Jewelry Can Be Deadly (Sage Gardens Cozy Mystery Book 6) by Cindy Bell

followed him inside. There was no way she could turn down the opportunity to have a look around his house. She might be able to find something that implicated him in his wife’s death, even if she couldn’t find the necklace itself. As she stepped through the front hallway where Valda’s body was found she felt a twinge of guilt. Would Valda approve of her trampling on the carpet where she took her very last breath?
    “Coffee? Tea?” Roger smiled.
    “Coffee please.”
    Roger went to the kitchen and set about preparing the coffee. As Jo waited she scanned the living room for any signs of a scuffle. She didn’t see anything out of place. She also noticed that there were many tiny touches of what she presumed was Valda’s personality throughout the room. What might have been bland was splashed with color. Whatever surface was available was waxed and shiny. In the short time that Valda lived in the villa she had left her mark.
    “Here we are.” Roger returned with two cups of coffee. The two sat down on the couch. Jo’s cell phone rang. She saw that it was Samantha and turned the volume of the ringer off.
    “A friend?” Roger leaned a little closer to her.
    “Yes. Sorry for the interruption. Roger, you look so familiar to me. It’s strange,” Jo said, she wanted to see if she could get any information from him.
    “That’s funny, because you look familiar to me too, Jo. As if I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
    “Oh?” Jo glanced away from him. “Perhaps we have crossed paths before.”
    “Maybe. But I think if I met you before, I’d remember. You’re quite beautiful.”
    Jo’s stomach churned. His wife’s body wasn’t even in the ground yet. It was easy for Jo to assume that because of his history with antiques and obvious callous nature he likely was the accomplice in the robbery. But was he a killer?
    “Excuse me, Roger, do you mind if I use your bathroom?”
    “Of sure. It’s right around the corner. I’ll just clean up our cups.”
    “Thanks.” Jo stood up and made her way around the corner. When she got to the bathroom door she paused and tried to peek into the bedroom. The door was only open far enough for her to see a black box sitting on the edge of the bed. She heard the clatter of cups in the sink and ducked into the bathroom. Once the door was closed she grabbed onto the vanity unit to steady herself. She was disgusted by Roger’s behavior. She looked at herself in the mirror and noticed that the medicine cabinet was slightly open. She wanted to look to see if there was any indication that Roger had killed Valda. She titled her head to the side so she could get a closer look. She looked on the top shelf and all she found were toothpaste, bandages, and an assortment of other toiletries, nothing unusual. Then she looked down to the bottom shelf and she spotted a box of blonde hair dye right away. That was it, her heart rate quickened slightly. She didn’t think it was Valda’s, as her hair was dark. She presumed the dye belonged to Roger, which meant that he might have the dark hair that the suspected thief did.
    As good as it was to discover this information it also left Jo a little more nervous. If Roger was the thief, and also a murderer, then she was alone with a very dangerous man. When she stepped back out into the living room, she didn’t see Roger. She paused in the center of the room and listened. There was no sound of running water, no sound of footsteps, not even the swish of pant legs. Her heart pounded as she wondered where he might have gone. Just when she was about to leave the villa he stepped out of the bedroom.
    “Sorry, I had to take care of something.” He smiled. “Thanks for spending some time with me this morning, Jo.”
    “I enjoyed it.” She watched him as he stepped closer to her. “I’m very sorry about Valda. I’m sure that she was a wonderful woman.”
    “She was all right.” Roger shrugged. “As long as she had new clothes and fine wine she