A Fatal Fall: A Senoia Cozy Mystery

by Harper, Susan

  “True, but we can start with people who we know were there,” Felicity said. “We’ll start there. We’ll interview potential witnesses, and we’ll see what we can get out of Autumn’s report too.” Jack’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it and sighed. Felicity could see a bit of anxiety in Jack. “Do you need to take that?” Felicity asked.

  “No, it’s just a text,” Jack said. “My mom is just reminding me who she wants me to call about Jamie. My parents want the rest of the family to know, but they just don’t want to be the ones to tell everybody.”

  “So they stuck you with that?” Jefferson asked. “That’s kind of harsh.”

  “It’s their kid,” Jack said.

  “It’s your sister,” Felicity retorted.

  “I know,” Jack said and ran his fingers through his hair, as though to wipe the stress off the top of his head. “But someone has to call everyone. I don’t want half the family and Jamie’s friends finding out because of a post online or an article in the paper. They should hear it from one of us. I’ve been trying to contact one of my uncles all day, but the guy is ignoring my calls. He kind of had a falling out with the rest of the family a few years ago, but he and Jamie had always been really close before we all stopped talking, so I wanted him to hear it from me. But the jerk keeps ignoring my phone calls, and I’m not going to tell him in a voicemail.”

  Felicity noticed Jack’s shoulders starting to tense up, and his eyes seemed glassy again. He was constantly teetering on the edge of sanity, and just about anything could push him across the line. “Who’s your uncle?” Jefferson asked. “Maybe we know him, and we can get a hold of him for you?”

  “Roger Tannings,” Jack said, and Felicity and Jefferson immediately exchanged glances.

  “What?” Jack snapped, obviously noticing the silent conversation going on. He looked to be second from slamming his fists down on the table.

  Felicity gave Jack a concerned gaze. “Did you know that a Roger and Nadine Tannings owned the apartment complex where the party was held?”

  Jack huffed. “No. I haven’t spoken to Uncle Roger and Aunt Nadine in years. Roger is my dad’s brother. Basically, Mom and Nadine never got along, and the in-laws fighting with each other eventually caused the brothers to get mad enough at each other for us to all just stop talking. It was all just a bunch of petty stuff. So I guess my uncle must know about Jamie then if he owned the apartments.”

  “Not exactly,” said Felicity. “We saw him just before you came into the shop earlier, and us telling him someone died at the party was the first he had heard about it. I guess the police hadn’t contacted him yet. And we didn’t get around to telling him who died. He, well, um…”

  “He didn’t care, did he?” Jack asked.

  “I’m sure if he had known it was his niece, we would have had a very different conversation, but no. He was just worried about the publicity of the apartments,” Felicity admitted.

  “Sounds like Uncle Roger to me,” Jack huffed. “Well, I’m sure he’ll find out eventually, then. I can’t keep calling him hoping he will answer. He’s obviously ignoring my calls intentionally. He keeps sending me to voicemail.”

  Felicity hesitated for a moment before speaking, “I have to be honest with you, Jack, I think that we’re going to need to interview both Roger and Nadine about what happened. Nadine was at the party, but she left early. But then Roger told us his wife didn’t get home until late. So either she didn’t leave the party like she planned, she lied to us, or she went somewhere else after the party and lied to her husband about it. I’m not sure what all that means, but it looks suspicious.”

  “All right,” Jack said and pushed his now empty coffee mug aside. “Looks like we have our first suspects, if only because their stories aren’t lining up with each other’s.”

  “Are you okay with that?” Felicity asked.

  “I don’t think Roger or Nadine could have killed Jamie. They were both really close to her, especially Roger. But either way, I do need to talk to them. They need to know it was Jamie, and we need to figure out what exactly happened with Nadine that night if what she said isn’t adding up.” Jack rose from his seat. “I say if Roger is going to keep ignoring my phone calls, we go directly to him. It’s Saturday, so I’m sure he’s home. He doesn’t go out much.”

  “Well, he did come see us this morning,” Jefferson said. “He was going to pay for our broken window until we all got into it.”

