“Oh, wow, Abigail!” Felicity cried out. “You pushed her off the roof!”
“What, no!” Abigail shrieked and then lowered her voice. “I would never do anything like that! Not on purpose. She just kept breaking into the party somehow, so I sent her up to the roof and I locked the door behind me. I was downstairs when it happened. She just fell! It was an accident. I mean, she was drunk, but I never in a million years would have thought she was so drunk that she’d fall off the roof!”
Oh, Abigail, you poor thing. No wonder she seems so stressed, Felicity thought and shook her head. “Abigail, you didn’t kill Jamie. Jamie was pushed by someone. She didn’t fall!”
“She must have,” Abigail said. “I didn’t give anyone a key to the door that led to the roof. I locked her up there so I wouldn’t have to keep chasing her off the property. She was being annoying and persistent, and she was ruining the event. She fell! I locked a drunk teenager up on a roof during a party just to make things easier on myself, and she fell!”
“No, that’s not what happened!” Felicity exclaimed. “I’m telling you, Abigail, someone pushed her. She didn’t just fall. I spoke with the forensic pathologists, and I’ve spoken to the police too. They’re investigating a murder because there’s evidence that Jamie defended herself from an attacker. Someone pulled her hair out, and she had bruising around her wrists. Oh, geesh, Abigail, you didn’t kill Jamie!”
“I…” Abigail hesitated, then she started crying. “I shouldn’t feel relieved to hear that someone murdered her, but I do! That means it wasn’t my fault then, right?”
“Well, I won’t say it wasn’t careless, but no, it’s wasn’t your fault,” Felicity assured. “But, I have to be honest with you, I think you still need to tell the police what happened. It could help with their investigation. Someone had to have either already been up on the roof, or they had a key to get up there in order to have pushed her. The police need to know that because it will help narrow down their search.”
“I’m going to go to jail for this,” Abigail said, but she seemed calmer now. “Right? I mean, it was an accident, but it was intentionally careless. And if I hadn’t done it, well, maybe Jamie wouldn’t have been in that situation that got her killed. But you’re right, though, aren’t you? I need to go to the police.”
“I am right,” Felicity said. “The information could help with the investigation.”
Eventually, the two women decided to pay for their dinner and walk down to the Senoia police station together. Felicity could tell that Abigail was still shaky from the incident, but she walked with a sense of relief. Felicity couldn’t imagine how guilty Abigail must have been feeling. I’m glad I took her out to dinner, Felicity thought as they entered the station. She has probably been screaming inside wanting to tell someone what happened.
Jack’s partner, Patrick, was working the evening shift, so he wound up listening to the two of them and instructed another officer to take Abigail to their interrogation room to get her statement about the incident.
Felicity waited by Patrick’s desk until he returned, plopping down in his seat and telling her to sit as well. “You don’t think Abigail hurt Jamie, do you?” Patrick asked her as he sat down.
“No, I don’t,” she said firmly.
“Me either. She’s really torn up about what she did, though,” Patrick said. “She did tell me that she told David, the bartender, that she had locked Jamie up on the roof. So thanks to you convincing Abigail to come down here, we have a possible lead.”
“That’s good,” Felicity said. “But why would the bartender try to kill Jamie?”
“He’s not a suspect, just a lead. If he told anyone else about Jamie being up there, well, we’ll see. But he’s already in trouble.”
“Why?” Felicity asked.
“David told one of my officers that Jamie had an ID that must have been fake. We never found Jamie’s fake ID though. I called Jack and asked about it. He told me she had had one, but he had taken it from her a few days before the party and he still had it in his nightstand, so she didn’t have her ID on her. Somehow, David managed to slip off before we could charge him with serving a minor, but now that we know he knew Jamie was up on the roof, we’ll be getting after him for his minor offense so that we can get him down here for questioning. He might know something useful. Abigail will probably be able to put us in touch with him.” Suddenly, Patrick sat upright. “Felicity, you’re not talking to Jack about all this, are you? You realize he needs to back off, right? He was given orders to stay away. He should be mourning. He’s too close to this case. He could get into a lot of trouble, you realize that, right?”
“I know, Patrick,” Felicity said. “But you can’t blame him, can you? It’s his sister.”
“I don’t want to lose my partner because his ex-girlfriend talked him into playing detective when he doesn’t have his badge,” Patrick said. “If you care about Jack, you need to convince him to step off.”
Felicity shook her head. “I do care about Jack, but I’m not in a position where I can tell him what he can and can’t do. That would be awfully ironic coming from me, considering why I broke up with him in the first place.”
Patrick rolled his eyes slightly. “Just do me a favor and watch out for him, all right? I’m worried about him.”
Felicity nodded and rose from her seat. “You and me both,” she said before leaving the station.
Chapter 8
Jefferson was not quite sure how he felt about Jack tagging along on a delivery, but without Felicity, he was somewhat grateful for the help. Truthfully, Jefferson had always been the muscle—it was why he had been hired in the first place, to load the van—but he had gradually taken on more responsibilities. They were practically partners at this point. The whole reason Jefferson had wanted to work for Felicity was simply because he wanted to work for Felicity; he had had zero interest in party planning. He would call her the girl that got away, but he had never had her in the first place. She had been a senior when he was a freshmen back in high school, and she had always been that beautiful older girl that hardly noticed him. But she did notice me, Jefferson reminded himself as he unlocked the front door of the shop for him and Jack to enter. Well, she noticed that I was strong enough to carry boxes to the car for her.
