Getting Rich (A Chef Landry Mystery) (24 page)

She grabbed my hand and almost shrieked, “That’s even worse. If he thinks I did, and then overhead me talking about making Judy my beneficiary, that means he’ll have to kill me before my next appointment with my estate lawyer—” she calculated quickly, “—next Thursday. I only have about a week to live.” She looked ready for a meltdown. She gave my hand another bone-crushing squeeze. “Oh my God, Nicky, I’m too young to die.”

“I have an idea,” I said, with a conspiratorial smile. “Maybe we can use that recording device to our advantage. Here’s what we’ll do.”

if i die you get it all

We walked in not a minute too soon. Any longer out there and my feet would have turned to ice. We headed for the living room, where the microphone was sure to pick up.

Toni spoke loudly and clearly. “I forgot to tell you, we’re meeting Judy and her husband at seven for dinner.”

I continued with the conversation we’d rehearsed. “That’s nice. I look forward to seeing her again.”

At the same time, she pulled out her phone and punched in my number. My cell rang. I let it ring a few times before answering.

“Oh, hi, Jake, what’s new?”

Toni smiled and turned her cell phone off. I continued my pretend conversation.

“I know. I feel so awful for Charles.” I paused for a few seconds. “What do you mean the police suspect him? Why?” I gave a dramatic gasp. “They found evidence? Oh, my God. Toni and I thought it was—never mind what we thought. We were obviously wrong. Is Charles under arrest?” Another pause. “I just can’t believe it. No, I’m not suggesting you’re lying. It’s just such a shock. Let me know if anything else happens.” I waited a beat and said goodbye. And then I said to Toni, “You’ll never believe what Jake just told me.”

“What?” Toni asked, playing her role to the hilt.

“The police found evidence that Charles killed Jennifer.”

“You mean I was wrong thinking it was...”

“See? I told you, you were just being paranoid.”

“Do you think it’s good idea for me to leave an inheritance to my sister? Maybe I
should
make Steven my principle beneficiary. After all, I do love the man. I plan to spend the rest of my life with him.”

“You don’t have to decide anything right now. Your appointment isn’t for another week.”

She gave a hearty laugh. “And in the meantime you remain my principle beneficiary. If I die, you get everything.” We had decided that if Steven really was behind Jennifer’s murder, it would be safer for him to know that Toni had not yet changed her will in his favor. He couldn’t very well kill her until she did.

“Ha-ha, very funny.” I waited a beat and then said, “What are you wearing for dinner?”

“I haven’t decided. I’d better get going. Why don’t you come over to my place? We can get ready together.”

“Okay. Let me get my things together.”

As conversations go, this one wasn’t exactly worthy of an Academy Award, but hopefully it did the trick.

I limped around gathering all the stuff I needed—an outfit for this evening, my makeup and toiletries. I packed the dog food, some wee-wee pads and all the dog’s accoutrements, including—most important—their playpen, a foldable wire-fencing system. I could not allow the dogs to run around loose in Toni’s fancy condo. And then I went in search of Jackie.

“Jackie? Where are you, little girl?” No answer. “Jackie, come and get a treat.” The puppies came galloping over and I fed them each a liver treat. But there was still no sign of Jackie.

“I found her,” Toni called out from the front hall. She pointed to my bag, where Jackie had huddled inside, hiding her face under her front paws.

I burst out laughing. “Jackie, you little rascal. Just because you can’t see us, doesn’t mean we can’t see you.” I scratched the top of her head. “You wanted to make sure I took you with me, didn’t you?”

Toni picked her up. “Is that what she was doing?”

“She does that sometimes. She sees me getting ready to leave, and if I happen to have left my bag open, she sneaks inside.”

Jackie squirmed excitedly, trying to jump from Toni’s arms into mime. “Don’t worry, baby,” I told her. “You’re coming too.” She threw me a grateful look.

We packed the car and fifteen minutes later we were in Toni’s BMW with Jackie and the puppies, and on our way to Hazleton Lanes.

