Keeping Mum (A Garden Society Mystery) (19 page)

The country club had a huge parking lot and apparently a lot of golfers and early-morning exercisers, so it was easy to pass unnoticed as they sat looking out for Vera Windermere-Sullivan’s BMW. At around ten, Rob sent Cam to buy coffee and he hovered in the trees near the entrance, but there was still no sign of their quarry.

Only after eleven did she finally appear. Cam thought she looked the worse for wear—like maybe she’d partied all night and was now here to try to get back some semblance of respectability. They gave her about five minutes and then followed her in with their guest passes.

Once they’d given Evangeline’s name and the passes to the front desk, they each headed separately to the locker rooms and planned to meet at the pool.

Cam changed and went out, but there was only a pair of old women swimming laps. She wondered if she’d missed some key piece of information about Vera’s workout, and when Rob came out they discussed it, guessing Vera had probably stopped in the sauna. Cam headed back to check and, sure enough, there she was.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Cam said as she entered.

Vera didn’t answer. In fact she didn’t open her eyes. She was propped against the cedar wall, clutching her towel as if it would leave her of its own accord.

Cam sat a step lower. She knew heat rose and was feeling the dehydrating effects of the wine from the night before. Thankfully, she’d had about three bottles of water while they watched for Vera that morning. She really hated to sweat but tried to fake enjoying it, wishing Annie had taken the early shift.

“Do you come here a lot?” Cam asked.

“Mmmm.”

Cam took that for an affirmative, but one not meant to encourage conversation.

“Because my boyfriend and I are thinking about joining. We’re checking it out today.”

The woman opened an eye, but gave no more encouragement than that.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s pretty pedestrian if you’ve ever spent any time at a club in a city, but it seems to be the best of the very limited selection around here. I’ve been a member my whole life, but I’ve been to all the others.”

“You have? Would you be willing to tell me about some of them?” Cam hoped the eager-beaver icebreaker would get Vera talking, and apparently the encouragement to talk a little trash was what was needed. Vera rattled on for about ten minutes about the other clubs. Unfortunately, Cam was beginning to feel light-headed.

“I am so sorry. You’ve been so nice to me, but I’m not used to this sauna. I think I’m going to go swim a few laps,” she said.

She almost fell over as she left, so it was a good thing she hadn’t stayed longer. She had several drinks from the water cooler and then made her way out to the pool where Rob was already swimming laps.

She stopped on the edge and watched him with pleasure. He played baseball in the summer, but took care to get some exercise year-round and he sure looked good in a swimsuit—sort of a Speedo, but the kind with longer legs. He insisted trunks caused too much resistance, and that was okay. He filled these out well. He stopped at the wall in front of her and looked at her questioningly.

“Just admiring your form,” Cam said.

He grinned. “She coming?” he whispered.

“Yes, but we have a minute, or possibly several. I had to get out of there, though. I almost passed out.”

“Yeah, I thought you might be heat sensitive. So let’s make this look real.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m going to help you work on your stroke—it means I get to put my hands all over you,” he teased.

Cam rolled her eyes, but other than an older man in the end lane, they were alone in the pool at present, and the idea didn’t sound too bad, so she jumped in beside him, then came up with a squeal.

“That’s cold!”

“It’s not bad when you’re moving. It’s a good temperature for laps, actually. A lot better than some of the silly pools I’ve been in that are for geriatric water aerobics or something.”

“You be nice,” Cam said.

“I’m just saying warm is fine if you’re standing around, but cool is better to swim.”

She liked warm better, but she knew Rob was probably right.

They made a good effort at “Rob helping Cam,” at least to the degree she could control how ticklish she was. She tried extra hard when she saw Vera come out in her sleek black suit and dive into the lane next to them. She went down and back ten times before she stopped to talk to them.

“So what are you two doing?” she asked.

“This is my boyfriend, Rob. Rob, this is . . . wait. I didn’t get your name,” Cam said.

“Vera.”

“Vera. Nice to meet you. Anyway, Rob swam in high school and so he’s trying to help me swim better.”

“I did that,” Vera said. “Club team here and then my high school. You from around here?”

Cam thought she was flirting with Rob, which annoyed her, but then that
had
been one of their plans. She just wished it hadn’t been so easy to get it going.

“I grew up in Michigan,” Rob said. “And it was water polo, actually. At least once I hit high school.”

She giggled. “Race you.” And then dived under water.

