Death in Paradise (16 page)

"You're tired, aren't you, Lew?" Jolene said. "I know we've all had a long, hard day. Tell you what. Why don't Thea and I walk you to the elevator. You've got that seminar you're leading tomorrow, so maybe an early night wouldn't be a bad..." She trailed off as she rose to her feet, pulling him up with her.

He rose willingly enough until his drifting eye landed on me. "I don't want her—" He punctuated by pointing at me again. "Don't want her coming with us. She's mean."

"She's not mean, really, Lewis. She just speaks her mind, like Maggie does. But I'm sure Thea doesn't mind waiting here while I walk you to the elevator, do you?"

"Not at all." I sat back down on the bench, very proud of myself for not demanding an apology or otherwise antagonizing Lewis Broder. Sure, he made me sick, but as Jolene had just adeptly demonstrated, sometimes you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. She'd gotten the story out of him very neatly and then shipped him off to bed, unless something went wrong on their way to the elevator. And I couldn't have done it. I've got a lot of good people skills, but they tend to be the coercive kind, or the blunt now-it's-time-to-face-the-truth kind.

That's why my partnership with Suzanne works so well. They bring me in for the bad news and the hard cases. When the case calls for charm and tact, Suzanne goes, which is why she was supposed to be here. I knew the issues better, and wrote better speeches, but Suzanne could charm birds out of trees. She was supposed to help the board broach the subject of Martina's emeritus position and a new leader for the organization. I was supposed to stay home, run the office, troubleshoot, get a batch of year-end reports written, and play footsie with Andre. Until an evil virus had foiled our plans. Unless it was a bacterium.

I watched lights on the water and listened to the night sounds.

Music, laughter, splashing from the pool. Footsteps along the walk. The rustle of wind through palm leaves. I thought about my own reaction to the police questioning, and Lewis Broder's, and about what Jolene had said. Wasn't it our civic duty to cooperate? Today I hadn't thought so, and of course, I had more experience with the police than either Lewis or Jolene. But having seen how unattractive Broder's reluctance had been, I began to wonder about my own position. If everyone was unhelpful because they were being so self-protective, how would the police ever solve the crime? And on the other hand, I had given them plenty of cooperation. I'd only gotten difficult when Nihilani had insulted me. Oh, hell, I didn't know. I didn't even know if I had anything more to tell them if they asked, other than pure gossip. And what Lewis had just said. And wasn't that Lewis's business? Only he wasn't going to tell them anything.

I thought maybe the next time they asked me something, I'd dump everything I knew in their carefully pressed laps. But I wasn't sure. Despite the delicate truce that Dr. Ed Pryzinski had wrought over drinks, I was still feeling prickly.

The whole question was giving me a headache. And hadn't Jolene been gone an awfully long time? Maybe she needed to be rescued from Broder's clutches. Maybe he thought any woman who was nice to him actually wanted to go to bed with him. It would be hard to misconstrue Jolene. There wasn't anything sexual about her approach, only gentleness.

But men aren't always the best readers of cues, not when they're as egocentric as Lewis Broder, especially when they're drunk. There's still that testosterone-driven, woolly-mammoth hunting instinct that makes some men think, when they get an urge, that it's okay to toss the nearest female over their shoulder and carry her off to the cave. Reluctantly I gave up my solitary perch and went to find Jolene.

 

 

 

Chapter 11

 

I hadn't gone far when I heard a rustling in the underbrush. Call it an overactive imagination or attribute it to the fact that I've led a rather dangerous life of late, whatever it was, I came to a halt and stepped quietly off the path, hoping that I wasn't about to find Jolene in some terrible state. "Hey, you!" a voice whispered. "Come here." It didn't sound especially menacing. In fact, it sounded like a child. But I've learned to be wary the hard way. Some of the most innocent-looking people can be deadly. "Over here." There was some more rustling and then a small, dirty child stepped out on the path in front of me. "Hi," she said, grinning. "From the beach. Remember me?"

