“So…” Matt set the beer next to Jesse’s plate and proceeded with his usual directness. “I take it, you don’t think Bliss Kerr killed her husband.”
Jesse took a quick drink to wash down the pizza she was already chewing, then swallowed. “No.” She took another drink before continuing. “Admittedly, she would probably be the prime suspect, but it’s been less than two days, and nobody’s really looked very hard at anyone else.”
“Who else is there?”
“Well, Harry Kerr was not exactly an angel. There has to be a ton of people we don’t know anything about.”
“Was she home at the time of the murder?” Matt asked, brushing aside everything Jesse had said to that point.
“Yes.” She glared at him, but it wasn’t Matt’s fault that the truth sounded so bad when you said it out loud.
“Does she have an alibi?”
“No.”
“Does she have a motive?”
Jesse heaved a sigh of disgust and went back to glaring at him. “Some people would say that she does.”
“Means? Opportunity?” Matt asked with the irritating air of a parent making a point to a child.
“Would you like to go arrest her now, Mr. Prosecutor? Nobody has said that it doesn’t look bad.” Jesse tried to keep her voice down, but it kept creeping up. “That’s why we’re trying to come up with a list of some of the other dozens of people who also have motive, means and opportunity. I mean, good grief, the man was a car salesman. He screwed around with countless women, many of whom were not single. And many of whom he just dumped when he was done. One that we know of killed herself. That had to have been motive for somebody!”
Connie lifted her beer in a salute. “Yes! Murder, suicide, and jilted lovers.” She laid her hand on her husband’s arm and gave him a pat. “And you didn’t want me to get involved.”
He turned his piercing gaze from Jesse to the buoyant woman on the other side of him. “A murder has been committed, Connie. That means there is a murderer running around out there. From my point of view, it would be really nice if a cute, little blond did it. She probably wouldn’t be trying to kill anyone else, since she was primarily pissed at her husband. If someone else did it, we don’t know who else they might end up killing before this is over.”
“Ooh,” Connie said with a shiver, then looked at Jesse and grinned. “This is just like being in a movie. So, who else could have done it?”
Matt groaned, but Jesse ignored him. Once she started listing the other possibilities, she knew he would see her point. Bliss was the easy target, but there were many others with reasons that were just as powerful, if not so obvious.
“Well, the first one who jumped out was Bill Marshall. He seems like a nice, relatively passive guy, and no one really thinks he did it, but technically he’s a serious candidate.”
“Oh, I know him!” Connie seemed pleased with the first suggestion. “And his wife. I went to school with her. Sort of. I was a few years older, but we went to the same church. I was a bridesmaid at their wedding.”
“Get out of here!” Jesse said, amazed. “A bridesmaid?”
“Yes. So was Bliss Kerr.”
“So, you were friends with Cindilee? Actually friends?” Jesse’s mind flickered to her high school days, which were not typical. Her best friends were Michael Windsor and Fisher Daniels. It wasn’t that she didn’t have any female friends, they just weren’t her best buds like Michael and Fisher were.
“Well, sure,” Connie answered, as if it were completely natural and not a huge coincidence. “Cindilee was kind of quiet and intellectual. A little older than her years, if you know what I mean. But we were both on the cheerleading squad, and I sort of took her under my wing.”
“Cheerleading?” Jesse wasn’t quite stunned, but she was close. “So, her health was okay when she was in high school? And she was a cheerleader?”
Matt had gone back to eating pizza, content to watch and listen. Connie took a sip of her beer before saying, “Well, yes, of course. Oh, you mean, when did she get sick? That was after she was married.”
“Are you still friends with her?”
“I try to stay in touch. She doesn’t get out much anymore, unless she’s having one of her good days. But I don’t want her to feel like she’s been abandoned.”
Once again, Jesse was touched by the deep well of kindness that was such a part of Constance Oliver. Jesse had never aspired to saintliness. It just wasn’t a part of her. But she was aware of the honor when someone as innately good as Connie called her a friend.
