Chapter 22
Chapter twenty-two
Their complete attention was flattering.
"Wow," Ange said. "That's amazing. Who is it?"
"Who's the most obvious person? The one who stands to benefit? And who's also the one person who hasn't put in an appearance at all so far?"
Harper tapped her foot. “Tell us.”
"What do you know about Jake's cousin Pamela? His heiress?"
"She's nice," Reina said. "A few years older than we are. Adventurous. She used to be a model for a while, but then she decided she'd rather eat proper food, enjoy life, and have fun instead of living on air and cigarettes."
"You seem to know her quite well." I grinned.
"She used to come visit him once or twice a year for the last, gosh, fifteen years or so."
"And do you happen to know her full name?"
"I do."
"OK. Because from what Louisa told me, Pamela was on vacation when Jake died.
That would make sense, because like I said, she hasn't turned up yet.
But how can we be sure?" I asked in a pointed manner.
"Detective Stone told me that they had checked up on my whereabouts to rule me out for the murder. "
"You? That's ridiculous. Even the very idea of suspecting you!" Ange snorted.
"No, it's fine. It makes sense that they have to look at everyone. Except… have they really properly looked at Pamela? I assume she's on social media?"
I didn’t tell them that Cosmo had had that idea first. I glanced at him. He was rolling around on a cushion, kneading a knitted bunny I’d brought along for him. If I didn’t know better, I’d have sworn his magical abilities were all a figment of my imagination.
"Leave it to me," Harper said. Cracking her knuckles, she ran to fetch her laptop. Her fingers flew over the keyboard. Then she frowned.
"That is weird."
"What is?" Reina peered over her shoulder.
"You're right."
Ange put her hands on her hips. "Would you two please tell us what's going on?"
"There's nothing on her accounts. No photos, no cocktails, no sunsets. No… nothing," Harper said.
"Maybe she wanted to keep her travels private."
"Not likely," Harper chuckled. "If you scroll back, there’s one instance when she took a weekend trip to New York and had a whole album just of her meals. So… where has she been?"
"Maybe closer than we think," I said. "If she has been hanging around Jake’s a lot, who would know better how to get into his house?"
"What are you talking about?" Reina asked.
"My aunt kept his spare key in her potting shed. And now foxglove went missing from her garden. It could have easily been used to extract the poison. Only, if Reina is right, those plants were dug up after Jake’s death.
What if Pamela just tried to cover her tracks?
Because right now, everybody thinks that maybe my aunt had something to do with it. "
Harper whistled through her teeth. "Clever. What better way to distract people from herself?"
"She had to, with so many things pointing at her," I said.
"One—she knew her way around Jake’s place.
She knew his habits. It would have been easy for her to put a tampered capsule into his pill bottle or whatever he was keeping his medication in.
Two—she knew how to get the spare key to let herself in. "
"That’s right," Harper interrupted me. "Jake had lately kept everything locked up as safely as if it was Fort Knox. I had no idea why, all of a sudden, he’d become so paranoid about his security, but now that we know his precious car was stolen—even if it was returned—it makes sense."
"You cracked the case," Reina marveled. "You have missed your calling. You should have been a detective."
"I don’t know," I said. Although, deep down, I did feel chuffed with myself.
Sure, Cosmo had helped—a little or a lot—but most of the puzzle pieces I had figured out myself, with the assistance of my trusted coven.
I held my hand up for a high five.
Why did they all hesitate a little? "Do you think I’m wrong?"
"No," Ange said, and she took a deep breath. She moved closer to me. So did Harper.
Reina sat cross-legged on the floor opposite me. She gazed soulfully into my eyes.
"Something's wrong," I said. "What is it?"
Ange blew out her breath.
"The thing is… well, maybe I should let Nick do the explaining."
My head swiveled around. "I don’t see him."
"Now you do." She placed a video call and pushed the laptop towards me. Lo and behold, there he was, filling up the screen, dressed in his doctor’s coat and with a sort of concerned yet reassuring look on his face—the kind I imagined he used in his professional manner every single day.
Cosmo ran over to me and pressed himself against my legs.
"I assume Detective Stone has been to see you?" Nick asked.
"Yes. A little while ago. Why?"
"Your aunt’s autopsy was already done last night."
"That fast? I don’t understand," I said. "Then what did he want from me? Or why did he come to see me after the fact?"
"Maybe because he wanted to see your reaction?" Nick held my gaze.
"That’s absurd. He did say I’m not a suspect."
"Of course you're not," he hastened to say. "Especially since your aunt's crazy will made it very clear that you couldn't be sure which way the cat would jump."
Cosmo bristled at him.
"Literally and figuratively," he said.
"But," I said, "because there is a 'but' coming, right?"
"Your aunt did also have a huge amount of digitalis in her body."
It took a moment to sink in.
"Like Jake?"
"Exactly like Jake."
"And you had no idea?" My voice rose until it sounded like a screech.
"Hear me out," he said as I started to cry. "Your aunt had a weak heart, so her passing away from heart failure didn’t come unexpected. It also wouldn’t have been unusual that, after Jake passed away, she became scared, upped her medication and took an accidental overdose."
"My aunt? You really thought that could happen to Aunt Violet?"
"There is another theory, which I do not believe for a single second. Only, we thought—I thought—you needed to hear it. And from a friend."
"What theory? What could be worse than everybody thinking that my aunt not only killed her friend, but was also demented enough to accidentally do away with herself?"
"The newly considered possibility—and let me make it very clear, this is just a possibility —is that your aunt poisoned Jake and then was overcome with remorse and killed herself."