A Purse to Die For (8 page)

The interview was over for now.

Tony stood up and held out his hand again. Dumont took it.

As Tony
headed toward the door
, Dumont said,
"
You carrying?
"

Tony turned slowly and smiled.
"
Always.
"

Chapter 12

"
It
'
s
my
job to decide
the order of witnesses,
"
Detective Dumont replied.

"
Just saying…weren
'
t Tony, Mandy, Gina and Becki the ones on the scene?
"

"
My job to ask the questions
.
"
He
frowned, but the tic at the corner of his mouth told Carla he was holding back a more pleasant expression.
"
Plus, I did talk to your nephew.
"

"
When?
"

"
After my interview with Nellie,
"
he said.
"
You were probably getting her set up with some new activity.
"

She didn
'
t change her outward posture, but on the inside, she let herself relax a little. It
'
s not like the
d
etective thought she was the one who bashed the other woman
'
s brains in. And if her daughter could handle being interrogated, for heaven
'
s sake, she could
too
.
Besides, she'd already met with Detective Dumont, when he was just "Rob," a neighbourhood kid. He had inquired about Mother.
And now, as then, he didn
'
t appear nearly as badass as Reggie.

"
You saw the picture of the victim,
"
Dumont said.
"
Do you know her? Have you seen her before?
"

"
Never.
"

"
Your daughter said she came to the house.
"

"
When we were gone.
"

"
And the reason for her visit?
"

"
How should I know?
"

"
Humour me.
"

"
Avon calling?
"

Dumont smiled in spite of himself.
"
Any more brainwaves?
"

"
Isn
'
t coming up with brainwaves
your
job, like deciding the order of witnesses and asking the questions?
"

Detective Dumont cleared his throat
.
"
She shows up at your front door one day. Dies practically on your back lawn on another. Explain that.
"

"
Coincidence.
"

"
Right. Hear anything last night? Anything going on in your home before or after? Anything happening in the area?
"

"
We were and still are rather preoccupied with Mother passing away,
"
she said, thinking that would set him straight and end his interrogation of her and the rest of her family.

"
Right. I want to talk about your mother
'
s death—
"

Which instantly shot her back to her previous state.
"
What?
"
she demanded before he could even finish his sentence.

"
Two deaths at the same address in less than a week.
"

"
You
'
ve got to be kidding! You think they
'
re
related
?
"
She rose from her chair.
"
Mom didn
'
t want anyone to know she had cancer. But I ended up telling my family—afterwards.
"
She took a big gulp of air and continued,
"
That woman out there have cancer?
'
Cause that
'
s not what I understood to be her cause of death!
"
She whirled and stalked out.

Becki fully understood the importance of the first
forty-eight
hours, however unpleasant it was to report to Detective Dumont, whose sole intent was to dig up dirt in a case that couldn
'
t be anything other than murder.

"
So, you arrive here in Langdon Hills and people drop like flies,
"
he said.

"
I beg your pardon!
"

How could he know people dropped dead around her in Black Currant Bay
too
? The main difference between here and there being that
,
in Black Currant Bay, she was the one asking questions. Mind you, never in any official capacity.

"
Tell me everything you can about what you
'
ve seen and heard since you
'
ve been here,
"
he
said
.

"
To tell the truth,
something bothered me right off the bat
—t
hat Godmom was found with a pillow over her head.
"

"
Ms. Green, in my experience dead bodies are found in the oddest positions, sometimes crowned with the strangest belongings.
"

"
And in Godmom
'
s case, you don
'
t consider it an indication of foul play?
"

"
Who
'
s interviewing who here?
"

"
Sorry.
"

"
To answer your question, no
. T
hat
'
s not how I read the scene at the time.
"

She noted his use of the phrase
'
at the time.
'

"
What have you observed since then?
"
he asked.

