Suspicion of Madness (15 page)

Gradually she became aware that Teri was talking about Sandra's activities the afternoon she died, a few more details to add to those that Gail had heard. Billy taking Sandra to the Blue Water Marina around four-thirty then staying in Islamorada to buy some parts for his boat. He had returned to Lindeman Key by eight o'clock that night and had gone directly to Joan Sinclair's house. Sandra McCoy had rented a video at Movie Max at 7:52
P.M. She'd been grabbed in the parking lot.

"Did Billy talk to anyone at the marina who could verify what time he left?"

"I don't know," Teri said.

Anthony said he would find out.

The sky had been clear this morning, but between the palm trees Gail could see clouds floating lazily westward. If the school trip was called off, Anthony would ask her to stay through the weekend. Gail thought she would go home on Friday as planned, even if it was raining buckets in Miami. She had promised Karen. Anthony wouldn't like it, but he wouldn't force her to make a choice: me or Karen. Even so, Gail could hear them already. If she wanted to stay:
Mom, you promised you'd be here Friday night!
If she wanted to go:
Why do you let a twelve-year-old call the shots?

Teri was explaining about Billy's movie collection.

"He records them off the satellite dish. He has over a thousand videos. Seriously! Martin installed a dish outside Billy's apartment that gets about a hundred foreign channels. He has movies from all over the world."

Anthony wanted to know how often Billy went to Joan's house to watch movies.

"Not often. You'd have to ask Billy about that."

"Does she invite him? Or does he just drop in?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you know if Joan Sinclair drinks? Has Billy ever mentioned she has a problem with alcohol?"

"I know she
drinks,
but he didn't say she had a
problem."

"What I am wondering," said Anthony, "is whether she might have been drinking on the night of October third."

Teri vigorously shook her head. "Oh, no, she wasn't drunk that night, or she wouldn't remember what time he got there or when he left."

"Does Billy drink when he goes to see her?"

She raised a shoulder as if warding off the question. "Probably. Yes. I thought... it's better here than with his friends, where he could flip his boat and drown. I was trying..." Anthony's brown eyes were on her, but he said nothing. Teri pushed her hair behind her ear. "I didn't know he drank so much. He said he didn't. He won't let me in his apartment. 'Mother, would you please leave me
alone?
'"
She bit her lip. "That was a mistake. I've made a lot of mistakes."

Anthony said gently, "There is time to put it right again."

"He's all I have. Martin... I love Martin, but Billy is my life." Teri stroked her fingers slowly through her hair, again and again. "I don't know him, isn't that funny? My own son. Who is he? He plays music, he watches movies, he rides around in his boat. He never said he was so unhappy he wanted to put a rope around his neck and kill himself."

Gail reached across the table and took her hand.

"I'm all right." Teri pressed her fingers to her cheek to catch a tear, then laughed. "We're going to be fine. We have you now, don't we?"

Someone shouted out from behind them, "Hello there!"

They turned around.

A man with white hair was coming toward them from the bar. He carried a small wicker picnic hamper. A bright red knit shirt stretched across his belly. He wore white slacks and a belt with nautical flags on it. Clip-on sunglasses hid his eyes.

Teri shifted to see around Anthony. "It's Tom Holtz. Hi, Tom."

The man was unhappy about something. "Where might I find Martin?"

"He's taking a nap. Can I help you, Tom?"

He set down the hamper and introductions were made. Anthony stood to shake Holtz's hand. Holtz nodded at Gail, then kissed Teri on the cheek. "I sure was sorry to hear about Billy. Doug told me. He's all right, though, isn't he? You brought him home?"

"Yes. He'll be fine."

"Glad to hear it." Tom Holtz's forehead was deeply creased, and above the clip-ons, his eyebrows were tangles of white wire. Broken veins reddened his nose and cheeks.

"Sit with us, Tom."

He put both hands on the back of a chair. "I need to ask you something, Teri. Is Martin trying to get hold of Joan's property?"

Teri glanced at Anthony, then back to Tom Holtz. "What do you mean?"

