Camera one showed Paula coming in. She looked around at the décor, and when Rob joined her, she smiled. She took his arm as they walked to the table.
Paula pointed to the plastic fish hanging over the bar. “Early rustic.”
“It’s one of my favorite watering holes. Let’s sit at one of these corner tables. That way we won’t have to shout.”
She smiled at him as she slid into the booth. Rob joined her and put his phone down where he had been told.
“I was surprised to hear from you,” Paula said.
“Why?”
“I thought you were sweet on Merry.”
He paused for a minute, gazing at camera two. “She’s a good friend.” He turned to more fully face Paula. “But I’m interested in you.”
Paula scooted closer to him. “That’s nice to hear.” Her voice lowered. “Has anyone ever told you how good looking you are?”
Rob cleared his throat. “Let’s not talk about me. Let’s talk about you. But first, let’s order a drink.”
Rob waved the server over. “I’m in the mood for a martini—a dirty martini. How about you, Paula?”
She looked at him suggestively. “A dirty martini works just fine for me.”
“While she’s getting the drinks, why don’t we take a look at the bar menu?” They perused the single menu, heads almost touching. “Do you see anything you like?”
“Mmm, I love sauerkraut balls.” She licked her lips. “Why don’t we get some of those and the cheese sticks?”
“Sounds great!” The server came back with the drinks, and they ordered the food. Rob raised his glass to Paula. “To you, blue eyes.”
“That’s so romantic.” They touched glasses.
In the back, I rolled my eyes at Jay. “This is tough to take. I can’t believe she’s buying this.”
“Merry, you need to keep quiet. I’m trying to listen to them, not you.” He glared at me, and we returned our attention to the screens.
Rob took a healthy gulp of his martini and looked to see if she did the same. “Tell me more about yourself, Paula. I find you fascinating.”
“Did I tell you I was the homecoming queen in my town?”
“You may have mentioned that.”
“Well, I was.” She smiled. “It was so perfect. I had the most beautiful dress, and my hair was styled just so. All the boys were after me. It was such a fun time in my life.” She swigged down almost half of her martini. “Now I’m divorced, I work in a bank, and I’m all alone.” She finished her martini.
Rob raised his hand for the server. “Another round please.”
The server brought the new martinis and the food. Paula said, “Do it again.”
Face slack, Rob stared at her. “To you, blue eyes.”
She laughed and sipped her drink. “Now, where was I? Oh yes, I was talking about my life. Getting my necklace back made me happy, though. Who would have thought you and Merry would help me get it back?” She raised her glass. “Thank you. It means a lot.” She slugged down a good portion of her drink.
“I was only too glad to help.”
“See, that’s what I like about you, Rob.” She put her hand over his.
“Rob, Paula, how nice to see you here,” Father Tom said.
Startled, they looked up. Rob pulled his hand back. “Good to see you as well, Father.
Paula grinned. “Howdy, Padre. Rob and I are just getting to know each other better.”
Father Tom nodded at them, a stiff smile on his face. “Paula, we still need to talk about you coming to town under an assumed name. Rob,” he paused and frowned at him, “I’ll see you at confession.” He left.
Paula reclaimed Rob’s hand and stroked it. “Isn’t it nice he stopped by? He’s been encouraging me to get out more and make friends.”
“Yes, it was.” Rob gave her a sickly grin. His shoulders tightened. “Now, where were we? Oh yes, you were talking about your necklace.”
“I was saying how glad I was to have it back. It’s so pretty, and it’s worth a lot.”
“You must have been very unhappy when it was taken.”
“Not really.” She shrugged and gulped her drink.
“I’m confused. Why weren’t you upset?”
She looked around cautiously and put her finger to her lips. “You won’t tell?”
“Scout’s honor.”
“Money was really tight, and John was pressuring me to give him his divorce settlement. I told him I only had part of it, and he came up with the idea to have my place look like it had been robbed. Needless to say, I couldn’t keep the necklace at my place. The police would have found it. So he said he would hold it for me until I gave him the insurance money. What a fool I was. I gave him the money, and he kept the necklace anyway. What an ass!”
“Why didn’t you turn him in?”
“I filed the claim and collected the money. If I told about him, I would have gone to jail. He had me over a barrel.”
“Why didn’t he just give it back? He couldn’t sell it.”
“Spite, pure and simple.” She stroked his arm and pressed against him. “You wouldn’t do something mean like that, would you?”
“Never.” Rob edged away. “Well, this was fun. We’ll have to do it again someday.”
“It’s still early!”
“Not for me. I have to be up with the chickens tomorrow. Sorry. Can’t be helped. Let me get you a cab home.” Rob stood, hustled her up, and escorted her out.
“No kiss?” She pouted and pointed to her lips.
“No time. Great to see you.” He closed the cab door and watched it drive away.
Rob returned to the restaurant. Jay and I escaped the cramped room and joined him. Rob asked, “Did you get it?”
Jay nodded. “Clear as a bell. We’ll be putting warrants out for both John and Paula. Hopefully we can pit them against each other and use this to get them to talk about the murders.”
