New River Blues (21 page)

He had seen the whole thing, had not been called away for other urgent business – were the planets lining up right for once? ‘This actress,' Sarah said, walking into the equipment-packed space, ‘is about as evasive as any suspect I've ever seen.'

‘She's a suspect now?' Delaney cut to the chase. ‘What, you're giving up on the husband?'

‘No, no. But this girl knows
something
, boss. You agree, don't you, Ray?'

‘Maybe everything,' Menendez said. ‘And she's got a couple of great ploys. Did you notice the extra-sincere look she gives you just before a non-answer?'

‘Yes. She's trying to answer all my questions without telling me anything. What about outstanding warrants?' she asked Delaney. ‘You find anything?'

‘Not even a parking ticket. She just looks scared, to me. You really think she took part in the killing?'

‘I don't think she fired the gun,' Sarah said. ‘Ray?'

‘I can't imagine her even holding a gun. But she acts like she knows who did.'

‘But you're not sure?'

‘I'm not, no.' Menendez looked at Sarah.

‘At the theater,' Sarah said, ‘before I brought her down here, she said, “I don't know anything about the shooting, I was outside loading the van.” Something like that.'

‘Well . . . outside, so what? All the neighbors heard the shots.'

‘Exactly. But I don't think she realizes that yet. Also, the dead man had a buddy named Nino who was working there that night. Every time she mentions his name it's like a speed bump, did you notice that? She claims he left the next day and she hasn't seen him since. I'm wondering if he might be dead too.'

‘She know his last name?'

‘She says not. But Pauly and Nino arrived at the theater and lived there together, so we can get Nino's name from whoever pays the bills there. And then, since we know Pauly just got out of Yuma, why not see if Nino was in there too?'

‘I'll get somebody working on that. What else?' Sarah asked for the full name of the catering company and the owner's name. ‘You got it. Sarah, you can keep on with this for a while yet, but so far I'm not seeing anything here to charge her on.'

She walked back to the interview room, Sarah muttering, ‘Why would she be so evasive if she doesn't know anything incriminating?'

‘I've been thinking,' Menendez said. ‘If you get the right opening with this girl, you want to ask her about the candy dish?'

Sarah chuckled. ‘Ah, Rye Moon Dough, you'll get something out of that candy dish yet. OK, we'll ask her. And you know what I've been thinking?'

‘What?'

‘According to Delaney, the motive always comes down to love or money.'

‘So?'

‘So I can't imagine anybody as self-involved as Felicity risking everything for love, can you?'

‘Or even much of anything. Let's find out what she needs money for.'

‘Working these parties, Felicity,' Sarah said, settling on her stool, pouring fresh sodas over ice cubes, ‘I don't suppose you do it for the fun of it, hmmm? It's hard work, isn't it?'

‘Keeps me slender. I try to think of it that way.'

‘Not as much fun as dance aerobics, though, is it? What, the Grand Street theater doesn't pay enough to live on?'

‘It's pitiful, I shouldn't have taken it. But . . . they got a grant a couple of years ago that allowed them to hire a couple of pros, and they had such wonderful plans to grow, I . . . took a chance.'

‘They hired you and who else? The director?'

‘Yes. The idea was to try to step up to a more . . . regional presence.'

‘How's it going?'

Felicity shook her head sadly. ‘Maybe if they'd found a better director . . . Derek is so very scattered. I've done my best to help him but . . . that place is just spinning its wheels. I'm ready to move on.'

‘So the catering job is to get a little bankroll?'

‘Mmm-yes.' She made that nervous gesture again, touching the pale yellow remnant of a bruise under her eyes. Sarah sat up straighter.
Why didn't I see it before?
‘And to pay for your nose job?'

The big changeable-colored eyes in their slightly swollen sockets opened wide for a second, then dropped demurely as she said, ‘It's almost healed. Another week and you won't see it.'

‘And it was very successful, wasn't it? You must be pleased. Wow, though, a lot of money, huh?'

Felicity licked her lips. ‘Like everything worth wanting.'

Two lines from a Dorothy Parker poem came unbidden into Sarah's head.
And if that makes you happy, kid, You'll be the first it ever did.

