Ham Bones (32 page)

"Hey, that's not right. You can't threaten me"

"Oh, dahling, that's not a threat. That's a promise."

Gavin backed away, leaving his camera in Cece's
clutches. "I'm going to tell the publisher on you"

"Do that" Cece dropped the camera in a trash can as
we walked to her office. "Sorry, Sarah Booth"

"It's okay. He's only trying to make a little money on
the side."

She arched one eyebrow. "Tinkie told me you were
struck on the head. I see it was serious."
"

I shook my head as we walked into her office and she
closed the door. Tinkie was already there, and she held
out a cup of coffee for me. I sipped the brew and waited
until Cece was sitting at her desk, an envelope in her
hand.

I got this by FedEx this morning. One of my colleagues at the LA Times did some legwork for me" She
dumped the contents of the envelope on her desk. There
were several photographs, which she passed to me. They
showed a middle-aged man, shoulders hunched, as he
walked into a glass and steel building with the words
Samen Clinic on its facade. Right behind him was Robert
Morgan.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Why was the photographer
taking pictures of this clinic and Morgan?" I accepted the
pastries that Tinkie passed and selected a cheese Danish.

"Essentially, Samen is an internist with a very particular specialty. He's been experimenting to help stop the
aging process. That's why the photographer had him
staked out. Word on the street is that a number of aging
stars have been seeking his unapproved treatments." Cece
was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"You think Morgan was setting up a treatment for Renata?" I could see all sorts of new motives to murder Renata and put the blame on someone else. Maybe it wasn't
personally directed at me-maybe I was just convenient
as the sacrificial murderess.

I handed the photographs to Tinkie. She studied them
a moment before she spoke. "Morgan looks a little furtive,
doesn't he?"

"Yes" Cece and I spoke in unison.

"What if something this guy Samen gave Renata had
begun to cause serious problems for her, health-wise?
What if one of the experiments went awry?"

"And the two men, caught in what could potentially be
horrific publicity and monetary damages, decided to end
the problem simply." Cece popped the last of the Danish
in her mouth. "Renata provided the perfect suspect, because she was constantly talking about you. Her jealousy
set you up like a lamb to the slaughter."

Tinkie bit into a cream puff. "We're going to have to
get Dr. Samen's records"

'ith Cece's help, we'd inched closer to uncovering
what might be the truth. The note Tinkie had found
in Gabriel's room could be evidence to support our theory
that Renata never intended to die. She had intended to
stick me with a false murder charge while she frolicked
away her middle years on the sandy beaches of Tahiti. Except something had gone wrong.

"Let's stop at Le Chic," I suggested to Tinkie as we left
the newspaper office.

"Are we going shopping?" Tinkie perked up instantly.
"You're in desperate need of something new, Sarah Booth.
It'll take your mind off a lot of things."

My intention wasn't to shop, but Tinkie was so excited
that I couldn't crush her enthusiasm. "I can shop for an
hour. That's it. An hour. I already owe you money for the
bail, so I'm not buying anything, but I'll talk while you
shop"

We walked the two blocks to the cute little boutique
that fronted Main Street and had been renovated between an old drugstore and a toy store. Zinnia had a good bit of
charm, and Mitzy Mercer had made the most of it with
her shop. The dress in the window was dazzling-a perfect winter white sheath sprinkled with shimmering crystals and a ruffled skirt that started at the upper thigh and
ended about six inches above the knee in front and trailed
to a V in the back. Va-va-voom. That was a dress to wear
to a screen test.

"That says Hollywood to me," Tinkie said. "You've
got the perfect skin tone for that warm white. With your
hair and eyes. . ."

I tore myself away from the dress and the temptations
that danced in my head. Even if Hollywood called, I couldn't
go. I couldn't leave Sunflower County.

"Tinkie, do you think all along Coleman knew I was
innocent?" The bell over the door tinkled merrily as we
entered the shop.

"I don't think he ever really believed you'd harmed
Renata ." She greeted Mitzy with air-kisses to each cheek.
"Sarah Booth wants to try that dress on "" She pointed to
the window. "She's going to Hollywood for a screen test"

Mitzy didn't even try to hide her excitement. "Sarah
Booth, I saw the play. You were incredible. I mean I was
simply transported out of time and place. I was right there
with you and Brick and Big Daddy."

"Thanks, Mitzy." She was always nice when I came
into the shop, but she'd never been effusive. I couldn't tell
if it was Tinkie or my work on the stage.

Mitzy went to the back of the shop and brought out the
dress in my size. "I only got two of them. This and the
one on the dummy, which is Tinkie's size 2 ""

I took the dress and held it. Suddenly, I didn't want to
see how I looked in it. I was tempting a fate that could
end up breaking my heart.

"Go on "" Tinkie pushed me to the dressing room. "I
won't take no for an answer." She followed me in but
stopped at the door of a booth when I entered.

As I took off my clothes, I tried to think of a way to
ask my question that wouldn't make Tinkie think I was
throwing a pity party. "If Coleman never believed I did it,
why would he charge me? Why would he destroy my
life?"

"First of all, your life isn't destroyed. Think about it,
Sarah Booth. You got international attention on the stage
because you were charged. But you're asking me to
fathom the dark recesses of male thought processes,
which I'll try." She took a breath. "I think it was twoprong. He knew everyone else would think you guilty,
and if he didn't charge you, the doubt would linger. Forever. And I also think that he had a plan in mind. If you
were charged, then the real murderer might grow careless."

"Yeah, that worked great" I slipped the dress over my
head. The material was silky, and it settled over my hips
like a lover's touch. I reached around and zipped it most
of the way up. It fit like it had been made for me. I was almost afraid to look in the mirror.

