by Joy Avon
Paula laughed nervously. “I think he even suspected me of being the type who seduces and robs elderly gentleman. He is quite formidable when he looks at you like that. He was writing down what I said, and I knew if he took me to the station, he would also be taping it.”
She entwined her fingers. “I … uh … I got a bit nervous, so I told him everything. Sylvia will be livid when she finds out.”
Paula wet her lips. “Actually, I want to leave before she finds out.”
“But you can’t. If you leave, it will look really suspicious.” Callie felt she had to say something like that, to ensure the women stuck around Heart’s Harbor for the time being.
Paula said, “I don’t feel sorry for Sylvia. She can fend for herself. I’m sure if the deputy tried to get anything from her, she’d just laugh in his face and not say a word. But Jane—”
“Jane?” Callie asked. “Who’s Jane?”
“Jane is the woman Sylvia met through the magazine article she read about victims of conmen. She told you, remember?”
Callie tilted her head. “I thought that was you. The way she told it, there’s a third woman involved?”
“Yes. Jane.” Paula rubbed her hands together. “Jane was the one who told her story in the magazine. The story that was almost identical to Sylvia’s. They struck up a friendship and vowed to hunt down this man who had hurt them. Jane is a colleague of mine. She asked me to help them execute this plan.”
“So you aren’t a victim of Mr. King?” Callie asked, perplexed by this new information.
“Not directly, no. But when Jane was seeing him and lending him money, she didn’t have access to much and borrowed from me. Of course when he left her and couldn’t be found anymore, I also didn’t get my money back.” Paula smiled sadly. “When Sylvia told us she had found the perfect occasion to confront him, we thought we could pull it off. I was supposed to ask him for the meeting, since he had never seen me and … I was youngest and better looking. They said he preyed on pretty women, you know.”
Or old and defenseless women, Callie thought, recalling Sean’s mother and feeling anger shoot through her veins again.
Paula swallowed. “I just wanted to help them both with a little justified revenge. I had no idea that …”
She fidgeted with her watch band. “When it was time to leave for the event, I had my doubts about it, and Sylvia decided she’d go with me to ensure I wouldn’t chicken out at the last minute.” Paula cringed, as if recalling Sylvia’s criticism of her on the occasion. “Jane didn’t want to come. She said that she didn’t have the nerve and was afraid King would somehow recognize her. Sylvia’s looks have changed a lot since her time with King, you know—different hairstyle and color—but Jane is the type you’d still recognize, even if you went to high school with her and hadn’t seen her since. We agreed it was better if she stayed at the hotel. But I think … I wonder …”
Paula looked up at Callie, her eyes wide and insecure.
“If Jane went to the event anyway, confronted King, and killed him?” Callie asked. Her heart raced with the possibility that there might be another suspect in play. A potential killer Ace knew nothing about. What if this could clear Sean Strong? Iphy would be so happy!
Paula said hurriedly, “I don’t think Jane is a killer. Honestly not. She’s a kind woman and wouldn’t hurt a fly. But this whole thing with that man—it changed her. She felt so humiliated, and her kids also laughed at her. That mom had fallen for a conman. She had to fess up to them, you know, when they found out she was in debt.”
Paula looked sad. “I loaned her money to prevent her from going into debt. But she was so in love with him that she kept giving him money. Even after I asked her whether it was really such a good idea.” Paula’s eyes were full of tears. “I just can’t stand people ruining other people’s lives. And just for money! Not even for—”
“Something substantial.” Callie nodded. “I understand what you mean. Do you have a specific reason for thinking Jane went to the event anyway? I mean, if you made the agreement she wouldn’t show herself there and everything went down according to plan …”
Paula took a deep breath. “I saw her. When the concert was about to begin, I came from the restrooms. I saw Jane running down the stairs. I’m sure it was her. I’ve worked with her for six years now. I know her posture and movements, you know.”
Callie nodded. “So Jane fled the scene, so to speak?”
