“Now wait a minute, Francesca. If I were going to poison Mark to get his inheritance, why would I be teaching Hamlet? I could have just as easily taught the four elements of a play using Hello, Dolly! as an example,” snorts Blaine.
“I’m not sure why you would do something so obvious, Blaine. But I hear you haven’t had an original idea since your midlife crisis,” snipes back Francesca.
Trying to get the discussion back on track, James holds up the paramedics’ report and summarizes it in a loud voice.
“Your attention please. Quiet … Thank you. Back to the discussion at hand,” James says. “The paramedics stated that Sal kept repeating the same phrase over and over, pointing at the blackboard.”
“There was chalk dust on his hand and a piece of chalk was found near his body, indicating that he knew he was dying and may have been trying to leave someone a message,” says James.
Lucienne chimes in, “Our investigation indicates that this was the point in the evening when Sal was very sick and starting to go blind. We think he may have run into the podium, knocking it over and cracking the blackboard and jarring the clock off of the wall.”
“Unable to see, and having fallen on the floor, Sal’s last act of heroic selfishness was to try to save the life of someone about whom he cared very much,” adds Joseph.
Mercy says, “Sal kept trying to repeat something, to warn someone. He kept repeating the phrase ‘Daaay-nuh ... duh-ayuh-nuh ... muhhn.’” Mercy looks around the room to see if anything was sinking in among the group. All are stone-faced, either by ignorance or design.
“Sal repeated the phrase to the paramedics, and they thought he was referring to ‘Dana Montgomery’ after Joseph told them that they’d been to a party at this house,” James explains as he reads from the police report.
Mercy walks over to the TV and points at the blackboard. Most of the crowd is non-reactive.
“I can see that most of you were doing Hello, Dolly! in summer stock instead of Shakespeare in the Park,” Mercy concludes.
Joseph asks, “Francesca, would you mind telling the crowd what happens after Gertrude dies from the poison?”
Francesca replies, “Hamlet blames his stepfather for his mother’s death and kills his stepfather. Then Hamlet kills himself.”
Mark jumps up and waves toward the television. “That’s it, isn’t it, Mercy?” Sal wanted to warn me that Mom was in danger and that I shouldn’t assume it was Blaine, wasn’t he?”
Mercy reassures the young man, who has tears streaming down his face. “Yes, Mark. Sal was trying to warn you with his dying breath that Dana was in danger. He did not want you to assume it was Blaine, nor to kill Blaine and end up in prison or feeling so guilty that you would commit suicide.”
Mark looks at Dana. “Mom! Sal wasn’t trying to say ‘Dana Montgomery.’ He was trying to say ‘denouement.’”
“Sal was waving at the blackboard and saying ‘Day-noo-munh’ so I’d know he was talking about Hamlet,” continues Mark. “Because ‘what kind of person doesn’t do whatever he can to help a friend? Certainly not the kind of person that I want to be.’ That’s what Sal said in class.”
The whole room goes quiet, and James steps in. “When Mercy told me her theory, I found it hard to believe that that Sal’s logic would have taken him in such a direction when he was dying. But, she reminded me of some of the strange things I’ve encountered in cases involving actors, and it didn’t seem that odd after some thought.”
“We actors are our own breed, you know. We rarely think or react like most people,” Francesca admits.
“That’s true. I mean, look at my reaction … never mind,” Dana says, realizing that the entire room does not need to know her plan to get Blaine to kill her.
“But what about the pills? Blaine and I know there were at least two dozen pills in that bottle!” Mark says.
Dana looks at Mark in horror and breaks into tears.
“I don’t understand!” cries Dana. “If someone put poisoned pills in my bottle, I’d be dead! Not poor Sal!”
Mercy walks around to Dana and braces her by the shoulders.
“I’m sorry, Dana, but I’m afraid that you were the intended victim. Sal figured it out a few minutes before he died,” says Mercy.
