Murder with a Twist (15 page)

thirty-five

I was making my
way back to the hotel when my cell phone rang. It was Marcy. “Where the hell did you go?” she demanded when I answered. “I go and get you a cup of coffee and return to an illegible note and an empty office.”

“Would you have preferred a legible note?”

“I’d prefer you not to run off like that. Where did you rush off to anyway?”

“I may have made an unofficial visit to Park View Terrace.”

A brief silence followed. “Tell me you didn’t.”

“Okay. I didn’t.”

She sighed. “You did, didn’t you?”

“I’m not telling you until you make up your mind.”

“Never mind. It’s probably better that I don’t know. Did you learn anything?” she asked.

“Well, according to the brochure I got, the future residents of Park View Terrace will live in ‘an atmosphere where elegance and formality reign supreme and enjoy an inherent sense of grandeur and warmth.’”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s pretty bad prose
.”

“Nic?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to hang up now.”

“I can’t say I blame you. Thanks again, Marcy.”

“Don’t mention it. And by that, I mean just what I say.
Don’t mention it
.”

_____

My next visit was to Audrey’s. On my way to her apartment, I stopped at a local deli and bought a large container of chicken noodle soup and some sandwiches. Audrey answered on my fifth knock. She was wearing a wrinkled tee shirt and a pair of baggy sweatpants. From their appearance, it seemed that she’d slept in them. Her face was red and blotchy and her hair was matted and tangled. “Oh, hello, Nic,” she said her voice dull. “Where’s Nigel?”

“He’s at the hotel,” I answered. “I’m sorry to stop by unannounced
,
but I wanted to see how you were doing. May I come in for a few minutes? I brought you lunch.” I held up the brown bag as evidence.

“Oh, well, okay. Thanks,” Audrey said, opening the door wide to let me in. “That was nice of you, but you didn’t need to.”

“Nonsense,” I answered. “You’ve been through hell. You need to take care of yourself. When did you last eat?”

“Um … yesterday? But I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat something. You sit down. I’ll get the plates.” Audrey wandered over to the couch and curled up with a large throw pillow while I headed for the kitchen. I found a tray and set out the soup and sandwiches. When I returned to the living room, Audrey was staring into space.

“Here you go,” I said, setting the tray down on the table.

Audrey looked blankly at the food. I handed her a spoon. “Eat.”

Reluctantly Audrey sat up and began to eat her soup and sandwich. I did the same with mine. Neither of us spoke. After awhile, Audrey pushed her empty plate and bowl away and curled back up on the couch. “Thanks, Nic,” she said. “I guess I was hungrier than I realized.”

“How are you holding up?”

She shook her head. “It all seems like a nightmare. I keep hoping that I’ll wake up and find that this was all a terrible dream.”

“I know the feeling,” I said.

“But it’s not a dream, is it?” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “Leo never loved me. He used me for my money, and I was too stupid to see it. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad my parents aren’t alive to see what a mess I made of my life.”

“I wish I could say something to make you feel better. I’m sorry
Leo wasn’t a very nice man. But don’t beat yourself up over it. You’re
not the first woman to make a mistake about love.”

She sighed and hugged the pillow against her stomach. “I still feel like a fool.”

“Well, there’s no reason to. Nobody thinks that of you.”

She shook her head. “You’re just being nice.” She paused. “Has there been any news?”

“About Leo’s killer?” I asked. Audrey nodded. “No, not really. The police are still investigating. I take it that you didn’t see anyone come out of the bathroom before you went in?”

Audrey shook her head. “No one. It was empty when I went in. Only Leo was there.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been distressing.”

Audrey closed her eyes. “It … it was.”

I sat for a moment thinking how to bring up the question I needed answered. There seemed no polite way to do it. “Audrey, I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but there’s something that I need to know,” I finally said.

Audrey opened her eyes and stared at me with a wary expression. “What?”

“Well, it’s about Lizzy Marks.”

The wary expression increased. “What about her?”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone that she was Max’s secretary?”

thirty-six

There was a long
pause. In a dull voice, she said, “How did you find out?”

