The Unkindest Cut (16 page)

‘‘I think I’m going to play some bridge now,’’ I said. Ainsworth nodded.

I left the Alamo Room feeling considerably relieved. Though I was still a bit embarrassed over it, I was glad that the deputy had spoken with Lieutenant Burnes. At least Sophie, Marylou, and I were off the list of suspects now, or pretty close to being taken off it. Ainsworth had also practically encouraged me to snoop around a bit as well. He seemed like a pretty sharp guy, and he was apparently willing to take what information he could get to help close this case.

I realized, with a certain amount of rue, he could be simply trying to catch me off guard by being so friendly.

Well, it really didn’t matter. In the end, the truth would come out—and if Sophie, Marylou, and I helped bring the identity of the killer to light, that was fine with me.

I wandered down the corridor and through the lobby area, stopping to use the ladies’ room. A few minutes later, at the doors of the ballroom, I paused to look around, hoping to spot Sophie and Marylou. This side of the ballroom was pretty full, with bridge games in progress at all the tables except four.

After a brief scan of the room I located Sophie and Marylou on the far side, near the partition between this section and the duplicate section. They were in the midst of a game when I drew closer to their table.

As I came to a halt a couple of feet away, I recognized one of the players—Lorraine Trowbridge. Then I recognized the other, her son, Will. This could be rather interesting.

‘‘Emma, come and join us,’’ Sophie said when she saw me. ‘‘Pull up one of those chairs.’’ She pointed to an empty table nearby.

I brought a chair over to their table and placed it near Sophie. Sitting down, I greeted Marylou, Lorraine, and Will. Frankly I was a bit surprised to find them playing bridge. Surely they knew by now Avery had been murdered. I ventured a covert glance at Will.

He knew all right, and he was doing his best to appear calm. I could tell, though, that he was upset and probably wished he were somewhere else.

His mother, on the other hand, appeared perfectly serene and untroubled.

Sophie cut her eyes at me, and I braced myself.

‘‘Emma,’’ she said, ‘‘Lorraine’s been telling us the most fascinating things about her ex-husband’s will.’’

I winced. Sophie was never this tactless unless she meant to be. What was she trying to do?

‘‘I don’t feel like playing anymore,’’ Will Trowbridge said. He stood up and dropped his cards face-down on the table. ‘‘Excuse me.’’ He stared at his mother for a moment, with something close to loathing on his face. Then he left, almost running from the room.

Chapter 17

I stared after the fleeing Will, half tempted to go after him. He looked very upset, and it quickly became obvious that his mother wasn’t too concerned about him.

Sophie caught my eye and grimaced slightly. I could tell she regretted upsetting Will, but evidently she had a good reason for the remark.

‘‘He’ll be perfectly fine,’’ Lorraine Trowbridge said, offering a wintry smile to Sophie, Marylou, and me. ‘‘Naturally he’s upset, although he and his father have never been very close. I would go after him, but I know he’d rather be on his own for a while.’’ She gestured with one hand. ‘‘Why don’t you take Will’s place?’’

I supposed, in this case, mother knew best, but I still thought the woman was being extremely casual about her son’s distress. I forbore saying anything, however. I moved from my chair to the one Will had vacated, and picked up his cards.

Sophie and I were partners, and Marylou had the dummy hand.

‘‘What are we playing?’’ I asked.

‘‘The contract is three spades,’’ Sophie replied. ‘‘We’ve gone only one round in this game.’’ She picked up the cards in front of her and showed them to me—the ace, king, jack, and three of hearts. ‘‘I led with the jack. Lorraine played the king from the board. Your hand took the trick with the ace of hearts.’’

Now it was my lead. I took a moment to examine my hand. I had two hearts left, the queen and the ten—two potentially good tricks. In addition I held four small spades, three loser diamonds, and three clubs, including the ace. I wondered whether Lorraine would follow up on Sophie’s provocative remark about Avery’s will. For the moment, though, Lorraine seemed intent on the game. Maybe she would talk once play was under way. If not, I was sure Sophie would try to goad her into it again.

I returned my partner’s lead by playing the queen of hearts. Lorraine played the four from her hand, Sophie dumped a loser club, and Lorraine pulled the six from dummy’s hand. Sophie collected the trick while I pondered my lead. Should I play my ten of hearts? Seven hearts had dropped so far, and my ten made eight. That meant there were still five out. There were three on the board.

