Digging Up The Dirt

CHAPTER 30

Barbie had been about to drink more wine when An’gel posed her question. She set the glass on the table and laughed, nervously, An’gel thought.

“Gracious, you certainly don’t mess around, An’gel,” Barbie said. “Why on the Lord’s green earth are you asking me such a question?”

“Because of the bones we found at Ashton Hall,” An’gel said. “Something terrible happened there, and the roots of that and the terrible things that have happened here recently all connect to the past. The common denominator in all this is Hadley Partridge.”

Barbie stared at her as if dazed. She licked her lips and started to speak. No sound came out. She took a breath and tried again. “Why should me having an affair with Hadley back then—and I’m not saying I did, mind you—why should that have anything to do with the rest?”

“Because,” An’gel said, pausing deliberately, “someone is evidently so desperate to have Hadley that she’s been willing to kill for him. Forty years ago, and again now.”

Barbie emitted another nervous laugh. “That’s crazy. The man is incredibly attractive, even now, and he oozes charm like nobody’s business. But kill in order to have him?” She shook her head. “That’s nuts.”

“To a sane person, yes,” An’gel said. “But to someone whose reason is warped, whose passion is out of control, it’s not. I have tried to come up with some other explanation for everything that’s happened, and I always come back to this.” She stared hard at Barbie. “Did you have an affair with Hadley back then?”

Barbie held up her hands. “All right, I give. I’ll tell you the whole pathetic story. I didn’t have an affair with him, but I would have given just about anything to get him into bed with me back then.” Her mouth twisted in a grimace of distaste. “My husband was good for maybe once a week, if you know what I mean. And not all that exciting even then. He cared more about hunting and fishing than he did about having an intimate relationship with me. I was ready for the first really good-looking man who came along. The minute I met Hadley, he was the one I wanted and thought I had to have.” She picked up her glass and drained the rest of the wine. When she set the glass back on the table, her hand shook a little.

“But Hadley didn’t return your lust, as it were?” An’gel asked, hoping she didn’t sound bitchy. She wasn’t comfortable hearing such details of another woman’s private life, but there wasn’t any way around it, she figured. She’d have to listen in order to get the answers she sought.

“No, he didn’t.” Barbie stared at the wine bottle and, after a brief hesitation, picked it up and emptied its contents into her glass. “I was devastated at the time. I got over it, though, and found consolation elsewhere.” She sipped at her wine.

“Did you have any idea at the time why Hadley wasn’t interested?” Dickce shook her head. “You were a beautiful young woman. I’m really surprised he didn’t respond.”

Barbie laughed, bitterly this time, An’gel thought. “I don’t know. At the time I thought he might be gay. But after he turned me down flat, I caught him in a compromising position with someone else.”

“Who?” An’gel and Dickce asked in unison.

“Reba Dalrymple,” Barbie replied. “Go figure. She had about as much sex appeal as a toaster, but I caught them in a major clinch. Neither of them seemed to be in a hurry to let go, either, from what I could see.”

“Where was this?” An’gel asked. “And when was it, do you remember?”

“Only too well. It was at that Christmas fund-raiser you and Dickce hosted about six months before Hadley left town. They were in one of the bedrooms upstairs at Riverhill.”

“Heavens,” An’gel said faintly.

Dickce snorted. “An’gel won’t ask you, but I will. Were they wearing any clothes?”

“Yes, fully clothed,” Barbie said. “They weren’t on the bed, mind you, but they might have ended up there. I don’t know. I shut the door and scurried back down the stairs. I decided I would wait and use the powder room downstairs. I’d gone up there, you see, looking for another bathroom and opened the wrong door. Obviously.” She knocked back more wine.

“If I were you, I’d go track Reba down and have a talk with her,” Barbie said. “And while you’re at it, you might as well go see Lottie.” She shook her head. “My so-called best friend, then and now, was also hot to get Hadley into bed. Her husband was my husband’s hunting and fishing buddy, if you’ll recall, and she was as eager for attention as I was.”

“Good grief, it’s like Peyton Place,” Dickce said, “except it’s all about one man. Did Lottie have any success with Hadley, do you know?”

Barbie shrugged. “She would never say, one way or the other. She seemed pretty hung up on him, even after I told her what I’d seen at your Christmas party. I had a hard time believing Hadley was really interested in Reba, frankly. I thought for sure the reason he was resisting my nubile young charms was Callie. I still think she was the one he loved. I saw him and Callie and that maid of hers, the one with the weird name, out and about several times in out-of-the-way places. I guess they took her along to make it look respectable.” She flashed a smile. “This was while I was out hunting for other prey, you understand.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know any of this was going on,” An’gel said. “If you had any inkling, Sister, you never said a word to me about it.”

Dickce frowned. “To be honest, I had picked up a little hint here and there, but I never mentioned it”—she flicked her gaze toward Barbie and back again—“because I knew you hated to hear gossip like that.”

