Seams Like Murder (18 page)

“If you would all stop talking at once,” the officer behind the desk in the West Valley police station yelled. He had to yell to be heard above the racket. Tony had gone with the cops—their choice, not his. Once we kept CeeCee from fainting, she and Dinah had gotten in the greenmobile with me, and the rest of them had carpooled.

“There’s been a terrible mistake,” CeeCee yelled at the desk officer.

“Do you know who she is?” Babs said, stepping next to CeeCee and putting a supportive arm around her shoulder.

“Why did they arrest Tony?” Elise said.

Rhoda pushed in front and turned to me. “At least all this should erase the image of the body for Sheila.”
Right, and replace it with a new upsetting one
, I thought. Sheila was next to her and appeared dazed and confused.

Adele had joined in. “I insist you contact my fiancé Eric Humphries right away. He’ll get this straightened out.”

Esmaya had come along, too, and was waving her arms, trying to change the vibrations. “This room is loaded with negativity,” she said. She pulled out a wad of sage and a lighter.

The officer threw up his hands and came around the desk to grab the sage. “Lady, you have got to be kidding.”

In the midst of all the commotion, the front door opened and Mason rolled in on his scooter followed by a frazzled-looking Brooklyn. Jaimee brought up the rear and seemed fascinated by the commotion. Mason sized up the situation immediately.

“Quiet!” Mason yelled above the din. Surprisingly, it worked. The officer returned to his place behind the counter as Mason rolled up. “I demand to see my client, Tony Bonnard.”

CeeCee rushed up to Mason. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come. You have to do something.”

“Molly called me on her way. I’m here now. You don’t have to worry. I’ll take care of everything,” he said.

Barry came into the lobby, took one look at the mini mob, and quickly saw Mason. The two men stared each other down for a few moments, but then Barry glanced away, and I saw his gaze rest on Mason’s entourage. Barry turned to me, and for a moment, his cop face relented and he gave me a knowing nod.

Meanwhile, despite his Hawaiian shirt and jeans, Mason was all business and he repeated his request to Barry. Barry had no choice but to lead him into the back. As soon as Mason had left the lobby, the officer threw the rest of us out.

We regrouped outside in the dark parking lot. CeeCee was in no condition to be alone. Sheila still seemed rattled. Esmaya was upset that the officer had confiscated her sage, thinking it was marijuana. Adele heard from Eric on her cell, saying he’d heard there was some kind of disturbance
at the station and his name was being thrown around. Rhoda and Elise said they had to get home and left.

I took charge of CeeCee, while Dinah took Sheila and got into Adele’s car. Babs said she was coming with me.

“He didn’t do it,” CeeCee said to me as we drove to her place. “I’m sure.” There was just the slightest wobble in her voice on the last word that made it seem like she wasn’t really one hundred percent on that.

“Of course not,” Babs said from the backseat. “How could anyone think the person who played Dr. Mackenzie Scott, saving lives for years on
The Night Before Tomorrow
, could possibly kill someone?”

I pulled the greenmobile up in front of her house. “I’ll be okay,” she said in a valiant voice as she got out. I didn’t buy that for a minute and turned off the motor.

“I’ll just walk you in,” I said, and she didn’t object, but it was a different story when Babs wanted to stick with us. CeeCee gave her a very clear no.

“Let me know if you need anything, chocolate or otherwise,” Babs said in a disappointed voice.

CeeCee and I went inside her gate. It was strange being there without a bunch of people. Even the Yorkies’ barking seemed quieter when we went inside. She walked into the living room and collapsed on the flower print sofa.

I had never really realized how much of CeeCee’s appearance had to do with the way she projected herself. I had always seen her when she was “on,” but she was definitely switched to “off” now, and it was as if she’d collapsed in on herself. Shadows that I’d never noticed before appeared on her face, and it was like all the light had gone out of her eyes.

“What about some tea?” I said.

“Rosa’s gone,” she said, misunderstanding. When I offered to make it, she brightened. “I kind of remember that
you brought some biscuits, too, dear. We could add some jam. I need something sweet after getting such a big shock.”