“Actually, it was just a hunch. But it was a hunch that you just confirmed.” Audrey’s mouth bunched in anger. I didn’t know if it was at me for tricking her or at herself for getting tricked. I didn’t care. I pretended not to notice and went on. “I remembered that Lizzy Marks used to be married to a man named Morgan. Lizzy is short for Elizabeth. So is Betty. When Lizzy worked for Max, she used her married name.” Audrey stared at me in some confusion. I didn’t elaborate. “But that’s beside the point,” I continued. “What does matter is why didn’t you say something.”

Audrey looked down. “I couldn’t. I didn’t want to involve the family any more than they already were. Can you imagine Aunt Olive’s reaction if she found out that Leo had been having an affair with Max’s secretary?” She shook her head at the thought. “As it stands now, only the police know about Leo’s involvement with Lizzy or whatever her real name was. But if it got out that she once worked for Max, the papers would have a field day.”

“Maybe, maybe not. In any case, you should have told the police.”

“Does it really matter? She’s dead.”

“I think it does matter. Quite a bit, actually. Leo met Lizzy when she was working for Max.”

“So?”

“So, according to some friends of hers, she found out about an embezzlement scheme at work and was trying to cash in on it. Any idea what it was?”

Audrey looked up at me in surprise. “Embezzlement? At Max’s firm?”

“That’s what they told me. Mean anything to you?”

Audrey shook her head. “No, nothing.”

“Could Leo have been involved?” I asked. “When he came home, you must have asked him where he’d been. What did he tell you?”

“He … he didn’t tell me anything really. He said it was none of my damn business what he did.”

I stared at her in surprise. “And you just accepted that?”

A spark of anger flashed in her eyes. “Of course not! I was furious, but I couldn’t make him tell me where he’d been or what he’d been up to.”

“Well, did Leo say anything about his relationship with Lizzy? You knew all about her, you must have brought up the topic. What did he tell you?”

Her eyes focused on the floor. “Nothing really.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Audrey, I’m trying to help you, but you have to tell me everything you know. Did Leo tell you anything about his relationship with Lizzy?”

Audrey rubbed her hand across her forehead. “When he finally came home, I accused him of having an affair with her. I told him that I knew everything. He just stood there and laughed at me. He said I didn’t know anything. He said they were business partners.”

“Did he say what this business was?”

“Not really. He said something about a windfall, but that she had double crossed him.”

“She’d double crossed him? How?” I asked.

“I don’t know. He didn’t say. I was too upset to think straight. But … but he said she deserved what she got.”

I stared at her. “Audrey, did Leo
…
?” I let the question hang in the air.

Audrey raised her head, and for the first time, held my gaze. “Yes,” she whispered. “He killed her.”

“How do you know this?” I asked.

“When I went to her apartment that day, she was on the floor.” Audrey closed her eyes at the memory. “I felt for a pulse and, well, there wasn’t any. I was about to leave, but I noticed that she had something in her hand.” She paused.

“And?” I prompted.

“And it was Leo’s cufflink. I know because I gave it to him.”

I thought back to the report I’d read in Marcy’s office. “I don’t recall anything about the police finding a cufflink on the body,” I said, hoping that Audrey wasn’t about to tell me something stupid.

“That’s because I took it,” she said, dashing that hope.

“Why on earth would you do that?” I snapped.

Audrey’s eyes filled with tears. “I know it was wrong, but I only wanted to protect him! I thought it had to be a mistake of some kind. I thought maybe he’d left his cufflinks there, and she happened to be holding one when she died.”

“You can’t possibly be that stupid, Audrey.”

Audrey brushed away the tears that were starting to slide down her cheeks. “I know. I know. But I saw that cufflink, and I panicked. I grabbed it and ran.”

“Did you tell Leo this?”

She nodded. “I did. And I told him that I was done. With him. With our sham of a marriage. I told him I wanted a divorce.”

“You did? What did he say?”

“He laughed. He said that I couldn’t divorce him. He said that if I tried, he’d go to the police and tell them that
I
had been there too. He said he’d make it look like
I
killed her. Then he thanked me for taking the cufflink. He actually
thanked me
. He said that her death was an accident. That they’d fought, and she came at him or something. He pushed her back and she fell and hit her head.”

“He didn’t think to call an ambulance?”

