File M For Murder

TWENTY-SEVEN

I read the letter again, this time more slowly, to absorb every detail. Addressed to the director of the American Academy of Drama, it offered Connor Lawton’s review of a play submitted in consideration for the Laurette Taylor Fellowship in Dramaturgy. Lawton was apparently a member of the judging panel for the fellowship.

The author of the play in question was Montana (aka Ralph) Johnston. Lawton’s comments savaged the man and his work. Phrases like tediously derivative and staggeringly boring made me wince on Ralph’s behalf. Lawton closed the letter with the complaint that he couldn’t understand why he was expected to waste his time on work that was so manifestly substandard.

I set the letter down and looked at Sean. “Connor made it plain he didn’t like Ralph’s play. But if he knew Lawton had written that, he would certainly be furious. I know I would.”

“A simple no would have been enough, I’d think.” Sean shook his head. “Looks to me like Lawton went out of his way to be a jerk about it. Even if the play was as bad as he says, he didn’t have to say it like that.”

“No, he didn’t, but in my experience some critics can’t resist the temptation to be as nasty as possible. I suppose it feeds their egos somehow to tear other people down so viciously.”

“Lawton had a colossal ego, from everything I’ve observed and things Laura told me.” Sean tapped the letter with his forefinger. “Deputy Berry will look into this, I’m sure, whenever she gets around to reading the letter. You think maybe you should talk to her, make sure she gets to it right away?”

“I doubt she’d thank me if I did.” I rubbed my forehead to ease the tension that was threatening to bring on a headache. “No, it’s better to let her assess this on her own. She already has enough on Ralph and Magda Johnston to consider them prime suspects.”

“Like what?” Sean leaned back in his chair and stretched his long legs farther under the table.

Diesel chose that moment to let me know he needed attention. I felt a large paw on my thigh and heard a couple of insistent meows. He stood on his hind legs, now with both front paws braced on my thigh, and his head was about level with mine. I put my hand on the back of his head and drew it nose to nose with mine.

“You are incorrigible and shameless, and you know it,” I told him. His response was to lick my chin, and I laughed and pulled away. I kept my hand on his head as he sat on his haunches and stared up at me. A few good rubs between his ears, and he was content to let me resume my conversation with my smirking son.

“Now I know what I have to do to get your attention.” Sean chuckled.

I chose to ignore that little sally. “Back to your question. I had an interesting chat with Helen Louise when I went to pick up some dessert for tonight.” I gave Sean a rundown of what I’d learned about Magda and Ralph, their marriage, and her propensity for having affairs.

Sean rolled his eyes three times while I talked, but he waited to comment until I finished. “Some advertisement for marriage, those two. They’re totally whacked.”

“Agreed,” I said. “If they’re that unstable, I can easily see one of them deciding to kill Lawton and take him out of the picture.”

“You think Magda Johnston attacked Laura?”

I pondered that for a moment. “It’s certainly possible, especially if she considered Laura a rival. But that would have made more sense before Lawton was killed. I can’t see her doing it after he was dead. Plus, there was the odd smell.”

“What are you talking about?” Sean looked puzzled. “What smell?”

“Sorry, I forgot you weren’t in the room when Laura told Kanesha about that.” I explained briefly. “I didn’t notice any smell like that with Magda in the room, so it must have been some other person. And before Magda found Laura. I think that probably clears her.”

“Maybe so.” Sean didn’t look convinced. “But she’s obviously a nutcase. I wouldn’t count her out just yet.”

“I’m not. She and Ralph are at the top of my list.” I glanced down at the papers on the table. “But I can’t stare at the forest and not look at the individual trees, so to speak. What more is there? Anything that might point a finger at someone else?”

Sean straightened in his chair and leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Heck, yeah. Damitra Vane. There are some e-mails that will make you blush.” He chuckled. “I know I did when I read them.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Exchanges between Lawton and different Hollywood guys, all about what Damitra Vane will do to get a part, and how good she is at certain activities.” He waggled his eyebrows.

“Sexual activities?”

Sean nodded. “Pretty disgusting, too. If she knows he talked about her like this—basically saying she’s nothing more than a prostitute and too dumb to realize it—I don’t think she’d be too happy with him.”

My head began to ache in earnest. Connor Lawton defiled everything he touched, or so I was beginning to feel. It made me sick to my stomach to think of my daughter involved with such a man. What was she thinking? Did she not know what he was really like?

If I found out she was aware of all this and still associated with Lawton despite it, I’d be hugely disappointed in her. She had been reared better than this.

Sean must have read at least some of my thoughts in my expression, because he looked increasingly disturbed.

“No, Dad, I know what you’re thinking. I’m sure Laura didn’t know about any of this. She’d never condone crap like this.”

“What are you talking about?” Laura’s sharp tone surprised both of us. “What wouldn’t I condone?”

I turned to see her standing in the kitchen doorway. She scowled at Sean and me as she advanced toward us. Diesel went to her, chirping a welcome. She paused several feet from me to pat Diesel’s head.

“Come sit down, sweetheart. How are you feeling?” I stood and pulled out a chair for her.

“I’m feeling better, thanks.” Laura sat and folded her arms across her chest. Her expression turned mulish. “What are you two talking about? Something to do with me, I know.”

