Seven Threadly Sins (21 page)

"W
hat are you doing here?” Loretta called to Clay.

“Beach.” Clay was not usually terse.

“The beach! Just what I need. I’m so upset!”

The next thing I knew, Loretta was brushing aside willow wands and heading straight for the table. She was in her tight suede shorts again, and the tank top and boots. She wasn’t wearing the cloak, the tights, and the wide belt, and she looked a little less like a superhero or a professional wrestler.

I wasn’t sure what she did resemble, however. Not Clay and me in our jeans, sweaters, and flip-flops, or the couple strolling along the beach in long pants and jackets.

The dogs barked and wagged their tails. Behind Loretta, Clay held his hands out in a helpless shrug. I caught the message. There was no way he could have prevented her from coming out onto the beach without manhandling her or being rude. His deep brown eyes seemed to burn into my skin.

Loretta stopped walking at the sight of me and the picnic-laden table.

She smiled. “Gluttony?” Then she sobered. “That Antonio. What a tease. What a terrible tragedy.” She eyed the chicken, potato salad, corn bread, and cake. “You may not be tempted by gluttony, Willow, but looking at the feast you’ve prepared, I am.” She actually sniffed toward Clay. “I know you’ll excuse my skunky smells, Clay, since I’m pretty sure you didn’t do as good a job of getting rid of them as I did after I accidentally rubbed some of it off onto you.”

Accidentally? Right.

Clay and I traded glances. He winked.

Clay probably knew that I’d be unable to completely repress my early training in Southern hospitality. “Join us,” I offered. “There’s plenty.”

Loretta lost no time plunking herself down on the bench. I was glad she hadn’t sniffed in my direction, or she might have noticed that I smelled skunky, too. Letting her think that my skunky perfume had come from Clay might be a sort of fun revenge. On the other hand, to what lengths might Loretta go to eliminate a rival? While knowing the answer to that might help pinpoint who had arranged Antonio’s death and maybe attacked Paula, I didn’t want to find out the hard way what Loretta might do.

Call me conniving, but I couldn’t help asking her, “Where did you meet up with a skunk?” Maybe she’d say something that would prove that she’d attacked Paula.

She lowered her head coyly and looked up at Clay from the corners of her eyes. “As I told Clay, I went near the carriage house last night hoping to do some measurements, and apparently a skunk was inside. It came out and attacked me.”

That was not, as I understood it, how skunks ordinarily behaved, unless they felt threatened. “Attacked you?”

“You know. Lifted its little tail, and then . . . Did you know that you can’t outrun skunk spray from a determined skunk?”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Their spray is very forceful.”

If she’d been inside the carriage house when the skunk sprayed, she wasn’t about to admit it. I was no closer to knowing for sure whether she had wound the sticky stabilizer around Paula or whether Paula had done it to herself.

Meanwhile, Clay had been digging around in his picnic basket. He set a plate, napkin, wineglass, and cutlery in front of Loretta.

Clay had brought too much food for two of us, and extra utensils, too? But he truly had not seemed to expect Loretta.

She glanced at her watch. “I guess there’s time for me to eat quickly before you and I go to the carriage house, Clay. Kent wants to use it as a theater for our threadly sins play before we convert it to an apartment. He said that Mona and the rest of you”—she flicked a glance at me—“will be along at nine for a meeting or rehearsal or something.”

Clay sat down beside me. Across from us, Loretta gazed at the beach and the lake. “What a beautiful spot.” Her words came out girlishly wistful. “I hope TADAM can stay here after what happened.”

I passed her the platter of chicken. She helped herself to a drumstick and bit into it. “This is wonderful, Willow. You could tempt anyone into gluttony.” She heaved a huge sigh.

If I’d told her that Clay had prepared the feast and invited me, I would have sounded catty. Besides, if she discovered what a good cook he was, she would probably throw herself at him even harder. If Clay wasn’t going to tell her who had actually prepared the meal, I didn’t need to, either.

Clay offered wine. Loretta asked for white. He opened the bottle and poured some into her glass. “When you got here this evening, Loretta, you said you were upset. Why?”

“It’s terrible, but not surprising, I guess. Antonio’s widow, Paula, has been arrested.”

I stared openmouthed at her, but Clay asked, “Why?”

“Apparently, the police figured out that she killed Antonio.”

