Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Emma huddled with Nell in the bathroom as if hiding from the monsters that scared the sisters when they were kids. She’d heard the front door slam a few minutes earlier but hadn’t gotten up to check if it was the state trooper leaving.
A faint rap at the bathroom door brought a whimper from Nell. Emma held her tighter.
“Em? Nell?” Eric called softly from the other side.
Nell uncurled from the tightly wound ball she’d been coiled into.
“Stay here,” Emma told her and climbed to her feet. She unlocked the door.
Eric looked like he hadn’t slept in a month. Had the skin around his eyes appeared that bruised when she and Matthias arrived only a half hour earlier?
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He didn’t reply. His gaze drifted past her to Nell, who hadn’t moved from her spot on the floor. To Emma, he whispered, “We have to keep her safe.”
Emma’s chest tightened. “What do you mean?” she asked, matching his whisper. “Surely the police don’t believe she had anything to do with Sonny’s death?”
Eric slumped against the door jamb. “I don’t know what they believe where Nell’s concerned, but I’m pretty sure I’m at the top of their suspect list. And if I’m in jail, I won’t be able to protect her.” His voice dropped so low, Emma had to lean closer to hear him say, “From herself.”
“How can you be on their suspect list at all? You were nowhere near here. I know, because I was trying to call you.”
“My phone was here, so they can’t use it to track my whereabouts. I have no receipts. No proof of where I was.”
“Is Fergusson still downstairs?”
“No, he’s gone. For now.” Eric gave Emma a sheepish grin. “He wants to talk to you again, but Matthias told him you were up here in the bathroom because you had food poisoning.”
“Fergusson believed him?”
“Matthias also pointed out he didn’t have a warrant to search my house.” Eric looked past Emma, raising his voice to a normal volume. “Speaking of your hot cop and food, he’s downstairs, whipping up a feast. You girls have to be famished.”
Nell drew her legs in as if seated in one of the yoga classes she used to teach a lifetime ago. “I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat something.” Emma moved to stand over her and offered a hand to help her up. “Mom would say you’re nothing but skin and bones.”
“Mom’s gone,” Nell snapped. “Dad’s gone. Zeke’s gone. There’s no one left who cares.”
“I care,” Emma told her.
“So do I,” Eric said. “How can you say you have no one? You have us. You’ll always have us.”
Nell mumbled something Emma couldn’t make out. “What’d you say?” Emma asked.
“Nothing.” Nell heaved an exhausted sigh. “Fine. I’ll try to eat something.” She waved Emma away, placed one foot on the floor in front of her, and popped up without the aid of her hands or Emma’s.
“I remember when you taught me how to do that move,” Emma said with a grin, which Nell didn’t return.
Emma led the way down the staircase, following the tantalizing aromas wafting from the kitchen.
Matthias was in his element and wore a guilty smile. “You need to make a grocery run,” he told Eric. “I cleared out your fridge, including all your leftovers.”
“That’s okay. I was planning to place an order once we got home anyway.”
Emma hadn’t realized how starved she was until faced with the spread Matthias laid out on the island—plated omelets along with a buffet of tossed salad, grilled chicken, shrimp, peppers, zucchini, pasta and mushrooms in a buttery sauce, and a loaf of crusty bread.
They filled their plates and took seats around Eric’s table. Even Nell, despite her claims of not being hungry, dug in. For several long moments, they ate in silence.
Eric finally broke the stillness. “Emma, this one’s a keeper. Matthias, you are welcome to use my kitchen any time you want.”
Matthias tipped his head in appreciation.
Nell lowered her fork and shifted to face Eric. “I want to know what’s going on. Why were the police here?”
Eric exchanged glances with Emma and Matthias before setting down his own fork and pressing a napkin to his mouth. “Because someone killed Sonny Jones.”
Nell shot a wild-eyed look at Emma. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“I was going to.”
Nell came back to Eric. “Sonny’s dead? When?”
He, in turn, looked to Emma.
“Last night or early this morning,” she said. She gave her sister a shortened version of their discovery of the body at the construction site.
Nell pondered the news before saying, “They think Eric did it? That’s stupid. He wasn’t here. Besides, why would he?”
Exactly what Emma wanted to know. Eric evaded her eyes.
“I’ll tell you later,” Matthias said to her.
“What does that do to our sales agreement?” Nell asked Eric.
Emma placed both hands on the table. “There isn’t going to be a sale. Not of our farm. Definitely not to North Star Developing.”
“But I already signed the papers.”
“And I tore them up.”
This brought Nell’s and Eric’s full attention to her.
“You didn’t,” Nell said, her tone firm yet disbelieving.
“I did.” Emma knew there was no use in showing Nell the photos from what had once been the Powell family’s dairy. The thought made her wonder… what would become of that development—and North Star Developing—now that Sonny was dead?
Nell stood, nearly knocking over her chair. “How could you? You know I want to sell. There are too many bad memories here. I need to move on.” After a pause, she added, “I need the money.”
Emma studied her sister’s face and the desperation glistening in her eyes. “What do you need money for?”
She mumbled a reply before storming from the room. Eric leapt to his feet and followed her. “Nell, wait,” he called.
Emma sat stiff and stunned. She looked at Matthias.
