1 Bless Her Dead Little Heart (15 page)

“T
here’s no car,” An’gel said. She stared at the door as if she could see through it.

“Yes, there is,” Dickce replied, obviously puzzled. “Kanesha’s squad car is right there on the driveway.”

“Are you all right, Miss An’gel?” Kanesha asked. “Were you expecting another car?”

“There should be another car in the driveway,” An’gel said. “All our other guests have put their cars behind the house, near the garage. I should have realized it earlier, when he arrived.”

“What are you talking about, Sister?” Dickce said.

“Antonio,” An’gel replied. “There’s no car in the driveway, so how did he get here? He surely didn’t walk.”

“That’s definitely strange,” Kanesha said. “He could have taken a taxi from Athena.”

“Then how did he get to Athena? Surely he didn’t take a taxi all the way down from Memphis—assuming that he flew into Memphis, that is.” An’gel couldn’t make sense of it.

“We’ll just have to ask him,” Dickce said. “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.” She chuckled. “Unless he got beamed down from the mother ship.”

An’gel threw her a sour look. She turned to Kanesha. “Let’s go into the library. Dickce and I have a few things to share with you before you talk to Rosabelle.”

An’gel resumed her seat at the desk, and Kanesha and Dickce took chairs near it. Diesel sat in front of the deputy and chirped.

“Yes, cat, I see you,” Kanesha said. Her hands remained on the arms of her chair. Diesel looked at her for a moment before turning and going to sit by An’gel’s chair.

“Dickce, tell Kanesha about the phone conversation you overheard,” An’gel said.

Dickce gave a quick summary of Antonio’s side of the conversation.

“You’re sure that he was talking to a man?” Kanesha asked when she finished.

“Yes,” Dickce replied. “We think it could have been his son in Italy, but the tone of the words sounded a bit, well, intimate, for the lack of any other word.”

“The main point is that he promised this person he was going to ask Rosabelle for a divorce,” An’gel said. “There was no hint of it otherwise in his demeanor toward Rosabelle.”

“That could be a side issue that has nothing to do with the murder,” Kanesha said. “The main point, it seems to me, is the plan to move to Italy and the effect that could have.” She frowned. “What should I call her? Sultan was her maiden name, wasn’t it?”

An’gel nodded. “We still think of her that way. Keeping track of the three husbands and their names seemed like too much trouble. Antonio’s surname is Mingione, but he also has a title, Conte di San Lorenzo.”

“That makes her the contessa, then?” Kanesha asked.

“Yes,” Dickce said. “Now that she wants to go live in Italy, you can bet she’s going to make the most of it, too.”

“Until we solve this case, I can’t allow her to leave the country,” Kanesha said. “She’s a suspect along with most of her family.”

“The only exceptions being Benjy and Junior, right?” Dickce said. “Because they had no opportunity to go upstairs and set the stage for the accident.”

Kanesha nodded. “I’ve ruled them out. I need to talk to the contessa and her husband now. I need to make sure she understands the situation.”

An’gel rose. “I’ll go up and let them know you want to talk to them.” She didn’t relish the prospect of interrupting whatever little tête-à-tête Rosabelle and Antonio might be having. She couldn’t put it off, however. When she arrived at Rosabelle’s room, she tapped lightly on the door. She heard nothing from inside the room. Were they asleep? She rapped soundly three times, and after a moment, Rosabelle opened the door. She was in her dressing gown, and An’gel felt a bit awkward.

She looked at the doorknob as she spoke. “Sorry to bother you, but Chief Deputy Berry is here. She needs to speak to you and to Antonio right away.”

“Now?” Rosabelle sounded peevish. “I suppose we might as well get it over with. Tell her we’ll be down in about ten minutes.”

The door shut in An’gel’s face. Rosabelle hadn’t even given her time to tell her where Kanesha was waiting for them. An’gel turned and went back downstairs.

“They’ll be down in ten minutes,” she reported to the deputy.

“Thank you, Miss An’gel,” Kanesha said.

“Have you made any progress with this case?” An’gel asked.