Rob took the bug off his phone and handed it to Jay. Jay shook his hand. “Thanks for doing this. It makes my job a lot easier.”
“Always glad to do my civic duty,” Rob replied as we headed for his car.
Rob rounded the car to the driver’s side. “Hold up, buster,” I said.
“What’s wrong?”
“Exactly how much did you have to drink?”
Jay smiled. “He didn’t drink. We told the server to give him water flavored with a little bit of olive juice for color.”
I laughed. “Good thinking. See you around, Jay.”
We drove back to my house. I smiled. “I’m very interested to hear what you’re going to say to Father Tom the next time you see him.”
Rob groaned.
I chuckled and then yawned. “It’s been a long day. I’ll see you in the morning.” Rising on my toes, I kissed him good night.
Chapter 27
As I strolled to work the next morning, John’s car screeched to a halt next to me. “Merry, get in quick. It’s Jenny; she’s been in an accident. A car took the curve on Crescent too sharply and plowed right into her. If you jump in, we can probably beat the ambulance there.”
I raced around the car and climbed in. “Let’s go. How bad did it look?”
He smiled and sped down the road. “Not bad at all.”
After fastening my seat belt, I gripped the hand strap and held on. “Aren’t we going the wrong way? Crescent’s to our left.”
He glanced at me. “I lied. I haven’t seen Jenny today, but I knew you’d get in if I told you she was hurt. You’ve been avoiding me, and this was the only way I could think of to make you listen. Rob Jenson has been lying about me, and you believe him.”
I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. “Just to confirm, Jenny wasn’t in an accident?”
“What piece of this don’t you understand? I just said that to get you in the car.”
Anger surged in my chest. My heart pounded. “I can’t believe you did that!”
“Focus, Merry! Rob has been tel
ling you lies about me.”
“What lies, John?”
“Paula gave me that necklace as part of the divorce settlement. I can explain everything. I was never going to hurt her when I went to her apartment, but then she shot me and my life became a living hell.”
“Could you slow the car down a bit?” I slammed my feet to the floor when we rounded a curve way too quickly.
“Why? I like going fast.”
I weighed my limited options and decided we were going too fast for me to open the door and roll out. “Okay, well, could you pull over and park somewhere so you can tell me what I missed? I’m finding it hard to concentrate, and I want to believe you.”
He studied me. “I’ll pull over when we get to the park if you’ll promise not to get out.”
“I promise.”
A few moments later, he screeched into the parking lot, almost taking out the park sign. Luckily he braked in time to stop the car before we plowed into one of the shelters. Shaken, I turned to him. “Talk.”
“The police found a necklace in my office at the school.” He gave me a sidelong glance. “They didn’t say, but I think you may have been involved in finding it.” He paused. I didn’t say anything, so he continued. “Paula gave me the necklace because she didn’t have the money to pay me for the divorce settlement. I wanted it over and done with, so I took the necklace as payment.”
“Why didn’t you sell it? You couldn’t wear it.”
“I didn’t need the money right away, and I thought it would be a lovely gift for a future bride.” He pulled my hand to his heart.
I yanked it back. “Why was Ben blackmailing you?”
“How did you know?”
“The book I found. The book you were looking for when you ransacked my house.”
His face went slack. “I didn’t ransack your house, but Ben was blackmailing me. He threatened to tell the school board how badly Paula felt I treated her. She sent me a letter detailing her accusations and implied there was some mystery around the way her father died. I thought the envelope looked like it had been opened. I was correct. Ben copied the letter and used it to blackmail me. It was all a fabrication, but I had to think of my standing in the community. I paid him off. I didn’t kill him.”
“What about the insurance?”
“What insurance?
“The insurance payment on the necklace.”
John looked confused. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Paula filed a claim with the insurance company and told them the necklace had been stolen.”
“But that’s fraud!”
“Yes, it is.” As I finished my sentence, the parking lot was awash in police cruisers, all with their lights flashing.
A megaphone blared, “Come out with your hands up.”
John took a deep breath. “We better comply.”
We eased out of the car, working hard to keep our hands visible at all times. Two policemen came at us with guns drawn, and then they frisked us. John was handcuffed, and they moved to cuff me.
“Merry?” I turned. Jay stared at me. He told the officer, “Hold off on her.” He joined me, frowning. “What are you doing here?”
I sagged, and he caught me. “It’s a long story.”
The officers took John away. I sat in the front seat of Jay’s car. I told him how John tricked me into getting into his car and the story he told about the necklace and Ben. “Did you believe him?”
“I don’t know what to believe. There’s a lot going on. He seemed truthful when he talked about Ben, but who knows? He’s also the man who threatened me twice, bruised my hand, and abducted me.”
“I’ll take you home.”
“Thanks. Please keep us posted.”
Dropping me off, he watched until I was inside. By focusing on the door, I was able to get there without collapsing. The minute the door shut I sank into the nearest chair, sobbing. When John told me Jenny was hurt, I was so scared. Then being abducted! It was all too much. The back door opened, and I started, putting my hands up to protect myself.
