Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter
Twenty-Three
If the zombie look were in style, I would have been the height of fashion the next day.
I spent the night holding Livy while I endured wave after wave of mixed emotions that left my mind and heart in far too tumultuous a state to get more than a few minutes of sleep here and there.
While getting Livy ready for school, I moved about as fast as molasses in January.
I got her there just in time, and I counted that as a win.
When I got back to the Mirage, I wandered the hallways like a lonely ghost. I absolutely did not want to focus on my own troubles, so I figured I should work on keeping my promise to Mrs. Nagy.
The problem was that I didn’t know what to do next, and I didn’t have my team around to help me out.
Jemma was working and Theo was at school, so I wouldn’t see them for hours, if at all that day.
My fingers itched with the temptation to text Wyatt, but I resisted.
After the bomb my mom had dropped on me, I needed a Wyatt-shaped complication in my life even less than before.
As I wandered down the third-floor corridor, the sound of voices drifted toward me. I turned a corner and saw that the door to Rosario’s apartment stood open. When I reached it, I peeked inside. Rosario sat at a card table with Carmen álvarez, Leona Lavish, and Bitty Dover.
The four women were in the middle of a card game, and there were two bowls of snacks on the table, pushed to the corners to leave a clear space in the center.
“Your turn, Leona,” Rosario said. She had a pad of paper and a pencil on the table beside her. Her silver pineapple earrings swayed whenever she moved her head, and her chin-length hair was held back by a stretchy band of blue fabric.
With a flourish, Leona set a card face up in the middle of the table. “Ten of clubs, darlings.” She fiddled with the jewels at her throat. “You know, when I was on Passion City, I had this sizzling casino scene—”
“Your turn, Bitty,” Carmen said loudly, bulldozing Leona into silence.
I think everyone else present appreciated that. I certainly had no desire to know what Leona had been up to on a blackjack table, even if it wasn’t for real.
The former soap opera star glared at Carmen, but then she caught sight of me hovering in the doorway.
“Emersyn, darling,” she trilled. “Do tell us what delicious dirt you’ve dug up on Freddie.”
“Oh.” I continued to hover. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
Carmen waved off my apology. “You’re hardly intruding. Draw up a chair. I’m sure we’d all like to hear how the investigation is going.”
The other ladies nodded and murmured their agreement.
Wincing, I crossed the threshold into the apartment. I grabbed a spare chair from the kitchen and pulled it up so I could sit between Rosario and Carmen. As I did so, I glanced toward the credenza, but I couldn’t tell if the dart-pierced drawing of Freddie was still behind it.
“Does everyone in the building know I’m looking into the murder?” I asked.
“Probably not everyone.” Leona sighed and drew the cards in the middle of the table toward her while Rosario marked down the scores.
I suspected they were playing Hearts.
Carmen tipped her head to one side and made a sound of disagreement. “I’d say pretty much everyone.”
So much for my hope to fly under the radar.
“I’m afraid I might end up disappointing everyone,” I confessed. “Mrs. Nagy most of all. I don’t think I’m cut out for this detective stuff.”
“You just need to remember what my dear cousin Princess Di used to say.” Bitty sat up straighter before quoting, “ ‘Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, “I’m possible!” ’ ”
“Wasn’t it Audrey Hepburn who said that?” Carmen asked.
Bitty’s lips formed a thin line. “Perhaps Audrey took it from my cousin.”
All the other ladies rolled their eyes as they pushed their cards toward Rosario. Bitty liked to remind everyone at every opportunity that she was related to the late Princess Di. I didn’t know if it was true or not, but Bitty seemed convinced.
Carmen turned her sharp eyes on me. “Do you have any suspects?”
“Um,” I hedged, with a subtle glance at Rosario, who was now shuffling the deck. “I’m not sure I should reveal any details at this stage.”
Leona tossed the end of her gauzy scarf over her shoulder. “Decent delivery, darling, but next time perhaps inject your words with a little more authority.”
Leona didn’t just love telling everyone about her former television roles, she also enjoyed dishing out acting advice. It didn’t seem to matter if the recipients—like me—weren’t actors.
Although maybe I needed to try acting more like a detective. Fake it till you make it and all that.
“Speaking of the murder,” I said as the ladies started another round of the card game. “Were any of you in the building the morning that Freddie was killed?”
“Ooh!” Leona exclaimed with relish. “Are we all suspects? I wouldn’t mind being questioned by that dishy blond detective.”
“Oh, for God’s sake, woman.” Carmen’s tone could have out-scorched the sun. “Take a cold shower and play a card.”
