Chapter 24
He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.
—Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Finette hitched her chin, insisting I follow her.
I did and glanced at her ankles. The one that usually sported an infinity bracelet had a wide flexible fabric bandage on it.
Tegan trailed me. “I’ll come, too.”
“No, Tegan,” Finette said. “This is a private matter. Stay here.” She flicked a finger. “Allie, outside.”
“It’s okay,” I assured my pal. “When Zach gets here, tell him where we are.”
Finette said, “Let’s go,” and passed through the archway into the vestibule. She made a beeline for a door leading to the rear patio and exited. She strode to the cast-stone fountain, which stood about twenty feet from any walls or windows.
The air was cool, but I didn’t dare wrap my arms around my torso. I might need them to defend myself.
“For your information, Zach won’t be coming,” Finette said. “He’s on a call. It appears there’s been a disturbance near the Sugarbaker estate.”
My stomach wrenched. Had she killed someone else? Did she hope Zach would think a serial killer was at large? “What kind of disturbance?”
“A vicious dog named Moose is on the loose.” Her eyes glinted with malice.
Oh, no. After learning I’d spoken with Katherine and intended to attend the council meeting, she must have let the dog out to distract the police.
“What’s in your pocket, Allie?” she demanded.
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying. You showed Tegan a piece of jewelry.”
“Oh, that.” Man, she had eagle eyes. I pulled the ankle bracelet free. “I came across this at my place. Could it be yours?”
“It is. I lost it the night of the neighborhood watch party.” She opened her palm. “Hand it over.”
“Now who’s lying? You had it on at Ragamuffin on Sunday. Iggie commented on it.”
Her eyes flickered, as if she was trying to work out a better explanation.
I gestured to the bandage on her leg. “What happened to your ankle? Did you catch it on a nail or, to be specific, a cat’s toenail?”
“No.”
“Many cat scratches heal within a few days, but a deeper one can take longer. It could even get infected. Want me to take a peek? I’m an expert at treating wounds.”
“A cat didn’t scratch me.”
“After a few days, if you start noticing swollen lymph nodes or fever, you really need to contact your doctor.”
Automatically, she swallowed hard. “Give me the bracelet.”
“I can’t. It’s evidence.”
“Of what?”
“Of you breaking into my house and stealing an artifact.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Darcy wasn’t happy about your intrusion.
That’s why he attacked you. I figure you raced out in pain and didn’t realize until later his assault unlatched the bracelet.
It must have been some tussle. The bracelet wound up clinging to a loose spring beneath the armchair.
When I didn’t mention finding it, you thought you were in the clear. ”
She studied me with loathing. “Why did you go to my great-aunt’s house? Who gave you permission?”
I cocked my head. “I didn’t think I needed permission to show kindness to a woman who’s housebound.”
“She’s not house—”
“You’re out of money. You can’t afford to keep your great-aunt in the home any longer and are so desperate to move her, you do your best to convince people she’s losing her marbles.”
“She is.”
“She seemed perfectly sane to me. In fact, she seemed with it.”
“With it. Right.” She scoffed.
“You’ve been diligent about giving the impression that you’re doing fine financially. New hair highlights. New jackets. New handbag. You even told everybody you secured a loan to renovate your house.”
“I am doing fine.”
“Yeah. Not.” I plowed ahead. “Here’s what I think happened. Weeks ago, when Jason came to town and asked for your help to get the town council’s approval of his project, you dunned him for money.”
“I didn’t dun him.”
“He paid. He really wanted those properties. But when the final notices about the foreclosure started to appear, and you pressed him for more—”
“What foreclosure?”
“Finette, can it!” I barked, tired of our little dance.
“I saw the bank notices at Katherine’s. When Jason realized you had no extra sway with the council members, and believed he could get any or all of them on his side without forking over another dime, he reneged on your arrangement.
You acted all cozy with him, but in truth, you were livid.
You were going to go bankrupt if you didn’t do something.
You figured if you got rid of him, you could put the squeeze on some other chump.
Someone like your former lover, Iggie Luckenbill. ”
She didn’t respond, which had to mean my guess was right.
“Why did you frame me, Finette?” I pronounced her name the way Katherine preferred.
She repeated her name the way she liked it, with a short i, accent on the second syllable.
“Finette,” I echoed to appease her. “Why did you want me to take the fall for Jason’s murder? Because of your infatuation with Zach Armstrong?”
“I’m not infatuated with him.”
