Betrayed (Rosato & DiNunzio, #2)(39)

Officers Hoffman and Ramirez flanked the front door, and Detective Boone sat on the couch opposite Judy, Mary, and Aunt Barb, taking notes in a skinny pad. Judy’s mother bustled around, supplying everybody with mugs of coffee and freshening the ice in the Ziploc bag for Judy’s forehead, which had already stopped bleeding. She had a goose egg above her hairline, but it would be hidden in her hair, and even her aunt didn’t think she needed stitches.

Iris’s gardening chest sat in the middle of the living-room floor, its secret cash exposed while Judy explained how she’d discovered it to an astonished Aunt Barb, who slumped in a chintz wing chair, her hand covering her mouth almost the entire time. Judy felt terrible for her, having to deal with this shock the night before her operation.

“So Aunt Barb, you didn’t know anything about this money,” Judy stated the obvious for the record, in lawyer mode.

“Not a thing.” Her aunt shook her head, stricken.

“That’s what I thought.” Judy faced Detective Boone. “I want it absolutely clear that my aunt wasn’t involved in any way with whatever crimes Iris may have committed in connection with this money.”

“Understood.” Detective Boone blinked behind his wire-rimmed glasses, his pen over his notebook. “We’ve just begun our investigation, but at this point, I doubt the assistant district attorney would consider charging your aunt with anything.”

“Excellent.” Judy went into a mental at-ease, and Aunt Barb shot her a grateful, if shaky, smile. “How much cash do you think it is?”

“I would say $7,000 to $9,000.”

“I thought it was more.”

“I know, most people do. Money takes up a lot of space. It always looks like more than it actually is.” Detective Boone frowned slightly. “So, did you see who hit you?”

“No.”

“Did you get any description at all? Height, weight?”

“No, I don’t know.”

“Was it a big guy, a fat guy?”

“Biggish, I think. It was pitch black out there and it was so, well, unexpected.”

“White, black, Hispanic?”

“No idea. I feel sure that it was a guy, because I heard the grunt and it sounded deep.” Judy racked her brain for a description, but she just kept coming up empty. “It was a man, and as I said, I smelled beer.”

“Did he say anything? Call you a name or anything?”

“No.” Judy could have kicked herself. “I feel so dumb.”

“Don’t blame yourself. It’s frightening to be assaulted.”

“Do you know what he hit me with? Did they find anything where he hit me, like a rock?”

“No not yet, but they’ll keep looking. A punch can feel like a rock.”

“It wasn’t a hand. It was an object.” Judy had the random thought that it could have been a gun, but she wasn’t about to freak out her aunt and mother.

“Uniforms are canvassing the neighbors to ask if they saw anything suspicious, like anybody who doesn’t belong here or a car they didn’t recognize. You never know, we could get lucky.”

“Great.”

“And you didn’t see the second man, did you?”

“No, I made a deduction that there was a second man because the dog didn’t stay with me.” Judy scratched Penny’s side with her foot, since the dog was asleep on the rug beside her.

“Let me get this straight.” Detective Boone pursed his thin lips. “You found the cash in your aunt’s garage and nobody knew anything about it, is that what you’re telling me?”

“Exactly. Mary and I came out here tonight because we were worried that if somebody knew about the money, they might come after it, and evidently we were right.”

“That’s not necessarily true, as long as we’re talking about logic and deductions.” Detective Boone cocked his neat head of close-cut sandy hair. “We have had reports of a prowler in this area, and we don’t have any evidence to connect your assault to the cash in the garage.”

“Oh come on,” Judy said, skeptical. “It’s too coincidental, Detective. I spent one morning at church and could see that everybody knew Iris. It’s likely they could know more about her than we do. Obviously, there’s more to this situation than we thought.”

Mary chimed in, “Besides, if it’s a random prowler, why didn’t he just run? Why did he hit her?”

Detective Boone made a note. “She’s tall and strong. He had to prevent her from giving chase. He wasn’t taking any chances.”

Judy still wasn’t buying it, but she had a more urgent concern. “Look, right now, what’s worrying me is my aunt’s safety, and my mother’s. What can you do to protect them in the event that these guys come back?”

Aunt Barb shifted in her chair. “That’s what’s worrying me, too. I do have surgery tomorrow morning and I have to be at home, recovering. My sister is going to stay with me.”

Detective Boone looked from Aunt Barb to Judy’s mother, who was standing beside the wing chair. “Ladies, the police can patrol the neighborhood, but they can’t guarantee your safety. We don’t have the manpower. If it’s going to concern you, and I understand why it would, I suggest you stay in a hotel.”