Chapter 17

“I’ve tried to talk him out of it,” Charlotte Patin said, “but Gary insists he wants to stay here nights and commute to New Orleans.”

Gary Legrain and Charlotte stood side by side in Guy Patin’s office where they’d been going through drawers. A lamp with a monkey balanced on a pineapple for a base rested at the very edge of the desk top to give more light.

Several of the bookcases were hinged and could be opened to reveal concealed filing cabinets and cupboards. The spaces stood open.

“You’re a nice man,” Vivian said. “But you don’t have to do that. We’ll be fine.” And despite the tension between them she still had Spike to do anything that needed to be done in the way of security around here.

Cyrus and Madge remained just inside the office door, each of them behaving as if they weren’t taking any interest in the conversation.

“I’ve refused to be denied,” Gary said, his gray eyes smiling. He had a way of looking at her for a little too long and with too much interest. “So I’ll be stickin’ around. But I promise I won’t get underfoot. It’s for my peace of mind, Vivian. And I owe it to poor Louis who would have done the same thing in my place.” He indicated the desk with its open drawers. “This is probably a useless exercise, but we’re starting to go through every piece of paper we can find to see if there’s anythin’ here about the additional inheritance Louis spoke of. He was excited, you know. Said you weren’t goin’ to have to worry anymore.”

Vivian spread a hand over the front of her neck. She smiled but felt again the terrible disappointment that came with Louis’s death and the disappearance of whatever he’d intended to show them. Guilt plagued her. She should only think about the tragedy of Louis’s death and the urgency to find Gil.

She, Madge and Cyrus, and Boa, who shot away into the house the moment the door was open, had arrived on the estate more than half an hour earlier. Spike expected to catch up with them unless the ice plant complaint turned into a bigger mess than expected.

Again an officer manned the main gates to the estate and yellow crime scene tape decorated both sides of the driveway. The grounds were overrun by deputies from the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Department and volunteers who were searching through the undergrowth.

Detective Frank Wiley had seen them and reported that the search for Gil Mayes had widened but brought no leads. He’d warned them to be ready for more questions.

At least Louis’s car had been removed.

“That lovely green and gold room in the east wing, the one with its own sitting room and bathroom, should do nicely for Gary,” Charlotte said. “It’s a bit shabby-opulent but comfortable, and the plumbing works.”

Charlotte’s relaxed manner relieved Vivian, but even though she liked Gary, she didn’t want him to stay—not when she wasn’t sure how Spike would take it.

Spike and his opinions mattered to her, maybe too much.

“It’s a lovely suite of rooms,” she said. “But you don’t need to stay here, Gary. We’re fine.”

He looked down at her from his considerable height. A good-looking, intelligent face. “I know you’re fine,” he said evenly. “I just wanted to keep an eye on you. But I understand if you’d rather not have a stranger hanging around. All you have to do is call the offices in the Quarter and I can be down here in a couple of hours.”

”Vivian.” Truly, there were times when Charlotte didn’t understand her daughter or her manners. “I’ve already thanked Gary for being so kind and I, for one, will be hurt and disappointed if he doesn’t stay.”

Gary looked uncomfortable.

Without meeting her mother’s eyes, Vivian said, “Forgive me, Gary. I have this thing about not putting people out. We need you here so I hope you’ll stay.”

“And you will, won’t you?” Charlotte said, smiling at Gary and nodding.

Gary considered before saying, “Yes, I will. All of this is going to come clear. It’s early days but when the case is personal, the waiting is harder. Tomorrow I’m going to assign a member of our staff to search David Patin’s files, and see if your husband may have had any dealings with Louis that we’re not aware of, Charlotte.” He looked apologetic. “That’s unlikely but we can’t assume anything in a situation like this.” He indicated three triple file cabinets revealed by the open bookcases. “Those are going to take time. Supposedly they’re filled with research for a book Mr. Patin was writing but who’s to say there’s nothing of interest there?”

Alone with Vivian, Cyrus thought about what he wanted to tell her. She was the one most likely to keep ego out of giving him an honest reaction.

“Madge will get a look at more of the house,” Vivian said. Charlotte had invited Madge along when she took Gary to the east wing. “Has she ever been married?”

“No,” Cyrus said. He shouldn’t feel any reaction at all to that question, but he did. One day the answer would change and he’d react to that, too.

