The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds (21 page)

Brian and Joe found
Joanne Johnson at her home on Wednesday afternoon. When she opened her front
door she seemed surprised to find the two officers standing on her front porch.

“Joe, Brian, what’s
going on?” Joanne asked.

“We wondered if we
could have a few moments of your time, to ask you some questions about Marlow
House and the Fourth of July party,” Brian said.

“Certainly, come on
in,” Joanne opened the door wider and showed the two officers to her living room.
They declined her offer for something to drink, wanting to get right to the
business at hand.

“We were wondering if
you remember seeing Sam Hayman at the open house,” Brian asked.

“Why, certainly. You
remember, Joe. You were there.” Joanne glanced from Brian to Joe. “I don’t
understand, I thought Adam had been arrested for the murder of Danielle’s
cousin.”

“He has, but we’re
trying to tie up some loose ends and we wanted to see if you remember
anything…anything in particular about Sam and the party,” Joe explained.

“Well, let me see…” 
Bringing the tip of her index finger to her chin, Joanne squinted her eyes and
stared off across the room. “I do remember that when he was talking to Mr.
Renton, I thought it was rather funny.”

“What was funny?” Joe
asked.

“It was one of those
moments where someone is staring at someone—in this case Mr. Renton and Sam
were staring at Cheryl and Adam, who didn’t know they were being watched. And
here I was, watching them all,” Joanne chuckled. “Of course, maybe someone was watching
me, watch them.” Joanne laughed again.

“What were they
watching that was so interesting?” Brian asked.

“Cheryl and Adam were
by the wine table talking. Mr. Renton and Sam were standing under the trees
watching the pair. I noticed Cheryl swiping a bottle of wine from the table. It
looked like she was trying to conceal it in her arms. She runs out toward the
gate and sticks it in the bushes. I look over at Renton and Sam, they’re
watching the whole thing, laughing. Of course, Cheryl thinks she’s being very
sneaky and doesn’t think anyone sees her.”

“Did you ever see Sam
talking with Cheryl?” Brian asked.

“Yes. Not long after
Cheryl put the bottle in the bushes and returned to Adam, Sam walked up to
them. They all went inside together. I really didn’t notice Sam until later,
after he left and then came back.”

“What do you mean he
left?” Joe asked.

“Well, I assumed he was
leaving the party. A lot of people came for just a short while, looked around,
had something to eat then left. But he came back about thirty minutes later.
Not really sure where he went.” Joanne shrugged.

“So you never saw him
again with Cheryl?” Brian asked.

“No…but I just thought
of something.”

“What’s that?” Joe
asked.

“When he returned, he
entered through the side gate. I thought it was odd, because I noticed him
crouching by the bushes where Cheryl had put the bottle of wine. At first I
thought he was going to take the bottle for himself, but when he stood up, he
didn’t have it. I guess he was just looking at the bottle for some reason.”

Joe and Brian exchanged
glances.

“What did he do then?”
Joe asked.

“He walked back to the
house. I believe he stopped to talk to someone. I went back into the kitchen
and I don’t remember seeing him again that day.”

• • • •

“Did Sam leave the
party to get some Rohypnol to put in the wine?” Joe asked Brian after they got
back into their car and headed to the station.

“It does make me
wonder. But where in the hell did he get Rohypnol?”

“We know someone
drugged the wine. If Sam was with Adam and Cheryl at the party, perhaps they
told him where they were going. Maybe he figured they would both drink the wine
and pass out; then he could steal the necklace. But something went wrong, so he
ended up killing Cheryl.”

“But that would mean he
knew Cheryl intended to take off with the necklace,” Brian said.

“Maybe Cheryl and Sam
were in on it together all along and Adam was just a patsy?”

“There is one way to
find out,” Brian began.

“Find Sam?” Joe
suggested.

“Exactly.”

• • • •

Sam Hayman wasn’t
difficult to find. If he was trying to hide, he hadn’t done a very good job at
it; his credit card activity led the police to the motel where he was staying
on the outskirts of Portland. The local authorities cooperated, understanding
that time was of the essence. If Sam did have the stolen gems on him, he
probably wouldn’t have them for long.

The jeweler seemed
genuinely surprised to find the police at his motel door with a search warrant
on Wednesday evening. Sam was even more surprised when they found where he’d
hidden the diamonds and emeralds from the Missing Thorndike—tucked in a plastic
pouch and hidden at the bottom of his can of Metamucil.

As they transported Sam
back to Frederickport he kept insisting, “I didn’t kill her, honest! She was
alive when I left her!”

• • • •

Sam Hayman sat alone at
the table in the interview room when Joe walked in and shut the door behind
him.

“He sure looks
nervous,” the chief observed as he stood with Brian in the small office,
watching the scene unfold through the two way mirror. “I can’t believe he’s
waived his rights to see an attorney. Thought Sam was smarter than that.”

“All the way back here
he kept insisting he was innocent,” Brian said.

“Innocent? How does he
explain having the missing gemstones on him?”

“I guess we’re about to
hear…”

• • • •

“You keep saying you
didn’t kill Cheryl Hartford. Can you explain how you happen to have the
diamonds and emeralds from the Missing Thorndike?”

“Okay, I admit I took
them. But I didn’t kill her. You know me, Joe. I’m not a murderer.”

Joe sat down, across
the table from Sam. “I never thought you were a thief either, Sam. So tell me
what happened.”

“I grew up hearing
about the Missing Thorndike. My grandfather was especially fascinated with the
necklace and the mystery of is disappearance.” Sam paused a moment and stared
at his hands, they fidgeted nervously on the table.

