Heart-Shaped Box (Claire Montrose Series) (21 page)

“
He didn’t seem to be around much last night.” Sawyer shaded his eyes from the sun.

“
He chain-smokes, so he was out by the ashtrays most of the time,” Claire explained. “Logan wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

Sawyer nodded noncommittally. “I hope you’re right. He’s not the same Logan you knew when you were growing up. Who knows what years of schizophrenia plus basketsful of drugs have done to him? Logan seemed” - Sawyer hesitated, shaking his head -”I don’t know. Not quite right.”

Claire straightened up, feeling like a lioness defending her cubs. “You of all people should know not to stigmatize the mentally ill. Inside, Logan’s the same person.”

Sawyer turned to his wife. “Could you excuse us for a moment, Elaine?” She nodded, and while she was walking away, Sawyer touched Claire’s shoulder. “I’ve never told anyone this, but Logan was violent at least once back in high school. Do you remember that exchange student from Ecuador? That girl with the thick black braid that went down her back? Once after school was over I caught him shaking her by the shoulders and banging her head against the locker. She was so afraid she couldn’t even scream. Too afraid to file charges. And Logan ending up being committed the next day, so I didn’t have to decide how best to follow up. But I’ll never forget the look on his face. He didn’t even hear me when I yelled at him to stop. I had to pry his hands off her.”

Claire sagged. Her friend had always been so gentle with her. But was there another side to him? And could he be like that even now, now that he was considered ‘cured’?”

Lost in thought, she excused herself to go get something to eat, leaving Sawyer to the mercy of an old classmate who launched into a plea for farm subsidies before Sawyer even had a chance to say good-bye. She passed Richard, who trying to explain something to Maria and Sunny by laying out watermelon seeds on the top of a picnic table. “Now imagine,” he was saying as she passed, “that you could ramp up the bandwidth of the circuitry and...” Claire noticed that neither of the two women looked very interested.

Picking up a paper plate, she took a place in line. Even though she was standing a few feet away, the coals from the giant barbecue felt hot enough to smelt steel.

The person in front of her turned around, and she realized it was Jim. “Enjoy your run?” he asked.

“
I should have gone earlier.” She took a hamburger bun from an open plastic bag. “Say, do you know if anyone has seen Belinda since what happened this morning? I’m worried about her.”

“
I went by her room,” Jim said. “I only talked to her a little bit. She’ll hold it together for a minute or two, then she starts weeping. That daughter of hers, Vanessa, is no help. She’s interested in some boy she just met here. What my mom used to call twitterpated.”

“
It’s Wade’s kid, if you can believe it. Seems kind of incestuous.” Claire squirted ketchup and mustard on her bun, then added pickle slices. “Maybe I’ll go down and talk to Belinda this afternoon.”

The sweating teenager manning the grill plopped a hamburger that was charred black on the outside onto Claire’s open bun. She started walking toward the circle of people - including Dante - that still surrounded Jessica. Claire took a bite of her hamburger as she walked, then gagged when it dripped blood. Resolving to become a vegetarian (if she didn’t die from e. coli first), she tossed the entire plate of food in a garbage can already overflowing with half-eaten and hastily discarded burgers.

“
So what plays have you been in recently?” Dante was asking Jessica when Claire joined them.

“
Have you heard of
Dirty Habits
?” It was something of a silly question, because
Dirty Habits
had exploded in popularity after someone had taken a potshot at Nicole Kidman (and missed by a mile), disturbed by her portrayal of a lesbian nun involved with an older nun played by Glen Close. That and boycotts by every Catholic agency, as well as a stinging denunciation by Rudolph Guliani, had been enough to make tickets impossible to get. “I play Nikki’s other love interest.”

“
The novitiate?”

Jessica blinked. “Um, yes. Of course, with those darned habits they make us wear, even my own mother wouldn’t recognize me.” She sighed. “I had to fight tooth and nail to be able to come back here for the reunion. Luckily, I thought to have it included in my contract.”

