Murder & The Monkey Band: High Desert Cozy Mystery Series (9 page)

“Laura, I don’t know if Carl will
ever accept another appraisal of mine after you broke open the styrofoam head
with the butcher’s knife and found the ring.”

“Yeah, it was kind of
exciting,” Laura said, laughing, “Now what?”

“As long as we’re in the
bedroom, I’d like to do the furniture and decorative items and finish up with
the antique perfume bottle collection on the vanity.” The master bathroom was a
huge room with a tiled floor, a large tiled shower with six jet sprays, a claw
foot tub, and an antique vanity which displayed the perfume bottles. The
bathroom overlooked the hills and the only window coverings were white silk
tieback drapes. Brightly colored blooming orchids were placed throughout the
room.

“Sounds good. Shall I be
the official holder of the tape measure like yesterday?”

“That would work for me.
We’ll start with the bed.” For the next two hours Laura held the tape measure
and whatever else Marty asked of her while Marty painstakingly took the
dimensions of the item and anything pertinent to it, recorded it, and
photographed it.

At noon, Rosa walked into
the bedroom and said, “I’d like to fix lunch for you, if that’s all right. It
will be ready in about twenty minutes.”

“That would be great, and
those sweet rolls were wonderful. Thank you. Actually your timing’s perfect.
I’ll finish up everything but the perfume bottle collection before lunch, and
after lunch we can tackle it.”

Twenty minutes later, they
walked into the breakfast nook where Rosa had set out lunch for them on the table.
“This looks fabulous Rosa. Thank you so much,” Marty said, “What do we have
here?”

“I made stuffed avocados
with a chicken salad filling and a fruit compote. The drink is a virgin
pomegranate blueberry rickey. Mrs. Jensen had one almost every day at lunch. I
hope you like it.”

“Thank you, I’m sure we
will.”

A few minutes later the
buzzer rang, indicating there was someone at the gate. “Who’s there?” Rosa
asked as she pressed the intercom.

“It’s Detective Combs.”

“I’ll open the gate for
you and meet you at the front door.”

A few minutes later Jeff
walked into the breakfast nook. He greeted Marty and Laura and turned to Rosa.
“If you have any more avocados and fruit, I would love some. I haven’t had time
for lunch, and it looks like it’s going to be a busy afternoon.”

“I have plenty. I’ll be
right back.” Jeff sat down at the table, “Well ladies, how was your morning?”

“Pretty unbelievable. You
should have been here,” Marty said. She told him about the diamond ring, how
Laura had a vision of where it was hidden, and Carl’s reaction to it.

“I’m with Carl, but I have
to admire him for staying in the room. No offense, Laura, but if you’d walked
into a room where I was with a butcher’s knife, I’m not sure I would have
stayed around to see what was in the wig stand. That’s pretty unbelievable. I’m
kind of sorry I missed it. Would have made a great water cooler story.”

Rosa set a place for him
and put a luncheon plate in front of him along with a big glass of the rickey.
He took a huge sip. “Rosa, that’s not only delicious, but it’s one of the most
refreshing things I’ve ever had.”

“I agree, Rosa. If you
have time, I know someone who would love to have that recipe,” Marty said. She
turned to Laura and Jeff. “Here’s another one I can see being served at The Red
Pony.”

“Certainly, Ms. Morgan.
Mrs. Jensen has a copy machine in her office. I’ll make a photocopy for you.”

“Thanks. Jeff, how was
your morning?” Marty asked.

He put one of his hands
out in front of him, palm facing down, and wiggled it back and forth as if to
say, so-so. “I called Henry Siegelman early this morning and told him I wanted
to meet with him this morning. The nice thing about being a detective is that a
person will generally agree to see you. The not so nice thing about being a
detective is that the smart ones have their attorney there and don’t answer
many questions on the attorney’s advice. Henry is one of the smart ones.”

“I’m picking up that his
attorney was there when you arrived. Would I be right?” Laura asked.

“You don’t need to be a
psychic to figure that out. Yes. Of course Henry denied any involvement in Mrs.
Jensen’s death. He said he’d approached her several times about buying the
three pieces of the Meissen Monkey Band that his collection lacked. He said
she’d told him she had no intention of ever selling them. I asked him if I
could see his set. He showed it to me, and I have to say, I don’t know a thing
about antiques, but the Monkey Band is kind of cute. These little monkeys, and
I mean little, they’re only about five inches high or so, are charming in their
little 18
^th
century outfits and playing their various different
musical instruments. I can see where he’d want to complete the set.”

“So what do you do now?”
Marty asked.

“There’s not much I can do
unless something breaks. I have an appointment with Pam’s son, Jim Warren, this
afternoon. I’d like to know where he was the night of the murder. I’m also
curious how he’s taking the news that his mother signed a Will which nullified
the one he has, and he stands to inherit half of what he thought he was going
to get.”

