Suspicion of Madness

by Barbara Parker

  Gail reached across the table and took her hand.

  "I'm all right." Teri pressed her fingers to her cheek to catch a tear, then laughed. "We're going to be fine. We have you now, don't we?"

  Someone shouted out from behind them, "Hello there!"

  They turned around.

  A man with white hair was coming toward them from the bar. He carried a small wicker picnic hamper. A bright red knit shirt stretched across his belly. He wore white slacks and a belt with nautical flags on it. Clip-on sunglasses hid his eyes.

  Teri shifted to see around Anthony. "It's Tom Holtz. Hi, Tom."

  The man was unhappy about something. "Where might I find Martin?"

  "He's taking a nap. Can I help you, Tom?"

  He set down the hamper and introductions were made. Anthony stood to shake Holtz's hand. Holtz nodded at Gail, then kissed Teri on the cheek. "I sure was sorry to hear about Billy. Doug told me. He's all right, though, isn't he? You brought him home?"

  "Yes. He'll be fine."

  "Glad to hear it." Tom Holtz's forehead was deeply creased, and above the clip-ons, his eyebrows were tangles of white wire. Broken veins reddened his nose and cheeks.

  "Sit with us, Tom."

  He put both hands on the back of a chair. "I need to ask you something, Teri. Is Martin trying to get hold of Joan's property?"

  Teri glanced at Anthony, then back to Tom Holtz. "What do you mean?"

  Frowning, Tom Holtz said, "He's always talking about needing more room for his palm trees. And I know Lois wanted to build over there. Joan didn't want to sign a deed, but Doug might, if he were the guardian of her property. Did Martin ask him to file a guardianship?"

  "Why, no, Tom."

  "Huh." His perplexity was still evident. "Well, then, what is Doug doing it for?"

  Anthony said, "Lois went to ask him to delay the guardianship. Do you know if he agreed to do that?"

  "He did. It's off for now. I had agreed to be the attorney of record because I thought it would be the best thing for Joan. Well, today I said count me out. Joan doesn't need an assisted living facility, she needs someone to give her a hand. I was just over there talking to her. Trying to talk to her." Glancing down, he gave the wicker basket a tap with his foot. "There's some cold champagne and a couple of sandwiches in there. I wanted to surprise her. She wouldn't let me in. I had to talk to her through the screen door. I told her about the guardianship. She was plenty ticked off, and I don't blame her."

  Gail looked at Anthony, whose face showed his irritation.

  Holtz picked up the hamper. "Hey, listen, Teri, let me put this stuff in the fridge. I want to go on back over to Joan's. She's got to see reason."

  "Wait." Anthony stood up. "Tom, I'm going to ask you a favor. Gail and I have an appointment to see Joan at nine o'clock tonight. It's regarding Billy. He was at her house when Sandra McCoy was murdered, and we need to discuss it with her."

  "That's right, Doug told me about it. Joan's the alibi witness."

  "Correct. Let her talk to the police and get this out of the way before you see her again. I want her completely focused on Billy. Do you understand?"

  His eyes didn't show behind the clip-on glasses, but he nodded. "All right. I get the point. Do me a favor. Tell her you ran into me. Tell her... I'm still her friend and I care about her. I want to make sure she's happy. Would you let me know what she says?"

  "Certainly."

  "Thanks. Teri, good to see you. I'll be thinking about that boy of yours." The glasses turned toward Gail. "Miss... ah..."

  "Gail Connor."

  "Good to know you, Ms. Connor."

  Anthony said, "Tom. Let me walk you to... where are you going? Did Arnel bring you here in the shuttle boat?"

  "No, I came in my boat."

  "I'll go with you to the harbor." Anthony pushed his chair in and smiled quickly at Gail and Teri. "I won't be long." He put on his sunglasses.

  After the men had left, Teri looked quizzically at Gail.

  "I think he wants to ask Mr. Holtz about Joan."

  But Anthony would be asking more than that. Gail knew he had a question about Sandra McCoy. He wouldn't say who had witnessed Thomas Holtz going into Sandra's apartment late at night, two weeks before her murder. He wouldn't ask if it were true. He would state it as fact and wait for the explanation.

  "Gail, your ring is gorgeous. Let me see it."

