Jemma peered over, her brows drawn. Now I was convinced she’d never laid eyes on these images.
“Just Lacy,” I answered. “But she won’t say anything.”
“Let’s keep it that way for now.” He gave us both a pointed look as he picked up the images.
“Look, Sheriff, I know my aunt is innocent. I’m certain that whoever put these in my room also planted that crown in hers. I also spotted a ring missing from Dr. Bellingham’s pinky—he has a noticeable tan line. I think he may be behind all of this. The last stint he had as a judge ended the same year that Miss 2001 went missing.”
“Dr. Bellingham,” he repeated as he stared at the ground, trying out the accusation. He pulled out his notebook and flipped through the contents—information he didn’t offer to share with me.
“What have you got there? A top ten list?” Jemma asked, and I wondered if she’d meant to sound sarcastic. Perhaps she’d spoken that way for so long that she couldn’t really help herself.
The sheriff ignored the question.
“Dr. Bellingham is also… He’s a man that my aunt warned me to stay away from,” I said. “He’s got to have something to do with all of this.”
“Why would she want you to stay away from him?” His tone sounded inquisitive but also… protective? I wondered if that was because he was specifically concerned for me, but no, he was concerned for everyone. That was his job. The sheriff made eye contact with me, and I hated that I noticed the color. Hazel rather than brown or green. Figured. Even his own eyes couldn’t make a decision about how to be. “This is an insider, someone who has access to a key,” he finally said. “Someone who knows their way around.”
“An insider could be someone like a judge,” Jemma suggested.
“Or security, or housekeeping, or… someone like Dr. Bellingham… or like DeeDee Green,” the sheriff added, making me hate him again.
“Why would my aunt put photos of her own sash in my bed and then accuse herself of murdering two people?”
He seemed to read my mind before he took a halting step toward me. “I understand that you’re determined to believe in your aunt’s innocence.” He studied me, and my face heated under his gaze. “But you have to hear me: My job is to consider all angles, to think like a criminalanda law enforcement officer at the same time. If your aunt is innocent, you have my word, she will be released. If she’s not, then…”
The words jarred me. “Wait… are you saying that you would consider those photos—the message about killing people—as some kind of evidence against my aunt?”
“Not necessarily, but?—”
“I cannot believe this,” Jemma said, her voice rising in both pitch and volume.
Slack-jawed, I listened to Jemma come to my defense.
“Dakota came to you, gave you these photos, told you about Dr. Bellingham, and you stand there and say that this could be used against her aunt if?—”
“Let me stop you right there, Miss Jenkins. I’m not saying any such thing. I’m not in the business of helping the family of the accused—or of working against them. All I meant was that we need all the facts before we draw any conclusions.”
His tone sounded reasonable, and it made me feel like I might explode.
Facts?This man wanted facts?
“Fine. I’ll give you facts,” I said through clenched teeth. “The woman that you put in jail is the only family I have left. After my mother died, she…” I was almost crying now, but I didn’t want him to see, so I wiped at my eyes and caught my breath. “Deanna Green was the person who came over every day and cooked and cleaned and got me out of bed. She made sure that I had somewhere to go, that I acted like a functional human being…”
As I said the words, memories of her swarmed my brain—of that first week without Momma in the house, of making me sit up and eat, of her running a hot bath for me, of her embroidering in my room while I napped. She’d never been the one I’d confided in or sought out when I’d fallen down or had a broken heart. That had always been Momma, my emotional support system in so many ways. But, for my entire life, Aunt DeeDee had been showing me that she loved me, just not in the ways that I’d thought to notice.
“She loves this pageant, God help her, and she wouldn’t take so much as a pencil from the front desk, much less a crown or a… a person’s life. Whoever put that crown in her room and these photos in my bed has something against my aunt. My eye is on Dr. Bellingham, and I suggest you start looking there as well, because if I find out who’s behind all of this before you do, I just might do something reckless.”
The sheriff seemed surprised by my little speech as he stared at me. “Miss Green,” he said calmly, “I know you’re frustrated, but please don’t do anything rash.”
TWENTY
I needed to go for a ride. I needed to pat Bella’s nose and let her carry me to the edge of the woods and into the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains like I used to do with Momma. The wind would cool my flaming cheeks and my sweaty palms, and the shadows dancing through the oak leaves would calm my anxious spirit. This week was getting to be too much.
I tried to quiet my mind as I hurried outside, Jemma trailing behind me. I hated my lack of control in all of this. My aunt was behind bars, my attempts to help her may have backfired, and I still had to stick to a strict schedule and beauty routine.
“Do you have the schedule?” I asked Jemma, looking toward the mountains that had an air of watchfulness as if they were awaiting news from me.
She handed it to me without a word, her gaze also fixed on the distant peaks.
