by Jenna Harte
“Poor Junior Junior.” She shook her head.
“You were pretty distraught the other day.”
She huffed like I was the dimmest bulb in the pack. “Well of course I was Sophie. I’d never seen a dead person before.”
I didn’t remind her that Junior Junior wasn’t dead and instead pointed out that she had, in fact, seen a dead body before him. “What about Marla?”
“That was different.”
“That’s what I mean. You’re close to him.”
She stopped and turned to me. “I know what you’re thinking. Junior Junior isn’t that smart, but that’s part of why I like him. He doesn’t lie. What you see is what you get.”
While her explanation made sense, she didn’t seem to connect the fact that she was the opposite of what she’d just described liking about Junior Junior.
“That doesn’t mean I love him and all that. He’s my only real friend. The only one I can be honest with.”
For a moment I felt bad for Vivie. Of course, I also knew that her difficulty in relationships was mostly her fault.
“Sophie? Vivie? What are you two girls doing here?” Ellie Tappen stood on her back patio.
“Oh God, just what we need,” Vivie hissed under her breath.
I ignored her. “Mrs. Tappen, we heard Mr. Naylor was here and wanted to pay our condolences.”
Vivie held her casserole dish up for Ellie to see. She plastered on a fake smile to go with it. It made me think of a clown. Not that it looked funny. No, it was a bit creepy.
“Yes, I saw that. I’d thought I’d call you, Sophie, but I don’t have your number and I didn’t want to bother Rose.”
“Have you talked to him?” I asked.
Ellie shook her head. “No. I haven’t really seen him. My Al keeps me busy, you know.”
Vivie scoffed next to me.
“You two should stop by when you’re done. I’d love to hear about your visit.”
“Sure.”
“Ugh.” Vivie groaned.
I wondered if the smile I mustered was as creepy looking as Vivie’s. “See you in a few. Come on Vivie.”
Ellie went back into her house and Vivie and I continued along Marla’s yard to the side of the house.
“What is your problem with Ellie Tappen?” I asked as we continued toward the front of the house.
“What we do is none of her business.”
“Maybe not, but she’s in a tough situation. She doesn’t get out much.”
“I tell you what, if Randy ever gets sick, I’m putting him in a home.”
It was cold, but not surprising. I was curious what, if anything, she was going to do about the news I’d given her.
“That’s if he lives long enough to get sick.”
I reached out and took her arm. “Tell me that’s just your anger talking.”
Her eyes flashed with annoyance that I’d dare touch her. “Why?”
“Because you’re already on the hook for one murder. If Randy shows up dead or maimed, I could be in trouble too since you just suggested you might kill him.”
She pursed her lips. “Do you really think I can kill anyone?”
“I don’t know, Vivie.”
Her head jerked back. “I thought you said you believed me.”
“I believe you didn’t kill Marla. I don’t know that you won’t kill Randy.”
She blew out a breath. “I’m not going to kill Randy. I might castrate him. I’m pretty sure that’s not fatal.”
I studied her, focusing on her eyes, to determine if I could believe her.
“Are we going to do this or not?”
I nodded and we finished the journey to Marla’s front door.
Chapter Fifteen
Iknocked on the door of Marla’s home wondering what I was doing. Sure, I’d been over here before to do exactly what I was about to do, but not with Vivie in tow. I hoped she would behave.
The door swung open and young woman with bleached blonde hair wearing a short white skirt and a painted on knit top over substantial breasts stared at us with a bored expression.
“We’re not buying.”
“We were friends of Marla’s,” I said.
“She’s dead.”
I jerked back at her direct yet flat tone. I looked at Vivie whose face pinched in disgust. I turned back to the woman wondering who she was. She was probably twenty, but barely. She was too old to be Marla’s daughter, although Marla never said she had children. Maybe she was a niece.
“Who is it?” a masculine voice called out.
“Old friends of Marla’s.”
There was a shuffle and then a trim man in tan khakis and a navy golf shirt appeared. He was like Marla in that he wasn’t homely, but not handsome either.
“Can I help you?” He looked from me to Vivie. His eyes lingered on Vivie longer, giving her an appreciative once over.
She turned on the smile, which I hoped wasn’t genuine and instead a way to get us into the house. “We brought you a casserole.” Her lips tilted down. “We’re sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.” He stepped back opening the door wider. “Will you come in?”
Vivie muscled me to the side and handed him the dish.
He gave the dish to the young woman. “Can you put this in the fridge and make us some coffee.” He looked to us again. “You drink coffee?”
“We don’t want to put you out,” I said.
“Nonsense. I never got to meet any of Marla’s friends here.” He turned back to the woman. Was she his maid? “Coffee?”
The woman pouted like a teenager, making me wonder if maybe she was his daughter, perhaps from a previous marriage. Although he would have had to have been in high school when she was born, as the wrinkles around his eyes and pepper gray wasn’t very prominent.
“Pookie,” she whined. Okay, not daughter.
“Please.” He smiled, but this voice was strained.