“The company van is parked around back,” Jefferson said.
“You guys have a company van now?” Jack asked. He seemed to be somewhat impressed, but Jefferson was almost certain there was a snarky comment just around the corner. Jack had been Felicity’s football boyfriend, and Jefferson was somewhat intimidated by his presence.
“Yep,” Jefferson said. “We have a lot of stuff to take to this party venue so we better get going. Pretty much everything is either in Felicity’s office or in the storage room. She’s got purple sticky notes on all the boxes that have to go.”
“That’s easy enough. Is the van unlocked?” Jack asked and headed straight for Felicity’s office. “So you got an office too?” he asked over his shoulder.
“No, the van is not unlocked, and no, I don’t have an office,” Jefferson said with a frown. He followed Jack, not sure how he felt about Jack being in Felicity’s office by himself.
As Jefferson expected, Jack was taking his time sorting through the boxes so that he could take a look around. Jack laughed slightly as he examined Felicity’s desk; all of her office supplies had zebra prints. “That’s so like Felicity,” Jack said as he picked up a pen with black and white stripes and a puff of pink feathers on top. “Back in high school, her whole bedroom was a bunch of pink and zebra print.” Jack said this last comment with a slight wink toward Jefferson.
Jefferson frowned. He and Felicity had a close friendship, close enough to know that she had never slept with Jack, so what Jack was obviously suggesting was just him blowing smoke. Jefferson retorted, “Yeah, she still has two zebra pillows in her bedroom now. But she’s gotten rid of most of that high school stuff. She got rid of a lot of stuff sh
e had back in high school.”
Jack spun around with a scowl. “You mean me?”
“I didn’t say that,” Jefferson retorted. Though, he certainly had meant that.
Jack rolled his eyes and put the pen back on the desk. He picked up a small, wooden picture frame. It was a picture of Felicity and Jefferson from the first event they had done together. They were both grinning ear to ear, arms around each other in a friendly embrace. “Let me guess,” Jack said with a snort. “You gave this to her, right?”
Jefferson crossed his arms. “So what if I did?”
Jack laughed at him and put the picture back down. “Man, you are so desperate. It’s so obvious. You realize she still thinks of you as just that goofy freshmen kid who used to follow her around, right? You’re just a kid to her.”
“We don’t all still act like we’re stuck in high school, Jack,” Jefferson said. “We’re all adults now. Why don’t you quit acting like you’re still some football stud? That stuff only matters in high school. Grow up.”
“Grow up?” Jack questioned. “You’re telling me to grow up? Man, you’re a party planner’s assistant.”
“And you’re a washed up jock who still attends his old high school’s football games on Friday nights.” Jefferson uncrossed his arms. “Just get the boxes with the purple sticky notes. Or you can just leave, and I’ll do this myself. Why did you offer to help me if you were going to act like a tool? Was it just to play nice to Felicity?” Jefferson raised his voice slightly. “Because if that’s all it was, you can just leave and I’ll tell her you helped me. I don’t really care if she thinks you helped me or not. It’s not like that’s going to impress her. You want to call me a kid? At least I moved past high school after I graduated. You’re still in high school, and guess what? Felicity’s not. You had your chance with her, and you blew it. Just like you blew everything else. You messed things up with her. You ruined your chances at a scholarship by trying to show off on the field, and you messed up your leg trying to be a hotshot. You screw everything up, man.”
Jack looked furious to the point that he was a bit shaky. “I screw everything up? You’re not talking about what happened with my sister, are you?”
“What? No! That’s not what I meant!” Jefferson stammered. Jefferson rolled his eyes. “Jack, you can’t blame yourself for that. And don’t try to make me feel bad after you started crap with me first.”
Jack paused, and his shoulders slumped. “You’re right. I’m sorry. That was my own guilt talking.”
“Well, you shouldn’t feel guilty,” Jefferson said. “And we’re going to find out what happened to her. And if you want mine and Felicity’s help, you’re going to have to stop acting like such a jerk toward me. We’re working together on this. I’m trying to help you and if you want me to keep trying to help you, you can’t keep blowing up at me and making all these snarky comments about me and Felicity.”
Jack nodded. “All right. You’re right. You’re helping me, and I’m just hounding you. You’re a good guy, Jefferson.”
“Same to you…well, most of the time…” Jefferson said, and Jack chuckled. Jefferson pointed toward a pile of boxes. “Let’s get this stuff over to Fayetteville before the venue closes.”
Jack nodded. “Okay, I’m on it. And listen, Jefferson, as far as Felicity is concerned, you’re right. I had my chance, and I blew it. She’ll probably never take me back. But you can’t really blame a guy for trying, right?”
Jefferson nodded. “I guess not. And you’re right about me too. I know that Felicity doesn’t feel the same way about me that I feel about her. But like you said, can’t blame a guy for trying.”
