A Purse to Die For (10 page)

"
That
'
s your mystery woman. Hilary Best.
"

Rob
'
s mouth flew open.
"
How do you know?
"

Gina leaned back in her chair and smiled.
"
The Gucci purse. Only two places in Toronto carry them and they only get one-of-a-kind each. I phoned Holt Renfrew first, but that one was purchased by
Lainy Andrews. I know her. I
t couldn
'
t be her. So I phoned the Gucci store next. They checked their records and just got back to me. Hilary Best bought it two weeks ago.
"

Rob muttered a curse.
"
Did she, now? You know her?
"

"
I know of her. Never
 
been introduced to her, but she was pointed out to me from a distance. One of two socialite sisters. Canada
'
s version of Nicky and Paris Hilton, but Hilary and Andrea spat like cat and dog. She
'
s also the ex of that guy who made all the money in diamonds up north.
S
he
'
s got this reputation for being somewhat of a…
"
Gina wondered if she could say the word out loud.
"
…cougar.
"

Tony snorted behind her.

Rob
'
s mouth flew open. Then it shut. He flushed
.
"
Didn
'
t look old enough for that.
"

Well, well. Rob was familiar with the club scene lingo. After all, he was single. Still, it made her wonder about the women he dated.

Gina looked at him directly and tried hard to keep her mind on topic.
"
She
'
d had a recent facelift. Couldn
'
t you tell?
"

Rob shook his head.
"
Y
ou found this out because of a handbag
?
"

"
And I confirmed her description. It
'
s her
.
I
'
d bet my last cannoli.
"

"
Why did they even give you this information? Isn
'
t that breaking privacy rules or something?
"

Gina smiled.
"
They break the rules, as you put it, all the time. See, if I
'
m going to a gala or media night, I need to know what I
'
m wearing is exclusive
,
so I don
'
t run into anyone else with the same thing on. We get to know the sales clerks pretty well. They
'
ll tell us who buys what so we don
'
t get embarrassed in public.
"

She could hear Tony chuckling quietly behind her.
"
It
'
s important.
"
Gina turned and scowled at him.

"
For someone only half Italian, you sure got all the fashion genes.
"
Tony shook his head.
"
You women are kooky. Catch some guy caring whether another dude is wearing the same shit.
"

Rob laughed.
"
Catch some guy even noticing.
"

"
Stop being nasty.
"
Gina wouldn
'
t look at them now. Of all the stupid male egos. She had solved the puzzle. They were miffed at that, for sure.

Rob reached for the phone.
"
I
'
ll check it out just the same. Any idea where she lives?
"

"
Toronto,
"
Gina said.
"
Probably a condo in Yorkville or Harbourfront. Most of the ex-wives live there.
"

Again, Rob shook his head.
"
Thanks, Gina. This should speed things up.
"

They turned to leave. Rob started punching numbers into his phone.

Out in the hall, Tony said,
"
Let
'
s go for a walk. I need to get out of here.
"

"
When I feel that way, I go shopping. Just like today.
"
She smiled sweetly. God, she could be a bitch at times. Tony didn
'
t seem to notice. He appeared deep in thought. They walked off the property and along the tree-lined sidewalk.

"
Rob interviewed Mom this morning. She couldn
'
t help him much, of course.
"

"
Was she okay about it?
"

Tony laughed.
"
Oh yeah. She loves all this attention. At one point, she told Rob how he should try Internet dating sites to find someone special. But he really needed to buy new clothes first.
"

Gina whooped.
"
I
'
ll bet he loved that. The big detective lectured on his love life by a suspect.
"

"
It
'
s pretty hard to keep Mom on topic,
"
Tony said.

They walked in silence for several minutes. The neighbourhood had the shabby look of old gentility. Bushes were overgrown and the sidewalk was cracked and shifting. Gina had to watch her heels, even though these Ferragamo
'
s were pretty flat for her.

"
Look, I need to talk to you about this cousin thing,
"
Tony said out of the blue.

Gina nearly tripped. Tony caught her arm just in time.

"
I know this isn
'
t the best time, with this investigation going on and all, but I need to let you know how I feel about it all.
"

Her heart skipped.
"
You mean about being adopted?
"

He nodded.
"
That and other things. I thought about it, and I don
'
t really mind about being adopted. Mom and Dad raised me well, and I never felt unloved or anything. No, I
'
m actually happy about it, which is perhaps unusual.
"
He paused.

