The Icing on the Corpse

by Mary Jane Maffini

  The memories of our night at the river came flooding back. “Is he all right?”

  From down the hall came the sound of a group singing “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” “Never mind. I guess he is.”

  “He had a close call. Thanks to you. The pneumonia's starting to react to the antibiotics.”

  “Pneumonia? What do you mean, thanks to me? Thanks to Mia Reilly. Which reminds me, she's the one you want to talk to if you're looking for statements. She killed Benning. She admitted it. I think you'll find he'd been blackmailing her for years.”

  Mombourquette yawned. “Tell me something I don't know. It's been going on since she joined the Crown Attorney's office. Benning was most likely the reason she took the job. She fiddled with enough cases to make us suspicious. That's what Randy Cousins was working on. She couldn't understand why every one of Benning's cases got tossed out or pled down. Randy already hated the SOB, and she'd figured out it had to be someone in the Crown attorney's office who was giving him the breaks. She's been watching Mia Reilly for months.”

  It was hard to listen to Mombourquette at the best of times. But now my head wouldn't stop spinning, and my leg throbbed. For some reason, I felt like throwing up. But I couldn't stand to let Mombourquette believe he'd solved it.

  “Let me fill in the blanks for you,” I said. “Benning liked to play dangerous games. He wouldn't have wanted Mia to marry, let alone marry a bigshot in the legal community. If she had solid emotional support, that would have loosened his hold on her. It was typical of Benning to turn up the blackmail burner just when things were going well for her. Only this time she had too much to lose. She's a tough little number, and she'd had enough. So she engineered his escape, slipped him a gun, and then arranged to meet him in the park. She slipped him some Rohypnol, shot him and slipped the body into the river to freeze.”

  “Partly right. They found traces of Rohypnol.”

  “Maybe Alvin and I wouldn't have risked death if you'd shared that information.”

  “But only partly. What makes you think he was shot?”

  “What?”

  “She drugged him and let him freeze. He was not shot.”

  For some reason I had trouble thinking straight, although that was none of Mombourquette's business. “I hope you turkeys didn't let her get away. Is she in custody?” I could hardly ask Mombourquette whose blood was at the river site without incriminating Lindsay.

  “Yes. No bail either. And, by the way, we could have pulled the case together a lot faster without all your bullshit.”

  “Speaking of pulling, pull the other one. Who owns all these flowers? They're everywhere.”

  “Looks like you do. I can't imagine who sent them. Look, Conn and I and Randy Cousins just about had the case cracked.”

  “You mean someone sent me a prickly cactus? Was that you?”

  “No. But I can sympathize with the sentiment.”

  “Why didn't you tell me what you were doing about Mia Reilly?”

  “Gee, maybe because you're a civilian, and were the police?”

  “But I had evidence. Are those red roses mine?”

  “You had squat, Camilla.”

  I kept quiet. I could feel my brain clicking. And high time too. There was only one person whose blood it could have been.

  “Read my lips, Leonard. We had the answers. Alvin found Mia's fur-lined glove at the river site. I'll bet the farm the lab will find traces of Rina Benning's blood on it. I think Benning took Rina to the site and beat her seriously. When Mia joined him there, she doped him with her favourite substance, Rohypnol. She probably just did her coffee trick again. Then she bundled him up and left him to freeze. My guess is she arranged his body in that kneeling position and covered him with snow until rigour took over. Then she took Rina, who was probably dead or dying, in her car and dumped her in the country to get the search going in that area. Give herself time to play her game with Benning's body and throw suspicion on Elaine. And Lindsay too.”

  Mombourquette stared at the wall, which more or less confirmed my theory.

