For Jonathan, she felt anger. For screwing up his privileged life. There were kids walking the city streets who grew up with poverty, with bad parents, if any, with bad schools and dangerous so-called friends, and yet some—no, many—of them found the strength to fight for themselves, work hard, lead honest lives. Against all odds.
CHAPTER 31
* * *
Friday morning, thirty-six hours after Lori had called Detective Scardini from her bedroom, the usual breakfast group, expanded to include Ellie, Jessica, and Angie, met at Callie’s. Callie, noticing that everyone’s face was marked by more emotions than she could read, quickly sat them at a round table in the back of the diner, out of earshot of the other customers.
“They’re releasing Dad today,” Jessica blurted out to Callie as she sat down. Lori had told the others over the phone. It was the reason she had asked them to meet at Callie’s—the place where they had shared so many details of their lives. The meeting would be a strange combination of celebration and regret.
Callie patted Lori’s shoulder and grinned back at Jessica. “That good news deserves champagne, but you’re underage and I don’t have a liquor license. How about orange juice on the house?”
“And a slice of apple pie, please.” Jessica grinned back, happy excitement glittering in her eyes.
Angie asked for the same. No one else felt like eating, and they ordered only coffee. Callie, who was known for loud rumblings if her customers didn’t order enough to put some money in the cash register, said nothing and left.
“What hard evidence do the police have against Jonathan?” Beth asked Lori.
“His car gave him away. The forensic people found traces of Valerie’s blood. The car wash people told Detective Scardini that Jonathan had his car washed four times in the four days following the murder, but it turns out they didn’t wash the space underneath the accelerator. Jonathan’s shoes must have gotten blood on them when he stuffed Valerie’s body in the trunk of her car.”
Janet shuddered. “To think I was with him the next morning,” she said, “while our cars were getting washed, talking about Rob owing us money and he had already killed her.”
“What about the car rental employee’s story?” Beth asked.
“He was lying,” Ellie said. “For two thousand dollars in cash that he tried to deposit yesterday.”
Lori was surprised. “I didn’t know that.”
“Now you do.”
“Joey Pellegrino?”
Ellie’s flicker of annoyance was replaced by a stone face. “Valerie’s cousin Ruth paid him. She’d inherit if Rob was found guilty of Valerie’s murder.”
Callie stepped forward with Angie and Jessica’s orders on a tray, her forehead bunched into a formidable frown. “All right, girls, apple pie has to be eaten up in the first booth, otherwise it’ll make you sick to your stomach.” She gestured with her head toward the front of the diner.
Jessica groaned. “I want to hear all the details.”
“Not in my diner, you don’t. People fight to get in that booth. Come on. Up front you go.” She walked away with a steep sway of her hips that brooked no argument. The apple pies and orange juices went with her.
“Go, honey,” Lori said. “She’s right.”
Angie got up. “Jess, let’s go. Everything is going to be on the Internet anyway. I’m hungry.” She pulled Jessica up from her chair.
“But we watch Criminal Minds!” Jessica protested to Callie, letting herself be dragged by Angie.
“How did Jonathan know about the will?” Beth asked once the girls were gone.
“Seth says he didn’t tell him,” Janet said.
Lori looked down at the Formica table. She didn’t know how to answer without being disloyal. “Maybe Rob told him.” It was possible.
“I told him,” Margot said, giving Lori a quick grateful smile. “I called Warren Monday morning about a tax-related issue, and he told me he couldn’t talk right then because Rob and Valerie were in the waiting room. I asked why and he told me.”
“Isn’t that violating client confidentiality?” Beth asked.
Margot bristled. “Warren’s always trusted me with information, but I wanted to be catty and make fun of Valerie’s greed so I told Jonathan, you know, just a little piece of harmless gossip and then he went and—” Two forefingers flew to her eyes to stop tears from coming. She tried to laugh. “I won’t cry. Too demeaning. Too much mascara.”
Lori put her arm around Margot. She understood how betrayed she felt. First Warren, now Jonathan.
Janet offered a handkerchief. “It’s really Beth’s. She gave it to me last time we were in here. It’s clean.”
Margot’s hands came down from her face. She batted tears from her eyelashes a couple of times. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
“It’s not your fault,” Beth said. “Jonathan would have found out about the will sooner or later and then killed her. Come on, buck up, Margot. We love you.”
“Thanks.” She didn’t look convinced.
“Believe Beth,” Lori said. “We do.”
Margot nodded.
Callie appeared with coffee for everyone. She gave Margot a quick look and handed out the cups. Her frown was gone.
