Seams Like Murder

by Betty Hechtman

  “Why did you leave without even coming in?” he said. “Thursday was looking forward to talking about yarn with you.”

  “I can’t talk now. Dinah and I found something important at CeeCee’s, but we need to get out of here.”

  He said something, but it was drowned out by a loud thwack coming from overhead. Just as it registered that it was a helicopter, Dinah and I were bathed in a bright spotlight.

  I grabbed her hand, and we began to run.

  CHAPTER 15

  Did we really think we could outrun the cops? Did we really think, was the real question. In a word, no. We flew out of the bushes and onto the street. A police cruiser had just pulled to the curb. The doors flew open, and two young officers came after us. By the end of the block, they’d snagged us. They had barely broken a sweat, but both Dinah and I were breathless.

  You’d have thought we had just robbed a bank or something. The helicopter kept circling while more cop cars arrived. They blocked the street, leaving their headlights on to illuminate the area. A sergeant arrived and started asking a lot of questions, trying to sort things out. The trouble was, he was talking to everybody but Dinah and me.

  All the commotion had brought the neighbors into the street, and I could see the lights from their cell phones as they tried to capture the moment.

  “If you could just call CeeCee Collins,” I said, grabbing the floor. “She can vouch that it was okay for us to be on her property.”

  While I was talking, one of the uniforms was shaking his head. “We checked the house. The housekeeper said she’s not vouching for anyone and nobody is supposed to be wandering around.”

  “But you have to tell her it was me,” I said. The cops ignored what I said and started talking amongst themselves. “He’s the one who called,” one of the cops said, indicating a man with a dog standing off to the side. He was outside the bright glare of the headlights, and I had to squint to make out that the man was Evan Willis and the dog was a Jack Russell terrier.

  Evan didn’t wait for the sergeant to ask for his story; he just started talking. “I was out walking my dog when I saw two people loitering on the street. Then they disappeared into the bushes. It looked pretty suspicious to me, particularly after a dead woman showed up on the property. And you know how celebrities get stalkers.”

  “You know me,” I said. “Molly Pink.” He looked at me blankly. “I’m working with your wife and daughter on her baby shower.” He looked at the cops and shrugged. “It’s Polly,” I said finally.

  “Oh,” he said at last. “You’re the one from the other day.”

  “You seem very observant, the way you noticed us hanging around,” I said. I heard Dinah let out a little gasp as I took the opportunity to bring up the night Delaney died. “Maybe you noticed something suspicious last Thursday night, too.”

  I guess I caught them all off guard, because it seemed like all the cops’ mouths fell open. The sergeant stepped closer to me, probably to stop me from talking, but Evan answered first.

  “I have already been over that with the police. We had a party that night, so I wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on out here.” He made a broad gesture toward CeeCee’s property.

  “Was Delaney Tanner one of your guests?” I asked. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the sergeant gesturing toward a couple of uniforms, who were taking out their handcuffs.

  Evan seemed taken aback by my question, and it took him a moment to answer. “The name doesn’t ring a bell,” he said in a dismissive tone. The sergeant seemed exasperated and told the two cops to cuff us. “I think we’ll just take this down to the station.”

  Just as the cuffs clicked shut, the crowd parted as someone demanded to be let through. Mason used his foot to propel the scooter through the opening, with Brooklyn trailing behind him. The scooter and the tai chi outfit he was wearing apparently caught the cops by surprise, because they let him through.

  “Molly, don’t say another word.” He eyed the bunch of cops. “I’m their attorney.”

  I heard a groan go through the cops as he asked what their plans were for us.

  The Channel 3 news van arrived a moment later, and Kimberly Wang Diaz pushed her way into the crowd, asking every cop for a statement.

