“Oh, I know I sound wicked,” she said, as if reading my thoughts. “But I have decided not to be a hippocrite. I am glad he’s dead. I didn’t kill him, and I had come to grips with being without him. I mean, once I decided to divorce him, I decided to live without him. If you turn your mind to that, you can’t feel so bad.”
Her reasoning was not imperfect. Had the divorce become final, she would have written off Thomas as just another poor investment, to be buried and forgotten. It wasn’t her attitude so much as the display of that attitude.
Decorum.
We had it in spades in New Orleans. When someone didn’t conform, it was telling.
I showed Jennifer a very nice Tiffany lamp that she thought perfect. The colored glass was set in a beautiful pattern of swirls and flowers. It was a wonderful piece that had once belonged to a brothel owner in Mississippi. I didn’t tell Jennifer the history, as I thought she might relish the lamp even more—not that Jennifer was going to run a brothel. The writing desk was more of a challenge, and we did not settle on it. There were two that met her needs, and I was certain there were several more upstairs that would do. I wasn’t ready to show them, as no one wants to buy a dusty desk that looks as old as it is.
An hour of considering ended when Jennifer announced that she was heading out for a drink. I was welcome to join her. I demurred, as I had the store to run.
“Pity,” Jennifer said. “I think you and I could have great fun...without Thomas. You know, I’ve watched him chase you for several years, and I have to commend you on your restraint. He was positively ugly at times.”
“He was mostly harmless,” I said. “I’m sure that once I said yes to his overture, he would have passed over and sought out the next woman.”
“Yes, he was that way, wasn’t he? And I can assure you that once he got drunk, he wasn’t worth anything. All talk, no action, if you know what I mean.”
I had learned never to badmouth the dead. In fact, I could have given Jennifer some pointers on that. But that would've been revealing too much.
“So, dear,” Jennifer said as she headed for the door. “I have no problems with you whatsoever...no matter what you did or didn’t do.” She winked and was gone.
The door was open long enough for Andromeda to slip into the store. He was silent and quick, and I doubted many people had seen him.
“That woman has absolutely no heart,” Orchid said.
Both Orchid and Zephyr were standing close by. I could hear them, and I was pretty sure Andromeda could too, but that didn’t matter.
“She reminds me of a woman I knew back in the day. Her name was Foxy. That wasn’t her real name which was Florence. Foxy got married to big hulk of man with a lopsided face. She was from the bayou, and she had married him to escape the swamp. Of course, the first thing that happened was that Foxy fell for a gangster named Chopstick, because he was so skinny. In those days, making eyes at another man’s wife was the wrong thing to do. Although, I guess it’s the same today. Unless it’s some drunk like that Thomas.”
“Honey,” Orchid said. “Is this story going somewhere?”
“It is,” Zephyr insisted. “Bear with me. All good stories take time to tell.”
Orchid rolled her eyes, and I was thankful that the rest of the store could not hear Zephyr’s long story.
“As I was saying before I was interrupted,” Zephyr continued. “Foxy talked Chopstick into killing her husband. Chopstick was not the brightest bulb on the block. Then, Foxy did the unthinkable. She turned in Chopstick. She didn’t really want him. She just needed a way to get rid of her husband, who had a huge life insurance policy on him. Foxy got the money and vanished. Some people said she went to California, but that was just rumor. Wherever she went, she got there with a load of cash.”
“Now, what kind of story is that?” Orchid asked. “Why can’t you tell uplifting stories once in a while?”
“In those days, there weren’t a lot of uplifting people.”
I waved away the ghosts and considered the story. What if Jennifer had an accomplice? She was an attractive woman, with that red hair and those green eyes. What if she had charmed someone into killing Thomas? That huge life insurance windfall was more than enough to entice some men. Or maybe, it wasn’t even another man. The world had turned in some respects, and while decorum dictated coed couples, Jennifer was no fan of decorum. For all anyone knew, she could have a male or female lover. And that lover could have put an arrow into Thomas’ heart, with the knowledge that no one would ever connect Thomas to the archer. Jennifer would have the perfect alibi—of course—and a gob of money to spend. I wondered if she was in the market for a new house, in a distant city. That would be a tipoff, wouldn’t it?
I turned to Andromeda, who was rubbing himself against the counter.
What do you think? Did Jennifer have an accomplice?
When one cannot perform the act, then a partner is necessary.
It would be easy for her. After all, everyone would be watching Thomas, not her.
The unhappy partner is always the one to watch.
But I’ve never heard of her stepping out on Thomas, and in the quarter, someone would notice.
Who notices a plumber?
You have a point. Any service provider would do. The lawn service, the man who sprays for bugs, because we have a lot bugs. The pool boy, although I don’t think Jennifer has a pool. And not anyone too smart, right?
A man smitten has no brain.
I laughed. Andromeda sounded as if he had been smitten himself once or twice.
In any case, I should talk to Jacob about accomplices, and I need to keep an eye on Jennifer. Who might she be talking to and eating with?
The vigilant live longer.
With that, Andromeda finished licking his hind end and padded off toward the rear of the store. I noticed that he did not offer to keep tabs on Jennifer, and that was to be expected. Andromeda was good for some sorts of investigating. Stakeouts were not included in that list. He was easily bored.
As the day was winding down, I decided that I would talk to Jacob again and mention the possibility of Jennifer having an accomplice. He might want to be on the lookout for someone coming into an unexplained stash of cash. I was pretty sure that any accomplice of Jennifer’s would be itching for the money. Of course, if I did tell Jacob, he might accuse me of investigating where I shouldn’t be investigating. That might be true, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me.
The sun was setting as I sort of shooed out the last tourist and locked the door. The closing tasks had to be performed, but that wouldn’t take long. Of course, Roxanne chose that moment to appear and approach me. She wasn’t wailing, but she wasn’t happy either.
“Have you possibly come upon my necklace,” she asked.
I wanted to ask her what had happened to her chaperones. I supposed they had fallen into another argument and thus, weren’t up to shadowing Roxanne.
“If I had, I would have called you,” I told Roxanne. “And if I do happen upon it, you will be the first to know.”
She forced a smile that wasn’t much of a smile. “I am forever grateful. And I swear by all that’s holy to me, that I will do a better job of controlling my emotions. You have been too understanding for anything less.”