or not. Figure it out yourself.”
His face mottled with anger. He must not be used to people not doing as he asked. He pushed to his feet and motioned for Wade to follow him. “You’ve upset our mom. I don’t like your company.” He took his drink and walked to the other side of the restaurant. Good, the brick wall in the center that separated the two spaces blocked him from view.
Olivia blinked, then burst out laughing. “He’s sure a charmer.”
“Everything’s about his mother. A little weird, huh?” He’d rattled Jazzi. She didn’t like conflict. She could hold her own, but she didn’t get a charge out of it like Jerod did. If you irritated him, her cousin pushed buttons just to start trouble. Come to think of it, Olivia let conflict roll off her like water off a duck. It didn’t ruffle her either. “He must be really protective of his family.”
Olivia thought about that. “He never mentioned his dad or brother. He must be mommy’s favorite.”
Jazzi shrugged, ready to forget about Will and enjoy her evening. “Our mommy didn’t have a favorite.”
Olivia pretended to pout. “True, and we both know she should like me more than she does you.”
That started a friendly debate that led to their usual gossip and small talk. Their food came and the evening shifted to having a good time on a Thursday night. They were on their second glasses of wine when Jazzi saw Will and Wade walk past the front window to the parking lot. Good. They left before she and Olivia did. Will was such a pill she worried he’d yell something at her in parting.
“How’s Thane?” she asked when Donna brought them their checks.
“A happy camper. We’re looking for houses.”
“Any luck?”
“We found one close to Getz Road we’re interested in. It’s a short drive from the beauty shop. We were going to ask you guys to go through it with us to see if it’s in good shape.”
“Are there any trunks in its attic?”
Olivia smiled. “No, and no septic tank. It has city water.”
“Then I’m in. Let us know when you want us.”
They paid and didn’t quit visiting until they reached their cars in the parking lot. Then they drove in separate directions to head home. Jazzi hoped Ansel had had as much fun tonight as she did—not counting Will, that is. She was glad that everything went well after he and Wade trounced to the other side of the bar. She was driving to Battle Creek to see Katherine tomorrow, and she wasn’t looking forward to that.
Chapter 35
Gaff pulled into the drive at ten in the morning, and Jazzi went out to his car. Jerod and Ansel were already out back, working on the pond. She’d left deli meat in the fridge for them and a loaf of bread on the counter. George was in the house, lying by the back door, to greet them when they came in for lunch. It was so hot, he didn’t mind that Ansel was sweating while he lay in air conditioning. The pug was devoted, but didn’t like to overexert.
When Gaff pulled away to start their trip, he said, “I don’t know when we’ll get back for sure. Is your guy okay with that?”
“We’re going out for supper tonight, so it’s not a problem, and he has pie in the refrigerator to tide him over.”
“Pie?” Gaff glanced at her at the stoplight. “My Ann stopped baking when the kids grew up and left.”
“Makes sense. She probably doesn’t want to have to toss leftovers.”
He shook his head. “There are no leftovers.”
“Then she probably doesn’t want to watch you gain twenty pounds.”
He smiled. “There’s something to that.”
When they got out of heavy town traffic, Jazzi told him about running into Will and Wade at the restaurant last night.
Gaff frowned. “I dug into both of them. Wade was floundering before he got Cal’s money. He’d always squeaked by with steady jobs until the contractor he worked for retired and moved to Florida. The girl he’d lived with for three years ran off with someone else at about the same time. The kid had always liked his Modelo, but he didn’t self-medicate until last November, and then he went to crap. Must have some stored-up resentments, because word is he can get belligerent when he’s drunk. He’s been in a few fights.”
“Belligerent enough to kill somebody?” Jazzi asked.
“Or desperate enough to work himself up. Friends say he’s the nicest guy around when he’s sober.”
Jazzi didn’t know anyone like that, but she’d heard of them. Would the timing fit? “If I’m right, Noah died in January, didn’t he?”
Gaff nodded. “That’s right when Wade hit the bottle really hard. He skirted through the holidays in decent shape, but when he sat on his hands with nothing to do—no job, no girlfriend—he lost it. He almost lost his house and van, too.”
Jazzi sighed. “It still doesn’t make sense, though. I mean, even if Wade wanted Cal’s money, Cal was still alive. He was only in his sixties. He might have lived a lot longer. No one could predict he’d die a month after Noah.”
“That’s where the gamble comes in. Cal’s father died at sixty. His uncles died at sixty-one and sixty-three. They all died of heart attacks.”
“Genetic.” Jazzi had recently read about a runner, who lived a healthy lifestyle, but dropped dead of a massive heart attack when he was in his early fifties, just like his father had. “The killer counted on that.”
“The odds are better than buying a lottery ticket.”
