by Leslie Caine
“No, thanks.” I smiled at her, not wanting to sound ungracious. “I have lots of work to do this afternoon and need to stay sharp.”
“How about a spritzer, then?”
“I’ll just have a glass of ice water.”
Aunt Bea used beautiful crystal stemware from her kitchen and poured the wine from an open bottle in the refrigerator, then took us on the tour of the wine cellar. I was thrilled just to get away from the sitar background music. Meanwhile, Audrey was all oohs and ahs, and both women were more than generous in their praises of my design.
Moments after our sitting down at the table outside the wine cellar door, Audrey stated, “So, Aunt Bea, you were at the Parsley and Sage recently.”
“True. Only to drop in. I needed some documents for my accountant to peruse. I’d felt compelled to try to give Drew a helping hand. I had loaned him a few thousand dollars that will probably wind up as a bad debt now.”
“You two had such an acrimonious relationship,” I said. “Why did you want to be so generous with him?”
“There happened to be some…extenuating circumstances. I’ve known him for a long time, after all, and I’d like to think that my heart was big enough to forgive his youthful indiscretions.”
“Mine have only ripened into fully developed bad habits,” Audrey joked, lifting her glass.
“Whereas mine are now hobbies,” Bea countered. They clinked their glasses.
I waited a beat, then said, “When Steve and I went to the restaurant a few days ago, we found Lucas cleaning up gasoline. Which he’d been spread across the floor in an attempt to burn the restaurant to the ground.”
She widened her eyes in surprise. “You thought that Lucas spread the gasoline?”
“He told us that’s what he’d done. He told the police that, too.”
“Oh, dear. He covered up for me. I wonder why.”
“You’re saying that you poured gasoline all over the interior, intending to set a fire?” I was stunned, despite my earlier statement to Audrey. I realized now that I hadn’t actually believed my theory. It made so little sense that Aunt Bea would attempt arson and that Lucas would try to take the blame.
“Until Lucas discovered what I was up to and stopped me. I was far from sober, and I didn’t realize he was still in the restaurant office.”
“But the office, too, had been dowsed in gasoline when Steve and I arrived there around one or two on Friday. I realized only when I happened to see your cigarette butt in the ashtray today that I’d actually noticed it there clear back then. On Friday. So at the very least, Lucas may have stopped you, but then wavered and poured gas all over the office.” I thought back to his statements at the time. As he’d said then, he had probably panicked when he saw the incriminating records in Drew’s office, then thought better of it.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning, Aunt Bea,” Audrey was saying.
Bea, looking more elderly and frail by the moment, sagged back into her seat. “Drew Benson has always known which buttons to push. It’s his single-most defining characteristic. He knows some things about me. Private things. Such as my relationship with my ex-husband that I don’t want my business associates in general and Mark Dunning, in particular, to know about. He presented a proposition to me that I was willing to accept. A mutually beneficial deal. He felt I had breached my side of the agreement when I told Erin about his drug habit at the party.”
“Oh, dear,” Audrey said. “I’m so sorry. That must have been dreadful for you.”
“It was,” Bea continued. “He tightened the pressure, and I conceded and give him the money that I probably would have given to him anyway. But on Friday, I’d…been feeling sorry for myself and had a bottle of wine for lunch. I knew I’d had too much to drink. That’s the only time I smoke. But I was sitting right here in this very seat, smoking a cigarette, and found myself thinking: I could just let myself into the restaurant, drop a cigarette, and light the place up.
“Next thing you know, I fetched my gasoline can, and acted on the urge. When I lit up my cigarette, the fumes were nauseating. I snuffed it out, sat down on a barstool, and cried my eyes out like the drunken sot that I was. Lucas came out of his office then.”
“Hadn’t he smelled the fumes already? Or heard you?”
