14
Here’s what I’m thinking.” Julia sat at the kitchen table, where the women regrouped. Her thoughts had been racing, and she could feel them forming a theory. “Let’s review. Kay went to a clean-up last Sunday and told Mona and Susan she found an object she wanted to show them.”
Mona nodded. So did Susan, from behind Courtney’s laptop.
“The day after the clean-up, Kay was murdered. The police say she interrupted a burglary because cash was stolen from her jewelry box. But what if that wasn’t his real motive?
” Julia gathered the facts. “It makes sense that it wasn’t because we don’t know how he knew the cash was there, and it wasn’t that much anyway.
Also, if robbery was really his motive, he didn’t take any of her jewelry.
Admittedly, most of it is costume, but you can’t tell that just by looking. But he left the jewelry.”
“Right.” Courtney nodded slowly.
“So I’m thinking that whatever was in the missing basket was what he really wanted. In other words, the killer came to steal the object and took the cash to hide his real motive. We know there was a confrontation in the living room, where the basket was.”
“Why not just take the object?” Courtney frowned in thought.
“Maybe there was no time to fish it out. The killer could’ve asked her where it was and taken the basket.”
Courney nodded, following. “So that means she could’ve told people what she found, maybe in passing. She talked to everyone. She was so friendly. She loved people. That’s why people called her Okay instead of Kay.”
Julia felt a pang, touched. “Right. She could’ve told anyone, wherever she went. The grocer. The dry cleaner.”
Mona interjected. “We don’t have a dry cleaner anymore.”
Susan nodded. “We don’t even have a grocer. The nearest one is in Ashland.”
“Okay, and we know she went to the grocery store, maybe in Ashland, because we saw the bag of food. She could’ve mentioned it to someone there who wanted the object or told somebody else who wanted it.”
“It’s possible.” Courtney shot Mona a grateful look. “Thank God you noticed the basket was missing. I remember she had it, but I never really looked in it.”
Julia’s mind was racing. “Courtney, is it possible that’s why she wanted you to visit?”
“Wait, yes, come to think of it.” Courtney’s lips parted. “She called me Sunday night and suggested I come see her, but usually, she visits me, like we go to dinner, and we plan it weeks in advance. I didn’t think anything of it because I needed the break.”
“Maybe she was asking because of whatever she found at the clean-up.”
“My God, she could’ve been. What could she have found?”
“What would someone kill to get?” Julia thought aloud. “A nice watch? A ring?”
“Remember, the cops don’t think the killer killed her to get it. They think that somebody came to steal cash and jewelry, and she interrupted him.”
“Right. He didn’t expect to kill her, but he had to after she recognized him.”
Susan raised a finger. “No, something doesn’t work. Courtney, you chased the killer to the truck. Did he have a basket in his hand?”
Courtney grimaced. “No, and I didn’t see him throw one away.”
Julia put it together. “So maybe there was another guy in the truck. Maybe he had the basket and the gun.”
“Right, that could be true.”
Mona clucked. “I’d never throw away a basket. They have so many uses.”
Susan nodded. “There’s nothing like a good basket. Remember that Longaberger you gave me? I use it for bills.”
Julia got back on track. “How many objects were in Kay’s basket, do you know?”
“I do.” Mona thought a moment. “Fifty, at least. She’s been collecting a long time. I don’t think they would fit in anybody’s pockets.”
“So maybe he takes the whole basket, finds the object he wants, and throws the rest in the field?”
“Possible. Look at this.” Susan turned the laptop around, and the screen showed a bewildering array of black plastic pieces. “This is a ghost gun. It has components that anyone can print to assemble one. All you need is a 3D printer.”
Courtney clucked. “The irony is, my company sells 3D printers.”
Julia turned to Susan. “This is a dumb question, but what about the bullets? You don’t print those, too, do you?”
“No, those you buy, and as I used to tell my students, ‘There are no dumb questions, only dumb people, and I’m not looking at one.’”
Julia smiled. “I wonder if the police will investigate the gun shops and see who’s bought bullets lately.”
“The answer is everybody,” Susan shot back, pursing her lips. “This is gun country.”
Courtney nodded. “I’ll ask the detective when he calls back.”
Julia’s gaze fell on her phone, which gave her an idea. “Court, where’s your grandmother’s phone? I wonder if she took pictures of the objects she found.”
“Damn, you’re right, I bet she did, but the cops have her phone. Her laptop, too.”
Mona brightened. “Hold on, she sent me pictures from clean-ups.” She picked up her phone. “I think I even have some from last weekend.”
Susan started scrolling her phone. “Wait, she sent them to me, too. It was a group text. Here we go.” She held up the phone and showed them a series of pictures, a bent fork lying in the grass, a deer antler, and a beaded Taylor Swift friendship bracelet.
Julia eyed the photos. “Do you think she put these things in her basket?”
“Hard to say. That stuff was special.”
Mona nodded. “The basket was a collection.”
Courtney sighed, her gaze still on Susan’s phone screen. “It’s so sweet to see what she thought was interesting. All these little things that people overlook, she treasured.”
“Just like the daisies,” Julia heard herself say.
Courtney caught her eye, with a sad smile.
Susan checked her phone. “She sent those pictures last Sunday at 3:20, while she was still at the clean-up.”
Julia’s thoughts skipped ahead. “Courtney, did she back up her photos, like in the cloud?”
Courtney’s eyes lit up. “She did, she told me. She was computer literate for her age.”
Mona shot Julia a look, on Ageism Watch.
Julia let it go. “Court, do you know her password?”
“No.” Courtney grimaced. “I bet she kept them in her phone. She used Notes.”
“I use Notes, too, but I have a written password list. You don’t think she wrote it down anywhere?”
“She could have. Let’s try to find a list before we start guessing.”
“Okay, if she had a list, where would it be?”
“In her desk upstairs, in the guest bedroom. Even if she paid a bill down here, she filed it upstairs. Any junk mail, receipts, or random crap, she threw away. She always said, ‘When in doubt, throw it out.’”
Julia rose. “Let’s go.”