Chapter 23 #2
“She is. The door to her apartment isn’t, though.
Hers was one of two apartments where forced entry was attempted.
Unfortunately, they succeeded with hers.
” His eyes met mine. “Don’t worry. The rings are still there.
The burglar made it to the closet where the safe is but didn’t manage to open it—if he, or she, even tried.
Police are dusting it for fingerprints. Only Sam’s AirPods and a small Bluetooth speaker were taken—probably because they were the only things of value that were portable. ”
“Well, that’s a little too close for comfort,” I said. “Maybe you should put the rings in a safe-deposit box?”
“That was my original plan, but the funeral is tomorrow, so I can’t make it to the bank before it closes for the holiday. I’d rather put them someplace where I can easily access them night or day and on weekends so that when Mimi says she’s ready I can retrieve them.”
“You can keep them here,” I said, “since now we have alarms on the doors. And a Barbie head. Besides, we have nothing of any value here except for Jolene’s Wizard of Oz collectibles.”
“And my fine china, don’t forget,” Jolene said.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to break in to steal china,” Jaxson said.
At Jolene’s hurt expression, he amended, “I mean, if it were a robber with any sense of taste and style, that’s the first thing they’d go for.
But for most criminals it’s too fragile and heavy to grab and go.
My guess is that fine china is very low on the list of items stolen during robberies in this city. ”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Jolene said, passing a bowl of her mashed potatoes with candied bacon bits to Camille.
“And I think it’s a good idea to keep them here for the time being.
The room at the back of the apartment that Nola uses as her office and music-writing room looks like a hurricane tore through it, and even she can’t find anything in it.
I think she uses the mess as an excuse not to write any songs, since her guitar is completely buried, but that’s a conversation for another time. ”
I narrowed my eyes at her and didn’t bother to hide dropping a piece of ham on the floor for Mardi.
“Anyway,” she said, sending me a scolding look, “anybody who’s read the news article about the rings will never suspect they’re here. And then, when Mimi has a sudden hankering to hold them and see what they can tell her, the rings are only a hop, skip, and jump away.”
“That makes sense,” Beau said, reaching down to scratch behind Mardi’s ears.
He apparently knew better than to feed the dog from the table.
“Let me check with Mimi, and if she agrees, I’ll bring them early in the morning.
I’ll stay at Sam’s tonight to make sure everything’s safe, then drop the rings here first thing in the morning, before the funeral. ”
“Are you sure they’ll be safe here?” Camille asked quietly. “They’re our only chance to find out what happened to Adele, and I don’t want them to disappear. Don’t you think they’d be safer back at the house?”
Beau reached for her hand and squeezed. “I know. And I understand—believe me. But Mimi was adamant about removing them from the house. She wants to find out what happened as much as we do, but reading objects takes a huge mental toll on her. She doesn’t want to jeopardize orchestrating the perfect funeral and good-bye for my mother. ”
“Of course,” Camille said, looking down at her hands. “Mimi always knows best. We just have to be patient. The truth will out eventually.”
“ ‘Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.’ ” Jolene smiled. “The King said that. I have to say he was wrong about a lot of his fashion choices, but he sure was spot-on about that.”
“King Charles?” Beau asked.
“No. Elvis.” Jolene stood and began collecting dishes, motioning everyone to remain seated while she brought them to the kitchen and got dessert.
Sarah joined Jolene, obviously on her best behavior so I wouldn’t have second thoughts about letting her stay here.
As Jolene picked up my plate, she said, “Carly has asked me to go wedding-dress shopping with her as soon as I get back. Isn’t that exciting? ”
I could think of a lot of words to describe wedding-dress shopping with Carly, but “exciting” wasn’t one of them. “Too bad I can’t go, too.” For the first time, I considered my broken ankle in a positive light.
“Maybe we can FaceTime,” Jolene suggested as she walked into the kitchen.
“Maybe,” I said, then turned to Jaxson. “Doesn’t Carly have other friends or bridesmaids who can go dress shopping with her?”
“She does, but half of them live out of town and the other half can’t make the appointments Carly has already scheduled. And she doesn’t want her mother there at all—because, Carly says, she’s too opinionated. We’re both really grateful that Jolene can do it.”
“I bet.” I turned awkwardly in my chair so I could point my finger at his chest. I was unfortunately too far away to jab it where I could leave a mark.
Lowering my voice, I said, “Look, Jaxson, I trust you. And I trust Jolene. I even think that the two of you believe you can spend the holidays with her family without any funny business.” I waggled my eyebrows so he’d understand what I meant by “funny business,” because I wasn’t going to use the word “sex” in front of Sarah—not because she didn’t know what it was, but because she would definitely tell Melanie, and then my sister would never be allowed to visit me again.
I leaned as close to Jaxson as I could. “But if Jolene sheds one tear on your behalf, or you lay a finger on a single strand of her red hair, I promise you will live to regret it.”