Grounds for Murder (23 page)

Antonio nodded.

‘So why was he crying after you and he fought?’

‘We argued about his speech, not David. I was angry because he had acted as my friend, sharing information about his business. So I, in turn, shared information about my business, The Milkman.’

‘And he used that information to set himself up to compete with you,’ I said, understanding. ‘That’s exactly what he did with us.’

‘Yes.’ Antonio was nodding. ‘He said it was a battle he was fighting on many . . . how you say? Fronts?’

I nodded. I wasn’t sure anything I heard about LaRoche would surprise me anymore.

‘I was angry. He was angry,’ Antonio continued. ‘But I do not see him crying. He’s a man, after all.’

I’d debate that at this point.

Antonio was holding up a finger. ‘He did sneeze. The hay fever perhaps?’

What did Pavlik say? The simplest solution is usually the right one? So much less satisfying than LaRoche crying, but I’d have to settle for it. ‘So you donated your sperm, and Janalee got pregnant.’

‘Immediately,’ Antonio said proudly.

‘Immediately,’ I echoed. ‘And we know that Davy is your baby because Janalee had you take a paternity test. And that she didn’t want LaRoche or his family to have any claim on Davy.’

‘Yes.’ Antonio didn’t seem to see why I found this so confusing.

The fact that Janalee wanted the test meant she was planning to leave LaRoche and didn’t want a custody fight. Or . . .

‘And you are absolutely certain that Davy was healthy when blood was taken for the test?’ I asked.

Antonio nodded one last time. ‘Absolutamente.’

Well, I’ll be.

The bitch had completely snowed me, and I’d almost let her walk.

Leaving Antonio behind, I ran through the exhibit hall to the door of the competition room. Janalee and Amy were still there. Janalee was changing Davy’s diaper.

‘Janalee!’ I yelled, thereby joining every fictional character I’ve ever disparaged for giving the bad guy warning before grabbing them.

She turned.

‘You lied to me.’ I advanced on her. ‘Davy is not sick.’

Janalee picked up Davy, bare bottom and all.

Amy got between us. ‘That’s just not true, Maggy. He has lead poisoning and Marvin―’

‘Oh, cut the bullshit, Amy,’ I said. ‘Either you’re in on this, too, or you’re as stupid as I am.’ Or was.

My anger level surprised me. Now that moral and ethical were synonymous again, my world was back in balance and, apparently, there was no stopping me. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

‘Why would Janalee make this up?’ Amy asked, holding up her hands. I could see Janalee edging toward the side door.

‘Because she got caught,’ I said. ‘She figured that I would fall for her sob story and keep my mouth shut.’

And she had almost figured right. She had manipulated me just like she’d manipulated LaRoche to lure him into the competition room. She had used our weaknesses – and our strengths – against us.

‘Know your enemy’, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, had preached. LaRoche had been a disciple of Sun Tzu, and Janalee had taken a page out of her husband’s own book and used it against him. And me. Janalee had known exactly how to gain my sympathy.

I feared that said something about me – something bad, but I’d have to sort that out later. For now, I was going to take Janalee down.

‘Don’t be silly, Maggy.’ Amy said, still blocking my way. ‘Janalee told me about Davy’s . . .’ She hesitated. ‘Problem, days ago.’

‘Davy’s only problem is a crazy mom and an upset stomach,’ I said. ‘And I’m willing to bet that she told you when she needed you to do something, just like she did me. Maybe when she wanted help to cover up the body or . . .’

I left off. Things were all falling into place.

Still backing up, Janalee met my eyes defiantly.

‘Or,’ I continued, ‘when she called to tell you Marvin was going to burn down the store.’

I turned back to Amy. ‘It was Janalee on the phone with you outside Schultz’s Market, wasn’t it? That’s why you were crying. She was telling you about Davy.’

Amy was shaking now, her earrings making the same tingling sound they had as we’d stood on the stage over LaRoche’s body.

‘He was destroying everything,’ she said. ‘First Davy, then Janalee’s Place. She said I had to stop him, because she wasn’t strong enough. I thought –’ she looked over at Janalee – ‘I thought I owed it to her because of what I’d done.’

A one night stand with a snake. There was something biblical about that. ‘So you bought a knife,’ I said, ‘and went to Janalee’s Place.’

‘It was too late,’ Amy whispered hoarsely. ‘When I got there, the store was already burning, and Marvin was gone.’

‘Because he was never there,’ I said. ‘Right, Janalee?’

The woman didn’t answer. She was holding Davy tight against her. I was afraid she would smother him.

