Alibis and Amethysts (21 page)

Chapter 31

Elaine was going to be harder. She’d been suspicious about all of Jaye’s questions
the first time they’d spoken about Peggy’s death, and in spite of Jaye’s attempt to
smooth things over, they’d parted company under less than ideal circumstances. Dropping
by for a friendly chat was probably not on the menu. Neither was shopping for another
gift there. Tourists frequented kitschy shops like Elaine’s. Locals, for the most
part, patronized regular stores. Given these constraints, Jaye decided to go with
a tale that was similar to the one she’d fed Quinn.

She made her way into town the next day around opening time. Camera in hand, jaunty
demeanor dialed way up, she breezed through the door to the ringing of chimes and
the barking of Mayhem the Maltipoo. Elaine emerged from the rear of the shop with
a welcoming smile and tiny bits of foam packing sprinkled through her hair. When she
saw that Jaye was the only one there, she dropped the smile, apparently saving it
for a worthier arrival. Jaye ignored the snub and greeted her with a pleasant hello
that wasn’t returned.

“Is there something I can do for you?” Elaine asked, so coolly that it sounded more
like a dare than a question.

“Actually, there is,” Jaye said, taken aback by her attitude. As far as she could
remember, their parting hadn't been that frosty. But regardless of what had transformed
Elaine into an ice queen, Jaye intended to forge ahead. The plan wouldn’t work if
they didn’t secure photos of all their suspects. As though she hadn’t noticed that
anything was amiss, she went on to recount the brief story about her friend back East,
editing it for Elaine’s consumption. “She’s heard me talk about all the cute shops
in Sedona so often that she wants me to send her pictures of the shopkeepers in front
of their stores.”

Elaine seemed taken by surprise. “Oh,” she said, her hand automatically going up to
survey the general state of her hair while she weighed the request. Jaye considered
telling her about the white speckles nesting there, but decided to wait until she’d
heard Elaine’s decision before providing that information.

“No,” Elaine said finally. “I don’t see the point. It’s not like we’re buddies or
anything. I know what you’ve been up to. I have friends in this town, good friends.
You want to find a scapegoat to blame for Peggy’s murder. I have to get back to work
now.” Without another word, she turned on her heel and disappeared back into the storeroom,
foam and all.

Giving up didn’t come naturally to Jaye, but she’d had enough experience with lost
causes to recognize one when it smacked her in the face. She decided it would be lovely
if Elaine turned out to be the killer. Unfortunately, without a decent photograph,
they might never know. She could ask Daniel or Sierra to try their luck, but Elaine
was sure to become suspicious if a second person she barely knew asked her to pose
for a photo within the same week. There was only one option left—ambush Elaine and
take the photo without her permission. The method certainly worked for the paparazzi.

She went across the street to Cravings! to ask Ruth if she’d ever noticed what time
Elaine stepped out to walk her dog. There was no point in asking Sierra, who spent
most of the day in the rear of the shop baking or catching up on paperwork. But Ruth
was always behind the counter with a front row seat to the comings and goings of the
world outside.

“She generally walks Mayhem around noon and again around four,” Ruth said. “Now that’s
just an approximate time, mind you. I’ve seen her out there an hour or so either way.
I imagine she has to wait until there are no customers to attend to.”

Jaye borrowed Daniel’s Jeep with the tinted windows again. Not only had Elaine never
seen her in that vehicle before, but the dark windows also provided a place for her
to lie in wait for her target. She parked directly in front of Elaine’s shop at noon
the next day. She kept count of all the people who entered the shop and left, some
carrying bags with new purchases, others empty-handed. Although the shop was never
crowded, there was a steady stream of customers. An hour went by before there was
a lull in the action. Seconds after the last person walked out of the store, Elaine
emerged with Mayhem, who must have been ready to burst, because Elaine didn’t even
pause to lock the door. She swept past the Jeep so quickly that Jaye never had time
to make it out of the vehicle, much less snap a picture. She’d forgotten how swiftly
Elaine could move for a person of her girth. As Elaine and Mayhem made their way down
the block, Elaine kept looking over her shoulder as though trying to keep an eye on
her shop. After Mayhem paused to hydrate two bushes and a hydrant, Elaine executed
a quick U-turn and started back.

