A Catered St. Patrick's Day (14 page)

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Authors: Isis Crawford

BOOK: A Catered St. Patrick's Day
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“There’s an agenda?” Bernie asked her dad.
“Yes, Bernie. There is.” Sometimes Sean felt as if he were herding cats. “There’s a lot to go over and we need to do it in a systematic way. And right now we need to talk about how Liza was killed. Then we can go on to other stuff. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Libby said.
There was a brief pause, then Bernie said, “You said she was shot in the bathtub in the second floor bathroom, right, Dad?”
“Yes, I did,” Sean said.
“Were there any signs of a struggle?” Bernie asked.
“None,” Marvin said. “At least none that I c non saould see, right, Mr. Simmons?”
“Right, Marvin.” Sean leaned forward a little. “Everything was where it was supposed to be. There were no signs of a fight in the house. And it didn’t look as if anything had been searched. Or if it had been, whoever did it was certainly very careful about it.”
“And Liza was fully dressed?” Bernie asked.
“Down to her shoes,” Sean said. “And none of her items of apparel look as if they’d been touched in any way. Her hair was combed. Her makeup was on.”
Libby chewed on her cuticle for a moment, then said, “To state the obvious, people don’t usually get in the bathtub with their clothes on.”
Sean smiled. He could see that his daughters were getting it. “No, they don’t. So what would make her do that?”
Bernie grinned. “Besides a photo shoot.”
Sean laughed. “Yes, Bernie, besides a photo shoot.”
“Well, the obvious possibility is that someone had a gun, pulled it out, marched her upstairs, and shot her.”
“That’s one possibility,” Sean said.
“There’s another?” Libby asked.
“I think so,” Sean answered.
“What?” Bernie asked. “That Liza took Ambien and sleepwalked herself into the tub?”
“Something like that,” Sean said.
“How something like that?” Clyde asked.
“Well, I can see a scenario where Liza and her visitor sat down and had some coffee or tea or soda and that the visitor doped it up and led her upstairs, put her in the tub, and then shot her.”
“Why do something like that?” Bernie said.
Sean shrugged. “I’m guessing to make her more compliant. So she would do whatever anyone told her to.”
“Kind of karmic with her putting the stuff in Duncan’s beer and all,” Libby said.
“Isn’t it, though?” Sean said. “When I looked at Liza’s body the thing that really struck me was that she was so neat. She was just lying there and the angle of the wounds suggests that someone shot her looking down at her.”
“Whoever killed her could have made her lie down,” Libby suggested.
“That’s a possibility too,” Sean admitted. “Although my gut tells me to go with the second scenario. People always freak out at the end. It’s human nature.”
“The killer could have shot her and then neatened her up,” Marvin said, thinking of what they did in the funeral home.
Sean stopped massaging his hands and took another sip of coffee. By now it was lukewarm, but he liked it that way. “I guess we’ll know after the ME gets through, right, Clyde?”
Clyde put on a long face. “Hey,” he groused. “It’s not as if this is my case. I have to poke around to get to see the report. I could get in trouble.”
“You want brownies?” Libby said.
“You think I can be bribed?” Clyde asked in a tone of mock horror.
“Most definitely,” Bernie answered.
Clyde smiled. “Mocha brownies with cashews and you’re on.”
Sean shook his head. “You always were a cheap date, Clyde.”
Clyde put his hand on his heart. “You mean I could have held out for bhelad.rownies and ginger snaps? I want to renegotiate.”
“Too late, Clyde,” Libby said. “A deal is a deal. Now, to get back to where we were ...”
“Which is where?” Marvin asked. “I think I lost track.”
Libby patted Marvin on the knee. “We’re at the place where someone one way or another got Liza into the bathtub and shot her. Why the bathtub?”
“Less chance of leaving DNA around,” Clyde said promptly.
“And,” Marvin added, “if you lower the house temperature the bathtub stays colder and that helps preserve the body.”
“Also,” Sean said, “the bathroom helps muffle the sound of the shots. And you’ve got water right there to wash up. Very convenient.”
Bernie got up and started walking around. “And nothing was taken.”
“Nothing that we know about,” Sean told her. “Of course, we don’t know what wasn’t there so it’s hard to say.”
Libby dug into the pocket of her shirt, got out two chocolate kisses, offered one to Marvin and took the other. Then she unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth. After she was done savoring it, she said, “Here’s what I don’t understand. Liza had those pictures on her laptop and the laptop was in plain sight. But no one took it. Doesn’t that prove it wasn’t one of the Corned Beef and Cabbage guys?” Libby asked.
“Not necessarily,” Bernie said. “Maybe they didn’t know. Or”—Bernie raised a finger—“maybe they didn’t care.”
