“I might take you up on that,” Eric said, sitting back in his chair. “But so far, we haven’t run into any resistance.”
I took a breath and plunged ahead. “So it was murder.”
He went back to scowling again. “Let’s end this conversation right now while we’re all still friends.”
Jane jumped up. “Great idea. Thanks, Eric. Come on, Shannon.” She gave me a look and tipped her head toward the door.
I took the hint and stood. “Thank you, Eric. Not knowing would have driven Jane nuts.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, his tone caustic. “Just remember to keep your mouths shut. Because, trust me, you won’t like sleeping in a jail cell.”
*
“I need to cook.”
I wasn’t about to argue, because Jane was a fabulous cook, so we stopped at the market to buy the ingredients for beef stroganoff and took everything to my house. She confessed that she didn’t want to go home alone after talking to the police chief. And since we couldn’t tell anyone else about Jesse being murdered or about the priceless necklace I’d found, we decided we’d better stick together.
I opened a bottle of wine and poured us each a glass. “We need to tell Eric about the necklace. It’s got to be the main reason why Jesse was murdered.”
“I know, I know.” Jane began heating up beef stock, adding a carrot, some thyme sprigs, and a bay leaf. While that bubbled, she chopped up a chuck roast into bite-sized chunks. She didn’t believe in dredging the meat in flour, instead dropping the chunks into olive oil and frying them until they were lightly browned. She added onions to the meat and cooked them down, then poured cognac over everything and cooked it until the alcohol burned off. Finally she added the flavored beef stock, stirred it up, and covered it to keep it simmering.
She sat down at the kitchen table and took a sip of wine. “That has to cook for about an hour and a half.”
“Okay, I’ll make a salad while we wait.” I walked outside to my garden to pick some fresh veggies. The fog had rolled in and the air was cold and damp. I found three different types of tomatoes, a small head of romaine, some purple leaf lettuce, green onions, and a cucumber. After washing everything, I went to work at the chopping block on the counter.
“I just wish we could tell Lizzie and Emily and Marigold about the necklace,” Jane said. “It feels odd to be keeping secrets from them.”
“It won’t be a secret for long.” I tossed some cut-up cucumber into the salad bowl and reached for my wineglass. “But yeah, the true meaning of misery is trying to keep a secret this big all to ourselves.”
“Two big secrets,” she said.
“Right.” We had to keep quiet not only about the necklace, but also about the possibility that Jesse was murdered. I lifted my glass. “Wine helps.”
She laughed softly. “Always.”
“This is the problem with living in a small town,” I griped. “There are no secrets. I guess we’ve gotten used to that, because now I’m about to burst with all this news.”
“Well, try to control yourself,” she said, pointing at me as she clutched the stem of her wineglass. “I don’t plan to spend even one night in jail. And you know that wasn’t an idle threat.”
“Believe me, I know.” I popped a cherry tomato into my mouth and handed one to Jane. “Eric wasn’t happy telling us about the pills, but I’m glad he did.”
The cooking time passed quickly, and before long, Jane was heating up butter and sautéing mushrooms and garlic and more thyme. She added the cooked meat along with some sour cream and more seasonings.
I was in charge of the noodles, which meant I had to open a package and pour them into boiling water. I fancied myself a pretty good cook, but I couldn’t begin to compete with Jane.
Once we sat down with our plates, there was silence as we tasted the first few bites of the amazing food. After a minute, Jane shook her head. “I don’t know how Jesse ever managed to keep that necklace a secret.”
“He didn’t in the beginning.”
“True,” she said, frowning. “But at some point, he hid it away and never mentioned it again.”
“I have a whole new level of admiration for him. How he managed to keep quiet all that time is as big a mystery as what happened to him the other night.” I dragged a small chunk of beef through the buttery, creamy mushroom sauce, took a bite, and almost moaned.
“He kept the necklace a secret for a couple of years. We only have to keep our secrets for a few days.”
“I know, and yet I worry that I won’t be able to do it.”
“Just picture yourself inside a prison cell.”
“That’s good advice,” I said.
Jane sighed and swirled her wine. “I won’t have a problem keeping what Eric told us a secret, but the necklace is another story.”
I gave her a look. “It might help to remember that the reason we can’t talk about the necklace is because we don’t want Jesse’s killer to know we have it.”
She grimaced. “Oh yeah.”
“If we told one person, you know word would get out somehow.”