Chapter 15
Ruth pulled a small notepad and pen from her purse. “We need a list of suspects, anyone who may have had a motive for killing Deanna Andretti.”
“Her ex-husband,” Margaret said. “Nothing screams killer like the ex.”
“What’s his first name?”
“Eric,” Liz said. “Eric Andretti.”
“Eric makes it to the top of the list. Tammi is below him.” Ruth carefully jotted down the names. “Who’s next? Becky something.”
“Becky Kiefer, the colleague who was also a competitor. K-I-E-F-E-R. Last, but not least, is Carol Wright, which gives us four potential whodunnits.” Liz snapped her fingers. “There’s one more thing. Someone mentioned Deanna was being threatened before her death.”
“Being threatened, how?” Gloria asked.
“Floyd heard about it from someone out at the farm, something about a note. The cop who stopped by this morning seemed to know what he was talking about but wouldn’t elaborate.”
“Interesting,” Ruth murmured. “Floyd knew about an alleged threat.”
“Unless, as he pointed out, someone at the farm mentioned it to him.”
Gloria and Ruth exchanged a look, one Liz didn’t miss. “Do you think my husband killed Deanna?”
“I…” Ruth shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “We don’t know him that well, Liz. To be perfectly honest, his family doesn’t have a very good track record.”
“What would be Floyd’s motive? My husband doesn’t have a motive.” Liz abruptly stood .
Gloria motioned for her to have a seat. “Don’t get your feathers ruffled. We need to cover all the angles and look at every plausible scenario.”
“We’re not accusing him, but you must admit it raises a red flag,” Ruth added.
“I’m sorry, Ruth.” Liz sat back down. “I’m on edge. Floyd springing the house on me, the nosy neighbor poking around, Hank, the homeless man telling Dot someone was shooting guns, not to mention Deanna’s death. I’m overwhelmed.”
“For good reason.” Lucy patted her hand. “We’ll try to determine who’s responsible, but to do that, we’ll need to do some digging, as uncomfortable as it may be.”
“You’re the experts,” Liz said. “If all of you working together can figure this out, I owe you a bunch.”
“We’ll start with Eric Andretti,” Ruth said. “I’m gonna implement my Leonard techniques to do a little in-depth research. ”
Leonard Navoy, the founder of NASCA, North American Surveillance and Communications Association, was a friend of Ruth’s who had murky methods of obtaining confidential information.
“Meaning some questionable methods,” Liz guessed.
“I’ll go grab the computer.” Gloria hustled into the dining room. She returned with her laptop and set it in front of her friend.
“Thank you.” Ruth began humming under her breath. “You know the drill. None of you have ever seen me access certain sites for any reason.”
“Nope.” Lucy shook her head. “In fact, it’s honestly a mystery how information magically appears at your fingertips.”
“The less we know, the better,” Dot said.
“You have that right.” Ruth adjusted her reading glasses. “Hmm.”
“Hmm what?” Liz leaned in .
“I’m tracing the timeline of Deanna and Eric’s marriage.” Ruth began humming again, clicking through screens at lightning speed.
“You’re pretty proficient at…researching,” Liz said. “You must go in there a lot.”
“More than I should,” Ruth admitted. “It’s a hobby of mine.”
“Snooping,” Lucy said. “How often do you snoop on us?”
“More than I should,” Ruth repeated.
“Ruth Carpenter.”
“Kidding. I’m kidding. I already know everything there is to know about all of you.”
Gloria made a choking sound.
“Seriously, you guys need to lighten up. Let’s stay on task. I found where Eric and Deanna Andretti listed their farm and acres of land, as well as rental properties for sale roughly three years ago. It looks like the Andrettis made a pretty penny.” Ruth snatched the pen off the table and began jotting down numbers. “Wow. Two point two million. That’s a nice chunk of change.” She grew quiet.
“What else are you finding?” Liz asked.
“I’m still following the yellow brick road paved with gold. The couple legally separated nine months later. Their divorce was finalized another year after that, and the assets were equally split. Now…this is interesting.”
Gloria’s eyes squinted as she struggled to follow along on Ruth’s search. “You found a motive for murder?”
“Maybe. It appears Deanna Andretti purchased a commercial property in downtown Green Springs not long after the sale of the couple’s assets.”
“The Designer Diva store,” Liz said.
Ruth rattled off the address.
“That’s it. ”
“She paid cash. Deanna owned it outright. The property is in her name only, although she was still legally married to Eric.” Ruth did some rough calculations. “Take away a half million for the purchase. It still leaves the Mr. and Mrs. with over a million and a half, not accounting for capital gains.”
“So you can kiss another hefty chunk of change goodbye,” Margaret said. “They probably had less than a million left after taxes and her property purchase.”
“Yep. The cash cow has left the building,” Ruth joked. “The couple divorced. Let’s take a look at the nuts and bolts of the divorce decree, something I never would’ve been able to access without Leonard’s help.”
The others grew quiet while their friend concentrated.
“Oh, boy. I think we’re finally onto something,” Ruth said. “You’re not going to believe this.”