1 Death Pays the Rose Rent (12 page)

It was quickly settled who would ride with whom.

I did have a few scratches myself, but I didn’t want to admit it. I figured a good scrubbing with soap and water and some peroxide would take care of them.

“What about Alice-Ann?” I asked. “Did anybody think she might need some medical attention? Some sleeping pills or something.”

Meredith Jones looked irritated. “I’ve already thought of that. I’ll stop by the castle and drive her home. I can give her a shot that’ll put her to sleep for eight hours or so. And I’ll leave some tranquilizers for you to give her tomorrow if she needs them.”

Garnet said, “You can’t put her to sleep until I’ve talked to her. I’ve got to ask her some questions about what happened last night.”

“You’ll have to wait till tomorrow, Garnet,” Jones said. “She’s just lost her husband. Show a little compassion, please.”

Garnet’s jawline turned white with anger, but he said nothing more to Meredith, choosing instead to yell at the others to get out of the clearing. “Maybe, miraculously, there’ll be a clue you clowns haven’t destroyed. I’ll need to talk to each of you tomorrow, so don’t go anywhere.”

It was quite dark by then, and Michael asked if I wanted him to walk me back to Alice-Ann’s. “That is, if you’re not afraid I’m the murderer.”

“I would feel better having someone walk me

home. Besides, what possible motive could you have for murdering Richard?”

“A pretty good one, actually. About a year ago, he persuaded my mother to back him financially in a “double-your-money-quick” Mexican oil-discovery company. Mother mortgaged the castle to give him the money. The whole thing turned out to be a scam. The money disappeared, and now the castle and property are scheduled to be sold at auction by the Old Lickin Creek National Bank.”

“Oh, Michael, that’s awful! It’s a crime to think of your beautiful home going out of the family!”

“I’d say that by this time next year, you’ll be able to buy your very own split-level, two-thousand-square-foot castle, right here in Silverthorne Meadows. So, you see, if someone hadn’t already done it, I might have bashed his head in myself.”

At the cottage, he waited until I’d opened the door and turned on the lights. That’s when I noticed the scratches: “Your hands …You’ve got some nasty scratches there.”

“I know. I wasn’t about to line up with the other idiots. I’ll put some stuff on them when I get home. You’d better take care of yours, too.

“Damn shame about Richard,” he added. “Sad part is I don’t think many people will miss him. I’ll wager that Rose Rent Day won’t even be canceled. I’d better get home—busy day tomorrow. We’re going to be building some special scenery to use at the Mystery Dinner.”

“I’ll be over in the morning myself. LaVonna wanted to talk to me about something.”

“Good. Look for me. I’d like you to meet my wife. See you tomorrow,” he said, and disappeared into the dark purple shadows of the night.

Before I had time to close the door, Dr. Jones’s Mercedes pulled up, and we concentrated on getting a wobbly Alice-Ann up the stairs to her bedroom. I helped her undress, put her nightgown on her, and watched Meredith give her an injection. We both sat with her until she fell asleep. He certainly seemed more solicitous about her than was necessary. I wondered if the good doctor was planning to make a move on the Widow MacKinstrie.

Thursday

CHAPTER 11 

When I woke up the next morning, I found Alice-Ann in the kitchen drinking coffee and looking a lot better than she had last night. We hugged.

“Do you want a tranquilizer? Dr. Jones left some.”

“He’s such a thoughtful person. No drugs; I need to get my head clear. Right now I’m kind of numb and strangely ambivalent about Richard’s murder. It was such a horrible way to die, and I really am sorry it happened to him, but I can’t help feeling relieved that I don’t have to go through a divorce. That’s awful of me, isn’t it?”

She didn’t wait for me to say anything. “The worst is going to be telling Mark about his father’s death.”

Her hand shook as she lifted her coffee cup. I wished I could help her feel better, but only time could do that. The sound of a car coming up the gravel drive brought me to my feet. I looked out the window and saw a light blue Chevrolet with a red flasher light on top. A magnetic sign that said
LCPD
was stuck on the driver’s side front door. It was askew, as if it had been slapped on in haste this morning.

