Chapter 21
When Millie answered her apartment door, she didn’t look happy to see us. “Hey. What’s going on?” She didn’t invite us in.
“We had a couple more questions about Friday night,” I said.
“You’re not the police, and I don’t have to put up with this harassment.” She tried to shut the door on us.
Honey stuck her foot in the doorway, blocking it open. “We know Valerie didn’t leave her necklace in Analesa’s room before her date. She was wearing it that evening.”
Millie’s lips thinned. “It’s not what you think.”
“Do you want us to have this discussion on your porch, where your neighbors might overhear?” I asked, afraid if we weren’t inside when Detective Tingey arrived, he’d send us home and I wouldn’t get to ask my questions. I wondered if calling him when we left the feed store had been a good idea—he hadn’t been thrilled that we were heading to Millie’s.
A moment passed while she appeared to be considering her options, then she opened the door further and let us in.
Her apartment was small—not exactly high class, but tastefully decorated, and not a thing out of place, unless her purse sitting on the floor beside the sofa counted. Japanese fans adorned the wall above her sofa, and three varieties of lucky bamboo sat in dishes on the black enamel Shaker coffee table. The sofa fabric had a Japanese design on it in black and white, and a nearby chair was covered with a black-and-white throw.
“So, what’s this all about?” Millie asked, a façade of calm on her face, though her hands shook.
The doorbell rang and we all turned. Millie gave us an irritated look and stomped over to it. When she opened up, Detective Tingey stood on the other side. “Hello, I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you have a minute.” His words were solicitous, but his manner suggested that even if she didn’t have a few minutes, she’d be chatting with him anyway.
“Come on in, then. Might as well make a party of it. Sorry I don’t have any good snacks.” She practically growled out the words as she ushered him in.
Detective Tingey’s forehead crinkled for a moment. Then he saw Honey and me. “I thought I told you not to come over here.”
“We’re just having a friendly chat,” I offered with a smile. I pretended I wasn’t intimidated, but wasn’t sure if I succeeded.
His scowl said he wasn’t fooled. “Really?”
“It’s nothing,” Millie said. Apparently getting in trouble wasn’t on her to-do list that day, either. “What can I do for you, sir?”
“I came to ask you about a certain necklace you have in your possession.”
Millie curled her fingers together in front of her. “What necklace would that be?” Her voice cracked.
“Don’t play games with me. The one the victim wore the day she was murdered.”
I became the recipient of Millie’s accusing glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ma’am, it’ll be much easier if you show it to me and explain yourself. I can get a warrant, but I won’t be nearly as nice if I have to wait for it.” He met my gaze. “Maybe you ladies should be going along. I’ll be able to handle this just fine. You shouldn’t interfere in police business.”
I gave him my best “Who, me?” expression, but he didn’t appear to buy it. “Okay, but I do have a question or two, which I’m sure you’d like to hear the answers to as well.”
When I could see he was going to kick us out, I did my best to convince him. “We learned some new things, and if you haven’t learned the same information yet, it could save you some time.”
He sighed. “Fine. But keep it brief, then get out.”
I wasn’t about to try his patience, so I turned to Millie. “Valerie was wearing that necklace when she went on her date, but it was missing in the morning. You didn’t pick it up in Analesa’s room during the party. So how did you get the necklace, Millie?”
She looked at us, then at Detective Tingey, who crossed his arms over his chest and stared her down. Her fidgeting increased. “Look, I know what it seems like, but I didn’t kill Valerie.” Millie turned and started to pace. “Yes, okay, so I didn’t find the necklace in Analesa’s room. Valerie wore the jewelry that night. You can’t imagine she’d go anywhere without the proper accessories, after all.” Her voice held scorn.
“I admit, it did seem out of character,” I said. “So if you didn’t kill her, how did you end up with the glitters?”
Millie turned and looked at me. “I had a chocolate craving. I kept thinking about your awesome brownies and the fact that there had been some left after we finished dinner. It was late, almost one, and I knew the only other thing I’d find in that hole would be a candy bar from the machine in the hallway.” She paced across the carpet, gesticulating as she spoke.
“Go on,” the detective prompted when Millie stopped talking for a moment.
“I didn’t notice anything wrong or out of place. Not really. It looked fine, except that the hotel staff had left the tray of brownies out when they cleared everything else. I saw her purse there, sitting partway open and the flash of her necklace inside it. I didn’t see her anywhere.” Millie swallowed hard. “She was probably already under the table.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “The thought of that freaks me out.”
“So you took the purse?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Just the necklace. I really hate Valerie. You have to understand—she ruined my life, stole the man I loved and left me in debt because she refused to pay back the money she owed me. Finances have been really tight lately, and she has all that expensive stuff. The jewelry was sitting there, and she wasn’t.
“I didn’t want to admit I had the necklace after you found the body because I figured I’d be blamed for her death.” She turned to face us. “I swear, I didn’t kill her.”
“So if you took the necklace, where did the purse go?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Millie said.
“The hotel staff turned it into the front desk. We have it,” Detective Tingey said.
“So you stole the necklace because it was convenient?” I asked. Millie’s story sounded great, but I wasn’t convinced, and Tingey’s expression said he wasn’t, either.
“Spare me your Nancy Nice attitude. You’d have taken them too, if you were in my spot,” Millie insisted.
I wouldn’t have, and neither would Honey, but I decided Millie wouldn’t believe me, even if I tried to convince her. I studied Tingey’s stony expression, but he wasn’t giving anything away, so I looked at Honey and lifted my brows. What do you think?
She pulled the face that said she thought it might be true.
Millie didn’t seem much like the type to kill, and the story sounded reasonable to me, even if it made her sound like a total idiot. But I’d leave her in the “maybe” category for a while longer.
As if the silence made her nervous, she prattled on. “I keep wracking my brain. I mean, I heard her on the phone with her sister, Lidia, arguing about something that afternoon. And Jeff and Valerie were bitter work rivals. I actually thought they’d come to blows a couple of times during the rehearsal.”
“I’d heard about that.” And I was still considering it. The loss in court must have tweaked Jeff’s ego, and I knew that a hurt ego was a great motivator—I was setting up business in Silver Springs largely because of my own, wasn’t I?
“I don’t know who else. It seemed like a lot of people didn’t like her much. As I said, she was a user. I’m still not sure why she and Ana stayed such good friends over the years.” She seemed to forget that she had been telling everyone how close she’d been to Valerie. I guess having bad taste in friends didn’t sound as damning as being a murderer.
“Is that the end of your questions?” Detective Tingey asked us.
“Yeah, that’s it.” I clasped my hands in front of me.
“Then move along while I finish chatting with Miss Lawson.”
Though I was dying to find out what other questions he had for her, I knew I was already pushing my luck. “Thanks.”
Honey and I said goodbye and headed back to the car.