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“Well, well, well,” Arnett said. “Looks like Julia’s learning a new skill.”
“We have the beginnings of several other sheets as well, and while it’s too early to tell, they look like they’re signatures, too. My guess is that the other documents in the bag are related. Probably whatever she used to prep the forged docs.”
“Iknewshe was hiding something.” Hope surged back up through Jo. “Nurse Julia lied to us, repeatedly. That ends now.”
CHAPTERFORTY-SIX
As they pulled into Julia’s driveway, she appeared through the door, carrying a satchel and a travel mug. She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted them, her face leaking fear before she pulled on a concerned expression.
“Detectives,” she said when they stepped out of the car. “I’d ask you in, but I’m on my way to class. I heard there was another murder last night. Helen Jackson?”
Jo nodded solemnly. “Yes. Did you know her?”
She nodded and drew in a sad breath. “She was a student in a few of my classes. Lamaze and prenatal.”
“Were you friendly with her?”
“As friendly as I am with any student.”
“But not outside of class,” Arnett said.
“No.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Do you need to know my alibi?”
“Yes.” Jo made no effort to soften the request, or her expression.
Julia’s eyes widened in surprise as Jo’s tone landed. She stiffened. “For what time?”
“After your five o’clock exercise class last night.”
“After class I grabbed some of the leftover food we have from the memorial for my dinner, then took care of emails at Triple-B until my seven o’clock class. After that class, I left around eight-thirty and went to a client meeting, which lasted until about ten-thirty. Then I came home.”
“We’ll need the name and address of the client,” Jo said.
Julia’s eyes flashed, and her lips tightened into a fierce line. “Is it really necessary to bother her?”
“Yes. We also need to know if anyone can verify you stayed at Triple-B between six and seven,” Arnett said.
Julia’s eyes flicked between them. “I—I took the food back into the classroom. But someone may have seen me in the break room. I can ask around.”
“We’ll take care of that. In the meantime, we have something we need to show you.” Jo lifted her phone so Julia could see the display, a picture of the pieced-together signatures.
Julia’s gaze shot out to the street, left and right, then she met Jo’s eyes. “You’d better come inside.”
* * *
Jo scanned the interior as Julia led them to the living room. Stacked moving boxes lined the wall of the entryway, and more lurked in the corner of the living room. The walls were undecorated but the spaces were orderly, with none of the transitory chaos Jo hated about moving into a new home—except for the new paper shredder sitting in the center of the living room, next to its newly opened box.
No wonder Julia hadn’t wanted to invite them in.
She also didn’t invite them to sit down. She turned, arms crossed over her chest. “You went through my trash.”
“Went throughis strong—you left the bag on top of your trash,” Jo said.
“Ironic.” Julia dropped the satchel from her shoulder to the floor. “I didn’t have the money to rent the place I wanted, which had a fireplace. If I’d had a fireplace, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
“So you admit the paper is yours?” Arnett asked. “That you were practicing forging signatures of Triple-B clients on fraudulent grant applications?”
She gestured toward Jo’s phone. “I don’t see the point in denying it. Are you going to arrest me?”
