Chapter 13
Ben left at eight fifteen for a date with his girlfriend back in Calgary. I picked up Amy a few minutes later and we drove to Longview, arriving at the Spur by a quarter to nine. All of the parking spots were taken in front of the bar, so we were forced to park a little way down the street.
Amy and I strode down the sidewalk beneath a purple-tinged sky, the clamour of people having a good time spilling out of the bar up ahead. We climbed the two steps onto the split-rail porch and pushed through the swinging doors, pausing to take a look around. The place was packed and all of the tables were full. There were small brass lamps sitting on the wooden tables, and the flickering light cast a warm, honey glow over the scene.
Amy grabbed my arm. “There she is, sitting by herself at that table for two,” she said, nodding toward the actress. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
We had discussed the best way to approach Karen on the drive over, and decided that we should play upon our common bond with Jack. He had been gone for a week, now, and if Karen was feeling sentimental, she might enjoy an opportunity to reminisce about him with us.
Amy halted beside Karen’s table and beamed down at her. “Hi Karen, remember me? I’m Amy Bright, one of the extras on the movie. I was in the bank robbery scene they shot yesterday.”
Karen, her silky blond hair skimming her shoulders, squinted up at Amy. “Oh, right – I remember you. You were ‘frightened mother with little boy’ who got shoved out of the way by the gunman. How’s it going, Amy?”
“Just great, thanks. This is a friend of mine, Anna Nolan. Her name might sound familiar to you. She’s Jack Nolan’s widow. She was feeling kind of blue tonight, what with Jack gone such a short time and all, so I invited her out for a drink. The tables are pretty full – do you mind if we join you?”
Karen eyed my face for a moment. We had met at a cast party years ago, but I doubted that she remembered me. She had taken good care of herself, I noticed, although there was a certain hardness around her eyes that hadn’t been there before. She was an attractive woman, and I wondered why she was sitting alone.
“Sure, pull up a chair. My husband, Connie, is out back shooting pool with some of the guys. I’ve been saving a seat for him, but it doesn’t look as if he’ll be back anytime soon.”
I nodded my thanks, borrowed a chair from the table behind me, and sat down with Karen and Amy.
“So, you’re Jack Nolan’s widow?” Karen asked.
“Not exactly. Jack and I divorced four years ago.”
“That’s what I thought. Jack told me that he was divorced.”
I studied her, wondering what she meant by that comment, and in the ensuing silence a waiter hustled over to our table. He was young, maybe a little older than Ben, and wore the bar uniform: a white shirt with garters to hold back his sleeves, black pants, and a full-length white apron. His hair was parted straight down the middle and slicked back. The waiters’ costumes were less revealing than the waitresses’, who wore low-cut, off the shoulder gingham blouses, flouncy short skirts, and frilly aprons.
“Welcome to the Silver Spur. What can I get you, little ladies?” he asked.
Amy studied him with delight, as if she were just about ready to gobble him up. Apparently young men were fair game to her. “Well, look at you,” she said to our waiter. “Don’t you look handsome in your uniform. Doesn’t he look adorable, Anna?”
I smiled at the young man, who was entranced by Amy’s cleavage and didn’t bother to look my way. “Very handsome,” I answered.
“I hear that you have a special ladies drink at the Spur – what’s it called again?” Amy asked.
“It’s called a ‘Lady Killer,’ ma’am,” he replied with a grin.
“That sounds like fun. I’ll have one of those, please. What are you going to have, Anna?”
“I’ll have a white wine spritzer and maybe some chicken wings, if you’ve got them.”
The waiter dragged his eyes away from Amy to look at me. “Sure do. We have mild, medium, hot, and ‘Somebody grab a bucket of water – my mouth is on fire!’ zesty,” he drawled. “What will you have, little lady?”
I smiled, appreciating his effort to stay in character. “We’ll have two pounds of the medium wings for the table. Thanks.”
The waiter left, and Amy began chatting about the movie. Karen wasn’t paying much attention to us, her chin cradled in her hand and her eyes gazing about the room. I decided that it was time to engage our leading lady in conversation.
