The Lies That Bind

by Kate Carlisle

  “But-”

  “You appear to have a short-term memory problem, so let me remind you of a certain psychopathic killer who had you trapped in St. Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh not so very long ago.”

  I shuddered, then glanced around to make sure we weren’t being overheard. “Of course I remember that.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “But that was a completely different situation. This time I’m not involved. I’m not a suspect. I’m just concerned about being the common factor among three attacks in less than a week.”

  “You?” He shook his head as if to rearrange his brain cells. “You think you’re the cause of these attacks?”

  “No, not the cause. But don’t you think it’s strange that I’m the one who found all three victims?”

  “Strange, yes. Connected, no.” He pointed toward the small cluster of cops who’d just walked into the party. “There’s Inspector Lee. Let’s go see if she can be charmed into sharing her latest findings with us.”

  “That’s why I keep you around, sport,” I said.

  “Music to my ears, my dear.”

  I stared at him. “Music.”

  “Beg pardon?”

  “Yes, let’s go see the inspector,” I said. I placed my empty glass on a nearby tray and took off across the room.

  He caught up with me in two strides. “You’re in a hurry all of a sudden.”

  “I just put something together.”

  “So you did get something out of Minka.”

  “Maybe.”

  Taking hold of my arm, he took a detour, pulling me down the hall and into an empty classroom. “What is it?” he demanded.

  “Minka said she heard music coming from Layla’s office just before she was attacked. But I just remembered that by the time I came down the hall and found her, there was no music playing. So someone turned off Layla’s stereo in the interim.”

  “The person who attacked Minka.”

  “It’s a long shot, but if the power button is a smooth surface, they might’ve left a fingerprint.”

  He gave me a mind-blowing kiss. “That’s why I keep you around, sport.”

  I laughed and took his hand. “Let’s go talk to the police.”

  After Inspector Lee assured us that the fingerprint crew would be here shortly, Derek went off to make a phone call and I joined the party, entering the upper gallery as Naomi, at the central podium, introduced Gunther to the crowd.

  He took the microphone and in his thick Austrian accent told everyone that he intended to keep his word and conduct the lithograph classes Layla had announced last week. He added, “Layla would insist. She would probably haunt me if I did not stay.”

  That got a big laugh, but Gunther looked disgruntled. I wondered if Naomi had threatened him with her aunt’s poltergeist. More than likely, he’d signed a contract and she’d threatened him with a lawsuit.

  I was happy he was staying because I planned to sit in on one of his classes and learn his techniques. And more important, if Gunther stayed, then Derek would stay.

  Naomi took her place back at the podium. After several calming breaths, the room hushed and she spoke. “My aunt was a woman to be reckoned with.”

  There was respectful applause.

  “If there’s one thing Aunt Layla would’ve insisted on, it was that the Twisted festival must carry on as scheduled.”

  This was met by thunderous cheers. It seemed to feed her as she continued, “And if there’s one thing I insist on, it’s that the gala culminating the Twisted festival be even bigger than Layla planned. And Charles Dickens is going to have to share the evening’s honors with Layla Fontaine.”

  Now along with the enthusiastic clapping, I could see tears glistening in the eyes of many. Who knew Naomi could rock a crowd like this? Maybe she was channeling her aunt Layla. Minus the sexual innuendo, thank God.

  “Now, please enjoy yourselves as we celebrate the life of a wonderful woman and the work she did for the Bay Area Book Arts.” Naomi wore a satisfied grin as she took in the cheers and applause. She signaled the crowd to settle down so she could add, “I’ve been told that the bartenders just opened a case of 2007 Kosta Browne pinot noir. For all you wine snobs in the room, this is your moment.”

  “That’s all of us,” somebody shouted.

  True enough. This was San Francisco, where nine out of ten of us were inveterate wine snobs. There were laughs and cheers as the thundering hordes raced to one of the two bars in the gallery.

  “That was a smart move,” Alice said from inches away.

  I jumped a little, then laughed at myself. “You snuck up on me.”

