“I’ve never gone there. I got pretty serious with a Korean woman when I was just out of the academy, but her family didn’t want her dating a round eye. Plus she was into Renaissance fairs, which make me totally-”
“Ootsie?”
“I was going to say hurl.”
“Sorry, my bad.”
“She couldn’t handle her parents’ disapproval so she broke it off. But I still think about her sometimes. I’m just so damned tired of being by myself. Know what I’m saying?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Don’t get me wrong-I do okay when it comes to hookups. But the right woman? Someone who I can be me with? No fear? That’s rare.”
“Rare,” agreed Mitch, who was wondering just exactly how he’d managed to wander into Lieutenant Very’s personal eHarmony commercial.
“Talk to me about Yolie Snipes. What’s up with her?”
Mitch smiled to himself. So much for wondering. “She’s a rising star. Real smart. Comes with a lot of hard bark on her but she’s honest and loyal. Des is real fond of Yolie. Me, too. But I’m kind of partial.”
“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
“She saved my life once.”
“She got a steady man in her life?”
“No man at all.”
“Get out! A gorgeous sister like that?”
“I don’t think anyone has the nerve to ask her out. She can be a bit intimidating.”
“I know. It’s kind of a turn-on.”
“So take a shot. Worst thing that can happen is she’ll…”
“Just say no?”
“I was going to say beat the crap out of you.”
Very’s face lit up. “I can think of worse ways to spend an evening.”
“Okay, Lieutenant, this is way too much information.”
Maple Lane was cordoned off. A pair of cruisers were there to keep gawkers away. Also a mobile news van from one of the Connecticut TV stations.
Mitch pulled up in front of the Captain Chadwick House and parked. “Augie’s apartment is around in back.”
“We’ll brace Beth Breslauer first,” Very informed him.
“She may not be home.”
“We’ll find out.”
“We could have called to let her know we were coming.”
“Not how it’s done, dude. You always drop in unannounced. Question a suspect before she has a chance to prepare her responses.”
“So Beth’s a suspect?”
“Everyone’s a suspect.”
Beth was home. And she could not have been more poised or polite when Mitch introduced her to Lieutenant Romaine Very of the NYPD. Not a trace of uneasiness. Not a frosted blond hair out of place. She was totally together. “This is such a nice surprise, Mitch,” she exclaimed as she showed them in. “But I’m afraid Kenny’s at the beach with Kimberly.”
“Actually, we’re here to see you.”
“I have a few questions, Mrs. Breslauer,” Very explained. “I’m not here in an official capacity. You’re totally free to decline.”
Beth tilted her head at him. “Questions regarding…?”
“Augie Donatelli. He was like a father to me.”
“I’m so sorry, Lieutenant.”
“I understand he’d taken a personal interest in you. I’d like to talk to you about that, if you don’t mind.”
Beth glanced at the file folder that was tucked under Very’s arm. “Certainly. May I offer you gentlemen a glass of iced tea? I was just having some out on the porch with my neighbor Bertha Peck. I’ll ask her to excuse us.”
“No need,” Very said. “In fact, it’d be great if she stayed.”
Beth’s gaze narrowed slightly. “Whatever you say.”
She fetched two tall glasses from the kitchen and led them out onto the porch. Bertha Peck sat on the white wicker love seat, wearing a trimly tailored linen summer dress and round, oversized glasses. She was a tiny, somewhat scary-looking old lady. Nearly ninety, but with glossy, coal black hair and big blue eyes that were slightly protuberant and more than slightly piercing. She sat very erect, hands folded in her lap. Her legs, as Bitsy Peck had advised Mitch, were still splendid indeed. Slender and finely shaped.
“Bertha, this is Kenny’s friend, Mitch Berger,” Beth said as she filled their glasses from the pitcher on the table.
“You’re that movie critic who lives out on Big Sister.” Bertha looked him over with keen-eyed disapproval. “The one who’s been sleeping with our resident trooper.”
“We’re good friends.”
“You’re a lot more than that, young man,” Bertha said sternly. “But I’d never make you two for a match. Not in a million years.” Now she turned her gaze on Very. “And who is this handsome devil?”
“He’s Lieutenant Very of the NYPD,” Beth said. “A friend of Mr. Donatelli’s.”
“What does he want?”
“We’re about to find out, Bertha.”
Beth handed them their iced teas. They sat in the wicker chairs facing the love seat. Beth settled next to Bertha, who took a thirsty gulp of her own iced tea, smacking her lips. Mitch suspected hers was high octane. She liked her vodka, word had it.
Very jumped right in: “Mrs. Breslauer, has Sergeant Snipes questioned you yet about your whereabouts at the time of the murder?”
Beth blinked at him. “Why, no. Why would she?”
“Because she knows that you slipped out of here on foot shortly before it happened. You’re unaccounted for, ma’am.”
Beth shot a sharp glance at Mitch before she turned back to Very, stiffening slightly. “You said you’re not here in an official capacity.”
“Correct.”
“So I’m under no obligation to answer you.”
“Also correct. But if I were you, I’d be straight with me. It’s the smart move.”
“Why is that, Lieutenant Very?”
“Because whatever you say to her will become part of an official state police investigation. If you talk to me I may be able to keep it under wraps.”
“You make it sound as if I have something to keep under wraps.”
“Only because you do. You and I both know Dawgie wasn’t stalking you. He was tailing you.” Very opened the file folder and spread Augie’s surveillance photos out on the coffee table before her. “You and your boy Vinnie.”
Beth studied the photos, swallowing. “So…?”
“So were you and Vinnie together last evening? Is that why you slipped out?”
Beth took a dainty sip of her iced tea. A blue vein pulsed slightly in her forehead. Otherwise, she gave every outward appearance of being calm. “Vincent picked me up down the block at nine o’clock. We caught Linda Ronstadt’s second show at the Mohegan Sun. Ate a late supper at the Lobster Shack. Gambled a bit, then went up to our room. We left there at about four a.m. Vincent dropped me off here and kept on going so he could attend morning mass with his family in Great Neck.”
Very flipped through some notes in the file. “According to Dawgie, Vinnie never spends the night here. He’s never even been here.”
“That was at my suggestion,” Bertha interjected. “People in Dorset can be obsessively nosy when it comes to the love lives of their neighbors. Particularly when those neighbors are attractive single women. Maddee Farrell, for one, is a consummate busybody. I told Beth that if she wished to have any privacy, she would have to behave discreetly. So if you wish to blame anyone for her ‘slipping out,’ as you put it, then blame me.”
“Why are we talking about ‘blame’ here, Bertha?” Beth’s voice had an edge of defiance in it now. “I don’t owe this man or anyone else an explanation for how I choose to live my life. Frankly, I resent the fact that we’re even having this conversation.”
Very said nothing to that. Just barreled in. “Does Kenny know about Vinnie? Or have you been hiding your affair from him, too?”
Beth stared at him coldly. “You’re not a very nice person, are you?”
Very said nothing to that either. Just stared right back at her. The man was no lamb chop-not that Mitch had thought for one second that he was.
“It so happens that Kenny doesn’t know about Vincent,” she conceded, exhaling slowly. “I was married to Irwin when we first became involved. I wasn’t particularly proud of myself. But I couldn’t help it. I was in love with Vincent. I still am. We’re incredibly happy together.”