A Motive For Murder (31 page)

“It’s okay,” Auntie Lil said quickly, leading the
young boy back to the couch. “We won’t tell her where you are.
We’ll just say that you’re safe with us.”

“No!” Mikey said. “I’ll run away. I will!”

Auntie Lil was silent for a moment. “We’ll work
something out,” she finally announced. “In the meantime you watch
television and we’ll order you in some nice Chinese food to eat.”
She stared at T.S. pointedly and gestured for him to follow her
into the small kitchenette.

“Are you crazy?” T.S. whispered furiously. “Do you
know what I just said to his mother? Let me recap for you: ‘I have
your son. He’s right here beside me and if you want to—’ Do you
know what that sounds like?” He stared at her for emphasis. “You
and I may know that I was going to say ‘and if you want to talk to
him,’ but the police are most definitely going to assume that I’m a
kidnapper. Think about it—I sounded just like a kidnapper, Aunt
Lil. One that didn’t get a chance to ask for ransom. We can’t just
let him stay here. This is serious.”

“You make such a big deal out of everything,” Auntie
Lil complained.

“One of us is going to call his mother,” T.S.
insisted. “Either you or me. Your choice. And, by the way, I saw
her meeting Andrew Perkins earlier tonight.” He described what he
had seen.

“I’ll go visit her myself,” Auntie Lil decided.
“Right now. She’ll have to let me in if I have news of her son.
I’ll ask her why she was with Perkins.”

“You will not,” T.S. said flatly. “It may be
dangerous.”

“Theodore, her other children will be right there in
the apartment with me,” Auntie Lil said. “What can she do?”

“Force you to baby-sit?” he suggested.

“I’m hungry!” Mikey shouted at them from the living
room.

T.S.’s expression was eloquent. Auntie Lil ignored it
anyway. “You stay here with him,” she said. “Just let him stay here
for twenty-four hours. That’s all I ask. I’ll phone you when I’m
through talking to his mother.”

T.S. was silent, wrestling with his conscience.
Finally he spoke. “The only reason I am agreeing to this,” he told
Auntie Lil slowly, “is because I don’t think Nikki Morgan had
anything to do with her ex-husband’s death. I had dinner with Lilah
tonight and she told me something that makes me think Hans Glick
may be involved. I wasn’t supposed to say anything until she was
sure, but maybe you should know about it now before you go rushing
off to accuse Nikki Morgan of anything.”

“What did she find out?” Auntie Lil whispered
furiously.

T.S. put a finger to his lips and glanced back toward
the living room, then led Auntie Lil down the hallway toward his
bedroom. He closed the door carefully, then leaned against it and
told her what he knew. Lilah was very active in fundraising for a
number of charities. When she received the report on the
Metropolitan’s charity ball held in Los Angeles last spring, she
had grown suspicious about some of the expenses listed and the
small percentage of profit the Metro had cleared. For the past week
she’d had her own accountants looking into the matter, examining
the books from the event and double-checking listed expenses with
the purported vendors.

“It’s all a lie,” T.S. told Auntie Lil. “Glick listed
last-minute first-class airline tickets for Raoul and Lisette
Martinez, when they really flew coach and booked weeks in advance.
That’s a discrepancy of thousands of dollars when you’re talking
about an East to West Coast flight. Plus, he overbilled the flowers
by three thousand, the food by nearly twenty, padded the list of
waiters to justify paying out more salaries, and made payments to
two decorating firms, including one that doesn’t even exist. He’s
stealing money from the Metro!”

“Raoul and Lisette Martinez attended the L.A.
benefit?” Auntie Lil asked. “Is that what you’re saying?”

T.S. was exasperated. “That’s not my point. Of course
they attended. He’s the artistic director. She’s the star. Did you
hear what I said about Glick?”

“She lied to me,” Auntie Lil said. “Remember when we
asked her about Bobby Morgan while she was taking a break on the
steps? She said she just met him this season. She had to have met
him at the L.A. party. Ruth Beretsky said he was there and flirting
with all the women. She would have been the first one he was
attracted to. Like you said, she’s the star.”

T.S. was annoyed. “So Glick doesn’t even count?”

