Murder Most Austen (28 page)

Izzy raised her head and stared unblinking into her mother’s eyes. “I’m the kind of girl who goes after what she wants. I wanted Ian, and I got him. Allen is a nice man, but he’s not in the same league as Ian. I’m sure he’ll understand when I tell him.”

Cora blinked. “But Ian’s married!”

Izzy shrugged. “
Unhappily
married.”

“And now he’s not either,” offered Aunt Winnie.

Izzy flushed. “I realize what you must think of me, but I’m not going to apologize for what I’ve done. That said, I had nothing to do with Valerie’s death, or Richard’s, for that matter. And I promise you, neither did Ian.”

Cora stared at Izzy in horror and pressed her hand to her mouth. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she moaned. “Izzy, you have no idea what you’ve done!”

Izzy stuck out her chin in apparent indifference, but her chin wobbled a bit, and she was having trouble meeting her mother’s agonized expression. “Well, I think you’re a bunch of hypocrites!” she finally said. “You just told me yourself that Valerie was apparently having an affair. Ian was lonely and unhappy. I did nothing wrong!”

I glanced over at Aunt Winnie. She rolled her eyes in disgust. I quite agreed. Turning back to Izzy, I said, “You have to tell the police, Izzy. You have to tell them that you were with Ian, because I’ve told them that he couldn’t have been with Gail when Richard was killed.”

Izzy reluctantly nodded. “I will. Of course, I will.” Reaching out, she impulsively grabbed my hand again. “But please don’t you be mad at me, Elizabeth! You would have done the same, you know you would have.”

I gently, but firmly, pulled my hand away. “No, Izzy. I wouldn’t have. You went after a married man—a married man with a small child—simply because he was a better prospect than your fiancé. I think what you did was pretty despicable, actually.”

Izzy looked as if I’d slapped her.

The image of Valerie’s face rose in front of me again, and I suddenly found myself wishing that I had.

*   *   *

THE REST OF LUNCH WAS A STRAINED AFFAIR.
There was very little conversation, and no one seemed to have much of an appetite. Once it was over, we quickly parted ways, with Izzy promising that she would call Inspector Middlefield. She also kept hinting that once I thought about everything from her point of view, my anger at her would fade, and we’d be friends once again.

Out of respect for Cora’s obvious distress, I said nothing, even though I was sorely tempted to tell Izzy that I thought she made Lydia Bennet look like a prude.

As Aunt Winnie and I walked back to our hotel, I said, “I’ve got to tell you, this festival is nothing like I thought it would be.”

Aunt Winnie shook her head in disbelief. “I know. In a weird way, it’s a little funny. Not funny ha-ha, mind you, but funny weird. Baines saw sex and intrigue in Austen’s novels, and yet it seems like all the sex and intrigue was actually going on around him.”

“I thought it was weird the way Izzy kept flirting with Ian,” I said, “but I thought she was doing it to tweak Valerie, not because she actually liked Ian! Of course, I don’t think for one minute she really likes him. I think she only likes his money.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised when I stop to think about it,” said Aunt Winnie. “Izzy is a very pretty girl, and, as Cora herself said, she usually gets what she wants when she puts her mind to it. Given Valerie’s rather unfortunate personality, and Ian’s own weak will, it couldn’t have been hard for Izzy to seduce him. Especially as it seems that Valerie was fooling around herself.”

“My head is spinning from all this,” I admitted. “Izzy seduces Ian on the night that Richard is killed. Is it a coincidence, or does it have something to do with his murder? I mean, Ian inherits a lot from Richard’s death.”

“And now Valerie has been deftly removed from the scene,” added Aunt Winnie.

“Of course, Izzy could be lying about their being together,” I mused.

“How do you mean?” Aunt Winnie asked. “Why would she do that?”

“Well, if she says that she’s with Ian, and he backs her up, then she has an alibi. Which means that…”

“… she couldn’t have killed Richard,” finished Aunt Winnie. “Interesting theory. Just one question.”

“Really? Just one?”

“For now. Why would Izzy want to kill Richard?”

I paused. “She might be tempted if she thought she was in line to become the second Mrs. Ian Baines.”

