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My heart stuttered inside my chest. I’d been worried this might happen but never dreamed it would occur at such record speed. “Oh my God. Why would the police arrest your mother?”
Max gave a hollow laugh. “Very simple. The preliminary report from the coroner stated that my father was hit in the head with a blunt object. He believes that’s what made him fall into the pool. He was unconscious and his lungs filled with water, meaning that he drowned because no one could save him in time.”
My stomach twisted with guilt. If only I had made it back a few minutes earlier, perhaps I could have saved him. “What proof do they have that your mother did it?”
“They found a golf club in my mother’s car.” There was a catch in Max’s voice. “The club had traces of my father’s blood on it.”
I clamped a hand over my mouth. “There’s got to be some mistake.”
“My mother is not a cold-blooded killer, Mrs. York. I will never believe that she killed my father.”
An awkward silence fell between us, and I got the impression that he was waiting for me to say something in his mother’s defense. “I don’t believe it either. This is such a shock.”
“It’s a shock to all of us,” Max added. “To make matters worse, the press was still there last night when mom was arrested. I swear the media is evil. Anyway, they won’t leave us alone. They’re parked across the street and standing on our lawn, waiting for me and my brother to come outside.”
I shuddered. “That’s terrible. I’m so sorry you’re all going through this.”
“Why is this happening to her?” Max wanted to know. “My mother is a good person. She’d never hurt my father.”
Sadly, I didn’t have an answer for him. “Have you spoken to her since she left?”
“She phoned a few minutes ago. Her attorney said that she should be out on bail sometime this afternoon. That’s when she asked if I would call you right away. Mom wants to know if you could come by the house tonight—say around six o’clock?”
I exhaled sharply. “If it’s about the house sale, I won’t be able to—”
“It’s not regarding the house,” Max interrupted. “She wants to talk to you about Dad’s death.” He paused. “Or murder. God, this still doesn’t feel real to me.”
I placed two slices of bread in the toaster and set the butter dish on the table. “I’ve already told the police everything that happened.”
“Mom read somewhere that you were involved in a murder investigation before,” Max explained. “She thinks you can help her.”
Disbelief registered in his tone, but that didn’t bother me. Max didn’t know about the previous situations I’d been in. Besides, I wasn’t sure that I could help Pam either. “I’m not a detective.”
“I don’t know what mom’s thinking. Sorry. I’m not trying to insult you,” Max said. Even if you can’t help, she could use a friend right about now. Someone who believes she’s innocent. Mom’s kind of an introvert. Probably my father’s fault, I guess. Anyway, she doesn’t have a lot of friends. She’s always talked about you though and kept saying that she wanted to call you.” He paused. “I think she didn’t want you to know how bad things were around here.”
Pity for my friend tore at my heart strings. There was no way I could turn my back on her now, so I gave in. “Okay. I’ll be there tonight.”
“Oh wow,” Max breathed. “Thank you so much, Mrs. York. My brother and I really appreciate this.”
I clicked off and slumped into a nearby chair, wondering how I managed to get myself into these situations. It was odd to know that Pam had read about me in the paper. There were a few articles that had mentioned me in association with a murder investigation, but that had been four years ago. Why was this happening again? It felt like a déjà vu.
Greg brought the dogs inside and they ran through the kitchen into the living room. He shot me a worried glance. “What’s wrong?”
“Pam’s been arrested for Kevin’s murder, and she wants to talk to me tonight.” I quickly explained my conversation with Max.
Greg’s jaw tightened. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
I shrugged. “What can I do, Greg? There’s no way I couldn’t say no.”
“Yes, you could,” he insisted. “This is dangerous. What if Pam did kill her husband? I hate that you’re getting involved in this crap again.”
I poured us each a cup of coffee as Greg grabbed his breakfast from the frying pan. We sat down at the table next to each other. “Pam needs a friend right now. Someone who believes in her innocence. She’s going to take the house off the market, so this will probably be the last time I see her for a while.”