Pulling the ten of hearts from my hand, I dropped it on the table. Once that round was done, Lorraine held the high heart in her hand. If I’d had another heart to lead back for Sophie to trump, we would have had another easy trick.

So far Lorraine hadn’t said a word, instead concentrating on the game. One of us would have to get her to talking, I supposed, but I decided not to say anything until the hand was done.

Remembering that Sophie had sloughed a club on my queen of hearts, I played my ace. Everyone followed suit, but Sophie played the ten. I led with my remaining club, and Sophie played the king. Since both Lorraine and dummy followed suit, we won that trick, giving us five. Lorraine and Marylou were already down one.

That was the last trick we took, however. Lorraine got in with the next round, when Sophie led the queen of clubs. I played my remaining club, and dummy contributed its last one, the ten. Lorraine trumped with the two of spades. I glanced at Sophie, who shrugged slightly. She held the five remaining clubs, including the jack, but they were useless by that point.

Once Lorraine was in, she pulled trump. The rest of the tricks were hers, but she was still one down. ‘‘That was unpleasant,’’ she said, laughing a little.

‘‘If the lead had been different,’’ I said in tones of sympathy, ‘‘you probably would have made it just fine. We were just lucky with the hearts and the clubs. You could have sloughed a loser heart or a club on your good diamonds.’’

Lorraine nodded, but she didn’t appear in the least interested in my analysis.

Marylou noted the score before picking up the cards to deal. As the cards dropped in front of us, I looked at Lorraine, my head tilted to one side. ‘‘So what was it Sophie was saying when I first came up? Something about your late husband’s will?’’ If Sophie wasn’t going to ask, I might as well. There had to be a point to all this besides getting Will out of the room.

There was no way to make that sound anything but nosy, but Lorraine didn’t seem bothered by my obvious interest.

‘‘It’s really quite interesting,’’ Sophie said.

‘‘I suppose, but it’s not really Avery’s will I was talking about. It was his father’s,’’ Lorraine said. ‘‘I don’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs of all this legal stuff.’’ She shrugged, a gesture no doubt meant to indicate that she had no interest in ‘‘legal stuff.’’ She picked up her cards and began to arrange them. For a moment I thought she wasn’t going to say anything else, but she continued, somewhat abruptly.

‘‘Avery’s father made a fortune in something to do with the oil business,’’ she said while staring at her cards. ‘‘He had more money than he knew what to do with, but he knew that Avery couldn’t handle it. He’d have gone broke in two years after his father died if the old man hadn’t tied it up so he couldn’t get his hands on most of it.’’

‘‘Really,’’ I said. ‘‘That must have been frustrating for Avery, though.’’

Lorraine grinned. ‘‘Drove him absolutely mad, but there was nothing he could do about it. He tried to contest the will, but nothing doing. The old man was perfectly sane when he did it.’’

‘‘So Avery never got anything from his father’s fortune? ’’ I asked.

‘‘Oh, he had a very nice income from a trust fund his father set up after Avery and I married,’’ Lorraine said. ‘‘But the old man made sure Avery would never be able to touch the bulk of his money. Instead, he stipulated in his will that control of the money would go to his grandson, when Will turns twenty-five.’’ She smiled briefly. ‘‘Will turns twenty-one in March, so it will be a while before he comes into it.’’

‘‘What happens to Avery’s trust fund?’’ I couldn’t stop myself. Lorraine didn’t appear to mind spilling the beans, so to speak, and Sophie and Marylou were just as curious as I was.

‘‘I’m not really sure,’’ Lorraine said. ‘‘I don’t know whether he was able to will it to anyone. There might be something in the old man’s will about it.’’ She shrugged. ‘‘I’m sure the lawyers will get it all sorted out.’’

‘‘I’m sure they will,’’ Marylou said. ‘‘They always do.’’

‘‘Yes,’’ Lorraine said. ‘‘Now, who dealt? Whose bid is it?’’

‘‘Mine,’’ Marylou said, taking the hint. Obviously Lorraine had said all she was going to say about wills.

We finished the rubber. Lorraine didn’t offer any more details about Avery or his will, and the rest of us refrained from prodding her for them. Once the rubber was done, Lorraine declared she was going to her room for a rest. We said good-bye, waiting until she was out of earshot before we discussed what she had told us.