‘Give me David,’ I said, moving toward her. Janalee threw me a startled look.

‘You set the fire?’ Amy asked her incredulously. ‘You burned down the Place?’

‘I had to get away from him,’ Janalee said. Her face was nearly unrecognizable. ‘In order to keep Davy and the rest of the coffeehouses, I had to sacrifice Janalee’s Place.’

‘And me, Janalee? Did you have to sacrifice me, too?’

Amy’s words hung in the air for a beat.

Then Janalee took off running.

‘You go out front to cut her off,’ I yelled at Amy and followed Janalee out into the side corridor. ‘Whatever you do, don’t let her get in the exhibit hall.’

Encumbered by Davy, Janalee hadn’t gotten very far, just to the entrance of the bar that Kate, Jerome and I had visited the night of the murder. Davy was screaming now, so I knew he was still breathing, at least.

Janalee hesitated, apparently not sure whether to take a shortcut through the bar or continue down the hall. She glanced in and made her decision.

Hall, it was, and I was on her heels. I’d been afraid she’d opt to go through the bar, but when I got there, I realized why she hadn’t. The place was filled with roofers, priming themselves for the convention.

Also in the bar, seated at a table near the door, were Kate and Jerome finishing up lunch. I saw Kate’s head follow Janalee, then she glanced back and registered my presence.

‘She killed LaRoche,’ I shouted as I passed.

‘Grab your camera, Jack,’ I heard Kate tell Jerome.

Reinforcements – or at least documentation – were on their way. I continued my chase.

Janalee had reached the door that led into the Grand Foyer of the convention center. She glanced over her shoulder at me, just feet behind her, and then shoved on the push bar.

The door opened and released us into the big entry hall. Where the bar had been full, the Grand Foyer was empty. Apparently everyone had finished their set-ups and broken for a late lunch before the attendees came in. The registration table stood ready, but was unattended.

No help was to be found inside and I was losing steam. Shouldn’t have given up those morning aerobics classes in favor of work. And sleep.

There was only one thing to do.

I slowed down and Janalee, thinking she was home free, made for the big revolving door. Once in the bay, she pushed hard. The door went whirling, Janalee and Davy in it.

‘Stop her,’ I screamed, forced to wait for the thing to slow down so I could get into it. I had to time it like I was dashing into a game of jump rope. One, two, three, GO!

I made the plunge, but Janalee and Davy had already been propelled out the other side. I emerged just in time to see Janalee and two roofers scrambling to their feet on the other side. But where was Davy?

‘I have him,’ a voice to my right said. ‘And it’s a damned good thing I quit smoking, or I would have had a cigarette in my hand when they came shooting out that door. Just managed to grab the kid before Janalee went down.’

Sarah was holding the bare-bottomed baby carefully away from her body. ‘Why’s he naked?’ she asked.

I knew that as long as we had Davy, Janalee wouldn’t take off. Not that I was stupid enough to chance it.

‘Grab her,’ I said to the roofers. ‘She’s a murderer.’

Roofers being good sports, they obliged. I looked around. Kate and Jerome were already there taping. They must have gone outside through the bar and come around to catch the action out front.

Besides the two of them, there were seven men and women, all smoking cigarettes. Different day, different convention, different people, but you could always count on the smokers’ circle.

And Sarah.

Chapter Twenty-four

By the time Amy and Antonio arrived, the police were on their way.

‘I’m sorry,’ Amy said breathlessly. ‘I was going out to stop her like you said.’ She looked over at Janalee, who was ringed by roofers. ‘But I banged right into Antonio.’

‘I did not know why you had run away when we were talking,’ Antonio explained, turning to me. ‘I was concerned.’

‘I tried to tell him about Janalee and Marvin and the table and . . . me . . .’ Amy was tearing up.

Antonio took up the story. ‘She began crying as she is now, so I could not understand a word she said. When she finally composed herself―’

‘Is Davy safe?’ Amy interrupted.

I turned in the direction she was looking. Sarah had handed the baby to one of the roofers. As we watched, she shrugged out of her baggy jacket and wrapped the baby in it.

‘Strangely enough,’ I said, smiling, ‘I think he’s just fine.’

‘What will happen to Davy?’ I asked Pavlik. We were sitting on the steps of my porch. Pavlik was throwing the ball for Frank.

‘For now, he’s with Antonio,’ he said, wiping slobber off his throwing hand. ‘He’s the father, with the paternity tests to prove it.’

I shook my head. ‘I’m not so sure Antonio is prepared to be a father. You should have seen his reaction to the word marriage.’

