The next morning, we all met in the kitchen for a wake-up cup of coffee. I had also made a full pot of tea, the kind with real tea leaves. Not tea bags. I knew that much after living with Derek all this time. Still, this was for his mother, so I prayed I’d used an acceptable brand of loose tea. The English were very particular about their favorite beverage.
Everyone had agreed the night before that after a quick cup of coffee or tea here, we would walk across the street and pick up caffe lattes at the Beanery. Then we’d stop in for a savory breakfast pie at Sweetie Pies. And there was talk that, on the way back, some of us would take the opportunity to peek through the windows of the Rabbit Hole, hoping to get a look at the site of my latest “murder magnet” event.
The parents would never use those words, of course. They were much too thoughtful. But I knew what they were thinking. And I couldn’t blame them, honestly. Still, I didn’t like the feeling that they were tingling with anticipation that I would stumble over another body while they watched.
Don’t get me wrong. I was already in love with Derek’s folks, and of course I loved my own parents. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help feeling a bit like a circus geek, eating live chickens for the avaricious audience.
Okay, that was a really bad analogy. But I did feel like my oddities were about to be put on display for all to see. And for Pete’s sake, I had to stop feeling sorry for myself!
As I walked back to the bedroom to change into my street clothes, Derek’s mother caught me in the hall. “Brooklyn, dear, if you’d rather not take us across to the shops, I’ll understand. I never should’ve brought it up.”
“Of course we’ll go to the shops,” I insisted. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. And it’s my fault.” She leaned against the wall and fiddled with the belt to her bathrobe. “I should’ve been more sensitive to your feelings. I usually am, honestly.”
“Of course you are.”
“But the minute I met you, I felt I was meeting another kindred spirit. The same is true for your mother. It’s like a dream come true.” She paused, reached out, and took my hand to give it a squeeze. “I’m not ashamed to admit that I was a bit nervous about meeting you. But the moment we met, I knew that we would be close and that my worries were for nothing. And Derek is so happy. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you’re all going to be part of our family.”
I knew exactly what she meant. I’d been on pins and needles about meeting Derek’s parents, hoping they would like me. Hoping I’d like them. And it was such a relief now to find that they were such lovely people. “Now you’re going to make me cry.”
She grabbed me in a fierce hug. “You sweet girl.”
Wrapped up in her arms, I smiled. She smelled of some wonderful lavender-scented soap and English breakfast tea.
“Now,” she said after letting me go, “let’s get real. It should’ve occurred to me that finding a dead body was not the pleasurable experience it’s chalked up to be. If one has any human feeling at all, I imagine you must suffer terribly. I ought to have known it would be difficult for you, but I can be so obtuse sometimes.”
I touched her arm. “Please don’t say that. It’s not true at all.”
She chuckled. “I’m afraid it is. And I blame it on all those gritty cop shows I love to watch on the telly. They make death seem so unreal, and the actors can be so blasé, you know.”
“I love those shows, too.”
“That’s my girl.” She gave me another quick hug. “All right. I’ve begged for your forgiveness and you’ve granted me absolution, and now we can move on. Let’s forgo the Courtyard and do something different instead. I can help whip up a hearty breakfast right here, and afterward we can go for a walk in the park. Or stay home and read a good book. Honestly, that’s one of my favorite things to do. What do you say?”
I realized I could have listened to her charming accent all day long. And I found it so admirable, the way she could turn on a dime and carry on. “Thank you, Meg. You’re right. It’s horribly sad and frightening to come upon sudden violent death. I usually don’t like to think about it.”
“And here I’ve dredged it up and made you unhappy.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I’m pretty resilient.”
“Of course you are,” she said staunchly.
“But honestly, I really would love to show you the Courtyard shops. And ever since we started talking about it, I’ve been practically drooling for a breakfast pie.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and pressed her hand to her heart in gratitude. “Oh, thank God. I’ll admit it was breaking my heart to pass up a savory pasty.”
I laughed and felt much better. “Then we’d better get ready to go.”
• • •
A half hour later, after greeting Colin and placing our orders, we found a table and lingered in the pie shop with our coffee drinks and breakfast pies—or pasties, as John and Meg called them. We chatted about all the things they wanted to see and do while they were in town, and we all offered suggestions.
