His words stopped, replaced by the sound of Winnie’s whimper, and it took everything Jesse had not to run all the way back into the house, burst into the library and pull her friend out of there.
“I have to figure out who did that, Mrs. Rogers,” Joe Tyler continued in a soft, almost lulling, singsong, “and regardless of how you feel right now, you know that I do, and you know that you’re depending on me to do that. Regardless of who it turns out to be, I have to figure out which one of his good friends did that to him. And figuring out why would go a long way toward helping me do that. You can’t think of anything?”
There was silence, followed by a loud sniffle and a shuddering intake of breath. Finally there was a word, garbled by tears, that could have been ‘no,’ but it took a lot of imagination on Jesse’s part to get there. She couldn’t approve of the man’s battering ram approach, but she understood that when the niceties were all stripped away, he was right. She herself had spent a large part of the day dancing around the same issues he had just taken a meat cleaver and cut through.
Winnie had to know more than she was willing to acknowledge.
“How about why he had two shovels and a tarp in his truck?” the sheriff asked in a voice growing harder again. “On a day when somebody used two shovels from your barn and took a tarp and truck with them when they left? The correlation of those two things is kind of bothering me. Is there a reason why you decided to dig in that particular spot in your backyard at this particular time?”
After a long silence Winnie haltingly began the story about the wood pile and Roy Lee’s involvement and how her father’s actions led to her deciding to dig in the newly exposed spot. She left out the part about the lush growth of grass that first year, and Jesse could tell that Winnie still wasn’t connecting the dots on the parts that everyone else around the patio table had keyed on.
Roy Lee had to have moved the wood pile to that spot to make sure nobody noticed a freshly dug burial site. To Jesse, it was the only explanation that made sense. Then he and his brothers had made sure the surrounding grass was cut and the wood rack was kept full, giving no one any excuse to disturb the spot.
Until this last winter, that is, when for some reason, they had let the wood run out, allowing Winnie’s father to seize his chance and relocate the wood rack to its original spot. Had the separation and divorce not taken place, the rack would have stayed in its new location, loaded with wood, until everyone grew old and died.
By then it probably wouldn’t have mattered. And the hasty burial site might never have been discovered. There was a good chance that none of that had anything to do with Roy Lee’s murder, but it went a long way toward proving he wasn’t the bumbling, likeable good guy Winnie wanted to believe in.
He was almost surely one of the people who buried the body in the backyard, and there was strong evidence that he was one of the people planning to dig it up while Winnie was away from the house that very morning. But someone changed his plans for him, and left the others involved scrambling to come up with the tools that were still in his truck when his body was found.
This was all something Jesse was going to have to share with Joe Tyler, eventually, once she decided on the appropriate time, which would preferably be after she’d done some more digging on her own, so to speak.
“You didn’t find anything strange about that?” the sheriff asked when Winnie had finished her tale. His question and tone were both inflectionless.
“About what?” Winnie asked, sounding as clueless as Jesse had surmised.
“About your husband going to all the trouble to move a stack of firewood into the middle of your yard in the middle of July? That didn’t seem a little odd to you?”
“Well, sure it did, but what was I going to do about it? If I’d questioned every little odd thing Roy Lee did, I’d be in an uproar all the time.”
“Any of that have anything to do with why you divorced him?”
After a long silence, Winnie admitted, “He could be a little trying to live with.”
“Well, everybody’s got quirks, I guess. What can you tell me about this girlfriend he’d been living with?”
Vivian emitted a low grunt and twitched her shoulders in a movement Jesse recognized as disapproval. She didn’t know if it was for the rudeness of the sheriff’s question, or for the rudeness of Roy Lee waving a girlfriend under Winnie’s nose. Jesse herself wanted to hear Winnie’s answer, since the girlfriend was one of the people she was planning to track down the next day.
Winnie sucked in a breath and let it back out again in a heavy sigh. “Figured sooner or later you’d get around to that. Name’s LaDonna—LaDonna Stroud, and she looks like you’d expect from a name like that. Skinny, bleached blond, short shorts, tight tee-shirt, built like a twelve-year-old, and young enough for Roy Lee’s second childhood fantasies.”
“Like twenty something?” Joe asked in a voice that conjured visions of his three-by-five notepad. Jesse wished she had one of her own and hoped Vivian would be able to help with the details the sheriff was obviously taking notes on.
“More like mid-thirties. That’s still too young for a man Roy Lee’s age, or don’t you agree, sheriff? You’re probably a little past fifty yourself. Do you like ’em a little younger?” Winnie’s voice held a challenge, as if she was growing tired of the questions.
“I prefer not to judge. A little younger, a little older, it’s all up to the individual. Now, do you know anything about your ex-husband’s relationship with Ms. Stroud? Was it peaceful, or did they fight a lot? Did she have any jealous ex-boyfriends you know of?”
“I got to tell you, Sheriff, Roy Lee wasn’t the brightest man I’ve ever know, but even he had better sense than to cry on my shoulder about the woman he’d taken up with. However, I did meet her a few years back at a Christmas party at one of Roy Lee’s friends. She was there with the guy she was dating then, and she didn’t seem above flirting right in front of him. But in all honesty, he appeared to be too drunk to notice. So, all I can tell you is that she seemed to be a little on the skanky side and apparently preferred men who weren’t too bright.”
