Till Death Do Us Bark (11 page)

“Maybe he told Mother?”

“From the way I’ve seen the cops operate, they only give pertinent info to the people directly involved. Your mom and dad don’t live here, and neither does Adrianne, so I doubt he’d tell them unless it was absolutely necessary.”

“Oh, well . . . should we say something to her?”

“And if she asks how we know, how would you tell her we got the information?”

Viv rubbed her eyes with the tips of her fingers. “I don’t know. I just hate that I’m aware of something important and I can’t share the information. Maybe, if she knew what Kent had been up to, she’d be able to shed some light on things.”

“No one said we couldn’t tell her about the investigation, but it would be awkward mentioning the DEA was involved if we had nothing to back it up. I’m not sure how to approach it exactly, except to wait for Detective Wheeling to show up again. If we were there, and we asked the right questions, that might give us a way to bring it all up.”

“So I guess we should start by finding out when Wheeling is going to stop by, huh?”

“I guess.” Ellie couldn’t think. It was hours past her normal bedtime and she was exhausted from all the sneaking around. The fact that James Bond had scared the living daylights out of her didn’t help. “Look, I know this is tough, but we’ll handle it. Arlene isn’t a bad person, she’s just misguided. We’ll work it out.”

Viv sniffed back a tear and pushed from the table. “I know she’s a pain; Adrianne, too. But after you, they’re all I have. Just promise you’ll help me sort this out. Please?”

Ellie walked to her side and gave her a hug. “Vivian, I’m on—”

“I know. You’re on vacation.”

“And so are you.” Taking a step back, she gazed at her best friend and saw the exhaustion and desperation in her eyes. “I’ll do what I can, okay? That’s all I can say.”

Ellie stepped into her new one-piece chocolate brown Karla Colletto swimsuit. After taking a good look in the full-length mirror on the inside of the bathroom door, she smiled. She’d let Viv drag her up and down Fifth Avenue to stores that supposedly had designer togs for fifty percent off. After digging through the racks, she’d found a suit marked down because it was last year’s model. The minute she saw it, she knew it was the right choice. Better still, it was under a hundred dollars, when it had originally listed for over two.

The gold piping accentuated her bust while shrinking her rounded tummy and flaring hips. The rich brown color also complemented her milky white skin and looked great with her coppery curls. She’d been worried about sunburn, but Viv had even found her an expensive sunscreen specially formulated for pale complexions.

All in all, she’d spent close to a thousand dollars on new clothes that day, but Viv had convinced her it was worth it. The Hamptons was one place you couldn’t wear hiking boots or canvas casuals and still fit in with the trendy tourist crowd.

She gazed at Rudy, who was watching her from the fluffy turquoise throw rug on the sand-colored tiles. “And why, pray tell, is my bottom worth another look?”

She huffed out a breath. “I’m not interested in meeting a man, especially one who wants to inspect all my angles. I already have a great guy at home. I don’t need to mess around with another.”

“And why would I want to meet a Prince Charming whose barometer for finding his princess is her bottom?”

Grinning, she did as ordered. As far as she knew, Sam loved her bottom, her middle, and her top, but she’d do anything to shut her boy up and get him off this crazy topic.

More bottom?
“Okay, that’s it. We’re finished critiquing my figure. It’s time to start our day.” Determined to get moving, she charged into the bedroom. “We’re supposed to meet Viv and T on the terrace for breakfast, then walk to the beach. We’re on vacation, remember?”

“I was simply satisfying my curiosity about Arlene and Dr. Sleazeball. It didn’t mean I had any intention of running my own investigation.”

Sitting on the bed, Ellie grabbed her regular tote and the new straw bag she’d found when she bought the suit, and began transferring essentials: first, her cell phone, then her high-grade sunscreen that promised to bronze while it protected, a tube of lip gloss, a couple of dollars, tissues, two bottles of water, and a small folding dish. After adding her new peach-colored beach towel, she stuck her sunglasses on top of her head and stood.

“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that I promised Sam I’d back off of sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong, and Wheeling and Bond said the same thing. I thought about it and decided the cops could do their thing without me. Now give me a break and let me finish getting ready.”

She slipped into her cover-up—a gauzy knee-length white shirt—slid her feet into sandals, hoisted the new bag over her shoulder, and headed for the door. “Let’s get moving. We both need to eat, and we have to collect chairs and umbrellas before we hike to the beach.”

She knew what Rudy wanted, but decided to play dumb. “Tell Viv about what?”

He was right. After their interaction with the shady 007, Viv had complained of “brain pain” and gone immediately to sleep. Ellie knew she should have confessed that she didn’t think she should delve any further into this crime before her best friend closed her eyes.

“Viv’s the one who’s hot on this case. She went to find Arlene early this morning so she could talk to her about Dr. Kent in private.” Taking the quickest way to the kitchen, they walked down the back staircase and into the rear foyer. “This is her ball game, not mine.”

“Yeah, but she’s askin’ us for help. She doesn’t have the nose for clues, like you and I do.”
He gave a doggie snort.
“Finding that doctor’s killer is up to us pros.”

“Nu-uh. No way are you and I pros. Detective Wheeling is on it, and so is DEA Agent Bond. It would be foolish to step on their toes.”

