Criminal Company: A Plain Jane Mystery (The Plain Jane Mysteries Book 8)

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  “I suggest Mountain Dew,” Jake said.

  “With gin,” Emily added. “Now, Jake, you know we support and love the work your mission does, but I think this night is a bust, development-wise, don’t you?”

  “Oh, Em…” Charles stopped himself. “No, as usual, I think she’s correct. Let’s…enjoy this dinner and I’ll come down to your office to talk business another time.”

  “You are welcome at my office anytime, Charles, anytime at all.” Jake looked relaxed, his shirt collar unbuttoned and jacket slung over the back of his chair like he didn’t have a care in the world, rather than like a young man who stayed up late nights worrying about the kids he wanted to rescue.

  Jane saw his attitude for what it was: faith. But she knew it was that kind of faith that came from sleepless nights of prayer and that he needed all the support she could give him. It seemed obvious that the “meaningless fluff” in the highly symbolic Valentine’s day present given shortly before the marriage dissolved must have been a picture of Shelly. It couldn’t really be anything else. Jane was not excited to reveal that to anyone at the table, but Emily was determined to make the box the focus of the night.

  Not a problem—Jane was perfectly willing to play dumb. She’d just not guess the answer. Simple. “Emily,” she began, “I can’t play twenty questions, but I can ask for more from you. It’s only fair. If I were on the scene of a crime I’d get to investigate.”

  “Ask me anything.” Emily smiled at Brenton and took a deep breath. “I’m willing to talk.”

  “Tell me more about the day Judy bought the puzzle box.”

  “As I said, we were downtown and it was chilly. Lightly raining. The store was charming, as always, and I took a seat in one of the hand-carved, oversized rocking chairs. I had always wanted one, and was also ready to get off my feet.”

  “I think you bought that chair, didn’t you?” A light went off for Charles. “It was delivered for me on Valentine’s day.”

  “Yes love, Judy wasn’t the only one shopping.”

  Charles nodded, happy.

  “Judy took the seat next to me and popped her shoes off. They were just slip-ons, but still it made us laugh to make ourselves at home.

  “‘I haven’t been in this store in at least five years.’ Judy told me. ‘We just don’t go out like we used to.’

  ‘Brenton’s been traveling a lot for work, hasn’t he?’ I knew it was true, but she seemed to need some support…we like that, women. A little understanding now and then.

  ‘Yes. It seems he’s gone once a month anymore. Sometimes for weeks on end.’ Judy rocked back in the chair, and almost tipped over. I laughed but she didn’t. She had a look of worry in her eyes, hard to achieve since we had gotten Botox just two weeks before.

  ‘It won’t last forever. Unless he isn’t interested in retirement. Charles isn’t. I get so angry sometimes. In five years he could walk out and never go back, but he refuses to consider it.’” Emily paused in her recital, “Sorry Charles, I don’t mean to air our dirty laundry, but we did talk about it.”

  “When don’t you?” The earlier happy look faded a little. “I like my job, so sue me.” He winked at Jake—a lawyer joke. Charles had started his own law firm as a young man, and worked himself to the bone to make it successful.

  “But back to our pre-Valentine’s Day shopping.” Emily patted her husband’s arm. “I wasn’t feeling romantic thinking about how much these men work. And I thought that buying the rocking chair would be…”

  “Passive aggressive.” Charles put in. “You’re very good at that.”

  “It’s a gift. We sat in our rockers for a good quarter of an hour, but the light had gone out of our little trip. She was down and I was getting madder at both of you. ‘I’m buying this.’ I told Judy. ‘I want to rib him, just a little. Remind him of the good times to come in retirement. And…I’m just buying one. You know why? Because he’ll never retire to sit in it, so we only need one.’

  Judy just sighed. She rocked a little longer. ‘Thirty moves, for thirty Valentine’s Days together. It couldn’t be more perfect.’ She had the box on her knee, about the size of a lunchbox, I’d say, and smooth as butter. Not glossy, just sanded to perfection and oiled. I could picture it on the shelf in her husband’s office, a reminder of all their good years together.

