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Henry clicked his pen and stuck it in the breast pocket of his sports jacket, followed by the yellow pad. “Well, I think that’s all we need for now, Ms. Fairfield. I’ll follow up with you if I have any more questions.”
Chloe blinked. “That’s it?”
“For now,” Henry repeated, apparently deciding to ignore the astonishment in her tone. “You’ve had a rough night, so I’ll leave you to go back to sleep.” His gaze slid toward Calvin. “Mind if I talk to you in private for a moment?”
“Not at all,” my husband replied.
A nod, and then the two of them headed outside, presumably to continue their conversation on the front porch. Chloe turned desolate eyes toward me.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
A good question. It didn’t seem right to leave her in a strange place after suffering such a shock, so I said, “Well, I think you should come and spend the night at the house with Calvin and me. I know we’d both feel safer having you there rather than here by yourself.”
If anything, she looked even paler than before. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” I told her, making sure I sounded firm and emphatic. “We have a guest room — it’s no imposition. After tonight — or whenever you feel up to it — you can decide what you want to do.” I paused there, then added, my tone a little softer, “But tomorrow morning you should really call your parents and let them know what’s going on.”
Her delicate jaw hardened. “They’re going to try to make me go back to California.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But as you’ve already pointed out, you’re an adult and can make your own decisions. Besides, Henry is probably going to want you to stick around in case he thinks of anything else he wants to ask you. All that aside, I just think it’s better if you get in touch with your parents. I mean, think what kind of a shock it would be if Henry called them out of the blue for more information.”
That argument seemed to have been the right one to deploy, because some of the fight went out of her eyes as my words appeared to sink in. “You’re right,” she murmured. “I’ll call them in the morning after…after I’ve had a chance to process all this.”
I reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “It’s a lot, I know,” I said. “And we’re all here for you. We’ll get through this together.”
From somewhere, she summoned a dreary little smile. “Thanks, Selena.” But then she shook her head, saying, “I’m sorry to drag you into all this when you’ve got much more important things to worry about.”
And her gaze strayed to my rounded belly.
“It’s fine,” I told her. “We’ll get this straightened out soon enough.”
Worried eyes met mine. “You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
I helped Chloe gather things for a stay of a few days at the house, and then Calvin drove us all home. The whole time, he was quiet, which let me know he had some things he wanted to discuss…but only once we were alone.
Which was fine — I got my sister settled in the guest room, and then, even though it was past one o’clock, I didn’t turn off the bedside lamp once my husband and I had settled ourselves in bed, but instead turned toward Calvin, gaze inquiring.
“Jack Speros was strangled,” he said without preamble. “The medical examiner will have the final word, of course, but it sounds like someone got him with a garrote.”
“Seriously?” I blurted. I could have understood being stabbed or even shot, but to be murdered with a weapon that sounded as if it was out of a spy novel…or maybe a Victorian melodrama?
A grim smile touched the corners of Calvin’s mouth. “That’s what Henry said. I didn’t have a chance to look at the body. But it explains why there wasn’t any blood on the living room rug.”
Right. It was a hand-hooked piece in shades of blue and green and yellow, echoing the colors in the rest of the room. Bright red bloodstains would have been immediately obvious against the close pile, and even though I knew we had much bigger problems to worry about right then, I couldn’t help being relieved on Hazel’s behalf that the thing wouldn’t have to be replaced.
Well, unless she decided it was better to get rid of the rug to eliminate any possibility of bad juju hanging around the cottage.
“Did Henry find the murder weapon?” I asked, and Calvin shook his head.
“No, his deputies searched the place, but they didn’t find anything incriminating. They even looked in the trash bins outside — nothing there, either.”
It made sense that there wouldn’t be anything in the city-provided garbage cans. Chloe had only moved in the day before, and I doubted she would have had enough time to generate the amount of trash that would have required being put outside in the large bins.
“So…now what?” I asked, and Calvin reached out and took my hand.
“We let Henry and his team do their work. In some situations, I’d say a lot hinged on what the medical examiner has to say, but because the cause of death was pretty clear and there weren’t any obvious signs of struggle, I don’t know whether he’s going to dig up all that much. Still, I suppose there’s a chance the murderer left a couple of hairs behind, or Jack Speros might have fought back enough to get some DNA evidence under his fingernails. About all we can do is wait and see.”