Greg forked some egg into his mouth. “If you must go, bring something for protection.”
“Like what? A gun, perhaps?” I asked in disbelief.
“Funny. A kitchen knife, mace, a set of handcuffs. I don’t care, anything to help put my mind at ease.” He blew out a breath and gathered me in his arms. “Text me when you get there, and then again every twenty minutes. On second thought, maybe I should go with you.”
I had to laugh. “Greg, I’m sure the media will still be camped out on Pam’s lawn, especially when they find out she’s been released on bail. She isn’t going to hurt me.”
Greg picked up a piece of toast. “All right,” he relented. “I should be home from work by then, but I’ll ask Darcy to keep an eye on Grace just in case.”
I stirred some cream into my coffee. “Speaking of Darcy, when do you want to talk to her?”
“As soon as you get home tonight,” he said. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it all straightened out.”
“Whatever happens, she’s going back to college this weekend.” I helped myself to a piece of bacon.
Greg chuckled. “Well, this is a switch. There was a time when you were the easy going one and I was the disciplinarian.”
“I guess we’ve switched roles.”
His blue eyes twinkled at me. “Hmm. I could learn to like this.”
***
When I arrived at Pam’s that evening, there were still at least a half dozen reporters on the lawn. One tried to shove a microphone in my face as I hurried up the porch steps.
“Ma’am, aren’t you the woman who tried to save Mr. Hilton?” one woman asked.
Dang, the media didn’t miss anything.
“Is it true you were having an affair with Mr. Hilton?” a man asked breathlessly.
Good grief. These people were relentless. I pushed my finger on the doorbell. “Of course not! I’m a friend of the family.”
“Do you think that Mrs. Hilton killed her husband?” he asked.
The questions kept coming. I started pounding on the front door as if my life depended on it. Fortunately, Denise opened it and hastily ushered me inside.
“I’m sorry that you had to go through that, Mrs. York.” She shut the door behind me. “They’re like a pack of hungry wolves circling for the kill. Please have a seat on the couch.”
“Thank you.” I set my purse on the cushion next to me. “How is Pam doing?”
Denise made a face. “About as well as you’d expect. She got home about four o’clock and went straight to bed, poor thing. I went up to wake her a few minutes ago like she requested. She’ll be down in a minute. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting ready to leave.”
She started to walk away, but I stopped her. “Denise, what happened to you yesterday?”
She shot me a puzzled look. “I don’t know what you mean, ma’am.”
“Did Mr. Hilton ask you to stay and clean up after the party?” I asked.
Her forehead wrinkled. “No, ma’am. He was going to leave it for the next morning. That’s always what he did in the past. That man was such a slob.” She stopped herself in time. “Sorry, I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, I guess. Anyhow, I was prepared to take Mrs. Hilton shopping, but she told me to leave for the day and that she’d see me in the morning.”
“How did Pam seem to you? I mean, was she—” I couldn’t say the word.
Denise’s eyebrows shot up. “Yes, she’d already had a few drinks by then. I know she was stressed out about that party, poor thing. The alcohol always helped her to relax.”
“So, she was still alert then. What time did you leave?”
She thought for a minute. “It was about three o’clock. Why are you asking all these questions?”
“I just want to help prove that Pam didn’t hurt Kevin.”
Denise looked annoyed. “Well, of course she didn’t. Not that I would have blamed her, though.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “You didn’t like Mr. Hilton?”
She stared down at the floor and said nothing.
“It’s okay,” I said gently. “Pam is my friend. I’m here because I want to help, not because of a real estate commission. Anything that you tell me is confidential.”
“No, I didn’t like him,” she huffed. “He treated her and their sons like garbage. If you ask me, Mrs. Hilton is better off without him. What kind of a man would cheat on his wife—”
She never finished the sentence. Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Max appeared. Denise hurried toward the kitchen without another word.
Max gave me a polite smile. “Thanks for coming. Mom will be down in a minute.”
