Jewel of a Murderer

by M. Glenn Graves

  “I do.”

  “He was looking for that garnet stone that was misidentified as a ruby. That’s what he meant.”

  “You seem awfully sure of yourself,” I said.

  “Well, he had the dog. He thought he had you killed, finally. What else would he have referred to at that moment of crisis?”

  “The man was crazy, you know. I have no idea what he was after.”

  “You think I’m wrong?”

  “I would never say that.”

  “Well, I shall henceforth believe I have solved that mystery. And, furthermore, I’ve been hard at some jewel research for you,” Rogers said.

  “For me.”

  “I knew you would appreciate some behind-the-scenes info regarding all of these jewels with whom you have been dealing.”

  “Pun intended, right?”

  “Play on words, to be more precise. But, yes, ma’am. I know why Jasper went back to Uncle Shebo.”

  “Besides kith and kin?”

  “The power of the jewel or precious stone,” she said.

  “You are referring to Uncle Shebo,” I said.

  “How did you know?”

  “I’m not just a pretty face. You told me that the name Shebo means agate in Hebrew. It is also one of the twelve precious stones found in Aaron’s breastplate. You remember telling me about that breastplate?”

  “Of course, I do,” she said. “But you don’t always remember what I tell you. Someone must have reinforced your memory on this occasion. So, confess.”

  “Uncle Shebo and Rosey.”

  “Well, did Uncle Shebo tell you that the agate jewel has long represented qualities of healing, a move towards wholeness?”

  “He didn’t say it quite that way, but he did mention the ideas of protection and strength. He said his mother used to talk to him about his name and some meanings,” I said.

  “It also supplies some good luck,” Rogers quickly added.

  “Uncle Shebo mentioned that but dismissed it out of hand since he concluded that he has never experienced good luck in his life.”

  “Well, did he mention the ideas of acceptance and security?”

  “Not in so many words, but I would suppose that protection and strength might imply some security. Acceptance is another matter,” I said.

  “I submit to you that it is within the realm of possibility that maybe this family tradition of naming children after jewels has something to it. It could be why Jasper Connelly left Norfolk after you wounded him and after he confessed to those murders, and then headed to Yancey County to hide out with Uncle Shebo.”

  “If you believe that stuff,” I said. “It could also be that he came running back home hoping that kith and kin would hide him from those in pursuit like me.”

  “Ah, the resident skeptic. For sure. Also, I did some checking on the stone that Jasper Connelly represents.”

  I heard Starnes’ phone sound her unique ringtone. It surprised me because Starnes seldom received phone calls from anyone. Except me.

  “You know I don’t really need to know all this,” I said to Rogers.

  “Enlightenment, dear. There are yet many things of this world to which you are unaware,” she said.

  “I am aware of many of my deficits, dear Rogers. I know little of jewels, including what meanings they might have been given in the history of people as well as the reasons folks might give someone the name of some rock.”

  “Those items would be included, of course, along with a multitude of other bits of knowledge.”

  “You know that names are usually given when babies are born and most of us have no idea how these peculiar infants are going to turn out.”

  “Hence the idea that there are forces in the universe stronger than mere happenstance.”

  “Where are you going with this stuff?” I said.

  Starnes turned and handed her phone to me from the front seat of the Jag. “It’s for you.”

  “Hold on, Rogers,” I said, interrupting her. “I have a call on another phone.”

  “Clancy here,” I said into Starnes’ phone.

  “This is Cathy, Reddy’s wife,” the voice said.

  I suspected that she might have had a change of heart regarding my recent visit with her father and her cousin. That, or maybe Reddy confessed his directional aid that allowed us to find Daddy Shebo and Jasper.

  “I’m here with my daddy and he remembered something he wanted you to know. Actually I helped him to remember. Aunt Pearl used to talk a lot to us girls. We were close.”

  I was silent, listening without knowing what to say to her. At any rate, I was wrong about why she was calling me.

  “Daddy said something to me about cousin Jasper believing that your dog was lucky or would bring him luck. That triggered something I had forgotten about. Aunt Pearl used to talk about the need for having certain kinds of stones around. She used to tell us about the importance of specific combinations of these stones or jewels. We were intrigued by it as little girls, but we never believed that what she was telling us was true. It was just not something we swallowed easily. But we listened to her talk about it.”

