For Letter or Worse

by Vivian Conroy

  He seemed to want to argue, but Lena was already using the light of her phone to guide Delta and Hazel to the living room. It was dark inside, and the eerie blue light of the phone gave Delta the feeling they were burglars sneaking in. Lena shone the light at the couch. “Sit down, please. This is all a bit unusual. But it will be resolved.”

  “Do you already know who sent you that perfume bottle?” Delta asked.

  Lena sat in a chair, up straight, with her hands in her lap. She shone the light of her phone away from her face so Delta couldn’t see her expression. “No. I doubt the police will either. There were no fingerprints on it.”

  “I see. And was there footage of the table? I mean, a security camera that caught whoever put it there?”

  “Lots of people went near the table. I don’t think that will help much.”

  “How stressful for you. First the threat, then the murder. Do you think they are connected?”

  “Why all these questions?”

  “If the power was cut,” Hazel chimed in, “you might still be targeted. We have to find out by who.”

  Lena laughed softly. “Some fan who’s not right in the head maybe. Who can tell? When you’re in the spotlight, it can attract the wrong kind of people.”

  Time for a little bluff. Delta took a deep breath. “Like that caterer? I saw he followed you around and wanted to talk to you.”

  Lena stiffened. “He wanted an autograph, but I don’t give those anymore. My modeling days are over. I try to live a normal life.”

  “You hardly have a normal life,” Hazel said in a friendly but emphatic tone. “You’re being threatened, and your sister-in-law was murdered on your grounds.”

  “I heard there was another case like it, years ago.” Lena’s voice was thin. “Maybe it’s the same killer? Or a copycat?”

  Delta shook her head. “Before we assume such a tenuous link, we must look at what is right in front of our eyes. That man, the caterer, came here under false pretenses. He’s not a caterer. I saw him in town today, working as a handyman. He must be after something.”

  Lena released her breath.

  Delta pressed, “The sheriff is here to check your house for a possible power outage. I might as well tell him I might have a lead.” It seemed unlikely the caterer slash handyman had actually cut the power, as he had driven away from town right before they had headed here, but a bit of pressure on Lena to reveal something at this crucial moment couldn’t hurt.

  “I want to help out,” Delta added sweetly.

  “No.” Lena sounded anxious. “You must not tell Sheriff West about that man. He didn’t cut the power. I’m sure.”

  “But he did accost you at the party. He wanted more than an autograph. Why didn’t you tell the sheriff about him? He might have put the perfume bottle on the table.”

  “Of course not. He wanted an autograph, and I told him no. Nothing more to it.” Lena rose. “I must go and see how the police are getting along.” She left the room.

  Delta tried to see Hazel, but it was too dark. “Do you believe her?”

  “Not really.” Hazel took a deep breath. “But we can’t do much about it. West never liked you or me, so if you tell him what you saw at the party, he won’t do anything with it.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “Come on. He has Sally’s husband under lock and key and believes he did it.”

  “But who cut the power then? That guy Jarvis is in a cell.”

  “It need not be connected. It may be a failure of some kind.”

  The door opened, and Lena came back in. She sounded relieved when she said, “The sheriff found out that it’s something with the electricity control panel. I’m not technical, so I don’t understand what it is exactly, but it cut all power in and around the house. He is turning it back on.” As she said it, a lamp in the living room turned on, casting things in a nice, soft glow. Delta’s eye fell on the bronze woman picking flowers. “We’d better be going.”

  Lena looked her in the eye. “Leave that caterer man be. He’s not involved in anything.”

  “I’m sorry,” Delta said, “but I don’t believe that.”

  Lena escorted them to the front door. “Goodbye.”

  Outside, Delta said, “There is definitely more to that caterer slash handyman than meets the eye. I also think Zara is very suspicious. I wonder how much she knows about electricity? Can she have manipulated the control panel? She acted so over-the-top panicky. It felt like an act. Maybe she hoped to fall into Drake’s arms?”

