File M For Murder

TWENTY-FIVE

I felt an icy prickle on the back of my neck at Kanesha’s words. Should I have told her the truth?

I almost called out to her, but another thought struck me. Laura would be very hurt if I went behind her back and talked to the deputy, and I didn’t want that.

Laura’s reasons for lying to Kanesha eluded me at the moment, unless she did it in a misguided attempt to protect me. She didn’t realize, however, that her failure to tell the truth would simply make things far worse when Kanesha figured it out. And she would; I was sure of that.

I closed the door, then headed upstairs to check on Laura. Her door was ajar, and I paused at the threshold and called her name softly. When there was no response, I stuck my head inside far enough to see the bed.

Laura appeared to be asleep, lying on her side, her breathing even, one arm curled around Diesel. The cat spooned with her, his head under her chin. I watched for a moment. Diesel blinked at me a couple of times, as if to tell me he had everything under control and to go away. I smiled and withdrew, pulling the door almost shut.

Back downstairs, the house quiet around me, I began to feel restless. Yielding to impulse, I grabbed my keys and headed for the garage. I hadn’t talked to Helen Louise Brady for several days, and I had a sudden hankering to see her. We hadn’t been able to reschedule the dinner we’d planned the night of Laura’s cocktail party. I also thought it would be nice to have something from her bakery for dessert tonight. An image of her gâteau au chocolat flashed in my mind, and I was practically licking my lips as I backed the car out of the garage and pointed it toward the town square.

I found a spot on the square across from the bakery and parked. The afternoon sun blazed, and I shaded my eyes as I waited to cross the street. When I stepped under the bakery’s awning, I paused to peer in through the window. At mid-afternoon there were only three tables occupied, and I didn’t see Helen Louise anywhere.

As I entered, I hoped she was in the kitchen and not out for a while. I had to admit to myself that I came here more to see her than to buy a cake. I inhaled the delicious scents of freshly baked pastries and butter and various flavors all mingled together as I wandered over to the display cases. I could probably gain a couple of pounds from sniffing in here. I bent to have a closer look at a plate of éclairs.

“Charlie, my dear, what a pleasant surprise.”

I turned to my left to see Helen Louise beaming at me from behind the counter. I moved closer and smiled.

“But where’s Diesel?” Helen Louise, rake-thin and nearly six feet tall, frowned as she peered over the counter around me. “Isn’t he with you? I hope he’s not ill.”

“He’s fine,” I said. “I left him at home with Laura, napping.”

“Well, I suppose it’s okay this one time, but you know the only reason I allow you in here is because you usually bring that gorgeous kitty with you.” Helen Louise chuckled.

I sighed heavily, going along with the joke. “Yes, I know, and here I thought you were beginning to like me for myself and not mon chat très beau.”

Helen Louise laughed at my sally. She had spent several years in Paris, studying her art, and ever since she came back to Athena she tended to sprinkle her conversations with the occasional word or phrase of French. My accent was not that good, but I think the effort amused her.

“Do you have time for a chat? How about some coffee and an éclair?”

“You read my mind.” I smiled. “My mouth will overrule my waistline and say yes to the éclair.”

“Have a seat, and I’ll be with you in a moment.” Helen Louise gestured toward our usual table, in the corner near the cash register.

Sitting at the table without Diesel at my feet was odd. I was so used to having him with me almost all the time that I felt like part of me was missing. Helen Louise returned then, bearing a tray with two cups of coffee and two éclairs. She deftly served them before sitting next to me.

She clasped my hand for a moment and gave it a squeeze. “I heard about the death of Laura’s friend at the college. How awful for her.”

“Yes, it was terrible. She was the one who found him.” I added two small scoops of sugar to my coffee.

Helen Louise grimaced. “I hadn’t heard that. Poor Laura. Is there anything I can do?”

“Not at the moment,” I said. “She’s doing okay, all things considered. But unfortunately, there’s more.”

Helen Louise sipped at her coffee and nibbled her éclair as I related the events of the day. Had the attack on Laura happened only this morning?

“What was the person after?” Helen Louise’s eyes blazed. “I’d love to get a hold of whoever did it.”

