Camilla T. Crespi - The Breakfast Club Murder (36 page)

“No.”

“Well, then sit down and have a glass of wine. I don’t want us to fight.” Lori retrieved the skimmer from the boiling water and slipped the gnocchi into a colander. They didn’t look too bad, she thought at the same time as she remembered something Seth had just said. When she turned around, Alec was gone and Seth was sitting at the kitchen table. He looked miserable and harmless. She picked up a few gnocchi with a spoon, dipped them in the sauce and held them out to Seth as a peace offering just as Alec came back from the patio with the white wine and the glasses, which he put on the table.

“I’ll be on the patio,” he said and slipped out the kitchen door.

Seth ate the gnocchi. “Good,” he mumbled. His expression had softened, whether due to the gnocchi or Alec’s absence, Lori couldn’t tell.

“Want more?”

He shook his head and Lori sat down next to him. “What did you mean by Rob getting to keep his money if you were the murderer?”

“Not just me. Anyone but him. It’s the Son of Sam law.”

“What’s that?”

“A New York State law that says a person convicted of a crime cannot profit from that crime. So if Rob’s found guilty, he doesn’t get Valerie’s money, and I don’t get my money back. I mean Janet’s money.” No wonder Rob’s arrest upset him.

Lori filled Seth’s glass with wine and poured herself the same large dose. She took a long sip. Jonathan had an alibi. He was with Margot at the Rye Hilton. Where had Seth been that night? Lori wanted to get up and check that Alec was still on the patio, not too far away, but she was afraid Seth would catch on and bolt. Instead she took another long sip and then watched Seth drink his glass dry.

“What prompted you to call Rob that night?” Lori asked.

“You had already spoken to him in the morning.”

“I was furious. I couldn’t hold back.”

“So you made an appointment you didn’t keep. Where?”

“I suggested Pat’s Place, an Irish pub on Second Avenue. Shit, we used to go there a lot together. When we were friends. The bartender knows us. I thought it would keep me under control.”

“But you didn’t show up. And Rob didn’t stay long enough to establish an alibi.”

Seth looked up from his empty glass. “I was at Pat’s. That’s where I called him from. Then I had two or three shots and I got angrier and angrier. I wanted to break a bottle on Rob’s face. That’s when I decided to leave. I’d warned Jonathan I couldn’t handle it.”

Lori felt herself go quiet. “Jonathan?”

“Yeah. He’s owed money, too. More than me, but he said Rob could make big trouble for him so he wanted me to confront Rob that night, scare him into paying us back.”

Lori got up, the quiet replaced by a gale whirling inside her. She stumbled upstairs to her bedroom. She had to call Margot.

When Lori didn’t come back down after ten minutes, Seth let himself out the front door, making sure it was firmly closed behind him. Out on the patio, Alec had listened to the steady murmur coming from the kitchen, ready to intervene if necessary. He finished the Parmesan and the olives and wished he’d kept a glass of wine for himself. When the silence from the kitchen grew suspicious, he tiptoed inside the house. Confronted by an empty kitchen, he called out Lori’s name. He walked into the hall and called out again. Still no answer. He climbed the stairs. Lori’s bedroom door was open. He could see the end of the bed, a pair of tan slippers upside down on the pale yellow carpet. He knocked on the doorjamb, called out a soft “Lori?” An unintelligible murmur answered. She was sitting on the bed, legs dangling, her expression lax. “Hey, are you okay?”

Lori tried to smile, but didn’t find the strength. She was tired. She wanted to tell Alec that it was over. Almost over. She patted a spot next to her on the bed, and when he sat down where she had indicated, she leaned her head on his shoulder. “I owe you a dinner.”

He put his arm around her. “I expect a rain check.”

“I called Detective Scardini,” Lori said. “He was in the middle of dinner, but he listened. He’s going to talk to Seth tonight. Margot’s driving down with Angie and Jess. But he’s not willing to let Rob go yet. He needs hard evidence.” Lori was aware that Alec didn’t know who all these people were, but she wanted to get the story off her chest. There was time later to explain. “He came late, you see. Margot waited a good half hour at the bar. He said he had a flat tire. He knew about Valerie driving the girls from Margot. The next morning I saw him at the car wash with Jan. They were both getting their cars cleaned. I didn’t remember that, didn’t make the connection. I thought he was sexy. I almost went to bed with him.”

“Ah, Jonathan.”