Which led Jesse to admit, if only to herself, that Matt was probably right. This poking around the edges of a murder could be dangerous stuff, and the last thing she wanted to do was expose anyone else to harm, especially someone like Connie.
“So, what’s suspicious about Bill?” Connie asked.
Pulled back from her reverie, Jesse shook her head to clear the emotions more than the thoughts. She glanced toward Matt and saw that he was watching her with clear-eyed skepticism. “Several things,” she answered, determined not to show the irritation he so easily aroused in her. “The sudden ending of his partnership with Harry, and the ill will that caused. Possible lingering feelings for Bliss, maybe with resentment for Harry’s treatment of her. The mysterious illness of a wife who stands between him and the woman he truly loves.”
“So, that would be love, jealousy, money, and trapped in a life he doesn’t want,” Matt said, not sounding nearly so skeptical. “Does he have an alibi for that night?”
“He was at home with his wife, who takes sleeping pills.”
“Which is the same as no alibi at all.” Matt took another piece of pizza from the box. “Okay, keep going. This has possibilities.”
“But, he’s so nice,” Connie protested. “Can’t we find somebody who deserves to go to jail?”
“Practically everyone in this case is nice,” Jesse pointed out. “And SueAnn would really prefer it if the killer turned out to be a stranger.”
“Oh, yes. That’s a wonderful idea,” Connie agreed. “So, who else is there?”
“Well, Vivian isn’t very fond of Cindilee and wouldn’t mind her being the villain. But there were no wheelchair tracks at the crime scene, and I can’t see her being able to push a sturdy guy like Harry Kerr into a swimming pool, much less keep him there until he died.”
“What would be her motive anyway?” Matt asked, holding his half-eaten slice of pizza aloft.
“Uh, honestly, other than Harry shuffling her husband off to a used car dealership eight years ago, I can’t think of anything. And I really couldn’t tell that she held any resentment at all toward Harry. Or toward anyone. To all appearances, she is a very ill woman who has her own problems to focus on.”
“Physically, she sounds like a real stretch,” Matt added. “Even if she was carrying around a ton of resentment, Harry Kerr was no lightweight. Besides, I agree with you that she seems like a woman who’s too busy concentrating on herself to worry about what somebody else is doing.”
“Oh, Matt,” Connie said. “That’s not nice. Cindilee is reserved, but she’s not mean.”
“I didn’t say she was, hon. But this is a murder, and we can’t worry about saying unkind things when we’re discussing possible killers.”
Just then Jesse’s cell phone rang. Her first instinct was to let it go to voice mail. But at the moment there was no telling what would happen next, and she didn’t want to miss anything.
Pushing back her chair, she stood. “I’ll just be a second. A new name popped up this afternoon that has some real possibilities. You’ll want to hear about him.”
Turning her back, she pushed the button on her phone and walked the few feet that took her more deeply into the living room. “Yes?”
“I did it,” SueAnn’s excited voice said. “I found him!”
“Him?” Jesse shuffled through her mental notecards for which “him” they were talking about. Then she gasped. “Oh, my God! Th
e boyfriend?”
“Yes!”
“You weren’t going to do that until tomorrow.” Jesse didn’t want to sound like she was complaining, but she’d had most of a strong beer and a very long and eventful day, and her bed was starting to seem pretty sweet right about now.
“Well, I got to thinking, and I realized that tomorrow he would probably be at work, and tonight he might be a lot easier to find. So, are you ready?”
“Ready?” Jesse hoped she didn’t sound as slow on the uptake as she felt. “For what?”
“To go find him. I have his address.”
“Whoa!” Adrenaline pumped through her like a flashflood, and all of Jesse’s fatigue was forgotten. “Can you find it? Do you know who he is?”
“Yes, and yes. His name is Bobby Donald. He called his girlfriend Gigi, at least in high school, but her name was really Ginny, as in Spurber. He lives in a trailer on a back road just outside of Turtle Creek. And I’m sitting out front with my Jeep running. Hurry up!”
