Ham Bones (22 page)

Coleman was so angry steam almost came from his
head. He didn't hold a candle to my wrath, though. "You
don't have any say in what I do or who I kiss," I told him
hotly.

Tinkie stepped between us. "This is a party to celebrate Sarah Booth's success. For those of you here with
other intentions, please leave."

She put her arm around my waist and steered me into
the front room that had been decorated with cutouts of
elegant movie stars. An old reel-to-reel projector was running a film of This Property Is Condemned, and Harold
had brought in a movie popcorn machine that was going
crazy. The smell of hot, buttered popcorn filled the air, and
I was suddenly starving. I no longer had to worry about
fitting into my mother's dress. I snatched a bag and stuffed
a handful into my mouth.

"Your fingers are going to be too greasy to hold a
champagne glass." Tinkie disapproved of my eating habits,
though pound for pound, she could easily outeat me.

"I'll suck the champagne through a straw." I leaned so
I could whisper. "It's my party, and I'll gorge if I want to"

She rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do about
Coleman? He's as sore as a wolf with his leg in a trap"

"I'm not going to do a damn thing." I was way too mad
to think about Coleman's feelings.

"You should talk to him, Sarah Booth. He's terrified
you're going to Hollywood"

"And if I am, it's because of him!"

She hugged me tight. "I know he hurt you."

"That's the understatement of the year."

"Look, Graf is here"

I glanced up to see my costar enter. Every female in
the room followed his progress with their gazes. Even
Kristine Rolofson and Giblet, who appeared from one of
the other rooms. I was surprised to see them, but in some
ways they were almost a part of the cast. I gave them a
wave.

"Harold invited a dog?" I asked Tinkie in a whisper.

"Kristine overheard the plans. It was awkward.
Harold didn't want to hurt her feelings." Tinkie smiled
and held up her champagne glass at Kristine, who
headed toward us, Giblet trotting obediently at her
heels.

"You were marvelous, Sarah Booth. I've seen almost
every performance of the play since New York, and this
one was by far the best. It was stellar!" She picked Giblet
up and the little dog leaned over to lick my face.

"Thanks. To both of you." I gave the dog a pat. "Kristine, when Renata hit Giblet, do you think it was possible
that she didn't see the dog?"

"If she was that blind she shouldn't have been driving."
Kristine wasn't going to give an inch.

"Think about it. Renata may have had a problem with
her vision."

Emotions played across her face as she thought. "It's
possible, but that still doesn't make it okay. She could
have apologized, made an effort to show she was sorry
for what happened"

"You're right." I didn't intend to challenge Kristin's
stand on the hit-and-run. There was no excuse for Renata's behavior. "You've watched every performance of
the play. Did she act differently?"

Kristine considered. "You know, now that you mention
it, toward the end, she seemed to be ... brittle. I guess I
wanted to believe that I was making her a nervous wreck,
that Giblet and I were getting to her. Was it something
else?"

I couldn't answer for sure. Instead, I pulled out the pictures of Robert Morgan and showed them to Kristine.
"Have you ever seen this man?"

"About a hundred times. When the play was running
on Broadway, he was always hanging around backstage.
He was some kind of apothecary or something like that"
She shook her head. "Like an old-timey pharmacist, is
what he said."

My stomach fluttered, and I snatched a glass of champagne from a passing tray. "He told you that?"

She nodded. "He was very angry at me, and he told
me if Giblet and I didn't leave Renata alone, he was going
to poison Giblet."

"Holy cow." Tinkie's eyes were huge. "He actually
threatened to poison the dog?"

She nodded. "He drove this little blue BMW when he
delivered things to Renata. Every time I saw it in the
parking lot of a theatre, I put roofing tacks under all four
tires. I'll bet he had about two hundred flat tires."

I couldn't help but smile. Kristine was not intimidated
by anyone, and she had no remorse for her actions. I liked
that. "Do you know anything else about him?"

"He showed up all over the place. I thought for a while
that he was Renata's lover, but I don't think so. There wasn't
that passion between them; there was something else, another kind of bond"

"Thanks, Kristine."

"Do you know when the sheriff is going to allow us to
leave?" Her gaze drifted to Gabriel, who was in a corner
with Booter hanging on his every word.

I shook my head, but Tinkie answered. "As soon as he
finds the real killer."

"Thanks" She stepped away, her gaze still on Gabriel.

Apothecary was a word that conjured up dark shops
filled with herbs and medicines that might require a special incantation. In other words, creepy. Unless Renata
was putting curses on people, why would she need a personal apothecary to follow her around the country delivering things? What things? Eye of newt? Toad tongues?

Graf was the only person who might be able to shed
some light on this issue, and I saw that he'd joined Booter
and Gabriel in the corner. Booter was talking ninety to
nothing and pointing in my direction. I was definitely
going to have to have a word with Harold about his guest
list. Knowing Booter, though, she probably came without
an invitation.

"Graf, I need to speak with you" I walked up and
edged Booter aside. The expression on her face was
priceless-outrage and childish temper.

"Excuse me, Sarah Booth. Mr. Milieu and I were having a conversation with Mr. Trovaioli."

"You're excused, Booter." I took Graf's arm and eased him through the crowd. Behind me I heard Booter's shrill
exclamation.

"Of all the nerve! I can't wait for the prison door to
close on your ass!"

"Betsy Gwen isn't one of your biggest fans," Graf said
as he hugged me close, "but I think you're winning
Gabriel over. He hired Booter to follow you, but he's not
impressed with her findings."

"Don't bother with the Betsy Gwen. Those of us who
know her and love her call her Booter. It's so much more
genteel than ass" I saw the front door open and edged
Graf out into the night. "Listen, I need to ask you about
Robert Morgan"

"The pharmacist? What about him?"

