Murder of a Barbie and Ken (28 page)

—W. E. Hickson

M
s. Denison, phone call, line two.” The elementary school’s PA announcement startled Skye into spilling a can of diet Coke over the papers she had spread on her desk.

After brooding all Sunday night about the fiasco with Lu Ginardi, Skye had somehow managed to sleep through her alarm Monday morning, thus starting one of those days where the smart move would have been to crawl back under the covers and wait for the next sunrise. Now, at two-fifty-nine, with school letting out at three o’clock, a phone call could not mean good news.

As she hurried down the hall to the main office, visions of angry parents, irate superintendents, and litigious lawyers danced in her head.

Skye lifted the receiver and identified herself.

“Skye, honey, this is Bunny. I’m so relieved I found you.”

Skye stifled a groan and forced a pleasant tone. “Hi, Bunny. What’s the problem?”

“I had a gentleman caller this afternoon that I thought you should know about.”

“Who came to see you?” And why did Bunny want to share this information with Skye?

“Bob Ginardi.”

Uh-oh. “What did he want?” Had he figured out that Skye and Simon were behind Lu’s being questioned by Wally yesterday? Was he using Bunny in his retaliation?

“Well, when I first got to town, I contacted him about my little problem with the law. I had, ah, gotten rid of some papers about my court supervision and then I found out I needed them, so I asked him if he could help me.”

“And did he?” Skye pulled up a chair and sat down. This was obviously going to be a long conversation.

“I didn’t have enough money for his fee—so, no. But today when he stopped by, he suggested something I could trade for his help.” Bunny paused dramatically, then stage-whispered, “He wanted me to pump you for information and report back to him.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s apprehensive that you’ve ascertained some unsavory information about the GUMBs, and since he was elected Imperial Brahma Bull yesterday, he wants me to find out exactly what you know.” It was clear from the terminology she was using that Bunny was quoting Ginardi word for word.

Skye was surprised to hear that Ginardi had beat Charlie out of becoming the grand pooh-bah, but she refocused on what Bunny was saying. “I see. And did you agree?”

“I told him that I’d think about it and get back to him. That’s why I called you to see what you wanted me to do.”

Skye twisted the phone cord around her finger. What was Ginardi up to? “Listen, Bunny, I’ll go over and clear this up
with him as soon as I finish up a couple of things here at school. You stay away from him.”

“Sure. I figured that’s what you’d want to do.” Bunny paused again. “Ah, say, ah, let me know what happens, okay?”

“I’ll do that,” Skye promised, then added, “I have a friend who’s an attorney. I’ll ask her to call you and see about getting copies of those papers you need. Her name is Loretta Steiner.”

“Gee. Thanks. That’s really sweet of you.”

“Thanks for letting me know about Ginardi. Take care. Bye.”

It was close to four when Skye parked in front of Ginardi’s law office. She’d had to attend a last-minute meeting at school and then decided she’d better call Loretta about Bunny’s legal problems before she forgot. As she closed her car door, she spotted Simon sitting in his Lexus two spaces over. He saw her at about the same time and got out of his car. They met on the sidewalk in front of the building.

“What are you doing here?” Skye asked.

“I was out of the office for a while, and when I got back there was a message from Bunny on my machine telling me about Ginardi’s visit to her and your plan to speak to him this afternoon.” Simon opened the front door and gestured for Skye to go inside. “I didn’t think you should talk to him alone.”

“You’re probably right. It’s always good to have a witness when you have a discussion with a lawyer other than your own.” Skye looked around the small waiting room. It was empty; even the secretary’s chair was vacant. “Maybe he’s not here.”

Simon walked over to the closed office door and knocked.

A voice yelled, “Come in.” Ginardi was sitting at his desk. He looked from Skye to Simon and said, “What a surprise.
Come in. Have a seat. Did you two come by to draw up a prenuptial agreement?”

“No,” Skye answered. “I understand you’re concerned about what I might have figured out about the GUMBs.”

“Well, since I’m now Imperial Brahma Bull, it is my duty…”

While Ginardi was speaking, Skye noticed a silver and white snowsuit hanging from the back of the coat tree in the corner. She swallowed a gasp as the answer to everything hit her dead-on. Now she knew where she had gone wrong in her previous attempt to figure out who had committed the murders.

