“Have you noticed how Veronica hasn’t smiled even once, Max?” said Dooley.
“I don’t think she’s capable of smiling, Dooley.”
“She’s probably worried about getting wrinkles. When humans smile they get wrinkles around their eyes and mouth, and she probably doesn’t want that.”
Veronica’s face actually looked frozen. She had yelled and shouted and generally made a total nuisance of herself, but apart from the occasional frown her face had remained impassive throughout. It was quite an accomplishment.
“Will that be all?” she asked now, clearly bored with the interview.
“Bear with us for just a moment longer, Mrs. James,” said Chase.
“Can you please tell us where you were last night between six and eight?” asked Odelia.
“Is that when that girl killed my husband?”
“Just answer the question, please,” said Chase.
She hesitated for just a moment, then said,“I was feeling tired, so I went to bed early.”
“At six o’clock?”
She shrugged.“I had a rough weekend, and I wasn’t feeling very well.”
“Can anyone verify that?”
“If you’re asking me if my husband and I shared the same bed: no, we did not. He liked to work late, and frequently got up in the middle of the night when some idea for Tollie popped into his head. So very early in our marriage we decided to take separate bedrooms. So to answer your question, Islept alone, and last night was no exception.”
“You didn’t hear anything? No screams?”
“I use earplugs and a sleep mask. Also, I’m a very heavy sleeper. You can shoot a cannon next to me and I won’t budge.” Her face clouded. “I can’t believe Dave would have had the gall to bring that girl into the house when I was in bed. I mean, the sheer nerve.”
“How about this morning? How come you didn’t notice your husband was dead?”
She shrugged.“I won’t conceal the fact that Dave and I were having trouble lately. I accused him of sleeping around, and even though he denied it, he refused to budge when I demanded he destroy this new will. He said I didn’t care about Tollie, and he needed to safeguard the future of his franchise and this girl was the way to go. I told him I’d get a divorce and I was serious. He didn’t seem to mind, which told me all I needed to know. So no, I didn’t drop by his studio this morning to kiss him goodbye before I dropped Danny off at school, and frankly I tried to avoid him as much as possible.And clearly he felt the same way.”
“So when was the last time you actually saw your husband?” asked Chase.
“Yesterday afternoon. I told him I was going to talk to my lawyer about his new will, and he said I could do whatever I wanted but he wasn’t going to change his mind.”
“How did you find out about Jayme and the new will?” asked Odelia.
“My husband started the Baxter Foundation about a decade ago, offering scholarships to young people he felt possessed artistic talent but not the means to develop that talent. There’s a man in charge of that foundation who is a good friend of mine. He warned me last month that Dave had settled a large sum of money on one particular individual.”
“Jayme Ziccardi.”
Veronica nodded.“So I asked Dave what his plans were. Usually I don’t bother with the work of his foundation, but this struck me as odd, so I insisted to know the reason for this sudden lavishness. He told me that Jayme Ziccardi was very talented, and he had decided to groom her as his successor. Which caused all kinds of alarm bells to go off in my head, especially when I found the girl on Facebook and saw she was exceptionally pretty. So when my husband was out last week, I went through his stuff in his studio upstairs, and found a bunch of drawings the Ziccardi girl had made, all tucked into a file, with a couple of snapshots of her and her grandma, and also a bunch of legal documents. So I took pictures of everything, and took them to Waldo, and he confessed that Dave was in the process of drawing up a new will, leaving his entire estate to Miss Ziccardi. Which is when I knew Dave had fallen head over heels in love with this dreadful girl.”
“And what did you do when you found out?” asked Chase.
“Like I said, I confronted him, but he denied having an affair with her. He said she was just a very talented young artist, and claimed his interest in her was purely professional. Of course I didn’t believe him, so then I went over to that art school Dave has set up in town and confronted the girl herself, warning her to stay away from my husband.”
“This was on Saturday, correct?” asked Odelia.
Veronica nodded curtly.“She must have realized the gig was up, and that I was going to have that will contested and destroyed. So she decided to kill my husband before that could happen. Not knowing that by doing so, she effectively nullified the will.” A grim expression stole over her face. “I hope she rots in jail for the rest of her miserable life.” For a moment, her harsh words hung in the air, then she abruptly got up. “And now I think it’s time for you to leave. My husband is dead, and you’ll excuse me for wanting to mourn his passing in peace.”
“Of course,” said Chase. “Please accept my sincerest condolences, Mrs. James.”
“Thank you, detective,” said Veronica, then directed a stern look at the gardens. “Now if you could please ask the Ziccardi girl what she did with Tollie, I’d be much obliged.”
Chapter 11
We were back with the banker, and this time he didn’t seem as jolly as he was before. In fact he looked a little distracted when Odelia and Chase sat down in front of his desk.
“So how can I help you?” he asked nonetheless.
“You probably heard what happened to your client,” said Chase, opening the interview.
Waldo rearranged his features into an appropriately sad look.“A tragedy,” he intoned. “An absolute tragedy. Dave James was a genius, and a giant of the comic strip community, and he will be sorely missed. The world has lost a fine artist and a great human being.”
“You’ve probably also heard that Jayme Ziccardi was arrested and charged with Dave’s murder?”
“Yes, a very unexpected development, I must say. I can’t believe she would be capable of such a heinous act of gratuitous violence.” He scooted forward on his chair a little and said, with a certain degree of eagerness, “Is it true that Dave was murdered with an ax?”
“I’m afraid we can’t divulge any details about the investigation,” said Chase.
“No, of course not,” the banker murmured with a touch of disappointment.
“So I talked to Dave’s lawyer,” said Chase. “And he told me Dave had drawn up a new will leaving his entire estate to Jayme Ziccardi. What can you tell us about that?”
“Well, it’s true,” the banker confirmed. “He came to me for advice about a month ago or so, and we discussed the matter at length. You see, Dave was at an age when it becomes imperative to select a successor. He wanted Tollie the Turtle, which he considered his life’s work, to go on afterhis death, and so he’d started looking for someone who could take over. In fact the first time he mentioned this to me was two years ago, when he turned seventy. But then he got busy with other stuff. Also, no man likes to think about his death, especially a person as vital and full of life as Dave, and so he kept putting off the decision to a later date. Until a year ago, when Fernleigh Cabanes, who runs the Gardner Institute of Art for us, showed us some drawings a potential student had made. Dave thought they held promise, and personally decided to grant her a scholarship and followed her progress ever since. He had a great eye for talent, and was convinced she’d be able to carry on his work and safeguard his legacy.”
“But didn’t he have a studio of artists working for him?” asked Odelia.
“Oh, yes, he did, but apparently he didn’t find what he needed with those artists—fine craftspeople though they all are, of course.”