*   *   *

NOTHING MUCH MORE
was said after that. I think we were both caught up in trying to puzzle out what this latest development meant. When we got to the hotel, I was dismayed to see John in the lounge area. He leaped to his feet when he spotted us. “Elizabeth!” he called out to me, as he hustled his slight frame across the lobby to where we stood. “Can you believe this? Valerie Baines! Dead! It’s bloody awful. What have the police told you?”

I stared at him in confusion. “Why would the police tell me anything?”

“Well, you are working for them, aren’t you? I’m sure you told me that you were.”

“I never said any such thing,” I protested, but John would have none of it. He continued to ask, pry, hint, and repeat all that he’d heard in connection with Valerie’s murder, most of it woefully wrong. I gave up trying to correct him as that only seemed to prolong the conversation, and so I stood in silence waiting for him to run out of air. As I did so, I glanced down to the far end of the lobby and saw Gail and Lindsay exit the bar. Deep in conversation, they didn’t seem to notice our presence. Gail spoke soothingly to Lindsay, who was weeping into a napkin. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the body language seemed to indicate that Gail was trying to convince a reluctant Lindsay of something. After a minute, Gail reached into her purse and pressed what appeared to be a check into Lindsay’s hands. After a moment’s hesitation, Lindsay put the check in her pocket. Gail said something else, and Lindsay nodded, before leaving by the side exit.

Right then, Gail looked up and caught me staring at her. Without a word, she turned and went up the stairs. But I’d seen her face. She was scared.

CHAPTER 28

[She] consoled herself for the loss of her husband by considering that she could do very well without him.

—MANSFIELD PARK

A
FTER I’D EXTRICATED MYSELF
from John—no small task in and of itself—I headed up to Gail’s room with Aunt Winnie. Silence met my knock, but I wasn’t buying it. I rapped my knuckles a tad harder against the wooden door. “Gail,” I called out. “I know you’re in there. Please. I’d like to talk to you.”

The silence was replaced with a faint shuffling sound followed by the lock sliding open. Gail opened the door and regarded me with a weary expression. Her face was haggard, and her eyes were red. And a shade glassy, I amended, after closer inspection. I wondered if Valerie’s death had sent Gail back to her prescription-induced emotional shield. “Elizabeth, this really isn’t a good time,” she said. “I have a lot to do. Ian and I have to make arrangements for poor Valerie’s funeral. There are a lot of tasks that we need to attend to.”

I nodded. “I am sorry, Gail. I really am. But I need to ask you about the night that Richard died.”

Gail’s face betrayed no emotion. “Yes?”

“How long was Ian gone?”

Gail sighed and opened the door wider and stepped aside. “You might as well come in. This isn’t a conversation that I want to have out in the hall.”

Aunt Winnie and I stepped inside the room and sat down. Gail took a seat on her bed. “Why do you think that Ian was gone?” she asked with one last effort at motherly protection.

“Because I just had a conversation with the person he was with,” I answered.

Gail’s shoulders slumped in acknowledgment. “Oh. Well, I guess there’s no use in saying otherwise. Yes, Ian left a few minutes after he brought me back here. I … wasn’t feeling well,” Gail said, her eyes sliding away from mine as she uttered the euphemism for
wasted.
“He put me to bed and then left.”

“Did you stay here, then?” I asked.

Gail nodded. “Yes. I did. I think I dozed a bit.”

“Do you know where Ian went?” I asked.

Gail looked away. “I have a general idea. He was with Izzy, wasn’t he?”

“Yes. Did he tell you that?”

She shook her head. “No, but I could see that Izzy was pursuing him, and it was clear that Ian was flattered. I guess a mother just has a sense about these things when it comes to her children.”

“Do you think that Valerie knew?” I asked.

“No,” Gail answered quickly. “It would never occur to Valerie that Ian would cheat on her. Valerie ran things in that relationship, so to speak. She was rather single-minded in some ways.”

“Do you think Ian was going to leave her?” I asked.

“Absolutely not!” Gail said firmly. “Look, I don’t approve of what Ian did—that’s the sort of behavior I put up with myself for years. But he wouldn’t have broken up his family because of it. He wasn’t going to end up like…” She suddenly closed her mouth and crossed her arms across her chest.

“… his father?” I asked.

