But one person came to mind.
Chapter 37
The mournful wail of the EMT truck chilled me despite the heat and humidity of the night. Kal would be questioning Fabio. I imagined how unbearable the girl’s death would be for a professional bodyguard who was also her friend. He’d blame himself.
Trying to put the people-pieces together was like a giant jigsaw puzzle with teeny, tiny pieces. When did I last see Fabio at Raelyn’s side?
She left in search of a bathroom. Before Raelyn returned Grams whisked Fabio away disappearing into the crowd of players. If he had been there when Raelyn came back she might be alive. “Raelyn never returned from the bathroom!” I blurted.
“What?” Lizzy said.
My train of thought was interrupted by bootie-clad shoes shuffling our way along the balcony.
“Crime Scene,” a female voice called. The investigator flicked on a light, flashed it at us and then at her face. She looked to be all of twelve years old. I wanted to ask her if her mother knew what she was doing. Either I was getting older or the world was getting younger.
The investigator wore a pale blue jumpsuit, a shower cap, and matching shoe-covers. The whites of her eyes twinkled in contrast to her dark skin. Her assistant was similarly dressed. He carried two large white suitcases.
“I’m Maria. This is Henry. Which one of you is Olive?”
“That’s me. This is Lizzy.” I motioned for them to look in the direction I pointed.
“This is where the scuffmarks are. Might be a sign of a struggle.”
“No assumptions,” Maria said. “Now step back and let us do our work. Did you touch anything?”
“I barely stepped into that area, but didn’t touch anything.”
“We’ll need your shoes.”
“You can have them.” I passed Jaimie’s strappy sandals to her.
“Your presence isn’t necessary. You’re free to go,” Maria snapped.
Barefooted, I led us through the master bedroom. “Bossy little thing,” I muttered.
Lizzy and I trotted down the interior staircase.
Mel sat on one of the living room sofas cradling his head in his hands. As much as I wanted to question him about what he witnessed, there were priorities. “Where’s Grams?” I asked.
“In the study. Somewhere in that direction.” He squinted.
“That figures,” Lizzy said. “Now more than ever Grams is going to be guarding Jaimie.”
“Let’s check on them and then we should accompany Fabio to Sophia.” My heart was heavy with the thought.
Lizzy knocked on the study door. “It’s Olive and Lizzy. May we come in?”
“Yeah,” Jaimie answered.
The Toasts sat side-by-side on the sofa, Grams perched across from them stroking her candlestick. “Stashed it in Jaimie’s bedroom just in case. Got it out just in time.”
“You were in our bedroom?” Chip sounded incredulous.
“You get to be my age and your intuition kicks in. I figured it would come in handy, so when I got here I hid it under the bed in Jaimie’s room.” She shrugged. “No one told me not to.”
Intent on bringing Chip down, Grams had already moved him out of the marital bedroom.
“When did you retrieve it?” I asked the slippery nonagenarian.
“After Jaimie did her dying act, I went back to her bedroom and got it.”
“Did you tell Kal any of this?” I watched her wrinkles realign.
“He didn’t ask.” She looked like a little girl with a big secret.
“Grams, did you see anything? Maybe out on the balcony?”
“I saw that Raelyn girl sneak by.”
“What makes you think she was sneaking?”
“She was sort of tiptoeing. I was going to say something to her because I thought it was Jaimie. Then I remembered Jaimie was disguised as a maid.”
“Did you see anyone follow Raelyn?”
“I only waited a couple of minutes to be sure she didn’t walk by again and see me crawling under the bed. But no. Nobody followed her.”
“Did you hear anything?” It was like getting the first olive out of the cheeseball. Suddenly Grams wasn’t in a chatty mood. Did it have anything to do with Chip?
“Do you think I’m holding back evidence?” She blinked rapidly then gave me a wide-eyed look.
“Last time, before I bring in Kal. Did you hear anything?”
“That girl yelled at someone before she screamed.”
I placed my hands on my hips. “Thank you, Grams. Now I’m going to get Kal.”
