Page 71 of Little Dark Deeds

Martha stepped back, her finger drifting toward a garden gnome posed atop a red-and-white polka-dot mushroom.“She keeps a spare key in that silly little thing.We used the key to open the door, but we didn’t go in at first.”

“Why not?”I asked.

“We thought if we barged in, we might give her a scare.We announced ourselves and waited a moment.When there was no response, we stepped inside and tried again.This time, we heard a sound we believed was coming from the bedroom.”

“Tell me about it—what did it sound like?”

“Like someone moaning, which we thought was Queenie at first, but now, knowing what we do, we think it was her cat.We followed the sound to the bedroom, and when I pushed the door open ...I ...I, well, nothing could have prepared me for seeing her in that way—in bed, her shirt stained with blood, knife sticking right out of her chest.We knew there wasn’t much hope of her being alive, but still, I checked for a pulse.But there was justnothing.No signs of life.”

If Janice and Martha saw Queenie at eleven, the timeline for her murder was a tight, two-hour window.

“When you called me, Janice, I was at my office,” I said.“Simone, one of the ladies who works for me, said she was here yesterday questioning the neighbors about Tiffany’s murder.They said Queenie was investigating Tiffany’s murder herself—trying to beat me and the police to solving it.”

“I’m sorry to say it’s true,” Janice said.“We weren’t sure whether you knew or not, but once we realized Queenie was dead, we were going to tell you.And we want you to know that we tried to warn her, tried to get her to keep an eye out but not take any action.But as you know, Queenie wasn’t the type to take orders from anyone.”

It was as I feared, and the cost?

Her life.

“Did Queenie share anything new about the case with you two, anything we should know about?”Whitlock asked.

“She may have been engaged in some sleuthing of her own, but she refused to talk to us about it.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t care one bit about risking her own safety, but she wasn’t about to let her meddling put us in danger too.”

“I see, which is why you weren’t with her earlier today.She was following one of Tiffany’s friends, someone she saw coming out of Tiffany’s house this morning.Did she mention him to you?”

“Not to me.Martha?”

Martha shook her head.

“Did Queenie ever mention anyone she considered to be a suspect?”I asked.

“No one.It’s like I said before, ever since we talked to you, she kept us in the dark.”

I’d gotten more out of Janice than I expected, and looking at both women, I had no desire to carry on with my questioning.After the day they’d had, they needed to relax and grieve together for their dear friend.

“Thank you for talking to us after all you’ve been through today,” I said.“We’ll leave you both to get some rest.If you need me for anything, you have my number.”

They nodded, and we said our goodbyes.

Once they were out of earshot, Whitlock turned to me.“I wasn’t aware Queenie was doing some investigating of her own.”

“I wasn’t either.I just learned about it.I knew she was fond of being involved in other people’s business.But now I believe she was a lot more involved in the case than we realized.I think she stumbled upon something, something that led to her murder.”