by Kate Collins
She looked puzzled for a moment, then pointed a skinny finger at me. “Athena Spencer.”
“Right.”
Steadying herself on the back of a chair she pointed from me to Case. “You and Dimitrius are—?”
“Distant cousins,” Case said. “Please have a seat.”
Marie gazed at him as though he were dessert. “I suppose I could join you for one quick drink.”
“There’s no such thing as one quick drink,” Case said. “Not in the company of such beautiful women.” Case held her arm to support her as she wobbled down onto the plump leather seat across from me. “What would you like, Marie?”
She covered her mouth to hide a hiccup. “Another Bloody Mary, please.”
“Nothing for me,” I said. “I’m still working on my wine.”
Marie turned to watch him walk over to the bar. “Dimitrius is quite the charmer.”
“Yes,” I said, glancing over at him, “he is that.”
She propped her elbows on the table and set her chin in her hands, gazing at Case with unfocused eyes. “I can see a resemblance to him on your mother’s side—those dark good looks and curly hair.” She heaved a pitiful sigh as she turned her bleary gaze back on me. “Poor dear, you really are the odd duck of the family, aren’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Drinks should be up in a minute,” Case said, sliding onto the seat beside me.
“Tell me more about you, Dimitrius,” Marie said, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
“I came up from Tarpon Springs to work on my novel, and my cousin here”—he put his arm around my shoulders—“is giving me a tour of the town.”
I glanced at Case. “That reminds me. We promised to be back in time to meet Kevin for dinner, so we have to keep an eye on the time.” Ignoring the perplexed look on Case’s face I turned back to Marie. “Dimitrius and Kevin have really hit it off.”
“How nice.” She pushed herself upright as the drinks arrived.
I smiled to myself. That should put an end to her making us a gossip item.
After she’d taken a noisy sip of her Bloody Mary, nearly jabbing herself in the eye with the celery stick, I said, “That was quite a press conference yesterday. I didn’t realize your shop was going to be demolished, too. You should’ve brought it up at a meeting.”
She set her glass down so hard her drink sloshed over the sides. “It wasn’t supposed to be demolished. That’s why I never said anything.” She hiccupped. “That dirty liar promised me it wouldn’t be touched.”
“Who promised you?” I asked. “Talbot Senior or Junior?”
“Both of them.” She pulled the celery out of her glass, bit into it, and chewed angrily. “I don’t want to talk about either one of those liars.” She tore off another bite of celery. “Men. You can’t trust them.” She turned her head to gaze at Case, her body swaying dizzily. “Tell me you’re not like other men, Dimitrius.”
“I’m not like anyone you’ve ever met, Marie,” he replied with a smile that could melt butter, “and you can call me Dimitri.”
“I know what you mean about trusting men,” I said, drawing her attention back to me. “Talbot is lying about the condominium project. We’re trying to find the truth.”
“He lied to me, too!” She attempted to hit her fist on the table for emphasis and missed. “But I know secrets about the Talbots. He got the message. Now he knows you can’t mess with Marie.”
“What was your message?” I asked.
“Never you mind. He got it, that’s all. He wouldn’t dare tear down my building now.” She pointed to her face. “I could see the fear in his eyes.”
And I could smell the alcohol on her breath. “Maybe you can give me some tips to pass along to the others. You’re aware that Talbot offered a bribe to Don Fatsis, right?”
She gave me a puzzled glance. “Gray tried to bribe Fatsis? He told me that deal was for me alone.”
“Who is Gray?” Case asked.
“That was my pet name for Grayson.”
I was talking about Sonny and she was talking about his father.
“Oh, Gray was a charmer,” she went on. “He told me I was the one for him. I thought he meant he was going to marry me.” She started to tear up. “After I told my friends and word got out—it was even printed in the paper’s gossip column—he called the newspaper and told them I’d made it up and to retract it. It was retracted the very next day.”
She began to weep and dug for a tissue in her purse. “I was so humiliated, I didn’t want to leave my house. I couldn’t eat or sleep—” She covered her face and cried harder. “I had to go on anti-depression medication.”
“I’m sorry, Marie,” Case said. “That must have been shattering.”
“But that didn’t do the trick, so the doctor ordered sleeping pills for me.” She sniffled. “I was afraid to take them though, so I put them away.” She lowered her voice to say, “But don’t tell him. Dr. Kirkland gets very angry when I don’t follow his instructions.”
She had sleeping pills! I glanced at Case to see if he caught it and got a nod.
Marie blew her nose, pulled herself up, and reached for her glass. “You know what got me back on my feet? My shop. And now that damned Talbot boy wants to demolish it.” After taking a long drink, she set it down hard, sloshing more over the edge, then said with a sneer, “No one messes with Marie and gets away with it. Not Gray Talbot and not his son, either.”
“How about Harry?” Case asked.
Still on a rant she continued, “That Talbot boy. Now he’s sorry he humiliated me in front of everyone. I still can’t believe he denied meeting with me.”
Humiliation was clearly the trigger that set her off.
As she finished her drink, Case said, “I keep telling Athena not to trust him. You obviously learned your lesson the hard way. How did you feel about trusting Harry?”