The little girl who had rescued me from sunburn. I searched my memory for her name. "Laura, right? Laura Mitchell? What are you doing crawling around in the underbrush?"

She put a finger to her lips. "I'm being a spy," she whispered. "The rest of my family is upstairs watching TV. I got bored. I wanted to have an adventure."

"And? Discovered anything interesting?"

"Oh, sure. There are lots of things going on if you're looking for them." She lowered her voice. "And if people don't know you're there. I don't think you could do it. You're too big. But I'm only a child, and you know what? People don't notice children, so we can sneak around and see a lot. I was watching you guys there on the bench for the longest time and you never even knew I was there."

I was supposed to be rescuing Jolene but this was a lot more interesting. Laura was my kind of kid. She wasn't upstairs watching TV. She was sneaking around the hotel, people watching. "Well, I was going to go look for my friend, the one who was sitting on the bench with me. You want to come along while I look for her, and tell me about your adventures?"

"I know what happened to her," Laura said in a teasing voice.

"Don't make me guess, Laura. It's been a long day."

"Okay," she said. "She walked to the elevator with the man who was walking funny." She looked up at me, frowning. "Was he drunk?" I nodded. "I thought so. Anyway, when they got to the elevator, he tried to pull her in with him, and she tried to push him away, and he tore her dress, so the security man came and took him away, and she went upstairs in the elevator. To get another dress, I imagine. I think he must be an awful man. You don't like him, do you?"

"No, Laura, I don't. But he has a nice wife and three little children and I wish he weren't so big. I'd like to take him over my knee and spank him."

Laura laughed. She had a nice, uninhibited kid's laugh, the kind that when you overhear it, it makes you smile and wonder how your own laugh got so stilted. "I'd give my whole allowance to see that," she said.

"I was wondering if you'd like to come to the bar with me and have a Coke or something, but I don't suppose your parents would like it if you were hanging around with strangers."

"Nope. They don't like strangers. My mother is always warning me about them. But you aren't a stranger. We already met when my mom was there, so how could she complain? She was the one who told me to wake you up, wasn't she?"

"All the same, it might be a good idea to call her and tell her where you'll be. There are some phones right over here. You can do that while I call my friend Jolene and make sure she's all right. Deal?" Laura shrugged and picked up a phone. I called Jolene.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded shaky, as if she feared it might be Lewis again.

"It's Thea," I said. "I hear pointing isn't his only rude attribute. I hear that Mr. Broder grabs as well. Are you okay?"

She laughed nervously. "Where did you hear that? Don't tell me it's going to be all over the hotel by morning."

"I don't think so. My source is an eleven-year-old secret agent. Are you okay?"

"Well, my confidence is a little shaken but otherwise I'm fine. There I was, congratulating myself on what a good job I'd done handling the guy, and suddenly he's trying to"—she laughed, and this time it was a little more genuine—"trying to handle me. I didn't hesitate for a second. I slapped him silly and hollered for help. Poor Maggie."

"Poor Maggie is right. The man is out of control. I don't know whether he needs therapy or—"

"More saltpeter in his mashed potatoes?" Jolene suggested.

"Right. Look, I'm headed for the bar with my secret-agent pal. You want to join us?"

"Sure. Why not. I'm not in the mood for any more hula or karaoke, are you?"

"I only hate to miss seeing Jonetta sing."

"Well, we could sneak back for that, but I'm not up to reporting to the gang on the results of our interview with Lewis."

Laura was waving at me impatiently. "Okay, so I'll see you in the bar."

"Righto."

Jolene was the only person I knew who could say righto and not have it sound silly. "Your mom say it was all right?"

Laura gave an elaborate, full-body shrug that shook her little pink skort. Then she spread her arms wide, like a diva inviting applause. "She gave me a lecture on not being so pushy and keeping my nose out of other people's business, but then she said all right. The thing is that I wear her out so she's happy to have me out of her hair. My big sister, Charlotte, is one of those perfect little doobies who always does just what she's told. She does her homework twice and the teachers all love her. And Geoffrey is so competent! Everyone thinks he walks on water because he understands computers. Me, everyone looks at and sighs." She grabbed my hand.

