Page 32 of Death in the Family
I motioned for her to come in. “Jade’s phone,” I said when I caught her staring. “She and Jasper spend a lot of time together, huh?”
Her pillowy lips turned downward. “What do you mean?”
“Jade has pictures with him. Lots of Jasper alone, too.”
“Well yeah, he’s, like, her uncle.” Abella drew in a breath. “Oh my God. You’re not saying you think she and Jas...”
Jasper’s girlfriend looked shocked, but I couldn’t be sure the reaction was authentic. She’d omitted a key event from her account of the previous day. I pondered the possibility she and Jasper had argued about pretty little Jade. Was Jade trying to split them up? She knew Jasper planned to propose. Jade was the one who divulged it to Ned.
“Hey,” I said. “I need to clear something up. After you saw what you saw yesterday, did you and Jasper get in a—”
“Might I offer everyone some coffee?”
Norton’s presence behind Abella made her jump. “It’ll just take a minute to brew,” he said, looking from Abella to me, and back again. “I’d like to take some up to Mrs. Sinclair, too, in case she’s up from her nap.”
“Did someone say coffee?” Crossing the hall, Tim squeezed himself between Norton and Abella, and grinned.
“Go ahead,” I told Norton. As he peeled off toward the kitchen, Tim glanced down at my hand. I didn’t like that he’d left the others alone in the parlor, or that he was encroaching on my conversation. I had more questions for Abella, and she clearly had something she wanted to say.
“Can you give us a minute, Miss Beaudry?” Tim said.
“I was going to ask the same of you,” I said to Tim.
Back in the parlor Bebe let out a hearty laugh. The sound of Jasper’s sister enjoying herself on a day like today sent a bracing shiver down my spine. I glanced at Abella. Her eyes were round as plates.
“I just need a sec,” I said to Tim.
“Likewise,” said Tim, trying not to look baffled by my suggestion that he take a hike. He turned back to face Abella. “Merchant will be right in to get you.”
Abella took a step backward. “No,” I said quickly. “Stay.”
Tim put a hand on my witness’s shoulder. “We won’t be long. Okay?”
Abella’s gaze ping-ponged between us. Eventually, she nodded and walked away.
“What the hell?” I said when she was gone. “Have you forgotten who answers to who around here? She was about to tell me something! It might have been important!”
“It’ll keep. What happened to your hand?”
I dragged my fingers down my face. What was he thinking, interrupting when a witness was about to open up? Was this how village investigators operated? With no respect for the hierarchy of the agency and its people? “Jade happened,” I said, reconciling myself to revisiting Abella when Tim had whatever assurance he needed that I was fine. “She poured a pot of scalding water on me.”
“Poured, or spilled?”
I hesitated.Not deliberate, I reminded myself. I didn’t want to sound paranoid, but the time I’d spent with Jade left me leery. “I don’t know, but it hurts like hell. Why did you let her leave the parlor?”
“What?”
“Before she scarred me in the kitchen, Jade was smoking a cigarette up in her room.”
Tim’s eyebrows tilted. “No,” he said. “She was in the bathroom.”
I chuckled. “Thought as much. Watch out for her, that one’s smarter than your average bear—and she has a thing for our leading man.”
“Jade and Jasper? Come on. Christ, she’s a kid.”
“Age is just a number, Tim. Obviously Jade didn’t schlep Jasper’s body out of the house by herself, but I feel like she’s involved somehow. She’s been reading up on us online.”
“What? When?” Tim’s face was getting red.