  I kept talking. “One thing that really bothered me was the ice on the body. After being in that river, I realize you don't have to be frozen through to get a layer of ice on you. Since she planned the whole thing and planned to frame Elaine from the beginning, I'm betting Mia came back to the park and rolled Benning's body into the shallow part of the river. At least the outer part would freeze pretty quickly with a nice coating of ice. You should probably be checking out winch rentals. Think about it. Mia would have been able to trot through that park without anyone noticing. Even if someone did notice, how could they identify her? Everything was to muddy the waters, throw suspicion on someone else. Obviously, Mia sent you the video and made the call for you to check out Lindsay. With two strong suspects, the police were guaranteed to go down the wrong road. Who knew better how to set up evidence than an Assistant Crown Attorney? Obviously, Mia thought we had enough information to be a serious threat to her, since she tried to kill us to keep it secret.” The room was whirling, but I still couldn't let Mombourquette scurry away. “So I hope you bagged that glove for evidence.”

  “Of course we did. But I told you…”

  “Don't forget to check out winch rentals. I'm telling you. Mia and Benning were not the only people at the site. Rina Benning was there too.”

  “You think she was foolish enough to meet him there?”

  “No, and that's been bothering me. Rina was terrified of Benning. She'd never let herself be alone with him, but why would she be afraid of a high profile Assistant Crown Attorney? Check out Mia's home, and you'll probably find the original tape. I think Benning called Mia, and she played that tape on a phone call to Rina's after she got Rina to leave. You can confirm the phone records.”

  “You don't need to tell us how to do our jobs.”

  “Good. Then you can build the case that Mia moved the dead or dying Rina to make it look like Benning was still alive. She may have killed her herself. It made Benning look like even more of a monster. Plus she would have wanted to confuse the times to establish an alibi. Just in case.”

  Mombourquette's nose wrinkled. “Maybe it's worth looking into. But what makes you think she was lured there and killed? Why not killed in the car?”

  “Call it a hunch.”

  Mombourquette said, “You better not be holding out on me.”

  “Speaking of holding out, how come you didn't show up at the river after I called? A lot of this could have been prevented.”

  “Because I was at St. Jim's at six-thirty. For the rehearsal. I don't know why you bothered phoning.”

  “I thought the rehearsal was at seven.”

  “Wrong again.”

  “I tried to reach you. You didn't answer.”

  “You keep cellphones turned off in church. Which you'd know if you ever went.”

  “If you didn't get my message, how did you find out where Alvin and I were in time? Well, not in time, but better late than never.”

  “Talk about lack of gratitude. Mrs. Parnell was frantic and managed to make contact with your father at St. Jim's. I don't know how she did it, but she got through.” Mombourquette looked a bit puzzled. He doesn't know Mrs. P. as well as I do.

  “She wasn't exactly sure where in the park, so we all raced out to find you. It's a good thing you were near death already. Those sisters of yours were ready to string you up.”

  “I don't want to talk about that. Back to Mia. You saying you have enough on her without Alvin's evidence?”

  “We've located the stolen van that transported Benning's body.”

  “Drill hole in the door, right?”

  “Yep.”

  “She was the one who drilled the hole in Elaine's SUV and put Rohypnol in the coffee that drugged us and the cops.”

  “Right. We found trace evidence supporting that in the SUV. We found the drill in her car. I'm surprised she kept it.”

  “She was probably hanging on to it unt
il she got rid of all the pesky investigators. Like Alvin and Mrs. P.”

  “Anyway, forensics should be able to link it to the paint on the SUV and the van. I think we'll find her DNA on Elaine's clothes, now that we know what we're looking for.”

  “You wouldn't have even looked for the drill if I hadn't told McCracken about it.”

  “Hang on, Camilla. You were trying to blame it all on Randy. We were closing in on Mia anyway. Her source for the roofies blabbed. He'll testify in exchange for getting date rape charges dropped.”

  Now I had something else to feel sick about. “That's disgusting. You think the Crown will take him up on that offer?”

  “Might not have to. We're already picking holes in her statement.”

  “Does the statement read like a confession?”

  “No. But it's full of contradictions. She seems to have forgotten she came to at the river site and flipped out in front of plenty of witnesses, including the paramedics. Tried to fight her way out. Once it looked like you and Alvin were going to survive, she caved. That's even before the attempted murder charges for the attack on Mrs. Parnell. And you, of course, although that's more understandable.”

