A Grid For Murder Part 20

"Savannah, I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to speak with you," she said. "Do you have a minute?"

She was still on my list of suspects, so I wasn't all that excited about inviting her into my home where no one could see us. The least I could do was stay out on the porch where there was a possibility that someone might come past, even if there wasn't much chance of it happening, given the location of our cottage.

I had an idea about how to balance it more in my favor. "Of course. I just have to make a quick call first."

"I can wait out here if you'd like," she said.

"No, I don't mind staying on the porch while I make my call." That was actually part of my plan. I wanted her to hear me call my husband, since it was another line of defense. She might not attack me if she knew my husband was aware of her visit.

I hit the speed dial for Zach's number and got his voice mail instantly. He clearly didn't want to be disturbed, but that wasn't going to stop me from using him as a backup. "Hey, it's Savannah. I can't make it just yet. I'm talking with Sandra Oliver at the house. See you soon. Love you. Bye."

After I hung up, I said, "Sorry about that, but he worries about me if he hasn't heard from me in a while."

She looked at me a little wistfully. "I envy you that. Your husband must really love you."

"Have you ever been married, Sandra?" It was a leading question, and I knew I might be pus.h.i.+ng her too far in a direction she didn't want to go, but I needed to know if Sandy's wounds were still raw, open and sore enough to precipitate a murder.

"I came close once," she said after a pause. A tear tracked down one cheek as she said it, but I wasn't even positive that she realized it. "Actually, that's why I'm here. There's something I need to get off my chest. I know I've been avoiding giving you an answer, but I'm tired of hiding."

"Go on," I said as I took one of the rockers and motioned for Sandra to sit in the other one.

"It's true that I had a problem with Joanne. That's what you were asking about at Nathan's office, wasn't it? You wanted to know what she'd stolen from me, and I wouldn't tell you. I'm here now to do just that."

"What happened, Sandra?" I could tell the woman was still in some serious pain.

Sandra stared out into nothingness for a full minute before she spoke. I knew that it was important not to rush her so she could tell me at her own pace. Finally, when she spoke, it was almost as though she was talking to me through a dream.

"I felt like I had a real chance at happiness once upon a time, and Joanne ruined it. I was so mad at her back then, I might have done anything to punish her for what she'd done to me." The sincerity in her voice was unmistakable as she added, "But I didn't kill her."

"Why should I believe you?"

Sandra shook her head and stared at my flower garden, not trusting herself to speak right away. "I don't know. It's true, though. I was in a great deal of pain for six months after it happened, and I might have threatened her once then, but I got over it after a while. It was clear to me that it was too late for me to have a life with Ray. The damage was already done."

"He was married, wasn't he?"

She nodded. "He kept telling me that there wasn't any love in his home, but that he was staying with his wife for the sake of their kids. Do you know how I finally got over him?"

"If you don't mind telling me, I'd be happy to listen."

With a touch of sad laughter in her voice, Sandra said, "Six months after he dumped me, he took up with someone else on the side. The funny thing was that it only took him a week to decide to leave his wife for her. They lasted a few months, and he moved on to the next heart to break. When I found out, I actually thanked Joanne for saving me from ruining my life."

"Did anyone else know about this?"

"Just Laura," she said. "I used to confide in her about everything. But that was before."

"Before what?" I asked when she didn't finish her sentence.

"Before all of this happened with Joanne, of course."

I was curious about her reaction. "How did that affect you two?"

Sandra looked at me steadily. "How can I be certain that she wasn't the one who killed Joanne? Laura has to be on your suspect list, Savannah."

I wasn't sure I wanted to admit that I even had one, let alone tell her who was on it. "Do you know something I don't?"

"Think about it. She gets Joanne's money, doesn't she? Isn't that reason enough? We were there at the cafe together in Asheville, and she could have slipped something into Joanne's tea just as easily as you or I could have. I had to break off our friends.h.i.+p, but I didn't tell her why."

"You don't have any proof though, do you?" I was very interested in hearing her answer to that particular question.