“I would think they’d care,” Clyde said.
Bernie rebuttoned the top button of her blouse. “Given the tenor of the times, maybe, maybe not. Maybe Liza wasn’t trying to blackmail the guys. Maybe the pics were just a hobby for her.”
“Some hobby,” Clyde muttered.
“Well, some people hunt animals and mount their heads on the wall. And others ... well, others do what Liza did.”
At that moment Clyde’s cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and answered it. Sean could tell from the expression on Clyde’s face that it wasn’t Mrs. Clyde. He kept on saying “yup.” Then he said “thanks” and hung up.
“That was one of the ADAs,” he said. “He called to tell me they’re thinking of charging Duncan with Liza’s murder.”
“I was afraid of that,” Sean murmured. “What’s their basis?”
“The photos on Liza’s laptop. Lucy is claiming Duncan killed her out of jealousy.”
Sean gave a sigh of relief. “That’s not going to hold.”
“Have they arrested Duncan yet?” Bernie asked Clyde.
Clyde shook his head. “Lucy is in there debating it with the ADA even as we speak.”
Sean steepled his fingers together. “I’ll bet anything it’s a ploy to get Duncan and his lawyer to the table.”
“You think?” Bernie said.
“I know,” Sean replied.
“All I know,” Libby said, “is that Bree will not be pleased.”
Bernie chimed in with, “That’s putting it mildly. I think she’s going to want answers.”
“We all want answers,” Sean said.
“Especially Duncan,” Marvin said.
“Assuming he didn’t do it,” Clyde said.
Marvin looked around the room. “Well, we are, aren’t we?”
“What?” Sean asked him.
“Assuming he didn’t kill anyone.”
“I guess we are,” Libby said, thinking back to her talk with Duncan. She thought he was an arrogant SOB, but he wasn’t a murderer.
“We’re hoping he didn’t kill anyone,” Bernie said.
Sean nodded toward Bernie and Libby. “You should go talk to Duncan now. He’ll be upset and it’s always easier to get someone to talk when they’re in that state.”
“I guess you’re right,” Libby conceded as she saw her carefully constructed workday vanishing.
Sean raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. Bernie stood up.
“We’re on it, Dad. Come on, Libby. Let’s go.” And without even looking to see if her sister was following her, she got up and walked out the door.
“We have two chocolate cakes and seven pies to make,” Libby called after her, feeling a momentary stab of resentment. Sometimes she thought she was the only one who remembered they had
a business to run.
Bernie’s voice floated back up. “The crusts are made. I’ll get Amber to make the filling and put the pies in the oven. She can’t possibly mess them up.”
Libby thought that was an optimistic statement if she’d ever heard one, but she got up and followed Bernie out. This was the last thing she wanted to do, but she really didn’t want to fight with her dad either. And anyway, if they hurried, she might be back in time to take the pies out of the oven.
Chapter 14
 
B
ernie kicked the van up to forty miles an hour, making it to Bree’s place in fifteen minutes flat, which was definitely some kind of record. She’d just finished parking the van in front of the guest house and she and Libby had exited the van and were walking up the path to the front door when Duncan came out.
“I don’t have time to talk to you now,” he said to both of them. “I have to be at my lawyer’s office stat.”
“To talk about Liza?” Bernie asked.
“That’s right. Now if you’ll excuse me ...”
“My dad found the body,” Libby told him.
Duncan snorted. “That’s what my lawyer said. I thought you guys were supposed to be on my side.”
“We are,” Libby told him.
“It’s not working out that way. Your dad goes in, finds the body and now I may be charged with a second homicide. Good work. If I were my aunt I’d make you give back the money.”
“Hah,” Bernie said. “That’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard anyone say. It wasn’t as if Dad did it on purpose,” Bernie said indignantly. “He wanted to talk to Liza. Believe me, the last thing he wanted to find was her body. It just made trouble for him,” she said as she scrutinized Duncan.
He looked as if he was going to work. Freshly shaven, Duncan was impeccably turned out in an expensive charcoal gray pin-striped suit, pale pink shirt, and a pink and gray paisley patterned tie. If Duncan hadn’t told her, Bernie never would have guessed he was going to see his lawyer.
“What are you looking at?” he demanding tthoed.
“You,” Bernie replied.
Duncan put his hands on his hips. “Meaning?”
“Well, it occurs to me that you don’t seem very sad about Liza,” Bernie noted. “Or upset.”
“I’m not,” Duncan growled. “Not now. She made me the laughingstock of my friends.”
“So you knew what she was doing?” Libby asked.
Duncan shook his head. “No. Not until my lawyer told me.”
Libby unbuttoned her parka. It had gotten warmer as the day wore on. “And none of your friends let on?”
