Case of Imagination (23 page)

“It doesn’t look good for me, Sam,” he said. “Some people have been giving me very dirty looks.”

“They’re crazy. The murderer could’ve been some nut off the streets, some escaped lunatic.”

“That seems far-fetched for Celosia.”

“So does murder.”

Chuck Hofsteder came up to us, smiling a broad smile. “Good news, Madeline. Jennifer Sasser is very interested in the Miss Celosia Pageant. She says no one’s ever asked her. Can you believe that? This is great. She’ll be a terrific contestant.”

Ted looked at him askance. “This hardly seems the time to be celebrating something so trivial.”

Chuck waved him off. “Ted, everybody knows how you feel about pageants. You wouldn’t understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t.”

“Madeline, you know what I’m talking about. If we want the pageant to have a future, we have to start building it back up now. Jennifer says she has a cousin who’d be interested, too. You wouldn’t by any chance be available to do some coaching, would you? These girls are brand new to the pageant scene. They could use some of your expertise.”

“No, thanks, Chuck,” I said. “I’m retired.”

He scanned the crowd. “You know, Augusta Freer has a niece about pageant age. I ought to ask her if Denise wants to try out.”

He hurried off to speak to a woman standing in the parking lot. Ted and I exchanged a look of disbelief with Samantha.

“Speaking of escaped lunatics,” she said. “Well, I’ve got to go pick up the girls at the movies. Ted, no more of this ‘I’m the prime suspect’ talk, you hear me? Nice to see you again, Madeline.”

Ted waited until she had gone and then smiled wryly. “I was going to see if you’d like lunch, but my appetite’s gone.”

“Mine, too,” I said.

“Call you later?”

“Sure.”

I watched him cross the churchyard to his car. I felt uneasy. There wasn’t any solid evidence that put Ted at the scene of the crime, but with his history of problems with Juliet, would the police, anxious to find the murderer, be inclined to believe Ted was in some way responsible for Juliet’s death? I wanted to talk with Chief Brenner, but I knew he’d just warn me off again.

I walked over to Evan James and Cindy. In her usual forthright way, Cindy was trying to console Evan.

“You’ve got to stop blaming yourself. You couldn’t have done anything. If you’d been backstage, you might have gotten killed, too.”

Evan wiped his eyes with his handkerchief and blew his nose. “It’s just so unsettling.”

“You need to think about the future. Why don’t you help with the next musical? That’ll take your mind off pageants for a while.”

“Pageants are my life. You know that.”

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I offered my sympathies. “I’m sorry you’re feeling so bad about this, Evan.”

He gave his nose another blow. “Thank you, Madeline. I can’t help thinking there could have been something I could’ve done to keep this awful thing from happening.”

“There’s no way you could’ve known.”

“That’s what I keep trying to tell him,” Cindy said.

Evan sniffed. “How is your investigation coming along?”

“Well, every time I get a lead, it leads me to someone else. I wanted to ask you about Cynthia Riley.”

Cindy made a disgusted sound. Evan looked puzzled.

“Cynthia Riley? She was in the pageant years ago.”

“I heard there was a problem with her microphone and she blamed you.”

“Oh, that.” He frowned as if recalling the incident. “Yes, she was quite incensed. The power failure was unintentional. At the time, we were working with some inferior mikes, and they had a bad habit of cutting out during performances. I didn’t think she was ever going to forgive me.”

“But she wouldn’t have won, anyway,” Cindy said. “She couldn’t sing, and she looked like a clothes hanger in that gown.”

“Cindy.” Evan’s voice sounded tired. “No more negativity, please.”

“Well, she did. She was too thin and bony to be a queen. Besides, it was Kimberly Dawn’s year.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“This is going to sound far-fetched,” I said, “but do you think Cynthia Riley could still be holding a grudge?”

“Oh, my, no,” Evan said. “We’ve spoken many times since that pageant, and she’s always been perfectly civil. She’s even laughed about the incident, saying I saved the world from hearing her sing.”

“She’s an exorcist, right?”

Cindy gave a snort. “She can certainly scare anything away.”

“Cindy, please. Madeline, Cynthia is a buyer for Farrell’s, a chain of ladies’ dress shops and very successful. She doesn’t need pageants. As for the exorcist business, I think she dabbles every now and then.”

“Do you know if she had any contact with Juliet?”

Evan looked to Cindy, who shrugged. “I’m sure she knew who Juliet was. Everyone knew.”

I thanked them for the information. My next stop was the local Farrell’s store.

The dress shop was in the Olympia Mall, Parkland’s largest mall. Inquiries about Cynthia Riley led me to the bridal section where Cynthia was inspecting a shipment of bridesmaids’ dresses. She had on another clingy beige outfit and lots of gold jewelry.

“Good afternoon,” she said. “It’s Madeline, I believe? How can I help you?”

“Do you have time to answer a few questions?”

“My pleasure.” She indicated two pink and gold chairs usually reserved for brides and their mothers. “Shall we sit down?”

We sat. Cynthia crossed one slim leg over the other and smoothed her skirt. Her beige pumps and stockings matched her dress. She tossed back her hair.

“Now then, what do you need to know? Did Shana send you after me?” She seemed pleased by the idea.

“This visit is about something else. Did you know Juliet Lovelace?”

“Yes, of course.” If Cynthia Riley had seemed pleased before, this question thrilled her. “Am I a suspect? How exciting! Oh, no, wait. She was killed Friday night. I was here at the store in a meeting with ten other people. Guess that lets me out.”

I felt an overwhelming desire to pull her ever-swinging hair. “Sorry you’re so disappointed.”

“Well, really, why would I kill Juliet? I hardly knew her. We had nothing in common.”

“You had a pageant career once.”