  “Knowing him, he’s probably back home and in bed,” Jack said. “Saturday has always been Roger’s personal day. I’m surprised he got out of bed long enough to come to Overton’s Events. He probably just left the house to grab lunch or something.”

  Just as they were getting ready to leave, a familiar face entered into the coffee shop and headed for the counter, likely bent on having a coffee. It was Abigail Dumont. “Hold on, guys,” Felicity told Jack and Jefferson. “I’m going to go speak with Abigail real quick.”

  “We’ll meet you in front of your shop,” Jefferson said, and Felicity nodded.

  She made her way over to Abigail just as she was receiving her cup of coffee from the barista. Abigail seemed shaky and a bit on edge. “Abigail,” Felicity said, tapping the woman’s shoulder as she added an ungodly amount of sugar to her beverage.

  Abigail jumped. She looked horrible. Her hair was a mess, there were dark circles under her eyes, and she was wearing the same outfit as she had been at the party. “Felicity!” the woman exclaimed as though relieved.

  “Abigail, are you okay?” Felicity asked and touched the woman by her elbow, leading her over to a table.

  “Not really. It’s been a long night,” she said.

  Felicity sat down with her. “I hope I didn’t put you out by having you close down the party by yourself. Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

  One of the coffee shop employees came over, dropping off a warmed blueberry muffin that Abigail immediately began to devour as though she hadn’t eaten all day. “Not really,” Abigail said with a mouth full of muffin. “I’m just stressed.”

  “Listen, Abigail,” Felicity said while opening up her notebook. “I need a favor. Do you think you could give me a list of your employees and their contact information, just anyone who had been working the party?”

  “Why?” Abigail asked hesitantly.

  “I’m just trying to figure out what happened last night at the party. The girl who died, well, I knew her.”

  “Oh!” Abigail exclaimed, and her face became even paler.

  “Could you just humor me?” Felicity asked.

  Abigail sighed, but she took the notebook from Felicity and scribbled down the names of workers and their phone numbers after looking it up on her phone. “There’s not many,” Abigail said. “You pretty much hired everyone. I just provided the entertainment.”

  “I know. I plan to speak to the people I hired too,” Felicity said and then thanked Abigail for the information. She was about to leave to go meet Jefferson and Jack by the shop, but hesitated. Abigail looked so rough. “You look like you have had a pretty tough day,” Felicity said. “Let me buy you dinner tonight.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” she said.

  “I insist,” Felicity said.

  Abigail sighed, but smiled at Felicity. “That sounds nice. I could probably use a girl’s night.”

  “Okay, great. I’ll call you later,” Felicity said and awkwardly waved good-bye before hurrying down the street to meet the guys, cringing slightly as she passed by the apartment buildings.

  Chapter 7

  Felicity gripped the steering wheel as she drove down the long, never-ending gravel driveway. “Your uncle sure does live far off the road,” Felicity told Jack, who had been booted to the backseat by Jefferson.

  “They like their privacy,” Jack said. “This is an old family lot that they inherited from my Aunt Nadine’s parents.”

  “I hate how the lake is right up on the road,” Felicity said, glancing to he
r left. She felt like if she went off the driveway even an inch, it would catapult the car into the water.

  The scenery was lovely, but driving on it was not. Trees stretched in either direction, and soon she felt as though she had left modern society behind. Thinking back to her first impressions of Roger and Nadine, she never would have pictured them living on such a large piece of property. It was such a country setting—beautiful and quaint, while Roger and Nadine had both seemed like rather high maintenance types. Perhaps it was the expensive clothes Nadine had been wearing, or perhaps it had been Roger’s decision to open up high-end loft apartments to cater toward Senoia’s sudden influx of Hollywood types, but either way, this certainly was not what she had been expecting when Jack had given her directions to his aunt and uncle’s home.

  As they turned the corner and the home came into view a short distance away, she chuckled to herself. That’s a little bit more of what I was expecting, she thought as they came upon the enormous home with an incredibly modern and outlandish design. “That must be a new home,” Felicity said, recognizing that the house couldn’t possibly be over five years old with its white and gray contemporary-modern design.