“I was at the pharmacy, picking up my prescriptions,” Bitty broke in.
“Before that, I had breakfast with my granddaughter. By the time I arrived home, the police were everywhere. I do wish my granddaughter would carry herself with more poise. I mean, really. Rings in her nose and studs in her eyebrows! It’s not really a look befitting our status as relatives of the Spencer family.
I wanted to give her my hummingbird brooch so she could add some sophistication to her appearance, but I haven’t been able to find it.
” She looked a little distressed as she fingered one of the buttons on her cardigan.
“You lost that too?” Rosario asked. “Did you ever find the cameo necklace you misplaced?”
“Not yet,” Bitty replied, her gray eyes troubled, “but it must be in my apartment somewhere.”
Carmen steered the conversation back on track. “I was home all morning. I didn’t leave my apartment until I heard the sirens and saw the police cars out on the street.”
“What about you, Rosario?” I asked, hoping the question sounded casual.
She played a card. “I was out all morning. My sweet little Zeus was under the weather, so I took him to the vet. They were already behind, so we had to wait nearly half an hour before we saw the doctor. I came home to find the police crawling all over the building.”
“Zeus being…?” I prompted, wondering if she’d admit to the type of pets she had in her unit.
“A snake, dear,” Carmen answered for her. “Why on God’s green earth anyone would choose a snake as a pet, I really don’t understand.”
“We’ll all be crushed to death in our sleep!” Leona exclaimed, pressing bejeweled fingers to her chest. “Oh, the peril!”
“Scarlet kingsnakes are harmless,” Rosario said sharply.
I wondered if the other ladies thought Rosario had only the one snake or if they knew she had several. Leona must have at least suspected that there was more than one reptile, considering the arguments she’d heard between Rosario and Freddie.
“What time did you leave the building?” I asked Rosario. “Did you see anything suspicious on your way out? Somebody hanging around the lobby maybe?”
Another round of the game had ended, so Rosario pushed her cards over to Carmen, who shuffled the deck.
Then Rosario considered—or at least pretended to consider—the question. “I didn’t see anyone. And I must have left around nine o’clock in the morning because Zeus’s appointment was scheduled for nine-fifteen.”
I made a mental note of that information. I’d have to get Theo to check the video surveillance footage to confirm the time of Rosario’s departure.
If, in fact, Rosario was telling the truth, then she had an alibi for the time of the murder, leaving the spotlight of suspicion shining fully on Hoffman.
I wanted her to have a solid alibi because I didn’t want the killer to be someone living in the building with us, but the thought that Hoffman could very possibly be a murderer still set off a squidgy feeling in my stomach.
I thought about the eyelash Theo found in Freddie’s apartment. Keeping my eyes on Leona, I asked, “Do any of you know if Freddie had a woman in his life?”
Leona let out a gusty laugh that was more than a little over-the-top. “Freddie wasn’t much of a head turner, although I suppose some people do have to settle for less than movie-star good looks.”
It was clear from her tone that she didn’t consider herself such a person.
I glanced around at the other ladies. Carmen rolled her eyes, but it was Rosario who caught my interest. She pressed so hard while marking down the latest scores that the end of the pencil snapped.
I noticed a hint of pink in her cheeks as she made a sound of frustration and jumped up to fetch a pencil sharpener from across the room.
Interesting.
I really would have to check out that alibi because, at the moment, I wasn’t sure I bought it.
“Rosario,” I said once she’d returned to the table, “I got the impression that maybe Freddie was…special to you.”
Her eyes grew almost comically wide. “Where—what—why would you think that?” she sputtered.
“I don’t know.” I pretended to be confused. “I thought I heard someone say you were seeing him.”
“Pishposh!” Carmen gave a dismissive flick of her hand. “Rosario has more sense than that.”
Rosario nodded as if both agreeing with and thanking Carmen for her support, but her cheeks had turned a brighter shade of pink, and there was a fearful, hunted look in her eyes.
“Did anyone have any conflicts with Freddie in recent weeks?” I asked, wondering if Rosario would admit to her arguments with the victim. “Anyone you haven’t already mentioned,” I added quickly when I saw Leona about to speak, her eyes fixed firmly on Rosario.
Leona snapped her mouth shut and appeared to be giving my qualified question some thought.
“There was that incident with Minnie,” Bitty offered.
Carmen dealt the cards. “But Minnie wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Rosario picked up her new hand of cards and fanned them out. “Our sweet Minnie definitely has a dark side.”