Alibis and Amethysts (20 page)

Chapter 29

“I’m really sorry,” Daniel said. He and Jaye were sitting in her living room that
evening, shortly after his return from Tuba City. “It didn’t occur to me that you
and Sierra might be worried about me. And to be honest, I actually forgot about the
breakfast meeting. Doli Joe doesn’t call often, but when she does I pretty much put
aside whatever I’m doing and go. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve had anyone in
my life who’d be concerned if they couldn’t reach me for a couple of days. Of course,
there’s George, but he never worries about anything.”

“Yeah, I got that after about twenty seconds of conversation,” Jaye said. “Look, it’s
not like Sierra and I are trying to keep tabs on you, but now that we’re investigating
Peggy’s murder, I can’t help thinking that whoever killed her would probably be more
than willing to kill again if anyone gets too close, so . . .”

“Next time I’ll call before my militant grandmother has a chance to frisk me.”

“She actually frisks you?” Jaye asked in astonishment.

Daniel laughed. “I meant it figuratively, though she does sort of mentally frisk me.”

Jaye was having trouble imagining what that must be like. “Doli Joe can read your
mind?”

“Not the way you’re thinking. But she’s real intuitive, sensitive to everything and
everyone around her.”

“You mean she was picking up vibes from me the day we were there?”

“I’m sure she was,” Daniel said with undisguised amusement.

Jaye didn’t find it at all funny, even though she’d never actually believed in such
powers. But if a creature like Raffles could exist, then everything else she’d believed
was also up for grabs. “You could have given me a heads-up,” she said tartly.

Raffles, who’d been sleeping on the other love seat, opened her eyes and sat up on
full alert when she heard the shift in Jaye’s tone. She studied the two of them, as
if to determine whose side to take if tensions escalated. Then she jumped down from
her perch and hopped up between them like a referee in a boxing ring before the opening
bell.

“Even if I had told you, there’s nothing you could have done to prevent it,” Daniel
said. “And you wouldn’t have been able to act naturally, which would have been worse
in the long run. Trust me, I tried it once with a college girlfriend I took up to
Tuba. It did not go well.”

Jaye supposed he was right, although acknowledging that didn’t automatically make
her feel any better about it. For the sake of the not-a-cat and the unity of their
little investigative team, she managed to tuck her indignation away. Most of it, at
least. She knew it would have been best to suspend the conversation about Doli Joe
altogether until she’d properly cooled off, but her curiosity still demanded satisfaction.
“George told me you were called away on an emergency,” she said. “Is your family all
right?”

“It wasn’t what most people would consider an emergency,” Daniel replied “With Doli
Joe it’s often a matter of perspective. I don’t know quite how to explain it.” He
paused for several moments as if he were working it out. “She’s been troubled recently
by the feeling that something isn’t right, isn’t as it should be.”

Jaye was still lost. “In your family or on the reservation?”

He shook his head. “It’s a much larger issue than that. She’s had dreams and premonitions
all her life—it’s part of who she is—but they’ve become so intense lately that she
doesn’t know what to make of them. She claims my mother is no help to her even as
a sounding board—too much baggage between them. So she called on me.” He shrugged.
“I can’t see how I’m any use to her in this kind of situation either. Maybe she just
feels less alone with her worries when I’m there.”

“But you’re more removed from that life than Kyah is,” Jaye said, trying to understand.
“You don’t even live on the reservation anymore.”

“My grandmother believes, or wants to believe, that I carry the legacy of her line
and that I’ll have a daughter one day who’ll be able to pick up where she leaves off.
She’s been instructing me in the ways I’ll have to teach my child in case she herself
is no longer here to do it.”

“Talk about pressure.” Jaye had never had to deal with familial obligations beyond
the most basic sort with the foster families who’d raised her. Daniel was and would
forever be tied to his family. Pressure or not, she envied him those connections.

He sighed. “I love my grandmother, but I know I’m eventually going to disappoint her.
I’m just not the true believer she needs me to be.”

“There’s no magic switch you can flip to change your beliefs,” Jaye said. “It doesn’t
work that way. If Doli Joe is disappointed, her quarrel should be with fate, not with
you.” As soon as she spoke the words, she worried she might have overstepped the boundaries
of their friendship. She could say anything to Sierra, but her relationship with Daniel
was newer and not as well defined or explored. Waiting for his reaction, she didn’t
even realize she was chewing on her lower lip until the metallic taste of blood gave
her a start.