  I thought about asking a question, but I wasn’t sure where she was heading so I decided against saying anything. I kept quiet.

  “Besides Daddy never took much stock in all of that stuff about stones and having them around, and…well, you know. I think he told you all that.”

  “Yeah,” I said. My definitive contribution to the conversation thus far.

  “Anyhow, Daddy said that Jasper was muttering something about the dog just before he passed. Said something like Andra, which he said made no sense to him. He had named the dog Andy,” she said. “Daddy thought Jasper was delirious at the end and meant Andy, not Andra.”

  “He told me that.”

  “Well, he got that name from his mama, Aunt Pearl, back when he had the dog and showed it to her. She made over that dog when he brought it home. At first, I don’t think Jasper took much stock into what she was saying to him. But later she told me that she was the one who insisted that he name the dog Andradite. Strange name, huh?”

  “To say the least,” I said.

  “Jasper refused to call the dog that, said he could never remember such a name. Anyway, he named the dog Andy, thinking that was close enough,” she paused in her story.

  “Okay,” I said without knowing anything else to say at that moment.

  “Don’t you see, I was wrong about why he named the dog Andy. I don’t think it was as much about that so-called friend named Andy as it was that Pearl wanted him to use that other name.”

  “Well, you may be right about that.”

  I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say about her point.

  “Then, just before she died, Jasper came home to see her while she was still in the hospital. One thing led to another, he told her that he had lost the dog a few years back from that occasion.”

  “Okay,” I said again, floundering about with my verbal skills.

  “So, Aunt Pearl proceeded to tell him in no uncertain terms that he had to get Andy back. She said the dog would bring him luck.”

  She stopped talking and I waited to see if she might continue. Nothing was being said. I attempted to formulate a conclusion as to why she had called with this information.

  “Your thinking is that this is the reason that Jasper came after Sam all these years later. Your Aunt Pearl was the true catalyst that motivated your cousin to come back for the dog,” I said.

  “She was,” she said. “Aunt Pearl had a powerful belief in having those stones, or at the very least having something around with that powerful name. I think she honestly believed that Jasper needed that dog back in his life to bring him luck or maybe to change his luck. Goodness knows the whole family knew he had nothing but bad luck no matter what turn he made.”

  “All because he had named the dog Andy,” I said.

  “Precisely.”

  “I’ve heard stranger beliefs,” I sai
d, “but this one…”

  “Yeah, it’s rather different, even for me, and I grew up with these people.”

  “Thanks for letting me know.”

  We exchanged some pleasantries. The call ended. I handed Starnes her phone back.

  “Okay, Rogers. I’m back,” and then I proceeded to fill her in on what Cathy Reese had suggested as I switched my phone to speaker mode.

  “Makes some sense, if you buy into the belief that certain precious stones have powerful qualities about them,” Starnes said.

  “And this andradite she mentioned?”

  “Well, interestingly enough, one of the possible colors that this stone can come in is black,” Rogers said.

  “Well, that certainly fits,” I said.

  “There are those who believe that andradite has the power to provide you with creative solutions to your problems. There’s the belief that it can ward off negativity. Perhaps Pearl realized that Jasper was a negative person and she wanted to change all of that,” Rogers added.

  “Thus, the black dog named Andy would help him conquer his buried issues,” I suggested.

  “It fits,” she said. “And there’s one more connection, if you desire yet another stone connection.”

  “Might as well. Your informative jewels seem to know no bounds.”

  “Cute. This andradite is a type of garnet stone. The black andradite is also referred to as Melanite Garnet, a name that comes from the Greek word meaning black. Some believe that this particular garnet stone has the power to keep you safe. Completely.”

  “Didn’t seem to work too well for Jasper,” I said.

  “Perhaps his early rejection of it created some bad feng shui for him.”

  “Sounds like mother Pearl did everything she thought possible for Jasper, his name as well as his need for retaining man’s best friend with a lucky name,” I said.

  “Hear me out. There are some things I found intriguing about the jasper stone. For one thing, it was once considered the stone of the warrior. It is a stone of power as well as a stone that is given to someone to help him or her overcome addictions or compulsive behaviors. Don’t you find that a little interesting when it is applied to the Jasper we know?”

