Treacherous Secrets novel Chapter 35

"Harold Jones and Janice Carter from the Nashville P. D., we called earlier," Harold said curtly.

"Ah yes, Terrell, Mr. Donnell, will be right with you," Eric said to Harold, batting his eyes before flouncing off to the counter. Eric picked up a phone and spoke into it and then went on to greet a new set of customers who walked through the door.

Terrell Donnell floated out to them. He walked with a fluidity that made him seem almost like an apparition. He was a very tall, thin black man with a clean shaven face and shaved head. He touched his hand to his throat effeminately, "I'm Terrell Donnell. You may call me Terrell." He held out his hand to Harold like a woman who was expecting a man to kiss the back of her hand.

Harold gave it a quick squeeze and looked away from Terrell's direct dark brown eyes. He looked to Janice and smiled warmly at her. His gaydar must have picked up that she was a lesbian. "Hello dear. You must be the police officers from Nashville," he said with a very heavy southern accent.

"We are," Janice said, taking his hand and giving it a tight squeeze. The fact that whoever had this ring made chose an openly gay man to make it, says a lot, especially knowing the love triangle that had been involved.

Harold fished the ring out of his coat pocket and handed it to Terrell. "Do you remember designing this ring?"

"Why yes. Oh my Lord," he said, touching his throat again. "Don't tell me something has happened to Damon."

"Damon," Janice and Harold said at the same time.

"Why, yes," Terrell said, "Such a sweet, sweet man." He gave Janice a wink.

She knew right away that he and Damon had been more than friends at some point. "So he had you make this?"

"Oh yes, actually I've made three for him and each one is just a little different," Terrell said. He led them over to a counter that had a magnifying glass on a stand. He flipped the mirror over and put the ring underneath it. "The diamonds are aligned just a little bit differently on each ring, partially because they are custom designed and partially because Damon wanted room for a microchip tracer to be put into the design, like this one." Terrell pointed to the tiny slit above the diamond settings. "Damon had one for himself too, but it didn't have a slit for a chip in it."

"What?" Janice and Harold said both astonished.

Terrell laughed. "You'd be surprised how many people are putting tracers in their jewelry, especially something as expensive as this. Although, I don't think that was the reason why Damon wanted the tracers." He winked at Janice again.

"So he wanted to keep track of who he was giving the ring to," Janice said.

"I would say so," Terrell said. "Damon was very sweet, but he was also very jealous. It looks like whoever had this ring found the tracer, because it's gone."

Harold stared in astonishment at the hairline sized opening.

"So, he had you make this for his wife?" Janice asked, fishing to see what Terrell really knew about Damon.

Harold scratched his head thoughtfully. "Well, that doesn't make sense if Damon was the one who left Kenny to explore other options."

"Why is that?" Terrell asked.

"Kenny is the one who is dead," Janice said. "You would think it would be the other way around."

"Just because Damon brought someone else to the club doesn't mean it wasn't the other way around. Kenny could have cheated on him first. But, if you think Damon is the killer, you were definitely sniffing down the wrong trail. Damon doesn't have a violent bone in his body. He might be jealous, but I think he would resort to blackmail before he would try to physically hurt someone, too much Baptist guilt for all that."

"Don't you mean Catholic?" Harold asked.

"Oh no, Damon is Baptist and trust me, they are just as good at making you feel guilty about doing sinful things as the Catholics. The only difference is that you don't have a priest you can confess your sins to."

"You said you made three of these for Damon," Harold said. "One for his wife, one most likely for Kenny; do you have any idea who the other one was for?"

"I'd say it was for Junior. They had been clubbing together for six or seven months when Damon asked me to make the last one. That was about six months ago I'd say," Terrell said. He looked at his watch. "I hope you don't have too many more questions," he tossed his head. "I have to go become Whitney. You all should come by Triangles for tonight's show." He smiled seductively at Harold, who promptly stepped back. Terrell laughed. "He's just too much fun to tease."