Chapter 10
Shawn's eyes widened with interest and excitement of finding the prized jewel.
"Gus! I think the Venetian Queen is in this very room," Shawn hissed.
"What?!" Gus asked with curiosity.
"That painting is off," Shawn rationalized.
"So they have a bad designer. Your point is?" Gus asked.
"Look at this room. Do you really think Mrs. Krandall would have lived all these years in this house with one painting off without fixing it?" Shawn whispered.
"Look if you two girls aren't done gossiping maybe you'd like to finish your conversation later with a note in study hall," Lassiter jeered.
"I would, but I don't have my favorite pink gel pen…and without it, the hearts over my "I's" look ridiculous," Shawn said.
"Shh!" Juliet said silencing the boys.
"Well it's true. A proper heart is pink. Not purple, not blue, not brown-though I would settle for a red if any of you happen to have one? No? Okay, fine…I'll find one later," Shawn settled.
"Mrs. Krandall, are you saying Billie never even told you Jezzie was going to have his baby?" Juliet interrogated.
Mrs. Krandall was about to answer when Willard interjected, "Are we even sure that this Jezzie is really pregnant? There a lot of gold diggers out there after the Krandall fortune, and even if she is…who's to say that the baby belongs to my nephew"?
"Willard, before Billie left all he talked about was Jezzie. I'm sure this girl's trustworthy enough," Mrs. Krandall said shakily.
"Listen, my nephew was very, very irresponsible. Billie had everything handed to him since he was a kid; it was my brother's fault…spoiled him rotten! But Billie was a good kid; he believed anything that people said. He had a good heart," Willard said with tars forming at the corners of his eyes.
"I'm sure he was," Juliet sympathized.
"What we're trying to figure out is if anyone could have had any reason to want to kill Billie," Lassiter said.
"Anyone who knew about his money," Willard grumbled.
"Well…there was that blonde girl who came around asking questions about our family. She was asking a lot about the Venetian Queen," Mrs. Krandall said slowly.
"A blonde girl? Can you be any more specific?" Lassiter asked the distraught old woman.
"Yes, can you tell us her age? Perhaps she was a lost girl scout or a newspaper girl," Shawn joked.
"She told us her name if that helps," Mrs. Krandall continued.
"Any information would help us," Juliet said taking out a pad of paper.
"What was it, Willard? Lisa?" Mrs. Krandall asked squinting.
"Lilah, I think," Willard corrected.
"No…Leah? Liza…" Mrs. Krandall strained.
"Lena?" Gus asked.
"That was it," Willard said.
"She said that Jezzie and her were working on a project together," Mrs. Krandall remembered.
"What kind of project?" Gus interrogated.
"She never said," Willard said folding his arms.
"I think we have enough to go on, thank you for your time," Juliet said getting up to leave.
As all four walked out the front door of the Krandall home, Shawn turned to Lassiter, "Mia's not going to like the fact that you're planning to arrest two of her friends".
"Those two said they were planning something. If that something was murder we have to take them in," Juliet reasoned.
"It's our responsibility," Lassiter agreed.
"Yeah, but if Mia's got half the grip Jezzie does…you'll be needing another ice pack," Gus warned.
Both Shawn and Lassiter rubbed their shoulder in remembrance of Jezzie's powerful grasp.