“How do you know that?”
“And then there is Mr. Tellum. Before Charles and I went out to the porch, he had been regaling us with an oh-so-charming story about threatening a man with a crowbar.”
“Whom?”
“The butler’s brother.”
“Tellum threatened Willie’s brother? Why would he do a thing like that?” Rowan leaned forward.
“Apparently Willie’s brother purchases alcohol from Robert and then sells it. How do you call it? A distributor.” She glanced at the bloody quilt. “I suppose he used to purchase it from Robert. There was some dispute about the price and Jack was going to kill him when he complained. He was going to do it with a crowbar, no less. It’s frightening to meet a real person who does those kinds of things. Charles was shaken up and I had to calm him down. He’s a gentle man who doesn’t react very well to violence. That’s all. It was not a fight.”
“I see.” Rowan paused for a long time as Margaret caught her breath. “One last question. Have you ever been in the theatre?”
“When I was younger. What has that to do with our present situation?”
“Just wondering. Thank you for your assistance. If you would be so kind, please tell Mr. Aikes that I would like to see him.”
“Mr. Manory?”
“Yes, Margaret?”
“I’m far less worried about you suspecting Charles and myself of this crime than I am about us being murdered tonight.” She tightened her jaw, attempting to keep the tears welled in her eyes. One escaped down her cheek.
“I know. Nothing will happen to you. I promise.”
“Did you make the same promise to Robert?”
“No, I did not.”
She quickly composed herself and left the room.
Rowan drummed his fingers on the desk.
Why do we start with the pinky when we drum our fingers?
He awkwardly began with his index finger.
It rings false. You can tell when things ring false. All that is needed is a pair of ears and half a brain. Three suspects and three liars.
Rowan once again became aware of his heart. It had not bothered him since the car ride, but he knew it to be a ticking time bomb that could go off at the most inopportune moment.
Willie held a towel to his head as he tottered across the office. “Christ, will you look at that.” He motioned toward the bloody quilt.
“I have been looking at it. Are you feeling better, Mr. Aikes?”
Willie did not answer straight away. The man sitting in Robert Lasciva’s chair was not the same person who had been so friendly earlier in the evening. The only person who called him Mr. Aikes was the eighteen-year-old who delivered the jerky once a month. “Uh huh. I’m tired but I’ll survive.”
“I am going to ask you some questions. Hopefully, you are going to tell me the truth. What was your brother’s relationship with Robert Lasciva?”
“My brother didn’t exactly have a relationship with Mr. Lasciva. He did some business with him.”
“Why did Jack Tellum threaten your brother with a crowbar?”
“Oh no, you’re barking up the wrong tree, Mr. Manory. My brother bought alcohol from time to time, same as a hundred other folks in a hundred other towns around here. Now, I told you about Jack Tellum. I spoke the truth when I did. He was a nasty fella.”
“I agree. However, I am inclined to believe that your brother was threatened for a reason.”
“Probably, but I don’t know nothing about it. I just—”
“Work here. You just work here.” The detective surprised himself with his sarcastic tone. His heart beat against his breastbone and he chewed on the inside of his cheek. “We will try an easy question. How long were Ruth and Robert involved?”
“Ruthie and him didn’t go together.”
“They were lovers, Mr. Aikes.”
“I hate to sound like a broken cylinder but I don’t know nothing about that.”
“Do not treat me like some Catholic bog hopper. I know they were having an affair.”
“And I’m telling you they weren’t. She had some fella where she came from.”
“William—”
“It’s Willie.”
Rowan erupted from his seat and scowled as he paced like a caged lion.
“What’s wrong with you, Mr. Manory? I’m being as straight with you as I can.”
Rowan nodded. “I am sorry, Willie. This is turning into a frustrating evening.”
Willie spoke with a conciliatory tone. “Maybe they were together, Mr. Manory. If they were, they sure kept it a secret. Ruth doesn’t talk much about herself, but she did say she had a fella that she was sweet on in Clarksdale.”
“And your brother?”
“Jerry’s got a smart mouth and it gets him into a lot of trouble sometimes. He and Mr. Tellum didn’t get along very well, but nothing so bad I would have to kill Mr. Lasciva because of it.”
“I have not accused you of killing Mr. Lasciva.”
“Their business never concerned me. I stayed out of it.”
“Criminal activity tends to bring out the worst in people.”
Willie sighed. “You have to understand. Things here aren’t like in Chicago. Selling liquor here isn’t such a big deal. We don’t kill each other over it. We just drink it and enjoy ourselves.”
“Thank you. You can go.”
“Should I send in Mr. Daniels?”
“No.”
Willie left the room, keeping the door open. The thunder from outside filtered through the hall. Rowan looked down at the quilt and addressed the corpse directly. “What the hell were you up to? It would all make sense if not for you. You do not make sense, Mr. Lasciva. If you do not say the things you said everything is solved.”
Stop talking to a dead man.
Walter entered, wet and shaking his head. “No Bernice. Charles has some tools in the back seat.” He shut the door and stood next to Manory. “Do you know what the kids call the back seat these days?”
“Williams—”
“A struggle buggy. Can you guess why?”