“Are you sure you want to go with me? You could just give me the directions. I don’t want you to put yourself in any danger.” Again, Jesse realized this little game was getting very real, and innocent people were flirting with situations that could go out of control without warning.
“I know him. You need me. Don’t argue,” SueAnn said in a voice that didn’t invite discussion. “Besides this is the most fun I’ve had in I don’t remember when. Don’t even think you’re going to talk me out of it.”
Jesse let out a sigh and gave in. SueAnn was young, but she had a head like a brick once she got a firm hold on an idea. “I’m on my way. I suppose you’re going to want to drive.”
“I know the way, and he knows my Jeep. So he’s not going to get all defensive when he sees it pull up.”
Half-impressed by SueAnn’s planning, Jesse said, “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“I’m maybe going to add some criminology courses to my class load next semester,” SueAnn responded. “I’m beginning to like this stuff.”
Jesse was grinning when she ended the connection and turned back to Matt and Connie. “Well, it looks like…”
“We’re all going for a ride,” Matt said firmly, not giving her a chance to say whatever she was preparing. “I’m assuming this is about the new suspect you were going to fill us in on.”
“Well, yes, but…”
He slid his arm around Connie’s waist and they both turned toward the door. “Let’s walk and talk,” he said, again cutting off Jesse’s argument.
“We’re going in a Jeep,” she said, insisting on finishing her sentence.
“It has a back seat.”
“Not much of one,” she argued, “and I’m not sitting in the back just because you have long legs.”
Matt opened the door and motioned her forward. “Walk and talk. And I’m still flexible enough to handle a small back seat. Though I do appreciate your consideration for my advanced years.”
“You can be such an ass,” Jesse said, glowering as she went by him and out the door. “And I’m talking to him by myself. You’ll scare him.”
“Connie and I are perfectly fine waiting in the Jeep. Just scream if you need help. You want me to lock the door?”
“Just pull it to. I’ll lock the front door as we go out.”
She hooked her arm through Connie’s and the two women went down the stairs side by side. “Honestly,” Jesse whispered, “how do you put up with him?”
Connie slid a glance toward Jesse and batted her turquoise eyes innocently. “It’s amazing really, but he and I communicate in an entirely different way from the two of you.”
Then Connie slowly smiled, and after a reluctant beat, Jesse joined her. It was true. Matt and Connie got along in a way that Jesse and he never had, and apparently never would.
“Just one more reason why you and he are happily married, and he and I are happily divorced,” Jesse said with a tug on the arm hers was hooked through. “Look, are you okay with this?” she continued quietly. “I really don’t know anything about this guy we’re going to see. If you’d rather just go home, I can take you with me to see Cindilee tomorrow.”
“We’re grownups, Jesse. We can take care of ourselves. Quit worrying. And, in all honesty, I’m not sure I would be an asset with Cindilee. Sometimes, people are more honest with strangers than they are with people they know. And I think Cindilee’s one of those.”
At the bottom of the stairs, the front door opened, and SueAnn appeared. “Wow, you brought the cavalry. Are they coming with us?”
“Yes,” Matt answered.
“They’re staying in the Jeep when we get there,” Jesse said, just as decisively.
“Whatever. Let’s saddle up and ride. I’m so excited I can’t stand it.”
“Me, too,” Connie said and hurried down the remainder of the staircase to join SueAnn on the front porch. “Let’s go everybody. The game’s afoot.”
Together the two turned, scurried down the steps and across the yard toward the waiting yellow Jeep where it sat bathed in the glow of a street light.
Matt stood next to Jesse as she locked the front door. “The children are excited,” he said in a voice that sounded tired.
“I’m an idiot,” Jesse answered. She looked up at him, no longer irritated, and suddenly grateful for his calm, solid presence. “What the hell am I doing?”
“You’re trying to help a friend. I’d like to think that in your shoes, I’d do the same thing. Stupid though it may be.”
“It is stupid, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah. Chasing after killers in the dark? It doesn’t get much stupider than that,” he agreed.