“You’ll have to get in line.” I smiled briefly. “We think the person was after a thumb drive that belonged to Connor.” I told her the rest of it, the real version, not Laura’s made-up one. I trusted Helen Louise implicitly, and I valued her perspective on things. She had been a lawyer before chucking it over in order to follow her dream of opening her own French-style bakery.

“Kanesha may string you both up before she’s done with you.” Helen Louise frowned. “I wish Laura hadn’t been so impulsive and taken that blasted thing to begin with. This isn’t going to look good when Kanesha finds out the truth.”

“I know.” I sighed. “Laura is usually so levelheaded, but I suppose the shock of finding Lawton like that knocked her so off balance that she didn’t think clearly about the implications.”

“No, she probably didn’t. Did she have strong feelings for him?”

“They were engaged briefly,” I said. “A fact I didn’t know until recently. Laura swore up and down she wasn’t in love with him any longer. In fact, she seems to be infatuated with a young man in the Theater Department, Frank Salisbury. Do you know him?”

Helen Louise nodded. Of course she knew him—she knew practically everyone in Athena. “He’s a fine young man. His mother, a widow, goes to my church, and Frank often attends with her.”

“I’m glad to hear that, because Laura seems serious about him, even though they’ve only known each other a couple of weeks.” I shook my head. “And he seems just as besotted with her. I don’t know what will happen when the time comes for Laura to go back to Los Angeles.” I had two more bites of my éclair and wanted to sigh from sheer pleasure.

“They’ll work it out, never fear.” Helen Louise chuckled. “Who knows? Laura might decide to chuck Hollywood and settle down here with Frank.”

“I wouldn’t mind that, I have to admit.” I sipped my coffee. “I worry about her out there. You hear so many stories of bad things happening to young actors.”

“You and Jackie reared her well.” Helen Louise patted my hand. “She has a strong foundation, unlike a lot of those kids.”

“Thank you.” I liked to think that my late wife and I had done our best with our two children. “I have to confess, though, I’m really floored over this situation with her lying to Kanesha. And Kanesha knows Laura is lying about something. She told me that.”

“Laura has a valid reason, at least in her mind, for doing what she did.” Helen Louise regarded me with a thoughtful expression. “I’m sure she’ll eventually tell you what that reason is.”

“I’m sure she will, but in the meantime, what must Kanesha be thinking?” I tore the remainder of my éclair into several pieces. “She hasn’t said so, of course, but Laura is probably her chief suspect.”

“She has to consider Laura.” Helen Louise’s tone was matter-of-fact. “She wouldn’t be doing her job properly otherwise. You know that.”

“Yes, you’re right,” I said. “But that doesn’t make it any easier. I know my daughter did not kill that man.”

“Are you sure someone killed him? That it wasn’t an accident? He was a heavy drinker, by all accounts, and couldn’t his death have been alcohol poisoning of some kind?”

“Kanesha told us she is treating it as a homicide, more or less. He was an unpleasant man, and I’ve no doubt several people might have wanted him dead. Laura wasn’t one of them.”

“He was not the sort to endear himself to anyone.” Helen Louise shook her head. “He came in here frequently, and with several different women. His behavior toward them was not gentlemanly, to say the least.”

“Was one of them Damitra Vane?” I described her to Helen Louise.

“My lord, yes, she was with him a couple of times. She’s about as dim as a three-watt bulb, and he treated her like dirt.”

“She claims she was in love with him, and he with her. In fact, she’d been threatening Laura to stay away from him.” I drained my coffee and set the cup down.

“She’d have had to threaten several other women as well.” Helen Louise snorted in disgust. “I couldn’t see the attraction myself, but evidently that type of man appeals to some women. Even women old enough to know better. Married women, in fact.”

“Like who?” I scented possible leads. The more suspects Kanesha had, the more likely she was to back off from Laura. Or so I hoped.

Helen Louise leaned closer. “Magda Johnston, for one. They came in here together four or five times, and the way they were carrying on it was all too obvious they were having an affair. And Ralph Johnston is the jealous type.”