Joseph adds, “Too weak from the warfarin to walk or try to make a phone call and fighting the fatigue that is a side effect of the pain pills, Sal feared that Mark would figure out that the poison was meant for Dana. He was afraid that Mark would jump to the wrong conclusion and kill Blaine. His last actions were trying to stay conscious long enough to warn his best friend.”
Beth becomes agitated and impatient.
She complains, “This is a lovely fairytale, but all I’ve heard is conjecture. Is there any hard evidence or are you just using this opportunity to pitch your next TV movie?”
“The murderer took pains to ensure that evidence was destroyed before anyone became suspicious. The paper tablecloths, plates, and broken glasses went to the incinerator and were burned before anyone knew there was a murder, but we do have some evidence,” Joseph says.
Mercy opens the coroner’s report. “The autopsy report states that Sal had the casings from eight pills partially dissolved in his stomach.”
Joseph puts the autopsy photos on the table.
“Based on the rate of dissolution, the coroner estimates these four yellow casings are consistent with the appearance of Dana’s tranquilizers, two of which were taken in the morning,” he explains.
“He took two more later in the afternoon, but when they did not seem to be doing any good, he came back to the library while Mark was dressing,” says Mercy.
“He found a pill bottle with two tranquilizers in it and put them in his pocket. Those were the pills that he told you about at the bar, Dana,” continues Mercy.
“There were a few things that Sal didn’t notice, though,” says Joseph. “He didn’t notice that the first four pills were lighter in weight and color than the ones that he took later. Those were small differences, but crucial ones.”
“Thanks to Mark and Blaine, we now can confirm that there were two dozen pills in the bottle on the day before the party,” explains Joseph.
Mark agrees and says, “They were in the bottle on Saturday morning, too, when I gave four to Sal. There had to have been over twenty pills left in the bottle.”
“So, where did they go? Anybody who took twenty tranquilizers would still be passed out cold by party time, even me,” says Dana.
James takes an evidence bag from his briefcase. It holds the object that he had retrieved from the philodendron ... the pill bottle that had held Dana’s tranquilizers.
“Dana, can you confirm that this is the bottle that you had with you in the library and that you threw at Blaine Saturday night?”
Dana looks at the prescription date on the bottle. “Yes. See, it was filled two days before the party.” She pauses. “So, there must have been more than two pills left.”
Mercy says, “At some point in the day, the remainder of the tranquilizers disappeared from that bottle and were replaced by two pills with yellow casings that were hyper-concentrated with warfarin sodium. Somehow, those yellow casings found their way into that bottle. Those were the pills that Sal took later at the party.”
Mercy looks at Susana and says, “There’s someone here who should have no problem getting drugs made to spec at her dad’s company. Right, Susana?”
Susana stands up, indignantly. “Oh no. You aren’t blaming this on me. How was I supposed to get the pills into the bottle? Float them in here from the hairdresser? Or the tennis court?”
Mark agrees. “That’s right, Mercy. Wesley and Carmella brought in her clothes and she was either outside or gone the rest of the day. I left Mom in the library and met Susana as soon as she came in the house that day. We weren’t apart until I went to get her my pain pills at the party.”
Smiling a self-satisfied smile, Susana looks at Joseph and says, “That
’s correct, counselor. I believe you lawyers call that ‘no opportunity.’”
Mercy says, “You know what I find odd, Susana? Most people would have sworn that they had no desire to kill Dana, not provide an alibi complete with a timeline.”
“Think whatever you want, but as you can see, I had no access to the house or the library to do what you say, so I am leaving. You will be hearing from my attorney regarding a defamation of character lawsuit.”
Susana looks at Beth who also is standing and feeling around her jacket pocket.
“I agree. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve heard enough assumptions for one night. These people are manipulating the truth to save their good friend, Dana,” says Beth.
Joseph leans toward Beth and Susana, accusingly. “You know all about manipulation, don’t you, Beth. And speaking of ‘good friends,’ you and Susana have become best buddies on this little adventure, haven’t you?”
Susana says threateningly, “I’d watch what you say, Mr. Luce. Dana isn’t the only one who can afford a good attorney.”