  I hung my head when I saw Barry step through the crowd, too. He went right past Kimberly Wang Diaz and caught a glimpse of Mason on his scooter. A look of exasperation flashed on his face for a moment, then he was all business as he joined his associates. He was obviously off duty, and I had the feeling he might have been sleeping. No suit this time—instead he wore jeans that were soft with age. I saw a dark T-shirt showing under his leather jacket. His badge was pinned to his pants pocket, and the edge of his gun peeked out from the open jacket. I suppose years of being awakened out of sleep to hunt down clues had trained him to skip groggy and go right to alert.

  His gaze washed over me and down to my now cuffed hands. There was a flicker in his dark eyes and just the slightest tilt to his head that seemed to say, What have you done this time?

  Mason started to repeat his comments about being our attorney, but Barry stopped him and walked over to the sergeant. “I think I can help straighten this out. What exactly happened?” The cops wouldn’t let Dinah, me or Mason speak, and they told their version of what had happened, which was basically that we’d snuck into CeeCee’s yard and were either stalkers or connected to the body that had been found there. But any way you looked at it, we were up to no good.

  I was shocked when Barry asked for my cell phone. He had to help himself, since my hands were tied up at the moment. He scrolled through the numbers and did what the cops should have done to start with. He called CeeCee, who wasn’t home and had no idea what was going on. When she heard about what had happened, she said whatever we’d done at her place was okay with her. Or at least that was my best guess at what she said from hearing his end of the conversation. He slipped the phone back into my pocket and pulled the sergeant aside.

  A few moments later the sergeant turned to the crowd. “Show’s over, folks. You can all go home.” The cops uncuffed us, and the sergeant headed back to his car, grumbling that the first batch of cops should have done more than just go to the door of the house. Kimberly tried to make the most of the moment and asked me if we’d actually been investigating the recent death.

  “We all know what a nose for murder you have,” she said, trying to interject some personality into her report. Barry was standing close by, obviously listening for my answer.

  I just mumbled that I had no comment. Disgruntled, she and her cameraman packed up to go. I went over to Barry. “Thank you for straightening everything out.”

  “And now you owe me one,” he said in a low voice. Before I could react, he walked away. The cops went back to their cars, and the street cleared of the neighbors.

  “I was hoping I could play the white knight,” Mason said, making a sad face. “But I’m happy I could even make the effort. I am sure you have a lot to tell me. How about we all go out for coffee and discuss?”

  Dinah begged off. “It’s been a long day for me, and I need to touch base with Commander.” She leaned close to me. “It’s terrible, but I’ve been avoiding even talking to him. I’m afraid he’s going to push me for an answer. And I’m worried what he’ll do if he doesn’t like the one I give him.” She said she’d drive my car back to my place, where she’d left hers.

  Brooklyn had been hanging in the background, but now she stepped forward. “Dad, it’s late and you should really go home.” Mason’s smile faded.

  “I appreciate your concern, and I hate to be a bother to you. That’s why I wanted to hire a driver until I was done with this.” He adjusted his position on the scooter. “We can drop you off at home, and Molly can drive the SUV,” he said. He gave the bell on the scooter a playful ring.

  “That’s okay,” Brooklyn said. “
I’ll drive. Then we can take Molly home after.” Dinah threw me a meaningful glance as I gave her the keys to my car. It was so awkward, I really wanted to beg off, too, but Mason was the most exuberant I’d seen him since the accident, and if he wanted to go out for coffee and hear about things, I was willing to put up with Brooklyn’s attitude.

  “Shall we?” I said, taking the lead toward the Mercedes SUV that was Mason’s current ride. I wanted to help load the scooter in the back, but Brooklyn insisted on doing it, and had me sit in the backseat.

  Our choices were limited, due to the hour, and we ended up at the twenty-four-hour IHOP. We had the place to ourselves, and the waitress didn’t bat an eye when Mason parked his scooter next to the booth and slid in. Nor did she seem surprised to see him wearing his tai chi outfit. Brooklyn seemed to be going along under protest and took out her phone and started playing with it. I was sorry it hadn’t been Thursday who’d driven him, but apparently she had an early day and had already gone home.