“I trusted Harry. He left the office doors open for me so no one would see me enter.”
“When was the last time you went to see Gray?” I asked.
At that Marie seemed to pull back into herself. With a faraway look in her eyes, she said in a slurred voice, “Secrets and lies. So many secrets and lies.” Her expression saddened. “Poor Harry. He was a kind man, but way too loyal to Gray. Bad things happen to people who are loyal, you know.” She drifted off for a moment, then said, “Even Harry had secrets.”
“Will you tell me one of his secrets?” Case asked.
Leaning toward Case again she said in a whisper that was fortunately loud enough for me to catch, “Harry wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about keeping the office doors unlocked at night.” She glanced over her shoulder, then added, “Not even Gray’s son.”
“But?” Case prompted.
She picked up her empty glass as though to take a drink, stared at it for a second, then looked around. “Do you know where the ladies’ room is?”
“It’s that way,” I said, pointing behind me.
Case helped her out of the booth, then sat back down as Marie wobbled toward the restrooms.
“Well,” I said, “what do you think of her as a suspect in both men’s deaths now?”
“She certainly had the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Talbot,” Case said, “but I still can’t figure out a reason for her to kill Harry.”
“How about this? If anyone started asking questions about Talbot’s death, Harry would have told the police about Marie having access to Talbot’s suite. And that would’ve made her a suspect.”
Case sat back. “Okay, Sherlock, why would she wait two weeks to kill him?”
“She had to find the right opportunity.”
Case glanced around at the door to the ladies’ room. “When she returns, help me steer the conversation back to Harry.”
“I’ll try, but the way she staggered off, I doubt we’ll get much out of her now.”
Case reached for his beer glass to take a drink. “You give up too easily, Athena.”
“Were you serious about us meeting Kevin for dinner?”
I gave him an incredulous look. “I said that just to stop Marie from spreading gossip about us.”
“Are you meeting him for dinner?”
“Yes,” I said with a heavy sigh.
A tiny flicker of a grin appeared on one side of his mouth. “You do realize Kevin is going to find out about us sooner or later. Us collaborating, that is.”
“Not tonight, so let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Case stood up as Marie returned to the booth.
“Anyone else thirsty?” she asked, barely able to focus on us.
“I’m afraid we need to get going,” I said.
“Then I shall walk out with you,” she said in a queenly manner. When she had to grab onto the table to steady herself, Case jumped up and put his arm around her waist.
“We don’t want you to have a traffic accident,” he said. “I’ll drive you home in your car and Athena can follow me. But first tell me who you think killed Harry.”
She grabbed the table for support, then leaned forward to say, “Harry had a secret, that’s why he died. Secrets and lies. Nothing but secrets and lies with the Talbots.”
“What was Harry’s secret?” Case asked.
Marie hiccupped, then leaned close to Case to whisper loudly, “He had a confidant.”
“That was his secret?” I asked.
She scoffed at me. “No. I heard him talking on the phone to someone and they were planning something. And obious—obously, he wasn’t talking to Gray’s son or daughter-in-law.” She held her finger to her lips. “Don’t say anything, but I heard Harry say he didn’t trust either one of them.”
“When was this?” Case asked.
Marie gazed at him longingly and breathed into his face, “You’re so handsome.”
“Marie, focus,” I said. “When did you overhear Harry’s phone conversation?”
“At the Talbot house after the funeral dinner.” Marie sighed in exasperation. “Can we go home now?”
“Absolutely,” Case said. “Just one more thing. Did Gray’s son know Harry had a confidant?”
“He didn’t until yesterday,” she said, lifting her chin. “That’ll show little boy Talbot, I said to myself. No one messes with Marie and gets away with it.”
Then Sonny knew everything Marie knew, including that Harry had a confidant.
She put her hand to her forehead. “I feel sick. I want to go now.”
Case put his arm around Marie to support her and began walking her toward the front of the restaurant. “Where’s your car?”
“By the hotel. I didn’t want anyone to see me.” She shook a finger at Case. “But you spotted me, you naughty boy.”
“You’re a hard woman to miss, Marie,” Case said.
“I’ll go get her car,” I said to Case. “Give me your keys, Marie.”
She thrust her purse at me. “Couldn’t find them if I tried.” She suddenly pushed away from Case, her hand over her mouth. As I turned to head into the parking lot, she stumbled toward a group of boxwood shrubs near the door, where she emptied her stomach.
“At least she got it out before her car ride,” Case said.
* * *
I tapped my foot nervously as I waited for Case to return from Marie’s house. I’d parked around the corner from her small bungalow and checked my watch. I still had to drive Case back to the marina, then go home to change and be back in time for my dinner with Kevin, which I found myself dreading like the plague. At least I didn’t have to worry about Nicholas. He’d be having a ball with my sisters all day.
But working on the murders with Case was seeping into my blood like a drug and I found myself wishing I could keep investigating. Being with stolid Kevin for two hours was only going to make me squirm with boredom. Yet I didn’t see any way I could cancel now without making up another lie. As my mother liked to tell us, “Oh, what a wicked web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” And deception had become the name of my game.
