Chapter Nineteen
We had barely reached the car when my phone rang, Garrett’s name flashing on the screen. I signaled to Lily we should get in as I answered.
“Any developments?” I asked.
“Well, good morning to you too,” said Garrett. “I’m fine, thanks for asking. How’s it going?”
“I’d tell you but you seem in a mood.”
“I am not in a mood!” Garrett grunted.
“You should smile more,” I teased.
“I will no— oh, I get it. Haha! Fine. Your tipoff was crap. Thanks for that.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I asked to see the back protectors during my visit to Mr. Casey. Give him some patter about checking for any recent injuries prior to the accident. He produced two from the mudroom but there wasn’t any issue with either one. No frayed cables or whatnot.”
“Did you ask to see the others?”
“I asked if there were any more and he said no, they were Jessica’s. He showed me his and it was considerably larger, so obviously, a man’s size.”
“There was a damaged back protector in the mudroom. Lily and I both saw it.”
“I’m not going to ask how you got in there, or whether Mr. Casey knew about it. I did ask if any had been disposed of recently and he said Jessica cleared some old stuff out recently but he couldn’t be sure exactly what she got rid of.”
“He’s lying.”
“Maybe so, but I can’t prove that. Did you take a video? Photo?”
“No,” I said glumly.
“No worries. It would probably be a struggle to get it admitted in court anyway.”
I brightened. “So you do think there’s a case?”
Garrett made a non-committal noise. “I think it’s strange my PI sister swears there was a damaged back protector in the house and the homeowner says otherwise. It could be an honest mistake or it could be…” Garrett trailed off.
“There were three in there,” I said, thinking back. “Two hanging, and Lily found a damaged one in the basket.”
“It could be anywhere now but it’s made me extra curious.”
“I have some news,” I said, launching into what we’d learned at Jessica’s lawyers, adding, “We read the will. Jessica disinherited her husband from everything. Her sister, too. It was signed and dated in front of witnesses the same morning Jessica was killed.”
“You know that ruins the primary motive the husband and sister might have had to off her?”
“Only if they knew about the change of wills,” I countered. “If their primary motive was being together, and Joel thought he’d inherit everything, then that doesn’t change. Jessica is still gone.”
Garrett was quiet for a moment, then asked, “Who stands to inherit now?”
“There’s a cousin on Jessica’s mom’s side. She gets everything. I asked about her, and the lawyer said she’d met her once years ago at a function, thought she was nice, but she lives in Michigan somewhere.”
“Tell him the other thing,” prompted Lily.
“Jessica asked her lawyer, Valerie, to recommend someone to look over the farm’s finances.
Valerie had been warning her not to be so hands off by letting Joel manage the business side.
Apparently, Jessica had a copy of the farm’s ledger and she had some apprehension, but not enough financial knowledge to be certain something nefarious was happening.
She just had enough concern that she wanted an expert opinion.
Valerie said she’d sent the books to their accountant to take a cursory look at them and Jessica said she was having someone else look over them too. ”
“Did this lawyer say who?”
“No. Jessica didn’t tell her.”
“What did the law firm’s accountant have to say?”
“Apparently, they haven’t looked at it yet, but are doing so today as a matter of urgency.”
“So, Jessica knew about the affair, made the moves to ensure she was protected, as well as what she owned, given her concerns, and she was quietly looking into the farm’s books,” concluded Garrett.
“Yeah, it sounds like she was suspicious about everything.”
“I don’t like any of this.”
“Me neither.”
“It stinks,” added Lily.
“She could be looking for signs her husband was misappropriating funds,” said Garrett.
“If he were planning on running away with Yvette, he might want to secretly build up a cash reserve since the pre-nup ensured he wouldn’t get any portion of the farm,” I said.
“Perhaps he was trying to swipe the whole lot from under Jessica. Run the place into the ground and stash cash elsewhere. There’s no accounting for the level of a selfish person’s greed. Okay, possible homicide is back on the table. Anything else?”
“Anything else? I just served you a buffet of information!”
“And it was delicious. I’m going to talk with my captain and beef up the investigation. Catch up with you later.” Garrett promptly disconnected.
“I love our job,” said Lily.
“It’s not your job.”
“I love my volunteer position.”
My shoulders dropped. “I hate my job.”
“Why?”
“It’s sad. I meet people and they’re sad and bad stuff happens to them. I want to open a happy PI agency.”
