Page 106 of Dying to Meet You

She finally sends a response:

Jules: We’ve been divorced for over a decade. Didn’t seem relevant.

I roll my eyes like my daughter would.

Rowan: Why should I trust you? That’s not the only thing you held back, is it?

Jules: Like what?

Rowan: You showed me the names of people who are connected to the mansion. But you left some off, didn’t you?

Jules: I left a lot of them off. Tim gave me a long list.

Rowan: Were any of them Betsy Jones?

Jules: There is, in fact, a Jones on the list. But I couldn’t identify her. And then when they arrested Harrison, I realized that he’s also a Jones, so I looked again. But Harrison’s mother is dead. Nowhere to go with that lead.

Rowan: Still sneaky AF.

I’m so tired of being the last one to know anything.

My phone rings in my hand. It’s her, and I don’t pick up. She texts a moment later.

Jules: Rowan, please. I’m not trying to manipulate you. I just want to nail Tim’s killer. You never get over your first love, right? I heard yours moved into your house today.

Anger flashes through me. She knows too much and says too little. I want to pass along the information Natalie found today. But I don’t trust her to use it in a way that gets the cops off Harrison’s back. And mine.

Still, I have questions.

Rowan: Did you search Harrison’s room while he was in prison?

Jules: No. Why would I? And that sounds illegal. Did someone search his room?

I try another question.

Rowan: What did Harrison’s mother do for the Wincotts? When did she work for them?

Jules: Tell you what. You find Tim’s birth in that ledger, and I’ll give you everything I have on Betsy Jones.

I put my phone down in disgust and shut off my lamp. But my head is too full of conspiracy theories to sleep.

Maybe Jules has some other angle.

Maybe Tim had a fat life insurance policy.

Natalie had better not bike out to Westbrook and knock on that lady’s door.

Hell, she might actually do that.

Reluctantly, I pick up my phone again. There’s someone else who’d be interested in Mrs. Peebles.

I text Detective Riley.

Rowan: I found something of interest regarding Tim and the Wincott Mansion. Call me if you want to hear it.

My phone rings a second later. “That was fast.”

“You’re a very important witness, Rowan. The whole investigation keeps circling back to you.”