Grams shot a glare at Chip.
Chapter 38
“Robbie is taking down the names and addresses of the partiers.” Kal took a seat in the study. “I want to compare it with your guest list. Make sure everyone is accounted for.”
He checked his watch. “It’s nearly two a.m. With only Robbie and me, we’re running out of steam. I’m afraid we’ll miss something if we’re not focused.”
“Speaking of not being focused.” Jaimie lifted her frazzled head from Chip’s shoulder. Still not healed from the car crash, the sunbed, and wearing a foam body suit over her flapper’s dress in ninety-degree heat, she deserved the glass of not-water and ice in her hands. “Was the dead girl supposed to be me?”
“No idea yet.” Kal shook his head. “I’ll bring your guests in one at a time tomorrow to learn what they saw or heard. Dealing with them at the station is not going to work. If it’s okay with you, I need to do it here so they can walk me through their action around the critical time.”
Jaimie buried her face in Chip’s chest. “I just want to be alone with you.”
Grams braced her candlestick weapon on her knees and lowered her head, studying Chip.
Kal reached for his phone. “Text message. The lab results will be complete on Monday. Autopsy tomorrow morning.”
I cleared my throat. “Grams has something to tell you.” I looked pointedly at the little lady withholding information.
Narrowing his eyes, Kal said, “What are you not telling me? Do not try to solve this case on your own.”
Grams avoided eye contact with Kal as she spilled her tale of the hidden candlestick and seeing Raelyn walk the balcony shortly before she fell.
“Would you recognize the voice of the person the victim was arguing with?” Kal asked.
“Didn’t hear the other person. Just heard Raelyn but I couldn’t make out anything she said.”
Chip’s phone buzzed. “It’s Vann Tassel. He wants out—now.” He looked at Kal. “Do you need to hold him? His wife is having a meltdown.”
“His wife could use a meltdown—ten maybe fifteen pounds,” Jaimie said, chugging more of her drink.
“The Vann Tassels, huh?” Kal shrugged. “We don’t have their statements yet. Call him back. Tell him they can go, but they have to meet me here tomorrow morning.”
Chip conveyed the message to Vann and clicked off.
“Guaranteed by the time I interview them, their stories will be identical.” Kal shrugged. “Any conflicts with Vann Tassel?” Kal asked. “About your new company?”
“The Tassels don’t know Raelyn. She has nothing to do with Chip’s business,” Jaimie said. “I made a point of not introducing her. Vann comes across lecherous and creepy. Didn’t want to frighten her. I got the impression she’d jump at the first boo!”
“No problems with Toast and Tassel.” Chip interrupted “It’s going so well we received an offer to buy us out—a month after we inked our deal and had the hotel land under contract.”
“You thinking of selling your company already?” Kal asked rubbing his chin.
“Jaimie holds the controlling stock. And she said no.” He stroked her head. “What Jaimie wants, Jaimie gets. You’re the boss of us. Right, baby?”
She chugged another mouthful of vodka. “You betcha.”
“And,” Chip said, “I agree with her completely. I don’t want to sell it. It’s a great project that will mak
e a lot more money in the long run than selling it now.”
“By the way, I let Fabio leave,” Kal said. “He must have told Ms. Napoli by now. He took my number and gave me hers.”
He checked his phone. “Odd she hasn’t called me. You’d think she’d want to hear from the police.”
Lizzy turned to me. “We should be with Sophia.”
I shook my head. “It’s very late and she’s probably in shock.” I tried to think like a psychologist. Folks are best left alone until they are ready to be consoled.
“We’ll visit her in the morning before we come here. I’m assuming you’re going to want us?” I asked Kal.
“I could use you, both.” He stood, bracing his shoulders. “I’m going to release everyone now. Then I’ll ring Ms. Napoli from a quiet corner of the house. After that I’ll call it a night,” he said as he walked out.
Jaimie, Chip, Grams, Lizzy and I sat staring at each other covered in a blanket of muddle.
