Frosted Shadow, a Toni Diamond Mystery: Toni Diamond Mysteries (17 page)

“Any idea what the errand was?”

Melody caught the waitress’s attention and asked for cranberry tea with a slice of fresh lemon.

“No. She didn’t say.”

“Did you see where she went?”

“No.” Melody polished the three pieces of silverware at her place with her napkin and replaced them carefully. “I saw her pull her cell phone out, though.”

“Did she make a call or receive one?”

Melody shook her head. “I turned my head to call out something to her but she was kind of far away. I just remember that she had her cell phone in her hand. Looked like she was getting ready to start talking on it.”

“Hopefully the police can pull the records and find out who she called. And who called her.”

Melody’s menu lost her attention suddenly. “Are you saying the police can know about all her calls?”

“I think so.”

Melody went so pale all of a sudden that her blush stood out in two perfectly symmetrical apples on her cheek bones. “Can they hear what we said? You know, like they say every email you ever send is out there somewhere. Is it the same with cell phone calls?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“Well, I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but Nicole wasn’t exactly shy about giving her opinion. When we talked on the phone, sometimes she would say things about people – and I’d really be happy if no one ever had to hear those conversations. I mean, it’s not like I was bad-mouthing anyone, but you know how it is. It could sound like I was agreeing with her.”

“I’m guessing I was one of the people she bad-mouthed?”

Melody looked around. “Where is that waitress with my tea?”

She doubted very much that the police could obtain transcripts of Nicole’s cell phone calls but she wasn’t in a hurry to reassure Melody of that fact. “Who else did she trash talk, Melody?”

“I don’t want to tell tales out of school. The woman’s dead. I shouldn’t have even said anything. I’m all messed up, right now, is all.”

“The police are going to want a list of any enemies Nicole might have had.”

The black curls bounced as Melody shook her head -- a pudgy Snow White trying to refuse the apple. “She didn’t have any enemies. She was assertive and she didn’t let anything stand in her way so sometimes people didn’t understand her, but she had a really good heart.”

Fortunately, the waitress arrived at that moment with the tea and both women took a moment. Melody to squeeze lemon and a hint of honey into her cup and Toni to try and work out what to say next.

Finally Melody said, “I want to ask you something.”

“Sure. Anything.”

“Would you sit with me when the police interview me?”

“Me? But –”

“I’d ask Nicole, but –”

“Right.”

“I know it’s silly, but I’m scared to talk to them by myself and you won’t let them bully me. You can be like my lawyer.”

“I’m not legally trained Mel. Do you think you need a lawyer?”

“What? Oh, Lord, no. I only meant I want someone who’s there to hold my hand.” She bit her lip. “I mentioned it to Thomas, but he’s so upset, I doubt he’ll come.”

“Of course, I’ll be there for you.” She wasn’t sure the detectives on the case would be thrilled to have her present, but she figured that wasn’t her problem.

And she was so deeply involved now that it felt only right she should be part of the investigation.

Chapter Eighteen

It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly.
—
Oscar Wilde

Detective Marciano seemed less than delighted when Toni walked into Longhorn B at ten o’clock that morning with a nervous Melody beside her.

“Ms. Diamond,” he said. “What a surprise.”

“Melody asked me to sit in. Is it okay?”

He glanced at Henderson and something in that impassive countenance must have been visible to him that wasn’t to her. “Sure.”

They’d barely settled to the task when Thomas Feckler walked into the room. “Sorry, I’m late, honey.”

Melody stretched out a hand to him and beamed. “That’s okay. I’m just glad you’re here. Detectives, this is my husband.”

“Are we waiting for anyone else or can we get started?” Marciano asked.

Thomas Feckler settled beside his wife and then noticed Toni sitting to the side. “Toni,” he said in a polite version of a ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ tone.

Melody said, “I wasn’t sure you could make it, so I asked Toni to come with me.” She giggled and looked toward the two cops. “I’m a little nervous.”

Thomas Feckler’s expression cleared. “How nice of you to come and support Melody.”

Having done her best to interview Melody over breakfast, she had to admire the way Marciano got so much more information out of the woman.