 “Of course he counts, Theodore,” Auntie Lil
said fondly, patting his arm in a patronizing gesture. “I thought
something was making him behave strangely. But all of his actions
have been consistent. Consistent with an embezzler who has
something to hide, but consistent nonetheless. Lisette Martinez is
another story. So friendly. So helpful. So big a liar...” Her voice
trailed off as she considered various ways to deal with this new
bit of information. “I know,” she decided. “Tomorrow morning, you
call Margo McGregor. Ask her to pull any photos her paper may have
taken at the charity ball. I know they covered it. Get the outtakes
and everything. Wire photos, too. I want to be sure before I
confront Lisette.”

“What are we looking for?” T.S. asked.

“Photos of Lisette and Bobby Morgan together,” Auntie
Lil explained. “If she lied to me, maybe she’s the woman Ruth saw
with Morgan. Maybe she’s the reason why he suddenly pulled his son
from Hollywood and flew back to New York to dance in a minor
production of
The Nutcracker.
It’s never made sense to me
that he would do that.”

“And maybe she’s the reason he was killed,” T.S.
added.

Scrambling sounds in the hallway alerted them that
someone was near. T.S. opened the door to find Brenda and Eddie
tumbling around Mikey Morgan’s feet.

“I was just looking for the bathroom,” the boy
explained. “Are we gonna order in food or not?”

Auntie Lil’s gaze was steady. “Theodore will order
you something now.”

It was just after midnight and Riverside Drive was
deserted. The huge trees lining the park cast eerie shadows
underneath the infrequent streetlights. Had Mikey really seen a man
lurking beneath his windows or was his already overactive
imagination simply reacting to his father’s death? Auntie Lil
hopped from the taxi and examined the street beneath the Morgans’
apartment. It was brightly illuminated. It would be hard to mistake
a tree for a man. But it would be easy for a man to hide on the
edge of the light, blending in with the sudden darkness.

Auntie Lil pressed the bell firmly and Nikki Morgan
immediately answered, as if she had been waiting by the door.

“Who is it?” she asked, the fear in her voice
apparent even through the intercom’s static.

“Lillian Hubbert. Mikey is perfectly safe. I want to
talk to you about it.”

Nikki buzzed Auntie Lil upstairs without comment and
met her at the elevator door wearing a bathrobe. She had been home
for some time, Auntie Lil was sure.

“Where is Mikey?” Nikki asked at once. “Is he okay? I
was just about to call the police. I don’t want any more publicity
and Mikey left me a note saying not to tell anyone he left, but the
note doesn’t make any sense.” She clutched the top of her bathrobe
anxiously around the base of her throat. “I should have called the
police hours ago, but you never know with Mikey. I thought maybe
he’d just gone to the movies or Rollerblading at some rink with
friends or some other normal activity like he’s always saying he
doesn’t get to do.”

“He’s very safe,” Auntie Lil said, interrupting her
slightly tipsy speech before she could begin more apologies. “But I
promised Mikey I would tell no one where he is.”

“I’m his mother,” Nikki protested. “How dare you make
such a promise?”

“I’m sorry,” Auntie Lil apologized, following Nikki
into the Morgans’ apartment. Her voice lowered. “He seems to feel
he’s in danger and said he would run away if I told anyone where he
was, even you.”

“What kind of danger?” Nikki led Auntie Lil past a
row of closed bedroom doors and into the living room. It was as
chaotic as ever. She unceremoniously dumped a pile of schoolbooks
on the rug to make room for Auntie Lil to sit on the sofa. She
reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of
notebook paper to hand to Auntie Lil. “This makes no sense,” she
said. “Read this.”

Auntie Lil examined the note. “See you later,” it
read in a childish scrawl. “I’m lying low for a few days. Don’t
call the police. —Mikey.”

“He says he’s being followed by some man,” Auntie Lil
explained. “He doesn’t know who the man is.”

“Some man? That’s nonsense.” Nikki perched on the arm
of the sofa and swung a leg anxiously. “Mikey is very imaginative.
His father let him watch too many movies. Do you really think
anyone would bother to follow a child?”

“Did you ever think anyone would bother to kill your
ex-husband?” Auntie Lil pointed out.

Nikki was silent for a moment. “I got a call a little
while ago. The man sounded very sinister. He said he had Mikey with
him.”

Auntie Lil looked away. “I know who that was. He was
just trying to let you know Mikey was safe. Mikey disconnected him
before he could tell you where he was. Your son is very serious
about running away if anyone knows where he is.”

