Vi Agra Falls

by Mary Daheim

  “Sure didn’t,” Frankie said, shaking his head. “Not at first, anyway. At the B&B, you reminded me of somebody, but I couldn’t think who until the night of the party, when you came out of the B&B to go someplace. It was your walk. You were always kind of pigeon-toed.” He turned to Marva Lou. “Didn’t I say as much?”

  “I thought you were crazy when you insisted I look them up on Mrs. Flynn’s computer,” his wife confessed. “But I’d never met Patsy. I mean, Trish.” Marva Lou cast a rueful glance at Mrs. Griggs.

  As Almquist came back inside, Judith looked at the Busses. “The attempt on your lives was a crude and stupid stunt meant to throw suspicion onto Terri for the murder.” She turned to Griffin. “I’ll turn over the box and what’s left of the chocolates as evidence.”

  “You’ve been withholding vital information?” Griffin demanded in an irate tone.

  “No,” Judith said. “I haven’t had a chance to do anything about it until now. There were two boxes, the poisoned ones sent via FedEx to the B&B, and the harmless box that was…” Glancing at Terri, who looked anxious, Judith decided a white lie was in order. “It was my mother’s, but she gave it to Terri, who left it on the front porch here. The killer didn’t know it wasn’t the candy delivered to the Busses.”

  “Very confusing,” Griffin murmured. “Are you done?”

  “No,” Judith replied and kept her eyes on Terri. “How did you know your father was the victim, and why did you pretend otherwise?”

  Griffin had gotten out a notebook. “That’s enough. I need names. All of you are going down to headquarters. We have to follow procedure. You’ll be interviewed one-on-one.” She turned to Judith. “Your neighbor and that other person,” she went on, glancing at Renie, “can stay here with Mrs. Buss until she’s able to be questioned.”

  “I don’t babysit lushes,” Renie snapped.

  “Keep it simple,” Judith said to Griffin. “You’ve got to nail a killer.”

  “Oh, of course!” the female detective said mockingly. “Why don’t you tell us who it is?”

  “Let me finish,” Judith retorted. “Let Terri answer my question.”

  Terri’s belligerence disappeared. “I always knew,” she said, wearily collapsing on the sofa, “but I was scared. I told Dad I was moving up here. I hadn’t seen him for a long time, so he told me he’d come, too. He found out my mother had remarried, this time for big bucks. He was doing okay in the Bahamas, but he wanted to put the squeeze on her. What he’d never told me until then was that he and my mother were…” Terri closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath. “They were never divorced. Neither of them had signed the final papers. Legally, my parents were still married.”

  “Blackmail?” Griffin said in a stern voice.

  “Does it matter?” Terri snapped. “He’s dead.”

  “Hey!” Griffin took a few steps closer to Terri. “Your voice! I recognize it now! You’re Aileen Rosenthal!”

  Terri hung her head. “I borrowed the name from my stepmother. I didn’t want to use my own. Let’s face it—Dad was always just a whisker away from going to jail. He was a dreamer and a schemer. He’d been calling himself Di Marco for years. That’s why my stepmother used it for her so-called movie career. I gave you phony information because I was scared. I was pretty sure who’d killed Dad, so I had to pretend I didn’t know he was the victim.”

  Judith nodded. “You went outside that night, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” Terri covered her face with her hands. “I found my dad’s body. It was awful. I didn’t know what to do. I’d been drinking, so I went back to the basement and drank some more until I passed out.”

  “No wonder,” Judith said. “Had you sent letters to your dad?”

  “You mean to my mother’s house?” Terri nodded. “I thought he was already here. He was always unpredictable.”

  Judith nodded. “Go on. Let’s move up to this evening. I take it you asked for help from Caitlin, who put you in touch with Mr. Stokes.”

  Terri nodded. “Mr. Stokes turned out to be a big help.” She managed a faint smile for the dapper man who was still standing in place, hat in hand. “He represents the buyers for the Buss ranch.”

  Mandrake Stokes bowed. “Indeed. It was vital for me to find the legal owner before the college moves ahead with the purchase. Given that Mrs…Agra?…was never married to the late Mr. Buss, the offer must be made to his lawful heirs, William Buss, Franklin Buss, and Patrice Buss Griggs.” He sketched another bow. “I’m at your service.”

