Death of a Hot Chick (24 page)

Did that explain it? “My plan is a go. Teddy
will include our names in her article. She’ll be here in about
twenty minutes.”

“
Then your plan is a done deal,” Kaye
said. “You do have more details in mind, I assume. My spare bedroom
is ready for Lizzie. How do we find out who bites?”

“
Anybody want a Pepsi or a beer while
we wait?” Finley leaned back and opened the refrigerator
door.

“
Or water?” I added.

“
After a glance at the nearly empty
space, Finley closed the door, turned and said, “So how do we
handle Brandon when we catch him?”

“
It’ll be Chester. He definitely
didn’t die in that wreck. He was here yesterday, hanging around my
boat until Lizzie scared him off.”

“
We must remember it could be any one
of our suspects,” Kaye said. “Mr. Joline, Brandon Bates, Chester
Foltz, or someone else entirely. How about Mrs. Joline, or Lizzie,
or even....” Kaye glanced at Finley, but she quickly looked away.
“Even Mr. Joline’s shadow, Rolf.”

Finley stood, her six feet towering over the
table. “You were going to accuse me? You think I’d kill my
cousin?”

Kaye took a deep breath. “I admit I thought
to say, ‘anyone of us,’ then realized that was impossible.”

“
You’ve got that right. I’ve known
Nicole since she was born. We were closer than you two. There
wasn’t any of this, ‘I’m the smart one,’ like I hear from you,
Kaye. We respected each other. We confided in each other. We were
everything to each other. Dammit, maybe we’d better forget
this.”

Kaye pushed her chair back and stood. “I
guess so,” she said.

“
Oh, sit down, both of you. Finley,
Kaye’s been looking after me for so long, it’s just her second
nature. I know that. And when Al ran off, she had to do it again.
And she’s a college professor to boot. She watched after Nicole,
just like you did. And, she did not mean you killed
Nicole.”

Kaye sat, crossed her arms on the table, and
stared at her wrists.

Finley stood, glowering, for a full two
minutes. My heart pounded. I hoped nobody heard it. Suddenly Finley
turned, grabbed one of the paper cups beside the sink and filled it
with water. She took a gulp and stood for another minute before she
turned back.

“
Okay, apologies made and accepted.”
Speaking to the ceiling, she added, “I know Kaye helped Nicole when
all I could do was watch her self-destruct.” She sat.

“
We’re good to talk now?” I
asked.

“
Why not?”

Kaye finally looked up. “I really do
apologize for any suspected slight. It was unintentional.”

“
Yeah, yeah,” Finley said, so quietly
I barely heard her. Now it was her turn to study her folded arms.
“She was just a kid. I wanted to protect her, but I wasn’t much
older. She was afraid of adults. Even teenagers when she was tiny.
Like the paper boy. The Girl Scout who sold cookies. My parents,
who weren’t scary at all.”

Kaye looked like she was about to speak and
I shook my head. I’d seen Finley like this before—in some kind of
zone where she was utterly alone.

“
She changed. Grew up. Hardly knew who
she was any more. So different.” After a few moments, Finley spoke
again, as if to herself. “Couple of months ago. She came to my
place. She’d given up her apartment. ‘I’m staying with Brandon,’
she said. ‘Don’t tell my family. Or anyone else. They mustn’t
know.’ ”

Kaye nodded, but she didn’t speak. Neither
did I.

Finley kept talking disjointedly—all about
Nicole’s scheme to buy out her father’s stock, hinting at the
stories she told the relatives and friends who held the stock,
mentioning voting rights left with former stockholders so her
father wouldn’t find out.

“
All legal,” Finley said, glancing up
like she’d just awakened from a dream. “She was broke. She couldn’t
afford an apartment, she kept her car, but it was draining her. She
had her business, and the payroll was another drain. Brandon’s
stock put her at forty-nine percent ownership.”

“
But the boat.
Snapdragon
. Why did she take that on?” I
asked.

Finley propped her forehead on her tented
fingers and shook her head. Looked at me. “Nicole was smart, no
lie. But she didn’t know much about boats. Figured she’d sell it
like a used car, cheap but quick. Maybe fifty thousand, even thirty
would do it. She should have asked me first.”

“
She must have planned to sell it and
buy more stock before the first of September,” Kaye
guessed.