  She extended her left hand across the table. "The diamond was Anthony's. I liked it, so he had it reset for me."

  "Oh! It's perfect. When are you getting married?"

  "Probably next June."

  "That's too far away!"

  "Well, I have a daughter. Karen is twelve, and I'm so busy with her and my job, and I just don't have time to think about a wedding right now."

  Teri's eyes lit up. "We do weddings here at The Buttonwood Inn all the time. Sunset weddings are the most popular. Your daughter—Karen? She'd love it. To girls her age it's a fairy tale. Gail, if you and Anthony want to get married here, it would be our pleasure, on the house, plus the party afterward."

  "Teri, no, it's too much."

  "You and Anthony already have plans?"

  "Well... not really, but—"

  "Let it be my little thank-you for taking care of us." She squeezed Gail's hand. "You think about it, okay?" Her eyes shifted in the direction of the Inn, darkening as though she could see through the trees to her son's apartment. "I wonder if Kyle has left. He shouldn't stay too long. Billy's very tired."

  "Let's go, then."

  As they walked back around the pool, Gail remembered something she'd been meaning to ask about. "How did you happen to hire Anthony? Did you know each other before? In Cuba, I mean."

  "We knew each other, but he left long before I did. It's more like my family knew his, and we sort of stayed in touch that way."

  "You're from Havana?"

  "No, a little dirt-road town in Camagüey Province, way out in the sugarcane fields. We knew his father's side, not his mother's. Do you remember hearing about the Mariel boat lift?" When Gail nodded, she went on, "That's how I left, in 1980.1 had a boyfriend, Nestor. He was in trouble with the police, and he had to get out, so I went with him. I didn't tell my parents, or they would've stopped me for sure. We hitched a ride to the port. He had false ID papers, and I pretended to be his wife. They put us on a boat, about a hundred people, all crammed together, whole families and factory workers and petty criminals and a couple of homosexuals and this one old man who couldn't stop crying. I hung over the railing all the way, throwing up. We got to Key West about midnight. We were filthy and tired, and all I owned was what I had on, shorts and a top, and a pair of tennies.

  "Nestor's aunt lived there, and she sponsored both of us. Nestor and I broke up a year later, and he went to Miami. I don't know where he is now. I stayed in Key West and worked in a restaurant about twenty hours a day. I met Kyle. We got married and moved to Tavernier. What can I tell you? Love. Hormones. We were okay for a while but things changed. We didn't have much money, and then the kids were born, and there was even less. Kyle had a temper. I learned to be very quiet, believe me. Where could I go? What would happen to my kids? Kyle said he loved them, but his idea of discipline was to take off his belt. Most of the time I kept them out of his way. That sounds weak to you, but you don't know, unless you're in a situation like that, how hard it is to leave. I was trapped. Nobody was going to come for us in a boat and take us out of there."

  Teri stopped herself and lifted her eyes to meet Gail's. "I had two sons. Jeremy drowned when he was six. He fell into the canal behind our house."

  "Yes, Anthony told me. I'm so sorry."

  Wordlessly Teri grasped her gold locket and inserted the tip of a fingernail in the side. It clicked open to reveal two small photographs. Billy—before he bleached his hair. And another, much younger boy. A beautiful, smiling child with lustrous brown eyes.

  "That's Jeremy," Gail said.

  "Yes." Teri pressed the locket t
o her lips before closing it. "I wasn't there when he died. Kyle called me at work. 'Come home, Jeremy's dead.' There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. Not one. That was eleven years ago. He's right here." She put her fist over her heart. "Billy found him. He tried to save him, but it was too late. Billy was different after that. He had nightmares. He would wet the bed, and Kyle would yell at him and take off his belt. Those days were the worst of all. You should have seen me, so skinny! Flaquita." Teri held up her little finger.

  "Kyle and I lost our house and we moved into a trailer. We walked around like dead people. He wasn't as violent but he drank a lot. I found a job here on weekends." She laughed. "Yes! I used to clean rooms at The Buttonwood Inn. Clean rooms and help in the kitchen. I wore a maid's uniform. I didn't mind. No, it was wonderful. And the best thing about it? I met Martin.

