Part 24 (1/2)

Finally, up ahead, she spotted Elinor and Yolanda. CJ looked quickly but didn't see any men in black on their pulp fiction tails.

”The note,” CJ said once Elinor had climbed into the front seat and Yolanda was settled in the back and they were headed north on the Hutchinson Parkway. ”Do you still have it?”

”It's home.”

”In the safe?”

”Hardly. After Jonas found it in my purse, I stashed it in an old evening bag. A Judith Leiber frog. In my closet.”

Yolanda supposed this was not a good time to suggest selling the bag on eBay. She'd done a lot of that lately, selling various baubles, mostly things Vincent had bought her. It was expensive to be a woman alone, trying to eke out a living in Westchester County.

She looked out the window and reminded herself that one day it would be worth it. Belita would grow up in a town filled with opportunities. She would not know the struggles of her mother or her mother's parents before her. She would never know life on an island.

For some silly reason, small tears rose in her eyes.

”Manny wants to see the note,” CJ continued. ”We'll take E home first, and she can give it to us. Then we can take it to Manny. He called out sick today. He's with Belita and Poppy at Poppy's mother's. They stayed there last night.”

Yolanda did not have to ask what Manny had been doing with Poppy all night. After all, she had seen that kiss.

Forty.

CJ and Yolanda followed Elinor into the house. They waited in the foyer while Elinor went upstairs.

”Have they lived here long?” Yolanda asked as her gaze skirted the lovely paintings, the marble tiles, the movie-set staircase.

”A while,” CJ replied. She'd forgotten that Yolanda was usually at Elinor's in the role of hired help and didn't ask questions that might be construed to be personal.

”Except when we're stuck down in Was.h.i.+ngton,” Malcolm said as he walked in from the doorway that led to the kitchen.

CJ felt her blood pressure rise a point, maybe ten. ”Malcolm,” she said. ”We brought Elinor home from the station.” She stammered a bit, couldn't very well add that E was upstairs retrieving the blackmailer's note. ”Do you know our friend, Yolanda?” Good grief, she couldn't remember Yolanda's last name. She had only known her by one name, like Cher or Madonna or the artist formerly known as Prince, who, she thought she'd heard, was called that again.

Malcolm and Yolanda shook hands as Elinor appeared at the top of the stairs.

”Well, there's my long-lost wife now.”

”h.e.l.lo, Malcolm.” She descended the stairs, carrying the Judith Leiber as if it were a rose. ”Sorry I was delayed. I thought as long I was in Phillie, I'd have the girl start my gown for the wedding.” The words slid off her tongue like Baileys Irish Cream. At the bottom of the stairs, she handed CJ the purse. ”This will match your dress perfectly,” she said without missing a lying beat. Then she turned back to Mac. ”Do I have time for a bath before we leave for Was.h.i.+ngton?”

”That all depends,” Mac replied as he reached into his back pocket and withdrew a phone handset. ”You see, the oddest thing happened while you were away. All the phones were missing from their chargers. Except for the one I keep under my bed. Which is a good thing, because if I hadn't finally figured that out and retrieved this, I never would have received the call from a man who asked if I had the money.”

The interesting thing about CJ's sister was that she could manage to rise to an occasion such as this without turning pale or breaking into a sweat, both of which CJ was sure she was doing.

”What money?” Elinor asked.

Malcolm shrugged. ”I have no idea. But before he hung up, he said my wife would know what he meant.”

Elinor laughed. ”So. Was it the paperboy or someone like that?”

”I can't imagine. Any more than I can imagine why the other phones are missing.”

”Because I'm having the phone system replaced! We're going digital-didn't I tell you?”

His reply was a cool, curious stare. Then Malcolm went back through the foyer the way he had come.

CJ looked at Elinor, and Yolanda looked at Elinor, and Elinor looked at them both and whispered, ”I'm dead.”

Forty-one.

Poppy would have been happy if they'd slept together, had s.e.x. But Manny had said that as much as he'd like to, he respected her too much.

She hoped he wasn't afraid she'd nail him with pruning shears, too.

She'd slept until noon, then resumed making lists, while Manny perused Momma's greenhouse and gardens with Belita.

By afternoon, Momma felt up to taking high tea in the solarium, where she could see her orchids in bloom. Besides, she'd heard gleeful delights from Belita and wanted to see the little girl.

”Let's all be like children,” Momma said, and so there they sat, Poppy and Manny and Momma and Belita on Manny's knee, and they ate tea party sandwiches with the crusts neatly trimmed and sipped lemonade out of dainty porcelain cups. It didn't matter to Momma that Belita wasn't even two and didn't know, or probably care, what was going on.

Poppy quietly thanked Manny for his patience and promised him that Fiona would make him a big sandwich later. ”Roast beef and Brie,” she whispered, ”grilled on thick slices of focaccia.” He smiled.

Over dainty scoops of pink peppermint ice cream, Manny gently asked Momma if she remembered the night the gardener died.

Momma set her spoon into her small tulip dish, looked at Manny, and asked, ”What gardener?”

Poppy sighed. ”You know, Momma. Sam Yates. I told Manny I'm the one who really killed him, not you. I told him it's high time I cleansed myself of my sins before the good Lord takes us both.” If Momma wondered where or why Poppy had so suddenly got religion, she didn't say.

”Momma,” Poppy repeated. ”This is serious. Manny knows the truth. Tell him.”

”Poppy is only trying to set the record straight, Mrs. Landry. From what she says, it was self-defense. And she was only fifteen. Chances are, she won't go to jail. But we'll need your testimony because there's no evidence.”

Poppy figured he'd added in the part about her not going to jail because he thought that would be the only way to get Momma's corroboration-if that was the right Law & Order word.

Momma picked up the tiny silver hand bell Poppy had bought-actually bought-from a vendedor on a street in the south of Spain. ”I have no idea what you're talking about. I killed that man and I paid for my crime.” She shook the bell and Fiona appeared and Momma said she needed help to get to her bedroom, that she felt another spell coming on.

After Momma was gone, Poppy cried, ”What about me? I need to purge my soul! And what about Elinor? If Duane thinks he's still hanging this over my head, he'll get away with blackmailing her.”

Belita cried, too.

Then the doorbell chimed.

A few seconds later, Bern escorted CJ and Yolanda into the solarium, and Yolanda picked up Belita, who instantly stopped crying, and CJ sat down in the chair where Momma had been. For some reason, she carried a Judith Leiber frog handbag, a stretch even for CJ, with her artistic leaning.

”I have the note,” CJ said. She unsnapped the frog and took out a paper that had been folded into four large squares. Manny and Poppy got up and stood behind CJ with Yolanda and Belita, and they all scrunched forward to examine the goods.