Buzz Off - By Hannah Reed Page 0,78
on top of the stack, perfectly centered, was a dragonfly earring. The dead-on match to the one Faye Tilley had been wearing when we found her body.
Thirty-two
“We are investigating, Missy Fischer,” Johnny Jay said after my back room had been examined with a police microscope, the earring had been removed, and I’d accused our police chief of stagnation. “It never occurred to me to keep you informed as to our progress. I didn’t know you were a member of my team. Oh, wait, you aren’t.” He rolled his eyes. “You have a serious problem with interfering where you aren’t welcome.”
“Interfering! Come on. I’d love to be out of this whole thing. This isn’t something I have any control over.”
The very last thing I had wanted to do was call the police chief. But after finding the earring, I’d shouted to the twins who had been waiting on customers. Once I’d blustered and blurted and blundered, too many people knew about my discovery. The secret was out in the open before it could go covert. Unfortunately, Lori Spandle had been one of the customers, so she was already on the scene, ready to report and cause trouble.
“I should take you in and hold you until we clear this whole thing up,” the police chief said to me.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“That might be best, Chief,” Innocent Bystander Lori said.
The police chief shot her a shut-up look before eyeing me up again. “Exactly where were you when that earring appeared out of thin air?” he asked.
“Oh, give it up and go after the real killer for a change.”
“We have a suspect in custody, and you know it.”
“So how could he have planted the earring?”
“That’s my job to find out, not yours. Butt out.”
“This is so my business. The damn thing was found on my desk!”
“Settle down now,” Johnny Jay said, holding out both hands, palms to the floor to show me how to settle in case I didn’t know how.
Lori now wore a smug expression instead of a bee veil. I have to say the veil was more flattering.
Brent Craig stepped forward with his own theory on how the earring got there, which happened to be totally obvious, but at least he broke up the argument. “Someone must have snuck in the back door and put it there.” His brother, Trent, agreed. “We made a list of customers’ names for you, Chief,” Brent said, handing over a newsletter with the names written down on the back of it. “The usuals anyway, though some customers were passing through on the rustic road. We’d never seen them before.”
“It wouldn’t necessarily have to be a customer,” I said. “The back door wasn’t locked. Anybody could have come through it.”
My mother better not find out that that door was still an entryway. Old habits die hard. I’d forgotten to lock it when I left for Stu’s.
Johnny Jay wasn’t about to give up on me as his main source of stress and trouble. “Where were you when all this happened? Wait, do you hear the same echo I do?” He cupped an ear and listened. “Seems like I already asked you that question once.”
“I was on the river. I borrowed Stu’s canoe and went downstream.”
“Anybody see you?”
“What does it matter? I’m the injured party, the victim, not the perpetrator.”
“Did anybody see you?” he repeated.
“Stu did.”
“If Story was on the river,” Lori added, “we better start looking for another body.”
I had my feet up on the patio table, a glass of red wine in one hand, and a kitchen knife under a newspaper in front of me just in case my tormentor sprang from the bushes. I wasn’t taking any more chances. It took every ounce of my fading courage to even sit outside, but I refused to let anybody drive me into hiding. Besides, I probably had Patti watching me right next door in case I had problems.
After scanning Patti’s windows without seeing a telescope pointed my way, I called Hunter with my wine-free hand, punching numbers with my thumb.
“Can’t you take over the investigation into Faye’s death?” I said to him. “Johnny Jay hates me.”
“It’s that prom thing. He didn’t like you turning him down.”
“How did you know about that?”
“I took you that year, remember. How could you forget? The ridge after prom in my old car . . .”
He let the rest of the sentence drop off the ridge, but I remembered. Clearly. Like it was yesterday. Amazing how memories come back.
The silence hung. Then