“I wanted to let you know—
“Are those police cars?” she asked, stretching to see beyond me. “What’s going on around here? Somebody get arrested? I’ll bet it’s those drug runners. I’ve seen ’em sneaking around town in the middle of the night.” She folded her arms across her chest and looked directly at me. “Anybody sneaking around at night is up to no good. You can take that to the bank.”
Why was she looking at me? I never snuck around at night.
“It’s about Jesse,” Jane said softly, catching Mrs. Higgins’s attention. “He passed away sometime last night.”
“What? Jesse? What do you mean?” She glanced from Jane to me, frowning. “No.”
“It’s true, Mrs. Higgins,” I said.
“No, it can’t be. Jesse’s . . . no.” She looked confused and her eyes grew damp. “No.” Her knees began to wobble and I grabbed her arm to steady her.
“Let’s sit down.” I walked into her house and led her over to the sofa in her front room. Jane sat on her other side and we both held her hands for a few minutes while she wept and tried to speak. It was hard. The more questions she asked, the more information we gave her, the more she curled up protectively.
She was clearly devastated. But after a few minutes, she dried her eyes with a wadded tissue and glared at me. “Why didn’t you come and get me sooner?”
That caught me by surprise. “I . . . um, I’m sorry, Mrs. Higgins. I was busy with the police.”
She huffed, pointing out the front window. “I missed everything. Look at those police cars. I never heard them arrive.”
“Their sirens were blaring,” I said a little defensively.
“And I missed it? Dang.”
I gave Jane a quick glance and she jumped in. “You should be able to catch the county coroner’s arrival in a little while.”
“The county coroner?” Mrs. Higgins whispered reverently. “Oh my. Yes, I’ll watch for him. The least I can do is watch ’em take the body away.” Her eyes darted from Jane to me and back to Jane. “For Jesse’s sake, I mean.”
“Of course,” Jane said, biting back a smile.
Mrs. Higgins patted Jane’s hand. “I know he was your family and I’m sorry for your troubles. But all this excitement was happening right in front of my nose and I didn’t even get to check it out.”
“It’s not over yet,” I said. “There’s still some more excitement to come.”
She scowled and shook her finger at me. “You, of all people, should’ve known to call on me sooner. I need to be a witness. I could’ve taken pictures. I owe it to that old coot to get all the best gossip before anyone else in town!”
“Sorry, Mrs. Higgins,” I said, with an eye roll for Jane. “Don’t know what I was thinking.”
Mrs. Higgins coughed when she seemed to realize she might’ve come across as a bit bloodthirsty. “I mean, it would be a fitting memorial to his, er, memory, that’s all. I was his closest confidante for the past many years, don’t you know?”
“That is true,” I said, nodding.
“Of course you were,” Jane murmured sincerely.
Mrs. Higgins was a touch addled, even on a good day.
I hesitated to ask the next question but realized the woman might actually know something important. “Mrs. Higgins, did you notice anything strange going on at Jesse’s house recently?”
“Strange?” When her eyes widened, I knew I’d just spoon-fed her a great big scoop of potential gossip, but what else could I do? I needed information. Her nose was practically twitching as she wrapped her housecoat more tightly around her. “Like what, for instance?”
“Oh, you know. Strangers coming and going. Cars parking on the street that you don’t recognize. Loud noises.” I figured if a thief had used a sledgehammer to pound a hole in Jesse’s wall, somebody must’ve heard it.
“Noises,” she said flatly. “There’ve been plenty of noises. A car engine was so loud the other night it woke me out of a deep sleep. I heard some pounding late last night, too, but I think it might’ve been coming from the marina.”
The Lighthouse Cove Marina was two blocks away and we could hear late-night party noises occasionally. But I’d never heard pounding coming from over there.
“When was the last time you saw him?”
She pursed her lips, thinking. “Four days ago we talked for a few minutes, but before that, it had been well over a week.”
I could remember seeing Jesse and Mrs. Higgins talking every day. What had changed? “Was he out of town?”
“No, just too busy for an old friend.” She tried to sound blasé, but I could tell her feelings were hurt.
“Was anything different the last time you talked to him?”
“No, unless you count Jesse being overly jolly. That can get on a person’s nerves, I don’t mind saying.”
“Jolly?”