  Mason made a production of ordering something for us to share, creating a dish that wasn’t on the menu. He seemed thrilled to be out in the world. He’d come up with a concoction of pancakes smothered in fried bananas and soaked with melted butter that turned out to be sinfully delicious. All the excitement had caused me to build up quite an appetite. The coffee cut into the rich sweetness of the pancakes and complemented the flavor. Mason savored every moment and was thrilled that I was enjoying the food.

  “Now, do you want to tell me the whole story?” His broad face lit up with an excited grin, and as always, a lock of his dark hair had fallen across his forehead. “It’s so good to be out late at night, doing the detective thing with you.”

  Brooklyn’s face was still glued to her phone, and she seemed immersed in texting. I thought she was just ignoring us, but then she started muttering about Jaimee. Mason reached across the table and squeezed my hand, I think as reassurance, and then asked his daughter what the problem was.

  “Mother said that Todd sent her flowers and then called her tonight. Doesn’t he get that it’s over?”

  “He seems to be trying to make amends for whatever she thinks he did wrong. Who knows, they could work it out,” Mason said. He saw that his daughter wasn’t looking, and he winked at me and gave my hand another squeeze before letting it go. “You were going to tell me what you found out.”

  I began by explaining what we had been doing at CeeCee’s. “Finding that gate was really important,” I said. “That means that CeeCee wouldn’t have had to know that Delaney was even there. She could have come in on her own.”

  “But, Sunshine, why would Delaney have been sneaking into CeeCee’s guest apartment?” Mason stopped to think for a moment. “Well, the obvious reason would be that she was meeting someone.” He put a lot of emphasis on someone, and I got the drift.

  “You mean you think Tony could have been having a fling with her on the side?”

  Mason cocked his head and put up his hands. “Not all men are as nice as me,” he said with a grin.

  “I can’t bring it up to CeeCee,” I said. “Unless I know for sure that it’s true.”

  Mason nodded and said he could see my point. “What sort of work did Delaney do? Maybe if you could find out if their paths crossed,” he offered.

  “She worked at the Bank of Tarzana,” I said. Brooklyn had lost interest in her phone and was picking at the plate of food in front of her. She looked at her watch with concern.

  “Dad, it’s really late. You shouldn’t tire yourself.”

  I was shocked to find myself agreeing with her. Mason was still healing.

  * * *

  There was almost no traffic, and it only took a few minutes to get to my house. Mason opened the passenger door of the SUV, and I leaned over to say good night. We did an awkward arm dance as he attempted to hug me. With his daughter in the driver’s seat, it was too uncomfortable for there to be anything more.

  My greeting committee of Cosmo and Felix was full of reproach for my being gone so long, and they had knocked over the trash to make sure I knew it. I let them out in the yard and went across the house to rouse Blondie and coax her out for the last time of the night. The cats came in the kitchen and saw the mound of coffee grounds and vegetable peelings all over the kitchen floor and did an about-face. I was about to tackle the mess when the phone rang, startling me and giving me a whole new adrenaline rush just when I’d been starting to recover from the fuss with the cops.

  “Hello,” I said with a bit of worry in my voice.

  “Molly, it’s me, Bar—I mean, Detective Greenberg,” he said. Without even a hint of apology about the hour, he continued. “Remember I said you owed me? I want to collect. Could we talk now?”

  “Now? Already? It’s midnight.” I had looked at the clock and rounded it off to the nearest hour.

  “Yes, it needs to be now while everything is fresh in your mind.” The way he emphasized fresh, I was pretty sure he was referring to how he’d recently kept me and Dinah from having to go down to the station.

  Figuring I might as well get it over with, I said it was okay, stifling a yawn. I really needed to find a way to stop burning the candle at both ends. The knock at the front door was almost immediate, and I realized that once again he’d called from out front. The timing of his call made me wonder if he’d been out there waiting until I got home.

