I'd like that, I thought. Then my phone rang, and it was Ryan again. I put the phone in my pocket and headed into town.

CHAPTER 53

I stopped by the bakery for coffee and a muffin on my way to the shop. As I was walking out, I saw Carrie up the street heading toward the pharmacy. I was about to say hello when I noticed she wasn't going into the pharmacy. She was hovering by the door that led to the apartments above it. She took a key out of her purse and unlocked the door. As she entered the building, I ran to catch her and put my foot in the door just as it was about to close. I waited for about a minute. I wanted her to be in Marc's apartment when I walked in and caught her doing… I wasn't really sure what she might be doing, but it was clear she had lied earlier.

I thought, just briefly, about calling Jesse, but I knew he would ask me to wait outside, and I was way too curious to do that. I walked up the stairs to Marc's apartment. The door was slightly opened.

"Hi," I said. Carrie spun around and went white.

"What are you doing here?"

I laughed. "I think I'm supposed to ask you that."

Carrie grabbed my arm and pulled me into the apartment, slamming the door behind me. "Please don't tell anyone you saw me here."

"You lied to me."

"I know." She sat on Marc's unmade bed. "I don't know what's gotten into me lately."

"You were having an affair with Marc."

She looked confused for a moment, then lowered her eyes to the floor. "No, I wasn't. I actually wasn't."

"Then why do you have his key? And what are you looking for in his apartment?"

"I left an earring here."

I walked over close to her. It felt like she might bolt at any minute and I wanted the whole story. "You left an earring in his apartment, but you weren't having an affair with him?"

"I know how that sounds, but it's true. I just didn't want to say anything before because I don't want my husband misunderstanding what happened."

I sat next to her on the bed. "You weren't having an affair, but you wanted to have one."

"No." She teared up. "I love my husband. He works twenty-hour days and I feel like a single mom, but I love my husband. I didn't want to have an affair with Marc." She shuddered. "The guy was a little sleazy, don't you think?"

That was a bit of a slam, intended or not. "I'm not the person who left an earring here."

Carrie nodded. "Do you think it might be here?"

"Carrie, focus. You want me to believe that you came to a man's apartment and left your earring behind, but you weren't romantically involved. So, how exactly did you leave your earring?"

"I gave it to him." She got up and started looking around the room.

"What did it look like?"

"Diamond, a half carat."

"Jesse was here the other day. He took things like that as evidence, " I lied.

She sat down again, defeated. "I wanted to open my own business. My husband thinks I'm overwhelmed with the kids and shouldn't take on anything else. I didn't want to get into another argument about what a waste of money it was, so I figured I'd just go through with it and tell him later. Your grandmother once said to me that sometimes it's better to apologize than get permission."

"It sounds like something she'd say."

Carrie smiled a little. "I wanted to take over the diner, turn it into a coffee shop, but you got there first."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. But there was this place for lease down the street. Marc said he'd help me fix it up, he said he'd make it look like the kind of coffee shop I used to hang out in in Greenwich Village." She laughed. "In another life."

"How does the earring figure in?"

"I didn't want to dip into our savings to put down a deposit, so Marc said I could sell some jewelry. It's stuff I bought myself years ago. Marc said he knew where I could get good money for it, very quietly. I wanted to go into the city myself and sell it, but when would I have the time?"

"So you gave Marc one earring? How much would that have been worth?"

"Maybe a thousand, fifteen hundred. I just wanted him to get me a price. Then I was going to give him the other and a bracelet I had. I was trying to figure out if I should go through with it."

"So you're here to get it back?"

She nodded and took a deep breath. "I changed my mind. Maybe I don't have what it takes to be in business anymore. I don't know. I knew I didn't want to start a business by lying to my husband. I went to Someday Quilts the day he was killed and asked Marc for the jewelry back. He told me he was keeping it as his fee. I saw his keys on the checkout counter, so I took them. I was going to run down here and get the earring, and then I ran into you and got all freaked out, and then… Did Marc tell you about our arrangement?"

"Why would he?"

"You were getting… close," she stammered. "Maybe you were just as fooled as I was."

Another slam, unintentional or not, but this time I hit back. "You didn't go back to the shop later, maybe when you couldn't find the earring, and kill Marc?"

"If I'd already searched his place, why would I be here now?"

She had a point. I got up, knowing that Jesse would kill me for this, and walked over to the box of jewelry on his bookcase. I handed it to Carrie, who riffled through the mostly cheap earrings. In the middle was a beautiful diamond.

"I don't think he really knew where to sell it," she said. "I don't think Marc was that worldly. He was just really good at fooling people."

"We should go," I said, and we headed for the door. Just as we locked Marc's apartment behind us, I heard steps coming up the stairs.

"I got a report that someone was breaking into Marc's apartment. " I turned to see Jesse on the bottom stair.

"I can explain," I said.

"I'm almost certain you can."

Carrie and I sat in Jesse's office for nearly an hour. For ten minutes we explained why we were there, and for fifty we listened to Jesse tell us why we were in big trouble.

"I could charge you with half a dozen things," he said to Carrie.

"What if Marc gave her the key?" I asked. "Then she would have had his permission to be in his apartment. It's not a crime scene. You don't have police tape across it, do you?" Jesse just glared at me. "The earring belongs to her, so really what crime could you charge her with?"

"Tampering with a police investigation, for starters. I could charge you with the same thing." He sighed heavily. "Carrie, go home. I'm keeping your earring for now. I'll get it back to you when we're done with the investigation."

Carrie squeezed my hand. "Thanks," she said meekly and left.

I got up. "Don't move," Jesse said. "I like you, Nell. And I realize that this is my fault. I guess I liked having you around. And I'm the first to admit that you have been helpful. But this is the end of the line, do you understand? You are not a police officer."

"I wasn't being a police officer…"

"You followed a potential murder suspect into the apartment of a victim and then aided her in recovering property that could be evidence of her guilt."

"I don't think Carrie killed him."

"You did before."

"I don't now."

"Well, then. You tell me who did, Sherlock, and I can take the rest of the afternoon off."

"I don't like your tone," I said, my voice quivering just a little.

"I don't care what you think of my tone. I'm not going to be responsible for something happening to you, or this murder investigation, because you've gotten a little caught up in playing detective."

"Am I charged with anything?" I asked with as much iciness as I could muster. He was right, and that made me feel all the more angry and defensive.

"No. I'm just going to ask you to stay out of it. Maybe you should be spending your time figuring out why you're planning to marry a man you think could have committed murder. A guy who uses you for an alibi and tells me that you didn't mean anything to him."