Annie Mae shrugged her shoulders at me as she pointed to the phone.

Then we heard Jose say, "Gotta go, ladies."

He clicked off.

"I think he said yes?" Annie Mae said. "He deputized us, right?"

I shrugged.

"Let's just a.s.sume that he did."

"What do we do now?" I asked Annie Mae as I pulled out of the parking lot. "Maybe Jose is right about it all meaning nothing. Should we just give up?"

"This is not over until the fat lady sings, and I haven't sung a note yet. I say we question Susie. We're hot on her trail. We need to strike while the iron is hot."

"How many more cliches can you fit in one sentence?" I laughed.

"Let's make like a tree and leave. To Susie's."

Chapter Twenty.

Knocking on Susie's door, I ran through my mind questions I could ask her. Only one question needed answering. Did she kill Lucy?

Annie Mae banged on the door again. "Does it smell like onions out here?"

I looked around and recognized a plant. "I think you smell those, Chinese chives."

"This whole situation stinks, if you ask me," Annie Mae said. "Adultery, murder."

The door opened. Susie stood in the same pink dress she'd had on earlier. A cell phone was in one of her hands. "Not you two. I'm going to call the police."

"You don't have to. We've been deputized. So we are the police." Annie Mae pointed to her chest.

I caught my breath. Did Annie Mae really just say that? I smiled weakly as Susie looked at me.

"And we're here to find out if you killed Lucy." Annie Mae moved toward the door.

Susie stood in the entranceway, neither coming onto the stoop nor retreating inside. "You two are freaking nuts. The police need to take you away. I'm calling them now."

Before she made the call, I had to know. "Where were you when Lucy was killed?"

"None of your d.a.m.ned business." Susie folded her arms and jutted her jaw.

"Oh, but it is our business now that we are representatives of the Savannah Police Department." Annie Mae nodded.

Susie raised an eyebrow. "I'm still not buying that. Matter of fact, I'm calling the police just to confirm it."

"Oh no. You don't have to do that." Annie Mae waved her hand.

I stepped backward. "Really. Don't bother."

Susie dialed and then spoke into the phone. "I have two women at my house impersonating police officers."

I began to saunter away, Annie Mae right behind me.

A moment later, a white Explorer, lights flashing and siren blaring, came to a halt in front of Susie's house.

I froze in my tracks and held my breath. "That was quick."

Annie Mae grabbed my hand. "Uh-oh."

The siren stopped. Climbing out of the Explorer was Jose. His eyes were narrowed as he marched over to Annie Mae and me. "What in the h.e.l.l are you two doing? You've committed a serious felony."

"Didn't you deputize us?" Annie Mae asked.

"I did no such thing." Jose put his hands on his hips. "You're lucky I was on my way over here anyway. Any other officer would not be so kind. Jeez. Now I have to figure out how to get you two out of this mess."

Susie's kitten heels clicked down the sidewalk and stopped right next to Jose. "Are you here to arrest these two idiots?"

"Ma'am, I'm responding to your call." Jose smiled, showing his straight white teeth, which shone bright next to his olive skin.

"Oh my, you are so tall and handsome." Susie moved next to Jose. "And you smell so good, too."

"I'm Officer Jose Rodriguez." He stuck out his hand. "How may I a.s.sist you?"

Susie wrapped both of her hands around his. "My oh my. Even your hands are strong." Susie glanced up and down Jose.

He cleared his throat. "Did you want me to take these two off your property?"

"Yes, get rid of them, but you can stay if you need to fill out a report or anything. I could get you something cool to drink." Susie pulled her shoulders back and fidgeted with her hair.

"No, thank you," Jose said.

"Anytime you happen to be in the neighborhood, you're welcome to stop by and check on me. I'm single, and it doesn't hurt to have police protection keeping an eye on me." Susie sighed.

"Hey! You're not single. You're with Bert," Annie Mae said.

"No. Not really. I mean we're not serious." Susie blushed.

Jose stepped back, smiling. I knew that smirk. Jose had that c.o.c.ky grin that meant he knew that he could get anything he wanted out of someone.

"So what do you want me to do about these two?" Jose leaned into Susie. "I'm sure they meant no harm."

Susie flipped her hair from her eyes. "Maybe. But they were pestering me. Asking me all sorts of questions. They think I murdered someone. Can you imagine?"

"Really? You? I can't conceive of such a thing." Jose put on a half grin. "I bet you did nothing wrong."

Annie Mae rolled her eyes at me. I think she knew what Jose was doing as well. I was going to keep quiet and see if he got what he wanted.