Frowning, Tom Holtz said, "He's always talking about needing more room for his palm trees. And I know Lois wanted to build over there. Joan didn't want to sign a deed, but Doug might, if he were the guardian of her property. Did Martin ask him to file a guardianship?"

"Why, no, Tom."

"Huh." His perplexity was still evident. "Well, then, what is Doug doing it for?"

Anthony said, "Lois went to ask him to delay the guardianship. Do you know if he agreed to do that?"

"He did. It's off for now. I had agreed to be the attorney of record because I thought it would be the best thing for Joan. Well, today I said count me out. Joan doesn't need an assisted living facility, she needs someone to give her a hand. I was just over there talking to her.
Trying
to talk to her." Glancing down, he gave the wicker basket a tap with his foot. "There's some cold champagne and a couple of sandwiches in there. I wanted to surprise her. She wouldn't let me in. I had to talk to her through the screen door. I told her about the guardianship. She was plenty ticked off, and I don't blame her."

Gail looked at Anthony, whose face showed his irritation.

Holtz picked up the hamper. "Hey, listen, Teri, let me put this stuff in the fridge. I want to go on back over to Joan's. She's got to see reason."

"Wait." Anthony stood up. "Tom, I'm going to ask you a favor. Gail and I have an appointment to see Joan at nine o'clock tonight. It's regarding Billy. He was at her house when Sandra McCoy was murdered, and we need to discuss it with her."

"That's right, Doug told me about it. Joan's the alibi witness."

"Correct. Let her talk to the police and get this out of the way before you see her again. I want her completely focused on Billy. Do you understand?"

His eyes didn't show behind the clip-on glasses, but he nodded. "All right. I get the point. Do me a favor. Tell her you ran into me. Tell her... I'm still her friend and I care about her. I want to make sure she's happy. Would you let me know what she says?"

"Certainly."

"Thanks. Teri, good to see you. I'll be thinking about that boy of yours." The glasses turned toward Gail. "Miss... ah..."

"Gail Connor."

"Good to know you, Ms. Connor."

Anthony said, "Tom. Let me walk you to... where are you going? Did Arnel bring you here in the shuttle boat?"

"No, I came in my boat."

"I'll go with you to the harbor." Anthony pushed his chair in and smiled quickly at Gail and Teri. "I won't be long." He put on his sunglasses.

After the men had left, Teri looked quizzically at Gail.

"I think he wants to ask Mr. Holtz about Joan."

But Anthony would be asking more than that. Gail knew he had a question about Sandra McCoy. He wouldn't say who had witnessed Thomas Holtz going into Sandra's apartment late at night, two weeks before her murder. He wouldn't ask if it were true. He would state it as fact and wait for the explanation.

"Gail, your ring is gorgeous. Let me see it."

She extended her left hand across the table. "The diamond was Anthony's. I liked it, so he had it reset for me."

"Oh! It's perfect. When are you getting married?"

"Probably next June."

"That's too far away!"

"Well, I have a daughter. Karen is twelve, and I'm so busy with her and my job, and I just don't have time to think about a wedding right now."

Teri's eyes lit up. "We do weddings here at The Buttonwood Inn all the time. Sunset weddings are the most popular. Your daughter—Karen? She'd love it. To girls her age it's a fairy tale. Gail, if you and Anthony want to get married here, it would be our pleasure, on the house, plus the party afterward."

"Teri, no, it's too much."

"You and Anthony already have plans?"

"Well... not really, but—"

"Let it be my little thank-you for taking care of us." She squeezed Gail's hand. "You think about it, okay?" Her eyes shifted in the direction of the Inn, darkening as though she could see through the trees to her son's apartment. "I wonder if Kyle has left. He shouldn't stay too long. Billy's very tired."

"Let's go, then."

As they walked back around the pool, Gail remembered something she'd been meaning to ask about. "How did you happen to hire Anthony? Did you know each other before? In Cuba, I mean."

"We knew each other, but he left long before I did. It's more like my family knew his, and we sort of stayed in touch that way."

"You're from Havana?"

