The moment he released the mic, Folly stepped up to it. “Will the organizing committee please raise your hands? Sheriff, if you need any of us to help expedite matters, we are only too willing to serve.”
He nodded thanks. The place exploded with talk. Kylie Kraft screamed and then fainted. Sophie fanned her. Margaret said to her husband, “One murder too many for Kylie.” He replied, “High-strung.”
Sophie rejoined, “Young,” as Kylie’s eyelids fluttered. Once they sat her up she asked for a cigarette, which made Margaret laugh.
Kylie, smoking from a pack of borrowed Marlboros, lit one with the stub of another.
Thanks to Cooper’s securing of names, the brief questioning at each table proceeded with efficiency. Within an hour, the initial questioning was completed, and the gathering was dismissed.
Crestfallen, Folly slumped in her seat, watching people stream out to their cars.
“Cheer up, Folly, you raised a great deal of money,” Big Mim said as she stopped by on her way out. “And no one will ever, ever forget the event.”
Smiling weakly, Folly replied, “I guess not.”
At Table 11, Cooper took Susan in tow as Ned hurried to the Audi wagon.
“I can’t believe Tazio killed her,” Harry stated flatly.
Cooper, tired by now, replied sharply, “Harry, she was standing over the body with a dripping knife in her hand. People we like, we admire, can do terrible things.”
“Not Taz.” Harry was going to say more, but Fair squeezed her arm and said to Cooper, “You know how Harry is. If it were you, she’d be on your side. Seems you rarely get a break, Coop. Here it was to be a night of dancing and you wind up working.”
Cooper, appreciating Fair’s sensitivity, touched his shoulder. “Thanks.” As Lorenzo touched her elbow she apologized, “I am so sorry. I’ve hardly asked you one thing about yourself. Please forgive me.”
He smiled gently. “No apology needed, and if you will allow me, I’ll give you plenty of time to ask me questions.”
Suddenly, Cooper didn’t think her evening had been spoiled at all.
19
Most of the country people attended the first service at St. Luke’s or whatever church they attended. The town and suburban people usually went to the eleven o’clock service.
Big Mim, Jim, Aunt Tally, Harry, Fair, Little Mim, Blair, Alicia, and BoomBoom gathered in Big Mim’s living room at eleven.
The door opened without a knock. “Sorry,” Susan apologized. “Folly Steinhauser waylaid me about Ned representing Tazio.” Her mouth was running as she came into the light-filled room. “She can talk when she wants to, that woman.”
“Where is Ned?” Big Mim inquired.
“On his way back down to Bedford County.”
Paul slipped in by the back door. He attended the Catholic church.
Jim threw his arms around the wiry young man. “Paul, we’ll get her out of there. Hold on, buddy, hold on.”
“You know she didn’t kill that woman.” The worry made him appear ten years older.
A moment of silence followed this cry from the heart, then Harry concurred. “That’s why we’re here, Paul.”
Aunt Tally, hands on cane as she sat in a satin-striped wing chair, said, “Even if she did, we’ll do all we can to reduce the sentence.” Noting the horror on Paul’s face, she quickly added, “But I don’t think she did.”
“Never. Never would Tazio kill anything. She won’t even kill a spider.”
“Where’s Brinkley?” Harry thought of the yellow lab.
“With me.” Paul took a seat, being guided there by Jim.
Gretchen, the majordomo, brought in a large tray of tidbits. On the Sheraton sideboard, coffee percolated in an enormous silver pot, a handsome teapot beside it. People served themselves.
Once everyone was seated, Big Mim conducted the meeting per usual. She found herself missing Miranda, who had an uncanny sense of people’s inner workings. But Miranda at this very moment would be lifting her golden voice in the Church of the Holy Light’s choir, since the choir performed at both services. Well, she could be counted on when need be.
“I wish I’d noticed who else was there. There were short lines.” Little Mim was mad at herself for not being alert when she had used the bathroom at the ball.
“How could you know? That’s the thing about a dreadful event, one has no idea what may be significant.” Big Mim was soothing, part of it due to her former intransigence over what she deemed her daughter’s political foolishness.
Big Mim could be flexible, could change her mind. Rare it was, but it did happen.
“Cooper collected the names of everyone who had left the tables. I wonder if she looked at them,” Fair said.
“Bet she did.” Harry leaned back, balancing her teacup and saucer as she did so.
“Carla has been—or had been—provoking Tazio for months,” Paul spoke up. “She probably provoked others. It’s one of the others who killed her.”
“She provoked Mike McElvoy on a daily basis.” Harry put in her two cents.
“He deserves it,” Susan simply said.
“We’re about to find out ourselves,” Blair mentioned. “We hoped we’d get Tony Long as our inspector, but, no, we landed Mr.”—he was about to utter a profanity and then substituted—“Jerk.”
Fair smiled slightly at him for being quick-witted.
Big Mim decried profanity. Profanity delighted Aunt Tally, who would pepper her comments with some just to see the sulfur hiss out of her niece’s bejeweled ears.
“Balls.” Aunt Tally lived up to her reputation.
“Aunt Tally.” Big Mim stared crossly at her.
“I mean Mike McElvoy doesn’t have the balls to kill anyone.” She sniffed. “Don’t trust him, though. He’s like a trombone slightly off-key, but I can’t identify what’s weird, what’s off.”
For a moment everyone looked at Aunt Tally, for she had expressed something each had felt.
“On the take?” Fair put his hands on his knees. “It would be so easy to do.”
“You mean find problems and then shake down the owner, maybe even the construction boss?” Harry, even though not an idealist, was always upset when a public servant proved crooked.
“Lord,” Little Mim simply said. “That makes perfect sense.”
“How can we find out?” Big Mim asked. “Is it possible that Carla was being…? It’s not blackmail, I guess, it’s theft, pure and simple. Maybe Tazio found out.” She was puzzled. “And, well, I know this sounds crazy, but Carla was such a drama queen when Will Wylde was killed. It kind of makes one wonder if there’s a connection.”
“I don’t see how,” Susan replied, then returned to the subject of Mike. “If Carla was getting squeezed, she wouldn’t want anyone to know. Pride.”
“Goeth before a fall.” Aunt Tally tapped her cane once on the floor, then added, “But if Carla had had an abortion, she wouldn’t want anyone to know, either. Yet another fall.”
“She may not be the only one to fall on both counts.” Fair’s mind whirred. “If Mike is dishonest, and I’m not saying he is, but for the purposes of discussion—”
Aunt Tally interrupted, “You don’t have to hedge your bets. We’re family here.”
“Thank you for that singular honor.” He inclined his head toward Aunt Tally, who was thrilled at the male attention.