Obsessed (41 page)

Vera told herself to stop being silly. There was nothing frightening out here at the beach. There were no wild animals, and the sea birds couldn’t hurt her. She had just started to search the grass, when the wind picked up, and blew a gust of salty spray di rectly into her face.

“Damn!” Vera turned away from the spray, and wiped her eyes on the edge of her skirt. When she opened her eyes again, she realized that the night had grown much darker. A bank of clouds had moved to cover the moon, and she could no longer see the gen tle waves lapping up against the sand.

As Vera parted the tall grass, she began to shiver. It was scary, out here at night. A moment ago, the waves had been gentle, sliding into the wet sand like a soft caress. But now that the wind had picked up, the ocean was becoming turbulent, and the waves were rolling in much faster.

There was a crash, and Vera almost screamed. But it was only the waves, beating against a large rock at the ocean’s edge. As Vera stood there, they pelted the shore in a staccato burst of sound, crashing and slap ping against the rocks lining the shore. There was no doubt about it. A storm was blowing in. Ocean gales came up quite suddenly in the summer, and it sounded as if they were in for some nasty weather.

Vera knew she should turn around and go back to the beach house. She had to make sure the shutters were fastened, and the windows were tightly closed. But Michael might be sleeping out here in the open. She had to find him before the rain started pelting down.

As she knelt down to part the sea grass again, the wind whipped and howled around her face. That was when she heard it, a high eerie voice that called out to her. Vera . . . come closer, Vera. I need you.

Vera jumped back, startled. And then she laughed. For a moment the voice had sounded like Judy, but it must have been her imagination. Judy was dead, and Vera wasn’t the least bit superstitious. She’d only said she believed in Judy’s ghost as part of her plan to lure Michael away from Carla.

She was about to part the sea grass again, when she saw a dark shape loom up behind her, and a hand touched her shoulder. Michael was back. Thank goodness for that! There was still time to put her plan into effect. All she had to do was get him inside the house and lure him to bed.

“Michael! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Vera stood up and dusted off her skirt. Then she turned, a welcoming smile on her face. But Vera’s smile quickly turned into an expression of terror as her eyes were drawn to the glittering shape of an arrow.

“No!” Vera screamed once, but her cry was lost in the howling wind. She kicked out as hard as she could, and the heel of her sandal connected solidly. But before she could whirl and run, something big and heavy crashed down on her head, plunging her into eternal darkness.

Fifteen

It was eleven o’clock on Monday morning when Carla turned into the driveway of the beach house again. Almost twelve hours had passed since she’d left the party, and the parking area was still crowded with cars. Vera’s old Honda was still there, right next to Michael’s Lincoln, but with the exception of a pickup truck she didn’t recognize, all the rest of the cars belonged to the police.

Carla parked behind Michael’s Lincoln, and got out of her car. Yellow tape with black lettering blocked off the path around the side of the house. It was printed with the legend, DO NOT ENTER—PO LlCE CRIME SCENE.

“Carla! Wait up!”

Carla turned to see Andy pulling into the driveway. Linda was with him, and she was frowning as she jumped out of the van. “Isn’t it awful? Andy says they found another arrow!”

“I know.” Carla nodded. “Andy told me when he called. But why do the police want to see us?”

Andy came up just in time to hear her question. “My uncle needs to interview everyone who was at the party. He’s in charge now, and he’s the one who decided to do the interviews here.”

“But, why?” Carla was curious.

“He thought that bringing everyone to the scene of the party might jog our memories about what hap pened last night.”

“They don’t think Michael had anything to do with it, do they?” Carla held her breath as she waited for Andy to answer.

“I don’t know. My uncle didn’t tell me much on the phone. He just said to call everyone and tell them to come here. That’s all I know, Carla . . . really.”

When they knocked on the front door, a young rookie answered. They gave him their names, and he checked them off on a list. Then he motioned to them to follow him. “Right this way. They’re meeting in the living room.”

