28

Investigating who’d visited the Poison Garden was an exercise in frustration. Plenty of people had been in the garden, but no one admitted to tampering with the plants. It took me a couple of hours to work my way through the list of key borrowers, plus everyone they’d brought with them to see the garden. A distraught Kesha Ray, the woman who’d borrowed a key from Noel yesterday, admitted to having lost it. Still, as she’d never met Theresa, it didn’t seem like there was a connection.

The only person I hadn’t yet spoken to was Coco. I found her in her dressing room, drinking tea from an IKEA mug. She raised it to me when I walked in. “Hi, Maggie. Care to join me? I’m having a delicious almond oolong.”

I eased myself into a chair and inhaled the soft scent of tea. “Yes, please.” 

She poured me a cup and handed it to me with a rueful smile. “The presentation isn’t up to my usual standards, but the tea still tastes the same.”

“I heard about your teacups. I’m sorry, Coco. I know they meant a lot to you.”

She swiped away a rogue tear and squeezed my hand. “Thank you, honey. Each cup held a memory of a time and a place in my life. But you know what? As long as I’m still kicking, I can make new memories. I’ll build my collection again. Just you wait and see.”

“You’re great to see it that way. I imagine having your possessions smashed like that was a horrible violation.”

Her lips twisted. “I wasn’t thrilled, but accidents happen. I don’t hold it against the kid.”

My ears pricked at this information. “Hang on…you know who destroyed your cups?”

“Yes. Gretchen confessed to me this morning. The poor girl was beside herself with remorse.”

I slow-blinked. “Gretchen, the dancer who fell yesterday?”

“That’s right,” Coco said. “She asked to borrow a book after my drinks party yesterday. I told her to go on in here and take her pick. When she was leaning up to reach it, her injured foot wasn’t up to the pressure. She stumbled against the shelves, and my entire cup collection went flying.”

“Why didn’t she tell you straight away?”

The choreographer shook her head, making her long earrings jangle. “A comedy of errors, I’m afraid. The commotion with Theresa happened right after the cups smashed. Gretchen came out to see what was wrong. Before she’d found me to say what had happened to my teacup collection, I’d discovered the damage. Naturally, I leaped to the conclusion that the on-set mischief-maker was behind it. Gretchen was afraid she’d be blamed for everything.”

I scanned Coco’s shelves. Her books and photographs were still in place, but the shelf that had contained her cup collection was empty. “Did you clean up the mess yourself?”

“With Merry and Judd’s help.”

“Judd?” My jaw performed a slow motion slide. “Are you serious?”

Coco laughed out loud at my surprise. “Judd’s not all bad, honey. Besides, I’ve known him so long I can hand him a pan and brush and tell him to get to work.”

“I bet Con wishes he had that ability.” The idea of Judd Ryan getting down on his hands and knees and cleaning up someone else’s mess had me flummoxed. “Let’s get back to Gretchen. What made her change her mind and tell you this morning?”

“She’s an honest girl at heart. She didn’t sleep all night. Then the shock of finding out that Theresa had died proved too much for her. She came to me and confessed.” Coco gave a rueful shake of her head. “I was ready to do battle with whoever was behind my smashed cups, but the girl was so upset I couldn’t stay mad at her for long. So I did what I always do in a time of crisis—make tea.”

I smiled at her over the brim of my cup. “How many cups have you made today?”

She winked at me. “Too many for a person with a problem prostate.”

I laughed, then took a deep breath. “Speaking of honesty, I wasn’t entirely candid with you yesterday.”

“I know.” She inclined her head in a regal fashion. “You’re a private investigator.”

“That’s right. Con hired me to look into the suspicious incidents. Being a sister to the star gave me an excellent excuse for coming to Dolphin Island.” 

“Lenny works with you, right?” Coco banged the arm of her chair. “That boy’s a sly one. I underestimated him, which is something I rarely do. I was too busy focusing on the cop, who apparently knew nothing of our troublemaker.”

“Liam is a police officer,” I said, “and he’s my boyfriend, but no, he wasn’t on the set to investigate for Con.” I didn’t add the tale about Liam’s jewel smuggling case. That wasn’t my information to share. “Listen, I didn’t just stop by for a chat. I understand you borrowed a key to the castle’s Poison Garden.”

