Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 05 - Life Between the Lines (29 page)

“Have you seen Henry or Mark yet tonight?” she asked Jeff.

He nodded. “They’re both here.”

“What?” Polly was
surprised. “How long has Mark been here?”

“He came in while you were dancing with Ben.”

“What is his costume?”

“Oh, I’m not telling you that. It’s part of my job as doorkeeper to keep all of the secrets of our guests.”

“Well, that’s not fair.”

“Fair, shmair, boss-lady. That’s half the fun of a masquerade ball, finding your friends when you can’t see who they are. By the way, you look beautiful tonight.”

Polly gave him a sideways glance, “That won’t get you out of trouble with me, buddy.”

“I guess I’ll have to live with that.” He stepped forward to greet a couple entering the auditorium and shot her a smirk while introducing himself.

She waited for him to return. “How about Doug?”

“He’s here too. I think he was looking for you. He went thataway.” He pointed to where Lydia and Aaron were seated.

Polly went to their table and glanced around, looking for Sal. She was with two young men that looked nothing like Henry or Mark. One of them was dressed in a red vest and black cape.

Aaron stood and pulled out a chair for Polly. “Thank you,” she said. “Have you seen Anita yet?”

“I think she’s over there in the tight leather,” Lydia whispered, “but I can’t be sure.”

The young girl was standing by herself, dressed in tight brown leather pants with high-heeled boots that came up to her knees.
She wore fitted a leather jacket that was covered in pockets, straps and buckles and a white scarf was flung around her neck. On top of her head, she had on an aviator’s cap and instead of a mask, she wore goggles.

“Anita?” Polly asked when she got close.

“Polly? I love your gown!”

“Would the lovely Miss Astlebury be interested in meeting her date for the evening? He’s sitting with your boss.”

Anita peeked around Polly. “He’s kind of cute. Does he know that he’s meeting me tonight?”

“He’s nervous, but he’s here and that’s a good sign. Come on.”

Doug and Aaron both stood when they approached the table. “Doug Randall, I’d like you to meet Anita Banks, aka Claire Astlebury of the East Coast Astleburys,” Polly gestured to Anita and said, “I hope you have a wonderful evening tonight.”

Anita held her hand out and Aaron Merritt took it before Doug could make sense of the moment. “Mr. Randall,” he said, “I expect you to treat my employee with
the utmost respect and to remember that you have me to answer to should anything untoward happen to her.”

Doug stood there, completely flabbergasted. Anita took her hand back from Aaron and said to Doug, “I’m perfectly delighted to meet you, Mr. Randall. Could I ask you to take me to the punch bowl?” The poor boy hadn’t yet made the connection between the reality of the moment and the play-acting that was happening in front of him. He finally nodded and turned away from the table. Anita took his arm and led him away.

Aaron laughed as he sat back down. “That was fun.”             

“You are awesome,” Polly said. “I just hope he remembers to breathe again. My job is done.”

Lydia leaned in, “This is fun! Those two are perfect together. Polly, what a great idea. I can’t believe I didn’t think about it.”

“Let’s just say I learned everything I know from you and leave it at that. So, where are Beryl and Andy?”

“Len is bringing the two of them. Beryl will make a grand entrance at some point.”

Sure enough, Aaron poked Polly and pointed to the front door. She’d recognize Beryl anywhere. Tonight she was dressed like a peacock in a multi-hued gown. It had immense feathers attached to the back that towered over her head. Her mask was blue and green with more feathers attached to it and she held it to her face by its long, golden stem. Andy’s white suit with a bustle and Len’s long black coat made them look as if they were her chaperone and chauffeur rather than her friends. They followed in her wake as she strode across the room toward Polly, Lydia and Aaron.

Len held a chair for Andy while Aaron scurried around to pull Beryl’s chair out. “You’re quite a sight,” he said.

“I am, aren’t I!” she said. “Is the party rockin’ without me yet?”