The living room was large, and there were several couches and chairs. Carla felt her eyes fill with tears as she saw Michael sitting alone on a couch. He looked pale, and there were dark circles under his eyes.

“Carla?”

Michael looked up and met her eyes. He didn’t say any more, but Carla knew exactly what he wanted. She sat down next to him, and gave him a big hug. And then she motioned for Andy and Linda to join them. Michael needed his friends around him.

Just then Detective Davis came out of the dining room, and motioned to a stranger who was sitting in a chair across the room. The stranger got up to follow Detective Davis, and the door closed behind them.

The minute they were gone, Linda turned to Mi chael. “Who was that? I didn’t notice him at the party.”

“That was Vera’s brother. He got here at three a.m. He’s the one who found Vera and called the police. I didn’t even know there was anything wrong until I heard the sirens and woke up.”

“Woke up where?” Carla held her breath. She hoped it wasn’t where she thought it was.

“Out on the beach. I went to sleep behind the bar. I guess Vera came out to look for me, because her brother found her about fifty yards away.”

“But why were you sleeping outside?” Linda was clearly puzzled. “There was a storm last night.”

“That’s what they told me. But I slept through it. Actually, I was . . . uh . . . it’s kind of embarrassing, but I guess I was passed out cold.”

“The vodka.” Andy nodded. “You drank a lot of it. Vera told the bartender to spike your drinks. I tried to warn you, but you were too drunk to listen to me.”

“I wish I had!”

Carla nodded. She wished the same thing. But it was too late to think about that. Michael hadn’t lis tened, and now he was in big trouble.

“Let me get this straight.” Andy began to add up the facts. “You were passed out behind the bar, and Vera went out to look for you. But the Cupid Killer found her and killed her. And then her brother just happened to come out here at three in the morning, looking for her?”

Michael nodded. “That’s what he said.”

“There’s something strange going on.” Andy looked very serious. “Did you tell Vera you’d spend the night with her?”

“That’s right. I promised her I’d stay after the party.”

“Then why did she have to spike your drinks to keep you here? And why did her brother show up at three o’clock? It just doesn’t make sense unless . . . wait a second! Think carefully, Michael. Do you think Vera was setting you up for the badger game?”

“The what?” Michael frowned.

“The badger game. A girl gets a guy in bed with her, and then her husband, or some other member of her family catches them. It’s all set up ahead of time, but the guy doesn’t know that. He’s scared, so he pays them off. That would explain why Vera spiked your drinks.”

“Huh?” Michael winced and held his head. “Sorry. I’m not thinking very well right now. You’d better explain it again.”

“Let me put this another way. What would you have said if Vera had asked you to go to bed with her? Be honest.”

Michael frowned. “I would have told her thanks, but no thanks. Vera was a nice girl, but I wasn’t in terested in her that way. When I promised I’d stay the night with her, I made it very clear that nothing was going to happen between us.”

“Ah-ha!” Andy looked excited. “Vera knew you wouldn’t cooperate, so she spiked your drinks to get you in bed! She probably figured you’d go along with her if you were drunk. And then her brother was sup posed to find you, and raise the roof.”

“But, why? I don’t have any money.”

“Your parents do.” Carla sighed deeply. She was beginning to understand exactly where Andy’s ques tions were leading. “Vera must have thought that your parents would pay to keep the whole thing quiet. I know she was desperate for money. She borrowed fifty dollars from me just last week.”

Linda gave a little groan, and they turned to look at her. She was clearly upset. “This is my fault! I never realized that Vera would take me seriously. But she must have!”

“What are you talking about?” Andy put his arm around Linda’s shoulder and gave her a little shake. “Tell us!”

“Well . . . Vera told me they wouldn’t let her enroll in modeling school unless she could raise a thousand dollars by the first of September. She said she’d al ready borrowed from everybody at Covers, but she was still five hundred short.”

Andy looked surprised. “So that’s where the money was going! She borrowed fifty from me, too.”