“Thank you,” he murmured. “I think I needed to hear that.”

Jaye smiled with relief. In fact, his response was so encouraging that she decided
to ask the question that had been on her mind since he’d arrived. “How on target is
Doli Joe with her premonitions?” She was hoping for a fifty-fifty split or less, so
she wouldn’t have to squeeze yet another concern into the already crowded worry nook
in her brain.

“You don’t want to know,” Daniel said without the slightest edge of humor.

And now she absolutely had to know. “I’m a big girl; I can take it.”

“If you ask the old-timers on the rez, they’ll swear that she’s been right eighty
percent of the time; some claim it’s more like ninety percent.”

“Wow.” Doli Joe’s gift sounded like a fabulous ability to have. But after only a moment’s
consideration, Jaye knew that if ever she were offered the option, she’d pass. A lot
of people paid psychics good money to learn what the future had in store for them,
but she’d had enough trouble coping with what life threw at her on a day-to-day basis
to be seeking out any future worries. Unfortunately, her pesky curiosity had a mind
of its own. It gnawed at her with sharp little rodent teeth until she caved. “Are
you allowed to tell me what has her so troubled?”

“Actually, that’s one of the reasons I stopped here as soon as I got back. She usually
swears me to secrecy, but this time she agreed I could tell you, since it involves
Raffles.” Daniel paused. “Sure you want to know?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” One day she’d learn not to ask so many questions, she promised herself,
but today was not that day. She simply had to know more about the not-a-cat.

“Okay.” Daniel wiped his palms on his jeans as if they were sweaty from anxiety. “The
cause of Doli Joe’s uneasiness became clear to her when she saw the picture of Raffles.
She told me that at least twice in our tribe’s history the vortexes in Sedona have
experienced rifts, sort of like a dropped stitch in the weave of reality is how she
explained it to me. And these rifts can act as doorways between our world and other
planes of existence.”

“Planes of existence?” Jaye repeated, not sure she’d heard him correctly. “Like other
worlds?”

“Not like other planets, if that’s what you mean. My grandmother says our reality
is just one of many. I’m afraid I don’t have a great grasp of it myself yet.” He chuckled,
but the sound of it was hollow. “She got impatient with all my questions. Apparently,
it makes perfect sense to her.”

“So Raffles comes from another plane? Not from another planet or some crazy science
experiment?” She wasn’t sure which would be harder to believe. At this point, a deranged
scientist seemed like the tamest choice.

“Yes.”

“Have other creatures come through these rifts in the past?”

Daniel shrugged. “She only knows for sure about the earlier animal like Raffles.”

“Do these rifts work both ways? I mean, can an animal or person from here vanish into
the rift and wind up on another plane?”

“I asked her the same thing, but she doesn’t know.”

“Did she at least say where the rift is this time?” Jaye liked to be prepared, and
all this vagueness was troubling to her.

Daniel shook his head, stifling a yawn, and for the first time since he’d arrived,
Jaye noticed how worn-out he looked.

“Then there’s no way to avoid it,” she said, thinking aloud.

“I’ve decided to look at it like lightning,” Daniel said. “When there’s a storm, you
don’t know where lightning will strike until it does.”

“Is there a way to close the rift?”

“According to Doli Joe, it has to mend by itself. Think about it, Jaye—the physics
of this thing are beyond anyone’s knowledge or experience. Meddling with the process
could be disastrous. Doli Joe made it perfectly clear that we can’t let anything about
this get out. She gave me permission to tell you and Sierra, but even that took more
arguing and pleading than you can imagine. It felt like she was entrusting me with
the button to a nuclear arsenal or something.”

“But—”

“I’m afraid I don’t have any more answers. I’ve told you everything she told me.”

Which wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. “What do we do now?”

“Until we know more, I guess life goes on as usual,” Daniel said, standing. “All we
can do is pray the rift closes, and soon. I hate to just drop this on you and leave,
but I never get much sleep when I stay with my grandmother and I still have to stop
by Sierra’s. Are you okay?”

