A Purse to Die For (25 page)

But she set out in the direction of the silo anyway.

Chapter 41

Nellie sat on the floor of her bedroom playing with the pink phone. It was real pretty. It even sparkled if you put it in the sunlight.

She
'
d been hiding it for a few days. Gina had lots of pretty things, but this one—this phone—was special. It was grown-up. Gina talked to Tony on it all the time and everyone knew that Gina and Tony were going steady, just like Barbie and Ken. So Nellie had wanted that phone—wanted to pretend to be going steady and be all grown up
too
. Besides, it was pink.

Nellie didn
'
t steal things. That was bad. She
'
d give it back to Gina, so it wasn
'
t stealing. Mom always said you had to share things. Gina would let her share. But even still, she wouldn
'
t tell anyone about it quite yet. Except maybe Macho.

She sat on the floor and pushed numbers with he
r fingers. Nothing happened. M
aybe it needed new batteries like some of her toys did. She pushed a whole bunch of buttons
,
and then put the phone to her ear as she
'
d seen Gina do.

"
Mr. Policeman?
"
she said
into the phone.
"
It
'
s me, Nellie. I forgot to tell you something I saw. Something important.
"

Nellie didn
'
t see Aunt Mandy stop in the hallway. She didn
'
t see her until Mandy came up behind her and said,
"
Nellie, what are you talking about? What did you see?
"

The cellphone in his pocket buzzed insistently. Tony took one hand from the wheel, reached into his pocket.

"
You
'
re not supposed to use a cellphone while driving.
"
Becki
'
s words sounded ridiculous, even to herself. Why was she worried about breaking a stupid new law when Gina was in such terrible danger and Tony was already driving at least thirty kilometres over the speed limit on snow?

Tony glanced over at her briefly. The ghost of a smile flickered across his face.

"
You talk then.
"

Becki took the phone nervously, pushed a button—the wrong one—pushed another, and said,
"
Hello?
"

"
It
'
s Rob.
"
She turned back to Tony.

Tony swung the Audi onto the shoulder. Snow went flying and for a brief moment, Becki thought they would careen down the bank.

"
Give me the phone.
"
Tony
'
s voice was harsh.

"
Yeah,
"
he said.
"
He said what?
"
Tony turned to Becki.
"
Reggie says that Carla killed that Best woman. Saw her do it.
"

Becki felt her mouth go dry. Could it be true? Something deep inside her had flashed a warning…

Carla was not
right
. She was not the person she pretended to be with such enthusiasm. Something dark lurked beneath the exterior.

Becki closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Carla had killed that poor woman with a baseball bat. And that meant Carla had killed Ian—shot him in cold blood with a gun. It was unthinkable. She couldn
'
t believe it. No, it couldn
'
t be true.

Tony was talking now, giving instructions.
"
—on the 19
th
Sideroad, going west, about 17 kilometres from the main highway—
"

Why hadn
'
t she told anyone her suspicions? Why hadn
'
t she said something way back?
Mother,
she pleaded,
come now and tell me what to do. Tell me everything is going to be
all right
.

"
Here, take the phone
,
and tell him every turn I make.
"

She blinked at Tony.

"
For crissake, Becki, snap out of it.
"

Becki took the cellphone and forced herself to pay attention.

Jerry s
at staring into space. The living room
seemed lonely, empty now that Nellie had left to play
,
and the girls had gone out in the car. Shopping probably. Women could shop anytime, for any reason, it seemed. God knows why they thought it was such an accomplishment, even a triumph, finding
the perfect dress
. How hard can it be spending money someone else earns?

He got up from the desk and went to the bookshelf. So many volumes here, hardly ever read. That
'
s what he
'
d always planned to do in his retirement—read the entire room full of books. Escape from his dreary life and have adventures through the pages. That
'
s what Linda didn
'
t understand about books. They weren
'
t boring at all. You could throw yourself in the character
'
s skin and lead another life, if only for a while.

Don
'
t think about Linda lying comatose-like upstairs.

Don
'
t think about Ian. Don
'
t think about the dear misguided boy and the life he could have had.

If only Ian had been a normal boy. If only he had wanted to play baseball and basketball with his dad instead of wanting to go shopping with Mom. If he had been normal, maybe he wouldn
'
t be dead now. Maybe if Jerry had just insisted more…maybe if
—

The phone rang. He picked it up automatically.