  “Funny. I'd like to know how she knew to follow Mrs. Parnell.”

  “She won't say anything about it. I think she was just trying to keep an eye on you and anyone connected with you. According to her office, she'd been missing time for minor medical complaints. Maybe she hung around outside your place or something. We're more interested that she's admitted to the big ticket item.”

  “You mean she confessed to killing Benning?”

  “According to the Crown, she's going to plead down to manslaughter and interfering with a body. Rumour is her lawyer will cite battered spouse syndrome as an extenuating circumstance.”

  “What? Are you serious? This was completely and utterly premeditated, and you goddam well know it. What about Rina?” I shouldn't have waved my arms because it knocked the IV line loose.

  This time he didn't meet my eyes. “We haven't proved that yet. She'll plead guilty to Benning, with extenuating circumstances, but not that. We're coming up empty on it. I think she'll walk on that one.”

  “Goddam it. She can't.”

  He shrugged. “We figure the Crown doesn't want a ton of media attention on this one. They'll accept a plea bargain and keep it low profile.”

  I figured with P. J. Lynch on the job, it would stay high-profile. I'd be happy to help with that. “Unless they get her for Rina, Leonard.”

  Mombourquette leaned in, uncomfortably close. “You'd better not be keeping anything from me.”

  “I told you. I've got a feeling. Follow up on the glove and the tape of the message Benning left for Rina. See if he called her ‘Little Girl’. Don't interrupt, Leonard. And if there's blood in her car, I bet it will be Rina's.”

  After everything she'd been through, I didn't see any reason to hand Lindsay over.

  “Time for you to stop playing detective, Camilla. You're not completely off the hook with the law society yet. Don't make me use that against you.”

  I snorted. “You really scare me, Leonard. What about Elaine? Did she get released yet? I imagine that will be worth an internal review.”

  He blushed. “Not our fault she was in there. Remember? She was making a political point. The Crown could still take action over the false confession. They could charge her with mischief or even perjury.”

  I struggled up to a sitting position. My head tweeted. “You'd better suggest they won't keep a low profile over Assistant Crown Attorney's Mia Reilly's crimes, if they even think about it. I'll personally see to that.”

  “You and me both. We found out quite a bit from Mia. She was willing to confide some stuff she didn't tell you. All it took was someone sympathetic.” Was I mistaken or did a rosy blush work its way onto his face? “She claims that when Benning escaped and stole a car and chased after Alvin thinking he was you, she panicked.”

  “Yeah right. Use your brain, Leonard. I'm betting she had that car ready for him and she knew exactly what he was going to do. Look for the drill hole. Remember?”

  “Do you have to interrupt constantly, Camilla? Then Mia called Elaine at the WAVE office and told her about Benning's escape. Mia suggested Elaine get over and protect Lindsay.”

  “Very strategic. Mia didn't know where Lindsay was. So all she had to do was follow. It indicates that the whole attempt to frame Elaine was premeditated and worked out before Benning's escape,” I said.

  “Right. Elaine mentioned she'd bring coffee and pizza from the Colonnade, and we're certain Mia used that information to modify her plan and muddy the waters. She probably couldn't believe her luck when Elaine decided to make political hay out of the whole mess. Anyway, the main thing is Elaine's out. She's getting back to normal.”

  “Elaine's back to normal? How long have I been in this hospital? Oh crap. Did I miss the wedding?”

  “No such luck. You've been out of it for nearly two days, but it's still only Sunday. The wedding's not until tomorrow, Valentine's Day. And you'd better stay conscious.”

  “One more thing, Leonard. Since we're buddies again, you can tell me. Who signed that directive? The one where I was persona non grata with the police.”

  Mombourquette gave a rodential little chuckle. “Can't believe you fell for that one, Camilla. There was no directive. Randy and Conn and I just wanted you to keep your nose out of the case before you blew our case on Mia. Now it looks like you're out of the way for a while.”

  “That's what you think.” I swung my legs to try to get out of bed. Nothing prepared me for the pain that shot through my thigh. I yelped and fell back on the bed, gasping.