“That’s what it felt like. I was surprised she had come. I wondered if she was looking for us, but the concert was about to begin, and when I came down I didn’t see her anymore. There were so many people milling about. So I went back to Sylvia. I did tell her I thought I had seen Jane, but Sylvia said it must have been someone that looked like her. When you came to the hotel to talk to us, I wondered if I should mention Jane, but Sylvia signaled me not to.”
Callie recalled that moment when Paula had asked Sylvia ‘Should I …?’ and before she had been able to end her sentence, Sylvia had shaken her head and launched into her story about how she had been conned by King. Paula had wanted to call in Jane, and Sylvia had prevented it.
Did Sylvia know Jane had been there and had perhaps killed the expert? Was she covering for her?
But why?
Or had the two women agreed on the murder together and only used Paula as a decoy?
Callie leaned against the sink. “So you didn’t tell Ace—I mean, Deputy Falk—anything about Jane?”
“No. Just about Sylvia. I was worried that if he went to Jane, with his stern look and his gleaming badge and his notebook, she’d feel intimidated and might say something silly, incriminating herself. I don’t think she killed King. Honestly.”
Then why are you here? Callie asked her in silence.
It did seem that Paula wanted her, and via her the police, to know that Jane was a part of it.
Why?
Because Paula realized that she was in trouble, with her name on the card left in the book, her lies about her aunt’s inheritance? Did she want to make sure she wouldn’t be left holding the bag while Sylvia and Jane walked away unscathed?
That made total sense. But it was also possible that Paula was the killer and now wanted to shift the blame to Jane. After all, Paula was the only one declaring Jane had actually been at the event, that she had seen her there. That could be a lie.
And by revealing that she, Paula, had only been remotely involved in the conman’s actions, not a direct victim, she underlined that she had no pressing reason to kill him. Sylvia and Jane did, right? Jane maybe most of all, as she had ended up in debt and embarrassed.
Callie sighed. “Now what do you want me to do?”
“Tell your fiancé what I told you. I won’t make a statement against Jane. Not like that. She’s my colleague. But he can look into her presence on the scene, right? Maybe take her fingerprints or something and see if they were anywhere near the victim? Somehow get hard proof. If there is none, it would clear her.”
“Deputy Falk does need a reason to do that.” Callie studied Paula. “Maybe he can just tell Jane that he interviewed you as part of the proceedings and asked who you were here with, in Heart’s Harbor, in which case you would have had to mention both Sylvia and Jane.”
Paula’s expression brightened. “That’s perfect! Her full name is Jane Williams, and she’s in room 402.” She rose to her feet. Now she noticed Daisy and crouched to pat her. “Nice doggy. Hello. Yes, you’re very pretty. And soft.”
Daisy closed her eyes as the woman scratched her behind the ears. The dog was usually a good judge of character, but Callie didn’t think she could now simply deduce that Paula was innocent in King’s murder.
Maybe the three women had done it together, assuming that the police could never attribute the blame to one of them distinctly enough to press charges. Who had held the scissors stabbing the man to death?
Paula straightened up. “I told you all I know. Do with it what you think is right. I have to r
un along now, or Sylvia will miss me at breakfast. She is quite a force. Goodbye.” She walked out of the door.
Callie stood considering. Yes, Sylvia was quite a force, but Paula seemed to have her ways as well. Quiet, soft-spoken, just a little insecure. But planting the seeds of doubt with great ingenuity. Jane, so humiliated, Jane present at the event. Sylvia wanting to protect Jane, and what for? Unless, of course, there was something Jane had done that had better not come to light.
It was well played.
Deliberately, to keep Paula from the spotlight?
Callie pursed her lips, staring at the table. She didn’t feel like eggs and yogurt with walnuts and honey anymore. Her stomach seemed too full to eat anything. Full of murder and manipulation, with no clear clues leading her anywhere.
