Joan stared at me, her expression inscrutable. “A necklace? No. But I’m glad that you found Henry’s watch. He’ll be so pleased.”
Henry joined us. “Dear,” Joan said quickly, “Elizabeth found your watch.”
“Really?” he said, turning to me. “That’s good, I’ve been looking all over for it.”
“I left your watch in the kitchen, Mr. Anderson. I’ll get it for you in a minute. I found a necklace, too. But no one seems to know anything about it.” Joan glanced at Henry. He shifted the position of his thick arms several times, first crossing them on his chest, then letting them fall loosely at his sides, and finally holding them behind his back. “Really?” was all he said.
“Yes,” I said, straightening the breakfast items. “I wonder if it could have something to do with Gerald’s murder?” I mused. “I’d better call Detective Stewart.”
I ignored their stunned expressions and walked back to the kitchen. I told Peter and Aunt Winnie what I had done. “Quick,” I said to Peter, “get out there and see if you can overhear anything between them.” Muttering something about a “headstrong idiot,” Peter rushed off in the direction of the reading room.
Aunt Winnie turned to me. “Honey, are you sure you should have done that?”
I rubbed my head. “No. But it’s too late now. I’m going to call Detective Stewart again. I don’t know how, but I’m going to make him listen to me.”
Leaving Aunt Winnie in the kitchen, I shoved Henry’s watch in my pocket and hurried down the hall to the office. As usual, it was a complete mess. Really, the murderer couldn’t have picked a better place to stash the tape, I thought. Given the room’s constant state of disorganization, Aunt Winnie never would have found the tape herself. My mind went back to my first night at the inn. Hadn’t I heard someone in the office? Could that have been the killer planting the tape? I made a mental note to tell Detective Stewart. As I rummaged through the desk for his phone number, I heard the front door open. Wondering who it could be, I stuck my head out of the office. It was Jackie.
She was certainly dressed for the cold weather. An enormous blue wool hat decorated with tiny white snowflakes covered her head. The little bit of her face not covered by the hat was swallowed up by a giant red-and-white scarf that had to be one of her knitting creations. It was mammoth. I could see why Linnet thought the one given to her was meant to be a shawl.
Jackie looked around the empty foyer with an unsure expression and walked by the office before she saw me. “Elizabeth!” she cried out, turning to face me. “I’m so glad you’re here. You’re just the person I wanted to talk to.”
“Why?” I asked, coming out of the office. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve remembered! I told you it would come to me and it did! Just as I was falling asleep last night it came to me. The lights! It was the lights!” she exclaimed excitedly.
“The lights?” I repeated. “I don’t understand. What about the lights?”
She shook her head in exasperation. “Oh, never mind. I must talk to Detective Stewart. I’ve been calling him all morning, but I can’t get through. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the man was deliberately ducking my calls.”
Luckily, she didn’t expect me to refute this; I doubt I could have done it with a straight face. She kept talking, her voice excited. “But then I remembered you!”
“Me?” I said, confused. “Why me?”
“Because you’re working with Detective Stewart and you’ll know how to get in touch with him!”
Behind her the Andersons and Daniel and Polly came to the door of the reading room. Seeing Jackie, they paused, their expressions curious.
“But I’m not working with him—” I began.
Jackie waved away my protestations with a gloved hand. “Don’t worry, my dear. Your secret is safe with me. But I have to get in touch with him. I must tell him. Once he hears me out, he’ll understand. I’d drive over to the station myself, but I’ve got to get back to the house now. I promised Linnet that I’d find her contacts before I met her at the club for lunch—although truth be told, I have no idea where they could be. But I’ll turn that house inside out if I have to because Linnet will be furious with me if she has to wear her glasses at the club. Oh, I can’t wait to tell her about the murder,” she said with a smile. “She’ll be so surprised! It’s not who we originally thought it was at all!”
“But I don’t understand,” I said. My headache or the medicine had slowed down my thought process dramatically. “What am I supposed to tell Detective Stewart?”
Jackie let out a frustrated sigh. “Why, I thought that was obvious!” she said. “I know who did it! I know who the killer is!”
At the reading room doorway, a coffee cup crashed to the floor. Jackie whirled around suddenly. Realizing for the first time that she had an audience, she gave a startled gasp. Joan and Henry stood just outside the doorway. Polly was bending down to pick up the pieces of the shattered cup. Next to her was Daniel, with an inscrutable expression.
I couldn’t see Jackie’s face. Was she staring at someone in particular? When she turned back to me, her complexion was ashen. The snowflakes on her hat trembled as she said in a shaky voice, “I can’t say any more now. I didn’t realize … Just have him call me or come by the house. I’ll be there for a few hours.” Her lower lip quivered and she added in a harsh whisper, “Linnet’s right. I am a silly old fool.”
Without another word she scurried out, slamming the door behind her. I stared at the group frozen in the doorway. They stared back at me.
CHAPTER 19
For precocity some great price is always
demanded sooner or later in life.
—MARGARET FULLER
HOLLY SPOKE FIRST. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth, I seem to have broken one of your cups.” Cradling the wet remains in her hands, she nodded at the front door. “What was that all about?” Her tone was casual, but her face was tense, her green eyes glittering like shards of sea glass.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “She wants to talk with Detective Stewart about something.”
Polly glanced at Daniel. “She didn’t say about what?”
If they hadn’t heard Jackie’s startling declaration, I wasn’t about to enlighten them. “Not so that I understood,” I said, shaking my head.
“Well,” she said, nodding at her hands, “I am sorry about the cup.”
“Don’t be.” I stepped forward to take the pieces from her. Her trembling hands were ice-cold. I looked at her in surprise. Her eyes were trained on my face as if she were trying to read something from it. But she said nothing more. She signaled to Daniel and they both crossed the foyer and slipped into their coats. “Be back later,” Daniel called over his shoulder as they stepped out into the freezing air.
Clutching the wet shards of china in my hands, I ran down the hall to the kitchen. Bursting through the door, I said, “Aunt Winnie, you’ll never guess what just happened!”
She was sitting at the table, a plate of toast and a cup of coffee in front of her. Eyeing the mess in my hands, she took a sip of coffee before intoning calmly, “You smashed one of my good coffee cups.”
“No, Polly did that,” I said, throwing the remains in the trash. I turned to her and in an excited whisper, blurted out, “Jackie was just here. She says she knows the identity of the killer!”
Aunt Winnie slammed her cup down on the table. “You’re kidding! Who?”
“She didn’t say. She wants to get in touch with Detective Stewart first, but she can’t reach him.” I looked down at my hands, realized they were covered with coffee drippings, and moved to the sink to wash them. I couldn’t seem to stand still.
Aunt Winnie’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. Why did she come here?”
I yanked the faucet off and turned back to Aunt Winnie. Jackie’s startling announcement had left me with a rush of adrenaline and I now drummed my fingers nervously on the countertop. “She has it in her head that I’m working with Detective Stewart. Apparently she thinks I’ve got a better chance of reaching him.”