She gave a curt nod. “Yes. Richard cheated on me from day one. Hell, I think he even fooled around when we were on our honeymoon. He was incapable of keeping his pants on when there was a pretty girl to be had,” she said bitterly. “Ian may be his only child by
name
—but I suspect that were one to poke around a bit, they’d find that Richard sired many more children ‘on the wrong side of the sheets,’ as they used to say. Poor things. I’m sure Richard never bothered with helping any of them.”

“Is that why you were talking to Lindsay just now? Were you trying to help her?”

She didn’t answer right away. “Yes,” she said finally, “I was. I wondered about her. She was just the type of girl he went for: young, naïve, and inexperienced. He’d swoop in like the wealthy, sophisticated charmer and keep them dangling from a string for a while until he grew bored. He was in all manner of ways a rat bastard. I called Lindsay today and asked her, well, I asked her if she needed any help.”

“That was very kind of you,” said Aunt Winnie.

Gail produced a rueful smile. “Is it? I don’t think so. I knew the kind of man Richard Baines was for years and never said a word. I watched him seduce and lie and cheat. And I held my tongue because I was too proud to admit it. I suppose I feel a bit like Darcy did about Wickham. Had I made his worthless character known and all that. I figure the least I can do is help Lindsay. Call it a symbolic attempt at restitution.”

“Well, I’m sure she appreciates it,” I said. “I wonder what Alex’s reaction will be.”

Gail smirked. “You’d have to ask her, of course, but I would imagine that she is not going to be happy when she finds out what goes around, comes around.”

I didn’t say anything, but I rather wondered if Gail’s generosity toward Lindsay stemmed more from the whole “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” adage than any real desire for restitution.

I suspected it did.

I also wondered if she had really stayed in her room as she claimed.

*   *   *

BACK IN OUR ROOM
, I said to Aunt Winnie, “So what did you make of Gail?”

Kicking off her shoes, she plopped down on her bed and stretched out her legs. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I can’t decide if I like her or think she’s a phony. I didn’t get the impression that she was broken up about Valerie death.”

I flopped on my bed as well. “Me neither. But to be fair—”

Aunt Winnie stopped me. “Valerie was the mother of her grandchild. Gail may not have liked her, but to not mind seeing her dead is something entirely different.”

“True. But I wonder if some of her lack of emotion could be pharmaceutical in nature rather than something more sinister. Her eyes were glassy again.”

“I noticed that, too. Honestly, Elizabeth, I don’t know what to think. Neither Richard nor Valerie was very nice, but I don’t even think I know
why
they were killed. Was Valerie killed because of the paper or because of her affair? And are they somehow connected?”

I sighed. “I don’t know. But speaking of which, I’d better call Inspector Middlefield and tell her about Valerie. I promised to tell her if I learned anything new.”

I dialed the number and soon was speaking to Inspector Middlefield. She did not sound pleased to hear from me, but a promise is a promise. I quickly told her what Mary had relayed to me. There was brief silence, and then I heard the faintest of curses. “You really do seem to have a knack for finding things out, don’t you?” she said.

“I’m sorry? I don’t understand.”

“We know about the calls, as well—we just learned about them. However, there’s one little detail that you are missing.”

“Really? What?”

Inspector Middlefield hesitated. Then she told me.

I felt a bit like Mr. Bennet when he learned about Lydia’s elopement—I could not speak for a full ten minutes.

CHAPTER 29

Facts are such horrid things!

—LADY SUSAN

A
FTER HANGING UP
with Inspector Middlefield, I looked at Aunt Winnie. “Well? What did she say?” she asked. “What’s the big news?”

“It appears that Valerie wasn’t having an affair after all. She had taken a job as a phone sex operator.”

Aunt Winnie regarded me pop-eyed. “Bullshit,” she said.

The absurdity of the situation hit me, and I began to giggle. “Well, this is a wretched beginning indeed. I am sure nobody else will believe me, if you do not. Yet, indeed, I am in earnest. I speak nothing but the truth.”

“You’re serious, then? Valerie was a phone sex operator? Valerie? I can’t believe it!” Then she began to laugh. Hard. So did I. Soon we were both gasping for air, with tears streaming down our faces.

“We’re going to hell,” I said a few minutes later. “You realize that, don’t you? The poor woman is dead.”

“I know, I know,” said Aunt Winnie, wiping the tears from her face. “It’s not funny. Well, it is, but we shouldn’t laugh.”

“I wonder if Ian knew,” I said.