Audrey shook her head. “No. He said she died instantly.”

“I guess we’ll never know, will we? Once he was home, did he call anyone or go anywhere?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. No one.” Audrey gave a loud sniff. “What are you going to do now?” she asked.

“I’m going to find some aspirin,” I said, standing up to leave. “And a large bottle of something to chase it down with. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”

thirty-seven

I left Audrey’s apartment,
went back to the deli, and bought a large cup of coffee. I sat down at an empty table and tried to think. Although I wasn’t surprised to hear that Leo had killed Lizzy, I was surprised that Audrey had tried to cover it up. I had pegged her as having a stronger moral compass than that.

I sipped my coffee and reviewed what I knew. Lizzy had discovered an embezzling scheme at Max’s firm and decided to cash in on it. Around that time, Lizzy was discovered to be sleeping with certain clients and was summarily fired. At some point, either before her firing or shortly after it, Lizzy hooked up with Leo. The two of them planned something involving the embezzlement scheme. Before they could finish it, Fat Saul called in his loan, and Leo went into hiding. Someone, possibly a woman, called Fat Saul and revealed where Leo was hiding. Soon after, Fat Saul was found dead from a gunshot wound to the stomach. Lizzy was killed next, and if Audrey’s story was true, Leo was the killer. Then Leo blackmailed Daphne to keep quiet about seeing Audrey leave Lizzy’s apartment. He returned home to Audrey and attended her birthday party only to wind up dead in the men’s room.

I drank some more coffee. The story didn’t make sense. If Leo had killed Lizzy then why would he hang around her apartment to see who else showed up? He wouldn’t. He couldn’t have been there when Audrey arrived. And why would Leo go to Daphne with his blackmail proposition? Again, he wouldn’t. He’d go to Max or even Audrey herself. Pieces of the puzzle started to fit together.

I finished my coffee and decided to pay Daphne a visit. She answered my knock, seemingly surprised not only to find me on her doorstep, but alone. Her face appeared paler than usual, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

“Nic,” she said with a forced smile, “this is a surprise! Come on in. Is everything all right?”

“That depends on your definition of all right,” I said as I followed her into her living room. I took a seat on one couch while she sat on the opposite one.

“Can I get you a drink?” she asked, her smile still in place. “Coffee? Something stronger?”

“No, thank you. I came by to ask you about one of your clients.”

Her smile dimmed. “Oh, really? Which one?”

“Meyers and Company.”

She sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. “Yes? What about them?” she asked with just the right note of casual interest.

“Well, just an interesting tidbit I learned about them. The man
who was looking for Leo—Fat Saul? I believe I told you about him?”

Daphne nodded hesitantly.

“Well, as you know, he was found dead a few days back. I don’t know if I mentioned this, but his body was found at the Park View Terrace construction site.” I paused to see if she was going to make this easy or difficult. She said nothing. Difficult it was, then.

“Do we really have to play cat and mouse, Daphne? You know as well as I do that Park View Terrace is owned by none other than your client, Meyers and Company.”

She flushed. “Well, what of it? It doesn’t have anything to do with
me.
I had nothing to do with that man’s death! Fat Saul was a thug! A violent thug! You told me that yourself !”

“Yes, I know I did. I fed you all the information you needed, didn’t I? You played that rather neatly. You needed to find Leo, and so you set me on the case. But you never wanted Leo to come home to Audrey’s waiting arms. Once you found out about Fat Saul—who I so helpfully told you was a violent thug—you called him, didn’t you?”

Daphne’s face went very white. “Me? Don’t be absurd. Why would
I call this Fat Saul person?”

“Simple. So you could tell him where to find Leo. You told him that Leo was hiding out at the Park View Terrace construction site, and you sent him there hoping that Fat Saul would take care of Leo for you. It must have been a nasty shock for you when I told you that it was Fat Saul’s body that was found at the site and not Leo’s.”

Daphne’s pupils shrunk to angry black dots. She pressed her lips together until they were hard white lines. “This is absurd,” she spit out. “What you are saying makes no sense. Leo was a worthless ass, but that doesn’t mean I wanted him dead. Audrey was the one married to him, not me.”

“Yes, but
you
were the one he was blackmailing.”

