by Judi McCoy
She’d learned over the past year that repetitive questions were normal for the cops. Their goal? To confuse the person they were grilling, hoping his story might change. Once that happened, the detective could accuse him of lying. And if the person lied, there was a good chance he was hiding something, which meant he might be guilty or know a fact about the crime. It was the cops’ standard way to corner a criminal, a trap into which Ellie never wanted to fall.
“Is that all, Detective?”
He flipped his palm-sized spiral notepad (really, here in the Hamptons, too?) and found what he was looking for. “I’m still not quite sure why you thought it necessary to rush to the aid of a dead man, Ms. Engleman, since, according to you, you didn’t even know Dr. Kent.”
Ellie heaved a sigh. She wanted to begin her next sentence with “for the fifth time, Detective,” but let the snarky comment slide. “As I’ve already said, it was a simple knee-jerk reaction. I heard the words ‘doctor’ and ‘dead’ and my feet just took off running.” She crossed mental fingers. “The catering guy was panicked, so I wondered if maybe CPR would do the trick.”
“And you’re trained in CPR?”
He’d asked her this twice before, so she couldn’t lie. “Not really.”
“So you were planning to do . . . what?”
“Whatever I could. Clear an airway? Start that pumping thing on his chest?”
“And you were willing to do this ‘pumping thing’ to someone you’d never met.”
“I know it sounds odd, but it’s the truth. I heard there was trouble, and I wanted to help.”
“And you’re sure about Ms. McCready? She’d never met the man her older sister was going to marry, either?”
Ellie figured the two detectives had already decided to ask her and Viv many of the same questions, so giving a short answer was best. “To my knowledge, no.”
“Blah, blah, blah!” came a voice from below.
“And besides the caterer and Mr. Bond, you don’t have any idea if someone had come and gone from the scene before you arrived?”
Aha! This was the perfect time to pose a question that had been itching at her brain for hours. “Now that you mention him, what about Mr. Bond? I thought it was weird to find him standing there the way we did. And he’s just a neighbor, not family, so if anyone shouldn’t have been at the scene it was him.” She sat at attention. “Have you asked him about it?”
“Ms. Engleman.” Wheeling grimaced as if he needed a double dose of Maalox. “Someone here mentioned that you’d been involved in a couple of murder investigations in Manhattan.”
Ellie closed her eyes. Who had ratted on her, and how could she get out of it without lying? “Mind telling me who gave you that information?”
“It doesn’t matter who, and I don’t want to get into it with you now. All I have to say is stay out of my investigation. Don’t inspect the crime scene, don’t harass the guests, and don’t annoy the police or any other official in the performance of their duty. In short, don’t do anything. Is that clear?”
“I am on vacation. All I want to do is rest and relax with Rudy. We’re going to lie on the sand and take it easy.”
Wheeling checked his notebook. “Rudy?”
She gazed at her feet. “My dog.”
“Oh, yeah. I heard this place was loaded with ’em. We put fencing around the rear of the guesthouse, just in case they get curious. The last thing we need is canines contaminating the crime scene.”
“I carry cleanup bags, so you’d never find anything from my boy,” said Ellie. “Now, about Mr. Bond—”
“He’s no concern of yours, so you’re not to bother him. You got that?”
“Okay, fine,” she answered through tight lips. As her boy liked to say, the detective’s statement smelled rotten.
She wouldn’t bother the faux 007, but she did plan on finding out why Wheeling had evaded every question she asked about him. She’d watched the guests coming and going from the two screening rooms all evening, and hadn’t once seen the mysterious stranger. Who the heck was he, and why had he been excused from the questioning process?
Wheeling said something she didn’t quite hear, then, “I think we’re through for now.”
“For now?”
“I understand you and Ms. McCready are here for the week. We’ve released all the guests staying at Montauk Manor and given them the okay to come in and out through the front door if they plan to pay a condolence call tomorrow. We also ask that those staying here keep behind the crime scene tape until it’s removed. Until we determine if the death was foul play, we ask that you remain accessible.”
Ellie bit her lower lip. “I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic to Ms. Millman’s plight, but will Ms. McCready and I be allowed to visit the local towns?”
