Murder of a Barbie and Ken (27 page)

“The dishwasher shutting off. The caterers must have put a load in just before they left.”

Skye produced a faint smile. “Phew. I am definitely wound up too tight when an appliance scares me.” Something flitted near the edge of her memory, and she frowned, trying to focus in on the thought, but Simon’s hands burrowing under her sweater distracted her.

He reclaimed her lips and, after that, his slow, drugging kisses drove all other thoughts from her mind.

  
CHAPTER 22
  

But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out
.

—E. L. Thayer

T
he next morning Skye snuggled against Simon’s side, tracing patterns with her fingertips on his bare chest as they both slowly came awake. Abruptly, she sat up and swung her legs off the bed. “Oh, shoot! I forgot about my car. It’s been sitting in the funeral home parking lot all night. People will talk.”

“It’s taken care of.” He pulled her back to his side and smoothed the hair from her eyes. “I got up last night after you fell asleep, and put it in the funeral home’s garage. The hearse spent the night outside.”

“Ah.” She relaxed back in his arms, enjoying his smooth skin and firm muscles, only to pop up again a few minutes later. “Wally.”

Simon swore, and this time he sat up, too. “You certainly know how to ruin a moment.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean …” Skye trailed off, realizing that calling out one man’s name in another man’s bed was tacky,
to say the least. She hurried to explain. “It’s just that I remembered that Wal … ah, Chief Boyd said he’d call me about the suspects’ alibis.”

“So?” Simon’s back was rigid as he got up and walked into the adjoining bathroom. “There’s nothing you could have done about it last night.”

“That’s not the point.” She followed him and watched as he adjusted the shower. His stance emphasized the strength of his thighs and the slimness of his hips. He was truly a sexy-looking man, especially naked. “What if he kept calling when he couldn’t reach me? After what happened yesterday, he’d be worried.” Skye thought,
Or know I spent the night with you
.

As if reading her mind, Simon said, “We’re all adults. Don’t you think he’d figure out you were probably with me?”

“Yeah.” Her face grew warm. Skye was far from comfortable with anyone, especially Wally, knowing that she and Simon were sleeping together. “I guess I’m being silly, but …”

“I understand. Small towns are awkward that way.” Simon took her hand and tugged her after him into the shower. “Let’s pretend we’re someplace where no one knows us.”

Skye allowed herself to be drawn under the pleasantly hot water, and as Simon started to soap her back she said, “Someplace with no phones, no jobs, and no murder.”

It was getting close to ten when Skye finally retrieved her car from the funeral home garage and drove home. Simon followed in his Lexus. She unlocked her front door and was met by an angry black cat. Although there was plenty of dry food and water, Bingo made it clear that nearly twenty-four hours without any Fancy Feast was unacceptable.

Simon tried to pet the furious feline while Skye cleaned his litter, but the cat hissed, backing away with narrowed
eyes. “I think Bingo knows it’s my fault you weren’t home last night to attend to his needs.”

Skye glanced at her pet, whose tail was fluffed to twice its normal size, and said, “True. And he’s not in a forgiving mood.”

“He’ll get over it once he’s eaten.”

Skye raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. Simon had obviously never been on the receiving end of a cat snit before. Skye went into the kitchen, saying over her shoulder, “Would you mind feeding him while I check my messages?”

“Not at all.” Simon opened a cupboard and took out a small can with a salmon-colored label. “Should I give him the whole thing?”

Skye nodded distractedly. The light on her answering machine was flashing rapidly; she’d had several calls, all from Wally.

His final message took up most of the remaining tape: “It’s almost midnight. Quirk said he saw your car at the funeral home a few minutes ago, so I’m guessing you’re safe—at least from the murderer. Here’s what I have regarding the suspects’ alibis: Hilary was alone from seven-thirty to nine-thirty, but then with a neighbor having coffee for the next hour. Joy was seen at the grocery store at nine-fifteen and her cash register receipt shows she checked out at two minutes after ten. But like Hilary, she has no one to vouch for her during the two hours before nine-fifteen. Lu, on the other hand, was on the telephone with an insurance agent from about eight-forty to nearly nine-thirty, but she has no alibi for the hour or so right before the bodies were discovered.”

