“Ech, what is it? What do you want?”
“This is very serious. We want to confirm what happened to Charlotte. We think we finally understand.”
She looked confused.
“Have you gained weight?”
Jake looked down at his shirt. At the chest, it looked like it was about to rip apart. The tails furled out, nearly splitting.
“No, I haven’t gained weight. Now Sheryl, we need to talk about this immediately.”
“It looks like you’ve gained weight.”
“It’s the shirt.”
“It’s a tight shirt.”
“It’s not mine. I borrowed it.”
Gary nodded.
“It’s not his!”
“Then whose is it?”
“It’s mine,” Gary said. “I let him borrow it.”
Sheryl leaned to the side and arched her eyebrows. She walked over to Gary and patted him on the shoulder.
“Now I understand. When you said you told me you had a ‘wife,’ I didn’t know this is what you meant. You know, you could have just told me. I’m a modern woman.”
“Jacob, what is she talking about?”
Sheryl laughed.
“Always traveling together, borrowing clothing. It finally makes sense. You two are cute together.”
Jake stepped to the side.
“Don’t listen to her. Sheryl, we’re not…that.”
Gary appeared outraged.
“Jacob, is she implying we own our own clothing company?”
“No, no. I’m afraid that’s not what she’s implying.”
They stood in a circle, silent. Then Jake coughed.
“We have real work to do.”
But before he could go on, he heard a sound come from the corner of the room.
“Are we alone here?”
“Well…”
Abram Samuels walked out from behind the corner.
“Abram? What are you doing here?”
“Hi Jake.” He tipped his red-brimmed hat. “I should have told you. Today, Sheryl and I finally…”
“Finally what?”
“Made love, Jake. We consummated our relationship and made love.”
Jake sighed and touched his fingers to his temples.
“You give me so much unnecessary detail, Abram. So much.”
“You can’t stand in the way of love. Or love-making.”
Jake looked over at Gary. His head was down and he looked a little disappointed. But he quickly recovered and gestured to both of them.
“I’m happy for you. But we need you to sit down, considering what we’ve found out.”
“I told you,” Sheryl said, “I have a bridge game.”
Abram walked forward to Jake. Jake tried to prevent a mental image from popping up.
“Abram, how did this happen? How did you and Sheryl…”
“Make love? Well Jake, it’s very simple. First, we-”
“No.” Jake put his hand up. “I don’t want to know…that. But how did you…start seeing one another.”
He walked over to Sheryl and stroked her neck with his hand.
“Yesterday, she came into my room in tears. She said a true romantic had broken her heart. And so we sat on the couch.”
Gary blushed as Abram spoke.
“We started to realize how much we had in common. We’d both lost the people we loved. And so I sat closer next to her and placed my arm on her thigh. Then-”
“OK, I get it.” Jake raised his hand again. “Unfortunately, we have more important things to talk about.”
Abram dropped his arm and frowned.
“Now Jake, what’s the meaning of this?”
“We know what happened to Charlotte.”
“What do you mean?”
“We know who killed her.”
“Was it the environmentalists?”
“Sort of.” He clutched the duck close to his chest. “But it’s more complicated than that.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
Sheryl started to turn and walk toward the table. Her purse was at the far end. Jake grabbed her arm gently.
“Where are you going?”
“I just need a Kleenex.”
“Or are you trying to get your phone?”
“Abram, make him let go of me.”
Abram walked up to Jake and grabbed his arm.
“Let her go.”
“Listen, we can’t let her call anyone. They’ve already tried to kill me.”
He winced.
“She just needs a tissue.”
“Abram, help us. For Charlotte’s sake.”
Sheryl reached out and grabbed Abram’s arm. The three of them were linked together in a triangle. Abram grabbed Sheryl’s hand with the tips of his fingers. They all waited to see what he would say.
“Sheryl, I know you didn’t do anything wrong. But let’s at least hear what the man has to say.”
“I didn’t do anything at all!”
“That’s what we’ll figure out,” Gary said. He sat down at the table first. Jake sat next, then Abram. Sheryl looked at her purse at the far end. It was unzipped and open. But she didn’t walk to it. She sat down beside Abram and leaned into his shoulder. Then Gary shouted.
“So, you made love?”
Abram nodded.
“Enough,” Jake said. “No more information.”
“Then what is this about?” Sheryl asked. She tried to sound angry, but they could all tell she was simply scared. Slowly, Jake unscrewed the neck of the duck. He took out all the papers and rolled them flat onto the table. Abram chuckled.
“I was wondering why you had her duck. I didn’t know it was hollowed out like that though.”
Sheryl stayed silent. She strained to see what was written on the pages, but she didn’t seem close enough to make them out.
“What are all those papers?”
“We’ll get to them later. First, I want to talk about the changes you made to the community’s charitable donations. I finally know why you chose the Saving Tomorrow Initiative.”
“I told you, we just chose something at random.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
Jake got out his notebook and double-checked. He was ready to call her on it. To be aggressive.
“Last year, you advocated the redistribution of a significant amount of money. It went from a lifetime charity to a relative unknown.”
“It was for the wetlands.”
“So was your old charity. You see, Sheryl, that was always the problem. It never made sense for you to switch all of that money in the first place.”
“I told you-”
“Let me finish.” He breathed out and calmed down. He’d get through it. But he wouldn’t bully her. “It made even less sense when we started seeing the group you chose do terrible things. Airing radical commercials that didn’t make sense. Making threats to people who got too close to the truth. Do you see the bruises on my body? Those are fresh.”
“I don’t know anything about it.”
Abram grabbed her arm and brushed it with his hand. She pulled away. Jake continued.
“And I know that the Saving Tomorrow Initiative killed Charlotte Ward. They took her from her home and kept her from her medication. They left her to die. Now, why would you give money to an organization like that, Sheryl?”
“I told you.” She was whispering and her accent was gone. He pressed on.
“Here’s the difference between when you told me that before, and when you’re telling me it now.”
“What’s the difference?”
He looked at Gary and then at the pages on the table.
“This time, I know why you did it.”
CHAPTER 46
Jake smoothed out every wrinkle and fold on the pages in front of him. He had the most important page laid out. It was the weekly schedule for bridge.
“Sheryl, you like bridge, don’t you?”
“I told you, I have a game tonight. I need to get ready.”
“You’ve been playing a lot lately, haven’t you?”
“I always do.”
“She does,” Abram said. “I don’t understand.”
Before Jake could continue, Gary shouted.
“The jig is up!”
Jake sighed.
“They don’t know what the jig is yet. Let me tell them.”
“It’s up! That’s what the jig is!”