Was Wade backed so far into a corner, he made a bet Cal’s money would save him? She pushed that idea away. “I like Wade. I don’t want it to be him.”
Gaff tossed her a sympathetic look. “Sometimes it’s the bastards who live forever and force nicer people into acts of desperation.”
She didn’t like that opinion. “Will wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. Was any girl stupid enough to marry him?”
Gaff chuckled. “You really don’t like him.”
“He’s a jerk. Is he married, or has every woman he’s met run from him?”
“He’s single. Hasn’t had any significant others. He’s the love-’em-and-leave-’em type.”
“How many love ’ems?” Jazzi couldn’t imagine any woman wanting to spend time with him.
Gaff frowned, trying to remember. “If I’m right, and if people told the truth, he’s never stayed with anyone more than five months. He took a couple of girls home to meet his parents, but his mother didn’t approve of either of them.”
Katherine. From everything her parents told her, Cal was not onl
y nice but down to earth and friendly. How could two people be so different? “Have you asked around about Katherine?”
“I haven’t had to work very hard to get people to talk about her. Everyone has something bad to say about her. No one likes her, and I mean no one. Maybe not even her husband.”
That surprised Jazzi. “Tim? When he called me, he made a big deal about how she was right when she cut Cal out of their lives.”
“He doesn’t know you at all, and you don’t know him. He’s great at putting on a front, and he never disagrees with his wife in public. People I called told me that Tim and Cal got along pretty well when Tim lived in River Bluffs. Cal’s friends said that Cal worried about Tim and his business sense. He tried to give him good advice every chance he got. Tim was doing all right when they lived here, but then he got a chance to run a small company in Battle Creek and Katherine encouraged him to go for it. Cal advised him to pass, but I guess Tim’s home life was pretty much the pits when Katherine wasn’t happy with him. They moved.”
“Was that the first business he made go under?” Jazzi didn’t know a thing about running a company. She and Jerod kept things pretty simple. She had no desire to judge Tim. It couldn’t be easy to make a small business compete with big ones.
“Tim lost money on that deal, had to ask Cal for a loan to keep things afloat.” Gaff glanced at the sign that said welcome to Michigan when they passed it, and so did Jazzi. They’d made good time.
“Did Cal loan him the money?”
“Not exactly a loan,” Gaff said. “His friends said that Cal never expected to see it again, but yeah, he gave it to Tim.”
“And Katherine still cut him off?”
“Oh, it gets better.” Gaff cranked up the air conditioning in the car. The sun blasted through the windows, heating things up. “Tim borrowed money to start up the second and third businesses, too.”
Jazzi liked Cal even more.
“Cal’s friends tried to talk him out of it the third time. Lynda was against it, too, but Cal wouldn’t hear of it. His sister and her husband needed help, and he had more than enough money to help them.”
“Did that business take?” Jazzi asked.
Gaff shook his head. “Nope, but it looked like it might. Cal had gotten engaged to Lynda, and when Katherine heard that Lynda didn’t want Cal to loan Tim any more money, that was it. Katherine called him and issued a blistering speech. She told him he could choose between a hussy or his sister. Cal chose Lynda.”
“Why would Katherine do that when Cal always came through for her?” Jazzi stared out her window, trying to understand Katherine. “If the third business went under, too, what would they do?”
“Katherine knew they were safe. Tim’s mother died. His father had died a few years before her. Tim was an only child, and he inherited everything. His parents left their money in a trust fund for him, so that he couldn’t spend it all in one shot. He and Katherine have been living off the monthly payments ever since, enjoying pretty cushy lives.”
Jazzi rolled her eyes. “Must be nice.”
“It has been, but there’s no money left for the boys, and there wasn’t enough to send them to fancy colleges. Katherine’s enjoying the country club lifestyle, but she can’t pass it on.”
“Does she care?” The landscape changed from the lush green of Indiana to the pine trees of Michigan. The terrain looked wilder. The last time she’d driven this route, Jazzi had seen a bald eagle swoop to a pine tree in the grassy meridian between lanes.
Gaff frowned. “From the people I’ve talked to—so all of it’s just hearsay—Katherine strikes me as the kind of person who puts herself above anyone and everyone else, including her husband and children.”
Jazzi had formed the same impression. Too much pride. And selfish. “What about Tim?”
Gaff thought through his answer for that, too. “I think that as long as Tim can put on a good façade and enjoy the extras in life, he’s okay.”
Jazzi had never been rich. Her parents made good money, but not a crapload of it. “It must be hard to grow up with lots of money, like Will and Wade, and know you’ll run out of it and hit real life head-on the minute you leave home.”
Gaff nodded. “It has to come as a shock.”
How much of a shock? Jazzi wondered. Enough to kill an innocent man so that you’d inherit your estranged uncle’s money?
