Murder in Nice (10 page)

“
Those are usually the most
fun types,” Grace said.

“
I’m afraid Lanie didn’t
have a very fun high school experience,” Haley said sadly.
“Wouldn’t you agree, Maggie?”

Maggie squirmed. The embarrassing fact was
that right after she and Lanie parted ways, Maggie had become
obsessed with a new student named Jeremy (or was it Joshua?) who
had absorbed the whole of her concentration until he graduated—the
year before her—and left her briefly heartbroken. She simply hadn’t
thought much about Lanie that year.

“
I guess so,” she said. “I
know Annie said the two of them were going through a lot because of
Annie’s divorce.” She decided not to mention Annie’s
drinking.

“
Oh, Laurent,” Haley said.
“What is it that smells so heavenly?”

Laurent emerged from the kitchen and set
down a large, heavy casserole on a platter stacked high with
thick-sliced homemade toast.

“
Oh, it’s
brandade
,” Grace said.
“And Laurent’s is killer. Did you double-dose it with
garlic?”

Laurent rolled his eyes as
if to imply,
what else?
The table laughed.

“
Yeah, I hope you’re not
sensitive to garlic,” Maggie said, picking up one of the pieces of
toast. “Laurent brought on early labor for a friend of ours after
she ate his
bourride
.” Maggie used a spoon to dip into the steaming casserole and
settled a large dollop on top of her toast, which she held
carefully over her plate.

“
What in the world is it?”
Haley asked, reaching for a piece of toast. “It smells like…like
the best thing I’ve ever smelled in my life.”

“
Wait until you taste it,”
Grace said. “It’s salt cod, right, Laurent?”

Haley’s hand froze over the dish. “Fish?
This is fish?”

“
Well,” Maggie said, “it’s
fish pulverized with olive oil and potatoes and artichokes and
about a ton of garlic. We normally only have it in winter and,
believe me, you can weed half a hectare after lunching on
this.”

Haley nibbled on her toast and eyed the
casserole unhappily.

“
What’s the matter, dear?”
Grace said.

“
She doesn’t eat fish,” Ben
said, scooping up a large serving onto his plate. “I don’t suppose
you have any chicken tenders for her?”

“
Ben, stop it,” Haley said
under her breath, her gaze dropping to her lap.

Maggie knew Laurent’s policy on picky eaters
and she knew he would be pretty seriously disgusted by Haley’s
inability to behave as he felt a guest ought to. Even so, she also
knew he had strong views on how a host should behave, which is why
she wasn’t surprised to see him remove Haley’s plate and retreat to
the kitchen.

“
There is leftover pizza
from lunch,” he said over his shoulder.

“
You are an embarrassment
to me,” Ben said between his teeth.

“
Oh, settle down, Ben,”
Maggie said, smiling encouragingly to Haley. “It’s no big
deal.”

Grace helped herself to
the
brandade
and
passed the breadbasket to Haley. “Fresh from the
boulangerie
two villages
over,” she said brightly.

“
Thanks,” Haley said
softly, taking the basket.

Ben ate his
brandade,
ignoring Haley’s
discomfort.

This was going to be a long visit.

“
So, Maggie,” Grace said,
“how was Annie? Is she going to be okay, do you think?”

Maggie waited until Laurent
placed a plate with two pieces of
pissaladière
in front of Haley. She
noted that Haley didn’t look much happier with the pizza than she
had the fish.

“
Well, she’s pretty
devastated, obviously. I don’t know what kind of support system she
has back home, but she does have a parish and I think she mentioned
she’s active in it.”

“
That’s good,” Grace
said.

“
She asked me to look into
the evidence the police have on Olivier Tatois—”

The fork Laurent dropped
was not an accident and Maggie knew it.

“
Why in the world do you
think Olivier is innocent?” Ben asked her, spooning himself up
more
brandade
. “You
don’t even know him.”

“
I don’t necessarily think
he
is
innocent,”
Maggie responded. “I’m just trying to confirm that the police have
the right guy.”

“
Why don’t you think they
do?” Ben asked.

“
I don’t have an opinion
one way or the other. As you said, I don’t know him. But Lanie’s
mom asked me to make sure.”

“
So, as usual, this is
Maggie thinking she knows more than the professionals.”

“
Wow. That’s a little more
direct than we’re used to from you, Ben,” Maggie said.
“Refreshing.”

“
I’ve heard the stories of
your so-called sleuthing escapades. I
am
in contact with Mom and Dad, as it
happens.”

“
Good to know. Just not at
Christmas or Thanksgiving.”

“
I have my own family,
Maggie,” Ben said pointedly.

“
Which most people don’t
use as an excuse not to see their parents,” Maggie retorted.
“Besides, no offense, but a
couple
is not a family.”

Haley sucked in a gasp of breath, her face a
mask of hurt.

“
Chérie
, may I see you in the kitchen, please?”

“
In a second, Laurent.
Think about it, Ben. If you and Haley were to break up right now,
it would be no big deal in the larger scheme of things. But that’s
not the case if there was a kid in the mix.”

“
Maggie,
now
,” Laurent
said.

“
How dare you, Maggie!”
Haley was on her feet, her chair knocked to the floor behind
her.

Maggie felt Laurent wrap his hand around her
arm and tug her out of her chair.

“
We have recently learned
the benefits of time-outs,” Laurent said over his shoulder as he
guided Maggie toward the kitchen, his hand firmly on her back. “And
we will return momentarily when we are using our inside
voices.”

Maggie stomped into the kitchen and then
whirled on Laurent. “I need that jerk to realize he’s the worst son
in the universe.”

“
As he is not
your
son, perhaps you are
not the best judge of that,
chérie
. Besides, your brother wasn’t
listening to you but you were upsetting your brother’s wife very
much.”