“Well then, may the best man win,” Jack said with a wink.
Jefferson laughed. “That probably means it won’t ever be either of us, Jack.”
Jack shook his head, but he had small smile on his face. They hurried to load up the boxes, and soon they were on their way to Fayetteville to make the delivery.
Chapter 9
Felicity made her way down the square in Fayetteville. The square was nowhere near as impressive as the revived little town in Senoia, but she adored the murals that lined the sides of some of the buildings there. She and Jefferson had just finished setting everything up for the party later that day, so since she had some time, she figured she would try to squeeze in an interview. She had discovered that David, the bartender who worked for Abigail, worked the dayshift at a local bar called the Old Towne Tavern.
The tavern had only been open for a few years now, but the building itself predated the Civil War. The owner had kept all the original brickwork, making for a very old-time, cozy atmosphere. She entered through the front door and took a moment to admire the enormous hand-crafted bar to her right. Felicity had never been there before; it was one of those places you pass a thousand times and always tell yourself you need to try but never actually make it inside.
They had just opened for lunch, and it appeared that Felicity was the first customer for the day. A perky young waitress hurried up to her. “Would you like a window seat?” the girl offered, and Felicity suspected the girl was trying to lure her away from the bar in hopes of getting a table to wait on first thing in the morning.
“I think I’ll just sit at the bar,” Felicity said. “Is David working today?”
“He is,” the girl said while trying to hide her disappointment. “He’ll be with you in just a second; he’s out back grabbing a cigarette.”
Felicity climbed up onto one of the ridiculously high wooden chairs that sat up by the bar. For such a small restaurant, she was impressed to see the vast selection behind the counter. It was far too early to order a drink, though she doubted that would stop most people. A few minutes went by, and soon the familiar young bartender was standing across the bar from her. “Felicity Overton,” he said with a slight grin. “Right?”
“That’s me. You’re good with names,” she said.
“It comes with the job description, gorgeous” he said with a wink. “Besides, who could forget a pretty face like that? So what can I get for you? You want a menu?”
“Just a club soda, please,” she said, and he had the drink in front of her in seconds.
“So, honey, what brings you to the Tavern today?” he asked. “Did you find out I worked here and just had to pop in?” He winked again.
Felicity didn’t care for the abrasive flirting. She decided that she wasn’t going to waste any time. “Listen, David, I was hoping I could talk to you about what happened at that party in Senoia.”
The man frowned. “You’re talking about that kid who fell off the roof?”
“She was pushed,” Felicity said. “They are doing an investigation.”
“Whoa, pushed?” he questioned. “I knew they were doing an investigation, but I didn’t realize she had been pushed.”
Felicity couldn’t get a read on him. He seemed genuinely surprised, but he lacked sincerity so he was coming off as a bit cold. “She had been drinking,” Felicity said. “And you were the bartender working there that night.”
David huffed at her. “Look, if you’re accusing me of something, just get on with it. I don’t really care for your snarky attitude.”
“I’m not trying to be snarky,” Felicity said and sat upright in her seat. “I’m just trying to figure out what happened. I knew her.”
“Oh,” David said half-heartedly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Why were you serving her drinks? You must have known she was underage,” Felicity asked.
The man leaned up against the bar, propping his elbows in front of him. “I’m going to tell you the same thing that I told the police. I checked everyone at that party. If she got drinks from me, she must have had a fake ID and I just didn’t catch it. You were there; you saw how many people there were. It was just crazy. I’m being honest with you, all right?”
Felicity propped her elbows up aa well, and she leaned forward—giving him her best death stare. “O
kay, well, since we’re being so honest with each other, let me tell you something. I happen to know that you knew Jamie was locked up on the roof.”
“How do you know that she was locked up on the roof?” David asked defensively and stood upright to avoid her stare.
“So you admit that you knew?”
“I didn’t admit to a thing. I’m just wanting to know what makes you think that girl was locked up on the roof.”
Felicity took a sip of her drink and then set it back down. “Start talking, David, or I’m going to let the police know that you knew. I’m sure they’re already looking into you for serving alcohol to a minor, right? A minor who got killed.” The police had been the one to inform her of David being aware of Jamie being on the roof, but David didn’t know that so she decided to use it to her advantage. It was sneaky, but she needed to use every tool in her toolbox if she was ever going to get anywhere with this man.
“All right, fine,” he snarled. “Yes, I knew she was up there. Abigail locked her up there because she had been kicked out I don’t know how many times. She was getting on everyone’s nerves, and she kept breaking back in somehow because the crappy security detail you hired never managed to stop her from walking right back in. She was being loud, obnoxious, and she was cussing people out, especially poor Mack. She almost knocked his speaker system over. She was drunk out of her mind, so Abigail just locked her up on the roof to keep her out of trouble. We didn’t think she’d fall…or get pushed…off the roof!”
“Okay,” Felicity said. “I believe that you wouldn’t intentionally put someone in harm’s way, David. But you were serving underage people at that party, and you knew it.”
A Fatal Fall: A Senoia Cozy Mystery Page 6