"
The controversy of Godmom
'
s will. No doubt you
'
ve taken a look at it. She left the bulk of her larger
-
than
-
expected estate to her grandkids
and
skipped a generation. Her eldest, Jerry, was visibly upset. Next day, he and his wife had a meeting with the lawyer. But most surprising, Detective, is
that
Tony is adopted or something
.
No one knew about it beforehand. Not even Tony. Weird, don
'
t you think?
"

"
Not weird, but interesting.
"
He tapped his hand steadily on the desk. Tap. Tap. Tap.
"
Anyway, here are my last few
questions
. F
or now.
Did you recognize the victim when you saw her, and can you think of any connection she might have with this neighbourhood or with the Ferrero family?
"

"
Heavens, no!
"

After the interview, she felt shaky. Must be from skipping breakfast. Because the session with Detective Dumont went as well as could be expected. To all appearances, he was a professional.

Cute
too
.

"
Mom! Please
.
"

She wobbled in the direction of the kitchen.

And French
.

"
God
.
"
She groaned. Or was that her stomach?

Don
'
t tell me you didn
'
t notice. I know you have this thing for accents.

"
Detective Dumont doesn
'
t have an accent, Mom.
"

But he
'
s French
.
Dumont.

"
Fifty
years old, remember? Old enough to be his mom. Oh, hi, Gina!
"

Chapter 13

Linda leaned back in the chair and crossed her slim legs.
"
Got a light?
"

Rob shook his head. Now here was a very attractive woman. Mutton dressed as lamb, his mother would say, but attractive all the same. Not that she didn
'
t work at it.

Linda sighed and reached for her purse. She pulled out a lighter and snapped it open.
"
That
'
s the trouble with everyone these days. Nobody smokes.
"

"
Mrs. Ferrero, I
'
d like to ask you a few questions
.
"

"
Call me Linda.
"

"
Okay, Linda. You are staying at the house?
"

"
Yes,
"
she said, blowing out smoke.
"
It
'
s ghastly, but why pay for a hotel room?
"

"
Where were you last night, say, from ten o
'
clock on?
"

"
I was doing a facial from ten until about ten-thirty, then got dressed for bed. I didn
'
t leave the bedroom until nine the next morning, if that
'
s what you
'
re getting at.
"

"
Was your husband with you the whole time?
"

"
I don
'
t know when he came in. But he slept in the bed beside me and was gone before I got up. He
'
s an early riser. I
'
m not.
"
She gave him a
haughty
smile
.

Rob sighed.
He
saw all types
,
working for the force
,
and pampered women were not his favourite. At least she wasn
'
t a cougar.

"
Had you ever seen the victim before?
"

Linda dragged on the cigarette.
"
I haven
'
t seen her ever
.
"

"
I
'
m sorry—here
'
s a photo.
"

Linda took it and squinted.
"
Not anyone I know.
"
She handed it back.

"
I guess that
'
s all for now.
"

"
You know where to find me.
"
She gave the briefest smile of dismissal and then swept out.

Linda took the last of her cigarette out to the front porch. She was bothered.

That photo
. Sh
e had spoken the truth to that handsome policeman.
She
had never seen the victim in that photo before. The woman didn
'
t look like a secretary, but who could tell?

Who was the bitch? Did Jerry have anything to do with this? Was he up to his old tricks?

She
sucked hard on the butt
,
then threw it on the stone sidewalk. She hadn
'
t sensed any new woman and she was getting pretty good at telling the signs. Late nights at work…last minute business trips. This was something she would have to look into further. Sort through the Visa slips at home.

The cigarette butt gave one last smoulder and then petered out.

"
Are you ready for me?
"

Rob looked up and smiled at Gina. She stood at the door of the room, looking tentative and lovely.

"
Come in. Sit down,
"
he said.

"
How are you, Rob?
"
Gina walked over to the guest chair and gracefully sat. Everything about Gina was graceful, just as he remembered. And he remembered a lot.

