A Hard Bargain (23 page)

Before I could reply, she looked at me, her eyes wide. “Oh, my God. I didn’t mean that. It just slipped out.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “You’re upset. Don’t worry.”

She covered her face with her hands. “That sounded awful. I’m sorry. I seem to be the only one who cares that Josh is dead.”

Yes, you do, I thought. And is this a convincing performance? Was the poison meant for Davis? I could easily see several people wanting Davis out of the picture—permanently.

Stephanie lowered her hands. “Excuse me, Madeline. I can’t sit here and watch those two.” Her room key was on the table. She picked up the key and went back to the motel.

Davis and Donna had finished lathering each other. They lay back in their chairs, holding hands, their perfect bodies gleaming. I noticed Lance Henderson glaring at them from across the pool. Was Henderson just as annoyed that Davis was alive?

Stephanie hadn’t answered my question about the woman in the store. With so many people pestering her about the movie, it seemed unlikely she’d remember another shopper in the drink section, but I would call her later and ask again.

***

I met Jerry for lunch at Deely’s. We ordered Mantis burgers, and Jerry asked if I’d spoken to Bernice.

“Not yet,” I said. “How was rehearsal?”

“Pretty good.” He took Harriet’s picture out of his pocket and put it face up on the table. “I kept looking at this. Why would Val have it?”

“I wondered about that, too.”

“The house is a great place to hide things. Maybe she visited one time and stuck the picture in the bookcase.”

“Why not tear the picture up? Why keep something to remind you of a tragedy?”

“That’s what I’m going to ask her.”

Alicia brought our order. Jerry was pleased by the size of his cheeseburger. “How many mantises had to die for this, Alicia?”

“A quarter pound,” she said. “Say, Madeline, that old man was in here for breakfast, the one you said used to be famous? He asked me out. Can you believe that?”

“You’re the envy of every woman in town.”

She made a face. “I told him no, thanks. It’d be like dating my grandpa. It sorta pissed him off. Now, if the other guy had asked me, I would’ve said yes.”

“Do you mean Flynn Davis?” I asked. “He’s hanging out with Donna Sanchez.”

Alicia nodded. “I kinda figured that. They were in one of the booths the other day. They were both griping and fussing because she couldn’t be in the movie.”

“The Mantis Man movie?”

“Yeah, Mister Davis said he’d already asked you to take Vivian Montrose’s place, and if he’d only known, he would’ve asked Donna. Then he said once Gaskins was out of the way, he could get her into a better movie.”

“You’re sure that’s what he said? ‘Once Gaskins was out of the way’?”

“Yeah, ’cause Donna said, ‘When will that be?’ and Davis said, ‘I doubt he’ll last much longer,’ and then Donna said a lot of stuff about the pageant and how she was sure she was going to win because the other girls are all dogs. Davis said she shouldn’t worry about pageants because being in the movies was way more glamorous.”

Another customer signaled for Alicia. When she’d gone, Jerry said, “Well, that sounds suspicious.”

I grimaced. “Guess this means I’m going to have to go back to the Wayfarer and talk to Davis. He and Donna are sunning themselves at the pool.”

“You can wait till they’re nice and crispy,” Jerry said and crunched one of his fries.

“I don’t want to talk to either of them.” I took a bite of my cheeseburger. “Something else about Bernice. Cathy Sloop said she saw a gray-haired woman talking with Stephanie in the drinks section of the Super Food. I’m guessing this woman was Bernice. Cathy also noticed this woman and Stephanie had the same kind of sodas in their shopping carts.”

“I don’t believe it,” Jerry said.

“That they had the same drinks?”

“That Cathy Sloop noticed anything not pageant related.”

“What if Bernice poisoned a bottle of soda and switched it with one of Stephanie’s?”

“When and how would she do this?”

“I haven’t figured out that part yet. I do know it’s possible to glue the cap back on, and Bernice is good at gluing.”

“And why? What’s Bernice got against Gaskins?”

“If she’d ever get back to the library, I’d ask her.”

“Where does she live? Let’s go by her house.”

The next time Alicia passed our table, we asked her if she knew where Bernice Coleman lived. She didn’t know. She brought us the phone book, and I looked through all the Colemans.