  “Sorry.” She linked arms with me. “I was just saying it was smart of Naomi to order all that great wine. It’ll endear her to everyone.”

  I looked around, then murmured, “Everyone but the board of directors. They seem firmly in your camp.”

  “So you noticed the two camps?”

  I nodded and she sighed. “I hate the idea, but Naomi is determined to turn this into a competition. I just want to work together to keep things going at a professional level.”

  “That speaks to your higher level of experience and understanding of business. The board will surely recognize that in you.”

  “Thank you, Brooklyn.” She squeezed my arm. “That means a lot, coming from you.”

  Like Naomi, Alice was dressed completely in black, though her look was more sedate. A simple long-sleeved black knit dress skimmed her calves. Black boots and her usual black velvet headband completed the look.

  Alice shivered as she glanced around. “I can’t help wondering if Layla’s killer is here in this crowd.”

  I followed her gaze and saw Cynthia and Tom Hardesty with their heads close together. They looked as though they were arguing about something, which was not unusual. Tom looked shaken but Cynthia appeared resolute. Then Tom peeked timidly around the room.

  Alice and I both looked away.

  I glanced back in time to see Tom give Cynthia a peck on the cheek, almost like a son would kiss his mother. It was a little peculiar, but that pretty much described their relationship.

  “Do you think he was having an affair with Layla?” Alice whispered.

  I stared at Tom, considering, then shook my head. “He might’ve wanted to, but do you really think Layla would stoop that low?”

  “Oh, never. But I wonder if she spurned him and…” She covered her mouth, unable to finish the alarming thought.

  A spurned man might be more than capable of murder, I thought, watching the Hardestys for a few more seconds. Then I shook my head. “Tom wouldn’t have the guts. But Cynthia is a different story.”

  Alice gasped. “She’s just ballsy enough to do it. She seems so contemptuous of people.”

  I nodded. “You don’t miss much, do you?”

  “I’m going to confess something,” Alice said, and took a deep breath. “Cynthia scares me more than anyone else in this room.”

  “She is awfully big-boned,” I allowed.

  “I know. She could smash me like a bug.”

  I chuckled, then sobered as Naomi walked past, followed by three board members, one of whom signaled Tom and Cynthia to join them. The group walked down the hall into Naomi’s office and closed the door.

  “What was that all about?” I wondered, then exchanged looks with Alice. “Do you know what’s going on?”

  “Not a clue. But I’m going to find out.”

  I followed Alice as she threaded her way through the crowd. She could be determined when she wanted to be. We made it to the closed office door in record time. But it wasn’t necessary to get that close. Through the door we could hear Naomi from halfway down the hall.

  “I deserve that position,” Naomi cried. “I do everything around here. She means nothing to this place-do you hear me? Nothing.”

  “But Layla had confidence in her.” That was Cynthia’s voice. “I’m sorry, Naomi, but she didn’t feel the same way about you.”<
br />
  “Well, Layla’s dead now,” Naomi said pointedly. “And I’m the only one who knows how to run this place.”

  “And we agree, dear,” Tom said gently, trying to placate her. “That’s why we’re giving you a raise and a more prestigious position. What more do you want?”

  “I want the executive director position,” she snapped.

  “Naomi, don’t make this harder than it already is.”

  “I’m not the one making it harder. You are. Why shouldn’t I fight for what I want?”

  “Because we’ve made our decision.”

  “But it’s not the right decision,” she said, her voice rising. “I’m the one who does all the work and some new-comer gets the job? Not fair!”

  “Naomi, please,” said Cynthia. “We’re only doing what we think Layla would want us to do.”

  “For God’s sake, stop kowtowing to Layla,” she cried. “I know what you thought of her. How can I be sure you didn’t kill her?”

  There was silence.

  “Whoa,” Alice whispered.

  I had to agree-that was harsh. Even if I’d had the same thought five minutes ago.

  “I’m sorry, dear, but the board has made its decision.”

