“You think she killed her husband?”
Hesitantly I nodded, not sure of exactly what to say.
“You think she’s crazy, Sam?” Gus’s raised eyebrows and squinted eyes showed he obviously didn’t.
“Maybe not crazy, but she’s evil. She had to have an accomplice and that accomplice must be a therapist or psychiatrist.”
Gus didn’t bother to swallow his current canapé as he blurted, “An accomplice in writing the books? Or in murder?”
I thought for a second before answering. “Maybe both. Someone had to help her with the details in the books. And she doesn’t have a medical background, so how did she know to slice the vein lengthwise?”
Gus replied, “Hearing all that, it would seem more logical that she didn’t have anything to do with the murder.”
“You surprise me, Gus.”
He put his arm around my shoulder. “Now, I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just suggesting you keep your mind open to other possibilities.”
“Yeah, yeah. But she did it. Really she did. She is just evil.”
“Do your feelings about Carolyn Burns have anything to do with your young fellow?”
I immediately and adroitly changed the subject again. Gus followed suit; after all he was my friend. He took my mind off Michael and Carolyn for a while. I sat and basked in his wit and warmth.
Finally my patience was rewarded and Michael approached me.
“Hi, Sam. Gus.”
Gus echoed my hello.
Michael’s look made me smile. “Can we talk for a minute?” I nodded. “We can go in the kitchen.”
Of course, I’m sure Carolyn never goes in there.
“Sure, Michael. Gus, I’ll see you at home.” I winked at Gus as I walked away.
Michael led me into the kitchen. So far, so good. I was only feeling a slight dizziness. And except for ingesting a couple slugs of pink stomach-soother, I hadn’t eaten anything except the snacks I grabbed on my reconnaissance mission.
Michael turned as he spoke. “I know you have a lot of questions. And I do too. Can you hold them until dinner tonight?”
“Yeah, I guess. But this time, we’re going to dinner even if I’m in a cast from head to toe.”
“I agree. It certainly appears that the fates are conspiring against us. How about if we go for an early meal? I’ll follow you home from here and pick you up right away. That way there’ll be no chance of anything new happening to you.”
“Sounds good to me. By the way, where’ve you been the last hour or so? I looked for you.”
“Oh, you did?” He grinned as if he found that thought appealing. “I was around. We’ve just installed a new security system and I was checking it out, plus I was meeting with one of my associates about taking over for me tonight.”
“Oh, I thought you might have been with Carolyn.”
“No, in fact I haven’t seen much of her since we got back from the cemetery.” He stepped aside as a bejeweled and bewigged matron passed by. “Why did you think I’d be with her?”
“Dunno. Just thought, since you’re her bodyguard that you’d be with her.” I moved as the woman realized she was in the kitchen of all places and beat a hasty exit.
“Well, we decided she’d be safe here. I think she wasn’t feeling well and went up to her room.”
“Is that the big room at the front of the house?” I gestured in the general direction.
“Yeah, it’s the master suite, why?”
“Just curious.” I promptly changed the subject, because I didn’t want to discuss my nefarious activities with him.
While Michael continued talking about the wonders of the new security system, I was thinking about those voices coming from the bedroom. The talker was Carolyn, I was pretty sure of that. She didn’t give me any hard evidence that she was the murderer, but she did talk about someone keeping their mouth shut and “proof.” I still couldn’t figure out who the mumbler was. Did I actually think it might have been Michael? Impossible. He was a nice guy and I had no reason to suspect him. Any guy who liked me couldn’t be all bad. Besides, he was too gorgeous to be a crook.
“Are you ready to go? You don’t seem too interested in hearing about my work.”
I tuned back in. “I’m interested; just getting hungry. I haven’t eaten much today. And yes, I’m ready, but I did want to express my condolences to Mrs. Burns. Why don’t you get our coats and I’ll see if she’s available?”
He agreed and went off in search of the butler.
I climbed upstairs, as fast as I could, intent upon checking Carolyn’s bedroom. The door was opened slightly. There was no one else in sight and hopefully Mr. Stiff Upper Lip Butler was busy getting our coats.