“Tell me one thing,” I said as we drove into the underground garage. “If you’re so sure it’s Steven, how do you know your place is not bugged too?”

Toni cranked the wheel, narrowly avoiding the parking garage wall. She was maneuvering down the circular drive a bit too fast for my taste.

“I’m not,” she said. “But what I do know is that nobody could have bugged me from a next-door apartment, at least not without attracting an awful lot of attention. The walls are concrete and any drilling would have caused a flurry of complaints from other condo owners.” She threw me a wink. “I normally can’t stand condo associations. They’re usually made up of a bunch of old ladies with nothing to do but spy on their neighbors, looking for any excuse to lodge a complaint. But in this case, I guess it’s a good thing.”

“What if you were bugged from inside your apartment? Nobody would have had to drill. Steven could have planted bugs while he was visiting. It’s not as if you follow him around every minute he’s there.” And then I added quickly, “Not that I believe for one minute that he’s the one behind all this.”

Her mouth tightened. “If there’s a bug anywhere in my place, I’ll find it.” She came to a tire-screeching stop in front of a parking space, threw the gear into reverse and backed into it.

“And then what will you do? You can’t take it out. If you do, he’ll realize you know.”

“Audio equipment is very sensitive to water. I’ll just accidentally spill water all over it.”

“How do you know so much about listening devices?” I asked. “You recognized the equipment in Mitchell’s place in a flash. Until you told me, I thought it was just a regular sound system.”

She turned off the motor and pocketed the key. “You forget. I used to be an actress.” From the way Toni told the story, she was a major movie star. I didn’t bother pointing out that, as far as I knew, she’d only acted in one movie and had only had a secondary role in it.

She continued. “I know how sensitive microphones are because the boom operator was constantly screaming at everyone to be careful not to get them wet. As for the spy equipment, I’ve used some myself.” She grabbed her purse, opened the door and climbed out, leaving me dumbstruck.

I snapped out of my astonishment and clambered out. She helped the doggies out, and handed me the leashes. Each of the three dogs was pulling in a different direction. “Er, Toni. I won’t be able to handle the dogs with my crutches.”

She hurried away, calling over her shoulder, “Stay there. I’ll be right back.” A moment later she reappeared pushing a shopping cart. She opened the trunk of her car, transferring the bags into the cart, and then picked up the dogs and set them on top.

“Ready?” She headed for the elevator and I hurried along.

“What do you mean you’ve used that kind of equipment yourself?”

She pushed the elevator call button and gave me her get-real look. “What do you think it means? When I first suspected Steven of having an affair, I went shopping for a few listening devices of my own.”

“You did? Is that how you caught him?”

“No, Steven is smart—much too smart to get caught.” The elevator doors slid open and we entered. “But this time,” she said, giving me a knowing smile, “I have a plan.”

To my surprise, instead of pressing the button for the twentieth floor, where she lived, she made a stop at the ground floor. “Hold the elevator for me. I’ll only be a minute.” She disappeared down the hall. I heard her speaking with someone. A male voice answered. A moment later she was back.

“What was that all about?”

“I checked with the doorman. If there had been any noise complaints lately, he would have heard about it. I made up a story about putting up a couple of paintings and hoping I didn’t disturb any of the neighbors.”

“Good thinking.”

A minute later we were in Toni’s gorgeous condo apartment. I looked around in surprise. The entire decor was changed. The white walls of only a month ago were now taupe. The white silk-covered sofas were coffee-colored chenille. The white lacquered coffee tables were gone, in their place dark wood tables. And the wall-to-wall white carpet was now a travertine floor. All this work had been done in record time.

The first time Toni had invited me to her place, about a year ago, I’d jokingly asked her why this predilection for white didn’t extend to her wardrobe. Toni had laughed and quipped that white was a bit too virginal for her. She’d had a point. Now, there wasn’t a spot of white left anywhere.

“What did you do? Did you get rid of absolutely everything?”

She picked up the dogs from the cart and then set them on the floor, handing me the leashes. “It wouldn’t have been very smart of me to keep my white rugs with an untrained puppy, now would it? And you know me. If I’m going to redecorate, I won’t do half a job.” She took the cart back out to the elevator and reappeared. Until now I’d had my doubts about how much she really wanted Trouble—no more.