  “You’ll be sorry, all right. You’ll all be sorry.”

  The door flew open and Naomi ran out, then stopped when she saw Alice.

  “You!” she cried, pointing. “You knew all along. Are you happy now?”

  “I didn’t. Naomi, I-”

  “Stay out of my way, you troublemaker.”

  “You’re upset,” Alice said softly, “so I’m going to let that go. Maybe we can talk later and work things out between us.”

  “Oh, buzz off, all of you.” Then Naomi marched down the hall and disappeared into the crowd.

  I turned and looked at Alice, who was holding her stomach and swaying back and forth.

  “Are you going to be sick?”

  She nodded her head vigorously.

  “Go.” I pointed and she raced off down the hall.

  So, I thought. The formerly dowdy young Naomi has inherited a spine after all. Along with her aunt’s temper.

  Cynthia walked over, looking shell-shocked. “Did you hear any of that?”

  “Some of it,” I confessed. “She was pretty upset.”

  “It was worse up close. I’m worried she’ll quit because, unfortunately, she’s right. She knows how this place runs.”

  “She won’t quit,” I said with certainty. “This job is her life. Give her a few days to calm down.”

  “I feel so bad,” Cynthia said. “Her aunt just died and now this.”

  “You had to make a decision quickly,” I said, touching her shoulder in understanding. “They’ll just have to learn to work together.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Cynthia said, shaking her head in apprehension. “Naomi looked like she wanted to kill us all.”

  Chapter 13

  Any thoughts of spending time with Derek after the party were squelched once again when Gunther the Troll announced that he wanted Derek and his men to go to dinner with him. At first, Derek had refused to indulge him, exasperated with the man’s capricious changes to his well-ordered operation. He took Gunther aside and told him he would pull his men off the assignment if the Austrian didn’t start taking the death threats against him more seriously. Interpol had already reported that several operatives of the European prime minister whose daughter Gunther had compromised had entered the United States.

  But Gunther had insisted the fancy dinner was something he’d planned weeks ago and he wondered aloud why it wasn’t on Derek’s schedule.

  Derek wondered as well. Knowing him as well as I thought I did, I knew his own calendar would be accurate and up-to-the-minute. So that meant Gunther was lying. In the end, though, Derek relented for the sake of client goodwill. I was outwardly gracious in defeat but privately irate. Did Gunther know that Derek and I had made plans? Did he care? And how fancy could a dinner with a bunch of guys be?

  “Oh.” How stupid was I? There would be women there, of course. Gunther was a good-looking guy, an internationally known artist. He could drum up a wild party with one phone call.

  “Ugh.” I so didn’t need the image of Derek surrounded by wild, eager party girls. I took a deep breath and shoved those thoughts right off the bridge, into the bay where they belonged.

  As he said good night to me, Derek whispered that his original plan had been to spend the evening with me. It was clear what he meant and it tickled my heart, though I would’ve preferred that other parts of me be tickled instead. But enough about my sorry excuse for a love life.

  I was grabbing my coat from the deserted back cloakroom when someone tapped my shoulder, effectively scaring the living daylights out of me.

  “Huh. Brooklyn.”

  My chest stuttered in fear. But it was just Ned. No worries. He’d caught me off guard, that’s all. “Hey, hi, Ned. How’re you holding up?”

  “ ’Kay,” he said, his gaze darting every which way. “Weird stuff.”

  Those three words were the most Ned had said to me in all the years I’d been coming here. “That’s to be expected, I guess. But you still have a job, right? Everything will work out, right?”

  “Huh. Me and my printing press.” As he spoke, he chewed the skin around the nail of his ring finger. “We’re a team.”

  “You sure are,” I said casually, though inside I was starting to wonder why Ned had chosen tonight and me to demonstrate his nascent social skills. “Well, I’d better be going now. Good night.”

  “You’re smart.”

  I shifted back, surprised. “Thanks.”

  “Huh.” His lips thinned and his forehead furled sullenly. “She was bad.”