  “They do have a bit of tension between them,” Hazel agreed. “I’m not sure what she’s up to.” She stretched. “We’d better get to the community center for our rehearsal, or they will be done without us.”

  * * *

  At the community center, they saw a jet-black Buick parked close to the entrance. Delta pointed out the fins on the back. “That’s Randall Drake’s car. Jane told me all about it the other day. An icon from the fifties, they call it at the local garage. I wonder what he’s doing here.”

  They went inside and turned left right away into the big assembly room with a stage that was used for all kinds of activities, including the upcoming town festival. Piano music flowed toward them, and on stage, they caught a man seated behind a piano, surrounded by the Paper Posse ladies. They all smiled at him while he played a big band classic and sang to it, in a rather good baritone. As Delta drew closer, she recognized his smooth, handsome features.

  “That answers my question,” she whispered to Hazel. “Randall Drake.” She climbed onto the stage via the steps on the right-hand side and closed in on the group. Randall ended the song on a long note and ran his hands down the keys in a dramatic closing section. The ladies applauded him with fervor. Mrs. Cassidy said, “You’re so good you should be part of the show, Mr. Drake. If you’re staying that long.”

  “Randall, please.” He winked at her. “I don’t know yet how long I’m staying.” He caught sight of Delta and Hazel. “Hello. The more the merrier, I say.”

  “We’ve just come from the Drake villa,” Delta said. “There was a power outage there. Most peculiar.” She looked at him closely. Calvin Drake had hired Jonas, saying he didn’t know who he could trust anymore. Had he also been thinking of Randall? But Randall had obviously left the villa a while ago if he had been here rehearsing with the ladies.

  Randall didn’t blink. “A power outage? I’m not surprised. With all the gadgets my uncle installed, the circuits must get overloaded at times.” He let his fingers play across the keys. “Shall we rehearse?”

  “Mr. Drake offered to help us. He was here to meet with the mayor and overheard that our regular pianist is in bed with a touch of flu.” Mrs. Cassidy smiled. “Such a nice offer.”

  Randall waved it off. “I miss playing. I used to do it quite a lot in college. But after that… Life got serious, you could say.”

  “What do you do anyway?” Delta asked. “You’re not in your uncle’s company, are you?”

  “Oh, no. Fortunately not. He’s a real tyrant. Everything must be done one way only. His way.”

  The ladies laughed.

  Delta noticed he had avoided mentioning what he did do for a living. Jonas had said he had heard in passing that Randall was a software engineer, on vacation in Tundish, but at the bakery, Jane had told her he didn’t have to work for a living because his family had money. Either way, the question was: Why was he staying with his uncle when said uncle and his own father were on bad terms?

  “Time to get serious.” Mrs. Cassidy looked around. “Has everyone got their sheet music? Now, last time we were a bit stuck on the opening section. We have to rehearse that a few times. Jane, you start.”

  Jane fidgeted with her music. “I don’t know if I have the right voice for this section. Shouldn’t we switch it up? Maybe Bessie can do it. Or Hazel?”
<
br />   Hazel paled. “Me? Start?”

  Delta knew her friend had rather not been in the Paper Posse’s performance at all, because she hated to be the center of attention, and quickly offered, “I can try.”

  Randall gestured for her to come stand beside him at the piano. “Let’s try the opening keys.” He repeated them a few times. “Now suit your voice to it.”

  Delta tried, and it didn’t sound too bad. Randall smiled at her. He had melting brown eyes, and standing here with him playing and her singing, she did feel a bit like a star.

  After her solo, all the ladies joined for the refrain, and Randall played with gusto as they sang about the joys of living the outlaw life. The murder case faded to the back of Delta’s mind, and she just let the music carry her.

  * * *

  “It’ll be done soon.” Delta turned down the heat under her pan of pasta. Rehearsal had been fun, but apart from a cup of coffee and a slice of cornbread during the break, they had not had any dinner, and she intended to catch up now that they were home. Just some spaghetti with meatballs and sauce.

