twenty-nine

As I turned the corner, I spotted Geneva’s car pulling up to the garage door. I cruised down the street and parked in front of their house. Mary stepped out of Geneva’s car and, without a word, climbed the stairs and entered the house. Geneva waited on the sidewalk for me.

“I’ve been trying to call you,” I said.

“We just came from making arrangements. The wake is tomorrow night at seven at Nordenson’s on Sloat. Can you be there?”

“Of course. I’ll bring Gloria. I know she’d want to come.”

Geneva’s face looked terribly drawn and gray. Dark circles colored the pale skin around her eyes. “You haven’t heard the worst part yet. Brooke’s been arrested.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“I was with Rob when he took the call.”

“Rob? Why?”

“The bracelet. I thought on the off chance it belonged to Brooke he might know. But he didn’t recognize it.”

“Oh. I forgot all about the bracelet.” Geneva rubbed her forehead. “Let’s go inside.”

I followed her up the stairway to the front door and waited while she hung her coat in the closet. She peeked down the hallway to make sure her mother wouldn’t overhear our conversation.

“Marjorie’s doing what she can to get Brooke released. Ianello told her they discovered emails between Brooke and Moira proving they were planning to kill Rob.”

“Are you telling me the police think they emailed each other about a murder plot?”

“It’s completely crazy. The police confiscated Moira’s computer after she died, remember? The emails were deleted but apparently some computer forensics person checked it. They explained it to me but it went right over my head. You can delete emails but they remain on the hard drive somehow, and then there are copies saved on the server for a certain number of days. I didn’t really understand it all. Then they got a warrant and took Brooke’s computer at home and the one in her office too. Look, even if it were true, which I don’t for a minute believe, Brooke would never have dragged Moira into anything. She was always getting her out of scrapes, not into them.”

“Did Moira have access to Brooke’s computers?”

“Well, she went to Brooke’s office sometimes. Oh God, what are you saying? That Moira sent them to herself—something like that?”

“It’s possible.”

“I can’t take all this in.”

“Why in heaven’s name would they want to kill Rob?” I asked.

“Supposedly the motive was insurance money.” Geneva laughed harshly.

“But Brooke really doesn’t need the money. How much insurance are we talking about?”

“Five hundred thousand. Frankly, it’s really not much of a policy for a man in Rob’s position.”

The whole concept was astounding given what I knew of Brooke. “Do you believe this?”

“Not for a minute!” Geneva said vehemently. “It’s completely ridiculous. I don’t know what they found in the emails, but it’s not true. I will never believe that. They must be desperate to close this case, that’s all I can say. When I saw you pull up, I was actually hoping you had some good news for me. Have you found anything out?”

I filled Geneva in on my conversations with Rita and Steve. “But I think there’s more. I think Rita’s holding back something. In fact, if I can, I’m going back there this afternoon to try to get it out of her.”

“I had no idea there was another man in Moira’s life. A black sedan, you say?”

I nodded. “I know that’s pretty vague, but the picture I got was of someone far more affluent than the crowd that hangs out at the Alibi. I caught up with Andy the night before last. He was tying one on big time at the Plough.”

“What did he have to say for himself ?” Geneva’s tone was caustic.

“He thought there was someone else in the picture too. He’s been suspicious of a guy who’s a bartender at Macao. I went there yesterday to try to find him.”

“Did you?”

“No. It’s a long story but I think the place is a clearing house for heavy drugs.”

“Oh, great! I hope to God Moira wasn’t involved in anything like that.”

“Did Moira ever mention a guy like that?

“Yes. Andy’s an idiot—he’s talking about Tony. He and Moira were friends, that’s all.”

I took her statement with a grain of salt. It was quite possible Moira and Tony were something else and Geneva would be the last person to know.

“If they were more than friends, I’ll find out,” I said.

“How?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of a way.”

“Oh, Julia, before I forget to tell you …” I waited. “We got a call today from the Inn. Sally Stark passed away.”

A chill ran up my spine. “What? How? I mean …”

“They had no other information. It was just a courtesy call to let us know. I guess they’re running tests or they’ll be an autopsy.” She looked at me. “What’s wrong? You look so upset.”

“Uh … it’s nothing. It’s just a shock.” I didn’t want to tell Geneva what Moira said in the car after the wedding. Not that it made a bit of difference in the end, but for right now, it was better left unsaid.

Geneva walked me to the front door, once again checking that her mother was safely in the kitchen. “There’s more, Julia. Now that the autopsy finished, we know Moira wasn’t pregnant. That’s such a relief. Here’s the bad part—the bullet that killed her was definitely a .22 caliber.”

“Not such good news with David’s gun missing, is it?”

“No,” she replied. “I’m just panicked about it. So is David. I’d give anything to know who took it from our car. Without that … there’s no way to prove one way or the other if it was his gun. I just hope they’ll release Brooke tomorrow. She should be at the wake. Now I wish we could postpone it, but it might not be possible with all this happening. You’ll come tomorrow night?”

“I’ll be there. Call me in the meantime if you need anything.”