Murder at the Bellamy Mansion (20 page)

“
Did you see anything else?” Diane asked.

“
No. I don’t know if he tripped or was pushed, or if he hit his head. Or what happened. Don’t the people at the hospital know? I only saw him on the ground.”

“
Then what happened?” Diane asked.

“
All of a sudden, Jackie was there, and she kept telling the paramedics that Brian was allergic to peanuts. She thought he had ingested peanuts. But Elaine insisted she had not used peanuts or peanut oil in the food she prepared.”

“
Elaine?” she asked. “Who is Elaine?”

She had to know who Elaine was; she was just trying me.

“
Elaine, the caterer,” I replied.

Nick nodded. His gaze traveled past me, around the kitchen, taking in the table set for a quiet supper. How must he feel, I wondered again, to revisit his home and his former wife and find he’d been replaced? And not just replaced, but replaced by a better man, someone he knew and admired.

“
Who were the men Hudson had been smoking with?” Nick asked.

“
I didn’t recognize them,” I said. “Did you, Jon?”

“
I don’t know them by name,” he replied.

“
I thought you knew everyone,” Diane said.

I took a moment before saying patiently, “I know a lot of people. I was born and raised here. But we have many new residents. I don’t know everyone.”

“
Same for me,” Jon said tersely. “But Jackie would know who they are. She made up the guest list. Ask her.”

“
We’re talking to everyone,” Nick said.

Again, I wondered: You’re investigating a case of food allergy?

“
Oh, wait a minute,” I cried. “I do have something for you.”

“
What?” Diane asked in a suspicious manner, her eyes scrunched up as she peered at me.

“
Just hold on a sec. I’ll get it.” And I left the kitchen to run up the back stairs to the second floor and our bedroom. The silk clutch bag I had used last night was still on my dresser where I’d left it.

I snatched it up and ran back down the stairs. In the kitchen, I opened the purse and removed the tissue-wrapped cigar. I reached out my hand to give it to Nick but he did not take it.

“
What is that?” he asked.

“
Brian’s cigar. I picked it up off the ground last night after the EMTs took him away.”

Diane gave me a belligerent look. “Why did you do that?”

“
I don’t know. Just an instinct. There might be clues,” I said rather lamely.

“
That is why we have forensic teams,” she said.

I looked at her. Duh? “But the forensic team wasn’t there, Diane. Remember?” I said.

She gave me a look of undisguised hatred. “OK. You say the group of men were all smoking cigars. So how do you even know that cigar belonged to Hudson?”

I was seeing red. “I don’t know that it did. But . . . oh, I don’t know why, I just I think it is his. Look, I watch those CSI shows on TV just like everyone else. Check the DNA! See if it was Brian’s. Then check it for clues.”

Nick had mellowed. “You do have good instincts, Ashley,” he said. And Diane’s chin went up and gave him a sharp look.

“
All right, then, we’ll take it,” Diane said in her infuriating manner. “But don’t unwrap it. Put it in a baggie.”

I went to the tile counter. Pulled open a drawer, withdrew a sandwich baggie, and dropped the cigar inside. “Shall I label it for you, too?” I asked with saccharine sweetness.

“
No need for sarcasm,” Diane responded.

Now Jon crossed his arms over his chest. “You never did explain why homicide is involved with what looks like a food allergy.”

Diane regarded Nick. He took his time answering. “Hudson died last night. And with everything that has been happening at the Bellamy Mansion, we are inquiring into his death.”

“
Oh,” I breathed. “Brian’s dead?”

“
And you think he was murdered?” Jon asked.

“
We don’t think anything,” Nick said. “We are merely observing standard protocol for a death under suspicious circumstances and looking into the details.”

“
Well, wouldn’t the medical examiner know if he died from a peanut allergy?” I said. “What did the ME rule as cause of death?”

Diane narrowed her eyes at me. She hates it when I show signs of intelligence.

“
Cause of death has not been determined. Hence, our investigation,” Nick said evenly. He put the baggie with the cigar into his pocket.

“
I doubt we’ll find that Hudson smoked one too many fatal cigars,” Diane said and gave a little chuckle.

“
Brian’s death is not a joke.” I was about to explode. Jon grabbed my hand.

“
I hate to bring this up right before Jon and I are about to have our supper, but the autopsy would show if he had peanuts in his stomach or not.”

Nick responded by changing the subject. “Ashley, I’d feel better if you avoided that mansion for a while.” Nick caught himself. “You too, Jon. I don’t want something bad happening to you. Either one of you.”

“
We’re working at the shop at Willie’s,” Jon said. Which wasn’t entirely true. This week we’d also be carrying on work in the belvedere.

“
Just be careful,” Nick said. He paused for a moment, then said to Jon, “Take care of her. I’m holding you responsible.”

Jon drew in his breath. Then surprisingly regained his composure. He is a far more patient person than I. “She’s in better hands than she’s ever been before.”

Nick gave him a sober look but did not challenge that assertion.

Chalk one up for my husband!

“
Do you still feel like dancing tonight?” Jon asked after a supper that had been spoiled.

“
I almost forgot. Does it seem irreverent for us to go dancing when Brian has just died?” I asked. “I do need to get out of here.”

“
I don’t know. He wasn’t a close friend.”

“
From what we’ve seen of him recently, I don’t think we knew him at all,” I said.

Jon and I loved to shag. We belonged to a shag club that met once a month.

“
I think it will do us good to go out and see our friends,” he said.

One of the many things I love about Jon is that he enjoys dancing, just as I do.

As we drove out to the private club on Harbor Island, something occurred to me. “Did you ever call the party rental company and speak to the owner about that spooky guy who was hanging around the mansion?” I thought to ask.