Polly turned toward her, “I don’t think it knew what to do without you. It should kick off any time now.” The dance floor still had people moving around and she realized that Sal had cornered someone to dance with her.

“Do you have a moment to dance with a poor carpenter?” She stood up and hugged Henry. Like most of the men in the room, he had taken off his hat and set it on the table.

“I didn’t know if I’d be able to find you,” she said.

“I knew where my pretty girl was. You are beautiful this evening. Let’s dance.”

Just as he swung her onto the dance floor, Polly heard a commotion. The orchestra stopped playing and the room fell silent. Polly turned to see what was happening and realized that a woman with a gun was standing in front of Genie Campbell. Aaron was slowly walking toward the table, and Kevin was looking at the woman in shock.

She waved the gun wildly around the room, ending up looking at Aaron. “Sit down,” she demanded, “or I will shoot you.”

She was wearing a mask and a hooded cape that covered most of her face. Aaron sat on the edge of a chair and quietly asked the woman to stay calm. She ignored him and began screaming at Genie and Kevin Campbell. “You can’t have any of it. It’s all mine. Who in the hell do you think you are coming in at the last minute and taking everything! You can’t have it!”

Polly moved quietly and quickly while the woman screamed. Suddenly she realized that it was Natalie Dormand.

Aaron saw what Polly was doing and he set his jaw, moving forward in his chair again.

“I told you to sit down! I’m in no mood. All I want is for these two to leave with me and the rest of you can go back to your damned party.”

“Natalie,” Polly said quietly. “What are you doing?”

The woman spun around, aiming the gun at Polly. Henry stepped in front of her with his arms out as a shield, but Polly pushed his right arm down and stepped around him, putting her hands out in submission.

“Natalie, this is wrong. You can’t hurt them and you can’t get away with hurting all of us.”

Aaron stood up again and was moving across the room when Natalie saw him. She aimed at Polly and said, “If you do not sit down, I will kill someone. Polly is close enough that I don’t even have to aim. Sit the hell down!”

He sat back down, his eyes pleading with Polly.

“Natalie. I thought we were friends,” Polly said. “You came out here to take care of Thomas’s things. What has happened? Why didn’t you come talk to me?”

“We were never friends. You didn’t like me and you didn’t tell me the truth about any of this.
I had to find it out on my own. Did you think I was stupid? I knew you sent for that old man to steal the manuscript from me. I knew that Thomas was in Iowa looking for his long lost love and I knew he found her because he finished the damned book. I knew he was going to give it away and I’d never see a penny of it. But if they die, that new will he wrote won’t mean a thing.”

“How did you know about the will?” Polly asked. “We just found out about it this week.”

“People talk. The old man called someone on Friday and he didn’t have his door shut. I heard it all. Your silly friend from the Sheriff’s office called her boss on her cell phone to tell him what you found. They all ignored me, but I heard everything and I’m not going to lose out on those years with Thomas Zeller just because he re-found his youth. Now stand up,” she waved the gun at Kevin and Genie, gesturing for them to stand.

All of a sudden another woman, dressed in leather pants, practically flew across a table beside Polly. She pushed Natalie Dormand’s gun hand into the air and then twisted it behind the woman, put a knee into her back and dropped Natalie to the floor. She kneeled on her and looked up at Polly. “Is that the Sheriff over there?” she asked.

Aaron was already moving toward them and with a handkerchief he drew out of his pocket, picked up the gun, checked the safety and emptied it. The woman stood up and yanking Natalie Dormand’s arms behind her, brought her to a standing position. The two walked Natalie out into the hall and Polly followed close behind.

When they got out of the room, the woman drew off her mask and hat and revealed herself to be Lila Fletcher, the guest in the front room.

“Who are you?” Polly asked. “I know you’re an author, but what in the world?”

