Let There Be Suspects (31 page)

“What happened then?” Ed asked.

In an unusual attempt to assuage my curiosity, Roussos had told me the rest of the story as I was leaving the station. Sid was already waiting in the car.

Roussos’s lips had drawn down in a grim line, and his eyes had not warmed. “You couldn’t stay out of it,” he added when he finished. “Even after you promised me.”

I couldn’t dredge up a dimple to save my life. Instead I turned up my trembling hands in defeat. “What was I supposed to do? Tell Cliff I promised you I wouldn’t interfere and ask him to please go somewhere else and confess?”

“Aggie”—and when Roussos uses my first name, I know he’s upset—“the guy could have killed you or your sister. We could have gotten there too late. Your luck’s going to run out some time. Tell me you’re all done with this stuff.”

“I don’t have any
plans
to do it again.”

But Roussos is on to me. He did not looked convinced.

“Somebody’s got to keep you on your toes,” I said.

He left me in the parking lot at the same defective meter where I had parked before, but good guy that he is, he did take my brand-new parking ticket inside. I hope he gets me off the hook with the meter maid, but I’m afraid in ten days, somebody’s going to show up to arrest me. Roussos may want me where he can keep an eye on me.

“So what happened then?” Ed repeated, prodding me back to the moment.

“Apparently when Cliff saw Ginger leaving the office, he was so furious he followed her a little way, and they argued. When he finally realized what was going on, he shoved her. She fell, and when she tried to get up, he shoved her again, and that time her head bounced off a rock. When she went limp he realized what he’d done. It was dark by then. Not a soul was around, and his car was parked at the Victorian. He picked her up in his arms and ran across the street, through yards, hoping he would find somebody to help. She stopped breathing when he was cutting through the Catholic church parking lot. He put her on the ground by the nativity and tried CPR, but she was dead. There wasn’t anything he could do.”

“So he just left her there?”

“I guess at that point, he figured the only person he could save was himself. So he ran back to the Victorian. On the way he stuffed his old overcoat in a Dumpster behind some business or other, then he let himself into the house through the back. He didn’t see the guinea pig, and there was no time to look. He was flipping off the switches upstairs to eliminate the motion detectors when he heard the neighbor at the front door and let her in. The timing was sheer luck, and of course she’d been watching the house and wondering why the lights were going on and off, like he hoped. He sat her at the table to chat, and that’s where he was when you and Roussos came to find him. Maybe he was afraid there was blood on his hands, just like there was blood on that coat. Remember, he was washing his hands when you and Roussos arrived, like he was cleaning up after work?”

“And he’s been at the house, ever since,” Ed said. “Pretending to help you. Pretending that burying Ginger in Emerald Springs was the right thing to do. All because he still wanted to murder poor Peter Schaefer and find the other guinea pig.”

“Because if he didn’t find the guinea pig, somebody might figure out that he murdered Ginger,” Sid said.

“He’s gone over there every night to search. But guinea pigs aren’t nocturnal, so it was probably sound asleep somewhere. I just lucked out. He tried to keep the motion detector lights switched off at night, just in case. But I flipped the one in the bedroom and left it on when I went downstairs. So the motion detector was on and working when the guinea pig came through after me, probably looking for food.”

Ed tightened his arm around me. “How did Roussos figure it out and get there tonight?”

“Roussos knew a lot already. He told me Cliff was always his best suspect. But he couldn’t find anything to tie him to the murder, including a motive, and Cliff ’s alibi, although not perfect, was pretty good. When Roussos started to dig, there were so many people who might have wanted Ginger dead, he got tied up following all the leads. Someday I’d like to sit down and compare notes. He may have found suspects I didn’t even know about.”

“Remind me not to be a fly on that wall,” Ed said. “But what got Roussos there?”

“Cliff thought he had staged the scene at the pond so well that no one would suspect it was a setup. He planned to go back late tonight after he did another search for the guinea pig and fix the plug. He had dismantled the ground fault interrupter, and he wanted to fix it. Only Roussos was already suspicious, so he got a team out right away, and checking the plug was one of the first things they did. Tonight he got confirmation that it had been tampered with, plus a neighbor identified a photo of Cliff and said she had seen him on the street last night. Then she said she thought maybe she’d seen him there before. Maybe on Christmas Eve when she was on her way to church.”

