Death of a Hot Chick (18 page)

“
Really. That
is
a good thought,” Kaye said, surprise in her
voice.

Finley looked from Kaye to me and back
again. “I get it. Let’s forget this sister act. Kaye, I don’t know
you, but I know your sister. She knows things. Listen to her.”

Kaye went for icy and aloof. “Are you
surmising, from one sentence, that I’d ignore Cyd?”

“
Yeah. You’re condescending as
hell.”

My face fiery, I said, “Hey, that’s what big
sisters do. It’s a law of nature.”

“
That’s a good one,” Finley said with
an uproarious laugh. “Yeah, Cyd, you know how to stop a fight
before it starts. You always did.”

I had forgotten Finley’s quick temper and
even quicker apologies that she passed off with a joke. Used to
make me uncomfortable. Still did.

But Kaye, not one who easily changed
emotions, only glared before she said, “Are we now ready to start a
civil discussion, without personal attacks?”

“
Yeah. Hey, forgive me my big mouth.
It’s always getting me into trouble,” Finley said. “So you say, if
we can understand each of our suspects, we will understand their
motives. Cyd, you think maybe we’ll even understand their lack of
logic?”

Kaye sighed and allowed the ice to melt. “I
suggest we tell each other what we know of her life. From the
beginning, which means you start, Finley.”

I sipped my tea. “Maybe we can skip a few
years.” Finley’s story of Nicole from infancy could go on
forever.

“
Sure. But I’ve got to say that Nicole
was always shy,” Finley said. “Like a shadow that wasn’t really
there. Well, not quite, because she
was
my shadow. I couldn’t get rid of the kid.
Yeah, Kaye, I probably acted like a know-it-all big sister.
Actually, I ignored her until I turned twelve.”

Kaye bit her lip, but didn’t say
anything.

“
So I was part of the problem, like
they say, but then my mother invited her to visit us for a few
days. First she sat me down and told me a lot of things I didn’t
understand at the time, especially since she tried not to really
say what she meant. You know?”

I nodded. I knew what she meant. As the
youngest in my family, things had often made no sense
whatsoever.

Finley continued. “Eventually I realized
Nicole’s father was a nut job. Didn’t understand anything about
kids, and evidently he wasn’t terribly consistent, at least in a
child’s eyes. Nicole was in grade school and she was this
scaredy-cat little kid. Jump if you say, ‘Boo.’ I figured out
later, she never knew when he’d lash out at her—mostly for being a
child, according to my mother.”

“
That’s it exactly,” Kaye
said.

“
Yeah, he expected his kid to be
perfect. And Aunt Betty was a basket case. She never stood up for
Nicole.”

Kaye nodded. “Nicole started at John Hanson
Academy as a timid high school graduate, listening, taking it all
in, but never venturing an opinion. Never sure if she was right
with an answer, but she always was. Over the four years I
encouraged her to speak, to stand up. And, eventually, she
did.”

Finley replied, “I didn’t know why it was
happening, but I sure noticed. I was out-of-my-mind happy.”

“
In fact, perhaps she went too far,”
Kaye said. “She planned to ruin her father. She was sure he was
cheating all those charities his management company runs. She
wanted to see the financial records from the charities, but she
knew he’d never give them to her. Actually, she’d asked me to work
with him, to be her eyes inside his operation.”

“
Really?” Finley asked.

“
He must have found out. She planned
to confront him eventually. It’s possible she may have already,”
Kaye continued. “And he killed her. That’s it. One hates to think a
father
would kill his own daughter.”

“
Not that I believe he did it,” I
said, “but how about that shadow man. What was his name? You know,
the one who came to Mr. Joline’s meeting with him.”

“
Rolf?” Kaye said. “I’ve never seen
him actually
do
anything.”

“
Is that creep still around?” Finley
said. “For a while there Nicole figured her dad was grooming him as
his second-in-command, possibly as his son-in-law. But that wasn’t
going to happen.”

