Jonah pushed back his chair and headed for the front door. Amanda cleared their plates from the table, piling them into the sink.
Male voices drifted down the hallway. Heavy footsteps followed. Patrick stepped into the kitchen followed by Jonah. “Morning, Amanda.” Patrick inclined his head. “We found out why Brown was so intent on finding that journal and I figured you’d want to know.”
“Absolutely.” She waved him toward the table. “Can I get you some coffee?”
“That would be great.”
Before she could pour, Jonah was beside her. “I’ll do that. You take it easy.”
“It’s only coffee.” She kept her voice low. “I’m fine, Jonah.”
Sighing, he relented and joined Patrick at the table. She filled a clean mug with coffee and carried it to the table. Sitting down, she turned her attention to the sheriff.
“What do you know?”
“We found something interesting in the back half of the journal.” Patrick took a sip of coffee before continuing. “Numbers to Brown’s offshore bank accounts.”
Amanda sat forward in her chair. “Bank accounts?”
Patrick nodded. “Seems Brown was helping himself to the occasional item from his clients’ homes. Nothing they’d miss right away. Heck, a lot of them thought the items were lost in the move and filed a claim against the moving company. We’re still trying to sort it all out.”
“He was stealing from his clients?” Amanda could hardly believe it.
“Yup.” Patrick sat back in his chair and tapped his fingers against the side of his mug. “And that’s not all. He was also blackmailing a few folks. As a realtor, he had access to some folk’s houses when they weren’t home. He’d take a look around and if he discovered anything he thought they might want to keep secret, he blackmailed them. Not great amounts, but enough. Between the two scams he had a few hundred thousand dollars tucked away in an offshore bank account.”
“That’s incredible.” If she’d made the time to finish reading the journal, she’d have come across the numbers. Not that she’d have known what they were for or who’d written them there.
“Blackmail is more common than you’d think,” Patrick added. “Anyway, after his attack on you failed, he started talking, complaining really about how unfair it all was.
How Elizabeth, Jonah and now you had spoiled all his plans.”
Jonah snorted. “That doesn’t surprise me. Brown is the type to blame other people when things go wrong.”
“He started screaming for a lawyer after a while, but we’d already read him his rights and have witnesses, so everything he said will be admissible in court. Even if it wasn’t, we’ve got the journal and Amanda’s testimony. Plus, we’ve already been through his house and seized his personal papers. I imagine we’ll find more evidence as we sift through them.”
“But why did he wait so long to get the journal? I mean, he and Elizabeth have been divorced for a while now.” That part didn’t make sense to her.
“I asked him the same thing.” Patrick shrugged. “Seems he thought the journal was in the boxes of books he got in the settlement. The house he and Elizabeth owned was sold as part of the divorce settlement. Brown was living in an apartment for a few months and kept almost everything in storage until he moved into the new house he just bought.
He didn’t need to access the accounts until a couple of weeks ago. He went looking for it one night, but couldn’t find it. After going through every box, he realized Elizabeth must have it.”
“That must have been quite the shock.” Jonah rose and walked to the counter.
Returning with the coffeepot, he refilled their cups before resuming his seat.
“Why did he write it in Cecilia Sutter’s journal to begin with?” Amanda could think of safer places.
“He figured it was a book that Elizabeth would never part with because it was a family heirloom. Plus, she’d never expressed any interest in reading it. It was the perfect place as far as Brown was concerned.”
“Why didn’t he check with Elizabeth first or at least search the house?” Jonah asked.
“He was afraid to ask, afraid that she’d discover the secret hidden there. But he did check your house,” Patrick countered.
“He broke into my home?” Jonah’s voice was flat, but Amanda could hear the underlying anger and shivered. Jim Brown should be glad he was in custody. He was safer in prison than he would be on the outside right now.
“Yup.” Patrick took another sip of coffee. “Seems he had a key to the backdoor from when your dad was still alive. You didn’t bother to change the locks when you moved back home.”
“Son of a bitch,” Jonah swore under his breath.
“He waited until everyone was gone and let himself in. He went through all the books in your house and quickly realized that the journal wasn’t there. Brown was furious when he learned Elizabeth was getting rid of most of the books she’d received in the divorce settlement and that she’d already brought them all to Amanda to sell. Since he’d already been through the books at your place and through Elizabeth’s things, the only place left to search for the book was here.”
“Wow.” Amanda didn’t quite know what else to say. “That’s like something out of a mystery novel.”
“Brown also used a spare key he’d gotten made to let himself in through Amanda’s back door the first night he broke in.” Patrick rubbed his thumb over the edge of the mug.
“You didn’t leave the door open as we suspected. He just let himself in.”
“I knew I locked that door,” she muttered. It had been bothering her since that night.
As a woman who lived alone, she was always careful to lock her doors and check her windows.
“When we searched his home, we found keys for quite a few of the homes he’s sold,” Patrick continued. “This is a small town and folks are trusting, especially when it’s someone they’ve known their entire lives. Not everyone thinks to change the locks when they buy a new home. He probably planned to let himself in here at some point and steal a book or two, but then he discovered the journal was missing.”
“I still can’t believe he told you all this.” Amanda could hear the skepticism in Jonah’s voice. “Why? Out of the goodness of his heart? Or is he trying to cut a deal?”
Patrick chuckled. “The man doesn’t handle failure well. His anger got the best of him. The shot they gave him at the hospital made him even chattier. He wasn’t pleased that you’d changed the locks here. Made it more difficult for him. Brown didn’t like the fact that he’d had to break out the basement window and climb in like a common criminal.”
“Will it hold up in court?” Jonah asked.
“Proper procedure was followed in questioning the suspect. Brown confessed to almost all of it before the doctor gave him any medication and he started yelling for a lawyer. It’s all on tape.” Patrick smiled. “You gotta love technology.”
“Good.” Jonah leaned back in his chair and raised his mug to Patrick.
“What will happen now?” Amanda wrapped both hands around her mug, feeling the heat seep into her.
Patrick took another mouthful of coffee and swallowed. “There will be charges laid for both assaults against you, the break-ins, theft and blackmail. Jim Brown is looking at being in jail for quite some time.”
A flare of satisfaction went through her. The man deserved to pay for what he’d done to her and to the people who’d trusted him.
Pushing back his chair, Patrick stood. “I’ll need you both to come down to the station later today and give your statements. With them, the confession and all the evidence, we’ve got more than enough to convict the bastard.”
“Thank you for taking the time to drop by and let us know what was going on.” She felt better knowing that Jim Brown was going to pay for his crimes.