Twilight, page 16
“My dear, how are you?” Miriam Kelso asked. “I’ve thought of you so often the past few weeks.”
“Thank you. I’m doing the best I can.”
“And those darling boys of yours,” a glamorous, middle-aged woman said, “how are they?”
Judging from the tautness of her skin, this had to be the very well-preserved Carolina Vincenzi, Dana concluded. “They’re still with my parents in Florida,” she replied. “We thought that would be best for the moment.”
She led the newcomers in to join the others. “Please, allow me to get you all some tea and you can help yourselves to scones and sandwiches or whatever you’d like.”
As the guests chatted in low voices suitable for an occasion in the home of the recently bereaved, Dana went into the kitchen, closed the door and drew in a deep breath. “Courage,” she murmured, then plastered a smile on her face and rejoined the others.
When everyone was seated in the living room, she was about to speak but Lawrence Tremayne cleared his throat and regarded her solemnly.
“Mrs. Miller...”
His sudden formality made her stomach clench. She had the distinct feeling she wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. He was the kind of man who normally presumed to call every woman by her first name.
“Dana, please,” she reminded him.
Color bloomed in his pasty cheeks. “Yes, of course. I know that you invited us here to discuss certain things, but there are a few things that I wanted to pass along to you, on behalf of the elders.”
Dana glanced at Kate and saw that her gaze had narrowed suspiciously as she watched the normally slick church leader try to impart some apparently unpleasant news.
“Of course, you first,” she said with as much grace as she could manage, when she was overcome with a sense of impending doom.
“It has been several weeks now since...” He uncharacteristically fumbled for words. “Since your loss.”
Dana remained silent and waited.
“We don’t want to rush you into a decision about the future, of course.” He looked to the others for support, but their expressions were carefully guarded. Most had their gazes cast toward the floor or ceiling. “Actually, it’s about the house.”
“The house,” Dana repeated blankly, then realized exactly where he was heading. “This house.” She swallowed back panic. Even though she’d known it was coming, it was too soon. They couldn’t force her out yet. She needed more time.
“You would like me to move, is that it?” she asked, her voice shaky.
Relief spread over his face. “Yes, that’s it exactly.”
“How soon?” she asked.
“As I said, we don’t want to rush you. We haven’t settled on a new minister yet, but we expect to have a decision soon. Of course, he will need a place to live.”
“Of course,” she agreed, then repeated, “How soon do you anticipate needing the house?”
He glanced at the others, but they continued to avoid his daze. “A few weeks, a month perhaps, if that wouldn’t be too difficult for you to arrange. I know I had told you to take all the time you needed, but it’s just not practical to let you stay indefinitely.”
“Of course not. I can be out of here by the weekend, if that would help,” she said, fighting an unreasonable fury.
Of course, this was the church’s property. She had known that sooner or later she would have to leave it, had already begun making mental, if not practical, plans, but she hadn’t expected it to be this soon. She hadn’t expected this callous announcement in her own living room with others staring on in uncomfortable silence. She especially hadn’t expected it coming from a man who had shown her such compassion right after Ken’s death.
“Don’t be silly,” Miriam Kelso soothed, scowling at Lawrence Tremayne. “You take all the time you need. If the new minister arrives, we can certainly make arrangements to accommodate him until you’re able to make your plans. Your life has been disrupted enough without us adding to it.”
“Thank you,” Dana said, all too aware that Miriam Kelso’s kindness wouldn’t fare well against the grim determination she had seen on Lawrence Tremayne’s face. She couldn’t allow that to matter, though. She had to remain focused on the reason for this gathering. She had brought them all here to ferret out information, to get their uncensored reactions to the news that the matter of Ken’s death was far from over. This discussion about her moving on was untimely, but irrelevant.
“I would like a little more time here,” she said, injecting a dutiful note of gratitude into her voice. She deliberately glanced in the direction of the cemetery. She didn’t have to feign the tears that formed in her eyes. “I’m not quite ready to move on and leave Ken behind.”
In truth, she hadn’t even considered that aspect when she had made the decision to bury him right here, rather than somewhere else. The church had offered the burial plot, and she had seized the offer, because it was one more detail she wouldn’t have to attend to.
“Of course you’re not ready to make a move yet,” Mrs. Kelso declared sympathetically. “We understand perfectly. It was all so sudden, so terribly tragic.”
The others chimed in dutifully. Dana wondered if they’d heard yet about the latest phase of the investigation. Apparently not, since none of them brought it up. If they’d known about the drugs, they might very well have ordered her off the premises that very afternoon.
She managed a weak, placating smile. “I also would like all of you to know that I am doing everything I can to solve Ken’s murder,” she said as if assuming the news would delight them. She watched their reactions very closely, as she added, “The police have essentially back-burnered the case, but I have not.”
“I thought it was a drive-by shooting in that terrible neighborhood,” Carolina Vincenzi said, sniffing as if she could smell the bad odor all the way out here in the suburbs.