The passenger door opened, startling me. Case got into the car with a frown on his face. “I couldn’t get her to tell me any more about Harry’s confidant. I’ll have to try again when she’s not drunk.”
“Do you really think she’ll admit the truth if it implicates her?”
“If I do it right, yes. She’s a wealth of information.” Case fastened his seat belt as I put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. “She’s also desperate for male company, and I just happen to be free for dinner Tuesday evening.”
“You’re actually going to take her to dinner?”
“You bet.”
“You and Marie.” I had to laugh. “I can’t wait to hear about it. Maybe she’ll even invite you in afterward for a nightcap.”
Case was silent for a moment, then muttered to himself, “Secrets and lies.”
“Everyone has them,” I said.
He turned to study me. “Tell me a secret about Athena the Warrior Goddess.”
“She’s a mythical character.”
“I mean the real Athena. Why do you stay at the garden center after everyone goes home?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“As they say, confession is good for the soul.”
“I write a blog,” I said matter-of-factly. “It helps me keep my sanity.”
“A blog. How about that? We’re both writers,” he teased. “What do you blog about?”
“What I know best. My crazy family.”
“What do you call it?”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to read it.”
“I might. I have a lot of time on my hands these days.”
“It’s called It’s All Greek to Me. I use the pseudonym Goddess Anon and I actually have a lot of followers, including my own family.” I couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across my face. “The funny part is that they don’t know it’s about them.”
“Secrets and lies,” he said with a smile. “Everyone has them.”
I pulled into a parking lot near the marina. “Okay, here you go. This is as close as I want to get.”
“I can tell.”
“You can tell? What is that supposed to mean?”
“You didn’t ask me for a secret.”
I shut off the ignition and turned to face him. “I don’t have time to play truth or dare. All I meant by saying ‘as close as I want to get’ is that I don’t want my SUV seen too close to the marina.”
“And here I thought you meant you didn’t like to get too close to people.”
“I have a son. I think that qualifies as being close to someone.”
“A child. Your heart is safe with him. First husband must’ve really done some damage, and your big family gets in your face, right? Making you crazy? So you write the blog to let out your frustration, and you keep people at arm’s length to protect your heart from ever being trampled on again.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, Dr. Freud, you’ve got me all figured out, including that I’m afraid you’re going to trample on my heart. Now get out and stop analyzing me.”
“You don’t have to get prickly. I was just teasing.”
“Grow up with three sisters like mine and you’d grow prickles, too. Now go.”
Just as he reached for the door handle, I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Delphi on the other side of the street. Fortunately, she hadn’t noticed my SUV or me. “Get down,” I said, and leaned toward the center of the vehicle.
“You just said to get out.”
I grabbed the neck of his shirt and pulled him toward me. “Delphi is on the other side of the street. I don’t want her to see us.”
I waited a beat, then slowly peered over the back of the seat. She was still there but was on her cell phone walking toward the diner, so I ducked back down. “That was close.”
“Speaking of being close.”
Realizin
g we were almost nose to nose, I sat up. “Good-bye, Case.”
“Athena, about what I said earlier,” he said, straightening his shirt, “it was rude of me to pry into your private life.”
“You’re right, it was rude. I don’t pry into yours.”
“And that’s exactly what I mean. You keep your distance.”
“Let me remind you why we’re working together. One is to clear your name. The other is to stop the Talbots from tearing down Little Greece. The third is for justice’s sake, to find out who caused the two deaths and prevent him or her from getting away with it.”
“Let me remind you why I came here in the first place,” Case said. “To find the statue and proof of authentication.”
I inhaled slowly, pushing down my irritation.
“Before you come back with a rebuttal,” Case said, “I told you from the beginning that that was why I was here. Now let’s plan our next move.”
“Fine,” I answered sharply. “First of all, we have four potential suspects with motives for wanting Talbot Senior dead. We have two with motives for Harry’s death. So we need to dig deeper to see if either of our other two suspects have motives for killing Harry. That means questioning Lila again, but this time I’ll talk to her.”
Case pointed his finger at me. “See? There’s that jealousy thing again.”
“It’s not—I’m not jealous! I just feel I’ll get further if she doesn’t have anyone to flirt with.”
“And I say I’d get further because she likes me, but go ahead. Give it a try.”
“Thank you. Then I need to talk to Marie again when she’s sober and confront her with what she told us today.” I began to count on my fingers. “I also need to talk to Bob Maguire, the police officer I mentioned, to see if he’ll give me any new information on the case. I need to ask my sister if Lila showed up for her yoga class the mornings both men were murdered. And I need to question Fatsis.”
“Look at you go! You’re really into this, aren’t you?”
“I guess I am. My plan is to start with Don Fatsis. I’m going to his shop just before noon on Monday to catch him before he heads out for lunch.”
“You mean we’re going to his shop.”
“Not we, Case. Just me. I don’t want him to feel cornered, which he would if we both came at him.” I rested my forehead on the steering wheel, trying to figure out how to approach Fatsis. “I know. I’ll tell him I need advice about the condominium project. Maybe I can pretend to be outraged by Sonny’s bribe and see if he says anything about his offer.”