Authors: Melodie Campbell,Cynthia St-Pierre

Tags: #Mystery

A Purse to Die For (15 page)

BOOK: A Purse to Die For

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Chapter 23

"
Macho, you know what? Mom nearly caught me yesterday when I was searching her room.
"
She hated it when
Mom
was upset with
her.

Macho raised his head.

"
Lucky I hid in the closet.
"

He slumped in relief.

"
Didn
'
t think she
'
d be as mad as Father, so I almost came out and let her know I was there.
"
She frowned.
"
But Mom
limped across the room to her nightstand
, too
k this sparkly bracelet thing out, sat down, put it around her wrist and then started crying. Ya, crying
.
Father wasn
'
t even there to yell at her or hit her
,
and she started crying anyway. All by herself. And I felt really sorry for her and thought I should comfort her like when she comforts me when I
'
m sad.
"

She hugged Macho to show him how she wanted to hug Mom.

"
But I didn
'
t,
'
cause I wasn
'
t sure, and she left, and I don
'
t think she even knew I was there.
"

Nellie looked around her bedroom. Sun streamed in the window and in its path, she could see dust floating down like snowflakes. All those slanted rays of sunlight also highlighted her knapsack in a heap on the floor on the other side of the room. She crawled over to it.

"
You know what else?
"
Not waiting for Macho to answer, she pulled the tape recorder from her bag
.
"
Last night I caught Uncle Jerry and Aunt Linda having a fight on tape. I heard them arguing through their door, couldn
'
t hear exactly what they were saying, so I stuck this microphone under it.
"
She held up a tiny black mic on a wire that was plugged into her machine
.
"
Wanna hear?
"

She pressed
Rewind
and the tape spun backward with a whirring sound. Then she pressed
Pla
y.

"
And for God
'
s sake, Linda, instead of wasting thousands of dollars on creams and potions, why don
'
t you bloody quit smoking?
"

"
None of your business, Jerry.
"

"
None of my business?

"
What I do doesn
'
t concern you.
"

"
What you do affects me. We
'
re married.
"

"
Right.
"

"
For instance, I married a beautiful, young woman, who
'
ll very soon be a wrinkled, old hag, despite the fact she spends thousands of dollars, not to mention thousands of hours, fighting destructive—
"

"
Finished yet?
"

"
Well, no, actually. Let me add that beautiful, young woman I married will end up prematurely dead from lung cancer and I have to watch it happen. Linda Ferrero
'
s suicide drama in slow motion.
"

"
Like you care. And as if you don
'
t have your own vices that are just as hateful to me.
"

"
Turn it around, why don
'
t you?
"

"
Like you
'
re the injured party—Mr. Tom Cat.
"

"
What?
"

"
You heard me. Youth and beauty are all you care about. Why do you think you fell for me in the first place? And now that I
'
m older, you
'
re on to greener pastures. Greener. Sexier. As in secretary? As in poor, lonely divorcée? Why be picky? As long as they have looks. I should say, as long as they have gravity-defying boobs.
"

"
Go ahead and kill yourself with cigarettes.
"

"
Maybe you
'
d like to speed things up. Is that what happened to Hilary?
"

"
Hilary?
"

"
Got too long in the tooth for you?
"

"
What you talking about?
"

"
That woman! That woman in red. She one of yours? You kill her?
"

"
Are you crazy? First you accuse Carla of killing. And now me? You
'
re too much, Linda. Way too much. I
'
m not listening to another word. I
'
m asleep. Sound asleep in my bed.
"

"
Fine!
"

"
Snore.
"

The tape went silent. Nellie pressed
Stop
. She rubbed her hand over her forehead—her fingers fluttered.
"
I should probably tell Mom, right?
"

"
Mom, I think Tony
'
s carrying a gun,
"
Becki said.

What makes you say that?

"
Caught a glimpse of something that looks like Karl
'
s bulge when he
'
s carrying.
"

Looking at other men
'
s bulges?

