Dangerous Relations (3 page)

"I can't, Frank," she began, annoyed with herself for explaining something this personal to
the man who'd tried to make her look bad when she'd divorced his son eight years ago. "I have
to--"

Frank leaned closer. His Armani cologne filled her nostrils. "I'm worried about Julia.
Everyone knows Suziette ran wild till the day she died, though poor Julia insists her only child was
an angel."

"She considers Leonie the result of 'that time someone took advantage of poor Suziette.'
She'd never believe that recently Suziette was--" She stopped short and covered her mouth.

"Sleeping with Corey?" Frank asked, one eyebrow cocked. He smiled at Ardin's evident
discomfort. "Did you forget I'm privy to everything that happens in Thornedale?"

"I must have." She blushed, wondering if Frank knew of Brett's visit last night.

"Ardin." Frank put his hand on her upper arm.

She was forced to meet his steady blue eyes.
He's a handsome man
, she mused,
not for the first time.
An older, more forceful version of Corey.

"I never told you how sorry Betty and I were that things didn't work out between you and
Corey."

Despite her best intentions, the old resentments flared up. "You could have fooled me,
Frank. I remember your telling my mother, my aunt, and anyone you could grab hold of that the
breakup was my fault. That I was a delusional alcoholic, and my bruises came from falling down
drunk!"

Frank cleared his throat. "My dear, I do apologize. We were wrong. We realized just
how wrong when Tiffany made the same accusation." He lowered his voice. "She threw
Corey out three months ago and he came to stay with us. But they've patched things up this
weekend. You'll be glad to hear Corey's getting help."

"Why should I care? Your son needed help years ago when he used me as a punching bag
and you looked the other way."

"Yes, dear, I know." A note of irritation crept into his voice. "As I said before, Betty and I
regret our poor behavior, but all that's water under the bridge." He gave a small laugh. "Corey's
remarried, and you've certainly gotten on with your life." He glanced at his watch. "Now, if you'll
excuse me, I'm on my way to a meeting and I'm already ten minutes late."

He zoomed off in his Jaguar, leaving her seething. The arrogance of the man! Of course
she'd gotten on with her life. But marriage to Corey had left her too wounded and wary to risk
another chance on love.

She rang the bell. As she waited to be let in, she considered all that Frank had told her.
What an interesting coincidence that Corey had gone back to his wife the same weekend Suziette
had been killed. Ardin shivered in the warm April sun.

Maybe Corey killed Suziette. After all, they had been lovers. Maybe she'd provoked him,
and his quick temper drove him to tighten the scarf around her throat.

She shuddered. Best to leave it to the police to find Suziette's killer. They were trained to
search for clues and to deal with motives and evidence.

She waited several minutes before Aunt Julia came to the door. Although she was a large,
fleshy woman, today she looked like a pillow that needed fluffing up. She still wore her bathrobe.
She pressed Ardin close, enveloping her in her sadness.

"I'm so glad you're here. Leonie's been asking for her mother and her daddy, and I've run
out of things to tell her."

Her aunt was starting to sniff. To prevent a crying jag, Ardin took her by the arm and led
her toward the kitchen. "Why don't I make you a cup of tea? Where's Leonie?"

"Here I am, Cousin Ardin. Drawing."

Leonie sat at the round kitchen table. Behind her, the sun blazed through the picture
window, making her blonde hair glow in a halo of light. She wore a white polo and denim overalls.
Her plush giraffe, Mr. Bonkers, stood on the table amid a spray of colorful crayons. The little girl
reached out to the chair beside her and held up a teddy bear almost as big as she was.

"Look what Uncle Frank brought to keep me company."

Ardin stroked the head of the teddy bear. "He's great, Leonie."

Leonie dropped the bear back in his seat and swept the giraffe into her arms. "I still love
Mr. Bonkers the most, and always will."

Ardin looked down at the picture Leonie was drawing.

"This is our new house. And here's Mommy and Daddy and me."

"It's lovely." Ardin swallowed the knot of sadness she felt for her little cousin.

Leonie pursed her lips. "I want to give it to Daddy. Where is my daddy?"

Ardin gnawed at her lip. "I suppose he's at work. He came to see you yesterday, didn't
he?"

"Yes, but today's a different day."

Leonie fixed her sky-blue eyes on Ardin. "Grannie says Mommy isn't coming back."

