She looked to be in her thirties, no older. She was wearing a black cocktail dress, sheer black panty hose, and black high heels. She had Cal's rich brown hair, short and styled in a mussed-up fashion that made her look very natural and, at the same time, eminently sophisticated. At least half a dozen men were standing around her in a circle, and she let them admire her. I heard her laugh, a charming sound, full and deep and very personal. I didn't agree at all with Maggie that any of her moves were ridiculous.
I heard Alyssum Tarcher call out Maggie's name. She shrugged, pressed my hand, and left me. I stood there observing Elaine Tarcher's magic.
"Everyone thinks my mother is just a silly, useless ornament, but it's not true."
I smiled down at Cal Tarcher, who'd come up behind me. I couldn't see any just-had-sex signs on her face. She was back in her frump mode, neat as could be, her glasses firmly in place. She had changed her blouse since I'd ripped hers. This one was just as bland.
"Introduce me, Cal."
She looked up at me, silent for a moment, and said, "I wish you weren't staying with Paul."
I felt her lurching upward, bringing me deeper inside her body, and swallowed hard. "I agree, but there's nothing to be done for it."
"Old Charlie Duck adored my mother. She'll be one of the main speakers at his funeral tomorrow. I hope you'll be there? That's all she's talking about tonight, his murder. She's really mad about it."
"Oh, yes, I won't miss it. Perhaps Jilly can come as well."
"When are you going to leave? To go back to Washington."
"I don't know," I said. "Maybe I'll stay on a couple more days. I thought of Laura and felt a hard dash of guilt for having sex with Cal. I shouldn't, I knew that, but it was still there.
I met Elaine Tarcher, all of her gathered admirers, and Miss Geraldine, the leader of the town League and the mayor of Edgerton. She was a well-dressed old bat with a sharp tongue and faded blue eyes that I bet never missed a thing. She said, "Well, boy, I understand you came to see what happened to your sister. Well, I'll tell you what happened. She was going around a corner in that Porsche of hers and lost control. I've told Jilly a dozen times to be careful, but she just sings and dances away. She's fine now, I hear. That's good."
"That's exactly what Jilly said happened," I said.
"How long are you staying in Edgerton?"
"You'll make Mr. MacDougal feel unwelcome, Geraldine, and he's not," Elaine Tarcher said. She'd not said anything up to now. She'd been studying me, assessing me, calmly. There was nothing at all flirtatious in her manner. I wondered if she was seeing me as a possible mate for her daughter. I saw her group of friends fade back when her husband came over.
Alyssum nodded to his wife, then kissed Miss Geraldine's parchment cheek. "You've met our guest here, Geraldine?"
"He appears to be a good boy. Or maybe he's just tall and good-looking and nothing else interesting. I've heard he wants to solve the puzzle of our key letters."
"I've been working on it," I said.
"So did Charlie Duck," Elaine Tarcher said. "He told me just a couple of days ago that he was getting real close. I know I never should have thought it up since I didn't have anything to go with it, and I've thought and thought, but without reportable results."
"BITEASS-not easy," Alyssum said. He was impatient with this nonsense, I could see. Where was that prick, Cotter?
"Edgerton Town League," said Elaine. "That would have been better. Simpler. Short and to the point."
"Not as clever," said Miss Geraldine. "I've always admired clever. Don't worry, Elaine. I'm counting on our nice-looking fellow here. So you're with the FBI. Is that right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I also heard you were in the hospital until just before you came here."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm just fine now."
"Are you some sort of hero?"
"No way, ma'am, just in the wrong spot at the wrong time. How about Better Information Through Elucidation And Sober Selection?"
"That's not bad," Elaine said, nodding. God, she'd taken me seriously. No, I saw a flicker of amusement in her eyes.
"It doesn't mean anything," Alyssum said. "It's just nonsense."
Elaine Tarcher gave me a sweet smile. "Keep working on it, Mac. Do you mind if I call you Mac? Good.
It's a nice solid name. Poor Cal, now she's got a burden to bear-"
"Please, Mother, don't."
"All right, dear. I forgot."
"Maybe," I said, "if you could tell me the purpose of the BITEASS League, I could come up with something better."
I know I didn't imagine it. Elaine Tarcher shot a look toward Miss Geraldine, who just smiled and said, "We do a bit of everything, Mac. I originally organized the League to force a local chemical plant to clean up its waste. With Alyssum's help, we got them to do it. We discovered we had clout. With an entire town focusing on one specific problem, we could accomplish quite a lot. Now we use it whenever anyone in town needs help or there's another problem common to all of us. Nothing more than that. It's worked very well."
"Usually we're just a big social club," Elaine said. "Tomorrow we'll hold a wake for poor Charlie. The funeral will be the next day. We want to give him a good send-off."
"Poor old man," Cal said.
"It's time for Geraldine to cut her birthday cake," Alyssum Tarcher said.
I walked with them to the long table where a large three-tiered cake sat, weighted down by more candles than I could count.
"Don't think we're insulting her," Cal said. "Geraldine always insists that the number of candles equal the number of years."
I saw Paul out of the corner of my eye, cutting through the crowds of people to get to me.
"What's the matter, Paul?"
"Mac, I just got a call from the hospital. Jilly's gone. They don't know where she is. Do you know anything? Did she tell you where she was going?"
Chapter Ten
It was after midnight when we'd all come back to Jilly's room. I stared down at her bed. It looked like Jilly had simply stood up, lightly smoothed her hand over the covers, and left the hospital room.
"She had no clothes," I said as I touched my hand to her pillowcase. "She couldn't have just walked out of here in her hospital nightgown."
Paul said, "She asked me to bring her clothes this afternoon. I did. I didn't want to make her feel like she was some sort of prisoner. Believe me, she never said she was planning on walking out of here."
"This is weird," Rob Morrison said, walking into the hospital room. "Was she even strong enough to walk out of here?"
"Yes," Maggie said. "She was getting stronger by the minute. Her muscles hadn't given out on her. She was only here for four days, Rob. Does anyone here know anything?"
"Nobody saw a thing," Rob said, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck. His neck cracked. "Man, this doesn't make any sense. Why would she leave? Why didn't she say anything to the nurses? She's got to be here somewhere. I've rounded up everyone I could find to search the hospital, top to bottom. Two of the security guys have established grids in the parking lot and the grounds and are walking them off.
They won't miss her even if she's hiding under a car."
"I'm talking to everyone," Maggie said. "Someone must have seen her leave. She's not a ghost."
Paul said suddenly, "Maybe somebody took her." It was the first time he'd said anything like that since we'd all run out of the Tarcher party more than three hours before.
I turned slowly to face Paul. "Why would anyone take Jilly?"
"I don't know," Paul said. "But somebody may have been afraid she'd remember everything that happened Tuesday night. She was gone for three hours, dammit. Where did she go? What did she do?"