The immediate problem was that the intruder had entered with a purpose. Valeri needed to know what that purpose was. Since she hadn’t found anything missing or left behind, she had to assume it was a scare tactic.
Maybe she needed to do a little scaring of her own. The thought incited far too much glee. She glanced around the room again. The disarray was unsettling. She should clean up, and then she would put together a plan to have her revenge.
The books and magazines would take the longest, so she started with the other random items. The quilt she arranged once more on the back of the sofa. The throw pillows she tossed in that same direction. One landed on the coffee table with an unexpected thwack.
She frowned. What the heck? Valeri picked up the pillow and squashed it against her stomach as she kneaded its soft foam insides. The feel of something hard near the zipper had her opening the removablecover. The plain square pillow was there. A black object clattered to the floor. She stared at it for a moment.
Cell phone.
“Well, well. This isn’t supposed to be here.” At least now she understood what the intruder had gone to all this trouble for. And she knew exactly who the intruder was.
Valeri smiled. “Did you really think you could one-up me?”
No way.
27
Friday, September 5
Andrews Farm
Boonshill Road, 7:30 a.m.
Vera parked at Luna’s house and shut off the engine. She had wanted to have those follow-up interviews with Carter, Hernandez, Martinez, and Erwin first thing this morning, but Bent had a command performance with the city’s and county’s top brass. She didn’t envy him the task of explaining where the triple homicide investigation was in terms of closing the case. Politicians never fully understood the time required to do the job right. They would much rather have someone—anyone—arrested to reassure the community that all was well in their world.
But it was rarely that simple and never quick.
Since the next step in the Wilton case was postponed until ten or after, Vera moved on to her other problem. Luna’s situation. She grabbed her bag and reached for the door.
She refused to call it a case, because it wasn’t. So far there was no crime—at least not one officially proclaimed as such. If she could work swiftly enough to put the pieces together, things would stay exactly that way—at least as far as Luna was concerned. And she needed to make sure Luna understood one very important aspect of what had happened between her and Jackie. As much as Vera hated to point it out, it was necessary.
As she climbed out of her SUV, the heat consumed her. It was hot already, even at this hour. No breeze. But that was just the last of a southern summer flexing its muscle. Vera surveyed her sister’s neat little farm. It was quiet, for sure. A good place to raise a family. She smiled even as her chest ached. She wanted that happy ending so badly for her little sister.
A call to Luna at seven had confirmed that Jerome was already en route to Nashville to sit at his father’s side. The hope was that hearing his son’s voice would bring him out of what might be self-imposed isolation.
Vera climbed the steps and headed across the porch.
Luna opened the door before Vera reached it. “Do you have news?”
Of course she would think that after Vera had called and asked if it was a good time to stop by before Luna was off to the library to begin her day. “Not really. I thought we’d catch up and go over everything one more time.”
Luna’s face fell. “Okay. Come on in. You need coffee or anything?”
Vera closed the door and followed her sister into the kitchen. “Water would be good. Thanks.”
“How about a muffin?” Luna picked up a basket of perfectly formed muffins from the island countertop. The lovely deep-brown color was highlighted with little pieces of orange and red. “They’re wheat with cranberry and orange. Very little sugar. Very healthy.” She poured Vera a glass of water, then picked up one of the muffins and started to nibble.
Vera suspected that wasn’t her first one. Her baby bump looked as if it had grown even more pronounced in the past twenty-four or so hours.
“Sure.” Vera grabbed a muffin and took a bite. Not as bad as she’d expected. She swallowed. “How is Mr. Andrews?”
Luna set a glass of water in front of Vera. “No change. We just keep praying he will wake up.”
“Hopefully that will happen soon.” Vera put her muffin aside and went for the water. She cleared her throat then. “Based on what you’ve told me so far, I’m convinced that it’s as you and I already discussed.Jackie got up. Moved the furniture around and then either tripped down the stairs or was facilitated by someone who came to the house after you left.”
“But who would do that?” Luna sipped her own water, then shook her head. “You know better than I do that killing someone is not exactly a small decision.”
Vera did. Not only from her professional career but also from what had happened with all those bodies found in that damned cave on the family farm.