“I’m glad you’re the one
who will be talking to him and not me. He’d probably be number one on my list
of suspects,” Laura said.

“Coming from anyone but
you, I’d take that lightly. With what I’ve seen and I’m hearing about you, I
kind of wish you hadn’t said that,” Jeff chuckled. “Since you feel that way,
I’ll be very careful when I interview him, although people tend to put on their
best face when the detective comes calling.” Rosa walked over to the table and
put a plate of cookies on it. “Rosa, if you have a couple of minutes, I’d like
to talk to you. You may know something that’s more important than you think.”

“Certainly, Detective
Combs. May I clear the dishes first?”

“Of course. While you’re
doing that, we can enjoy these cookies. They look delicious. I never met Mrs.
Jensen, but from the pictures I’ve seen of her she didn’t look the least bit
overweight, but after eating this lunch, I don’t know how she managed to stay
so slim and trim.”

Rosa laughed and carried a
load of dishes over to the sink.

“Well, ladies, enjoy the
rest of your appraising. I’m going to talk to Rosa, and then it will probably
be time for my meeting with Jim. I’ll call you later. Marty, I’d like to know
how the rest of the appraisal goes today.”

“Actually, why don’t you
join us for dinner tonight?” Laura said. “John mentioned he was making a
special dish tonight, and I’ve never had one of his special dishes that wasn’t
fabulous. Plus, he always makes more than enough.”

“You’re definitely a
psychic. I was angling for an invitation, but I just wasn’t sure how to go
about it.”

“Consider it done. Marty,
let’s go. I’m interested in the antique perfume bottle collection. Meet you in
the master bathroom.” She stood up from the table and walked away.

I hope it’s okay with you
that I wangled an invitation to dinner,” Jeff said.

“Absolutely. I was trying
to think of a way to do it without risking the three of them making a big deal
about it. You saved me the embarrassment. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing
you this evening.”

“That makes two of us,” he
said, lightly brushing her cheek with the back of his hand and then walking
into the living room where Rosa was waiting for him.

“Rosa, this shouldn’t take long, but
I’d be remiss if I didn’t interview you, because you, more than anyone else,
know the details of Mrs. Jensen’s activities prior to her death. First of all,
how long have you been working for Mrs. Jensen?” Jeff asked.

“I started working for Mr.
and Mrs. Jensen ten years ago,” she answered in a soft voice, avoiding his
eyes.

“How many days a week did
you work for them, what hours did you work for them, and are they the only ones
you work for?”

“I’m here five days a
week, from eight in the morning until five in the evening. They always gave me
the weekends off. You see, I have two little granddaughters that my husband and
I are raising. I don’t work for anyone else.”

“Tell me what you did for
the Jensens.”

“I made certain the house
was always clean and that the collections were always dusted. I usually made
lunch for Mrs. Jensen if she didn’t have other plans.”

“So as part of your
duties, you regularly dusted the different collections, is that correct?”

“Yes, as I told you
yesterday I usually dusted the collections once every week or so. I probably
dusted the perfume bottle collection weekly because it wasn’t under glass. The
Meissen collection was behind glass and didn’t get as dusty.”

“Tell me about the Meissen
collection.”

“Mrs. Jensen loved to
collect things, but the Meissen collection was her favorite. She was always
getting calls from antique dealers or auction houses telling her about
different Meissen pieces they had available. She occasionally bought from them.
She subscribed to a number of antique magazines and was on the mailing list for
catalogues from all the major auction houses. She often told me how lucky she
was that her husband was so wealthy and never put any restrictions on what she
bought. She told me it made him happy to see her enjoy something so much.”

“When you left the house
on the evening Mrs. Jensen was murdered, did you observe anything strange?”

Jeff noticed that one of
her hands was on top of the other one, clutching it so tightly her knuckles
were white. The sheen of perspiration on her upper lip had intensified. She
answered, “No, sir, when I left she was here. She said she wouldn’t be going
out that night and told me she’d see me in the morning. When I came back the
next morning she was in her bedroom, dead.”

“What did you do when you
found her?”

“I called 911 and pretty
soon a lot of policemen and other people were here.”

“Let me change the subject
for a moment. I noticed a security alarm when I came in today. I assume you
knew the code and how to arm it and disarm it. Would that be correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“When you left in the
evenings, did you arm it?”

“I usually did, although
for the past couple of months Mr. Jensen’s ex-partner, George Ellis, usually
took her to dinner. I always asked her if she wanted me to arm it or if she
would take care of it.”

“And the night she was
murdered?”

“She asked me to arm it,
because she was staying in for the evening and would not be going out to dinner
with George Ellis.”

