Page 60 of Out of the Shadows

She waited for thebut.

It didn’t come.

Maybe there was hope for him.

“I know you didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“I still don’t know how this guy knew where I lived. Where you lived.”

She had a thought. “When did you lose your phone?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You called Greg and then Bob, so you must have—”

“I called them before I even picked up the stuff.”

“Where were you Friday night?”

“Oh, I couldn’t park the U-Haul near the condo, so I paid for parking at a garage, then left early Saturday morning. That’s why I thought I left my phone at home, because I was tired. Why?”

“I’m trying to figure out how Aberdeen found out where you lived. If he had your phone, he could have all your contact information. And mine.”

“Oh.” Charlie frowned. “Well, yeah maybe. I might have lost it when I was loading up the U-Haul.”

“You’re really lucky that Aberdeen didn’t break in Friday night while you were there.”

Or he needed to recruit someone to help him, Laura thought.

How had Aberdeen known that the jewels were in the storage locker? He must have known the lawyer was given the jewels in the will... and then he died.

Was it natural? An accident?

Or had Jerry Aberdeen killed him?

Laura called Margo.

“I’m on way back, everything good?”

“Yes,” Laura said. “Do you know how John Thornton died?”

“Um—no. My mom knew that he died earlier this year, but I didn’t ask her the details.”

“He died around the time that he received the inheritance, right?”

“Yeah, so? Oh.”

She obviously came to the same conclusion Laura had.

“Aberdeen,” Laura said. “What if he killed him for the jewels? But either John hid them or hadn’t received them yet.”

“I’ll get back to you.”

When Laura turned around, Charlie was gone.

And so was the jewelry box.

Chapter Twenty-One