31906844db5c02010017a90f3f2ca805

Peace had finally returned to the office and only the sounds of fingers tapping keyboards could be heard as Odelia and Dan worked silently in adjacent offices, hard at work to put out a killer edition of the Gazette. When Odelia’s phone rang, she started and almost knocked over her cup of coffee.

“Yes, Uncle, what is it?” she asked when she saw it was him.

“I thought you’d want to know that Jeb denies the charges. Or rather, he’s denying being aware that he killed his ex-wife.”

“You mean he doesn’t remember?”

“He says he passed out and doesn’t remember a thing. He’s pretty sure he would never kill his wife, though. As if that means a thing in his current situation.”

“Is that even possible? To murder a person and not remember?”

“Judging from the copious amounts of narcotics and alcohol he had in his system that’s certainly a possibility, although the coroner reckons that it would have been pretty hard for him to murder anyone in his condition. Passed out sounds about right. In fact it’s a minor miracle he didn’t kill himself, instead of Camilla.”

“So what are you saying? That he didn’t kill her?”

“Well, Abe reckons that a man who’s been abusing intoxicants on such a scale could probably still function where others would have succumbed, so there’s that to consider.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, frowning as she took in this new information. “Okay. So this doesn’t change anything, right?”

“No, it doesn’t.” He noisily cleared his throat. “There’s something else.”

“What?”

“Camilla received a bunch of texts inviting her to Hampton Cove, right?”

“The texts that said he still loved her, wanted to reconcile, yadda yadda yadda.”

“Chase did a routine check of Jeb’s phone and didn’t find a trace of those texts.”

“Weird.”

“Not so weird. He could have used a second phone.”

“And did he?”

“Now this is where it does get weird. Those texts were sent from a burner phone.”

“Why would Jeb use a burner phone?”

“It gets weirder: there’s no trace of that phone. We searched his lodge top to bottom. Nothing.”

“Jeb could have sent those texts and then dumped the phone.”

“But why would he do that? And why not send his wife a text from his own phone?”

“Maybe…. he wanted to keep it a secret?”

“That doesn’t make sense. He had no way of knowing how she’d react. She could have shown his messages to her lawyers. She could have contacted a reporter, heck she could have told the whole world. So why a burner phone? And why hide it?”

“You said it yourself. To deny that he sent them in case she reacted badly?”

“Maybe.” He hesitated.

“Spill it. You know you want to tell me.”

“That guy who called 911?”

“What about him?”

“We tried to trace him through his cell phone.”

“And?”

“Dead end. Another burner phone. Now why would a neighbor walking his dog use a burner phone?”

That was a very good question, and one to which she didn’t have an answer.

“Anyway, just thought you’d like to know. In case, uh, you decided to investigate further, I mean.”

“Do you want me to investigate this further?”

“I’m not saying you should.”

“So what are you saying, exactly?”

He sighed, and she could just imagine him sitting behind his desk, looking at his wilted office plants, and patting his wilted hair.“What I’m saying is that if you do investigate, I’m not going to stop you.”

“Gotcha. What does Chase think?”

“Oh, he’s happy as a clam that for once he doesn’t have to chase witnesses and suspects and dig up clues.”

“He thinks Jeb did it.”

“Honey, everybody thinks Jeb did it. But just in case he didn’t…”

“You want me to check so you can tie up those annoying loose ends.”

“I hate loose ends, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do,” she said with a smile. “Look, Gran is dying to interview Jeb. Do you think you can get us in the room with him?”

“Vesta and Jeb? No way!”

“I promise I’ll make her behave.”

“That’s an empty promise and you know it. Besides, if the judge finds out I allowed my mother to interview my one and only suspect, there will be hell to pay.”

“Or I could let her run this entire investigation all by herself. She’s getting very good at it, and you know she’s going to be the vlogging sensation of the year.”

“And now you’re blackmailing me.”

“No, I’m not!”

“All right! Five minutes, and if she so much as puts one foot out of line, I’ll yank her out of there so quick her dentures will rattle.”

“Deal,” she said, and disconnected just as the doorbell jangled again, and she watched Max and Dooley tiptoe into the office.

“Odelia!” Max said as he came tripping up to her desk, then hopped on top of it. “You have to accept Fae’s offer. You just have to!”

“Oh… kay,” she said. “What brought this on all of a sudden?”

“Fae and her mother were crying and crying and crying,” said Dooley. “You can’t believe how sad they are that Jeb is in jail now.”