by Norma Lehr
Wonder what that’s about.”
All heads turned. “Maybe she’s backing out of the performance,” Blythe said.
Renee lifted her chin. “Or she’s pulled herself together like the trooper she is and is letting Jan know the show must go on.”
Abby hoped Renee was right. It did seem odd to see Dana up at the tables looking fresh-faced after what she’d divulged to Abby earlier. “Well, Jan told us that if we had questions, she’d be happy to answer them ... that she’d be in the casino somewhere. Maybe Dana has a question.” Abby finished off her tea. “So, let’s go on over. Personally, I need to know if we’re planning to continue. If we are, I want to hear it straight from Jan. If not, I’ve got to make a call and try to reach a friend who’s planning to be here.” She gave Renee a wink. “I don’t want to disappoint him.”
“Either way, whether we dance or not, I hope he does come,” said Renee. “If Melanie’s death escalates into murder and any one of us becomes a suspect, we can use some help from an ex-cop.”
On their way to join Jan and Dana, Abby couldn’t stop thinking about Melanie’s chalet. She felt an irrational urge to get in there. A gut feeling told her that, even if there wasn’t a suicide note, she might find something that the deputies might miss or misinterpret. Something that might point to Renee and her longstanding grudge against Melanie for stealing Tom, though the number of years that had passed since Melanie stole Tom should make that an unlikely motive.
Renee’s adoration of Tom … Every dancer here knew how Renee felt when Melanie took off with Tommy. Women forget a lot of things, but not a cruel rejection from a lover, whether it happens to them or to someone they know. Renee’s feelings at the time had been no secret. She’d made wild threats about what she would do to Melanie if she ever saw her again. Strange, though. She’d never threatened to do in Tom Moran, although in his heyday, Tom had hit on each of the dancers here at one time or another. A real jerk! She then remembered the mystery person in the hooded sweatshirt leaving Melanie’s last night. Those sweatshirts were standard gear for most dancers. On the other hand, Renee could be right, and the young dealer might have made a night visit at Melanie’s request. Melanie really didn’t seem to be the type to weep over a young stranger’s rejection, but then who knows? Might the mysterious visitor or Dana’s latest argument been the prelude to murder?
What would Blade do? She was tempted to call him and ask for help, but she realized she didn’t have his cell number with her. Didn’t she owe it to her friends to follow her instincts? With her insider’s knowledge, she might find the key to solving the crime and eliminate any suspicion surrounding Dana or Renee.
Abby knew what she had to do. When it got dark, she’d find a way to get in there. She wouldn’t exactly be breaking in, because Melanie was a friend. And if she didn’t take a look for herself, she knew she wouldn’t sleep tonight. If she could confirm that there was no suicide note, she could stop beating herself up for not helping Melanie by joining her at the spa.
When Abby reached the gaming tables, she found Dana looking flushed. She quickly glanced at the others, excused herself, and left for the ladies’ lounge. When Abby asked Jan about tomorrow’s schedule, if indeed there would be a schedule, Jan made it clear the show would go on as planned. No show, no dough. The only change would be five dancers on stage at rehearsal tomorrow morning instead of the original six. According to Deputy Eckles, no one would be allowed to leave the Tahoe area anyway, and Jan anticipated a larger audience because of Melanie’s demise.
Coldly put, but then Jan doesn’t have the history with Melanie the rest of us do. Even though Melanie had never made life easy for the five remaining dancers, all of their faces registered varying degrees of grief at losing one of their team.
Later that evening, Renee left the Cal Neva to join Gail across the street at the old Biltmore Hotel for an evening of gambling and, she whispered slyly to Abby, scoping the tables for a rich single guy. Abby stayed behind and sat alone on the chalet’s deck, picking at a takeout salad from the hotel restaurant while she plotted her next move. After watching the late evening sun cross the slate blue lake, pass Emerald Bay to the west, and slide behind the smooth mountain peaks rimming them with streaks of scarlet, she realized that she had come to a decision.