“When was she arrested?” I asked.

“A couple of hours ago. I got a call from her lawyer. She must have realized they were closing in on her, so she faked an attack on herself to make it look like someone else had been out to get both Antonio and her. After the police put all of that together, it was a piece of cake.” She bit into corn bread. “Speaking of cake, I hope I have room for some of yours, Willow, after all this other delicious food.”

Clay still didn’t admit that he had been the chef, and I only nodded. Immediately after talking to me, Vicki must have told Detective Neffting that Paula had stolen the stabilizer and stuck it to herself. And the police had put that theory with other evidence that they must have found, and had arrested Paula for Antonio’s murder.

Loretta must not have heard about Haylee’s and my involvement, or about where Paula had faked the attack. I told her, “Haylee and I happened along after Paula’s supposed ‘attack.’ It was in the carriage house. Last I knew, that area was still a crime scene, so we won’t be able to go there tonight.”

Apparently, Loretta had saved room for cake. She cut a large piece for herself. “Once the police discovered that Paula had made the whole thing up, they took the yellow tape down. They’d already gotten enough evidence.”

One thing about Loretta’s story struck me as odd. Paula hadn’t seemed to like Loretta. I asked, “Why did Paula’s lawyer call you?”

“Paula wanted clothes from her apartment.”

“And her apartment is not a crime scene now that they’ve charged her?”

“The entire mansion is. So I bought a few toiletries and canvassed the TADAM students in my apartment building who are about her size for a change of clothes. The state police took her to Erie. I didn’t want to cancel Clay’s and my meeting—we need to get started on the carriage house renovations—so one of the students is driving the things to her.”

I asked, “Do you know if Paula spent much time in the carriage house before last night?”

Loretta shook her head. “She refused to go near it. She said it was creepy.”

For once, I agreed with Paula. “And it seems to be the home of at least one skunk.”

Loretta waved her hand in front of her face. “It’s terrible. I only walked near the back of the TADAM mansion last night, and I probably still stink. But the smell will leave the carriage house eventually. Despite a few holes where the siding rotted near the ground, the carriage house is substantial, right, Clay?”

“Substantial enough.”

His obvious lack of enthusiasm did not prevent Loretta from gushing, “The income from renting it as a cozy cottage will be helpful to TADAM’s bottom line.”

I didn’t need to look at Clay to know what he was thinking. If TADAM’s bottom line was a problem, where would the money come from to renovate the carriage house? I changed the subject, slightly. “Do you have any idea why Paula killed her husband?”

She tapped an expertly manicured finger against her wineglass. “I figured it out long before the police did. Paula was a woman scorned. They’d only been married about half a year, but Antonio didn’t want to give up his bachelor lifestyle. He was always either having affairs or attempting to. His insensitive comments to you over the PA system about adultery were probably what put her over the edge. Plus he kept making moves on the female students at TADAM.”

Clay asked, “What are you going to do now, Loretta? Who owns TADAM?”

Loretta answered, “Apparently, Paula was mixed up about Antonio owning it by himself. She even signed the papers that made her his partner in the business. She is one confused lady. But in the end, it works out the same. She’ll be the sole proprietor. Which will do her a lot of good in prison.”

I commented, “I heard there were silent partners.” Loretta tossed her head, shaking those auburn curls around and making them glisten in the reddening sun. “Antonio told us that, but apparently, the money he—I mean he and Paula—got to start TADAM and renovate the mansion was actually from bank loans.”

“And to buy the property? A mansion, a carriage house, plus a large yard?” Clay had already told me the answer to that, but I wanted to hear if she knew.

She did. “The buildings needed repair, and the village wanted to unload the property and get some tax revenue from it. I think Antonio bought it very cheaply. That was part of the appeal for him.”

I asked, “So if Paula now owns the business, are you and Kent out of a job?”

“Not yet. Paula’s lawyer, who is also TADAM’s lawyer, suggested that since I was the assistant director, I should try to keep the place going while Paula fights her case, and that is what Kent and I intend to do.”

