Tickled to Death (16 page)

“Wow,” I murmured as I read the private investigator’s report on Becca, who had too many aliases to list. “Hot checks, embezzlement, theft of property, check kiting, credit card fraud. She was accomplished, wasn’t she?”

“A perfect con woman,” Luanne said as she reached once more for a cigarette that wasn’t there. “Her only flaws were greed and restlessness. She was married to wealthy old men. All she had to do was sit tight until one of them died and she could inherit a few million.”

I continued to read. “Her last one died, all right. Becca didn’t leave Miami because she was mugged—and her bruises came straight from her makeup kit. She left because the medical examiner found some exotic chemical in dear old Harry’s blood.”

“Dick might have found himself comparing notes with Harry,” Luanne said. “If she hadn’t decided to take the Dunling Foundation’s money, she might have decided to be a blackclad widow.”

“Does Captain Gannet have everything under control?” I asked as I put down the papers.

“He’s stopped bothering Dick. There’s no way to prove Becca was responsible for Jan’s death, but Dick did remember that Becca had insisted Jillian take an antihistamine from one of her prescriptions. She also fixed him a nightcap at the
party before they went home. As for Jillian…” She stopped and sighed, her face creasing with pain. “We won’t ever know exactly what happened between her and Becca at the house. Becca’s fingerprint was found on one of the computer keys—as, by the way, were many of yours. Dick is convinced Becca wrote the message after Jillian was unconscious.”

“And the rest of the gang?”

“Gannet’s staging daily press conferences regarding Agatha Anne and Georgiana’s fraud and interference in an investigation. He met with the immigration officers last week, and the hawks and eagles will be applying their own Band-Aids in the future. The Dunlings have not been found yet, but Gannet’s got a map on his wall and colored thumbtacks to mark their sightings. They’re not as fashionable as Elvis. This may be the beginning of a whole new cult, however; Livia and Wharton are the new heroes of environmental groups across the nation.”

“And the eagles?”

“They must have been piqued when nobody came to gape in wonder at them. They’re gone.”

We were both avoiding the obvious topic. I swallowed a mouthful of beer and said, “What about you and Dick?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen or spoken to him since the funeral. He left to stay at his mother’s for a few days. He didn’t know what he
would do after that. Sid called me this morning to say that Dick had instructed him to put both houses on the market.”

“Did Sid say anything else?”

“He asked me out to dinner in some country inn. I declined.” She managed a shaky smile. “I guess you were right, Claire. As loath as I am to admit it, you usually are. You make up your mind, and then stick to your decision.”

I wondered if I ought to tell her about the upcoming Caribbean cruise.