Kay turned to me and gestured toward the blonde. “Louisa, I want you to meet Bonnie Becker,” she replied, “Ian’s aunt.”
I gaped. “Ian’s aunt?”
The woman nodded. “I am so sorry for barging in on you. I have a lot of explaining to do,” she said. Her voice was low in both pitch and volume.
“Where’s Bob?” Kay asked.
“Gone for coffee,” I told her, “and other provisions.”
“Did he walk? My car is still outside,” she said, looking puzzled.
“No, Ambrose has already been here. They went in his car. There’s not much food here other than some orange juice, a box of expensive crackers, and some very good wine, any of which you are welcome to.”
“That’s okay, we had breakfast at my house,” Kay assured me. “Well, Bonnie and I did. I don’t think Ed has had anything.”
“Yeah, like enough sleep,” he growled.
“You had breakfast?” I burst out. How cozy. First the woman kidnaps Bob and then she breakfasts with Kay.
“This is all so crazy,” the woman—Bonnie—said. She looked earnestly at me. “I found your business cards in your car, and went to OKay Antiques last night looking for Mr. Richardson. Kay recognized me and made me listen to his side of the story.” Her eyes fell. “I can hardly bear the thought of facing him. I hope he’ll forgive me for my stupidity. You see, I thought he was working with my former brother-in-law.”
“Carl’s housekeeper found out he had the original tape, and she told Bonnie about it,” Kay took up the tale. “But they thought that Bob had been involved with Carl, or had kept a copy to cover his own ass, or maybe for blackmail. Georgia, the housekeeper, listened in on the extension whenever Carl was on the phone at the house. Apparently he hired a detective to find out where Bob went when he left High Cross, and Georgia was able to tell Bonnie so she got here first and found Bob and carted him off.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said. “Hold it. That went by too fast.”
“I'll second that,” said Ed. “Housekeeper? Detective?”
Kay gave us both an exasperated look. She hates to slow down. “Okay, in words of one syllable—”
“There’s nothing wrong with our vocabularies,” said Ed, “we just need more words spoken slower.”
He and I looked at each other. I wouldn’t have sworn to it, but I thought I detected a glimmer of humor in his eyes.
Kay glared at both of us but decided not to pursue this line of conversation. “All right, polysyllabic but slow.” She began to prowl around the cabin as she talked. “Bonnie and I talked a long time last night—”
“All night,” Bonnie put in.
“—and here’s what we think happened. Bob stashed the original tape of Ian’s hypnosis session in his safety deposit box.
“But he kept a duplicate,” Bonnie said.
“He went to see the police detective, who acted as though he thought Bob’s accusation of Carl was ridiculous. But Bonnie tells me that Carl is politically well-connected in High Cross—”
“He was on the city council for a while, until he figured out some work was involved,” Bonnie explained.
“He also donates money to some police charity and golfs with the chief and all that good old boy stuff. So we think Bob’s idea that the detective told Carl about the tape is likely. Or if the detective didn’t tell Carl directly, he told someone within the police who’s connected to Carl. Within a day or so of Bob’s visit to the police, Carl knew the tape existed, and that it was in a safety deposit box in the bank that he owns. I don’t know how he got into Bob’s box, but he’d have complete access to all bank records and somehow he did it. We know he had the original tape, because his housekeeper—”
“That would be Georgia,” Ed said to me.
“—Georgia was in the house when he was playing the tape. She was setting the table in the dining room for a dinner party he was having the next day, and she heard Ian’s voice. She followed the sound and saw Carl in his den watching the tape.”
“And how did we come to know all this?” Ed inquired. I let go of Emily Ann’s collar and crossed to the love seat, perching on its overstuffed arm. This could take some time.
“Because Georgia called me,” Bonnie replied. “She was upset, and she was afraid.”
“Who wouldn’t be?” said Kay.
“She heard enough of the tape to realize the implications, that Carl had murdered my sister Pru and Ian. She started working for my sister when Pru was married to Ian’s father, long before Carl was in the picture. She helped raise Ian and was devastated when he died.”
“So when she realized Carl had killed them, she got in touch with Bonnie,” Kay said.
Bonnie continued, “Georgia knew Carl is connected to the police and she was afraid to go to them. We never got a chance to watch the tape. He hid it or destroyed it. But Georgia began to listen to Carl’s phone calls whenever she could do it safely. We know Carl hired detectives because he had them call him at home to report what they’d found.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, feeling suddenly indignant. “Why would you think that Bob was on Carl’s side?”
“We misinterpreted something Georgia heard. Carl was on the phone to the detective. She picked up the phone a few seconds after their conversation started, and Carl was saying what a good thing it was that ‘he’ had brought the tape straight to him, but that there could be a copy of it. They were speculating on whether this person might try blackmail. We thought they were talking about the person who made the tape.”
“But they must have meant someone in the police.” Kay’s pacing brought her next to Bonnie. “If one of the cops wanted to blackmail him, making a copy of this tape would be a dandy place to start.”
Bonnie sighed and shook her head. “I have been out of my mind these weeks since Ian died. I jumped to the conclusion that it was Bob they were talking about. A few days later Georgia heard the detective tell Carl where Bob was staying. I got in my car and drove to Willow Falls. I still can't believe I actually kidnapped him.” She shot a worried look at Ed. “It was just chance that I saw him going into that grocery store. I had been at the home warehouse next to it buying rope because I had some crazy idea of sneaking up on him in his house.”
“But how did you recognize him?” Ed asked.
She looked surprised. “I went to him for hypnosis, years ago, when I was having trouble quitting smoking.”
“That’s why Ian went to Bob,” Kay said. “His aunt recommended it.”
“He didn’t recognize me. I was afraid he would, but I looked a lot different then.”
Bonnie paused, and her eyes filled with tears. She shook her head once. “I have been out of my mind. I'm sure that he—that scum—” she struggled with her voice, “—that vile Carl Walsh killed my sister and my nephew. I loved them both. I will do anything to see that he gets what he deserves.”
The way she said his name sent a chill scurrying down my back. I glanced in Ed’s direction, and saw that he was watching Bonnie with his eyes narrowed. Emily Ann left my side and went over and leaned on Bonnie, peering up into her face. Bonnie’s hand settled gently on Emily Ann’s head. You could see her relax a fraction.
Then she looked past me and saw the television screen and froze. The blood drained from her face and she swayed. I thought she was going to fall, but she sagged against Emily Ann, who stood firm. I jumped up to help her, but Ed was faster. He was at her side, but she waved him off as she straightened again.
“Where did you get that?” Bonnie demanded, pointing.
Kay looked around wildly and saw the TV. “Oh, god, is that—”
“It's the tape, Bob’s copy, the one we’ve been looking for.”
For the first time Ed looked fully awake. He took a couple of steps toward the TV and looked hard at the image of Ian. “Have you watched it yet?” he growled at me.
I shook my head and said to Bonnie, “I'm sorry, Ambrose was here and left the video and I just stuck it in the machine a minute ago. Let me turn it off.”