Derek and I had already made up an extensive itinerary of all our favorite places, but since we would be together for a whole week, there would be plenty of times when one or more of us would simply want to go for a walk in the park or relax and read a book, just as Meg had suggested earlier. Besides, I had always hated having every hour accounted for in an “activity journal” of some kind, no matter where I was traveling.
After an hour in the pie shop, we split up to go explore the other Courtyard shops. On my recommendation, Mom and Meg went to check out Kitty’s hat shop, and the three men walked around to the back of the building by the parking lot to see how well the graffiti had been painted over. Definitely a guy thing.
I, naturally, headed for the bookshop. We had all agreed to meet there in twenty minutes anyway, but I wanted to get a head start.
The store had been open only a few minutes and no one was inside except Terrence and Eddie, who were busy at the front counter. I was about to greet them when I heard Terrence grumble, “I’m so sick of this.”
“You’re sick of it?” Eddie countered. “How do you think I feel?”
“I don’t care how you feel. It’s not all about you every minute of the day, you know. God, you disgust me sometimes!”
“If you don’t like it, then just sell the damn shop to me.”
“No way.”
I slinked back behind a bookshelf and viewed the brothers through a row of cookbooks.
“Then be quiet,” Eddie said, sounding fairly mild mannered in the middle of what sounded like a rip-roaring argument. “Look, just face it. You’ve always been jealous of me—not that I blame you. But you need to work it out. Talk to a therapist. Go find a girlfriend. But get over it.”
“I had a girlfriend and you poisoned her mind.”
Eddie laughed. “Do you know how pathetic you sound? Bonnie was never your girlfriend, Terrence. We’ve both known her for years and we’ve always seen her flitting from one man to the next. She’s like a hummingbird flying from flower to flower. She never stops moving.”
“She loved me,” Terrence whispered, a note of desperation in his voice. “She gave me the book.”
“Oh, right,” Eddie said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “The book. Of course she gave you the book. And then she stole it back—that’s how much she really loved you. Get a clue, Terrence. You’re starting to lose it for real.”
“She did not steal it.” Terrence bared his teeth, almost snarling at his brother-in-law. “I know it was you.”
“We’ve been down this road before. Why would I steal your book?”
“To make me crazy,” he muttered.
“Too late for that, bro. You’re already crazy.” Eddie paced the length of the counter. “Look, Bonnie gave me a book, too. It’s a beauty, as you well know. But so what? She’s got a thing for guys and books. For all I know, she stole your book from you and gave it to Joey.”
“I’ve already considered that,” he muttered.
Eddie ignored his comment and continued. “Why can’t you just give it up with Bonnie? I know you’ve seen her with every other guy in the neighborhood. Including me.”
“You don’t understand.” Terrence moaned.
“I guess I don’t. I don’t understand why you couldn’t just have a good time while it lasted instead of flipping out on her. It’s been months, and to this very day, every time she walks by, you have a complete meltdown. You know she’s just taunting you, right?”
“If she is, it’s your fault.”
“Oh yeah, because I poisoned her mind.” Eddie scratched his head, clearly bemused. “You know that’s ridiculous, right? The truth is, you scared her off, Terrence. You became so obsessed that she couldn’t take it anymore.”
“So do you really think she gave my book to Joey? That’s what I think.”
Eddie spun around and faced him. “I have no idea. All I know is that I didn’t steal it. Frankly, I have my doubts that she ever actually gave you a book.”
“She gave me a book,” Terrence said through gritted teeth. “Because she loves me. And you can’t stand it.”
“Here we go again,” Eddie muttered. Then he laughed. “You’re delusional. I’ll just leave it at that. Otherwise, we’ll go round and round again, and my head will start spinning, and then I’ll have to go vomit.”
He had his back turned, as though completely ignoring Terrence. And sadly, Terrence couldn’t stand it.
“That’s sickening,” Terrence said. Then he came closer, narrowing in on Eddie. “You’re just as delusional as I am. That stupid book of yours is a fake and you know it.”
From my vantage point, I could see Eddie’s ears turning red. “You know that’s not true.”
Terrence gave a casual shrug, happy to have scored a point. “Maybe it is; maybe it isn’t.”