“No worries. You look very nice.” He was dressed in a black tuxedo and looked handsome and dignified. I couldn’t help wondering where he might be going so soon after his father’s death.
Max flushed, as if guessing my thoughts. “Thanks. I’m headed to my girlfriend’s house. It’s Tammy’s birthday, and her parents have been planning a dinner party for weeks.” He paused. “Fifty of their closest friends will be there.”
Fifty close friends? I didn’t even have ten people that I considered close friends. Jacques and Ed pretty much summed it up for me. “Sounds like fun.”
“Yeah.” Max traced a pattern in the carpet with his black loafer. “They would have understood if I couldn’t make it, given the circumstances, but I hate to disappoint Tammy. And when the Wellingtons invite you to a party, no one ever says no.”
I blinked. “Wellington? As in James Wellington, the investment banker?”
“That’s right.” Max smiled. “My father used his services a few years back. That’s how Tammy and I met. Her parents invited my father and all of us to a Kentucky Derby party a couple of years ago.”
“I see.” Max had made himself a fine match, indeed. James Wellington owned a number of luxury hotels and restaurants in New York. He’d even been featured in an issue of Forbes Magazine recently.
Max felt the need to explain further. “I want her parents to like me. They have to like me. Tammy’s my entire world. I’m planning to propose to her next spring when I graduate. Her parents will probably want us to move in with them.”
I was impressed. “You deserve a lot of credit. I could never live in the same house with my mother-in-law.”
His mouth turned up at the corners. “Yeah, I get that. But it’s a big house.”
It didn’t matter if it was Buckingham Palace. There was no way that Helen York and I could coexist within the same four walls.
“Tammy’s mom is great,” Max went on, “and her dad is okay too. He doesn’t want to see his only daughter move away. The best part is that we’d have our own wing in their house so I wouldn’t have to see much of them. Of course, I have to ask for her hand first, and that’s another reason why I can’t refuse to go tonight.”
“Well, she’s a lucky girl.”
Max flushed. “Thanks. Um, this is kind of awkward, but I was wrong. I think Mom’s going to ask you to take the house off the market.”
"I suspected that.”
Max put his hands in his pockets. “She never wanted to sell in the first place, but you already know that. She has enough stress in her life. People are like vultures. They’d be scheduling showings just so they could take pictures of our home and get all the gossip.” He modified his voice to sound like an old woman’s. “‘See, Lucille? That’s where he died. And that’s where he used to sit and have his martini every night, before he’d smack his wife around.’”
The stairs creaked, and I looked up to see Pam slowly making her way towards us. She was dressed in a blue silk kimono robe and matching slippers, her dark hair falling loosely around her shoulders. Her face was pale, and there were deep circles underneath her eyes. I went forward to hug her.
She clung to me tightly for a moment. “Thank you, Cindy. I appreciate you coming.”
“Mom,” Max interrupted. “I hate to leave you like this, but I really must go.”
“Of course.” She released me and gave her son a kiss on the cheek. “Never keep James Wellington and his daughter waiting. Have a good time and tell Tammy that I said hello.”
“I will. Would you like me to stay here again tonight?”
Pam patted his cheek lovingly. “No, dear. Go back to your dorm. Don’t worry about me.”
Max drew his car keys out of his pocket. “Good-bye, Mrs. York. Thanks for everything you’ve done.”
“My pleasure. Bye, Max.”
After he had left, Pam settled herself on the couch, and I took a seat beside her. She glanced in the direction of the kitchen. “Denise! Where’s my drink?” Her tone was sharp and impatient, something that I had not seen before.
It must have struck a chord with Denise as well because she came hurrying into the room with a silver tray that held a bottle of Jack Daniels and a whisky glass. She set the tray on the table.
“If there’s nothing else, Pam, I’ll be leaving.”
“Cindy, would you like anything? Coffee? Denise, bring another glass for our guest.”