  "Kyle says I destroyed our marriage. That's a laugh. It's true I slept with Martin before I divorced Kyle, but he should beg my forgiveness. He drove me away. He doesn't give a damn about Billy, it's only a way to get to me. That's why he came here, not for Billy but to show me what a terrible mother I am, that it's my fault what happened. But Kyle never calls Billy to see how he is. Never. Billy calls him. Kyle treats him like dirt, but Billy thinks he's God. Explain that to me. Martin offered to buy him a new boat, but Billy refused. He'd rather have the old one Kyle gave him, that hardly runs. I'm so afraid Billy will leave. He's only nineteen. He could go if he wants to, but he's incapable of living on his own.

  "My sister-in-law would love that. She keeps trying to get rid of him. Billy should live with his father and learn to be a fishing guide because it's obvious, isn't it, that he isn't cut out for college. She told Martin to rent him an apartment on the mainland because our guests don't like to see tattoos and spiked hair, do they? It just doesn't fit the image of refinement we want to project. What a hypocrite. She used to smuggle marijuana when she was about Billy's age. Yes! She had her own boat, and she and Teddy Lindeman brought in bales of it. He was Joan Lindeman's other nephew, besides Doug. Lois only did it for a couple of years, but Teddy went on to cocaine, and they got him. He recently died in prison. So for Lois to be preaching to Billy about the image of The Buttonwood Inn makes me want to scream.

  "Lois and I don't fight openly. We used to, but Martin couldn't stand it. He told her, 'Don't make me choose between you and my wife.' So she shut up about me. Now she's going after Billy. It was Lois who let Kyle know that Billy was in the hospital. It's obvious why she did it, to cause trouble. Her life was perfect until Billy and I showed up. She told Martin not to marry me because I only wanted his money, which was a filthy lie.

  "I try not to bother Martin with this. He was so good when they arrested Billy four years ago. You know about it, don't you? It was an accident, but Anthony told us to go ahead and pay the owners of the house and tell them we were sorry it happened. Anthony saved Billy from going to prison, but now they suspect him of murder. I keep wondering, when will Martin decide it's enough? If he sent Billy away, I'd have to go too. I would.

  "I have to remind myself, it's going to be all right. It has to. You and Anthony and Dr. Vogelhut will take care of Billy, the resort will reopen for business, and everything will be wonderful. Do you know it hasn't been twenty-four hours since all this happened? My head is spinning. I'm going to check on Billy, then maybe take a nap. I'd love to have you and Anthony join us for dinner, but we wouldn't be good company, I'm afraid."

  "No, we couldn't anyway," Gail said. "We have to see Joan Sinclair tonight."

  "What about tomorrow? We'll be recovered by then." Teri put her arm through Gail's. "May I ask Arnel to take you to Joan's house? You don't want to lose your way in the dark."

  "We'd appreciate it, thanks." Gail said, "Arnel is a funny guy. I can't figure him out."

  "Yes, I know what you mean," Teri said. "At first, I thought he was, well—" She touched the side of her head. "But he isn't. He's just very quiet. Plus the little problem with his speech. I don't even notice it anymore. He works hard and keeps to himself. I never worry about him around the guests. He's very smart. He fixes the engines and helps Martin with the palm trees. When he was a boy he lived on a farm."

  "Indiana," Gail remembered.

  "Arnel came here because of Joan Sinclair. That's the truth! He has every one of her movies. He found out where she was, and he hitchhiked all the way and begged us to give him a job so he could be near his favorite movie star."

  "I think she takes advantage," Gail said. "He says she doesn't pay him."

  "That I don't know about, but we pay him, and he stays in the caretaker's cottage for nothing. He can eat in the kitchen anytime he wants to. Don't feel bad about Arnel. He's very happy here."

  Nearing the hotel, Teri led Gail through a gate in a wall of antique brick that seemed to be held up only by the banyan tree whose roots had dropped down over it like melting wax. Inside was the back entrance to the kitchen. A cart path entered through wide gates and ended in a circle. Men from the supply boat were carrying boxes and crates into a concrete-block storeroom. Cases of liquor and wine; boxes of linens and paper goods; new mattresses and rattan dining chairs still in their plastic wrap. There was no white clapboard here; this wasn't part of the fantasy.

  Teri pointed to the gates. "If you go that way, you get to the main road. Your cottage is just a little bit farther."

