Gracie's Game: Sudden Anger, Accidentally on Purpose (24 page)

CHAPTER 19

Clarissa jumped up and then stood there awkwardly. "Jennifer. I'm sorry, we didn't hear you come out." She finally moved to take one of the pizza boxes and put it on one of the small tables.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," Clarissa told her. "You must've heard some pretty ugly things."

Jennifer set the other box down and opened it. "It's OK, Clarissa. I know everyone thinks I might have killed my husband. I
didn't
but, I mean, I make a great suspect, don't I? The much-younger second wife who clearly married him for his money. I did, too. I might as well admit it and get everything out in the open."

"Jennifer and I had a long talk this afternoon," Gracie said. "We talked about what was important and taking control of your own life. I told her it would be OK with us all if Cindy moved in here."

"You really love Cindy, don't you?" Clarissa asked.

"Yeah, I do," Jennifer replied. "I know a lot of people think it's, like, gross. But I really appreciate you guys understanding. I can't
wait
to tell her tonight when she gets off work! Oh, and I promise we won't make a stink at the funeral."

"Jennifer's thinking about going back to school, Mom," Gracie said.

"Oh, Jennifer, that's wonderful!" Clarissa said. "At least there will be one happy ending to this terrible event."

"I hope so!" Jennifer replied. "I guess a lot depends on who
did
kill Charles and why. Until then I can't, I mean, I won't feel really safe."

"You don't think he'll come after
you
do you?" Gracie asked. "It's been four days now, whoever it was is lying low and probably wants as little to do with you as possible."

"You mean if he was going to shoot me he'd have already done it?"

Gracie winced.

"That's a big part of why I stayed with Cindy for a couple of days," Jennifer said. "But what I
meant
was that I'm still a suspect. Lieutenant Freeman, " there was a slight stress on the correct title, "hasn't completely ruled me out. I can see it in his eyes." She gave them an arch look. "I mean, it
could
have happened like Clarissa said, with me shooting at him and faking the burglary."

"I only said the lieutenant might have thought that, not that
I
did," Clarissa said hastily.

"But that's exactly what I'm talking about!" Jennifer responded. "People are gonna think I'm guilty until the police find the real killer."

"I'd
love
to talk about this some more," Gracie said. "But I'm starving and that pizza smells
good
! Can we eat while we talk?"

They spent a few minutes getting napkins and drinks, then pulled four chairs around a small table and sat down to eat.

"Justin," Jennifer said. "I know we haven't always gotten along very well, but, I mean, I want to tell you that I understand how you must've felt. If I hadn't had Cindy I'd have gone crazy living with your father! I've been thinking about it, and I can see how, like, frustrating it would have been for you. He never had time for anyone but himself."

Justin mumbled, "Thanks," and took a big bite of pizza to cover his discomfort.

"So now we know that it
wasn't
the same person that shot at Dad all three times," Gracie said. "Where does that leave us?"

"It means we don't care where anyone was during the morning, just from lunchtime on," Clarissa said.

"Well, we know Justin
was
in school," Gracie said.

"Never thought I'd be glad to have been sent to the principal!" Justin laughed a little weakly.

"And I was in school and Clarke's teacher vouched for him being in class," Gracie continued. "Mom and Susan were playing golf, and Bill was hiding out in his lab."

"I was at Cindy's until about 2:30," Jennifer chimed in. "I came home and found the mess Justin left and called 911. Then I called Cindy and she came right over."

Everyone nodded. Gracie wasn't 100% convinced that this proved Cindy's innocence, but didn't want to say it in front of Jennifer. Cindy had just as much motive, but if she'd done it then Jennifer was at the very least covering for her.

"That leaves Aunt Jeanine," Gracie said. "She has motive but – oh! I forgot to tell you that Lieutenant Freeman has talked to Dad's lawyer about the will!"

"No matter how much I get, it's another nail in my coffin," Jennifer said gloomily.

"You mean you don't know?" Clarissa asked in surprise.

"Charles just said he'd take care of me," she replied. "I know you think I'm, like, dumb for not asking, but I knew better. I learned a long time ago not to, you know, ask guys how much they'll give you. You take what they offer, though there
are
ways to get them to pony up a little bit more. Besides, I never thought it would matter."

"I can see that. I've never been able to get away with it, but I've known lots of girls that did. Is Jeanine really in your father's will?" Clarissa said.

"He just said she won't like what she gets," Gracie told her. "I guess that means she
is
in the will, though."

"Actually, I find that a little surprising," Clarissa said. "She was making such a fuss about needing a loan, and I don't know why she'd ask Charles. He'd told her years ago he wouldn't help her anymore. I assumed he wouldn't have left her any money. Knowing him I thought he'd probably just told her that to be mean."

