The Goodbye Body (33 page)

“Which I’m sure you will do shortly. At this moment, your father’s private jet is landing on an airstrip in the next county. From what he has said to me, he is not pleased. When I told him that I knew where to find you, he told me to bring you to him at once. I suspect you and he will have much to talk about on your flight back to New York.”

“Daddy’s here?” she said slowly.

Nick ignored her. “I told you not to trust Gary Billings, Ms. Malloy.”

“You also told me you were an FBI agent.”

“I did not think the truth would sit well with you. Now, if you will excuse a further intrusion, I will allow Sebastian to restrain Miss Hayes while I invite Mrs. Barlucci to join Mr. Hayes and his daughter on their trip.” He dragged Madison to the kitchen door and shoved her inside. Her colorful language suggested that they would never become friends.

“I told you Dolly called from Miami,” I said.

“And I’m sure she did. Private jets are a luxury that most of us cannot afford, but commercial jets are an affordable option. I am aware that your daughter and her friend are upstairs as well. I will not harm them unless they attempt to interfere.”

“I’m going with you.”

“You are a feisty lady, if you will permit me to say so. Please feel free to accompany me, but keep in mind that I have a gun and am experienced in using it. Ladies first.”

As we went upstairs, I wanted to shriek a warning, but I was afraid it would only make matters worse for all of us. Thus far, Nick had been soft-spoken and polite. This did not preclude his loyalty to his employer and what I suspected was his job description. “Did you kill Sara Louise?” I asked as we reached the top step.

“Good heavens no, Ms. Malloy,” he said, sounding shocked. “She was the daughter of Christopher Santini, as well as the boss’s favorite goddaughter. I would never treat her or Miss Hayes with anything but the utmost respect.” He paused. “It was unfortunate that Petti’s body ended up in the freezer, which would have caused them some awkwardness if the police did background checks and discovered the family connection. But it could not be helped. Sebastian and I were carrying the body to the van when the Mercedes pulled up. I was afraid the two girls were your daughter and her friend, so I told Sebastian to stash the body while I… well, diverted their attention. He couldn’t take the body to the backyard, since you might still be looking out the window. There was only one place in the garage to conceal it. We were leery of returning later that night because of the police cars patrolling the neighborhood. Regrettably, you found the body before we could retrieve it.”

“But you had no problem retrieving it from the morgue at the hospital.”

Nick gave me a puzzled look. “Why would we do that, Ms. Malloy?”

“Well, you killed him, for starters. Maybe you’re some sort of perverted collector.”

“What I like about you is your wit, Ms. Malloy. Petti violated the family trust. It was known that he stayed in touch with Mrs. Barlucci this past year, but they were old friends and no one thought much about it. Then events occurred that cast him in a bad light. After that, he was closely followed, first to Miami and then here. If you would please move along, we can get this over without any fuss.”

I took a couple of steps and peered down the hallway. “You didn’t answer my question about Petti.”

“Technically speaking, you did not ask one. Surely you’ve heard that gag line that goes, ‘If I tell you, then I’ll have to …’ I can see that you have. Now, please call quietly to those who seem to be hiding that they need to come out in the hall. If I have to search through closets and under beds for them, my good nature may become less apparent. Mr. Hayes does not like to be kept waiting.” He touched the gun to the side of my head. “Please do as I ask, Ms. Malloy.”

“Caron? Inez?” I said obediently. ‘This is really not a good time to play games.”

“Don’t forget your friend Mrs. Barlucci,” Nick whispered in my ear, his mouth so close that I could feel moisture.

I batted away the gun and frowned at him. “Just why are you so sure she’s here?”

“Because we have been monitoring conversations from the van for the last few days. Had it not broken down last night before we could park within range, we would have been at your doorstep early this morning to deal with the water main and all that bullshit, if you’ll excuse my language. As it was, we had to wait until an auto parts store opened at noon so Sebastian could make the necessary repairs before we could take our position down the hill. Sometimes the best-laid plans are at the mercy of a pimply-faced boy who does not know a fan belt from a pair of suspenders.”

“A pity,” I said drily.