  ‘It’s a lovely gift, Judy. Not at all mean-spirited like me.’

  She smiled a little. ‘No, I suppose it’s not.’

  ‘Will you get it gift wrapped?’

  ‘I need to put something in it first. A surprise for him.’

  ‘Now you’re being too nice.’ I was in the mood to complain about husbands, you see. Not love on them. Sorry, darling.”

  Charles lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I listened this time, didn’t I? A month in Jamaica?”

  “Yes love, the chair seemed to make the point… but back to the story, Judy didn’t seem to understand. Her mind was somewhere else.

  ‘Am I being too nice?’ Judy’s voice was very far away. She got up from the chair and wandered over to the register. She bought the box and left again without even looking back for me. I did buy the rocking chair, but I ordered it online as I had to race out after Judy. I know big anniversaries are important to people, but I had never seen Judy care so much. She hailed a taxi, and I had to hold her back with force as we had taken her car, parked it in the garage, paid for the day, and even more, she had the only keys.

  ‘You need to eat.’ I was being practical, but I suppose I was being shallow as well. Not thinking about what might be going on underneath.” Emily stabbed a fiddlehead and stared at Brenton with narrowed eyes. “We went to dinner at The Hilton and then we drove home.”

  “That can’t be all!” Shelly bounced in her seat a little. “I’ve known Judy for at least ten years, and that doesn’t sound like her. That’s not how she is when she’s romantic, is it Brenton?” She looked up at him from under her fake eyelashes. She paused in thought, biting her bottom lip. “You know…when I think about it, she sounds like she was super mad.” Shelly leaned forward. “You didn’t let her drive home in that mood, did you? She could have done anything. She could have really hurt Brenton. I feel like you had an obligation at this point to protect him, don’t you?”

  From the look Jake gave her, Jane knew she wasn’t the only one surprised to hear the side piece use a four-syllable word.

  “I couldn’t just let her go home. She had had far too much to drink at dinner, and no, I wasn’t trying to protect her husband. As you can imagine he was out of town…for work.” The last two words were delivered to Shelly with emphasis.

  “Early February?” Shelly tilted her head. “Weren’t we in Fiji in early February, Brenty?”

  Brenton groaned.

  “So I drove Judy’s car and took us back to my home. I told her she could have the guest suite. She was woozy, dizzy, even, and didn’t look well at all. I know she’s not a heavy drinker, and I was frankly more afraid for the rugs in my guest suite than for her health, so I set her up with a nice big bucket to vomit into, and some towels. I turned the TV on and was ready to leave when she stopped me.

  ‘Em, do you think a wife needs to accept her lot or can she ask for more out of life?’ As you know, Judy and I are leaders in the women’s ministry at First Episcopal, so this kind of question comes up a lot, and we talk about it often, with each other, with the women in our group, with the pastor. But talking about it drunk would get us nowhere. It is impossible to appreciate nuance or shades of gray when drinking.”

  Shelly interrupted with a giggle.

  “I looked Judy in the eye and said, ‘Yes, she has to, Judy. It’s what we signed up for. Sometimes the worse part of better or worse just lasts a really long time.’ Now, I was projecting, thinking about how much longer Charles here would continue to work ninety hour weeks. But the fact is, I said it.” Emily rubbed her eyes unconsciously, her complete exhaustion apparent.

  “I
don’t get it.” Shelly frowned. “You didn’t say anything that could help us discover what was in the box.”

  “Didn’t I?” Emily asked. “Then let me continue. A few minutes later, Judy came out, stumbling down the hallway. I was certain she was going to tell me she had vomited, but instead, she asked if she could print something. She was waving her phone around, so I assume she had some file. I gave her the wi-fi password and led her to the office. I wanted to see what she was printing, but I was also concerned she would lose her dinner on my desk. She did neither—I mean, she didn’t puke or let me see what she printed. Whatever it was, it was small, and she quickly folded the paper and hid it in her hand.

  ‘Thanks for everything. You’re such a friend.’ She lunged forward for a hug, and that’s when she vomited.” Emily shuddered. “A smell I will never forget, let me tell you.”