"That's right, honey." Ardin tried to draw the child into her arms, but Leonie wriggled
free.

"Will you be my mommy?"

Ardin blinked back tears. "I'm your special Cousin Ardin who loves you."

"Leonie, why don't you and Mr. Bonkers run upstairs and play in your room?"

Leonie pursed her bow-shaped lips together. "It's not my room, Grannie, it's the guest
room. And we played there all morning. All by ourselves."

"Just for a little while, I promise." Aunt Julia's voice quivered. "Cousin Ardin and I need to
talk."

Leonie poked a finger into one rosy cheek as she thought this over. "Okay, Grannie." She
offered a dazzling smile. "Then can we go to the park?"

Ardin saw her aunt had reached her breaking point. "As soon as Grannie and I finish
talking, I'll play with you."

"Do you promise?"

Ardin placed her hand over her heart. "I promise."

When Leonie was gone, Aunt Julia turned to Ardin, tears glistening in her eyes. "She's so
like Suziette when she was three-and-a-half: alert, curious, active." She sighed. "But what am I to
do? With my heart condition, I don't have the strength to raise another child."

It was the perfect opening. Though Ardin hated to cause her aunt pain, she felt obliged to
bring up the subject of Brett's visit.

"Aunt Julia, Brett wants to adopt Leonie. He started legal proceedings months ago."

Her aunt nodded. "I know. Then why did Suziette ask me to be the child's guardian? She
must have had her reasons."

Ardin grimaced. No one had ever fathomed what passed through Suziette's head. "We have
to consider Leonie's best interests. She adores Brett. She'll be happy living with him."

Julia went on as if Ardin hadn't spoken. "Of course I said yes, without giving it a thought."
Her heavy shoulders trembled as tears streamed down her cheeks. "It was almost as though she
knew someone wanted to kill her." Her hoarse sobbing grew louder. "Who would want my dear,
beautiful Suziette dead? To--to strangle her with her own scarf and leave her like that in the
woods?"

Ardin wrapped her arms around her aunt and let her cry. She thought back to Julia's frantic
call on Thursday evening. Suziette was supposed to have picked up Leonie at five-fifteen, two hours
earlier. Suziette wasn't answering her cell phone, and no one Aunt Julia called could tell her where
Suziette might be.

Ardin had hurried over to the house and, to appease her aunt, had called the police.

Three hours later two policemen arrived bearing bad news. A neighbor had been walking
his dog in the woods behind the houses and had discovered Suziette's body. Neither Ardin nor Aunt
Julia could explain why Suziette had gone to the clearing where a playground was to be erected
someday. It certainly was a well-hidden spot, Ardin had thought at the time, where two people
could meet and not be seen.

Now Ardin said, "Aunt Julia, you need to rest and not worry about looking after Leonie.
Why don't you let her stay with the Presleys for a day or two? Vivie said Michelle would love having
her best friend sleep over. Since the girls attend the same nursery school, the bus could pick her up
there."

Aunt Julia sniffed. "I can't send Leonie about like a wrapped parcel. Now that her poor
mother's gone, she needs a sense of home more than ever."

Ardin bit her lip to keep from pointing out that Leonie had a home and was desperate to go
there. Her aunt sighed and patted Ardin's hand.

"You're a good girl, Ardin, and I know you're trying to help. I'll think about Vivie's offer. It's
gotten so I don't know what to do. I'm tired. So very tired."

Ardin filled the kettle and set out cups and saucers. "Don't think about anything right now.
We'll have some tea, and then you'll go upstairs and rest. I'll stay with Leonie until you wake
up."

Aunt Julia flashed one of her warm smiles. "Would you do that? You're an angel,
Ardin."

"My pleasure. I'll call my mother to let her know I'll be stopping by this afternoon instead
of now."

* * * *

A long nap did wonders for Aunt Julia. She came downstairs while Ardin was coloring with
Leonie and insisted on preparing lunch from the platters of leftovers cramming the refrigerator.
Finally Ardin got up to leave. She was touched when Leonie hugged her tight.

"Now don't forget, Cousin Ardin. You promised to visit before you go home."

