Chapter 11
“The police—” I said.
“I know,” Claire broke in. She sounded exasperated. “They’re working on it. I’ve spoken with them several times. They’re exploring the usual avenues of investigation and they’re doing their job to the best of their abilities.”
Her voice had flattened to a monotone. It sounded as though she was reciting something she’d been told, probably more than once.
“I’m guessing you spoke with Detective O’Malley,” I said.
In my previous acquaintance with the man—which thankfully had been brief—I’d found him to be someone who operated strictly by the book. He also had a certain Bulldog quality: stubbornness combined with an unflagging belief that he was always right.
“You know him?”
“I’ve been interrogated by him,” I said dryly. “Does that count?”
Claire looked taken aback. For a moment I thought she might pursue that comment further. Then abruptly she thought better of it and switched tacks.
“Here’s what I’ve learned in my job,” she said. “The more people you get involved in an activity, the better things are likely to proceed. Frankly I can’t see why this should be any different.”
“What kind of job do you have?” I asked.
“I’m an event planner. I started out in the corporate world but after I did a few kids’ parties on the side, I realized that was the career I really wanted. So I quit my job and went out on my own. I do mostly birthday parties, but also bar mitzvahs, graduations, or pretty much anything else that parents want.”
“A party planner,” I repeated faintly.
It was hard to see the correlation between that activity and solving murders. But maybe that was just me.
Claire stood up and left the room. I wondered if I should follow. She continued speaking as she crossed the hall and stood in the arched doorway that led to a small dining room opposite.
“Okay, maybe the parallels aren’t exact,” she said. “But look at the big picture.” Claire squatted down and peered beneath the table. “Jojo, it’s time to come out now. Melanie’s a friend. She isn’t going to hurt you.”
“Big picture?” I asked. No wonder Claire enjoyed planning children’s parties. This conversation was like a three-ring circus.
“You know,” she said, glancing back over her shoulder at me. “it’s like on a ship. When there’s a crisis the captain says ‘all hands on deck.’ He wants everybody with any sense to be working on solving the problem.”
“Right,” I agreed. I guessed I was still following her logic. More or less.
Frankly, dealing with the dog situation seemed easier than trying to keep up with the twists and turns of the conversation. Thanks to Aunt Peg’s ongoing tutelage, I was pretty good at that stuff. So I got up and went and joined Nick’s sister in the hallway.
When I knelt down beside her, I could just about see the little terrier through the forest of chair legs. Jojo had a wiry, wheat-colored, coat, V-shaped ears, and big dark eyes. His body was crouched just above the floor. His nails were digging into the rug beneath him. Poised to flee, the poor guy was also trembling.
“Is he always like that?” I asked.
Claire sighed. “Not when he was with Nick. But now, more often than not, I’m afraid so.”
“Would he come out for a biscuit?”
“I doubt it.”
“What does he like?” I asked. “I mean really like . . . more than anything?”
“That’s easy. He loves to go for walks. I take him and Thor out twice a day. It’s the one thing he gets excited about.”
“Great,” I said, rising to my feet. “Let’s go.”
“Now?” Claire looked up at me.
“Sure. Why not?”
She levered herself up beside me. “I thought we were going to talk about Nick. And what we’re going to do next.”
“I can walk and talk at the same time,” I told her. “I’ve been doing it for years.”
Claire tilted her head to one side and gave me a look. I imagined it was similar to the one she gave to misbehaving children at her parties. Being both a mother and a teacher, I’ve been known to use that same look to great effect myself.
So now I just waited her out. After a moment, Claire shrugged. She walked over to a closet near the front door. Two leather leashes were looped around the doorknob.
“Hey, guys!” she called out. “Who wants to go outside?”
Thor scrambled to his feet and came running into the hall. For a big dog, he was surprisingly agile. Jojo was slower to appear. He made sure that the path he took to Claire’s side allowed for a very wide berth around me.
“What a good boy you are,” I crooned in a friendly tone of voice as Claire snapped the lead to his collar. The terrier hid behind Claire’s legs and ignored me.
“Don’t take it personally.” She handed me Thor’s lead and kept Jojo for herself. Then she drew the door open and we both stepped outside. “He’s like that with everyone. And you want to know the really stupid thing?”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Every time one of these dogs looks upset or does something that really worries me, the first thing I always think is, I’d better call Nick. He’ll know just what to do.”
A lump rose in my throat. Several seconds passed before I could even try to form an answer.
“Don’t,” said Claire, reading the expression on my face. “Let’s just walk.”
So we did.
“I didn’t want to ask O’Malley,” she said a few minutes later. “I find him a little intimidating, if you know what I mean.”
I most certainly did.
“But what are the usual avenues of investigation?”
