False Pretenses - Kathy Herman [46]
“Wosy spoonbells,” he said proudly, clutching Georgie to his chest.
Close enough. Zoe smiled and gave him a hug, then looked up at Vanessa. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Her new friend looked lovely in a yellow sundress and designer sandals, her long dark hair pulled back and tied with a matching scarf. Did she even sweat?
“I wouldn’t normally go walking in the heat of the day,” Vanessa said, “but Carter was such a good boy while we waited to speak with the sheriff that I took him out for ice cream and let him play on the playground. We were on our way back to the apartment when we spotted you.”
“I’m just out here thawing out,” Zoe said. “It’s hard to regulate the air-conditioning in our building. And in order to keep the kitchen comfortable, Pierce has to crank it down lower than I would like. At least customers don’t complain.”
“Always feels comfortable to me,” Vanessa said.
“Good. So did the sheriff have anything more to say about the investigation at the manor house?”
“Actually he did.” Vanessa tilted Carter’s chin upward. “Sweetie, would you like to play on the slide a few more minutes?”
“Yay! Come on, Georgie.”
Vanessa smiled as Carter raced toward the slides, Georgie tucked under his arm. “He’s hardly turned loose of that stuffed beagle since we left Sophie Trace. I’m surprised he didn’t go back to sucking his thumb.”
“It was a big adjustment moving here, wasn’t it?”
Vanessa nodded. “Exciting though. We’re all looking forward to the renovation process at the manor house. We just never expected to be in the middle of a murder investigation.”
“Did the sheriff find something?”
“Actually he did. I haven’t even told Ethan yet. It’s a lot to process.”
“Well, if you want to process out loud,” Zoe said, “I’m a good sounding board.”
“The sheriff asked me to keep it between me and Ethan. Can you keep a secret?”
“Absolutely.”
Vanessa sat on the bench, her arms folded, and seemed lost in thought for a moment. Finally she said, “We know for sure there was an intruder at the manor house.”
“How?”
Zoe listened intently as Vanessa told her about the matching DNA on the lemon drop found at Langley Manor and chewing gum found at the crime scene. And about the staircase and secret tunnel.
“Good heavens,” Zoe said. “So Carter didn’t imagine the man in the closet.”
“Looks that way. The same shoe prints were cast at both places, but that doesn’t really prove the intruder was involved in the lynching, so the sheriff isn’t releasing the information to the media. Other than Pierce, you need to keep this to yourself.”
“I will.” Zoe studied Vanessa’s profile and her long eyelashes. “Did you and Ethan know about the tunnel?”
“No. And my curiosity’s on tilt. I’m sure the blueprints don’t show a door in the back of the closet or the stairs and tunnel. I wonder if Ethan’s great-grandparents even knew about it. They were the last to live in the house. They did a lot of renovating, but never knocked out walls.”
“I’m curious too,” Zoe said. “At least the trapdoor is locked from the inside so you don’t have to worry about the intruder anymore.”
“But he’s still out there. That gives me the creeps. Especially the thought that he might have been involved in the lynching.” Vanessa twirled a lock of her hair. “Pierce told me the victim was a friend of yours.”
“He was. Remy delivered newspapers to Zoe B’s every morning for the past ten years. He was like a little brother. So innocent. He was thirty-something but with the mind of seven-year-old. Killing him was no different than killing a child.” Zoe blinked away the sadness. Where was she going to get the strength to grieve Remy’s death when she had just invested every ounce of emotional energy into cleaning up her past?
“I’m really sorry,” Vanessa said. “Such a senseless crime.”
“Remy was well-loved in Les Barbes. Let’s just hope his murder doesn’t trigger violence before the authorities figure out who did it.”
“I’m on overload. My head is spinning.” Vanessa rose to her feet. “I hate to run, Zoe, but I’ve