A Tango Before Dying

by Anna Celeste Burke

  “Now what?” Jack shoved his hands in his pockets in response to my question.

  “I’m sure this has something to do with Marie Whitley, dead or not.” I nodded in agreement.

  “I’d almost convinced myself she wasn’t dead and the mystery woman in makeup was Marie Whitley. If the woman Natalie found dead years ago was Marie Whitley, Barry Murphy just confirmed what Kevin already told us about his daughter.”

  “There’s no doubt MW are the initials on the woman’s arm. See?” Jack handed me his phone.

  “That’s clear enough now, isn’t it?”

  “You know what?”

  “What?”

  “It’s time for another talk with Kevin. I want to hear what bomb Carter dropped on him last night and why they argued about it. I don’t believe we’re needed here.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more. I’d like to know where Carter went after he was ushered out of his grandfather’s hospital room last night. Maybe he gave Kevin a hint about it before he left.”

  “Me, too. Gary, can we have a word?”

  “Sure, Jack. What’s up?”

  “We’re going to the hospital to speak with Kevin Whitley. Julie Spencer, too, if we can get there before she leaves. I assume she’s interested in speaking to Carter. Did she tell you to keep an eye out for him in case he shows up here at the hotel?”

  “Oh, yes she did. We already checked the suite he shares with his grandfather and he wasn’t there. If he’s not already in the hotel, he’s not going to get in. Guests are being directed to come and go through the main entrance where police officers are posted, and all the other hotel entrances and exits are locked. They’re searching for him in the entertainment center complex, too. Even though there’s no event scheduled for today, dance competition contestants can use the facilities to rehearse. I’ll notify you if we find him.” We said goodbye and took off. The hospital is about halfway between the hotel and our home in the OC. We didn’t even need to use Jack’s lights or siren to get there in minutes.

  “Well, how do you like that?” I asked Jack as we hustled into the hospital. “We’ve got a name for the mystery woman in the surveillance video—Meg texted it to me.” Jack sent the name to Gary and Julie. I hoped, in Julie’s case, he was sending her information she already had. I’d feel better about Meg’s safety and the safety of other dancers if the detective already had the woman in custody.

  “You just missed her,” the nurse said when we asked to speak to Julie Spencer. “People have been in and out of Kevin Whitley’s room all morning, so he may not want to speak to you until after he’s finished his lunch. You’re free to try.” We sauntered down the hall and nodded at the police officer seated in a chair where he could see anyone going in or out of Kevin’s room. He yawned and gave us a little wave in return, but he didn’t get up to greet us or ask who we were. Maybe he remembered us from our previous visit. When we got to Kevin’s room, the door was ajar, so I didn’t bother to knock.

  “Kevin, it’s Georgie and Jack,” I said as we waltzed into the room. When Jack stepped into the room behind me, someone shut the door. It latched quietly. A tiny, dark-haired woman in a hospital volunteer’s uniform was bent over Kevin.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “What someone should have done a long time ago.” Jack and I both turned at the sound of Carter’s voice.

  “How did you get in here?” I asked. Carter didn’t answer me, but he glanced at a cart in the corner of the room. A heavy canvas skirt around the bottom was open, revealing an empty shelf that probably should have been full of supplies the hospital volunteers carried with them for patients.

  Kevin moaned but didn’t say a word. His eyelids fluttered as if he was struggling to open his eyes. Carter stood barring our exit from the room. I didn’t see a gun or any other weapon.

  “He’s dozing. Come a step closer, and I’ll make sure he never wakes up.” When she raised her arm to show me a hypodermic needle, I saw those initials—M W.

  “Don’t say that, Mom. Just get it over with,” Carter said suddenly, as he shifted his eyes from us to the woman.

  “She’s not your mother,” I said as calmly and steadily as I could. Kevin stirred.

  “I told him that,” Kevin said in a low, weak voice.