Duncan looked incredulous. “Of course they didn’t. Do you think I would have stayed with her if they had?”
Bernie shrugged. “Maybe. Some guys get off on that kind of thing.”
Duncan pointed at himself. “Well, I am most definitely not one of them.”
“So you really didn’t know?” Libby said, watching him carefully.
Duncan took two steps. By now he was almost nose to nose. “What are you, deaf?”
Libby held her ground. “No. Just making sure.”
Duncan’s eyes narrowed. He took a step back. “And do you believe me?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Libby said.
Duncan laid his hand on his chest. “Be still my heart. I am so relieved.”
Bernie kicked a small rock off the path. “Wow, Duncan. You really don’t play well with others, do you?”
Duncan smiled despite himself and turned toward her. “I take it you believe me too, Bernie?”
Bernie shrugged her shoulders. “I’m a harder sell than my sister. I’m still trying to decide. So when was the last time you saw Liza?” she asked.
“I already told you—we went home together, and I passed out, and when I woke up she was gone.”
“So you say, Duncan.”
Duncan shot his cuffs. “Yes, Bernie. I do.”
“And you didn’t try and call her?”
“No, Bernie. I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
Duncan looked down for a moment, then looked back up. “Frankly, Bernie?”
“Yes, Duncan. Frankly.”
Duncan sighed, then said, “Because, if you really want to know, I was relieved I didn’t have to deal with her anymore. She was becoming a pain in the ass.”
Libby leaned forward slightly. “How so?” she asked.
Duncan scratched his chin. “How can I say this nicely?”
“Just say it, Duncan,” Bernie ordered.
He straightened his tie. “Fine, then. It’s simple. Liza saw us as having a future together and I didn’t. And I think that made her nuts.”
“Did she take pictures of you too?” Bernie asked.
“Pictures?” Duncan acted surprised. “What pictures?”
“The kind of pictures that are on her laptop,” Libby said.
Duncan’s eyes widened. He looked genuinely puzzled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
Libby looked at Bernie and Bernie looked at Libby. Bernie looked at Duncan again. He was looking at his watch.
“Listen,” he said. “If you’re not going to tell me, I really have to go. I have to be in Westerly in half an hour.”
“What did you think we were talking about back there when you said that Liza had made a fool of you?” Bernie asked Duncan.
Two red dots appeared on Duncan’s cheeks. His eyes narrowed. “I thought you were talking about the fact that Liza slept around with everyone, including my friends, and that evidently I was the last to know.”
“No,” Bernie said. “We were talking about the sex pictures Liza had on her laptop.”
“Of who?”
“Of whom,” Bernie corrected.
Duncan waved his hand impatiently. “Who cares? Who are you talking about?”
Libby stepped in before the situation degenerated to a grammatical free-for-all. “We’re talking about your friends,” she said. “Liza had pictures of her and your friends on her laptop. They were all engaged in ... inappropriate behavior.”
“As in having sex,” Bernie added helpfully.
Duncan wrinkled his forehead. “You’re saying the Corned Beef and Cabbage Club had group sex?” he asked incredulously.
“No,” Libby cried. “Individually.”
Duncan shook his head. “By themselves? That’s even worse.”
“No, no, no,” Libby said, stamping her foot in frustration. “Connor, Patrick, and Liam all had sex with Liza at different times and she photographed them doing it. I can’t believe you didn’t know that,” Libby finished.
“And I can’t believe it either,” Bernie said.
“How could I have known, Bernie?” Duncan asked.
“Simple. You looked on her laptop. The pics were on her desktop.”
“I didn’t look.”
“Never?” Bernie asked.
“No. Never.”
“I find that difficult to believe,” Bernie said, thinking of the times she had casually glanced at Brandon’s laptop when he wasn’t around. It wasn’t anything she was proud of, but it was hard to resist, in the same way that checking out people’s medicine cabinets was.
Duncan frowned. “Believe what you want, but I never did. Liza never brought it with her when she came over to my place. I mean she wasn’t the kind of person who carried her laptop around.”
“And you never went to her place?” Bernie asked.
“What? Are you kidding me?” Duncan asked in disbelief. “Give me a break. She lived in the basement of her parents’ house. I mean it had a separate entrance and all, but there was no way I was going over there. And you know what? I bet none of the guys knew they were having their pictures taken, because that’s the kind of p
erson Liza was. A sneaky bitch.” He grinned. “Serves them right.”
“Who?” asked Libby.
“My so-called friends.” Duncan bracketed the word friends with his fingers. Then he checked the time on his cell phone again. “Now I really have to go. This has not been a pleasure.”
And before Bernie and Libby could say anything else, Duncan hopped in his car and whizzed out of the driveway, turned right on the road, and lost himself in the oncoming traffic.

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