“Cold comfort to O’Bryant. He’s tiptoeing around Majestic, hoping he doesn’t get demoted.” Raul took a seat. “Is this the same room you were in when you were accidentally drugged?”
“Yes,” Dee said, her tone acerbic. “I always request the room with the view of the HVAC unit on the roof of the second floor.”
“The reason you’re here this time was no accident.” Raul took out his notepad. “Walk me through what happened.”
“The fingernail,” Dee blurted, suddenly remembering.
“Huh?” The young sheriff stared at her, nonplussed.
“I had the perfect clue and it’s gone.” Dee slapped her forehead in frustration. Her ears rang. “Ow. That wasn’t too bright.” She wrinkled her nose, annoyed with herself. “I found one of Verity’s fake fingernails floating on a leaf in our pool. I held on to it so I could store it in a safe place in my apartment. When I reached my front door, I saw a shadow. I thought it might be Jeff, because he’s scared me before like that. I called to him and shone my light in the woods. Someone came from behind and pushed me down. My flashlight rolled away. It’s a really good one—heavy, you know, like, industrial strength. They banged me on the head with it.”
Dee gently touched where the flashlight landed and felt a bump. Even a light touch hurt and she dropped her hand. “Maybe Verity realized she lost a nail when she dumped Shawn in our pool and showed up to find it. But she saw me find it, followed me, bonked me on the head, and stole the nail back.”
“That’s a nice story,” Raul said, “but your suspect has an alibi. She’s in the next room here at the hospital. I saw her on my way to you. Apparently, she’s on some weight loss program and went a little too heavy on the laxative tea, which her digestive system didn’t appreciate.”
“Oh.” Dee thought for a moment, the effort not without pain. “What if Verity lost the nail setting Michael’s cabin on fire? She hasn’t been ruled out as a suspect in his murder, has she?” Raul shook his head.
“Then that’s something to consider,” Dee said, feeling a little vindicated.
“I’ll look into it, along with the security footage from your place. It would help to have the fingernail, though. Physical evidence.”
Jeff appeared in the doorway. He held a small bakery box. “Hi. Okay if I come in?”
“Sure,” Dee said. “Especially if you come bearing baked goods.”
“They’re from Elmira,” he said, adding with emphasis, “They’re homemade. By Elmira.”
“That’s code for they’re terrible,” Dee said to Raul, keeping her voice low.
“You don’t need to whisper,” Raul said. “We’ve all almost lost a tooth to one of her brookies. How you can make a brownie-cookie mash-up inedible, I’ll never know, but that nice lady found a way.” He stood up. “I’m glad you’re both here. I owe you an apology. I never should’ve encouraged you to help me do my job.” He sounded chagrined. “Poor judgment on my part. I feel responsible for what happened to you, Dee.”
“You’re not,” Dee said, adamant. “I would have stuck my nose into this investigation whether you wanted me to or not.”
“And she would have dragged me along with her,” Jeff added.
“Exactly.” Dee nodded. “So you can stop feeling guilty.”
“I appreciate that,” Raul said. “But no more amateur sleuthing. I wanna make sure nothing else happens to either of you. Got it?”
Dee and Jeff remained mute.
The sheriff gave them the side eye. “You’re not gonna stop, are you?”
“No,” Dee said. “But give yourself credit for trying to make us.”
Raul responded with an exaggerated eye roll, then departed, the spurs on his boots jingling.
Jeff took the seat the sheriff vacated. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I went and got some big bones for Nugget as a reward for letting me know you were in trouble last night. How are you feeling?”
“Like someone hit me over the head with my own flashlight.”
Jeff’s pale skin turned red with anger. “When I find out who did this to you!” He made a fist and mimed decking the culprit.
The gesture touched Dee. “I appreciate it, but I hope that whoever did this will be in handcuffs at that point because they’ve been nailed as Michael’s and Shawn’s murderer.” She leaned back against her pillow and thought for a moment. “Michael’s family’s house. The one Shawn said was sold. We haven’t looked into that angle at all. It might hold some clues about what motivated the murders.”
“Good thinking. Do you have any details on it? Like, an address?”
“All I know is it was on Lake Goldsgone. Shawn said he hadn’t seen Michael since he helped him move stuff out of the house about a year ago.”
“There aren’t too many houses on the lakes around here. And it must have been a pretty recent sale.” Jeff opened the browser on his phone and typed in a search. He examined the results. “Ah. Here we go. There’s a couple of houses for sale, but only one that sold in the last year.”
He handed Dee the phone. The listing featured a dozen photos of a charming cottage painted a pale blue and surrounded by a picket fence. A small hill ended at the lake’s edge, where a dock extended into the still water, which reflected the charming home.
“What a cute house and gorgeous location,” Dee said. “I can see why Michael was drawn back to it.”
She returned the phone to Jeff. He stood up and stuck it in the back pocket of his jeans. “You rest. I’ll go over to the house and see what I can dig up. Hopefully, the new owners will be chatty and will tell me if anything was left behind by the previous owners. It might mean nothing to them but be a break for us.”
He leaned over Dee’s hospital bed and ruffled her hair. She swatted him away. “Stop, I hate that.”
“I know, that’s why I did it. Being annoyed boosts your endorphins.” He gave her an affectionate grin and left to pursue the potential lead.
Dee nodded off after Jeff’s departure. She slept for a couple of hours, then received a visit from the doctor supervising her case. He approved her release with the proviso she make an instant return to the hospital if any symptoms recurred. When he was gone, Dee reached for her phone to let Jeff know she’d been released. But before she could contact him, her phone rang with a call from him.
“Did you see my text?” He sounded unhappy.
“No, I fell asleep. Give me a minute.”
Dee went to her Messages app and opened it to a photo of an empty lot perched on the edge of Lake Goldsgone. A large sign in the middle of the lot heralded a brand-new, state-of-the-art home coming soon to the lot, courtesy of: THE GOLDSGONE GROUP.