It was then that I remembered the biscuits were still in the guest apartment. I knew that Esmaya had chased away all the bad spirits, but I was still a little apprehensive about going there alone. CeeCee appeared almost comatose, so I couldn’t ask her to come along.

“I’ll just fetch them,” I said, trying to hide my discomfort. CeeCee answered with a tired wave.

It was very quiet and dark outside. The grounds had spotlights here and there, but all those trees made for a lot of shadows. I got to the base of the stairs on the side of the garage and looked up. I was surprised to see the lights were off. I could have sworn they’d been on when we rushed out. I climbed to the top and pushed the door open, hesitating as I stared into the darkness. It smelled faintly of sage, and I reached for the light switch before I took a step inside. I was almost afraid to look when light flooded the room. It seemed okay—at least there wasn’t a body on the floor. There were streaks of mud, though. I hurried across the room to grab the biscuits. Something seemed different. The box with the vent parts was gone, I realized. Had somebody come in and taken it?

I probably should have just taken the biscuits back to CeeCee and not worried about anything else, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the mud on the floor. There was only one area of CeeCee’s property where I’d encountered damp dirt.

I left the biscuits on the stairs and went around the back of the garage to the no-man’s-land Dinah and I had ended up in when we found the gate. It was even darker and spookier than I remembered. Something ran through the ivy and over my foot, and I was glad I didn’t have a flashlight to see what
it was. It was easy to find the gate, since the ivy had been trimmed back after our discovery. I was sure Tony had mentioned that he was going to put a lock on it, but there was nothing there. My foot hit something on the ground. I retrieved it and held it up to catch the moonlight. It was a lock, but it had been cut open.

I didn’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that somebody had come in through the back gate and taken the box of vent parts. I was guessing they were in a hurry, since they left the streaks of dirt instead of trying to cover their tracks. Cutting the lock would have been easy. They sold bolt cutters at every hardware store. The big question was, why?

It suddenly occurred to me that I had been gone too long. CeeCee would be hysterical. I left the lock and retraced my steps, stopping to pick up the biscuits.

CeeCee was standing outside when I reached the house.

“Dear, I was worried. I can’t let anything happen to you.” I made a silly joke to cover for myself, and we went inside. By the time I’d boiled some water and made up a tray with honey and jam for the biscuits, she seemed better. I almost thought of mentioning the lock, but I was afraid of scaring her.

CeeCee set down her cup and brushed a crumb off her outfit as I heard my cell phone’s distinctive ring. CeeCee almost jumped off the sofa, and I tried to grab the phone quickly.

When she realized the voice was coming from my phone, she let out a nervous laugh.

“Hello,” I said tentatively.

“Sunshine,” Mason said in an upbeat voice. “I’m outside CeeCee’s.”

I rushed out to get him and saw that he’d lost part of his entourage. Only Brooklyn was with him now. He used the scooter to get down the path to the house, but I had to help
him up the few stairs to the porch while Brooklyn carried the scooter.

I had never seen Mason doing his lawyer thing before. He gave my arm a friendly squeeze, but then it was all about CeeCee.

“Tony wanted me to come over and reassure you,” he said, sitting across from CeeCee and leaning toward her. “He’s going to have to spend the night.” At that CeeCee let out a wail. Mason responded by taking her hands in his and assuring her that everything was going to be okay. “The important thing is they have no case against him. All they have is his business card with a note on the back that said 7
P.M
. with a date.”

“The date of what?” she asked.

“Well, it’s the day the victim died, but it isn’t Tony’s handwriting. They found the victim’s purse in the ivy in the area behind the garage. The card was in there.”

Brooklyn stayed in the background, watching her father. Mason assured CeeCee that he could knock it out as evidence in so many ways, and CeeCee nodded with resignation.

There was some discussion as to whether CeeCee was okay to be alone after all that she had been through, and I realized that Mason acted as so much more than a legal advisor in his job.

