A Purse to Die For (14 page)

It was definitely a woman
'
s room, done up in creams and caramels. The satiny bed was made up and there weren
'
t any clothes hanging on chairs or floors. Not like his apartment. This lady was neat.

Dumont went to the long dresser, and sure enough there was a big jewellery box, front and centre. Every woman had one, in his experience. He pulled the little tiny pulls. The drawers opened. Nothing. Huh? It was empty. All those little compartments. Well, well.

He started opening dresser drawers. One had just silk scarves in it, no jeweller
'
s boxes. Imagine…a whole drawer with nothing but scarves. The next had panties. That
'
s all. The next, bras. He scooted through the middle and bottom drawers. No sign of any jewellery. The place had been cleaned out.

He could hear Janet opening drawers in the next room.

"
Janet, come here,
"
he said.

Her face framed by the brown helmet of hair appeared in the doorway.

"
Take a peek at this, and tell me if you can think of any other place the vic might have put her jewellery.
"

Janet looked at the empty jewellery box. She opened the scarf drawer and then looked at him.
"
I
'
ll check the walk-in, but this shouldn
'
t be empty. And I
'
ll check the freezer in the fridge, just in case she was planning to go away. But I think someone
'
s cleaned her out. Could it be the sister?
"

Dumont thought, then shook his head.
"
Don
'
t think so. She wouldn
'
t have been so forthcoming about giving me descriptions.
"

"
Speaking of which…
"
Janet left the room for a second and came back.
"
I found the appraisals for her jewellery. She had lots, all right. And you should see the value.
"

Dumont frowned. It was hard to hock a lot of jewellery in this town, but if you weren
'
t too fussy where you went…Damn. He could be all the way to Egypt right now. Or Eastern Europe, or South America. Dumont
'
s cop sense told him they were never going to see Reggie again.

He couldn
'
t have been more wrong.

Chapter 21

Nellie gathered around her the things she needed to be a spy. Or a detective. Or one of the kids from her book,
The Island of Adventure
. Those kids solved a puzzle together so she could too. But it had to be all by herself. Not with the help of a brother or sister because she didn
'
t have one. And not with Abigail because this was the real-life mystery of whether it was Father who killed that lady outside their house. Everyone said Father put Mom in the hospital and
Nellie
believed it
. A
nd that was bad enough.

Did he murder his friend
too
? The one who laughed and giggled with him and snuck into her room with him that night when they thought she was asleep.

Nellie bet Mom still didn
'
t know about that. Mom was in the hospital then too. Not because Father hit her, but because she was depressed or something and needed rest.

Her stuff was strewn all around her as she sat on the floor of her bedroom. So far she
'
d collected a hand mirror, a magnifying glass, a flashlight, binoculars, paper, a pencil, a tape recorder, an old knapsack to carry everything in and a knife to protect herself.

Mission number one was to check Father and Mom
'
s room. Father was gone since sometime yesterday. So it wasn
'
t like he
'
d be there taking a nap or anything. She scrabbled to her door, opened it, poked the mirror around the door frame and angled it so she could see down the hall. No one. And no one was coming up the stairs either. Then she angled it up the hall. She hadn
'
t heard any noises coming from any of the bedrooms in a long time so that meant everyone was downstairs.
The coast is clear.

She crawled back to her pile of equipment, stashed it in her knapsack, pulled it over her shoulders, stood up and tip-toed to the door. This time she peeked with her eyes. Still completely safe.

Mom and Father
'
s room was right next door. So she didn
'
t have to go far. She opened their door and slipped inside.

She wiped her hand across her forehead.
No one saw.
But her heart was pounding for real. She wasn
'
t supposed to be in their bedroom when she wasn
'
t invited. Funny, because she was allowed to go everywhere else in the house. Oh ya, but not in guest rooms when people were staying over.

Her stomach growled. This adventure was making her starving. She
'
d have to remember to pack cookies or something next time.

First thing she decided to check was whether Father took his overnight bag or his suitcase with him. That would let her know how long he was going to be away. Whenever he was about to leave on a business trip to Toronto, either the small, black overnight bag would be sitting by the front door, or the really big one with the handle and wheels that pulled out. She headed for their closet because she knew he stored them in there when he wasn
'
t using them. He let her watch him pack and unpack sometimes. She opened the double doors and pushed past a bunch of his suits. She discovered that both his overnight bag
and
his suitcase were missing.

Next she checked his dresser. No big pile of socks in his sock drawer. She didn
'
t know whether to be happy or sad that he was going to be gone for a long, long time.