Chapter 36
To visit Katherine, they didn’t have to drive into Battle Creek. She and Tim lived on the south side of the city on a golf course. Jazzi was a little disappointed. She’d visited Marshall, Michigan, often and even toured the city’s historical homes, but she’d never driven farther to Battle Creek. She had no idea what it looked like, and she wouldn’t learn today.
Katherine’s house reminded her of a fortress, a big square of dark brick with a three-car garage. A thick, heavy door sat in the center with a huge, painted Chinese vase on each side. She was surprised no moat surrounded the foundation. Gaff parked in the drive, and he and Jazzi walked up the sidewalk. A weeping cherry tree sat in the corner near the extended garage. Three rose bushes sat under the living room windows. Each vase held a bonsai tree. Gaff rang the doorbell and they waited a long time. Katherine was obviously not in any hurry to greet them.
Finally, the door opened and an extremely thin woman wearing a beige pantsuit greeted them. Her graying hair was cut in a blunt, chin-length style. Her makeup was flawless, her brows pencil thin. A slit of red lipstick coated her thin lips. She quickly looked Jazzi and Gaff up and down, then motioned them inside, herding them into a room to the right. A living room. Very formal. She took a seat on the stiff-backed sofa and motioned them into matching chairs opposite her.
She didn’t offer them food or drink. “You wanted to talk to me? You have an hour. I have an appointment later this afternoon.”
Gaff didn’t waste any time. “I’m sure your sons told you that when the new owners of your brother’s house”—he motioned to Jazzi—“went to clear his attic, they found his fiancée’s body in a cedar chest.”
Katherine narrowed her eyes at Jazzi. “You’re that hussy Lynda’s niece, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am, but she wasn’t a hussy.” Jazzi locked gazes with her. “You’re the sister who never spoke to a brother who rescued her from bankruptcy three times, aren’t you?”
Katherine’s lip curled on one side. “The pretty blond has claws. Am I supposed to be intimidated?”
“I don’t care one way or another. I just want to know who killed my aunt and who buried Lynda’s son near Cal’s septic tank.”
“And you think I have the answers?”
“I don’t know, but you might have a piece of information that will help us find them.”
Katherine turned to Gaff. “I don’t really care who killed Lynda.”
He looked up from his notepad. “You should since your sons are suspects in this case.”
“What?” Her voice was sharp, aggravated. “They weren’t even born when Lynda died.”
“But they expected to inherit from Cal when Lynda’s son, Noah, came to visit him. How far would they go to protect their future money?”
“How impudent!”
Gaff didn’t blink. “I’m simply stating facts. Noah Jacobs was visiting River Bluffs. He didn’t know anyone there, so not many people would be motivated to kill him. That narrows down my suspect list. So far it looks like your sons had the most to lose if Cal and Noah got close.”
“What about his fierce protector, Isabelle? He left all of his businesses to her, didn’t he?”
“How did you know that?”
Katherine snorted, an inelegant sound. “The lawyer read Cal’s will for all of us. My brother left me five dollars with a note that stated that sum was probably worth more than I ever cared about him. He left the boys his stocks and bonds and property, and he left Isa
belle his businesses. All of them. He didn’t will one of them to us. We were his family.”
Gaff glanced at his notes. “You wouldn’t visit or speak to him. Not even your sons, not even when they lived in River Bluffs during the week.”
“He brought that on himself. He should have understood that.”
“I got the feeling, after speaking to many people, that he resented it.”
“Then he was a crybaby. If he’d have apologized, I’d have forgiven him.”
Gaff glanced at Jazzi.
“Maybe he thought you should apologize to him,” Jazzi said.
Katherine stared. “Excuse me? I wasn’t the one in the wrong. And you never answered my question. Did you investigate Isabelle’s whereabouts when Lynda and her son died?”
You never answered my question. The same words Will had used last night. Like mother, like son. But Jazzi would answer Katherine. “Isabelle told me that she was in her office, working, when Noah died. Gaff checked into it. She was. She was in New York when Lynda died.”
“Isn’t that convenient?”
“Or else Isabelle had nothing to do with their deaths.” Jazzi raised an eyebrow. “Where were you when Noah died? He was killed seven months ago on January seventeenth.”
Isabelle’s gaze turned glacial. She rose and walked to an elegant desk in the corner. Flipping through an engagement calendar, she said, “I had supper with my husband and Will that evening in Marshall, Michigan.”
Gaff stood and went to look over her shoulder. “You have nothing listed on that day. Why would you lie to us?”
“Our lives are none of your business. You’ve ferreted around in them enough.”
“Your sons both happened to be working in River Bluffs on the seventeenth.” Gaff waited for a response, but she simply returned to sit on the sofa. She glanced at him. “Is there anything else? Our time’s growing short.”