“Fine.” She grabbed the casserole and stomped off.
“Back this way.” Mr. Naylor held a hand out a hand directing us toward the living area. “We’ll sit out on the back patio. It’s lovely out there this time of year.”
I led with Vivie behind me. I tried not to look but couldn’t help myself, and saw the large blood stain on the creamy white carpet. I also saw moving boxes strewn throughout the living area, some packed up and taped, and others still being filled. Was he allowed to pack up and take Marla’s stuff? Sergeant Scowl had said Mr. Naylor wasn’t in her will. Maybe the woman was.
When we were seated on the patio, I introduced us. “I’m Sophie Parker and this is Vivie Danner.”
He shook our hands, holding Vivie’s a little longer than mine. Vivie gave him a knowing smile. I rolled my eyes.
“I’m John Naylor.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“It’s a shock,” Vivie agreed. “We found her.”
I suppose that was true, although she made it sound like we were together.
“Do you know who would do this?” John asked.
Both Vivie and I shook our heads.
“Marla didn’t get out much. I’m not sure many people knew her here,” I said.
“Just us in the coupon group. And we adored her,” Vivie said. “She was such a help to our Sophie here, who struggles with coupons.” That was true although it made me sound like an idiot. “Of course, I don’t understand why she did coupons after winning the lottery.”
“Old habits.” John shook his head.
The other woman walked in with two mugs of coffee. Was she part of John’s old habits and that’s why they were divorced? Of course, John hadn’t called Marla his ex-wife. Strange that the both of them would hide that.
The woman put a mug in front of me and John, and then glared at Vi
vie. “I’ll be back with yours.”
So, it wasn’t just me thinking John and Vivie were making goo goo eyes. But we had other things to deal with. I decided we should go along with him at this point and not ask about his marriage.
“Marla said you traveled a lot.”
Both his brows rose. “Did she?”
“I tried to invite y’all for dinner a couple of times, but you were always out of town,” Vivie said.
He nodded. “Truth is, Marla and weren’t together anymore.”
“Oh?” I tried to act like this was news to me. “She never said anything.” That wasn’t a lie.
He looked over his shoulder toward the house as if he wanted to make sure the other woman wasn’t there. Then he leaned forward and spoke in a quieter voice “We were trying to work things out.”
“Kind of hard to do with an extra friend,” Vivie said with a nod toward the house to reference the young woman.
I winced. I wasn’t an expert in sleuthing, but it didn’t seem wise to antagonize the person being questioned.
“Debbie is new.” He sat back and smiled at Vivie. He didn’t say anything further, but I got the feeling he was giving her the vibe that Debbie was disposable.
“Do you think you’d have worked things out?” I asked. Because I didn’t want to appear too nosy, I added. “It’s sad that you didn’t have the chance.”
He nodded. “Yes. I think we’d have worked it out. We were hashing out the logistics. You know, where we’d live. She liked it here.”
“Had you visited her here before?” I asked.
“A couple of times.”
“We don’t know why on earth she’d pick little ole Jefferson Grove to live after winning the lottery. Me? I’d go live on a tropical island. There’s nothing like being able to enjoy sun and surf and wear nothing but a cute bikini, huh Sophie?”
I could think of several other things that would be better. “It does sound nice.”
John thought so too if the gleam in his eye as he looked at Vivie meant anything. “Marla always liked the mountains. And seasons. She always wanted to live where there were four seasons.”
“There aren’t four seasons in Pennsylvania?”
“Yes, but she likes to see it in nature. Before she left, we lived in the city.”
“Were you planning on moving here?” I asked.
He looked at the door again. Debbie was taking a long time with Vivie’s coffee.
“I was trying to negotiate that we’d live part time in each place.”
Marla was smart with her money and I wondered if she was also negotiating how to protect her riches. I didn’t know how to ask that without being rude.
The side door opened, and Debbie appeared. She put coffee in front of Vivie, and moved a chair close to John and sat down. “What are you talking about?”
“These ladies were friends of Marla’s.”
“Was she as stingy with you as she was with Jonny?”
John laughed nervously and patted Debbie’s thigh. “Now, now honey bear, be nice.”
“Why? She wasn’t nice to you. You deserved some of that money. At least now you get it.”
I tried to keep a straight face, even as my brain whirled with curiosity on how he’d get the money if he wasn’t in the will. Vivie wasn’t as good at hiding her surprise. She turned to me with both her brows arched skyward.
John shifted in his seat. “Honey bear, can you get us some cream, please?”
She pursed her lips at him, but after a second got up and went to the house.
“I’m sorry about that. She’s young and not very sensitive.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Vivie eyed her coffee but didn’t take a sip. She probably wondered if Debbie put poison in it, or maybe spit. I know I did.
“I’m sure she has other qualities.”
I tried to hide my snort behind my coffee mug. “So, you’re here to talk to the sheriff’s investigator?” I asked.
He nodded. “I don’t understand how something like this can happen. This is a gated community for goodness sake. It took forever for the gatekeeper to let me in here. She should have been safe.”