Eddie threw up his hands. “You don’t know anything about books!”
“I do too.”
“No, you don’t. You’ve never even tried to learn. My book isn’t a fake. It’s a first edition and it’s— Forget it. You don’t even care. I don’t know why you want to keep working here.”
“Maybe just to bug you.”
“Well, it’s working. But I’m not going to argue with you anymore. I’m sick and tired of it.”
“Well, I’m sick and tired of you, too.”
“Then why don’t you leave?” Eddie implored. “Quit the business. Sell me your half and go.”
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?”
Suddenly, Furbie the cat brushed up against me and I almost screamed out loud. Instead, I managed to take a few deep breaths, then hunched down and scratched his soft ears, silently begging him to keep my presence a secret. Because this conversation was really illuminating. Of course, now I was beginning to wonder how I would cover up my being here. At some point, I’d have to go back to the door and make a big production out of entering. Either that, or let the brothers know that I’d been listening in on what was clearly a private conversation. Not something I wanted to do.
“Yes!” Eddie cried. “I’ve told you a hundred times I wish you’d sell and leave. You don’t love this place like I do. You don’t even like books! Okay, maybe you like the new ones, but you’ve even admitted that the smell of old books makes you crazy. But you won’t give it up, ever. You’ll stay for the sheer joy of driving me mad. I think it makes you happy.”
“It’s definitely a nice side benefit, but what would really make me happy is if I could sell this stupid place right out from under you.”
“You can’t,” Eddie sneered. “Unless you forgot our agreement.”
“If only I could,” Terrence muttered.
“Another reason you’ll never leave is because you’d have to say good-bye to your beloved Bonnie. And you’ll never do that, either, because that would be the smart thing to do. And you are not smart, Terrence.”
I’d heard enough, and it was breaking my heart. While their backs were turned, I gave Furbie one last scratch and slipped out the door, where I took in some deep breaths of fresh air.
One thing was for sure. I no longer wondered why their wives had left them. Admittedly, most of the time the brothers-in-law were delightful and funny, but they each had a mean streak that could turn vicious when they decided to let loose on each other. I’d never really seen it in action personally before today, but now that I had, I was really depressed by the whole thing.
I leaned against the outer wall and stared up at the trees, taking in the vivid green leaves and blue sky. It was a crisp, cold spring morning, and I was glad our families were visiting when the weather was so beautiful.
After another long moment, my head began to clear. And that was when I started to replay Eddie and Terrence’s words.
How was it possible that Eddie’s copy of Alice in Wonderland was a fake? I’d held it in my hands and studied it. And another thing: If Bonnie had given Terrence the same book, was she also the one who’d stolen it back? Terrence had admitted that he had considered that possibility. And if so, had Bonnie given the book to Joey? Had Terrence ever mentioned the book to Joey?
Probably not. Knowing Joey’s good nature, I would bet he would’ve been happy to hand the book back to Terrence.
I froze on the spot as another thought occurred to me. Was Terrence the one who’d vandalized Joey’s shoe repair shop looking for the book?
Just as quickly, I shook my head. I couldn’t picture Terrence tearing through Joey’s shop, causing all the damage I’d seen the other day. He was much too passive-aggressive to do something so actively destructive.
I was missing something, so I mentally spun back around and went through all my questions again. Why did Terrence call Eddie’s copy of Alice in Wonderland a fake? Did he know what he was talking about? Eddie’s angry reaction made me wonder. But how could it be? I had examined the Alice more than a dozen times already, from cover to cover. It was the real deal. Wasn’t it?
But you haven’t really examined it, I whispered to myself. Have you?
I almost groaned out loud. No, I hadn’t examined it the way I would have liked to, with my own high-powered instruments in my own workshop. I’d only taken cursory looks at it with Eddie watching me like a hawk every second. Why did he have to be so possessive of the book? He knew I had expertise with books. Was he afraid I would discover that it was really a fake?
And suddenly it began to sink in.
Oh God. Was Joey’s murder all about a book, after all? I quickly brushed the thought aside since the only way a book could have been a catalyst for murder was if Eddie or Terrence had killed Joey. And I refused to believe that either of them could have done something so evil.