“She was really worried about it.” Linda gave a little sigh. “She told me she’d die if she couldn’t get into that modeling course. She said she didn’t know how she was going to raise the money, and I . . . I told her to go out and find a rich boyfriend!”

“Okay, I get the picture.” Andy stood up and squared his shoulders. “Excuse me, guys. I’ve got to talk to my uncle.”

They watched as Andy marched in the dining room door, and then Carla turned to Michael. “Do you think your parents would have paid Vera five hundred dollars?”

“Maybe.” Michael looked thoughtful. “They might have done it, I’m just not sure. But I can’t believe Vera would set me up for something like that. There has to be some other explanation!”

Carla and Linda exchanged glances. They didn’t have any trouble believing that Vera had set Michael up. They knew how desperate she’d been for money, and they’d never thought that Vera had been serious about exorcising Judy’s ghost. Vera and her brother had planned the whole thing to take advantage of Michael’s good nature. That made Carla so mad, she was almost glad that Vera was dead.

“Well . . .” Linda sighed deeply. “We’ll never know for sure unless Vera’s brother talks. Right, Carla?”

Carla nodded, but her mind wasn’t really on Vera’s brother. She was thinking about a problem that had occurred only to her, and she certainly didn’t want to share her concerns with Linda and Michael. Vera could have planned to extort money from Michael’s parents. That made perfect sense. But if Michael had tumbled to her scheme, it would have given him the perfect motive to kill her!

The interviews with the police took up most of the day. Mr. Calloway offered to cancel the performance at Covers that evening, but no one wanted that to happen. Covers had a perfect record for the two years it had been in existence. They’d never canceled a per formance before, and they weren’t about to do it now.

Carla sighed as she glanced out at the audience. A full house. And everyone who came in, wanted to know about how Vera had died. Of course they hadn’t given out any information, but rumors were flying.

“Carla?” Linda tapped her on the shoulder. “Mi chael wants to see you. He’s in the dressing room.”

“How is he?”

“Shaky. Very shaky. I think he needs a pep talk before he goes out on stage.”

Carla nodded, and headed for the dressing room. Of course Michael was shaky. They all were. But he had more reason to be upset than any of them. He was definitely a suspect. Andy had told her that. Even though Michael claimed he’d been behind the bar sleeping, there were no witnesses to prove that it was true. And since he admitted to being right there on the beach when Vera had been murdered, the police had interviewed him for hours before they’d finally let him go.

“Michael?” Carla knocked on the door, and Mi chael called out for her to come in. She pushed open the door, and gasped as she saw him sitting on a chair in front of the makeup table. In the harsh lights, his face looked haggard, and no amount of stage makeup could conceal the dark circles under his eyes or the pale cast to his skin.

“Carla. Boy, am I glad to see you!” Michael patted the chair next to him. “They think I did it, you know.”

“Who thinks you did it?”

“Everybody. The police, Vera’s relatives, every body here at Covers. And I didn’t, Carla! I didn’t kill Vera!”

“I know you didn’t.” Carla put her arm around Michael’s shoulders and hugged him tightly. But Mi chael pulled away.

“You’ll doubt me, too, when I tell you what I told the police. But I have to tell you. It’s the truth. And I can’t hold anything back from you. It wouldn’t be right.”

Carla frowned slightly. What was Michael talking about? “You can tell me, Michael. It won’t make any difference. I’m sure you didn’t kill Vera, and noth ing’s going to change my mind.”

“When I went down to the bar, I found the bottle of vodka. My name was on it in Vera’s handwriting, and I knew she’d been spiking my drinks. I didn’t know why, but I was mad enough to kill her. And then I passed out.”

Carla nodded. “That’s just it, Michael. You passed out. There’s no way you could have killed Vera if you were passed out cold.”

“What if I woke up? I was so drunk, I might not remember. What if I heard Vera come down to the beach, looking for me? And what if I was still so mad about that bottle of vodka that I . . . I killed her?”