Jaye gave herself a pep talk. This is it. You have to get the picture this time. You
can do it. You know you can do it. She opened the door of the Jeep and stepped down
using the door as a shield. If anyone saw her squatting there, camera in hand, she
prayed they’d mind their own business. Elaine was nearly back to the Jeep, but her
face was turned toward her shop and a young couple who had just entered it. If Jaye
took the shot now she’d wind up with the back of Elaine’s head, or at best her profile.
She stood up and shut the Jeep’s door. As Elaine was about to reenter her shop, Jaye
called out her name so loudly that all the passersby on that side of the street turned
to see who was shouting. Elaine spun around so fast on her ballet-slippered feet that
she wobbled precariously, a spinning top about to succumb to the pull of gravity.
At the last moment, she managed to regain her balance and avert disaster. Jaye snapped
the picture, capturing her with her mouth wide open in distress.

The instant Elaine realized who’d called her name and why, her face boiled red with
rage. “If you ever come anywhere near me again, I’ll report you to the police!” she
shouted, providing additional entertainment to the people who were waiting to see
what would happen next. “I’ll press charges—harassment, stalking, endangering my life!”

Jaye didn’t stay to defend herself. What she’d done was basically indefensible.

***

The phone was ringing when Jaye walked into her apartment after closing Crystal Clear
for the night. She grabbed the receiver just before it went to voice mail. Spencer
Arthur was on the other end.

“I have an answer for you with regard to Mr. Grayson and the question of forgery,”
he said once they’d inquired about each other’s health.

“That’s great,” Jaye said, instantly as alert and focused as if she’d downed a high-octane
dose of caffeine.

“I spent quite some time studying the print I purchased from Mr. Grayson. As you can
well imagine, one doesn’t accuse a person of forgery, or any crime for that matter,
without a high degree of certainty.”

“Of course,” she said, since he’d clearly paused in expectation of her comment. She
wondered if he knew how it felt to wait for an answer that was so maddeningly slow
in coming.

“Based on my professional background and years of experience in the field of art,”
he went on in his measured speech, “it is my considered opinion that the name on the
print is most definitely a forgery. Now, I cannot say the same for any other painting
or print in the Grayson Gallery without also subjecting said pieces to similar scrutiny.
I’ll be e-mailing you a copy of my report if that method is agreeable to you.”

“Yes, sure,” Jaye said absently, trying to comprehend the magnitude of what he’d told
her.

Although this wasn’t proof that Adam had killed Peggy, the desire to remain out of
prison did make for a fine motive. It also explained why Peggy had taken such pains
to hide the photo that showed him engaged in the commission of the crime.

“The next logical step is to inform the police,” Spencer continued, “which I’ll take
care of in person tomorrow morning.”

Alarms went off in Jaye’s head. That was the worst thing he could do at this point.
She hadn’t considered the issue of timing when she’d hired him to check out Adam’s
gallery. As a private investigator, she still had an awful lot to learn. “I’m afraid
I have to ask you to hold off on reporting this to the police,” she said urgently.
“I know it sounds crazy, but Grayson is also a suspect in a murder case, and I need
a few more days to determine if he is in fact the killer.”

There was a long pause while Spencer considered her request. “I don’t know quite what
to say. I mean, wouldn’t this crime lend support to the murder charge?”

“It might, but I’m afraid to spook him when we’re so close to apprehending the killer.”

“I wasn’t aware that you were a private investigator.” There was a sharp edge of suspicion
in Spencer’s tone.

“Technically, I’m not,” she admitted. She’d hoped to avoid having to relate all the
details to him, but she could tell he wasn’t about to let this go without a thorough
explanation.

“I see,” he said after she’d laid the whole story out for him. “Although I think you’re
being overly cautious, I can understand your anxiety about rocking the boat at this
juncture. And since I have no idea how I would react under similar circumstances,
I’m willing to give you a bit of leeway here. How much time do you need to get all
your ducks, as they say, in a row?”