  “Yeah, they built that with Nadine’s inheritance. They tore down the place that used to be on the property,” Jack said as Felicity parked in the elaborate driveway. “I don’t really care for the new house,” Jack said. “Honestly, I liked the little cottage-like place they tore down.”

  “That’s a fountain,” Jefferson grumbled as he pressed his finger against the car window. “Why build something this fancy if no one can see it from the road? Who are they showing off for?”

  “Roger invests in a lot of different businesses. He has house parties and stuff like that for his clientele,” Jack explained.

  “Well, they should invest in re-doing that driveway,” Felicity griped as they all climbed out of the vehicle. “Is he home?”

  “I think so,” Jack said and pointed toward a collection of cars.

  “Dang,” Jefferson said and whistled. “So, Jack, is your entire family this loaded, or is it just the snooty aunt and uncle?”

  Jack rolled his eyes. “If my entire family was this loaded, do you think a football injury would have stopped me from going to college?”

  “I figured your grades probably did that for you,” Jefferson said, and Jack bucked up at him slightly.

  “Knock it off, you two,” Felicity warned and led the way up toward the large, white columns at the front door.

  She rang the doorbell, and it took an uncomfortably long silence before someone at last answered. Roger, wrapped in a robe with a sleepy look in his eye, opened the door. Jack had been right: the man had come back home to sleep after spending a brief amount of time in town. He seemed incredibly surprised to see them, and ignored Felicity and Jefferson completely. “Jack? What are you doing here? It’s been a while.”

  Felicity could feel the tension between them, and she noted that Jack’s shoulders were tense. When Jack said nothing in response, Roger waved a hand toward Felicity and Jefferson. “I told you two I’m not paying for that shop window. I offered, and then you two got snooty with me. Call the construction company. They’re the ones who owe you the window anyway. I tried to be nice and neighborly, but you two just—”

  “We’re here to talk to you about Jamie,” Felicity said.

  Roger huffed. “What’s Jamie got to do with this?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jack snapped. “You still don’t know, do you?”

  Roger stood upright and pointed at Jack. “Jack, I will call the police if you cause any trouble with me. You know good and well that you and the rest of your family are not welcome on my property after the way your mother treated Nadine.”

  Jack shook his head, disappointed. “You know Nadine was just as guilty as…”

  “Save it,” Roger said and started to close the door, but Jefferson put his foot in the way. “I’m going to call the police!” Roger warned.

  “Jamie’s dead,” Jack spat, and Roger quickly flung the door open.

  “What?”

  “Jamie is dead!” Jack shouted.

  “Jack, calm down,” Felicity said and gave him a gentle nudge, encouraging him to put some distance between himself and his uncle.

  Roger was either a fantastic actor, or he really hadn’t heard about Jamie yet. His face grew pale and his eyes fluttered slightly. “What do you mean? What happened?” Roger asked shakily.

  “She was pushed off your building!” Jack shouted in an accusing tone.

  Jack had been inching closer and closer, and Felicity was thankful that Jefferson was taking notice. Jefferson intentionally placed himself between Jack and Roger, and he encouraged Jack to step back by backing into him himself. Roger’s now watery eyes darted toward Felicity. “Oh no, was she who you were talking about?” he asked, and Felicity reached out and touched the man’s shoulder to steady him. “Jack, I didn’t know! I just heard this morning that someone died at the party and I didn’t really look into it. I didn’t know it was Jamie! I didn’t know!”

  “We were hoping you could answer some questions for us,” Felicity said in the most soothing voice she could muster.

  Before the conversation could go much further, they heard a car door slam. Looking back over her shoulder, Felicity could see a patrol car had pulled up into the driveway and a couple of officers were stepping out and headed toward them. “Jack, what are you doing here?” the female officer spoke.

  “Becky?” Jack flinched slightly and wiped tears that had started to form.

  Officer Becky and her partner both frowned at Jack. She crossed her arms. “Jack, you need to leave. You’re going to lose your job if you keep messing with this investigation while you’re supposed to be on leave. Chief already told you to back off once.”