Unusual perhaps, but not unexpected, given the circumstances,
Gina thought
. He
'
s going to bring it out in the open now. What am I going to do? What am I going to say?

What he said next was unexpected.
"
We
'
re not ortho-cousins. Did you ever take anthropology at university?
"

Gina shook her head.

"
Ortho-cousins are cousins whose mothers were sisters, or whose fathers were brothers. In other words, their related parents share the same gender. Cross-cousins are cousins where the related parents are brother and sister.
"
Tony paused to let that sink in.
"
I
'
ve been doing some research lately. In many cultures cross-cousins are allowed to marry but ortho-cousins aren
'
t.
"

"
That
'
s crazy,
"
Gina said.
"
Surely there
'
s no genetic difference.
"

"
True, but they didn
'
t know that back when they made the rules. Genetics wasn
'
t a science then.
"

Tony stopped to pick a dandelion from between the sidewalk crack.

"
Look, Gina, I
'
m crazy about you. I always have been. I couldn
'
t ever dare tell you because it wasn
'
t right. My God, it even seemed like incest. Can you imagine how I felt about that? Me, your older cousin who was supposed to protect you from all the other guys? And all this time I…well, I was just as bad in what I was thinking and feeling. Hiding it from you. Hiding it from everyone like I was some kind of monster.
"

Gina stopped walking
, h
er heart in her throat.

"
But I
'
m not your cousin now
,
"
he said
.
"
At least, we
'
re not related by blood. And I need to know…
"

He
looked
at her intently and in such a way that was both hard and soft at the same time and she thought her heart would stop.

"
Gina,
I need to know if you might possibly be able to see me i
n the same way. Not as a cousin
, but as something more.
"

She didn
'
t know what to say.

He placed
his
hands on her shoulders.
"
Gina?
"

She was in his arms the next second
. A
fter that, there didn
'
t seem a reason to say a word.

When Jerry passed them in the car, he nearly drove off the road.

Chapter 15

"
You
'
re my last interview here, Reggie,
"
Rob said, shaking Reggie
'
s hand.
It had been a long day.
"
And first off, I want to thank you for allowing me to interview your family and houseguests so comfortably at the scene like this.
"

"
It
'
s fine.
"

"
I
'
ll be popping in to see your neighbours on either side, then handling the rest of the investigation from the station.
"

The two men walked together from the doorway to the desk and took seats on either side.

"
You heading up the investigation?
"
Reggie asked.

"
Only
m
ajor
c
rimes
d
etective in Langford Hills.
"

"
Not calling in the O
ntario Provincial Police
? Or
the
R
oyal Canadian Mounted Police
?
"

"
So far, it
'
s not a joint operation,
"
Rob replied, trying hard not to let it show how much Reggie
'
s question pissed him off.

"
I get it. None of my business.
"

"
Let
'
s get to it. And then I
'
ll be out of your hair. Recognize the victim?
"

Rob handed over the photo. He watched Reggie
'
s face. Even when a person forces himself to remain blank, some expression is unavoidable. Unless he
'
s a master spy or something. There was a perceptible widening of Reggie
'
s eyes.

"
Nah.
"

"
Funny, I have a lead on who this is, and you were seen outside
,
"
he looked down at the desk
at
the notes spread out in front of him,
"
the Green Hills Motor Court with a woman who looked just like her.
"

Reggie remained silent.

"
Rethinking your answer?
"

"
All the damn thinking in the world won
'
t change my answer, bud.
"
Reggie
'
s tone was abrasive.

Early days. Could be Ian was lying about seeing Reggie with the victim. Or maybe Ian thought it was the victim, but it was really some other woman. Or some other man. First conflicting witness testimony in the case. Mean
s I
'
m
getting somewhere.

"
So, Reggie, where were you between the hours of 10:00 last night and 7:00 this morning?
"

"
Had a nightcap right here in this room, actually, then went upstairs to bed. That
'
s it, that
'
s all.
"
Reggie placed both hands on his hips, thus increasing the span of his body.
"
Exactly like my wife told you this morning.
"

"
Only thing I asked Carla this morning was if she noticed anything unusual.
"

When Nellie squeezed through the back door into the kitchen, Aunt Becki asked,
"
How was school?
"

"
Okay, I guess.
"

"
No problem on the way home?
"
Mom asked.

"
Nope.
"

A few times during her walks home, Andy, a stupid bully in her class, had ripped up her artwork or whistled in her ear or flipped her skirt. But not today.

