A ferocity was creeping into the older woman’s demeanor that did not bode well for anyone, Jesse included. Vivian was an almost unstoppable force once she got going, and Jesse was always drafted as her primary partner in crime. And Jesse hated to prove Joe Tyler right, especially when she had just almost made peace with him. And, even more especially, so soon after she had almost made peace with him.
“Let’s not go off half-cocked here,” she urged. “There is no indication that this was anything other than natural causes or accidental.”
“And did you see that female deputy’s face?” Vivian demanded as if Jesse hadn’t spoken. “You think she doesn’t know who Bill Marshall is? You think she wasn’t wondering what he was doing here? Him and that butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth wife of his.” Vivian punctuated her point with a disgusted huff and another roll of her eyes.
Jesse tried again for a voice of reason, ignored though it might be. “In my opinion, getting all excited is not going to do anything but raise suspicions where there don’t need to be any.”
Vivian shoved back her chair and rose to her feet. “We need to get busy before this thing gets away from us.” She sailed past Jesse, heading into the house, her determined voice carrying behind her. “We can’t just stand still while Bliss ends up in jail for something she didn’t do.”
“You need a tranquilizer,” Jesse called after her. By the time she reached the kitchen doorway, Vivian was disappearing into the dining room.
“That’s a good idea.” Vivian’s voice floated from the next room. “Bliss will need one, too, I’m sure. They’re upstairs in my bathroom medicine cabinet.”
Hurrying to catch up, Jesse practically trotted through the kitchen. “Don’t you think we should all get some rest and then take a fresh look at this tomorrow?” she said hopefully, her words sounding breathless.
“Jesselyn, a man has been murdered.” Vivian stopped in her march through the house and turned to wait for Jesse at the edge of the foyer. “And it’s about to be laid at our doorstep.”
“Don’t say that!” Jesse recoiled at the word “murder.” “Really, Vivian, don’t. That doesn’t sound good.” Jesse’s hands fluttered in the air between them, as if she could shove the words back into where they came from, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “That sounds as if you know something. And you don’t want to do that.”
“Denying the truth doesn’t accomplish a thing. And the chances of a man who was that despised dying of natural causes are too slim even to contemplate.”
“Okay, fine. Just quit saying it out loud,” Jesse insisted. “There are too many people popping up out of nowhere for you to be talking about murder where you might be overheard.”
“This is my own house!” Vivian cried indignantly.
“Fat lot of good that’s done you today,” Jesse shot back. “It’s been a long day, Viv. Everybody’s exhausted, especially you and Bliss.”
“I can’t help that,” the older woman insisted. “We’ve got a problem that’s only getting bigger, and we’ve got to deal with it before it gets out of hand.”
“Okay.” Jesse didn’t like it, but she knew she had no choice but to accept it for Vivian’s sake. Further arguing wasn’t going to accomplish anything. “I just think we can deal with it better after some sleep,” she suggested grudgingly.
Vivian nodded, taking the word “okay” as capitulation. “I’ll get the pills. I’m sure Bliss is going to need one whether she wants it or not. You get some more champagne from the fridge. We’ll kick our shoes off, put our feet up and try to find a sense of humor in all of this.”
Jesse sighed and accepted the only compromise she would get from her companion. After all, the only real difference between sleeping and passing out was the hangover the next morning. “I may have to sleep on your sofa.”
“I have seven bedrooms,” Vivian pointed out with mild indignation.
“They’re all upstairs, and I’m not counting on being able to climb that far.”
“Ah.” Vivian grinned, recognizing true surrender when she heard it. “That sounds like fun. We haven’t had a slumber party in years.” She turned and headed toward the sweeping staircase that dominated the foyer and flowed into an upstairs landing that spanned the two bedroom wings. “You might want to lock the front door on your way into the library,” she called over her shoulder.
“Good idea,” Jesse answered from the kitchen doorway. “I’ll catch it on my way back.”