“Karen, you look very familiar to me,” I said with a phony frown. “I’m sure that Jack introduced us at a cast party for A Christmas Carol a few years back. Didn’t you play the Ghost of Christmas Past in that?”
Karen’s eyes swivelled back to me. “That’s right. Boy, that seems like ages ago. I wasn’t even married then.”
“I remember how good Jack thought you were in the part. He said that you had a lovely, ephemeral quality that added a supernatural element to your characterization.” I thought that flattery was the best way to win Karen over, but I didn’t want to lay it on too thick.
“Did he really?” Karen said, her eyes lighting up.
“Oh yes. He said that when you were on stage, the audience couldn’t take their eyes off you, and that it was an uphill battle to get their attention during your scenes together.”
“Did he say that? How kind of Jack – he always was so supportive of his fellow actors,” Karen said with a gracious smile, lapping up the compliments.
The waiter returned with our drinks. Amy’s Lady Killer was some sort of tri-coloured, layered affair with cream floating on top. “Ooh, that looks yummy,” she squealed.
“It sure does. Karen, let me buy you a drink. Would you like one of those?” I asked.
Karen snickered. “No thanks, that thing looks like it has about a thousand calories in it.”
“Oh, come on, you don’t have to worry about your figure. I bet you work out all the time. You’re so toned,” I replied.
Karen glanced down at herself. She had on a t-shirt that proclaimed “Actresses do it onstage.” “Thanks, I have a portable gym I take everywhere.”
Amy sipped her drink while the waiter clicked his pen and waited. “Wow, this is so delicious,” she said.
“It sure looks good. I’ll have one if you have one, Karen,” I said.
“Well, why not? Just one won’t hurt, I guess. Let’s live a little!”
“That’s the spirit! Two Lady Killers, my good man,” I said with a flourish.
“Coming right up, little ladies.”
An hour later I was still nursing my drink while Karen and Amy had moved on to vodka cocktails. Karen’s eyes had become glassy, while Amy couldn’t stop giggling. We were acting as if we were the best of friends, just three women letting down our hair and enjoying a night out on the town.
“Have a chicken wing,” I said, pushing the plate toward Karen.
“Thanks,” she said, helping herself to her fifth and biting hungrily into the meat. Diet forgotten, she tossed the well-chewed bone over her shoulder and reached for another. The bone bounced off the shoulder of a middle-aged man sitting at the table behind us, who started and turned around to stare at Karen.
“Sorry,” I mouthed at him. The man shrugged good-naturedly and turned back to his friends. “Girls, I have something I want to say about Jack,” I said. Karen and Amy blearily tried to focus on me. “Don’t get me wrong – Jack and I had our problems – but I really miss him. He was one hell of a man.” I lowered my voice and leaned in closer, drawing them in. “Actually, I think that he was just a little too much man for me, to be completely honest. You know what I mean.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “It was probably best that we parted, but I’ll always love him.”
“You’re right,” Karen said. She put her face so close to mine that I could smell the seasoning from her chicken wings on her breath. “He was a real ‘man’s man,’ you know, but he sure knew how to take care of the ladies
.” She winked and leaned back in her chair. “Not like the little wiener I married. Ha, ‘wiener!’ That’s the perfect word to describe him.” She nudged my arm and wiggled her eyebrows at Amy, who giggled some more.
“I don’t think I’ve met your husband, Karen. Have you met him, Amy?”
“Uh huh, he was shooting our scene yesterday.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Karen agreed. “He’s always with the second-string crew, shooting the crowd scenes with the extras. Connie’s problem is that he’s a big gorilla. He hasn’t got an artistic bone in his body. He can’t handle the scenes with the tender emotional parts – you understand? Passion? Romance? He’s no good with them. Just like in real life, come to think of it. The ape thinks he owns me. If I’m not ready for him on a second’s notice, he gets angry. What a shithead.”
“But Jack wasn’t like that,” I prompted, trying to drag her back to the subject.
