by Linda Wiken
“He can’t do that,” J.J. said. “How can he throw you out of your own house?”
“The house was in his name. I lived with him for a few years before we got married. We never changed over anything, so it was all in his name alone. And I haven’t had a job since we’ve been together. He’s sort of old-school. He said that my working made him look like he couldn’t support a wife.”
What century is he from?
“What have you been doing since you left?” Beth asked.
Ilsa shrugged. “I’ve sold most of my good clothes and jewelry, and I’ve been living out of my car. The bit of money I’d saved, which he didn’t know about, goes to gas and food. I’ve looked for a job, but no one wants me. I don’t have any real skills, and I’m not so young anymore.” She hiccupped.
“I love your shop. It makes me feel so cozy and safe, and I love the colors. The serviettes jump off the table. I started with taking the serviettes and placing them around the backseat for color. Then I thought I could save even more money and picnic in the car, but I needed utensils and other stuff.”
“Like salt and pepper. Cream and sugar.” Beth didn’t bother to ask the question. She knew the answer.
Ilsa’s shoulders heaved as she sighed. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight about what I was doing or what it would mean to you and your profits. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll do anything you want.”
J.J. signaled Beth out of the car. Beth patted Ilsa’s arm, then climbed out.
“It sounds sad, but what if it’s not true?” J.J. asked. “What if she’s a really gifted liar?”
“I think I believe her. What I haven’t been able to figure out is why someone would steal these specific items. It makes some kind of sense to hear her tell it. Why else would anyone take only these small items?”
“There is that.”
Beth was silent for a few minutes. J.J. could almost see the wheels in her head turning. “I’ve made a decision.”
She knocked on the car window again and signaled Ilsa to get out. She looked very timid and small when she joined them beside the car.
“I believe you,” Beth said. “So, here’s the deal. You can keep this stuff, but you have to work it off. Have you had any experience in retail or restaurants?”
“I was a waitress at summer camp for a few years as a teenager.”
J.J. thought that probably wasn’t such a good reference. She looked at Beth and saw the determination in her face. Although J.J. wondered how smart a move this was on Beth’s part, she knew when to keep out of it.
“Okay, you can serve, and when it’s slow, clean up and wash dishes. I’ll take half a day of free labor to cover the cost of what you’ve stolen and the frustration it’s caused me, then I’ll pay minimum wage after that. We’ll adjust your hours according to how busy it is. Does that sound fair?”
Ilsa began to cry again. “You can’t know how much this means to me, especially after I was so deceitful.”
“You’re on probation, so you’ll have to act sharp. I want you there at seven A.M. tomorrow morning. Deal?”
“Deal.” Ilsa looked quite lovely with a huge smile lighting her face.
J.J. knew the probation bit was probably said just to keep her on her toes, and she also was fairly certain that the woman would get close to eight hours a day, busy or not. That was just Beth’s style.
As the two of them walked back to Cups ’n’ Roses, J.J. said, “That was a nice thing you did. I wonder why they broke up, although his attitude to her working could explain a lot about him.”
“It’s not really our concern, but I hate to see anyone treated so shabbily, no matter what the reason. I’ll have to figure out where she can get a room, too.”
“You’re not thinking of taking her in?”
“Since downsizing a couple of years ago, I don’t even have room for overnight guests. But I know some people who do.”
J.J. just hoped Beth wouldn’t end up being disappointed in Ilsa Grimes. After all, they didn’t know very much about her.
CHAPTER 25
J.J. had just made it back to the office, ditched her purse, and taken off her jacket when her phone rang. She hadn’t even had time to sit down at her desk.
“Make It Happen. J.J. speaking. How may I help you?”
“By joining me at the TV station in about twenty minutes.”
She looked at the phone receiver. It sounded like Devine’s voice. She was sure it was Devine’s voice, but for him to be actually asking her to join in something case related? That would be twice in one month. What was coming over the guy?