  “Okay, that’s interesting. But you almost have to believe that his mother knew that Jasper was going to have some of those problems in life and named him such that he might overcome these internal, if you please, obstacles by giving him this name.”

  “Ancient peoples used to believe in the power of names,” she countered.

  “Maybe that belongs in the realm of primitive religions.”

  “Tsk, tsk. One more thing. You know about feng shui?”

  “Yeah, you mentioned that. It’s about putting the right things in a space so that they fit together and provide the feng shui,” I said, wondering where Rogers was taking me.

  “There’s more to that than the right things placed in a space,” Rosey said over his shoulder.

  “He’s right,” Rogers said. “There’s a little more to it. It has been around a few thousand years from the Chinese culture. The jasper stone has been used to assure health and good fortune, or feng shui.”

  “I don’t think it worked too well for Jasper Connelly,” I said. “Come to think of it, nothing that anyone did for him amounted to any kind of significant change in the direction that Jasper ultimately took.”

  “Ah, point taken. The key word here is assure. One can have either good feng shui or bad. It all relates to the energy around. If you have the bad kind, it means misfortune or bad luck. The jasper stone was intended to counter the bad luck which one might possess, as in Jasper’s case.”

  “So, in your informed opinion of this, Jasper’s mother saw beforehand something that worried her about her son, and she gave him this name as a way to protect or guard or assure him some good feng shui?”

  “In a manner of speaking,” Rogers seemed to be hedging. “Don’t know that his mother Pearl saw all of that or any of that, and she may or may not have known anything about the ancient Chinese idea of feng shui. But I think something of what we are saying here is close to what she wanted. The name, the dog, that rock she gave him, and even the subsequent names of his siblings. All of it, I think, was part of her goal to help this child as much as she could. With what you’ve told me, his grandmother likely felt that way too.”

  “Maybe they should have spent more time loving the child instead of placing the right rocks around him.”

  “Perhaps they thought they were loving him,” Rogers said.

  “Maybe… And there could be something to what you are saying,” I said. “Some beliefs that people have can be powerful, at least for them. But, it’s a little over the top for me. I’ll stick with my view of people and spaces.”

  “Which is what?” Rosey said.

  “People are both good and bad. A mixture. No one is completely one way or the other. Not usually. Even the worst criminal has some good qualities. The qualities may be buried and hard to find. Still, they exist in varying degrees. No precious jewel or stone or rock is going to make me who I am. Or who I become. And space, well what I need for balance in my life is a comfortable bed, an old couch, the dog named Sam, a coffee pot with a mug, and friends.”

  “Like Starnes and myself,” Rosey said from the front seat.

  “Exactly, like you and Starnes,” I agreed.

  “And me?” Rogers said. “You did not mention me. That really hurts,” Rogers said with a hint of pain in her artificial voice. Perhaps I had hit an emotional chord with my computer. Yikes.

  “Correction. You, too, my adversarial genius. I need all of you – Rosey, Starnes, Sam, and, of course, you too, Rogers.”

  “For the good kind of feng shui,” Rogers added.

  “Whatever you say, girl. Whatever works is whatever works. And you’re all jewels, even without the specific names.”

  Also by M. Glenn Graves

  The Clancy Evans Mystery Series

  One Lost Soul More

  Mercy Killing

  The Peace Haven Murders

  Revenge

  Desperate Measures

  The Outcast In Grey

  Out Jumps Jack Death

  The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon

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  Thank you.

  M. Glenn Graves

  About the Author

  M Glenn Graves has been writing fiction since graduating from college in 1970 but did not begin to work on novels until 1992. Born in Mississippi, he has lived in Tennessee, North Carolina, Missouri, Virginia, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. He graduated from Mars Hill College with a BA in English and Religion. He received a Master of Divinity in 1977 three years after he finished his four-year tour in the United States Navy. Married to Cindy, they have three grown children – Brian, Mark, & Jenn. They also have three grandchildren – Jonathan, Matthew, & Phoebe. Glenn, Cindy, and Sophie, their Lab, currently reside in the mountains of western North Carolina where he is the pastor of a local church.