"Well, let 'em. I'm the one who has all the fun. Can we get some of those strawberry daiquiri things? The ones that look like pink milkshakes?"

"Why not?" Hand in hand, we strolled to the bar. As we went, we got lots of approving looks from people.

"They think I'm your kid," she whispered. "Isn't that cool?"

The hostess thought it was cool, too. Even though the bar was crowded, she founded us a quiet table with two of those great, tall chairs that looked like thrones. Laura was impressed. "Wow," she said. "My dad tried to get a table like this and they wouldn't give it to him. Are you someone very important?"

"No," I said, "I thought you were."

She laughed. We gave our drink order to the waitress and settled back on our thrones. "Where are you from?" I asked.

"Iowa. Nothing interesting ever happens in Iowa. When I grow up, I'm going to be a writer and live in the city and have four cats."

"How many cats do you have now?"

"None. Charlotte is allergic. All I have to do is say the word 'cat' and she starts to sneeze. Then there's my brother, Geoffrey. All he cares about is machines. He's a nerd." She tipped her head sideways and stared at me. "You know what a nerd is?"

"I think so. You have one brother, one sister, one mother and one father, is that all?"

"Nope. I've got two mothers and two fathers, and four grandparents and two nasty little half sisters and one nasty little stepdog that poops on the rug."

"So you're here with your mother and stepfather?"

She nodded vigorously. "He has lots of money and now we live in a great big house and he hates kids. Except he sort of likes Geoffrey because Geoffrey can fix his computer for him. And program the VCR. And make the remotes work. And Charlotte reads poetry and sets the table without being reminded and can spell anything. But me? I'm good for nothing. He wants to give me to the Salvation Army, but my mom won't let him. You want to see my treasures?"

Boy, could this kid talk! I had the feeling no one had listened to her for a long time, but I didn't mind. It was restful, after the day I'd had, to talk with somebody who didn't care about Martina's murder or single-sex education. Our drinks arrived. Hers was topped with whipped cream and a huge strawberry. She tasted it carefully and pronounced it delicious before reaching in her pocket and pulling out a small drawstring bag. She set it on the table in front of her.

"Everywhere we go," she explained, "I bring this bag with me, and I collect stuff that I find to be my souvenirs of the trip. This isn't stuff that I buy, anyone can buy junk in stores. It has to be found stuff. The rest of them are always on my case about picking up trash, but you'd be surprised what I find. Look... and this is only from two days." She undid the string and dumped the contents out on the table.

"Mind if I join you?" It was Jolene. I made introductions and she pulled up a chair and sat down. Laura and her treasures had to wait until she'd ordered her drink.

As soon as the waitress was gone, Laura picked up where she'd left off. "Okay," she said. "I was about to show Thea my treasures. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. Is there a story behind these treasures?"

Laura explained again about how she collected souvenirs, and then she picked up the first item from the pile on the table. It was a small gold earring. "This one I found at the bottom of the pool when I was diving for pennies. I think it belonged to a woman who had kicked me when she was swimming, but when I tried to tell her about it, she called me an annoying little brat and told me to get lost, so... the earring and I got lost together. Pretty, isn't it?" It was pretty. Pretty, and, if the thing that looked like a diamond was real, very expensive.

Jolene admired it and set it in a separate pile. "Next?" she said.

Laura's next treasure was a feather of iridescent blue and green. "Found it in the lobby," she said. "I had to race against that guy with the broom. He's so fast things barely make it to the floor. His name is Clay and he's from Cleveland. Here are matches from the restaurant last night. A shell I found when I was playing in the waves. I had to dive down to get it. There are no shells on the beach. Let's see... a Japanese coin I found in the parking lot. This dollar bill had rolled under the Coke machine. Here's a neon green cigarette lighter that still works, and..."