A while later, Eric walked out of the bedroom and approached Stephen. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
“Me?” Stephen blinked a few times, clearly agitated.
“Yeah.” He pointed to the hall. “Let’s go find a quiet place. I just have a few questions. We can do it here or down at headquarters.”
“Uh, here is fine, but my father’s waiting for me. I’m taking him to lunch.”
Eric nodded at Ned. “Hello, Mr. Darby. We’ll just be a couple minutes. Why don’t we find you a comfortable chair until we’re finished?”
“I can wait downstairs in that library room,” Ned said.
“Okay. That’s good, Dad,” Stephen said. “I’ll meet you there in a little while.”
The three men left Jane’s rooms, and Althea, Jane, and I gazed at each other.
“Stephen didn’t look happy,” Althea whispered.
I bit back a smile. “Neither did Ned. But I’m sure they have nothing to worry about. Eric is probably interviewing everyone who’s staying here in case they saw or heard something last night.”
She sighed. “That police chief is awfully handsome, isn’t he?”
Now I did smile at her. “Oh yes.”
*
We continued for another two hours putting Jane’s rooms back in order. Tables were righted and beloved tchotchkes were placed where they’d been before. Althea eschewed the housekeeping staff and ran the vacuum cleaner herself over the area rugs and highly polished wooden floor. Pillows were fluffed and returned to the couches and chairs, books to their proper shelves, and eventually everything looked as pristine and perfect as it had before Jane’s world was turned upside down.
She thanked us both and promised that lunch was going on her tab next week.
“Don’t you worry about that,” Althea said. “Just take care of yourself.”
“I’m holding you to it,” I said.
Jane laughed. “Good, because I mean it. I owe you both.”
“When I get home, I’ll call Palmer at the newspaper,” I said. “I want to make sure everyone in town knows that the necklace is in the bank, okay? Like, put it in a headline so everybody gets it.”
“Good idea,” Jane said. “I don’t know how anyone could’ve gotten the idea that it might be here.”
“Whoever it is, they’re not paying attention. They were still looking for it Saturday night at Jesse’s house.”
“Still?” Jane said. “But I had the locks changed and the police are still cruising the area, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We’ve got a determined intruder.”
“Where is this?” Althea asked.
Uh-oh. I had forgotten she didn’t know the whole story. I glanced at Jane. “Jesse’s house. Somebody broke in.”
“More than once,” Jane added.
“We think they were looking for an expensive necklace he found a few years ago.”
“Oh dear,” Althea cried. “Did they break anything?”
I exchanged another look with Jane, then shrugged. Might as well share the rest of the bad news with her. “The first time they smashed a hole in the wall and generally made a horrible mess.”
“That’s disgusting.” She pressed shaking fingers to her lips. “Oh my goodness. Poor Jesse.”
“I’m sorry, Althea. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No. Don’t worry about me. I’m not as fragile as all that. I’m just sorry to think of someone hounding Jesse even after his death.”
“It’s been pretty bad,” I admitted. “And they keep getting away before we can catch them.”
Jane punched her fist against her palm. “You’d think the word would’ve gotten out a long time ago, after we told our friends at our girls’ night dinner.”
“And you living right next door, Shannon.” Althea gave me a worried look. “You must be scared to death.”
“I have plenty of friends looking out for me.”
Althea sighed. “You’re very lucky to have so many friends.”
“We both grew up here, so, you know, that’s life in a small town.”
“I grew up in a big city,” Althea said. “Never thought I’d leave it. But now I love living in a small community.”
“It grows on you,” I said, and started itching, which made Althea giggle.
“I think our work here is done,” Jane announced. “I’m so grateful to you both.”
We had a sentimental group hug and then I took off to check out the Stansburys’ home to see how the last segment of the roof was coming along.
*
That evening, Mac offered to grill steaks if I would make the salad. I hadn’t had steak in a while, so of course I said yes, immediately.