“Did you kill him?” I asked before I could bite the words back into my mouth.
She didn’t get angry and she didn’t stiffen in defense. She just stared at the ground for another moment before she looked up. “No. I didn’t.”
I didn’t say anything because everything I’d learned told me that was probably a lie.
“I got a call last night,” Helen said, her voice soft. I had to take a step closer to hear her. “From an insurance company. I was still the beneficiary on Olaf’s policies. He didn’t take me off after the divorce.”
I wasn’t sure why she was telling me this. “Okay.”
“Even after everything I did, he didn’t take me off,” she said. “I didn’t want the divorce and I made his life miserable and he still left everything to me.” She shook her head, a puzzled expression on her face. “So very Olaf.”
It was the first time I’d heard those words out of her mouth. That she hadn’t wanted the divorce. During our previous encounters, she’d spent all of her time trying to convince me and anyone who would listen that she’d wanted the divorce and that Olaf had clung to her like a lovesick puppy. Now, she was admitting it had all been a lie.
She leaned against her car. “I was embarrassed. I didn’t want him to leave me. So I told everyone that I wanted the divorce.” She brushed at a stray strand of hair near her ear. “I just didn’t want to be alone.”
I sat down on the bumper of my car.
“You were the only person he went on a date with,” she said, glancing at me. “At least that I know of. As soon as I heard that, I felt like I had to compete.” She paused, digging the toe of her boot into the snow. “So I joined that stupid dating website and started telling everyone I had men lined up at my door.”
I felt a little guilty at that point for having broken into her Around The Corner account.
“But I didn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t. Which just made it all the worse.”
“So you aren’t dating anyone?” I asked. “What about Elliott Cornelius?”
Her cheeks flushed. “I was stupid. It was one night and it backfired on me.”
“Backfired how?”
She looked pained by the question. “I wanted to make Olaf jealous. It didn’t work. And I upset Elliott. Just…bad all the way around.”
I nodded. At least she owned up to it. Part of me distrusted the fact that she was in my driveway, spilling her guts after our last couple of encounters. But the other part of was choosing to believe that hearing she was Olaf’s beneficiary had somehow unlocked something in Helen.
“So there was no one else that you were involved with?” I asked.
She made a face and waved a hand in the air. “Not that matters and not in the way I’ve told everyone.” She paused, squinted at me. “I was just being…me.”
I shifted on the bumper, still unsure of why she was there. “Why are you telling me this?”
She brushed at the stray strand of hair again with her gloved-hand. “Because when the insurance person called last night, I felt guilty. Like, I’ve been lying to everyone and Olaf apparently left me all of this money and I…I don’t know. It just bothered me that I was trying to make him look like the bad guy. Not that anyone believed me. But it just made me feel terrible.”
I was still leery, but she was coming off less like a nut case and more like a confused woman.
“So, yes, I did follow you to the library,” Helen admitted. “After I heard he’d been found here, I followed you to the library. I pretended to work there. I don’t really know why, which isn’t a good excuse. I wondered if you had killed him, but I realized that was absurd.” She pursed her lips. “Running into you at the plant was a coincidence, believe it or not. I know I reacted rudely and I apologize. If anything, I was jealous.”
“Jealous?”
She hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. Because you went out with him.”
“Nothing happened,” I said. “It was a one time thing and there was nothing to it.”
“I believe you,” she said. “I do. But you’re the woman he chose to go out with when he told me he was leaving me. I haven’t forgotten that.”
If she was truly as hung up on Olaf as she claimed, then I could understand that. It didn’t excuse her behavior, but it might explain it. Women were awful when it came to jealousy, so if she thought I was some sort of threat or that I was interested in her husband, I could see where the ridiculous behavior might have come from. If any woman looked at Jake with a smile that was more flirtatious than friendly, my nails immediately turned into claws.
“So I guess I’m just here to apologize,” she said, pushing herself upright from the car. “I got that call last night and I didn’t sleep. It was like it was Olaf’s way of chastising me for the way I’ve behaved.” She lifted her chin. “So I’m sorry for any grief I’ve caused you.”
I stood from the bumper. “Thank you. For apologizing.”
We both stood there awkwardly for a moment.
“Can I ask you a question?” I said.
She lifted her chin again. “Yes.”
“The thing with you and Olga,” I said. “It seems like—”
“Yes,” she interrupted. “We really hate each other. That wasn’t an act in any way. She’s a fat cow.”
“Alrighty then,” I said, getting my answer. “And I don’t suppose you’d have any idea who’d want to hurt Olaf? Or why?”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I really don’t. Everyone liked him. I genuinely thought it was you because I couldn’t think of anyone else who might have something against him.” She shook her head. “So now I don’t have any idea.”
That made two of us.
FORTY FOUR
Helen left and I lugged my groceries inside. I got them put away and was just pulling out the vacuum when there was a knock at the kitchen door. I dropped the plug near the wall, hoping it was just a delivery person dropping off a package or asking me to sign for something.
It wasn’t, though.
It was Rex the inspector.
He held up a hand in greeting. “Hi, Daisy. I was gonna get started on those vents if that’s okay.”
It wasn’t—I didn’t want to be tied to the house on Trade Day just in case I decided to go out and do something fun and spontaneous—but I had told him he could come by without calling. I ran a hand through my hair. “Sure, of course.”
He nodded. “Okay. Gonna get a couple things set up in my truck and then I’ll head downstairs.”
“I’ll be cleaning,” I told him. “Just come and go as you need to.”
He held up a hand in acknowledgement and hopped down the stairs, back toward his truck.
I plugged in the vacuum and sucked up all the dust on the rugs as he hustled back and forth from his truck, carrying tools downstairs. I finished with the vacuum and slapped together a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. I downed it while standing in the kitchen, contemplating what home project I should do now that I was stuck there while Rex worked. I stared at the closed kitchen cabinets. I could reorganize them, I thought. Tear everything apart and pile stuff up on the dining room table and figure out a way to use the cupboards better so that the plates were next to the cups and the baking supplies were actually in the cupboard we used for a food pantry. I rinsed off my plate and opened the fridge to grab a can of soda. And found none.
“Emily,” I muttered. She was always taking the last of the sodas—and she always conveniently forgot to restock them from the stash in the basement refrigerator.
I headed down the stairs, intent on grabbing a soda quickly so that I wouldn’t disturb Rex and his work. I’d discovered the other day that he liked to chat and the last thing I wanted to do was waste the day hanging out in the basement, talking to him while he worked.
Rex had an assortment of tools spread out on the floor, along with several power cords and measuring tapes.
He was taking a drink from his coffee and cinching up his jeans at the waist when he saw me approach the refrigerator.