CHAPTER EIGHT

C HAPTER E IGHT

Shannon’s knees felt like jelly as she walked home. Her hands shook as she opened her front door, then locked it behind her. She went upstairs to her bedroom, looked around as she thought about going through the pile of clothes on the floor in hopes of finding a pair of sweats. But then she saw her bloodied hands and thought of Rosella lying on the gurney beneath a heavy sheet. She made a mad dash to the toilet, where she heaved and retched, then clung to the porcelain bowl, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, her breathing erratic. She felt weak and shaky.

When she could move again, she got up to wash her hands and brush her teeth. She changed into loose jeans and a T-shirt before walking to the kitchen to make tea, hoping it would help calm her nerves.

The sound of the doorbell startled her. Figuring Detective Seicinski had further questions, she opened the door. It wasn’t the detective after all, but a man she’d never seen before—a large man. Not as tall and broad-shouldered as Detective Toye, but muscular and intimidating. He stood on her welcome mat, his brow furrowed, his eyes narrowed. “Shannon Gibbons?”

“Yes,” she said. “And you are?”

“Sorry.” He wiped his right hand on the front of his Levi’s and offered it to her. “Jason Abbott. I live next door to Rosella.”

Jason Abbott. She knew the name well. Every horrible thing Rosella had said about him played through her mind as she shook his hand and hoped he wouldn’t notice her apprehension.

“Mind if I come in for a minute?”

“Oh. Now is not a good time. I’ve had a rough morning. Maybe another—”

“It’s important,” he said.

“I’m sorry. I’m expecting a call at any moment, and—”

His eyes darkened. “Fine,” he said, although clearly, it wasn’t fine at all. “I was only hoping you could tell me what’s going on. My wife told me a body was taken from Rosella’s home, and after the ambulance drove off, she saw you exit the house and head this way.”

“Rosella was murdered this morning.”

“She’s dead?” he asked.

Maybe Rosella had been right about Jason Abbott. He showed no emotion whatsoever. The furrow in his brow deepened, making him appear cold and calculating. “I’m afraid so.”

“I heard you were working for Rosella.”

How would he know anything about it? she wondered but didn’t ask.

Jason’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Did she mention me, by any chance?”

Why does he care? Shannon felt uncomfortable and wanted him to leave. “I hadn’t agreed to work with Rosella,” she told him. “We were still figuring things out.”

His jaw twitched. “May I ask what she was working on that would prompt her to seek your help?”

“I really can’t say.”

“You can’t? Or you won’t?”

A dull pain started at the back of Shannon’s head, and behind her eyes, right before she recalled seeing a dark figure run past when she was inside Rosella’s office. Was it him? “I need to go.” She tried to shut the door, but his foot shot out, preventing her from closing the door.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said. “What did the two of you talk about yesterday? Did it have anything to do with me?”

Her heart was racing. Before she could think of what to do next, Chloe appeared at the end of the walkway. She marched right up to the door and plunked her hands on her hips. “What are you doing, Jason Abbott?”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. “It’s no business of yours.”

Chloe’s gaze locked on his foot wedged in the doorway. “Yes, it is. The police are right down the street. If you don’t remove your foot, I’m going to scream.”

“For Christ’s sake,” he said, twisting his foot loose and pulling it back. “Rosella has been telling lies about me for months now.” He gestured toward the police vehicles. “And after finding out you were at the house talking to the police, I assumed the worst.” He raked a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, his face lined with frustration.

Chloe nudged her way past him and stood side by side with Shannon. “Nothing you said makes coming to Shannon’s house and trying to force your way inside okay. You’ve got to get control of your temper.”

“What sort of lies?” Shannon asked, still wary but also curious about what he had to say about Rosella.

“The list is long.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Rosella was not fond of me. She told anyone who would listen that I yell at my wife, my kids, and even her dog. She sent a letter to my boss at work, telling him I’ve been stealing from the company.”

“Embezzlement?” Shannon tried to sound surprised, which in a way, she was. Because Rosella told her she’d sent the letter to Jason. Also, the man appeared to be genuine.

He nodded. “My boss hired an outside company to do an audit. The whole thing was humiliating, but I was able to prove my innocence.”

“What about a property-line dispute?” Shannon asked.

He sighed. “I took her to court to show her what it felt like to be constantly badgered. I’m not proud of it. In fact, I wish I could have ignored the woman.”

“Did Rosella’s actions make you want to retaliate in some way?”

His gaze met hers, his dark eyes boring into hers. It was as if he were trying to figure out what she was thinking. “She did tell you things about me, didn’t she?”

Shannon didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. He said, “I’m not a violent person. The thought of doing Rosella harm never crossed my mind. The only thing I wanted to do after the letter incident was move away from here. I’d had enough. But my wife refused. She’s convinced Rosella went off the deep end after losing her son.”