Joseph smiles at her and replies, “I’m sure you can, but let’s get back to the manipulation. Which one of you came up with the plan to push Dana’s ‘buttons’ to drive her straight to the tranquilizer bottle with the two poisoned pills during the party?”
Dana gasps as Mercy explains her theory.
“All Beth and Susana had to do was make a couple of passes at Blaine to make Dana angry enough to take the two pills in the tranquilizer bottle,” says Mercy.
Joseph points to the empty pill bottle.
Dana hangs her head. “They know me so well,” she says, then turns to Blaine. “Oh Blaine, I’m sorry for everything I put you through, just because I was afraid you wanted to leave me. I love you so much.”
Blaine takes Dana’s hand. “I love you, too, Dana. As soon as we finish up here, I’m going to take you on a nice long vacation someplace where we can relax and be ourselves. Our real selves.”
Beth and Susana look at each other with a gag reflex, which Joseph points out. “That annoys you, doesn’t it, ladies? The fact that Blaine married Dana because he loves her and not for her money?”
Mercy says, “It sure shoots a hole in their carefully laid plans.”
Beth looks around on the couch for her keys that she hasn’t found in her pocket. “I have no idea what you people are blabbering about,” she says, flustered.
“Susana was intentionally out of the house all day. You, on the other hand, were in and out of the house, waiting for an opportunity to put the two poisoned pills into Dana’s pill bottle,” says Joseph.
Mercy picks up the thread. “You took all of the tranquilizers out of Dana’s bottle and put them into the pocket of your blazer,” she says. “You replaced them with two highly concentrated poisoned pills that you got from Susana that looked like Dana’s tranquilizers. You would whip Dana up into such a fury that she would have no other choice than to take them.” Mercy crosses her arms and stares at Beth, then at Susana, who are both moving from the couch toward the door. Wesley stands in front of the library entrance, and the young women stop moving.
Lucienne says, “You thought that the police would find that Dana was poisoned by warfarin, rat poison, that found its way into the food. The pill casings would be dissolved and contaminated from the poison in Dana’s stomach and the food would have been the suspect since Dana took tranquilizers all the time.”
Frank says, “With so much food being passed around, it could never be proven who added the rat poison to Dana’s dinner. Dana was supposed to die, not Sal.”
Blaine says, “That seems like a lot of risk. A lot of evidence that could have been here for days…”
“Mom, remember how upset Dana was that the beautiful Italian china she ordered got replaced by paper plates and tablecloths and napkins?” says Mercy.
“After Dana ordered the supplies for the party, someone called the store, pretending to be Dana, and changed the order so that everything was disposable,” says Joseph.
James hands Ethan more paperwork from the briefcase. Ethan explains, “This is the change order. Changing the order to paper plates, tablecloths and napkins would provide the killer with the opportunity to send everything to the incinerator in case Dana’s death was suspected to be murder.”
Dana shakes her head. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ethan. Beth is too lousy an actress to imitate me.”
Blaine agrees, “That’s true. But I’ve heard Susana imitate you in class dozens of times.”
Beth hisses. “That’s right. Susana is the fine actress and I’m just a poor caterer. Besides, my dad doesn’t run a drug company, so I had nothing to poison Dana’s pills with. That’s ‘means’ in the ‘means, motive, opportunity’ thing, right, Mr. District Attorney?”
Beth continues to stand there, awkwardly, digging in her pockets, looking for her keys.
Ethan replies, “Yes, Susana had the means, Beth, but you had the ‘opportunity.’ That’s why Susana is so sure of the timeline. You two planned Dana’s murder to get rid of Dana and split the reward.”
“Reward? There’s a bounty for killing me?” asks Dana.
“I suppose that depends on how you look at it,” Mercy says. “Beth and Susana arranged the shoving match for everyone’s benefit so they each would have an alibi.”
“We have spoken with the authorities in Brazil,” says James. “There is a chemist who retired from your father’s firm the week before the party. He also shipped a wedding gift to you that arrived at Susana’s apartment the night before the party. The pills were wrapped up in the silver music box that he sent you. Since drug-sniffing dogs aren’t trained to sniff for blood pressure medicine, it went through customs with no issues.”
