They watched for a reaction to that. “Her husband?” I said, confused.
“You didn’t know she was married before?”
“What do you mean before? I didn’t know she was married ever.”
A horn honked, and I jumped bringing my hand to my chest. The police looked back at the car we were standing in front of just as the car to our other side pulled away. The caravan was moving again. We stepped off onto the grass.
“Look, I need to go,” I said. “I can’t handle this right now.”
“Of course, of course,” Healey said. “Just a few more questions. We can take you anywhere you need when we’re done.”
I didn’t like that, but it was probably better to get it over with.
They took my silence for assent. “So Vee, Nancy, Ms. Abrams. You didn’t know about her husband.”
“I just told you I’d never heard of Nancy whatever-you-said or this other name. I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
“Please, don’t get upset, Mr. Rosenkrantz. I know you’ve got a lot on your mind. We’re sorry to have to tell you more.”
“I don’t understand,” I said again, but then I flashed on it. Vee had used the murder/arson combination before. How could she be so stupid! I proceeded cautiously. “So what are you saying? Vee killed her husband and set the house on fire?”
“There were those who thought that,” Dobrygowski said.
I looked at him, and he gave me a steel look back. I had been wrong to dismiss him as an oaf. If there was any danger of being found out, it would come from him, not Healey. Healey came on with all of the talking, but he was a good guy at heart. He didn’t want to do it. It was just his job. I knew how that was. But Dobrygowski...I knew his kind too, they got an idea and they never let go.
“There was some question with the insurance company,” Healey went on. “And the police there—it was just a small town—they just weren’t sure, but they weren’t going to give anything to that insurance company, so they wouldn’t get behind the murder theory, and the insurance company paid up and that was that.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Just that it’s a funny coincidence,” Dobrygowski said.
“Funny!” I flared, and I didn’t care if I was overreacting.
Healey put his hand out again to restrain me. “He didn’t mean anything by it, Mr. Rosenkrantz.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Dobrygowski said.
I took deep breaths and tried to count to ten in my head. If I lost my temper, I was liable to do something stupid.
“You’ve just become very rich,” Dobrygowski said. “That must be some consolation to you.”
“What consolation?”
“We spoke to Mr. Palmer,” Healey said. “He told us that your son doesn’t have a will. That you stand to come into a lot of money. The family might contest it, of course, but that’s something.”
I had to be careful here. “I just lost my son, and you’re talking about money,” I said.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s crude. It’s an unpleasant job.”
“So I’ve heard,” I said.
“You didn’t know about the money?”
“Palmer just told me now. But not before.”
They switched back to Vee.
“So you lived with Victoria Abrams?” Dobrygowski said.
“Why?” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“We just want to establish what she might have to gain.”
So they knew. “Yes, we live together. In San Angelo.”
“So she could expect to see some money if it came your way.”
“She could, but she wouldn’t be getting any. She won’t be getting any.”
“No?” Dobrygowski said.
I crumpled my features into a question. I needed to still look confused. I needed to be stupid.
“Do you know where Victoria Abrams is?” Healey said.
“No, I don’t.” It was technically true. They weren’t asking where she had moved when we checked out. Just where she was now. “Why?”
“Can you believe this guy,” Dobrygowski said.
I made as though it had just dawned on me then. “You think she killed my son and set his room on fire?”
There was an uncomfortable silence. “So you have no idea where she is?” Healey said.
And Dobrygowski jumped in, “Did you know her boyfriend was Carlton Browne, a well-known gangster here in Calvert? Her other boyfriend, I mean.”
“I...” The caravan of cars had turned and was almost upon us on its way back out of the cemetery. “I...I’m sorry, I’ve told you what I know. And quite frankly, right now, I don’t want to know any more of what you know.”
“Why’d you leave the Somerset?” Healey said.
I stepped towards the road. Great Aunt Alice’s car was almost upon us. “Because Vee’s boyfriend found out about me,” I said, my eyes on the cars.
Healey took a step towards me to try to recapture my attention. “So you think she’s with Browne?”
Great Aunt Alice’s car was abreast of us now, and slowed. I walked to the rear door, relieved to have an excuse to be done with them.
“Don’t you want to know what happened to your son?” Healey said behind me.
I jerked open the front passenger door. “I know he’s dead,” I said. “Isn’t that enough?” I slammed the door behind me. I could feel both detectives watching me as we pulled away, but I kept my eyes forward.
Yeah, I was stone cold. On the outside. But in fact I was badly shaken. Only days before it had sounded as though things were exactly as Vee had said they would be. Now it sounded like the police knew just about everything.
I got angry. Vee had done this before! Why hadn’t she told me? How would I have handled it if she had? Badly. Very badly. Like I said, I’m not one for physical altercations, believe me, I’m not. But she still should have told me. Of course the police would put two and two together with something like that in her past. I thought Vee was too smart to make such an obvious mistake. But she had. She’d used the same ploy twice, and now they were on to her for it.
And then it hit me. They were on to her for it. They thought she’d done it. For all of Dobrygowski’s innuendo, they had only asked about her. Because if they’d asked at the hotel, they’d know that I’d come back that night before the fire could have started. Because I had. And if the deskman told them that, he’d probably also told them that Vee had gone out. She’d had a car brought up from the garage. The garage people would remember that, too, that time of night. If the police thought Vee had done it, well, then part of her plan had worked. The important part. The part about me.
But probably it was just a matter of time until they stumbled upon me. And when they did, I was going to be arrested. And thinking more on it, I was pretty certain they had the death penalty in Maryland. Sure they did. I was going to die here, and there went all of the Rosenkrantzes in one fell swoop. No, not all. Clotilde in her clinic out west was one more. What would become of her?
I had to warn Vee. The way they’d get me for sure was if they got her. She’d spill everything, especially if she thought it might save her.
At Great Aunt Alice’s I went right up to my room. I called the Somerset. The front desk answered after only one ring. “Somerset Hotel. How may I assist you?”
“I’d like to reach a party in Suite 12-2,” I said. For some reason I knew that I shouldn’t ask for Vee by name.
“Of course, sir.”
There was a dead click, and then the phone was ringing. “Hello?”
It was a man’s voice. I couldn’t tell if it was Browne’s or someone else’s. My tongue was frozen. If it was Browne, the last thing Vee needed was for him to know I was calling. I hung up the phone without saying anything.
I lay back on the bed and tried to think it through, only my mind was caught on a loop thinking the same thing over and over. Vee needed to be moving, she needed to get out of Calvert, and she needed to get as far away as she could, because with that other incident in her past where she’d used arson to cover up murder, there was no way that they wouldn’t try to hang Joe’s death on her now. How could she be so stupid to use the same scheme? She needed to get out of Calvert. I needed to get through to her, and she needed to get moving. How could she be so stupid?
When it got where I couldn’t stand it anymore, I tried the hotel again. Twice. And each time the desk would put me through to Browne’s suite and a man would answer the phone and I’d hang up and start my worrying all over. After the third call, I decided that a whole bunch of hang-ups would be just as bad for Vee as if I were to say who was calling so I resigned myself to waiting until I saw her at our rendezvous the next day. And my thoughts circled and circled all night.