  I frowned. “I’m sorry, Ned. Was Layla mean to you?”

  “Huh.” He looked around furtively, then whispered, “I see things.”

  “Huh.” Now I sounded like him. “What sort of things?”

  “You watch out,” he muttered, then added, “Okay, g’night.” And he shuffled out of the room.

  I opened my mouth to call him back, then shut it. What things had he seen? Flummoxed, I glanced around again, then shook off the chills I felt from his last statement.

  I see things.

  Right now, I couldn’t think about the things Ned had seen. My life was already weird enough.

  I see things.

  Was Ned watching me? I buttoned up my coat and headed for the front door, where I turned and stared back at the room. I didn’t see Ned but I knew he was in there somewhere, watching. I just couldn’t figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  As I passed through the gallery, I noticed Naomi swilling wine and holding court by the bar. Seconds later, Inspector Lee walked back inside the gallery with two uniformed cops.

  She skirted the crowd and moved directly toward Naomi. I saw the moment Naomi grasped what was happening. Her eyes widened and she turned and walked away quickly. Lee signaled for the cops to go after her, down the hall that led to the bathrooms.

  Poor Naomi. She was not having a good night.

  Monday’s class had been canceled due to Layla’s memorial service and wake, so Tuesday evening I was back in my classroom laying out supplies at each student’s place for the traditional journal they would create over the next three nights. Heavy cardboard matte, already cut to size, for the boards. Signature pages cut to fit. A thin piece of spine stiffener. I’d also laid out more pieces of cloth on the side counter for them to choose from. There was every conceivable pattern and color for the covers and heavy construction paper for the pastedowns, the decorative paper glued to the inside covers to hide the dull boards and ragged turnings.

  Alice arrived a few minutes early and helped me assemble the tools we would need this week. After expressing confusion and concern about last night’s confrontation with Naomi, she changed the subject and raved about our weekend visit to Sonoma. Then she asked about Gabriel.

/>   “He’s okay,” I said. “I talked to my mom this afternoon. He’s still in the hospital, but he’ll be coming home tomorrow. He was having some problems sleeping, but I guess they’ve worked those out. I’m still kind of freaked out that it happened.”

  “It’s so frightening.”

  “I know. But he’s really strong. Mom will take him to her place and spoil him so much, he’ll run shrieking out of there eventually.”

  “Your mother is wonderful,” Alice said.

  “Thanks. I think so, too. She should’ve had ten kids because now that we’ve all moved out, she’s started adopting people. First there was Annie, now Gabriel.”

  “You’re so lucky. She has such a big heart.”

  “Yeah.” I frowned. “I already feel like Annie’s my sister, but I don’t really like to think of Gabriel as my brother.”

  She smiled. “I see what you mean. He’s awfully cute.”

  I opened the Ziploc bag of glue sticks. “Oh, he’s beyond cute.”

  “Yes, even with his head wrapped in gauze and lying on a gurney, I could tell how handsome he was.”

  As she walked around the table, placing bone folders at everyone’s place, I observed her. I didn’t know how my faux sister Annie would feel about it, but I wondered if it would be crazy to fix Gabriel up with Alice. She was a beautiful girl, smart, funny, compassionate, and spirited. But despite those qualities, she had a touch of fragility. I had a feeling Gabriel would chew her up and spit her out, and I would lose one or both of them as a friend.

  Then again, was Gabriel really a friend? I exhaled slowly. No, he was more like an extremely attractive nuisance. I’d only known him a short while, only seen him a few times. He showed up at the strangest moments and he’d saved my life on more than one occasion. Now I knew he’d also saved the lives of both my father and Guru Bob. So he was definitely hero material, but what if he was a spy or some kind of a mercenary? He’d been known to skirt the law when the situation called for it. All in all, he probably wasn’t the best choice for Alice.

  Not that she needed me to set her up. She had a fiancé, for goodness’ sake! In my excitement to change careers from crime investigator to matchmaker, I’d forgotten all about Stuart.