Pavlik looked sideways at me. ‘We all have that reaction. Some of us are just better at hiding it than others.’

I laughed. ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I’ll remember that should I ever have those kind of thoughts about you.’

‘Don’t get me wrong,’ he continued. ‘The right woman could make any man want to settle down.’

I sensed a moment of danger. I didn’t know if I was afraid of scaring him off, or I was afraid of scaring me off. Either way, my reply was the same.

‘I don’t want to “settle down”,’ I said, making the quotation marks with my fingers. ‘Been there, done that.’

‘Me, too,’ he said cheerfully, thereby dashing my hopes that he would be inconsolable. ‘But maybe Amy is the kind of woman to get Antonio to settle down.’

‘Amy, huh?’ I wasn’t quite seeing it. ‘They seem like polar opposites,’ I protested. ‘Amy is heavy metal, Antonio is flamenco.’

‘Yes, but it’s all just music, isn’t it?’

‘A philosopher,’ I said, elbowing him. ‘I’m impressed.’

‘Not yet,’ he said, kissing me lightly on the lips. ‘But you will be.’

‘Not still mad at me for confronting Janalee instead of coming to you?’ I asked. He’d been a bit cranky about that when he’d arrived on the scene.

‘I got over it.’

Good thing neither of us held grudges. I had a feeling that might come in handy. ‘Wine?’ I asked.

‘Sure,’ Pavlik said. ‘Want me to get it?’

‘Nah.’ I stood up. ‘You create a diversion, so Frank doesn’t follow me in.’

Frank gave me a suspicious look. He knew I was talking about him, not that he cared. The sheepdog dropped the tennis ball in Pavlik’s lap and backed up, waiting for the throw.

‘Diversion created,’ Pavlik said.

‘Yeah.’ I opened the door and went in, unimpeded. Apparently I was one rung below Pavlik on the sheepdog’s hierarchal ladder.

Opening the refrigerator, I pulled out the Fume Blanc I’d put in to chill.

‘White wine?’ Pavlik said, when I handed him a glass. ‘I thought you always drank red.’

‘It’s an unseasonably warm Fall day,’ I said, settling down next to him. ‘I thought white would be nice.’

I took a sip. Nice, but no Pinot Noir. I put the glass where Frank couldn’t knock it over. ‘Besides, it’s not healthy to get in a rut. Before you know it, the rut becomes an addiction.’

‘Addiction?’ Pavlik was studying my face.

‘Or maybe an obsession.’ I leaned back against the step. ‘Jerome says his father has a theory. He says we’re all addicted to something, and that’s not necessarily bad. The trick is to make sure they are good things.’ That last part I’d added.

‘Red wine is supposed to be good for you,’ Pavlik reminded me.

‘As is dark chocolate, my other guilty pleasure.’ I picked up the ball Frank had dropped in front of Pavlik and threw it. ‘Thing is, it probably wouldn’t hurt for me to cut down on both of them.’

Pavlik swirled the wine in his glass. ‘So you’re going to switch to white wine?’

‘And milk chocolate,’ I said ruefully. ‘I don’t like either of them very much, so I figure I’ll naturally cut down on my consumption of both. I think of it as my answer to Sarah’s nicotine inhaler.’

Pavlik laughed. ‘Let’s hope it’s more effective. I heard her asking one of the guys for a smoke as we were leaving.’

‘Not for a smoke,’ I said. ‘She was asking him to smoke. Sarah’s into second-hand smoke.’

Pavlik just looked at me.

‘She’s weaning herself,’ I said. ‘What can I say?’

The sheriff shook his head, and set his glass down next to mine. Apparently he didn’t like white much either. ‘So Sarah’s addicted to cigarettes. You, it’s red wine and dark chocolate.’

‘Then there’s LaRoche.’ I’d been giving this a lot of thought. ‘His was power. He needed to control – to maneuver people like he did his toy soldiers.’

‘I wonder who gets custody of the soldiers.’ Pavlik looked more concerned about the soldiers than he had about Davy.

‘Janalee, on the other hand,’ I continued, ignoring him, ‘lives for her child. That’s what you would call a good addiction, I guess.’

‘Until you murder someone,’ Pavlik said dryly.

Yeah, there was that.

‘Let’s see. Who else?’ Pavlik was getting into the swing of things. ‘Levitt and Amy – alcohol, of course,’

I threw him a startled look.

‘What?’ he said. ‘You seriously thought I didn’t know? I am the sheriff after all.’ He patted himself on the chest.