"
I
'
m well,
"
he said.
"
And you?
"

She looked uncomfortable.
What a stupid thing to say,
he told himself. This was a murder investigation and she had seen the body.

He cleared his throat.
"
Tell me what you know about this.
"

"
It isn
'
t much,
"
she said.
"
I went for a morning run and came back to find…well, you know. Tony and A
unt Mandy were already there. I
d
on
'
t ever remember seeing
the woman before. And I didn
'
t encounter anyone on my run.
"

"
And last night?
"

"
I went to my room at nine and read for a while. Went to bed. Got up about six to run. I
'
m used to getting up early for the studio.
"

"
There
'
s nothing you can think of?
"

She frowned and shook her head.
"
Nothing you wouldn
'
t already have heard. You know about Grandmother. I
'
m sure Tony told you about being suspicious about her death. There was a lot of money at stake.
"

Rob nodded.
"
Yes, he said that.
"

"
I just can
'
t imagine who that woman was and why she was here. Nobody seems to have seen her before and this isn
'
t exactly a town that attracts a lot of exotic strangers. It
'
s mystifying.
"

"
You think she
'
s exotic?
"

Gina looked up with a jerk.
"
Of course. That was an Armani she was wearing. And the bag was genuine Gucci. It must have cost three thousand dollars.
"

Three thousand dollars for a handbag? No ID inside?
Rob couldn
'
t believe it.

"
So she certainly wasn
'
t local,
"
Gina was saying.

Rob looked across at her. He wanted to keep her in the room just so he could continue looking at her, but there didn
'
t seem to be anything else he could think to ask.

"
It
'
s good to see you again,
"
Rob said.
"
You
'
re still close to Tony, I see.
"

Gina blushed. It made her look fifteen again
.

"
I wish you and me were
still close,
"
he said
.
Good God, did he say that out loud?

Gina started.
"
I think you blew that chance several years ago.
"

Rob went red.
"
I looked for you every evening for a week. They had already taken you home.
"

Gina looked down.
"
Mom figured it out immediately. She had me packing the next day and sent me to cousins in Vancouver.
"

Rob thought miserably about that last time they were together. He had been crazy about her—insanely, recklessly crazy. It had been so special in the forest by the oak tree…Gina so breathtakingly beautiful and innocent that he pressed her into something that went way too far…

"
You could have phoned,
"
Gina said.
"
You could have written.
"
She sounded as hurt as if it had been yesterday.

The air in the room was suddenly stifling.

"
I was afraid of what Tony would do,
"
he said finally. He had been
afraid too
. You didn
'
t mess around with a friend
'
s cousin and come out of it with no consequences. Not back in those days. Not if it were Tony.

Gina
'
s look softened.
"
Yes, there is that,
"
she admitted.
"
We were awfully young.
"

"
I don
'
t think it would be any different now,
"
he said.
"
I mean about Tony.
"

Gina smiled.
"
You seem to know him pretty well.
"

Rob smiled back. He loved to look at her. Every night he tuned to the Weather Network just to watch her on the screen. She was even lovelier in person. What a fool he
'
d been back then.

"
He was always a tough guy. And a dare-devil. You
'
re okay with what he
'
s doing now?
"
Rob wondered about that. Gina didn
'
t seem like the sort of girl who would tolerate rough stuff in her life.

"
What do you mean?
"
Her face was puzzled.

"
His work,
"
Rob said.
"
His other work. You know.
"

"
I
don
'
t
know. What are you talking about?
"
Gina
'
s eyes were troubled.

Good God,
Rob thought.
She doesn
'
t know. What do I do now?

"
Ask him,
"
Rob said finally.

Gina would definitely ask him, but there was something else she was determined to do first. She went to the porch, palmed her cellphone and speed-dialled Holts.

"
Lola, it
'
s Gina from the Weather Network…Fine, how about you…?
Good. Look, you know that gold Gucci handbag with the gold buckle—yes, that
'
s the one—is it still available? No? Do you happen to know who purchased it…?
"