“Jack? Hell no, that man was smooth – and sexy. He could get me revved up in no time and keep things simmering all afternoon. And sometimes into the evening, too.” She winked at me. I smiled back. Oh yeah, I just loved hearing all about her sex life with my ex-husband.
“I guess that you had to play it pretty close to the vest, spending time with Jack while your husband was working on the film?” I asked.
Karen nodded and tapped the side of her nose. It took her two tries to find it. “You know it, Anna. People around here have big mouths.” She looked at Amy and said “shhh,” laying her finger over her lips. Amy tried to wink back, but was having trouble closing only one eye.
“’Because I guess that Connie would have been pretty jealous if he had found out about you and Jack,” I prompted.
“Course he would have. He thinks he’s some sort of a he-man because he’s European and has some hair on his chest. Ha! Hasn’t got much left on top of his head. He’s got a lousy temper, too. He tried to shove me around when we first got married, but I got even with him. I wouldn’t let him bully me, no sir.”
“What’d you do?” asked Amy, her eyes bright with curiosity.
Karen crooked her finger, motioning for us to come closer. We bent our heads together over the table. “I got him drunk one night and shaved his privates. He wouldn’t use a men’s room for weeks after that until the hair grew back in.” She grinned and nodded while Amy shrieked with laughter.
“What’s all this? Having fun, ladies?” a voice growled from behind us. I looked over my shoulder and saw a squat, dark, balding man with small eyes leering down at us. Amy pointed at him and laughed even harder. He shrugged, grabbed a chair from another table, and joined us.
“Who’re your new friends, Karen?” he asked.
“This is Amy. She’s one of the extras on the movie,” Karen said, pointing to her.
“Sure, I’ve seen you around. Good to see you again, Amy.”
“And this other lady’s Anna Nolan, Jack Nolan’s ex-wife.”
Connie turned to look at me, the smile disappearing from his face. “Jack’s ex-wife, huh? You’ve got my condolences, lady.”
“Thank you.”
“I don’t mean because somebody offed him. I mean for ever having married the jerk in the first place.”
I frowned at his rudeness. “Not a fan of Jack’s, Connie?”
“Don’t be such an asshole, Con,” said his wife. “She’s grieving over him.”
“Watch your ugly mouth, Karen. I told you about calling me that.”
“Okay, dick-head.”
He leaned forward and grabbed Karen’s wrist. She gave it a sharp twist and broke free, leaning back out of his reach. “Stop being so grabby. You’re just showing off in front of my friends.”
“Ah, shut up. You’ve had too many. We should be going. I have an early start tomorrow.”
“Well, I’m not called until tomorrow night, and I don’t feel like going just yet. It’s only . . . .” She stopped to squint at her watch.
“It’s 10:35,” I said helpfully.
“Mind your own business,” Connie said, leaning too close to me. He scowled, making his face even more unattractive, and blew beery breath in my face. I flinched and pushed my chair back an inch. He smiled, thinking that he had intimidated me.
“Oh, get lost, Connie. You’re such a downer. You’re no fun anymore. Just leave me and my friends alone,” Karen said.
“Why, so you can have some more fun, you moron? You want the producers to hear that you were drunk in the Spur again? I told you it’s time to go, so get your fat ass out of that chair and get moving.”
“Fat ass!” she shrieked. She grabbed her cocktail and threw the dregs into his face.
Connie roared and jumped out of his chair. He lurched toward Karen, who leapt back out of his way, knocking over her chair.
“All right folks, that’s enough. Everybody calm down, now,” said an authoritative voice from behind us. I looked up to see Steve Walker standing next to our table, a pool cue held nonchalantly in his hand. He must have been playing pool in the back room all the time we had been there. I felt relieved; I didn’t fancy getting into a barroom brawl. He was ignoring me, however. I hoped things weren’t going to be awkward between us.
Connie glared at Steve as the young constable laid a hand upon his shoulder. “Come on, Connie, let’s not have any trouble here. Who’s the lady?”
Grimacing, Connie muttered, “That’s my wife, Karen. I wasn’t looking for any trouble. I was just trying to get her to come home with me.”
