Page 51 of Little Last Words
“What about me?”
“My first question is one of curiosity. Dean said he received a text message telling him the date and time of Penelope’s funeral. Did you send it to lure him here?”
She didn’t hesitate before saying, “I sure did. I sent the message from a burner phone. Next question.”
“I want to talk about the people in Penelope’s life before she died. Who did she see in the last few weeks? Which friends has she reunited with since moving back home? Was she dating anyone?”
“I’m not sure who all she’d seen since coming home,” Angelica said. “My daughter was a private person, even when it came to her parents. She did say something about catching up with Jolie and Kate, the Ramsey twins. They’ve all been friends since childhood. And no, why would she be dating someone? She’d just come out of a tumultuous relationship. She hadn’t had time to heal.”
When I’d spoken to my brother, he thought the name of the woman who’d joined Penelope at the bar was Jodi or Josie. I now believed it was Jolie, one of the twins.
“What about Jack Becker, the guy who lives across the street?” I asked. “Did Penelope ever mention anything about him?”
“Not much, but it seemed like he was sweet on her. Hard to tell with him, though. He flirts with everyone, even me.”
“What made you think he was sweet on her?”
“Little gestures here and there. Bringing in her groceries, offering to take her trash to the curb, things like that.”
Bringing in her groceries meant he’d been inside her house, and he’d told me he hadn’t.
“When I spoke to him, he acted like he didn’t know her much at all,” I said.
“I wouldn’t say they knew each other well, but they spoke here and there. My daughter did say he was a nice young man, easy on the eyes, and since I’ve seen him with his shirt off more times than I can count, I can see why my daughter felt the way she did. Why all the questions about him?”
“I’m just trying to get to know who was in her life and who wasn't. What can you tell me about the Ramsey twins?”
“They’re good women and come from a good family. Both are married. Kate has a couple of kids, one around Sadie’s age. Jolie doesn’t have children.”
“Did they keep in touch with Penelope before she moved back?”
“As far as I know. Kate was better about communicating than Jolie.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Jolie tends to speak her mind. She didn’t like Dean, and she didn’t mind sharing her feelings about him with Penelope. Jolie thought she could convince Penelope to leave him. When she was unsuccessful … well, she went through a phase where she became a bit bitter about it. It was all resolved after Penelope left him.”
“Did Dean know about Jolie’s distaste for him?”
“He did, and I’m certain it would have caused problems between them.”
“How so?”
“When Kate or Jolie, or anyone, was on the phone with Penelope, he always tried to get her off the phone.”
“By doing what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. When she was on with me, it always seemed like he was saying Sadie needed her mother for one thing or another.”
“Dean told me about a heated argument they had one night. It was before she left him, and the police were called. I believe the argument was about Zachary Sandler, a former boyfriend of Penelope’s. What do you know about it?”
“Dean accused Penelope of having an affair. It was absurd. My daughter is as faithful as they come. There was nothing going on between her and Zachary. They were friends.”
“Zachary sent Penelope a text message one night when she was in the shower, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but Dean neverreadthe text, did he? A text doesn’t indicate someone is having an affair. It wasn’t Penelope’s fault that Dean was so insecure in the relationship.”
A text didn’t mean theyweren’thaving an affair, either.