The Heirloom Murders by Kathleen Ernst Page B

him one?”
    “Nope. I think that really hurt him. We sat and talked for a while. It was the nicest he’s been to me in a long time.”
    Chloe tried to weigh that statement against the brooding questions in Roelke’s eyes whenever Simon Sabatola’s name was spoken. Should she try to warn Dellyn against him? But on what grounds? For now at least, she told herself, keep your mouth shut.
    Dellyn picked up the dipper used to sprinkle cold water on the stones, and smacked the ladle against one palm. “Simon’s going to take me out to dinner. He said we’d both do well with a change of scene for an hour or so.” She sighed. “I think he would have made a good brother-in-law, if I’d just let him.”
    “I wish you weren’t so hard on yourself.”
    “Let’s talk about you for a while. So, who’s this Swiss guy?”
    Chloe was spared further discussion of her tumultuous love life as the sound of male voices drifted through the open door. She scrambled to her feet. She’d let Markus invade her site. No way was she letting him inside her sauna. She grabbed Dellyn’s wrist and towed her outside. Chloe didn’t make the introductions until the door was safely locked behind them.
    “I’m glad to meet you,” Markus told Dellyn. “The gardens are fantastic! May I come back and talk with you about your heirloom varieties?”
    “Um … OK,” Dellyn said.
    Chloe let them make arrangements to meet. “I have to be in Madison that day,” she lied blithely, when Markus tried to include her.
    Dellyn shrugged. “No problem. Listen, I’ve got chores to finish. Chloe, I’ll see you later.”
    “Yeah,” Chloe said, hoping that wasn’t code for “Chloe, I’ll want all the details later.” She touched her friend’s arm, “Oh— Dellyn? What did you think of that file I left on your kitchen table on Saturday?”
    Dellyn looked blank. “What file?”
    “The one marked ‘G. F. Kunz.’ Kunz was referenced in that article about the Eagle Diamond you gave me. He was an appraiser from New York, and in 1883 he wrote a letter to some jeweler, saying the diamond was worth about seven hundred dollars. I found the file in your parents’ study, and left it out on the kitchen table for you.”
    Dellyn pinched her lips into a tight line for a moment. “If you left it out, I must have seen it, but …” She thumped the hoe she was holding against the ground several times. “I don’t even remember. I swear, Chloe, sometimes I think I’m truly losing my mind.”
    “You’re on overload, that’s all.” Chloe wished that she’d never mentioned the stupid file. “Don’t worry about it.”
    “I’m sorry,” Dellyn said to Markus. “It was nice to meet you, but I’ve got to spread ashes on the cabbage plants before the moths eat them.” Blinking fiercely, she strode toward the garden.
    Markus shoved his hands in his pockets, watching her go. “Is she all right?”
    “Her sister just died,” Chloe reminded him. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on was making her uneasy. “But I’m starting to wonder if something else is going on, too.”

“Pardon me,” Roelke said politely, as two young women wearing long dresses pushed through the tavern door.
    “No problem!” one of them said, with a big smile. Her green-and-white striped dress was fancy, with what must have been a pillow somehow stuck on her butt to hold out a froth of ruffles. Her companion was dressed as if she was one step away from the poorhouse: a patched skirt, a faded blouse, an equally sun-bleached headscarf tied over her hair. That one fished car keys from the cloth-covered basket over her arm, and the two made their way to the parking lot.
    Roelke watched them go. Since coming to Eagle the previous year, he’d gotten to know the local bar scene. He knew which tavern attracted a low-key family crowd; which bar was most likely to attract trouble. Same as on his Milwaukee beat. But he’d never experienced a place like Sasso’s. Often half