Sandpiper Way (Cedar Cove #8)(85)

“I take it this has to do with Martha Evans’s missing jewelry?”

That question told Dave the rumor mill had been churning at full speed and his name had been bandied about town in connection with the theft. “It does.”

Roy leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, and his body language caused Dave a moment’s chagrin. He wondered if his friend was attempting to distance himself from him and his problems.

“You don’t want to talk to an attorney?” Roy asked.

Dave had considered this option and rejected it. “Do you think I should?”

Roy shrugged. “That depends. Are you guilty of anything?”

Of being foolish, perhaps. But the question stung his pride. “No.” He didn’t elaborate, didn’t qualify his answer. He couldn’t make it any plainer than that. He had absolutely nothing to do with Martha Evans’s missing jewelry.

“What can I do for you, then?”

Enlisting Roy’s assistance had seemed like a logical decision. Now he wasn’t so sure. “I’d like you to hear my side of all this.”

“Your side,” Roy repeated, watching Dave, eyes narrowing slightly. “Is there something you want to tell me that you wouldn’t want an attorney to know?” A frown drew his brows together, and he leaned even farther away. “Listen, Dave. Perhaps—”

“First,” Dave said, interrupting his friend, or the man he’d assumed was his friend, “I need advice.”

If Roy went any farther back in that chair, he was liable to topple right off.

“What kind of advice?”

Dave realized that the detective, along with Troy Davis and possibly Allan Harris, viewed him as a prime suspect. Painful and discouraging as it was to admit, if Dave had been given the same set of circumstances, he’d probably make the same assumption.

“Before I say anything else, I’d like you to return this gold watch to Martha Evans’s heirs.” He removed the watch from his wrist and handed it to the other man. He’d had the clasp repaired, so there was no chance of losing it again.

Roy accepted the watch. “You have it because…” He waited for Dave to explain.

“Martha wanted me to have it. Her husband retired as an executive, and Martha insisted I take the watch.”

Roy didn’t reveal whether or not he believed him. “Do you have any proof of that?”

Admitting he didn’t mortified Dave. “Apparently not…I thought I did but I don’t.”

Roy frowned again. “Perhaps you better start at the beginning.”

Dave wasn’t sure where that was. “Martha attended the church for as long as I’ve been pastor.”

Roy nodded for him to continue.

“She was an encouragement to me, and a strong supporter, generous in nature. I…I thought of her as a second mother.”

“You told her this?” Roy prodded.

“No.” He could almost read the other man’s reaction. “But she was special to me and to anyone who knew her. When she became ill, I visited her as often as I could.”

“How often was that?” Roy reached for a pen and pad, taking notes.

Dave couldn’t tell if that was a good sign. “At least twice a week. She had a visiting nurse and I tried to stop by on days the nurse wasn’t there.”

Roy arched his brows and made another notation. “Any particular reason for that?”

“Well, yes…The way I figured it, someone should check up on Martha the days she was alone. Her daughters live in Seattle and they both work. I didn’t have any nefarious motive, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Roy glanced up from his notepad. “I’m only asking you the questions Sheriff Davis will ask.”

Will ask. Roy seemed to believe it was inevitable that he’d be questioned by the sheriff. Perhaps he was advising Dave to get his story straight, which made no sense because he’d never changed it.

“Go on,” Roy urged, watching him closely.

“A few days before she died, Martha asked me to get the watch.”

Roy glanced up again. “So you knew where she kept her valuables?”

Once again Dave felt as if he’d already been tried and convicted. “Yes, but I’d never—” He bit off the rest of what he’d intended to say. Verbal protestations weren’t going to help.

“Where did she keep the watch?”

“The vegetable bin in her refrigerator.”

Roy lifted one eyebrow. “With the broccoli?”

“Yes. And she kept some of her jewelry in an ice-cube tray in the freezer. She thought that was the last place a thief would look.”

Roy shook his head. “That’s as obvious as hiding your door key under a flowerpot,” he muttered.

Dave merely nodded. “The watch would’ve been damaged in the freezer so she kept it in a temperature-controlled bin,” he said.

“And she wanted you to have it?”

“She insisted I take it,” Dave said, struggling not to sound defensive. He wanted to kick himself ten times over for accepting that watch. From the moment he’d slipped it on his wrist, it had felt like a mistake.

It seemed that every protestation of innocence fell on deaf ears. Even his wife doubted him. Dave went on to explain that Martha had written a letter saying he was to have the watch.