"
You never used to be like this, Mom.
"

Never used to be dead.

"
Will you be serious? There
'
s been a murder and I think someone I know is carrying a weapon.
"

You
r husband
'
s the cop. Not you. Wh
at
'
re you doing snooping around? You
'
ll get yourself in big doo doo like this.

"
I
'
m not snooping. Just happened to notice.
W
hat do you think it means?
"

The woman who died wasn
'
t shot, was she?

"
No, she was beaten with a bat.
"

Tony wearing a bat
too
?

"
For God
'
s sake, Mom.
"

Call your husband. That
'
s my advice. You
'
re missing him. That
'
s what this is.

"
For once I think you
'
re right.
"

Becki dialled home.

"
Hi, Karl.
"

"
Hi, honey. How
'
s it going?
"

"
Okay. You?
"

"
I
'
m good.
"

"
Haven
'
t gained more weight, have you?
"

"
Maintaining. Are you free to come home?
"

"
Not yet.
"

"
Oh.
"

"
In the meantime, I have a question for you.
"

"
Hit me.
"

"
Wish I could.
"

"
Huh?
"

"
Wish I could touch you.
"

"
Me too. Ah, your question. Go ahead.
"

"
What would you say if I told you Tony
'
s wearing a gun? But it
'
s hidden. Is that legal?
"

"
Hmmm. A concealed weapon. In Canada. Only cops and criminals carry guns.
"

"
Which category do architects fall under?
"

"
Maybe you should stay away from him while I do a little research.
"

"
Weird. We
'
ve known Tony for years.
"

"
And don
'
t rile him up.
"

"
Hey, I never rile people up. Especially Tony. He seems like such a nice guy.
"

"
Still, don
'
t let him know you
'
re on to him. I said cops
and
criminals.
"

The loneliness hit her again as soon as she hung up the phone.

Chapter 24

"
Air Canada says no passenger of that name traveled with them in the past week. Checking WestJet now. But you know, Guv, if the suspect went stateside, he could hop a flight from Buffalo and we
'
d never know. That
'
s what I would do.
"

Rob scowled into the phone. And it was so easy to slip from there into Mexico and then further south, if you wanted. Who knows where the man had connections…Right. He had some follow-up to do.

"
Thanks, Janet. I
'
m on my way back to the house to question the wife.
"

Rob drove above the speed limit without noticing. This was the part of the investigation that got tedious. Parcel out a bunch of leads…check every one of them out…wait for the results to come back in. Ninety-nine out of a hundred led nowhere, or sometimes they led to ten more avenues of investigation which themselves led to more…

But this was what being a good cop was all about. The painstaking details. The ferreting…the relentless asking of questions and sorting through facts. Eliminating the extraneous and salvaging the few leads that could go somewhere.

Rob was good at that. He had a true cop
'
s gut and he knew he was on to something now.

Carla didn
'
t look good, Rob had to admit. The skin around her eyes had gone from black to purple and green, and she made no attempt to hide the bruising with makeup. Her mouth was still a mess. It hurt to look at her.

Besides that, she was sullen. Perhaps it hurt to smile?

"
Have you found the bastard?
"
She spit the words.

Whoa. Guess that established how she was feeling. Rob squirmed in the study chair.

"
Not yet, but we have some leads. Perhaps you can help us.
"

Carla merely stared at the floor.

"
We think he might have left the country. Perhaps Mexico or further south. Did he have any connections there that you can think of? Any foreign connections he could stay with?
"

Now she looked up, startled.
"
In Mexico? How the devil would he get there?
"

Rob shifted uneasily.
"
We
'
re checking flights now.
"

Carla merely laughed.
"
Well you can stop that right away. Reggie would never fly. Don
'
t you know? He was terrified of planes. He couldn
'
t even go up a stepladder without fainting or throwing up.
"

Rob frowned.
"
It would have been useful if you
'
d told us this before.
"

Now she sneered at him.
"
It would be useful if you could do your job and find the bastard who did this to me. So don
'
t lecture me.
"

Rob felt his face go red and his blood pressure mount.
Steady now
—he was losing his cool. He turned back to face her.
"
Mrs. Williamson. If you know of any place your husband could be or anyone he could be staying with, please tell me now.
"

Carla looked away. Her whole body seemed to fold into a hunch.