“The police are inclined toward that theory,” Dana admitted. “I’m not convinced. As many of you know, I was a licensed private investigator for some time before Ken and I married. I am conducting my own investigation.”
The guests did gape at that, even Mrs. Kelso, who’d been doing her best, up until that moment, to be supportive of Dana.
“My dear, are you sure that’s wise? Isn’t it terribly distressing for you?” she asked.
“It’s not only wise, it’s necessary,” Dana said firmly. “For one thing, the reputation of Yo, Amigo has been tarnished in a way that could lead to its downfall. Ken believed in that program....”
“Begging your pardon, Mrs. Miller, but your husband was a fool,” Lawrence Tremayne declared so vehemently that everyone in the room gasped with dismay.
All except Dana. She rose to her feet and stood over him. Her voice quivering with barely suppressed rage, she said, “I will not allow you to slander a man who is no longer able to defend himself, and I certainly will not allow it here in his home.”
“It’s the church’s home,” Tremayne retorted tightly. “You would do well to remember that.”
She stared at him in shock. It appeared the kid gloves had been removed. “Is that a threat?” she inquired. “May I remind you that you hold nothing over me? You’ve already told me that I’m being kicked out of here. My husband’s insurance will see that my family is provided for. The church doesn’t owe me one single dime of compensation. So what, exactly, are you threatening to do to me, Mr. Tremayne?”
Peter Drake interceded. “I think we should all settle down,” he said in the soothing manner of a man used to dealing with warring factions. “Lawrence, mind your tongue. You always did have a tendency to run off at the mouth, without giving a thought to what was coming out.”
“Lawrence was just saying what many of us thought,” Carolina Vincenzi stated haughtily. “There were quite a few of us who thought Reverend Miller was crazy for defending those hooligans.”
“He was defending young people who’d never been given a chance in life,” Dana reminded her, aware that not so long ago she had shared Carolina Vincenzi’s attitude. Her resentment had begun to fade, as she had started to put faces to the names Ken had mentioned so often. “Isn’t that what Christian charity is supposed to be about? Or haven’t you read a Bible lately?”
“Okay, okay,” Kate said, giving Dana’s shoulder a warning squeeze. “I think perhaps we’ve all let our tempers get in the way of good judgment this afternoon. Obviously, this is a very trying time for Dana. Perhaps, it would be best if you all leave and we postpone this conversation for another time.”
“Not just yet,” Tremayne said defiantly. He scowled at Dana. “I would like your assurance that the church will not be dragged into this so-called investigation of yours.”
Dana met his gaze evenly. “The first rule of any investigation is not to rule anything out, Mr. Tremayne. I will follow whatever leads are necessary. If that brings me to the church’s doorstep, then so be it.”
“Surely you don’t think anyone here had anything to do with your husband’s death?” Vincent Polanski asked in a shocked tone.
“It’s not important what I think,” Dana told him. “I will go wherever the evidence takes me.”
“Then you’ll be dead yourself within a month,” Tremayne said with a certain amount of satisfaction.
Dana stared at him. “I beg your pardon?”
The others seemed equally startled by the blunt claim. “Lawrence, shut up!” Peter Drake warned in a tone so uncharacteristically fierce that everyone stared at him in shock.
“No, please,” Dana said. “Let him finish what he began. Is that another threat, Mr. Tremayne?”
He flushed. “Of course not. I just meant that you’ll be hanging around in that violent section of town, just as your husband did. You’re bound to meet the same fate.”
After the past hour, Dana wasn’t so sure that the real nest of vipers wasn’t right here in her living room.
16
Dana was still pacing the living room, ranting and raving at Kate about the gall of their recently departed guests, when the phone rang. She snatched up the receiver and snapped a greeting.
“Uh-oh,” Rick said warily. “What has your drawers in a knot, querida?”
With his faintly accented voice, the question had a certain intriguing panache. “Sorry,” she apologized. “It’s been a lousy afternoon.”
“What happened?”
She thought about what actually had happened and concluded that none of it was likely to seem so terrible to an outsider who wasn’t living the nightmare. “Nothing, really.”
“Tell that to someone who’ll buy it. Try again, querida. The people from the church came to call, yes?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, unable to keep a note of bitterness out of her voice.
“And? There were problems?”
“You might say that.”
“Tell me,” he said.
He spoke in a gentle, patient way that suggested whatever she described would be made better for the sharing. Dana wasn’t convinced, but she told him anyway. “They kicked me out of the house.”
“What?”
He sounded satisfyingly incredulous. Dana sighed. “They have the right to do that. It is their house. And I was expecting it. Just not so soon.”
“I’m coming out there,” he announced, and hung up before she could argue that there was no point.
She slowly replaced the receiver in its cradle and turned to find Kate regarding her speculatively.
“Rick, I assume.”
“How did you know?”
“Your color’s better.”
Dana scowled at her. “Oh, go suck an egg.”