Claire had been right about what Jojo enjoyed. The terrier was hopping, skipping, and jumping along beside us. His tail was up over his back, wagging happily. His tongue slid in and out of the side of his mouth.
Thor meanwhile, kept his feet and his nose closer to the ground. He wanted to stop and sniff every bush and tree we walked past. The Rottie was strong and he enjoyed testing boundaries. He was also certain that his opinion counted for more than mine did. We’d had to discuss that a couple of times before we were able to settle into a harmonious walking rhythm.
“Principally the police are looking for someone with a good motive,” I said. “Did Nick have any enemies?”
“No, of course not. My brother was the kind of guy who got along great with everybody.”
“And yet it’s likely that Nick was killed by someone he knew, possibly even someone he knew well.” I nodded down the leash toward Thor. “Could you imagine this dog not trying to protect your brother, if he perceived that there was a threat?”
“No.” Claire shook her head firmly. “Not for a second.”
“Me either. So now we have to figure out who your brother knew that might have had a reason to want to harm him. Probably the first thing the police will do is look at Nick’s finances. If you don’t mind my asking, was he having any money problems?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Claire replied. “And I’m sure I’d have known if he was. Considering that we’re both self-employed, we spent a lot of time comparing notes, you know?”
I nodded. “Aunt Peg said that he had plenty of clients.”
Thor pulled me toward a particularly enticing tree and I stopped to let him lift his leg. Once he was finished, Jojo bounced over and followed suit.
“More than enough to keep him busy,” Claire agreed. “Nick was happy with the way things were going. His business already brought in enough money for him to live on, and he expected to be expanding his client base in the near future.”
“Because of Aunt Peg, you mean?”
“Precisely. She’d already begun introducing him to her friends. Nick loved all that. I know it sounds silly but there was nothing he enjoyed more than the prospect of getting to meet new dogs.”
“That doesn’t sound silly to me at all,” I said. “I can totally understand why Nick felt that way.”
“I bet you guys would have become great friends,” Claire said softly. “If only there had been more time.”
My breath caught on a sigh. “I was looking forward to it,” I said.
Our positions were very different but we both felt the same keen sense of loss. I waited a beat then deliberately changed the subject.
“What about your brother’s love life?”
“It was way busier than his professional life.” Claire grimaced slightly. “If that’s what you’d like to know.”
“Maybe. You mentioned before that he had a girlfriend?”
“Yes, Diana.”
“How long were they together?”
“I don’t know. Three months, I guess. Or maybe six?”
“That’s quite a time difference,” I pointed out.
“I know. But as much as Nick and I talked about our respective businesses, he could be very reticent when it came to his private life.”
“How come?” I asked curiously.
“When he was young, Nick was a shy, nerdy kind of kid. He didn’t date much, even in high school. Our mother was always bugging him about that. You’d think she would have been happy with a son who got good grades and didn’t get into trouble, but instead she kept asking him why he never brought girls home.”
“That would have shut me up too,” I said.
Claire nodded. “By the time Nick got to college, things turned around. He’d grown a couple of inches and gotten rid of his glasses. It wasn’t so much that Nick discovered girls, as that they finally began to notice him.”
“I can see why,” I said. “Your brother was seriously cute.”
“And he knew it.” Claire laughed. “Thank God he was a nice guy and didn’t take advantage of the situation. At least not too often.”
Thor tugged me in the direction of a parked car. The walk came to a halt while he examined every inch of the front tire.
“Thor likes rubber,” said Claire. “Go figure. Nick had a thing for quirky dogs.”
By now, Jojo had decided to add his scrutiny to that of the big dog. When Claire joined me beside the car, the terrier never even glanced in my direction as he pushed past my leg to get to the curb. We were definitely making progress. On the other hand, I didn’t even want to think about what that tire might have run over recently to cause it to be such a source of fascination.
“Tell me about the times Nick did take advantage,” I said as we waited for the dogs to finish their perusal.
“It was no big deal. Just that most of his clients were women. I was always teasing him about that.”
“Do you think they hired him for more than his ability to help their dogs?”
“I’m sure some of them did. Nick once told me he sometimes felt like the Connecticut version of the hot, young pool boy. Not that he was complaining. It was all good for business.”
“How did Diana feel about that?” I asked.
“I have no idea. I barely knew her. She and I met a couple of times, but that was the extent of our relationship. We don’t have a lot in common. If it wasn’t for Nick, we never would have spent time together at all.”
“It sounds like you didn’t like her much,” I said, gathering up Thor’s leash. It was time to move things along.
“It’s not that exactly.”
“Then what is it?”
Claire frowned as she and Jojo fell in beside us. “Don’t take this the wrong way.”
“I won’t,” I said.
“Diana’s a snob.”