“Who are you talking to, sweetie?”
I jolted. My mother and Meg were standing a foot away, and I hadn’t even noticed them approach. “Mom. Meg. Hi. I didn’t see you. Um, yeah, funny thing, I was just talking to myself, um, trying to remember what ingredients go into spaghetti carbonara.”
Wow, that was as good a lie as I’d come up with in a long time.
“Nice try, punkin’,” Mom said, using my hated childhood nickname. Just because I used to obsess over pumpkin pie, my cruel family had never let me forget it.
“First of all,” Mom continued, “seriously, spaghetti carbonara? Honey, you don’t cook. And second of all, you’re the worst liar in the family. Now, what gives?”
“It’s nothing, Mom.” I waved her concern away. “I was just blathering to myself.”
Over her shoulder, I saw Derek and our dads walking toward me. Derek took one look at me and began to run. “What is it? What happened?”
I blinked. “How can you tell something happened?”
“You look stricken.” He grabbed me in a tight hug.
I whispered in his ear, “I just overheard Terrence and Eddie yelling at each other. It got pretty bitter.”
“They argued in front of you?”
I winced. “They didn’t know I was listening.”
“Are you sure?”
I lowered my voice even more. “I think so, but we have to talk.”
He nodded. “You heard something important.”
“Maybe.” Had I? There were so many things running through my mind, I couldn’t be sure. But once I had a chance to lay it all out for Derek and we could talk it over, I knew things would start to clear up.
Our parents were growing curious, so Derek and I broke it up. To his father, I said, “How’s the graffiti looking?”
“Not a trace of it anywhere,” John said. “I was quite impressed.”
“The city pays for it, too,” I said. “Isn’t that smart?”
“Brilliant,” he said, and scowled. “I wish they’d do that in our part of the world.”
“You have graffiti in Oxford?”
“Oh, it’s an awful blight,” Meg griped.
“They deface our beautiful bridges and riverfront properties,” John explained. “And the Canal and River Trust can barely afford the manpower to clean it up. So if your property is defaced, forget getting help. It’s up to the individual owners to paint over it.”
“Which means that a lot of the mess goes unchecked,” Meg added.
“That’s a shame,” I said, thinking of all the beautiful ancient buildings in Oxford and throughout England. “What they’ve found here in San Francisco and other cities is that if you leave a wall disfigured, it draws gang members or other taggers to the scene. So it’s worth the cost to paint over it as soon as possible.”
John shook his head, disgusted by the idea of people defacing property. “It’s indefensible.”
We stood in silence for a moment, mulling over the sorry state of our cities.
“Well, enough of all that,” Meg said firmly. “Let’s go buy some books.”
“Good idea, Meg,” Mom said cheerfully.
John held out his arm for me to link mine around. “Derek was already kind enough to pick up some of my favorite authors for me, but I’d still like to take a look at their stock.”
I smiled. “I think you’ll find their mix of old and new intriguing.”
This time when I entered, I made a big show of scraping my feet and chattering to Mom and Meg about all the wonderful goodies they sold there. I called out greetings to Eddie and Terrence and introduced everyone. The brothers were on their best behavior, as helpful as could be, but I could see them straining around the edges.
I wondered if the wedge between them had always been there, or if Bonnie had driven it a little deeper with her shenanigans. I wouldn’t have put it past her to play one brother against the other to get what she wanted. It was such a junior high school thing to do. And besides being a stupid way to behave in general, Bonnie was their landlady, for goodness’ sake. Rather than divide and conquer, wouldn’t it be smarter to keep her tenants happy so that they worked harder to make more money, some of which went into her pockets?
But then, not everyone subscribed to that happy-little-worker theory of mine.
We spent an hour in the bookshop and ended up buying lots of books and book-related goodies; then we headed back home. That afternoon was a designated down day. Jet lag had caught up with Meg and John, so we planned to spend the day around the house, reading and chatting, maybe taking a walk, and then ordering pizza and salad from Pietro’s for an early dinner.
It sounded like heaven to me.
But before we could relax, I needed to get Derek aside and tell him everything I’d heard in the bookshop earlier. I finally came up with a plan.
“Derek, would you mind helping me bring some files upstairs? I picked them up from the Covington last week, and they’re still in the trunk of my car.”
