A Purse to Die For (21 page)

Chapter 34

Gina stood on the porch between the two
t
itans and waited for Tony to break the tension.

"
He
'
s alive,
"
Tony said.
"
And in Ontario. Used a bank card east of Kingston yesterday. Seems we all forgot one thing.
"

"
What
'
s that?
"
Rob
'
s voice was grim.

Tony pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He knocked one out and held the pack over to Rob. For one tense moment, Gina thought Rob was going to smack it away. But he didn
'
t. Gina saw him hesitate
,
and then he reached over to pull it out.

"
Thanks,
"
he mumbled.

Tony snapped open a lighter and lit his own. He snapped it closed then tossed the lighter to Rob, who seemed to be expecting it and caught it easily. It hit Gina suddenly she was watching a scene that had happened many times before in the past between these two.

Tony took a big drag and then let out smoke.

"
We forgot Reggie had been married before. His ex lives in Gananoque
,
and the family have a cottage in the Thousand Islands.
"

Rob cursed.

"
Did you know he had a son? No? Well, he never told me about it either. Kid is about eleven. Mother has sole custody.
"

Gina watched the two men eye each other.

Finally Rob said,
"
That it? Just a bank card?
"

Tony grunted.
"
It
'
s more than you came up with.
"

"
Son-of-a-bitch,
"
said Rob.

Gina couldn
'
t tell whether Rob was referring to Tony or the information. The tension was pretty hot on the porch.

"
Got an address?
"
Rob mumbled it around the cigarette in his teeth.

Tony reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a paper.
"
Name of ex, town address, cottage address and number of bank machine. Knock yourself out, lawman.
"

Rob snatched it from his hand then disappeared into the house.

Gina stood looking at Tony.

"
You didn
'
t make any friends there.
"

Tony snorted.
"
We may both wear white hats, but we
'
re at war. Didn
'
t you know?
"

"
Mom, have you seen Becki?
"

"
No, sweetie. I haven
'
t been here. I
'
ve just come from the lawyer
'
s with your dad.
"

Gina watched her mom pour tea from the old china pot. She poured it immaculately, without losing a drop. Gina went to the cupboard for more cups.

"
I haven
'
t seen her for hours. I wonder where she went.
"
she said.

"
Not far, I
'
m sure. That nice policeman keeps track of us. Speaking of which,
"
Mom lingered over the cup,
"
what exactly is going on between you and him? And is that why Tony is so miserable?
"

Miserable? Tony was acting miserable? Oh, for crying out loud
—and then it hit her like a winter gale. Mom didn
'
t know who Rob was. She didn
'
t remember. Gina
'
s eyes went wide. Mother didn
'
t know Rob was the boy who had caused her to be sent to Vancouver that summer long ago. Oh, crap. What the heck would she say when she found out? Even worse, what would her dad do?

The knock caused Rob to look up from his desk.

"
Yes?
"

Carla stood in the doorway. She looked better than he
'
d seen her look the entire week. Her hair was nicely combed
,
and there was colour in her face. Why hadn
'
t he noticed how good-looking she was before?

"
Can I get a day pass for tomorrow? I have a doctor
'
s appointment in Toronto.
"

Rob stared at her. Carla
'
s face was stony.
Appointment in Toronto, my ass,
he thought
.
But this was the chance he had been waiting for.

"
Just for the day?
"

She nodded.
"
I
'
ll leave early, do my business and get back after dinner at the latest.
"

Rob leaned back in his chair. He took some time thinking to make it look good.
"
All right,
"
he said finally.
"
Take your cellphone
,
and leave it on.
"

"
Thanks. I
'
ll get Gina to look after Nellie.
"

"
She
'
s in the parlour, I think.
"

Carla nodded again and moved away with a sway in her hip.

Something wrong with that woman,
Rob thought.

"
What
'
s wrong, Gina? Are you looking for something?
"
Carla stood at the door to the front parlour, watching.

"
Have you seen my cellphone? I seem to have lost it. It
'
s pink.
"
Gina turned from the couch where she had been lifting pillows.

Carla shook her head.
"
Try dialling the number.
"

"
Did that,
"
said Gina. She sat down with a thump and a sigh.
"
It may have run out of juice.
"

Carla didn
'
t seem concerned.
"
So use the house phone. The police won
'
t mind.
"

Gina shook her head.
"
I was just going to check calls, not make any. If I call work, they
'
ll just make it difficult for me.
"
She sat frowning.

Carla went to the window.

"
Will you do me a favour and look after Nellie tomorrow?
"

Gina looked over in surprise.

"
Well, sure. But where are you going?
"

Carla shrugged.
"
Got a doc appointment in Toronto. Our Sergeant Renfrew of the
RCMP
is letting me go for the day, can you believe it? I promised to be good and get back around dinner.
"

Gina was mystified. After that prank of Tony
'
s, she was surprised Rob would let anyone step away from the house, let alone drive to the city.