"However much it is, it won't be enough for her," Gracie said. "What I'm more concerned about is that the lieutenant hasn't been able to prove she was really at the bingo hall."

"Jeanine will gripe about the time and effort she has to make just to attend the reading of the will! She wouldn't go out of her way to kill someone even if she got a million dollars for it." Clarissa said. "Oh, that reminds me. I need to call her about the funeral."

"Maybe that's what she's counting on us thinking. Just this once she actually did something to help herself," Gracie said. "I hope she didn't, but if you look at it like the police would she's a better suspect than Jennifer." She grinned to take the sting out of the remark.

Jennifer laughed and said, "Yeah, she is, isn't she?"

"I hate to say it, but Clay's alibi hasn't been verified yet, either," Clarissa said.

"But Clay wouldn't have a reason to kill Dad," Gracie said.

"I certainly wouldn't like to think he might have done it," her mother said. "But I suppose the police think Clay would want to get his hands on
your
inheritance, children of mine."

"But the lieutenant said he'd checked out everyone's financial stuff and Clay's in good shape," Gracie protested.

"Just because someone has money doesn't mean they wouldn't like to get more," Clarissa told her. "It's pretty thin as motives go, but I wish he'd tell me where he really was. It makes him look guilty."

"We're forgetting something here," Gracie told them. "Whoever it was had to have Dad's gun. How did they get it?"

"Took it away from him," Justin put in. "I left it next to him when I got outta there so he must've had it with him."

"Let's think about that," Gracie said. "Dad was unconscious, he wakes up and finds the house all torn up. He knows Justin shot at him, probably figured out the 'burglary', he's gonna be pissed. The gun's on the floor beside him. He wouldn't want to leave it in the house and risk Justin getting hold of it again. So yeah, you're right, he would've taken it with him."

"I wish I
had
taken it with me," Justin said. "Then none of this would've happened."

"We don't know that for sure," Gracie told him.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Justin retorted. "But thanks, anyway."

"Well, I
do
hope it helps," she replied. "But I really mean it. If Dad had, say, put the gun in the glove box of his car and someone broke into the car and found it and they had some reason to be mad at him..."

"Then they'd shoot him just because they had a gun. But if they didn't have one they might just pick a fight," Justin finished for her.

You could almost see the light bulb go on over Gracie's head. "Do you think that's what happened in the parking garage?"

"That would mean they knew there was a gun in the glove box," Clarissa said. "There weren't any signs the car had been broken into, either."

"Aren't there ways to get inside a locked car?" Gracie asked.

"Yeah, but you have to have a special tool and know what you're doing," Justin told her. "I know some guys that break into cars to steal stuff. To, uh, get money for smoke."

"Maybe he threw a rock through the window to get in and get the gun. Then he took the rock back so it would look like he'd shot the window out," Gracie suggested.

"Get real!" Justin said. "You'd climb through the
back
window of a car to get to the glove box? If he broke a window it would've been the passenger one."

"Duh. Sorry, I wasn't thinking," she admitted. "It would also mean he'd have to
know
the gun was in the glove box.
And
it was someone who had a grudge against Dad."

"What if the gun was just, like, lying on the seat?" asked Jennifer. "Charles wasn't always good about putting it away when he'd had it out."

"Same thing," Justin told her. "Well, OK, at least he could
see
it on the seat, but he still wouldn't crawl through a bunch of broken glass to get it."

"So either the killer is an accomplished thief or it's a Locked Car Mystery," Gracie said, laughing.

"Looks that way," Justin agreed. "Either he jimmied the door open with
out
setting off the alarm, or he had to have somehow gotten the gun before he shot at Dad."

"What we
don't
know is where Dad went after he left the house and before he got to the office," Gracie mused. "Justin, what time did
you
leave?"

"I dunno," he said. "I saw Tina when I got back to school and talked to her, and that made me late getting back to class."

Gracie mumbled to herself as she did the math. "So you must've left the house around 11:45. Mr. Wilkins said Dad was in the office about 12:45. That gives him an hour to wake up and figure out what to do and drive downtown."

"He might have stopped somewhere to eat lunch," Jennifer suggested. "I don't know if he had breakfast or not, he didn't eat it at home that morning."

"That would explain the coffee spilled on the seat," Clarissa said. "He ate breakfast on the road."

"Dad would've cleaned the seat, though," Gracie said stubbornly.

"Only if he'd noticed," Clarissa replied. "I know him, he would've been all hyped up over the presentation and might not have been as careful as he usually was."

"If he grabbed some lunch between here and there that would mean the killer had a chance to get the gun then," Gracie said. "But we're still stuck with how he knew it was there
and
how he got it."