“There isn’t a B. Coleman listed.” I closed the phone book. “She’ll be in the library later. Joan said they were setting up for the book sale.” I sighed. “Guess I have to talk to Davis.”

“You knew the job was dangerous when you took it.”

***

By the time I got back to the Wayfarer Motel pool, Donna had gone. Davis gave me a self-satisfied smile as if he thought I just couldn’t resist returning to him. Not many guys can wear a Speedo successfully. Lounging in the pool chair, Davis resembled a long stretch of road with a speed bump in the middle.

“Glad you came back, Madeline.”

He patted the chair where Donna had been sunning herself, inviting me to take her place. I pulled up another chair.

“I need to ask you a few questions.”

“Good lord, give it a rest,” he said. “This inspector business doesn’t suit you at all. You’re much too beautiful.”

“When you and Donna Sanchez were talking in Deely’s, why did you say once Gaskins is out of the way, you could get her into a better movie?”

His reaction wasn’t what I expected. He looked amused. “I might have known.”

“Might have known?”

“That you’d be wondering why I offered her a better deal. Don’t worry, Madeline. I’m just stringing her along. Stick with me, and I can open all kinds of doors for you.”

Davis’ parents must have made a deal with the Ego Fairy. “This isn’t about the movies,” I said. “This is about you wanting Gaskins out of the way, as in dead.”

He pulled himself up and jerked off his sunglasses to stare at me. “For the last time, I did not kill Gaskins. If I said something about getting him out of the way, I meant when the distributors see the incredible mess he made of this movie, they’d yank him from Voltage Films and put him on some nature documentary.” His eyes narrowed. “Were you spying on me in that diner? That’s a pretty amateur trick.”

“The waitress overheard you talking to Donna.”

Davis was annoyed, but he tried one last play. “Yeah, well, why don’t you leave the detective work to the police and go where you can be appreciated? You’re wasting your talent and your looks in this stupid little town where you can’t fart without making the front page of the paper.”

“The only thing I’m wasting right now is my time.”

Davis lay back and put on his sunglasses. “Fine. Stay here and rot. The sooner I can leave Palookaville, the better.”

Amen to that.

As I went back to my car, I checked my watch. It was almost two. I thought about finding Donna and telling her she was on the endangered species list. Then I remembered I needed to finish my conversation with Stephanie. I also remembered her room number from seeing the key on the table, so I went to room twenty-three and knocked.

“Stephanie? It’s Madeline.”

Muffled voices and thumps sounded from inside. Thanks to the Wayfarer’s thin walls, I heard Stephanie say, “Oh, no!” and a man’s voice cursing.

“Stephanie, are you okay?” I called. I banged on the door. “Do you need help?” More thumps and a crash. I started to run for assistance when I heard her say, “Wait a minute. I’m coming.”

She opened the door a little way and made an attempt to straighten her hair. Her clothes were askew and her face was flushed.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Yes, fine. What do you want?”

Behind her, I caught a glimpse of a man struggling to his feet, his lower half tangled in a sheet. “Oh, sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt—” As the man turned to pick up the phone from the floor, I blinked to clear my vision. It was Lance Henderson.

I knew my amazement was obvious, for Stephanie blushed even darker. In the long silence that followed, Henderson looked up, saw me in the doorway, and, as usual, made a production out of the situation.

“Two friends comforting each other in their hour of sadness, my dear Madeline. Two souls longing to purge the memory of another friend’s passing.”

Two souls longing for something, all right. “I apologize for interrupting.”

He waved my apology away. “Not a problem, my dear.”

Stephanie said, “Lance, make some coffee, will you? Madeline and I are going to talk out here for a minute.” She came out and pulled the door shut. “I know I made some mean comments about Lance, but he saw how upset I was about Flynn, and—”

“Hold on,” I said. “You don’t owe me an explanation. I’m sorry I reacted like that, but hearing all the noises, it sounded like you might be in trouble.”

“No, I’m all right.” She sat down in one of the white plastic chairs the Wayfarer provided in front of each room. “Lance and I had a long talk. I feel a lot better. You wanted to know about the people in the grocery store.”

“Did a woman approach you in the drink section?”