So the money was for the nose job.
Now let's find out who paid.
‘Were Mrs Henderson's big parties good for some decent tips?'

‘Yes. She could afford to be generous, and she always was.'

‘Was Sunday's party as big as usual?'

‘Yes.'

‘A hundred people?'

‘At least. Maybe more, for a while.'

‘Who else—' Her phone chirped and the text message said, ‘got names.' Sarah said, ‘Excuse me.' In the hall, Delaney said, ‘Here's the name of your Party Down guy,' and handed her a slip of paper with a name, Zachariah Christou. ‘And that second name, that's the other guy from the theater, the victim's room-mate. You were right, he got out of Yuma at the same time as the victim. Almost identical charge, small-time dealing.'

‘Ah-hah. Thanks.' She went back in the room and said, ‘So the ones who stayed late to clean up, that was you and Pauly and Nino?'

‘Yes.'

‘Anybody else?'

‘Oh. Well. Zack, of course.'

‘Zack always works his parties?'

‘Usually. Starts them out and finishes up, anyway. Holds it all together.'

‘And what did you say his last name is?'

‘I didn't.' Her eyes wandered the room. ‘I can't seem to . . . it's something Greek.'

‘How about Zachariah Christou?'

‘Yes! That's it! How did you—'

‘And Pauly's friend at the theater, Nino? His full name is Anthony Giardelli, isn't it? Did you know that he and Pauly had been out of Yuma prison less than a month when they came to work at the theater?'

‘No, I—' Felicity's mouth opened and closed a couple of times before any more words came out of it. Her large eyes, which really were going to be fascinating as soon as all the swelling was gone, produced one fat tear apiece. As they rolled down in unison alongside her newly perfected nose, she said, ‘Oh, God.'

She put her long white hand alongside her almost beautiful face, leaned her head carefully sideways, and closed her eyes as she said, with infinite sadness, ‘If you know all that, you pretty much know the rest of it, don't you? You're just toying with me, aren't you? Like a cat with a mouse. And whenever you're tired of this cruel game, you'll swat me a good one and lock me up.'

Astounded to hear herself described in such powerful terms, Sarah thought,
Oh, Jesus,
kid, if only.
She leaned toward the gently weeping actress and said urgently, ‘Felicity, I'd like to help you get straight with this now, but you have to quit being evasive and tell me exactly what you know about the shooting after the party. Including the candy dish,' she added, in a flash of inspiration, rolling her eyes sideways to meet Menendez' delighted smirk, holding her breath for fear she might be wrong.

But the candy dish did it. That last random detail convinced Felicity Linderman that she was dealing with an investigator who knew her innermost secrets. Unable to resist any longer, she opened the floodgates and let the truth pour out. Abundant tears gushed out with it, some hand-wringing and several agonized howls. There was so much emotion in the small room that it raised the temperature. Menendez mopped his face.

Felicity described that terrible trip down the stairs with Zack, carrying the dead weight of Nino between them.

‘Even though I told him no, I absolutely won't, but he's so – he doesn't listen, once he makes up his mind, it's just
over
—'

‘You're talking about Zack now, right?'

‘Of course Zack, who else? I said, “I won't go upstairs,” but he said, “Nino's too heavy for me to carry alone and Madge is gone, so you have to help me.” He said, “Nino shot Pauly and Mrs Henderson, and now we have to get him out of here before the cops come.” He said, “You promised to do whatever I asked if I gave you the money, and this is what I'm asking.” But I mean, really,' she clutched her hair in aggravation, disarranging it briefly before she hurriedly smoothed it again, ‘naturally I thought when he said that – wouldn't you? Wouldn't anybody? – that he meant anything he asked in bed. Which, trust me, is not that much.' She got a little of her own back for a few seconds with a mean little sneer.

‘But you managed to grab the candy dish as you went by?'

