Mary Bliss collapsed onto a kitchen chair. Charlie sat down beside her. A short time later, Katharine drifted in, fully dressed, and began making the coffee.
“Well,” Mary Bliss said, exchanging worried looks with Katharine. “I guess I better load up what’s left of my chicken salad and head home.”
“What’s your hurry?” Charlie asked. He was trying to smooth out the pages of the morning paper.
“The caterer is coming at nine to pick it up,” Mary Bliss said. “And he’s going to write me a check too.”
Charlie checked his wristwatch. “It’s only quarter of. Plenty of time to fill me in on who that man was and what the hell he was doing in my house.”
Katharine switched on the coffee grinder and let it run a minute longer than was absolutely necessary.
Charlie folded the newspaper into a neat rectangle. “I’m waiting,” he announced.
Katharine shot Mary Bliss a look.
“All right,” Mary Bliss said. “I’m the one who got us into this, so I guess I’ll be the one to explain.”
“All of it,” Charlie prompted.
“His name is Dinky Davis,” Mary Bliss started. “And we thought he was dead. But he’s not.”
“I see,” Charlie said. “There seems to be a lot of reincarnation around here.”
“You can’t blame it all on Mary Bliss,” Katharine said. “I’m the one who hired him to impersonate Parker.”
“But I’m the one who went out on the boat with him,” Mary Bliss said. “And I’m the one who paid for the death certificate.”
“I gave her the money,” Katharine said.
Charlie’s head swiveled from left to right. From Katharine to Mary Bliss.
“Let me get this straight,” he said. “You went down to Cozumel, wandered around, hired a complete stranger, that degenerate, to impersonate Parker? Then you staged some botched-up boating accident, all in an effort to collect on Parker’s life insurance?” He shook his head. “I’m stunned. I really am. I knew there was something going on, but I never dreamed the two of you would attempt something as imbecilic—not to mention criminal and downright dangerous—as this.”
Mary Bliss hung her head. Katharine sipped her coffee for a minute.
“It almost worked,” Katharine said finally. “And it would have worked. How did we know he would get drunk and crash the boat? It was a really beautiful plan, Charlie. Mary Bliss was going to let him off the boat—”
Charlie stopped her. “I don’t want to hear another word. I’m an officer of the court. And what you’re talking about is fraud. You could both go to prison.”
Mary Bliss sighed. “I’m sorry I got Katharine mixed up in this, Charlie. And I’m sorry you got mixed up too. And I’m really, really sorry Dinky Davis showed up here last night.” She raised her chin. “But I’ll tell you what I’m most sorry about. I’m sorry it wasn’t really Parker on that boat.”
“You don’t mean that,” Charlie said, patting her hand. “You’re just upset.”
“No,” Mary Bliss said. “Parker took everything. Robbed me. Robbed Erin. If he wanted a divorce, I think I could have handled that. But he didn’t do that. He snuck out in the middle of the night. Like a common thief. I guess I made some stupid choices. But I didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t leave me any choices.”
Charlie folded the newspaper and set it aside. “I wish you’d talked to me. You could have told me the truth. We would have figured out something.”
“Like what?” Mary Bliss asked. “Parker did a great job. He put me in a hole so deep, I could never dig myself out. Not legally, anyway.”
“Legally is the key word,” Charlie said. “Parker didn’t defraud just you. He defrauded the mortgage company when he did that refinance. He falsified your signature on that power of attorney, so it’s not a valid document.”
Mary Bliss did a double take. “You mean, I don’t owe them the whole seven hundred thousand dollars?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Charlie said. “I should be able to get the company to stop the repossession action, after I present them with your affidavit about the phony power of attorney. The signature on it definitely isn’t yours.”
“That’s it?” Mary Bliss said, her voice rising. She giggled. “That’s all it takes? I get to keep my house?” She jumped up and kissed Charlie on the top of the head.
“Charlie Weidman, if Katharine doesn’t take you back, I’ll marry you my own self.”
Charlie pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose. “Aren’t you forgetting something? You’re still married to Parker McGowan. And he’s out there. Somewhere.”
That sobered her up again.
“God, what a mess I’ve made of things,” she said, slumping down into her chair. “Even if I get to keep the house, how do I undo everything else? How do I tell Erin the truth? That her lying, thieving daddy isn’t dead after all. He’s just on the lam.”
Katharine poured Mary Bliss a cup of coffee. “Guess what my mama always said was true.”
“What did your mama always say?” Charlie asked.
“That it’s easy to squeeze the toothpaste out. It’s gettin’ it back in that’s the killer.”
“That may be the only thing Mamie was ever right about,” Charlie said. “That and her chicken salad. And her martini. Mamie could mix a mean dirty martini.”
“The chicken salad!” Mary Bliss jumped up again. “I almost forgot. That caterer will be at the house any minute. And I’m ten pounds short. What’ll I do?”
Katharine didn’t miss a beat. “Do what Mama did. One time, Daddy came home from work and he saw a bowl of that chicken salad in the icebox. He ate half the bowl, not realizing Mama was having bridge club the next day. She liked to have killed him.”
“But what did she do?” Mary Bliss asked.
“She got out her best silver platter and loaded it up high with pretty lettuce leaves. Then she threw in a lot more mayonnaise and chopped pecans and green grapes and sliced water chestnuts. Nobody knew the difference.”
Mary Bliss thought it over. “That would work, I guess. Or, I could just tell the caterer the truth—that I’m about five pounds short.”
“The truth,” Charlie said dryly. “That would be a novelty for you. What about the real issue, Mary Bliss? Are you ready to come clean about Parker? With the insurance company? And Erin, of course.”
Mary Bliss had taken a head of lettuce from Katharine’s refrigerator and was already slicing it into thin ribbons. “I can’t talk to Erin. We had a huge fight after I went through her things and found out she’s been sleeping with Josh Bowden. She left and she hasn’t been back, except to pick up clean clothes. She blames me for everything, including losing her daddy.”
“You know what the answer to all this is, don’t you?” Charlie asked. “We have to find Parker. Make him come home and deal with this mess he’s created.”
“How?” Mary Bliss asked. “Just tell me how to find him.”
“Matt Hayslip,” Charlie said. “He’s a smart sumbitch. He’s got a couple of leads. He tracked down those bank photos, and he’s established a money trail. I really believe he can find Parker.”
“No,” Mary Bliss said flatly. “I don’t want anything to do with that man. I mean it, Charlie. I’d just as soon leave things the way they are. I don’t want that man messing in my business.”
“That man?” Katharine said, raising an eyebrow.
“I mean it, you two,” Mary Bliss said, giving them both a stern look. “Leave Matt Hayslip out of it.”
“You may not have a choice in the matter,” Charlie pointed out. “He doesn’t work for you, remember? And I get the feeling he is a very determined kind of guy.”