Abby waited almost an hour to see if Dana would come back to her chalet after dinner, but Dana must have lingered at the tables. She decided it was time to act. She looked toward the steps leading down to Melanie’s chalet. If she attempted to get there by sneaking under the yellow tape at the gate, she would risk being seen by hotel security. Instead, she decided to climb her waist-high deck rail and straddle the chasm to Melanie’s deck rail. As a dancer, she had certainly accomplished more strenuous feats. Deputy Eckles hadn’t returned as yet, but he would most certainly be back in the morning. Abby scanned the area, looking toward Dana’s darkened chalet then over at Melanie’s. Except for the brilliant stars and the silver moonlight cast on the water, no light shone down on this secluded area tucked away from the hotel and casino. She grasped a small flashlight she carried while traveling, stuffed it in her pocket, and pulled on a black knit cap.
She peered over the edge. There was about a seven-foot gap between the railings, but two large boulders might provide a kind of bridge. The steep slope where they were embedded could be a problem. Slipping probably wouldn’t kill her, but it might cause an injury that would prevent her from performing on stage.
She adjusted her stretch pants and pushed up the sleeves of her black lamb’s wool sweater. Shoes on or off? She might be able to grip with her toes if worse came to worst. Off came the shoes, and she eased herself up on the rail and crouched, her eyes searching the night like Catwoman’s. She grasped the rail but lowered her body and kicked out behind her. Her bare feet touched the rock surface, and she let out a relieved sigh. She let go of the rail and fought to keep her balance as she carefully made her way across. Steady now. She slipped once and used her toes as grabbers. When she was a few feet from the other railing, she grabbed for it and tumbled gracefully over the side.
Abby stood trembling on Melanie’s deck. Melanie, good girl, had left her window open a tiny slit—a mystery in itself, until she recalled that Melanie, when she checked in, had requested a hotel safe to hold her valuables. Abby pushed her fingers hard at the opening and pulled with all of her strength as the metal rim wrenched and moved inch by inch. When the glass opened wide enough for her to squeeze through, she stood absolutely still and listened to night sounds. Though hearing nothing but a breeze rustling the leaves on the trees, she felt a chill run through her. She sucked in a deep breath, wormed her way through the opening, and dropped inside.
Flipping on the flashlight, she scanned the room. A quick once over and she flipped it off. The setup of the room was similar to hers. The drapes were open and the moon provided enough light for her to navigate around a chair and table to the bathroom area. Melanie’s creams and cosmetics lay strewn on the vanity, along with one soaked, paper label. Abby turned to leave bathroom in order to examine the rest of the room for a suicide note, when she stopped and turned back. A label! Switching the flashlight back on and focusing the beam directly on the paper, she leaned over and examined it. Most of the words were smeared from the water, but there was no doubt where the label had come from. Blythe’s tea! How had Melanie gotten it? She hadn’t been at the Circle Bar table when Blythe had passed out samples last night. Did this mean the person Abby saw coming out of Melanie’s gate last night could have been Blythe? If she had stopped by to deliver the tea, why hadn’t she mentioned that fact to anyone? Was it because she had been the cause of Melanie’s tears?
Abby felt awful. Of course. Someone had upset Melanie, she had needed to talk and Abby had been close by. But why Blythe? In the past, she’d never said anything hurtful to anyone. And now, at the reunion, Blythe seemed to have grown even mellower with time.
Should she leave the label for the deputies to find? No. S
he grabbed a tissue from a box on the vanity and carefully wrapped the damp label. Next, she tipped the small trash basket beneath the vanity with the flashlight, looking for a cup. She would have used the coffeemaker to heat water, and there would need to be a cup for soaking the tea bag. No cup in the trash. Strange.
No need to involve the law. She would ask Blythe herself, give her a chance to explain.
Abby sniffed as she neared the table by the window. An ashtray with a stubbed out cigarette. Dana’s? She’d seen Dana’s pack last night at the bar but couldn’t recall the brand. She sniffed it. Stale. Maybe not left here last night. Dana could have stopped by earlier. But would Melanie have allowed her to smoke in her room? Abby thought not. If she had, Melanie would probably have emptied the ashtray immediately and then cracked open the window. Of course! Maybe that was the reason.
