Thread and Gone by Lea Wait

in town were assigned to him.
    â€œHer husband used to be her secretary?” I asked.
    â€œYou could put it that way,” Ethan agreed.
    â€œLenore told me she was separated. That she’d filed for divorce,” I said.
    â€œYeah. She kicked Charlie out two or three years ago.” Pete looked over at Ethan as if for confirmation. “Story I heard was he’d lost a lot of her money when the stock market went down a while back. Started drinking about then, too. We picked him up a few times for a D and D.”
    â€œDrunk and disorderly,” Ethan added.
    I nodded. I knew what a D and D was.
    â€œCharlie’s a nasty drunk.” Pete shook his head. “He’s spent a couple of nights with us.”
    â€œWhere’s he now?” I asked. I didn’t know the man, but he sounded like a logical suspect.
    â€œWe’ll be checking on that. Last I heard he’d rented a place out of town and was looking for work.”
    A woman I’d known and respected had been killed in her own office. If Lenore’s killer hadn’t taken any files, he or she must have been looking for the jewelry in her safe. The padded envelope might have looked as though it contained more jewelry. Someone looking to fence jewelry wouldn’t know about needlepoint—or care about it. They might toss it in a Dumpster once they saw it.
    â€œI have photos of Mary’s needlepoint,” I said, getting up and opening my file on Mary Clough. “If the jewelry was valuable enough to be kept in a safe, I assume you’ll be looking for it. I hope you find the needlework, too. I can’t imagine an average thief thinking embroidery was valuable.”
    â€œBeats me why they took it,” Pete agreed, taking the pictures of the needlepoint and the packet and letter. “But thanks for this. We’ll add it to the list of missing jewelry Glenda’s working on and send the descriptions to the usual pawnshops and jewelers. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
    â€œYou don’t sound optimistic,” I pointed out.
    â€œThe guy who did this may not have planned to kill anyone. But he did, and that’s where the focus of our investigation will be—on finding whoever killed Lenore Pendleton. Finding the missing jewelry is important mainly because it might lead us to the guy who did this,” explained Ethan.
    I wasn’t surprised. He was a homicide detective.
    â€œIt didn’t look like a professional job. And Lenore was hit by something in her office—she wasn’t shot or knifed. So it was a crime of opportunity. The crime scene folks are down at her office now, checking for DNA and fingerprints. And the ME’s report will help. At this point, we’re just establishing a timeline.” Ethan got up. “Thanks for the pictures of the needlepoint, and for telling us about the man you saw leaving Lenore’s office. Whoever he was, if he was that upset, he might have returned later.”
    Pete turned as the two men headed for the door. “If you think of anything else that might help us, you know where we are.”
    I nodded. I did. In the two months I’d been home I’d been all too closely in touch with both of them.
    They were almost to their car when I did think of something else. I ran down the slate walkway to the street. “Pete?”
    He turned toward me. “Yes?”
    â€œAre you going to tell Mary Clough about this?”
    She’d be upset. And I’d rather be the one to tell her than have her hear through the grapevine, or from Rob. Law enforcement people weren’t supposed to talk about cases, but word gets around fast in small towns. Probably half the people in Haven Harbor had already heard about Lenore’s murder. And, after all, Rob was Ethan’s little brother.
    â€œShe’s not on the top of our list. We don’t expect she’d break into Lenore Pendleton’s office and kill her to