“Sure you are. Did you think once I was out of the way, you could swoop in and win his heart? When did you come up with the idea?” I snapped my fingers. “Hold on! I know exactly when. The day I lost my Celtic earring, a scenario came to you—a way to get rid of Jason and me at the same time.”
She glowered.
“Soon after, on the night of the neighborhood watch party, you got the clever idea to steal the spearpoint. How did you get into the house without alerting—” I halted as a light bulb clicked on in my mind. “You saw me using the spare house key I kept in my van.”
“Who needed a key?” She smirked. “My father taught me how to pick a lock. He was adamant I know how to save myself in all sorts of situations.”
“He must’ve been a stand-up guy.”
She frowned.
“No? He wasn’t all he was cracked up to be?” I asked. “Did you blame him for your current circumstance because he was such a do-gooder and never saved a dime, as he’d recommended? Not to mention he took in his aunt—your great-aunt—and then died, leaving you to foot the bill?”
“He was a saint. He taught me everything I know.”
I inhaled sharply as another realization struck me.
When Tegan and I were making plans to go to the caverns, Finette had appeared at the office door.
She’d asked about our picnic. Tegan mentioned we were going on a hike and she would drive.
“Did your dad also teach you how to mess with a car’s coolant system so the car might have trouble on a steep country road? ”
A vicious smile pulled at her lips.
I continued. “You came to the bookshop, not because you actually wanted another copy of The Great Gatsby for your great-aunt—why would you spend another dime on her?—but because you heard Lillian questioning Iggie about his alibi, and you believed I’d put her up to it.”
“You must have. She is not a self-starter.”
She was, but I wouldn’t quibble. “You worried that in time, I’d figure out you were the killer, so you targeted Tegan’s car, hoping it would fail and I’d die.”
She didn’t respond.
“For the longest time, one thing stumped me,” I went on.
“I couldn’t fathom how the killer could have sent me messages from Jason’s phone and erased them, until I recalled overhearing you and Iggie talking about Burt the Cyber Buddy.
His fans are techies, which means you’re one.
My guess? On one of his blogs you read about an app that could help the user delete messages from a cell phone.
You followed instructions and made it impossible for me to prove to Zach that Jason—actually you—had summoned me to his house. ”
“Burt is wise beyond measure, but no, I didn’t learn how to reconfigure phones from him.”
I hissed. “It doesn’t matter how you figured it out. My guess is the idea came to you when you and Iggie were facing off Sunday morning.”
“Facing off?”
“At Ragamuffin he threatened to press for your dismissal.” I clucked my tongue. “Poor Iggie. You weren’t content to simply frame me. You wanted to entrap him, as well. Ever since he dumped you, he’s been a bur in your side, hasn’t he?”
“What a quaint expression.”
“I’m assuming when you helped him with his cuff link that day, you got the inspiration to leave one at the crime scene to make it seem like he’d argued with Jason, as backup in case Zach couldn’t possibly believe I was guilty.
Did you have a duplicate made by the jeweler who sells you your infinity pieces? The police will find out.”
She didn’t answer.
“As for the mud—”
“What mud?”
“At the crime scene. It baffled me. For the longest time I thought it was a clue proving Patrick Hardwick killed Jason. His boots are always dirty. But in the end, I realized Jason tracked it in. No one else. Neighbors often saw him tweaking his gardens, trying to make them perfect for Delilah.”
“Delilah. Spare me. What a fool he was for that woman.” Finette faked a yawn. “She didn’t love him. She would never love him. How he went on and on about her. It was pathetic.” She checked her watch. “And now, although this has been a lovely exercise in deduction, Allie, I must go.”
“One more thing before you do. Tell me the truth. When you stabbed him, did you scream with fury?”
She huffed. “I will be more than gracious and not cite you for harassment with that accusation. I will chalk up your mistakes to your impulsiveness. You should work on that aspect of your personality. It’s a nasty habit.” She started to leave.
“Hold it, Miss Fineworthy,” Zach said. He and Bates emerged from the shadows, along with Tegan and Vanna, and I breathed easier. “After listening in on your chat, I’d like you to accompany my partner and me to the precinct.”
“Whatever for?”
“For the murder of Jason Gardner, as well as for animal cruelty. Moose’s owners’ security cams caught a perfect photograph of you unlatching the gate to the outdoor dog run.”
“Did you find Moose?” I asked.
“He is safely home with his people,” Zach said, after which he read Finette her rights.