“And also a pity that we will have to search the rooms one by one. Like Mr. Hayes, I can be impatient. On the other hand”—he raised his voice—”if no one appears in the next five seconds, I will punch you so hard that you will slam against the wall. Your diaphragm will contract and you will be gasping for breath. I will wait another five seconds, then kick you hard enough to cause serious damage to your gallbladder. Luckily, it is not a vital organ, although I’m told it’s somewhat utilitarian.”

“Okay,” said Caron as she came out of the bedroom at the end of the hall, “let’s not get overly dramatic about this. Inez is with me.”

“And Mrs. Barlucci?” said Nick, holding on to my arm.

“She’s gone. You can pummel Mother until both of you are blue in the face, but it won’t do any good.”

“Gone?” I said.

“As in no longer here. She said to thank you for taking care of the house, and that we’re welcome to stay until the rental agent runs us out. I don’t know about that, though. This place is getting weirder by the minute.”

“Gone where?” demanded Nick.

“Like you think she’d tell me? She just waited until everybody was in the kitchen, then went out the sliding glass doors. She called somebody before she left, although I don’t think it was for a taxi. After she found the wrapper in the wastebasket from the music store in Buenos Aires, she said we could keep the tango CDs. I thought that was nice of her.”

“How’d she get out through the backyard?” I asked. “The gate’s locked.”

Inez eased into the hall. “I noticed the key to the padlock was missing when I went to get the phone receiver.”

Nick was having trouble finding the wherewithal to speak. “When—I mean, how long ago did she leave?”

“I’d estimate about twenty minutes ago,” said Inez, consulting her watch. “It could have been thirty, or even a little more than that. Madison kept babbling on so long that I thought I’d expire from boredom. If anyone was ever in need of therapy….”

“Or a brain transplant,” added Caron. “One that requires a flock of surgeons and forty-eight hours in the operating room. Even then, they’d probably miss a few screwed-up connections and her mouth would keep firing at random.”

“You let her leave just like that?” said Nick.

“Madison?” said Caron. “Oh, you mean Dolly. We’re sixteen years old, for pity’s sake, and she’s older than my mother. Were we supposed to ground her for breaking curfew last night? Give me a break.”

“You’d better get Madison out of here while you can,” I said to Nick. “You don’t want to keep Mr. Hayes waiting in his private jet.”

“Cool,” said Inez. “I saw some private jets at the airport when my parents took me to New York City. Limousines were driving right up to them. I’ll bet the passengers get more than pretzels and little cups of soda.”

Caron snorted. “They have filet mignon and entire bottles of champagne. Can you imagine someone ordering Donald Trump to buckle his seat belt and put his tray table in an upright position? On
Air Force One,
there’s even a bedroom and a bath with a shower. You are so naive, Inez.” They continued their argument as they went back into the bedroom and closed the door.

“Should I believe them about Dolly?” asked Nick. “Maybe she’s hiding in there.”

“Satisfy yourself, or better yet, follow me.” I led him into the room that Madison had occupied and pointed out the window. “There’s the gate, and there’s the padlock on the ground. Once Dolly found out Madison was here, she wouldn’t have lingered. She might even have recognized Lucy’s and Daniel’s voices. Search all the nooks and crannies if you wish, but you won’t find her.”

“Mr. Hayes is going to be unhappy,” Nick said as we started toward the stairs. “Not that he was happy to begin with, having to disrupt his weekend and all. Madison and Sara Louise should have had more sense than to blunder into what might have been a simple snatch.”

“If Petti hadn’t tipped off Dolly,” I pointed out.

“That was a very bad thing he did. He should have stayed in Flatbush and made boat models out of balsa wood or something like that. The family made sure he had enough to live on after he retired. My aunt Flora had her eye on him. Maybe they could have learned the tango like Bibi and Dolly. I always thought that was kinda sweet, two senior citizens like them living out their romantic fantasies. Everybody else sniggered about it, but Sebastian and me, we understood.”

I kept my lips clamped shut as we went downstairs. Peter, Sergeant Jorgeson, and an untold number of other officers were waiting for us. Nick prudently dropped his gun and allowed himself to be handcuffed. Lucy and Daniel were seated on the sofa in the living room, silent for the moment. I glanced out the open front door and saw Sebastian in the backseat of a police car, his head lowered.

“Nice of you to show up,” I said to Peter.