Skye grabbed a legal pad and replayed the message, taking careful notes of the times. When she was finished, she told Simon, “If we knew exactly when the Addisons died, we could probably name the killer with this information.”

“Time of death is hard for the medical examiner to pin
down, unless there’s a witness or the victim’s watch is smashed or something.”

“It seems like for every piece of information we get, we can’t figure out two others.” Skye sighed.

“Let’s go somewhere for brunch. It’ll take your mind off the murders for a while.”

“Might as well,” Skye agreed. “Right now I can’t think of what else to do to find out who killed the Addisons.”

“I’ve got to do laundry,” Skye said over her shoulder as she and Simon walked into her cottage. It was a little after noon and they had just gotten back from the restaurant. “Seems like I went through a lot of clothes this week.”

“I’ll stick around.”

“To protect me?” Skye shrugged out of her jacket. “Or do you have something else in mind?”

“How about both?” His golden-hazel eyes took on a luminous glow.

“Then make yourself comfortable while I get the first load started.”

Simon had put on a Tony Bennett CD and was sitting on the sofa when Skye joined him. A half hour later, as she rested in the cradle of his arms, the washing machine clicked off and she stiffened. That was what she had been trying to remember.

She turned to face Simon. “I know who did it!”

“Who? How?” Simon asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

She jumped off the couch, ran to get her notes on the suspects’ alibis, and thrust it into his hand. “Look. It’s all right here.” She pointed to the suspects and the times they couldn’t account for. “It finally came to me. When I first discovered Ken and Barbie’s bodies, their washing machine was just shutting off. Remember last night when your dishwasher clicked off? That’s what it reminded me of, but I
couldn’t quite put my finger on the memory. Just now, when my washing machine shut down, it came to me.”

“Explain.”

“Barbie and I have the same model washing machine.” Skye’s eyes sparkled. “My machine takes exactly thirty minutes to complete a wash cycle.”

“Go on.”

“If the killer started the machine just as she left, the time of death had to be within half an hour of when I arrived.”

“Why would the killer start the machine?” Simon asked.

“Good point.” Skye chewed her lip. “Barbie must have started the machine and then she was killed soon afterward. The Addisons had to be alive before ten o’clock because I got there about ten-thirty and it took me less than five minutes to discover the bodies.”

“So, who doesn’t have an alibi from, say, nine-forty-five to ten-thirty?”

“Lu Ginardi. She’s the only one of the women who were indebted to Barbie because of the Instant Gourmet scheme and can’t account for her time during that forty-five minutes.”

Simon paced the length of the great room and back. “There’s still no hard evidence against her. Yes, she was into Barbie for a great deal of money, and she’s the only one of the women without an alibi, but—”

“You’re right. There’s only one thing to do. Get her to confess.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Well, we can’t let her get away with it, and as you pointed out, there’s no real proof. So, we have to get a confession.”

“How do you plan to do that?” Simon’s expression was skeptical.

“Lu is impulsive, has an extremely short fuse, and she really, really dislikes me. If I prod her enough, she’ll blurt it out.”

“Or attack you,” Simon snapped. “She may be the one who’s been following you.”

“Yes. I bet she is.” Skye thought for a minute. “Okay. I’ll call Wally and tell him what we’ve figured out, and see if he’s willing to bring her in to the police station for questioning.”

“You think she’ll say something in front of Wally?”

“Of course not. But what if he steps out of the room and I step in?” Skye explained. “I’ll make sure the door isn’t closed all the way, and Wally can eavesdrop.”

“Is that legal?”

“They let cell mates in prison elicit confessions and testify against each other,” Skye pointed out. “I think as long as she doesn’t ask for a lawyer, it’s okay.”

“Then you’d better call Wally right now.” Simon checked his watch. “It’s nearly one o’clock. If he can pick her up immediately, Bob won’t be home and insist on going with her to the station as her lawyer.”

“How do you know that?”

“There’s a GUMB meeting that starts at one. They’re voting for Imperial Brahma Bull. Bob will probably be tied up until at least three o’clock.”

Skye raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised you aren’t attending.”

“I’m thinking of dropping out of the GUMBs. It hasn’t turned out to be exactly what I expected.”