“
Dante lives in Manhattan,” Claire said. She was trying not to envy Jessica her tanned legs and her ability to look glamorous even at a picnic. The actress wore pressed khaki shorts and a black sleeveless turtleneck. Claire tried to hide the ketchup stain on her shirt by tucking it even more deeply into her shorts. “He works at the Met.”

Jessica pushed her sunglasses up her nose, so all Claire could see was her own mirrored reflection as Jessica looked from Claire to Dante. “So have you seen
Dirty Habits
?”

“
It’s a wonderful show.” Dante put out his hand. “You’re to be congratulated.”

They shook hands, setting the dozen silver bracelets on Jessica’s right arm to jingling. “Do you think I’m dressed appropriately?” Jessica appealed to both of them. “Me in my Kenneth Cole leather slides and my Ray-Bans and my Coach bag and my Donna Karan silk turtleneck. Maybe I’m not dressed right for Minor any more.”

Dante’s tone signaled that he was about to make a joke. “You’re worried you’re not dressed for the part?”

Jessica gave Dante a playful shove in the center of his chest. “Oh, you! There’s nothing worse than a punster.”

Claire hoped neither of them could see her eyes behind her sunglasses. While she was still fuming, Dante turned to her and asked her if she wanted to go get a sno-cone. As soon as they were out of earshot, he said, “So what proof do you have that she was ever on
Until Tomorrow
?”

“
Who - Jessica? What do you mean?” Claire was having trouble switching gears. “My mom used to tape the show and I’d watch it when I got home from work. She was on almost every episode. Why are you asking me this?”

“
Because the woman who played the novitiate was black.”

In the enervating heat, her brain seemed to be working in slow motion. “You mean the part Jessica said she had.”

He nodded.

“
Are you sure?”

“
I just saw it last week”

She started to ask again if he was sure, but one look at his face let her know he was. “Is that why you were over there listening to her stories?”

“
Let’s just say it was an interesting blend of fact and fiction. According to Jessica, she’s kind of like Forrest Gump - she’s been on hand for anything important in the theatre world.”

“
You think she lied about it all?”

“
Oh, she probably does some acting. But I’ll bet she waits a lot more tables.”

“
Maybe she started making it up on the plane,” Claire said, remembering her old friend’s impulsivity, always coupled with a burning desire to be loved. “She probably started worrying about how she was going to answer everyone’s questions about how she was doing.”

“
Just like you were before we came.”

“
Yeah, but it’s worse for her.” Claire felt a spurt of pity. “She was really important in school. And she was such a good actress. Nobody was surprised when she was on that soap opera - but they would have been shocked if she came back from New York City and said she was waiting tables or doing something menial. I guess she just couldn’t live with that idea.”

While they were fixing their sno-cones, Rebecca appeared beside Claire. She pumped the last drops of something labeled “blue raspberry” onto her crushed ice. It was the same color as Windex.

“
Are you having a good time, Rebecca?” Claire asked.

“
It’s been interesting, that’s for sure.” She leaned forward and dropped her voice. “Tyler thinks I was maybe the last person to see Cindy alive.” Her eyes were wide with excitement. “I went into the bathroom and there she was.”

“
What time was this?” Claire asked.
“A little after eleven thirty.”

“
Did you talk to her?”

“
I didn’t talk about anything. I just listened to Cindy. She was bragging about her job as a cheerleader consultant, about her trip to Kauai, about her new SUV and how fast it can go.”

“
Doesn’t sound like much fun,” Claire said sympathetically. She was already losing any fear of speaking ill of the dead.

So, it seemed, was Rebecca. “The worst thing was the
way
she bragged about everything.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
It was all by pretending to complain about it. Her job required so much travel to so many exotic places. And their nanny had gotten sick and hadn’t been able to go Kauai with them, so Cindy had to watch after her daughter herself. The kid’s eleven, and Cindy made out like she was having to run after a toddler!”