“Why does she live in Rayne? Wouldn’t it be easier if she was closer to St. Cécil’s? She could…no, I don’t suppose it would be a good idea for her to live at the rectory even though there’s so much room. They say you shouldn’t live where you work.” She turned the corners of her mouth down. “Oops, you live where you work.”

“That’s different,” he told her. The subject had to be changed. “I don’t know how much time we’ve got but I wanted to run a couple of things by you. Has Spike said anything about actual findings at the scene of Louis’s death? Anything about the body?”

“Nothing,” Vivian said. “I don’t know if he has any way of finding those things out.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Spike had ways of doing a lot of things we’d never even guess at.” Spike had been in law enforcement in the area for some years. He must have contacts. “Did you think Louis had put up a fight?”

It was a warm night but Vivian shivered. “Well, I don’t guess so. I hadn’t thought about it. No. It was like he sat there, the person opened the door and cut his throat then Louis fell sideways.”

“The killer was left-handed,” Cyrus said. There were plenty of pros looking at the case and they’d say they didn’t need him to move a single gray cell on the issue, but he sometimes wondered if those people got jaded and stopped noticing things, or caring as much.

“You saw the body?” Vivian picked up a brass monkey paperweight from the desk. “I guess you must have. I can see it when I close my eyes. Sometimes it wakes me up.”

“They let me go to him when I was on my way out. I told them I didn’t know if he’d have wanted a blessing but it couldn’t do any harm. That’s when I figured Louis didn’t put up a fight. Nothing. I didn’t even see any wounds on his hands like he’d gone after the knife.”

Three deliberately separated taps on the open door announced Spike’s arrival. He’d rolled up his sleeves and unbuttoned his shirt almost to his waist. Weariness hovered on his face. “You missed your calling,” he said to Cyrus. “Criminal investigation needs you. Did you figure out a reason why Louis didn’t fight?”

“Because the killer had a gun on him,” Cyrus and Spike said in unison. Cyrus smiled and continued, “From the way it looked, with Louis’s face pointing up, and the wound deepest on the right side of his neck and fading away just past the windpipe, I’d say the gun was in the man’s right hand and shoved into Louis while his throat was cut.”

Spike nodded and looked grim. “That’s my take, too.”

“I was asking Vivian if you’d heard anything from the Iberia people.”

Spike gave a lopsided mirthless smile. “They wouldn’t comment if a truck was about to hit me. I take that back. They’d probably keep me too distracted to notice the truck. Bonine should be here, lazy bastard. He’s doing his usual number, not putting himself out anymore than he has to.”

“Why can’t they find Gil?” Vivian said, even though she didn’t expect an answer. “Where would he go without his car? Do they think he’s been murdered, too? They do, don’t they?”

Spike stretched a hand toward her and, after a brief glance at Cyrus, Vivian took hold of that big, warm, workworn hand and felt comforted.

He pulled her beside him and her eyes were on a level with his collarbones, with the toned muscle in his tanned chest. A little flip, a little tensing hit low in Vivian’s tummy and she looked at the floor.

Spike squeezed Vivian’s fingers and he said, “At any other time I’d be thinkin’ Gil just walked off for some personal reason. But we’ve had one murder here, so jumping to conclusions about Gil is human nature.”

“Louis’s body was left in his car,” she said, looking up at him, at the beard shadow on his jaw. A red mark, turning purple, hid just beneath his chin. Dried blood clung to a cut behind his ear. “What happened to you? Spike, you’re cut and there’s a bruise.”

“Ice plant,” he said, rolling his eyes at Cyrus. “Those guys were really going at it. Everyone blaming everyone else. Poor Zeb Dalcour, he’s still the manager out there, he’s tearin’ his hair out. I ended up not charging anyone because I couldn’t even find out how much was supposed to be missing. They didn’t know, they just thought there’d been a theft.”

“Please God they were mistaken,” Cyrus said, smiling a little.

“But one of them hit you,” Vivian said, outraged. “Tell me who it was and I’ll go say what I think about it. Worm.”

“The worm was me,” Spike said. He grimaced and ran a hand around his neck. “I slipped and fell—hit myself on a pillar. Wow, did I feel dumb.”

“Oh,” Vivian said, trying to frown and look sympathetic.

“Go ahead and laugh,” Spike told her. “Cruel woman. But back to the topic on the table. I think Louis was left in his car because that’s where he was killed and he was a big man—not so easy to move. Speculatin’ about Gil doesn’t feel so hot but it wouldn’t be hard to lift him and take him away altogether.”