“A week at most,” she said, afraid that asking for more might wind up netting her
less.

“A week it is, then. But sooner would be better, since my hesitation in contacting
the authorities could well be construed as withholding evidence or obstructing justice.”

“That can only happen if they’re aware of the date you completed your report,” Jaye
pointed out. “I don’t know about you, but I’m terrible at remembering dates.”

“Yes, I am as well. Yet you know what they say.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“No good deed goes unpunished.”

***

Jaye and Raffles ate a simple dinner of egg salad, Jaye’s on honey whole wheat from
Cravings! and the not-a-cat’s straight on a dish. Raffles liked her carbs well enough,
but when given a choice she always went for the protein like any normal cat or dog.
Jaye found similarities like that comforting, especially since all signs pointed to
the mind-boggling possibility that Raffles was not a native resident of planet Earth.

She cleaned up the kitchen and was ready when her sleuthing partners arrived for a
food-free meeting. They’d been able to carve out only half an hour for that night’s
get-together. Daniel had to pick up a tour group for a sunset ride through the red
rocks, and Sierra had to wake up earlier than usual the next morning to bake for a
teacher’s retirement luncheon. But this meeting couldn’t be postponed. With every
day that passed, time was running out. Although Brock and Anastos had been stripped
of their fur evidence, they might still have enough of a case to make a nuisance arrest
as payback. Even if the city attorney refused to prosecute on the basis of that evidence,
the women could wind up spending valuable hours or days in jail. And now they had
the additional deadline of one week before Spencer went to the police to charge Adam
with forgery.

They sat in the living room, Jaye and Daniel on one of the love seats, Sierra on the
other. Raffles took up a position beside Sierra, from which she could keep an eye
on the proceedings. She licked her lips with her petite catlike tongue as if expecting
food to appear at any moment.

“Time for show-and-tell,” Daniel said, starting things off by opening the manila envelope
he’d brought with him. He withdrew a five-by-seven glossy of the solemn-looking Newirths
and placed it on the coffee table for his partners to view.

“Great shot,” Jaye said.

“I told them I was a freelancer for the local paper and I wanted to do a story on
their missing dog. It couldn’t have been easier.”

Jaye had her two photos on her lap. She put the one of the Finnegans down beside the
one of the Newirths. “Quinn was adamant about having his wife in the picture, but
other than that he seemed flattered that I’d asked. Elaine gave me a rough time though.”
Jaye added her photo to the display.

Daniel laughed when he saw Elaine’s startled expression. “Did you sneak up behind
her and yell ‘boo’?”

“Pretty much,” Jaye said. Thinking about it now, she realized how funny their encounter
must have looked to everyone who witnessed it.

“It looks like I’m the only one who struck out,” Sierra said.

Jaye didn’t bother to hide her surprise. Sierra made friends faster than anyone she’d
ever known. “You’re kidding. What happened?”

“Adam’s either seen us together enough to assume we’re good friends or he’s been asking
around about you, because right off the bat he asked where you were. I tried to play
dumb, but he wouldn’t let it go. Every time I tried to change the subject, he kept
turning it back to you. He wanted to know what you’d told me about your date with
him and why you were playing hard to get. I said you’d never talked to me about him.
He called me a liar, among other things, and told me to get out of his gallery. He’s
quite the charmer.”

“It’s a good thing we didn’t let Jaye go in there again,” Daniel muttered. “Sounds
like Grayson’s obsessed with her.”

Jaye didn’t like being referred to in the third person when she was sitting right
there, but she didn’t say anything. This wasn’t the time for petty annoyances to take
center stage. There was too much at stake. “This isn’t good,” she said instead. “We
can’t move forward without a photo of him.”

“What about the one Peggy hid?” Sierra asked. “It might be too damaged to prove he
was committing forgery, but we can still try showing it around for ID purposes.”

“It’s only his profile,” Jaye said, “so I don’t know if that’ll work.” She sprang
up from the love seat and disappeared into the bedroom. A moment later, she returned
with the photo and handed it to Sierra.

“I forgot how bad the damage is,” Sierra said glumly, passing it along to Daniel.