Our Husband (a humorous romantic mystery) (26 page)

Chapter 23

Detective Aldrich smirked. "I didn't realize you smoked, Mrs. Carmichael."

Beatrix leaned back in the metal folding chair and exhaled three smoke rings that twirled to form perfect figure-eights. "I

don't. Where the
hell
is my lawyer?"

"He must be caught up in that snag out on Bridges Highway," the assistant district attorney, Peter Keane offered. "Tractor-

trailer jackknifed. Want to call him?"

Her cell phone service had been cut off for nonpayment, and she didn't want to use a phone that half the hillbilly cops in

western Kentucky had handled. "No." God, this unfiltered Camel tasted better than any morsel she'd ever put in her mouth. "But

I suppose I don't need Gaylord here for this."

Aldrich stabbed a button on the recorder at her elbow and spouted the preliminary info, time, place, purpose, then smiled.

"A confession, Mrs. Carmichael?"

She laughed and snubbed out the butt in a battered ashtray. "A clarification, Detective, that's all."

"The tape is running."

Beatrix cleared her throat. "Over the weekend, I remembered something I said in my earlier statement that might have been

misleading."

"Misleading how?"

"By making the doctor look bad."

"Which doctor, Mrs. Carmichael?" Keane asked.

"The second woman that Raymond married, Dr. Natalie Blankenship."

"Yes, go on."

She cleared her throat again and drank from a plastic cup of water, trying not to touch her lips to the rim that was probably

crawling with germs. "I would like to see the statement I made last week."

Aldrich pulled three sheets of paper stapled together from a bulging accordion file folder.

She scanned the pages, stopping when she got to the part about seeing Natalie go into the ICU by herself. "Here. I recalled

that I did not see Natalie go in alone."

"The visitor log for the ICU says different."

She shrugged. "I'm not saying that she didn't go in alone, all I'm saying is that I didn't see her."

"And what am I supposed to do with this information?" Aldrich asked.

"I don't give a monkey's ass what you do with it, I just didn't want to be responsible for incriminating the woman, that's

all."

"Natalie Blankenship incriminated herself," Keane said. "She was growing the plant the drug comes from in her back

yard."

"I read that in the paper," Beatrix said. "She seems smarter than that, don't you think?"

Keane shifted forward in his seat. "You're not angry with the woman accused of killing your husband?"

She shifted forward in her seat, mocking him. "One woman on the jury, and it's hung, Mr. Keane. Raymond Carmichael

was a three-timing bigamist bastard."

"Who deserved to die?" he pressed.

She sat back in the chair and withdrew another cigarette. "Don't put words in my mouth."

"Are you saying we should let her go with a slap on the wrist?"

"Turn up your hearing aid, counselor. I'm saying I didn't see her go into the ICU alone."

Keane cracked a couple of knuckles—a weak attempt at intimidation? "And maybe you're covering for her."

Beatrix laughed. "What?"

"Maybe you and the good doctor are in on this together. What do you think, Detective? Think we have a conspiracy on our

hands?"

"Maybe."

"A conspiracy?" Beatrix scoffed. "I don't even know those women!"

"Yet you're coming to the doctor's rescue. Curious, don't you think, Keane?"

"Very curious."

Beatrix scowled. "I don't even
like
those women."

"Yet you allowed them to attend your husband's funeral, even ride in the limousine with you to the gravesite."

"I had no choice. They promised to keep their mouths shut—" She stopped, thinking perhaps she should wait for Gaylord

after all.

"Go on, Mrs. Carmichael," Keane urged. "They promised to keep their mouths shut about what?"

"About the murder?" Aldrich goaded.

Beatrix gritted her teeth. "No. About their involvement with my husband. I was trying to keep all of this as quiet as

possible. I'm certain even you blockheads understand why."

The detective narrowed his eyes. "It's your statement that you had no knowledge of Natalie Blankenship and Ruby Hicks

until you met them in Raymond's hospital room?"

"That's correct."

"That's strange, because we have a witness who says she saw you and Natalie in the ladies' john chatting. She knew the

time because she asked the doctor for it. Turns out, it was before Raymond even
had
his heart attack."

She'd completely forgotten about their chance meeting prior to the scene in Raymond's room. "I gave Natalie a breath mint

—I had no idea who she was."

Aldrich grunted. "If you say so." He studied a gnawed-down number two pencil as if he were a bored student. "Did

Natalie and Ruby know each other before that night in the hospital?"

"I couldn't say for sure, although they seemed as surprised as I was."

He bounced the eraser end of a pencil against the table, tripping on her nerves. "Have you talked to either of the two

women since Natalie was arrested?"

"No."

Tap-tap-tap. Tap-a-tap-tap.
"We can check phone records, Mrs. Carmichael."

Beatrix sighed. "Natalie called me last night to give me a list of items Raymond pawned in the city where she lives. She

thought some of the things might belong to me."

Tap-a, tap-a, tap-a-tap-tap.
"Mighty nice of her, being a stranger and all. Did you discuss the statement either of you had

made to the police?"

With a smack of her hand, she captured the pencil against the table. "No."

He conceded the pencil with a hateful little smile.

"Did you discuss your mutual husband at all?"

"Only as it pertained to the items he pawned."

"And did some of those items belong to you?"

"Yes, many were family heirlooms."

"Raymond took them without your permission?"

She hesitated, realizing she was handing him motivation for her participation on a platter.

Aldrich leaned closer. "Did Raymond steal and pawn your family heirlooms, Mrs. Carmichael?"