“That’s right. Merry and I went in there on Thursday when we came over to explore the island.” Coco drew her eyebrows together. “Do you think Theresa was poisoned?”

“I’m not sure what to think. Liam is treating her death as suspicious.” 

Coco gave a dramatic shudder and cradled her mug. “Is her death connected to our mischief-maker? It seems like a leap, no? From what I saw yesterday, Theresa Crawley didn’t make friends on the set.”

“You have sixty extras in the ballroom scene,” I said in wonder. “How can you remember them all by sight?”

“Practice. It’s my job to recall every detail about the dancers I train, especially when I’m dealing with amateurs.” Coco dropped her voice. “And between you, me, and our maker, that woman stood out, and not for a good reason. She was a nasty piece.”

“Theresa had a rep for being difficult,” I said.

“I overheard her yelling at a junior makeup artist yesterday. She seemed to think a role as an extra meant she was entitled to treat the crew like dirt.” Coco shook her head. “Nuh-uh. Not on my watch. Everyone who works with me deserves to be treated with respect.”

“Can you remember who she yelled at?”

“It was the girl who quit and then changed her mind. Storm, I believe she’s called.”

I added Storm to my list of names of people to talk to. If she’d endured tantrums from both Judd and Theresa, no wonder she’d quit.

“I take it you haven’t figured out who’s behind the so-called accidents on set?” Coco asked.

“No, but I have my suspicions.” I stood and went over to her shelves. I took down one of the photographs and scrutinized it. Three dancers stood side by side. One was unmistakably a younger Coco. The person in the middle was a handsome dark-haired man. And the third person in the photo was a petite redhead with lovely amber eyes who I now recognized as Merry. “Coco, how well do you know Merry?”

“As you see from that photograph, we go way back to our Vegas dancing days.” Coco narrowed her eyes. “Why? Surely you don’t suspect her?”

I lowered the picture, but I didn’t return it to its shelf. “I overheard her and Judd arguing yesterday. They’d just come out of the Poison Garden. Only no one admits to letting them borrow a key.”

Coco frowned. “Merry took Kesha Ray’s key.”

“Really? Kesha thinks the key is lost and she’s worried about telling the caretaker.”

Coco shook her head. “Well, isn’t that just like Merry? She probably took it when Kesha wasn’t around and forgot to give it back.”

“Merry also forgot to lock the garden gate after her fight with Judd,” I added. “He was upset about her not keeping quiet about something. Do you have any idea what it was about?”

Coco’s shrewd gaze locked onto mine. “Why don’t you take another look at that picture, honey? Then you tell me what it was about.”

Confused, I raised the photograph and took another look. It took me a moment to catch on. “Oh,” I breathed. “That’s Con Ryder standing between you.”

“Mm-hmm. Notice anything else?”

This time, I didn’t need to recheck the photo. I inhaled sharply. “Con looked just like Judd when he was younger, only Judd has Merry’s eyes.”

Coco clapped. “Well done, Miss Maggie. You’ve just figured out what no one else has managed to guess in all the years Con and Merry have worked together.”

“Judd is Con’s son?” I slumped back into the chair. “But Con’s gay,” I said stupidly.

“That doesn’t mean he can’t father a child.” Coco refilled my mug. “Back when Merry and I met Con, he’d been dancing the Vegas circuit for years, and he wanted to break into directing. This was the Eighties, right at the height of the AIDs crisis. You’re too young to remember what a wild time that was. The stigma around HIV and AIDs was awful, and it bred homophobia. Con thought he’d stand more of a chance at a Hollywood career if he led a heteronormative life.”

“And he tried with Merry?”

Coco nodded. “Merry was younger than us and hopelessly in love with Con. She knew he wasn’t into women, but like many a woman before her, she thought she’d be the one to change his mind.”

“And that didn’t work,” I finished.

“Of course not. Despite living in Vegas, Con and Merry never made it to the altar. Instead of a marriage certificate, they got Judd.”

“Con must care about the guy if he’s prepared to put up with Judd’s attitude and risk everything to cast him in this movie,” I said.

Coco laughed. “It’s called guilt, honey. After he found out Merry was pregnant, Con split. He headed to Hollywood, leaving her to bring up the baby—literally.”

