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stood, it was a fact only in my memory.   I thought about going to get Grace and
sharing what I’d learned with her, but updating her was going to have to wait.
    Jake needed to hear this new
information, and he needed to hear it immediately.
    I wasn’t going to give it to him
over the phone, either.
    Mostly because I wanted to see his
reaction when I conveyed Gabby’s apology to him.

 

 
    Chapter
7

 
 
    “She said what?” Jake asked
incredulously after I relayed Gabby’s apology.   I’d saved that part for last, touching upon the suspects she’d mentioned
first.   Jake hadn’t even raised an
eyebrow when I listed the people Gabby had mentioned, not even the judge.   He’d just made a few notes in his book
without revealing much emotion at all.   “Suzanne, I’m having a tough time believing that Gabby has ever been
remorseful about anything in her life.”
    “Trust me, I just about choked on
my own tongue myself when she said it,” I said, “but she sounded sincere.   You caught her off-guard when you first told
her about what happened to Benjamin.   She
felt bad about rebuffing you the way that she did.”
    “Well, no harm done in the long
run, since she clearly felt comfortable opening up with you.   We’ve got some new leads now, so that’s never
a bad thing.   I’m expecting Phillip any
second, and I have a feeling that he’s going to want to hear what you
uncovered, too.”
    “Despite my mother’s desire that
he stop investigating murder altogether?”
    Jake shrugged.   “He’s already got his toe in the water.   Besides, I’m not asking him to do anything
that he’s not comfortable doing.”
    “Do you really need him, though?”
I asked my husband.   Was he having a
crisis of confidence or something?   That
was more impossible for me to believe than Gabby’s earlier apology, though I’d
heard it with my own two ears.
    “Phillip might not have been
sheriff back then, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have valuable insights
into the folks Gabby mentioned to you.”
    “Maybe so, but let’s at least try
to leave him out of it, okay?   For me?”
    Jake looked at me for a full ten
seconds before he spoke again.   “Is it
really that important to you?”
    “Not to me personally, but it
matters to Momma, so that means that it matters to me.”
    “Okay.   I get it.   I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try.”
    “That’s all I’m asking,” I said.
    “You might get some arguments from
Phillip about dropping him, but that’s going to be on your head.”   Jake studied what he’d written for a moment
before speaking again.   “So far, we’ve
got a spurned love, greedy sister, and a judge whose motive is yet to be
determined.   Does that about sum up what
we know at this point?”
    “Don’t forget Gabby herself,” I
added.
    That caught Jake by surprise.   “Do you actually suspect her of murder?”
    “If you’re asking me if I think
she did it, I’d have to say no, but that doesn’t mean that her name doesn’t
belong on our list until we can prove that it’s fact and not just wishful
thinking.”
    “To be honest with you, I added it
in my head, but I wasn’t certain how you’d react if I said it aloud.”
    “It’s a possibility, so her name
belongs with the others,” I said.   “We can’t
let anything else influence our actions.”
    “Good.   I’ve got to say, you’ve come a long way,
Suzanne.   I’m impressed.”
    “Thank you, kind sir.”   I enjoyed getting praise for my abilities as
much as anyone else did, whether it was coming from my husband or a total
stranger.
    Stephen Grant popped his head into
Jake’s office.   “Boss, did you need me
for anything?”
    “Not yet, but after I talk to the
sheriff, come find me,” Jake said.
    “Will do, but I thought you were
the sheriff now.”   It wasn’t said with
any malice or rancor, even though Jake had replaced him in the office.
    “For the time being.   No,