Murder in a Basket (An India Hayes Mystery) (15 page)

When I returned to the booth, I found Ina painting my nephew’s smooth cheek. “Hi, Dia!” Nicholas greeted with his usual enthusiasm.

I flopped on a lawn chair.
“Where’s your mom?”

Nicholas shrugged.

Ina, wearing her green pioneer dress, looked up from her handiwork. “She’s looking for you.”

I gulped.
“She saw you here? Have you been painting faces?”

Ina peered at me.
“What was I supposed to do? There was a line five deep of children waiting to get their faces painted with you nowhere to be seen. I did the neighborly thing and pitched in.”

“
I’m sure Carmen was surprised to see you.” That was putting it mildly. I was in for a tongue lashing when Carmen found me.

“
She did seem a little taken aback.”

I bet.

“Where were you anyway?”

Nicholas, who was painting spirals on the vinyl table cloth, asked in a shout,
“Do you like my shark?” Shouting was his normal speaking volume. He tilted his head so I could get a better look at his cheek.

I looked at the blob, trying to envision a shark’s fin. It was tough going.
“It’s great.” I turned back to Ina. “I just had an interesting conversation with AnnaMarie, one of the co-op members.”

Nicholas wiped his hand across his cheek, smearing blue paint from cheek bone to the bottom of his chin. The shark
, if that was what it really was, didn’t appear any worse from wear. It looked like Celtic war paint streaked along his face. I wondered if that had been Ina’s intention all along.

I reached under the table for my
paper towels and began to clean him up.

Ina hopped out of her chair.

“Where are you going?” I picked dry paint out of Nicholas’s bangs. Then I spotted Juliet standing in front of Jerry’s blacksmith booth and knew my answer. Juliet was a bit older than Ina, a few years on the other side of eighty. She had sky-blue curls, always wore panty hose even when wearing pants, and used a four-prong cane she held in a death grip. She still had her own car and drove herself everywhere. She’d flattened two of Ina’s leprechauns recently, so I wondered how much longer the state would let her keep her license. It should be noted the leprechaun flattenings were not reported to the police. If it had been anyone other than her best friend, Juliet, Ina would have certainly gone to the cops.

Ina stood beside Juliet, and white and blue curls mingled as they consulted each other.

“Whoa!” A collective yell rose up from a group of preschoolers who watched Jerry’s blowtorch presentation.

The two older ladies nodded as if they had reached a decision. This was bad. Ina muscled her way through the children
toward Jerry. “I know what you’re up to buster.”

I swore.

“Dia, you said a bad word.”

I winced.

Nicholas ran the dirty paper towel on his right cheek so that now both cheeks were blue. “Is Ina going to hit the blacksmith?”

“
No, of course not.” I jumped out of my seat.

“
Is she going to go to jail like Grandma and Grandpa?”

That one I wasn’t so sure of.

I was out of the booth and hurrying toward the escalating scene. Ina was threatening Jerry with one of his own iron kitchen hooks.

“
Should I call the lawyer?” Nicholas called.

Now, that was a kid raised in my family.

Preschoolers ran screaming in all directions. A harried teacher held a hand over her head in the universal teacher attention-getter and yelled, “Class! Class! Form a line!”

Ina was oblivious to all the commotion she stirred up and shook the iron hook in Jerry face. Thankfully, Jerry had the good sense to turn off the
blowtorch.

“
Class! Class! Over here! Come away from the crazy lady.”

“
You nearly killed me! What right do you have to jaywalk across the square? Don’t you have any concern for your elders?” Ina shouted.

“
Ina, what are you doing?” I asked dismayed. “I’m so sorry, Jerry, I don’t know what’s gotten into her. She’s not usually like this.”

Okay, the last part was a lie.

“Is she your grandmother or something?”

I gave an involuntary shudder. Good heavens
, people thought Ina and I were related? Why was I surprised, with all the other kooks in my gene pool?

“
Just because I’m old you think I’m a grandmother, is that it? To you ‘old woman’ instantly equals grandmother. There’s respect for you.” Ina did a good impression of an angry pirate as she thrashed the hook about.

“
Ina, please.”

The teacher grabbed the last member of her class, and she hurriedly ushered her brood away. As she crossed the yard, I saw her stop Carmen and gesture violently at Ina. Uh-oh! Carmen glared at me.

“Ina, we discussed this last night. Jerry said you must have been mistaken.”

“
That’s right,” Jerry said. “Leave me alone. You’ve scared away my customers.”

“
No, no, young man, I’m sure you were the jaywalker. I saw the whole incident.” Juliet said meekly. She adjusted her thick glasses.

Ina looked triumphant
. “See, two eyewitnesses.”

“
Two crazy old bats,” Jerry muttered.

“
What did you say?” Ina balled her fists.

“
I said you were a crazy old bat.”

Carmen marched across the yard, punishing the ground for our misbehavior.

Nicholas scrambled out of my booth and showed my sister his cheek. Carmen tilted her son’s face up, and her eyes narrowed.

Oh, it gets worse and worse.

“What were you doing last Thursday morning running like a banshee across the square? Someone would think you’d just knocked over a liquor store. Were you running away from the scene of the crime?”