"
Chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk for a snack?
"
Mom asked.

"
Yes, please.
"

"
And, sweetie, Aunt Becki has something for you.
"
Mom
'
s face was shiny.

It made Nellie feel good seeing Mom like that.
"
What?
"

In answer, Aunt Becki plunked a square package in front of her spot at the table.

"
Brown paper packages tied up with string,
"
Mom sang.
"
You can open it, hon.
"

So Nellie tugged both ends until the bow loosened and the cord slipped off. Turned the package over and separated the paper where it was Scotch-taped together.
"
A book.
"

"
Can you read any of the words in the title?
"
Aunt Becki asked.

"
The… the…
"
She used her finger to help guide her through the letters, but the next word was way too hard.

"
The Island of Adventure
,
"
Mom said, looking delighted, even though Nellie hadn
'
t managed to read it.
"
By Enid Blyton.
"

"
It may be a bit old for you, but I
'
ll read you some while I
'
m here and I
'
m sure your Mom will want to read it with you
too
.
"

"
Aunt Becki and I both read the whole series when we were—
"

Aunt Becki jumped in.
"
It
'
s a collectible now.
"

"
Good?
"
Nellie asked.

"
Absolutely
,
"
Mom and Aunt Becki said together.

Becki
'
s stomach growled. She went outside for some fresh air and quiet before supper.

Jerry was making the evening meal tonight. He kept yelling at Ian,
"
How do you…? What goes in the…?
"

The sky was coral pink as she wandered down the lawn and stood under the old maple. Rather than look out toward the police tape, the alley, the forest and the setting sun beyond, she faced the house and marvelled at the rapid changes in the light and how it affected the tint of the brick and reflections in the windows.

"
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...
"

Ah, Carla was out, enjoying the remnants of the day. Becki looked around. The yard was empty.
Where is she exactly?

"
…a few of my favourite things.
"

Her voice carried beautifully in the stillness of dusk. Becki turned and walked to the alley. She looked south, but there was no one along its gloomy length. She twisted and looked in the other direction, past the taped off section, and there she saw Carla.

Carla was zigzagging along the gravel dragging one foot.

"
What
'
s wrong?
"
Becki cried.

"
When the dog bites…
"

Her heart began to pound. She was at Carla
'
s side in seconds. Blood, still dripping from Carla
'
s nose, had stiffened the material of the front of her blouse, which was ripped open at the neck; one of her eyes was swollen shut, and the skin around the other was mottled brown and purple; her hair was matted with what Becki also feared was blood.

"
When I
'
m feeling sad…
"

Becki put her arm around her, but Carla kept trudging forward. To stop her, Becki had to step right into her path, look directly into her eyes and whisper,
"
Carla, we
'
re going to the hospital, okay?
"

Rather than wait at the Langford Hills Hospital—which resembled a small clinic in her mind—while the doctor examined Carla, and before calling anyone at the house, Becki headed to the police station two doors down. By now it was dark. She wasn
'
t sure Detective Dumont would be there after his long day at the house, but there would be someone on duty.

She pulled open a heavy glass door, climbed a few stairs, opened another door, crossed a linoleum floor, and waited for service at what looked like a Sears Catalogue counter, except the female clerk who eventually came to see what Becki wanted wore a uniform. And a gun.

"
Help you?
"

"
Detective Dumont in?
"
Becki asked.

"
Ask what this is about?
"

"
A case…A case he
'
s on.
"

"
Which one?
"

"
Murder on Hawthorne.
"

"
I
'
ll get him.
"

The policewoman lumbered
into the back and disappeared down a hallway. Becki was pleased Dumont was still there. While she waited, she tried not to look like a maniac for the sake of the young boy seated on a bench to one side. Finally, she saw Rob Dumont appear at the back of the room. He walked toward the dividing counter.

"
Ms. Green. What
'
s up?
"

"
Another attack.
"

"
When?
"

"
Just found Carla Williamson in back of the house. Nellie
'
s mom. Brought her next door to the hospital. She
'
s beaten bad.
"

"
She say anything?
"

"
Who did it, you mean?
"

Dumont nodded.

"
No. When the nurses asked her, she just kept repeating,
'
I
n the face.
'
But she
'
s hit everywhere. She
'
s limping—
"

Swinging open the gate in the counter, he said,
"
Let
'
s go.
"