‘That probably sounds crazy to you, doesn't it? But you know, stress gives me hypoglycemia, this awful empty-tank feeling that makes me think I'm going to pass out. And when I get that I need quick energy . . . usually I drink some orange juice or eat a piece of fruit, but I saw that dishful of little wrapped candies and I grabbed it.' She hid her face in her cupped hands and wailed. ‘But I know what you're thinking, how déclassé can you get? The woman's lying there dead and I stole her candy dish!'

‘Not at all, Felicity, we understand that perfectly,' Sarah said. ‘Anyway, we rescued the dish' – Menendez was beaming like a light – ‘and when this is over we'll see it gets back where it belongs.'

Felicity, once started, wanted to talk, explain what she'd been going through, how hard she had ‘tried to stay above the fray.' But by then, Sarah and Ray had a whole other set of priorities.

Arizona law said Felicity had to be charged with a crime ‘within a reasonable time,' or released, and practice had narrowed the reasonable-time window to something close to two hours. ‘Damn close,' as Delaney kept reminding them. In a hurried conference with him, they decided on Arizona Statute 13-2809, Tampering with Physical Evidence, a Class 6 felony. Once charged (and she needed to understand the charge, and for that she had to be persuaded to shut up a minute and listen), Felicity had to be transported to the Pima County Adult Detention Facility on West Silverlake, where she would stay overnight and could appear before a magistrate by closed-circuit TV tomorrow. That had to happen sometime before 2 p.m., because Arizona law also required that Felicity enter a plea before a judge within twenty-four hours of her arrest and have an opportunity to post bail and be released pending trial.

So time was the public enemy now. It kept scrolling away while they waited to be assigned a magistrate to hear the case in the morning and a public defender to represent the suspect, Felicity having tearfully pointed out once again that she had just spent her last nickel on a nose job.

‘What are you thinking, chasing around after me like this?' Madge glared, sliding into the passenger seat. ‘I told you we mustn't be seen together.'

‘Well, we're not, are we? Is anybody seeing us?' Zack had the aluminum sun-shield in place on the front windshield, and he had pulled his car close up alongside the storage unit at the back of the employee parking lot. Their only exposure was on Zack's side, and an employee car was parked there.

‘You never know.' Madge straightened his shirt. (‘This classic Hawaiian print,' he would tell you if you let him get started. ‘So retro and
fun
.') Zack knew all Madge's clothing spiels so well he could have recited them but would choke before he ever did.

Madge peered into the side mirror and patted his hair. Stroking himself was one of the ways he put distance between himself and anything he didn't want to face. ‘I told you I'd come to the store tomorrow night after closing. What could possibly be so urgent it can't wait until then?'

‘Felicity.'

‘What about her?'

‘The police called her and she freaked.'

‘How on earth would the police know . . . Oh, I suppose Patricia remembered her name.'

‘Whatever. Anyway they called her and now she's having a shit fit, says she has to get out of town right away.'

‘Fine. Who's holding her? Not me.'

‘Well, she wants her money.'

‘Just like that, huh? Tell her she has to wait a while yet.'

‘I did. But she's almost hysterical, Madge. Actresses can't have any dealings with the police, she says, it's death to the career.'

‘Oh, the career. God, that girl talks such nonsense, doesn't she?'

‘Well, sure, but—'

‘What?'

‘Well, the other thing she says is that if she does talk to the police, she's afraid she'll get too scared and spill the beans.'

‘Oh, my, we're not too frail and hysterical to know how to aim a threat, are we? If she talks there's no longer any reason to pay her, is there? Did you tell her that?'

‘No,' Zack said, sounding tired. He was beginning to see that the big step up he had been counting on might be turning into a big step down into a swamp he didn't want to navigate, and he was having trouble getting his breath. To cover his rising panic he said harshly, ‘And I didn't tell her you're sitting out at the Indian Casino like a stupid jerk-off trying to lose all the money you're supposed to pay her.'

‘Oh, don't be ridiculous. I'm not even playing,' Madge said, dismissive the way he always got when he lied. ‘Just having a beer while I wait for Desmond. We're driving to Patagonia to look at a project he's interested in. This is my last play date for a while' – the little laugh, the jolly finger-wiggle – ‘because Friday it all starts to come together. Tell Felicity, after Friday, it shouldn't be long.'