I snorted out a laugh. “Is there a right way to take that?”
“I don’t know.” Claire looked flustered. “I’m not trying to be mean.”
“Go ahead,” I told her. “Have at it. Things will go much better if we’re honest with one another.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “Okay, let me explain. Diana grew up in Greenwich, which couldn’t have been more different from the little town in North Carolina where Nick and I are from. We both came north for college, then Nick ended up in Fairfield County with a girl. That relationship didn’t last but he liked it here and stayed. I joined him last year. We both love Connecticut but we don’t always feel like we fit in here.”
“Did Diana make Nick feel that way?” I asked.
“I think so. Sometimes. Nick and I don’t have a privileged background like she does. And that seemed to matter to her. I always felt like Diana wasn’t sure that Nick was good enough for her.”
“That doesn’t sound like a great basis for a relationship.”
“I could be totally wrong,” Claire said quickly. “Like I said, it’s not as though I ever spent a lot of time with her and Nick. It was just kind of a gut feeling I had.”
“I’m a big believer in gut feelings,” I told her. “More often than not, I think they’re right.”
Having circled several blocks of homes, we were now approaching Claire’s house from the opposite direction. Thor and Jojo both knew where they lived. Despite having been so eager to leave the house only half an hour earlier, the two dogs now began to pull us toward it. It seemed to me that that spoke well of the relationship they were building with Claire.
She paused when we came to her driveway. “So we’re going to do this, right? You’ll help me find out what happened to Nick?”
My answer was inevitable. Claire must have felt the same way because she didn’t even wait for my reply. “So what’s the first step?” she asked.
“I want to see Nick’s client list,” I said. “Do you have it?”
“No, but I can get it for you from Bob.”
Right, I thought. Aunt Peg had told me that he was doing Nick’s books. I’d forgotten about that.
“Don’t worry,” I told her. “I’ll get it myself.”
“And then what?” Claire asked eagerly. “Are we going to spy on them?”
That made me laugh. “No, I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”
“Or maybe you could tell Nick’s clients that you’ve taken over his business. I saw how you handled Thor. He intimidates everybody, even me sometimes. But you knew just what to do with him. You could pull it off. It would be like undercover work.”
“Claire, slow down. There’s no point in making things more complicated than they have to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“All I want to do is ask some questions. People love to talk about themselves, and Nick’s murder will have been a shocking event in their lives. I don’t think I’ll have to trick anyone into talking about it.”
“But the murderer—he’ll clam up. Right?”
Maybe if we were in a B-movie, I thought.
“Let’s wait and see what happens,” I said aloud.
Claire tossed her head. “I don’t want to wait. I want answers. Bob told me you were good at this stuff.”
“I try hard,” I told her. “Does that count?”
“I hope so.” She didn’t sound entirely convinced.
On the way home, I stopped at Davey’s soccer camp and picked him up. He tossed his backpack, water bottle, and shin guards on the back seat of the car. A pair of muddy cleats landed on the floor. Not only did it take a village to raise my child, he needed one to outfit him as well.
“How was camp?” I asked, as he joined me up front and buckled on his seat belt.
“Okay.”
“Just okay?” This was his fifth summer at camp. He’d always loved it before.
“All we did all day was run drills.”
“I’m sure the coaches had a good reason for that.” I drove back down the long driveway, paused to look both ways, then pulled out onto the road.
“They said it was good for us,” Davey grumbled.
“Drills are good for you.”
“Games are better.”
I reached over and patted his knee. It was covered with grime. His T-shirt was grubby and there was a smear of mud on his neck. His short hair was spiky with sweat. That child was heading straight to the shower as soon as we got home.
“They said we were goofing off too much during scrimmage,” Davey said with a frown. “So we had to run drills instead of playing.”
I cocked a brow in his direction. “Were you goofing off?”
“Moo-om!” My son treated me to his version of every child’s exasperated cry. “It’s summer!”
“So?”
“It’s not like we’re in school or anything. Camp is supposed to be fun.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “But now that you’re older, the coaches are expecting you to show some discipline too. Think of it this way: if you weren’t a good player, they probably wouldn’t care if you were goofing off.”
“I guess.”
I took my eyes off the road and glanced his way. “You guess? That’s all I get?”
“Yup.” Davey grinned at me across the seat. “We don’t have to dissect my whole day or anything. I should have just said that camp was fine. I only told you what the coaches said so you wouldn’t think I was keeping a secret.”
“Oh.” That thought hadn’t occurred to me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
I pondered that for a minute, then said, “So . . . all those days when I picked you up at school and you told me everything was fine, is there anything else I should know about that?”
“Nope,” he said cheerfully. “Definitely not.”
Parenthood. It ought to come with a user’s manual.