Assault and Batter(17)

“What was that?”

Gabby frowned as she explained, “He told me that he’d go wherever he wanted to, and talk to anybody he darn well pleased, and there was nothing that all of April Springs could do about it. I had no idea what he was talking about, and I suspected that he was more than a little drunk.”

I’d have to ask the police chief if Jude had been drunk at the time of his murder, and find out the exact level of his intoxication. It might help establish just how vulnerable he’d been to attack. “So, what did you do?”

“I came here to the shop and brooded about it for a few hours, and then I must have fallen asleep at my desk. I went home so we could continue our conversation, but Jude never showed up. I fell asleep on the couch again while I was waiting, and I didn’t wake up until Chief Martin knocked on my door. Let me tell you, that’s the worst way to wake up that you could imagine.” Gabby wrung her hands together a little, and then she said, “We need to wrap this conversation up. I have to go to the funeral home to start making arrangements. What a nightmare that’s going to be.”

I thought for one second about volunteering to go with her, but I was pretty sure that wouldn’t help me find Jude’s killer. “Is there someone you can call to go with you?”

“Margaret’s on her way,” she said, referring to one of her oldest friends. “Is there anything else that I can do to help?”

“I hate to ask, but I need to see his room at your place,” I asked softly, waiting for the backlash from my request.

I kept waiting for Gabby to explode, but she surprised me by handing me her keys. “The police chief has already inspected it, so I doubt you’ll find anything, but his room was in the attic. You’re welcome to dig around in it all that you want.”

“He stayed in the attic?” I asked, a little surprised by the arrangement. Attics might be perfectly fine living spaces in most places, but in the South, they tended to be hot and stuffy, suitable for storage and not much else.

“It’s not like that,” she explained quickly. “When Jude first came to live with me, he wouldn’t use the bedroom I gave him, choosing to sleep on the couch downstairs instead. I told him that it wouldn’t do, and when I looked for him the next day, I found him sleeping up there. I fixed it up, even added a little portable air conditioner for one of the dormer windows. It was nice, but more importantly, it was as far as he could get away from me and still be in the house.” She looked a little wistful at that moment. “He was a tough kid, and he had a stubborn streak a mile wide. Maybe that’s why I loved him so much. He was a lot like his aunt Gabby.”

I was again on dangerous ground here. I knew that I couldn’t agree with her, but I couldn’t exactly contradict her, either, at least not with a straight face. “Thanks for trusting me,” I said instead.

“Suzanne, there are days when you’re about the only person in this town that I do trust.” She managed a faint smile as she added, “Then again, there are other days when I don’t trust you much either.”

“I understand that,” I said.

“When you’re finished searching his room, just leave the keys on the kitchen table. I’ve got another set of my own.”

“Will do,” I said as I glanced at my watch. “Well, I’d better get out of here if I’m going to make any headway on what happened to Jude.”

“We know what happened to him,” Gabby said grimly. “I just want to know who did it.”

“Don’t you want to know why, too?” I asked.

“Why can come later. For now, I just need to know who was responsible for ending his life. I know that Jude wasn’t always smiling and pleasant to be around, but he was the last bit of family that I had left, and I need to make sure that his murder doesn’t go unsolved.”

“I’ll do everything that I can,” I said, feeling the weight of the responsibility she was putting on my shoulders.

“Just make sure that your best is good enough,” Gabby said.

It felt odd going into Gabby’s house without her even if I was using a key and I had her permission. The place was much like her shop; everything there was elegant, if slightly used. The entire downstairs had a Victorian parlor feel to it, a style that I wasn’t a big fan of myself, but it must have suited her. I headed straight to the attic once I got inside, not wanting to snoop around in Gabby’s life at all while I was there. As I climbed the stairs, I wondered just what I might find there.

The place was nice, which was quite a surprise for me. Calling it an attic didn’t do the space justice; it was more like a loft, nicely furnished and stylish in its own right. Gabby’s touch was everywhere, but she’d clearly allowed Jude some discretion in his decorations. It gave me chills knowing that the man who had stayed there had been alive just the day before, but I tried to bury that knowledge. I was certain that the police chief and his team had done a thorough job of examining the room, but I also knew that it was impossible to find every secret someone might have hidden. I started with the small desk, going through the drawers thoroughly. There was nothing telling there, or in the closet, or even under the bed. I was about to give up when I noticed a book on the nightstand that looked out of place with everything else that I’d expected to see. It was a collection of love sonnets, something that I thought neither Gabby nor her nephew would choose for light reading. I picked it up, turned it spine-side up, and flipped through the pages, hoping something would flutter to the floor.