Karen took a step toward the table. “What’s the matter, Con, you scared of this guy?” Steve was out of uniform in his white shirt and jeans, so she had no idea that he was a cop.
“This is Constable Steve Walker, Karen. He’s with the RCMP,” I said.
“You mean Constable McDreamy, don’t you?” she replied, leering at Steve. Connie frowned.
“Nice meeting you, Karen,” Steve said. “It might be a good idea if you and Connie went home to discuss your differences in private, don’t you think? A lady like you doesn’t want to air her disagreements in public.” He gave her a winning smile.
Karen sniffed and looked around the room, noticing the other customers staring at us for the first time. Some of them must have been fellow cast and crew members.
“You’re quite right,” she said, her manner changing. Now she was the grand lady. “I don’t know what’s got into my husband. Let’s go, Con.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you,” he grumbled, trying to take her arm. She wouldn’t have anything to do with him, however, and brushed him aside as she bent to retrieve her purse from the floor. Straightening unsteadily, she smiled at Amy and me.
“Ladies, thank you for a wonderful evening. I hope to see you again soon,” she said before following her husband to the cashier with as much dignity as she could muster. Steve winked at me, and I flashed him a quick smile, but I didn’t have time to worry about him now.
“Come on, Amy, this is our chance,” I said, jumping up from my chair.
“Our chance for what?” she asked in confusion.
I whispered in her ear, “Our chance to follow them home and find out where they live. Come on, I don’t want to lose them.”
Amy looked worried as I pulled her to her feet. Connie had settled his tab and he and Karen were headed out the door by the time we waded through the tables to the cashier. I paid our bill and rushed Amy out onto the street after them. Karen and Connie were still bickering as they crossed the road and unlocked the doors to their late-model Jeep.
“Come on, run,” I said, dragging Amy to my car.
I unlocked the passenger door, shoved her in, and had the car started and u-turned by the time Connie pulled away from the curb. I idled for a few seconds before pulling in behind them, not wanting to follow too closely. We drove down the main street and picked up speed as it became the highway, then slowed to turn right down a secondary road. We were the only two cars on the road, and I was worried that Connie might notice my h
eadlights. Hopefully, he and Karen were too busy arguing to pay any attention to us. We continued on for about five minutes until they turned right again down a gravel road. Connie was driving too fast and fishtailed, spewing gravel behind him. He corrected the car and proceeded a little more cautiously while Amy and I slowed to follow them. They came upon a private driveway barely visible through the trees and turned in. I slowed and waited a few moments before turning in behind them. They had already disappeared around a bend when I pulled over and parked at the bottom of the driveway.
“Now what?” Amy whispered. The driveway was bordered by deep bush on both sides, blocking our view of the house. I cut the lights and turned off the engine.
“We’ve come this far. I want to see what they’re doing. Let’s leave the car here and hike up to the house.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” she asked, frowning at me. “What if they see us? How’re we going to explain our being here?”
“Don’t worry. It’s dark and they’ll have the lights on inside the house. They won’t see us. I want to know what happens when they argue in private.”
“You mean, does Connie hit her?”
“Right,” I said, peering out the windshield.
“That’s not very nice,” she said.
I shrugged. “He’ll hit her or not hit her whether we’re here or not. Look at it this way. If he does start hitting her, we can call 911 and take off before the police arrive.”
“Well, I guess that would be okay. But it’s so dark. We could trip over some branches or something and really hurt ourselves. Besides, I’m not feeling very well. I’m awfully tired. I think I had a bit too much to drink.” She leaned her head back against the head rest and shut her eyes.
I looked at Amy and decided that she might be more hindrance than help. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll go by myself,” I said. “Why don’t you stay in the car and have a little nap?”
“Huh?” she said, opening her eyes.
“Hold on, I’ve got a blanket in the trunk. I’ll get it so you won’t get cold.” I reached for the door handle.
Amy looked around through the car windows. “I don’t know. I might get scared out here all by myself.”