She knew from bits of movies and TV shows she should search for blood to know for absolute sure if he did it. She got down on her hands and knees and searched every crook and cranny, including the whole en-suite, for a sign of blood. Nothing. Now she could go back to her room and tell Macho that Father was not a murderer. But she wanted to do one more thing. She took out her pencil and rubbed the lead gently back and forth over the scratch pad by the phone. Even the kids at school knew if you rubbed gently, whatever message was last written on the pad would show up white.

"
Carla, did you sort through your mo
m
'
s stuff already?
"
Becki
was still wondering how there could be no drugs at all.

"
What do you mean?
"

"
In her room?
"

"
I thought Anna said she wanted to do that.
"

"
And I wanted to help. I was planning to dispose of Godmom
'
s pharmaceuticals and I couldn
'
t find them. Just thought it was weird.
"

"
Oh, I see. That
'
s right. I cleaned out her drugs. Nellie has the run of the place, and I didn
'
t want her coming across something dangerous.
"

"
Smart.
"

"
And while I was doing that, I found and picked out Mom
'
s diamond watch from inside her nightstand. She left it to you, right? I put it in my room so I
'
d remember to give it to you, but…well…other things sort of happened. I didn
'
t get around to it. Sorry. But now I
'
m thinking about it, I
'
ll go get it.
"

"
Carla, you
'
re wearing a cast.
"

"
So?
"

"
You shouldn
'
t be going up and down stairs. In fact, you should move down here until your cast comes off. If we finish cleaning out your mom
'
s room, would you consider using it?
"

"
No.
"

"
Not even temporarily?
"

"
No.
"
Carla moved away.

"
At least don
'
t worry about that watch. I
'
m in no hurry to have it.
"

"
It
'
s beautiful,
"
said Carla over her shoulder.

"
The watch she wore every day?
"

"
No, the Piaget was her dress-up watch. And she kept it in its original case. Let me go get it.
"

"
Carla!
"

"
What? Have to keep moving.
"

Carla didn
'
t want to give Mom
'
s beautiful watch to Becki. After all, Becki wasn
'
t family. So even if she hadn
'
t been that annoying lately, and stayed by her side at the hospital, and went with her to the police station, and bought Nellie that book, and didn
'
t seem to be judging her for marrying Reggie in the first place, it felt wrong. She climbed the stairs slowly. Awkwardly. Horribly wrong. She walked up the hall to her bedroom like Frankenstein with a club foot.

Chapter 22

"
Come take a walk with me,
"
her dad said after dinner.

Gina smiled as she rose.
'
Dark walks
'
with her dad had been a nightly tradition all through her late childhood and teen years. She still loved the night air, the quiet and the feeling of safety that Dad brought to the night.

They walked side by side in silence until they reached the town sidewalk.

"
I spoke with Tony,
"
Gord said finally.
"
About this whole mess and about you.
"

Gina let out her breath.

"
Tell me you didn
'
t say some nonsense about being honourable, Dad.
"
Good grief, how embarrassing that would be.

"
Didn
'
t have to,
"
Gord said. The smile was in his voice.
"
You better love that fellow, Gina, because I don
'
t think he
'
s going to accept no for an answer.
"

Now Gina felt silly. She didn
'
t know what to say.

"
Do you love him, sweetheart? I
'
ve got to hear you say it. It
'
s just the two of us here so you can be honest.
"

It came easy now, the words and the confidence that went with them.
"
Yes. Yes I do, Dad. I think I always have.
"

"
That
'
s what your mom said.
"
Her dad
sounded satisfied.

They walked on. The small sounds of night in this town were sweetly calming, unlike the relentless noise of the city.

"
For what it
'
s worth, I think he
'
s a good man, Gina. He was a good kid; I liked him even then. I
'
d be proud to have him in the family—yes, you can giggle about that, considering. But it
'
s up to you, sweetheart. You know that.
"

She knew. That was the great thing about Dad. He was always there to support you
. A
lways there
,
period. A hard act for anyone to follow.

"
Do you think it
'
s Reggie?
"

Gina nearly tripped on the sidewalk.
"
What?
"

"
Everyone is saying Reggie is the murderer. Do you think so?
"

She
stopped walking, turned to her d
ad and said,
"
No.
"

"
I don
'
t, either.
"
Gord searched her face.
"
Do you know who it is?
"

Gina hesitated, then remembered who she was talking to.
"
I have an idea. But I don
'
t have any proof and no one will believe it.
"

"
How sure are you?
"
Gord said.