"
Lucky you,
"
she said.
"
I
'
d love to get away.
"

"
How long are you going to stay here?
"

Gina
'
s head shot up. Why did Carla sound like that?
"
Only as long as they make me. I have to be back in Toronto next week for work at the latest.
"

Was that the shadow of a smile? Gina stared. It seemed Carla would be pleased to see her go. But why? Carla had always liked her, she was sure of it. They both loved Nellie, for one thing.

"
It
'
s got to be difficult for you with all these people invading your home.
"
Gina chose her words carefully.

They seemed to be the right words.

Carla nodded.
"
It
'
s not good for Nellie. I can
'
t wait for things to get back to normal.
"

Normal? With Ian murdered and Reggie missing? Gina stared at the woman in front of her, who stood gazing placidly out the window. It was as if she suddenly didn
'
t know this calm and cool person masquerading as her aunt. What the devil was wrong with Carla?

Chapter 35

Carla had so many reasons to not want
them
finding Reggie now. Of course, she had to press charges
for
the last time he beat her, but she didn
'
t feel like going through some court ordeal, didn
'
t want Nellie having to deal with kids taunting her for having a jailbird for a father, didn
'
t want him…
Just best if the bastard stayed missing.

But before Carla reached the road that led out of town, she picked out a tail on her heel. Which prompted a very unflattering thought.
Rob thinks I
'
m brain dead.

She gripped the wheel.
Langdon Hills is a small town. Traffic would have to be labelled slow to non-existent. He knows that. As if I
'
m not going to notice a vehicle following me from my own street practically to the highway
.
Firstly, the odds of any two cars twinned in time and place in Langdon Hills is beyond all probability. And secondly, if a miracle of the sort did happen one day, I
'
d know exactly who it was, and then afterward I
'
d make a comment about it to that neighbour—I see you were heading out to buy a few cases of Diet Coke on sale at Costco in Orillia at the same time I was yesterday.

No way
was she
enough of a bonehead to miss the ambulant police presence and its significance. Not only did it scrap her plan to have a little chat with Reggie and send him off once and for all—before the police caught up with him on Salisbury Island, as threatened in the conversation she overheard between Gina, Tony and Rob—it revealed she was under suspicion. One thing she knew, she
'
d be in a whole mess of trouble if they caught her skipping town under false pretences.

She shook her head with tight, jerky movements. She decided to teach the cops a lesson. She picked up her cellphone from the passenger seat as if the ringer were signalling an incoming call. She brought it to her ear. The officer behind her, whether it be Rob or one of his cronies, wouldn
'
t dare arrest her for using a mobile device while driving because he was
incognito
.

"
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah,
"
she rattled into the receiver, looking from side to side and at her rear-vi
e
w while she drove. She made th
e
sounds just so Copman would see
her li
ps moving
. She found it
amusing
so
she raised her voice and before long, her
blah blah
s hit ear-spli
tting pitch. Satisfied, she dropped the phone back onto the seat
, turned her car around and headed for home.

Tony leaned against the study door jam.

"
Dumont, I
'
ve got to go. I
'
ve been called in.
"

Rob snorted.
"
You
'
re not going anywhere.
"

Tony laughed. He folded both arms across his chest.
"
You try telling them that.
"

Smug bastard,
Rob thought
. Then he cursed. Damned feds. He could just imagine the calls starting from high up.

"
Do you think I want to go now?
"
Tony said.
"
With Gina still here and vulnerable?
"
He ran a shaky hand through thick hair.
"
Look, Dumont, you gotta look out for her.
"

Rob was alert now.
"
You think she
'
s in danger?
"

"
No,
"
Tony said slowly.
"
No, not immediately. But I didn
'
t think Ian was, either.
"

Rob leaned forward. He steadied his voice.
"
What the hell do you know that I don
'
t?
"

"
Nothing concrete.
"
Tony hesitated.
"
I
'
m not sure. Just a gut feel, maybe, but a strong one. Maybe Becki knows more. Talk to Becki.
"

"
Tony, by God, if you know something—
"

"
Talk to Becki. I
'
ve been trying to, but I can
'
t find her.
"

Gina sat on the bench at the back of the garden. It had taken some effort to escape from the house without company. But Tony had gone to have a quick word with Rob, so Gina took her chance.

Her parents and Tony
'
s mother were napping. Nellie was getting washed and dressed. Jerry had taken Linda to Ian
'
s hotel to pack up his things. Becki had offered to do it yesterday
,
but Linda would have none of that. Poor Linda. She needed to hang on to every thread of Ian, every piece of him that was left
,
for as long as possible. Gina understood. When all was packed up, he would be physically gone. The feeling of tragedy hung like a thick smog, the steel-town kind which left you with a heavy chest.

Becki was nowhere to be seen today. Funny, that.

But Gina had wanted to be alone to think. She was good at it—thinking. But it took solitude…something that hadn
'
t been available over the last while.

So she let her thoughts go deep, to explore the events that had taken place. She opened her mind to every possibility she could think of.

First, that woman had been murdered. But was that first, really? Or had her grandmother
'
s death been first? Where did the puzzle start? That was the thing. So often in books, murder was the start of the story. Here, a funeral was the start. Or was it?