Joseph speaks to Susana. “The package took longer to arrive than you had planned. You met in the dressing room after class on Friday and worked out a way to give the pills to Beth here at the estate on Saturday. It would have been a red flag if your phones had been in range of each other anywhere other than the mansion on a Saturday, since you obviously are not friends, should the investigation get that far down into the nitty-gritty.”
Frank tells the group, “Susana slipped the two custom-made warfarin capsules with yellow casings into Beth’s pocket during their scuffle. Then, Beth went in the house to switch the pills at the earliest possible opportunity, and Susana went down to help Sal and establish her alibi.”
“If the police actually found out that the poison came from the pills and not from the food, Susana would be the most likely suspect,” adds Lucienne.
“There had to be a way that Susana could prove that she had no access to the pill bottle to switch the pills, and Beth had no way to come up with a specialized compound that could pass for Dana’s tranquilizers. You teamed up so you both had ‘plausible deniability,’” explains Joseph.
Beth finally finds her keys and moves to leave.
“That’s very imaginative, but I doubt if you could prove it, even if it were true. Now, I’m out of here,” says Beth. She turns and tries to stare down Wesley, who is still blocking the door. But Lucienne shows up at her side and flashes her badge.
“Sit down, Beth. Just because you found your keys doesn’t mean that you get to leave until we’re finished.”
“Young lady, if you choose not to carry a purse, at least remember in which pocket you keep things. Digging around in your clothes is so gauche,” chides Francesca.
“You know, Francesca, that’s excellent advice, but a little too late,” says Joseph.
Mercy tells Beth, “Your habit of using pockets instead of a purse is more than just a fashion statement. It’s your downfall.”
Chapter 66
Ethan holds up a large evidence bag that contains a green piece of clothing.
“We checked Beth’s catering jacket, which was with the dirty uniforms when we sealed off the school.”
“Ground into the lining of Beth’s jacket pocket was residue consistent w
ith Dana’s tranquilizer prescription, plus a minute amount of concentrated warfarin sodium, same compound as Sal’s toxicology report,” says Lucienne.
Mercy says, “We think that Susana slipped the warfarin pills into Beth’s pocket during the shoving match. When Beth put the poisoned pills in the bottle, she took the rest of Dana’s pills with her and was going to put them back in the bottle after Dana was dead. Nothing would look out of place, and nobody would be the wiser.”
Joseph adds, “Except the pill bottle disappeared into the philodendron so you couldn’t put the two dozen pills back in it to make everything look normal.”
Mark jumps up, trying to decide which woman to rip apart first, Susana or Beth.
Wesley puts a restraining arm around his trembling nephew and looks at Dana. Dana says, “Don’t worry, Mark. We all have our regrets about a lot of things. Wesley and I have something to discuss with you later that will explain how truly messed up our family is. And how we’re going to set it right.”
Mercy says, “We believe that the warfarin residue in Beth’s pocket was ground in deeply because she let the pills bounce around in her pocket with her keys, causing a slight leakage. And since the cleaners couldn’t get into the building to pick up the laundry the next day, there was no way for the residue to be washed away.”
Frank says, “It took Forensics a couple of passes before they found the residue down in the seam, but it’s a definite match.”
Mark looks at Susana and Beth, furious.
“You two tried to kill my mother? And you ended up killing Sal? Why? I can’t conceive of something that could make you do something so horrific!” screams Mark.
Mercy puts her hand on Mark’s shoulder to calm him. “That’s where the ‘motive’ comes in. We already have the opportunity and means. But the reasoning lies in the fact that both Susana and Beth were determined to get what they really want.”
Dana looks at Susana and Beth in horror. “What could either of you possibly want badly enough to kill someone?”
“They wanted Blaine and Mark, Dana. If they could get you out of the way, Susana could have Blaine. She has beauty, talent and money. All of the things that you have,” says Mercy.
The Case of the Stained Stilettos Page 27
