Death Rides the Surf (14 page)

“That dreadful Detective
Carbone asked—well,
ordered
—Mom to fly back from Asia.” Her granddaughter Lauren’s indignation resonated in Kate’s ear. Her cell phone, when she remembered to carry it, was at best a mixed blessing. “Mom can’t get a flight until this evening, Nana, and it’s very convoluted. She’ll have to fly to Istanbul, then to Frankfurt, then to JFK, and then to Fort Lauderdale.”

Kate and Marlene were driving north on A1A. They’d just passed what had to be the best Best Western in America. The inn was located on the beach, just north of the Marriott Harbor Beach, an elegant, very expensive high-rise hotel.

“Mom kept this mess from Daddy for as long as she could, but he and I are flying down to Florida tomorrow. I think Carbone likes Mom for Grace Rowling’s murder, but not for Jon Michael’s shark attack,” Lauren, pre-law at Harvard, said. “Nana, how could Katharine have gotten herself involved with that low-life surfer? It’s ruining my fall break, not to mention my parents’ careers.”

Ah yes, Lauren Kennedy had inherited her mother’s Lowell genes.

Kate hated to admit it, even to herself, but she wasn’t looking forward to having her family descend on Palmetto Beach. Their presence would only complicate her investigation.

“I don’t believe your mother is a suspect. I’m sure Detective Carbone just wants to clear up some issues,” Kate said, conveying more confidence than she felt. Why hadn’t Jennifer mentioned that Monday night postdinner visit to Grace’s room? A lie of omission, as the nuns would have said. There had to be several of lies of omission in this case; they were always much more difficult to detect than blatant lies.

“Whatever,” Lauren said, without enthusiasm. “Nana, Mom had her secretary book two rooms at the Boca Raton Hotel, so you won’t have us all underfoot. We’ll see you soon. Oh, and Daddy sends his love.” Lauren hung up before Kate could respond.

“More company coming?” Marlene’s low chuckle sounded rueful.

“The only ones who’ll be missing are Peter and Edmund and I wouldn’t take book on their not showing up.” Kate sighed. “At least Kevin and Lauren will be staying up in Boca. Jennifer, too, when she arrives.”

“What about Katharine?”

If anyone had asked Kate before this very minute if she loved all her children and grandchildren equally, she’d have answered yes, and she’d have meant it. Marlene’s question made Kate realize that answer wouldn’t have been the truth. She wanted Katharine to stay with her because Katharine was special, a sweet down-to-earth girl who reminded Kate of Charlie. And yes, she loved Katharine, if not more, then differently from the way she loved the others. Hell, she loved Marlene, with all her faults, more than she loved Jennifer. And, if she should feel guilty or disloyal, she didn’t.

“Katharine will stay with me,” her grandmother said.

This time Marlene’s chuckle sounded knowing.

They drove for a while in silence, rare for the old friends, unless one of them was angry. A view of the Reef finally broke that silence.

The Palmetto Beach city fathers had voted to approve the huge, luxurious—the builder’s adjective, not Kate’s—condominium, built in the southernmost part of the city on two adjoining lots, after the city had razed the perfectly fine condos that had been standing on those lots since the sixties.

The Reef’s sales brochure proclaimed its condo dwellers would “live like royalty, submerged in elegance.” The glossy promo also pointed out that trendy boutiques, entertaining hot spots, and diving excursions were available in Boca Raton, Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale—not mentioning that the city of Palmetto Beach had none of those amenities.

The condos ranged from $1.6 to $5 million. With the real estate boom over, the Reef now had a glut of unsold luxury.

“Mary Frances told me that Joe Sajak bought a two-bedroom condo there on spec, putting down ten percent, figuring he could turn it around for a fast profit,” Marlene said. “Now he’s crying foul, threatening to sue the builder. Says the Italian marble in the kitchen is fake.”

Kate’s chuckle was neither rueful nor knowing. She was just plain tickled. “Well, if Joe can’t unload it, maybe he’ll have to sell his Ocean Vista condo and move to the Reef. You should have been nicer to him, Marlene.”

“Maybe you can walk the rest of the way home.”