“What would you investigate?”
“Whose bunnies have been eating the dandelions on my client’s lawn? Where does the cat go every day? Where is the best shop to buy bags from? Is the cute guy over there smiling at my client?”
“He probably is but he’s probably a mansplaining narcissist who’s sleeping with his ex. Tell your fantasy client no, he is not smiling at her. She should get a cat.”
Lily was right. She really was ten percent rage.
“Okay, scratch that one,” I decided. “I’ll investigate which bakery has all the delicious smells.
I’ll find out where to get the best dresses that are well-made, use great fabric, have pockets, and don’t cost the earth.
Then I’ll investigate why everyone with a dog is happier. ”
“You don’t have a dog.”
“Maybe I’ll get a dog!”
“I don’t think a happy PI agency is going to pay the bills.”
“One can dream though.” I buckled my seatbelt and fired up the engine. “Let’s get through the next lesson, then go talk to Yvette.”
“Can you imagine betraying your own sister like that?” asked Lily as we pulled into traffic.
“You asked me already. Still no, and you know my sister,” I said thinking of my sister, Serena, who was about as opposite of her name as a person could get. “But it’s time we got to know Yvette better.”
~
The next lesson went smoothly and with a gap in our schedule, we set out in search of Yvette, finding her grooming a horse the color of caramel, a chatty podcast playing from a small speaker nearby.
The saddle rested on the stable door. A bridle hung on a peg on the stable’s wall.
Yvette was running a comb through the horse’s flaxen mane.
“Hey,” I said. “How’s it going?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, hi,” she replied. “How’re you settling in?”
“Great. Everyone is so nice and helpful.”
“I meant with the horses.”
“Oh. Yes. Of course! It might be premature, but I’m seeing lots of positives that I can work with. So much potential.”
“So much,” echoed Lily.
Yvette nodded and turned back to her horse, her words muffled slightly. “Glad to hear it.”
“I was wondering how you’re doing,” I said.
She stilled, the comb lodged mid-mane. Then she turned. “Me?” she asked, frowning.
“I know you must be devastated about your sister’s loss.”
Yvette nodded. “It’s hard to function, you know,” she said with a sigh.
“I keep doing all these normal things. The horses need looking after regardless, and it’s probably a good thing that I have something to get out of bed for, but…
nothing’s normal. I keep expecting Jessica to come around the corner any minute.
It’s like she’s still here, just around the corner, just out of reach. ”
“It must be so painful to lose her.”
Yvette nodded and her eyes misted. “Do you have sisters?”
“One,” I said. “I’m the younger one.”
“Like me and Jessica. I’m younger than her too.”
“I can’t imagine working with my sister though. You and Jessica must have been very close. Sharing everything.”
She flashed a look at me. “What do you mean?”
I waved my hand around. “Working together professionally. Living so close together. Sister goals, right?”
“Right.”
“I bet you confided in each other a lot.”
“Yes, of course. We were like best friends,” said Yvette.
“Best friends, really. I can’t imagine life without her.
” She turned back to the horse, but instead of combing, she folded her fingers into the horse’s flank, running her fingers through the coat.
The horse continued munching hay from the wall basket, entirely unperturbed.
Lily had moved to the next stall, petting the bay horse.
“She told me she was worried about some things going on,” I continued.
Yvette’s head shot up and she turned again. “What do you mean?” she asked, watching me carefully.
“She said she’d had a couple of accidents or something like that.”
“Yeah.” Yvette shrugged. “So?”
I gave her my warmest, most sympathetic, smile before I lost her attention. “I’m building a picture of the farm. It helps me when I assess the horses I’m working with.”
“Right. Yeah. That makes sense. She did have a couple of little accidents but we’re around horses all day, every day. It’s going to happen. Jessica was just being paranoid.”
“She seemed to think it was serious.”
Yvette lifted one shoulder, and dropped it. Like what we were talking about was nothing. “Accidents can happen. We all know that. She was just being anxious, like she is… was… like she was sometimes. So she took a tumble. Jessica was an experienced rider. She was fine.”
“Didn’t her back protector malfunction?”
“No, of course not. She probably just didn’t fix it on properly. Like I said, she was being paranoid.”
“She mentioned something about the saddle slipping when she was riding in a show.”
“She didn’t buckle the girth properly. She probably forgot.”
“It seems a strange error for an experienced rider to make.”