He shrugged his wide shoulders, making his big belly jiggle. “Nope. Sorry.”
I sighed. “Fine. Don’t admit anything, but at least talk to me. You’ve known everybody in my case for a long time. Do you think Bernie could’ve killed Lawrence?” It figured they all went way back.
“Maybe,” Duke said. “I was at the CASA poker party the night Bernie supposedly cheated on Florence—at the other table and not with the Kringles.” He shrugged. “Heard the rumor within a week that Bernie had cheated. Florence was in here a couple of days ago saying that it might’ve been a setup.” He pointed to the screen for me to sign.
Good. My credit card had gone through. I signed my name. “What do you think?”
“If that’s true, Lawrence deserved a knife in the back,” Duke said, printing out my receipt. “All of these guys were so much in love with Florence when we were young, and I guess that never went away. I mean, I liked her and all, but she didn’t hold a candle to my Jennie. Still doesn’t.”
That was sweet. Jennie was a friend of my Nana O’Shea’s, and I’d always liked her.
He shook his head and pointed to a box of what looked liked pictures. “Florence asked me to get her copies of the pictures of our younger days. I think she wants to make some sort of video for Bernie. Guess they might be getting back together.” He handed over a bag with Aiden’s present in it. Probably. I mean, if I gave it to him.
I accepted the bag. “So you think Bernie could’ve done it?”
Duke looked at me, his eyes blazing behind the glasses. “I would have if somebody did that to me. Bernie really loved her, and it almost killed him when they split.”
I wouldn’t be calling Duke as a character witness for Bernie. My gaze caught on the box of pictures. Maybe I could get a feeling about all of these people and how they fit together by looking backward even further than the night Lawrence had set up Bernie. “How about I deliver those for you?”
Chapter 35
Iwas halfway through a bottle of wine, sitting on my washing machine, staring at the case board I’d created on the mounted board. A picture of Lawrence was in the middle surrounded by Bernie, Florence, Hoyt and the rest of the past and current Kringle Club members. The box of pictures sat next to me on the clothes dryer, and I picked through them, noting that Florence really was stunning in her youth. Bernie was kind of cute as well.
Aiden worked at my table in the other room, his case files scattered and his notebooks full. Saber worked with him, and they bounced ideas off each other fairly well. The rest of their team had taken the night off.
I glanced at my phone, noting it was nearly midnight. We’d met up to eat spaghetti and then had each retreated to work. It felt like Aiden was just as motivated as I was to get things settled with our work so we could concentrate on Jareth Davey or my stalker. My gut told me it was Davey because who else could it be?
I sipped my wine and looked at the board again.
What if? Jumping off the washing machine, I slid Lawrence’s picture to the side and put Florence’s smack dab in the middle. All of this might be about her. She was Bernie’s motivation for murder, and quite possibly Hoyt’s as well if he’d known his father was going to leave her so much in his will. Left without anything else to do, I took out older black and white photographs to tape beneath the current ones of everyone.
Duke Wells had a head of hair in his twenties, and Earl had long golden curls. Seriously. His hair had been gorgeous. Bernie looked the same, Lawrence’s nose was much smaller, Jocko stood like a tough-guy, and Doc Springfield looked like a young Santa. He’d always had that round face, although his beard had been brown. He must’ve been in medical school while the others were miners.
All of the men were fairly muscled, which made sense considering they’d been hard rock miners to start.
There were many pictures of them camping, partying, or just hanging out at many of the bars that still thrived in Silverville. I wasn’t surprised to find photographs of my grandparents in several of the places.
A picture of Bernie, Lawrence, and Florence caught my eye. She was between them, arms around their waists, smiling. They were both staring at her, puppy love on their faces, and she was looking at the camera. There was a crowded campground behind them, and I could almost hear the hum of people. I taped the picture on the board because, at this point, it said everything.
I sipped my wine, missing something. I didn’t know what it was. All of the pictures were in front of me, and I’d even drawn one of Sharon Smith so she’d be represented. It was a stick figure, but I didn’t care much because she had an alibi for the murder. I even had a picture of Lucy Gardiner on the board that I’d gotten off her Facebook page. She’d seemed nice, but she was still seeing Hoyt, and he stood to inherit quite a bit. They hadn’t known that Florence would be left so much in the will.
Lucy didn’t feel like a murderer to me.
Of course, nobody involved did. I had a square box on the board for the unknown suspect, but I certainly hadn’t seen any evidence in that direction. Bernie’s life was fairly simple.
I hopped back on the washing machine, pulled my legs up, and just stared at the pictures again. Oh, I could take a break and wrap Christmas presents, but I was tired, and none of this was making sense.
The front door closed and soon Aiden poked his head into the room. “Solve your case?”
“No. You?”
He shrugged. “We’ve tracked Jareth Davey from here down to Portland and then Portland to Seattle, but then we lost him.”
Seattle was only a five-hour drive from where we lived. “He’s here, isn’t he?” I asked, already knowing the answer. There was nobody else who would’ve left a dead body on my lawn. Probably.
“Yeah. I think he’s here,” Aiden said, his voice calm. “Which is good because now I can handle him.” He looked over his shoulder. “I’m glad the dog is staying with you. Do you think Knox would let you keep him for a while? The alarm system is working now, but there’s nothing better than a dog.”
“Sure,” I said. “Especially if I get my cases wrapped up and can hang here with Fabio for a while.” I could use a vacation, actually. “What’s your plan?” I kept my voice light.