“Jessica wouldn’t stay home,” Ellie said to her. “Lori’s a good mother.”
“Who said she wasn’t?” Callie asked. “I just figured that having a double set of thirteen-year-old ears around would cramp your style.” She walked away.
“That woman’s always got an answer.” Ellie sounded annoyed and admiring at the same time. She looked around the table. No one said anything. “Okay, I get it. The pot calling the kettle black.”
“Oh, no,” Janet said. “You’ve been awfully quiet this morning.” She looked and sounded happier than she had in the past ten days.
Ellie shrugged. “It’s not my show. All right, so where were we?”
“Cheering up Margot,” Beth said, just as Callie’s arm, from behind her, lowered a plate with a huge wedge of the famous apple pie on it in front of Margot.
“Don’t go thinking anything,” Callie said in her best gruff tone. “I had extra.”
Margot opened her mouth in a perfect cartoon character O. “Now I’m really going to cry.” Callie beat a hasty retreat.
“See?” Beth said. “You’ve even got friends in unexpected places.”
Margot blinked. “I have to go hug that woman.” She got up and went looking for Callie.
“She’s probably hiding in the men’s room,” Lori said.
“How are you feeling?” Beth asked Lori. “You’ve been through the wringer.”
“Relieved, sad, angry, exhausted.” She spoke in shorthand because all her feelings were still too raw to examine, to make sense of.
“Sorry,” Beth said, understanding as she always did. “Another time, another place, weeks from now.” She turned to look at Janet. “How about you? You’ve had a tough time, too.”
“It’s over now.” Janet gave one of her isn’t-life-a-day-at-the-beach smiles, what Ellie called her Sandra Dee grimace. “Seth’s a good guy and the best father and I do love him. He’s got a good job now and Rob’s going to pay us interest on the loan. I can sleep at night now.”
“Lori’s left something out of this early morning tale,” Ellie said while the others sipped their coffee with the satisfied look of a job done and over with. It gave her the itch to shake things up.
“What have I left out?” Lori asked. She wanted to go home now with Jess. Take care of her garden, shop for food, start normal life again. She had no idea why Ellie was grinning. “What, Mom?”
Ellie dropped her elbows on the table with an attention-getting thud. “During this whole crazy murder case, my daughter’s fallen in love. Did she tell you gals?”
Lori banged her coffee cup back in its saucer. “Ellie!”
“That’s right,” Janet said. “You dated Jonathan.” The second the words were out, she covered her mouth with a hand. “Oh, L
ori, that’s so sad.”
“No, no.” Lori pulled herself back from the table. “I wasn’t in love with Jonathan. Ellie’s just kidding.”
“Not Jonathan,” Ellie said. “The gay guy.”
Margot slipped back into her chair. “That’s taking playing it safe to a different level.” She filled her cheeks with apple pie and happily munched like a squirrel with a just-found stash of nuts. “I couldn’t find Callie,” she said, dropping another forkful into her mouth. “I used to dream about this pie.”
Lori felt her cheeks get hot. “I am not, I go on record, in love with Alec. I like him, admire him, respect him, consider him a wonderful friend, but—”
Ellie interrupted with a coffee spoon pointed at Lori. “Loretta Corvino, your face has been a dead giveaway ever since you turned twelve and started growing breasts. For one thing, you break out. You’ve got two pimples on your chin.”
Lori’s fingers went to cover them. “That’s stress.”
“Then your cheeks get all splotchy like someone’s been pinching them for hours. And you look prettier than ever. Look at yourself in the mirror if you don’t believe me.”
“You do look good, hon,” Beth agreed. “And considering what you’ve just been through, that’s a miracle.”
“Very pretty,” Janet agreed. “But Lori’s always looked good.”
“If you hear her start hiccupping out of the blue, then she’s in love la-la land and we’ve lost her for good. So far, so good. No hiccups.”
“None of this is true,” Lori protested.
Margot looked up from her plate to peer at Lori. “Are you going to start hiccupping now?”
“No!” Lori glared at her mother. Why had she brought this up?
As mothers sometimes do, Ellie answered Lori’s thought. “I want your friends to know because you’re going to need them to help you pick up the pieces.” Ellie looked back at the front of the room and beckoned with a wave of her arm. Alec stood up from the booth where Jessica and Angie were sitting, and walked down the narrow aisle between counter and booths.
Lori watched him approaching. She felt like a flock of blue jays had taken flight inside her. “Is this a surprise party or something?” she asked once Alec stood next to her.