I accidentally nudged the door with my foot. At least I hoped it looked accidental, in case anyone was watching. As I peeked around the corner, I gained confidence. After all, this wasn’t a movie or TV. This was real life and no one would hurt me. George had assured me that my car wreck was an accident and the jury was still out on the gas leak. So I felt pretty safe.
The huge bedroom was too opulent for my taste. And almost as big as my carriage house. Off to the left was the bathroom. I didn’t see or hear anyone, so I stepped inside.
The ornate and fussy furniture looked like it was lifted directly from Buckingham Palace. I smirked as I pictured Carolyn lounging on the brocade-covered furniture in an overly dramatic pose. The red velvet was cloying and I almost choked at the ostentatious décor of the room.
I took a few more steps inside. The room was obsessively neat. Mine would be neat too if I had the servants she had. There didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary—at least for that house.
I opened the gigantic walk-in closet. My bedroom could easily fit in it. Women’s clothing, shoes, hats, bags and general “stuff” filled the entire area. I wondered where Dr. Burns’ clothes were. Surely Carolyn hadn’t disposed of them already. I didn’t see another closet, but perhaps he’d used one in another bedroom.
“Ms. Darling, may I help you?”
Carolyn Burns poked her head around the corner and seemed happy that she caught me off guard and red-handed.
“I was just looking for the bathroom. Is this the only one up here?”
“Come now, Ms. Darling. Isn’t it just possible that you were snooping? Isn’t that a bit rude? To be snooping through the bedroom of a grieving widow?”
I knew I was right. Carolyn Burns was a smart-ass. Maybe that wasn’t incontrovertible evidence that she was a murderer, but it sure helped point the finger.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Mrs. Burns. I wasn’t snooping. I just have a lousy sense of direction.” It was a clever line and it was delivered with no eye contact.
“Then I apologize. I’ll be happy to show you to the other powder room.”
“No need. I don’t have to go anymore. So I think I’ll go home. I have a date with Michael, you know.” I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to rub it in.
Carolyn looked uncomfortable and a mite jealous. Of course, I was delighted with that.
I exited, with a lot more aplomb than I felt. This woman made me sick—figuratively and literally. I felt so dizzy that I almost needed the use of her chaise lounge myself. These vibes of mine were a pain in the ass. They’d never been this bad before. Maybe that was because I’d never met a murderer before Carolyn. The room spun around every time I was near her and only slightly less so around Michael. It made no sense to me that I felt the same way around Michael as I did around Carolyn. There’s no way he was involved in the crime; I just knew it. I wondered why I felt so unsteady around him.
Rather than dwell on that, I chose to ignore it and concentrate on clearing my head. Despite telling Carolyn I didn’t need the bathroom, I found it and did a mirror talk.
“Listen, Sam, don’t be a wimp. You know Carolyn is the murderer because of your physical reaction toward her. Go with those instincts. Believe them. Now stop being a dizzy blonde.” That made me laugh and I suddenly realized that I was making a lot of noise and quickly flushed the toilet, hoping that would cover my indiscretion.
“And yes, she’s beautiful…but Michael likes you. She’s just a business arrangement to him.” I batted my baby blues at myself and felt more confident.
Well, enough introspection. It was time to let Michael follow me home and for us to finally go on our date.
Gus was already gone, so there was no one else I needed to speak to. I garnered my coat from Michael and we started out the door. I had the feeling I was forgetting something, but couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Hi ya, Sam. Forget something?” George grinned.
I glowered. “Go get in the car.”
I turned to the guy who mattered. “Michael, I need to drop George off at the church. That’s where he left his car. I’ll meet you at my house in about fifteen minutes. Okay?” My glower turned to a glow.
“Sure. See you in a few minutes. Bye, Detective. Good to see you.”
“Yeah, you too, O’Dear.”
After Michael turned away George spoke again, “By the way, O’Dear, I’d like to get together with you tomorrow and talk about the case. I heard you tell Sam that Mrs. Burns hired you to protect her and also to investigate the murder. I want to hear what you know.”
Michael turned back toward us. “Sure, Detective, I’d be happy to meet with you. Maybe you can help me too.”
I really didn’t want to talk to George during the trip back to the parking lot, but I wanted to get information from him. Short of giving him mind-altering drugs, the only way I could milk his brain was to talk to him.