CeeCee seemed to have recovered. “I’ll be fine now,” she said, standing up and making it clear it was time for us all to go. “Besides, Rosa comes early in the morning.”

CeeCee saw us to the door, and I helped Mason down the stairs while Brooklyn handled the scooter. I was surprised when she walked ahead, giving Mason and me a moment alone.

“Thank you,” I said. “I think you really gave CeeCee some comfort.”

“No thank-you necessary,” Mason said in a voice full of energy and good cheer. “This isn’t how I expected to go back to work, but it certainly feels good.”

“So then you don’t think Tony did it,” I said.

“That’s not the point. They have no case.”

Maybe it wasn’t the point to him, but it certainly was to me.

It was midnight when I got home. The animals were waiting by the door, full of reproach. Even Blondie had come out of her chair to join them. I gave the dogs a run in the yard, and the cats were content with some attention and having a new layer of dry cat food added to their bowls.

What a night
, I thought as I flopped on my sofa.
Tired
was too mild a word for what I felt. Drained, depleted, exhausted. But at the same time, I was too wired to just go to bed. There was so much going around in my mind.

I couldn’t believe that another rehearsal for Sheila had gone sour. Though, like Rhoda had said, at least we’d replaced the image of Delaney’s body with the image of cops rushing in with their guns out.

The phone rang, startling me. Since it was my landline, it had a real ring instead of a disembodied voice yelling at me to answer. There were a number of missed calls on the
phone, which I was pretty sure were from Dinah, so I figured she was trying again.

I grabbed the cordless, and the dogs came into the living room and began positioning themselves around me on the couch.

“Sorry I didn’t call before, Dinah,” I said.

“This isn’t Dinah,” Barry said.

“I can’t believe that you’re calling me. What do you want?” I didn’t wait for him to say anything. “You told me the cause of death was inconclusive and you thought it was an accident or suicide, and then suddenly it’s murder and you barge in with your guns out and arrest Tony in the middle of our crochet thing!”

“I’m sorry about that. The housekeeper said he was up there, and we wanted to catch him off guard. We never intended to ruin your event. It’s really all because of you that everything changed.”

“What?” I said, incredulous.

“After you found that gate in the fence along the street, we had a look around there. That’s where we found the victim’s purse and the card.” He started to explain the card, and I told him I already knew. I didn’t mention what Mason said about getting the case thrown out, or anything about my intention to continue trying to figure out what had really happened.

“I only called you because I knew you were still up,” he said. “I’m outside. Could we talk in person?” I agreed, figuring I’d have a better chance of getting more information out of him if he was in front of me.

The dogs raced me to the front door when they heard the soft knock.

Barry looked as he had earlier, only more tired. I imagined I looked the same. By now my no-wrinkle khakis were full of
creases. My shirt had come untucked, and whatever makeup I’d had on was long gone.

We didn’t sit on the couch this time but stood facing each other in the entrance hall.

He apologized again, but this time for another reason. “We didn’t mean to put any of you in harm’s way. Like I said, we wanted to catch Tony off guard.”

“You mean you were afraid he would pull a gun?”

Barry nodded and gave me a wary stare. “Then you know he has a gun?” he said. I shrugged in response, not wanting to answer, and Barry continued. “It doesn’t matter—that’s not the kind of information I’m really after.” He seemed a little uncomfortable. “I know your group does a lot of talking when they get together. You probably complain about husbands and boyfriends.” He stopped with as close to a sheepish expression as he could get, which wasn’t much. “You probably bent their ear about me.”

I didn’t say yes or no but let him go on. I had a pretty good idea where he was headed.

“Did CeeCee ever say anything about Tony?” he asked. “He was a star on that soap opera for years, and he has some kind of web show now. All that celebrity works like a babe magnet, doesn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“So then CeeCee was never worried that he had something going on on the side?”

“She never said anything to me.” That was the truth, but beyond that I honestly didn’t know. “I’m guessing you and your other cops have a whole scenario figured out.” His expression was impassive, and he had his arms crossed, but I didn’t let his body language stop me. “You had your guns pointed at us. We could have been shot, and you’re not going to tell me anything?”