“How did Roussos know Cliff was at the Victorian?”

“He didn’t. He tried the hotel first. But the Victorian was an obvious possibility, since that’s where he’d found Cliff on Christmas Eve. He would have tried our house next.”

“I’m glad he thought of the Victorian,” Sid said. “But Cliff wasn’t going to hurt us.”

I leaned over Ed to look at her. “Sid, Cliff killed two people. Ginger and a doctor in Chicago.” I told them that story. “And poor Peter Schaefer may not survive.”

“No, Peter’s going to be okay,” Ed said. “I called the hospital right after you called me from the station. He’s awake. I talked to his doctor briefly. They’re confident he’s going to make it.”

So Cliff was not quite the evil genius he had believed he was. And for once, scientific miscalculation had definitely been for the best.

“I didn’t know what to think when I walked in on you,” Sid said.

“What were you saying about Bix? I was a little preoccupied.”

“I finally got him on his cell phone. He’s with some woman in Pennsylvania, an old girlfriend. He has use of her Porsche, so he finally dropped off the rental. He even paid the fines.”

“A man of great integrity.”

“Do you know he left Emerald Springs on the
afternoon
of Christmas Eve and drove to her house for the holidays? I asked him point-blank why he stayed in town that extra night, and you know what he told me? He didn’t even have the decency to lie. He stayed because of Ginger.”

I winced. I was sorry that had come out.

“What a jerk,” she said. “But apparently he caught on fast and took off the next afternoon. Maybe he realized Ginger wasn’t all the things she claimed to be.”

That was my guess, too. Or maybe Ginger had realized that Bix wasn’t going to help her solve her money problems. Two users. In a way they’d been perfect for each other.

“I’m going to call Jack,” Sid said. “He deserves to hear this from me. I’ll leave you two alone.”

After she left, Ed and I moved apart just a little so I could look at him. I could hear laughter from the kitchen. We wouldn’t be alone for long.

“You know I can’t live through too many more of these moments, don’t you?” he asked.

“It’s not like I want solving murders to be my life’s work, Ed. But when they get dumped at our doorstep, what can I do?”

“Next time look the other way. I’m not kidding. Gaze off into the distance. Wear blinders. Step over the body and go on to the grocery store or the library like nobody was lying there.”

The doorbell rang and I sprang up to get it.

“Don’t think we’re done with this conversation,” Ed said.

A pretty blonde teenager stood at the front door with a familiar silver tabby in her arms.

“Teddy,” I shrieked. “Deena! Look who’s here.”

The girls came into the hallway, and when Teddy saw Moonpie, she leaped forward and held out her arms.

“Then he
is
your cat,” the young woman said. “The one on the poster.”

“Where did you find him?” I asked. “We’ve missed him so much.”

The young woman made the transfer into Teddy’s arms. Moonpie hung there like a sack of rice, but I thought there was something of a smile on his feline face.

“My aunt lives behind you on the next street,” the young woman said. “She found him in her tool shed a couple of days ago. I think he was trapped when she was getting her garbage can. She’s been keeping him inside her house and feeding him. But she wasn’t sure what to do. She hated to take him to the pound. He’s such a nice cat, but she already has three. Then I saw your notice on the telephone pole.

I sniffed. “Just like Sid.”

“I’m sorry?”

At least when Sid had run away to our tool shed, we had known where she was. I held out my hand. “I’m Aggie Sloan-Wilcox.”

“Angela Grant. My friends call me Angel.”

Teddy looked up from crooning to the limp Moonpie. “You’re an angel?”

“No, but they call me Angel.”

Teddy’s eyes got huge behind her glasses.

Angel smiled. “He’ll be okay then?”

I looked down at Teddy. “They both will. Please, can I give you a little something for your trouble?”

Angel shook her head and turned away. “Absolutely not. I’m thrilled to bring him home.” At the bottom of the porch steps she gave a quick wave. Then she was gone.