  “Liar!” Carter said. “He’s lied to me my whole life and called me a lunatic last night when I said Marie was still alive. What do you think, now, grandpa?”

  “Mothers don’t make their children hurt other people, like Charlotte,” I said.

  “I didn’t hurt her, but I can’t blame Mom for doing it. My mother told me everything when she found me. Charlotte had it coming to her just like my grandfather does.”

  “Everybody shut up, or I’ll stick him.” Her dark eyes darted around the room. Perhaps she was looking for an escape or a weapon. She took a step toward Kevin, pulling a tray table between us closer as if it could shield herself from us. Or maybe she was going to ram it into me.

  “Charlotte ruined my grandfather’s marriage to her mother. My grandmother finally killed herself after years of not being able to measure up to Madame Chantel. Mom was heartbroken, and never would have left me except that my grandfather drove her off, too.”

  “Son, no more talk from you either, got it?” The order issued to Carter by the despicable woman was tinged with venom rather than motherly love.

  “The court had Marie’s death certificate, or they would have stopped your adoption…” Kevin broke off in the middle of his haltering attempt to explain. When he’d spoken, the woman turned to look at him. I couldn’t bear standing there, motionless, as she leered at him, close enough to strike like a cobra.

  “Say one more word, and I’ll kill you,” she hissed. “You should already be dead, old man. You won’t get out of here alive.”

  “Oh no you won’t,” I said as I lunged forward and rammed that table into her. It hit her in the chest as she turned toward me. When she tried to come at me with the needle, I slammed the tray table harder. The needle flew from her hand. Food slopped all over her as items from the tray fell on the floor, clanking loudly. She cried out in pain or anger or both.

  “Nooo!” Carter shrieked. He took one step toward us before Jack grabbed him and bent both arms behind his back. All the noise had aroused plenty of attention. The police officer who’d been sitting across the hall opened the door and bolted into the room. Footsteps pounded down the hallway. I was leaning against the tray table with all my weight, an advantage I clearly held the over the tiny woman, pinning her between it and the bed. When I let it go, she slumped to the floor as though I’d killed her.

  “Take him,” Jack said as he shoved Carter into the waiting arms of the police officer. Then he stepped forward and kicked the needle away from the woman who was reaching for it. “Not going to happen, whoever you are.”

  “Laura Langs, I presume,” I said using the name Meg had given me.

  I was never happier to get home and so relieved that the murder and mayhem were over. It had taken us more than an hour to get out of there, and when we got home, we tried to give Carol and Brett a rundown of what had occurred. Making sense of the insensible is never quick or easy.

  “She was a true fox,” Carol said when we tried to put the pieces together as we sat around the fire pit outside.

  “That’s mean to foxes,” Brett added.

  “More like a wolf among sheep,” I argued. “Carter and Natalie were especially easy prey. Laura Langs heard about Marie Whitley during a brief stint in the halfway house even though Marie had already died from an overdose. Natalie was gone, too. She’d lost it after she found the body of her friend. Natalie believed all the stories Marie had told her about Charlotte Chantel, whose career was on the rise after Charlotte had a couple bit parts in movies. Her fame kept the stories Marie had told about Charlotte and her grandfather circulating among residents in the halfway house long after Marie was dead, and Natalie had left. Someone even sold an article to t
he tabloids claiming Marie and her mother had both ended up dead because of the damage done by Madame Chantel’s illicit affair with Kevin Whitley.”

  “Carter must have been too young to be aware of any of that,” Brett suggested.

  “Yes. Carter’s uncle and grandfather tried to shield him from ever hearing it. That was the biggest reason Kevin stayed away from competitive dance for years, and why he and his son didn’t tell Carter that he was adopted.”

  “I take it Laura Langs never forgot those stories,” Carol said. “Or she remembered them when Kevin resurfaced as a celebrity, recognized the name, and cooked up her scheme.”