Bob Ginardi was the “alien” Justin had spotted at the Kesslers’ the night of the sex party. He must have been wearing the snowsuit and a pair of oval snowshoes when he was following her through the cemetery.

She had been so stupid. Why hadn’t she noticed that the Ginardis weren’t among the partyers? Ginardi’s son had been the one Justin overheard talking about the party. The Ginardis should have been there.

And if Bob Ginardi was the one following her that night… Damn! She had checked the alibis for the women Barbie was bleeding dry, but not the women’s husbands. They would have had as much motive as their wives. She had overlooked the obvious, and now she and Simon were sitting in a deserted building with the murderer.

Skye nodded as Ginardi finally finished his speech about protecting the GUMB reputation. “I completely agree with you,” Skye said. “That’s why I came by, to reassure you that I would keep that information completely confidential.” She stood and tugged Simon to his feet, pulling him toward the door. “We have to go now.”

“No need to rush off.” Ginardi smiled. “How about a drink to celebrate my victory?”

Something in Skye’s expression must have tipped him off that she had figured out he was the killer because she could
see a sudden dawning of understanding on his face. In the blink of an eye he turned from genial host to stone-cold killer.

When he reached into his desk drawer, Skye looked at Simon. He had caught the transformation, too, and was shoving her out into the reception area and toward the outside. But they were too slow. Ginardi caught up with them before they got to the door.

He pointed a gun at Skye. “I see our town sleuth has finally fumbled her way into figuring things out.”

Skye tried playing dumb. After her misjudgment of Lu yesterday, it wasn’t much of a stretch of her acting abilities. “I told you I wouldn’t say anything about the GUMBs.”

“No. You won’t.” He gestured toward a storage cabinet located behind the secretary’s desk. “Both of you get over there.” Once they had complied, he followed and reached inside. “Here.” He handed Skye a roll of duct tape and pointed at Simon. “Tape his hands behind his back and put a piece over his mouth.”

Skye looked at Simon, who nodded slightly. After she had finished, Ginardi checked her work, adding a couple of extra loops to tighten the tape. “Now, we’re all going for a ride.”

He grabbed Skye by the arm, pushing the gun into her side and dragging her outside toward the Lincoln Navigator parked at the curb. “Skye, you get to drive. Simon, sorry, you’ll have to ride in back. And if you try anything, your snoopy girlfriend gets a bullet in the head.”

They all climbed inside. Skye desperately searched the street for someone to help them, but there was no one in sight.

Ginardi prodded her with the gun. “Drive east, as if you were going to Kankakee.”

She slowly backed the massive vehicle onto the street and started down the road.

When they were out of the city limits, Ginardi said, “I
thought you were really off course when you went and spied on the Kesslers’ little orgy.”

“I guess I was,” Skye acknowledged. “So why did you ask Bunny to get information from me?”

“I got worried when you went over to the Addisons’ house Saturday. It was quite an unpleasant surprise to find Chief Boyd there, too.” Ginardi frowned, as if just remembering something. “What did you find there?”

“Nothing.” Skye pasted a disappointed expression on her face. “It was a big waste of time. The chief was really annoyed at me.” Wanting to get his mind off that topic, she said, “What I don’t understand is why you asked me to investigate.”

“I didn’t. Tony Zello did. He was hellbent on you finding the murderer and saving the club’s reputation. He would have thought it strange if I didn’t go along with him.”

“Oh.” Come to think of it, Tony had been the more insistent of the two. Skye bit her lip. She had really missed a lot of clues, like Lu’s reaction at the police station yesterday. Lu must have known her husband was the killer, and that’s why she was relieved when Skye accused her rather than Bob.

“Turn left here,” Bob Ginardi ordered.

Skye glanced at the side mirror before stomping on the brakes and cranking the steering wheel. She swung the huge SUV onto the gravel road he had indicated. Had the truck behind them seemed familiar? Probably just wishful thinking, but just in case, she’d make sure Ginardi didn’t notice. “For a fifty-thousand dollar vehicle, this Navigator drives worse than my dad’s old pickup.”

Ginardi’s eyes narrowed slightly, but then he smiled. “You should watch that smart mouth.” He patted a rifle case next to him. “It’ll get you into trouble someday.”

Skye wouldn’t play his game. She wanted to rile him up, keep his eyes off the road behind them and on her. “Your ridiculous little opinion has been noted.”