Such a vital, loving child, Ardin thought as she drove back to her mother's apartment. A
pang of sadness reverberated deep within her. She'd never have a daughter like Leonie. Nor a son.
She thrust back her shoulders and accelerated through a yellow light. No matter. It was all for the
best. She wasn't suited for family life. Her short, disastrous marriage to Corey had taught her that
lesson.

She was unlocking the door to the apartment, when Mrs. Katz, her mother's elderly
neighbor, called to her from across the hall. "Ardin, dear, I'll be right over. I've something for
you."

A moment later, Mrs. Katz appeared carrying a crystal vase filled with twelve red
roses.

"The roses arrived an hour ago. I promised the delivery fellow I'd give them to you just as
soon as you got home." She smiled, showing a dimple in her cheek. "They were so lovely, I couldn't
resist putting them in my favorite vase."

Puzzled, Ardin reached for the vase. "Are you sure they're for me?"

"That's what the envelope said. Oh! The card. Be back in a jiffy."

Ardin felt a surge of excitement as she set the vase on the dinette table. Mrs. Katz
reappeared and handed her a small envelope. She stood there expectantly, as if waiting for Ardin to
read its contents aloud.

"Thanks, Mrs. Katz," Ardin told her. "I'll bring back the vase as soon as I find something to
put the roses in."

She walked the old woman to the door and closed it firmly, before opening the sealed
message. The handwriting was large, sprawling and masculine:

Sorry I flew off the handle last night. Your news about Suziette's will was
one more shock on top of everything else. Still, that's no excuse for my
behavior. Let me make it up to you with dinner tonight. I'd like us to talk
before you leave Thornedale.
Always, Brett.

A grin spread across her face. No one had ever sent her a dozen roses before. Corey
had sprung for a bunch of carnations the day her sprained wrist was x-rayed. But red roses
and
a dinner invitation! The image of a candle-lit dinner arose in her mind. Not that
she'd go, of course. She had better sense than to get involved with Brett Waterstone.

The phone rang, jarring her back to the present.

"Ardin!" her mother demanded. "Where are you? Half the afternoon's gone, and you're
nowhere in sight."

Ardin opened the kitchen cabinet and took down the two flowered mugs her mother had
asked for.

"I'm leaving right now. Be there in ten minutes." She hung up before Vera could toss out
another complaint.

Before driving to the assisted-living residence, she stopped at the greengrocers in town to
buy a bunch of the red grapes Vera loved. As she walked along the path toward the three brick
buildings, she sighed. If only the place didn't look so stark and dreary, like the institution it
was.

She wrinkled her nose at the disinfectant odor as she opened the glass door of the middle
building. As always, the sight of old people shuffling with walkers along the florescent-lit halls filled
her with dismay. Her mother wasn't old--only fifty-eight--but years of hard drinking, severe
arthritis, and unsuccessful hip surgery had worked together to keep her wheelchair-bound most of
her waking hours.

Vera had fought Dr. Addison when he'd insisted that she come here after her last bout in
the hospital, but common sense had forced her to accept her only viable option. Despite her
ailments and disabilities, Vera's indomitable will remained unbowed. She still tried to manage her
own life and that of her only child. One of the many reasons Ardin had chosen to live in
Manhattan.

At least her studio apartment seemed cheerful enough, adorned with the few items of
furniture Vera had brought from home. Ardin bent down to kiss her mother's cheek. She set down
the mugs and handed her the bag of fruit.

"Mmmm, thanks, dear," Vera said, as she stuffed her mouth with grapes. "They're sweet,
just the way I like them. How's Julia doing? I called last night but she couldn't stop crying, so I said
I'd call again in a few days when she'd calmed down some."

"Good idea," Ardin agreed. Her mother's straight-forward practicality was a relief after her
morning with Aunt Julia. "She felt better after she napped."

Vera devoured another handful of grapes. "Who I feel bad about, is the little angel. Suziette
wasn't maternal, but she was the only mother Leonie had. Frankly, Julia hasn't the strength to take
on that child full-time." She smiled. "I thought her handsome stepdaddy was planning to adopt
her."

"Oh, he wants to, all right. Now more than ever. But there's the small matter of Suziette's
will."

Vera's steel-gray eyes met Ardin's. "Am I to understand that you and Brett had a little chat
about this?"

Ardin felt the blood rush to her ears. "Actually, we did, last night. He was upset when I told
him Suziette had made Aunt Julia Leonie's guardian."