“Which tools, Williams?” Rowan was serious.
“Hammer, saw, chisel, gimlet, nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Subtle. What about Daniels’s Studebaker?”
“Things you would expect to find in a car. He has a map. I couldn’t see very well, but I think it’s of Mississippi. He has antifreeze, Eveready Prestone, the same kind we buy. There’s a suitcase, a tire iron, and a jack.”
“Good work. Let us go to the library, my friend.”
Rowan considered his next move carefully as he passed the paintings. His instincts were rarely misleading, but the Tommy Brent case gnawed at him and shaded all his thoughts with doubt.
Chip chop, chip chop.
Rowan looked over the suspects. “Ladies and gentlemen, I know everyone is frightened. Trust me when I say that Walter and I are as well. It is getting late and I think it best if everyone got some sleep.”
“This is the brilliant mind we’ve heard so much about?” said Daniels.
Charles gritted his teeth. “How am I supposed to sleep? Who do you think the killer is?”
“Whom,” said Walter.
Rowan said, “Come now. In the morning, we will all have clearer heads and we can decide on a suitable course of action. Mr. Aikes, as I understand it, each bedroom has its own key?”
Willie nodded. “That’s right, sir. Everyone here knows the keys are hung on a latch inside the room.”
“Splendid. I want everyone to lock the doors to their bedrooms and not to open them for anyone, including Williams and me. Mr. Daniels,” he put his hand on Daniels’s shoulder, causing him to twitch, “I would like a quick word with you alone.”
Ruth stood up. “I’ll have to put out the candles. If the storm breaks one of the windows, it could knock them over and start a fire.”
Walter asked, “Are there any flashlights in the house?”
“No, we operate
by candlelight,” said Willie.
Rowan chuckled. “All right. Charles, Margaret, and Willie, please accompany Ruth so she is not left alone. We will see to the candles in this room. After you are finished, I want everyone to go straight to their bedrooms.”
They exited the library and Rowan lit the cigarette that he had carried down the hallway.
Daniels poured himself a vodka. He circled the rim of the glass with his middle finger.
Rowan asked, “Why did Lasciva keep the threat a secret from you?”
“You would have to bring him back to life and ask him. Do you have any notion of who was behind it?”
Rowan shook his head. “It could have been anyone who had grievance with him.”
“I’m afraid you will have an extensive list of suspects.”
“I can imagine. Mr. Daniels, before this week, had you any previous knowledge of Bernice Lasciva?”
The lawyer jutted his lower lip and nodded his head. “Robert talked about her a lot. He had a soft spot for his aunt. She was an immigrant who came here with nothing, you know, the all-American story. I first met her years ago in Chicago.”
“What about Charles and Margaret?”
“Not really. I knew Robert had a nephew, but that was all. I had no idea the boy was married.” Daniels paced through the room and spun the mandrel of the phonograph. “How did Bernice do it?”
“How did she do what?”
“Don’t be coy. How did she kill my best friends and then vanish from a locked room?”
“I do not think she did.”
“I suppose you think I did it? That’s why you wanted to talk to me alone? Maybe you can explain how I managed to kill Robert in the office while I was talking to Walter in the hallway. That’s a hell of a trick.”
You are sweating like a whore in church.
“Mr. Daniels, when we broke into the office and saw Robert’s condition, you said his head had been cut off. In fact, you said it twice. Why?”
“I think it was a fairly apt description.”
“Yes, but you did not say, ‘My friend is dead,’ you specifically said his head had been cut off.”
“Is there etiquette for these kinds of things?”
“That is the second time I have been asked that question tonight.” Rowan smiled at Walter.
“So what if I said it. I didn’t think about what to say. I was genuinely taken aback.”
“Oh, I believe you.”
“What does it prove?”
“Nothing at all, Paul. I was simply curious. I wanted to talk with you alone because I did not want Willie in the room.”
“Willie?”
Rowan nodded. “That is right. It would make sense. Think about it. He was gone when Lasciva was murdered and could have hidden somewhere in the house. You were in the hallway, Margaret and Charles in the bedroom, Ruth in the library, and I was with Tellum. As the butler, Willie would have access to the liquor in the house.”
“What about Bernice?” Daniels drank the vodka in his glass in a single gulp.
“Until I figure out what happened to her, I must work with the people who are here.”
“What are you going to do next?”
“Williams and I are going to drive to the bridge and see if it has, in fact, collapsed. If it has not, then Willie will have to answer for quite a bit. I need you to be watchful, Paul. Stay awake while we are gone and tell me if Willie leaves his room.” He inhaled deeply on his cigarette. “The helmet Robert was wearing has a back plate that covers the neck.”
“This is significant somehow?”
“It means the killer cut off his head and then put it inside the helmet afterward. Think about the effort for such a useless effect. We are dealing with a psychopath, someone who is operating on pure malice. There is no rationality to be found within this murderer. As you said, Robert’s head was cut off.”
Daniels lost a shade of his color as his mouth went dry and he said rather quickly, “Good night.”
“Good night, Mr. Daniels.”
Daniels left the room and caught up with the others as they blew out the candles and the manor grew darker and darker.