“Not really,” Kanesha replied. “I have gone over all the statements several times, and there isn’t anything in them that is all that helpful. No one saw anything. There were no fingerprints on either the tube of Vaseline or the water pistol.”

“So frustrating,” An’gel said. “At some point, if you can’t resolve this, you’ll have to let all of them leave, won’t you?”

“Yes,” Kanesha said. “I can’t keep them here indefinitely.”

An’gel wasn’t any happier about that prospect than Kanesha, but at the same time she was looking forward to the time when all the guests were out of the house.

They waited in silence for Rosabelle and Antonio. An’gel felt like she could use a nap. The unrelieved stress of the situation seemed to sap her energy more quickly than if she had been working hard at something all day long.

“Here we are, Deputy Berry,” Rosabelle announced from the doorway. She advanced into the room with Antonio by her side. “You wanted to talk to us, I hear.”

An’gel thought, a bit snidely, that Rosabelle entered like a contessa about to give audience to her peasants. An’gel took a bit of satisfaction from the knowledge that what Kanesha had to say would give her old friend a much-needed reacquaintance with reality.

“Dickce and I will leave you to it.” An’gel rose from her chair. “Come along, Diesel, you, too.”

Antonio stared at the cat. “What manner of creature is this? I have never seen a cat so big.”

Dickce quickly explained about Diesel’s breed and his size. Antonio moved close to the cat and extended a hand. Diesel sniffed once, then moved away. He passed by Rosabelle and out into the hall. An’gel and Dickce exchanged wry glances. The cat was definitely not impressed by the conte or his contessa.

“Thank you for coming down,” Kanesha said.

An’gel moved out of earshot, with Dickce ahead of her. When Dickce lingered in the hallway, An’gel grabbed her arm and pulled her along with her toward the parlor. “No more eavesdropping.”

“Spoilsport.” Dickce grinned and shook her arm loose from her sister’s grasp. “I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough, because la contessa will have something to say. She always does.”

“No doubt about that.” An’gel snorted. “Rosabelle has never met a silence she couldn’t fill.”

Diesel climbed onto the sofa beside An’gel and lay his head and front legs across her lap. She rubbed his head, and he rewarded her with his rumbling purr. Dickce sat at the end of the sofa, with the cat’s tail in her lap.

“I could easily get used to this,” An’gel said. “I’m going to miss you, big boy, when your family gets home and you go back to them.”

She glanced at Dickce, who seemed to be considering something, to judge by her expression. She waited a moment, but Dickce didn’t speak. She could ask whether her sister had something on her mind, but she knew all too well that Dickce wouldn’t share whatever it was until she was ready. There was no point in prodding her.

Her mind returned to an unanswered question that still niggled at her. “When Kanesha is done with them, I want to ask Antonio how he got here. I still think it’s strange that there was no car in the driveway.”

“It is odd,” Dickce said, “but I’m sure there’s an innocent, logical explanation. You’re making too much out of it.”

Perhaps she was, An’gel thought. She simply didn’t like not being able to account for each and every detail.

“Thank goodness the deputy will be in the house again tonight,” Dickce said. “I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty nervous over what could happen. I wonder if the killer is going to make another attempt.”

“Surely if the killer has any brains at all, he or she won’t try again. Not with a deputy in the house and all of us on alert.” An’gel felt the tension increasing every hour. If only there were some way to bring the situation to a head, without anyone getting hurt or killed in the process. Could they possibly set a trap for the killer?

She considered that for a moment, then slowly an idea began to form in her mind.

A high-pitched scream interrupted her thoughts.

A
n’gel winced as Diesel’s front claws dug into her leg. The cat launched himself off her lap, over the arm of the sofa, and onto the floor on the second scream. He tried to wriggle himself under the sofa on the third.

By then An’gel was up off the sofa and heading for the door. She sensed that Dickce was right behind her.

In the hallway she saw Kanesha sprinting up the stairs. Rosabelle stood in the doorway of the library, her head on Antonio’s shoulder with his arms around her. Her heart thudding painfully from the exertion, An’gel climbed the staircase as quickly as she could. Dickce passed her on the last three steps and hurried down the second-floor hallway ahead of her.