She shrugged. “He said he’d been taking a nap. He was angry with me, of course. I asked if he’d help me clean everything up. He insisted on driving me home, and took a taxi back to the restaurant. I’m sure they have records to verify that, so his taking the blame would never hold up in court.”
“I suspect he dowsed the office himself,” I said. “Since nobody actually lit the fire, he probably figured there was no reason to drag your name into it. Unless he was lying. Are you sure you didn’t pour gasoline in the office?”
“Quite sure. I remember every moment. Including how I…made something of a fool of myself. I’m afraid I…proposed to him. Offered to make him to be my husband for the short time I have left in exchange for inheriting my money. He said no.”
She turned beet red. Neither Audrey nor I said a word for a lengthy pause. I continued to ruminate on the fact that the office had definitely been dowsed in gas. Lucas had done that himself, either because he had gotten the idea from Bea and decided to finish what she’d started but we’d interrupted him, or because he, too, had second thoughts.
“So, there you have it,” Bea said. “The moral of the story is, if you decide to indulge yourself and drink alone, be certain you stay alone. Put a childproof cover on your doorknob, or whatever it takes. Leaving the house when we were horribly intoxicated was both Mark’s and my undoing.”
Chapter 26
A couple of hours later, Steve called me from our office. He sounded upbeat as we chatted for a minute. Then he said, “Amelia called and said she was doing a lot better. She’s taking the bus up to Crestview to see us.”
“Oh, good. Does she want us to pick her up from the downtown station?”
“No, she said a friend was bringing her to the house.”
“Who’s the friend?”
“She wouldn’t tell me. She’s bringing dinner, and she’s staying overnight in our guest room.”
“Really. That’s good news, right? That she’s being so adventurous?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes it just means she’s feeling manic, and that’s followed by a depression. She’s slightly bipolar, too.”
My mood sank a bit. “Let’s assume the best, then. Since she’s sleeping over, I think I will, too.”
“Now that is what I call good news,” he said in sexy tones.
“This will make two nights in a row. I hope Hildi doesn’t think I’m deserting her.”
“Bring her with you. I can take care of her for the rest of the week. Now that my allergies have gone away, I’d be happy for the company…if you’re still intent on staying at Audrey’s until after the wedding.”
Was I? I’d moved temporarily back into Audrey’s in part because Drew was in our guest room. My notion that it would make our transition into marriage more significant if Steve and I slept separately now seemed so inconsequential. “I don’t want to have to move Hildi back and forth again. She gets so stressed out. She’ll be at Audrey’s during our honeymoon.”
“Okay. I’ll see you soon,” Steve said.
I told Audrey I was leaving for the evening, happy to have the excuse to be in my own home tonight. As much as I loved being at Audrey’s in my old room, Steve’s home was now truly my home. Even Hildi had made the transition easily enough; it was just transporting her from house to house that she hated.
All told, our house was in fairly good shape when I arrived, but I had some time to kill and started cleaning the kitchen. Steve arrived about fifteen minutes later. We’d only barely had time to greet each other when the doorbell rang. I smiled as I swept open the door, but my smile faded when I saw who Amelia’s friend was: Lucas Leblanc. How did they even know each other?
“Surprise
,” Amelia said. “This is my pre-wedding gift to you both. Lucas and I are going to teach you how to ballroom dance to the song of your choice for your wedding.”
“We will choreograph the dance, and teach it to you,” Lucas said. “And the best part is, I have cooked tonight’s meal!”
“How do you two know each other?” Steve asked, echoing my unasked question.
“We spoke briefly at your party,” Amelia said.
“She was dancing in the corner,” Lucas added, “and I told her that she should be my partner someday.”
“So then I called him to ask if he’d be willing to help me with this little inspiration of mine…and voila!” Amelia explained, beaming. “Here we are!”
“Wonderful,” I said. Although it would have been more wonderful if she’d come alone.
“It’s always good to see you,” Steve said, giving Amelia a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He shot me a little glance, however, that meant he was not thrilled with the evening’s agenda.