I held up a hand. “No, I’m fine, thanks.”
Pam wasted no time pouring herself a glass full of the alcohol and then downed it in record time. She choked and sputtered then gave Denise a careless wave. “Have a good night.”
Denise glanced from her employer to me and then moved swiftly towards the kitchen. Maybe she was afraid that if she didn’t leave now, she’d be stuck lifting Pam off the floor tonight.
I watched as Pam refilled her glass. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
Instead of answering, she took a long sip of her drink and opened the drawer underneath the coffee table. She removed a photo album and placed it in my lap. “I was looking through this last night.” Her voice shook with emotion. “This one has some college photos and a few of my wedding. I thought you’d like to see them.”
This seemed an odd time for a stroll down memory lane, but I took the album from her outstretched hands. There were several photos of Pam and me—from our dorm, frat parties, and the summer before our senior year. I’d gone to spend a few weeks at her house after my mother had died. Pam had been such a comfort to me during that terrible time, and I wanted to do the same for her now.
The photos from Pam’s wedding were beautiful. It had been a gorgeous affair with her parents sparing no expense. She’d had four bridesmaids including me. The purple, puffy gown had made me look like Barney the Dinosaur and was so dated that I laughed out loud. I’d donated that gown to charity right after the wedding. I smiled at a picture of Kevin and Pam feeding each other cake. The love in their eyes had been plain to see. How had things gone so wrong?
I glanced at a closeup photo of their hands, with Kevin’s resting on top of Pam’s. Her exquisite engagement ring, a two-carat marquise cut, had sparkled on her delicate finger. The ring had belonged to his grandmother. Their wedding bands matched and complimented the engagement ring. On Kevin’s pinky was the same ring I’d noticed the other day—the one that had scraped against my hand. I turned the photo around so that Pam could see. “Didn’t you tell me that ring belonged to Kevin’s father?”
Pam wiped away a tear from her cheek. “That’s right. His mother gave it to him when he graduated from college. His dad had died a few weeks earlier and never got to see him graduate. Kevin promised that he’d wear it always. If there was one person that he genuinely loved in his life, it was his dad.”
There was a note of bitterness in her tone, but I chose to ignore it. “The ring looks valuable.” What was it about the ring that struck bothered me? Then I remembered. It had been on Kevin’s finger when I arrived for the showing, but after I’d given him CPR, it was gone.
“It is. Kevin had it appraised once for insurance purposes. I think the value was something like fifteen grand.” She sniffed. “He cared more about that ring than he did his own wedding ring. He stopped wearing that months ago, but he never took his dad’s ring off.”
“The ring was gone from his finger when I gave him CPR,” I said. “Do you know what happened to it?”
Pam looked at me in surprise. “Oh, he must have removed it to go swimming.”
I shook my head. “No, he had it on when he was getting out of the pool.”
She shrugged. “The police probably have it with his personal items. I guess I’ll have to sell it now to help make ends meet. I know it sounds terrible to be talking about money so soon after his death, but hey, my sons and I need to eat, right? Plus, Nate will be starting college next year and Max still has another semester to pay for.”
“What about the law firm?” I asked. “Surely you’ll get a percentage of that.”
Pam shook her head. “Kevin didn’t own the building. The rent is a small fortune each month and so is the upkeep on the office space. His partner, Carmine, talked him into spending money on things which were totally unnecessary. At least in my opinion, that is.”
This didn’t make sense. “But what about all those cases that he’s won? I mean, Kevin was a high-profile attorney. Surely he must have made a profit.”
“Cindy, I never told the boys this, so please don’t say anything, but Kevin had a gambling problem. He liked to play the horses at the racetrack every summer. His addiction grew worse every year.” She clasped her hands in her lap. “It’s one of the reasons I started drinking. I needed an escape from all of our problems, I guess.”
My heart overturned with pity for her. “I had no idea, Pam. I’m so sorry.”
She exhaled sharply and poured herself another drink. “I need your help.”