“Yes, him.” She couldn’t say his name. “It looks like he killed Valerie. It makes me sick to think of it.”

Lori felt the weight of Alec’s chin on top of her head. “I’m sorry,” he said.

She was sorry, too, Lori realized hours later, while she sat downstairs in the kitchen, waiting for Jessica to come home. As the time passed, her heart swelled with regret and sadness. For Jess who only had a part-time father still in jail. For Rob, who was left with money but no wife. For Margot, who had let herself be fooled by Jonathan’s charm. For proud Mrs. Ashe, who would not be able to live the shame down.

For Jonathan, she felt anger. For screwing up his privileged life. There were kids walking the city streets who grew up with poverty, with bad parents, if any, with bad schools and dangerous so-called friends, and yet some—no, many—of them found the strength to fight for themselves, work hard, lead honest lives. Against all odds.

Friday morning, thirty-six hours after Lori had called Detective Scardini from her bedroom, the usual breakfast group, expanded to include Ellie, Jessica, and Angie, met at Callie’s. Callie, noticing that everyone’s face was marked by more emotions than she could read, quickly sat them at a round table in the back of the diner, out of earshot of the other customers.

“They’re releasing Dad today,” Jessica blurted out to Callie as she sat down. Lori had told the others over the phone. It was the reason she had asked them to meet at Callie’s—the place where they had shared so many details of their lives. The meeting would be a strange combination of celebration and regret.

Callie patted Lori’s shoulder and grinned back at Jessica. “That good news deserves champagne, but you’re underage and I don’t have a liquor license. How about orange juice on the house?”

“And a slice of apple pie, please.” Jessica grinned back, happy excitement glittering in her eyes.

Angie asked for the same. No one else felt like eating, and they ordered only coffee. Callie, who was known for loud rumblings if her customers didn’t order enough to put some money in the cash register, said nothing and left.

“What hard evidence do the police have against Jonathan?” Beth asked Lori.

“His car gave him away. The forensic people found traces of Valerie’s blood. The car wash people told Detective Scardini that Jonathan had his car washed four times in the four days following the murder, but it turns out they didn’t wash the space underneath the accelerator. Jonathan’s shoes must have gotten blood on them when he stuffed Valerie’s body in the trunk of her car.”

Janet shuddered. “To think I was with him the next morning,” she said, “while our cars were getting washed, talking about Rob owing us money and he had already killed her.”

“What about the car rental employee’s story?” Beth asked.

“He was lying,” Ellie said. “For two thousand dollars in cash that he tried to deposit yesterday.”

Lori was surprised. “I didn’t know that.”

“Now you do.”

“Joey Pellegrino?”

Ellie’s flicker of annoyance was replaced by a stone face. “Valerie’s cousin Ruth paid him. She’d inherit if Rob was found guilty of Valerie’s murder.”

Callie stepped forward with Angie and Jessica’s orders on a tray, her forehead bunched into a formidable frown. “All right, girls, apple pie has to be eaten up in the first booth, otherwise it’ll make you sick to your stomach.” She gestured with her head toward the front of the diner.

Jessica groaned. “I want to hear all the details.”

“Not in my diner, you don’t. People fight to get in that booth. Come on. Up front you go.” She walked away with a steep sway of her hips that brooked no argument. The apple pies and orange juices went with her.

“Go, honey,” Lori said. “She’s right.”

Angie got up. “Jess, let’s go. Everything is going to be on the Internet anyway. I’m hungry.” She pulled Jessica up from her chair.

“But we watch
Criminal Minds
!” Jessica protested to Callie, letting herself be dragged by Angie.

“How did Jonathan know about the will?” Beth asked once the girls were gone.

“Seth says he didn’t tell him,” Janet said.

Lori looked down at the Formica table. She didn’t know how to answer without being disloyal. “Maybe Rob told him.” It was possible.

“I told him,” Margot said, giving Lori a quick grateful smile. “I called Warren Monday morning about a tax-related issue, and he told me he couldn’t talk right then because Rob and Valerie were in the waiting room. I asked why and he told me.”

“Isn’t that violating client confidentiality?” Beth asked.

Margot bristled. “Warren’s always trusted me with information, but I wanted to be catty and make fun of Valerie’s greed so I told Jonathan, you know, just a little piece of harmless gossip and then he went and—” Two forefingers flew to her eyes to stop tears from coming. She tried to laugh. “I won’t cry. Too demeaning. Too much mascara.”