Wheeling ran a hand over his jaw. “Yeah, sure, why not? Just do me a favor and don’t tell anyone you’re staying here, especially if you get wind of rumors or read about it in Dan’s Papers. This is a small community and we rely on income from the summer tourist trade. If this is a murder, I’d hate for word to get around that we have a killer running free.”
“Then the ME is certain the death was suspicious?”
“We won’t know until she’s finished her job.”
Her job? “Are you using Dr. Emily Bridges?”
“Dr. Jordan Kingsgate. You heard of her?”
Ellie sucked in a breath. She’d met the young ME-intraining at the site of a murder last February, but that wasn’t any of Detective Wheeling’s business. “Ah, no.”
“Good. Let’s keep it that way.” He stood, stuffed the notebook in his jacket pocket, and headed around the desk. “I’m going to check on the CSU crew, but I expect they’ll have to come back tomorrow since it’s dark.” He nodded. “You can go.”
Ellie followed him out the door and down the hall, glancing into the now empty room where Viv had been questioned. She was probably in bed, too tired to talk about all that had happened. The house had grown quiet, which meant everyone was trying to get a good night’s sleep.
“I don’t know about you, but I need a trip to the little dog’s room,” said Rudy. “Mind if I go out back?”
“Okay by me,” she whispered, lagging behind as Wheeling plowed ahead. When she heard the kitchen door slam, she followed the dim lights leading the way to the breakfast area and onto the terrace. “Remember what the detective said. Don’t go far or we’ll be in trouble before you know it.”
“I just gotta water some weeds,” he pronounced, going down the steps.
While waiting, Ellie inspected the rear of the property. Before all the fuss, the sky had been clear, the terrace shaded from the setting sun, and decorated for a party. Now everything had been cleaned and straightened. The moon was bright, the sky dotted with stars, the walkway sensors leading to the guesthouse snapping on as Detective Wheeling strode past.
The cottage had a single light burning in the upper floor, where Viv’s mother, father, and sister were staying, while down below, every light in the doctor’s office glowed. When they began to blink out one by one, she figured Wheeling was walking through the rooms, telling the forensics team to go home and return tomorrow.
Rudy came back to her and plopped at her feet. “What’cha watchin’?”
“Nothing, really. I guess they moved the investigation inside once the sun set, and our detective is shutting things down.” Car doors slammed; then the cruisers headed up the long drive with their roof lights blazing. “I hope this is over soon. Arlene’s had a rough time of it.”
“Rough time? Are you kidding? With all the meds she’s on, I doubt she felt a thing.”
“Meds? What are you talking about?”
“You mean you couldn’t tell? The woman is on something, maybe a couple of somethings, but don’t ask me what.”
“How do you know?”
“What I know is you’re a babe in the woods. I can’t believe you didn’t notice. She’s been actin’ like a few of those
wealthy pill poppers we meet walkin’ Fifth Avenue. Besides, I can smell it. A dog knows drugs when his sniffer locks on to ’em.”
She’d heard about drug-searching canines, but hadn’t read of one that could pick up the scent from a person’s body. Of course, Arlene had been acting wonky all day, but Ellie had blamed it on the pressure of the wedding, a house full of guests, and then losing her fiancé. She hadn’t dealt with many addicts in her lifetime, but maybe Rudy was right.
“I’ll ask Viv tomorrow. She did say her sister Adrianne had found a calming drug in Arlene’s medicine cabinet. She might know more.”
“Seems to me Vivie’s as innocent as you are when it comes to swallowing happy pills. Neither of you even take an aspirin unless you’re dyin’.”
“And we like it that way. Viv doesn’t believe in wasting her money on anything but designer clothes, and me, well, even if I had the cash I wouldn’t like to feel out of control. When I was in college, almost everyone smoked weed or tried the latest designer cocktail, while I just read a good book or studied. The one time I tried marijuana, I threw up. That was it for me and drugs. Pretty boring, when I think about it.”
“Pretty smart, if you ask me.” He gave a full-body shake. “You ready to hit the sack?”