Joe laughed, a quick, robust hoot that subsided into chuckles before he continued with, “Fair enough, Mrs. Rogers. Probably not the kind of grand passion that would end in murder, so I think I’ll let someone else do the interview with her, and I appreciate your frankness.”
“If we’re done talking about her, can I ask if you’ve gotten ahold of Roy Lee’s brothers yet?”
“Yes, ma’am, we notified them several hours ago. It will probably be a couple of days before we release the body, so maybe you can work out with them who will handle the arrangements.”
“Yes, thank you, Sheriff. I’m not quite sure what to expect now that the divorce is final. Roy Lee and I still got along fine, but family has a way of taking sides in things like that.”
“That can certainly be a nuisance,” Joe agreed. “What about your father? How did he feel about Roy Lee now that the two of you were split?”
“Probably more disgusted than anything,” Winnie said with obvious reluctance. “He’d been pretty fed up with Roy Lee for awhile. The two of them spent the last years of our marriage avoiding each other as much as possible.”
“I guess that would make for some pretty tense family get-togethers.”
“Tense and scarce,” Winnie agreed. “We did most of our holidays with Roy Lee’s family anyway. His mom wasn’t getting along too well, so we wanted to spend time with her while we could. Speaking of his mom, has anyone told her?”
“From what I understand, she’s in a nursing home and suffers from dementia, so I thought that would be best coming from her remaining sons.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I haven’t seen her since Roy Lee and I split. I worry about her sometimes.”
“Do you know what nursing home she’s in? We can reach out to her if you would prefer. Maybe arrange for you to go see her.”
“Oh, could you?” W
innie’s voice lifted in excitement. “I don’t know how to find her. If I ever heard which nursing home she’s in, I don’t remember. She went in about the time Roy Lee and I split, and I understand it’s over near the Arkansas line, east of where Hansen lives. You know, they have some nice, little family-type places over there, not like bigger towns where people just stick their loved ones in and forget about ’em.”
“I tell you what, I’ll do what I can to find out which nursing home she’s in, and then if you want to go see her, I’ll make sure you’ve got a ride.”
“Thank you.” Tears choked the words. “I always liked her a lot better than I did her boys, if you want to know the truth. And I always felt like Roy Lee was her favorite, so maybe I ought to make sure she’s got someone to hold her if she feels like crying.”
With that, Winnie drew in a huge, shuddering breath that she released in a loud, wavering wail. Her sobs quickly lessened in depth and volume, but settled into a steady repetition that showed no sign of ending. Jesse could envision Joe Tyler’s face. Any minute now he would be opening the library door and looking for someone to rescue him from the emotional female he was trapped in a room with.
Instead of that, the window over Jesse’s head opened and, as she pressed herself flat against the side of the house, she heard the words, “Get in here,” ground out through obviously gritted teeth.
Not daring to breath, she tilted her head upward in slow motion until she found herself face to face with the man who was leaning out of the window staring down at her. Jesse’s mouth opened, but nothing came out except a gust of air that sounded more like a death rattle than a word.
“Now,” he said, then drew back inside and slammed the window.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“What did we do wrong?” Vivian asked for the third time as they entered the formal living area through the sun room that connected to the side garden.
“I don’t know,” Jesse answered again. This time she added, “The man is just spooky that way. I don’t know how he does it. I know he never caught on when he was questioning Bliss, but we didn’t stand as close that time.”
“And it was going so well, too. Do you think he was talking to me, too, or just to you? I think I should wait outside the library, and you should go in and then…”
“It’s okay, Vivian,” Jesse interrupted. “You can stay outside unless he asks for you. There’s no reason for both of us to get raked over the coals. Besides, he didn’t really seem that upset. Did he to you, seem upset, that is?”
“Who can tell? He always seems about half mad when he’s talking to you, but I think that’s sexual tension. And I know you don’t agree with me, but that’s my opinion, and I’m sure I’m right.”
“This is a criminal investigation, Vivian, not a dating service. And I don’t think catching me listening in on an interview is going to bring out his flirtatious side.”
“I remain optimistic,” was Vivian’s response.
“Okay, well, you just do that.”
As they crossed the Italian marble of the foyer floor, the door to the library swung open and a definitely half-mad sheriff pointed past Jesse to where Vivian had slowed almost to a standstill.
“You,” he said, “come in here and take her someplace else until she’s through bawling.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of Winnie’s mournful sobs. Then his hand reformed itself into the shape of a toy gun aimed straight at Jesse. “You. Take the sofa.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Sensitivity,” Jesse muttered as she passed him on her way to the leather sofa against the wall, far away from any doors, windows, or openings of any sort.
Vivian entered the room with grace and poise bolstered by money, age and power, collected Winnie gently and ushered her out of the room with the soft clucking noises every mother uses, all without ever acknowledging the existence of anyone else in the room.