“Can you give me a hint as to what it’s about?”
“Hennie is back at work.”
“I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say, but why are you wanting me there?”
“I figure you’re going to talk to her at some point anyway, and maybe by doing it this way, I can keep you alive and out of jail.” She could almost hear the chuckle in his voice.
“So kind. All right. I’ll be there shortly.”
J.J. checked to make sure Skye hadn’t called in and left a message, then she grabbed her stuff. She was slipping into her jacket, going down the stairs, when she met Tansy coming up.
“Are you in that much of a hurry that you can’t stop to put your jacket on before leaving your office?”
J.J. paused on the step and slid her arm into the sleeve. “Got it in one, Tansy. How’s your day going?”
“Well, besides wasting my time at the courthouse waiting for a hearing that never happened, just fine.” Her voice was tight and J.J. pitied whoever’s fault this was. She could almost guarantee that Tansy’s next stop was her desk and the phone. Someone would get an earful.
“Good luck with that,” J.J. said brightly, not wanting to spend too much time talking to a grumpy Tansy. She’d been there, done that.
Tansy continued up the stairs. “Luck has nothing to do with it, kiddo.”
J.J. made good time getting over to the TV station. Devine stood at the reception desk, talking to Wanda, who sure looked perky, J.J. thought.
Devine noticed J.J. and motioned her to follow him along the right corridor to the back. Hennie must have known they were coming. She sat in her desk looking rigid and unsmiling as they entered after knocking first.
“What’s it about this time?” she asked before either of them had a chance to talk.
“We just have a few more questions,” Devine stated, oozing charm.
J.J. watched as Hennie started to thaw. Devine looked at J.J. She took that as an invitation to start asking.
“We need some more information about that married cop you’d mentioned. A name would be great.”
Hennie looked from one to the other. “I told you, his name might not even be listed in the files, and it will take some looking to find the exact date. But I’ll try.”
“Good. Thank you.” J.J. was just about to ask about Yolande when Devine took over.
“So, let’s talk more about what’s been going on around the station.” Devine perched on the edge of the desk across from Hennie. “Miranda Myers wasn’t the only one with secrets, was she?”
J.J. watched in amazement as Hennie’s face turned various shades of red. What did this have to do with anything anyway?
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I’ll bet Mikey Cooper knows what I mean. In fact, you and he are quite an item. Isn’t that so?”
J.J. stared at Hennie. She and Mikey Cooper were dating? But why hadn’t she mentioned it before? What was the big secret? The dots started connecting. Was Hennie a part of Mikey’s campaign to cause some havoc at the station? J.J. looked at Devine, who had Hennie as his visual target.
“Who told you that?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Nothing goes on in the station without someone knowing about it, I’ve found. Which is good, because it would have been very hard tracking the vandal otherwise.”
Hennie stood up abruptly
. “It’s not Mikey. I heard the guy’s been caught.” She plopped right back into her chair.
“One vandal is in police custody, but we know that defacing the station van was a separate incident, don’t we, Hennie?”
“What makes you think he’s involved?” Hennie asked Devine. J.J. could tell she was struggling to control her voice.
“Let’s just say, I’m good at my job. Besides, Mikey confessed. So tell me, how are you involved in it?”
Hennie swallowed hard. “We’ve been dating for quite a while now. I didn’t think anyone knew. We didn’t want it going around the station since his Dad’s the GM.” She closed her eyes briefly. “When Mikey got fired, he was livid. He has quite a temper, you know. Anyway, he started making all sorts of threats, when we were alone, that is. So I tried calming him down. We talked about it, and I figured that if he did something that hit the station but didn’t hurt anyone that would get it out of his system. And it did.”
“Are you sure about that, Hennie? What about killing Miranda? That would certainly be payback.”
Hennie jumped up again. “He didn’t kill her, I swear. I told you, nothing he planned involved anyone getting hurt.”