"Are you done?" Tinkie's fingers gripped over the
edge of the door.

I turned the knob and stepped out. I could see from her
face that the dress was perfect. Mitzy walked back with a
pair of sling-back heels in her hand. She stopped. "My
God, Sarah Booth, you even look like a movie star, and
you don't have on a stitch of makeup"

I turned and looked in the full-length mirror. The two
weeks of torture had worked as the most effective diet I'd
ever tried. I was thin. Movie star thin. Which made my eyes look larger, and sculpted collarbones showed near my
throat. I simply stared.

"She'll take the dress" Tinkie snapped out of it first.

"I can't." I stepped back into the stall to take it off.
When it slid to the floor, I picked it up and put it on a
hanger. When I walked out, I went past Tinkie and Mitzy.

"I'll give you a discount," Mitzy said, hurrying after
me. "Sarah Booth, it's perfection on you. No one else can
wear it the way you do"

I smiled at her. "Thank you, Mitzy. If I get my name
cleared, and I get some money, I'll be back for it."

"I'll put it up"

"No, don't do that" I couldn't make any promises
when I would be back, if ever. "Don't hold it for me.
Thanks, Mitzy. It's a great dress" I signaled Tinkie that I
was leaving.

I heard Tink's high heels tapping after me, and when
we were on the street again, she fell into step beside me in
silence.

We walked several blocks. I had no real destination. I
needed to talk to Coleman, but at the moment, I had no
stomach for it. My emotions were too volatile. Still, we
were going to have to go to the courthouse to see what
he'd gotten out of Graf and Gabriel. Maybe a night in the
slammer had cleared Bobbe's memory, too.

"Tinkie, do you still have that letter Renata wrote to
Gabriel?"

"I made a copy of it, like you said. I put the original
back in Gabriel's room" She slowed so that she could
rummage around in her purse until she brought out several folded sheets of paper.

I took them, and we walked to a small park between a
restaurant and a music shop. Long ago, a car dealership had been in the empty spot. I remembered it because I'd
been fascinated by the glass bricks used for one entire
wall. It had been highly innovative architecture for Zinnia
in the '70s.

We settled onto a bench in the sunshine. The day was
warmer than it had been, and several small wrens had
taken up a chirping residence in an Indian hawthorn. The
town had removed the poinsettias that had been planted
in the huge pots on the corners. The first pointed leaves of
daffodils, tulips, and bearded irises were breaking the
soil. Soon the spring flowers would be in bloom. Time
was passing quickly.

Tinkie handed me the letter she'd found, and I read
through it quickly. It was exactly as she'd said. Renata
was telling Gabriel that she was leaving the stage and
Graf and the United States for an "island paradise" in an
undisclosed location. "Don't try to find me," she said.
"You're well and healthy and should lead a happy life. I
was never really part of it, so let me go. We parted ways
long ago when I was sixteen and forced to leave you behind."

I read the letter again, noting that the date was in November, only two months before she died. She had to
have been in Reno. She could have canceled the Mississippi leg of the production, yet she'd been the one to insist
on coming to Zinnia. Why, if she was so eager to get to
her "island paradise"? The answer was simple. Because
she intended to set me up.

"Who do you think killed Renata?" I handed the letter
back to Tinkie for safekeeping. It might prove to be valuable evidence in my trial.

"I think Robert Morgan had a hand in it. If we're right,
then one of her doctors is also involved. Someone who is
unscrupulous. I mean, that's not unheard of in a world where beauty is bought and sold in a doctor's office.
There's no telling what Renata might have signed up for,
or what went wrong. Sarah Booth, do you realize some
women are ingesting tapeworms to stay thin? How sick is
that?"

Tinkie had finally done it. She'd rattled me out of my
self-involvement. "What?"

"They put the tapeworm in a gel capsule and then
swallow it. The tape grows and grows, eating a lot of
calories in the process. Then they kill it with wormer and
start over again."

I liked my newly acquired thinness, but not at the expense of swallowing worms. I'd had too many dogs, cats,
and horses-and the attending parasite issues to be enthused about the dietetic properties of tapeworms. "Can't
the worms do permanent damage?"

"My point exactly. This kind of madness bolsters your
theory that something went wrong during a medical procedure"

"This is all great, Tinkie. But we have no evidence of
any of it."

She stood up. "So why are we sitting on a park bench
like two old-timers? Let's shake the lead out and get after
this."

I had no choice but to follow her. When we passed Le
Chic, I noticed that the mannequin in the window was
stark naked. At the sight a shiver ran through me. Someone had bought the dress in Tinkie's size. That's how easily a dream could be stolen, and Renata had done a
thorough job of stealing mine.

As Tinkie hurried up the courthouse steps, I lingered
for a moment to pay my respects to Johnny Reb. The statue, symbolizing the dead Confederate soldiers whose
bones were scattered across the entire South, looked
more worn than usual in the winter sunshine. Johnny's
hat was rumpled, and a stain at the corner of his right eye
made him look as if he'd been crying.

I turned away and ran up the steps. Tinkie was already
at work. It was time for me to get busy, too.

"What do you mean they're gone?"

I heard Tinkie long before I opened the door of the
sheriff's office. Everyone in the courthouse's lower floors
heard her. She was furious, and she wasn't hiding it.

"What's wrong?" I stepped inside and pushed the door
closed. I looked from Tinkie, whose face was beet red
with a pulse throbbing at her temple, to Dewayne, who
fondled the microphone on the radio and refused to look
up.

"What happened?" I asked again.

"Coleman let all of them leave." The words exploded
from Tinkie's mouth.