  Jack’s voice hissed his reply. “Roger’s my uncle. How do you know I wasn’t just popping in for a visit?”

  “Uncle?” Becky questioned, and she and her partner exchanged glances.

  “What can I help you two with?” Roger asked sheepishly, drying his eyes against his sleeve.

  “We came here to speak to you about the incident that occurred last night at your apartment buildings,” the male officer said. “Has Jack made you aware of what took place?”

  “Yes,” Roger said hoarsely. “He told me my niece is dead.”

  “Niece?” Becky muttered. Clearly, this was new information to her. “Would you mind coming down to the station to talk?” Becky asked. “We can escort you there.”

  “Yes, that’s fine,” Roger said. “Just let me throw some clothes on, please.” Before going inside, Roger looked at Jack. “Jack, I’m so sorry about Jamie. This doesn’t even feel real. I mean, I just spoke to her last week!”

  “What?” Jack questioned, but Roger was already heading inside to change.

  “I think you should go, Jack,” Becky insisted.

  Jack gritted his teeth, but Felicity grabbed him by the arm. “Come on, let’s go,” she insisted and led Jack and Jefferson back to her car. Once the three of them were in the car, they paused for a moment before leaving.

  “I thought you said your families hadn’t been speaking?” Jefferson questioned.

  “We haven’t,” Jack said. “So why would Roger say he spoke to Jamie last week? I doubt that’s something he’d make up. I wonder what they talked about? Or why they talked at all?”

  Felicity’s phone beeped, and she pulled it out to see what notification she was getting. She jolted slightly. “Oh, no! Jefferson, I completely forgot that we have to run deliveries for that party we’re doing in Fayetteville tomorrow! And I have to meet Abigail in forty-five minutes!”

  “Relax,” Jefferson said. “I’ll handle the deliveries.”

  “I can help,” Jack offered, and the offer surprised them both.

  “Okay, that’s great,” Felicity said, though she was a little nervous about Jack and Jefferson being alone for an extended per
iod of time. They were bound to get into it about something, but she had completely let the deliveries slip her mind, and she wasn’t going to bail on Abigail. They headed back into Senoia, and Felicity gave Jefferson the keys to her car before hurrying across the street to the Irish pub.

  She headed down the stairs that led into the cellar of the office buildings where the pub was located, and she spotted Abigail in a booth waiting on her. Felicity double-checked the time and was glad to see that they both had simply arrived early, so she was hopeful that she had not kept Abigail waiting too long. Felicity helped herself to her seat, and was saddened to see that Abigail looked to be just as much of a mess as she had been earlier.

  At first, the dinner was fairly casual. They talked about Abigail’s growing business and her hopes for the company, but Felicity could sense that there was something looming over her. By the time they ordered dinner, they had hardly spoken about anything serious at all. Only when Felicity realized that Abigail was not touching her food did she finally ask, “So what’s going on with you? I can tell something’s bothering you. I mean, I know Jamie dying at the party has us all a little on edge, but it really seems to have affected you. Or is there something else going on? You can talk to me.” She tried her best to sound reassuring.

  Almost instantly, Abigail began shaking. “It’s my fault, Felicity. Jamie fell off the roof because of me.”

  Felicity almost choked on her bite of shepherd’s pie. She certainly had not expected someone to outright confess to her with such little prompting. “What do you mean?”

  Abigail came clean with her story. “Jamie was so young looking, you know? I figured the bartender had just checked her ID and went with it, so obviously she was using a fake ID or something, but that young face of hers wasn’t fooling me. I asked her how old she was, and she was already really drunk, and she told me. She didn’t even deny it, so I kicked her out of the party. But somehow, she kept bypassing security, and she kept winding up back at the DJ station. She was harassing Mack. I don’t know about what, probably wanting him to play some song or whatever. Mack asked me to do something about her because she kept trying to knock over one of his speakers. She was being so rowdy and drunk and stupid, and it was stressing me out. And I probably walked her off the property five times that night before I finally snapped!”