I slumped back in my chair. “I feel guilty. I’m beginning to think we should’ve believed everything he ever said.”
She took a deep breath and let it out. “Don’t feel guilty. He told plenty of wild tales that you know aren’t true.”
“We just couldn’t tell the difference between the true stories and the whoppers.”
I reread the letter as she carefully wrapped the necklace in the tissue paper and put it back in the box. I handed her the folded letter and she placed it on top and shut the box.
“We have to hide this.”
“I don’t want to return it to the wall,” I said. “It was in a good hiding place, but if I could find it, someone else could, too.”
She thought for a moment. “I’ll open a safe-deposit box at my bank.”
I smiled brightly. “I already have one.”
“You do? Why did I never know that?”
“Because I have hidden depths?”
Shaking her head, she said, “I have nothing to say to that.”
I grinned. It was always good to surprise people who thought they knew you so well. “Did I blow your mind just now?”
She snorted a laugh. “No, but you scared me.”
“I scare myself sometimes.”
Jane stood and grabbed her purse. “Do you have time to go to the bank right now?”
“I do.” I placed the tin box at the bottom of my bag and found my keys, then stopped as something occurred to me. “I wonder if the cops found sleeping pills in Jesse’s medicine cabinet.”
“Sleeping pills,” she said in disgust. “I don’t believe it. But we can go next door and look.”
I hoisted my purse. “I’d rather go to the bank first. It’s Friday and I hate the idea of either of us walking around with this priceless hunk of jewelry all weekend.”
“Okay, bank first, then Jesse’s house.”
*
“It’s a lot of hassle just to visit your safe-deposit box,” Jane said forty minutes later as she parked her car back in front of my house. “I thought you only needed to show them the key to get access to the vault.”
“It used to be that way,” I said as I pushed the door open and climbed out. “But now they’ve got signature verification and a PIN and the thumbprint analyzer. It’s all very high tech.”
“It’s a little disconcerting.”
“You get used to it,” I said. “I’m surprised you don’t have one. You must have plenty of important documents for your business.”
“I have a lockbox in my closet.”
“Oh, that’s high tech,” I said.
“I know it’s dumb,” she said. “Don’t worry. Before I open my doors to the public, I’ll get a safe-deposit box.”
“They’re only a few dollars a year. Totally worth it.”
We walked up to Jesse’s front porch and Jane unlocked the door. I took a step inside, but she hesitated on the threshold.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“It’s the first time I’ve been back since he’s been . . . gone. It’s a little sad.”
I took her hand. “Come on. I’m right here with you.”
“Okay.”
We walked arm in arm to the end of the hall and into Jesse’s bathroom. I recalled what it looked like before the cleaning crew arrived. The medicine cabinet had been plundered. Pills, bandages, and all sorts of medical stuff were scattered all over the floor. Some had been flung across the room and into the shower. The drawers had been emptied as well. Now it was tidy, and we found nothing stronger than ibuprofen.
We did the same thing in the smaller guest bathroom, rummaging around in the cabinets under the sink and above the commode, but found nothing more exciting than a can of instant tanning spray. Who knew Jesse had ever used that stuff?
“I’ll check his bedroom,” I said.
“Better check the floors and carpets in case the cleaning crew missed something.”
Talk about creepy. But I didn’t want Jane to have to do it. The bathrooms were bad enough, but Jesse’s bedroom would be a lot more difficult for her.
“I don’t see anything in here,” I called out after a few minutes of searching his nightstand and around and under his bed.
Jane came back down the hall. “I checked the kitchen. I didn’t see anything there, either.”
I gritted my teeth. “Now we’ve got to figure out a nice way to ask Eric if his crime scene guys already found the sleeping pills and took them back to the lab.”
“Why does it matter?” she asked as she locked the front door behind us.
“If Jesse had his own prescription, they would’ve found the pill bottle and we’ll know for sure that he had sleeping pills. But if they didn’t find sleeping pills anywhere in the house, then it’s likely that someone brought them in from the outside and drugged him.”
Jane looked at me with something resembling awe. “That’s so smart. How did you think of that?”
I assumed an unfocused gaze into the middle distance. “I’ve had some experience on the dark side.”
I was happy to hear her laugh. “Spare me. Let’s get out of here and go see Eric about those pills.”
Chapter Seven