Lauderdale-by-the-Sea had a building code prohibiting high-rises and preserving the city’s charm. In Palmetto Beach, low-rise apartment houses and motels, dwarfed by taller neighbors, sometimes went unnoticed.

Kate almost missed the Crest. “Whoa, Marlene, quick, make a right here. That’s the motel where Roberto Romero lives.” She pointed to a New England–style clapboard cottage, complete with trellis and rosebushes. Its back door had to exit into the sand dunes.

“You’d think they’d have a sign bigger than a postage stamp,” Marlene said. “And where are we supposed to park?”

“I don’t think they’re looking for customers. I bet the Crest doesn’t advertise; that’s why we never heard of it. And if you didn’t know about it, you’d drive right by.”

The six-car parking lot was full, but Kate saw no black Cadillac among the Lexus and Mercedes rentals.

“Why don’t you go in, Kate? I’ll park by the front door and stay in the car. It doesn’t look like there’s much happening here.”

Kate scrambled out of the car before Marlene changed her mind.

The Wedgwood blue door opened into a room decorated with chintz loveseats and mahogany tables and smelling of lemon-scented furniture polish.

Kate felt as if she’d left Palmetto Beach behind and stepped into Nantucket.

A sandy-haired young man wearing a white shirt and gold-and-blue-striped school tie sat at campaign desk; its top held a leather-bound registration book but no computer.

“May I help you, madam?” Why wasn’t she surprised that he had a Mid-Atlantic accent?

“I’m looking for Roberto Romero. I understand he lives here,” she said, praying her quarry wouldn’t walk in and catch her.

“That is no longer the case, madam, and I can give you no other information, unless, of course, you’re with the police.” He almost snickered.

Kate, noting her rolled-up khakis and old sandals, could hardly blame him.

So Nick Carbone had beaten her to the Crest. Had the snooty young clerk been more cooperative with the homicide detective?

Feeling dejected and resentful, she waked out into the late-afternoon sunshine and found Marlene in animated conversation with an elderly gardener who was watering the rosebushes. Could that be a twenty-dollar bill Marlene just pressed into his free hand?

Kate stayed to their right, blatantly eavesdropping.

“He smokes Cuban cigars and drinks Johnnie Walker on the rocks,” the old man was telling Marlene.” Her sister-law-law nodded encouragingly. “Romero’s a real big tipper. He don’t stay here all the time. I hear he has some old dame down in Miami. Like I told that homicide detective, I think Romero’s green card’s a fake. But for an illegal alien, that young man sure lives well and dates some real beauties. A regular Latin lover. No visible means of support.” The gardener turned his hose off. “Did you say the story would be in
People
?”

“Week after next,” Marlene lied, handing the man another twenty. She glanced over at Kate. “Meet my editor.”

“You should have
been an actress,” Kate said as they walked into the Ocean Vista lobby. “Your lies sound so smooth, so scripted.”

“What kind of a crack is that?” Marlene snapped.

“It’s not a crack.” Kate heard the edge of anger in her own voice, too. “I’m grateful, that’s all; you pulled off what I couldn’t.”

“Well, you thanked me twice in the car.” Marlene, not mollified, sounded like a spoiled child. What was behind her sister-in-law’s behavior? Certainly not what had happened in front of the Crest Motel or on their way home, but Kate didn’t feel up to examining issues from their past. They had enough to deal with in the present.

Several of their fellow condo owners were taking down the Halloween balloons and orange and black crepe paper. They’d been up for less than thirty hours. Miss Mitford stood behind her desk, overseeing with her usual disdain. Kate winced when she saw several boxes marked
CHRIST
-
MAS DECORATIONS
.

“This would have never happened on my watch,” Marlene said.

“You ran a tight condo,” Kate said, making Marlene smile. A real smile, letting Kate know everything was okay again.

“Hey, Marlene,” a voice called from behind Aphrodite. “I’ve been waiting for you,” Sam Meyers said as he walked around the fountain. He must have been sitting on the other side of the lobby, watching the decorations being dismantled.

If Marlene was as surprised as Kate to see Sam in their lobby, she didn’t show it. “Hello, Sam,” she said, all full of charm. “Do you remember my sister-in-law, Kate Kennedy? You met her briefly at Dinah’s last night.”