“I know I would love a little help with our first dance at our wedding. This was such a good idea, Amelia.”
“Actually it was Audrey’s idea,” she said. “She told me at the party that she’d wanted to teach you two a ballroom dance, but that she didn’t have the time. So she suggested that I take it on.”
“That sounds like Audrey, all right,” Steve grumbled.
“Your brother is already a fairly decent dancer,” I told Amelia.
“Oh, I know. I’ve been giving him tips for years now.”
That remark at least made Steve crack a smile. He then suggested that we eat first, while the food was still warm.
Lucas’s food was fabulous—beef wellington with spaghetti squash and roasted broccoli. We talked with Amelia about her living situation at the halfway house as we ate. She reiterated that she would be happier in her own apartment, and the two of us dived into Internet rental listings after we’d finished our scrumptious meals. Meanwhile, Steve was making chitchat with Lucas. I had yet to discuss my concerns about Lucas’s nonchalance over Drew’s drug shipments. I still held out a faint hope that Lucas had set up Drew to take the fall, and that he had killed both men, but would suddenly see the light and turn himself in to the police.
The men’s pleasant background chatter began to grow contentious just as Amelia was excited about an ad she’d spotted for a room in a house not far from her parents’ neighborhood. It did look ideal, especially because she knew the family renting out the room; they attended the same church.
“Let’s not discuss Drew,” I heard Steve state.
“I am only saying that I knew his habits well,” Lucas persisted. “We worked side by side, six days a week.”
Deep worry lines creased Amelia’s brow as she looked up at her brother.
“Why don’t you go ahead and call about the room?” I suggested to her. “You could use either of our bedrooms, where it will be quiet enough for you to hear over the phone.”
“Steve?” Amelia asked. “Is everything all right?”
“No problem,” he replied.
“I made the social faux pas of speaking ill of the dead,” Lucas said. “My mistake.”
The moment Amelia had shut the bedroom door behind her, Lucas added, “Even so, I am correct about Drew Benson. As I told Erin and Audrey earlier, I am quite certain that Drew killed Fitz and then took his own life in his despair at what he had done.”
“And I’m quite certain that you’re full of crap,” Steve said, keeping his voice low. “Drew was not a murderer. If he did have in mind to take his own life, which he did not, he certainly wouldn’t have killed himself on Michelle’s front porch. Furthermore, he’d have left his fingerprints on the syringe. The killer had to have wiped all the prints off the syringe.”
“Not necessarily,” Lucas replied. “Drew had a handkerchief that he used to hide the syringe when he was injecting himself. If someone was to glance at him, it would look like he was simply dabbing a speck of dirt with his handkerchief.”
Steve averted his eyes. A painful, heavy silence filled the room.
Lucas caught my stony gaze. As if I’d zapped him with an electric beam, he jolted to his feet. “But, tonight you are learning your special dance to share with your new bride. This is a dark discussion for another time, oui?”
“There’s never going to be a time when I want to discuss my friend Drew with you,” Steve said.
“I am so sorry. One of the first things I teach about dance is not to step on your partner’s toes. I have already failed the very first step.” Lucas walked over to me and touched my arm. “Please tell Amelia that something came up, and I had to run out.”
“That isn’t necessary,” Steve said.
“Stay,” I said. “For Amelia’s sake. Please, Lucas.”
Amelia emerged from the back bedroom just then. “They want to talk to me about renting the room,” she announced cheerfully. She shifted her attention to Lucas. “Are we ready to begin?” she asked.
“I can only stay for half an hour,” Lucas replied, “but you will be able to take things from there.”
“Good,” Steve said before Amelia could respond. “We’re dancing to ‘I’ll Be,’ which is a waltz. Let’s clear out the living room furniture and build ourselves a dance floor.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Lucas stayed for a full hour, and Steve made a great show of enjoying the process of learning our choreography steps and taking lessons on “constructing a good frame for your partner.” He was, however, avoiding my eyes, as well as Lucas’s. His every muscle was tight, and his dance steps were mechanical. I only hoped that Amelia was not picking up on his cues that he was uncomfortable and annoyed.