“Of course, love,” he said.
“I can help,” my dad offered.
“That’s okay, Jim,” Derek said. “You relax and we’ll be right back.”
Derek grabbed my hand and we raced out of the apartment before anyone else could try to join us.
“I feel so silly sneaking around on my parents,” I said as we dashed into the elevator and pressed the basement button.
Derek chuckled. “I have no doubt my mother has already guessed that we’re faking this trip downstairs just to get away from them.”
“Of course she guessed, because she’s psychic.” I glared at him. “And why did you never tell me that?”
He flashed me a pitying look. “Because if my mother really is psychic, she’s the worst psychic that’s ever lived.”
I grinned. “Oh, but she’s adorable.”
“Yes, she is. Just don’t let her read your palm. I can’t be held responsible for the nonsense she’ll come up with.” His smile was loving and indulgent. “She’s always believed herself to have powers, and really it does no harm and makes her happy. The rest of us go along because we love her.”
“I already love her, too. And thanks for the warning.” I sighed. “But here I’ve been freaking out about our mothers meeting each other, thinking yours would take one look at my New Age wacko mom and go running for the hills.”
His lips curved in a sheepish grin. “Ah. Little did you know that my own mystical mum would put yours to shame.”
Playfully, I smacked his shoulder. “You could’ve let me know beforehand.”
“And miss your reaction?” he countered. “Not for the world.”
I could understand that, since I’d have done the same. “Well, I’d say they’re pretty evenly matched.”
He rolled his eyes. “I can’t wait for the pagan spell-casting throwdown.”
Still chuckling, I wrapped my arms around him, and we rode down to the basement holding on to each other. Once the elevator came to a shaky halt, I glanced up at him. “I need to tell you what Eddie and Terrence said.”
“Let’s step into my office.” He took my hand and we walked into the basement garage. It was dimly lit and chilly, but I felt perfectly safe because our new building security system had been extended to the garage. Not to mention that I had my very own security expert at my side.
“So I take it there are no files in the trunk of your car,” Derek said.
“No.” I frowned. “Hmm. It’s going to be tricky getting back into the apartment. I should’ve thought of a better excuse.”
“We’ll think of something before we go back upstairs.” Derek pulled his key from his pocket and shut off his car alarm so we could lean companionably against his Bentley. “Tell me what the brothers said.”
I related the entire conversation to him and then asked him what he thought.
“Darling,” he began, then hesitated, shaking his head. “I’m very glad you weren’t seen. I have a feeling Eddie and Terrence would not want some of that information overheard by anyone.”
I thought about it. “I don’t know if they even realized what they were actually revealing. Most of it sounded like the same stuff they’ve rehashed before, except for those few glaring moments when they divulged some real secrets.”
“I wonder why Terrence doesn’t sell his half of the business to Eddie,” Derek mused. “He’s clearly not happy.”
“Not happy at all,” I agreed, and felt a little depressed just talking about it. “I have a feeling Eddie is right that Terrence holds on to his half of the business simply for spite. I wish they would split up, though. I hated overhearing all that nasty bickering.”
“I don’t blame you. Well, let’s see. I count two smoking guns in among the words you heard.” He held up his fingers. “One, Eddie’s book may be fake. And two, Terrence might’ve been the one who ransacked Joey’s shop, looking for the book he claims is his.”
“And three,” I added, “apparently both men received their books from Bonnie.”
“Ah, yes. A definite possibility.”
“For their good behavior,” I said dryly.
“I’m sure.” He frowned at me. “Does Bonnie have a stash of Alice in Wonderland books hidden in her apartment?”
“I have no idea, but I would love to find out.”
“That might be one of our objectives. But first, we have to get our hands on the two books belonging to Eddie and Terrence.”
“If there really are two,” I said.
“What’s your gut feeling?”
I breathed in and out, thinking about it. “I believe there are two books. Terrence wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble trying to track down his book if he never really had one in the first place.”
“That’s assuming he’s the one who trashed Joey’s shop.”
“Yes.”
“Which brings us to another key question.”
“What’s that?”
Derek’s expression was darkly serious. “If Terrence is the one who tore apart Joey’s shoe shop, is he also the one who killed him?”