  “Swell,” Frankie Buss said.

  “Finally,” Patrice Griggs murmured.

  “Incredible!” Caitlin exclaimed, standing in the doorway that led to the bungalow’s two bedrooms. “It turns out I’m a bastard!”

  “Consider this,” Judith said, moving to the younger woman’s side. “You were never legitimate in the Catholic Church’s eyes. The marriage was invalid because your mother was divorced—or so everyone believed. That’s why your dad didn’t need an annulment to marry me.”

  Caitlin shook her head in dismay. “What a muddle! Oh, what’s the use? I can’t change the past.” She grimaced. “I hated betraying my mother, but it was unlawful for her to inherit the estate and leave the rightful heirs with nothing. I couldn’t look Claude in the eye if I didn’t do the right thing.”

  The sound of “How Dry I Am” caught everyone’s attention. Griffin went to the door, asking who was there. Judith heard Darnell Hicks’s muffled voice. “Come in,” Griffin said, opening the door for the patrol officer and his partner, Mercedes Berger. “We need to bring in several of these people for questioning.”

  “How many?” Mercedes asked, looking around the crowded living room. “We don’t use a bus for patrolling this neighborhood.”

  “Speaking of ‘bus,’” Judith said, “where are Billy and Adelita?”

  Darnell grinned. “They’re already at headquarters.”

  Griffin looked startled. “You arrested them?”

  Mercedes shook her head. “They’re trying to find a judge or somebody who can marry them.”

  “We had to cite Billy Buss—again,” Darnell explained. “We stopped him for speeding by the civic center. Adelita’s family is in town from Campeche, Mexico, staying at the Travel Inn. Billy and Adelita were going to be married in Mexico a couple of years ago, but Mr. and Mrs. Vasquez didn’t approve of him, so they headed for Florida, and…” Darnell looked bemused. “I guess Billy’s been trying to butter up Adelita’s parents. The Corona beer in the trunk wasn’t for Billy. It was a gift for Mr. Vasquez, but he wouldn’t accept it until Billy made an honest woman of his daughter.”

  Judith slapped her hand to her head. “I should have guessed! Billy’s strictly a Miller man!”

  Griffin glared at Darnell and Mercedes. “You aren’t letting them get away, are you? This case isn’t solved.”

  “We know,” Mercedes said, darting a glance at Judith. “But we’re confident it will be. We have a tail on Billy and Adelita just in case. The latest word is that they’re wondering if a ferry captain could perform the ceremony out in the bay.”

  Griffin seemed flummoxed. Almquist was gobbling up some Fritos that had been spilled on the floor. “Excuse me,” Judith said, “but you can forget about Billy and Adelita? Put out an APB for the real killers.”

  Griffin glared at Judith. “And who might they be?”

  “Barry Henckel and Doug Campbell,” Judith replied. “Who else?” She turned to Terri. “Do you know where they might be?”

  Terri’s face flushed. “Yes. They’re in the trunk of my mother’s Bentley.”

  The following Monday was clear and warm under the midday sun. The cousins sat on Renie’s deck, taking in the view of the mountains to the east and the sprawl of the city’s suburbs up into the foothills.

  “So Caitlin’s on her way to Switzerland,” Renie remarked. “I’m glad she and Joe had a chance to get caught up.”

  “So am I,” Judith agreed. “
Thanks again for giving us some of that wonderful salmon Bill caught. Caitlin enjoyed it, too.”

  Renie looked at her watch. “Bill should be back from the cannery with the fish he had smoked. I ought to check on the plumber to see how he’s coming along upstairs.”

  Judith picked up the empty glass that had been full of lemonade. “I should stop at Falstaff’s on the way home.” She watched a robin fly from branch to branch in the Joneses’ huge Blue Atlas Cedar. “I’m still amazed at Terri managing to trick her two rotten half-bothers and turn them over to the cops.”

  “Every so often people surprise me,” Renie admitted. “Terri’s got some smarts. If she puts her mind to it, she can find a decent job.”

