The Spia Family Presses On (26 page)

We sipped herbal tea out of Italian pottery mugs. “Okay, first, did you kill Dickey?” I was hoping I could see the lie in her eyes.

She gave me a warm smile. “No, doll, I didn’t kill him. I never hated him enough to do him in. I’d get stinking mad at him sometimes, but I never wanted him dead like some of the other people around here.”

I believed her.

“If you didn’t do it, how’d you get that ring? Especially since we were the ones who found him first. We could hear the killer in the barn.”

“What you heard was me trying to get that damn ring off his finger.”

“That was you grunting and groaning?”

“You know how hard it was to rip that thing off his finger? It might as well have been glued on. I had to use olive oil to slide it off.”

“Why’d you take it, and why did you try to keep it a secret?” Lisa wanted to know.

“I took it because Dickey owed me, big time. I figured I could sell it and make up for some of the crap I went through after he went to prison. The bum left me with nothing, and if it wasn’t for your mom cutting me in on this orchard I’d still be scratching out a living.”

“But the killer thinks we have it. Probably why he tried to run us off the road today,” Lisa said.

“And now Giuseppe wants it or at least he says he wants it for some other family,” I added. “What’s up with that ring, anyway? Dickey was keen on wearing it to the party. Any idea why?”

She shook her head and took a sip of hot tea, the steam still billowing off the surface. “I don’t know.”

“Okay, let’s leave that for now and get back to Hetty and Carla. Want to tell us what really happened between Carla and Aunt Hetty?” I sat forward, resting my elbows on the small table in the corner of the kitchen. A bank of windows on my left displayed a coral streaked sky. Dawn was fast approaching, but no way would I allow sleep to take hold. Not before I heard what this woman had to say.

“Carla was not a lesbian,” Aunt Babe said, emphatically.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Lisa said, moving over to the cozy looking window seat with the inviting cushions. She immediately made herself comfortable and nestled up to a particularly soft looking pillow and shut her eyes.

When Lisa was tired she could fall asleep anywhere, including in a front row seat of a Kiss concert.

“How can you be so sure?” I asked.

“Because that was Carla’s shtick. She tried to get everyone to believe she was pure as morning snow, trying to make up her mind which way her libido was swinging, but we all know what happens to snow when it sits around too long. Dirty slush. That’s not to say the doll deserved what she got, but that undecided virgin thing was a big crock of crap.”

“But Aunt Hetty’s pretty sharp. Wouldn’t she have picked up on that?”

“Doll, you’re not seeing the tree. You’re too busy looking at the whole jungle. Hetty’s on fire when it comes to business and baking, but when it comes to her own emotions, she’s pure stupid. She was in love with Dickey for awhile. I think they were even doing the deed when he and I were first married.”

This was news to me, but then most things were. I was thinking that all those years of booze and parties put me in some sort of bubble because I had no idea any of this was going on. After all, when you start drinking when you’re fourteen . . . well, it caused me to miss most of my teens, and the majority of my twenties was a complete blur. I was so hoping to catch up during my fast-approaching thirties.

“But you and Hetty are so close.”

“Now. Back then we hated each other. I don’t think you remember, but your aunt Hetty was a real looker when she was your age. Some believes she was prettier than me, if you can believe that.” She flounced her hair, and smacked her ruby lips.

“Then how did she hook up with Carla when she had Dickey on the line?”

“Dickey dropped her for Carla. Not only were they sneaking around on me, but Carla had some other guy in her closet who thought he was her one and only. But here’s the thing, Carla was a true dream weaver. It was hard to separate fact from her latest fantasy.”

I figured this was the same guy Jade told me about, the missing Carlo Ponti. Things were beginning to add up.

“You know who this other guy was?” I asked.

“Carla was good at keeping secrets. A real closed door whenever anybody got too close.”

“How does Hetty fit into all of this? Into Dickey’s murder?”