“It’s a terrible, terrible thing. We’re as upset as you. Marla was such a lovely woman.” Vivie showed her sympathetic face.
“I should have been here.” John looked down and I tried to determine if his guilt was real. After all, honey bear Debbie just suggested they were getting Marla’s money. Sergeant Scowl said that wasn’t the case, and that John knew it. Maybe he only learned it after Marla died, giving him motive to kill her.
“If I’d been here, I’d have been able to protect her.”
“I thought you were here.” Debbie came out on the patio with a carton of milk.
John stiffened. “No, honey. Remember we were at Ohiopyle Park, enjoying the outdoors.” He turned to me and Vivie. “I like nature too, although I also like living in civilization.”
Vivie bristled. “I assure you, Mr. Naylor, we’re very civilized here in Jefferson Grove.”
“Someone savagely killed my wife.”
“Ex-wife,” Debbie sat next to John.
I watched Debbie and John. Did she just ruin his alibi? Debbie wasn’t a rocket scientist, but neither did she seem like a complete ditz. Had she forgotten where she’d been last week, or had she forgotten the alibi story John asked her to tell?
“There are some nice outdoor spaces here.” John changed the subject.
“Have you hiked here?” I asked.
“Just around the house.” He nodded toward the back woods. “There are some deer trails back there that make for a nice walk. I imagine Marla took a lot of walks back there. I wonder if she’d like her ashes there?”
“If you want help making arrangements for Marla, let me know. I’m good friends with the Wallers. They run the funeral home here in Jefferson Grove,” Vivie said.
“Thank you, Vivie. That’s very kind, but she wanted to be cremated.”
I shivered. The idea of being burnt to ash creeped me out. Although being buried didn’t have much appeal either.
“I was thinking she might like to be spread over her garden. Maybe she’d rather the woods.”
It was a nice thought, although I wasn’t sure about eating veggies that had remnants of Marla on them.
We chatted a few more minutes but didn’t learn anything helpful. We thanked John and Debbie and, leaving out the front door, began making our way along the front of the house toward Ellie’s.
“Ugh.” Vivie did a whole-body shiver.
“You okay?”
“I’ve got to take a shower. Did you see the way he was coming on to me?”
“I did. Why did you encourage it if you didn’t like it?”
She gaped at me, “Because we were there for information. Don’t tell me you never use your girlie assets to get what you want?”
I never thought of myself as the feminine wiles type. Not that I was ugly. I wasn’t one that men openly try to seduce as John did with Vivie. Except for AJ, but that was different.
I hadn’t given Vivie much credit and, as it turned out, using her girlie assets had helped. “You did good, Vivie.”
Her eyes narrowed as if she’s unsure why I’d praised her. “Thanks. Do you think we got anything to help me?”
“Maybe.” Before I could elaborate, Ellie’s front door opened.
“I’ve got tea, girls. Come by and say hi.”
Vivie rolled her eyes.
“Ellie sees and hears a lot. She might help you too.”
“Fine,” Vivie said with a huff.
We followed Ellie into her eat-in kitchen. She had the tea and glasses on the table all ready for us.
“We can’t stay long.” Vivie sat in the chair facing the window. “My kids will
be home from school soon.” She didn’t say it, but I realized that she hadn’t seen them since yesterday. Vivie was impatient and insensitive. I cut her some slack in this case.
“Your children are getting so big.” Ellie poured iced tea into the glasses. “Time does fly doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
I sat next to Vivie and Ellie took the chair across from me. “So, did you learn anything interesting?”
“Mr. Naylor is a player.” Vivie’s face contorted into disgust.
“What does he play?”
“She means he likes women. He has a young woman there with him.” I took a bite of cookie.
“In Marla’s house?” Ellie’s eyes widened with shock. “The nerve of him.”
“Men are pigs.” Vivie said under her breath.
“Of course, being a . . . what did you say . . . player . . . doesn’t make him a murderer.”
“No, but there was something odd about his alibi. Did you notice that, Vivie?”
She nodded. “His girlfriend forgot what she was supposed to say, although she didn’t seem the type to keep a detailed account of her activities.”
“It was only a week ago. How could she forget about being in Ohiopyle Park last week?” I asked.
Vivie shrugged as she sipped her tea.
Ellie looked intrigued. “So, you think he could have killed Marla?”
“Maybe. But how would he have gotten in the gate? There would have been a record of it, and Sergeant Davis says he has an alibi.”
Ellie frowned as if she was thinking on this new conundrum.
“There’s a fire road about a half mile behind the Laymans’ home, two doors down from Marla’s. That road leads to Route 712,” Vivie said.
She was right. Someone could have walked in. But how did she know that? Vivie wasn’t an outdoorsy type to take hikes. Did she use the trails through the woods to snoop on her neighbors? My expression must have been one of incredulity.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m surprised you’d know it.”
“Every kid in the Heights knows it. It was how we sneak out without the gate police being able to tell our parents.”
“You kids.” Ellie laughed.
I nodded in concession. “The question is, would John know about it?