“Is that the best you can do? You’re not very good at inflicting
pain, are you?” Ginardi reached over and slapped her with such force that her head snapped back. “I, on the other hand, in my practice as an attorney, have made an art of it.”

The SUV swerved, but she wrestled it back into the right lane. Skye looked in the rearview mirror. Simon was struggling wildly to free his hands, and the truck she thought she had seen had disappeared.

She ignored the throbbing in her head and forced her voice to sound undisturbed as she asked, “Is that why you killed the Addisons, because you enjoy causing pain?”

Ginardi ignored her comment and pointed to a dirt path. “Take a right here.”

“Where’re we going?” They had been driving for nearly an hour, mostly down gravel and dirt roads. She knew they had originally headed south out of Scumble River, but after the first couple of turns, she had become completely lost.

“Camping.”

“Huh?”

“A client of mine has a hunting cabin down here, which, due to an unfortunate incarceration, he won’t be using for the next ten to twenty years.” Ginardi smiled as his own wit. “By the time he’s free to go camping again, I’m afraid you and Reid will be just a pile of bones.”

“Oh.” This wasn’t looking good. She glanced at Simon again in the mirror. He was still trying to get his hands loose.

“Stop.” Ginardi pointed to a spot by the side of the road. “Park here. We have to hike the rest of the way in.”

The path was overgrown and hard to follow. Ginardi made Skye and Simon walk ahead of him, keeping his gun pointed at Skye’s head and carrying the rifle under his left arm.

Skye’s mind was working furiously. Should she pretend to trip? If Simon had freed his hands, this might be a good time to try to escape. Ginardi hadn’t seemed to notice when
she’d casually tucked the keys to the Navigator in her pants pocket.

Before she could decide what to do, they emerged from the trees into a small clearing occupied by a rustic cabin. Ginardi urged them up the steps and onto the small porch. He unlocked the door with a key he took from above the doorframe, and pushed them inside.

A thick layer of dust coated the meager furnishings, and the air was rancid with the smell of decay. Ginardi sniffed. “Rufus must not have cleaned up very well after his last kill.”

Skye wondered if Ginardi was talking about deer hunting or something worse. It was time for a tactical reconsideration. She still couldn’t tell if Simon’s hands were free, but she’d have to take a chance, and soon. “You know, Bob, I still don’t understand why you killed the Addisons.”

“I did it for Lu, of course.” He forced Simon to sit. “Tape his arms and legs to the chair.”

“Because of the Instant Gourmet contract?” Skye asked as she followed Ginardi’s orders.

“Barbie was bleeding us dry with that damn contract. I went over that day to get her to tear it up. She refused.”

“That must have made you furious.” Skye tried to keep him talking as she edged closer to the rifle he had set on the table near the door.

“Barbie was supposed to be Lu’s best friend. She made Lu feel like an idiot for even wanting to read the contract before signing it. Lu can’t stand feeling stupid, so she signed. Then when she realized what she had done, she got depressed, lost weight, couldn’t sleep. If Barbie wouldn’t tear up that contract, then I had to end it another way. She left me no choice. I had to terminate her before she killed my wife.”

“Is that why you tore up the house? Were you looking for the contract?” Skye asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t find much. She must have kept everything on her laptop, and I destroyed that.”

Skye didn’t mention the disks they had found. Bob was the city attorney; if he knew about them he could easily make the disks “disappear” from the evidence locker. “But why did you kill Ken?”

“That was bad luck on his part. He came home unexpectedly, right after I put Barbie’s body in the freezer. I had to kill him, too. I snuck up behind him, slipped the loop of ribbon around his neck, and pulled it tight.” Ginardi paused, then smiled coldly. “Since you won’t be telling anyone, I might as well confess. I was glad to see him dead. He had slept with my wife, while his wife was screwing her with that Instant Gourmet crap. They both deserved to die.”

Skye felt the back of her leg brush against the table. She almost had the rifle.

Suddenly, Ginardi noticed what Skye was doing, and snatched the gun before she could nab it. Enraged, he swung the rifle stock at Simon’s head.

Skye rushed toward him, but Ginardi grabbed her and threw her against the wall. Dazed, she watched in horror as blood spurted from Simon’s temple and he sagged in the chair. He moaned, and then was silent.