Rob, ever competitive, dived too, without even giving it a thought. Cam moved over a lane. She thought about swimming a lap, and then debated the importance of being there when they got back. Finally, she let the mission win. Rob would get more out of Vera if they could bond as swimmers. He knew the cover story and he was a reporter. She pushed herself off the wall and made an attempt at a real lap.

Rob and Vera were laughing and in conversation when she reached the original side again. She thought she might be getting a stitch and scolded herself for getting out of shape, even though she rode her bicycle regularly. She took a breath and pushed herself to do another lap to give Rob time to work Vera.

When she finally arrived back a second time, Rob thankfully stopped her.

“Cam, Vera is the daughter of the man from the funeral we went to Monday—Derrick Windermere’s daughter.”

Cam gave her best surprised face. “I didn’t recognize you with no clothes and your hair up. I’m so sorry about your dad.”

“Yes, well . . . I appreciate that. And I’m sad, of course. But there is a part of me relieved to not have my life meddled in anymore.”

“Oh! I guess I can see that. He was very powerful. My best friend is Senator Schulz’s daughter, so I know powerful men can be fairly opinionated.”

She didn’t share that strong people didn’t let that stop them. Not everybody could be Annie. Probably if everybody were, chaos would reign, but Cam knew which kind of person she preferred as a best friend.

“I think I’ve met that friend of yours—Annie. Mike, my husband, was the brother of the Senator’s wife, Elle. We were at their wedding.”

“
Was
her brother?” Cam said, hoping she wasn’t overdoing her acting.

“Mike was killed this week, too. It’s been a horrible week.”

Vera seemed to take heart in the sympathy Cam and Rob offered her, so maybe it wasn’t overly contrived. They swam some more, or rather Rob and Vera did, Cam moving to the Jacuzzi spa, and then Vera offered to treat them to lunch in the bar.

“It’s the same menu as the clubhouse, but with a much better choice of cocktails,” she said.

Cam fought the impulse to seek out the clock. She could tell something had transpired conversationally between Rob and Vera. Vera kept saying it was so nice to talk to someone who wasn’t giving her advice or judging her, so somewhere they’d shared something. She tried to squash the fact that it bothered her. And she couldn’t be sure whether she was jealous that Vera was flirting with her boyfriend, or jealous her boyfriend was the one making progress on the investigation. Either reason was silly. This was the plan. But it didn’t stop her from ordering a salad with fresh crab on it for lunch. If Vera was paying, a small part of her wanted to take advantage.

Rob ordered a Cobb salad and a beer, and Vera a cup of soup with a roll and a glass of wine. By the time their food arrived, Vera was ready for a second glass, but Cam wasn’t going to complain. Her sweet tea was just fine and it would give her and Rob a conversational advantage.

“I am so sorry you have to deal with all of this tragedy. Do they know anything about who might have killed your dad yet?” Rob said.

“Mike was murdered, too.”

“That’s horrible,” Cam gasped.

“Were the deaths related then?” Rob asked.

“I can’t see how. They ran in entirely different circles.”

“So what did Mike do?” Cam asked.

Vera sighed. “He worked for Windermere, which I know sounds like I’m contradicting myself. But seriously. He was a nobody in the company. It was just Daddy being charitable.”

“Speaking of Windermere,” Rob said, “I hope this isn’t too personal . . . was there some sort of lawsuit trying to get your dad out of Chrysanthemum Holdings?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me at all. Dozens of people would have liked him out of their way. Possibly even Heather, claiming in his right mind he would have married her, though the reality is, he couldn’t. Mother was blackmailing him on that front. She claims she was protecting my interests, but I think she just never wanted a second Mrs. Windermere.”

“Heather. That’s his . . .”

“Heather Saunders. Girlfriend. For ages.”

“And your mother kept them from marrying?”

“Believe me. She has piles of dirt on my dad. She wouldn’t use it, of course. It would mess with her alimony. But she threatened to where Heather was concerned.”

“Do you know anything else about Chrysanthemum Holdings?”

“Only that that Melvin Entwhistle is a piece of work. My father never should have trusted that weasel.”

“Melvin? Really. Weasel how?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, I’m sure. He just gives me the creeps.”

That seemed to have turned Vera off from official conversation. Instead she wanted to know about what part of Michigan Rob was from, how he’d ended up in Roanoke, and how he and Cam had met. Cam felt like a third wheel, but they’d gotten a lot of valuable information, so she tried not to pout about it as Vera talked through a third glass of wine and a single bite of her berry sherbet.