  “I don’t think we should be talking about Judy this way…” Brenton looked like he wanted to flee.

  “No? It seems better than pretending she doesn’t exist.” Emily’s words were stated simply, but her lip curled in disgust when she was done.

  “Brenton,” Charles interjected, “I don’t know what you were thinking.” He stared at Shelly and shook his head in disapproval. “At least you could have let us know before we all showed up here.”

  You could cut the tension in the room with a knife, but the ringing of a cell phone split it instead.

  Emily jumped and grabbed her purse. She jabbed at the screen of her phone until the ringing stopped. “My apologies.” She laid the phone next to her plate, and though she tried, she couldn’t keep her eyes off it.

  “I think we can assume that whatever it was she printed, she put in the box.” Jane watched Brenton as she spoke, but he revealed nothing.

  “Must have been a picture.” Shelly’s mouth pursed in satisfaction. “She took a picture of something that meant a lot to old Brenty and printed it out. Did you look at your printer files to see what it was?”

  “At the time, I had no reason to check. For all I knew she printed her receipt.”

  “That’s okay,” Shelly reassured her lover’s old friend. “What we know so far….” she stopped and stared blankly. “What do we know so far?” The question was directed at Jane.

  Jane did not sigh, but it took effort. So far they knew that Shelly had destroyed a thirty-year-old relationship and Emily was hoping to call her out on it. “I just don’t know…” Jane smiled apologetically.

  “I’ve not finished the story yet.” Emily glanced at her phone again. “I cleaned the mess and put Judy to bed. It was very early for that, but what could you do? She needed to sleep it off no matter what time it was. The next morning she met me in the kitchen for breakfast. Coffee and toast. She seemed fine.” Emily smiled. “Happy even. ‘What are your plans for the big day?’ I asked her.

  “She thought for a while, drank some coffee…I thought she might not have heard me, but then she responded. ‘I want to go to Paris. I haven’t been in years, not since before the wedding. So hopefully that will work out.’

  “‘Last minute tickets?’ My toast was dry in my mouth, and her answer struck me as just…weird. Not that she couldn’t afford them, but she had always been such a planner. Had to be with the nanny and Brenton’s travel schedule. ‘How romantic.’

  “‘It will be. My first romance in years.’ She had her purse and coat with her in the kitchen, and left, right then, taking my coffee cup with her.” Emily’s phone rang again. She stared at it and bit her lip. With a quick shake of her head, she rejected the call.

  “That was the last I heard of the box or Valentine’s Day. We went away for a short Valentine’s vacation. Charles had had it planned for a full year.” She patted his hand.

  “But I do nothing but work, don’t I?” He teased. “Never take any time off for fun.” The deep shadows under his eyes, as they had just flown in from another vacation made Jane smile. Emily had done a thorough job convincing him she really did need time together.

  “Anyway, our kids have kept me busy with school things, and then end of year activities, and then our trip to Jamaica. I still can’t believe we’re back.”

  “And Emily really won’t be able to believe how many years I will have to work to make up for it,” Charles said. “The partners don’t appreciate month long breaks.”

  Emily ignored the slight ribbing. “With all we had going on, and my having no reason to think anything was wrong besides the normal problems we all have with our work-a-holic husbands, this moment right now is the first time I’ve thought of that puzzle box since February.”

  Shelly was chewing on her lip, completely absorbed in thought. “Brenty, you solved the puzzle box just three weeks ago, right?”

  His jaw worked. “Yes.”

  “I remember because you had it at work. You had taken it to the office with you. I could see it from my desk when your door was open, just sitting there on your shelf. Very plain, actually, but it looked like quality.”

  The secretary. Poor Judy. That kind of girl as a secretary. A husband who worked nonstop and traveled constantly. It made Jane’s stomach clench. She stared across the table at Jake. She was sure she could trust him—weren’t all new wives sure of that? —but maybe, just in case, she should make sure he always had a man for a personal assistant.

  “Did Judy get to go to Paris for Valentine’s Day?” Jane felt awkward asking Brenton, so she posed the question to Emily.