“You bet, and be quiet going upstairs. I don’t want to wake anyone after tonight’s trying ordeal.”
Chapter 3
Ellie blinked open one eye. Morning sun streamed through the windows and French doors that led to a large deck facing the ocean. Rolling over, she found her bedmate nestled on a pillow next to her. “Hey, it’s time to get up.”
When Rudy didn’t answer, she looked across the room at Viv. “You awake?” she whispered.
Viv moaned. “No.”
“I’m not,” the yorkiepoo grumped.
“Me, neither,” added Mr. T in a muffled voice from somewhere.
“Do you think Arlene is okay?”
Eyes closed, Viv turned to face her, and Ellie smiled. It simply wasn’t fair. How in the heck could her best human friend look so good without a full night’s sleep or a drop of makeup at this hour of the morning?
“I imagine she’s still grieving,” muttered Viv. Then she yawned. “If Rosa isn’t taking care of her, Mother probably walked up from the cottage.”
Ellie swung her legs over the side of the mattress, went to the French doors, and peered out the window. She’d taken a passable survey of the guesthouse last night, but it had been dark. She wanted to be sure she understood its layout. “Speaking of the cottage, how about explaining the setup to me?”
“What do you want to know?”
“For one thing, it looks huge. How big is it?”
“I don’t know the square footage, but there are two floors, with a total of four bedrooms and three baths. The way I understand it, once Arlene and the doc got engaged, he took over the bottom floor. Turned the living room into a waiting area, the smaller bedroom into his office, and the other into an examining room. He kept the kitchen and bath the way they were, so he was all set.”
“And the upstairs is now the guest quarters?”
“It took some remodeling, and it’s smallish, but it’s nice. Eat-in kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, and two baths. Both of the bedrooms have decks that look out over the ocean.”
“Interesting,” said Ellie. If Adrianne was in the bedroom apartment and the bedroom overlooked the rear of the house, she definitely could have heard or seen something when the doc fell. “There’s even a parking area. Yesterday, it was filled with cars, while today there are only three. I see a Mercedes, a Jaguar, and a Cadillac. Who owns what?”
“The Cadillac is probably Mom and Dad’s, and I imagine Adrianne came with them, so the Mercedes and Jag must belong to the doctor.”
Ellie returned to the bed and sat down, her mind filled with questions. Had Dr. Kent really been seeing patients while the party was going on? Had Adrianne been asleep or was she simply bored when she went to the apartment during the party?
Viv cocked her head. “I know that look. What’s going on?”
“On? Oh, I’m just trying to figure out what to wear. Are we in mourning? Because unless you count a pair of black linen walking shorts as funeral wear, I didn’t bring anything appropriate for a wake.”
Viv swung into a sitting position and the lump under the covers at the bottom of the mattress moved. Inch by inch, the Jack Russell crawled out, then jumped to the floor.
“Mr. T didn’t get enough sleep,” he complained. “Yak, yak, yak, yak, yak.”
“Me, neither,” Viv continued, almost as if she was agreeing with her boy. “But the Calvin Klein summer collection is subdued. Shades of white and beige, with a bit of color thrown in the mix.” She went to the dresser, where she opened a drawer. “My guess is we should stay close for today, out of respect. I can give you a tour of the house while we hang out.”
Good idea, thought Ellie. If she was looking for answers to the doctor’s death—which she wasn’t—a tour would be a good way to start. She faced Rudy and Mr. T, who were staring at her from the floor. “Think you two can wait to go out until after I take a quick shower?”
“Of course they can,” said Viv.
“Of course we can’t,” muttered Twink.
Rudy just sat there grinning.
“I’ll be quick,” Ellie promised. “You’ll watch them, right?” she asked her roommate.
“Sure, but I could find Maria. She’s supposed to be in charge of the dogs.”
Ellie pulled clean underwear, a pale yellow tank top, and knee-length beige shorts from the drawer. “I thought so, but she wasn’t with them last night. In fact, I don’t remember seeing her after the family get-together began.”
Viv, busy removing the tags from her Calvins, said, “She’s just a kid, so who knows where she was?” Then she raised her head. “And don’t think you’re fooling me by changing the subject. I’m on to what you’re doing.”