Bernice stood outside the door to the guest bathroom huddled against Wade. An’gel reckoned that Bernice was the screamer. As she neared them, Dickce still ahead of her, she could hear Bernice sobbing in Wade’s arms.

“What’s wrong?” Dickce asked when she reached them. An’gel caught up seconds later as Wade pointed, his expression grim, into the bathroom.

“Maudine,” was all he said.

An’gel moved slowly to the bathroom doorway and peered in. The scene inside shocked her, and she thought for a moment she was going to faint. Then she felt an arm around her waist and realized Dickce was there to support her.

Kanesha knelt on the floor near the bathtub, where she was performing CPR on Maudine. Small black objects dotted the floor around them, and An’gel spotted a few on Maudine’s body. Her eyes couldn’t focus at first to allow her to determine what they were.

“I’ll call 911,” Dickce said and slipped away.

An’gel gripped the door frame for support. Her vision settled, and she figured out that the small black objects were spiders.

Spiders?

She felt nauseated. Where had so many spiders come from?

She noticed the spiders weren’t moving. Were they all dead?

Or were they fakes?

She remembered suddenly that Maudine was terrified of spiders. Had someone come in the bathroom while Maudine was in the tub and dumped spiders all over her?

Maybe Maudine had fallen and hit her head while trying to get out of the tub and away from the spiders.

Kanesha continued to work on Maudine. An’gel’s head began to clear. She turned to Wade and Bernice. “Mr. Thurmond, go find your niece. The deputy needs help.” She wondered where Juanita could be as Wade, after a quick nod, hurried down the hall.

Antoinette appeared at the head of the stairs and ran toward An’gel. “I can help,” she said when she reached the bathroom. “I’ve had CPR training.”

“Thank you.” An’gel moved aside and leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to watch any longer. Then she heard crying and realized Bernice’s distress was greater than her own.

An’gel pushed herself away from the wall and approached the distraught woman. “Why don’t you come with me?” she said gently. “Kanesha and Antoinette will do everything they can to help your sister until the paramedics get here.”

She led an unprotesting Bernice all the way down to the front parlor, where Rosabelle and Antonio sat together on the sofa. They had already helped themselves to the liquor cabinet.

“What’s all the noise upstairs?” Rosabelle asked. “Bernice, what’s going on?”

“It’s Maudie,” Bernice said. Her steps faltered, and An’gel feared she might collapse before they reached a chair. Antonio leapt up and came to assist.

“What’s wrong with Maudine?” Rosabelle’s tone was sharp.

“She apparently had a bad fall in the bathroom while taking a bath,” An’gel said. She left Bernice to Antonio’s ministrations and went to pour the shaky woman a glass of brandy. She brought it back and put the glass into Bernice’s hands. “Sip this. It will help.”

Bernice’s hands trembled as they clasped the snifter and lifted it to her mouth. Her color began to return after a couple of sips, and her hands steadied. Antonio returned to his place beside his wife. An’gel pulled a chair close to Bernice’s and sat to sip at her own brandy. She felt the familiar warmth begin to spread, and her tension eased slightly as her heartbeat slowed to normal.

“Maudine always was the clumsiest of my children,” Rosabelle said. “Is she going to be all right?”

“I think you should prepare yourself for bad news,” An’gel said. “I believe Maudine had a terrible scare, and it could have made her have a heart attack.” She saw no reason to soften the blow, especially since she thought Rosabelle’s attitude was far too casual. “Kanesha and Antoinette are performing CPR until the paramedics can get here.”

“A scare? What do you mean?” Rosabelle finally sounded concerned. She started to rise from the sofa, but then her legs seemed to give way and she sat down hard.

Antonio put his arm around her to steady her. “Cara, you are too distressed. You must not try to go to her. You can do nothing to assist.”

“There were spiders all over the floor, and all over her,” Bernice said. Her expression revealed her horror at the memory of what she had seen. “I was in the bedroom, and I heard a noise like something falling next door. So I went to check on Maudie, and that’s when I found her. There on the floor with spiders everywhere. So many spiders.”

“Spiders? Why were there a lot of spiders in the bathroom? Doesn’t anyone ever clean in there?” Rosabelle’s voice rose on every word.