Chapter Eighteen
Having drunk a cup of coffee and eaten half a banana, Callie put the other half in her pocket and took Daisy to the Book Tea. They found Iphy busy putting some fresh white chocolate strawberry cookies on a plate she covered with plastic wrap.
Callie told her all about the third woman, Jane, while Iphy whipped cream to put in the fridge and use later on treats.
Concluding, Callie remarked, “I think it’s a bit convenient to just assume Jane did it. Paula may claim to have seen her at the event, but we only have Paula’s word for it. She could be lying to divert attention from herself. After all, I’m sure she’s not happy Ace came after her at the hotel. Whether she believes he was just following up on the card in the book or not.”
Iphy didn’t respond. She seemed to be deep in thought. Callie poked her gently, and Iphy jerked upright and stared at her. “What?”
“Do you think Jane did it? Killed Mr. King?”
Iphy shook her head. “I think we’ve been misled all along.”
“Misled?” Callie queried. “How do you mean?”
Iphy pointed at her, color rising in her cheeks. “I’ve been thinking all night long about what Sean told us, about his mother. There was something in his story that I was sure was connected to something we heard before.”
“Yes, that the expert preyed on people for money.”
“No, I mean something more specific. A clue, as it were.” Iphy grinned. “And now I know what it is.”
Her expression sobered as she added, “Not that it makes me happy to suspect him. If I’m right …” She tutted and shook her head. “Poor young man.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“Seth Delacorte, of course. Remember how Mrs. Forrester told us that the expert yelled at him and treated him in a demeaning way?”
Callie tilted her head. “Is that a motive for murder? It seems to me Delacorte isn’t the type to bark back, let alone defend himself with physical violence.” She could still see him with his tousled hair and his pajamas, his bare feet, sitting on the edge of his bed, pulling up his legs and hugging his knees like a lost little boy in boarding school.
Iphy shook her head. “It’s not the bullying behavior per se. I finally remembered what I had been trying to remember all night long. You see, Sean told us he was so upset about his mother being duped because she died. He believes that her bad experience influenced her health to that extent that it caused her death. So he could feel like the expert murdered his mother, indirectly.”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with Delacorte?”
“He told us his father lost his job and could no longer pay for his tuition. And later he said his father had died.”
“Yes, so?” Callie still didn’t follow along.
“Well, maybe his father was a victim of King’s machinations, and he lost his job because of that. Then he died. Delacorte might have wanted revenge for that.”
Although Callie couldn’t totally exclude this possibility, it did strike her as highly unlikely. “Delacorte told us he came to work for King four years ago. Would he have waited for four years to get that revenge he was after? And wouldn’t he have taken a risk that King would find out he was related to one of his earlier victims?”
Iphy waved off her questions. “I think it’s a viable theory. Sylvia said the assistant followed him around like a puppy. And Sean saw no one when he left the victim alone but that same assistant. So Delacorte might have gone in to King after the argument with Sean, where he grabbed and shook King after he maligned his mother. Maybe Delacorte even overheard part of what was said. The derogatory reference to an old woman as a carcass. He realized that his boss hadn’t just ruined his father’s life, but that of others as well. Maybe Sean’s tale made Delacorte’s anger over his father well up fresh, and he grabbed the scissors and stabbed his boss.”
Callie wasn’t sure that this scenario fit with Delacorte’s character. But then how well did she really know him? Maybe he had played the part of the shocked and insecure assistant although he did know more about it.
Something niggled at the back of her brain, something she had noticed when they had first visited Delacorte at the Cliff Hotel, but she couldn’t lay her finger on what it was.
“I’ll call Ace to tell him about Jane,” she said to Iphy, “and then I can also ask him to look into Delacorte and see if he can find out more about how his father died and how he lost his job—if there could have been a relation with King’s fraudulent activities.”
Iphy nodded. “I hope Falk finds out something soon. I can’t bear to think of Sean locked up.” She shivered and then returned to work, finalizing preparations for Book Tea to open soon.
