Free Where Is Henderson? (Sam Darling mystery #5) by Jerilyn Dufresne Page A

introductory stage of the interview, so I calmly leaned over and wiped the edge of George’s mouth with my thumb. He gave me a look and I shrugged my shoulders with a half smile on my face.
    He didn’t say anything. Neither did Jonah.
    George asked a round of his usual questions, and I did my best to stay focused during the boring part. Then it got more interesting.
    “You say you had no hard feelings that the family business would go to your nephew Cash instead of to you?”
    Jonah nodded. “That’s right. I mean, I might have thought it wasn’t fair when I was younger and working much harder than my brother Caleb at the factory. But that was the way our father’s will was structured, which was something he made me aware of years ago. So I accepted the fact that there was nothing I could do about it. I was destined to be second fiddle at the company and that was that.”
    “Well, there was something you could do about it…” George said, and let the rest of the sentence trail off.
    “You mean kill Cash before he had an heir?” Jonah’s voice started off conversationally, but by the end of the sentence he was screaming.
    Hmmm, short fuse, I noted to myself. I’ll have to file that away.
    “No need to yell, Henderson,” George said with a warning tone.
    Jonah calmed as quickly as he had escalated.
    “Sorry. The very idea that I’d kill my nephew is absurd. Ridiculous. Outlandish.”
    Sometimes people give themselves away by saying too much. Why didn’t he just stop at absurd?
    After a few more clarifying questions, George let Jonah go. Jonah shook both our hands, thanked us for investigating, and left quietly.
    “That was weird,” I said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “He went from cold to hot to cold so quickly, and then overdid the excusing of it. I think he’s involved.”
    “Those your only reasons?” George asked.
    “You know what the other reason is…” I trailed off, tired of talking about my vibes. “And Clancy didn’t like him either, did you girl?” I finished by looking at her as I petted her head. She validated my statement and I interpreted for George.
    He almost rolled his eyes, and I said, “You’re not doubting my connection with Clancy, are you?”
    “Not really, but sometimes I wonder if you use her to outnumber me.”
    My eyes must have flashed a warning, because he quickly changed the subject.
    “Anyway, Jonah certainly had a motive,” George said. “He’ll inherit the factory, as long as he had nothing to do with the murder.”
    I nodded, preoccupied with my growling stomach instead of my pique at George, so I missed his next couple of words. But I tuned in immediately when I heard, “… Louise Shannon. Weren’t you surprised? I sort of expected a response from you.”
    “What? What does Louise Shannon have to do with Jonah Henderson?”
    George laughed, “So you didn’t pay attention to the entire interview?”
    “You know I get bored easily. Sorry.” And I really was. “But tell me, where does Louise Shannon fit in?”
    “She’s Jonah’s wife.”
    If I’d been drinking something, I’d have done a spit-take. “Jonah’s wife?” I repeated like a parrot.
    “Yeah. What do you make of that?”
    “Well, I already have her classified as a villain in my head. She manipulates people and takes advantage of them. This makes me even more suspicious of Jonah.”
    George thought a moment. “Yeah, but sometimes only one-half of the couple is rotten and the other one is nice.”
    I turned on him, “Are you teasing me? Or are you meaning that you’re nice and I’m not?” There went my insecurities again. I tried to keep my voice light, but he could tell that I was not completely joking.
    “Sam, stop it. You tease all the time, but when I do you make out like I’m putting you down. It gets old. Really old.”
    I wanted to argue, but couldn’t this time. “You’re right,” I said, although somewhat reluctantly, and then quickly changed the subject. “My vibes