“Like I said, there were a lot of women, all wanting to know about Lance.”

And you can give them the inside story now, I thought, but this was way too rude to say out loud.

“I told them if they came out to where we were filming, he’d be glad to sign autographs and take pictures and whatever. It was quite a crowd of them.”

“Around your grocery cart?”

“Mainly around me. After I answered their questions, they went away. Oh, no, wait.” She frowned as if trying to remember.

I didn’t expect Stephanie to recall anything I could use, so her next words gave me a chill.

“There was a woman by my cart. I’d forgotten. In all the confusion, her cart had bumped into mine. She apologized for knocking over my bottles of soda. She straightened them all back up. I told her not to worry about it.”

“Do you remember what she looked like?”

“Sure. She looked like all the other gray-haired ladies. I wouldn’t be able to pick her out in a crowd.”

But I would.

***

When I arrived at the library, Joan was locking the front door. “Sorry, Madeline. We closed early today, remember?”

“Did Bernice ever come in?” I asked.

“Yes, she’s in there now, setting up the refreshments table.”

“I really need to speak with her.”

Joan unlocked the door. “Okay. Just pull the door shut when you leave.”

The door closed behind me with a soft hiss.

I made my way to the back, stepping around the boxes of used books.

“Bernice? It’s Madeline Maclin. I have a message for you from Kirby Willet.”

The used books had been arranged on the tables. Bernice placed signs on each table with category and price information. She gave me a suspicious glance. “What sort of message?”

“He wanted you to know he’d won the Blue Ribbon peanut contest.”

She paused for a moment. “Oh, I know all about that.”

“So you knew he’d won ten thousand dollars?”

“Oh, yes.”

Since Bernice’s natural expression was one of bitterness, it was hard for me to tell what she was feeling, but she seemed more bitter than usual.

“Did you know the money was in one of the boxes he stored at Frannie’s?”

“No.” The signs in her hand trembled. “If I’d known, I would’ve taken my rightful share. Half of that money was to come to me.”

Jerry was right. Someone was angry about the money. “Half?”

“I told him about the contest. I urged him to enter. He said if he won, he’d give me half.”

Didn’t she know how absent-minded Willet was? “Did you remind him of this?”

She slapped the signs down. “Remind him! I can’t find him. I thought he’d run off with the money, and now I find out it was at Frannie’s where I could’ve gotten it myself.”

“I know where he is,” I said. “You can go talk to him and get this straightened out.”

“He has no intention of giving me my share.”

“Are you sure? You need to talk to him—”

Her voice shook. “He was going to give it to Gaskins for that idiotic film! After all I did for him! We had a deal! We had a bargain!”

“After all you did for him?”

She started toward me. Something in her manner made me keep a table between us. “I took care of him. I found him jobs. I covered for him when he was off somewhere making some sort of machine. I washed his clothes, cooked his meals.”

As she came around the corner of the table, I went the other way. “You were living together?”

“Don’t you dare judge me! You have no cause to talk.”

“I’m just trying to understand your relationship with Willet. You said you had a deal with him.”

Light glinted off her glasses as she shook her head. “Oh, you wouldn’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like. You’ve never had to work to get a man to notice you. All you have to do is smile that pearly pageant smile, and here they come like pigs to a trough.”

“Hold on a minute.”

She sneered. “You think I don’t know what goes on up at that house? Strange men coming and going at all hours. You and that rich Fairweather fellow lording over the rest of us.”

“Bernice, you’ve got it all wrong.”

“Oh, no. I’m the only one in this town who sees things very clearly.”

You could’ve bottled Bernice’s look and sold it to exterminate rats. If she was this delusional, then maybe she was also desperate enough to kill.

“Did you put something in Gaskins’ drink?”

For the first time, she smiled, and I wished she hadn’t. “Me? Oh, my, no. It was that crazy inventor, the one who decided to finance a stupid monster movie. Everyone knows Willet is still angry about losing the scholarship to Gaskins. Everyone knows he’s insane.”

“Willet has an alibi. He videotaped himself inventing that night.”

This stopped her for only a few moments. “That doesn’t matter. When the police search his hotel room, they’ll find proof.”

“I’m afraid not,” I said. “That little packet of poison won’t be there.”