Persimmon Crown by RJ Fournier

Author:RJ Fournier [Fournier, RJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781798858554
Published: 2019-03-23T22:00:00+00:00

Only on her walk home did she fully grasp that Marija believed Mikey had killed Cécile DuQuenne. Helen still trusted Mikey was innocent. She couldn’t understand how a mother could believe anything else about her son. If Helen ever did suspect her son, it would be a secret she’d keep close, a secret she’d barely admit to herself.

Her cell phone interrupted her thoughts. Surprised it even had a signal along this road, she answered thinking it was Frank. “I’m almost home.”

“What?” A woman’s voice. “Is this Helen Terfel?”

“Yes. Who’s this?”

“Delyth Bitersee. They arrested…”

“Who? You’re breaking up.”

“André Du…”

“André who?” Helen knew the answer before she’d finished the question.

“DuQuenne.”

“Where? Why?”

“He… The brother…”

“What? Hang on. I’ll try calling you back when I get home.”

“You’re breaking up. Try…back.”

“I’m hanging up now. I’ll call back.”

She hurried home.

She longed to talk with someone about Mikey and his mother. Frank would listen then say it was none of her business. And her friends wouldn’t understand why she was even involved. She knew she had to be cautious about what she shared with a reporter, but she felt this particular reporter had a good heart and could be trusted. Even so, she warned herself to be careful.

“I’m sorry,” she said when Delyth answered. “Reception on the road is terrible.”

“I’m driving. When you didn’t call back right away, I thought it was on my end.”

“What’s this about André DuQuenne?” Helen prompted. She didn’t want any more talk about cell phones.

“He got himself arrested. He went to the DuQuenne house—the brother is living there now—and they had some kind of argument. The brother called the police. That’s all I know. The police report didn’t go into detail.”

“Is he still in jail?”

“No. The brother didn’t press charges. Just a minute. I’m going to pull over so we can talk.”

Helen heard the tires rolling over gravel and a thump as the car came to a stop.

“That’s better,” Delyth said. “I thought you’d like to know that the second of your suspects has been found. I don’t think it matters, though. The evidence against Vitkus seems pretty overwhelming.”

“I thought the whole case rested on Freddie Olsen’s gossip about an argument.”

“I’m afraid there’s lots more.” She told Helen what Sam had reported from the preliminary hearing.

“Oh dear.” She decided to trust her intuition about Delyth the person over her suspicions of Delyth the reporter; she described her lunch with Marija.

“That makes sense,” Delyth responded. “Sam said Mike isn’t helping his lawyers build a case. In that situation, they have to rely on knocking down the prosecution’s arguments whatever way they can. It doesn’t mean they believe Mike’s guilty. I’m more interested in the argument between Marija and Cécile DuQuenne. DuQuenne could have been right. Mike’s mother could have been looking for the real jewels when DuQuenne caught her snooping around.”

“And she sent Mikey in to be the muscle?” Helen said. Her tone suggested skepticism as she said it.

“What?”

“You know. The enforcer. To force DuQuenne to give up the jewels.”

Delyth laughed. “You watch too much TV.

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