  “True,” Judith agreed. “I still wonder where my smarts went. Terri laid it all out for me, and I missed the boat.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up,” Renie urged. “You fingered the killers eventually. Besides, there were a couple of crucial pieces she left out.”

  “You mean Doug overhearing Johnny threaten Vi before the party?” Judith nodded. “That only came out when Barry tried to cut a deal and mentioned it to the cops. I missed some little things—like the casinos. Joe told me that Doug and Barry worked in several places. I interrupted him when he mentioned Paris, Rio, New York—and when he said ‘new’ again, I thought he was going to say New Jersey or some other place that began with ‘new.’ If I’d let him finish, he’d have said New York New York, and I would’ve realized he didn’t mean cities, but Vegas casinos. The brothers returned from Vegas at the end of July. Doug found Charles Brooks’s wallet and kept it. After the murder, Doug made ID difficult by planting Brooks’s wallet in his victim’s pants. He must’ve dumped Johnny’s own billfold.”

  “Maybe,” Renie suggested, “it ended up in that Dumpster after the party. That must’ve been a terrible mess to search.”

  Judith nodded. “It could’ve been ditched anywhere.” She sighed. “Terri never saw her dad at the party. He came early. Until she found his body, she figured he was a no-show. That didn’t surprise her—he wasn’t reliable. She probably got there after he was already dead.”

  “Another factor,” Renie pointed out, “was time of death. Johnny was killed much earlier than the M.E. figured.”

  Judith batted at a bumblebee that was circling her glass. “Yes, before Herself’s show got under way. Rochelle mentioned that Hamish Stein had seen a sedan parked in front of Vivian’s house that looked like the same one he’d spotted the night before the murder. It was gone by the time the party started. The cops checked out the rental agencies, and learned that someone named Di Marco had rented it Saturday. The car was found late last Friday in the parking garage by the civic center at the bottom of the hill.”

  Renie nodded. “The brothers had to get it out of the way after they killed Johnny. Good God, they have to be two of the dimmest criminals you’ve come up against.”

  “Oh, yes,” Judith agreed. “They acted on impulse—no plan, no thinking ahead, just suddenly discovering their mama wasn’t a rich widow after all and seeing a Do Not Enter sign on Easy Street. It’s a wonder they didn’t put the body in the rental car and leave poor Johnny in the parking garage. But they couldn’t do that in broad daylight. The freezer was their answer. Except for the party ice, there wasn’t anything in it. As the waiters, Doug and Barry were the only ones who needed to go down to the basement to fetch the ice. They took all of it, threw a blanket over Johnny, and put him in there. But they didn’t want the body to freeze because it’d be harder to move, so they unplugged the unit. Arlene and I noticed that later, but it didn’t sink in. It took a while to defrost, so the chill factor altered the M.E.’s calculations. The basement floor got wet, and so did the blanket. Terri mentioned that, but it went by me. Poor girl—sleeping downstairs with her dead father’s body!” Judith shuddered. “No wonder she was a wreck when she got to the toolshed.”

  “Why didn’t she go to the cops?”

  “I think she believed that Vivian was in on it,” Judith replied. “It made sense. She’d want Johnny dead, too, if he threatened to expose the illegal marriage to Potsy. Terri stalled, trying to figure it out on her own.”

  “Do you think Vivian knew who killed Johnny?”

  Judith shrugged. “Who knows? Her brain’s addled by so much booze, straight thinking is questionable.”

  “So Terri turned the tables on the brothers,” Renie murmured. “She was in real danger, too. They may’ve intended to get rid of her.”

  “Or at least get her out of town,” Judith said. “They couldn’t be sure how much she knew. When they offered to take her for a spin in the Aston Martin, she realized that all three of them couldn’t fit in it. She thought fast, figuring she could be in danger. Herself’s Bentley had just been delivered, so she suggested they try it out. She insisted on calling me when they stopped—not at Bartleby’s, but at Buster’s Café a couple of blocks away. Then she phoned Billy and told him to come down—fast. That’s when Caitlin got into the act. Billy told her Terri sounded scared. Caitlin suspected the worst of the brothers, and with her knowledge of chemicals she whipped up a version of a Mickey Finn so Billy could slip it into the brothers’ drinks.”