Jon gave me a quick glance, then with eyes on the road ahead, he responded, “With all that has been happening, I forgot to tell you about that. I did speak to the owner and he swore he had no employee who matched that description. His employees are all about twenty years old. He has no one, not even a part timer, who is forty.”

“
So the guy was lying to me. I think he’s the same person Willie saw the morning he was shot. Wonder who he is. And what he is up to.”

“
We did tell Nick about him,” Jon reminded me. “But he didn’t seem impressed.”

“
Well, I am going to report him again.” I retrieved my cell phone and called Wilmington PD. Nick wasn’t available. The best I could do was leave a message for him on his voice mail with a description of the man and a message that this man had been lurking about the Bellamy property on two occasions that I knew of.

We arrived in the parking lot to the sound of loud beach music. Down by the Boardwalk was playing. Jon took my hand and we hurried in the door.

With the room rocking, and people dancing and laughing, I felt immeasurably better. “This was a good idea. Let’s put all of our troubles aside for a few hours and have some fun.”

Jon took me in his arms and we danced.

25

The week flew by and before I knew it, February was upon us.

“
Just two more weeks till the wedding,” Melanie said to me over the phone. While we spoke to each other every day, I had not seen her since Jackie’s party last Saturday night.

“
The market has picked up a bit,” she said. “Scarlett and Ray will be here next week and they are very eager to see Bella Aqua.”

“
I think they’ll love it, Mel,” I said.

“
I do too. I think they’ll buy it. They don’t have the luxury of time to shop around. There’s never enough time for anyone these days. Cam has been extremely busy at the studio, producing a series for a New York company. And I’ve driven Candi Cheng to every available lot I could find. That woman can say ‘no’ more often than an old maid virgin.”

“
Melanie, we haven’t even begun to shop for dresses. How about this evening? Want to meet me at Mayfaire? That way we can hit Macy’s and Belk’s. Or Isabella Grape’s at The Forum.”

“
Good plan. I’ve got to run home first to feed Spunky and check on him. I’ll meet you at six. OK?”

I was standing in the kitchen, gazing out of the window into our garden, when Jon came in from running an errand. The world outside was greener. Tree limbs were thickening with buds.

“
Our albino squirrel has disappeared,” I told him. “Your bird seed salesman was right. He does not like this new bird seed. But you know what, I miss that little scoundrel and his crazy antics.”

Jon came up next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist. “The birds have disappeared too,” he said, looking out the window with me. “They don’t like the new seed any better than the squirrel does.”

“
So what are you going to do?” I asked, kissing him on the chin.

He indicated a large plastic bag on the kitchen table. “I bought a wild bird mixture with sunflower seeds for the bird feeder. And this wire contraption that holds a cake of squirrel food for the squirrel.”

He pulled out a flat wire box and a flat pressed cake made of a mixture of seed and corn kernels. “The cake fits into this holder, and we hang it out near the feeder.”

I laughed and laughed. “You are such a softie.”

He wagged his eyebrows at me and pulled me close. “Not when I’m around you.”

I leaned back in his arms. “I was supposed to go shopping with Melanie this evening. But now you’ve got me thinking I ought to stay at home.”

“
Go shopping. I’ll be here when you get back. I’m not going anywhere.”

I met Melanie at Boca Bay on Eastwood Drive. We like to support locally owned businesses whenever we can. Those are the folks who give back to the community, and in these hard times that was mighty important.

Boca Bay served Tapas, and that meant small portions. Just what I needed. I ordered the Satay: Thai chicken, Thai beef, sesame tuna, portabella, and Thai meatball. Just a taste of each. And of course, I had to have my iced tea.

As usual, my big sister was the best dressed woman in the restaurant. She had changed into jeans after work, but when Melanie wears jeans she looks nothing like other women in jeans. For one thing, she has ultra slim thighs. She had on one of those silky peplum shirts with a swirl design in soft peaches and cinnamons, under a raw silk fitted jacket. And high heels in brown suede. It was a good thing Jon and I had added many large closets when we had restored the lodge for her.

As she shook out a pink packet of Sweet ‘n Low, she said, “You will never believe what has happened.” Then got busy stirring her tea.

“
Don’t make me guess. Tell me.”

“
That Nelda is a wonder. She called Cam just a while ago, and he called me immediately. Wait till you hear this.” And she paused dramatically. “Nelda is in love. With her nurse. And she says she is going to marry him.”

I felt my eyes widen. “What does Cam think about that? What do you think?”

She smiled at me, beaming. “I think it’s a hoot. More power to her. Go for it, I say. A new young husband ought to keep her out of our hair long enough for us to establish our marriage without her interference. And put an end to those melodramatic death bed scenes calculated to get her little boy running back to mama.”

“
Do you think he’s after her money?” I asked and then caught myself. When had I become so old fashioned? Older men marry younger women all of the time. Yet when an older woman marries a younger man, their matrimony is suspect. I did not feel that way about Scarlett marrying Ray. And he was rich and twelve years her junior. I shook my head.

“
Who cares!” Melanie declared. “Money? Sex? Love? I am not interested in her motives. Or his. This should keep her occupied for a while. Of course, it won’t last. Nelda is a narcissist. He’d have to be a saint to last more than six months. But I’ll be happy to get six months with her out of Cam’s life.”

I nodded my agreement. “You know, there’s a saying: What do old men want in a wife? Answer: A nurse and a purse. In this case, she gets a nurse, and he gets a purse. I suppose she’ll have a prenupt drawn up, but still he’ll be paid handsomely.”

Then I considered Cam. “How does Cam feel?”

“
Poor baby, he’s in shock. But he told her to do whatever makes her happy. Now we can concentrate on our life together.”

“
How is Cam feeling?”