“So, George,” I turned and smiled, “did you find out anything?”
“WATCH OUT!”
I swerved, missing the car in front of us by inches. My smile disappeared.
“So, did you find out anything?” My eyes were glued to the road; my hands gripped the steering wheel.
“I found out that Dr. and Mrs. Burns didn’t share the master bedroom. He used one of the guest rooms.”
“Oh, I knew that. His clothes weren’t in the closet in the master suite.” I didn’t care that I sounded smug and self-satisfied.
“So what were you doing in Carolyn’s bedroom?”
“Using the bathroom,” I lied, not hard to do with my eyes on the road. “What else did you find out?”
“He had a sweetie on the side.”
“Everybody knows that. Gwen Schneider.”
“Nah, I mean besides her.”
I turned my head and stared at him. I didn’t want him to see my surprise—or get in a wreck—so I quickly faced forward again. Maybe I needed to delve a little more at work tomorrow.
“Who’s the other girlfriend?” I tried to sound nonchalant.
“I don’t know, but apparently she’s fairly new.”
“Okay, I’ll find out for you, if you want.” I stopped the rental next to his unmarked police car.
“Sure, yeah. Well, here we are. Don’t forget, Sam. We’ll talk more at dinner tomorrow night. I’ll see you at six at The Rectory.” George opened the door.
“I won’t forget. You’ll recognize me as the one wearing a bunny fur and wrist corsage.”
“Very funny. Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After he shut the car door I thought that George was the last person I wanted to concentrate on right now, but his face kept popping up in my brain as I drove away. I wondered why he was being so nice to me. I also wondered what he wanted. The good news was that he said it was okay for me to find out who Dr. Burns’ new girlfriend was. For now though, I needed to just forget about good old George Lansing as I had other fish to fry.
I wished I had time to bait the hook a little better, but Michael was already parked by the carriage house when I pulled up.
“Hi.” His smile lit up his face and my hopes.
“Hi. Come on in. I need just a minute to freshen up.” Was that me who said “freshen up?” I’d never said those words before in my life. “I also have to take Clancy out for a few minutes.”
Clancy vacillated between being happy to see me and glaring at me because I’d been gone for the day. She gave in and got excited. When she wagged her tail, her whole butt moved from side to side in what I called the “Clancy Rumba.” It was cute and endearing, making me remember another reason we adopted her.
“Nice dog,” Michael said as he hunkered down with his palm outstretched.
“Thanks. She’s a member of the family.”
Clancy sidled over to Michael and began sniffing him. Finally she lay down in front of him and rolled onto her back, allowing him to scratch her belly.
I laughed, “I’m afraid she has no shame.”
“That’s all right with me,” Michael replied, “I love dogs.”
“Would you like a drink while you’re waiting? I’m afraid all I have is beer and wine.”
“I’ll take a beer. Why don’t you do what you have to do and I’ll help myself.”
He and Clancy were still involved when I left the room.
It only took me a moment to “freshen up.” I decided to wear the same outfit I’d worn all day and only needed to refresh my make up and run a brush through my hair.
By the time I returned, Michael was sitting on the couch drinking a beer and Clancy was sitting in front of him with a look of adoration on her face.
“C’mon, girl. Let’s go outside.”
She beat me to the door. I heard Michael laugh at her behavior. That made me like him even more.
Clancy didn’t need a leash to go outside. She was trained to stay in the yard. She also was trained to “use the facilities” on all of Georgianne’s plants. An immature move on my part, I knew, but by the time I thought better of it, it was too late to change Clancy’s behavior. Since it was January, Clancy’s choices were limited and she chose a small evergreen by Georgianne’s back door.
I filled Clancy in on the latest goings on while we were outside, hoping that this would appease her a bit. She appeared interested but I could tell that she thought she should be my crime-solving partner rather than Michael or Gus.
Clancy finished her business and looked at me expectantly. “Good girl, Clancy. C’mon, let’s go in.”
She wasn’t excited about returning inside and I finally pushed her a little with my knee, urging her through the door. She looked at me, sniffed, glanced at Michael once, turned on the charm to get one more scratch from him, and then went to her bed. I used to think it was my bed, but actually we shared it. However, I was sure that Clancy thought it was hers and that she allowed me to share it with her.