Beatrix tried to smile. "'Steal' is a very strong word. Perhaps he was planning to buy the things back, thinking I would be

none the wiser."

"Did your husband think you were stupid, Mrs. Carmichael?"

She looked away from the detective to collect herself, trying to remember why she'd come in the first place.

Keane cleared his throat. "Mrs. Carmichael, do you have the list with you?"

She did because she'd planned a drive to Smiley to pick up as much as she could afford with the scant cash she was able to

scrape together. With a trembling hand, she withdrew the list from her handbag and slid it across the table to the district

attorney, the lesser of the two evils, but Aldrich picked it up.

"Ah, our old friend, Mr. Butler."

"You know this man?" she asked.

He returned the list, nodding. "He's been hanging around Natalie Blankenship. We believe they're involved."

She frowned. "An affair?"

"Looks like it. Her ex-con brother is working for him."

"I... I didn't realize Natalie had a brother. What was he in prison for?"

"Armed robbery," Keane piped in. "He was paroled about a month ago. Interesting timing, eh?"

Her mind spun. "Are you saying that Natalie's brother might have killed Raymond? Or this Butler person?"

He shrugged. "We're still investigating."

"Then why did you arrest Natalie?"

"Because we're pretty sure she has knowledge of the murder, even if she didn't commit it herself. And sometimes an arrest

causes others to come forward—like yourself."

She simply couldn't reconcile the image of Natalie with a cold-blooded murderer, but maybe her judgment was slipping,

like everything else...

"Did you know that Ruby Hicks was a suspect in the death of her mother's boyfriend when she was sixteen years old?"

That little idiot—a murderer? She swallowed a smile. Things were definitely looking up. "No, I didn't."

"The man was injected with rat poison."

"Injected?"

"Yep. Just so happens that Ruby is a diabetic, handy with a syringe. But maybe you already knew that."

He was studying her for a reaction. She quickly transformed her jubilation into a shocked expression. "No, I didn't."

Beatrix lifted a hand to her chest for effect. "Was she convicted of the murder?"

"Nope, not even arrested. She had a watery alibi. Everyone thought she did it, but the guy was such a bad seed, there

wasn't much of a public outcry for justice."

She wet her lips. "You think that... other woman killed Raymond?"

Keane shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe she and Natalie pulled it off together."

"Why?"

Another shrug. "Maybe Natalie found out about the bigamy, and knew that without a child, she had no claim to any of

Raymond's money. Maybe she and Ruby conspired to get rid of Raymond so they could split the life insurance and estate

money."

She arched an eyebrow. "And next they'll try to get rid of me, is that what you're saying?"

Aldrich pursed his mouth, then said, "Not if they had your cooperation."

Keane's demeanor changed—his head tilted, his eyes softened. "Mrs. Carmichael, if the three of you were in on this

together, I'll do my best to arrange a deal for you...
if
you tell us everything that happened."

Words of denial exploded in her head, but she couldn't speak. Everything was going wrong.

The door opened and relief flooded her that Gaylord had arrived. But instead of her comforting, arrogant lawyer, an

officer stood in the doorway, gesturing to speak with Aldrich. The detective obliged, and after a muttered exchange, turned

back.

"I'm afraid I'll have to cut this little meeting short. I just received word that Ms. Hicks was admitted to the hospital this

afternoon."

Beatrix's heart quickened. The baby?

"She was released in good condition," he continued, giving his waistband a yank. "But the real interesting part is that

Natalie Blankenship and her brother drove all the way up here to take Ruby home." He eyed Beatrix. "Funny how the whole

bunch of you alleged
strangers
have gotten so chummy now that your husband is out of the way."

Beatrix curled her fist, digging her nails into her palm. Could Natalie and that other one be in cahoots? She pressed her

lips together, mindful that between the cigarettes and the constant licking, she'd worn off her lipstick, dammit. To think she'd

believed their acts of grief and innocence—had even come to this pedestrian place to try to help Natalie. Were they planning to

turn on her next? Or maybe they were going to set her up.

The
bitches
.

The stout detective walked to the door and stopped, his hand on the knob. "Mrs. Carmichael, if I were you, I'd seriously

consider Mr. Keane's generous offer. The first birdie who sings gets the prize. I'll let you think on that while I collect the other

two Mrs. Carmichaels."

"I was just leaving," she said, half-standing.

"I don't think so," he said with a nasty little smile. "It's high time we talked to all three of you wives in the same room."

Her mouth opened as she searched for the words to profess her innocence without protesting so much that she looked even

more guilty than the picture of collaboration all three of them had unwittingly painted.

She scowled at Keane and sat down with a sniff. "Where the
hell
is my lawyer?"

Chapter 24

Ruby hugged herself. Every time she walked into the nursery, happiness bubbled so high inside her, she had to raise onto

her tippy-toes to keep from getting a head rush. "It's bunnies," she announced to Natalie, then pulled her inside the small,

yellow room because she seemed hesitant to enter.

"I see," Natalie said, tilting her head, probably so she could take it all in.

Ruby knew just how she felt—from the bunny-covered wallpaper and bunny border, to the bunny bed linens and curtains,

she'd never seen a more beautiful room, not even in a magazine. "How do you like it?"

"It's very... stimulating," Natalie said, nodding. "Lots of bunnies."

Pointing to the ceiling fan, Ruby said, "I cut bunnies out of the wallpaper border and pasted them on the blades." With a

flip of a switch she turned on the fan. "See, it looks like they're running."

"Backward," Natalie said.