“Hi, I heard about Jonathan,” he said and acknowledged everyone with nods of his head. He stooped to kiss Lori’s cheek. “How are you? Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes.” Ellie got out of her chair. “Sit here, young man. I need to go up front to see that my Jess isn’t poisoning herself with all this bad food.” She gave her daughter a fast look. “Close your mouth, Loretta, the flies will get in.” She hurried down the aisle before Lori could think of anything to yell at her.
Lori folded her arms across her chest to hold her heart in. She wished herself home, in bed, with the door locked, the shades pulled down. She was smashing her heart against a wall.
“Do sit down,” Margot said, giving Alec the once-over and rewarding him with a smile that showed she was pleased by what she saw. She introduced herself and the other women. Still standing, Alec said his name and shook everyone’s hand. With the introductions over, he sat down in Ellie’s chair, opposite Lori. He looked uncomfortable and immediately Lori wanted to offer comfort.
“I’m all right,” she said. “Jess is happy, so I am. Thanks,” Lori said. “How did you know I was here?”
“Your mother called Mrs. Ashe last night.”
Lori was getting tired of surprises. “My mother?”
“Yes. I went over to Mrs. Ashe when I heard the news. Your mother called, but Mrs. Ashe had taken a sleeping pill and so I answered. She wanted Mrs. Ashe to know how sorry she was and wish her strength. A mother-to-mother thing, she said.” He turned to look down the length of the diner. Angie and Jessica were listening to something Ellie was saying. “I thought it was pretty great of her. They don’t know each other.”
No one said anything. Lori gave him a weak smile. He moved his chair closer to the table and caught her gaze. He didn’t seem uncomfortable, Lori noticed. She was the self-conscious one. “How did you know—”
He knew what she was about to say. “She gave her name, Corvino, and I asked if she knew a Lori Corvino. We had a long chat after that. That’s how I knew you’d be here. I came in, saw that you were all busy talking so I spotted your daughter up front—she looks just like you. I waited until your mother gave me the go-ahead. I think your daughter’s pretty special, too.”
“So is Lori,” Beth said easily.
“That I know.”
Lori studied the scratched Formica, desperate to sink her face in a bowl of ice.
“I’m sorry if I interrupted something.” Alec stood up. “Very nice meeting all of you. Take good care of her.” He walked around the table and squeezed Lori’s shoulder. “I’ll call you later.”
Lori nodded. She felt stupid, unable to say anything, wanting him to stay, to leave, not to be gay, to be gay because then he couldn’t hurt her. But his being gay did hurt her. She was making no sense. Beth reached out and held her hand under the table.
“You’re a breath of fresh air,” Beth said to Alec, “and you haven’t interrupted anything. You presence has surprised us, that’s all.”
“A pleasant surprise,” Janet said. “We’re tired of talking about murder.”
“Thanks,” Alec said and turned his gaze to Lori. “Talking about surprises, I tried to tell you on the phone, but you wouldn’t let me.” His eyes had a wicked smile in them. “My brother’s full name was Christopher Robin Winters. My mother was a Pooh fan.”
“Chris?” Lori managed to say. Her mouth had turned into the Gobi desert. “Your brother?”
Alec grinned. “None other.”
Lori’s first hiccup was loud enough to bring Ellie and Jessica running.
“Are you all right, Mom?”
“I’ll get her a glass of water,” Beth said.
“Done,” Alec said, as the hiccups continued. He put a glass down on the table. “You have to stand up and drink it from the other side.”
Lori looked at the full glass. She looked at Ellie grinning, at her friends. At Alec hovering over her. Between hiccups, Lori told herself that she didn’t believe in fairy tales anymore, in happy-ever-after endings. There was still a lot of shoring up to be done. For all of them. And although Alec was here now, he might not be tomorrow. Now was what counted, though. That much she’d learned.
“I’ve never felt better,” Lori said and went right on hiccupping.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
* * *
Born in Prague to an Italian diplomat father and an American mother, Camilla Crespi came to the United States when she was twelve and returned to Italy after she graduated from Barnard College. In Rome she worked in the movie industry as a dubbing producerdirector. Back in New York City she got married, received an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and became an American citizen.
Camilla has published seven novels in “The Trouble With” mystery series, and several short stories in mystery anthologies. In 2007, Soho Press published The Price of Silence, written under Camilla Trinchieri, her real name. The paperback edition and the Italian edition came out in 2008. Finding Alice was published in Italy in 2010 by MarcosyMarcos. Gathering Pieces will be published in Italy in 2014.
Camilla T. Crespi - The Breakfast Club Murder Page 29