Shannon let that soak in. “So you never sent Rosella a note in retaliation?”

“Is that what she said?”

Shannon said nothing.

“No. I never sent her anything. I steered clear of the woman. Never said a word to her about the hell she’d caused me at work.” He sighed. “And in case you’re wondering, I had nothing to do with her death.”

“You need to go,” Chloe said. “Can’t you see Shannon has dealt with enough trauma for one morning?”

“Sure. Whatever.” He raised a hand in surrender. “I’ve said what I needed to say.”

Chloe shut and locked the door, then escorted Shannon to the living room and told her to sit down. Shannon was too worn out to argue. Chloe headed for the kitchen and returned with a damp cloth. “Here. Lean back and put this on your forehead.”

Shannon had to admit the cool cloth felt nice.

“I found some tea and put the kettle on the stove.” Chloe took a seat on the couch beside her. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’m fine, but I can’t believe Rosella is gone. Forever. Who would do such a thing?”

“I don’t know. It could have been anyone. She wasn’t well liked, but still, the thought of someone hating her enough to kill her is beyond my imagination.”

“You don’t think anyone in the neighborhood killed her, do you?”

“No. Of course not. Jason has always been a hothead. It doesn’t take much to set him off, but I don’t think he would hurt anyone.”

“What about everyone else on the block?”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “You mean Becky and Holly? Jason’s wife, Dianne? Kaylynn and Nicolas?” There was a long pause before she said, “Me?” She shook her head. “No way.” The kettle began to whistle. Chloe went to the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with steaming mugs of tea. “Do you need sugar? I put a slice of lemon in your cup.”

Shannon removed the cloth and sat up. “It’s perfect. Thank you.” After a moment of silence, she said, “I don’t know Jason like you do, but he really did scare me.”

“I promise you, cross my heart and hope to die, that Jason Abbott is all bark and no bite.”

“I’m not convinced. His clenched jaw and the way his eyes darkened ...” Shannon shivered. “Rosella was afraid of him, too. In fact, she was afraid of everyone in the neighborhood.”

Chloe set her mug on the coffee table. “She said that?”

“Yes. I know we talked a little about my meeting with Rosella yesterday, but all I can say is that it was strange. For starters, she was upset with me for being late. And she couldn’t let it go, went on and on about it.”

“That sounds like Rosella.”

“The entire conversation was strange. One moment she was trying to convince me she was frightened, telling me she was being watched from afar, and in the next moment, she was expressing her dislike for Jason Abbott.”

“So she did talk about Jason.”

“Yes. She talked about everyone,” Shannon said. “She wasn’t fond of Becky or Holly, either.”

Chloe’s eyebrows shot upward. “Those ladies are angels from heaven. They organize cleanup activities and all sorts of neighborhood projects.”

“Rosella said they are always asking for money for one fundraiser or another.”

“Go on,” Chloe urged. “Did she say anything about the Alcozars?”

“Only that she thought they might be hiding something.”

“Hiding what?”

“Rosella didn’t know, but she was confident in her ability to recognize those kinds of things.”

“Nonsensical chatter,” Chloe said.

Shannon sighed, feeling uneasy, as if she were betraying Rosella’s confidence, which was absurd. The woman was dead.

“I have to admit,” Chloe said as she rubbed her chin in thought, “Rosella has been acting stranger than usual of late.”

“The truth is, Rosella not only thought everyone was hiding something but also thought everyone in the neighborhood was out to get her.”

Chloe pulled a face. “Out to get her?”

“Yes. Rosella was certain somebody meant to cause her harm.”

“Very strange,” Chloe said. “And what about me? Did she say anything about me?”

Shannon nodded. “She said the two of you had been close friends until you set your sights on her husband.”

“It’s true.” Her gaze met Shannon’s. “Not the part about me setting my sights on Lance, but the part about us being close friends. In the beginning, at least.” She shrugged. “I treated Lance like anyone else. I was friendly. I thought he was a nice guy. But I’m sorry, never mind that he looked like a frog, he had the personality of faded wallpaper.”

Shannon sipped her tea, thankful to have Chloe here with her. She was a good distraction after what had happened.

“What did the detectives want? You were there for a long time.”

“I think I’m a suspect.”

“Seriously?”

“I not only found her but tried to feel for a pulse, and so I had blood on my hands.”

“I guess that sounds like a reasonable assumption under the circumstances. I mean, you were the last person to see Rosella alive. But you didn’t kill her, did you?”

Offended, Shannon said, “Of course not!”

“Then you have nothing to worry about. The police always look at the husband first. But since—you know—Lance is no longer with us, the person who found the victim is going to be under the most scrutiny. Don’t you worry, though. Once they make the rounds and talk to the people living on the block, I’m sure we’ll all be suspects.”

“Why does that make me feel better?” Shannon said with a meek smile.

“Because you’re human.”

Shannon swallowed. “Can I tell you something?”