“Oh, that.” She waved a hand. “Nonsense. It was the thing to do in Celosia. All the girls tried out. I suppose you heard about what happened during my talent. I was hopping mad at the time, but now I look back and laugh. I can’t sing. Whatever made me think I could?”

“Still, it must have been disappointing.”

“If I’d kept up with my horoscope that day, I would’ve seen it wasn’t in the stars. My talents lie elsewhere. If you think I’ve been harboring resentment all these years, you’re wrong. There’s nothing worse than an ex-beauty queen who can’t get off the runway. We’re not all Kimberly Dawns who have to be around the pageants every year, and pretend to have a modeling career when we’re making sleazy lingerie ‘commercials.’”

Sounded a little resentful to me. “She beat you out in your year, right?”

“What can I say? The planets were not aligned. But I managed to escape Celosia and find a real career.” Another toss of her head. “The game’s up. I know why you’re really here. Go back and tell Shana I won’t come to her house again. Of course, I can’t promise I won’t stop by the bookstore every now and then.”

“That wouldn’t be very smart.”

“Hayden is simply too much of a temptation.”

I tried to keep my tone light. “Why don’t you just leave him alone?”

She gave me a long, considering stare. “I might just do that. After all, there’s another man in town.”

Good lord. Was she going after Jerry?

The shock must have shown on my face. Cynthia Riley laughed.

“Well, you’re not sleeping with him, are you? I’ve seen him with this tiny little blonde. She doesn’t look like much of a threat.”

As much as I would love to see Cynthia Riley and Olivia Decker duke it out, I was too appalled by Cynthia’s nerve to think of a reply.

She continued, “Of course, if the two of you are an item, then it just makes life more of a challenge.”

I stood. I managed to keep my voice in control. “Thank you for your time.”

“You’re welcome.” She tossed her head and smiled a superior smile. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again.”

***

I was glad I had the drive from Parkland to Celosia to clear my mind. It would make me very happy to pin Juliet’s murder on Cynthia Riley. Unfortunately, before I left Farrell’s, I checked with the manager. There had been a meeting Friday night, and Cynthia had been present.

I gripped the steering wheel and had a serious talk with myself. Settle down. She’s not the first woman to want Jerry, and she won’t be the last. You have to do something to make sure
you
are the last. And what have you done lately? Nothing.

Jerry hadn’t gone to the funeral. He told me long ago the only other funeral he’d be attending would be his own. Still, the gloomy event of the day must have had some impact on him. When I entered the house, I heard music, and it wasn’t the sprightly “Doll Song” from
Hoffmann
, or
Paul Bunyan
’s cheerful chorus of lumberjacks. It was the aria Paul Bunyan’s daughter, Tiny, sings, lamenting the death of her mother. The soprano’s clear voice was filled with anguish.

I stood for a long while, listening. My mother was alive. Jerry’s had vanished in flames. He rarely spoke about her or his father. I often sensed he was holding in an ocean’s worth of emotion, and one little crack would result in a deluge of grief. I stepped inside. Jerry muted the sound, but not before I saw the look on his face.

The best way to be in these circumstances is casual. “What’s up?”

He turned the volume down. “Just seeing how the CD sounds.”

“Nothing like a little
Paul Bunyan
in the afternoon.”

His attention was on the CD player. “This is a really great system.”

“Are you to the part about the soup and beans?”

“Way past that.”

“Damn. That’s my favorite.” I knew better than to say anything about his parents. I looked around the room for something else to talk about. There were two large square candles on the mantel. “Nice candles.”

“Olivia brought them.”

A peace offering?

“Check out the lighter.”

The lighter was a long silver rod. One click and you had a nice flame. “Bet that set her back a little.”

“She always has to have the best.”

I was concerned that Olivia was already spending her own money on this venture. “Okay, so your guests have super deluxe candles. That’s nice.”

I sat down on the sofa and gazed at “Blue Moon Garden.” For a moment, I imagined myself in my upstairs studio putting the final touches on another picture of wildflowers, maybe the wildflowers that grew around the Eberlin house, the Queen Anne’s lace and the buttercups, white and gold, like the Fairweather mansion. I really wished Jerry could talk a little about his family.

“You seem kind of down. Did you and Olivia have another disagreement?”

“I’ve been thinking about my family.”

Whoa.

“About Uncle Val in particular. I should’ve stayed out of the attic.”

“Jerry, your uncle might have been eccentric, but people in town have said lots of good things about him. Wouldn’t Austin and Denisha be unable to talk about him or mourn him if he’d done anything improper?”

He looked at me. “You’re right. They’re his biggest fans. But he still could’ve been running a little porn business on the side.”

“I don’t think so.”

He put the CD in its case and slid it into the shelf under the player. “Well, gee, Mac, I guess you know my mysterious uncle better than I do.”

“The kids are perceptive. They would’ve known if something was wrong.”

“Maybe.”

“They crack me up the way they talk to each other. That Austin’s so smart, and Denisha’s beautiful and perceptive, too. She—oh, lord.”

“What?”

“I’m doing it.”

“Doing what?”

“Talking about the kids. Please stop me.”

“They aren’t your kids.”

“I came dangerously close to sounding like a proud parent.”

“That’s okay. I like them, too. They’re neat kids.” He joined me on the sofa. “Kinda reminds me of how Des and Tucker and I were before—” He stopped. “Before we grew up.”

He and I both knew he meant to say something else. I tried to change the subject. “I think we need to find that videotape.”

He sighed. “Which brings us back to Uncle Val as porn producer.”

I ignored that. “If the mailman left the package with the videotape here, then somebody must have taken it.”

“And we still have no idea why.”

“I won’t know that until I find out who got in the house.”