Tiffany snorted. "Everyone who met the son of a bitch," she said in quite the old way. Then, sorrowfully, "I mean, Verger's a successful businessman. And there are many people jealous of him. Many. But the police are saying that it's one of those gangs that does home invasions." For a moment, real fear shone in her eyes. "I think it's terrible. Just terrible that you can't even be safe in your own home."
"It's either one or the other, isn't it?" Quill said firmly.
"Either... what?"
"Either a home invasion or a kidnapping, but not both. It doesn't make sense that a gang breaking into a house, ready to shoot anyone who gets in their way, carefully ties up the maid and puts in her in the closet, and on impulse kidnaps Verger Taylor and sets up an elaborate method of getting a pitifully small ransom for him."
"Elaborate?" Meg said with raised eyebrows. "Leaving the mon - " She stopped. Before they had left the Taylor mansion last night, Jerry had warned them not to leak any information about the money drop. They were the only outsiders, other than the family lawyers, who knew of the purposed method of delivery. "Well, just leaving the money, wherever the kidnappers ask them to leave it."
"You know what the demands are?" Tiffany dropped her discontented, diffident manner and leaned forward in excitement. "I knew it! I just knew you were working on the case. Tell. Oh, do tell!"
Meg offered Tiffany a cup of coffee. She took it and leaned back. "When you see what I brought for you, you'll help me solve the kidnapping, won't you? If I just had something to tell those press pe - well, never mind. So you both think Verger's kidnapping was planned beforehand, is that it?"
Somewhat taken aback at this evidence of intelligence, Quill said, "Yes."
Tiffany set the coffee carefully on the table. She' brushed idly at her trousers. "In these sorts of things, how do you go about solving the crime? I mean, you guys don't have a crime lab with you, do you? You can't do scientific evidence and things like that. So how do you do it?"
Quill sighed. "You're talking as if we go looking for crimes to solve, Tiffany. And we don't. So far, all the cases we've investigated have been right in front of our noses."
"Like this one," Tiffany said. "So how would you I go about solving this one?"
"Well, we talk to people. Sooner or later with every crime, a pattern emerges. And you get the outline of the pattern by retracing the victim's steps, talking to everyone who knew the victim, fitting the pieces together."
"Look." Tiffany wiped one finger delicately along her lower lip. Then she pulled carefully at a piece of mascara on her eyelash. "If I told you girls something - strictly in confidence, you know - well, you know this Detective Fairchild pretty well, don't you?"
"Close as houses," Meg lied. "But, Tiffany, there's a bare possibility that Verger is alive, that this is a kidnapping, and if you know something important, you'd; better tell the police right now."
"It's not what I know. It's what I've got."
"What you've got?" Quill asked. "You don't have a ransom note, do you?"
"Nope. I've got this." She was carrying a crocodile envelope purse. She opened the snap, careful of her long red nails, and withdrew a little black leather book. "Verger's appointment book. It has all his meetings in it. And some other stuff, too."
"His appointment book?" Quill reached for it. Tiffany held it out of reach, like a little kid refusing to let another little kid play with a desirable toy. "How did you get it?"
"I saw him yesterday, you know. He arranged to sign the house in Cannes over to me..."
"In return for dropping the Excelsior charity," Meg said.
"Oh, he would have come around to my way of thinking. Poor Verger. Always so thoughtful. Anyway. He got a phone call while we were yell - I mean talking, and he turned his back to me, because he didn't want me to know who he was on the phone with, like I didn't know it was that little teenaged tramp Mariel, so I reached over and took the book. Just to look. And then when he turned around, he started screaming at me, and in all the confusion, I just forgot to put it back." She waggled the book in the air. "So. Would this help?"
"It might help get you arrested," Meg said dryly. "You said Verger keeps all his appointments in there?"
"Every single one. And what do you mean, arrest me?"
"My guess is," Quill said, "that Jerry's looking at everyone who knew where Verger was going to be that day. The most important tool a kidnapper would have is knowledge beforehand of a victim's schedule."
Tiffany, Quill noted, wore a lot of blusher. She went pale, and orangey-tan swathes of color stood out starkly from her temples to her cheekbones. "So the police would think that I, I might have done this?"
"If I were a policeman, I would," Meg said sunnily. "As a matter of fact, I'm wondering right now. Where were you all day yesterday, Tiffany?"
"Jail is horrible," Tiffany said. "Have you seen movies about what happens to women in jail?"
"Do you have any kind of alibi at all?" Meg asked.
"I was at the Golden Door Spa all afternoon. It was my day for a facial, my manicure, my seaweed bath, and my hair. I was there from three until way after ten o'clock. And there are dozens of witnesses. Dozens."
"Then you may be okay," Meg said. "Unless there was an opportunity for you to slip out for an hour or so."
"Stark naked and wrapped with seaweed mud? You've got to be kidding!"
"Of course," Meg said. "This book really should be turned over to the police, Tiffany. Why don't I call Jerry right..."
"No! No. No. No." She was breathing quickly, and her eyes were bright with panic. "Couldn't you two do it? Couldn't you tell Jerry that Verger left the appointment book at the board meeting yesterday and you picked it up to give back to him?"
"No. Jerry'd start to suspect us." Meg looked sorry, but not truly sorry.
"You could explain to him, then, that I just took it. I just took it because Verger puts everything in there. And I was... I wanted to find out what he was doing with that twit, Mariel. That's all."
Quill suspected that it wasn't that at all. And she also thought she knew why Verger, who must have missed his appointment book immediately and known who'd taken it, hadn't protested. Verger and Tiffany were very careful to keep each other aware of where each of them would be. Just as one or the other was always careful to let the press know where they would be. How could they stage the famous confrontations if they didn't? "Good," said Quill. "If you give it to us, we can see Jerry gets it with a full and complete explanation."
"You could maybe say that one of you found it some- where and picked it up for safekeeping," said Tiffany.
"No, we couldn't say that. But the book is critical, Tiffany. Whoever snatched Verger from his house last night knew he'd be home and knew the only staff on Tuesday nights were the security guard and Maria. Does Verger keep a very complete record of his appointments?"
"Very," Tiffany said. "You have no idea. If you don't have to mention my name to Detective Fairchild you won't, will you?"
"We'll do our best to keep you out of it," Quill promised. "But I don't think it will be possible."