“
Let’s get back to Mr. Joline,” Kaye
said. “If Rolf were the killer, he murdered on orders from Mr.
Joline. Anyone who would treat a daughter as he did is
cruel.”

“
Yeah, I suppose. Clueless, anyway.
And with a super ego,” Finley continued. “But he didn’t kill
Nicole. Nah. We’re telling all, right?”

“
Of course.”

“
Okay. For the last couple of years
Nicole’s been buying up her dad’s stock in secret. It took a while
and a whole lot of deception. The stockholders were all family or
friends. But she left the voting rights with the original owners so
Uncle Ed wouldn’t find out until she had controlling interest. And
Brandon Bates’ stock almost put her over the top.”

“
And you think he killed her,” Kaye
said.

“
Why?” I asked. “I mean, if he sold
the stock to her, it doesn’t make sense.”

“
Y-ea-h. Well...buying the stock took
a lot of acting. Like, she wanted to be a part of her daddy’s life,
or she wanted to apologize to him in a way that would prove she was
a loyal daughter. She had a story for everyone, according to if
they knew she hated his guts—or not.”

“
And Brandon didn’t believe her? Or
what?”

“
Brandon got another story.” Finley
screwed up her face, seemingly unable to voice something against
her cousin.

I said, “Brandon thought they were engaged.
Is that it?”

“
You got it. Nicole was playing with
fire. He exploded. He came to my apartment looking for her, so I
heard the whole thing. And, Nicole, being Nicole, didn’t let him
down easy. Gotta admit, she was downright nasty.”

“
So that’s why you think Brandon
killed her.”

“
Slam dunk.”

“
Nobody’s mentioned
Snapdragon,
” I said. “The boat is key
to the whole thing. Chester owned the boat and he didn’t have
enough sense to take care of her. So Nicole had me cleaning her up.
Now Chester is trying all kinds of tricks to get inside the boat.
He wants
her back, and he killed to get
her.”

“
Her?” Kaye said. “Who are you talking
about?”

“
The boat!” I yelled. “You’ve lived in
Smith Harbor all your life and you still don’t know that a boat is
a ‘her,’ not an ‘it’?”

“
Semantics,” Kaye said which was one
of her favorite words. She waved her hand a bit too regally, and
Finley grinned. Kaye said, “That’s what Nicole said—about
the boat
needing work. She—meaning
Nicole, not a boat—got your name from me—and I think you all know
exactly whom I mean with that pronoun.”

“
You two are a barrel of monkeys,”
Finley said after she put on a straight face and wiped her
eyes.
“Hey, she even checked you out through me, Cyd.
She had no clue that we were big-time commercial boating
friends.”

“
You’ve got to admit Chester didn’t
expect Nicole to actually end up with his boat. What did you say,
Kaye? She loaned him money?”

Kaye nodded, but Finley shook her head and
said, “Getting that boat was a big mistake. I could have told her
investing in a run-down boat was no way to make money.”

I flashed a thumb’s up signal. “So Chester
killed Nicole. He killed her then came to sneak away with the boat,
and there I was, sitting on the deck. That boat would have been out
of the marina and far away from Smith Harbor before sun-up.”

Kaye jumped up. “See why I want you off that
boat and staying with me?”

“
Oh, you’re admitting Chester is
guilty?”

“
Absolutely not. The killer is Mr.
Joline.”

“
Brandon,” Finley said. “Glad we
cleared that up.”

Kaye sat down, gathered her arms to her
chest, straightened her back, and said, “Whomever the killer is, he
is dangerous. Besides, Chester is dead. You do realize that he died
in that fiery wreck that’s all the news today. In fact, Cyd, you
were the one who found that out. You think a dead person did
it?”

“
Really? He’s dead?” Finley
asked.

“
No, he’s not,” I said. “Chester made
his living setting fires. No way he’d die in one.”

“
Whoa! You have some mob connection?
Exactly what have you been doing since we captained boats
together?”