“I should say a few words to our guests.” Chip moved away from Jaimie and stood. He turned to Grams. “Feel free to talk about me.” He removed the ludicrous tin star from his lapel and walked out the door.
Once he was gone, I felt safe in prying a bit more. “Raelyn had to be lured to the deck. That nook is not an easy place to find.”
“That’s my hideout,” Jamie said. “I had the architect design a place where I could sunbathe in the all-together.”
“Obviously Vann, being the contractor, knew about it? Dumb question, right?” I chewed on the inside of my lip. “You said it was Vann’s idea for Chip to buy the sunbed?”
Jaimie slugged the last of her drink. “He probably got a percentage on the sale. Greed is his middle name.” She quirked her eyebrow at me. “There is no possible connection between that beast and Raelyn. None.”
She glanced at my bare feet. “Where are my strappy sandals? Those are real jewels on those puppies.”
“They are not. No one wears precious stones on their feet.” I couldn’t help but snort.
“Did you lose them?”
What was it Muffy said about it always being about Jaimie?
“They’re evidence. You will recall someone just died in your house? The forensic gal has them.” Her materialism brought out the tease in me. “The CSI chick took a shine to them. You might not get them back.”
I glanced at Jaimie’s feet. “How about returning my ballet flats?”
Jaimie dangled her empty glass. “You pour me another and I’ll trade your shoes for vodka, no ice.”
We made the exchange of booze for sand-gritty ballet flats. As I dropped the icky shoes by the side of my chair, thoughts began to come together.
“When did you move into this house?”
Jaimie gave me a blank look.
“When did you take occupancy?” I prodded.
“Poshookly. Who pays attention to that sort of stuff? Maybe three months ago.” She dangled her glass.
“When did you change the locks and reprogram the alarm?”
“That’s Chip’s department.”
I could feel Grams eyes stabbing me like twin darning needles.
Chapter 39
I spent the wee hours between leaving the Toasts and buttering my breakfast toast trying to create sense out of the maybe murder of a young woman.
If someone pushed Raelyn off the balcony was it someone she knew or was it the person trying to kill Jaimie? Did she have a rendezvous with a person she didn’t want Fabio to know about? Grams described her actions as sneaky. Was she sneaking or just exploring in a dark, unfamiliar setting?
Puff mewed for attention while I sat at the kitchen table sketching a layout as to where key people were when we heard Raelyn’s scream. No matter how many times I did it, it didn’t come out right.
My phone jingled. “Did I wake you?” Kal asked.
“Never went to sleep. Any news?”
“It was the fall that killed Raelyn,” he said. “The medical examiner said no drugs in her system but the alcohol was slightly above the legal limit, consistent with the two glasses of champagne you saw her have plus maybe one more.”
“Any fingerprints?”
“Not on her body. Results from the crime scene team tomorrow,” Kal said, his voice heavy with frustration.
“What are the odds Jaimie was the intended victim?”
“When you consider the attacks on her I’d say there’s a good chance. But the circumstances of Raelyn’s death don’t add up to an attack on Jaimie. I’m headed to the Toasts now. I talked to Sophia last night. It was rough.” He paused. “She wants to meet with you and Lizzy this morning at her place.”
“See you at Jaimie and Chip’s after we meet with Sophia. This is going to be very hard.”
“Can you keep Grams out of my way?” There was a pleading in Kal’s voice.
“Can I hold back the sea with one hand?”
“Pick you up in thirty minutes,” I told Lizzy. “Sophia is expecting us.”
I tended to Puff’s needs and then pulled myself together with a quick shower and a speedy shampoo. I donned gray slacks and a light cotton top. My medical examiner costume lay on my bathroom floor destined for the trash. Once again, I forgot to empty my pockets. The bullets from Chip’s gun rattled. I slipped them in a plastic bag and tucked the bag in my purse.
Jaimie’s strappy sandals left blisters on my feet. I stuck a few band-aids in strategic places and slipped on a pair of clogs—always a mistake for me.