"
What?
"
It was Dumont.
"
Carla isn
'
t here.
"
His voice was dull.
"
Of course, I
'
ll keep her here if she comes back—
"
Jerry didn
'
t finish the sentence. Comes back for Nellie? Dumont wasn
'
t making any sense. He was saying that Carla killed that woman. His sister Carla. He wasn
'
t hearing right. Carla killed Ian. Her own nephew. Dumont was still talking, but the phone had fallen from Jerry
'
s hand and it hit the floor with a thud.

"
Jerry, what is it?
"

Jerry looked blindly at his sister, Anna. Where had she come from? The room had been empty a moment ago.

"
Jerry, where is everyone? Where
'
s Gina?
"

Jerry stared at her worried face. His mouth felt dry and full of fluff.

Anna went to the study window.
"
I can
'
t find Becki
,
and her car
'
s right there. Where is she? And Carla?
"

At the name, Jerry shook himself free of stupor.
Good God, Gina has
gone ou
t alone with Carla. And Carla i
s a killer.

The snow was coming down now in big, sideways flakes. Gina had always hated snow. No matter how pretty it looked, it was still rotten. She was cold now, standing in the middle of the endless flurries, shivering.

She hadn
'
t dressed for snow. She wasn
'
t even dressed for winter because, dammit—it was only October. Who expected snow in October? Only a few days ago, she and Tony were sitting against the old maple watching the leaves fall. Where was Tony now, she wailed to herself. Why the hell did he have to leave her alone to go to his rotten job? She wrapped her thin arms more tightly around the fuchsia wool pea jacket,
a steal at two
-
fifty, but who the hell cares if you freeze to death in it?

It had been stupid to walk away from the cabin. Car tracks led to the cabin
,
and that
'
s where everyone would look for her.
That is, if they were looking for her,
she thought bitterly. Who would guess? Who would even think to finger Carla for the murders?

The silo was quickly disappearing from view. She had started out before the snow had gotten heavy. Now she couldn
'
t tell if the silo was getting closer or not.
How could you even see what direction you were going in now?
But she had to keep walking to get to a phone to warn everyone.

The big question was—what would Carla do now?
Put yourself in Carla
'
s shoes,
she told herself.
Keep walking, but keep thinking
too
. Don
'
t think of your feet freezing in these useless suede boots. Think of what Carla would do next…what
you
would do if
you
were Carla.

That
'
s easy,
Gina thought firmly.
Go back for Nellie.

Chapter 42

"
What did you see, honey?
"
Aunt Mandy repeated.

Nellie had heard the first time.
"
Prete
nding,
"
she
said.

"
Like you
'
re talking to a policeman?
"

"
Uh-huh.
"

"
Detective Dumont?
"

"
Some other policeman.
"

"
Ah…Not fond of Detective Dumont?
"

"
He
'
s okay.
"

"
Hey, isn
'
t that a real phone?
"
Aunt Mandy held out a hand for the pink cell.

Nellie handed it over.

"
You
'
re allowed to play with it?
"

"
I
'
m
borrowing
it.
"

"
Going to give it back when you
'
re done?
"

"
Yes.
"

"
Good girl.
"
Aunt Mandy handed it back.
"
I
'
m heading downstairs for a snack. Your mom lets you have a snack in the afternoon, right? Want to join me?
"

"
Can I keep playing a bit?
"
Nellie asked, looking up at Aunt Mandy.

"
Sure.
"

She barely heard Aunt Mandy
'
s footfalls on the stairs going down. Good thing it was Aunt Mandy who stopped by, and not her grown-up son, Tony. Tony would have asked a whole lot more questions. And he would have known it was Gina
'
s phone. He would have made her give it back right away. He was…strict.

But even Tony wouldn
'
t be able to make her tell
. N
ot pretend tell
,
but really tell
about seeing that dead lady
right here in her room. It was okay to lie about some things. Like when you don
'
t want to hurt someone
'
s feelings. Like when you don
'
t want Mom to know how giggly that lady and Father were that night
and how it looked like she was Father
'
s girlfriend
.

But she told the pretend policeman everything because it made her feel better. Then she pressed a button like she saw Gina do before hanging up. And then—whoa!—she heard Aunt Becki.

