Marta Perry - Murder in Plain Sight

“That’s fine, Bobby.” She found herself sounding a little overly reassuring. Bobby’s hangdog air seemed to bring that out in her. “I have time to talk now.”

“Not over the phone,” he said, rushing the words as if he thought someone might be listening in.

She suppressed a sigh. “Maybe at Geneva’s-”

“No, no, I can’t talk about this there. Once I tell you, you’ll understand. Why don’t we meet in the restaurant at the inn? It’ll be quiet this time of day.”

At least that had the virtue of keeping her from sitting here feeling sorry for herself. And it delayed the time when she’d have to return to the house.

“That’s fine.” She glanced at her watch. “I can be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll see you then.” He hung up before she could ask him again what this was all about.

She shut down her laptop and slipped it into the case. Bobby had offered to track down the origins of Cherry’s pendant. She hadn’t thought it much more than busywork, but was it possible that he’d actually found something?

A thread of excitement ran through her as she headed for the car. Maybe she’d catch a break at last in this case.

She walked into the inn’s dining room in a little less than the fifteen minutes she’d allowed, but Bobby was there before her. He stood as she approached the table. As he’d said, they had the place to themselves.

He held out her chair as solicitously as if she were ninety-five. “Thank you so much for coming, Jessica. I hate to burden you with this, but I honestly didn’t know who else to talk to.”

“You have my curiosity going now.” She smiled as he sat down opposite her at the small round table. “Have you found something?”

He glanced at the waitress who was approaching the table. “We’d better wait until we won’t be disturbed.”

Milly Cotter smiled at Jessica in recognition. “Good afternoon, folks. What can I get for you today?”

“Just an iced tea,” Jessica said, eager to get on with this.

“Coffee for me.” Bobby looked troubled. “But are you sure you won’t have something else? A piece of pie, maybe? Or a sandwich?”

“Nothing else, thanks.”

“Coming right up.” Milly scurried away.

Jessica studied Bobby’s face. Behind the thick glasses, his eyes held a sort of troubled excitement. Apprehension snaked down her spine. He had the air of one who’d gone looking for a mouse and found a boa constrictor.

“Won’t you tell me…” She let that die off, because Milly was approaching with their drinks.

It was only when the server had disappeared through the doors to the kitchen that Bobby stopped fiddling with his teaspoon.

“That’s better. Now we can talk.”

“Why all the secrecy? Have you actually found something relevant to Thomas’s case?”

“In a way.” He was maddeningly evasive. “I guess you could say that, though I don’t know that it’s actually going to help.”

She took a firm hold on her patience. “Why don’t you tell me and let me decide?”

“Well, you remember I said I’d try to trace that raven symbol-the pendant-that you got from Cherry’s friend?”

He made it a question, and she nodded.

“I thought it might turn up on the Web. You know, most dealers use the Internet these days. So that’s where I started. You’d be surprised at the number of people who are interested in hex signs. And memorabilia from secret societies.”

“I can imagine. People collect all kinds of things.” And when was he going to get to the point?

“So, anyway, finally I hit pay dirt. I found a dealer in Pittsburgh who sold that pendant, or one just like it, about two years ago.”

“Pittsburgh.” Not that far away, but not right around the corner, either. “Did he still have records on it? Did he remember who bought it?”

Bobby shrugged, looking down at his coffee. “He remembered. I got the idea that his business is more of a hobby, and that piece was unusual enough to make an impression. He said he could have sold it a couple of times over.”

He was stalling. She tried to shake off the apprehension that gripped her.

“Who bought it?”

He met her gaze then. Sympathy, maybe pity, filled his face. Something was coming, something bad, and she braced herself to hear it.

He glanced around, apparently making sure they were alone before he would speak. “It was paid for with a company credit card that belonged to Trey’s father.”

She sucked in a breath, unable even to think for a moment. If Trey’s father bought the piece, if he had given it to Cherry-

“No.” The denial was almost automatic. “That doesn’t have to mean the obvious. It doesn’t have to indicate that he gave it to Cherry. He could have sold it to someone else.”

Bobby shrugged. “Maybe. But it’s odd that neither Trey nor Geneva knew anything about it.”

Her fingers tightened around the glass. Bobby had a point, and at the moment she was too shaken to think of any but the most obvious conclusion-that if Trey’s father had given the pendant to Cherry, that implied a relationship between them.

“I can’t believe that. I never knew the man, but the way Trey talks about him, the way Geneva obviously felt…”

“Geneva can’t know about this.” Bobby looked horrified at the thought. “It would kill her if she thought that her husband…” He stopped, unwilling to say it. “Well, she can’t know, that’s all. That’s why I brought it to you. I didn’t know what else to do.” He shook his head. “There has to be some other explanation. Mr. Morgan was devoted to Geneva. Someone else must have given it to Cherry. After he died, his things would have been gone through…”

He let that fade away, but they both knew who would have been the one to do that. Trey. If Trey found the pendant-

He couldn’t have. He couldn’t have, because that would mean that he’d been lying all along.

Jessica shoved her chair back, hardly aware of what she was doing. “I…I have to think about this.” She grabbed her bag and stood, knowing she had to get away. She couldn’t sit here and discuss Trey with him.

He nodded. “I’m sorry.” He was looking down, and she couldn’t see his expression. Maybe that was just as well, because that meant he couldn’t see hers, and she was afraid of what she might be revealing.

It was only when she’d lost Trey that she’d realized how much she loved him. That was bad enough, losing him because of an honest difference of values. But to lose him because he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was at all-she didn’t think she could bear that.

JESSICA FOLDED A SILK shell and put it into her suitcase, trying to concentrate on the mechanical movements of packing. Trying not to think of what Bobby had told her.

It was no use. She couldn’t prevent her mind from playing and replaying that conversation. If what Bobby’s source said was true, the conclusion seemed inescapable. Either Trey or his father must have given the pendant to Cherry.

“Jessica, what are you doing?”

Jessica spun, a suit jacket slipping from her fingers. Geneva stood in the bedroom doorway, her gaze wide as she looked at the suitcase lying open on the bed. “You’re not leaving.”

“I’m sorry-I was going to tell you as soon as I’d finished here.”

And how would she explain it? She could hardly tell Geneva what had happened between her and Trey. Or tell her what Bobby had learned, with its implication that she could be compromising Thomas’s interests just by being here.

“My dear, I thought you were happy here.” The sorrow in Geneva’s face reproached her. “I’m sure you’re safer here…”