But you have to start somewhere,
she reasoned.
Start with what we know.

A woman was murdered. She was murdered close to the house and most of the family had opportunity. She was murdered with a baseball bat—Gina shivered—which meant that not everyone could have done the deed. Tony
'
s mother couldn
'
t have. Gina
'
s own parents had an alibi on the high seas. But most everyone else could have done it. But why would they?

Next, look at motive.
The woman was well-dressed and attractive. She had a reputation for seeking out younger men. Probably, she was having an affair with Reggie. That would be logical. Although…somewhere Gina remembered something about Linda…something that led her to believe Linda thought Jerry might be involved. Could Jerry have had an affair with her?
That
'
s not kind,
Gina thought
,
use her name. Treat her like a person.
Could Jerry have had an affair with Hilary?

Gina looked up into the grey sky. Birds were flying listlessly in circles.

Already it was getting complicated. She
'
d stick with Reggie for now. Reggie was missing
,
and that made him involved, for one thing. So—assume Reggie had an affair with Hilary…why was Hilary here? Did he invite her? That seemed unlikely with the whole family here for a funeral and Carla and Nellie close by. Did Hilary follow him up here trying to convince him to meet her? Perhaps Reggie had tried to break off the affair
,
and Hilary wasn
'
t having any of it. Maybe Hilary was going to tell Carla
,
and Reggie had to stop her…

Would Reggie care enough to do that? Would he risk a murder rap to keep Carla from finding out about the affair? That didn
'
t make se
nse. Yes, Carla had the m
oney, a
ctually, Nellie di
d now, b
ut if this woman Hilary was so rich she could afford Gucci handbags, why didn
'
t he just go off with her? Gina wondered if anyone else had thought of that. Why would Reggie kill the Golden Goose?

Okay, that was one strike against him being the murderer. Except that Reggie was violent, everyone knew that. Hitting someone over the head in the heat of anger is just something he might do. Right in character. Gina found herself nodding automatically.

So assume the killer is Reggie. Why would Reggie kill Ian? Certainly, Reggie didn
'
t have any love for Ian. He wasn
'
t a blood relative
,
and Reggie was the sort of insecure man who showed contempt for homosexuals. So he could have done it. He had the psychology. But why?

The most logical reason was that Ian had seen something. In every case, that was the most logical reason for Ian being killed. He saw or knew something about the first murder and was a danger to the killer.

Who else had motive? Gina opened her mind and tried to divorce her personal feelings about the people involved.

Carla.
She
was an obvious suspect
,
and her motive would be jealousy. But did Carla care enough about Reggie to risk a murder rap? Gina couldn
'
t see it. Carla was an abused woman herself. Gina was of the belief that Carla hated Reggie and would be glad to be done with him. Let the other woman have him and then Carla would be safe. Besides, Carla would never kill Ian, her own blood nephew. She loved Ian.

So who else? Linda, she supposed, for the first murder. If Hilary was seeing Jerry then Linda just might take a bat to her. Unlike Carla, Linda had every reason to protect her marriage. But—and it was an overwhelming but—Linda would never kill her own son. No, if Linda committed the first murder, someone else must have committed the second and for a completely different reason.

Could there be another reason to kill Ian? Well—actually—yes. Ian was a rich man now. Someone could have killed him for his money, or rather, the money he was due to inherit.

Who would do that? Not his parents, that
'
s certain. But Andrew could have. Andrew was the selfish type who liked a soft life. Andrew might have seen the opportunity to shoot Ian and have the police think it was connected with the first murder. But would Andrew kill in cold blood? She didn
'
t think so. To seek out a pistol and coolly aim it and fire…that took premeditation and nerves of steel. Besides, Andrew could twist Ian around his little finger. He would have the money by just staying with Ian, so why bother with something as risky as murder?

Who would have the steely disposition to complete such a task? Load, aim, fire…and not miss. Who else had motive? Ironically, someone might say that she and Tony did. They both would inherit more by Ian
'
s death.

So here it comes,
she thought.
Deal with it. You
'
ve got to think it through.

What about Tony? What if Tony were having an affair with the woman? What if he tried to call it off? What if she came here to see Tony and was going to threaten him with exposure? Not about their affair. He wouldn
'
t care about that. But about his other job? Would he kill to protect that knowledge from getting out?

He might. Dear God, Gina had to admit he might. But would he kill Ian
too
? Say Ian had seen something that pointed the finger at Tony. Could Tony kill his own cousin?

Gina felt sick. They weren
'
t blood-related anymore.

What about Tony?

"
What
about
Tony?
"

Gina gasped and looked up. Tony was standing not five feet away gazing down at her. She hadn
'
t realized she
'
d said that last line out loud.

"
I was just thinking,
"
she said. It was hard to keep the shake out of her voice.

Tony whirled himself down on the bench beside her.

"
Look. I
'
ve got to go away for a bit.
"

"
Again?
"
The word was out before she could stop herself.

Tony nodded.
"
Not my choice. I
'
ve been called.
"