everything from our house and took it over to Gladys’ house.”
“You framed an innocent woman together?” Trixie said incredulously. “Oh my gosh, you people…I mean…”
T.J. pulled out his phone and made a call. “Back up will be here in a few minutes,” he said as he hung up. “You two just sit down on the couch and wait for them.”
They sat down on the couch, as far away from each other as they could get. “I bet you wish you had already run off with that bimbo of yours,” Andrea hissed at her husband.
“How do you know about that?”
“Regardless what you may believe, I do pay attention to our bank accounts. The balance in our savings account has been dwindling down for the last two months. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”
Crandall started to say something, but closed his mouth and just sat there quietly. Andrea crossed her arms over her chest, looking rather glum. I went over to T.J. “What kind of charges are they looking at?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. Tampering with evidence, conspiracy after the fact, involuntary manslaughter for Andrea for sure, since Harold wasn’t the intended victim. Since she did it with ‘malice aforethought’, as the saying goes, it could be bumped up to second degree murder. It’s all up to the district attorney.”
“I guess this means Gladys can go home now, right?” He nodded. “Would it be okay to call her and let her know?”
“Sure, go ahead,” he said, smiling at me.
As I made the call, I just hope it brought her a little peace, although it would take a lot longer to get over the betrayal of lifelong friends.
Chapter Seventeen – a week later
I was sitting in the back booth of the café with Trixie sitting across from me. Harold’s funeral had been held two days prior, and it was more of a celebration of his life. People who had grown up with the Norwells but moved away came back for the services, but it turned into more of an Irish wake. Gladys alternated between laughter and tears, and I think it did her good to have so many friends around who were so supportive.
We hadn’t talked since the night the Martins were arrested. They were still sitting in the county jail, and both had been indicted on various charges. I gave the assignment to Bruce, because I didn’t want to deal with either one of them. I didn’t think I could be objective, especially after I found out it was Crandall who had tried to run me over that day, the rotten jerk.
Dale was still out of town, but things were running smoothly at the newspaper. Jake had disappeared the day after the arrests, and nobody knew where he had gone. The papers I had gotten a week ago were from my crazy half-aunt’s lawyer. I hadn’t really taken the time to go over them, and now I had the legal papers from Dale’s lawyer about the terms of the sale of the newspaper. Everything was on hold until I could talk to Jake about it.
“Earth to Lizzie,” Trixie said, waving her hand in front of my face. “What are you thinking about so hard?”
“About the way life changes when we least expect it. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. But it all seems to balance out in the end, doesn’t it?”
“Sounds like you are talking about karma, toots,” she replied, taking a bite of her blueberry pancakes. She waved her fork at the two big envelopes on the table. “Are you going to tell me what all this has to do with whatever is in those envelopes?”
I scratched the back of my head. Trixie was my best friend, and I usually talked to her about everything, but for some reason, I had kept all this to myself. “Dale is thinking about selling the newspaper.”
“Really? To who? Jake?”
“Yeah.”
Trixie almost choked on her coffee. “Are you serious?” I nodded. “How do you feel about that? Why not sell it to both of you? That makes more sense than just selling it to just Jake.”
“You’d think so, but no, that’s the way he wants
“You framed an innocent woman together?” Trixie said incredulously. “Oh my gosh, you people…I mean…”
T.J. pulled out his phone and made a call. “Back up will be here in a few minutes,” he said as he hung up. “You two just sit down on the couch and wait for them.”
They sat down on the couch, as far away from each other as they could get. “I bet you wish you had already run off with that bimbo of yours,” Andrea hissed at her husband.
“How do you know about that?”
“Regardless what you may believe, I do pay attention to our bank accounts. The balance in our savings account has been dwindling down for the last two months. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”
Crandall started to say something, but closed his mouth and just sat there quietly. Andrea crossed her arms over her chest, looking rather glum. I went over to T.J. “What kind of charges are they looking at?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. Tampering with evidence, conspiracy after the fact, involuntary manslaughter for Andrea for sure, since Harold wasn’t the intended victim. Since she did it with ‘malice aforethought’, as the saying goes, it could be bumped up to second degree murder. It’s all up to the district attorney.”
“I guess this means Gladys can go home now, right?” He nodded. “Would it be okay to call her and let her know?”
“Sure, go ahead,” he said, smiling at me.
As I made the call, I just hope it brought her a little peace, although it would take a lot longer to get over the betrayal of lifelong friends.
Chapter Seventeen – a week later
I was sitting in the back booth of the café with Trixie sitting across from me. Harold’s funeral had been held two days prior, and it was more of a celebration of his life. People who had grown up with the Norwells but moved away came back for the services, but it turned into more of an Irish wake. Gladys alternated between laughter and tears, and I think it did her good to have so many friends around who were so supportive.
We hadn’t talked since the night the Martins were arrested. They were still sitting in the county jail, and both had been indicted on various charges. I gave the assignment to Bruce, because I didn’t want to deal with either one of them. I didn’t think I could be objective, especially after I found out it was Crandall who had tried to run me over that day, the rotten jerk.
Dale was still out of town, but things were running smoothly at the newspaper. Jake had disappeared the day after the arrests, and nobody knew where he had gone. The papers I had gotten a week ago were from my crazy half-aunt’s lawyer. I hadn’t really taken the time to go over them, and now I had the legal papers from Dale’s lawyer about the terms of the sale of the newspaper. Everything was on hold until I could talk to Jake about it.
“Earth to Lizzie,” Trixie said, waving her hand in front of my face. “What are you thinking about so hard?”
“About the way life changes when we least expect it. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. But it all seems to balance out in the end, doesn’t it?”
“Sounds like you are talking about karma, toots,” she replied, taking a bite of her blueberry pancakes. She waved her fork at the two big envelopes on the table. “Are you going to tell me what all this has to do with whatever is in those envelopes?”
I scratched the back of my head. Trixie was my best friend, and I usually talked to her about everything, but for some reason, I had kept all this to myself. “Dale is thinking about selling the newspaper.”
“Really? To who? Jake?”
“Yeah.”
Trixie almost choked on her coffee. “Are you serious?” I nodded. “How do you feel about that? Why not sell it to both of you? That makes more sense than just selling it to just Jake.”
“You’d think so, but no, that’s the way he wants
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