‘‘I’m not quite sure I trust her,’’ I said.

‘‘What do you mean?’’ Marylou asked.

‘‘I bet she means that Lorraine was probably lying about what happens to Avery’s trust fund,’’ Sophie said, smiling at me. ‘‘Right, Emma?’’ I nodded at her, and she went on. ‘‘She didn’t fool me for a minute. I bet you she knows everything there is to know about what happens to the money in that family.’’

‘‘Exactly,’’ I said. ‘‘She impresses me as the kind of woman who knows whatever she needs to know about money. The way she dresses, she obviously has expensive tastes. That was a designer dress she was wearing— Vera Wang, if I’m not mistaken.’’

Sophie hooted with laughter. ‘‘Emma, I don’t believe it. You’re right. Since when do you know how to recognize designer work?’’

‘‘Maybe because you keep rubbing my nose in the fact that I’m illiterate when it comes to haute couture, ’’ I said. ‘‘I’ve been trying to learn a bit about it so you can’t be so superior all the time.’’ I grinned at her, and she stuck her tongue out at me.

Marylou was laughing, and Sophie and I began to chuckle as well. When we stopped, Marylou said, ‘‘I think y’all are right. Lorraine is too shrewd not to know about the money. She lied to us about that.’’

‘‘The question is, why?’’ I said. ‘‘She didn’t have to tell us any of that, but she did. Why was she so coy about that one thing?’’

‘‘Because the truth about it might reveal that she had a good motive to kill Avery,’’ Sophie said.

I nodded. ‘‘That’s what I was thinking. But of course we could never get her to admit that.’’ I pushed back from the table. ‘‘I don’t know about you two, but I need to do something to clear my head a little. The weather is nice today, and I thought I might take a walk around the grounds. Why don’t you come with me?’’ I looked to each of them in turn.

Sophie rolled her eyes at me.

‘‘Well, it was worth a shot,’’ I said. ‘‘I should have known the mention of exercise would put you off. So what are you going to do?’’

‘‘Play some more bridge,’’ she said. ‘‘Marylou? Are you game?’’

Marylou nodded at her, then turned to me with a slightly sheepish grin. ‘‘Sorry, Emma.’’

‘‘It’s okay,’’ I said. ‘‘I’ll feel even more virtuous if you two stay here.’’ I waggled my fingers at them before I turned and headed for the door of the ballroom.

I could have stayed and played bridge with them, but I really wanted to get away from everything and everyone for a little while. I loved my friends dearly, but every once in a while, we each needed time on our own. I certainly could use the exercise as well, I noted ruefully as I glanced down at my waistline.

Once I reached the veranda at the front of the hotel, I stood there for a few moments, shading my eyes against the bright sunlight. I had a small handbag with me, and I looked inside it to see whether I had stuck my sunglasses in it.

Ah, there they were. I slipped them on, and my eyes felt better immediately. Now I could leave the veranda and walk around in the sun.

There were several marked paths, and I started following one that seemed to lead in the direction of the woods, not too far away. I thought it might be pleasant to wander among the trees for a little while, so I quickened my pace slightly now that I had a specific goal.

Looking ahead, I spotted a bench near the path, about halfway between me and the trees. The bench was occupied by one person, a man with his back to me. Something about the back of the figure seemed familiar, but I couldn’t determine why. While I stared at the man’s back, willing him to turn so I could see his face, I saw instead the smoke of a cigarette spiraling over his head.

Finally, when I was about only a dozen or so feet away, I recognized the man. Or perhaps I should say ‘‘the boy.’’ It was Will Trowbridge. He might be almost twenty-one, but he seemed more like a boy to me.

Hearing my approach, Will turned a slightly sullen face in my direction. He took another drag on his cigarette, exhaling smoke, before he turned away again.

I know I should have minded my own business, but there was something in his posture that affected me. He seemed so forlorn, and yet defiant, at the same time. I decided to try to talk to him, if he would let me.

‘‘Hi, Will,’’ I said as I reached the bench. I stopped near him. ‘‘Do you mind if I sit down for a moment or two?’’

He shrugged. ‘‘Whatever.’’ He held up his cigarette. ‘‘This bother you?’’

‘‘No,’’ I said. ‘‘Go ahead.’’ I didn’t want to antagonize him, and fortunately there was a breeze to waft the smoke away from me.

My response elicited a brief smile, and I took that as encouragement.