“But he was on board at the casino night, wasn’t he?” J.J. jumped in. It was a guess, but probably a good one. “I saw you were there, so I’m sure he must have been.”
She nodded, tears in her eyes, and sat back down. “We were just going to embarrass Miranda a little if we got the chance. If not, he planned to set off a bunch of firecrackers when she did the wrap-up. That’s all.”
“But none of that happened.”
“No. He seemed to have calmed down by that evening, and we were having a lot of fun together. I think he just decided to ditch the plan.”
“Was he with you the entire evening?” Devine asked.
“Yes, he was. He really was. I swear.”
J.J. and Devine looked at each other. Could she be believed?
“What are you going to do?” Hennie asked in a quiet voice.
“It’s already been done. Mikey’s father already knows what he’s been up to. He’s got my report. And for all his poor judgment, I doubt that Mikey is a murderer.” He glanced at J.J., who frowned.
“Will he go to jail?” Hennie squeaked.
“That depends on whether he did commit the murder after all,” J.J. answered. “I still need to be convinced, even if Mr. Devine has reached another conclusion.” She didn’t totally trust Hennie. Not yet.
“But I told you, he didn’t.”
J.J. narrowed her eyes. “How can we believe you, Hennie?”
“Try looking elsewhere for the real killer.” She pulled a tissue out of her desk drawer and blew her nose. “Have you talked to the sister-in-law? Did she explain about the big argument?”
“I talked to her, but she dismissed it as something inconsequential,” J.J. answered.
Hennie snorted. “And you believe her and not me? There were others around that day—ask them.”
“Like who?”
“Lonny Chan, for one. Even the station manager.”
“Thanks. I will check with them. You know, it’s kind of hard to believe you, though, after what you’ve admitted trying to do to Miranda.”
Hennie stopped chewing on her bottom lip. “I know. I’m really sorry. I truly liked her and wouldn’t have done anything to harm her. It was what she represented. It was the station that was our focus.”
“Why are you still working here if that’s your attitude to WBVT?”
“I like the folks and my job. I like being behind the scenes. It’s Mikey who has the issues and I was just helping him. Will you tell the boss about me?” She looked at Devine and either was able to dredge up fake tears easily or she was getting emotional.
He sighed. “I may not have to, but if it comes up, I won’t lie to my client.”
She nodded and reached into her drawer for another tissue.
J.J. and Devine walked back to the reception area in silence. When they reached it, they were greeted by a group of noisy schoolchildren, probably fifth or sixth graders, J.J. thought, so she and Devine stepped outside to talk.
“What now?” J.J. asked.
“I’m done here unless you think I should be doing something further?”
She heard the sarcasm in his voice.
“You could talk to Donald Cooper and ask him about what he heard of the argument between Miranda and Yolande Myers. That is, now that you don’t have to get details about the married cop from him. And I’ll see if I can track down Lonny and find out what he remembers.”
“You’re not planning on heading over to confront Yolande Myers again, I trust.”
J.J. shook her head. “Not until I know what the argument was about. I don’t want to be caught off guard this time.”
“That’s smart, but even smarter would be not going to see her on your own. We’ll go together.”
“Why? Your case was the stalker. You’ve solved that, so why keep on the murder? I know, you are your own client. But why?”
“Because it’s a murder, and because someone has to keep you from getting into trouble.”
“That’s your task now, is it?” She grinned.
“What?”
“I was just thinking how much we sound like partners. You are actually asking me, not reaming me out.”
He smiled back. “How does it feel?”
“Awesome. I’m not really an adversarial person, you know.”
“So I’d noticed.” He tried to keep a straight face.
She punched him lightly on the arm and walked back into the station in search of Lonny Chan.
• • •
She found Lonny in the staff room, dunking a glazed donut into a mug of coffee. Finally. “Hi, Lonny. My name is J.J. Tanner. I’m sorry to barge in on your break, but I need to ask a few questions about Miranda Myers, if you don’t mind.”