"No, not even a gut feeling," she confessed. "But I couldn't be sure, you know? Who wants to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder? It's no way to live."

"Ending all of your friends.h.i.+ps isn't, either," I said.

Sandra stopped her own rocking and stared at me. "Do you really want to give me advice on maintaining a friends.h.i.+p, Savannah? I heard you tipped the police off that Rob probably killed Joanne, and the last time I checked, you two were the best of pals."

"Where did you hear that?"

She laughed with a hint of resignation. "Parson's Valley is a small town. Not much happens around here that everybody doesn't find out about sooner or later. All it would take would be one customer in the hardware store when your husband and that state trooper went in to talk to him, and soon enough, the entire town knows what happened."

"I just learned that his wife had been poisoned," I said as calmly as I could. "Zach had a right to know, and I won't deny that I'm the one who told him."

"Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming you. I just don't want you accusing me of doing something you did yourself. None of us can be too careful; do you know what I mean?"

I couldn't argue with that, but it brought another question to mind. "If you honestly feel that way, aren't you taking a chance coming here alone?"

She averted her eyes, and I had a suspicion I knew why she was willing to risk it. "You told someone where you'd be, didn't you? Was it Nathan?"

Sandra whirled around and looked at me. "How could you have possibly known that?"

"We all have our little secrets, don't we?"

Sandra nodded. "I don't think you're a threat, not after hearing about some of the folks around town who are vouching for you, but it doesn't hurt to be careful."

I was happy that she'd found someone to speak on my behalf, and if she told me names, I'd bake them each a cake. "Okay then, did anyone else know that you'd made your peace with Joanne?"

"I doubt it, but you could always ask around," Sandra said as she stood. "I'm glad I got that off my chest. I didn't want to say anything in front of Nathan about the dismal history of my love life. We just started seeing each other, and I didn't want him to get the wrong impression about me."

"Is it the smartest thing in the world to date your boss, Sandra?"

She smiled and shrugged as she looked at me. "Look at you, giving advice left and right. It might not be smart, but have you looked at the dating pool in our town lately? There aren't exactly a lot of options, and Nathan is smart, he's nice, and he's good to me. But there's one thing even better than that."

"What's that?"

"He isn't married," she said. "Thanks for chatting with me, Savannah. I honestly do feel better now."

"You're welcome. Thank you for coming out."

As she started to leave, I asked, "Did Joanne ever write you any letters, Sandra?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm just curious."

"Not that I remember," Sandra said. After she was gone, I had a feeling that something had been staged about her revelations to me. Had she rehea.r.s.ed in her mind because she'd been nervous, or was it because she had a motive besides enlightening me? Sandra had certainly painted herself as the victim after sleeping with a married man, so I wasn't sure I could believe the way she portrayed everyone else. In the end, Laura was probably better off without her friends.h.i.+p.

I knew who I needed to speak with next. Sandra and Laura might be fighting, but I was on good terms with both of them. I needed to confirm Sandra's story. If I could, it might allow me to strike her name off my list of suspects.

It would be nice to take one off, instead of adding another one to it.

"SAVANNAH, WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?" LAURA ASKED AS I knocked on Joanne's front door a little later.

"I was looking for you," I admitted as I held up two to-go cups of coffee. I'd swung by Barbara's to load up on some java, and thankfully she hadn't been around, so I didn't have to tell her what I'd been up to since we'd last spoken. I wasn't ready to give anyone a progress report just yet. "Do you have a second?"

"I can spare a minute or two," she said as she took one of the cups from me. "Thanks, I've been dying for caffeine, but Joanne is all out. Do you mind if we talk out here on the front steps? I need to get out of there for a little bit just to catch my breath."

"That sounds great to me," I said, though I'd been hoping to go back inside the house for another look. There was a chance I'd missed something important in my first abbreviated search of the house, since I'd been interrupted so quickly by Laura yesterday. There were several piles of things on the porch, so the steps were the only place we could sit.

"What's all of this?" I asked.

"Most of it is for Goodwill," she replied. "I've put all of the trash out back for collection. You can't imagine how much acc.u.mulates over the course of someone's life."