Joe shoved the door closed without the slam a lesser man might have indulged in. “It would appear that I may have offended Mrs. Windsor,” he said. He folded his lanky frame into the high-backed leather chair at right angles to the rolled arm of the sofa.
Jesse shrugged. “She’s always had kind of a soft spot for Winnie.”
“Poor, motherless waif? I can see that, though it’s hard to imagine Vivian Windsor having a soft spot for anything.”
“Oh, please. Where do you think that firestorm came from when you were looking at Bliss for killing her husband? Vivian is the mama bear of all mama bears.”
“And what are you? The one who protects the mama bear?”
For an instant, Jesse returned his dark, direct gaze until she felt herself getting lost inside whatever swirled there and jerked her head away.
“Somebody has to,” she said, staring at the hands clasped in her lap.
“Okay,” he said. “I understand that. I’m also starting to understand that threatening to arrest you doesn’t scare you off. It just makes you sneakier.”
Not sure how to respond to that, Jesse risked making eye contact again. She obviously wasn’t sneaky enough or he wouldn’t have discovered her eavesdropping on him. And there was no way he simply intuited her presence. For future reference, she needed to know what gave her away.
“It’s really bugging you, isn’t it?” he asked with the crooked half-smile that she found so annoying.
“What?”
“Go ahead, ask me. I know you’re dying to.”
“You can be infuriating,” Jesse said. “You know that, don’t you?”
He nodded. “I have been told that many times by many women. And it never seems to help that I’m almost always right.” Then he grinned. “It’s not like you’re admitting to anything. I caught you red-handed.”
Jesse stifled the urge to take off a shoe and throw it at him. “Okay.” She stared at the ceiling and took a deep breath before spitting the words out in a rush. “How did you know I was there?”
“Vivian’s perfume,” he said. “Expensive scents have staying power, so at first I just thought it was lingering in the room. Then I realized it was coming through the window. And that if she was outside listening through the window, you were outside listening with her.”
“Oh, that’s going to hurt her feelings,” Jesse answered, secretly relieved that she hadn’t been the one to give them away. “Malcolm had that formulated for her in Paris. On their honeymoon.”
Joe’s brow wrinkled with a frown and he emitted a short, clear whistle. “Wow. Fifty years? In that case, she’s very subtle with it.”
“Usually she just sprays the air and then walks through it. But I imagine she spritzed herself again when she changed for dinner.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “You don’t seem very repentant now that you’ve confessed.”
“Oh, please, you wouldn’t believe me if I did. So, how about some give and take since it may be awhile before Winnie calms down and you’re able to question her again.”
“Does this mean you think you know something I don’t? Or maybe you think I know something you didn’t manage to overhear?”
“You had Winnie’s mouth swabbed. So obviously you have something, or think you may find something to compare her DNA to.”
“We’ll be doing a DNA analysis to see if the femur from the backyard is a familial match to either Roy or Winnie Rogers. But you already knew that, since you and Vivian were pumping Bob Franklin for information back at the Rogers place. And since you had half your garden club here when I arrived, I can only assume you’ve been doing a little questioning of your own.”
Jesse worked to maintain eye contact while keeping her expression blank. He had a lot more practice at this sort of thrust-and-parry conversation, and she could feel her own disadvantage growing.
“Have you formed any opinions?” he asked. “That you’re ready to share? Without sounding even more guilty than you look right now?”
“I’m not guilty, I’m confused.” Simple ey
e contact deteriorated to a glare. “You’re being very pushy.”
“When you offer give and take, that doesn’t mean that I give and you take, which is what we’ve done so far. It means you also know something I don’t, and you tell me.”
“Well, so far, all you’ve done is confirm what I already assumed, but… Winnie did mention that Averell Rogers’ wife left him for another man around the time the wood pile showed up in the middle of the backyard. She and her boyfriend supposedly.moved out of state,’” Jesse said, making air quotes with her fingers around the last words. “The rumor was that the boyfriend moved to North Dakota to work on that pipeline up there, and that Averell’s wife Patsy moved with him.”
Joe sat back in his chair, arms relaxed, face surprised. “Well, hell, what am I going to do with you? You’re actually becoming useful.”
“For starters, you can tell me something I don’t already know. Like, how long is it going to take to get those DNA results?”
“Once again, we don’t do it with a magic wand the way they do on TV. DNA takes awhile. A simple match like family markers doesn’t take as long as a full work up, but it will be a couple of days. That’s not the most important thing we’re looking at right now. Roy Rogers is a definite murder victim, and the body in the backyard is only a big mystery at the moment. So what else have you got for me.”
“Just speculation.”
He spread his arms in invitation. “So, speculate.”
“I have nothing to back it up, but I think that Roy Lee Rogers was involved in covering up the body buried behind the Rogers home. That doesn’t make it murder, and it doesn’t make him the killer, if there was one. But it makes him a conspirator. My guess is, there were three people involved, and the same three people were planning to move what was left of the body this morning. Roy Lee knew Winnie had found the bone and was debating what to do with it. He probably knew she was going to be away from the house this morning. He might have been where he was so he could watch for her to arrive without her seeing him.”
Murder Most Thorny (Myrtle Grove Garden Club Mystery Book 2) Page 17