I resumed my seat, and Sean and I exchanged glances. He shrugged, and I knew it was up to me to answer Laura.

“Sean printed some of the files from the thumb drive.” I indicated the papers on the table with a slight jerk of my head. “We’ve examined them, and they reveal some nasty aspects to Lawton’s personality.” I paused for a moment. “Aspects that I can’t believe you knew about, frankly, or you wouldn’t have remained a friend.”

Laura stared hard at me and then at her brother. Slowly, as if reluctant, she reached for the papers and pulled them toward her. She drew a deep breath and began to read the one on top—Lawton’s savage letter about Ralph Johnston’s play.

“How about some tea? Or something to eat?” I asked.

“Hot tea would be nice.” Laura’s gaze didn’t waver from the letter as she spoke.

With a motion of his hand that indicated I should remain seated, Sean got up to make the tea for her. I nodded, then watched with mounting concern and unease as Laura read through the short stack of papers.

She was still reading when Sean set the cup of tea in front of her. She picked it up and took a few sips as she continued to read. Her face reddened and then paled a few times before she put the last paper down.

“That pig. ‘Experience, manhood, honour, ne’er before did violate so itself.’” She shook her head.

“Shakespeare, right?” Sean glanced at me.

“I think so,” I said when Laura failed to respond. “But I’m not sure of the play.”

“Antony and Cleopatra,” Laura said. “And here’s another one: ‘Slave, souless villain, dog! O rarely base!’” She rubbed her eyes, and I could see she was crying. “I could think of a lot more, if I weren’t so angry with him.”

Before I could move, Sean got up and knelt by her, putting his arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he held her until she calmed. Then he kissed her forehead before resuming his seat.

Laura looked at me, lovely even after crying, and my heart melted. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry that you have to know about such vulgar things. You had no idea about any of this, did you?”

“No, Daddy, I didn’t.” She shrugged, her expression a mixture of puzzlement and sadness. “He could be an ass sometimes, but never anything like this with me. He could be really cutting with things he said, but it was only here in Athena that I saw him turn really nasty.”

“You probably brought out the best in him. Around you, at least for a while, he tried to be a better person. I’d like to think that anyway.” I leaned forward and grasped one of her hands. Her fingers curled around mine and held tight for a moment.

“Poor Damitra.” Laura sighed. “I can’t be too irritated with her now, even though she’s a giant pain most of the time. I had no idea she was being treated like that. Men are such pigs, sometimes.” She smiled briefly at Sean and me in turn. “With certain exceptions, thankfully.” She drained her cup and rose from the table. “I think I’ll have more tea. When are we going to eat? I’m starving.”

By now it was almost six o’clock, and I discovered that I too was hungry. “Let me see what our options are.” I went to the fridge and checked inside. Azalea generally kept us supplied with casseroles and other ready-made meals, and I found a large dish labeled CKN SPCH that I translated as a chicken and spinach dish.

I announced my find, and both Laura and Sean agreed that sounded fine. Into the oven it went to heat while I prepared a salad. Sean started a fresh pitcher of iced tea—one of the best kitchen gadgets I ever bought was an iced tea maker—and we sat down to a hearty meal twenty minutes later.

While we ate I kept a covert watch on Laura. She was quieter than usual, and I knew the revelations about Connor Lawton’s true character had bothered her. She caught me a couple of times and offered what I considered a brave smile each time. If she wanted to talk, I would be ready, but I figured she would need some time to herself to process everything.

Stewart and Dante appeared as we were finishing, and Diesel greeted his playmate with a plaintive warble. Dante bounced up and down around the much larger cat, whimpering and emitting the occasional short bark. As the humans watched with bemused smiles, Diesel placed one of his paws on the dog’s back and pushed him down. Dante knew who the alpha was and submitted meekly.

Laura excused herself, pleading tiredness, and after Sean and I both gave her quick hugs, she departed upstairs. Diesel came to me and warbled a couple of times before he turned and followed Laura. I knew he was telling me he would take good care of my daughter.

Sean and I sat with Stewart as he consumed the remains of the casserole and the salad. I pretended not to notice when he slipped tidbits of chicken to Dante. The dog would have turned into a complete butterball by now, the way Stewart fed him from the table, if it weren’t for the vigorous exercise he got playing with Diesel in the backyard at least twice a day.

We filled Stewart in on the latest developments, and he was properly horrified over the attack on Laura. “When you find out who was responsible, let me know,” he said, his face darkened by anger. “I’ll help beat the crap out of the jerk.”

Sean grinned and said, “It’s a deal.”

Not long after that I decided I was ready to go upstairs and try to relax. I probably should have read more of the files from Lawton’s thumb drive, but I was too tired. This had been a long and difficult day, and my headache had come back with a vengeance.

Upstairs I took some aspirin and got ready for bed. I tried to read for a few minutes, but I found it difficult to concentrate. I put the book aside and turned out the light.

Sometimes when I’m really tired, my mind fixes itself into a seemingly endless loop, and I have trouble going to sleep. I figured tonight might be that way because of all the stress of the day. But I soon drifted off.

I awoke sometime later to the sound of an alarm and the smell of smoke.