She swept the flashlight beam once more around the room. Except for the vanity, the rest of the place looked tidy. Melanie’s bags were stacked against the wall, and clothes hung neatly in the open closet. No suicide note in sight. Not even a scrap of paper. If she rummaged through any of Melanie’s things, her fingerprints would be in places she wouldn’t be able to explain later. Time to go.
A bleating sound stopped her in her tracks. The phone! The incessant bleat continued. She turned her head without moving her body. Who would be calling? Had someone seen her come in, and this was how they were letting her know? The ringing didn’t come from the hotel phone placed on an end table next to the bed. Abby let out a sigh of relief. Melanie had left her cell phone on the chest of drawers, and someone who apparently didn’t know she was dead was trying to reach her. While the ringing continued, Abby stepped out through the window and carefully shut it.
The moon had disappeared behind a cloud and, as she moved toward the edge of the deck, the darkness enfolded her like a shroud. She immediately recognized it was too dark now for her to use the boulder bridge between the deck railings. If she tried to cross again, she’d be pushing it. Instead, she inched her way up the stairs, pressed against the outside wall of the chalet. Near the top of the steps, she stopped and held her breath. She carefully opened the gate, grasping the latch to prevent the anticipated metal click. In one quick move, she ducked under the crime scene tape, crouched low to her stairs, opened her gate, and raced down and into her chalet.
“What in the world?” Renee scanned Abby from the top of her black knit cap to her bare feet. “Where have you been? Where are your shoes?” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
Abby gasped, trying to catch her breath. She sat on the edge of her bed and vigorously rubbed her cold feet. “Let me get my bearings, and I’ll tell all.” She reached in her pocket and removed the tissues holding the tea label and the cigarette butt. “Put these someplace safe. Don’t open them just yet. Promise me.”
Renee nodded reluctantly. “Okay, if that’s what you want. Why all the secrecy?”
“Please. No questions until I get the blood back in my feet.” Abby snuggled her feet in slippers and dropped back on the bed. “Renee, Dana was in love with Melanie.”
“What are you talking about? ‘In love.’ You mean ...”
“Yep. She told me everything this morning. She’s loved her for years. Since we all danced together in New York.”
Renee turned from the vanity mirror where she’d been redoing her lips. “Well, that brings a different picture to mind. Most of the day, I kept thinking that if Melanie had been poisoned, Dana might have done it over the lottery money. But now? If she loved her, I don’t know what to think.”
“No one here knows any of this. Strictly confidential.”
“Sure, but Dana doesn’t look all broken up. She’s been hanging around Jan.” Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t suppose she finds Jan attractive, do you?”
“Lord, no. She’s probably hanging out with her because she knows the other dancers didn’t like Melanie, and she doesn’t want to hear what they have to say.”
Renee snapped her cosmetic bag closed. “She’s avoiding me. She remembers all too well how I felt about Tommy.” Renee stood at the foot of Abby’s bed. “I’ve resented Melanie for a long time now, but after what’s happened to her—dying in such a horrible way—something clicked in my head. I’ve been blaming her all these years for what happened, but it was Tom who made the decision to dump me and run off with her. He did it. Melanie was always so self-involved, she probably wasn’t even aware of how I loved him.”
Abby sat up on the bed. “At last. I’ve been waiting for you to have an epiphany about him. Dana called him a rat, and that’s what he was. You were lucky he left and you didn’t know where he’d gone. Now maybe you can put it to rest.”
Renee handed Abby a sealed envelope. “Dana asked me to give you this. She caught me as I was leaving, said she had a cab waiting. After avoiding us all, she’s become one busy lady. Earlier I saw her having a cozy dinner with Jan. Later, when I was cutting through the casino, she was at the bar with Melanie’s young dealer. That didn’t surprise me. She probably wanted to find out if he visited Melanie last night at her chalet.”
Renee slipped on her jacket. “Guess what? Your detective friend checked into the old Biltmore Hotel across the street. I saw him at the desk while Gail and I sat on cushy leather chairs in the lobby and munched on shrimp cocktails from the bar.”
“Blade? Did you talk to him? Did you tell him what happened to Melanie?”
