I've Got You Under My Skin

63

Nina kept a frosty distance from her mother for the rest of the morning. When Alison went in for her interview with Alex Buckley, she joined Rod on the bench near the pool.

“Mind if I sit with you for a while?” she asked.

Rod looked startled, but then attempted a smile and said, “Of course not.”

“Are you and Alison sorry you got into this situation?” Nina asked as she sat next to him.

At Rod’s surprised look, she said, “Look, I got a tape, too, and so did Regina. I don’t know about Claire.

“I could see that Alison was terribly upset when she played hers. So was Regina. Do you think that Josh Damiano made those tapes for himself, or do you think Rob Powell ordered him to make them?”

“I don’t know,” Rod said carefully.

“Neither do I. But I have to take the chance that it’s Damiano’s game and pay the fifty thousand dollars he’s demanding. I think you should, too. I don’t know what Damiano overheard you say, but that police chief is dying to solve Betsy’s murder, and if he has something to run with, I’ll bet he’ll do it.”

“You may be right,” Rod said, his tone noncommittal. “But what could he possibly have on you that would make you a suspect? Certainly not the fact that your mother dated Rob Powell before he married Betsy?”

“It isn’t that,” Nina said, her voice friendly. “My mother is threatening to say I confessed to her that I murdered Betsy unless I pay the fifty thousand dollars to Josh.”

Rod didn’t think he could be any more surprised than he already had been, but now his voice was incredulous. “She’s got to be bluffing.”

“Oh, but she isn’t,” Nina said. “Now if Robert Powell hears that tape on which she’s saying how much she hated Betsy, any chance she has with him-which I believe is nonexistent, by the way-will be over. But if this is only Josh Damiano’s game, who knows? That’s why she wants me to pay the fifty thousand dollars he’s demanding-or else. But you see, I know Alison has much more to worry about than my mother being sure I broke up her big romance. I was very nice when the police were questioning all of us twenty years ago.” She paused and looked straight into his eyes. “I didn’t tell anyone that Betsy was absolutely cruel to Alison that night. She was gushing on and on about how proud Selma Fields was that her daughter, Vivian, had won the scholarship. She made sure to mention that Selma was throwing a fabulous party for Vivian, and then the whole family was sailing on their yacht to the Riviera. Alison was fighting back tears. When Betsy floated away, Alison said to me, ‘I am going to kill that witch.’

“Now isn’t that information worth your paying Josh Damiano the fifty thousand dollars he’s demanding from Alison and the fifty thousand he wants from me? I want to leave here with something.

“Rod, believe me, I hate to do this, but I have no choice. I need every nickel of that three hundred thousand dollars to buy my mother her own apartment and get her out of my life. If we live together much longer, I can promise you, I will kill her. I know just how Alison was feeling at the Gala.”

She got up. “Before I leave you, I want to say how much I admire both of you. She married you to get an education, but she stuck by you when that fabulous career you should have had disappeared. My theory is that your hold on her is she confessed the crime to you. Isn’t that true, Rod?”

Rod reached for his crutches and got to his feet. His face white with anger, he said, “It’s obvious you and your mother are cut from the same cloth. Alison is very smart, you know. Maybe she can dig up a few memories herself about how you were hounded for years by your mother because she kept ranting about losing Rob Powell to Betsy. Maybe you snapped and killed Betsy to make Robert Powell a widower. But there’s only one problem. In a million years, Alison wouldn’t murder anybody.”

Nina smiled. “When do I get my answer?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Rod said flatly. “Now if you don’t mind, will you please let me pass? My wife is coming out of the house, and I want to go to join her.”

“I think I’ll just settle down on one of these lounge chairs,” Nina said cheerfully as she stepped aside to let him pass.