“There’s a saying,” he told her, his voice low but gentle. “What do you call a recovering addict with money?”
Emma didn’t reply. She had a feeling she knew the punchline. She was right.
“An addict.”
* * *
Matthias hated the pain radiating from Emma.
Her fragile sister, teetering on the edge of falling so far down that she might never recover.
Her best friend was under suspicion of a murder none of them believed him capable of committing.
Matthias might not have known Eric as well as Emma did, but he had a hard time picturing this guy as a killer.
Hell, he couldn’t picture Eric squashing a spider.
Footsteps from the short hallway leading to the kitchen drew their attention. Eric reappeared and dropped into his chair at the table. “She’s locked herself in the guest room.”
Emma scrubbed her face before looking at Matthias. “Okay. Now what?”
Eric exhaled. “Now, I find a criminal attorney. Maybe one of my contract lawyers can refer me.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Matthias said. “From what I can tell, they don’t have any real evidence against you.”
“They can’t.” Eric’s voice squeaked. “I didn’t do it.”
“Someone told the police about your confrontation with Sonny at the Pub on Main,” Matthias said. “Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Matthias pushed his plate out of the way and leaned his forearms on the table. “Think. Who was there to see the incident?”
“The place was packed. It was lunchtime. A lot of the businessmen from downtown Washington eat there.”
“Who was Sonny with?”
Eric thought. “He was at a table for six. There was him, Patrick Winslow—”
“His construction foreman.”
“Yeah.”
Matthias figured Winslow was likely the source of Fergusson’s information. “Who else?”
“His assistant and three men I didn’t recognize, all dressed in suits and ties.”
His assistant. Matthias thought of the unhappy and unhelpful woman at the North Star Developing office yesterday. “Was there anyone at the other tables who might have a connection to Jones?”
Eric thought again, then shook his head. “Not that I can think of. But anyone could’ve told the police about it.”
“Except we’re only a few hours into the investigation. They wouldn’t have had time to learn about the incident from random questioning. Someone in Sonny’s inner circle told them.”
Emma came forward in her seat, her elbows straddling her plate. “You mentioned Sonny’s assistant. Is that Tina Neidermeyer?”
“Yes.”
Matthias looked at Emma. “Do you know her?”
“She was the person who witnessed Nell’s signature on the sales agreement,” Emma said. “I wonder if she’s the same woman we saw at Sonny’s office.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” To Eric, Matthias said, “Either the foreman or the assistant is probably the person pointing to you as a suspect.”
“Sonny was drunk. I knew that. I may have been mortified at the time, but it wasn’t something I haven’t experienced time and time again.
I don’t hold Sonny responsible. In fact, he called and apologized the next day once he sobered up.
I’m not sure how sincere his apology was, but I accepted it at face value. ”
Matthias leaned back. “None of which matters to the police, I’m afraid. What you need is someone who can vouch for the fact you were in Cleveland last night and this morning.”
“Someone besides Nell,” Eric said so quietly, Matthias almost couldn’t hear.
“Exactly. Think. There has to be someone you crossed paths with. I’m going to call the place you stayed. What was it? The Pine…”
“Pine Gables Inn.”
“Right. How about someone at the funeral? Did you speak with anyone? Offer your condolences?”
“No. I already told you. We stayed in the rear of the church. Nell knew she wasn’t welcome, so we stayed clear of the other mourners.”
Still, Matthias thought, someone might have seen them. Sometimes, the act of trying to avoid attention produces the opposite effect. Another call to Roberta from the funeral home was in order. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
“You both have jobs to get back to,” Eric said.
“I’m on administrative leave.” Matthias turned to Emma. “Isn’t your medical leave about up?”
“I’m supposed to see the doctor on Tuesday to get cleared to drive. Laurie expects me at work on Wednesday.” Emma shook her head. “I may have to reschedule my appointment. If I need to, I’ll call my boss and tell her I need some personal time. No way am I leaving with things the way they are.”
Eric appeared on the verge of bursting into tears.
“You two are the best.” He faced Emma. “Since you’re going to stick around, I really need your help.
We have to get Nell back in rehab, whether she wants it or not.
I’ve spent nearly every second of the last few days keeping her from getting her hands on any pills or alcohol.
I cleared out my medicine cabinet. I put a lock on my wine fridge downstairs and caught the little brat trying to pick it, so I moved everything over to my neighbors’ wine cellar.
I’m half afraid to leave her alone for five minutes for fear she’ll be over there, breaking into their house. ”
The color drained from Emma’s face. “I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
“It’s worse.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“For starters, stay with her tomorrow. I need to go to the office. Lord knows I have fires to put out thanks to Sonny’s untimely passing. While I’m there, I’ll make some phone calls and try to find an opening for her.”
Emma nodded. “Okay.”
“For my part,” Matthias said, “besides making those phone calls, I’ll talk to Fergusson first thing in the morning. Maybe I can convince him to keep me in the loop where Jones’s murder investigation is concerned.”
Eric looked at Matthias doubtfully. “Excuse me for saying, but I didn’t get the impression he liked you very much.”
Matthias shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. In truth, he had his own leverage against Fergusson that neither of them wanted him to use.