“Of course. Anything at all. I’m all ears.”

“Granted, Rosella said some bizarre things, but she talked about most men, in her opinion, having wandering eyes, which usually leads to wandering hands, including my husband, Trey. She looked me straight on and told me to ‘keep an eye on him.’ Trey’s not like that, but still, hearing it from Rosella, a woman who has gone out of her way to know everything about me ... Well, it rattled me.”

Chloe made a face, of which she had many. She was like Mac in that way. Expressive. Animated. “Try to put it out of your head,” Chloe told her. “Rosella believed the worst of everyone, whether she knew them or not. I don’t know how well you knew Rosella before you moved here, but she had issues. Number one being jealousy.”

Shannon thought about the research she had done yesterday and about the mental ward where Rosella had been and what the doctor had written. She nodded. “I have always been a huge fan of Rosella Marlow,” she said. “She was a trailblazer ... a legend, an inspiration to people like me.” Shannon exhaled. “But meeting her face-to-face for the first time was shocking. She was nothing like the person I imagined her to be. She was cruel. All I could think about while she was talking was how I could end our conversation and escape without causing offense.”

“I’ve been there,” Chloe said. “Believe me. I once ran into her while shopping at a department store. I was with a friend from college. Rosella stopped to say hello, examined my friend, and said, ‘My God, you are ugly.’ Can you imagine? If I was ever called down to the police station and told them half the things Rosella has said and done to me and my family over the years, they would put me at the top of their list of suspects. The woman was shameful.”

“But not always, right?” Shannon asked. “I mean, if you were once friends with her, there must have been a time when she was normal, maybe even nice?”

Chloe gave the question some thought. “When I first met Rosella, she could be pleasant at times. But it always seemed forced. If we were in the same room, I could feel her watching me. I used to tell Wesley how I thought she seemed a little off. And then she lost her son, and I think she lost her grip on reality.”

“In what way?” Shannon asked, curious, hoping for details.

Again, Chloe appeared to collect her thoughts before speaking. “Rosella had changed. After the accident, any warmth was replaced with an icy reserve. This might sound a little over the top, but I swear the loss of her son triggered her disordered thinking. She became much more reclusive, and her behavior grew erratic.”

“She did seem paranoid, and her rapid mood swings were alarming,” Shannon said.

Chloe nodded. “It was sad to see. Any of us who dared approach her were sometimes met with a storm of unpredictable emotions. The last time I spoke to her, she seemed on the fringe of sanity.” There was a pause before Chloe said, “Daniel was her only child, and he meant the world to her. Everyone on the block tried their best to be there for her ... Becky, Holly, Dianne, Kaylynn. But Rosella made it clear she no longer wanted anything to do with any of us.”

Shannon began putting a timeline together in her head, speaking her thoughts aloud. “When I first spoke with Rosella, she wanted my help with writing a story about the homes in the area, but by the time I met with her, everything had changed. And now hearing what you think happened to Rosella makes my meeting with her much more understandable.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, what changed?”

“Instead of having me assist her with a story about the Fabulous Forties, she decided to write about the people living in the neighborhood. More specifically, on this block. She wanted me to get to know all of you, find out what made you all tick, learn your every secret.”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “What in the world?”

“Right? The whole thing—the entire conversation—was not only unexpected but also outlandish. I told her I didn’t want to spy on my new neighbors.”

“But she wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Chloe said, as if she’d been right there in the office with Shannon.

“Exactly. She was convinced everyone on the block had secrets, the kind of secrets that could destroy lives, and she was adamant about finding out what they were.”

“But why would she care?” Chloe asked.

“Control? Manipulation? Rosella told me Jason had embezzled, which he told us was a lie. Even so, instead of going to the police, Rosella used the information she had to scare him and get him to back off when it came to the property dispute they were having.”

“Do you really think Rosella wanted to find dirt on each of us and use it to blackmail us in some way?”

“I thought the idea was absurd, but after what you just told me, it seems logical. I did picture her wanting to use information she gathered to scare someone, to hold whatever she’d found in her back pocket until a time when it might be useful.” Shannon sighed. “You know, by the end of our conversation, I wondered if Rosella wanted her neighbors to suffer as she was suffering. I figured it wouldn’t be long before I was on her enemy list, too.”

Chloe’s head bobbed up and down. “Your logic is sound. She wanted everyone around her to feel her pain.”

“Yes.”

Chloe plopped both hands on her lap. “I should go now. Let you get some rest. I wrote my cell number on the pad of paper in the kitchen. Call me if you need anything. Anything at all.”

“I will,” Shannon said. “Thank you.” She lifted herself from the couch and walked Chloe to the door. With Mac back in school and Trey working long hours, it was comforting to have someone to talk to, and yet her heart felt heavy with the weight of shattered admiration for Rosella, the woman she’d held in high esteem for so long.