“So, why are you helping me do it?”
“Because Vivian can’t do this for herself, and we’re all she’s got.”
Tears stung the back of her eyes, and Jesse blinked to clear the haze that blurred her vision. “If your wife wasn’t watching, I just might kiss you for that,” she whispered softly.
“Oh, don’t go all crazy on me. The last thing anyone needs is you getting all warm and fuzzy.”
“Bite me, Oliver.” As quickly as it had come, her moment of weakness was gone, and with it her hesitancy to face the night. “Let’s roll. I’ve got a sheriff to piss off, and the evening is young.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
By the time SueAnn parked her Jeep in front of an older model, medium-sized, singlewide trailer home sitting by itself on the corner of two county roads in the middle of nowhere, Matt and Connie had been brought up to speed on the short, sad life and death of Ginny Spurber and the slim possibility of Bobby Donald’s connection to Harry Kerr’s death.
A more likely possibility was that he might know something that could shed some light on why Harry was killed, and that, in turn, could lead them to who had done it. Of course, the likeliest possibility was that they were chasing ghosts, and that he was an innocent man who knew nothing.
“Okay,” Jesse said. “Here we go. You stay behind me, SueAnn. If I think I can get more out of him by myself, I’ll give you a sign, and you can come back to the Jeep and wait.”
SueAnn responded with the frowney face and pouty fish mouth that she used to express extreme disapproval without being openly insubordinate. Jesse responded with the smiley face she used to express patience in the face of SueAnn’s 19-year-old behavior. In their world, smiley faces trumped frowney faces every time.
SueAnn sighed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I know that you know him, SueAnn,” Jesse said gently. “But you have to remember that what we’re doing is very unwise, and it could turn dangerous without any warning. And that at fifty, I am much more expendable than you are at nineteen, and that’s just the way things are.”
SueAnn looked stunned. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.” For once, Jesse didn’t try to tiptoe around the issue or soften the blow. “We’re peeking into dark corners, looking for a murderer, hon. And if we find him, I have no idea wha
t we’re going to do with him. But I imagine he has a pretty good idea of what he’d do with us. So keep that in mind, and try to forget that this guy used to be a friend of yours.”
“Boy, you sure know how to take the wind out of a girl’s sails.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn’t let you go up there with me if I really thought he was the killer. But I do really think he might know something that could help us, and he’ll probably be a little friendlier with you there.”
SueAnn opened the Jeep’s driver-side door. “Let’s go then. Sitting around talking about it’s making me nervous.”
“It’s making all of us nervous,” Connie said from the narrow, cramped back seat. “I’m going to need a drink when this is over. And a back massage.”
Jesse laughed and got out on her side. “Keep out of sight,” she warned just before she shut her door. “We don’t want him to think he’s being invaded.”
They had parked on the shoulder on the opposite side of the two-laned blacktop. SueAnn waited at the edge of the road for Jesse to come around the Jeep and join her. Then they started toward the open gate in the rusted fence that fronted the property. A small, wooden bridge spanned the ditch at the edge of the road and ended just in front of the gate.
They had reached the bridge, which was barely wide enough for them to cross side by side, when the trailer’s front door opened and a young man came down the steps holding what looked like a platter and a pair of tongs. An outside light illuminated a seating area and an old charcoal grill to one side of the trailer’s front door.
“Is that him?” Jesse whispered. It was dark enough that he hadn’t noticed them yet. She didn’t want to proceed much farther without alerting him to their presence. They were in the country, and a lot of people in the country had guns. And dogs. And didn’t deal well with surprises.
“Yeah,” SueAnn said. “A few years older, but I recognize him. Should I say something?”
“It might be a good idea.”
SueAnn cleared her throat loudly and called, “Hey, Bobby. How you doin’?”
He jerked, twisting suddenly, and his leg seemed to go out from under him. He cursed and managed to catch himself on the back of a chair, dropping the tongs in the process, but holding onto the platter.
Murder, Mayhem and Bliss Page 18