I opened the car door and got out. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Just lock the doors and you’ll be perfectly safe. Who would be walking around at this time of night, anyway?”
I popped open the trunk, grabbed the blanket I kept for emergencies, and eased the trunk shut. Climbing back into my seat, I spread the blanket over Amy, who watched me with worried eyes. I opened the glove box and retrieved my flashlight.
“Go to sleep. I’ll be back before you know it.” She sighed and closed her eyes, snuggling down into the blanket like a good little girl. I locked the car doors behind me and pocketed the remote control. Turning on the flashlight, I followed the beam along the twisting driveway, the trees blocking out most of the moonlight. I crept along as quietly as I could, but it was a gravel driveway and I could hear the stone crunching beneath my feet. Something scurried in the damp leaves beside me, and I jumped. I shone my flashlight into the trees, but didn’t see anything.
“Must be mice or some other night life,” I told myself. “Certainly nothing big enough to worry about. Whatever it is, it’s probably afraid of me.”
I continued up the drive, wishing that the house wasn’t stuck so far back in the bush. How much further was it? Last year’s brittle leaves still clung to the trees and rustled in the wind. The ground smelled damp and mouldy, and the evening chill was beginning to penetrate my clothes. I wished that I had worn a jacket. Just as I was beginning to doubt the sanity of my plan, the driveway widened out into a parking area in front of the house. The Jeep was parked there beside some sort of muscle car, sleek and low to the ground.
“Looks like Connie and Karen like their toys,” I said to myself.
Lights were spilling out of the downstairs windows. Bending over and creeping between the parked cars, I could see Connie and Karen standing in the middle of the living room, Connie gesturing wildly about something while Karen held her hands over her ears. He shouted and grabbed her by the arms. Karen shoved him in the chest, and Connie tripped backward over a coffee table. He got up from the floor and rushed at her. Karen darted behind the sofa and ran around the end toward the fireplace. She grabbed the fireplace shovel and stalked back toward him, the shovel raised menacingly over her head. Connie backed away, shouting at her. He must have said something really ugly because she started chasing him around the room, swinging the shovel and trying to clobber him with it.
“Gee,” I mumbled to myself, “I hope she doesn’t kill him, but I sure wish that I could hear what they’re saying.”
“Yes, that would be convenient,” a voice said right behind my left ear.
I nearly jumped out of my skin, grabbing at my chest and whirling around with the flashlight in my hand. I ended up shining it into Tremaine’s face.
“You idiot, you nearly gave me a heart attack,” I gasped, lowering the light. Suddenly remembering the couple in the house, I turned back and crouched down between the cars again. I peered towards the windows, but couldn’t see Connie or Karen.
“Where’d they go?” I muttered.
Tremaine, who wasn’t bothering to hide himself, pointed over my head. “Right there on the rug in front of the fireplace.”
“What?”
I looked in that direction and saw Connie lying on top of Karen. She wasn’t struggling; on the contrary, her arms and legs were clamped around him. As I watched, Connie rose up on one elbow and began fumbling with his pants, yanking them down around his knees and exposing his bare backside.
“Ew, I think I burnt my eyes!” I squawked, before clamping my hand over my mouth. I didn’t want them to hear me.
“That’s what you get for spying on people,” Tremaine said, still behind me. “You can get up now. I don’t think there’s much chance of them looking out the window at the moment.”
I straightened and turned to face Tremaine. His expression was severe, his arms folded over his chest. He uncrossed them and took a step toward me. At that moment, I was more afraid of him than I was of Karen and Connie.
“I have to get back to Amy,” I muttered, ducking my head and trying to push past him. Instead, he grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.
“You don’t have to worry about Amy. She was sound asleep when I walked past your car a few minutes ago.”
“So, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” he snapped. “Come along – show’s over – let’s get you back to your car.” He turned on his own flashlight and gestured for me to precede him. Once we were past the cars, he paced down the driveway beside me, looking grim.
“How did you know I was here?” I risked asking with a sidelong glance.
“Steve Walker called after you followed Karen and Connie out of the Silver Spur ