Thank God Moira hadn’t suggested they pack up the bedroom! One look at Johnny’s bed and Ellen knew she would have been in tears. And the den would have been just as bad. They’d watched late-night movies together, cuddled up on the overstuffed leather couch, eating popcorn and drinking Johnny’s favorite imported beer. The living room was out, too. She’d played hostess there at Johnny’s parties, giving instructions to the caterers and florists, and meeting his friends. The picture she’d given him hung over the fireplace, an original drawing of Johnny onstage that had taken her months to complete. No room in Johnny’s condo was safe from memories.
“Ellen? Are you all right?”
Realizing that Walker was staring at her, Ellen nodded shakily.
“I think that’s enough work for tonight.” Walker taped the box shut and pushed it against the wall. “Come on, Ellen. Let’s go up and open that wine I brought.”
“But there must be twenty boxes left to pack.”
“They can wait.” Walker took her arm and propelled her into the room where Jayne and Paul were working. “We’re knocking off for tonight. Ellen needs some rest.”
“She sure does.” Jayne nodded. “Go to bed, Ellen, honey. You look like you’ve been rode hard and put up wet.”
Less than ten minutes later, Ellen was sitting on her own couch in her own living room, wearing her new bunny slippers. It was a relief to be home again. Walker came in from the kitchen with the wine and stopped to smile at the slippers. “You look cute with hare on your feet.”
“Thank you.” It was an effort, but Ellen managed to return his smile. “These are the silliest things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I knew you’d like them. How’s the wine?”
Ellen took a sip and smiled again. “Perfect.”
When Walker sat down in the big chair across the room, Ellen began to relax. He seemed to know that she didn’t like close contact. She was lucky to have such an understanding friend.
They sat in silence until they’d finished their wine. Then Walker got to his feet. “Can I get you another glass of wine before I go?”
“Go where?” Ellen was puzzled.
“Marc said I could use Johnny’s place since I’m stuck up here with the rest of you.”
“But they’ve packed up all of Johnny’s sheets and bedding. Why don’t you stay here with me?”
The moment the words were out of Ellen’s mouth, she wished she hadn’t said them.
“Do you want to rethink that, Ellen? I know you’re offering your extra bedroom, but some of your neighbors might talk.”
He was reading her mind again! Ellen could feel the color rise to her cheeks. “Forget the neighbors. If you stay here, we can start cleaning up the workroom first thing in the morning.”
“That’s fine with me if you’re sure it won’t cause any problems.” Walker got the wine bottle from the kitchen and refilled her glass. “Take this to bed with you, Ellen. I’m going to start on that cleanup before I turn in.”
Ellen took his advice and finished the wine before she got ready for bed and turned off the lights. It was comforting, knowing that he was only a few steps away. Perhaps she wouldn’t have another nightmare tonight. She’d been absolutely right to tell him she didn’t care what the neighbors thought. It was time she started living her own life.
NINE
After two hours of packing, Clayton had called them all into Johnny’s living room. “Any luck?”
Laureen shook her head. “Nothing in the kitchen. We even rubbed a pencil over the pad of paper by Johnny’s kitchen phone.”
“Why did you do a silly thing like that?” Vanessa giggled.
“It’s not silly at all.” Hal sighed as he explained. “When a person writes, it can leave an impression on the paper underneath. I thought you said you watched Columbo.”
“I must have missed that one. So what did it say?”
“Where’s Ellen?”
“That’s what it said? Where’s Ellen?”
“No.” Alan looked as exasperated as Hal. “We just want to know where Ellen is.”
Jayne spoke up. “Walker took her home. She was all dragged out.”
“Good. We didn’t want to say this in front of her, but one of Johnny’s girlfriends left him a note. It said, Roses are red, violets are blue. Thanks a lot for the screw. And violets was misspelled.”
“That figures.” Marc snorted. “Johnny never picked his girlfriends for their brainpower.”
Laureen noticed that Vanessa’s cheeks were very red. “How do you spell violets, Vanessa?”
“V . . . I . . . oh, who cares.” Vanessa glared at Laureen. “I’m sure you know how to spell it. Tell her what we found, Hal. That’s much more important. It proves Johnny never left on that plane!”
Hal nodded. “We found Johnny’s airplane tickets. One-way to Italy, still in the folder with his itinerary.”
Laureen shrugged. “That doesn’t prove a thing. Johnny might have forgotten them and asked for duplicates at the airport. Or maybe he decided he wouldn’t bother with paper tickets and downloaded e-tickets. I’ve done that a couple of times.”
“So has Gracie.” Moira grinned at her roommate, who was starting to blush. “Except Gracie left the e-tickets at home, too. But we don’t think Johnny left on that plane, either. Grace and I found his telephone bill and there’s not one single overseas call.”
“What does that have to do with the price of apples?” Marc frowned.
“It’s just strange, that’s all,” Grace pointed out. “When my father died, I spent a lot of time on the phone making arrangements with my mother. Of course I tried to call after five when the rates were down, but there were so many things to take care of and the lawyers’ offices were closed after three because there’s a two-hour time difference between Vegas and Indiana and I don’t think it was daylight savings time or there would have been three hours because they don’t have it there, you know. So anyway, my total phone bill was simply . . .”
“I told you those tickets we found were important!” Vanessa interrupted. “Johnny wouldn’t leave without calling Italy to tell his mother what time to meet the plane!”
Clayton held up his hand. “We may be jumping to erroneous conclusions. Johnny could have called from the casino.”
“We thought of that,” Grace continued, “but I was doing a show for Johnny then and I know he never got to the casino more than fifteen minutes before his show because his parking spot was right next to mine. They’ve got the nerve to call it executive parking, but it’s really not because all the spots on the top level are uncovered and if it rains, your car gets wet and you have to walk all the way across . . . Okay, Moira. I know I’m babbling. Anyway, I used to see Johnny pull in at seven forty-five and my girls complained that he left right after the nine o’clock show without even signing autographs.”
“So what does that mean?” Vanessa looked blank.
“It means he couldn’t have called from the casino,” Moira explained. “There’s a six- or seven-hour time difference, and I don’t think Johnny would call his relatives in the middle of the night.”
Clayton looked impressed. “That’s very astute!”
“But it still doesn’t prove anything.” Marc spoke up. “Johnny could have called from his cell phone, or a girlfriend’s phone, or his relatives could have called him. I packed up the stuff in Johnny’s bedroom and I’m positive he left. His suitcases are gone and he took his clothes.”