“I am an author,” she smiled. “But I was supposed to be guarding Thomas. He’d had some threats and asked me if I would join him. We both thought that this would be a nice quiet place for him to finish the manuscript and didn’t expect anything to happen here. I had my suspicions about Miss Dormand, but since she wasn’t here, and he kept in touch with her while she was out east, I set it aside.”

“Why didn’t you tell us who you were when he was killed?” Polly asked.

“I didn’t want to tip my hand. I hoped that the killer would show him or herself and I was certain when Natalie Dormand showed up that it was her. But then she stayed and I didn’t know what to think. There was no sign that she’d been here when he died, so I thought I’d been completely wrong.”

Aaron hung up his phone and turned back to them. “There is a sign that she was here for the murder. We found the knife that killed Thomas in Stratford. She’d bagged up her bloody clothing and tossed it into a dumpster behind the gas station. But the bag split open and the owner spotted it. It won’t take long for us to match her fingerprints to it.”

“Why did you do it?” Polly asked Natalie. “Why? As long as he was alive, you had a wonderful job.”

“He was leaving us and going back to Seafold Publishing. He wanted to write more of those inane Eddie Powers books,” Natalie said. “Since I had turned over all of my other clients to work with him, I’d have nothing. I came out here to beg him to stay. I cornered him when he was out for a walk and he took me up to his room to talk.” She turned to Lila. “He knocked on your door, but you were gone. It’s your fault I killed him, you know.”

“How is it my fault?” Lila asked.

“He told me there was a woman he wanted me to meet. I was furious! He wasn’t supposed to have another woman. We went to his room and I knew then that I was had to just be done with him. Hell, I knew I was going to kill him before I got here because I made sure that knife was sharp. When I confronted him about another woman in his life, he told me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. Oh, I knew. I knew. He was leaving me and I’d have nothing. I just started stabbing him. Then I took my shoes off and ran out the front door. No one even knew I was here.”

“Grey Linder knew you were here,” Polly said quietly. “But he didn’t realize it because he was so drunk.”

A crowd had gathered around them, listening to the tale and the orchestra had started playing again in the auditorium. Genie and Kevin Campbell were in the doorway, in shock. Kevin’s wife had her arm around Genie’s waist and was holding his hand with her other hand.

Polly heard sirens approach and soon, two deputies came in. After handcuffing Natalie Dormand, they took her out the door to their car.

Aaron said Lydia. “I’m sorry. I need to leave. Can you get a ride home?”

“Of course you need to go. But I got one dance from you tonight and that’s all that counts. Len will take me home. You go do your job.” She reached up and kissed him, then patted his arm as he turned to leave.

Before he got too far, he glared at Polly. “What did you think you were doing in there?” he asked.

“I was trying to get her to talk to me so that maybe she would calm down and realize how crazy her actions were.”

“She murdered Thomas Zeller and then threatened people, including myself, and you thought you could calm her down? Polly Giller you are going to be the death of me!” He stalked out the front door, leaving her standing there with her mouth open.

Lydia came up and said, “Don’t worry. He was scared tonight. He’s not really that angry with you.”

“But she wasn’t going to let him get near her and I thought maybe I could talk her into giving me the gun. I had no idea that Lila was his bodyguard,” Polly protested. “If I’d known that I probably would have …”

“You wouldn’t have done anything differently,” Henry sighed. He had taken his mask off and his face was bleak. “You terrified me again, Polly. I thought you were going to die.”

“She wasn’t going to kill me,” Polly said, then she repeated it, “She wasn’t going to kill me.” She felt her knees buckle and Henry caught her. “Oh crap, Henry. She could have killed me. She could have killed you. What were you doing stepping in front of me?”

Lydia grinned. “Darling, that was the most chivalrous thing this town has seen in years. People will be talking about Henry’s heroic behavior tonight for days to come. Now you get back inside and sit down.”

Lila Fletcher took one of Polly’s arms, while Henry practically carried her with his arm around her waist. They sat her down at the nearest table and within moments Sylvie was there with a glass of water. “Are you okay? You scared me. What were you thinking?”