Callie called Ace and explained what she had learned. He said he was taking note of it, but she had the impression he was a bit distracted as he hemmed and hawed quite a few times and didn’t reply when she had finished speaking. She had to ask twice if he had followed along, before he said, “Sure. Talk to you later,” and disconnected.
Callie stared at the phone, then shrugged and put it back in her purse. Daisy had come to sit at her feet and was looking up at her expectantly.
With the same eagerness, Iphy asked if Falk was taking action right away.
“I don’t know—he sounded kind of wrapped up. I assume he also has other cases on his hands.”
Iphy seemed to want to say something, but then she just nodded and set up some trays with empty cups, ready to start pouring coffee and tea the moment the first customers came in.
Callie went into the tearoom and walked past all the tables, checking that the cloths were clean and there were no dead flowers on the plants. She was on her knees, peeling off the carpet a bit of bubblegum that the vacuum cleaner had apparently missed, as the door opened behind her, and Peggy came in. She looked better than she had in days, wearing a crisp white blouse and a knee-length skirt and high heels. Daisy ran for her and circled her while she came over to Callie. Peggy said, “I’m so sorry I didn’t call you about this last night, but I can’t work this morning. I have to drive into another town. For …”
She waited a moment as if undecided, then added, “… a job interview.”
Callie’s jaw sagged. “I thought you were happy here at Book Tea.”
“Yes, but it’s so close to the community center, and I feel awkward running into Quinn all the time. I think we … uh … need a bit of time away from each other.”
Callie wanted to say something, but Peggy put a hand on her arm. “I need a bit of time away from it all. I’m not sure how I feel about Quinn. I do like him an awful lot—he’s been a great friend, also to the boys, and I don’t want to just say no. Just because he’s a friend, I need to find out how I really feel. Whether I could … you know.”
“Fall in love with him?” Callie asked softly.
Peggy nodded. “I’m so confused now. I feel guilty about Greg, and I’m comparing Quinn to Greg, and what I feel for Quinn compared to what I felt when I met Greg, and it’s just a mess. I have to give myself some space.”
“Is it a nice job you’re applying for?” Callie asked.
“Shop assistant in a ladies’ boutique.” Peggy gestured to her outfi
t. “Do you think I look the part?”
“Very crisp and professional,” Callie assured her. “And you have good taste in clothes.”
“But no retail experience, unless you count the three weeks I worked in a store when I was sixteen.” Peggy grimaced. “I just hope they’ll give me a chance.” She leaned over and added hurriedly, “I do hope you won’t think I’m ungrateful, Callie. I loved working here, and if Quinn hadn’t suddenly said all those things, I would never have walked out on you like this. But right now …”
“I totally understand. I hope you get the job and can have that time away to make up your mind. Quinn wouldn’t be happy either if you just threw yourself into a relationship with him without having considered it first. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
Peggy nodded and checked her watch. “I have to run. Thanks so much. Now I don’t feel so bad about leaving you.” She looked down and seemed to notice Daisy, squatting to give her a scratch behind the ears. The dog tilted her head and barked as if wishing her good luck.
Peggy straightened and rushed to the door, then halted, her hand on the handle. “Oh, I told Ace what happened. I didn’t want him to blame you for anything.”
Callie wanted to ask how Ace had taken this, but Peggy was already out the door. Daisy, who had followed her, ambled back to Callie and sniffed the last bit of bubblegum left on the spot Callie had been cleaning.
Callie released her breath in a huff. Losing Peggy meant losing very good help in the Book Tea. Which meant more work for them.
She got back on her knees to finish cleaning.
* * *
During lunchtime, having served countless people the daily special, Callie was clearing an outside table when she spied Ace on the other side of the street, talking to a colleague who was giving parking tickets.
Just as Callie turned to carry the dirty cups and plates inside, she almost collided with Iphy, who came jogging out and headed straight for Ace, paying so little attention to the traffic in the street that a small truck honked at her.