Susie smoothed her dress. "I didn't. I was with someone at a hotel in North Carolina when Lucy died. So it would've been impossible."

"I believe you." Jose looked over at me and Annie Mae and then to Susie. "And I'm sure you have proof as well."

"Of course I do. Plus, I won a karaoke contest that same night. They gave me a dated certificate and everything. Not that I have to answer to those two." Susie pouted as she pointed at Annie Mae and me.

Jose had just extracted all the information from Susie that we had tried to get. Except a clue. I asked, "What about your lipstick?"

"What?" Susie asked.

"The *Back off Bert' message on her windshield." Annie Mae pointed at me. "With your lipstick. And Lucy's suicide note had the same lipstick."

"I only wrote the message on the gla.s.s." Susie stammered, "I just wanted you to leave Bert alone. You were bugging him. But I don't know anything about Lucy's note. I mean, I lost a tube at Bert's house. Maybe Lucy found it. I don't know."

Jose pulled out a pad from his shirt pocket. "So, you admit to vandalizing a car?"

"Oh, um. Yes. No. But...I..." Susie's neck turned red as she fidgeted with her necklace.

"So I can write up a report on these two for impersonating an officer." Jose motioned at Annie Mae and me as we stood side by side.

"Yes, yes. Do that." Susie nodded as she looked at Jose.

"Wait. I'm not done." Jose clicked his pen as he looked at Susie. "I can write up a report on you for vandalism."

Annie Mae whispered to me, "Now she's getting what's coming to her."

Susie fluttered her eyelashes at Jose. "Or why don't we just call it even and forget about everything?"

"Or you can just write the report on her." Annie Mae waved toward Susie.

"Humph." Susie glared at Annie Mae.

Jose furrowed his eyebrows and gave Annie Mae and me a twisted smile. "Are you sure you want to do that after what you two have done?"

"On the other hand, forget all this ever happened," I added.

"Trust me. I won't forget all of it. There have been too many escapades recently." Jose closed his notebook. "And I'm hoping this is a lesson for those involved to stop."

Chapter Twenty-One.

Annie Mae and I were back in my SUV. "I propose we call it a day. We found out a whole lot of nothing."

"Today was a hoot, don't you think?" Annie Mae said. "And I got a new plant and a chandelier. To me, it's been a banner day."

"But we didn't solve anything." I turned onto Whitaker Street. "I just wish we would have figured out more than a bunch of random things."

"Pretty good for our first day as detectives."

"And our last. I feel like we just squandered our whole day."

"It's never a waste when you spend time with a friend." Annie Mae pulled out her cell. "It's almost eight."

"So?" I asked.

"We still could go over to Scarlett's store before it closes. Maybe she'll buy the chandelier. It kind of smells like smoke, but I'm sure that could be washed off."

I realized we were only a few blocks away. "I hope you make a small fortune from it."

"Wouldn't that be great?" Annie Mae grinned.

"Are you thinking that Lucy really killed herself?" I asked.

"No. Maybe. I don't know. Let's say that she found Susie's lipstick and was so heartbroken and distraught that she wrote the note with Susie's lipstick as a way to get back at Bert."

"I don't know. Although that's possible, it's hard for me to process. Mostly because she was fine when we saw her before she died. It still doesn't make sense to me." I took a left on Victory, pa.s.sing the historic mansions lining both sides of the street. Branches from huge oak trees formed a canopy over the road. A few minutes later, I turned onto Habersham Street.

"It's hard for me to accept, too. But I think we're going to have to. Bert and Susie have alibis. Ina is also out as a suspect. The poor thing can barely hear, let alone commit murder. No one else had a motive." Annie Mae applied lipstick while looking in the pa.s.senger-side visor's mirror.

Driving down Habersham Street, I pa.s.sed a variety of one and two story houses in Ardsley Park. "Our first official unofficial case is closed unsolved."

"There is still your dad's case."

"Yeah." I turned into the parking lot next to Blue Belle Shoppe. "But I don't think we are any closer to solving that, either."

"Maybe when Micky calls, he'll have some information for you that may help."

"Fingers crossed." I parked and shut off the engine.

Annie Mae pulled hand sanitizer from her purse. She squirted some on her hands then handed me the bottle. "This will make me smell like lemons rather than burnt wood chips."

"Good idea." I put a dab in my palm and rubbed it onto my hands. "Let's see how much your antique dumpster find is worth."

"I have a good feeling about it." Annie Mae unbuckled and got her chandelier.