Murder in Nice (24 page)

Maggie climbed up the rows, sat on one of
the stone seats and arranged her purse at her feet. Jim and Janet
came through the archway and squinted into the sun until they saw
her. Without smiling or waving, they put their heads back down and
made their way to where she was sitting. Maggie didn’t expect any
conversation this morning, and she didn’t get any. She watched
Janet, wondering if she was at all concerned at the possibility
that she’d been overheard last night, but clearly whatever
nightmare hangover she was dealing with blotted out all other
concerns.

The weather in Arles was good today, if a
bit warm. There were no clouds and, fortunately for the tour, no
other tourists. Even though it was well past seven in the morning,
Randall had guessed correctly that it would be too early for most
tourists to venture out. When he and Desiree finally entered the
amphitheater, they glanced at Maggie and the Andersons then moved
to a row on the same side but out of earshot.

Maggie thought Desiree was
working particularly hard to avoid eye contact with her. She felt
her foot vibrate where her purse lay against it. She reached in the
bag to look at the cell phone she’d tucked in there. It was Annie.
Maggie pressed
Decline
. She’d have to call her back.

“
Can you imagine?” Dee-Dee
said as she walked to the railing that overlooked the sandy arena.
She turned and looked into the lens of Olivier’s camera and smiled.
“Sitting here more than two thousand years ago waiting for the show
to begin?”

Maggie got goose bumps when
Dee-Dee spoke.
She’s
good
, she thought with surprise, rubbing
her arms.

“
Although it was built in
90 AD, the Arles Amphitheater was the reality TV of Roman
times—from chariot races and bullfighting, to bloody hand-to-hand
battles. Think of it.” Dee-Dee leaned toward the camera with an
earnest look in her eye, as if she were connecting with each member
of the audience.

“
Gladiators fought wild
animals here to the delight of twenty thousand screaming fans. She
turned and pointed to the dark archway that led to the bottom
arena. “That was where the Christian martyrs were led in…and there
was no other way out.”

That’s just what I always
used to think
, Maggie thought, feeling the
mystery and the eeriness of the place settle into her
bones.

“
Some people say the Arles
Amphitheater is confirmation of the emphasis the Romans put on
sports and that’s probably true,” Dee-Dee continued. “But I think
it’s much more. Measuring four hundred and forty-six feet in length
and three hundred and fifty-eight feet wide with one hundred and
twenty arches, the amphitheater is two-tiered to allow a system of
galleries for optimum viewing of whatever was going on in the
arena—gladiators, wild animals, or bullfights.”

Dee-Dee walked back to the railing and swept
an arm in the direction of the arena. The feeling that she was
building up to something was palpable. Maggie held her breath,
surprising herself by how Dee-Dee’s words were creating a feeling
of expectation in her. She leaned in closer.

“
The floor of the arena was
sand, in order to absorb the blood better. Necessary all those
years ago, as well as today when bullfights are held here each
year.” Dee-Dee nodded wisely into the camera, a ghost of a smile on
her lips. “And not unlike the entertainment of two thousand years
ago, the fights are dramatic, thrilling and bloody. Simply put, no
matter what happens down there…” She nodded in the direction of the
sandy oval below. “…
somebody
is not walking away afterward.”

She turned to Olivier behind the camera with
one hand on her hip. “Then I thought I’d segue into a bit I’m
working on about how Van Gogh settled here in the eighteen hundreds
but always felt like he left a piece of himself behind. You know,
the ear thing. What do you think?”

Behind Maggie was the single and steady
clapping of one person in the stands. When she turned, she saw it
was Randall and that he was standing.

Huh
, she thought.
A standing ovation for
the one who doesn’t stand a chance of getting the slot?
She saw that Desiree, on the other hand, was
staring at Dee-Dee in open-mouthed astonishment.

*****

“
You were truly awesome, my
dear,” Janet said, patting Dee-Dee’s hand an hour later at one of
the outdoor restaurants at the foot of the steps leading down from
the amphitheater. “Inspiring. Wasn’t she, Jim?”

“
Really good,” Jim said,
handing his menu to the waiter. “Just bring a bottle of your best
Rosé,” he said.

“
I’ll have the artichoke
risotto with the grilled cod,” Janet said to the waiter.

“
You’re just ordering that
to make me ill,” Jim said in a low voice. “I swear I’ll change
seats.”

Dee-Dee turned to Maggie. She was so proud
of herself she glowed.

“
What did you think,
Maggie?” Dee-Dee asked. “Would you say it was the best presentation
of the tour so far?”

“
Well, it was really,
really good,” Maggie said.
Would Randall
change his mind about Dee-Dee after her performance
today?

“
Good
?” Olivier said with surprise as he leaned across Maggie to
reach the olive bowl. “It was by far the best presentation
yet.”

“
Really?” Dee-Dee said,
grinning at him. “Do you really think so?”

“
Absolument
.”

Weird
, Maggie thought.
Surely, Olivier
would think Lanie’s was the best?
She shook
off the thought.
Probably just being
nice
.

“
Thank you, darling
Olivier,” Dee-Dee said, grabbing him and kissing him loudly on the
cheek. “Did you hear Bob after I finished? I mean, did you
hear
him?” She giggled as
she remembered it.

“
He was very impressed,”
Maggie said.

“
I’ll say he was,” Dee-Dee
said. “He told me he didn’t know I had it in me. He said he was
spellbound. He actually said I had
je ne
sais quoi
! In front of Desiree, he said
that!”

“
Pretty historic,” Maggie
said. The look on Desiree’s face when he said it was pretty
historic too, she thought. In fact, until the moment when Desiree
donned a strident shade of scarlet while Randall was over-praising
Dee-Dee, Maggie would have said she was a pretty woman. At the time
she looked like a strangling pufferfish.