“Is Spike your real name?” Vivian asked and felt ridiculous.

He didn’t rush to answer.

“Forget I asked,” she said. “The thought just popped into my head. It’s none of my business. Maybe you’re into sharp implements.”

“Vivian!” Cyrus said.

“Sorry. Again. I was just trying to loosen things up.”

“Saul Paul Ike,” Spike said. “After my father’s father and my mother’s father and someone or other’s favorite statesman. You can call me Spike.”

Vivian caught Cyrus’s innocent expression and wanted to giggle. She didn’t. “I like the name Saul. It’s very strong. Paul, too—sort of a feeling name. I wouldn’t think anyone would need to know about the Ike.” She cleared her throat and rushed on, “But Ike is distinguished. You don’t meet too many Ikes, do you, Cyrus?”

“A teacher read off the whole name in the classroom one time,” Spike said, gruff. “I was stuck with the teasin’ till I got bigger and meaner than a lot of guys in school. Bye-bye, Ike, hello, Spike. Now, end of subject.”

“I still think it’s really unusual…” Vivian patted a pocket in her dress until she found a tissue. “Louis’s car was kind of wedged in. Do you think someone guided him there like that?”

“Yes,” Spike said. “Put the pots of laurel where the vehicle was found, then closed the driveway side off with more laurel afterward. Too bad they don’t have usable tire tracks because of all the rain. Not even the ones from Louis’s vehicle—if that mattered but it doesn’t really. I wanted to ask how far they’ve looked for signs that another car was parked somewhere. Whoever did this had to drive in.”

Cyrus rocked onto the balls of his feet. “Yes, and he wouldn’t want to go far carrying a body. If there is another body, of course, which I pray there isn’t.”

“The detective’s going to come here, I just know he is,” Vivian said. Spike had made no move to release her hand and she had no intention of doing so. “He doesn’t like me and I don’t know why because he doesn’t know me.”

“You’re convenient and you’re a friend of mine,” Spike said. “He wants a scapegoat. He doesn’t really think you’ve done anything wrong. But as long as he can center on you and take potshots at me, he doesn’t have to do too much else. By the time they have to say you had nothing to do with it, the trail will be cold and Errol won’t shed any tears. One more unsolved case for which he’ll have dozens of excuses. And you will be a part of one of them, cher, you and all the evidence he insists you ruined.”

“I don’t care,” Vivian told him and absolutely meant it. “I just want this to be over so we can get on with our lives.”

She saw Spike’s speculative expression but made sure her own was blank. Either they were heading somewhere together or a whole lot of misery lay ahead.

“Louis had been here a lot,” Cyrus said. “And the way to the front of the house from the main gates is obvious.”

“Yeah,” Spike said. “So how did he get lured off track? He must have been waved in there and given some story about the main drive being closed farther on. That took guts, timing and luck.”

“Luck for sure,” Cyrus said. “I walked right past only minutes before. If I’d been a few minutes later…”

Vivian didn’t want to dwell on that thought. “Those potted laurels.” She stared into space. “Where did they come from?”

“With you two around I’ll be out of a job pretty soon,” Spike said, nodding. “We’re going to have to hit it off with someone low on Bonine’s feeding chain. Don’t worry about it.”

“You like taking charge, don’t you?” Vivian asked. “I mean—”

“I know what you mean.” Spike’s mouth came together in a hard line.

“I think I’ll see if I can get some coffee in the kitchen,” Cyrus said.

Spike almost told him he wasn’t subtle.

Cyrus looked from one of their faces to the other. “Take your time. I have some calls to make and I expect Madge will slow things down with Charlotte and Gary. She’ll want to look into every room along the way.” He turned and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

“Are we being left alone because Cyrus thinks we want to be?” Vivian asked.

“Something like that. What did he mean about your mother and Madge and Gary Legrain?” He didn’t miss Vivian’s loud swallow.

“Spike, my mouth is too quick. Then I say things other people take wrong. I like it that you’re strong—minded.”

“Do you?” He wondered if she’d really thought that through.

She walked away from him very deliberately and ran her fingers over the tops of furniture checking for dust. “Thea and the crew she found are doing a great job. Last night everything in here was covered with dust.” She made the mistake of giving one of the green velvet drapes a shake. It slipped free of a painted gilt monkey wearing a red hat, screwed to the wall and with one of its paws curled to restrain the curtain. Vivian got a fresh whirl of fine debris to make them both sneeze.