“Won’t Lu be there to support her husband?”

“Women are prohibited from attending an election.” Simon’s expression was a bit sheepish. “Another reason I’ve been thinking of quitting. The GUMBs are a lot more chauvinistic than I was led to believe.”

“Glad you realized that, because I plan to resign from the Bettes Monday morning.” Skye headed for the phone. “I hope Wally’s available.”

Wally agreed to Skye’s plan. He would pick up Lu and meet Skye and Simon at the police station in half an hour.

Wally was already in the interrogation room with Lu when Skye and Simon arrived at the police station.

After nearly half an hour Wally walked into his office where Skye and Simon had been waiting. He plopped into his desk chair and said, “That’s one tough woman. She won’t budge. Insists she’s innocent.”

“Let’s see if I can rattle her a little.” Skye left the office, trailed by the two men.

Lu frowned when Skye entered the interrogation room. “What are you doing here?”

Good question. Skye hadn’t thought of how to start things off. She improvised. “You know my mom’s the police dispatcher, right?”

Lu nodded, a confused look on her face.

“Well, I was here visiting her, and I saw Wally bring you in. Then when he stepped away a few minutes ago, I realized this was a good time to talk to you.” Skye paused for dramatic effect. “About Barbie’s Instant Gourmet business.”

Lu stiffened. “What about it?”

Skye pulled out a chair, noting as she had Friday at the mall that Lu’s polished looks had lost their shine. Her blond hair hung limply, and strands of gray were evident. Her skin seemed dull, and a baggy jogging suit hung on her tall, sinewy frame. Skye watched Lu squirm for a few minutes, then said, “I know about the Instant Gourmet contract you signed with Barbie.”

The woman glared. “So?”

“She really duped you, didn’t she?”

“I knew what I was doing.”

Skye caught a glimpse of Wally by the slightly open door. It was time to stir things up before Lu noticed him, too. Skye leaned across the table. “Hardly. That contract was so onesided it was insulting, and your husband’s a lawyer, too. How stupid could you be?”

“It’s finally out in the open, isn’t it, Miss Honor Roll
Straight-A Student?” Lu rocketed upright. “I knew from the first day I met you in high school that you thought I was dumb. But who married the star football player and lives in the big house, and who’s an old maid?”

Skye was shocked. Lu had hated her all these years because she got good grades in high school? Well, she couldn’t think about that now. Lu was close to blowing up, and it was time for Skye to light her fuse.

“Admit it. Barbie took advantage of you. She must have thought you were a real idiot to sign that contract. So you slept with her husband for revenge, but that wasn’t enough. You killed her because she betrayed you.”

Lu’s head snapped up. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you owed her the most money. You were supposed to be her best friend. And you’re the one without an alibi.”

Suddenly Lu let out a loud peal of laughter, and flopped back down in her chair. “Miss Smarty-Pants is finally wrong. You and your high IQ added up two and two and got five.”

Could that be true? If Lu wasn’t the murderer, then who was? No, she had to be the killer. Skye decided to push a little harder. “Like I’d believe what you had to say. You’ve hounded me since I was a freshman. And now I find out the only thing you had against me was that I got better grades than you.”

“Believe what you want.” Lu picked at a ragged nail.

Skye frowned. Lu seemed relieved, as if being accused of murder wasn’t the thing she dreaded hearing from Skye. What was she afraid Skye knew? But if Lu wasn’t the killer, then who was? Shoot. They were back at square one.

Lu stared off into space, and Skye could think of nothing else to say. It was time to leave.

Simon and Wally joined her in the hall. Skye said, “Did you hear?” The men nodded. “I couldn’t budge her.”

“Do you still think she’s the killer?” Wally asked.

“I’m not sure anymore.” Skye shrugged. “But who else could it be? The other women have alibis.” Silently, she examined her previous reasoning for flaws.
The washing machine clicked off five minutes after I got to the Addisons, which means twenty-five minutes earlier they had to be alive. No flaws there. If Barbie was the intended victim, it had to be due to her Instant Gourmet racket. So what am I missing? Unless Ken really was the prime target after all.

  
CHAPTER 23
  

If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try, try again.