“
Well, it was worth the
hours of research and practice in front of the mirror that I put
in,” Dee-Dee said. “That’s all I can say.”

“
Where are Bob and
Desiree?” Maggie asked, looking around the terrace.

“
Desiree said she was ill,”
Olivier said with a grin, “which does not surprise anyone. And Bob
said he had to write a check to the hotel or something. He will
join us for cheese and coffee.”

“
I think Bob is giving me a
ride home,” Maggie said. “What’s everyone else doing?”

“
We are all taking you to
St-Buvard,” Olivier said with a grin. “I have heard so much of your
husband from Bob, I must see this for myself.”

“
Well, don’t believe
everything Bob tells you,” Maggie said.

“
I never would,” Olivier
said, winking at her. “And now, we must have a bottle of Champagne,
no? Are we all agreed?”

Olivier turned to Dee-Dee, but she was
intently studying her smartphone.

“
Dee-Dee?” he said. “To
celebrate your amazing day?”

She looked up, her face flushed and her eyes
darting to the entrance of the restaurant.

“
Are you all right,
chérie
?” Olivier asked
her.

“
I am,” she said, shoving
her phone in her purse and grabbing her cardigan from the back of
the chair. “But I just remembered something I need to
do.”

“
Surely, you are not
leaving,” Olivier said, as she rose from the table.

Maggie frowned. Did it make sense that
Dee-Dee would leave her own party? At her moment of glory?

“
I have to. You go on and
have fun,” Dee-Dee said, leaving the table. “I’ll see you…you
know…later.”

Maggie and Olivier watched Dee-Dee leave the
restaurant and then turned to look at each other.

“
But she has food coming,”
Olivier said, his mouth open in surprise as he turned in obvious
disbelief to watch Dee-Dee’s retreating back.

*****

Ben rummaged in the drawer
of the kitchen looking for something to stir his drink with. Ever
since Laurent caught him going through his office, Ben felt
uncomfortable even doing perfectly innocent activities. He found an
iced tea spoon and picked up his vodka tonic and moved into the
dining room. It was damn rude that now
both
Maggie and Laurent were out doing
more important things than attending to their guests, but he had to
admit it was easier on the nerves with Laurent away.

Would he really throw him out? He sipped his
drink and walked to the set of French doors that looked out onto
the garden and the vineyards in the distance. Fortunately, Laurent
had been called away before he could enforce his threat.

Something caught Ben’s eye
outside and he took a step closer. He was sure that Haley and Grace
had taken the kids out for the day. A muffled squeal pierced
through the doors and he saw Maggie’s little boy crawl into view on
the terrace stones.
So. The women must be
here after all
, he thought.

The child was good-looking. Brown hair, dark
brown eyes. He supposed he looked like Dernier somewhat but he also
had strong Newberry lines—the nose, the shape of the head, the
quick, alert glances. Ben drank down the entire glass of vodka as
he watched the baby. A woman’s voice, light and musical, caught the
child’s attention and Ben watched Jem turn his head and grin at the
unseen source.

Would the child have looked
like him?
Ben realized it was the first
time he’d thought of it since he’d arrived at Maggie’s. On the
train trip from Nice, it seemed he could think of nothing
else.
That stupid, stupid bitch
Lanie
.
She deserved
what she got—with bells on
. But when it was
all said and done—regardless of how tidily things ended up—the fact
was she had taken something of his when she went. He gripped his
glass before remembering it was empty.

When you start doing
insane, self-destructive things
, he
wondered bitterly,
do they just keep
getting easier to do?

Haley stepped into view and scooped up the
baby in her arms, prompting more delighted squealing from the
child. Ben knew it was irrational, but the picture of her cuddling
Maggie’s child hit him as wrong and somehow unfair.

He must have made a movement because Haley
turned toward him and shaded her eyes to see inside the French
doors. The happy look melted from her face the minute she saw it
was him. He opened the door.

“
Where’s Grace?” he
asked.

Haley turned to call to the little girl,
whom up until then Ben hadn’t noticed. She was a pretty little
thing but shy. She always hid whenever he came into the room.
“Come, Zouzou,” Haley said. She held out her hand and the child
clasped it, never taking her eyes off Ben.

“
She had to go into town,”
Haley said.

“
Of course she did. And so
here’s Nanny Haley just ready to be of service. You’re not their
servant, Haley. You’re letting them take advantage of
you.”

“
I don’t mind.”

“
Oh, good. Will you be
cleaning the house later, too?”

Jem turned his head to look at him, and Ben
was struck by how intelligent the little fellow looked. Almost as
if he could understand their conversation.

“
Don’t be sarcastic in
front of the children,” Haley said. “It’s upsetting to
them.”

“
You mean it’s upsetting to
you. They have no idea what I’m saying. Do you, sweetheart?” he
said to Zouzou. The child instantly puckered up and began to
cry.

“
What the hell is the
matter with her?” he said, startled.

“
You
are the matter with her,” Haley said, her face flushed with
anger. “Go back in the house.” She hesitated. “Please.”

The feeling of the papers he’d extracted
from her suitcase felt like they were burning in his inside jacket
pocket.

What would Haley think when he used the
documents against Laurent? She pulled the children away from the
house, as if protecting them from him.

Well, she’ll just have to
get over it
, he thought with annoyance as
he watched her lead them toward the small lawn that lay just before
the vineyards. Everything he was doing, he was doing for the two of
them.

As he watched her walk away, her back to
him, he felt his fingers grow cold and his heart harden.

She’d either see that, or she wouldn’t.

*****