  “Caitlin was lucky that Billy was willing to cooperate,” Renie said. “Of course, he had nothing to lose and everything to gain by nailing Doug and Barry.”

  “Right,” Judith concurred. “The Bentley was parked behind the café. It didn’t take long for Doug and Barry to get groggy. Buster’s clientele of hard drinkers are often unable to walk on their own. Billy and Terri hauled the brothers out the back way and into the trunk.”

  “I’d like to have seen that,” Renie mused.

  “Me, too,” Judith said. “Of course, Terri had no proof, but when she discovered her dad’s body, she realized that the only person who’d insisted she stay in the basement was Doug. Somehow he had to be connected to the crime. He had a motive, of course. I’d figured Johnny was there after Ray Campbell mentioned the cop who said, ‘Here’s Johnny!’ adding, ‘Where’s Johnny?’ It indicated he’d been there, but was gone. What threw me off was the stated time of death.”

  “Wow,” Renie said softly. “You’re one of the two people in two million who actually listens to what others say.” She smiled at her cousin. “Of course, that’s why even strangers bend your ear.”

  “I guess,” Judith said modestly. “Hey,” she said, glancing at her watch, “I’d better scoot.”

  Both cousins got out of their deck chairs. “How’s Vivian taking it?” Renie asked as they entered the kitchen.

  “Not as badly as I hoped,” Judith replied ruefully. “She’s going ahead with the condo project. Billy is willing to back her, maybe as a thank-you for her generosity to him. Besides, he doesn’t want her raising hell, because he and Adelita got married over the weekend. Terri told me he and his bride are heading for a new life in Hawaii.”

  “Buying off a wife who was never a wife,” Renie murmured. “A novel concept. But I’m sorry about the condo thing.”

  “So am I,” Judith said. “I really don’t know how I can keep the B&B going with a huge construction project practically on our doorstep. The noise alone will wake up the guests. I’ll have to shut down.”

  “Coz, you can’t!” Renie protested. “It could be for several months, and—”

  The phone rang. Renie picked it up from the counter. “Oh, hi. What’s new?” She listened for a full minute and began to smile. “Really. Very interesting. Tell Bub thanks. Talk to you later, Bippy.”

  “What’s up?” Judith inquired.

  Renie didn’t look her cousin in the eye but focused on some bananas in a fruit basket on the counter. “Um…family stuff with Bill’s brother, Bub, and his wife, Bippy.” She suddenly clapped a hand to her head. “I forgot to bring Oscar’s picture back! How could I? Can I swing by after Bill comes back with Cammy?”

  “Glad to see it go,” Judith replied. “I put it in a kitchen drawer.”

&nb
sp; “You’re mean,” Renie said.

  “And you’re lucky,” Judith responded. “I almost tossed it.”

  Renie’s expression turned menacing. “You want to be the next corpse in your neighborhood?”

  “I’ve had enough excitement lately. ’Bye.”

  When Judith arrived home with her groceries an hour later, Joe was on the phone in the kitchen. He didn’t look happy. “Thanks for the heads-up,” he said, and rang off. “That was Smith. Or was it Wesson? I can’t keep those patrol cops straight.”

  “And?” Judith said, setting three Falstaff bags on the counter.

  Joe didn’t answer right away. He folded his arms across his chest, gazed through the window over the sink, and uttered a big sigh. “Smith and Wesson thought we’d like to know that a bulldozer is heading our way. They had to direct traffic at the bottom of the hill because the bulldozer was blocking an intersection. They asked the guys who were towing it where it was headed. The address is the Swanson house.”

  “Oh, damn!” Judith exclaimed. “I’ve been hoping, praying, that would never happen! What’ll we do?”

  Joe shrugged. “What can we do? I noticed earlier that a U-Haul was parked in front of Vi’s. I suppose her house is next to go.”

  Judith went to the computer and reviewed her upcoming reservations. “I’m almost completely booked up through Labor Day. How can the guests cope with the noise and the mess and…Oh, it’s a disaster! I was hoping Herself wouldn’t start construction at least until the end of September.”