War and Peas

Fourteen ·”

Nobody Nobody would kill to keep a position on a volunteer board,' Jane said.

They'd returned to the museum, and Jane and Shelley were alone in the boardroom again. Sharlene had thanked them effusively for the lunch and gone back to work in Regina's office.

“In fact, I would think there would be a fair percentage of the population that would do anything up to and including murder to get off,' Jane continued.

“But not if it was because of embezzlement,' Shelley argued. 'Off the board and into jail isn't a very good option.'

“But if the rest of the board had accepted Georgia's doctored version of her fund-raising all these years, wouldn't they have just held the threat over her head to force her to resign? Making a big deal of it would make the museum look incompetent.'

“Probably, but could she count on that? Maybe not,' Shelley said. 'Suppose Regina had evidence that she'd stepped up her cheating and had really taken them to the cleaners on something? Or what if Regina had already privately warned her that she should resign and Georgia had indicated she wasn't going to and Regina had vowed to Reveal All?'

“Still — killing her wouldn't solve Georgia's problem, just delay the revelation. Surely if Regina knew about some grand-scale cheating, the accountant on the board knew about it too.'

“The accountant's in Alaska, remember. Regina might have been the only one who knew, and told Georgia she was going to give her findings to the accountant when he returned.'

“Why wouldn't Regina call and tell him right away, before having a showdown with Georgia?”

Shelley shrugged. 'Maybe she couldn't reach him. Or maybe she knew he wouldn't have had his books with him on vacation. Why would he? I don't think this museum is his primary business. It's probably just a volunteer, pro bono kind of thing he does on the side.'

“Hmm. That might explain Regina's office being searched, wouldn't it?'

“Yes, it could have been Georgia trying to find whatever evidence Regina had.'

“But then what about the basement? Why would Regina think, with the whole museum in which to hide something — presuming Regina had the need to hide it — that anybody would choose the basement? Surely there's a safe somewhere. Or if Regina had been concerned about a single copy of something being stolen, wouldn’t she have made a copy or two and spread them around?'

“I don't know,' Shelley said. 'Maybe Georgia just lost her head and tried to think of where she herself would have hidden something.”

Jane shook her head. 'I don't know that I'd believe that. I think Georgia — or whoever it was — had good reason to believe something she wanted was down there.'

“Perhaps,' Shelley said.

“I can't quite picture Georgia as a murderer for some reason. She's obnoxious and, it seems, a petty thief —'

“Maybe not so petty,' Shelley said. 'If Regina had been driven to get rid of her after all these years of graciously overlooking her pilfering, there might have been a lot of money involved. And keep in mind that Regina was killed during the Pea Festival. A big money-raising opportunity for the museum. Couldn't it be that Regina had already seen evidence of Georgia's thievery?'

“Like what?'

“I don't know!' Shelley said, becoming a bit defensive. 'Maybe people pay to rent those booths and Regina found out from one of them that they'd paid Georgia a whole lot more than they're supposed to?”

Jane nodded. 'I guess that could be. You know what I'm really having trouble with? The idea of the board allowing her to get away with stealing. I can't imagine Jumper or Babs letting it go, and I've never known an accountant who could ignore something wrong with the books.

Getting the information out of Sharlene wasn't all that easy, so I don't think she's lying, but couldn't she be mistaken?”

Shelley stuck her purse in the drawer next to where Jane was working and started assembling her papers. 'Could be. It might be a matter of interpretation. It's possible they suspected her, but couldn't find any evidence at all. You know, I was thinking about Sharlene's interpretational abilities when she was telling about Babs's husband.'

“What do you mean?'

“Well, she said she got her facts from a newspaper article. But newspapers, even then, didn't gush about whirlwind romances and great loves of people's lives. Not even folksy local papers, I'd guess. I think she was putting a lot of her own romantic spin on the story.'

“Wonder if she kept the article,' Jane said. 'She said she made a copy. But whatever it says, I'd bet you're right and she read a lot into it.'

“I'll ask her if she still has the copy next time I run into her,' Shelley said. 'We better get on with what we're supposed to be doing or we'll be here until they cart us off to the nursing home.' She tapped down her pile of forms, adjusted them carefully on her clipboard, and turned toward the door.

And stopped.

“Sharlene? What's wrong?' she asked. Sharlene was standing in the doorway. She was dead white and holding a crumpled piece of paper out in front of her by one corner. 'I — found this,' she whispered.

Jane rose. 'Put it down on the table, Sharlene.”

They crowded around and gazed. It was a piece of plain white typing paper. On it were the typed words: 'Regina, you can't do this to me. If you try, I'll stop you.'

“Where did you find this?' Shelley asked.

“In the dumpster behind the building. I was putting out trash from my office and sort of daydreaming, and I looked down and saw this.'

“What else was around it? Whose trash?' Jane asked.

Sharlene looked confused. 'I don't know. I didn't think. I just picked it up—'

“Sharlene, you need to call the police again,' Shelley told her. 'Jane, do you want to stand guard over this and I'll go stand by the Dumpster until they get here?”

Jane picked the paper up carefully, holding it exactly where Sharlene had already touched it. She put it behind the stuffed cat and began entering information on the computer. She had a strong feeling that when Mel arrived, it would be best if she were busily engaged in something — anything — that had nothing to do with the murder. She was typing like her life depended on it when Sharlene escorted Mel into the room a little while later. 'Where's that paper, Jane?' Sharlene asked.

“Behind the cat,' Jane said without looking up.

The officer with Mel lifted it carefully with tweezers and they left the room without a word.

An hour and a half later, Jane was leaning back and feeling supremely smug over having nearly caught up with all of Shelley's forms. Lisa Quigley came into the boardroom. 'You haven't seen Derek, have you?' she asked.

“He hasn't been here,' Jane replied.

“Sharlene says she's accumulating a bunch of calls he needs to return. Maybe he went home early.' Lisa poured herself a cup of coffee. Jane stretched and got up to refill her cup as well.

“Caspar's roaming around here again,' Lisa said, pinching the bridge of her nose as if to compress a headache. 'He said the police are back.'

“Yes. Sharlene found a note.'

“A note?'

“Yes, a note that looked like a threat to Regina. It was in the dumpster out in back.'

“Note!' Lisa exclaimed. 'About Regina not doing something?'

“Yes, it was,' Jane said. 'What's wrong? How did you know?'

“Oh, my God!' Lisa had turned alarmingly pale. 'I knew about that! And I didn't say anything! I'd forgotten! Oh, how could I—?”

She rose suddenly and started pacing. 'I told her she should take it seriously, and then I