“Uh, excuse me,” a female voice said softly. “But the door was open.”
“Who the hell are you?” Vivian demanded. Brought to a halt on the staircase, she squinted into the shadows of the foyer below.
Recognizing her mother’s voice, Jesse whirled around and headed back across the dining room at a run.
“It’s me, Vivian. Sophia.”
“Oh, well then, come on in,” Vivian called gaily as she once again proceeded up the staircase. “We’re about to have a party. I’ll be back down in a minute.”
“Mother?” Jesse whispered. She was staring past her mother to the other person standing in the shadows just inside the front door and wondering if they could hustle that person back out before Vivian returned.
“Hi, dear,” Sophia said softly. She stepped aside and motioned her companion forward. “I, uh, found this young lady outside about to knock. Dear, this is my daughter, Jesse. And this is Mr. Kerr’s assistant, Maria Ortiz. She was hoping to be able to talk to Bliss, I believe.”
Jesse pressed both hands to her pounding temples. Of course, this was Maria. It wasn’t even that surprising that she would show up here. Why not? Everybody else had.
With a wave of her hand, Jesse motioned toward the door to Malcolm’s study. “Take her into the library. I’ll bring the champagne, and a few more glasses. Oh, and Mother, would you lock the door while you’re there? Bliss has a key, and I believe everyone else on the guest list has arrived.”
Chapter Nine
“This is who?” Vivian demanded, holding aloft the pill bottle she had brought with her. Head thrown back, poised in mid-stride, she looked like nothing less than a thoroughbred who had just scented danger on the wind.
“Maria Ortiz,” Jesse repeated. “Harry’s assistant. Bliss apparently asked to meet her here.”
Vivian lowered her head, narrowed her eyes and fixed a speculative gaze on the newest unknown to enter her world. Then she set the pill bottle on Malcolm’s desk and moved closer. “So,” she said softly, “you were the keeper of Harold’s secrets.”
“I was his assistant,” Maria answered carefully. “And, yes, part of that was honoring confidences. If your boss says he’s in a meeting because he doesn’t want to talk to someone, then you say he’s in a meeting.”
Vivian smiled with the look of someone who’d just been given a present as she crossed the distance to her favorite wingback next to the fireplace. “I see you have a glass of champagne in front of you. I hope you don’t have any place you need to be anytime soon.”
Maria shrugged. “I’m a little at loose ends right now. We’ll be closed tomorrow, and no one knows what will happen after that.”
“Well,” Vivian said, rubbing her hands together, “the doors are locked and the bar’s open. Welcome to the war room.”
Sophia gasped and pressed a palm to her ample breast, a sure sign of distress. Jesse lifted a glass of champagne and slipped it into her mother’s free hand. “Vivian thinks things are about to get serious,” she explained quietly into Sophia’s ear.
“They are,” Vivian confirmed, while exhibiting truly excellent hearing. “And we need to be prepared.” She leaned slightly toward Maria. “It’s a personal thing with me. I absolutely hate to be caught flatfooted. I hope you don’t mind being dragooned into this planning session.”
Maria’s young, pretty face looked slightly bewildered as she slowly shook her head. “No. I… This…” She shrugged. “It’s all just so awful. He wasn’t always the nicest man, but this is so…
awful.” Maria leaned toward Vivian and dropped her voice. “What do you think is going to happen?”
“Well…” Vivian smiled and swept her hand toward Jesse, who sat on the sofa between the other two women. “I’ll let Jesselyn explain it.”
Caught by surprise, and just the tiniest bit peeved at having to justify someone else’s paranoia for an audience, Jesse took the time to down half of her champagne flute before speaking. Then she set her glass on the coffee table, cleared her throat and dove in, having decided that she might as well get some things out of the way before Bliss got back.
“Before we get to that,” Jesse said gently. “Could you tell me what happened at work today? Was it the police who informed you about Harry?”