Daphne’s face registered relief. She even laughed a little. “But I told you about that! He said he’d go to the police about Audrey unless I paid him!”

“I’m talking about before that.”

She affected an expression of confusion. “Before that?”

“Yes.
Before
that. The first time I visited your apartment, Skippy got into your trash. Among the things I fished out of his mouth were Werther’s candy wrappers. The same candy that Audrey stocks for Leo. I didn’t think anything about it at the time, but later I wondered if Leo had been here. And if he had, why? Then I found out that there were rumors of an embezzlement scheme at your firm. It was you, wasn’t it? You were the one taking money out of Audrey’s account, and Leo found out about it. I’m guessing Lizzy Marks cued him into that.”

“Lizzy Marks?” Daphne repeated, as if confused.

“We can refer to her as Betty Morgan, if you’d prefer. Your father’s ex-secretary. The one you had fired for sleeping with the clients. Let me hazard a guess on this. She slept with the man you were seeing, yes?” Daphne flushed an ugly shade of red. “When you found out about it, you had her fired. That didn’t sit well with her. When I talked to her, she seemed to have a beef with your family that I found hard to explain. But then I remember she said something about you all having your hand in the till just like everyone else. I can only imagine that she was referring to
you
.”

“She was a greedy slut!” Daphne bit out, no longer bothering to pretend. I was grateful for the honesty. “Yes, she slept with my boyfriend. And yes, I had her sorry ass fired!”

I didn’t bother pointing out that her boyfriend was just as much to blame, if not more so. “And so she decided to get you back,” I said. “Why did you take money out of the account in the first place? Need some new shoes?”

She glared at me. “Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t do it for personal gain. I’m not like that. I made … I made a mistake on a case. I screwed up a settlement for one of our clients. If it was discovered it would be malpractice. I could have lost my license. So, I … I dipped into Audrey’s account to cover the cost. I was going to pay it back. I swear.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, not caring if that was true or not. “So, then what happened?”

Her face grew angry. “That slime ball Leo shows up, telling me that unless I pay him, he’s going to tell everyone what I did. I figured out that it was Betty who must have tipped him off. I told him that I didn’t have the money; that I needed a few days. He said that was fine, but that he needed to lay low until then. He said he owed some people money. I told him about Park View Terrace. I know all the access codes there. He was going to go there while I came up with the money.”

“But then I came along and told you about Fat Saul.”

She nodded sheepishly. “Something like that.”

“After you found out that it was Fat Saul who was looking for Leo, you thought you could tip off Saul and kill two birds with one stone. Too bad for you that Leo managed to get the jump on Saul. Of course, it turned out worse for Saul.”

“You have to believe me,” she said, suddenly pleading. “I was desperate! I just wanted Leo gone. From Audrey’s life and from mine. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean for him to die. I just thought this Fat Saul guy would scare him away for good.”

I didn’t know whether I believed her. I almost didn’t care. “So what happened when Leo came out of hiding?” I asked.

“He called me and told me that my time was up, and I needed to pay him his money,” she said.

“When was this?” I asked.

“The day before he came home to Audrey.”

“And I imagine that you had to dip once again into Audrey’s trust fund to cover the bill. Poor thing, I hope you left
something
for her.”

A crimson stain crept across Daphne’s cheeks. “Yes. I took the money from her trust. What else was I supposed to do?”

“I can think of at least ten better options right off the bat, but there’s no point in reviewing those now. So you took the money, and then what?” Before she could answer, I held up my hand and said, “Wait, let me guess. Leo told you to take it to Frank Little.”

Daphne glanced at me in surprise. “Yes. How did you know that?”

“I talked with Frank Little. He described you pretty accurately. Said a nervous, uptight blonde had dropped off the money. That sounds like you, wouldn’t you say?”

Daphne nodded. “It was horrible,” she said, shuddering at the memory. “Those men are thugs.”

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my legs. “That may be true. But at least
they
are up front about what they are.”

Daphne’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Seriously?
That
was too subtle?”

She pressed her lips together and looked away. “Okay. Maybe I deserved that.”

“Oh, you deserve that and much more, I’d say. So, when did you figure out that Betty Morgan and Lizzy Marks were the same person?” I asked.

