She laughed softly. Every neighborhood had at least one. Jonelle lifted her hand to knock, but pulled back when the door opened and Sally’s face appeared.
“Right on time,” Sally said. She moved aside to let Jonelle in.
The living room in which Jonelle found herself was crammed with well-worn, substantial-looking furniture. The tight fit produced a slight twinge of claustrophobia, in spite of the lace-curtained windows occupying nearly the whole front wall.
“Have a seat dear,” Sally said.
Jonelle sat in a chintz-covered wingchair, with white crocheted doilies on the armrests.
After accepting Sally’s offer of coffee, Jonelle started to speak but stopped when she heard sounds of someone walking overhead.
Startled, she looked at Sally who added cream and sugar to her own cup before taking a sip.
“Uh, Sally.” Jonelle pointed to the ceiling. “Who… ”
Heavy footsteps descended the stairs. A pair of pants, followed by a white shirt slowly appeared. The neck and head that followed seemed very real. A thin, balding man with wire-framed glasses stood at the bottom of the stairs. It surprised Jonelle that such a small man could make such a considerable sound.
“Who the hell’s this?” he demanded.
Puzzled, Jonelle turned toward Sally.
“You’ll have to excuse him,” Sally said. “He takes after his father. William, mind your manners. This is that nice detective lady I told you about.”
Jonelle set down her coffee cup and rose from the chair. She stepped forward and introduced herself.
“Hi. My name’s Jonelle Sweet. Your mother asked the agency to investigate who might have taken some of her jewelry.” Jonelle extended her hand.
“Don’t care who you are,” he said, hands shoved deeply in his pockets.
Annoyed by the man’s rudeness, Jonelle withdrew her hand and waited for him to say something else. After the way the day had gone so far, contemplating thieving ghosts was one thing. Dealing with assholes in the flesh was quite the other.
William glared at his mother. “And just how much money are they gonna bilk out of you this time?”
This time? Jonelle mentally counted to ten. Finished, she gave the man a look that could freeze water in the desert.
“Your mother approached the agency with a problem, and we are going to help her solve it. Our rates are reasonable. As Sally seems perfectly capable of making her own decisions—”
“Capable?” he interrupted with a snort. “Capable? Her? Ha!”
A slight red flush crept up Sally’s face.
Jonelle sized up the man standing before her. She stood about an inch taller and outweighed him by about ten pounds. She took two steps in his direction. He stepped back. The arrogant smirk he entered the room with faded.
“Tell me, William. What do you know of your mother’s missing jewelry?”
He turned away and mumbled something.
“Sorry. Didn’t hear that. Could you please repeat what you said?”
“I said, nothing’s missing.” He faced Jonelle with narrowed eyes. “She’s just imagining things… as usual.”
“I am not,” Sally said, voice rising. “Where’s my seahorse pin then, huh? Tell me that. And where’s my mother’s pearl necklace with the diamond clasp?”
In response, William rolled his eyes to the ceiling.
Jonelle did not want to get involved in whatever family dynamics were going on with those two. Although they’d just met, Jonelle wanted to protect the fragile woman from whatever, or whomever. While she wanted Sally to concentrate on what actually happened, Jonelle also needed to look around the house for herself. William’s attitude impinged on that and she was tired of his piss-poor attitude. If the guy wanted to play hardball, fine.
“Sally and I have business to attend to,” she said, her head indicating the front door.
William’s jaw dropped. His eyes traveled from his mother to Jonelle, and back again. He closed his mouth and stomped to the door. Jonelle followed on his heels.
“You don’t know what you’re getting into,” he hissed, turning around to face her. “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
As the man stormed out onto the porch, Jonelle’s voice stopped him. “I’m going to give this case my full and complete attention, so I may be contacting you sooner rather than later.”
He grumbled something and marched down the lawn. At the street he turned around once. He saw Jonelle staring and hurried over to a dusty black pickup. Jonelle watched as he hesitated and glanced at the house across the street, where a man stood on the porch. William waved and the man waved back. After William took another glance at Sally’s house, he got in his truck and sped away.