• • •
We managed to slink back into the apartment without raising the suspicions of our parents. Derek and the two dads went up to the rooftop patio to check out the view and smoke cigars. I spent a few happy hours showing Meg and Mom my handmade deck of playing cards and explaining how easy it was to make paper. Naturally, they wanted to experiment with the process.
“You are a genius,” Meg declared after she pulled her first piece of paper away from the mesh screen. “This is fantastic.”
“Oh, Meg, that’s so pretty,” Mom gushed.
We had torn off a corner of a purple advertising flyer and added it to the blender, giving Meg’s paper a lavender hue.
Meg set the damp piece on my worktable and clapped her hands together. “Let’s see yours, Becky.”
Mom carefully peeled the paper off the screen and held it in her hand. “It’s shiny.”
“Those are the glitters.”
“I added a few extra sprinkles,” Mom said, setting the piece down next to Meg’s. “I love it. I love all the uneven bits of herbs and grass and flowers. It looks so professional. Why don’t we do this all the time?”
“You can,” I said, chuckling. “Now that you know how to do it, you can make paper at home anytime you want.”
“I’m going to,” she said. “Really, I love it.”
I carried the blender over to my workshop sink and began to wash it out. “If you’re serious, I’ll give you the name of a Web site where you can order the wooden frames and other materials.”
Meg held up her lavender paper. “I’d like to make cards like this for invitations and thank-you notes. My friends will be so impressed.”
“Ooh, and gift tags,” Mom said brightly.
Meg grinned. “That’s a super idea.”
“And it’s so simple,” Mom said.
Meg’s eyes widened and she grabbed my arm. “You shouldn’t show anyone else how to do this, Brooklyn. If people learn to make their own paper, nobody will buy yours.”
I smiled. “Since I don’t earn my living making paper, I’m okay with that.”
“Still,” she said, glancing around as though checking to make sure we weren’t being spied upon. “This should be one of those secret arts that only wizards and elves know about.”
“And us,” Mom said, laughing.
Meg gave her a conspiratorial nod. “Us, of course.”
Mom and Meg sat at my worktable chatting about their favorite types of casting stones and which of their chakras were out of alignment while I cleaned up from the papermaking party. Derek walked in as I was pouring the tub water down my workshop sink.
“My dad and I are going to walk up to Pietro’s to pick up dinner,” he said.
I glanced at him. “What’s my father up to?”
“He’s setting up a wine tasting for us.” Derek’s eyes gleamed. “It looks fantastic.”
“I can’t wait,” Mom said.
Derek smiled. “Jim said this would give Dad and me a chance to talk.”
“Isn’t that lovely?” Meg said.
“Yes, it is.” Derek gave both his mom and mine a kiss on the cheek, and then kissed me. With a wink, he said, “Keep these two out of trouble.”
“You’re asking a lot,” I muttered as I wiped the tub dry with a dishcloth.
“We heard that,” Mom protested.
Chuckling, I gave Derek another kiss. “Better hurry back.”
“Will do,” Derek said, and ducked out of the room.
• • •
Less than an hour later, Derek and John returned with two large pizzas, one veggie and one with lots of meat, plus three salads and plenty of garlic toast.
Because we need more bread products, I thought. If I made it through this week without gaining twenty pounds, I would consider my mission a success.
While Derek and his dad were gone, Mom and Meg set the dining room table for dinner. Dad commandeered the kitchen counter for his wine tasting. I counted six bottles of beautiful red wines of various vintages and appellations. Since my family was part of a commune that owned the Dharma vineyard and winery in Sonoma, I had no doubt that every wine we tasted tonight would be world-class.
We put the pizzas and garlic toast into the oven to keep warm and placed the salads in the fridge. We were all set to begin the tasting when Derek called me into his office to look at something.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Close the door,” he said quietly, and leaned one hip against his desk.
I took one look at his face and did as he asked. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“When Dad and I were walking back from Pietro’s, I happened to look up and noticed Terrence sneaking out of Joey’s back door.”
“You mean the door to Joey’s shop?”
“No.” He paused, frowning. “I mean the one to his apartment.”
“Are you kidding? You saw him upstairs?”