Ina continued to harangue Jerry, but all my thoughts pooled into her last phrase,
“running away from the scene of the crime.” Thursday morning. My conversation with Lew just a few hours before played over in my mind. The missing antiques. Lew’s assessment that it must have been an inside job. If Jerry could steal from Victor’s estate, which I was sure he had, could he murder his own wife? Maybe Tess had found out about it. Maybe he’d needed to silence her.

I looked at Jerry. His upper lip was sweating, and I didn’t think it was from the heat of the
blowtorch, which was no longer firing. A knot grew in my stomach.

Jerry’s gaze met mine. Was that understanding I saw in his eyes? I d
idn’t have a chance to find out because Carmen was upon us.

“
India, is it your mission to destroy this festival?”

Nicholas was right behind her. My nephew pulled on Jerry’s pant leg.
“Can I see your blowtorch?”

All the adults shouted a collective,
“No!”

“
Whatever argument you’re having, it can wait,” Carmen said in her most authoritative voice, sounding just like our mother. “There are only a few hours of the festival left. Let’s not ruin them.”

Ina gave Jerry another beady look.
“Fine, but I’m going to find someone to arrest you after the festival. Come on, Juliet.” Ina stomped off, and Juliet hobbled behind.

Carmen dragged
a protesting Nicholas, who eyed the blowtorch enviously, away from the blacksmith’s booth.

I watched them go, wondering if I could be right. Did Jerry steal those antiques? I had no evidence, just a hunch based on a phone conversation with Lew and suspect
eyewitness accounts from Ina and Juliet. If it had been Juliet alone who claimed Jerry was the jaywalker, my suspicions wouldn’t have even occurred to me. However, Ina was involved, and despite all her idiosyncrasies, Ina had a sharp memory. If she was that certain the jaywalker was Jerry, then Jerry was the jaywalker.

“
Can I help you?” Jerry asked, stirring me from my jumbled thoughts. I still stood just outside the blacksmith’s booth staring off into space.

“
Actually, I think you can.”

Jerry frowned.

“I spoke to Lew on the phone a few minutes ago. He said he was conducting an inventory of Victor’s estate and some of the coins and small antiques were missing.”

“
So?”

I shrugged as if unconcerned.
“I just wondered if you’d heard.”

“
Not that it’s any of your business, but I hadn’t.” Jerry hung the kitchen hook Ina had threatened him with back on the Pegboard. “I don’t know why this is your problem anyway.”

“
I’m taking care of Zach while the trust is being settled. I thought Lew told you.”

“
He said he’d found someone to take in Zach. He didn’t say it was you.”

“
It’s only temporary. Lew’s looking for a kennel,” I said, even though I knew the kennel idea was becoming more and more unlikely. I got back to the subject I really wanted to talk about. “Lew thinks someone must have known about the antiques because a lot of the most valuable items were stolen.”

Jerry
grunted and started packing some of his tools—the festival would be closing soon.

“
I just wonder if Ina’s jaywalking story is connected to this. Victor’s house isn’t far from the square. Ina said you were carrying a big box . . .”

“
You think you have it all figured out, don’t you?”

“
No, not all,” I said honestly.

“
No one was using those things. I needed the money. Blacksmithing is an expensive trade. I only sold a few things from Victor’s house, some small antiques that wouldn’t be missed.”

“
You used the photographs from the inventory to choose those items?” I asked.

He hung his head.

“You stole from Tess?”

“
Tess?” He laughed bitterly. “They belonged to that damned dog. He didn’t need them. Two million dollars to a mutt. It’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of. What’s a dog going to do with a horse-head clock or a silver teapot?”

“
Did Tess find out?”

“
No, she never knew, I swear.” Jerry’s head shot up, and he eyed me dubiously. “You think I killed her, don’t you? I’m telling you I didn’t. I loved her.”

“
You stole from her,” I reminded him.

“
I stole from the dog, not her,” he said in a harsh whisper.

Ina returned with a reluctant Officer Habash in tow. Juliet brought up the rear.

“There he is. Arrest the man,” Ina said.

Officer Habash smiled at me before turning
back to Ina. “Ma’am, it’s your word against his. I can’t write him a citation on hearsay.”

“
I have a witness. My friend, Juliet, was with me at the time,” Ina said.

Myopic Juliet nodded enthusiastically.

I opened my mouth. Jerry looked at me pleadingly. I snapped my mouth closed.

Two hours later, Nicolas and Ina wheeled
paint supplies to my car as I folded up the church tables. A couple of members from church would be there soon to pick up the tables and take them back to the church. The festival was over. Tomorrow, I’d be back behind the reference desk.

Jerry stopped by the booth.
“I wanted to thank you for not saying anything to the police.”

“
It doesn’t mean I won’t.” In truth, I wanted to talk to Lew before telling the police.

“
There’s something else I have to tell you.”

I waited.

“But I can’t tell you here. Come to my forge tonight.”

“
What’s it about?”

“
The murder.”

“
Do you know who did it?”

He looked nervously back and forth.
“I might—no—I’m not positive.”

“
But you are suspicious of someone.”

He nodded.

“Tell me who it is now.”

“
I can’t. I need to be sure. I should know by tonight. I can tell you then.”

“
I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I hedged.

“
Please. I need to tell someone.”

“
You should go to the police. Or I could go to them and tell them you know something.”

“
Don’t do that. I’m only willing to tell you because you kept my borrowing”—he paused—“secret.”

“
I don’t think what you did would be qualified as borrowing.”

“
Please.”

I needed to know what he had to say.
“What time?”