Rob rushed in and gathered me in his arms. “Jay called me. I’m so sorry. I should have taken you to work.”
I choked back tears. “You can’t always be there.”
“I want to try. I want you to be safe with me.”
I kissed him. “I do feel safe when I’m in your arms.” He kissed me back and held me. I started to shake, and my teeth chattered.
“Delayed shock.”
He held me closer and tried to give me some of his body’s warmth. I continued to shake. He carried me up the stairs. Putting me down on the bed, he piled blankets on and around me. He squatted down next to the bed. “I’m going to draw you a bath. Hopefully that will enable your body to relax. You’ve had a bad adrenaline rush. Will you be okay for me to leave you for a minute?”
I tried to nod, but it was a difficult task since my head was shaking so much already.
The water turned on. He came back to the bedroom and climbed onto the bed, holding me and rubbing his hand up and down my back. After a few minutes, he ducked back into the bathroom and shut off the taps. “Can you get undressed by yourself?”
I tried to get up and take my shirt off, but my body didn’t seem to be obeying any of my commands.
“I’m going to have to help.” Quickly undressing me, he lifted me gently into the tub. He picked up the washcloth and rubbed my back with small circles.
Feeling the warmth of the water and his massage, my muscles started to unclench. My teeth stopped chattering, and I stopped shaking. “Feeling better?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you. However, I’m pretty embarrassed. I didn’t think this would be the way you’d see me naked the first time.”
He chuckled. “Do you want me to put some more hot water in? The tub seems like it’s cooling.”
I blushed. “I think I can handle it from here. You’re not going to leave, are you?”
“I’ll be right outside the door. Anything special you want for lunch?”
“I’m not really hungry.”
“You should eat something.”
“Surprise me.”
He shut the door, and I added more hot water to the tub. Leaning back, I tried to block the events of the day from my mind. All but the last part when Rob washed my back. That was something to remember. Sighing, I lifted myself from the tub and dried off. I considered reapplying my makeup but decided it wasn’t worth it. Putting on my sweats and a T-shirt, I came back downstairs.
Rob put my lunch down in front of me and gave me another hug. “Chicken noodle soup and a peanut butter sandwich on rye with a glass of milk. You looked like you needed some serious comfort food. Oh, and I called Cheryl and told her you wouldn’t be in for the rest of the day. She’s rescheduling your appointments.”
“What would I do without you?”
“Hopefully you will never have to find out.” He rubbed my back. “Feel like talking about it?”
“Not really, but I guess I should.”
“What happened? What on earth possessed you to get into a car with him?”
“It wasn’t like I decided to go for a joyride.” I faced him. “He told me Jenny had been in an accident. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to get to her as quickly as possible.”
“She hadn’t been in an accident.”
I gave him a dirty look. “I found that out after I was already in the car.”
“I understand, but, Merry, you need to be more careful than that. You can’t hop into cars with homicidal maniacs no matter what they tell you.”
“He may not be a murderer. He admitted Ben was blackmailing him, but he said he didn’t kill him.”
“And you believe him because he’s such an upstanding citizen?”
“I’m not that naïve. I’m just saying it is a possibility. He also had a different story than that woman you took for drinks last night.”
“Paula?”
“Was there another woman?”<
br />
“Merry, there isn’t another woman. There’s only you. I’m sorry I made you mad, but you scared the heck out of me. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”
I stood. “I was more scared than I’ve ever been in my life. It makes me mad that he picked the exact right ruse to get me in the car.”
Rob hugged me. “How about some cookies.”
“I’m thinking a scare this bad chewed up a bunch of calories, so why not.”
He took the cookie jar out of the pantry and held it out to me. “Need some more milk?”
“Nope, I’m good. Aren’t you going to have some?”
“Don’t mind if I do.” He poured himself a glass of milk and took two cookies out of the jar. “So you don’t think John did it?”
“I don’t know. What if Paula did it to frame John?”
“I wouldn’t put it past her, but how would she have known Nancy? And how did she know Ben had been framing John? And why would she care if he was?”
“Those are all good questions.”
“I guess we’ll know more after Jay finishes interrogating them. He said he’d try to stop by later to give us an update. How are you feeling?”
“I’m really tired but much better than I was.”
“Do you mind if I borrow your office for a while? I need to follow up on some things for a story I’m writing.”
“Have at it. I’m going to clean.”
Rob glanced around at the sparkling house and then at me. “You’re tired. Why don’t you take a nap?”
“Nope, cleaning lowers my stress level.” I smiled at him and picked up the dust rag.
Shaking his head, he went into the office and shut the door. I made short work of the kitchen and then decided to make blueberry scones as an afternoon snack for Jenny. I was just taking them out of the oven when she got home.
“Mom, what are you doing home? And what’s that great smell? Oh, scones. Yum!” I came around the counter and gave her a tight hug. She hugged me back and then squirmed out of my embrace. “I love you, Mom, but I also love oxygen. Give a girl some room.”
“Sorry. I’m just glad to have you home.”
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