I slapped my forehead. "That's right! I'm sorry. I was too busy in a flame war with my attacker downstairs."
"The last florist admitted that he was a friend of Basil's," he began. "But he refused to tell me anything about any of his clients." He pulled a small bag from his back pocket. "The jewels are real, but they aren't as valuable as you'd think."
I took the bag from him and held it in my hands. Maybe they'd still stick to Aunt June's urn. We went over to the fireplace, and I sat on the floor, trying to stick the jewels back on as Rex continued.
"And the museum said that the soil samples were interesting. They'd called the University of Iowa's geology department, and they—" He paused dramatically.
I looked up from what I was doing. "And?"
"Had sent Aunt June a letter before she died. She never responded."
The letter! I'd shoved it into my back pocket when I came into the house. I pulled it out and tore it open. Rex blanched a little that I hadn't taken precautions, but when no anthrax spilled out, he joined me on the floor. We read it together.
Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
"Come on, Aunt June." I started to get to my feet. "We should take you somewhere where Betty won't…"
I didn't finish my sentence. Something was sticking out of the fireplace grate, behind a pile of logs. I reached back and pulled out a bundle of letters tied with a blue bow—all addressed to Aunt June. There was no return address, just the drawing of a red heart.
Rex took one of the letters, and we read it together in silence.
"What do you think that means?" he wondered.
I smiled. "It means that now I know everything. Come on. We have a little planning to do before tomorrow."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It seemed like half the town was sitting in Aunt June's…well, my parlor the next morning. The three Hickenlooper brothers, Sheriff Carnack and his assistant Jared, Coroner Pete Oroner, postmaster and tooth curator Virgil Jacobsen, Fancy Nancy and Murl, Dr. Morgan, and Tommy Maplethorpe from the funeral home.
I had inadvertently shut down most of Behold, Iowa.
Rex, Kelly, and the girls stood beside me. Betty pulled out a baseball bat and began parading up and down in front of everyone.
"We know what you did," the child said calmly, smacking the bat into her hand. "And now you're in trouble!"
Basil grinned while Hal gave her the thumbs-up. Nobody else seemed amused.
Betty took a dramatic stance and said, "'A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms… What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? Baseball!'"
"Betty," I warned.
The girl had a habit of regaling us with blood-curdling speeches from movies like Patton. This one, I recalled, was from The Untouchables, where Al Capone beats a man with a bat.
She held up one finger to shush me.
"How do you know what enthusiasms means?" Kaitlyn asked.
"I looked it up." Betty continued, "'A man stands alone at the plate…'"
I grabbed the bat and the kid, pulling her back to me. "Nope. Not acting that out."
"Why not?" she asked.
Kelly shook her head. "I can't believe your parents let you watch that!"
Betty sighed. "Well, I didn't. Not really. Bart told on me, and they turned it off before I could see what happened. Then he explained it. It's much scarier without seeing it."
"Just stand by Kelly, please," I said.
Betty shook her head.
I gave up. "You can still smack the bat into your palm, but you're not going to use it."
"That's fair," she said as she went back to doing that.
"Betty's kind of scary," Rex whispered into my ear.
"You have no idea," I whispered back.
Kelly stood by with her hand on Betty's shoulder, but Betty insisted on glaring menacingly at the group assembled. The idiots. They didn't know how scared they should've been. Earlier we had to shut down her idea of poofing around the room next to suspects and accusing them of murder. Seemed a little too dramatic. Like Rex said he thought doing this assembly was.
"Why are we here?" Nancy grumbled. "We have the lunch crowd coming soon."
"The lunch crowd is already here," I said. My stomach rumbled. Maybe when this was all over, I'd treat my crew to one last meal at Fancy Nancy's. "This won't take too long."
Sheriff Carnack scowled and pointed at me. "Look here, Mrs. Ferguson. This crap might fly with my cousin, but it doesn't fly here. If you have information, you need to share it with the authorities—not stage some sort of drama."
He nudged Jared, who nodded but looked terrified of something. Maybe it was Betty.
Rex stepped forward and, in a firm but calm voice, said, "My wife has something to say. Please give her your full attention, Sheriff."
Carnack turned red but gave an almost imperceptible nod. He wasn't going to stand up to Rex, probably because he was a man. I hated that. And if I didn't already have a long monologue to give, I'd have told him so.
"Is all of this really necessary?" Nigel droned on in his bored, posh accent. "We are well aware that Aunt June's death was an accident. All I need to know from you is whether or not you are going to accept my client's offer for this house."
"I just need ten minutes of your time." I held my hands up in front of me. "Then I'll give you my answer."
"Sounds fair," Hal said as he frowned at his brother. "I'd like to know what happened. It didn't seem like Aunt June would have an accident like that."
I agreed. "Thank you, Hal."
The doorbell rang, and Kelly disappeared to answer it. Sheriff Ed Carnack followed her into the room carrying a small briefcase. Everyone from Behold was stunned to see a carbon copy of their sheriff in the same room.
"Ed?" Sheriff Ted said after a beat. "What are you doing here?"
"Ted." Ed nodded to his cousin