Antonio picked up a glass and put it in her hands. “Please, my darling, you must not excite yourself so. Drink this. Steady yourself.” Rosabelle obeyed and drained the glass.

“Of course that room is cleaned. Regularly and thoroughly.” An’gel glared at Rosabelle. “I don’t believe the spiders are real, frankly. I think they’re rubber.”

“That means someone put them in there deliberately.” Rosabelle shuddered. “Maudine was terrified of spiders beyond all reason. She got that from me. I can’t stand the nasty things.” She shook her head. “She has a weak heart, you know. A shock like that could kill her. Who is the monster in my family who would do such a thing?” She burst into tears and buried her face in Antonio’s shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her gently.

Rosabelle did have maternal feelings after all, An’gel thought. She had begun to wonder whether Rosabelle was so self-centered that nothing could shake her.

Dimly An’gel heard the wail of sirens, coming closer with every second. She glanced down and noticed a large plumed tail jutting out from beneath the empty sofa across from Rosabelle and Antonio.

Diesel
.

She had forgotten all about the cat in the uproar. He was still obviously frightened by all the noise and the heightened emotion. Could she coax him out from under there? She did not want to be scratched, and she thought that might happen if she tried to drag him out.

“Miss An’gel, is there anything I can do?”

An’gel turned to see Benjy approaching. She wondered vaguely where Junior was and then realized he was most likely upstairs near his mother.

“If you could keep an eye on Diesel, I would appreciate it.” She pointed to the twitching tail.

Benjy nodded. He moved quickly to kneel beside the sofa and put his head down at floor level. He spoke softly to the cat, and moments later Diesel crawled out. He let Benjy pick him up, and An’gel felt greatly relieved. The last thing they needed was a traumatized cat getting in the middle of everything.

“I’ll take him out to the kitchen and keep him there,” Benjy said.

“Excellent,” An’gel replied. “Thank you.”

Benjy hurried out with the cat still in his arms.

The sirens sounded loud, and An’gel knew they were coming up the driveway. Suddenly they stopped, and she got up and headed for the front door.

Dickce was already there, cell phone still held to her ear. As An’gel watched, Dickce swung the door open and stood back. The paramedics poured into the hall, and Dickce pointed them up the stairs. Three deputies followed.

Dickce crossed the hall toward her, and she and An’gel waited at the doorway, looking up.

A couple of minutes later, two of the deputies returned, escorting Wade, Juanita, Junior, and Antoinette down the stairs. Juanita had her arm around her cousin. His face contorted by grief, he cried quietly. Juanita led him into the parlor, Wade right behind them.

“I’ll get them all some brandy,” Dickce said.

Antoinette came over to An’gel, and the deputies returned to the second floor.

“Is there any hope?” An’gel said softly to the girl.

Antoinette shook her head. “No, ma’am. She never responded to me or to Kanesha, though we worked on her until the EMTs got there. I think she probably had a heart attack.” She shuddered. “It sure was creepy, those stupid rubber spiders all over her and on the floor. There were some in the bathtub, too. She must have been pretty scared of them.”

“Scared to death,” An’gel said grimly.

“Whoever did that to her is sick,” Antoinette replied. “Unless there’s something else you need, I’m going to help Gran make some fresh coffee. They’re all going to need it.”

“Thank you,” An’gel said. She stared after the girl as she moved down the hall. She kept thinking about the fake spiders. How was it done?

Did one of her family sneak into the bathroom while Maudine was in the tub and throw them on her? If that was the way it happened, she reasoned, then the perpetrator had to be either Bernice or Wade. They were the only two who were upstairs at the time, as far as she knew. Rosabelle and Antonio were downstairs with Kanesha. Where were Junior and Juanita when Bernice started screaming? Could they have been upstairs, too?

She simply couldn’t see Bernice as a cold-blooded, heartless killer. Wade, well, she had little trouble seeing him that way.

Was this another attempt on Rosabelle’s life that had gone wrong? Rosabelle said she was afraid of spiders, like her daughter had been.

Or was Maudine the intended target this time?