Lori put her arm around Margot. She understood how betrayed she felt. First Warren, now Jonathan.

Janet offered a handkerchief. “It’s really Beth’s. She gave it to me last time we were in here. It’s clean.”

Margot’s hands came down from her face. She batted tears from her eyelashes a couple of times. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

“It’s not your fault,” Beth said. “Jonathan would have found out about the will sooner or later and then killed her. Come on, buck up, Margot. We love you.”

“Thanks.” She didn’t look convinced.

“Believe Beth,” Lori said. “We do.”

Margot nodded.

Callie appeared with coffee for everyone. She gave Margot a quick look and handed out the cups. Her frown was gone.

“Jessica wouldn’t stay home,” Ellie said to her. “Lori’s a good mother.”

“Who said she wasn’t?” Callie asked. “I just figured that having a double set of thirteen-year-old ears around would cramp your style.” She walked away.

“That woman’s always got an answer.” Ellie sounded annoyed and admiring at the same time. She looked around the table. No one said anything. “Okay, I get it. The pot calling the kettle black.”

“Oh, no,” Janet said. “You’ve been awfully quiet this morning.” She looked and sounded happier than she had in the past ten days.

Ellie shrugged. “It’s not my show. All right, so where were we?”

“Cheering up Margot,” Beth said, just as Callie’s arm, from behind her, lowered a plate with a huge wedge of the famous apple pie on it in front of Margot.

“Don’t go thinking anything,” Callie said in her best gruff tone. “I had extra.”

Margot opened her mouth in a perfect cartoon character O. “Now I’m really going to cry.” Callie beat a hasty retreat.

“See?” Beth said. “You’ve even got friends in unexpected places.”

Margot blinked. “I have to go hug that woman.” She got up and went looking for Callie.

“She’s probably hiding in the men’s room,” Lori said.

“How are you feeling?” Beth asked Lori. “You’ve been through the wringer.”

“Relieved, sad, angry, exhausted.” She spoke in shorthand because all her feelings were still too raw to examine, to make sense of.

“Sorry,” Beth said, understanding as she always did. “Another time, another place, weeks from now.” She turned to look at Janet. “How about you? You’ve had a tough time, too.”

“It’s over now.” Janet gave one of her isn’t-life-a-day-at-the-beach smiles, what Ellie called her Sandra Dee grimace. “Seth’s a good guy and the best father and I do love him. He’s got a good job now and Rob’s going to pay us interest on the loan. I can sleep at night now.”

“Lori’s left something out of this early morning tale,” Ellie said while the others sipped their coffee with the satisfied look of a job done and over with. It gave her the itch to shake things up.

“What have I left out?” Lori asked. She wanted to go home now with Jess. Take care of her garden, shop for food, start normal life again. She had no idea why Ellie was grinning. “What, Mom?”

Ellie dropped her elbows on the table with an attention-getting thud. “During this whole crazy murder case, my daughter’s fallen in love. Did she tell you gals?”

Lori banged her coffee cup back in its saucer. “Ellie!”

“That’s right,” Janet said. “You dated Jonathan.” The second the words were out, she covered her mouth with a hand. “Oh, Lori, that’s so sad.”

“No, no.” Lori pulled herself back from the table. “I wasn’t in love with Jonathan. Ellie’s just kidding.”

“Not Jonathan,” Ellie said. “The gay guy.”

Margot slipped back into her chair. “That’s taking playing it safe to a different level.” She filled her cheeks with apple pie and happily munched like a squirrel with a just-found stash of nuts. “I couldn’t find Callie,” she said, dropping another forkful into her mouth. “I used to dream about this pie.”

Lori felt her cheeks get hot. “I am not, I go on record, in love with Alec. I like him, admire him, respect him, consider him a wonderful friend, but—”

Ellie interrupted with a coffee spoon pointed at Lori. “Loretta Corvino, your face has been a dead giveaway ever since you turned twelve and started growing breasts. For one thing, you break out. You’ve got two pimples on your chin.”

Lori’s fingers went to cover them. “That’s stress.”

“Then your cheeks get all splotchy like someone’s been pinching them for hours. And you look prettier than ever. Look at yourself in the mirror if you don’t believe me.”

“You do look good, hon,” Beth agreed. “And considering what you’ve just been through, that’s a miracle.”

“Very pretty,” Janet agreed. “But Lori’s always looked good.”