"What was his relationship to Renata?"

"He compounded some medicines for her. Thyroid
stuff, maybe some hormones" He shrugged. "They were
thick as thieves. Renata had invested in his apothecary
shop in New York, and he hand-compounded all of her
medications. He was something of a theatre buff."

I looked him dead in the eye. "Don't you find that even
a little strange?"

He blinked. "Well, no. Should I?"

"That he flew around the country delivering Renata's
medicine? Yes, that's strange. Why didn't he mail it?"

"There was a cream or something that had to be refrigerated. He brought it on ice." He walked to the balustrade
and leaned against it. "To be honest, I didn't pay a lot of
attention. I asked Renata about him, and she said he was
bringing her medicine and that he was a theatre buff.
After that"-he held up both hands-"I just ignored him."

Graf, as usual, was carefully focused only on himself.
"The man flew halfway across the country on a regular basis to deliver something that could have been shipped?
You didn't even give it a second thought?"

"When you say it like that. . deg"

Behind us the soundtrack of the movie echoed sharp
and clear on the crisp night air. Natalie Wood was flirting
with Robert Redford in that age-old dance of the sexes. It
was actually one of my favorite movies.

"What was going on with Renata and Morgan?" Graf
asked, pulling me out of my reverie.

"I don't know for sure, but it's mighty damn suspicious that Renata was meeting regularly with a man who
compounded drugs and threatened to poison Kristine's
dog" I faced Graf. "And he's the same man who sold me
that tube of poisoned lipstick."

Graf licked his lips. "Well, hell, Sarah Booth. Let's
find him and make him tell us the truth. If he poisoned
Renata, we could be on the first flight out to Hollywood
tomorrow."

"Let's concentrate on finding him. What I think very
strange is the fact that when Coleman and his deputies
searched Renata's dressing room and her hotel room, not
a single prescription medication was found. Not a tube of
cream, not a bottle of pills. Not even an aspirin."

"So where did all of her medicines go?" Graf asked
the question that demanded an answer.

"n the silence that followed Graf's at-last astute question, I heard the rising murmur of female voices. The
sound grew to a noise resembling a buzz saw. Something
interesting was happening in the parlor, and I had a gut
feeling that I needed to witness whatever was coming
down maybe a duel between Harold and Coleman.

"Can you call someone in New York to go through Renata's things?" I asked Graf. "We need a prescription
from Morgan's pharmacy to connect the two of them. We
need physical evidence."

"I'll do it now." He put action to words, pulling his cell
phone from his pocket, and I stepped inside to see what
all the commotion was about. Gabriel Trovaioli, with
Booter at his side, had Kristine cornered, and he wasn't
happy. Cece, who was undoubtedly Gabriel's date, leaned
against the bar, watching with the interest of a newshound.

"You made my sister's last months miserable." Gabriel used his six-foot-three-inch-gym-sculpted body to great
advantage to hem Kristine in the corner.

"Yeah!" Booter echoed.

"Your sister was a heartless bitch." Kristine wasn't the
least perturbed. She lifted her chin and her dark auburn
hair shimmered. "The only thing I ever asked for was an
apology and for your sister to pay the vet bills. That isn't
unreasonable, and she could well afford it. Had she just
said she was sorry, I would've let it go" Kristine stepped
so that her nose was almost touching Gabriel's chest. "All
I wanted was for her to acknowledge that she'd hurt
Giblet."

Gabriel's face dropped into lines of sadness. "You're
right."

"She is?" Booter looked like she'd been slapped.

"She is. Renata could be a cruel and heartless bitch.
I never understood her lack of compassion for animals. It
was her worst character flaw."

Like everyone else in the room, I was stunned. It crossed
my mind that Gabriel and Renata could not possibly share
the same DNA. He was a compassionate, reasonable man.

"Giblet suffered because of Renata, and I tried to make
her suffer in return. I never believed she'd die, though"
Kristine took a breath. "I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Trovaioli."

"It takes a woman with a big heart to say that" Gabriel
stared into Kristine's eyes. "I'm so sorry for the pain you
and your dog endured. I'd like to make it up to you"

Acting as if he hadn't heard the collective gasp in the
room, he knelt down and stroked Giblet's silky ears. "I'm
sorry for the suffering, Giblet." When he stood up, he
looked directly into Kristin's eyes. "I think my sister was
afraid to show tenderness. Renata couldn't risk caring for another living creature. She made herself hard so she
couldn't be hurt again. In doing that, she suffered more than
she ever imagined. And she made everyone whose life
she touched suffer right along with her. Especially me ""

"You said you were going to give her what for!"
Booter tried to step between Kristine and Gabriel. "You
said you were going to make all of them pay, especially
Sarah Booth. You said-"

"Forget what I said, Booter. I've been a fool. A complete fool motivated by spleen and jealousy. No one in
this room hurt Renata. She hurt herself."

"Well, I never!" Booter huffed away.

Everyone in the room stood completely still. Even the
popcorn machine had stopped. There was only the sound
of the movie, the heartbreak of Natalie Wood as she realizes that no matter how hard she tries, she can't leave behind the person she believes herself to be.

Taking Cece's elbow, I maneuvered her into a dark
hallway. Harold's house was old, with magnificent hardwood floors, real paneling, crown molding, and ornamental designs that came off as cheap in newer homes. The
past had a death grip on my ankle, even here in Harold's
house. The hallway was dark, and for a split second I
closed my eyes.

"Sarah Booth" She touched my shoulder. "Are you
okay?"

"I am " I took a deep breath. "The play is over, and
soon Coleman will have to let the theatrical company return to New York. I'll be the only suspect in town."