Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

A quick search of the local floral shops, and I found the one with a woman named Leah as the owner—Floral and Fern Botanicals. The bells hanging from the door’s handle made a jingling sound as I stepped inside the flower shop, and a woman turned, offering me a small wave and a smile. Her ash-blond hair was in braids, and she was wearing an oversized green sweater, brown slacks, and matching, knee-length boots.

“Hi, welcome in,” she said. “Can I help you?”

“Are you Leah?” I asked.

“I am.”

“Were you friends with Claire Cooperson?”

She frowned then nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“My name is Georgiana Germaine, and I’ve been hired to investigate Claire’s murder.”

Leah set the flower bouquet she’d been working on to the side and cleared her throat, reaching for a cell phone sitting on the counter. She grabbed it and walked over to me.

“I was wondering when you’d stop by,” she said. “Owen’s mother came in this morning. She’s convinced her son is innocent. Don’t blame her, I suppose. Any mother would think the same.”

“Do you think Owen’s innocent?”

I realized then that her eyes were brimming with tears. One escaped and ran down her face.

She flicked it away.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I’ve always had a decent relationship with Owen. I would never have thought him capable of committing murder, but I don’t believe the police would have arrested him otherwise. Do you?”

“You’re right. They have good reason to consider him their primary suspect. I’ve been toying with other ideas, though … like the possibility that her murder had been staged in such a way to make it look like Owen is to blame when he isn’t.”

“Are you saying you think someone else murdered her and set him up to take the fall?”

“It’s possible. It’s happened on cases I’ve investigated in the past.”

“Huh. I hadn’t considered that.”

I crossed my arms and said, “I was hoping you could tell me more about Claire.”

Leah fiddled with one of her braids. “In many ways, we were opposites. She was an introvert. I’m an extrovert. She cried at the drop of a hat. And then there’s me—unemotional … well, most of the time. It’s been a rough year. First Claire’s mother, and now Claire.”

“I heard Claire struggled with her mother’s death.”

“Oh yeah, she was devastated. It was hard to connect with her at times. If she wasn’t at work, she was at home, distancing herself from the world and everyone in it.”

“When was the last time you saw or talked to her?”

“We were together the day she died, earlier in the day, I mean. I talked her into going Christmas shopping, and it was the happiest I’d seen her in a long time. I thought she was finally coming around, returning to the Claire I recognized. We shopped for most of the day, and then I dropped her off at home. She was whistling a holiday tune when she got out of the car. She planned to sit by the fire and wrap the presents she’d bought before Owen came home. I had no idea it would be the last …” Her voice cracked. “I didn’t know it would be the last time I ever saw her.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know how hard this must be to talk about.”

“It is hard, but if it turns out Owen didn’t kill Claire, then someone else did, and if I can do anything to help you catch that person, I will.”

I was glad to hear it.

“Can you think of anyone who had a problem with Claire?” I asked.

“I can’t.”

“What about her coworkers?”

“At the school? I can’t imagine any of them having an issue big enough to make them want to murder her over it.”

“Did she ever talk about them?”

“Here and there. She never had a bad thing to say about any of them, but then, that was Claire. She always tried to see the best in people, even when they didn’t deserve it.”

“How long had the two of you been friends?”

“We were roommates in college. When we first met, she was so shy and reserved, I never thought we’d become such good friends. Given she didn’t let many people into her inner circle, it was a long time before we became close. But once we got there, we were inseparable.”

“What’s your opinion on Claire and Owen’s marriage?”

Leah tipped her head to the side. “Hmm, that’s a tough one.”

“How so?”

“I get along with Owen just fine. It’s just, he’s different as a friend than he is as a husband. I could never be married to a guy like him.”

“Why not?”

“He kinda runs hot and cold. One minute, he was showering her with compliments and affection, and then next, he’d make a comment that wasn’t so nice. If you ask me if I thought he loved her … yes, I know he did. He just didn’t always have the best way of showing it.”

It looked like she was gearing up to elaborate on what she’d just said when the bells on the front door jangled, and a customer walked in, eager to pick up her order. Leah dealt with the woman and then made her way back over to me, sweeping her hands up and down her arms. “I’ve had a chill running through me all day today. I need a hot drink. I have a little kitchen area in the back. I’m going to make some tea. I also have coffee, hot chocolate, and orange juice, I think . You want anything?”

“I’ll take Earl Grey tea if you have it.”

“I don’t have Earl, but I have Lady Grey.”

“Even better.”

Leah turned, heading to the back of the store. She dipped behind a blue velvet curtain and then returned a few minutes later, carrying a tray. On the tray was a fancy pink-and-black-striped teapot and matching cups and saucers. She set everything down on a bistro table and took a seat. I joined her.