After an additional half hour of our practicing without Lucas, Amelia pronounced us “good to go,” and said that she was going to take a shower and get ready for bed.
“I think I’ll change my clothes,” Steve said. “Dancing is hard work.”
A couple of minutes later, I followed Steve into our bedroom. He was sitting on the bed, glowering at the wall. I sat down beside him and gave him a nudge with my elbow, hoping that he’d take it as a playful tease.
“Why did you and Audrey talk to Lucas about Drew’s death?” Steve asked.
“We were just…asking him some questions. Trying to get a feel for whether or not he knew more than he was telling.”
“Don’t ask anybody any questions about the murders, Erin. Drew’s death is as much as I can bear. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
“I understand. I don’t want to put myself in the killer’s crosshairs either. I’ll mind my own business as best I can from here on out.”
“Make sure you tell Audrey that.”
“She does get a little carried away sometimes. That’s part of what makes her so lovable, though.”
“I sure hope it’s not always going to be like this. Just because you used to rent a room from her doesn’t make her my pseudo mother-in-law.”
Stunned, I stared at him. “Whoa. Do you want to think about rephrasing that?”
“She convinced Amelia to teach us how to dance. And she partnered Amelia with Lucas, of all people, who’s a lecher at best and a murderer at worst. She’s got you back to acting like a female Sherlock Holmes. She’s manipulating everything from our wedding invitations to our disk jockey.”
“Because she voluntarily stepped in as our wedding planner under the worst possible conditions!” I cried. “She’s also walking me down the aisle, because she’s so important to me. She’s been the closest thing to a parent I’ve had since my mother passed away. She’s been nothing but loving and kindhearted to both of us!”
“Maybe so, but always on her own terms.”
“She’s self-assured. That’s all. I admire her.”
“So do I. But if you keep indulging her, you’re going to get your head blown off.”
“As I already said, I intend to tone that down.”
“I’d feel better if I
could put an ankle bracelet on you that could force you to stay put.”
“How can you even sarcastically suggest something like that! That’s the high-tech version of saying that you want to keep me barefoot and pregnant!”
“All I meant was—”
“I know precisely what you meant! We’re each other’s partners, not our lords and masters, regardless of how strongly we might think we know best. And you should be smart enough to stop talking right now before you make things any worse!”
Amelia tapped on the door. “Could you please give me a ride to Denver?” she said sadly.
Steve raked both his hands through his hair and cursed under his breath. She’d overheard our argument. “I’m sorry, Amelia,” he said as he opened the door. “I’m just out of sorts. Losing Drew has been hard on me.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry,” she said in a small voice. “I should never have come here.”
“You’re more than welcome in our home anytime, Amelia,” I said, rising to plead my case. “We’re both stressed with the wedding and the murders. We’re just blowing off steam at each other.”
“Because I barged in on you and brought Lucas with me. Now I just want to go home.”
“I’ll take you,” I said.
“No, this is my fault.” Steve sighed. “If this is really what you want, I’ll drive you. But, Amelia, I didn’t realize you could overhear; I thought you were in the shower. Please stay, and I’ll drive you down tomorrow morning. I’ll take you over to the house with the room that you like. We’ll talk to them together.”
Amelia shook her head, her eyes taking on the glazed look that she’d borne when the police were at the house. “I do terrible things. Even when I don’t hear the voices. People are always dying.”
Chapter 27
“She decided to stay after all,” Steve said when he returned to our bedroom half an hour later. I tried to tell myself that that he was actually angry at Drew, not at Audrey or me; I knew he adored Audrey and would normally never make nasty remarks about her. Even so, I was still too upset for Amelia’s sake to coddle him.