  “Something like that,” Jack said. “Laura Langs is a practiced con artist. She’s duped lots of people in her time, not just people as troubled as Carter Whitley and Natalie Bucco. She tracked down Carter through his grandfather’s studio in Arizona and went to work on him long before the dance competition here in LA. Laura Langs supplied him with alcohol, told him lies about his past, showed him the tattoo claiming she was his mom, and sold him a bill of goods.”

  “Like any good con artist, she had enough information to make him believe what he probably wanted to believe anyway once he’d learned he was adopted. Finding out his birth mother was alive and wanted to be with him was a huge deal for Carter which could explain why he’s still struggling to face the truth even after all the damage she’s done,” I said.

  “It’s too bad he didn’t go to his grandfather and scream at him about lying to him and being reunited with his ‘mother’ before she hurt Charlotte.”

  “I know, Carol, but a big part of her story was about Kevin forcing her to leave her son. I’m sure she used the fear of losing her again to secure Carter’s silence as long as she could.” Carol nodded as if she understood my point.

  “Maybe if my godmother’s lawyer had taken the letter he received more seriously, he and Charlotte could have figured how much deceit and malice there was behind the scam.”

  “On the face of it, it was a ridiculous scam. My guess is Laura Langs initially hoped to get paid to go away. When Carter swallowed her story hook, line, and sinker, maybe she decided to cash in big,” Jack said.

  “Only if she was willing to move from con artist to killer in her criminal career.” I shook my head sadly. “Carter prefers the delusion to reality even now. If he comes to grips with the fact that Laura Langs is a fake, he’s got to deal with the loss of his mother and the part he’s played in hurting other people.”

  “I feel sorrier for Natalie who got pulled into Marie Whitley’s delusions about Charlotte, and then caused so much trouble for your godmother and for herself. Especially, years later when Laura Langs used Natalie’s history with Charlotte and Marie to try to get away with murder by setting her up.”

  “I wonder now if Charlotte knew at least some of what motivated Natalie’s behavior and that’s why she didn’t do more to stop her by taking legal action.”

  “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive Natalie for all the suffering she caused my godmother. Or for the part she played in covering up whatever she knew about Laura Langs scheming. Even if she was afraid to go to the police, she could have called her shrink!”

  “Given what her lawyer said about Marie’s death being so tied up with Natalie’s periods of mental instability, if she’d gone to her shrink with some story about Marie being alive or someone pretending to be Marie, I’m not sure he would have believed her.” Carol nodded.

  “I can only imagine how scared she was when Laura Langs told her Charlotte was dead and she’d get blamed for killing her after assaulting her in public. I’m not ashamed to admit I felt panicky for the short time I was on the hook. I’m sure it was easy for a skilled con artist like Laura Langs to sic Natalie Bucco on me.” Carol reached out and covered Brett’s hand with hers. He clasped it and smiled at her with unabashed affection on his face. I caught Jack’s eye and could tell he was as pleased as me that some good might come from these awful events.

  “I wouldn’t write off Carter as a complete loss quite yet. His grandfather and his uncle have hired a good lawyer, and he’s undergoing a thorough psychiatric evaluation. He’s agreed to take medication. Maybe that’ll clear his head enough that he can make more sense out of events by the time the case goes to trial. Carter admits he trashed Carol’s car, but says Laura Langs must have stolen the insulin from Kevin because he didn’t do it. Carter swears he didn’t know she’d go so far as murder and believed her when she said Natalie did it. There’s evidence to support what he said in the hospital room—that he didn’t actually kill or assault anyone.”

  “I’m dubious. Who knows what he knew and when? Carter aided and abetted a woman he barely knew to scheme against his grandfather after all the years Kevin had cared for him. In the hospital room with that woman threatening to kill Kevin, he told her to get it over with. He had to have gone into that hospital room knowing she intended to kill Kevin.”

  “After Carter let the cat out of the bag the night before, I’m sure Laura Langs wanted to shut Kevin Whitley up once and for all. If you two hadn’t caught her in the act, maybe Kevin’s death would have been attributed to his injury, grief about the death of his old friend, or stress from the dispute with Carter.”