Maria nodded, her curly dark hair shifting softly with the movement. “They came by late in the morning. We had heard rumors by then. You know, people driving by his house and seeing all the cars. But we didn’t know for certain until a couple of deputies came into the dealership. They examined Harry’s office and took statements from everyone. Then the salesmen went home, and I stayed around to answer the phones.” She shuddered and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief she held in her free hand.
“I hate to make you talk about this,” Jesse said, pulling a tissue box to within easy reach. “I know it has to have been an awful day, but we can’t expect the police to confide in us, and we need to know what’s going on.”
“And a lot of this, I don’t think Bliss needs to hear,” Vivian added, just in case anyone thought she wasn’t listening to every word.
“There is that,” Jesse agreed. “What were some of the questions the deputies asked you?”
“Oh, things like, was he upset, did he have any plans for the evening, was he arguing with anyone, was there anything out of the ordinary that happened on Friday, anything out of place on Saturday morning. After they left, we all stood around talking about what they had asked and what we had said and was there anything we hadn’t told them.”
“And was there?” Jesse asked, feeling a pique of personal curiosity.
“Sure.” Maria looked at her. “Harry lived a complicated life. We all knew things we didn’t talk about. That was nothing new, and just because he died, that wasn’t going to change. He wasn’t a perfect man, but he had something about him that could be kind of loveable, you know?”
She waited for a response, then went on without it. “He had a lot of loyalty from his people. Just ‘cause he drowned in his pool, doesn’t mean his life has to suddenly be put out on the streets for everybody to pick through. That wouldn’t be right for Mrs. Kerr, either. She deserves more respect than that.”
Maria’s voice warbled, and she paused to draw in a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. “Harry always insisted on that. He wanted his wife respected.”
Jesse grabbed a tissue from the box and handed it to the girl, who was clearly starting to crumble. Maria sniffled, dabbed and slowly regained herself.
“So,” Jesse prodded gently. “You yourself had a personal history with Harry, at one point?”
“How did you know that?” Maria looked stunned, telling Jesse that this quite probably was one of the secrets Harry’s assistant had kept from the police.
“Bliss.”
“Oh, my God!” The girl’s dark chocolate eyes were saucers, and she looked ready to bolt.
Jesse laid a calming hand on her arm. “It’s all right. Bliss said it was a long time ago. She said that the two of you had become friends, and that your relationship with Harry was strictly professional these days.”
“She said that?” Hope warred with doubt in the plaintive question.
“Yes.”
“I heard her say it, too,” Vivian agreed.
“And she’s not mad?” Maria asked, still worried.
“Bliss was actually very grateful to have someone else to confide in this morning. Someone who knew Harry and cared about him,” Jesse assured her. “You were the only other person who believed that something had happened, and it helped Bliss to have you to talk to.”
“Really? Because I hate that she knows about the… other.” The last word came out in a whisper. Maria wadded the tissues in her hands, frowning. “It’s going to be really hard to face her.”
“I think at this point, that’s all just water under the bridge,” Jesse assured her.
Sophia leaned around her daughter and refilled Maria’s glass. “Have another,” she urged. “It really does help.”
Jesse looked over her shoulder and smiled at her mother, mouthing the words “thank you.” Sophia smiled back and kissed her on the cheek, then withdrew to her corner of the sofa and resumed her role as a fly on the wall, which apparently seemed the safest option to her at the moment.
“So, what else did you hold back from the police?” Jesse asked.
“Girls, mainly,” Maria said with a shrug. “They wanted to know of any recent relationships, and I said I would get back with them if I could remember any names.”
“Did you remember any?”
Maria reached into the purse at her feet and pulled out a small notebook. She handed it to Jesse, who opened it to find an old-fashioned address book. The A page was filled with first names like Alicia, Amber, Amy B, and Amy T. The B page was the same, and on and on. Under each name were notations, like a personal shorthand.
Jesse handed it back to her. “What do the notes mean?”