“Don’t know exactly. That’s where it gets a little sketchy. I don’t really think Hetty popped Dickey, not in my heart, but who’s to say what’s in her heart. I know losing this lifestyle and this business would be devastating to Hetty. She already lost one dream because of Dickey. I’m sure she doesn’t want to lose another one.”

“Do you think Carla loved Hetty?”

Babe shook her head. “Carla was a player. I don’t think the woman was capable of love. I think the only reason she took up with Hetty was to keep her quiet. It’s like this, doll, Carla didn’t want Mr. Jealous to find out about her and Dickey, and she knew Hetty would blab it to everybody. Hetty can be viciously vindictive. So Carla comes on to Hetty, and Hetty, who told me she never dug making it in the first place, falls head over heels for Carla. She was giddy in love with the woman. Couldn’t wait to move to Amsterdam. Like that was ever going to happen.”

“Why didn’t you believe it?”

“Because I saw Carla and Dickey doing the lip tango while standing on my front stoop.”

“When was this?”

“When Dickey and me lived in Nob Hill in San Francisco. A big fancy house with a garden I loved. You remember that house, don’t ya?”

I nodded even though I’d only seen it once. Aunt Babe hadn’t been very social back then.

“Anyway, I’d been roosting in Chicago for a Noir film festival and caught the earlier flight home so I could fly first class. My flight only had economy seats left and a doll like me can’t do economy. Ruins the image. Anyway, when I couldn’t get Dickey on the phone I dialed up Federico. The man is a saint. He was busy that morning, but told me if I could wait a little while he’d send Jimmy over. Back then, Jimmy was considered an associate, not quite part of the Family, and he idolized Federico like a big brother. They were always together. Jimmy would do anything Federico asked him to do. Anyway, I told him that was cool. To take his time. What did I care? At least I was getting a ride home.”

She stopped to drink tea, and to light a thin menthol cigarette, blowing the smoke over my head, getting that calm look on her face that a real smoker had whenever they lit up during a stressful moment. I inhaled the perfume, envying her discipline. She had been smoking three cigarettes a day for the past ten years. A feat I could only admire. I’d been a two-pack-a-day kind of girl, sometimes three. Anything short of that would be impossible for me.

Therefore, I didn’t smoke.

“So that’s when you saw Dickey and Carla. From the car window?”

“Exactly. Believe me, that woman was not a lesbian. Not the way she was making whoopee with my Dickey. They must have been out there like that for a good fifteen minutes. Long enough so I could snap some pictures. Dickey liked to play me and deny his affairs. I figured with the pics I could rake him over the coals for some solid alimony. Anyway, I saw Carla take that horseshoe ring off her index finger and slip it on Dickey’s pinky. Funny thing was, I looked everywhere for that damn ring after he was hauled off to the slammer, figuring I could sell it for some cash. Money got tight, but I never saw the damn thing until the other night when he showed up for the party wearing it. He must have had it stashed somewhere.”

I decided to tell her the truth about the ring.

“My mom had it in her safety deposit box at the bank.”

“Your mom! Why didn’t she tell me?” She took a long drag on her cigarette.

“Did you ever ask?”

She thought about this for a moment, blowing smoke up over my head again, its sweet fragrance embracing us. I inhaled memories and felt a ting of melancholy.

I so craved the taste of a cigarette, and the calm feeling one got with that first drag. It was like heaven in just three little inches.

“No. Never in a million years did I think your mom would have it. He was a smart man, that Dickey.”

She took another deep drag. I watched, mesmerized by the ease of her controlled habit.

“Apparently, not as smart as everybody thought,” I said. “He told me the ring was going to give somebody real heartburn.”

“It gave me heartburn, that’s for sure. But I didn’t kill the bastard. He and I went into the barn earlier that night for some privacy, but when I left him the first time, he was still very much alive.”

“What did you talk about?”