A crash, followed by, “Oh my goodness,” forced Jonelle back inside. She found Sally picking up small sugar cubes that had spilled from the little ceramic bowl onto the floor.
“Don’t worry about that. Here, let me.”
Jonelle helped Sally straighten up and decided not to let William’s attitude get the best of either of them. If Sally said she thought Percy was the thief, then she’d start there.
“So, Sally, show me the place where you first discovered the jewelry was missing.”
The tremor in Sally’s hands relaxed as she motioned for Jonelle to follow.
“Come on upstairs.”
Sally negotiated the stairs with ease. Jonelle trailed the woman as the staircase curved up and slightly to the right. Off of the landing an open door led to a large bedroom immediately to Jonelle’s left.
A large canopied four-poster bed took up much of the room. The canopy matched the yellow, white, and periwinkle blue-flowered bedspread. In one corner an oak armoire stood flush against the opposite wall. In the middle of the room, a three-mirrored vanity occupied the space in front of the bed. Not a speck of dust anywhere.
“This is lovely.”
Sally touched her hair. “Thank you,” she said, beaming with pride. “I sometimes think I should buy something new, you know, to make the place look a little more modern. William keeps saying that when I die and he has to sell the house, this old stuff would put people off.”
William again. Jonelle definitely didn’t like William. “Don’t worry about what he says. People love this kind of thing. So, where was the jewelry kept?”
Sally moved over to the vanity. Three bottles of perfume and one tube of lipstick adorned the surface. A comb, sterling silver-backed hairbrush and hand mirror sat in the center. On the far left a black cherry wood jewelry box hugged one corner. Three drawers flanked the box’s large vertical compartment on the right. This section was made of glass with a rose delicately sketched on the surface.
“May I?” Jonelle asked, fingering the highly glossed wood.
Sally nodded.
Jonelle opened the lid. A mirror covered the space underneath. Red velvet lined the interior. “Were the pieces taken from one of the drawers or this side section here?”
“Top drawer was where I kept the pin. The other side is for the necklaces.”
Jonelle looked through each drawer, aware Sally’s eyes followed her every move. A low whistle escaped from her lips as she noted expensive-looking, bracelets, rings and brooches laid out in the box. Opening the large compartment, she held up a heavy gold necklace covered with tiny emeralds. “Have you ever thought of opening up a safety deposit box?”
“I thought about it, but William said not to waste my money. He said nobody wanted this old clunky stuff.”
Jonelle sighed. Sally’s problem wasn’t Percy, it was her son.
“Hate to say this, but is it possible the thief who took your missing pieces is William? William was just up here. Do you know why?” Jonelle beckoned to Sally. “Please check whether or not any more jewelry is missing.”
Sally searched each drawer and the side section. She shook her head. “Everything else is still here. I called William over because my upstairs sink was clogged. He fixed it for me.”
As far as Jonelle was concerned, Percy the ghost just moved to second place behind William as a suspect in the jewelry heist. “I’ll research how much it’ll cost for a safety deposit box at your bank and let you know. Tell me, is William your only child?”
Jonelle turned away from the jewelry box. Sally rose from the bed and moved over to stare out the bedroom window.
“No,” she said quietly. “I have a daughter. But I haven’t heard from her in years.” Sally fingered the drapes, seemingly lost in thought.
Jonelle stepped over to the armoire and changed the subject. “So when you said you thought it was Percy taking the items, what made you think that? Did you, uh, see him?”
Sally nodded. “The moon at night makes it easy to see and I caught a glimpse of him. I was a little groggy and he thought I was asleep, but I was just pretending. When I called out, he disappeared,” Sally answered, a sad look on her face. “I also heard his footsteps. When I turned on the lights, the armoire and my jewelry box stood open. I always make sure everything’s closed before I go to bed.”