“Don’t worry about the house,” I assured her. “I’ll take the listing down as soon as I get home tonight.”
Pam looked puzzled. “Why would you do that? I’m still going ahead with the sale.”
This was a surprise. “But I don’t understand. Kevin was forcing you to sell the house. Max said that he thought that’s why you wanted to see me—to take the house off the market. He said it was too much for you to deal with right now.”
She wrapped her shaking hands tightly around the glass. “Yes, that’s true, but regardless, I’ve still decided to go ahead with the sale. The market is hot right now and if I go to prison, at least the boys will have some money to live on when the house sells.”
“Please don’t even think about that happening.”
“But I have to,” Pam insisted. “And my sons would be without any parents. They need to have some type of legacy.” She stood and walked over to the fireplace. On the mantle, there was a large crystal framed picture of her and Kevin on their wedding day. She picked it up and studied the photo for a moment. “Besides, there’s too many memories here, and not all good ones.”
I was confused. “If you still want to go ahead with the sale, what do you need my help with?”
Pam sat down next to me and reached for my hand. “I know who killed Kevin. It was his girlfriend, Katie Whitcomb.”
“Did you tell the police that?”
“I tried,” she said. “But they won’t listen to me. Since the golf club was found in my car, they’re convinced I did it. What they don’t realize is that my car wasn’t locked, and neither was the garage.”
I was trying to sort things out in my head. “The golf club was yours, right?” Pam had been on our school’s golf team and always excelled at the sport. When I’d last seen her a couple of years ago, she’d invited me to play with her at the country club, but I’d declined. I was a disaster at golf and would have only embarrassed her.
“Yes, but don’t you see?” Pam’s voice rose an octave. “Someone took it out of my car, used it on Kevin, and then placed it back in my car. They’re trying to frame me. It had to be Katie.”
She was entirely convinced of Katie’s guilt, but I wasn’t so sure. “You just told me that anyone could have taken the club from your car.”
Pam closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a moment. “It must have been Katie. She had the perfect motive. She had Kevin make her the new beneficiary for his life insurance policy. It’s worth a million dollars.”
“Are you sure?”
Her nostrils flared. “Positive. He told me the other day that he’d removed my name from the policy and put hers on. And there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Oh, Pam.” I didn’t know what else to say, but now I understood why she still wanted to sell the house. She needed the money.
Tears ran down Pam’s cheeks. “It was a complete shock, but I should have known better. He was planning to marry Katie after our divorce was final. He told me years ago that he’d stopped loving me. Do you know how all of this makes me feel?”
“No,” I admitted, and it was the truth. I couldn’t fathom how it would have felt to have Greg suddenly confess that he no longer loved me, cheat with another woman, and then leave me next to nothing after he died. I suspected it must be similar to a punch in the stomach. Unexpected, breathless, and very painful.
Pam clasped my hand tighter. “Can you talk to Katie? See if you can get her to slip up and confess to Kevin’s murder.”
I thought about what Greg had said earlier. “It’s probably best if I stay out of this.”
“Please don’t make me beg.” Pam narrowed her eyes. “And please don’t make me find another realtor.”
My mouth dropped open in amazement. “What are you saying? That you’d relist the house with another agency if I say no?”
“No.” Pam was silent for several seconds. “That wouldn’t be right. You’re a wonderful person, Cindy. You’re honest, caring, and a good friend. All I’m asking is for you to go to Kevin’s office and have a talk with Katie. I know she did this. Make up something for all I care.”
My head was telling me to say no, but my heart was another matter. “Pam, I’m sure the police have already questioned her—”
“Please,” she pleaded. “I have no one else to ask. The boys can’t stand to be in the same room as her. You’re the only friend that I have. The only one that I trust.”
“All right,” I relented. “I’ll talk to her, but that’s all.”
Pam threw her arms around my neck and started to sob. “Thank you, Cindy. I’ll never forget this.”
Something told me that I wouldn’t either.