“
No mob, it’s a boat connection,” I
said and explained what Slim had told me about Pop’s burn-baby.
“But he’s not dead. Teddy heard there was no body in the car. And
the latest news is some weasely cop-talk about refusing to admit or
deny there was a body in the car. But, even if he is dead now, he
could have killed Nicole,” I added. “He was the one who tossed my
boat. Then he tried to talk his way inside, but the dope gave me
his real name, which I had on the title.”

“
It’s her father,” Kaye insisted.
“That’s only logical.”

“
And I say Chester did it,” I
countered. “And, of course, it’s not logical. That guy is crazy.
And, since when are crooks logical?”

Finley said, “You didn’t see Brandon. I did.
He raved on and on, that nobody could turn him down. He was ready
to kill right then. I tell you, he was livid. Raving, lunatic
livid.”

The argument went round and round, with none
of us willing to give an inch—until someone mentioned setting a
trap that the killer would go for.

Kaye tapped the table with a very strong
fingernail. “Suggestion,” she said. “We all, each one separately,
plan how to do that very thing, and report back here tomorrow.”

“
No, that’s my class. Day after
tomorrow.”

“
Right. Sorry. With complete
information, we can then determine what to do.”

Kaye, the school teacher had to be the
director. But that was all right. I knew I had trouble directing a
crew of one—myself. And, Finley was aces-high on the water, but if
I remembered correctly, people control was not her thing. “Okay,” I
said.

“
I guess I can think of some way to
trap a killer. No I can’t. How can I trap my own uncle? Or anyone
else?”

“
Building on Cyd’s idea, here’s my
suggestion,” Kaye said. “We each make three plans, one for each of
our suspects. When we get together, we decide which is better. Or,
out of three, I should say, which is best. And, it may be another
plan entirely that we construct from all the plans.”

Finley said. “But I think we ought to
concentrate on the real guilty party. Brandon Bates.”

“
Humor us, will you?” I
asked.

“
Remember we are all just as certain
of our opinions as you are,” Kaye added. “Three plans each. With
nine trap plans we’ll have something to work with.”

We really should have The Kaye and Cyd Show,
I thought. Sometimes sisters did get along reasonably well.

“
Okay,” Finley said. “Friday. My
apartment. Pizza. Same time. Kaye, you sure bake a hell of a
cookie. They’re great. Coming Cyd?”

“
She’s staying here,” Kaye
said.

“
No I’m not.”

“
Cyd, listen to reason. You’ve had
break-ins, killings. That boat is not safe.”

“
One killing. One fake killing. There
was no body in Chester’s car. Didn’t you hear me?”

After I got in the car, Finley said, “Sure
seems like a waste of time worrying about anyone but Brandon.”

Not willing to agree—or disagree, I changed
the subject. “If Teddy had come, she’d have instructed us all in
secret writing. At least we didn’t get into that.”

Finley stopped at our only red light.
“Secret writing? And why?”

“
She was very into that when we were
kids. Well, so was Kaye. Me too. Okay, all three of us. We kept up
our neighborhood detective agency for a couple of years after Doug
Yarnell dropped it. We sent messages to each other. Lemon
juice.”

“
Lemon juice?” Finley asked as the
light turned green and she stepped on the gas.

“
Yeah. You write with a toothpick
dipped in lemon juice and it dries mostly clear. Then you hold the
paper against a light bulb and the juice gets brown. And there’s
your message.”

“
Uh-huh,” she said, not paying the
least bit of attention as she made the next turn.

My thoughts went back to our traps. What if
none of them worked? What if we couldn’t even figure out any traps?
What if there were someone else, a killer we didn’t even suspect?
What then?

I pulled out the settee and straightened the
sheets on my now visible bed.

“
Nicole, did you ever stay overnight
on
Snapdragon
?”

No answer. Not surprising. I plumped the
pillow and dug out the book I was reading. Could Nicole help set a
trap for her killer? How would she do that? If she had stayed
overnight, was this the pillow she used? Perhaps Chester used the
pillow. Or even Pop. But, judging from the mess in the V-berth, no
one had used the boat for anything but a dumping ground.