When he asked, “Tell me about Nicole.” Melody took out her linen handkerchief, looked at it and put it back into her bag. “Nicole was great. But she could be pretty hard on people.”

“Go on.”

“She really expected the best from all of us and if we didn’t reach our goals she took it kind of personal.” She swallowed. Touched her throat. “Is it okay if I have a glass of water?”

“Of course.” Marciano started to rise but her husband was already out of his seat and headed for the jug of ice water and the glasses the hotel had set out. The room was silent but for the glugging of water and clattering of ice into the glass. He put the water in front of his wife. All his movements were quick and efficient, yet unobtrusive. He was the perfect type to be in the hospitality business, Toni thought, shaking her head when he silently offered her a glass of water before taking his seat once more.

Melody sipped her water. Ice tinkled against glass. Everybody waited.

Luke spoke. “You said that if you didn’t reach your goals, Ms. Freedman took that personally. What did you mean by that?”

“She’d get mad at us. Make us feel like we were personally letting her down.

“Sometimes she could say some harsh things, but I know it was because she wanted so much for all of us.”

Toni kept her snort contained but it wasn’t easy. Nicole wasn’t one of those people who achieved sainthood the second they shuffled off this mortal coil. Toni didn’t wish her dead, but that woman had been nasty.

“Some of the girls couldn’t handle it and they left.”

“Would you be able to give us the names of the women who quit in the last year?”

“Oh, but none of them would—I mean—sure. I’m sure I can find all the names and addresses. There aren’t that many.”

The door to Longhorn B was closed, but Toni could still hear activity outside. She realized that it was the changeover time between conference sessions. No doubt the gossip mill was churning full force with the shocking news about Nicole. No doubt her name was being mentioned pretty frequently too. She wondered if the top brass in the company were considering canceling the remainder of the conference and hoped fiercely that they wouldn’t do that. It seemed important somehow for Nicole, and everything she had stood for, to continue.

“Is there anything at all that might help us in our search for Nicole’s killer?”

“Nicole’s killer. I can’t stand hearing those words. I keep wondering if there’s a serial killer in the hotel. What if I’m next? I was the only person who saw those threatening emails.”

Toni glanced at Luke and their gazes connected. So the notes weren’t invented by Nicole.

Melody’s voice was rising and starting to wobble. She drank water and Toni could see her hands shaking. She held one out and her husband clasped it in his.

“I made Thomas stay on with me. He was supposed to go home this morning, but I made him promise he’ll stay with me until the end of convention. He thinks I should go home. But I have to stay. Nicole--”

“You said she showed you some emails?”

“We all have our own email addresses and websites at Lady Bianca. These messages seemed to be coming from head office. But they weren’t.”

“What did the messages say?” Henderson asked in his quiet, calm way. Toni was so worked up by the news she could feel herself leaning forward in her chair wanting to shriek at Melody to hurry up and spill everything, but Henderson sounded exactly the same when asking about threatening notes as he had when he’d asked Melody to confirm her home address and contact numbers.

“They said to stop stealing the lives and money of her consultants or she’d be sorry.”

“What do you think the notes referred to?”

“Well, it’s the same as what she and Toni were fighting about yesterday –” She gulped and turned a panicked face to Toni. “Sorry Toni.”

“It’s okay.” And she’d have to live with that for the rest of her life. The last words she’d ever spoken to the soon-to-be-dead woman had been hurled in the heat of fury.

“I think someone was really jealous of our success.” Her eyes glowed when she talked about Nicole and the team. “We were poised for such amazing success. I’m so grateful to Nicole for all she did for me.”

“Any idea who was sending the notes?”

“No. She got a techie friend of hers to try and trace them, but it was hopeless. He said the hacker knew what he was doing and had somehow copied the look of the emails we get from head office, but they couldn’t be traced.”

“Maybe the police would have had better luck,” Luke said. “Did she save the messages?”

“I’m not sure. I doubt it. She was big on positive thinking and removing anything negative from her life. She probably got rid of them. But you could check her computer.”

“She didn’t print them out and keep a copy?”

“I don’t know. She might have.”

Toni opened her mouth and shut it again. She was dying to know why Nicole showed her the notes.