“Past, present, long-term, one-night, currently pursuing. Wants all calls. Take a message. Tell her he’s moved to Honduras.” She shrugged again. “He had people he wouldn’t see for a year, and then all of a sudden they’d be hot again for awhile. He had two sisters he was seeing at the same time. One knew, one didn’t. That was tricky.”
“You have my sympathies.” Jesse wanted to laugh, but couldn’t let herself. “Anything significant at the present?”
“A couple of months ago.” A flicker of a frown crossed Maria’s face as her words came slowly. “Early summer maybe, he broke off with somebody he’d been seeing for awhile. After that, he didn’t see anybody for a month or two. I mean, nobody. Since then, there hasn’t been anyone serious. A date or two and he moved on. It was a different pattern for him.”
“Anything special about the girl he broke up with?”
Maria sighed and looked up, then to the side. Jesse could feel the woman tensing next to her, so she edged into the question a different way. “Why did he break up with her? Or maybe she broke up with him. Did she find somebody else, maybe?”
“No,” Maria said. “Harry never stayed with anybody for too long. She was in college. He stayed with her for a semester or two, and then it was done. He moved on, and he would have told her that was the way it would be, but I think she just didn’t believe him.”
“Why do you think she didn’t believe him?”
“She was young, pretty. He was paying her rent. I think she was starting to think she would be the next Mrs. Kerr.”
Sophia leaned forward. “Is that the voice of experience I hear,” she asked gently.
Maria hung her head and a slight flush crept up her cheeks in the soft light of the room. “Yeah,” she agreed. “That was what Harry liked to call his scholarship program. When I was nineteen, he paid my rent and tuition for a year, and I started imagining things that weren’t going to happen. Then the school year ended, and my prince charming cut me off without a backward glance.”
“Ouch,” Jesse said, wondering how in the world this girl had come to be Harry’s assistant after that.
“Fortunately, I had parents, and ambition, and good grades. Not everyone’s so lucky,” she ended softly.
“Like the girl this summer?”
Mouth downturned, Maria nodded silently.
“What happened?” Jesse’s question was gentle because she had a bad premonition stealing over her. “It must have been serious to make Harry give up the hunt the way he did.”
“She killed herself.” Maria’s words were a whisper.
Sophia sucked in her breath in a gasp, Jesse fell silent, and Vivian shot bolt upright in her chair.
“How in God’s name did we not know this?” she demanded. “How can something like that happen without anyone even noticing?”
“She lived in Turtle Creek,” Maria said, as if that explained it. “It’s a little town. She didn’t have any local family. She’d dropped out of college when Harry dumped her, and she wasn’t working at the time. If she hadn’t been friends with a neighbor, she could have been dead for weeks before anyone found her.”
“Did Harry say anything at the time?” Jesse asked, feeling weighed down by the bleak picture that had just been painted.
“No.” Maria shook her head and stared at her hands in her lap. “It was just a coincidence that I saw the one news story they ran on it and recognized her name. I went to her funeral.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It was so sad. Most of her friends hadn’t seen her for months, and nobody knew why she would do something like that.”
“What did she die of?” Jesse questioned.
“Overdose. And alcohol. Some people thought it might have been accidental. But the police decided it was a suicide and closed the case.”
“Some party this is turning out to be.” With that, Vivian rose from her chair. “Sophia, you make one hell of a daiquiri, if I remember correctly. Come with me.”
“I have been summoned,” Sophia murmured as she stood and trailed after Vivian.
“Well, you do make a good daiquiri,” Jesse said.
“Why do I feel like I’ve been taken prisoner?” her mother asked from the doorway.
Jesse grinned. “It’s a pretty prison. I think it’s been too long since Vivian’s had company, and it’s going to her head a little.”
“I can still hear you,” Vivian called from somewhere on the other side of the doorway.
“Terribly sorry. I’ll give you time to get out of earshot before I talk about you anymore,” Jesse called back.
Murder, Mayhem and Bliss Page 8