  “No, she went the week after, only she went alone because…her husband had to work.”

  “We were in Topeka that week, of all the boring trips.” Shelly rolled her eyes. “But at least we weren’t on that trip on Valentine’s Day. That would have been unforgivably dull.”

  Incredibly boring trip? Jane wondered…Sure, a man having an affair with his secretary would take advantage of any trip…but…Topeka? Would he really go to Topeka with his lover instead of Paris with his wife?

  Brenton pushed his chair back. “We got a good piece of work done in Topeka. Shelly, are you ready?”

  “The waiter still hasn’t brought me a drink and we haven’t had dessert yet.” Her voice seemed to have a natural hint of whine to it, but she didn’t look petulant. “Besides, no one has guessed what was in the box.”

  “Emily,” Jake said, “I think you stumped my wife. Let me get the waiter and have our desserts brought out. I think it might be time to call this evening over.” Jake was good at easy hosting. He waved toward the door of their private dining room, and a waiter came in. After whispering in the waiter’s ear, he continued. “Thank you all for coming tonight even though it turned out to be an inconvenient time.”

  “Not at all,” Emily answered for her husband. “We knew what we’d be facing when we accepted the invitation, regarding jet lag, at least.” She stared at Shelly. “There are some things you’re just never ready for.”

  Brenton grabbed Shelly’s hand in his and held it possessively. “No, there’s not. Some things hit you out of nowhere and you can’t prepare for them.”

  His discomfort seemed to have turned to anger, anger at Emily for the way she had stretched out the torture. “And some things you just know.” He lifted Shelly’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “And some things that were waiting there all along, patiently.”

  Patiently?

  “Brenton, a word.” Charles stood up.

  “No thank you.”

  Emily’s phone rang again.

  “Will you just answer the phone?” Charles twisted his napkin. “Whoever it is, is not giving up.”

  “You could just turn it off.” Shelly smiled like she was offering a secret technology tip.

  “Fine.” Emily took the call. “We’re here. Yes.” There was a long pause and she rose from the table.

  “The trouble with puzzles like this one,” Jake said, “is that we don’t know where to start, do we, Jane? For example, with a murder, we start with who hated the dead person and work from there. But with this one, a wife
gave her husband a gift. What do we need to know?”

  “It was supposed to be a surprise of a lifetime.” Shelly rested her chin on her fist, her eyes dreamy. “What had Mr. Brenton Lucius been dreaming of his whole life? Now, I’m no detective, But I’ve known Brenty a lot of years. I think I can figure it out before you do, Jane. For example, I know that Brenton loves Norway. He worked for years and years to get the contract out there. Just loved it. That trip to Fiji we were on? He hates Fiji!” She giggled, again, or maybe laughed. Maybe the sound of her laugh was just naturally infantile. “Brenty, you do love Norway, don’t deny it. You follow their soccer, follow them in boat races. All of it. Han snakker Norsk, even. So do I, actually. I mean, we’re there often enough it would be foolish for me not to learn something. Not that I’m not foolish, If you knew how long I sat gazing in admiration at this man, no idea he returned my feelings, you would know exactly how foolish I am.” She stroked the back of his head, and though Jane would have thought that would tip his scales, just from how uncomfortable he had been to this point, he seemed to calm down, a little.

  “I do love Norway, but Judy did not put Norway in the puzzle box.”

  “But…tickets to Norway? Could that be it? She had never gone with you before.”

  “A piece of fluff, nothing important. And yet the surprise of a lifetime, at the same time…” Jane mumbled. “No, I don’t think the surprise of a lifetime was about his favorite country in the world. I suspect since the surprise of a lifetime was something that you called nothing important that Judy put something in just to tease you.”

  “I don’t think so,” Shelly replied. “Judy never had a sense of humor. She never teased about anything.”

  “I certainly didn’t think it was funny.”

  “Ooh, very good. There’s a clue we can work with. Inside the box, you found the surprise of a lifetime, and yet not that important, and not at all funny.” Shelly grinned at Jane.