Page 43 of Wedding Cake Carnage
I may not be able to solve all the problems in the world, but snooping through Jana March’s things will certainly make up for it.
Chapter 15
Jana March was roommates with Felicity Gilbert right up until she perished. I’ve already learned that Jana was having some issues with money and that both Tracy and Monica had motive to have her removed from the planet, but were they strong motives? Not in the least. I can’t shake the feeling something else is going on here. Something bigger than money or red-hot jealousy over a shared lover—not that Jana knew she was sharing.
They say you can learn a lot about a person if you walk into their bedroom, such as their temperament, where their treasures lie, even the state of their mental well-being. I’m not sure what my bedroom would say, with its collection of patchwork quilts, the cozy overstuffed comforter, the cat beds—which they eschew for my own—my shoes in a pile in the corner, and a stack of books that create a dangerous tower on my nightstand, but Jana’s room—well, it looks pretty much straightforward.
Keelie takes a breath. “I didn’t know they made so many things with unicorns on them.”
“It’s a trend—a big one apparently.”
Jana’s walls are painted the faintest shade of pink with three large canvases of unicorns prancing in the woods, each one painted from a slightly different angle. Her curtains are bubblegum pink with unicorns and rainbows printed over them in a repeating pattern, and she has a matching comforter and pillow set over the mattress. There’s a throw rug just below the side of her bed in the shape of a fuzzy white unicorn, and her desk is strewn with the mythical creatures in every shape and size.
Noah is working this afternoon. I didn’t dare text him to let him know about the treasure trove I was about to walk into. And Everett’s mother is taking him to lunch while his poor car is having its windshield replaced.
“Look at this.” Keelie plucks a stuffed unicorn off the dresser with long iridescent strands for its mane and a silver lamé horn that spears from its head.
“At least she was consistent. It does look peaceful in here—if you’re a thirteen-year-old girl.”
“It makes sense, though. Jana was a hopeless romantic. She loved to make other people’s romantic fantasies come true. She was living out her dreams with her event business. I admire her for that.”
“You’re right,” I say. “I’ll look around at the desk. See if you can find anything that might give us the leg up on the case.”
“That’s easy. I’ll look in the trash.” Keelie heads over. “I’ve been watching the Mystery Channel nonstop as a form of research. You’re welcome, by the way. And they always find valuable clues in the trash.”
“Good luck,” I say as I quickly scan the books Jana has neatly lined up against the bookshelf. Lots of paperbacks, a smattering of hardbacks, all of them romances. It breaks my heart that Jana didn’t live to get her own happily ever after. Pierce seems to have loved her—on the surface.
A picture of the two of them is set in a silver frame, and I can’t help but snicker at him. “Here he is,” I say, flashing the picture Keelie’s way. I told her on the way over what a horrible person Pierce turned out to be. “He’s a cheat, a louse. I can’t believe someone as sweet and smart as Jana got mixed up with a rat like this. He must have been a real con artist.”
“Yes, well. It can happen to anybody.” She shrugs my way, and that look on her face makes it clear she’s referencing my own history with cheats. First Bear, then Curtis, then more questionably Noah—although, Noah didn’t cheat on me, and I’m not entirely sure he was using me to cheat on his wife with. Noah and I were simply thrown into a complicated situation. The end. Only it’s not the end. It feels more like the complicated middle.
A stack of journals sits in the corner, and I pull one over and gasp.
“Keelie! I think this is her diary. Look at the dates. It looks as if she wrote every single day. I do a quick flip to the back of the book, but the last date is over two weeks before she died. “Huh, she stopped a while ago.”
Keelie bounces over and runs a finger over the seam of the journal.
“Oh my God,” I say as we see it at the very same time. “Someone tore out the pages.” I look to Keelie as our eyes lock. “Jana wrote something that incriminated someone, and whoever that was—they’ve already been here.”
Keelie shakes her head, stunned in silence. “That’s creepy, Lottie. But it has to narrow down the suspect pool.”
“It does. I need you to get Felicity to casually tell you everybody who was in this room. I don’t want to tip her off about the missing pages.”
Keelie sucks in a breath. “Because you think she might have done it?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I have to rule out everybody. One thing is for sure. I’m taking this with me.” I don’t hesitate putting the journal inside my bag. “Did you find anything in the trash?”
“Nope, just some receipts and a few to-do lists. Jana was an infamous list maker.”
“Don’t I know it. I’m still trying to chew through that folder Lainey gave me. In between writing all those lists, I don’t know how Jana got anything done.”
Keelie hands them over, a stack of notes on a small yellow sheet of paper, each one labeled with the date at the top. Most of these items are things you wouldn’t even think to put on a list like,grab coffee at the bakery, but I’m humbled and honored to have made her list in some small way. Her fiancé is predictably on just about every list—dinner with Pierce,lunch,breakfast,movies,the lake…
“Hey…” I shake my head as I note a loss to the pattern. “Pierce is a staple on all of these, but exactly two weeks before she died, she stopped including him in her daily byline. The last time he was mentioned was on a Tuesday. It saysnoon, surprise Pierce with a picnic lunch. And then nothing after that.”
“Ooh.” Keelie leans in. “Maybe she caught him with another woman.”
“I don’t know. She was holding his hand at the convention and she introduced him as her fiancé.”