Daphne didn’t answer right away. “I don’t think I want to talk to you any more about this.”

“Too bad. I’ve got a terrible headache, and I’m not in the mood for games. Now, when did you figure it out? Was it when I mentioned the fact that Lizzy Marks was a blonde in her forties with butterfly tattoos on her ankle? Because, I have to suspect that that little description might have tipped you off.”

Daphne flushed, but at least she didn’t deny it. “It’s true. When you told me that, I figured that they had to be the same person.”

Another piece of the puzzle slid into place. “You went to her apartment, didn’t you? You went there to confront her. What happened? Did you kill her?”

“No!” Daphne’s eyes were wide with fear. “I didn’t! I swear to you! I went there, yes. But only to talk to her; to try and get her to see reason.”

“What happened? Did she see reason?”

Daphne frowned. “No. She didn’t. She was horrible. She said
I
was horrible and that she would be happy to ruin me even if there wasn’t any money to be made. We exchanged some choice words, but when I left she was very much alive. I swear to you she was alive!”

“And I’m guessing that when you left you were seen by none other than Leo.”

Daphne nodded. “Yes. He saw me. How did you know that?”

“It didn’t make sense that Leo would go to
you
if he’d seen Audrey leave Lizzy’s apartment. If he wanted to blackmail anyone, he’d go to Max. But it did make sense that he’d go to you if he saw
you
.”

Daphne looked down at her hands. “You’re right. Leo called me the day of the party and told me that he’d seen me leaving the apartment, and unless I paid him
again
, he’d go to the police.”

“Lord, but you are easy to blackmail. Didn’t it occur to you that he had a hell of a reason for killing Lizzy himself ?”

She looked at me in confusion. “No. Why would he want to kill her? Weren’t they partners?”

“They were, but Leo must have realized that Fat Saul didn’t stumble across him by accident. He knew that someone had tipped him off. It didn’t occur to him that it was you—he’d never mentioned Fat Saul to you and figured you’d have no way of finding out about him. The only other person who knew where he was hiding and his trouble with Fat Saul was Lizzy.”

Daphne paled. “So Leo went there to kill Lizzy?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea. But I imagine that if he wasn’t suspicious of her before, he was after seeing you leave the apartment. Maybe he thought you two had formed a new arrangement. One that didn’t include him.”

Daphne considered this, her eyes wide. “Oh, my God. I was furious with her, but I didn’t want her to die. Do you really think that seeing me there sealed her fate?”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think? No, I think Lizzy sealed her own fate when she took up blackmailing people with lowlifes like Leo. Now, about the money that you said you gave Leo the night he was killed. There never was any money, was there?”

Daphne bit her lip. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you never gave him any money, did you? You just said you did so you could have an excuse as to why all that money is missing from Audrey’s trust. Am I right?”

She looked as if she were going to deny it, but thankfully didn’t. She let out a half sigh and half moan and sank back into the couch. After a minute, she said, “Does … does Audrey know any of this?”

“You mean how you were helping yourself to her money?” Daphne blanched at my choice of words. I didn’t care. I shook my head. “No. Not yet. But she will. And if you have a shred of decency left, you’ll do it yourself.”

She nodded. “I will. I just hope she can forgive me.”

“Considering what she put up with from Leo, I think she will. She seems to have a very high threshold for tolerating and forgiving rotten behavior.”

Daphne dropped her head into her hands. “Oh, God. I’m a horrible person. Betty was right. What have I done? You must hate me.”

I let out a sigh of my own and stood up. “I don’t hate you, Daphne.
I don’t like you very much right now, but I don’t hate you. I think you should be more worried about how you are going to explain all of this to your parents and Audrey. If I were you, I’d worry about
them
, not me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am late for a date with a tall glass of something alcoholic.”

Daphne stood up as well. She offered me her hand. “Thank you, Nic. I hope that one day you can forgive me and we can be friends.”

I shook her hand. “Sure,” I said and then turned to go.

“Wait,” she said in a nervous voice. “Aren’t you going to ask me if I killed Leo?”

I turned around and looked at her. “Not today, Daphne. I’ve had about all I can take of this case for one day. Why don’t we leave that question for tomorrow?”