“And do you know why she
wasn’t going out to dinner with George Ellis when she’d been doing so for some
time?”

“I’m not sure, but I
overheard her talking to her friend, Nikki Bolen. She’s the one who was here
yesterday.”

“Yes, I know Nikki Bolen.”

“Well, she told Mrs. Bolen
that George wanted to marry her, and she had turned him down. She said she had
no idea he felt that way about her.”

Jeff continued to
carefully watch Rosa. He could tell she was nervous about something, but he
didn’t know what. She began to blink rapidly.

“Rosa, I’ve been in this
business long enough to know when someone is withholding information from me,
and I know you are. Why don’t you tell me what you know? I promise whatever it
is, no one will know what you’ve told me.”

She began to sob softly
and said in a whisper. “I can’t say anything. He said he was going to hurt me
or my granddaughters. I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but I’m responsible
for Mrs. Jensen’s death. I intentionally didn’t turn on the alarm like she
asked me to.”

“Rosa, I can get
round-the-clock protection for you and your granddaughters, but I need to know
what you know. If I don’t have that information, I can’t help you. Remember,
whoever it was who said that has to know you’re talking to the police, and it’s
been my experience that they don’t keep their promises. There’s a very good
chance he’s afraid you’ll talk to the police, and he’ll kill you anyway. I
don’t know your marital situation, but that might make it very difficult for
your granddaughters. Please, tell me what you know, and I’ll help you,” he said
in a friendly, coaxing voice.

Tears slowly ran down her
cheeks. “I’ve never done anything like this in my life. My granddaughter needs
surgery, and we don’t have the money. My husband, Julio, has been out of work
for months, and we can barely make it through the week. We’ve been living on
what Mrs. Jensen paid me.” She stopped and pulled a Kleenex out of her pocket,
wiping her eyes.

“Would you like me to get
you a glass of water?” Jeff asked.

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m
just so scared.”

“That’s perfectly normal.
Now tell me what happened.”

Rosa took a deep breath
and then told him about a man named Lou who had approached her and given her
$5,000 and how she’d taken $45,000 from him the following afternoon after she
agreed to his request to not turn on the alarm. “He must have thought Mrs.
Jensen would be out to dinner like she was most nights, and he killed her when
she found him stealing the Monkey Band. I know that’s what happened. I might
just as well have killed her myself. It’s all my fault.”

“You did something wrong,
Rosa, but you didn’t kill her. You said his name was Lou and that you called
him. I’d like his telephone number although I’m sure he changes phones every
couple of days, and I’d be willing to bet that’s not his real name. Did he tell
you who he was working for?”

“No.”

“Have you ever heard of a
man named Henry Siegelman?”

“Yes. He’s called here
several times, and one day when Mrs. Jensen got off the phone she told me she
wished he’d never call again. She said all he cared about was completing his
Monkey Band set.” Suddenly her eyes went wide as she realized the implication
of what she’d just said. Her hand went to her throat and she asked with a
stunned look on her face, “Do you think this Lou guy was working for Henry
Siegelman, and he killed Mrs. Jensen and stole the Monkey Band?”

“I don’t know. I wish I
could find the man who told you his name was Lou. Since we talked yesterday,
have you noticed that anything other than the Monkey Band is gone from any of
the rooms?”

“No. That’s the only thing
I’ve noticed. Don’t you think it’s strange in a house filled with antiques that
only one thing would be missing? It looks like she was killed for the Monkey
Band set since nothing else is gone. I don’t know how I can ever live with
myself. And my grandbabies? What will happen to them if Lou comes after me and
kills me?”

“Rosa, you are not going
to be killed. Until this case is solved, I’ll provide round-the-clock
protection for you and your family. I’ll call right now and have a policeman
here when you leave. There usually are three shifts, and I’ll make sure that
while you’re here at the house for the next few days, someone else will be
guarding your grandchildren. My job is to find out who Lou is and who killed
Mrs. Jensen. I understand why you did it. Life isn’t always fair, and you did
what you had to do for your granddaughter. Desperate times often require some
sort of desperate action. Even though I’m a man of the law, if I’d been in your
shoes, I just might have done the same thing. As soon as the policeman I
mentioned gets here, he’ll escort you home, and try not to worry.”

Jeff continued, “Rosa, I
do need to tell you that if it turns out this Lou guy is the murderer, you
would be an accomplice to grand theft.” He held up his hands. “Please don’t
cry. I understand why you did what you did. If you would be willing to testify
against Lou if and when he’s identified and caught, I won’t arrest you. I’ll
need your testimony at the trial. I know it’s a little soon to talk about this,
but keep it in the back of your mind.”

“Thank you, detective.
You’ve been very kind,” she said, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. She
walked into the kitchen, looking like an old woman, beaten by the world.