Nikki frowned and brushed a lock of dark hair off her
forehead. “Why would anyone want to harm Mikey?” she asked. “He
doesn’t have an enemy in the world. Unlike his father.”

“I thought maybe you could tell me that,” Auntie Lil
replied.

“I’ve told you everything I know,” Nikki said. “I
thought I was very cooperative considering the circumstances.”

“But did you tell me everything? You never told me
that you knew Andrew Perkins.”

Nikki’s expression was blank. “You never asked me
if  knew him,” she answered.

Auntie Lil had to admit this was true, but still
wanted to know more. “But you do know him?” she asked.

“Of course I know him. His daughter has been in the
Metro’s School for the past six years. Two of my other children
besides Mikey have attended classes there. And his daughter danced
the lead with Mikey the night that...” She paused. “The night that
Bobby was killed.”

“And you’re aware of his history with your
ex-husband? That they acted together as children?”

 “Of course I am.” She looked around as if
searching for something. Her eyes lingered on the row of liquor
bottles atop the sideboard before she quickly looked away. “I
thought at first that Andrew was only interested in me because I
was Bobby’s wife. Especially since he became really friendly
following my divorce. I thought maybe he wanted to try to hurt
Bobby by, well, I don’t know the word to use—by romancing me,
maybe. I knew they had been rivals. I also knew Andrew’s wife had
left him and he was alone. I thought maybe he had something to
prove to Bobby by sleeping with me. But I squelched that idea
pretty quickly and Andrew backed off without giving me any trouble
about it. We’re just good friends now.”

“How good?” Auntie Lil asked without apology.

“We have dinner occasionally,” Nikki explained.
“We’ve taken the kids out together. Not all of them. That would be
a zoo. Andrew brings Julie and I bring Mikey.” She smiled. “I get
the impression that Mikey may have a little crush on Julie. She’s a
few years older, but from the way he acts I can tell he thinks he’s
in love. It’s cute.”

“It’s not very cute if Julie doesn’t feel the same
way back,” Auntie Lil pointed out. “Children that age are easily
hurt.”

“She likes him fine,” Nikki said. “After all, he is a
star. Although she does act like she thinks he’s a little young.
But I think that’s good for Mikey. It’s the most normal I’ve ever
seen him behave. Or be treated. It’s just puppy love. He’ll
survive.”

“But you meet Andrew without the children also,”
Auntie Lil said, without explaining how she knew.

Nikki shrugged. “I help him out by giving him advice
on Julie,” she explained. “She’s been without a mother for almost
four years now. He doesn’t know how to handle her. Julie is
difficult.” She struggled to explain. “She grew up very quickly.
Young dancers do. Then, when her mother left, she had to grow up
even faster. Andrew doesn’t know what to do with her now that she’s
a grown woman at age sixteen. He’s had problems.”

“What kind of problems?” Auntie Lil asked.

Nikki hesitated. “They’re private problems,
really.”

 “Nikki,” Auntie Lil said. “I understand that
you promised Andrew you would be discreet. But there has been a
murder and Mikey may be in danger and I don’t think it’s
appropriate to hold back any secrets at this point.”

Nikki thought it over and continued. “Julie’s been
smoking. But so what? So does Andrew, like a chimney. Which makes
it hard for him to lecture her on that particular subject. Besides,
it’s an occupational hazard for dancers trying to keep their weight
down. But she’s also been rebellious. Staying out late at night.
Skipping her gym workouts. Not eating. Her weight is dangerously
low now and she’s losing strength. It’s affecting her dancing. I
told Andrew he had to send her to an eating-disorder specialist,
but she refused to go.” She stopped, her voice hesitating as if she
had more to say but was not quite sure if she should bring it
up.

“What is it?” Auntie Lil asked. “If you don’t want to
tell me, it’s probably the most important thing of all.”

Nikki shook her head. “I remember when I was Julie’s
age,” she said. “I wanted so badly to be grown up and for people to
take me seriously as an adult. Now I would give anything to be
sixteen again.” She smiled sadly. “She started staying out all
night occasionally. It was during
Nutcracker
rehearsals and
Andrew was furious. It was Julie’s first big role and she was
having trouble handling it. Staying out all night didn’t help. He
confronted her about it and they fought. She began coming home late
after that, but she did come home at least.”