Gina licked her lips.
"
Not sure at all.
"
How to explain, the philosophy she had been playing with. That the whole world came down to a few things that were all-important. And all you had to do was look at what was most important to each person…

"
Could you be in danger?
"

Gina shook her head.
"
I
'
m not a threat. And no one would guess what I
'
m thinking.
"

Gord reached over to wrap his arm about her.
"
Keep it to yourself, sweetheart. Don
'
t tell a soul, not even Tony. Don
'
t even hint about it. I
'
m not sure we
'
re done with it all yet.
"

Gina felt a chill to her toes. It wasn
'
t over—she knew that
too
.

Linda was holding court in the kitchen when they got back.

"
All I said was they let the bastard get away.
"

"
They don
'
t know for sure it was Reggie,
"
Becki said sensibly.

"
Oh, don
'
t be ridiculous. Who else could it be? Reggie was screwing that blond slut and he got tired of her. She tried to make things difficult for him…was going to tell Carla or something. Don
'
t tell me it was the first time. That type is always prowling.
"

"
Linda, keep your voice down. Carla might hear. She
'
s only in the bathroom.
"
The disgust in Mandy
'
s voice was clear.

"
You think she doesn
'
t know? Carla
'
s no dummy. She
'
s well rid of him, if you ask me. We all are. I
'
m just surprised she didn
'
t do him in herself. Now there
'
s the person who should have died.
"

"
Maybe she did.
"
Ian spoke from the side.

"
What are you talking about?
"

"
Sweetie, that
'
s brilliant,
"
Linda said.

"
I don
'
t understand.
"
Gina heard her mom
'
s voice from the corner.

"
Reggie
'
s missing. Maybe he didn
'
t run away. Maybe Carla offed him and packed his stuff to make it look like he ran off.
"

"
Linda!
"
Becki exclaimed.
"
That
'
s a terrible thing to say.
"

"
What? You think Carla couldn
'
t kill anyone? She could do it well enough if given the right reason. So could I.
"

Gord stood in the doorway, leaning against the jam.
"
A regular Lady Macbeth you are, Linda.
"

"
Really?
"
Linda looked over and drawled,
"
I always imagined myself as Cleopatra.
"

"
Why not?
"
Mandy muttered.
"
They both used poison.
"

When Gina woke up the first time, the moon was still high. When she woke up the second time, it had hardly moved. She tossed and turned for a while and finally gave up.

Her dressing gown was draped across the end of the bed. She donned it. The hall was cold and empty; moonlight drifted in from the staircase window. She moved to the landing. At the bottom of the stairs was the kitchen with its comfort of tea. She hesitated and then turned the other way. She took each step softly, slowly, to the third floor.

What was she doing? Was she mad? At the door to his room, she peeked in. In the dark, she could find no one there. Where was he? The loss hit her like a blow to the chest.

Then he was behind her, wordlessly taking her arm, pulling her into the room and the door shut behind them.

The sun was fully up when Gina woke next.

They were in Tony
'
s room at the back of the house. It had always been his room in the old days and she had envied him for it…the sloped ceiling, the low, gabled windows. The place had been full of comic books and matchbox cars. Of course, girls weren
'
t allowed in the attic room then.

There was no one else on the third floor, which made it private.

Gina revelled in the glorious aftermath of being made love to in a dozen different ways. Tony was on his back. Her head snuggled against the side of his chest.
My God, my God, could anything feel so good ever again?
she wondered
. The steady sound of his breathing, of his chest rising and falling made a soothing rhythm. She was almost asleep again when the soft pounding started.

"
Gina, Gina. Are you in there?
"
It was only a whisper, but Gina bolted right up.
Caught. Oh my goodness, what to do?

"
It
'
s Becki. Look, Tony, is Gina in there with you? Everyone
'
s looking for her.
"

Tony was awake now. He was smiling and his eyes twinkled.

"
Tell them to stop,
"
he said.
"
Squirt is safe enough.
"

Gina stared at him in horror and then picked up a pillow and whacked him with it.

"
Ouch!
"
Tony yelped.
"
But I might need help.
"

Gina could almost hear the smile in Becki
'
s voice.
"
Get up, you two. I
'
ll try to keep people off the second floor so you can go down and get dressed, Gina. Make it snappy.
"

Gina moved to lunge off the bed, but Tony caught her arm.

"
Hey, not so fast.
"
He pulled her down on top of him.

"
Tony, no! I
'
ve got to—
"
But it appeared she didn
'
t have to, after all.