“Doing? What am I doing?”
“You’re gathering clues, in case the doc’s accident turns out to be murder. And don’t deny it, because I can hear the gears turning in your head.” She sat back on the bed, a pair of white cropped pants and an orange off-the-shoulder ruffled blouse in her hands. “Now I know how Sam feels when you start gunning your snoop engine.”
“I am not ‘gunning my snoop engine,’” Ellie pronounced, insulted. “I’m just trying to make sense of things. Who was where, doing what, when the accident happened? Stuff like that.” She ducked into the bathroom and stuck out her head. “I’ll be finished in a couple of minutes.”
“Rudy’s following you,” called Viv.
Ellie inspected the beautiful bathroom, its stall shower, sand-colored marble tiles, double sinks, a rack holding piles of towels, and a private commode area. “Wow. This is three times the size of my bathroom back home.”
“Think this is what it means to be stinkin’ rich?”
“I guess.” She started the shower and pulled a big fluffy turquoise-colored towel off the rack. “Are you feeling lonely, or did you want to talk?”
“Both, I guess.” He circled the plush turquoise rug and curved into a sit. “Is Viv right? Are you collecting clues? Because like you’ve been saying, this is supposed to be our vacation.”
Stepping into the stall, she soaped up with a shower gel that turned into a luxurious lather rich with the scent of roses, and ran the washcloth over her body. “I guess, but not really. It’s just getting to be a habit, trying to make things fall into place. I’ve never met the doctor, so I don’t know anything about him. What kind of medicine did he practice? Why would someone want to kill him? That sort of thing.” She rinsed, turned off the pulsing jets, and got out. “And I’m curious about the layout of this house, too. There are too many rooms and entrances to keep track of.”
She hadn’t washed her hair, but the steam had helped tame the frizzies, so she ran her fingers through the curls. After dressing, she added mascara, a swipe of blu
sh, and a bit of lip gloss to her morning face. “Okay, that’s it. I’m ready to deal with ditzy Arlene, Viv’s family, and the rest of a crowd fresh off the death of an almost family member.” She stooped and gave her boy an ear rub. “Are you going to stick close, or lounge with the other dogs in the outside pen?”
“I don’t mind the pen, but I do mind that pain-in-the-butt Jack-a-Bee and her too-nosy nose. And T is gonna have a fit if those three Boston bozos are there.”
“The Boston Terriers belong to Arlene,” she said in a whisper. “So she might want them with her to help her through this tragedy.”
“Might be the best place for ’em, especially if they’re ticking off Mr. T.” He stretched from head to toe. “Are you telling Viv the truth?”
“About the snoop—I mean, questions?”
“Duh. Yeah.”
“Kind of. But something Viv said last night got me thinking.”
“Uh-oh. That sounds dangerous.”
She ignored the snarky comment. “Viv said if the doctor was murdered that I’d owe her a hand in solving the crime, just as I did for my other friends who got in trouble. She means Rob and the professor and the rest, and you know how I feel about friends in need.”
“I know, but Viv isn’t the human in trouble here.”
“Hmm. You’re right, and that logic could be my way out of a sticky situation.”
“You can try it, but Viv is a determined woman.”
“So you think I should do a little investigating?”
“Sure, but Detective Wiseass won’t like it.”
“His name is Wheeling, not wiseass. And I won’t get in his way. I just want to get the details straight in my mind, is all.”
She opened the door and Viv scooted past her. “Sorry. Nature calls. Take Twink and head downstairs without me. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Ellie stood at the bottom of the stairs and surveyed her surroundings. With all that had gone down yesterday, she’d never had the time to really inspect the house. Now, here in the entry, she noted the display of shells scattered artfully across the foyer table. They varied in size, but each was polished white or pearly pink, and some were cut in half to show their amazing construction. The scent of fresh paint drifted in the air, and the tile floor sparkled, confirming Viv’s admission that her sister had gone overboard to get the place ready for a wedding. The other walls, a subdued ecru, held a variety of oil and pastel paintings, with an eclectic display of shell-covered wreaths and family photos hanging alongside them.