“I wanted to know his plans for the land, but all he wanted to do was fool around. I let him cop a feel or two. Why not? These are the genuine article.” She pushed out her rather large chest and ran her hands over her breasts. “And most men these days don’t get the opportunity to play around with a natural pair, what with all them implants these young girls get. And Dickey always had a fondness for these puppies so I figured what the hell. A little feel wouldn’t make any difference. Besides, the guy was shut up for eight years. He was hungry for a little action.”

“But he had a fiancée,” I reminded her.

“Yeah, well, that’s Dickey for ya. The consummate player.”

She took a last drag then snuffed out the cigarette in a crystal ashtray. “And besides, he never said a word to me about Jade, and even if he did, I’d have known he wasn’t serious. A guy like that? Married right out of prison? Never gonna happen.”

She knew him better than she thought.

I grabbed for my mug and held the warm cup in my hands. The heat gave me a shiver. I was getting sleepy, but I didn’t want to stop talking yet. Aunt Babe was on a roll, and no way did I want her to settle in for the night without first getting all my questions answered.

“Jade confessed the engagement was all a ruse.”

She smirked, and slammed her hand on the table. “I knew it, the son of a bitch. A real game playing prick right to the end. I’m glad I took that damn ring. A ring like that shouldn’t go to waste.”

“But it’s dangerous for you to have it while the killer is still out there. Right now he thinks I have it so you’re safe, but if it ever gets out that you have it, there’s no telling what he or she might do.”

“I’ve thought about that, especially after tonight when that new Wise Guy showed up.”

“I’m more worried about the killer. I think the idiot killer is the person who tried to run us off the road today. There’s no telling what he or she might do next.”

She thought about that for a moment. “You’re right, doll.” I think I must have surprised the killer while he was trying to get it off Dickey’s finger. I found an open futso near the body when I walked in and some oil on Dickey’s pinky finger. Thing is, I only went back in the barn to tell Dickey we were through. I was feeling a little guilty over leading him on earlier. Although, now that I know the bastard had a young sweetie, he probably didn’t care one hoot about me. Anyway, whoever it was that did Dickey in was already trying to get the ring off. I just finished the process.

“And one more thing about that ring, I always felt like some royal sucker gave it to Carla thinking she would cherish it, like it would mean something to her, and then she up and gave it to Dickey just to stir up the pot. She was like that . . . one of them evil cooks.”

“What happened after Carla gave him the ring?”

“Dickey admired it, slipped it on and they started kissing again so I told Jimmy to get me the hell out of there. He threw it in reverse and we bugged out. He drove me around for awhile then drove me back home right around the time my original flight would have gotten in.”

I was suddenly filled with more questions. This was getting good. “Is there any way that Hetty could have known about that morning at your house?”

“Had to. She was sleeping up in the guestroom at the back of the house.”

“What? But wouldn’t the loving couple have known that?”

She shrugged. “That’s the thing of it. Hetty phoned me the night before I came home, crying about something I couldn’t understand. She lived here in Sonoma at the time and asked if she could drive up to talk to me. I told her when I’d be home, but she didn’t want to wait. Dickey was supposed to be in Napa looking at some land, so I told her to drive on over and wait for me at the house. And that’s just what she did. But when I went looking for her later that morning, she’d already left.”

“How do you know she was actually there?”

“The bed looked slept in and the doll left her best shoes in the closet. We’ve never talked about it, though. I know how hard it must have been for her. Poor thing. I think that’s why she’s a little off, ya know what I mean?”

I somehow didn’t think Hetty’s quirks were a direct result of Dickey and Carla’s affair. The woman was born strange, but who was I to argue with Babe?

“What if I told you that Dickey never had sex with Carla? That it was all a hoax just like Jade and Dickey pretended to be engaged. Jade told me that Carla refused to have sex until she was married.”

I could see the disbelief on Babe’s face. She pushed herself away from the table, as if she was trying to step away from the truth. “What? That can’t be. I saw them out on that stoop.”