The Heirloom Murders - Kathleen Ernst [92]
“It’s sad,” Denise said slowly. “I mean, I learned a long time ago to leave stuff behind when I head home. But accidents—bad as they might be, they’re accidents, you know? I hate seeing someone waste their life like that.”
“Yeah.”
“It was hard to tell if she was pretty, if you know what I mean. But she struck me as someone who cared about her appearance. You don’t always see that in suicides. Those jeans were top dollar. And her sandals too. The heel on that one was cracked, but I don’t suppose whatever Italian designed them expected them to be worn on a forest trail … Hey, Roelke? You OK?”
“Yeah. Sure.” He blinked. “Thanks a million, Denise. I appreciate your help.”
“Any time.” She scooted her chair back and stood. “And Roelke? Don’t leave without cleaning that up.”
Startled, Roelke followed her pointing finger. The table in front of him was littered with bits of pretzel. “Will do,” he said. When this mess was done, he’d send Denise a case of pretzels.
Chloe had avoided Dellyn—and Markus—at Old World the day before, because she needed some space. Chloe had tried without success that evening to reach Dellyn by phone. So on Wednesday afternoon, Chloe locked up the trailer and went on site to search for her friend. Almost an hour later, Chloe finally spotted her hoeing weeds in the garden at the Danish farm.
“Hey,” Chloe called.
“Hey.” Dellyn wiped sweat from her cheeks with a sleeve of her blouse. “Have you heard any news about Harriet?”
“No.” Chloe leaned against the fence. “I expect the police are keeping stuff quiet until they’re ready to make an arrest. So, how did the tour with Markus go?”
“OK.” Dellyn hacked at the soil again.
Chloe pinched her lips together. She felt a distance between them, and she had no idea what had caused it. “I wanted to fill you in on my trip to Madison on Monday. Long story short, Valerie’s article left out a couple of key details about the Eagle Diamond. Here’s the biggie: a German hired hand was working with Charles Wood that day. Much later, the German guy told a reporter that he’d found a gem, too. Get it? There might be a second Eagle Diamond!”
Dellyn went after a burdock plant. “I never heard that.”
“What if someone gave your parents the second stone? Something smaller? It would be an incredible bit of Eagle history.”
“Yeah,” Dellyn agreed. “It sure would.” But she didn’t meet Chloe’s gaze.
Something was definitely not right here. “So, what-say I stop by this evening?” Chloe asked. “We can work on the inventory.”
“Thanks,” Dellyn said. “But Valerie’s coming by to help me tonight.”
“Valerie Bing?” Chloe felt her eyebrows shoot skyward.
“Yeah. She called the other night, and said you’d told her about the inventory project. And she offered to help.”
I, Chloe thought, am a complete idiot. She’d said way too much to Valerie.
A tram rumbled up to the farm and stopped to let visitors off. Chloe watched a young dad struggle to extricate a stroller. Finally she said, “Are you sure you’re comfortable with that? I mean … you were the one who started worrying about all the coincidences. You know, the missing Kunz file, and not being able to find your dad’s notes.”
Dellyn sighed. “I can’t imagine that Valerie had anything to do with any of that.”
“But—”
“Look, Valerie doesn’t have a job right now. What she does have is too much time on her hands. It’s making her squirrely. She said I’d be doing her a kindness to let her help.”
“Well, I’ll come too, then,” Chloe said brightly. “We’ll get more done with three of us.”
“Thank you, but no.” Dellyn finally met her gaze, and she put a hand on Chloe’s arm. “You’ve got your own stuff going on, and I’ve let you spend way too much time on mine. I’ll see you tomorrow, OK?” With that she got back to work, moving farther down the row.
Chloe chewed her lower lip. Valerie’s offer made her nervous. Dellyn’s politeness made her even more nervous. It might mean she’d crossed a dangerous line. In any case, something had changed.
“Dellyn, are you going to sell the farm to Simon?”
“Maybe. Probably.” Dellyn leaned