Free The Double Wedding Ring by Clare O' Donohue Page B

that?” I asked.
    â€œI made a few calls. I talked to a friend of my cousin who knew a New York City cop. And he knew another cop who worked with Leighton, and that guy said that Roger ran marathons, worked out a lot. It surprised him that Roger was claiming he wasn’t up for the job.”
    â€œThe cop who knows another cop who knows your cousin’s friend. . . .” Saying it made me laugh. We didn’t have the normal channels of investigation open to us, so we had a sort of six-degrees-of-separation way to getting what we needed. Between us we all knew someone who knew someone, etc. . . . Of course, in the last few investigations we had Jesse offering information, actually asking for our help, if reluctantly. “Did he know if Roger was having other problems at work? Maybe an old case that got overturned, or an issue with a fellow officer?”
    â€œHe didn’t mention anything, and I’m sorry, I didn’t think to ask. He did say that Roger had been extra careful on arrests and paperwork. He was super insistent that everything be by the book.”
    â€œWas that a new behavior?” Bernie asked.
    â€œI don’t know, but it seemed like he found it annoying, and he said he liked Roger,” Natalie told her.
    â€œMaybe that’s it,” Suzanne jumped in. “Maybe Roger discovered corruption and was killed because of it. If he did everything by the book, he’d have to turn in those cops who didn’t, right? Maybe he quit so he wouldn’t have to hurt his friends.”
    It was a good theory, and one that fit in with what Jesse had said about Roger.
    â€œI’ll keep looking,” Maggie said. “We’ll find everything we can about him.”
    As she spoke, Jesse walked into Jitters. We had the quilt unfolded across the table, so to anyone looking we were just a group of women talking about our hobby. Under normal circumstances that wouldn’t fool Jesse, but this time it seemed to.
    â€œWedding?” he asked.
    â€œNothing but,” Susanne said. She held up the quilt and Jesse took his time examining it.
    â€œIt’s amazing. You ladies are gifted.” He cleared his throat and nodded toward me. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
    â€œSure.” I got up and followed him to the back of the shop, feeling like a kid called into the principal’s office. When I looked back at the table, I saw the group read the situation the same way I did.
    Jesse held my hands and smiled softly. “I know how good you are at these investigations. I know you always get to the bottom of things.”
    â€œI can help you, you know.”
    â€œI just said that Nell.”
    â€œBut you’re going to tell me to butt out.”
    â€œI’m going to tell you, if you give me a chance, to not go behind my back to get information out of my officers.”
    â€œYou mean yesterday?”
    â€œYes. Is there a time limit on when I can talk to you about something that bothers me?” His voice was slightly irritated, but he took a deep breath and started again. “I just needed time to think about what I wanted to say.”
    â€œI was chatting with Greg,” I said, trying to keep my defensiveness to a minimum and Greg out of trouble. “I’ve known him as long as I’ve known you. He’s my friend. I can’t say hi to him on the street?”
    â€œThat’s not what you were doing.”
    â€œWhat did he say we were doing?”
    Jesse smiled. He’d caught me. “I haven’t talked to him. Yet. But my guess is you were pumping the guy for information.”
    â€œI was talking to him. . . .” I gave up. “What’s going on, Jesse? You’re not putting everything into evidence, you’re not letting me help you. . . .”
    â€œI’m trying to deal with the death of my friend.”
    â€œThen that’s what you should do. I know