  I let him in, and he followed me as I went through the kitchen to open the door for the dogs. As we passed through, he saw the mess on the floor.

  “The dogs?” he asked, and I nodded in answer. I heard him let out a sigh. He hadn’t asked which one had done it, and I wasn’t going to name names, but Cosmo—who was technically his—had a rep for knocking over the garbage.

  By the time the dogs came in, Barry had already retrieved a fresh trash bag and started cleaning up the mess. Cosmo rushed up to him and put his paws on Barry’s leg in greeting.

  Barry shook his head. “You’d think he’d feel at least a little guilty,” Barry said, stroking the dog’s head in spite of himself. Then he tried to give the dog a serious scowl. “Cosmo, we need to talk about this.”

  Barry was as clueless about dog training as he had been about being a father, though now that his son had been living with him for a while he was getting better at it.

  It was against my nature not to be hospitable, even if I was pretty sure he was here to grill me for information and it was practically the middle of the night. “I was just going to have some tea. Would you like some?”

  “Yes,” he said quickly as he finished cleaning up the last of the coffee grounds.

  “I was going to have chamomile. It’s good when you’re wired. Does that work for you?”

  “A shot of scotch works, too. Chamomile tea sounds a little wimpy.”

  “If you want scotch . . .” I made a move to go check the dining room. Charlie had always kept a stocked bar, and it was all still there. Barry stood up from his cleanup work abruptly.

  “I’d be happy to try the tea.”

  A few minutes later we each carried a mug of steaming tea into the living room.

  “Thank you for bailing Dinah and me out,” I said.

  Barry let out a mirthless laugh. “Hold off on the gratitude. I was really thinking of all the time and paperwork a trip to station would have generated. And it would have ended with the same result: the two of you being let go.” I checked his expression to see if he was joking, but he was all serious cop.

  “Okay, then I’m taking my thank-you back,” I said, teasing.

  “But you still owe me,” he said, ignoring my joke.

  “How do you want to be paid?” I asked, all serious myself this time.

  “I think you know.” He waited until I’d positioned myself at the end of the leather couch, and he took a seat at the other end of it. “Information—and all of it.” Barry was trying
to be stern and full of authority, even though Cosmo jumped on the sofa and flopped across his lap.

  “You can stop with the authority voice,” I said, setting out coasters for the mugs of tea. “It just seems ridiculous since we have a history.”

  He blinked a few times, as if he was processing what I said, and then he let out a sigh. He looked tired and wary. “Are you playing the ‘we’re friends’ card to get out of talking?”

  “Oh please, Barry, give me more credit than that. I don’t need a ‘card’ to get out of talking.”

  “You’ve changed since you started hanging out with Fields,” he said.

  “Changed? How?” I asked.

  He took his time answering. Barry was never rash. “I’m not sure what it is, but you never would have said that whole thing about not needing a card before. You might have thought it, you might have even answered my questions with questions, but you wouldn’t have been so up front about it.” He picked up the mug and looked down at the greenish liquid.

  “Maybe it’s from hanging around Mason, but it could be because I’m the assistant manager at the bookstore now and it’s made me tougher.”

  “Right. You did mention that before.” He set the mug down, and I watched all the friendliness leave his face as he went back to cop mode. “Let’s just forget we know each other and get on with this.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “So then, Mrs. Pink, tell me what you and your associate, Mrs. Lyons, were doing wandering around in CeeCee Collins’s yard.”

  “Mrs. Pink? Mrs. Lyons? Are you kidding? Even with your authority face, I still know it’s you.”

  “Are you deliberately trying to make this difficult?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so. But this whole setup feels very strange. Doesn’t it feel strange to you, considering our past?”

  Barry said no too quickly. “Just tell me what you two were up to.”

  “Nothing. We were just checking out the yard.”

  Barry made a disgruntled groan. “You know I’m not going to buy that. I know you two were looking for something. Save us both a lot of time and just tell me.”