"
Nowhere you have to fly to. Reggie liked trains. He used to say you met the most interesting people on trains. Mainly older women with money, I expect. He seemed to know a lot of those.
"
Her voice sounded defeated.

"
He could take a train to the States and then across the border south,
"
Rob suggested.

She shrugged. It looked like it hurt to do that.
"
Could have. But he never mentioned ever wanting to go there. We went to Vegas once, but that was about it. Didn
'
t meet anyone there to speak of.
"

"
What about friends? Did he have any male friends?
"

Carla shook her head.
"
Men didn
'
t like him.
"

Rob sighed deeply. This was like pulling teeth.

"
So you can
'
t think of anywhere he might have gone to? Anyone who might be giving him shelter?
"

"
What an odd way to put it.
'
Anyone who might give him shelter,
'
like he was a dog or something. That
'
s it! That
'
s what he was—a hound dog.
"
She laughed and the sound verged on hysteria.

Rob stared. He had known Carla since he was a kid, and while he
'
d never warmed to her, it bothered him to see her this way.

"
Oh, Lord,
"
she said, huffing for air.
"
I can see some old bitch putting him in the dog house, patting him down for the night.
"
And then she was off again, cackling like a Halloween witch.

"
You can go now. Send Gina in if you see her,
"
Rob said, waving her away.
"
But if you think of anything—
"

"
I know.
"
She gasped for breath.
"
I
'
ll call you.
"

Watching her rise from the chair was painful. She moved slowly to the door and then turned.
"
If I were you, I
'
d look in some place like Palm Beach. Those wealthy Toronto matrons go to Florida every year, don
'
t they?
"
With that, she left.

Rob looked down at the desk, deep in thought.

A minute later, Gina walked in.

"
Good morning, Rob. You wanted to see me?
"

His eyes lit up immediately and he jumped to his feet.

"
Come in. Sit down. Have you had coffee yet?
"

Gina
'
s smile was perky.
"
Actually, it
'
s my house, of a sort. I should be asking you that.
"

Rob blushed and sat.
"
Sorry. Foolish of me.
"
He ran his eyes over her. She looked lovely in that deep blue sweater and blue jeans. The blue did something to her skin—something nice.

"
I just need you to confirm some things. I need the opinion of someone I know and trust.
"

He looked directly at her. Gina nodded.

"
Mrs. Williamson tells me her husband was afraid of flying.
"

Gina nodded again.
"
It
'
s true. We all knew that. I think it was fear of heights rather than air sickness.
"

Rob leaned back.
"
So he wouldn
'
t have taken a plane anywhere, in your opinion.
"

She shook her head.
"
Never. I can
'
t swear to it but—no, I just don
'
t believe he could make himself get on one.
"

"
That narrows the search a bit.
"
Rob chewed on the end of a pen.
"
Can you think of any place he would go? Or someone who would harbour him?
"

She crossed her legs and linked hands around her knees.
"
You are thinking he has a woman in every port, maybe. I
'
m not sure about that. I would put him down as a serial monogamist. You know, the type who needs the fix of falling in love, of being adored and then tires of the person after a while. Or perhaps more likely they stop adoring him when they find out his true nature, and he
'
s compelled to move on. But I don
'
t see him with several women at one time.
"

Rob continued to chew thoughtfully.
"
Interesting. So you
'
re saying women start out loving him and then are disappointed?
"

"
I would think that is a likely pattern. You know he has been married before. Why don
'
t you follow this up with his first wife?
"

Damn and blast. Always, Gina had good ideas.
"
I
'
ll do that,
"
Rob said. Then he decided to be brave.
"
Gina, I kind of messed things up with Tony. I don
'
t know if he mentioned it
.
"