  A low sound, much like a thud, seemed to come from the back door. Still a little jumpy from the odd events at the Drake villa earlier that evening, she stiffened at once and tightly clutched the ladle she held for stirring. Hazel was in the living room, getting things ready so they could have their bedtime snack on the sofa. She sneaked to the door and peered out. To her surprise, it was the tall, statuesque figure of Lena Laroy, standing with her shoulders pulled up as if she was undecided about something. Delta opened the door. “Hello.”

  Lena startled. “Oh. I had no idea you were already coming to the door. I was still debating whether I would knock. It’s all so awkward.” She burst into tears.

  Delta reached out her free hand to her. “Do come in. It’s getting cold out there.”

  The woman passed her coming inside and shrugged out of her expensive woolen coat. She folded it over her arm and wiped away a tear. “Sorry for that. I didn’t mean to be so… It’s all the tension. The power cut at my home.”

  “You don’t believe it was a technical malfunction of the control panel?”

  “No.” Lena swallowed hard. “I had to pretend, because my husband was watching my every move. He claims to be keeping an eye on me because he’s worried about my safety but…I think something else is up.”

  Delta gestured for her to go into the living room. Hazel looked up in surprise when they came in. “Oh. Good evening.” She looked past their unexpected guest at Delta, the question marks all over her face.

  Lena dropped herself on the couch with a sigh. “It’s Zara.” She spread her hands in a dramatic gesture. “She gets on my nerves. I’m not sure whether it’s her clumsiness, the little accidents…”

  “What accidents?” Delta asked.

  Lena plucked at her coat. “Last time she left the house in my husband’s car, she almost drove into me. She claimed she never saw me, but…I’m not so sure.”

  “You think Zara wants to harm you?” Delta asked. “Do you think she’s behind the threats against you?”

  “It’s not impossible, is it?” Lena looked at them. “I’m thinking it’s someone from the outside, but what if she is under my own roof? She could have put the present on the table. The perfume bottle with the skull.”

  Delta nodded. “Possibly, but so could have all the other guests. You didn’t see her do it. What reason could Zara have for targeting you?”

  Lena wet her lips. “I have a feeling there is something between Calvin and her. I’m afraid he brought her in because they’re having an affair.”

  “Do you have any concrete proof for this?” Delta glanced at Hazel.

  “No. And at first it seemed absurd. She’s so much younger than he is, a schoolgirl almost. But she obviously likes to be near him. And sometimes he looks at her, as if…they have an understanding.”

  “I see. Can she have cut the power in your house? I mean, would she know something about the control panel?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” Lena hid her face in her hands. “I don’t feel safe in my own home anymore.”

  “Did you discuss the car incident with your husband? When Zara almost hit you?”

  “Yes, and he told me she’s merely clumsy. He keeps saying that whatever she does. She can’t handle the dogs either. One of these days something will happen to one of them. Oh, my poor babies.”

  “Why don’t you fire her?”

  “I can’t. Calvin hired her, and he doesn’t listen to me.”

  Delta admitted this was rather suspicious, but now that Lena was here, she wanted more. “And this man, the caterer, he has nothing to do with it all?”

  “He has been after me before.” Lena looked at Delta. “But the police won’t do anything without evidence. I’m hoping to lure him into a situation where I can get footage of what he’s doing. If I tell the police now, they will ask him a few questions; he will deny everything and go free. He did it before.”

  “What did he do earlier?”

  “I don’t want to talk about him. I’m only here to tell you about Zara and my husband and to ask if I can stay with you tonight. I don’t want to be at home.”

  Delta widened her eyes at this unexpected request. “Stay with us, here?”