Jaye nodded. “I will be. It’s just a lot to absorb.” She walked him downstairs, a
small part of her wishing he wouldn’t go. But she was no longer a little girl afraid
of the dark. Or at least she shouldn’t be. They said good night at the front door,
and for a moment Jaye thought he was going to kiss her. But the moment passed, leaving
her oddly disappointed.

“Lock up,” he said as he stepped outside.

He turned back to give her a thumbs-up before folding himself into his car. Jaye armed
the security system before heading upstairs. Inside the apartment, she closed and
locked that door as well. She looked at Raffles asleep on the couch and wondered if
she was locking trouble in or out.

***

“Did we somehow fall down a rabbit hole when we weren’t paying attention?” Sierra
asked as she and Jaye frosted a batch of piña colada cupcakes. “Because I’m seriously
thinking of changing my name to Alice.”

“Okay. I’ll change mine to Dorothy, rename the not-a-cat Toto and we can all skip
off to the Emerald City and the Mad Hatter’s tea party.” She took a big bite out of
the cupcake she’d just frosted. “Sorry,” she said, “but I really needed that.”

Sierra started licking the icing off the one in her hand. “Mmmm. I know what you mean.”
They spent the next few minutes eating their cupcakes in silence.

“You still haven’t heard anything from Jeremy?” Sierra asked after swallowing the
last of hers. “I thought for sure he’d call after our little ambush in the parking
lot, either to confess or tell us to take a hike.” She picked up the pastry bag and
went back to work.

“I think I’ll give him a call later,” Jaye said. “Maybe I can convince him confession
is good for the soul.”

“What happens if Kelly answers?”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

***

“What do you want?” Kelly demanded when she recognized Jaye’s voice. If they had been
in a comic strip, there would have been icicles hanging from her words. There was
clearly no point in starting with the social pleasantries. In fact, the odds were
good that Jeremy had told his bride and handler all about their little tête-à-tête.
Although Jaye had been confident she’d think of something to say if Kelly answered
the phone, now that push had come to shove, clever remarks were nowhere to be found.

“I just wanted to see how my future neighbors were doing,” she said lamely as the
awkward seconds ticked by.

“Yeah, right.” There was no mistaking the pure malice in Kelly’s tone. “Jeremy has
nothing to say to you and neither do I.” Which was odd, because a torrent of words
followed that remark. “You have some nerve lying in wait for my husband, trying to
get him to turn on me. Who do you people think you are? We invite you into our home,
and then you try to use our grief against us? It’s . . . it’s—” She slammed the phone
down, effectively interrupting herself.

“Do you think that means they’re guilty?” Sierra asked when Jaye told her what had
happened.

“My first thought was ‘Wow, with a reaction that strong, it really could be them.’
Then I realized it might just be Kelly protecting her turf.”

“And the merry-go-round keeps right on spinning.”

Chapter 30

City Attorney Neal Doyle was once again seated behind his desk with Jaye and Sierra
across from him. “I’m sure you’re anxious to learn the results of the DNA test,” he
said, “so I won’t prolong the agony.” Jaye sent him a silent blessing. From the moment
his secretary had called earlier that morning, her stomach had been doing enough backflips
and somersaults to qualify for a gymnastics team. “According to the report,” he went
on, “there wasn’t a single strand of American Eskimo in the fur sample taken from
evidence.” He smiled and leaned across his desk to hand them each a copy of the report.

Sierra’s bottled-up breath left her lungs in a whoosh of relief, and Jaye’s body went
limp as if fear and worry had been supporting her tissue instead of bone and muscle.
They were by no means home free, but they’d succeeded in refuting potentially damning
evidence. Every little victory counted.

“That being said,” Doyle went on, “you’ll see there were quite a few breeds present
in the sample.”

The women thanked him for his help, and as they were leaving Sierra promised him a
basket of goodies from her shop. “That’s very gracious of you,” Doyle said, “but I
can’t accept compensation of any kind from you. I’m the one who’ll be prosecuting
the case against Peggy Krueger’s killer, so I’m sure you can appreciate my position.
I should also make it clear that I didn’t request the DNA test to help you prove your
innocence. I did it solely for the purposes of a just trial and a conviction that
won’t be overturned on faulty evidence.”