“
Hey, why’d I tell you all this? Let’s
get that sucker who killed her.” Finley focused on Kaye and pounded
the table with her fist. “So that’s how I know Brandon killed
Nicole.”

“
You don’t think her father knew she
was close to taking over?”

“
Hey, he could have. You’re talking
friends keep a secret?”

Hesitantly, Kaye said, “I must believe that
your story would tend to indicate the possibility that Mr. Joline
could be guilty.”

“
Does she always talk in weasel
words?” Finley asked me.

“
Only when she’s scared of people who
want to quit.”

“
That’s over, Kaye. Ask
Cyd.”

Before Kaye said anything, I answered.
“Quick temper. Hot. But short term.”

Kaye, obviously not completely convinced,
said, “Perhaps there’s something more you didn’t tell us. People
break up all the time. They don’t necessarily kill each other.”

“
She got what she wanted, his stock.
He was just so much excess baggage. She dropped him hard. I heard
it. And it bugged me. Worried me. Finally, that last night when she
stopped in, I told her. ‘You’re playing with fire.’

“‘
So what?’ she said. ‘Brandon’s
loaded. His daddy gave him that stock. He’s got other
income.’

“
It wasn’t just the money. ‘He thought
he was getting a beautiful, rich wife,’ I told her.”

Finley stood, placed her hands on her hips,
and stared at Kaye. “I loved Nicole better than any sister. But
she’d gotten a mean streak over the whole deal. Ruining her dad was
everything. Know what she said?”

Since Finley had hesitated and Kaye seemed
shocked mute, I said, “What?”

“‘
Shit happens.’ She walked out of my
house clutching the three ten dollar bills. The next time I saw her
she was dead.”

I knew why she had those bills—to pay me.
And she was killed.

“
So that’s the story,” Finley said.
“Shit happened to Nicole.”

“
That’s quite a story,” Kaye said. “I
can see why you’re sure Brandon did it.”

“
But?”

“
Since you ask, Nicole confided in me
as well, about her father. She told me way too much, things I don’t
want to repeat. And there’s the note Cyd found. She as much as
accused her own father of killing her, before she was
dead.”

With a menacing glare, Finley said, “I’d
like to see that.”

I spread the note on the table with its
message of hate, evil, and death. Finley reached for it. I reached
for the paper as well. I said, “Just put your finger on it. Kaye,
you too.”

“
What’s this?”

“
Just do it,” Kaye said.

Finley pinched the paper between her finger
and thumb, tried to slip it away, but we held fast. I said,
“Nicole, are you here?”

“
Hey, she’s dead.
Remember?”

Kaye held a finger to her lips. “Shhh.”

“
Nicole, you said I’m the only one who
hears you. Kaye and Finley are listening too. If you’re here let us
know.”

Finley removed her hand and stood. “If
you’re gonna have a damn seance, count me out.”

Kaye stood as well. “Cyd’s sort of psychic.
She’s talked to Nicole’s ghost.”

“
You two are nuts. I’ll be glad to get
out of here. Yeah, I know they think voodoo is a religion, but
here? In the U S of A?”

I let their argument swirl around me as I
looked at Nicole’s note in my hands. “I wish you could remember,
Nicole. I guess you’re not here.” I folded the note and put it back
in my pocket. I had to stop Kaye from telling our childhood
history, with events I barely remembered of my supposed psychic
powers.

“
You’re both dead wrong,” I said.
“Chester killed Nicole. It’s not because of a hateful father or an
unhappy lover. It’s all about the boat. Chester lost his boat and
his uncle is getting out of jail and wants it back.”

Finley let me know what she thought of that.
“Pure garbage!”

Belatedly, Kaye said, “We are supposed to be
refining this trap plan. Cyd, did you get hold of Teddy. Will she
contact the police?”

“
She’ll be here in twenty, no fifteen
minutes. Ask her then.”

~
~

Shortly after Lizzie came, Teddy arrived
with her tape recorder and notebook. “It’s a go?” she asked. We all
nodded. “Lizzie, you’re okay with this? Where will you go?”

Kaye answered for her. “She’ll stay at my
house. But I’ll be in on the capture.”

“
Did you talk to Doug?” I
asked.