“I saw him coming down the stairs,” he clarified. “I know which apartment is Joey’s because it’s directly upstairs from the shoe repair shop. And you’ve seen how each apartment on that side of the building has a set of stairs leading from the kitchen down to the side alley?”
“Yes. They have a nice big laundry room in the basement that everyone uses.” I could picture the stairs on that side of the Courtyard, just as Derek had described them. Each apartment had a good-sized covered landing outside its kitchen door, where some people had a small barbecue grill and some others kept a vegetable garden. A set of wooden stairs descended from each of the landings and a sturdy wooden fence ran along the alley, essentially providing a private back entryway for the occupants of the Courtyard apartments.
“So what was Terrence doing in Joey’s apartment?” I wondered.
“Good question.” Derek folded his arms across his chest. “Brooklyn, he was carrying something, and I would swear it was a book. For what it’s worth, it looked about the size of Eddie’s copy of Alice in Wonderland. He had it wrapped in some sort of cloth. Perhaps a T-shirt or a towel.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to keep from jumping to conclusions. But I wasn’t really jumping. Circumstances had pretty much leaped up and grabbed hold of both of us. I could see that Derek was thinking along the same lines, and for just a second I told myself I was a lucky woman, having a man who understood me so well. A man who enjoyed us being a real team.
Then my mind went back to the matter at hand. Under the circumstances, I had to fight to keep calm, but I gave it a shot. “That’s a real stretch.”
“Of course it is. But given Terrence’s disturbing reaction to everything Eddie was saying earlier in the day, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.”
“I guess not.”
“Suppose Eddie put a bug in Terrence’s ear about the possibility of Joey having his book.” Still frowning, Derek lined out a scenario that made way too much sense to ignore. “And it gnawed on him all day. He waited until it was getting dark, then worked up the nerve to break into Joey’s apartment to try to find it.”
“And you just happened to be across the street where you could see him when he came strolling down the stairs. That’s just too much. Will anybody believe us?”
“The timing was right,” he theorized. “It was dusk and that side of the building gets dark sooner than the other side. He decided to take the chance.”
“Wow.” I shook my head, still a little dazed by the news. “So what do we do now?”
“We don’t do anything,” he said briskly. “I might go over and have a look around later, but you’re to stay here and entertain our parents.”
I smiled. “Are you telling me what to do?”
He laughed. “I suppose I am. So let me rephrase it. Will you please stay here with our parents?”
I shook my head. “Not much of an improvement. And here I was just thinking how nice it was that we both enjoy being a team.”
“We are a team, love. And I wouldn’t change a thing.” He reached for my arm and pulled me close. “I don’t want you hurt. Someone went to a lot of trouble to kill Joey, and then they were desperate enough to hurt Rabbit. I don’t want you in the sights of some desperate killer.”
He didn’t add the word again. But it was implied. I gazed up at him. “I could say the same for you.”
“I appreciate that,” he said, stroking my hair. “But until you achieve the rank of sixth-degree black belt and start carrying a gun, I would beg you to stay home and out of harm’s way.”
I sighed. “Now you’re just showing off. But that’s okay. I’ll stay home. But only because our parents will ask too many questions.”
“Thank God for small favors,” he murmured.
“But look—we need to figure out what we’re doing. We have to go back to the beginning and ask ourselves, why was Joey murdered?”
Derek held up his hand. “Alternately, we should ask ourselves another question. Why was Bonnie being targeted?”
“Right. That’s the more likely scenario.” I thought about it for a moment. “I wonder who stands to inherit the Courtyard.”
“Good question. Was it Rabbit? Is that why he was assaulted?”
There was a sudden knock on the door, surprising us both.
Derek frowned. “Come in.”
His mother stood at the door. “Can’t you two discuss all of this murder-and-assault business over a glass of wine?”
“You heard us?” I blurted. We’d been talking so quietly. Maybe she really was psychic.
Derek looked poleaxed. “Mother, how could you hear what we were talking about?”
“So naive,” she murmured, shaking her head. “Derek, I’m the mother of five boys. I can hear mischief through solid steel. And, unlike Superman, even lead doesn’t stop me.” Smiling, she held up one of our crystal drinking glasses and pressed it against the door. “Especially when I have one of these.”