“Go on,” Joe urged.

“When they found the
necklace and brought it to me, Danielle Boatman thought the stones were fake.
She was surprised they were real. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but
it got me to thinking of my grandfather and his fascination with the necklace.”

“Is this the
grandfather who originally started your store here?”

“Yes. There was an old
trunk in the store’s storage room that belonged to my grandfather. I never
really looked in it before, it was just filled with old papers—or so I thought.
But finding the necklace sort of renewed my interest in him, so I decided to go
through it. I wasn’t really looking for anything particular. To be honest, it
was no more than idle curiosity.”

“What did you find?”
Joe asked.

 “A large envelope. It
was kind of bulky. When I opened it I found what looked like diamonds and
emeralds. Oh, I got excited at first, but I soon realized they were fake—though
impressive fakes. My grandfather used to leave notes about some of his more
memorable clients. I guess the Missing Thorndike was the most memorable for
him.”

“Are you saying he
originally sold the Thorndikes the necklace?”

“No. According to my
grandfather’s notes, Eva Thorndike brought the necklace to his store in
Portland. She’d been recently abandoned by her husband, and she feared he’d
removed the real gems and replaced them with fakes. It turned out she was
right. They were fake.”

“I thought you said the
necklace had real diamonds and emeralds when you first looked at it?”

“It did. Apparently her
parents found out; they’d discovered my grandfather’s appraisal in her
belongings. She was sick by that time. They wanted to replace the imitation
diamonds and emeralds with real ones, but they didn’t want a scandal. I guess
they figured if they hired grandfather to replace the stones, he’d keep the
story of their son-in-law’s betrayal to himself. I mean, they were going to pay
someone to replace the diamonds and emeralds anyway. They just figured they
would use my grandfather to ensure it was all confidential.”

“What does any of this
have to do you with stealing the stones?”

“I started thinking—how
I wish I had looked in that trunk before Danielle Boatman brought me the
necklace. She thought they were fake. How easy it would have been for me back
then to simply put the fakes back in—the ones my grandfather kept—and she would
have never known. No one would have.”

“I thought Ian and Lily
initially brought the necklace in.”

“Well, they did. But
still. Danielle was the owner. She thought it was fake.”

“When did you decide to
switch the stones?” Joe asked.

“Not until that night.
When I was with Cheryl and Adam I overheard them talking about taking off later
and spending the night in one of his bungalows.”

“How did you know she’d
have the necklace with her?”

“She sort of told
me—when we were alone. I knew she was planning to take it for the night. She
made me promise not to tell anyone. Said she was going to bring it back in the
morning, and since she owned half of it, it was no big deal.”

“Why would she tell
you?”

“I think she was
bragging.”

“So you drugged the
wine?” Joe asked.

Samuel’s eyes widened.
He looked at Joe. “How did you know?”

“I’d like to know where
you got the Rohypnol.”

“Sometimes I can’t
sleep…” Sam stammered.

“You can’t legally buy
it in this country. Where did you get it?” Brian asked.

“When I was in South
America last year. It’s legal down there.”

“When did you decide to
drug the wine?” Joe asked.

“After Cheryl told me
she was going to take the necklace, and Adam made it clear where they were
going to be, I started having fantasies about taking it from them. But I didn’t
want to hurt anyone. Then I remembered the wine—and the Rohypnol. I thought it
would be easy.”

“What happened?” Joe
asked.

“I went home and got
the drugs. When I came back I put it in the wine. I figured when they got to
the bungalow, they’d drink it and pass out. I could just take the necklace. I
never really planned to switch out the stones.”

“What went wrong?”
Brian asked.

“I brought the fake
stones with me, the ones my grandfather had taken from the necklace. I brought
them along for good luck—but a heck of a lot of good they did me…”

“From what Adam tells
us he drank the wine, but Cheryl didn’t.”

“I parked my car down
the beach, not far from where you found Cheryl’s body. I didn’t want anyone to
see my car parked near the bungalow. So I walked down from the beach. When I
got to the bungalow Cheryl was cold sober. I didn’t mean for her to see me. I
was going to come in by the back door. But she was there on the porch, carrying
her purse and shoes. I asked where Joe was. She said he had passed out and she
was walking home.”

“Cheryl had Rohypnol in
her system.”

“Yes. I offered to walk
her home and suggested she get something for us to drink. I thought she’s take
the wine, but she grabbed a couple of beers.”

“So you managed to drug
the beer?”

“Yes.”

“And then you realized
she would probably remember seeing you when she woke up without the necklace
and she’d start pointing the finger at you.”

“No! That’s when I
changed my plan. I figured I would have to switch the stones when she passed
out. That way when she woke up, she’d assume she still had the necklace. I had
the tools I needed in the car to switch the stones, and I figured I just had to
get her to that hut.”

“How did you know the
hut was unlocked?”

“I didn’t. I figured
one of them would be open. If not, it wouldn’t be too difficult to break in.”

“But after you made the
switch you realized they would eventually discover the stones were fake and
she’d start pointing the finger at you.”

“Who would believe I
was walking around with the exact amount of fake stones—of the necessary size
and color—to make such a switch? I couldn’t see any way they could trace the
fake stones to me. Anyway, I knew there was always a chance she wouldn’t even
remember seeing me when she woke up the next morning.”

“But she didn’t wake
up, did she?”

“I swear, she was alive
when I left her. She wanted to sit down; the drug was really starting to take
hold. I managed to get her in the shed right before she passed out. I left her
there, went to my car to get my light and the necessary tools, and returned to
the shed and switched out the stones. I left her there wearing the necklace.”