“We’ve been outside for a while, trying to decide how to intervene without anyone getting hurt. Once the officers in back saw you and this guy go upstairs, we went into the kitchen from the garage and hallway. No one except Miss Hayes had much of anything to say. She was a bit agitated.”

“And where is Miss Hayes?”

“In the kitchen, drinking wine. I wanted to talk to you before we start transporting these people to the department for formal questioning. You and Doily Goforth, that is. Is she upstairs with Caron and Inez?”

I told him what Caron had said, then glanced at the kitchen door. “Before you start trying to sort this out, I’d like to speak to Madison. You can trail along if you’d like.”

“How gracious of you,” Peter said. He held open the door and gestured for me to proceed. “Your witness awaits.”

Madison was sitting on a stool, her elbows propped on the island, while two young officers hovered nearby. Rather than concerned, she looked deeply annoyed, as if her hairdresser had died. She gave me a bleary glare. “I hope you’re satisfied, Ms. Malloy. If you’d had the sense to tell us where Dolly was, none of this would have happened.” She redirected her glare toward Peter. “Look, the only thing you can charge me with is waving a gun around. Nobody got hurt. My lawyer will claim that I was under stress from spending the night under the deck, not knowing if a spider or snake would slither under my clothes. In fact, just tell me what the bail will be and I’ll write you a check.”

I sat down across from her. “I think it may be more complicated than that, Madison. Surely Daniel and Lucy told you about Sara Louise’s murder.”

“Yeah, I feel really awful about that. We practically grew up together. Daddy was always telling me I should be more like her—study harder, stop going to clubs all the time, act more mature.” She refilled her glass and took a gulp. “Not that she was perfect, of course. She was just smart enough not to get caught.”

“But for once you were smarter than she was, right? Did you call her on Gary’s cell phone and tell her to meet you behind the pro shop?”

Madison grimaced. “No, the bitch called me after Gary had gone next door for the barbecue. She knew where I was, since I’d told her about the condo before we left New York. She said the whole situation was getting out of hand and we needed to leave the next morning. Her big idea was that we’d fly to New York and let Nick drive her car back when it was fixed. She ordered me to meet her behind the pro shop. Ordered me, if you can imagine!”

“So you cut across the golf course,” I said encouragingly. “Did she have the gun in her purse?”

“She said she was worried that Gary might show up and persuade me not to leave. She couldn’t stand him, but I think it was because she was jealous. Sure, she went to fancy schools and all that crap, but Gary would barely speak to her when we were all together.”

“You and Sara Louise argued, I assume.”

“I wasn’t about to leave until I had it out with Gary. When I told her, she got furious and tried to drag me into the car. She took out the gun, and it sort of went off. It was an accident.” She paused, her nose wrinkled. “Or maybe more like self-defense. I thought she was going to shoot me, and I panicked. I barely remember what happened.”

“But you remained cool enough to take her purse, the car key, and the gun with you when you went back to Gary’s condo and discovered you were locked out. Is the purse still under the Hoods’ deck?”

“It was self-defense,” Madison said sullenly. “Is there any more wine?”

What ensued after that was lengthy, tiresome, and therefore unworthy of further description.

It was well after dark when Peter returned. Caron, Inez, Corporal McTeer, and I were in the den playing cards, having all agreed that neither gangster movies nor tango tapes had any appeal.

“You may leave now, Corporal,” he said.

“Just a sec.” She played her last card and sighed. “It’s a good thing I didn’t decide to become a professional gambler. You girls still planning to show up that friend of yours in the talent show?”

Caron shrugged. “I guess so.”

“I’ll be out in the audience cheering for you.” She got to her feet and gave Peter a nervous salute. “Sorry, sir. Am I still on duty outside?”

“The officers who were here earlier were unlucky enough to draw the second shift. Sergeant Jorgeson’s waiting to take you back to the station.”

After she scurried away, Peter went into the kitchen and returned with a beer. “Quite a scene here this afternoon,” he commented. “Feds, hitmen, cops, and of course, the usual collection of innocent bystanders. That’s not to say that I consider any of you innocent. It’s just a phrase used on TV cop shows, and typically refers to witnesses who happened to be on the sidewalk when a drive-by shooting or knifing takes place. They never have much to contribute, but they try.”