She looked at me with clear and guileless eyes. “I shouldn’t say this, but neither Antonio nor Paula knew much about fashion or about running a school. They heard about the mansion being for sale for next to nothing if the new owners would renovate it, and they figured that Threadville would be a good place to open a fashion design and modeling school.” She drew a shaky breath. “And they were right, but things just didn’t work out. Antonio shouldn’t have been allowed near female students, for one thing, and he shouldn’t have hired someone with a record like Kent’s, either, but Kent assures me that he was wrongfully convicted, and he promises not to touch any students. I guess that Paula knew only one way to keep Antonio from running around on her and embarrassing her by being charged with assault.” She shuddered. “Horrible. So unnecessary, and now Paula’s going to spend the rest of her life paying for it.” She swirled wine in her glass.

I said, “She took drastic steps.”

Loretta stared out over the waves. “Abused wives often do.”

I asked, “She was abused?”

Loretta finished her wine. “I suspect so, if not physically, then verbally.”

Yes, I could see that. Antonio had been fond of saying mean things to people, and who knew what he might have said or done to his wife when no one else was looking? It all fell into place. His arrogant belief that other women would welcome his advances . . . The way Paula had glared at him . . . Her nervous demeanor . . . Her immediate use of the word “murder” and yelling at Dora Battersby and me for killing her husband although he wasn’t dead . . . Her hedging when asked about his medication . . .

Even after only six months with Antonio, Paula must have felt trapped in an unbearable relationship. “It’s all very sad,” I said.

“Yes,” Loretta said. “Antonio meant well, really. He just wanted to succeed, and he wanted people to like him.”

I thought aloud, “Paula must have liked him enough to marry him. And yet the two of them destroyed each other.”

Loretta centered a lid on the container of potato salad. “It’s like a Shakespearean tragedy, isn’t it? I guess the least we can do is to make a success of TADAM in Antonio’s memory. Starting with Clay and me assessing the carriage house. We should get going, Clay.”

She could try to leave me out all she wanted, but Clay had made it clear that he and I, just the two of us, had a private “conversation” to continue, one that had begun with a fierce kiss that still burned my lips.

Loretta stretched out one shapely leg. “These boots weren’t made for walking, and I was wearing them all over the village just now. I’ll never be able to hobble back to the carriage house. Can you give me a ride, Clay?”

“Sure,” he answered. “I’ll drop you off, then go put the leftovers away.” He looked at me. “After you walk your dogs home, Willow, I’ll meet you at your place.”

“You can put the leftovers in my fridge and collect them after we assess the carriage house.” Loretta’s voice flowed like honey.

He turned her down. “I’m going to Willow’s, anyway, to see if Dora Battersby wants a ride.”

Loretta pouted. “Is she in the
Seven Threadly Sins
play? Those people are meeting later, after we’re done. At nine.”

Clay was patient. “Dora’s a member of my design team. Willow is, too, and you’re coming with me, Willow, right?”

“Yes.” I tried to look unexcited, but something like triumph or anticipation could have shown in the smile I did not quite manage to suppress.

“But, Clay, your truck has only one passenger seat,” Loretta pointed out. “You can’t give Willow and that other woman a ride at the same time.”

He deftly packed containers into his picnic basket. “Then Willow can drive my truck, and I’ll walk.”

Loretta gave me a hard look. “Don’t either of you women have vehicles?”

Didn’t Loretta? I didn’t quite answer her question honestly. “Everything in Threadville is within easy walking distance of everything else. Dora and I will probably walk with Clay.”

“Isn’t Dora too . . . old?”

I defended my spry friend. “Not that old. She walked to and from the TADAM mansion the night of the fashion show. Want help carrying any of these things to your truck, Clay?”

“No, thanks.”

“I’ll help him,” Loretta informed me.

She didn’t give up easily.

And neither did I, not after that kiss and the promise it had held.

After a backward glance at me, Clay led the way, holding willow fronds back so Loretta could pass between them.

I unfastened the dogs’ leashes from the leg of the picnic
table. “You two have been sooo good,” I crooned. “Let’s run down to the lake, and you can splash on our way home.”

They lapped up several mouthfuls of water before they were ready to run along the hard sand with me, all the way back to the park between Lake Street and the mouth of the Elderberry River. We jogged across grass, then along the accessibility boardwalk, and onto the unpaved hiking trail that ran upriver for miles. We went only a block, though, to the gate to our backyard. I let the dogs in, latched the gate behind us, and unfastened the leashes. Sally and Tally tore around, and then were happy to go inside to greet the cats.