Jonelle faced the large wardrobe and placed her hands on the wooden knobs. The double doors opened without a sound. Several dresses hung on a wooden rail, along with a few pairs of men’s pants and some white shirts. Black men’s shoes sat alongside several sensible walking shoes. Jonelle turned to Sally, eyebrows raised.
“Suppose I should’ve gotten rid of all his things, but even though he could be an S.O.B sometimes, we were married for sixty years.”
Jonelle continued looking through the chest and found nothing unusual. She felt odd searching through Sally’s things for evidence of a ghost.
Walking over to a closed door next to the vanity, Jonelle grasped the knob and twisted. Locked.
“Do you have the key for this door, Sally? Sally?”
Jonelle turned and faced the elderly woman, now sitting on the bed, a worried look aimed at the door.
“You okay?”
Sally’s hand worked the bedspread, bunching it up, spreading it out, and bunching it up again.
“What’s behind this door? If you want me to help you, you have to be honest with me. Is there something on the other side of this door you don’t want me to see?”
For the first time since they’d met, Sally looked afraid.
CHAPTER 4
Jonelle waited for Sally to say something, but Sally continued staring at the closed door. “We’ll leave this room for now,” Jonelle said. “But I need you to find the key. I’d like to see what’s inside.”
“Later,” Sally said.
“Once you’ve found the key,” Jonelle stressed. She waited until her client responded with a slight nod.
Jonelle continued her search of the top floor. The second room yielded no new information. A large oak desk rested against the window, pockmarked with holes burned into the surface. Next to it an old Singer sewing machine sat in the corner, looking like a prime candidate for one of those antique road shows. Bits of colored yarn, crochet string, and fabric spilled out of large wicker baskets and onto the floor. Two doors on the one wall opened easily. Crammed in the space behind the first door, more cloth spilled out of cardboard boxes. The second closet contained dusty basketball and softball trophies and several photo albums. Jonelle picked up one of the albums and sneezed.
“Bless you,” Sally said.
“Thanks.” Jonelle sniffed.
Sally walked into the room and held out her hand. “You don’t really need to see those old pictures,” she said. “They have nothing to do with Percy.”
“If you say so.” Jonelle put the album back in the closet and closed the door. “I don’t see signs of anything unusual here. Is everything the same as always?”
Sally nodded. “He doesn’t come in here.”
Jonelle felt as though Sally was keeping something from her but decided to let it pass. “Okay. Is there anywhere else you think I should look?”
A frail arm pointed to the ceiling.
Jonelle moved into the hallway. Above her head she noticed a trap door with a pull string.
“Attic?”
“Yes.”
Damn.
Jonelle touched her necklace, took several deep breaths and grabbed the string. The door descended, exposing several steps.
“Um, do you wanna tell me what’s up there?”
Sally shrugged. “Just some old junk now. That used to be William’s room.” She hesitated. “You know, now that I think about it, there were a couple times when I thought I heard something moving around up there. Could’ve been mice, though.”
Jonelle put both feet on the bottom step. The wood creaked but held. She went up slowly and poked her head through the opening.
Cold, inky blackness met her eyes. An old musty smell assaulted her nose. She pinched the bridge and stifled another sneeze.
“You sure you heard something up here?”
“Pretty sure. The light switch is down here. You want me to turn it on?”
“God, yes,” Jonelle mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Go ahead and turn the light on.”
The one dim bulb barely lit a space beyond the center of the room. Dark shadows clung to unknown shapes like a shroud. Dust and spider webs filled her line of vision. Jonelle’s internal alarm set off warning bells. Uh-oh. Not today. As she started back down, Jonelle sensed movement out of the corner of her right eye. She stopped and stared, trying to pick out the source of the movement. Nothing. Yet she felt a change in the room. Maybe it was a mouse. With a slight shudder Jonelle hurried back down.
“I think I have enough information for today,” Jonelle said, hoping Sally wouldn’t hear the apprehension in her voice. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to come back and look around up there. Next time I’ll bring a flashlight… or two. And maybe a friend, if you don’t mind.”