Renee shook her head and raised an eyebrow. “He didn’t see me, and I thought maybe you’d want to tell him. I’m going back to the casino. I won fifty dollars on roulette at the Biltmore, and now I want to join Gail in this casino for a couple of games of twenty-one. My lips are sealed about Dana. I won’t breathe a word to anyone.” She turned away from the mirror. “Want to come?”
“Go ahead. Good luck. I’ll tell you what I’ve been up to tonight—why the Catwoman garb—as soon as I sort it all out.”
“Promise?”
“Go!”
“Your tissues with whatever in them are in the drawer of your bedside table,” she said as she closed the door.
Abby ripped open the hotel stationery envelope.
Must talk to you alone. Something important has come up. Things are not as they seem. If I’m right, then we’re all dancing on a dangerous stage. Meet me at Cove Beach at the bottom of the hill in the morning. Early. Before rehearsal. I’ll ring to wake you.
—Dana
Something so important she couldn’t discuss it here? Abby read the note again. A dangerous stage. She shuddered. Of course she’d meet her, but why wait until morning, and where had she gone off to in a cab tonight? Cove Beach, huh. She’d have to ask directions when Dana phoned in the morning. She opened the bedside drawer, removed the tissue holding the cigarette butt and studied it for a few minutes before she sniffed it. Stale. Could this have been left by Dana? She’d take it with her in the morning and ask.
She stretched and yawned. What an awful day this had been. First, a possible suicide or murder. She had collected what could be important evidence, and now this cryptic note from Dana. What if Dana regretted confiding in her and now meant to threaten her to shut her up? Abby shuddered. What was she thinking?
A warm soak in the tub might bring back her sanity. While she ran the hot water, her mind drifted to Blade Garret. So, the gumshoe had arrived and had chosen to stay at the old Biltmore Hotel. She smiled for the first time since Melanie’s death. Of course, he would. He’d be curious to find out the history of that historic place. After testing the water temperature with her toes, she climbed in. Was it happenstance that he’d hit town early? How would he react when she told him the bad news about Melanie? Perhaps, when she caught up with him, she could disclose some of the information she had gathered and get his opinion. Maybe.
Soaking in the steaming hot water, she closed her eyes and nearly fell asleep. Ten minutes later, she dragged herself from the warmth of the tub, snuggled into a white fluffy robe provided by th
e hotel, climbed under the covers, and sank into oblivion.
Chapter 6
Early the next morning, Renee hollered, “Abby! Get the phone. It’s on your side. The damn thing won’t stop chirping.”
Abby shoved an arm out from under the covers and fumbled for the receiver. “Hullo.” Silence on the other end, a deep sigh followed by a dial tone. She plucked her watch from the nightstand. Six thirty. Must be Dana, but why didn’t she say something?
“Who was it?” Renee did a flip-flop turn while she tucked the covers under her chin. She peered over at the window. A faint glimmer of light shone through an uneven slit in the drapes. “Good grief, it’s still night time.”
“Go back to sleep. I’ve decided to do an early run to get loosened up. I’ll fill you in later.” She groaned when she sat up and let her legs fall over the side of the bed. She was stiff from yesterday’s rehearsal—or from last night’s trapeze act between the two decks.
She quickly pulled on sweats, slipped on running shoes, and ran her fingers through her hair. On her way out, she grabbed a tube of lip-gloss, Dana’s note, and the tissues with the cigarette butt and tea label. She carefully placed them in the bottom of her sweat pockets and patted them in place. “If I’m not back in time, go on to rehearsal. I’ll meet you on stage.”
Renee muttered something unintelligible and burrowed deeper under the covers. .
Out on the deck, Abby inhaled the cool morning air as she jogged in place. After three deep breaths, she sprinted up the steps, crossed over to Dana’s, and knocked twice on her door. No answer. Maybe she was in the shower? She put her ear to the door. Either Dana had left immediately after she called or had called from the beach on her cell phone. Abby shrugged and briskly walked the rest of the way up to the hotel. At the snack bar, she ordered a large Chai to go and asked the senior counter lady for directions to the beach.