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.”“Do you want me to help you?”“No.” Tinkie would hold more sway with Hedy.“I’ll do it.”“Be careful and don’t touch anything.”I nodded as I stepped back into the room, where Hedy continued to sob.I grabbed some jeans and shoes.“I need your room key,” I told her.She gave it over without even a question.She was either very trusting or very good at acting.As I closed the room door behind me, I heard Tinkie talking with her in a calm, reasonable tone.In ten minutes Tinkie would convince Hedy to call the police.That meant I had about twenty minutes to examine the scene.Greenwood was a small town.Once the law was called, it wouldn’t take them long to arrive.Perhaps it was only my imagination, but the smell of carnations—funeral flowers—lingered in the hotel room where Janet Menton lay on the floor beside the bed.Her face, partially smushed into the carpet, was drawn into a rictus of suffering.Whatever killed her had hurt like hell.Judging from the body position, she’d been trying to crawl to the bathroom when she died.I didn’t touch her, but she was scantily clad and there were no bullet holes, stab wounds, or blood.It was possible—highly unlikely, but possible—she’d died of natural causes.Heart attack, aneurysm, seizure.Healthy young people spontaneously die.On rare occasion they could even combust.Millie, my friend who ran a café in Zinnia, had hundreds of back copies of the tabloids that discussed such cases.But in this instance, “natural causes” was a far reach.If I had to guess, I’d say Janet Menton died from some type of poison.That wasn’t good for Hedy, who had more opportunity than most to poison her roommate.The police chief would expect to find Hedy’s fingerprints in her room, but the same could not be said of mine.Unless I wanted to become a suspect—and thank you very much, I’d already done that once and didn’t enjoy it—I had to be careful to leave no trace of my visit to the room.Pulling down my shirtsleeve to cover my hand, I opened the bathroom door.Holy cow.Beauty products were everywhere.The place looked as if a Clinique counter had exploded.Scrubs, brushes, pots of color, cakes of glittery stuff, jars, jugs, bars—the assortment was mind boggling.The crime lab in Leflore County would be a busy, busy place.If Janet was poisoned, and if she didn’t ingest the substance, it could have been placed in any of the hundreds of cosmetics.Contact poisons were tricky, but just as deadly.I’d learned this from bitter personal experience.With one ear listening for the wail of the police cars, I walked the scene.Hedy’s small overnight bag was against one wall, her violin beside it.The bed I took to be hers was barely mussed, supporting her story she’d tried to sleep and then left to play her fiddle.The room was cluttered with discarded clothes, some bearing designer labels.When I opened a dresser drawer I found vials of what I took to be ground spices.None were labeled, and they could have contained anything from basil to tobacco.I eased closer to the body.Bingo! Under the dowdy dress Janet wore for her monologue were several smushed pastries in a plain white bakery box.Without the benefits of someone who could truly analyze a crime scene, I couldn’t come to any solid conclusions, but at least I had an idea of the physical layout of the room and the body.Now it was time to skedaddle before Police Chief Jansen caught me and locked me up.On the way back to our room, I struggled with my own demons.It was clear Tinkie wanted to take this case.Was my reluctance borne of guilt or fear of being injured? Was dissolving the P.I.agency just one more way to punish myself? I didn’t know, and that was the most frustrating part.When I slipped inside the room, I found Hedy in a comfortable chair with a strong bourbon in her hand.Tinkie perched on the arm of the chair.“Chief Jansen is on the way.He asked me to keep Hedy here,” she said.“There’s no place else for me to go,” Hedy said morosely.“I knew this whole pageant thing was a foolish idea.I never wanted to do it to begin with.”“Then why did you?” I asked.She put her glass on the table beside the chair.“It’s a long story.”“You’ve got about five minutes.” I sounded cold and heartless, but I was a pussycat compared to what she’d face at the hands of the law.“Chief Jansen will be here, and my guess is that you’re right.He’s going to take you in for questioning.So if there’s a story here, spill it while you have the chance.”“I’m trying to get custody of my daughter.”Both Tinkie and I converged on Hedy.“Your daughter?” Tinkie said.Had Hedy revealed she was growing a second head, I wouldn’t have been more stunned.“Yes.” Hedy was grim.“Where is she?”“Here.In the Delta.Her father has her.That’s where I go after the pageant events.I park outside his home, so I can maybe catch a glimpse of her.”“Wait a minute.” I had to have misunderstood.“You have a child and you’re lurking around outside someone’s home trying to ‘catch a glimpse of her.’ This doesn’t make sense.”Hedy swallowed.“I gave away my rights to Vivian.I thought I was doing the best thing for her, but I made a big mistake.I want to be part of her life.I’m her mother, and she needs me.” Her throat worked again.“And I need her.”“How old is your daughter?” Tinkie asked.“Two.” She spoke so softly, I had to strain to hear.“When did you give her up?” I asked.“Just after she was born,” Hedy said in a whisper.“You haven’t seen your daughter for two years? Have you tried?” I asked.Tinkie cut me a hard look at my tone, but she didn’t say anything [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]