  “What the hell's wrong with my leg?”

  I didn't get a chance to find out before my family hurtled through the door.

  It was hours before I had the strength to call P. J. and thank him for the prickly cactus.

  Monday, February 14, turned out to be the perfect day for a candlelight wedding, if you like that sort of thing. Soft flakes of snow, set against the indigo winter sky, made a dramatic backdrop for the wedding party's comings and goings. Alexa looked queenly in her pearl French velvet ankle length dress, with five kinds of cream flowers and quite the cleavage. Conn couldn't take his eyes off her. Even Mombourquette came across like one of the higher order vertebrates. As for me, the less said about my crutches the better.

  Alexa and Conn had chosen words and music that were deep and meaningful. Alexa's boys stood tall and proud. My father wiped away a tear. The grand duchesses Donalda and Edwina wept like faucets. I was damned glad to be on drugs.

  When we finally exploded from the front door of St. Jim's, into the blue winter light and headed off to Hull and the Museum of Civilization for the reception at Les Muses, just about everybody was in the mood to party.

  “Nevertheless, don't thank me.” Mrs. Parnell raised her voice to be heard above the roar of the reception. “Least I could do for my comrade-in-arms.”

  “It was brilliant, Violet.” My father squeezed her hand. I don't remember ever seeing him quite so animated. “You are a true heroine.”

  “All in the line of duty.” Mrs. P. swanned through the receiving line, looking swish. She sported a sweetheart rose corsage that matched her red lacquer cigarette holder. “You are her father. It seemed logical to go up the chain of command.”

  “It was very clever of you, Violet.”

  “Well, young Fergusons the hero. He saved Camilla's bacon.” She waved to Alvin without spilling a drop of her Harvey's.

  Alvin beamed. No wonder. It couldn't have been easy finding a tux in any shade of orange, yet alone that one.

  “Great outfit, Violet. Totally retro. You look surprisingly good too, Camilla. That makeup really covers your scratches,” he said. “And your dress. Love the pink. And the slit is so up to the moment.”

  “Thank you, Alvin. I didn't have much choice with this cast.” I smiled back at him. I felt a wh
ole lot mellower than usual. Three days of painkillers will do that.

  He pulled me away from the receiving line and whispered. “I'm so sorry.”

  I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly. “You're sorry? For what?”

  “For blowing it like that.”

  I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”

  “Mia at the river. Trying to kill us. She was there because I ran into her in the hospital, and I told her I'd found some information that would connect the murderer with Benning. I told her she'd regret the trouble she caused you with the Law Society, because we were just about to blow the case wide open.”

  “You think I didn't know that, Alvin?”

  “Oh.”

  “But you're not to blame for Mia. If it hadn't been that, it would have been someone else, somewhere else, and maybe the ending wouldn't have been so happy.”

  I gave him a reassuring pat on the arm and hobbled away before my temporary niceness wore off.

  I looked up the receiving line. Surrounded by hundreds of friends, colleagues and family, Alexa and Conn glowed like twin bonfires. Even I had to agree no one had ever been a more beautiful bride. You could hear Donalda chatting and Edwina issuing orders.

  At a nearby table Elaine Ekstein fielded her own receiving line of well-wishers. Mombourquette, looking sleek and well-fed in a soft gray suit, stood as close as he could get without wearing her dress.

  “Holy moly,” Elaine screamed obligingly when Stan dropped a plastic cockroach into her peach schnapps. Randy Cousins thought that was hilarious. I steered clear of Elaine myself. I didn't feel like getting pissed off all over again.

  No one mentioned Mia Reilly. It would take a hell of a long time for the police to sort out the damage she'd done. Some of it would never come to light. I was sorry she wouldn't be having much of a trial. The best I could hope for was to be in court to watch when her sentence was pronounced. If Lindsay worked up the courage to come forward, the sentence would get longer.

  But this particular night, none of that mattered. The reception hall was a glittering fairyland. The flowers showed the many subtle shades of cream. The string quartet went for baroque.