I squeezed my eyes even tighter. Without opening them, I asked, “And what facts might those be?”
I heard Jude stand and opened my eyes to see him heading toward the door. “Heck if I know,” he said over his shoulder. “Just thought I’d warn you before the meeting.” He reached for the door handle and paused, turning his wrist to see his watch. “Which, by the way, starts in just a few minutes.”
*
THE TENSION IN the conference room was almost palpable. Gone was the usual chatter and good-natured ribbing that usually occurred when we gathered. Instead, all the agents, except Flora, who was still out sick, sat in their prospective seats, staring straight ahead with rigid expressions. Well, all except Zach, who looked like he was about to burst with excitement.
At precisely ten o’clock, Bentley made her grand appearance, breezing through the conference room door with Olive tucked under her arm. She gently set the pooch in the new pale pink doggie bed in the corner before she turned to face us with a determined look. “Good morning, team. I’m glad to see we’re all here. We have a lot of ground to cover this morning, so let’s look alive, shall we?”
Franklin cleared his throat and sat a little straighter. Jude shifted forward and ran a finger under the collar of his shirt and stretched his neck. Then there was Zach, who was already looking alive. So much so that he was practically bouncing out of his seat. Only Vicky remained quiet and somewhat disengaged.
Bentley regarded her, pursing her lips before putting on her reading glasses and moving toward the whiteboard. Pointing up to the timeline we’d sketched earlier in the week, she started, “First item on the agenda is—”
Zach’s hand shot up. “I’ve solved the case! It wasn’t Jodi. It was Lynn. Lynn Werner. Lila’s client. I’m sure of it.” He shot me a smug look. “You really are a murder magnet.”
“Zach!” Bentley tore off her glasses and regarded Zach with disdain. “Have you uncovered some sort of irrefutable proof against Lynn? Because if I’m not mistaken, our goal this week was to keep our eyes and ears open for anyone, other than one of our clients, who could have committed this murder.”
Zach’s eyes went googly. “It’s not my fault the clues point to Lynn as the killer.”
“Lynn’s not the killer,” I fervently maintained. Although I’d been doubting Lynn all along, I was now certain, not to mention measurably relieved, to have a more likely suspect—Chuck’s fiancée, the mysterious out-of-town woman.
I was about to mention my conclusions when Franklin asserted himself. “Why don’t you tell us about these facts first, Zach, and then we’ll all decide if they really do point to Lynn’s culpability.”
“Okay,” Zach started, sitting up a little straighter. “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of checking around the last couple of days, asking everybody I know about Chuck Richards. And I mean everybody.”
Jude sighed. “And what did you discover?”
“For starters”—he hesitated and shifted a few times, obviously trying to prolong his moment in the spotlight—“that lady who owns the Magnolia Bed and Breakfast . . .”
“Cora Scott,” Vicky inserted.
“Yeah, that’s her name. She said that she’d overheard Chuck talking on his cell phone several times to some woman.”
His fiancée, I concluded in my mind. The woman at the funeral.
“Did she know who the woman was?” Bentley wanted to know.
“Naw, but it’s not hard to figure out.” That comment stumped me, but before I could ask what he meant, he tapped his head and said, “Then I got to thinking, Chuck’s a working man and where do working men hang out?”
By now, everyone was getting a little annoyed. Jude sighed yet again. “We don’t know, Zach. Perhaps you could enlighten us?”
“The Pub, that’s where,” Zach said as if it were the most brilliant thing ever. “So, while everyone was heading home after last night’s event, I headed over to the James Joyce to mingle with the Friday night crowd. Asked almost everyone there about Chuck. And as it turns out, he was in there a couple of nights before he met his demise.”
I was leaning forward, all ears. Zach continued. “And get this. He was flashing a ring. Said he and his girl had picked it out at that secondhand store, Beyond and Back.”