“If you don’t like the question, you change the subject,” he told her.

At that Vivian returned and stood in front of him. “I do like your strength. I’m also strong-willed and it isn’t always easy for two people like us to be together.”

“There aren’t any rules to cover any two people who happen to have some traits in common. I like you just the way you are.” He paused long enough to watch her decide he’d complimented her. “You didn’t say why Charlotte’s taking Legrain and Madge to some suite.”

“Madge hasn’t seen any of the house. It’s an interesting place. Could be very beautiful if we get it in shape,” she said.

“Pineapples, monkeys, palm trees and all.”

“Yes,” Vivian said, grinning. “And pineapples and ruby-eyed, probably red glass-eyed, sultans. I want to keep Uncle Guy’s exotic vision for Rosebank. Brought back to what it must have looked like fifteen years ago it’ll be spectacular. If we can ever afford to do anything at all with the place.”

“Madge told me quite a bit of work’s been done and you want to finish a few rooms so you’ve got money coming in to carry on with,” Spike said.

“Yes, that’s the plan but even that takes a fair amount to do. And we have to update the kitchens and bring them up to code. Until the real restaurant and a second kitchen is built in the conservatory, we intend to use one of the big rooms in the south wing as a dining room. There’s a lot to work with, but a lot to be done, too.”

“So Charlotte’s conducting a house tour.”

Vivian had never been a good liar. “Sort of.”

Spike rubbed the back of her hand. “What’s up? Can’t be so bad you don’t want to tell me.”

“They went to see a suite in the east wing. For Gary. He’s going to stay here for a day or two so he can look through all the papers here and see if he can find anything to help with whatever Louis wanted us to know about.”

Spike breathed in and let the air out very slowly. “Why does he have to stay here to do that? Why does he have to do it at all? Your uncle did his business with Louis, he wouldn’t leave that kind of thing floating around here. It would be in New Orleans like whatever Louis was bringing here had been.”

Vivian stared into his eyes until they blurred. “The briefcase wasn’t latched,” she said, feeling far away. “Louis’s. That could have been because something was taken out of it before he was killed. Couldn’t it?”

“Maybe,” Spike said. He was busier thinking about Gary Legrain hanging out here at night. “Yeah, I guess. Or maybe it was already open because he’d been using it and he hadn’t closed it yet.”

“He wouldn’t have a reason to have it open when he was just going to carry it in here.”

“That’s not a certainty, Vivian, but it could be.” A lot of things could be and I want you at a safe distance. “We should join Cyrus. Can I trust you to keep your cell turned on if I take a little trip tomorrow?”

Vivian gave him a sharp look with those green eyes of hers and bowed her head. Black hair slid forward, hiding her face.

“Now what?” he asked her.

“Nothing.”

There was some book about the difference between the way men and women communicated, maybe he should try reading it. “Cher, would you please cut me a little slack here? I already got a tongue lashin’ from Homer for leavin’ Wendy at the rectory so long. He’d been over there and picked her up, which is what he wanted to do, but giving me a hard time adds to his pleasure.” He’d appeal to her gentler nature. “It’s been a very long day and a half for all of us and I might just feel sorta skinny around the edges of my nerves.”

“Cute,” she said, clearly. “Always the cute comment to smooth things over.”

“Hoo, Mama, you’re testing me.”

She shook back her hair and scowled at him. “First you sugarcoat an order for me to hang around with my cell phone in my tiny, trembling hand. Then you talk about taking a trip but don’t say where, when or why. You Tarzan off to get the bananas, me Jane hiding in the tree house we don’t have and waiting to be told what to do next.”

“Kiss me,” he said, tilting his head.

“Like hell.”

Well, he’d known that request might not be a winner. “Let me kiss you, then.”

She stomped back and forth. “No one kisses anyone. Got that? Why is it that men have such freakin’ lousy timing?”

“Language, Vivian.” If he told her this exchange lightened his tension she wouldn’t give him a prize. “Okay, listen, I wasn’t being secretive or bossy. And I didn’t know I should have said anythin’ different till you pointed it out. I’m going to New Orleans tomorrow.”

“I see.”

No, she didn’t, but why shouldn’t she…? “Would you come with me? I know how much you’ve got going around here, but if the two of us went we should be able to get through faster.”

“Through what?”