This sounded like the Cindy Claire remembered. “So what are you doing with yourself these days, Rebecca?” And then was immediately sorry she asked.
“I’m a bronze-tier PermaFood distributor. It’s a line of premium dehydrated food. Everything from vegetables to main courses to deserts. All of it guaranteed to last at least twenty-five years. Remind me and I can get you a brochure from my room later.”

Claire shook her head. “That’s okay.”

“
I tried to get Cindy interested in it last night in the bathroom, too. She didn’t even answer, just kept using all those little jars and bottles lined up in front of her. And then she sprayed her hair with a whole cloud of hairspray. I just about gagged. Served her right that she had to use one of those puffer things afterwards.”

“
Puffer?”

“
You know, a whatchamacallit.” Rebecca brought the back of her thumb to her lips, fingers curled, and made a puffing sound with her lips. “One of those asthma inhalers.”

And just a few hours before Rebecca had seen her using an inhaler, Claire had also heard her using one. Were you supposed to use them that close together? “Did you tell Tyler about her putting on new makeup?”

Rebecca shrugged. “Yeah. He was mostly interested in what time I saw her.”
Had Tyler, by the nature of his sex, missed an important clue? Why would a woman go to the bother of putting on a fresh coat of makeup near the end of an event? Was it just because she didn’t want her public to see anything less than a perfect mask? That made more sense if Cindy had been only been checking for smears and smudges. But to completely repaint the canvas seemed to imply something more. Had Cindy been preparing herself for a special encounter? Had she gone out in the parking lot to meet someone?

RUCNNE1

Chapter Twenty-four

He rapped softly on her door, twice. The hotel corridor was empty, but still he felt a shiver of fear as he waited for her to answer. Everyone was out in the sun, having fun, relaxing now that “the killer” had been caught. A strange sort of gaiety possessed them. Death had passed by so close that they had smelled his dank breath, and that made the warm summer air all the sweeter.

When Belinda opened the door, her face was swollen and damp, blotched with red. “Oh, hi.” Her plump hands pulled the top edges of her white terrycloth bathrobe closer together.

“
I just came by to see how you were doing,” he said, slipping inside and closing the door behind him. A quick glance around the room showed him they were alone. His breathing loosened now that he was hidden from prying eyes. “I’ve been worried about you.” Leaning forward, he gave her a quick, one-armed hug. When her arms went around his back, he felt a brief spurt of surprise. She clung to him for a moment, and over her shoulder he made a face that she could not see.

Then Belinda let go. Without speaking she turned away and sat on the bottom edge of one of the two unmade double beds. He sat across from her in a chair fashioned from plastic to look as if it had been hand-hewn from a log. The TV murmured in the background. He thought to himself that even in her grief Belinda could not bear to switch off the set. Clothes were scattered everywhere around the room - heaped on the other bed, strewn across a bureau, half-hanging from the hangers in the closet. The door to the bathroom was open, and more clothes lay puddled on the floor.

“
Sorry about the mess.” Belinda waved one hand vaguely. Her nose and upper lip were chapped. “My daughter Vanessa came with me. You know sixteen-year-old girls. It takes them forever to decide what to wear.”

“
This whole thing must be very upsetting for her.”

Belinda gave him a bitter smile, her lips quirking down at the corners. “Not really. She didn’t see what I saw. The whole thing isn’t real to her. She can’t imagine what it’s like to be with someone you’ve known your whole life, only she’s dead. I mean, Cindy’s body was there, but it was empty.” Tears spilled from her eyes and ran down her cheeks, but she made no attempt to stop them. “I think Vanessa thinks the whole thing is exciting. Like a TV cop show or one of those
Scream
movies or something. And yesterday she met some guy in the video game room, and she’s all stirred up about him. Sixteen and she thinks if you spend two hours talking to someone it must be true love. Maybe it’s genetic, since her father seems to have the same idea about his new assistant.” At the thought of how life had betrayed her, her weeping intensified. She ran the back of her hand underneath her nose and then wiped it on the lap of her bathrobe. He hid his disgust.