Sierra’s face flushed with embarrassment, and she stumbled over an apology for her
faux pas. Jaye had never seen her unflappable friend quite so unglued before. Fortunately,
Doyle was enough of a gentleman to assure her he knew it was an innocent mistake,
one he would never hold against her.

Once they were alone out in the parking lot, Jaye put her hand on Sierra’s shoulder
and said with the solemn air of a minister, “Bribery isn’t the answer. It will only
lead to a cycle of crime.”

Sierra wheeled on her, but before she could say anything, Jaye started laughing. Not
a giggle in the throat kind of laugh, but a full-blown, doubled-over, Three Stooges–type
laugh. “Wait until Daniel hears that you nearly got locked up for trying to bribe
a city official with baked goods,” she sputtered. In spite of herself, Sierra quickly
dissolved into laughter too. By the time the two of them ran out of steam, their stomachs
were aching and tears were trickling down their cheeks.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt like such a fool,” Sierra said breathlessly. “I guess
I should be glad no one was around just now to witness this hysterical little meltdown.”

“About that,” Jaye said, trying hard not to relapse into laughter, “I’m pretty sure
we’re being taped.” She pointed out the security cameras trained on the parking lot.

Sierra groaned. “We’re going to wind up on YouTube.”

By the time they were in Sierra’s car and all buckled up, they’d both recovered enough
to have a sensible conversation. “Okay,” Jaye said, “who do we know with a long-haired,
white dog?”

Sierra shook her head. “No one I can think of offhand, certainly none of our suspects.
Quinn has a black mutt. I don’t think Adam even has a dog, and Jeremy and Kelly are
dogless now too.” She started the engine and backed out of the spot. “Wait—doesn’t
Elaine have one of those small, designer dogs?”

“You’re right,” Jaye said, recalling the mop of white curled up in the little doggy
bed near the register. “I think she called it a Maltipoo.”

“A Maltese and poodle mix . . . I think they found both of those breeds in the sample.”

Jaye pulled the report out of her handbag and looked for the breakdown. “Yup, it’s
right here. But even if Elaine wanted Peggy out of the way so she could have another
chance with Adam, why kill her after Adam dumped her too?”

“Great,” Sierra said, turning out of the parking lot and merging with the traffic
that was headed in the direction of Crystal Clear. “The only one with the right kind
of dog is our least likely suspect.”

“Then I won’t even mention the fact that there must be dozens of other white dogs
in the Sedona area, belonging to any number of other suspects that we haven’t even
considered yet.”

“Thanks for not mentioning that,” Sierra said wryly, “because it would have been a
real downer.”

“Look, before we go crazy canvassing the whole town for people with white, long-haired
dogs and possible motives, I think we should work with the suspects we already have.
If nothing pans out, then we’ll look elsewhere.”

“I can live with that,” Sierra said. “But if we’re concentrating only on our present
suspects and none of them has the right kind of dog, where did the killer get the
fur to plant on the body?” They were caught in the usual traffic snarl at Tlaquepaque.
Sierra braked to let a car exit the mall and pull in front of her.

“I think we can assume the killer didn’t know DNA testing for dogs was widely available,”
Jaye said . “So they were probably out to grab any basic long, white fur they could
find.”

“Where would I go if I was in the market for a handful of fur?” Sierra mused as they
inched forward. “Pet stores would have lots of different breeds, presumably some that
are white.”

“Dog groomers and doggie day care places would too,” Jaye added.

Sierra turned to her and smiled. “I think I’ve just hatched us a plan.”

***

The two women and their pets were waiting in Jaye’s living room when Daniel arrived.
He’d brought the pizza: half sausage, a quarter mushroom and a quarter pineapple.

Sierra and Jaye had recoiled the first time they’d opened the box and seen pineapple
sitting on an otherwise yummy-looking pie. “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,”
he’d said defensively. As it turned out, Raffles was the only other mammal in the
group who enjoyed her pizza no matter what was on it. When they’d offered it to Frosty,
he’d taken it as eagerly as ever, but then had spit out the offending fruit with such
force that it had landed in Jaye’s lap. Since then they’d all made peace with each
other’s peculiarities of taste.

Daniel set the pizza box on the coffee table. Jaye had already stacked napkins, paper
plates, cups and a large bottle of cola on the end tables beside the love seats. Not
for the first time, she found herself wishing for a larger apartment with space for
an actual dining room table. If her profit margin remained steady, she’d have to look
into it. But that was a job for a future time when prison accommodations were no longer
a grim alternative.