“Fine with me, dear.” They walked back down to the living room in silence.
Jonelle removed her phone and checked the calendar. “I have an appointment tomorrow around noon with another client, but how about Friday? I’ll call you with a good time.”
Sally agreed and picked up the tray with the coffee, milk, and sugar and shuffled off to the kitchen, shoulders hunched. The past hour’s events seemed to weigh her down. Concerned the elderly woman had stressed herself, Jonelle rushed to her side.
“Here, let me help you with that,” she said, reaching for the coffee carafe.
Holding the pitcher in one hand, Jonelle grasped the refrigerator door handle and pulled.
Sally stood next to Jonelle and looked into the interior of the fridge. Her eyes widened in shock. The tray wobbled.
Jonelle caught one end before the whole thing crashed to the floor. Puzzled, she turned back to the open refrigerator and gasped.
A pair of black men’s shoes sat on a self between a package of cheese and a tub of butter.
CHAPTER 5
It took longer than Jonelle had anticipated to calm Sally down, but she wasn’t comfortable leaving while the elderly woman appeared so upset. After the initial shock of finding the shoes in the refrigerator wore off, Sally still seemed confused. Did she keep one pair, or two, of Percy’s shoes? Was it possible she placed the shoes in there herself?
“Why would I put them in the refrigerator?” Sally asked, as if reading Jonelle’s mind. She grabbed Jonelle’s arm with both hands. Covering Sally’s hands with one of her own, Jonelle helped her into one of the kitchen chairs.
Setting aside her own discomfort over the refrigerator shoes, Jonelle searched the house, checking the doors and windows. She found locks so flimsy a few sharp taps with something hard could open most of them. Worried for the safety of Sally and her possessions, Jonelle returned to the living room.
Now nestled in a plush armchair with a cup of hot tea, the color slowly returned to Sally’s face.
“Are you feeling better?”
Sally placed the cup on the coffee table before answering. “I�
��m okay. It’s just that it was such a surprise. How… how do you think the shoes got in there?”
“Before I arrived, when you first went into the kitchen to get the milk, were the shoes there?”
As Sally picked up the cup again, Jonelle noticed a slight tremor in the ageing woman’s hands. After a few moments quietly sipping tea, Sally squared her shoulders and looked directly into Jonelle’s eyes.
“I’m not feeble,” she said in a hushed voice. “I know what day it is. I can tell you not only who the current president is, but every other president since Eisenhower. I can still add simple sums in my head, and I still drive, but not at night.” The last comment was made with a firm nod of the head.
“I believe you.”
Jonelle told Sally that if she agreed, part of the retainer would go toward installing deadbolt locks on the front and back doors. As for the windows, “Keep the downstairs ones secured,” Jonelle said. “I know it’s warm, but if you must, only open the windows upstairs. You may want to keep the porch light on until we can secure your jewelry in the bank.” Another thought occurred to her. Not many streetlights illuminated the neighborhood. “Have you considered motion sensor lights? That would save you the hassle of turning the porch light on and off.”
At the mention of outside lights, Sally sat up straighter. “Absolutely not. With all the critters around here, the darn things would keep going off and on all night. My neighbors would have a fit.”
Not wanting to belabor the point, the fact that the woman seemed so adamant about the lights meant she’d forgotten the business about the shoes… for now.
“If you’re certain you’re all right, I’ll leave now,” Jonelle said. Although not sure it would help or hinder, Jonelle added, “If you’d like, I could call William, ask him to come back to keep you company this evening.” Assuming that the man didn’t put the shoes in the refrigerator in the first place.
Sally shook her head. “No, no. I’m fine now. Really. If I start to feel funny, I’ll ask my neighbor Irene to come over.”
Before leaving, Jonelle received a promise from Sally to call day or night with any problems, at the office or on Jonelle’s cellphone.
Gone Missing: A Jonelle Sweet Mystery Book 2 Page 2