Garnet climbed out, saw me through the window, and waved.

“Gendarme,” I told Alice-Ann. “Want me to tell him you’re still asleep?”

She shook her head. “He’ll find me sooner or later. Might as well get it over with.”

I ushered Garnet into the kitchen, where he helped himself to coffee before settling down across the oak table from Alice-Ann. I sat down next to her and took her hand. Garnet shook his head: “I need to talk to her alone.”

“I know that.”

“I’m sure you do, Miss Prize-Winning Crime Reporter.”

He’d been checking up on me! Before I had time to get out of the kitchen, another car pulled up in front of the house. It was getting to be a regular morning rush hour out there.

Again, I looked through the window. “It’s a beige station wagon,” I told Alice-Ann. “A couple of people are getting out. Mark is with them.”

“Tori, could you take him up to his room? Play with him for a few minutes while Garnet and I talk?”

I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “No problem.”

When I opened the front door, the long, solemn faces on the couple standing there told me they knew. The happy smile on Mark’s face showed he didn’t.

“We thought it best …”

“Didn’t know how to …”

“It’s okay. Thanks for bringing him home.” I shut the door before they had a chance to say anything else. Upstairs, Mark and I raced his Matchbox cars until Alice-Ann entered the room.

“Your turn downstairs,” Alice-Ann said softly with a jerk of her head. “Thanks.”

“Tori,” Garnet began as soon as I walked into the kitchen, “tell me everything you remember about Tuesday night.”

He flipped open a stenographer’s notebook. “Last night you said you saw Richard take off on his motorcycle somewhere near eleven o’clock on Tuesday. You said the sound of a motorcycle woke you up much later, and you thought it was Richard coming home. Is that all correct?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me if Alice-Ann was home during that time?”

Now what do I do? I wondered. What had Alice-Ann told him? To lie or not to lie?

I remembered what Mark Twain had said, “When in doubt tell the truth.”

“She went out for a while … in the Volkswagen.”

“After Richard left?”

I nodded, miserable.

“For how long?”

“An hour …maybe more. I heard her come in, but I’d been asleep, so I don’t know what time it was. My watch is broken.”

“Was it before or after you heard the motorcycle?”

“After.”

“Earlier, when the three of you came home from the castle, what happened?”

Reluctantly, I told him how I had sat outside with the cats and overheard the argument about Twanya, then the fight, the smashing of dishes and furniture, and finally how I saw Richard strap his suitcase on his motorcycle and leave.

“What did you think he was going to do?”

“I figured he was taking some of his clothes and going to Twanya’s.”

“Where do you think Alice-Ann was going in the VW?”

“I thought she was going to go to Twanya’s to see if he was there.”

“The next day …did she say where she had been?”

“She didn’t mention it. Neither did I. It was her business, not mine.”

Garnet closed the notebook. “Alice-Ann told me she never left the house that night.”

“I’m not a liar.”

“No, I don’t think you are. I don’t think you’re stupid either. You must be aware that if Alice-Ann really left you alone in the house, neither one of you has an alibi for the time of the murder.”

“This is preposterous! What reason would I have to murder Richard?” I spluttered.

“From what I’ve been told, it’s no secret that you were against Alice-Ann’s marriage to Richard from the beginning. You two were very close until he

came along. Many murders have been committed because of jealousy.”

“Jealousy! Are you insinuating that Alice-Ann and I were …lovers?” I spat the last word at him.

“I’m not insinuating anything, Tori. Police have to look at all the possibilities. It’s routine.”

I knew that, but when I was the one being questioned, it didn’t seem like such a routine matter.

“Who stayed at the castle after the meeting, besides you and Richard and Alice-Ann?”

I thought back for a minute, trying to remember the unfamiliar names. “Dr. Meredith Jones, the cream-and-sugar priest, Judge Parker, Twanya Tweedy, the mayor, Mr. and Mrs. Seligman …and, of course, Michael and his mother and aunt.”