  "Thanks. We'll see you tomorrow," Gail said.

  "Wait a minute, I want to tell you something." Teri walked her toward the gates, away from the men unloading the boxes. "It's about Joan. Do you want to hear it?"

  "All right."

  "I was in love with Martin, but I wasn't going to say so. I was nobody, one of the girls who cleaned the rooms. I could see that he noticed me, but he was so… so American. So proper. One day I took some mail over to Joan Sinclair—I used to do that for her—and she said, 'What's eating you?' So I told her, and I started to cry. She fixed me a martini—I hate martinis, but I drank it, and she said to tell Martin that I loved him so much that I had walked out on my husband, and what was he going to do about it? Joan told me, 'A woman who ain't got the brass won't get her man.' I said no way could I do that. But a week or two went by, and one day I went to Martin's office. I closed the door behind me and said I was going to leave my husband for him, and if he wanted to marry me, okay, but if not, I was in love with him anyway, and I would sleep with him."

  Teri laughed. "My God, the look on his face! He had to sit down. He said he felt the same, but he didn't believe I could love a man so much older, and with a bad heart. I said, 'No, you have a good heart, the best.' It's so crazy, isn't it? Joan came to our wedding. It was here at the hotel. She sat in the back and left before the reception. Nowadays we don't see her at all. I wish she had married Tom. They would have been happy together."

  Saying good-bye, Teri gave Gail a warm embrace. "You and Anthony shouldn't wait too long. Things happen, you know."

  The hotel staff had left a little gold box of chocolates on the nightstand. Gail took the box and her cell phone out onto the front porch and propped her bare feet on the railing. She bit into a mocha cream just as the phone was picked up on the other end.

  "Hi, Mom, it's me. What's new?"

  Her mother asked why she was calling again the same day. Was something wrong?

  "Nothing's wrong, we're having a wonderful time. In fact, I'm sitting here with my feet up, looking at the water and eating Go- diva chocolates and thinking very hard about getting down to work…. Anthony's not here at the moment. If he were, I wouldn't get anything done…. I called to ask if you'd seen the weather report. Looks like it might rain all weekend. I wonder if the Biscayne Bay clean-up has been canceled. Could you call Karen's school for me and find out? They would know, wouldn't they?"

  Irene said she had already called. If the clean-up was canceled, the children from Karen's school, along with their chaperones, would be sent instead to Camillus House to make sandwiches for the homeless.
/>   "Oh, damn…. No, it's just that I was hoping to stay over till Saturday afternoon. Mother, I wonder if you could possibly—"

  No. So sorry, but no. There was an appointment at ten to have her hair done. Then a luncheon for Friends of the Opera. Then she wanted to visit Verna, who'd gone into the hospital again, and it didn't look good this time—

  "Oh, God, I'm so sorry. Poor Verna."

  A thought flashed into Gail's head. Karen could sleep over with Molly Perlmutter on Friday. Molly's mother was one of the volunteer mothers, too, and she wouldn't mind taking Karen. The girls were best friends. And if Irene could just drop Karen off at Molly's house—

  Guilt slammed the door on that idea. Gail took her feet off the railing and put the chocolates aside. She told her mother to please give Verna her love, and tell Karen she'd call her later.

  "I'll be home Friday night. Love you."

  10

  Anthony Quintana stood on the Buttonwood dock waiting for Thomas Holtz to answer the question just put to him. The old man's mouth was tight with indignation. He glared from behind his clip-on sunglasses.

  "I was in the neighborhood, so I stopped by her apartment to say hello. What kind of crime is that? If you're implying I killed her, I resent the hell out it."

  "You were not 'in the neighborhood,'" Anthony said. "You were parked outside her apartment waiting for her to come home. Listen. I'm trying to save Billy Fadden's skin. Who would you rather talk to, me or the police?"

  Holtz slung his picnic hamper into his boat. Sun had dulled the fiberglass finish, and mildew spotted the seat cushions. "I never touched her in a sexual way. Hell, I never touched her in a nonsexual way."

  "What did you do with her?"

  "Nothing! We did nothing." His voice faded. "She—She let me look at her."

  After a pause, Anthony said, "Without her clothes on." Holtz nodded. "You gave her money for this."