“Bingo,” I said.“The blackmailer sent pictures along with the demand money and a drop location.She said James had been paying it because the blackmailer threatened to send all the pictures to his wife.She said the amount went up by five thousand dollars each time.”
Dash took over.“She said the drops were always on a Saturday in Charleston and that there was a rotation of drop-off locations.Never the same place twice.”
“Ahh,” Bea said.“That’s someone who’s blackmailed people before.”
“And either the blackmailer knew Grimm Island drops would be too exposed, or they were familiar enough with Charleston that it was the most convenient location.”
“Like a surgeon who works at the hospital?”I asked, thinking of Byron Jameson.
“Possibly,” Walt said.“And a surgeon of his caliber wouldn’t be doing weekend rotations.He was a specialist.”
“Jackie said the last blackmail letter came the Friday before Henry died.Same instructions that it was to be paid the next day at a drop location.That’s apparently when James snapped.She said James came over that night and said he was ending things between them.That he wasn’t paying the blackmailer anymore and he was going to confess to his wife.And that he was going over to beg Henry’s forgiveness and to pay back the money, even if he had to clear out all of his personal holdings.”
“That tracks,” Deidre said.“I went back in the library archives for theGazettebecause I remembered there were several occasions after Henry died where Edie wasn’t in pictures with him in the society column.I told you I remembered there being a time when the two of them had separated, and if I remember correctly, and I always do, they were separated for more than a year after Henry died.So maybe he did confess all to his wife like he’d said he was going to do.”
“That’s a good point,” Dottie said.“Because even though his financial problems with the foundation might have been solved with Henry’s murder, he still had the blackmailer to deal with.Confession would have been the only way to prevent a scandal.”
“What did she say next?”Hank asked.
“She said he left and went to Henry’s,” I said.“She remembered how bad the weather was, and that it was after nine o’clock.She was angry that he’d broken up with her, and then less than half an hour later he walked back into her house and went straight for the liquor cabinet.She said he was in shock, though I’m certainly glad she stopped nursing because I have questions about her bedside manner.”
“Are you saying you could see her drugging someone’s drink and then shooting them in the head?”Hank asked.
“I’m saying I could definitely see her drugging someone’s drink if it meant she was getting what she wanted.But I don’t see her pulling the trigger, especially that close up.”
“Too messy,” Dash said.“I agree with you.She’s particular.About her hair, clothes, and nails.Her body is her pride and joy.Her house is immaculate.She’s not going to mess up the perfection by getting blood and brain matter on her.So I believe her when she said James came back and that Henry was dead.She said there was no blood on James, and there would have been if he’d pulled the trigger.So she’s either lying to cover for him, or things happened exactly as James said.”
“And why cover for a dead man,” Dottie said.“No reason to now.”
“No,” Dash agreed.“Not unless it benefitted her somehow, and I can’t see how it would.She milked all she could from James at the time, got that white elephant of a house, and ended up marrying a different wealthy man less than a year later.”
“James was a doctor,” Dottie said, exasperated.“He walks into that scene and sees his best friend dead, and he does nothing?That doesn’t play out.”
“That’s what we said too.”Dash nodded in agreement.
“Jackie said he was afraid,” I added.“That it wasn’t just seeing Henry dead, but that it was what was on his desk.”
“Spill it, Mabel,” Bea said.“Don’t keep us in suspense.”
“There was a blackmail note on Henry’s desk,” I told them.“Just like the ones he’d been receiving.Apparently Henry was being blackmailed too.”
Walt jumped up and went to one of the carefully organized boxes and he pulled out the crime-scene photos we had access to.
“Let me pull them up on my laptop,” I said.“They’re easier to see.”
“We’ve looked at every square inch of those photos,” Deidre said.
“But now we’re looking specifically for something we know should be there,” Walt said.“Makes a difference.”
I grabbed my laptop and went to my email, opening up the attachments Dash had sent to me, and then I blew up the photos as much as I could.I leaned close to the screen and went through the photographs one by one.Henry slumped at the desk.The gun.The decanter on the bookshelf where Lila Mae said it hadn’t been.The desk surface.The pen holder.A stack of papers to the left.
“Oh,” I said, looking at the aerial view of the scene that looked down on Henry’s body.“Look right there.Next to the stack of papers.His arm is covering some of it, but you can see the block lettering because it’s in black marker.”
“What does it say?”Bea asked.
“I can’t make it out,” I said.“I see a dollar sign and what looks like a two.”
“Are there any pictures on the desk?”Deidre asked.“Jackie told you James received pictures.”