“Why did Nicole show you the notes?” Luke asked and Toni felt like kissing him.

“She wanted to know if I’d received any. And also to brainstorm on who might be sending them.” She took another sip of water. “I think she kind of wanted to share them, too, you know? They were kind of freaky.”

“Freaky how?”

“Sort of polite, but scary.”

“And did anyone else get them to your knowledge?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“When were they sent? And how many were there?”

“She didn’t tell me about them until a couple of months ago. She said she’d been getting these strange messages but she didn’t say how many. I know she’s had two or three more since then.”

“When was the last one?”

“A week ago. Right before we left for convention.

“Was this message the same as the rest?”

She shook her head. Picked up her now almost empty water glass. Put it down and shoved her hands over her eyes. “I should have made her go to the cops. I know I should have. The last note said, ‘A person like you doesn’t deserve to live.’”

Chapter Nineteen

Beauty is the bait, which, with delight, allures man to enlarge his kind. —
Socrates

That night, Toni did something she almost never did.

She walked into a bar alone. She’d had a lousy day. Not even the lunch celebrating Lady Bianca’s birthday, complete with a video message from Lady B. herself had been enough to lift her spirits. There were too many empty spots at the lunch tables, too many reps abandoning the conference and those who stayed weren’t exactly on top form.

Toni walked into the dimly-lit lobby lounge and headed straight for the dark gleaming wood of the bar itself with its neatly spaced line up of upholstered stools. She sat on the middle one and ordered a glass of white wine.

She’d barely tasted her drink when a man took the stool beside her.

She ignored him, until he called to the bartender, “Excuse me,” he said. “What would a recently accused murder suspect order to drink?”

She turned to him. His face was sensitive and intelligent, his hair a mop of black curls that looked somehow Irish and poetic. He wore a brown corduroy jacket and a shirt that was open at the neck revealing dark chest hair. “Are you joking?”

“No. I am a murder suspect. If you want me to move away, of course I’ll understand. I could sit in that dark corner over there.” He gestured to the farthest recesses.

The bartender wasn’t interested in guessing what he should drink so he sighed and said, “Cognac.”

“So, did you?” she asked. “Kill her?”

“Kill Amy Neuman?” He shook his head and stared down at the dark wood. “No. She was a dear friend. I hurt her emotionally, but I’d never harm her. She loved me, you see.”

Bad luck for Amy. This guy was exactly the sort of man who’d tell a woman in a bar about his conquests. What an ass.

“I’m Joseph Mandeville,” he said. “My friends call me Joe.”

“Right. The guy who wrote a book about committing the perfect murder.”

“And then gets involved in one.”

“I’m Toni Diamond. I’m an independent…” She was too tired for her usual spiel. “I sell make up.”

He frowned into his glass. ”I hurt her-- And now she’s gone. I will always regret that she left this world harboring ill feelings toward me.”

Oh, boy. Hardly an egotist at all. The poor woman was horribly murdered, and he was worrying about whether he’d be kept awake at night because of his less than gallant behavior.

“Well, you write about murder, maybe you can also help solve them. An English teacher who reads mysteries and a woman who sells makeup both die. The only connection is that the first victim had a make over in the second victim’s room.”

Joseph Mandeville shook his head at her in a chiding way. “You’ve jumped to conclusions, Toni. Remember, ‘When the probable has been excluded, the improbable remains.’”

“Is that a quote?”

“Yes. Sherlock Holmes.”

She shook her head. “What is it with you people and Holmes?” She sipped her drink. “Probable, improbable. Everything’s starting to seem improbable. If not impossible. If it weren’t for the actual corpses, I wouldn’t believe there’d been two murders myself.”

“Maybe there is no connection.”

“You think the two murders could be coincidence? That’s what I thought, but the police are convinced they’re linked.”

“Coincidences do happen. In spite of the old wives’ tale to the contrary, lightening does strike the same spot twice. It’s unusual, but statistically possible. Lightning has no memory of where it struck.” He paused to take another healthy sip of his drink. “The number of real life murders I have studied have led me to believe that anything can and does happen. It’s possible there is no connection.”