Could it be that Josephine’s conversation with Kayla had gone poorly, and she’d decided to get rid of Jordan rather than watching her sister continue dating him or seeing him? But what about the necklace and the pill?
Shoot, if only Gamma’s contact had told us what the contents were. Could it be that the liquid had seeped onto the necklace and that was what was giving Josephine a rash? Assuming that the pill had been the silver ball Josephine had mentioned.
I studied the necklace—the hole in its center was about the right size.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I murmured, then glanced at the bedroom door. Closed. And I doubted Miss Bacon Squares would be done with her breakfast any time soon.
I turned the page in the journal. The next entry was dated just this morning.
That darn necklace has given me a rash! And Kayla has accused me of stealing it. Her behavior hasn’t improved even though that man is out of the way.
The entry was sharp and to the point, written in angry slashes and stabs of Josephine’s pen. Josephine had definitely stolen the necklace, but was she the one who had used the pill to poison Jordan?
The insinuation in her diary was that she didn’t know about the necklaces hidden purpose. Shoot, did I even know what the necklace’s hidden purpose was.
And Jordan had given this necklace to Kayla. Where had he gotten it from in the first place? And how had a portion of it wound up at the crime scene?
I had to show everything to my grandmother. And then… it was time I had a little chat with Josephine Wart.
15
By the time I had debriefed my grandmother on my findings, Josephine had vacated her table in the dining room. Lauren was busy with the washing up and insisted that I take a break and a stroll around the inn’s grounds because I was ‘giving her a hernia just seeing the stress on my face.’
That suited me fine.
Gamma and I linked arms and proceeded upstairs. Neither Kayla nor Josephine was in their rooms.
While I’d left the diary in its place under the bed—after taking photos for evidence, of course—I had removed the necklace. It was a crucial clue, and Gamma was certain that the pea-sized pill would fit the gap in its pendant.
“Let’s try the yard,” Gamma said. “They ought to be somewhere in the grounds. I doubt they’ve gone far.”
“How can you be sure?”
“They haven’t gone out much since the murder,” Gamma replied. “I’ve been keeping an eye on guest movements for your sake.”
Because we couldn’t be sure who was a double agent. Any of the guests might’ve been working for Kyle.
“They don’t talk to each other much,” Gamma said, “but they do spend an awful lot of time out in the garden or under the trees near the creek.”
My grandmother and I affected a relaxed attitude and wound down the stairs and out into the sunlight. Inside, I was a mess of emotion. I hadn’t talked properly to my boyfriend in days, and he didn’t seem that interested in engaging in conversation with me either. He was angry, and I would give him his space until he was ready to talk.
Besides, it gave me more time to figure out what on earth was going on at the Gossip Inn.
“There.” Gamma nodded toward the trees around the side of the inn.
Josephine and Kayla Wart squared off under them, not too far away from the inn’s greenhouse—Smulder wasn’t inside, at least, and his work boots had been abandoned in the soil outside it.
The twin sisters gesticulated and yelled at one another.
Gamma and I marched across the lawn toward them.
“—done is for your safety! Why can’t you appreciate that?” Josephine thundered.
“Oh please, Jo, do you think I’m dumb? I know that you’re always interfering in my life because you’re jealous of me.”
“Jealous? Jealous?” Josephine was incredulous. “Of what? Your wanton lack of respect for everyone and everything? Your flighty behavior and—?”
“You’re jealous because people like me better than you.”
“You little—” Josephine grabbed a handful of her sister’s ridiculous tower of leaning hair and tugged.
Kayla let out a terrific shriek and grasped at her roots. “Let go! Let go of me! You evil—”
“Let’s break this up, Charlotte,” Gamma whispered.
We separated, and I made for Kayla while my grandmother slipped in behind Josephine. Gamma pinched two fingers over Josephine’s wrist, and the woman squealed and instantly let go of Kayla.
I fastened my hands around Kayla’s upper arms and held her in place, in case she decided she wanted to strike back at her twin.
“Ow!” Josephine yowled, holding her wrist. “What did you do to me? I’ll sue, I’ll—”
“Don’t be absurd,” Gamma replied. “You’re causing a scene, and I merely hit a pressure point to prevent you from further harming your sister.”
“Thank you,” Kayla sniffled.
I released her since she didn’t seem liable to dive at her sister.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“She stole my necklace,” Kayla said. “The one I told you about? She’s just admitted she stole it and accused me of stealing it back.”
“Whatever! I didn’t steal anything.”
“Oh yeah?” Kayla glared at her twin sister. “Then, what, it just magically drifted off my bedside table and into your room.”
“No! But… it, I found it in the library.”
Gamma and I exchanged one of our looks. “In the library?” Gamma asked. “When?”
“Sometime in the afternoon on Tuesday,” Josephine replied, dismissively. “I assumed my sister had come to her senses since it was lying on the floor, abandoned and broken.”
“Broken!” Kayla started forward, and I grabbed hold of her again.
“Yes. Its middle piece was missing. But it was still quite pretty, so I took it. I only did it because I wanted to see if it would look good on me.” Josephine scratched her neck.
So, the murderer had taken the necklace from Kayla’s room and down to the library, where they’d removed the hidden pill and gone up to the attic to lay in wait for