“Hi, Kate,” Sam said, and then stared over at the cupids. “Er, look, ladies, I’m here because Katharine called me.” He seemed agitated, checking his watch. “We have a date in fifteen minutes. She wants me to go with her to visit Jon Michael’s grandmother, you know, like a condolence call.”

“I thought you hardly knew Katharine,” Marlene said. “You told me she’d left Acapulco before you arrived there.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Sam stammered. “I surfed with her here a couple of times, though, and hung with her and the other boardsmen at the Neptune Inn.”

Kate thought he was lying, but about what?

“I’m down with taking Katharine,” Sam said. “Here’s the problem: I can’t go to see Florita Flannigan with Katharine unless Annette comes, too. She’s off addressing the Fort Lauderdale NOW chapter, Marlene, telling them how proud they all should be of you, what a wonderful advocate you were for her cause.”

Kate bit her lip as Marlene blanched.

“Annette is very possessive, but she trusts you, Marlene. The only way Katharine and I can visit Florita is if you’ll join us.” Sam, having spoken his piece, seemed to relax. “Then, afterward, we all can have dinner at the Neptune Inn.”

“Well, Sam, I have a problem, too,” Marlene said. “Florita is royally ticked off at me. I had a run-in with her talking skull, and I assure you I wouldn’t be welcome at her house again.”

“On the other hand,” Kate said, smiling in what she hoped was a grandmotherly fashion, “Florita likes me. She even gave me a discount when I consulted with Mandrake. May I be your chaperone, Sam?”

He nodded, not unlike an eager puppy.

“Okay, I’ll freshen up, collect Katharine, and we’ll be ready to roll. Marlene will make reservations for all of us except herself at the Neptune Inn. Now, Sam, please relax. Or help take down the Halloween decorations. Or chat with Miss Mitford at the front desk; she’s quite the Palmetto Beach historian. Katharine and I will be down in less than ten minutes.”

As they stepped into the elevator, Marlene said, “I know I can’t go to Florita’s house, but why can’t I go to the Neptune Inn?”

“Because not only is Florita Flannigan mad as hell at you, Annette Meyers is about to discover that you are not now and never were a card-carrying member of NOW.” Kate pressed three. “I need to talk to you while I’m getting ready. Marlene, can’t you see, this is an unexpected opportunity? I’ll be spending the evening with our two prime suspects for Diamond Lil. And I need your input about Annette beforehand.”

“What will I do when you’re out playing detective?” Kate heard the pout in Marlene’s voice.

“Don’t worry, I have an assignment for you. One you won’t be able to refuse.”

“It better be more exciting than my last assignment,” Marlene said as they exited the elevator. “No more stupid research. I’m a people person.”

“Right,” Kate agreed, remembering how Florita Flannigan had branded Marlene “unstable.”

“You do know Sam Meyers is full of it, don’t you?” Marlene followed Kate down the hall. “Annette told me Sam’s the jealous one. His ‘granny’ believes in open relationships like the one she’s enjoying with that good-looking Navy guy. So why would Annette be jealous if Sam and Katharine went to Florita’s without a bloody chaperone?”

“Maybe what’s good for the gander isn’t good for the goose.” Kate giggled.

Marlene groaned. “That’s so bad, I won’t even comment.”

Kate stopped a few feet away from her door. “This is just a hunch. I have no proof and it makes no sense…”

“And when has lack of proof or lack of sanity ever stopped us?” As she had for decades, Marlene made Kate feel better.

“Okay, here goes. I think Diamond Lil is connected to these murders. I don’t know how or why; I just do.”

Marlene nodded. “And you believe either Annette or Florita might be Diamond Lil?”

“Yes, though based on what I glimpsed on the television at Dinah’s, Florita’s eyes aren’t quite right. I’m going to check out Annette’s eyes tonight.”

“What can I do to help?” Marlene sounded excited.

“I want you and Mary Frances to find out the name and address of Roberto’s patroness and where she lives in Miami. Then you and I will go visit her tomorrow. Any woman who sleeps in her jewels might well be Diamond Lil.”