“Was Praxythea Evangelista there?”

“No. Michael said something about her being in town, but I didn’t see her on Tuesday.”

“What about LaVonna?”

“The housekeeper? Of course she was there. I thought you just meant guests.”

“Did you hear or see anything to make you think Richard was planning to meet one of them later on?”

“He and Twanya looked like someone had stuck them together with Krazy Glue. It’s possible they might have made a date.”

Garnet placed something on the table. “Ever seen this before?” I caught my breath in shock. It was a plastic bag containing a heavy-duty claw hammer. Even through the plastic, I could see dark stains that didn’t look like paint.

“The murder weapon? Where did you find it?”

“Have you ever seen it before?” he countered.

“I don’t know …”

“You have. Alice-Ann identified it as hers. It has an AA engraved on the handle. She used it at the castle Tuesday night to hang the first Sylvia’s painting.”

“She must have left it there. We couldn’t find it yesterday afternoon when we were opening the cave entrance downstairs.”

“You found a cave entrance here? Promise me you won’t go exploring without me.”

“Promise,” I said. “Where’d you find the hammer?”

“You must have been a good reporter—or at least a persistent one. There’s no point in not telling you. We found it in a flower bed just below the front terrace of the castle. We also found traces of blood on the terrace. Someone had tried to scrub it up, but …”

“But you never can get it all, I know.”

He continued, “It looks like Richard went back to the castle after he left here—maybe to meet someone—and was killed there.”

“You think he was killed by the person he went to meet?”

“Or by someone who followed him there.”

“Is that all then?” I asked.

“For now. See you at six.”

“What?” What was he talking about?

“Dinner. Did you forget?”

“Sorry. I guess I did. Will you have time? What with investigating me and Alice-Ann and all?”

“I’ll make time,” he said with an infuriating, engaging grin. “Besides, I’ve got those cave maps you wanted to see.”

“Six it is!” I confirmed heartily.

After Garnet left, Alice-Ann appeared in the kitchen and slumped into a chair. “Mark’s sound asleep, bless his heart. He cried a bit, but really took it like a little man. I don’t know what I would do without him.”

“He’s adorable.”

“Your friend, the police chief, certainly spared no punches with me, Tori. I seem to be suspect number one.”

“That’s because most murders are committed by spouses or close friends. That’s where the police always start.” I was trying to make her feel better, but it didn’t work.

“Et tu, Brute? You almost sound as if you think I’m guilty, too.”

“Nobody thinks you’re guilty. It’s just normal investigative procedure. He’ll be interviewing everybody. And we’ll all have to prove where we were when …when it happened.”

“Well, I told Garnet we were both home in our beds, so that takes care of our alibis.”

I breathed a deep sigh. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“How could you have told him that?” she said angrily when I was finished.

I felt terrible. “Lying only delays things, Alice-Ann. Someone always finds the hole in a lie.”

“I lied because I was scared. I knew at the time it was a stupid thing to do. Then I didn’t know how to get out of it. At least you took care of that for me.”

She sat up straight. “I need your help, Tori. I want you to find Richard’s murderer for me.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because Garnet thinks I did it, and he’s so overworked and understaffed that I don’t think he’s going to waste much time looking any further than the end of his nose. Think of Mark, Tori. If I’m in jail, he won’t have any parent left.”

“What makes you think I can help?”

“You’ve been a crime reporter. You know what needs to be done.”

“Look, Alice-Ann, reporting about a crime is a lot different from investigating one.” But I was thinking—is it really so different? I knew the procedures and thanks to Garnet, I knew the how, when, and where—all I needed to do was find out who and why.

“I think I’ll get dressed and head over to the castle. After all, I did promise LaVonna I’d come talk to her this morning. Maybe I can find out a thing or two.”

Alice-Ann jumped up and hugged me. “I knew you’d do it,” she squealed.