“
I’m sorry about that,”
Maggie said, clenching and unclenching her fists. “He is a pompous,
uncaring jackass.”

“
Bien
sûr
,” Laurent said pulling her into his
arms and stroking her hair with his large hand down her back.
“Breathe, yes? Big breath.”

“
Don’t treat me like Jem,”
Maggie said crossly.

“
Of course not. Jem would
be spanked by now,” Laurent said, shaking a finger in her face and
grinning. “I am treating you like a naughty grown-up
girl.”

Maggie laughed and eased into his arms.
“That guy makes me so mad.”

“
On this I believe we are
all clear,” Laurent said, kissing her and rubbing her back. “Can
you behave when you return to table? Even knowing there must be an
apology first to your brother’s wife?”

“
Yes, yes, I know,” Maggie
said, sighing. “I got carried away. I shouldn’t have said all
that.”

“
Especially not to one
trying so hard to have the
bèbè
.”

“
Really? You think
so?”

Laurent shrugged and Maggie didn’t probe
further. The things he picked up on with people and their subtle
reactions would rival Sherlock Holmes. She’d long ago learned to
take his observations as fact and move on. Saved a whole lot of
time.

“
Now I really feel
bad.”

“
Tcht,” Laurent said,
making that dismissive sound he did with his tongue. Maggie had
heard him use it many times with the dogs. It didn’t thrill her
that he was using it on her now. “Just apologize and go forward,”
he said.

“
Easier said,” Maggie said,
straightening her shoulders and taking a deep breath.

When they returned to the table, it became
clear that Maggie’s apology would have to wait.

“
Where did Haley
go?”

“
Oh, I don’t know.
Something about needing to cry herself to sleep,” Ben said
sarcastically. “I’m sure she’ll have recovered by
tomorrow.”

“
I’ll go up and see her,”
Maggie said, but Laurent already had a hand on her arm. She glanced
at him and he shook his head.

“
Yeah,” Ben said. “Please
let her get over tonight before you launch into her
again.”

“
Piss off, Ben,” Maggie
said.

“
Always with the delicate
repartee.” Ben stood and tossed his napkin down onto the table. “I
was thinking of a smoke on the terrace. Care to join me,
Laurent?”

“
You go,” Laurent said.
“I’ll come,
bientôt
.”

Ben shrugged and gave Maggie a half-smile
before exiting the room.

Grace let out a long exaggerated breath.
“Well, that was tense,” she said. “But fascinating. Whatever
possessed you, Maggie to light into Haley?”

“
I wasn’t!” Maggie said. “I
mean, I didn’t intend to. I thought I was going after
Ben.”

“
Well, she got good and
caught in the crossfire, that’s for sure. You do know she’s trying
desperately to get pregnant, right?”

Maggie glanced at Laurent but he was already
clearing the table. “I didn’t,” she said. “But I do now. Did she
tell you?”

“
Mmm-mm,” Grace said,
standing with a dish in her hand. “She’s all but given up. So your
little
you’re not a family unless you have
a kid
tirade was pretty
ill-timed.”

“
I feel
terrible.”

“
You let him push your
buttons.”

“
I can’t seem to help
it.”

“
That’s siblings for
you.”

Maggie stared through the French doors,
where she saw her brother standing on the terrace smoking. “What I
want to know,” she said thoughtfully, “is what is he doing trying
to chum up to Laurent?”

“
Now isn’t
that
the million-dollar
question?”

Maggie joined Grace in the kitchen, where
Laurent was running hot water over a sink full of dishes.

“
Go,” Maggie said to him.
“You cooked it. Let us clean it up.”

“
I don’t mind.”

“
I know you don’t, but only
you can find out what my jerk brother is up to.”

“
He
is
up to something,” Laurent said
grimly as he dried his hands.

Maggie pulled the towel
from him. “Go smoke with him and see what he wants. Do your
sneaky,
I’m looking at you but you don’t
know I am,
thing.”

He ran a hand down her back and kissed her
mouth before exiting the kitchen without a word. Even in this
absent-minded gesture, Maggie could sense his mind was
elsewhere.

“
He already knew your
brother was up to something.”

“
No one will ever surprise
Laurent,” Maggie said, grinning. “Trust me, I’ve tried. Wash or
dry? Oops. Hold that thought.” She pulled her vibrating phone out
of her pocket and looked at the screen. “It’s Annie,” she
said.

“
Go on,” Grace said as she
turned the hot water back on in the sink.

“
I won’t be long.” Maggie
walked toward the living room, grabbing her wine glass from the
table as she went.

“
Hey, Annie,” she said as
she sat down on the couch. “You get home safe and
sound?”

“
Yes, thank you, Maggie,”
Annie said, her voice cracked and heavy with exhaustion. “I wanted
to thank you again for everything you did for me. I don’t know how
I would have navigated through the necessary channels without
you.”

“
Well, no need to thank
me,” Maggie said. “My French may not be good enough to argue
philosophy but it’s just barely good enough for most everything
else.”

“
I also want to thank you
for agreeing to look into Lanie’s death more. Olivier has a lawyer,
who told me she would be open to sharing information with you. I
gave her your contact information and wanted to make sure you had
hers, too.”

“
Okay. Sure. Can I ask you,
Annie,
why
you
think Olivier might not be guilty? I mean, I know you met him and
liked him and all but…”

Maggie heard Annie take in a long ragged
breath before answering.

“
Well, to be honest,” Annie
said, “at first I didn’t believe it because I felt that I had
special information that seemed to…prohibit the possibility of him
being guilty. I didn’t want to say anything to you before. It just
seemed like an invasion of Lanie’s life and I have done such a bad
job of protecting her when she was alive.”