“Make this easy on me, Vivian, make it easy, why don’t you? You could just say whether or not you’ll come, then go on with the third degree. I’m goin’ to ask questions. About Louis Martin, and about your father. I want to stop by Martin, Martin and Martin and you could make it easier for me to get in.”

Vivian put her hands to her cheeks. “You’re going to do some P.I. work for me, too.” She poked the tip of a finger into his vulnerable chest. “What a man you are. I’ll come with you.” Her voice softened at last and she smiled, faintly, sweetly up at him. Her eyes shone, her mouth—and he could already feel it on his—opened slightly and glistened, and he had only one thing in mind.

This was a big place, they’d figure something out.

Vivian slipped her arms under his and around his body. She stood just about as close as a woman could stand to a man.

He rested his cheek on top of her head and stroked her back. He could feel her through the dress, lean his erection against her pelvis. “I like being with you,” he said, preparing to ease her head up and kiss her.

“Just hold me like this,” Vivian said. “You don’t know how rare it is to find a man who knows how to comfort a woman without trying to push her into something else. I…I like you for that, Spike Devol. Hug me, just hug me tight.”

Spike put his chin on top of her head and did exactly what she asked. She spread warmth through his body, but she also turned him on so hard it hurt.

Funny how different men were from women. Hugging hadn’t been what he had in mind—at least not as the entire event.

This blackmailer will not accept that he cannot control me. He is calling me again.

“I told you not to contact me anymore,” I tell him.

He says, “You did well, but you’re unpredictable. I can’t afford your ego. Do you understand me?”

See how arrogant the man is, how sure of himself? He treats me like a child.

“It was you who made contact with me,” I say because I will not let him forget the truth. “Guido told you our story. He trusted you to listen and give advice. You know what happened to him because I found out he’d talked. But you couldn’t resist trying to use me. I didn’t start this. What happens is on your shoulders.”

“Not if you act alone. You were warned not to do anything unless I told you to.” He speaks as if he doesn’t hear me.

It feels good to laugh at him. “You should have stayed away,” I tell him. “You wanted to use me, you threatened me so I would give you your own way. Now we are joined, you and I. Whatever I do, you might as well have done yourself. If you were capable of it. If I fall, you fall with me, only I shall not fall unless you betray me. I’m sure you won’t do that.”

“You’ve done your job I tell you. Leave the rest to me.” His breathing is heavy.

“Do that and I might as well surrender to the authorities.” I will have my way in this. “You cannot do what must be done, and I cannot stop until it is done.”

“I’m begging you.”

How soon he forgets how all of this began. “You threatened me with exposure if I didn’t do as you asked. Now you can’t stop what you started. I’m looking forward to the next one.”

“For God’s sake.” He whispers like a frightened girl. “I promised you I would protect your secret and I will. Now back off.”

“I enjoy killing women.”

“What woman?” His throat clicks when he swallows. “No more killing.”

“I will ask you again. How did you find me? Who told you where I was?” The probable answer makes me shiver with anticipation.

“You know I can’t tell you that,” he says, predictably.

The coward is frightened. When he thought he was in command he strutted and postured. Now he whines because he wasn’t clever enough to see what might happen if he actually got his way.

“There is someone I have not seen for years,” I tell him. “We both know his name. If he knows where I am, if he was the one who told you how to find me, he must suffer for his betrayal of me—just as others already have. Never forget what happened to Guido. Now, you know who the woman is. Pull yourself together. And pray we get what we want.”

“What we want?” He snorts. “I’m keeping your secret, that’s all.”

Fool. “But you aren’t thinking, as usual. You have nothing to hold over me anymore. You’re like me now, a wanted man for as long as you live.” My palm itches. I need to hold the knife. “It’s right for her to die. She wants to interfere with the order of things, and she sees too much.”

“Meet me.” His voice rises. “We have to talk.”

“I’ll let you know when it’s done,” I tell him. “I’m not sure when, but not too long. First I will decide on the best time and place. You’ll be the third to know.”

“Who’s the second?” Alarm makes him pant.

“I am, or perhaps she will be, depending on how you look at it. Later.” I hang up. If he tries to call back, I won’t answer.

She will fight me. I’ll give her a chance to hit me, kick me, shout at me. Then she’ll have to understand when we spend a little time together first. Violence and sex are perfect partners.

She’ll be naked when they find her, her white skin decorated by my flawless work, and her blood. I promise I’ll kiss her before I leave.