  “Jack would never have let that happen. If she imagined that could happen, Laura Langs must be as confused as Carter—or as confused as he wants us to believe he is. They both need to be held accountable.”

  “Georgie, I know you’re angry and upset. They hurt Carolita, but you know forgiveness is as much for us as it is for the person who needs to be forgiven. I seem to recall some lovely, heartfelt words you spoke about forgiveness when we were dealing with the investigation into an old trauma in your past. The law will mete out justice. You were right to choose forgiveness for yourself. Why not aid and abet Carol and the rest of us to forget and forgive in this instance as soon as time allows?”

  “I know you’re right—I’ll do my best. We’ll work on it together, won’t we, Carolita?”

  “Yes. Jack and Brett can help us too.”

  “Right now, why don’t you get us started on the ‘forget about it’ part. I’m not sure what it is, but I saw something amazing in the freezer. Is it for us?”

  “Yes, it is, you rascal!” I leaned over and kissed him. “Your dessert detection skills never let you down, do they? Chef Tomás and I have been working on a new dessert to wow guests at Versailles Veranda. You’re our guinea pigs on our latest version of ‘Le Bombe Glacée,’ chocolate mousse on a base of cookie dough and a layer of brownies, all wrapped in more cookie dough and covered with ganache. I never did get to tango Friday night. Why don’t we put music on and dance, and then we can have dessert?”

  “I’ve got an even better idea. Why not eat dessert first!” Jack exclaimed. When Carol and Brett chanted along with him, I knew I was outnumbered. Why not, indeed?

  —The End—

  Thanks so much for reading A Tango Before Dying Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery #7. Please take a minute to leave me a review on Amazon http://bit.ly/7tango, Goodreads, and Bookbub. Your feedback is important to me and for other readers.

  I hope you’ll check out the other books in this series, and in the other mystery series I’ve written. Follow me on my Amazon Author Page where you’ll find them all! https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Celeste-Burke/e/B00H8J4IQS/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1ps://

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  What’s up next for Georgie and Jack? In book 8, A Canary in the Canal, Georgie finds a woman floating in a canal in Venice—that’s Venice, California. It’s a tragic end for the young singer, headed for stardom. Was it a terrible accident or something more sinister? For preorder soon!

  Georgie has recipes for some of the delicious dishes featured in the book. Enjoy!

  Recipes

  Wild Mushroom and Gruyere Tarts

  Serve
s 6

  Ingredients

  1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

  1 cup grated Gruyère cheese

  1 tablespoon butter

  1 tablespoon extra-virgin 0live 0il

  12 ounces wild mushrooms—like chanterelle, oyster, and/or shitake, sliced

  ½ onion, diced

  4-5 garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped

  1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

  1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

  2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

  ½ cup white wine [optional]

  1 egg, beaten

  Salt

  Pepper

  Preparation

  Preheat oven to 400o F

  Take puff pastry out of freezer and allow to thaw.

  Heat a skillet over medium heat, add butter and olive oil. When the skillet is hot and the butter has melted, add the onion, a pinch of salt, and sauté just until the onions have started to soften. Usually that takes four or five minutes.

  Add the garlic and mushrooms along with a bit more salt, cook for about a minute longer. Add the balsamic vinegar and wine. Cook for another 5 minutes or so until all the liquid is gone. Add the fresh herbs and cook for 30 seconds, and then remove the pan from the heat. Try it and adjust salt and pepper to suit your taste.

  Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle about 9 or 9 1/2 by 11 inches.

  Score a 1-inch border around the edge with a sharp knife. Cut almost all the way through, but not quite. Prick the inside of the border with a fork.

  Spread the grated cheese over the inner rectangle of dough.

  Top the cheese with the mushroom mixture. Then, brush the border with the beaten egg.

  Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and puffed up.

  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

  Georgie’s Notes