She gave me a lopsided smile. “You look surprised.”

I slipped out of my coat. “I never imagined you’d go to this much trouble.”

She hung my parka in the entrance closet, chuckling. “I told you I’d get ready for Trouble.” She picked up the dogs’ bag. “Now let’s get those wee-wee pads down before one of those mutts has an accident.” She rummaged through it until she found them, and marched off toward the living room, dozens of pads in hand.

I followed, still holding on tight to the dogs, who by now were pulling on the leads, eager to explore. I sat before they toppled me over, and watched as she covered nearly the entire floor in wee-wee pads.

“Don’t you think you’re going overboard?”

She shrugged. “I just want to make sure they don’t pee on my beautiful travertine floor.” She soon had set the pen over a second layer of pads. I bit my lips from laughing.

“Now,” she said, brushing her hands together. “There is no way these puppies can do any damage.” She dropped the dogs in their pen, gave them each a head scratch and turned to me.

“How about something to drink?” She left the room, returning from the kitchen a moment later with a large pitcher of water. She put a finger to her mouth. “I’ll just take a few minutes and check for bugs,” she whispered in my ear.

She carried the pitcher across the room to the sound system, turned it on and upped the volume. She inspected the back of the unit, turning it over and checking underneath, her forehead furrowed with concentration. “Nothing,” she mouthed, and moved on. She searched every piece of furniture, looked behind paintings, inside her silk flower arrangement. Next she examined the inside of lamps shades, curtain hems, even the television. She felt along the baseboards, window frames and doorframes. And then she paused, scanning the room. She snapped her fingers, picked up the pitcher and marched off to the air conditioner. She stopped, hand on hip and studied it. She left the room, reappearing a moment later with a screwdriver.

Toni owned a screwdriver? Not much could surprise me about my girlfriend, but this did. I watched, fascinated, as she removed the cover and examined the inside. If I hadn’t known better I might have believed Toni had been doing this all her life. At last she replaced the cover, and turned to look at me. She shrugged.

“What about the telephones?” I asked in a low voice.

“Good idea.” She hunted down all the house phones, and set them on the table. One by one she removed the battery and carefully probed inside each cavity. Replacing the last battery, she shook her head. “I think I’ve looked everywhere,” she whispered.

“If there’s nothing here, doesn’t that suggest Steven is innocent?”

She looked thoughtful—thoughtful and hopeful. And then she shook her head. “I told you. He’s smart. He’d know better than to bug my condo. He probably figured that if he did, and I happened to find it, I’d know it could only be him.”

She brought the pitcher back to the kitchen, pausing in the doorway. “Did you really want something to drink?”

“Yes, please.” And before she offered me something alcoholic, I said, “Water is fine.”

She came back with a tall glass a moment later. “I’m glad you’re staying overnight. It’ll give me a good excuse to not invite Steven over. I don’t know how I’d be able to pretend everything is fine, knowing he’d just as soon murder me.”

“I’m still convinced Steven is completely innocent, just as I am Mitchell is. Don’t forget, Jennifer’s brother stands to inherit her estate.” I paused for a moment and then blurted, “I really hoped you and Steven would get married.”

She smirked. “Ha! Like I always say, marriage is like a deck of cards. In the beginning all you need is two hearts and a diamond. But before you know it, you’re stuck with a joker, and you’re praying for a club and a spade.”

I laughed. “How you can joke at a time like this is beyond me.”

“Who’s joking?” she retorted.

My cell phone rang. I rummaged through my bag and was still laughing as I answered. It was Jake.

“The police have just arrested Charles.”

I gasped. “What?”

Toni stared at me, repeating my question. “What?”

“You heard me,” Jake said. “They hit him with a search warrant and they found a holographic will Jennifer wrote just a few days before she was killed. She left everything to Charles.”

“I don’t believe it,” I said.

“It seems it’s authentic.”

Toni came closer. “What? Tell me.”