  Hazel said, “We don’t have a spare room available. This cottage was meant for me when I got it, and then Delta came to town and moved in for the time being. Until she has found a place of her own. Both bedrooms upstairs are taken and—”

  Lena said, “I can sleep on the couch. I told my husband I was going out for a drive, and I will call him later and say I had a flat tire and I’m staying at a hotel. He’ll think it’s odd, but never mind. Let him and Zara have the house to themselves to do whatever they want to do.”

  “I thought there were more people there. Staff?” There was a housekeeper, someone had said. “And how about Drake’s nephew, Randall?”

  “He comes and goes when he wants.” Lena shrugged. “I have no idea why Calvin even let him in when he showed up. He hasn’t said a word to Randall’s father in years.”

  “I heard in town,” Delta said, “that you might have had a hand in the reconciliation. Because your husband is no longer in touch with the children from his first marriage.”

  “I never met them. It wasn’t me their father left their mother for.” Lena grimaced.

  Delta noticed she avoided confirming or denying she had pressed Drake to take Randall in. The handsome, suave young man had seemed very close to her at the party, taking the role of her absent husband.

  Lena’s expression changed, as if she was about to cry again. “That’s exactly why I worry about Calvin and Zara. She wouldn’t be the first young girl to fall madly in love with him. He met his second wife when she was babysitting his children with his first wife. That girl tore his entire family apart. When their affair became known, his wife and the children didn’t want to talk to him anymore. He married the babysitter, and after two years, she claimed he beat her and filed for divorce. She took a chunk of money off him too. Little gold digger.”

  Delta knew that people had said the same thing about Lena when she had started dating Drake, as she had always had a taste for wealthy older men. But she just said, “So you think that your husband’s interest in Zara might fit a pattern? That he destroyed a marriage before after gaining interest in a girl working in his household?”

  Lena rubbed her face. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m getting paranoid. Alienating the people I love because I think someone is after me.”

  “Someone did place that threat on the gift table. A bottle of your own perfume with a dark message.”

  Lena shivered and rubbed her arms. “I don’t want to think about it anymore. But how can I not think about it? Sally is dead and…” She suddenly jumped to her feet. “You’re right, I can’t stay here. You
have no spare room and… Please don’t take what I told you too seriously. I’m very upset. I’ll go to a hotel. Thanks for listening to me.”

  Delta followed her into the kitchen. “You can sleep on the couch if you want to. You’re too emotional to start driving around in the dark. Our rather belated dinner is almost ready.” She gestured to the stove. “Why not eat with us and then have a good night’s sleep and see what you want to do? Everything might look different in bright daylight.”

  Lena looked at her with red-rimmed eyes. “Are you sure I can stay here? That it’s not a problem for you?”

  “No, not at all.” Delta felt sorry for the woman who apparently had nowhere to turn now that she was in trouble. “Please stay with us. We don’t have to talk about the case either. We can chat about Wanted, paper goodies, anything you like.” She smiled encouragingly. “Please feel welcome here.”

  “You’re too kind.” Lena answered her smile. “I don’t know what I would have done if…” She stared out of the window into the darkness. “I feel so very alone.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The next morning, Delta awoke feeling like something was not quite as it ought to be. She recalled the appearance of Lena Laroy at their back door, her story, the dinner with an odd mix of lighthearted chatter about paper crafting and Lena’s modeling days and the moments where Lena seemed to turn into herself and become frightened and fragile.

  Knowing Drake had met Zara at the Lodge and had even been seen with an arm around her shoulders, Delta wondered if Lena’s bad feelings about the two were more than paranoia. But she hadn’t said so to her.

  Yet.

  Before showering, she decided to go downstairs to see how their guest was doing. She tiptoed off the stairs and peeked into the living-room area. Lena sat on the couch, her hair tousled, her makeupless face wrinkled in a deep frown. She had something in her lap. When Delta looked more closely, she realized with a shock it was her sketchbook. Lena might have picked it up to see some of her designs, but as Delta watched the former model’s deep interest and the way her eyes shot from left to right as if she were reading, she had a sinking feeling she was studying her case file in the back. The information about Sally’s murder.