An’gel understood. Dickce had protected her from hearing these things until An’gel was able to deal with her own feelings toward Hadley. She smiled briefly, and Dickce winked.

“If you want to get to the truth of the matter,” Barbie said, “Hadley is the only one who can tell you what was really going on.”

“Yes,” An’gel said. “We plan to talk to him.”

“What about Sarinda? And Arliss?” Dickce asked, looking directly at Barbie. “They were around at the time. Was either of them involved with Hadley? Or did either of them want to be?”

Barbie shrugged. “Arliss had just gotten divorced from hubby number one, hadn’t she? I imagine she was on the prowl then as much as she is now.” She paused briefly. “Or I guess I should say, as much as she was before the accident. With Sarinda, well, who really knows? You know what they say about still waters.”

Dickce nodded. “I keep thinking about the way she jumped up and basically threw herself into Hadley’s arms the last time we saw her. That was such an odd thing to do, even as much as we know she liked attention. I think she must have had feelings for him.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Barbie said. “We were all circling around him in the old days like he was the last man on earth.” She snorted. “Handsome, rich, and charming. He had it all. Still does, frankly. Why is it that men only get sexier as they age, and we women get treated like we’re ready for the slag heap?”

“I haven’t been sitting on any slag heaps lately,” An’gel said in a tart tone, “and I don’t imagine you have been either. Most of that’s nothing more than Hollywood bull-hockey, and you know it.”

Barbie grinned. “That’s one of the reasons I get such a kick out of you, An’gel. You’re one tough broad.”

An’gel laughed. “If that’s all anyone can think of to put on my tombstone, I guess I wouldn’t mind. I’ve had to be. Most women have to be if they’re going to get anywhere in this world.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Barbie downed the rest of her wine. “Well, girls, it’s been, well, not exactly fun, but you know what I mean. I need to get going. Supposed to play tennis later on with Lottie, if she remembers to show up this time.” She rummaged in her purse and came up with a couple of twenty dollar bills. She dropped them on the table and stood. “That should cover my part of the tab. See you later, girls.”

An’gel and Dickce watched as Barbie headed for the door. An’gel was concerned that Barbie was a little inebriated, but she seemed fine. When the door closed behind her, An’gel turned to her sister.

“What do you think? Was she telling us the truth about her and Hadley?”

Dickce shrugged. “I think so, but we can’t really know for sure, can we? She seemed genuine when she told us Hadley wasn’t interested in her.”

Helen Louise came to the table to clear away their plates. “How was the cassoulet?”

“Superb, as always when we dine here,” An’gel said. “You are so talented.”

Helen Louise grinned. “Thank you, Miss An’gel. I’m simply doing what I love. I’m not sure why I ever bothered going to law school first.”

Dickce smiled. “Because your parents wanted you to have a profession in which you could support yourself. They would be so proud of you now, even though you gave up the law.”

“I’d like to think so,” Helen Louise said. “Thank you, Miss Dickce. Now, let me get all of this out of the way. Did you save any room for dessert?”

“Not today,” An’gel said. “You have fed us all too well.”

Dickce nodded. “As much as I’m tempted by the thought of your desserts, I have to agree.”

Helen Louise, arms loaded with plates and cutlery, said, “I’ll be back in a moment with your check. Thank you, ladies.”

Five minutes later An’gel led the way out of the bistro to the car. Dickce got behind the wheel and prepared to crank the car. While An’gel was buckling her seat belt, a cell phone chirped.

“Mine, I think.” Dickce pulled it out of her purse. “Yes, a text message. From Benjy.” She stared at the screen for a moment. “Oh, that sly man.”

“Who are you talking about?” An’gel asked. “What did Benjy say?”

Dickce looked up at her sister. “Benjy was trying to track down the H. Wachtel from the telegram to Mrs. Simpson. He couldn’t find anyone who might plausibly be the same person. He got curious about the name Wachtel, however, and dug into it. It’s German, and it means quail or partridge.”

“That sneaky devil,” An’gel said. “So Hadley sent that telegram?”

“It seems that way,” Dickce said.

An’gel thought for a moment. “You saw the telegram, and I didn’t. Was there anything on it that indicated it truly came from London?”

Dickce looked pensive. “No, not that I can remember. I’d have to look at it again to be sure, though. What are you getting at?”

“Only that the H could be Hamish and not Hadley,” An’gel said.

“Why would Hamish have sent a telegram, purporting to be from London, saying that his maid was killed in an accident there? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Not much about this whole situation does,” An’gel replied, her tone grim.

“If Hadley sent it,” Dickce said, “do you think Coriander Simpson ran away with him and was tragically killed? Was Hadley in love with her?”

“I don’t know,” An’gel said. “It’s certainly possible. Remember, Barbie told us she had seen the three of them—Hadley, Callie, and Coriander—in public together away from Athena. She thought Coriander was there to provide a screen for Hadley and Callie. But what if Callie was there to provide a screen so Hadley and Coriander could be together?”