“Claire saw me eyeing this tea set when we were on vacation in London a couple of years ago,” she said. “Before we flew home, she returned to the store and bought it for me.”

“It’s adorable.”

Leah nodded and poured two cups of tea, handing me one.

“Is there anything else I can do to help you with your investigation?” she asked. “Ask me anything.”

I’d been waiting to segue into harder questions, and she was making it all too easy.

“Did Claire know Owen was having an affair?” I asked.

Leah raised a brow, but the question didn’t seem to surprise her. “Yes, Claire knew Owen had been stepping out on her.”

“He told me he wasn’t sure if she knew. Why didn’t she confront him about it, you think?”

Leah took a deep breath in. “She kept telling me she was going to, but she always talked herself out of it.”

“Why?”

“Claire disliked any kind of confrontation. But that’s just part of it. She’d even convinced herself she was partially to blame for the affair. After her mother died, she became distant. Not just with him—with everyone. But her relationship with Owen suffered the most.”

No matter how distant she may have been, it didn’t give him the green light to sleep with another woman. It was something I’d never understood about cheaters. Why not just leave the person rather than putting them through such a nasty betrayal? And yet, in aspects of today’s society, it seemed far easier to blur lines than it had been in previous generations, to accept the unacceptable when it served an individual’s purpose.

“You don’t strike me as the kind of person who’d stand by and do nothing when you know your friend is being cheated on,” I said.

“I’m not. Believe me, I wanted to slap him upside the head.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Claire made me promise not to interfere, to let her deal with it in her way and time. I kept my promise. Well, that is to say I didn’t confront him, but I found ways to make life a bit harder on him and her —Nadia.”

“You knew about the personal trainer?”

“Sure did. When Claire told me she thought he was cheating, I threw on a wig and a hat, I rented a car for the day, and I followed him. He came walking out of the gym, and that tramp was prancing around him, running her fingers up and down his arms, giggling like a high school girl with a crush. It was ridiculous.”

It sounded ridiculous—like a woman desperate for attention. Maybe that’s what drew them to each other—not getting what they needed at home.

“When you say you found ways to make life hard on them, what do you mean?” I asked.

“Let’s just say they both started having car trouble, among other things, and leave it at that.”

I didn’t want to leave it there, but I had an even more pressing question. “Do you think Owen or Nadia ever suspected you?”

“Nah, I have the best poker face on the planet, and I’m a convincing liar when I need to be.”

I wasn’t sure how to take her admission.

Nothing in our conversation so far had led me to believe she’d been dishonest with me. Maybe she had, and I hadn’t picked up on it. Then again, there was no reason for her to lie—not one I could think of, anyway.

“Did you know Owen was planning on divorcing Claire?” I asked.

Leah jerked back, smacking a hand against her lips. “Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“No, I didn’t.”

I reached for my teacup and took a sip. “I wonder if Claire knew. Owen said he hadn’t told her yet. He’d met with an attorney once, and he was planning on meeting with him a second time before breaking the news to her.”

“I don’t know what to say. I’m shocked. The cheating wasn’t a surprise to me, but this news … wow, it’s a lot to take in.”

“Why weren’t you surprised about him cheating?”

“He likes attention, and Claire wasn’t in a place to give it to him. But that’s not the only reason. For all his faults, Owen is a good listener, something other women seem to pick up on. I worried someone would come along and put her claws into him when Claire wasn’t looking, and that’s what happened.”

“Sounds like it.”

“I have to admit, she went on, Owen tried everything he could to help Claire process her grief. He stopped by my shop several times, asking for my advice on what more he could do. Didn’t justify the cheating, but it helped me understand why he did it.”

“How would you describe his demeanor over the past several months?”

“He was in so much pain. If I had to sum up the conversations we had, I’d say he felt helpless, like him not being able to help Claire with her emotions made him a failure.”

“Do you think it’s the reason he started the affair with Nadia?”

“I think it’s a big part of it. I figured it wouldn’t last though—that they’d find a way to get past it. All my little tricks to aggravate him and Nadia were supposed to make the decision easier for him. But if he was ready to file for divorce, it means I was wrong. Makes me wonder what else I’ve been wrong about.”

I took another sip of tea and geared up for my last burning question.

“I went to see Owen in lockup, and he said something interesting,” I said. “He believed Claire was cheating on him. Do you know if there’s any truth to it?”

“If she was seeing someone on the side, she wouldn’t have told me.”

“Why not?”

“I think she would have had too much shame to admit it.”

“But is it possible she was having an affair?”

Another pause, a lot longer this time, and then, “I wish I could say no, but the day we went shopping, she made a purchase that surprised me. She bought men’s cologne. She told me it was for Owen. It couldn’t have been, though.”

“Why not?”

“Owen didn’t wear cologne, ever. He was a stickler about that.”