“In a hurry,” Deidre said.“On their way out.”
“Could be Josephine’s,” Bea said.“She packed up that office.”
“Josephine killed her own brother?”Dash asked, brow arched.“I’ve seen stranger things than that, so we can’t rule it out.But she told us she wasn’t ready to go through his things for a long time after he died.And Lila Mae saw the handkerchief that morning and left it where it was.Crime-scene cleaners come in for the blood and biohazard— they don’t touch anything else.”
“First thing is to ask her,” Hank said.
“I’ll call her first thing tomorrow,” I said.
“What about James?”Walt asked.“He had a key.He’d been in and out of that house hundreds of times, and he’d know Henry’s habits.”
“But what’s the motive?”Dash asked.“Because of the embezzlement?”
“He could have done it,” Hank said.“But if an audit was run by the new CFO he would’ve been exposed quickly.Now I could see it the other way around.Let’s say Henry had been the one embezzling and James had found out.There’s a motive for murder.”
“Good point,” Dash said, nodding.
“There are lots of people that handkerchief could have belonged to,” Deidre said.“Jackie is another.She worked for Henry.She knew the house.Would know about the drugs as a nurse.”
“And Jennifer Hollis was on the board,” I said.“She had access to the accounts at the foundation, and maybe she realized Henry was getting close to discovering her.”
“Don’t forget Byron Jameson,” Dottie said.“Betrayed father with a wicked temper.”
“What about his daughter?”Walt asked softly.“Her name was Jameson at the time.”
Everyone was silent as we absorbed that thought.
“You think maybe the picture wasn’t as perfect as she painted for us today?”I asked.
“The one thing I learned in my career is that everyone lies to paint themselves in the best light,” he said.“The question is how big is the lie.”
“So maybe they weren’t engaged or he tried to call things off and she was a woman scorned?”I asked skeptically.
“She was with him the night before,” Dash said.“They could have fought about anything.If we’re wildly speculating, maybe Henry had found out her father was the embezzler.That would cause tension in a relationship.They part ways and at some point she comes to the house, drugs the whiskey, and then sits across the desk and has a rational conversation with him until he passes out.She’s the daughter of a surgeon.”
My eyes widened at how clearly he painted the picture, but I was having trouble believing it after the conversation we’d had with her just hours before.
“And then there’s Josephine herself,” Walt said.“We’re taking her word for everything.She’s the one who brought the case to us.She’s the one who handed us the boxes.For all we know she planted that handkerchief herself.”
“A grief-stricken sister spending twenty-five years trying to get someone to listen,” Dottie said slowly.“Or a woman who needed someone to look everywhere but at her?”
I picked up the evidence bag and turned it over once.A single letter.There wasn’t a mark on it, even after all this time.
“We need to interview every one of those people again,” Dash said.“Maybe turn the heat up a little.”
“Byron Jameson is dead,” Deidre said.
“His daughter isn’t,” Dash said.
“Tomorrow,” I said.“I’m exhausted.”
“I thought those were bags under your eyes,” he said, smiling so his eyes crinkled at the corners.
“Holy smokes, son,” Hank said.“No wonder you’ve never been married.You’re always supposed to say she’s beautiful.Even if she looks a little rough around the edges.”
I was trying to decide if I should be offended or not, but I was just too tired to care.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