“V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.” She spelled the word carefully. “I can’t be any more explicit than that. Now be quiet. We’re almost in the kitchen.” They went through the laundry room and into the eating area, where she again spied a lovely breakfast buffet. “Just give me a second to get your food out of the pantry.”

“Are you talking to me, miss?”

She jumped when she heard the question. Then she saw Rosa sitting in a far corner of the breakfast area. Surprised to find her there, Ellie shuffled over. She hadn’t seen the housekeeper since the night of the murder, but delicious food seemed to magically appear on the table for each meal, so she assumed Rosa’s daughters had done the cooking while their mother dealt with Arlene.

“Um, no. I was talking to my dog.” She smiled. “I do it all the time.”

“Ah,
sí
. So does Miss Arlene.” Sniffing, she dabbed her nose with a tissue. “She is
mucho
upset about losing
el doctor
.
Pobrecita.
”

The housekeeper appeared so forlorn, Ellie couldn’t help offering comfort. Rosa had worked in this house a long time. The police must have questioned her, so there had to be something else on her mind.

“And what about you? Do you miss him, too?”

“El doctor?”
Her cheeks turned dark red and her eyes narrowed. “No, never. He was not a nice man.”

Shocked by Rosa’s vehemence, she squatted to be on eye level with the woman. “You didn’t like Dr. Kent?”

Rosa fisted the hand holding the tissue and set it over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I just said.”

“It’s all right, really. I didn’t know him at all, but I’ve heard things—things that make me want to agree with you.” She crossed mental fingers and lowered her voice. “I heard Dr. Kent dealt in illegal drugs.”

Eyes wide, Rosa sobbed into the tissue.
“Sí, sí
. He is the one who gave my Maria the pills that made her sick.”

Ellie blinked. Maria was the teen who’d OD’d on drugs? And she’d gotten them from Martin Kent? No wonder Rosa disliked the doc. But could she have killed him?

“Oh, Rosa, are you sure about that?”

“I know because my daughter, she told me. She was cleaning the waiting room in his office and she heard some of his patients talking about how good they felt after taking his medicine. She sometimes gets
—como se dice—el dolor de cabeza
—what you call the migraine, so she asked him about the drugs, and he gave her something. For no money, he say. He just wanted her to—to—” She shook her head. “I cannot talk about it. Miss Arlene, she might find out, and if she did she would be more sad than she is already.”

If Martin Kent wanted what Ellie thought he wanted from the sixteen-year-old Maria, he was a creep, a pervert, and worse, a pedophile. Men like that deserved all the bad things that happened to them. “But the police don’t know that Dr. Kent was the cause of her overdose?”

“No, no. She told them she bought the drugs from someone at her school, and made me promise to keep her secret. Miss Arlene, she has been so good to us since Mr. Myron died. Tomas left, and she let him return. He came back the night of the party, and now I am worried. Very worried.”

“It’s nice of you to protect Arlene, but don’t you think it would have been better if she’d known the truth about her fiancé? From what you’re saying, marrying him would have been a terrible mistake.”

“At first, I tried to tell her, but every time I began, she changed the words to make it sound like Dr. Kent was a saint.” Rosa shook her head. “I was going to tell the police, but Julio said no. He and Tomas would take care of it.”

Take
care
of it? “What were they going to do?”

Eyes red, Rosa sobbed again, biting down on the tissue.
“Yo hablo demasiado.
I talk too much. I must go to work.” She stood.
“Con permiso.”

Before Ellie could say a word, the housekeeper rushed off toward the back stairs.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Tomas and Julio?”

Okay, so the phrase did have the sound of a clue, but what was it the men had planned to do? And had they already done it?

“I heard, but it could have meant anything. Tomas is Maria’s older brother. He could have given her comfort, gotten her straight on the perils of drug abuse. Julio might have offered to send her to a family member to get her away from temptation.” And out of Dr. Kent’s clutches. “Stuff like that.”

Trying to make sense of Rosa’s words, she found Rudy’s dry food in the pantry, removed his canned Grammy’s Pot Pie from the fancy Sub-Zero refrigerator, and mixed his morning nibble. “Here you are. Finish up while I make myself a plate, and we’ll go outside.”

 

With the housekeeper’s story still ringing in her brain, Ellie carried her coffee, scrambled eggs, croissant, and fruit to the back door, where Rudy was already waiting. “That was fast,” she told him, shouldering her way onto the terrace.

“I was starvin’,”
he called as he raced ahead and touched noses with Mr. T.

“It’s about time you showed up,” said Viv, who was sitting at her usual place at the table. She pushed her empty plate aside. “I was afraid you’d gone back to sleep.”

Viv held her head in her hands. “That bird has chattered nonsense all morning. He’s driving me crazy.”

Ellie set down her breakfast and dug a knife, fork, and napkin from her tote. “Want me to take him inside?”

“I wish, but Arlene gave me strict instructions. Told me to bring him out here for some morning relaxation. Apparently, Myron needs a couple of hours in the fresh air every day in order to stay healthy.”

Pulling her sunglasses from the top of her head, Ellie seated them on her nose and glanced over the dunes. “I can see why that would make him happy.” She admired the sun sparkling on the ocean. “It’s beautiful here, and the breeze is great. You won’t have to force me to sit on the beach today.”