"No, a little dirt-road town in Camagüey Province, way out in the sugarcane fields. We knew his father's side, not his mother's. Do you remember hearing about the Mariel boat lift?" When Gail nodded, she went on, "That's how I left, in 1980.1 had a boyfriend, Nestor. He was in trouble with the police, and he had to get out, so I went with him. I didn't tell my parents, or they would've stopped me for sure. We hitched a ride to the port. He had false ID papers, and I pretended to be his wife. They put us on a boat, about a hundred people, all crammed together, whole families and factory workers and petty criminals and a couple of homosexuals and this one old man who couldn't stop crying. I hung over the railing all the way, throwing up. We got to Key West about midnight. We were filthy and tired, and all I owned was what I had on, shorts and a top, and a pair of tennies.

"Nestor's aunt lived there, and she sponsored both of us. Nestor and I broke up a year later, and he went to Miami. I don't know where he is now. I stayed in Key West and worked in a restaurant about twenty hours a day. I met Kyle. We got married and moved to Tavernier. What can I tell you? Love. Hormones. We were okay for a while but things changed. We didn't have much money, and then the kids were born, and there was even less. Kyle had a temper. I learned to be very quiet, believe me. Where could I go? What would happen to my kids? Kyle said he loved them, but his idea of discipline was to take off his belt. Most of the time I kept them out of his way. That sounds weak to you, but you don't know, unless you're in a situation like that, how hard it is to leave. I was trapped. Nobody was going to come for us in a boat and take us out of there."

Teri stopped herself and lifted her eyes to meet Gail's. "I had two sons. Jeremy drowned when he was six. He fell into the canal behind our house."

"Yes, Anthony told me. I'm so sorry."

Wordlessly Teri grasped her gold locket and inserted the tip of a fingernail in the side. It clicked open to reveal two small photographs. Billy—before he bleached his hair. And another, much younger boy. A beautiful, smiling child with lustrous brown eyes.

"That's Jeremy," Gail said.

"Yes." Teri pressed the locket to her lips before closing it. "I wasn't there when he died. Kyle called me at work. 'Come home, Jeremy's dead.' There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. Not one. That was eleven years ago. He's right here." She put her fist over her heart. "Billy found him. He tried to save him, but it was too late. Billy was different after that. He had nightmares. He would wet the bed, and Kyle would yell at him and take off his belt. Those days were the worst of all. You should have seen me, so skinny!
Flaquita."
Teri held up her little finger.

"Kyle and I lost our house and we moved into a trailer. We walked around like dead people. He wasn't as violent but he drank a lot. I found a job here on weekends." She laughed. "Yes! I used to clean rooms at The Buttonwood Inn. Clean rooms and help in the kitchen. I wore a maid's uniform. I didn't mind. No, it was wonderful. And the best thing about it? I met Martin.

"Kyle says I destroyed our marriage. That's a laugh. It's true I slept with Martin before I divorced Kyle, but he should beg
my
forgiveness. He drove me away. He doesn't give a damn about Billy, it's only a way to get to me. That's why he came here, not for Billy but to show me what a terrible mother I am, that it's
my
fault what happened. But Kyle never calls Billy to see how he is. Never. Billy calls
him.
Kyle treats him like dirt, but Billy thinks he's God. Explain that to me. Martin offered to buy him a new boat, but Billy refused. He'd rather have the old one Kyle gave him, that hardly runs. I'm so afraid Billy will leave. He's only nineteen. He could go if he wants to, but he's incapable of living on his own.

"My sister-in-law would love that. She keeps trying to get rid of him. Billy should live with his father and learn to be a fishing guide because it's obvious, isn't it, that he isn't cut out for college. She told Martin to rent him an apartment on the mainland because our guests don't like to see tattoos and spiked hair, do they? It just doesn't fit the image of refinement we want to project. What a hypocrite. She used to smuggle marijuana when she was about Billy's age. Yes! She had her own boat, and she and Teddy Lindeman brought in bales of it. He was Joan Lindeman's other nephew, besides Doug. Lois only did it for a couple of years, but Teddy went on to cocaine, and they got him. He recently died in prison. So for Lois to be preaching to Billy about the image of The Buttonwood Inn makes me want to scream.