Deena and Teddy started to fight over who was going to hold Moonpie. I hadn’t introduced the subject of the other guinea pig yet. The second little guy was still at the station chowing down on lettuce and carrots and whatever else the female cop had found for him in the fridge. We could bring him home tomorrow when he was no longer evidence.

We would have more pets than children.

Ed took Moonpie away from the girls and led them all to the sofa. But the excitement wasn’t over yet.

“Come get your brownies,” Junie called from the kitchen.

Sid came downstairs at a gallop, taking them two at a time. “Jack and I are going out for a drink to celebrate.”

I linked arms with her and dragged her into the kitchen. The fragrance of warm chocolate greeted us. “Have a brownie first so Teddy won’t be disappointed.”

“Ta da!” Junie said.

On the table was a crystal punch bowl, and truly, as punch bowls go, it was spectacular. Light twinkled in every facet, and rainbows sparkled on the wall. The bowl was filled with an exotic mixture of fruit juices with multicolored scoops of sherbet floating on top.

“Junie!”

“I told you my old friend in Tampa would come through.” She clapped her hands. “Will it do?”

“The Women’s Society will love it. Quick, bar the doors. Don’t let the kids near it.” I glanced at Sid. “Most especially don’t let Sid—”

“You cut it out,” Sid said.

The doorbell rang one more time and I started down the hall. I expected to see Jack, but Lucy opened the door and let herself in before I could. “I hear there’s a hot game of Clue in progress.”

“Hotter than you know.” I put my arm around her. “Come have punch, come have brownies. Come hear my story.”

“I have a little business to transact first. Where’s your mom?”

I guided her into the kitchen. Everybody else was there, too. Apparently Teddy had gotten custody of Moonpie, and she clutched him tightly in her arms. I hoped he was breathing.

“Aggie, we have an offer on the Victorian.”

This took me a minute, but I had an excuse for slow reflexes tonight. “It’s not even for sale yet.”

“Technicalities. We have a buyer, and now we can renovate it for her, just the way she wants it.”

“What are you talking about.” I realized Lucy was wiggling her eyebrows at Junie, and Junie’s face was wreathed in smiles.

“No . . .” I shook my head. “Junie?”

“I’m going to open a quilt shop, precious. You need one in Emerald Springs, and I need a place to settle down. Where better than right here, where I can watch Deena and Teddy grow up?”

“A quilt shop?”

“I’ve seen every nook and cranny of this country and I don’t need to see one bit more. I’ve been talking to your needleworkers, and they assure me there’s a need here. We’re going to fix up a little apartment on the second floor and I’ll conduct business on the first. Lucy’s checked out everything with the city. We’ve been sneaking around all week to surprise you. But once I saw that house, I just knew. And now we’re all set.”

“We’ll take down the old garage and put in some parking spaces,” Lucy said. “Since it’s a walkout basement, it looks like a few alterations will bring it up to code so we can finish it for classrooms.”

“It won’t be huge,” Junie said, “but it will be big enough for this town and me.”

I looked at Ed. Ed was looking at me, one eyebrow cocked. Junie was coming to town to stay. And what about Vel, who might well have a fondness for Marco DiBenedetto? And Sid, who was going out for drinks with Jack, the best guy she’d dated in forever? Men rooted firmly in our fair town.

Just moments ago Ed had been worried about a little thing like me solving more murders. Now he had to prepare for an invasion.

He stepped forward and put his arms around Junie. “Nobody could be happier,” he said. “Welcome to Emerald Springs, Junie. Welcome home.”

I sniffed. See, the thing about being married to a minister? As a species they aren’t perfect, and the good ones don’t claim to be. But I know that my husband doesn’t lie.

What a guy.

“Tomorrow I’m going to write a story about an angel,” Teddy said. “Will you help me, Junie?”

Junie was teary-eyed, too. “You know I will.”

“And a cat and a guinea pig.”

“That sounds like a book,” I said, hugging Teddy and Moonpie together.

I guess Moonpie got tired of all the togetherness. He wiggled down and took off. Teddy started after him, and Moonpie, who knows how to dodge, ran under the table. She dove for him and banged the table leg, then she tried to stand while she was still underneath. The punch bowl slid forward, sloshing punch as it went.