When I pulled up at Lizzy’s house, she was outside leaning on her car. “I just took Heather to a friend’s house. She’s going to church with her family and will spend the day in their swimming pool.”
“What about Dave?”
She took out her phone and read me a text message from Mr. Grumpy. “Spent night at my place. Busy at restaurant all day. Hate to end us this way but goodbye sweet Lizzy.”
“Sounds like the end of an affair to me.” I tried to look sympathetic but failed.
“Making him attend the party pushed him into breakup mode. Good.”
Traffic was light. Lizzy and I drove to SunRise Towers, the tallest building on the beaches, in record time. A valet took my car and the doorman buzzed us in. He motioned in the direction of the elevator.
The golden-oak box carried us to the fourteenth floor where Sophia was staying in the penthouse suite. The doors glided open and we stepped into a foyer with a floor tiled in the pattern of a sunrise.
Fabio answered our knock. His eyebrows were knitted in a pained expression. He didn’t speak, just stepped aside beckoning us to enter.
Sophia stood by the floor to ceiling glass, her eyes fixed on the Gulf waters. After the longest minutes I’d ever endured, she turned to face us. Her face looked feverish, her eyes overly bright.
“Fabio and I were Raelyn’s family. When I met her in Miami, she was alone in the world and now she is alone in death.” She paused, controlling her breathing. “Her brother drowned scuba diving in the waters off Key West. Raelyn carried fierce anger in her heart concerning his death, but she wouldn’t share the details.”
She held up her hand with her palm facing us, indicating her wish not to hear anything we had to say. “Our sweet girl is gone. I am releasing you from your promise. Tell me nothing until you can tell me everything. Bring me the person who did this.” Sophia said. “Go now and return with the answer.”
We took the elevator down in silence.
Fifteen minutes later we rang the bell at the Toast home, now a blight on the classy neighborhood. The second ring of yellow crime tape added just the right touch of theater to the plywood garage.
Chip met us at the door and walked us into his study. Jaimie curled on the sofa wearing pink pajamas and hugging her knees. Kal sat in a black velveteen and chrome armchair. He leaned forward his hands clenched. He nodded at Lizzy and me.
“I’ve set the party guests and the caterers to arrive at half-hour intervals over the next few days. Before they arrive
let’s go over what we know.” Kal hesitated. He looked uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong?” I said.
He grimaced. “This is awkward. Chip and Jaimie, I appreciate your cooperation in letting us use your house, but you can’t be present when we discuss the case or interview witnesses.”
Chip slammed the arm of the sofa. “You’re booting us out because I’m still a suspect in the attacks on my wife! You’ve known me almost all my life. How could you…?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Can’t you get it through your heads—I love my wife!”
“I’m out of here!” Chip stood over Kal, clenching and unclenching his fists. “If you need me I’ll be walking the beach.”
“Hang on!” Jaimie leaped from the sofa, grabbed Chip’s arm and they were out the door.
“It’s for your own good. I’ll have more questions for you later,” Kal called after him, then turned to me. “Start with Raelyn. Do your profiling magic. What can you tell me about her?”
“Our knowledge is sketchy at best. She only worked for Ms. Napoli for a short time. Like Fabio she’s an orphan. No family except a brother who died in a drowning off Key West.” I found myself staring into space recalling our first meetings with her. “She was cheerful without being Jaimie-bubbly. But then something changed. Fabio said she went into a funk—that’s a perfect word.”
“We ran her prints,” Kal said. “Nothing came up.”
“Who are you questioning first?” I asked.
“Mel Rivers, the pretend butler. Maybe we can jog his memory. Last night was a lot for anyone to handle. He should be here any minute.”
“You opened a can of worms,” Lizzy smirked. “Mel had to get a ride. He can’t see without his glasses.”
“No! Not…” Kal ran a hand through his hair as Grams shouted from the foyer.
“Door wasn’t locked. Not to worry,” Grams yelled. “I know who killed that girl. Mel and I worked it out.”
Chapter 40
Sun Scream Page 13