I blew out a breath. The story was starting to make sense. Con’s insistence on casting Judd. His patience with the guy during filming. His stress over the movie’s success. Con wasn’t just worried about his own future but that of his son. “If Con abandoned Merry and Judd, what happened to change his mind?”

“Blackmail, frankly. Con was up for his first Academy Award when Judd graduated high school. Merry told Con to help Judd’s acting career, or she’d blast him all over Hollywood. Con agreed, and he sweetened the deal by helping Merry find work as a dance choreographer.” Coco took the framed photograph from me and gazed wistfully at the moment frozen in time. “Con likes to play it cool, you know, but Merry didn’t have to push too hard to get him to agree to her terms. He’s wracked with guilt over leaving his kid. It was an impulse decision and one he’s always regretted.”

“Ouch. I don’t like Judd, but I can’t help feeling sorry for him.” I stared into my mug, thinking. “Why didn’t Con tell me all this when I questioned him about what sort of hold Judd has over him? I was expecting drugs, or an affair gone wrong.”

“Con didn’t tell you because, until this week, Judd didn’t know Con was his father, and Con still isn’t aware that Judd found out.”

I put my hand to my mouth. “Oh, wow. So that’s what Judd and Merry were arguing about.”

“Yeah. Merry tried to persuade Judd to go to Con for help with his debts, but Judd refused. In the middle of their argument, Merry blurted out that Con is his father. Judd’s devastated. It took both Merry and me to talk him out of walking off the set. When he showed up at my party last night, I was terrified he’d start drinking again.”

The pieces started to fall into place. “Judd was obnoxious to Con during filming yesterday.”

“He’s still coming to terms with the news, and he’s acting out.” Coco’s lips quivered. “I believe you called him a jackass.”

“I did, and I haven’t changed my mind, in spite of what you’ve just told me.”

“Judd is a silly boy at times, but he’s a good person at heart. I owe him this job, and I owe him my life.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Judd got you this job? I thought you and Con went way back.”

“We do, yeah, but that doesn’t mean we’re friends.” Coco seemed outraged at the idea. “I’ve worked with Con on a few movies, but he doesn’t like to reminisce about his Vegas past. As Merry’s best friend, I’m very much a part of that past. And, despite Con’s own weakness for the bottle, he has very little patience with other people’s addictions. He wasn’t sympathetic to my struggles a few years ago.”

“And Judd was?”

Coco nodded. “He’d just made a lot of money from the Sweet Home Alibaba franchise. Thanks to Judd’s help, I’ve been clean for six years. He paid for my rehab, and he gave me work when I got out. He was there for me when I slipped, and he helped me get back on track. I owe that kid more than I can ever repay. He’s worked hard to overcome his addictions, and he’s generous with his time and money helping others. His DUI happened during a slip-up, and he regrets it deeply.”

“I imagine the family he crashed into regret it more,” I said dryly.

“You didn’t see how that broke him, Maggie.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree.” I swallowed the last of my tea. “Thanks for your honesty, Coco. Unless your information about Judd’s parentage has relevance to my investigation, I won’t mention it to anyone.”

“I appreciate that. He’s a good kid at heart, and Merry is my best friend. They’re going through a rough time, and I want to support them.”

A knock at the door was my cue to stand up. “I’ll get it. I’m on my way out, anyway. Have a good evening, Coco, and thanks for the tea.”

I opened her door and came face to face with a red-faced, panting Lenny. He was resplendent in a red-and-white polka dot suit, diamond-studded glasses, and a mad hatter-style hat. He bent double, struggling to catch his breath. “Maggie,” he exclaimed between gasps. “I was looking all over for you.”

“What’s up? You look like you just ran a marathon.” I didn’t bother to ask what he was wearing. After all, this was Lenny, king of the crazy costumes.

“I just legged it all the way from the caretaker’s cottage. Not easy in these heels.”

My gaze dropped to his feet. Lace-up platform heels completed his look. Even by Lenny’s low standards, this outfit was remarkable.

My assistant wheezed and untangled the strap of his red shoulder bag from around his neck. “Quick, we gotta go on the lam. Things are getting crazy.”

My stomach lurched. “Why? What happened? Is Beth okay?”

Lenny pushed up his ridiculous shades, revealing eyes filled with terror. “Sile arrived on the island. She’s here to arrest us for killing Theresa and Noel.”