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Authors: Lorena McCourtney
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head, leaves the body lying, returns later, and, with you and the deputies present, is horrified to ‘discover’ the body.”
Cate considered his scenario. “There are some holes in that,” she said.
“True,” he agreed. “What did she use as bait to get him to accompany her to the house? Why was he in her workroom? Why did he shoot the dolls? How about he didn’t shoot the dolls? She did it herself, after he was dead, as part of that amateur suicide scene she tried to set up. And it was a really amateur mistake for her not to realize ballistics tests would show that two guns were involved.”
“It could have happened an entirely different way,” Cate suggested as she slowly formulated a different scenario.
“I’m listening.”
“Eddie came to kill Jo-Jo, but she shot him in self-defense. Then she got scared and ran.”
“Possible. But where’s the vehicle he came in?”
“Or the new wife Kim, who knows Eddie is a wife-cheater because he cheated with her, has now discovered he’s cheating on her. Maybe he’s even going to leave her for the other woman. She chooses Jo-Jo’s house as the place to kill him because she figures the ex-wife will be blamed for the murder. She drives him to Jo-Jo’s house on some pretext, kills him, and then drives away in the Jaguar and parks it at the restaurant.” She paused. “Although I guess that has a few holes in it too, doesn’t it?”
Uncle Joe nodded. “But it’s not bad. Not bad at all.”
“I just don’t think Jo-Jo did it. PI instinct?” Cate asked hopefully.
“Instinct and intuition, like curiosity, can be a great help to an investigator,” Uncle Joe agreed. “Sometimes it’s all you have to go on. It can also get you into trouble. Like the time I had this great intuition that a teenager I was looking for was hiding out in a barn in back of an abandoned farmhouse. What my intuition didn’t tell me was that there was a rotted-out old septic tank by the house.”
“Septic tank meaning . . . sewage?”
“If I didn’t know that before, I did after I crashed into it,” Uncle Joe agreed. “But the kid helped pull me out.”
So Joe’s intuition had, in a roundabout way, worked. Or maybe it was God working in his mysterious ways again. “So would it be okay if I go talk to Jo-Jo again, maybe do a little investigating into her ex-husband’s death?” Cate asked. “I’d really like to help her if I can.”
“You want to put Belmont Investigations back into the murder business.”
“Well . . . um . . . yeah.”
Joe scowled but then gave her a wry grin. “It’s what I’d have done back in my hotshot days.” He paused. “Thank you for checking with me first. But be observant. And careful.”
The warnings were not afterthoughts.
Cate was supposed to meet Mitch at 6:30 at the Hong Kong Restaurant for a Chinese dinner, but he called to say he was working late on a computer systems installation job for a business down in Cottage Grove and could they make it 8:00?
“Great! That’ll be fine,” Cate said.
“How come you’re so happy about it?” Mitch grumbled. “Here I thought you’d be sitting around counting the minutes until you could see me again.”
“Oh, I am! Counting seconds, even. A thousand and one, a thousand and two, a thousand and—”
“I believe that’s known, in technical terms, as hogwash,” he muttered.
“I’ll tell you about it when I see you.”
“You’re planning to do something I won’t approve of, aren’t you?”
“Bye now.”
7
The house lights were on in Donna’s house, and she answered Cate’s tap on the doorbell.
“Cate! I didn’t know you were coming—”
“I thought I’d stop by and see how Jo-Jo’s doing.”
Donna led Cate to the living room where Jo-Jo sat in the blue velvet chair. She still had a dazed, not-quite-present look. For a moment, Cate wasn’t even sure Jo-Jo would know who she was, but the woman blinked, as if coming back from somewhere, and
Cate considered his scenario. “There are some holes in that,” she said.
“True,” he agreed. “What did she use as bait to get him to accompany her to the house? Why was he in her workroom? Why did he shoot the dolls? How about he didn’t shoot the dolls? She did it herself, after he was dead, as part of that amateur suicide scene she tried to set up. And it was a really amateur mistake for her not to realize ballistics tests would show that two guns were involved.”
“It could have happened an entirely different way,” Cate suggested as she slowly formulated a different scenario.
“I’m listening.”
“Eddie came to kill Jo-Jo, but she shot him in self-defense. Then she got scared and ran.”
“Possible. But where’s the vehicle he came in?”
“Or the new wife Kim, who knows Eddie is a wife-cheater because he cheated with her, has now discovered he’s cheating on her. Maybe he’s even going to leave her for the other woman. She chooses Jo-Jo’s house as the place to kill him because she figures the ex-wife will be blamed for the murder. She drives him to Jo-Jo’s house on some pretext, kills him, and then drives away in the Jaguar and parks it at the restaurant.” She paused. “Although I guess that has a few holes in it too, doesn’t it?”
Uncle Joe nodded. “But it’s not bad. Not bad at all.”
“I just don’t think Jo-Jo did it. PI instinct?” Cate asked hopefully.
“Instinct and intuition, like curiosity, can be a great help to an investigator,” Uncle Joe agreed. “Sometimes it’s all you have to go on. It can also get you into trouble. Like the time I had this great intuition that a teenager I was looking for was hiding out in a barn in back of an abandoned farmhouse. What my intuition didn’t tell me was that there was a rotted-out old septic tank by the house.”
“Septic tank meaning . . . sewage?”
“If I didn’t know that before, I did after I crashed into it,” Uncle Joe agreed. “But the kid helped pull me out.”
So Joe’s intuition had, in a roundabout way, worked. Or maybe it was God working in his mysterious ways again. “So would it be okay if I go talk to Jo-Jo again, maybe do a little investigating into her ex-husband’s death?” Cate asked. “I’d really like to help her if I can.”
“You want to put Belmont Investigations back into the murder business.”
“Well . . . um . . . yeah.”
Joe scowled but then gave her a wry grin. “It’s what I’d have done back in my hotshot days.” He paused. “Thank you for checking with me first. But be observant. And careful.”
The warnings were not afterthoughts.
Cate was supposed to meet Mitch at 6:30 at the Hong Kong Restaurant for a Chinese dinner, but he called to say he was working late on a computer systems installation job for a business down in Cottage Grove and could they make it 8:00?
“Great! That’ll be fine,” Cate said.
“How come you’re so happy about it?” Mitch grumbled. “Here I thought you’d be sitting around counting the minutes until you could see me again.”
“Oh, I am! Counting seconds, even. A thousand and one, a thousand and two, a thousand and—”
“I believe that’s known, in technical terms, as hogwash,” he muttered.
“I’ll tell you about it when I see you.”
“You’re planning to do something I won’t approve of, aren’t you?”
“Bye now.”
7
The house lights were on in Donna’s house, and she answered Cate’s tap on the doorbell.
“Cate! I didn’t know you were coming—”
“I thought I’d stop by and see how Jo-Jo’s doing.”
Donna led Cate to the living room where Jo-Jo sat in the blue velvet chair. She still had a dazed, not-quite-present look. For a moment, Cate wasn’t even sure Jo-Jo would know who she was, but the woman blinked, as if coming back from somewhere, and
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