Kate burst out laughing. “Sweetie, you’re going to have to do better than that if you’re going to be any match for those jerks who were here this afternoon.”
“Believe me, that was just a warm-up,” Dana assured her, grinning. “I had a very tart tongue before I married a minister and decided I’d better learn to express myself more politely.”
“Spending time with Rick Sanchez ought to help. He is charmingly rough around the edges, wouldn’t you say?”
“Meaning?”
“There’s an aura of barely leashed, street-tough danger about him,” Kate said. “In other words, he’s sexy as hell. I love it that he’s rushing out here to your defense.”
“Who said anything about him rushing out here?”
“Your expression gave it away,” Kate explained cheerfully. “You looked very put out when he hung up on you.”
“How did you know he’d hung up on me?”
“Nobody said goodbye,” Kate replied.
Dana scowled at her. “You really do need to get an investigator’s license. You’re very good at this.”
“It comes from having to be one step ahead of two secretive teenagers.” She tilted her head to one side. “Now, what do you intend to do with him once he gets here?”
“I don’t intend to do anything. I didn’t ask him to come. He invited himself.”
“So you intend to toss him right back out on his ear?”
The prospect of that sight seemed to amuse Kate no end. Dana was thrilled she could provide her friend with so much entertainment.
“No. That would be rude,” she said stiffly. “You, on the other hand...” She allowed the threat to remain unspoken.
Kate chuckled. “I was thinking of going home, anyway, but I’ve changed my mind. I think I’ll hang around for a while.”
“Suit yourself,” Dana grumbled.
She really was getting tired of all the bossy, presumptuous people in her life. Rick topped the list, but Kate was a very close second. Not that she normally didn’t count herself very lucky to have Kate around. Kate didn’t try to placate her the way so many of the other women in the church did. Kate had apparently never bought the ridiculous idea that getting into heaven had anything whatsoever to do with tiptoeing on eggshells around the minister’s wife. She viewed Dana as a human being in her own right, rather than one-half of some sort of holy alliance.
None of that mattered at the moment, anyway. She was losing her focus on the investigation again. For several moments, she tried to concentrate, but everything that had happened remained in a muddle. She finally met her friend’s still-amused gaze. “Kate?”
“Yes?”
“Did we learn anything here this afternoon?”
“Sure,” Kate said, sobering at once.
“Care to share your insights with me?”
“Lawrence Tremayne is a bully. Peter Drake, contrary to all appearances, is a born mediator. Caroline Vincenzi is a biased snob. Vincent Polanski would jump at his own shadow. And Gerrold Wald has been rendered speechless in their presence.”
“What about Miriam Kelso?”
Kate’s expression turned thoughtful. “She’s the strangest one in the bunch. I know for a fact that she criticized Ken behind his back. In fact, she tried to stab him in the back and have him removed, but today she was so warm and understanding it made me want to throw up. With that kind of duplicity, she may well be the most dangerous one in the bunch.”
“Who’s dangerous?” Rick inquired, causing both Dana and Kate to jump.
“How did you get in here?” Dana demanded as she tried to coax her heart back to its normal rhythm.
“You left the front door unlocked,” he chided.
“And how would you know that? Didn’t you even consider knocking first?”
He grinned unrepentantly. “Given the dangers that you persist in ignoring, I was doing a very necessary security check.”
“And your qualifications for that would be?”
“Concern,” he replied.
He said it in a simple, straightforward way that sent goose bumps dancing along her spine. Dana swallowed hard and tried not to let him see how affected she was by that sincere declaration.
“Breaking and entering by any other name is still a crime,” she pointed out.
He chuckled out loud at that. “You might do well to remember that yourself, querida.”
Dana winced at the reminder of her failed break-in attempt. “Sorry. I lost my head for a moment.”
“Would you like some tea?” Kate asked him, obviously seeking to smooth over the awkward moment. “Or something to eat? We have scads of food left over. People seemed to lose their appetites this afternoon.”
Dana tried to envision the very masculine man standing before her balancing a delicate teacup and a plate of tiny sandwiches on his knee. She couldn’t do it. “Maybe Rick would prefer a beer,” she suggested.
His expression brightened. “A beer sounds great.”
“I think there’s a bag of tortilla chips around here somewhere,” she added.
Kate scowled at her. “With all that good food left over? I don’t think so. I’ll get the beer. Rick, why don’t you check out the sandwiches and desserts? There’s a plate on the table. Dana never did get around to eating, either.”
The last was clearly meant as a very broad hint. Rick took it. He held out a hand.
“Come, then,” he urged. “We will all get something and sit in the kitchen, yes? I like the cozy atmosphere in there. A place like that is the heart of a family.”
Dana wanted to resist, but her hand seemed to have a will of its own. It slipped into his much larger one and settled comfortably against the faintly calloused palm. He closed his fingers around hers and tugged her to her feet.
“We have been over this before. You have to eat,” he chastised her. “You have to keep your strength up.”