“
Yes, but right now, I only want to be
sure you all agree to this.” She turned on her recorder. “Today is
Saturday, July twenty-nine. The following people have united in a
plan of action concerning the death of Nicole Joline.
Lizzie?”

“
If it’s like Cyd told me. I’m gone,
you catch the killer and I’m out of it.”

Teddy repeated, “That was Lizzie. Finley?”
She asked each of us in turn. We all agreed, after sharing a few
rolling eyeballs, shrugs, and grins.

“
Okay, you’re next,” Kaye said. “You,
Teddy, are in on this too. Am I correct?”

“
Of course,” Teddy said and added,
“Good thinking, Kaye,” then turned her recorder off.

“
What did Doug say? Will he be here
tomorrow night as well? And in an official police capacity?” I
asked.

“
That’s what we have to talk
about.”

Lizzie turned to Finley. “You’ve been here
before, ain’t you?”

Finley nodded. I said, “She visited me a
couple of times.”

“
Before that.”

“
You’ve got the eagle eye,” Finley
said. “I came with Nicole once. She was my cousin.”

“
That’s why she is as eager to solve
this murder as we are,” Kaye said. “They were close.”

Had I known that Finley visited Nicole on
the boat? Not really, but it made sense.

“
Cyd, you’ve got a neat spread here,”
Lizzie said. She sat on the only empty space and grabbed a tiny
sandwich. She demolished it, then took a mint. “So when do we do
what?” she asked.

Kaye said, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow
afternoon and get you settled at my house.”

Lizzie nodded and took a handful of
nuts.

Teddy took over. “Officer Yarnell wants to
be in on this. As I understand it, we’ll be waiting for the killer
on Lizzie’s boat. He’ll be hidden, and one of us will be Lizzie’s
stand-in. Cyd, do you know what she does every night? When she goes
to bed, things like that?”

“
Your wanna know, I’ll tell you,”
Lizzie said. “Bed by ten. Maybe earlier if there’s nothing on TV,
or whenever. Except my TV ain’t that hot.”

“
Let’s say, lights out at ten, then,”
Teddy said. “We’ll have to be in place before that. I suggested
that only Officer Yarnell and the stand-in be aboard. Of course,
I’ll be there as the reporter. The rest of us....”

Kaye broke in. “I’ll have my car here, aimed
so when I turn the lights on, it will illuminate the scene. We can
be inside the car.”

“
All three of us?”

Finley said, “You think I’m gonna sit
quietly in a car with you, forget it. This Yarnell doesn’t know
beans. There’s plenty of room for both Cyd and me to be aboard with
him. And, he’ll be happy to have my muscle to help him. Who knows
whether Brandon will come alone? He might hook up with some other
low-life.”

“
You know who the killer is?” Teddy
asked.

“
We all have our suspects. I believe
it will be Mr. Joline,” Kaye said.

I shrugged and waved a finger. “I prefer
Chester Foltz. Maybe we’re all wrong.”

“
Anybody want another sandwich?”
Lizzie asked. When nobody answered, she said, “Don’t mind if I do,”
and grabbed another tiny portion.

I lifted the plate and as I offered it to
everyone, I saw a movement.

“
Yes,” I breathed. In the corner, a
dark shadow grew. I watched as Nicole took form, her slim arm
reaching up as she brushed the hair from her face. That’s when
Lizzie let loose with an eerie shriek.

Chapter 19

Lizzie’s screams started a boomerang of
gasps and yelps, but I kept my eyes fixed on Lizzie. Finally she
stopped screaming and whispered, “Go away.” She didn’t look at the
corner where I saw Nicole, smiling like an innocent bystander.
Lizzie leaned her head into her cupped hands, covering her eyes.
“You aren’t here,” she whispered.

I placed a protective arm around Lizzie,
which didn’t stop her trembling. “You do see Nicole,” I said. “I
see her, too. She won’t hurt you. She can’t.”

Lizzie didn’t look up, wouldn’t answer. She
shook her head.

I glanced at the corner where Nicole’s face
remained. She smiled and nodded. Her lips moved silently. Part of
my brain knew what else was going on. Finley stood, leaning forward
with her arms held at an awkward angle,. Kaye shook her head. Teddy
pranced around yelling. “Okay, what’s going on here?” and a lot of
other things.