"
Gina, it
'
s Becki. So…I
'
m the one who
'
s in hospital now. I know. Dumb. Something I ate. Anyway, I discovered something here. By fluke. My doctor, Dr. Crosby, is…was…Godmom
'
s doctor
too
. And he happened to let it slip that Godmom didn
'
t have cancer. You believe that? What
'
s it mean, do you think? Was Carla lying? Or was she somehow convinced Godmom had cancer? Weird, huh? So I want to talk to you about it. Call me. Room 27. They
'
re forcing me to stay here overnight. So call anytime. Don
'
t worry how late. Believe me, I
'
m getting plenty of sleep. And Gina…be careful. Something
'
s seriously not right about this. Okay…bye for now.
"

Grandma didn
'
t have cancer? Mom lied? And Gina was supposed to be careful because—something was wrong?
Oh, man.
She tossed the pink phone into the corner where it belonged. Her bottom lip pushed out—her sulky face, Mom called it.

Finally, she decided she was going down for her snack. On her way downstairs, she noticed it looked like a bad blizzard outside. She hurried toward the kitchen, where she heard hushed voices. Aunt Mandy was there. She could see her through the doorway. And she recognized Uncle Jerry. She was good with voices.

"
We
'
re all who seem to be in the house right now,
"
he was saying.
"
Except for Linda…I want her to sleep,
"
he said. Then he stopped.

"
Out with it,
"
Uncle Gord said.

"
Spit it out, bro.
"

That was Aunt Anna
'
s voice. A family meeting or something? Nellie decided not to barge in. Especially since Uncle Jerry obviously didn
'
t count her as part of the family. So she ducked into the library to listen and not be seen.

"
Dumont says it
'
s not Reggie who
'
s the killer, like we
'
ve all been thinking
,
but Carla.
"

Nellie
'
s body started to shake. She felt like screaming.

"
What?
"
Aunt Anna exclaimed.

Her aunt must be as shocked as Nellie was.

"
Come on. We all know if it has to be one of us, it
'
s Reggie. Right?
"

"
Hmmm,
"
Uncle Gord said.
"
Maybe not.
"

"
How did Dumont get this brilliant idea?
"
Aunt Mandy asked.

"
From Reggie.
"

"
Get real. And Dumont is listening to
him
?
"

"
Well, Reggie disclosed where he
'
s been all this time. And he
'
s alibied for…for Ian
'
s murder. A friend of his out Kingston way.
"

"
But still.
"

"
Claims he actually saw Carla kill that Best woman.
"

Nellie clutched her stomach.

"
Ya, right. So after witnessing his wife kill someone, he leaves town? Without telling the cops or anything? Leaves his daughter with—?
"

"
Could be he thought he killed Carla before he left.
"

Nellie gagged.

"
Talk about nuts. Now it
'
s Reggie
'
s word against hers.
"

"
Bad news is,
"
Uncle Jerry said,
"
if it
'
s Carla, then Gina might be in danger. Saw them leave together.
"

"
Oh no!
"
Aunt Anna gasped.

"
Our girl will be fine,
"
Uncle Gord said.
"
Gina
'
s smart. Capable. And maybe Dumont
'
s got it all wrong.
"

Nellie imagined Uncle Gord getting up from his chair, walking over to his wife and putting his arms around her. She wished for arms around her
too
. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement at the front end of the hall. Cold rushed past her. Mom stepped inside the front door. She had snow stuck all over her. First thing she did when she saw Nellie was hold a pointed finger in front of her lips.

Shhhh.

Since Aunt Mandy was directly in line with the front door, she must have felt the draft, as well. She whirled in her chair.
"
Carla!
"

The sound of chairs scraping against tiles. Everyone shouting at once. The gang in the kitchen funnelling out and accusing Mom. Mom yelling back at them. Mom signalling Nellie with her finger. This time it meant
Come here
. Of course, she wanted to be with Mom more than anyone else. But Mom was ever in a mood. Nellie guessed it was because she stumbled—hesitated. Both Aunt Mandy and Aunt Anna were insisting she not go to Mom.
Maybe she should just run
and hide for a while. What to believe? Who to believe? Not Father. Mom? Mom called them white lies. Maybe Mom lied about Grandma. But why did everyone think she could kill someone? Mom had a smile on her face. Well, it
looked
like a smile.

Before Nellie could move an inch, a hulking figure appeared in the doorway behind Mom. Detective Dumont. He pulled her hands behind her, snapped on handcuffs.
"
You
'
re under arrest.
"

"
Mommy!
"
Nellie sobbed.

Racing down the hall, she wrapped her arms around Mom and pressed her face against Mom
'
s stomach.
Mommy…