He looked surprised but quickly recovered. “That’s okay by me. There’s freshly made coffee if you want some.”
J.J. nodded. “Yeah. That would be great.”
He jumped out of his chair and filled a mug for her. Beanpole. That’s what came to mind, something they’d called a kid named Fred in grade school. Not kind but accurate. Lonny was also tall and thin. In fact, she wondered how he could possibly heft that huge camera she’d seen them use out on location. He must have muscles of iron or shoulders with steel plates in them. His straight black hair reminded her of the bowl haircut her younger brother Kyle had sported for an entire summer until in despair, he’d tried shaving it off, only to be taken to the barber for a proper buzz cut. She liked Lonny immediately.
“Do you take anything?” he asked, bringing her back to reality.
“Nope. Black is the way I like it.” She took a sip after he’d set it down in front of her. Hot.
He pushed the box of donuts over to her but she shook her head.
After J.J. brought him up to speed on her involvement and what she’d been doing, she said, “I understand you witnessed an argument between Miranda and her sister-in-law a few weeks back. Did you hear any of it? I’m trying to find out what it was about.”
He looked up at the ceiling, scrunching the corner of his mouth, and after a few seconds answered. “I heard a bit. They were in her office, but the door wasn’t shut tight. I’d already given it a little push, thinking Miranda was alone, and they were standing there, glaring at each other. I excused myself as I pulled the door shut, but I could hear them launch into it again. The sis-in-law warned Miranda to stay out of her business or else.”
That shocked J.J. “She actually said ‘or else’?”
Lonny nodded. “I did hear those words and then I got out of there. I didn’t want them opening the door and thinking I was eavesdropping.”
“Is there any chance Donald Cooper could have heard them also? Was he in the hall?”
“Cooper? Not that I saw, but of course, Miranda had just come off the set, so who knows where th
ey started arguing.”
“Hm. Is there anything else?”
“Nope. Can’t think of anything. Like I said, I got out of there pretty fast at that point, and when I saw Miranda later, she didn’t mention anything about it or my barging in on them. So I didn’t bring it up. Is it important?”
“I have no idea. Now that I’ve got you here, is there anything you can think of that might point to Miranda’s murderer?”
He looked surprised, then appeared to be giving it some thought.
“No. Nothing. I wish I could be of help. We were friends and all, but she wasn’t one to talk much about her private life. It was mainly work, and, as far as I knew, everything was going just fine. Of course, I’m not hanging around the station often, so I’m not much of a part of what happens here. You know, she had everything. Looks, personality, a spectacular job, and then this happens. It’s not really fair, is it?”
“No, it’s not fair. Not by a long shot.”
• • •
Devine was waiting outside, leaning against his car, soaking in some rays when she left the station.
“So, what did you find out?” he asked, not bothering to turn to look at her.
“There was an argument in Miranda’s office, but all Lonny could hear was Yolande saying to stay out of her business or else.”
“Sounds much like what Cooper said.”
“But Lonny said Cooper wasn’t in the hall at the time of the argument.”
He pushed off the car and straightened. “No, but it sounds like it started in the studio area. Yolande barged in after the taping of the show and confronted Miranda. She didn’t say what Miranda had done but did tell her the same thing, to stay out of her business. Miranda told her to lower her voice, and they left, presumably to go to Miranda’s office.”
“What could she have done that got Yolande so upset?”
“Maybe it had something to do with the upcoming election.”
J.J. thought about it a few seconds. “I can’t picture Yolande referring to that as ‘her’ business.”
“She does have a vested interest in her husband getting elected, I’d say. I think it’s time to pay a visit to the campaign office. If we’re lucky, the campaign manager will be in and maybe help clear a few things up. If not, there’s still the staff and volunteers. And in my experience, everyone wants to be in the know, so they pay attention to what’s being said and done.”