After they’d each taken a slice with their preferred topping, and the dog and not-a-cat
had positioned themselves for optimal begging, they started eating and brainstorming.
“I did an Internet search for groomers, pet stores, doggie day cares, etc., in the
Sedona/Flagstaff area,” Jaye said, using a napkin to blot the grease on her mouth.
“It’s quite a list. We’ll all have to work on this, or we’ll never get through it
fast enough.” Their mouths too full to speak, Daniel and Sierra bobbed their heads
in agreement.

“I think you’re forgetting something,” Daniel said after swallowing and taking a gulp
of soda. “We’re going to need pictures of our suspects. I doubt any of these places
is going to tell us who’s on their client list just because we ask nicely. We stand
a much better chance if we walk in casual-like with a few photos of our suspects and
ask the workers if they’ve seen any of them in there before.”

“Good thinking,” Sierra said. Raffles, who’d been sitting at Jaye’s feet, tugged at
her pants leg as if to say, “Hey, where’s mine?” Jaye tore off a piece from her slice,
complete with a disk of sausage. Seeing her success, Frosty whined with enough pathos
to receive pieces from both Daniel and Sierra.

Jaye poured herself a cup of soda. “Now we just have to figure out how to take pictures
of our suspects without raising their suspicions.”

“If we divide them up, we’re less likely to appear on anyone’s radar,” Daniel said.
“I’ll take Adam for starters.” Jaye looked at him pointedly, but he met her eyes without
flinching. “I think he’s still a danger to you after that date you had.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “It’s not like I would sneak into his house to get
the picture.”

“I have to side with Daniel on this one,” Sierra put in. “Nothing’s changed in that
regard, and we need to eliminate risk whenever we can. At least this one is an easy
fix. I’ll tackle Jeremy and Kelly. If I’m lucky, maybe I can get two Newirths with
one stone.”

“I guess that leaves me with Quinn and our newest suspect, Elaine,” Jaye said. “But
for the record, I really wish you two would stop treating me like a child. Just because
I grew up without parents doesn’t mean I need a set now.”

Daniel handed Frosty and Raffles the last two bites of his crust. “Noted,” he said
as he helped himself to another slice.

***

Jaye decided to start with Quinn. Whenever she saw the jovial restaurateur, he seemed
to be smiling and camera-ready. She drove into Uptown Sedona midmorning, when he and
Luisa would be prepping for the lunch crowd. Figuring they were probably in the kitchen,
she walked around to the rear of the building and rapped on the back door. Quinn opened
it, wiping his hands on an apron already sporting a color wheel of stains. When he
saw her standing there, he looked perplexed, his famous smile nowhere in evidence.
“Hi,” he said tentatively. “Is something wrong? Are you okay?”

Jaye supplied a smile big enough for both of them. Nope—nothing wrong here. In the
background she could see Luisa, who’d paused in the middle of chopping vegetables
to hear what she had to say. Jaye waved to her, and she waved back. “I’m sorry to
bother you both,” she said. “I have a silly little request.”

Quinn’s face relaxed into its familiar meet-and-greet expression. “Fire away.”

“I was telling my friend back East how much I love the food you serve. She’s in marketing,
and when I mentioned the restaurant’s name was Finnegan’s Fajitas, she begged me for
a picture of you with the sign.”

“Well, sure. Happy to oblige,” Quinn said, beaming like a proud papa. “Give me a minute,
and I’ll meet you out front.”

Jaye retraced her steps around the building, and true to his word, a minute later
Quinn came through the front door. His apron was gone, and his red hair was neatly
combed. He had Luisa with him. “It’s a family business—my wife belongs in the picture,”
he said, not leaving any room for debate. Luisa had also doffed her apron and was
applying some dark red lipstick as he spoke.

When Jaye started to position them, she quickly realized that the only way to get
them into the frame along with the sign above the door was to stand quite a distance
back. That was fine for her mythical friend back East, but not so great for her real
purpose. It was a good thing she’d brought along her digital camera instead of just
relying on her cell phone. Cropping and enlarging the picture later would be a simple
matter. In the end the whole affair took fifteen minutes, and her subject was none
the wiser. One down, one to go.