I saw the picture frame I'd spotted inside on her dresser on the pile for her charity donation, and asked, "Are you getting rid of that, too?"

"I have dozens of photographs of Joanne," she said. "If you'd like it, you're welcome to it. You don't even have to keep the picture. It's a nice frame, and if I had room for it, I'd probably take it myself."

"Thanks. I think I'll take you up on that," I said as I retrieved it from the pile. "Did you happen to find any stationery while you were cleaning up?"

"No, as far as I knew, Joanne wasn't a big letter writer."

We sat on the front steps, and Laura seemed to really enjoy the coffee I'd brought her. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked me.

"It's about Sandra," I said.

"I don't really want to discuss her," Laura said, and I could see her spine stiffen a little as she spoke.

"I understand you two had a falling out, but there's something I need to know. It's important, or I wouldn't ask."

"Okay, I don't see what it can hurt," she finally conceded. "I'll answer it if I can."

"Is it true that she thanked Joanne for breaking up her relations.h.i.+p with the married man she was seeing?"

Laura looked at me for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Yes, but I'm surprised she told you about it. That was her deep, dark secret. I thought I was the only one who knew."

"About the affair, or the thanks?" I asked.

Laura chuckled slightly. "Probably a little bit of both. It wasn't exactly her proudest moment, going after a married father like that. I tried to tell her that she was wrong, but she wouldn't listen to me."

I took a sip of my coffee, and then I said, "Thanks for being so honest with me about it."

"It's okay. I don't mind, not really. Can it be my turn now?"

I was more than a little confused by the question. "Your turn for what?"

"To ask you something."

"Fire away. I'll answer it if I can."

I wasn't sure what was coming next, but she surprised me anyway when she asked, "Do you have any idea why Sandra won't speak to me? It's kind of tearing me up inside, if you want to know the truth."

I knew, but did I really want to tell her and give the young woman more pain than she already had? "I'm not sure I should say anything."

"That's not fair," Laura said. "I told you what you wanted to know. I thought we had a deal."

"I'm not holding anything back. It's just that I'm pretty sure you're not going to like the answer."

Laura took another sip of coffee, swallowed it, and then took a deep breath before she said, "Go ahead. I can take it."

She asked for it, and I had no right to sugarcoat it. "She's afraid there's a possibility that you might have killed Joanne for her money," I said.

"Why would she think that? I didn't know she had any money, and if I did, I never dreamed I'd inherit any of it."

"Sandra seemed to think you did," I went on. It was time to take a stab in the dark. "Do you have any bills you can't pay?" I didn't like going after her when she'd just been so helpful to me, but I really didn't have any choice. It might just yield me a more honest answer than when she had her guard up all of the way.

"Who doesn't?" Laura replied as she nodded slightly. "The money is going to be tremendously helpful, and I'm not denying it, but I had no idea there would be any, or that I'd be the one getting it." She took a last sip from her cup, and then put it on the step between her feet. "I can't believe she thinks I'm capable of killing another human being."

"Don't be too hard on her," I said. "I just accused someone close to me of the same thing as well."

"Don't worry about it, Savannah. Rob will get over it," Laura said.

"You've heard already?"

She nodded. "It didn't take long for word to get around. n.o.body I know believes that Rob is capable of murder."

"Is there any chance that anyone in Parson's Valley is saying the same thing about the two of us?" I asked.

"Well, about me, maybe," she said with a faint smile. "I've lived here my entire life. Your history isn't as well known as mine, so some folks have probably already convicted you without a trial."

"I never realized that it was such a big issue being an outsider here before," I said.

"You probably never would have found out if this murder hadn't come up. Folks around here have a tendency to pull together when there's trouble, and nothing's more serious than murder."

"All the more reason I have for finding the killer, then," I said.

"I hope you do," she said as she stood up. "It's been eating away at me since it happened. I should have been nicer to Joanne, and now I'll never have the opportunity to make things right between us."

"We all have our missed opportunities," I said.

"True enough, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try harder." Laura stretched, and then added, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a ton of work to do if I'm ever going to finish."