Free Trial by Fury by J. A. Jance Page A

killed him. Late Friday night or Saturday morning."
    Kids have an uncanny way of going for the jugular. "Was it the woman in the pink shirt? Did she kill him?"
    I've suspected for years that kids watch too much television. That question corked it for me, convinced me I was right. The problem was, it was closer to the truth than I was willing to let on. I already knew Joanna Ridley was a liar. I wondered if she was something worse.
    "It's not likely it was his wife," I said, waffling for Jenny's benefit. "At this point it could be almost anybody. We don't know."
    "I hope she didn't do it," Jenny said thoughtfully. "I felt sorry for her."
    "What do you mean?"
    "The man was in a hurry. He seemed angry. He kept looking at his watch and saying he had to go. She said he should go, that she'd pay for the cookies and leave them in his trunk."
    "Did she?"
    Jenny nodded, big-eyed. "I helped her carry them to the car. She started crying."
    "Crying? Are you sure?"
    "Yes, I'm sure." Jenny sounded offended that her veracity had been called into question.
    "What happened then?"
    "After she put the cookies in one car, she got in another one."
    "What kind?"
    "Brown-and-white car, I think."
     
    "And did she leave right away?"
    "No. She sat there for a long time, leaning on the steering wheel, crying. She finally drove away."
    I turned to Jenny's mother. "Did you see any of this?" I asked.
    She shook her head. "I must have been in the car, studying. When Jenny needs something, she whistles."
    "What about the check?" I asked.
    Sue answered that question. "I turned it in to the cookie mother yesterday. She said she had to make a deposit this morning."
    I made a note of the cookie mother's name and number. For good measure, I had Jenny go over the story one more time while I took detailed notes. "Is this going to help?" Jenny asked when we finished and I had closed my notebook.
    "I certainly hope so," I said.
    "And can I tell the kids at school that I'm helping solve a murder?" she asked.
    "Don't tell them yet," I told her. "I'll let you know when it's okay to say something."
    Jenny looked at me seriously. "Can girls be detectives when they grow up?"
    "You bet they can," I told her. "You'll grow up to be anything you want to be. I'd put money on it."
    Sue Griffith got up. Jenny did, too. "We'd better be going," Sue said.
     
    "Thanks for buying all those cookies," Jenny said. "But if you run out, I'll still be selling next week. The sale lasts for three weeks."
    Jenny Griffith was evidently born with selling in her blood. I had a Porsche full of Girl Scout cookies to prove it.
    I never did remember to buy the coffee. The coffee or the MacNaughton's, either.
    I called Peters as soon as I got home. "Guess what?" I said.
    "I give up."
    "Joanna Ridley was at the Coliseum on Friday."
    "I thought she didn't like basketball."
    "We've got a Girl Scout who says someone who looked like Joanna Ridley paid for the cookies we found in his trunk. By check."
    "She wrote a check?"
    "That's right."
    "So what do we do now, Coach?" Peters asked.
    "I'd say we take a real serious look at the Widow Ridley and find out what makes her tick."
    "Starting with United Airlines?"
    "That's as good a place to start as any."
    "How about the neighbors?"
    "Them, too."
    Peters hesitated. "What would she have to gain, insurance maybe?"
    "It wouldn't be the first time," I replied.
     
    "I've never dealt with a pregnant murder suspect before. The very idea runs against the grain."
    "Murder's against the grain," I reminded him. "Pregnancy's no more a legal defense for murder than Twinkies are."
    Peters hung up then, but I could tell it still bothered him. To tell the truth, it bothered me. Joanna Ridley bothered me. I recalled her house, the way she had looked when she answered the door, her reactions when she finally learned what I was there for. I would have sworn she wasn't playacting, but as I get older, the things I'm sure of become fewer.
    I kept coming back to the bottom line.