Walter said, “Manory, are we really driving to the bridge?”
“No, Williams. We are driving just out of sight, about fifty feet past the start of the forest. Then we will walk around the trees, and go to the river and wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“With no way off this ridge, I suspect our murderer is beginning to panic just about now. Whatever plan was in place must be altered. Bernice Lasciva was meant to provide a distraction. Her disappearance would naturally make her a suspect. In order to keep this possibility alive, her body would have to be removed from the manor. The river would be the most logical place. Normally, it is just a tiny creek. With the current rainfall, it is over six feet deep and rapidly flowing. The corpse will be taken quickly by the current and dumped into the ocean of water covering Vicksburg.”
“Why did you tell Daniels we were going to the bridge?”
“Do you know the average temperature in Mississippi?”
“Not offhand.”
“Hot.”
chapter 11
the river
The moonlight pierced through the uninviting, pitch-black curtain draped over the sky, and a fine constant mist replaced the heavy rain. Walter walked down from the porch and turned his face upward. His shoulders dropped and a goosebumped calm took over his body. The whistles of the wind, waffling between gust and breeze, gossiped with the rustling willow branches.
He called back to the opened manor door. “Manory, I think it’s stopping. The rain is—”
Without warning, the weather summoned all of its strength for a monumental display of authority. Walter’s raincoat hood blew back and torrents of rain lashed at his exposed face. He wiped the sting from his eyes and a crack of thunder pierced his eardrums. Panicked, he fought his way toward a hazy pixilated image of the Model T. With a slam of the door, nature’s fury was muted. Only the rattle on the car’s surface accompanied the sound of his labored breathing.
In the isolation of the car and with a rush of adrenalin, Walter contemplated his situation.
I’m alone, trapped on this ridge. There is an unknown killer creeping round somewhere.
He thought he saw something in the side mirror and twisted his body to get a better look.
The butcher could be anywhere. Of course, if he is crawling on his belly beside the car about to jump up and slit my throat, he must be awfully uncomfortable.
Walter laughed for a moment at the thought of a killer experiencing discomfort like a normal person. This led to thoughts of a murderer struggling with a jar of olives or experiencing a flat tire.
Why wouldn’t a murderer experience a flat tire? That’s just silliness. The fact that he killed someone would have no bearing on basic tire maintenance. Why, this man must go through everything life has to offer. He has to wait in line at the post office and send Christmas cards to his relatives. I wonder if they suspect anything.
The car door opened and Walter screamed.
Rowan jumped back. “Control yourself, Williams!”
“I’m sorry. It’s just nerves.”
Rowan closed the door and panted, wiping the water from his face. “I am at the proper age for a heart attack. You cannot do that to me.”
“Manory, this is a horrible idea. We won’t be able to see anything out there. I barely made it to the car.”
“We can use the woods for shelter. The trees will make the rain bearable and shield us from the wind. We cannot wait. We have to hurry. You must trust me, my friend.”
“What do you think happened to Bernice Lasciva?”
“We are going to find out.”
They circled over the limestone and headed back onto the road. Walter drove past the first ten trees of the forest and pulled to the side. They scurried out of the car and into the wilderness.
From their vantage, the roof
was still visible but the thickness of the forest prevented them from seeing any other part of the manor. Small waterfalls formed off the foliage and seeped into the muddy ground as their feet struggled to manage the terrain. Every twenty seconds a flash of lightning illuminated the interior of the forest, revealing a bullfrog or some other creature seeking shelter. The moon offered only faint shafts of light around the trees.
Walter yelled above the wind. “Did Daniels kill Tellum? Even if he did, he couldn’t have killed Lasciva. He was with me. We would still be one killer short. Manory!”
Rowan did not seem to be listening. His feet kept planting and dislodging through the mud and his mind did the same with the possibilities.
Tellum wrote the threat. He wrote chip chop, chip chop. Was he pretending to be Irene? He told me it was impossible. Why would he tell me that? Did Tellum and Daniels want Lasciva dead? Maybe they wanted to take over. Why write a threat? To make it look like someone was seeking vengeance for Irene and Dorothy? Why now? Twenty goddamn years later. Maybe Daniels double-crossed Tellum. And Bernice. Everyone here has met Bernice. Tellum picked her up. She is from Chicago. He picked up a German woman from Chicago. One coincidence too many is known as a scheme. What does it mean, Rowan? Who are Charles and Margaret? Why did they pretend to go to sleep? Ruth would never stick her gum under the table. Only a man would do that.
The detective stepped into a hollow of liquid mud and toppled over. His arms blocked the fall, but his head snapped forward onto a log. The blood vessels in his nose burst and ripples of acute pain made their way along his face. His eyes became cloudy and his nose bled profusely. Walter squatted next to him. Lightning flashed and two wild green eyes reflected in front of them. They belonged to a bobcat regarding them without fear. The creature spewed a drowned-out hiss and took off into the night.
Walter lifted Rowan up and they wobbled on the drenched detritus. Rowan reached up to the bridge of his nose and cracked it sideways. A last giant spurt of blood shot down to his mouth but at least he was now able to breathe.
Goodnight Irene Page 11