Barry looked longingly at the couch. My legs were beginning to get tired of standing anyway. “You might as well sit down,” I said. All of the dogs jumped up between us as we sat, so there was no chance for any replay of the other night, when he’d fallen asleep on my shoulder.

“All right, I’ll tell you,” he said finally. “We think Tony met the victim at the bank. He had recently gotten a business account, and she was the teller that covered the business line most of the time. He’s a dashing TV star whose career has taken a nosedive, probably along with his ego. She’s an adoring fan. One thing leads to another and he gets the idea of them having a roll in the hay together. She comes in that back gate, and he walks over from the house, leaving CeeCee with no clue as to what’s going on. Maybe it becomes a regular thing. Then, maybe Delaney wants more of a relationship or maybe she threatens to tell CeeCee, who appears to be helping bankroll him while he gets his web show going. In other words, CeeCee is his meal ticket right now, and he doesn’t want to lose it. So, he arranges to meet Delaney in the guest apartment. He stuffs some twigs into the vent of the heater before she gets there. He gives her a drink with some pills in it, and when she passes out, he turns on the heat and leaves. Then he waits a few days before giving CeeCee the idea of telling your group about using the space for a studio, so she’ll take you up there and you’ll find the body.”

He seemed annoyed with himself when he finished. “I sure was loose lipped. You were supposed to tell me about Tony, and I just showed you our whole hand. Well, as long as I told you—what do you think of our scenario? Any hint things weren’t going well between CeeCee and Tony?”

I thought of what Rosa had said, implying that Tony was taking advantage of CeeCee. No way was I going to repeat that. I wasn’t going to say anything until I knew the whole
story, so I diverted Barry with the case of the missing box of old vent parts, as well as the tracks of dirt on the floor, and the broken lock on the gate.

“Why would anybody want to steal some old vent parts?”

“I suppose your people checked out the vent when it all happened?” I answered his question with a question.

“Of course, we looked it over when it first happened. We took out some twigs and leaves but then saw there was just more of the same below it and let it go. The notes said it looked like a bird’s nest, and it was left at that.” His expression grew wary. He seemed to be having an internal argument. “You’re back sneaking around, looking for clues, aren’t you?”

I rocked my head in what I hoped was a “maybe yes, maybe no” expression. He closed his eyes halfway in frustration. “Don’t go getting all excited about the missing box. Most likely someone, like maybe the housekeeper, came in to throw the box away. She was spooked by the place and hurried out without noticing she’d tracked in mud.” He thought for a moment before continuing. “And the broken lock, that could have been us from last night.”

I figured he’d make a move to leave after that, since he’d blown his chance of getting much information from me by telling me too much. But instead, he stayed put, looking even more uncomfortable. “I’m sorry,” he said at last.

He got my attention back when he said he was sorry. Barry wasn’t one to apologize at all, and this was three times in one evening. I gave him my full attention, wondering what was going to come next. “I realize I was wrong, the way I didn’t put you first when we were together,” he said.

“What brought that on?” I asked. As far as I’d been able to tell, when we were together, he’d felt justified keeping his job in the top position.

He looked down at the floor. “I was supposed to pick Jeffrey up after his play today and I forgot.”

“You didn’t,” I said, shaking my head. “Poor Jeffrey. I hope he knows he could have called me.”

“He got home okay, but he really let me have it. He told me I was a terrible father.” Barry blew out his breath. “I’m sure I did that and worse to you. I just want you to know that I’m trying to mend my ways.”

I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to respond, and after a moment, he got up to go. I walked him to the door, and we stood there awkwardly.

“Thanks for stopping by, Detective Greenberg,” I said, trying to lighten the moment.

He shook his head to show me he didn’t think it was funny. “Stay out of trouble,” he said, then he let himself out.

It was only after he left that I began to wonder about the real reason for his visit. Was it to get information on Tony, or was it really about telling me the last part?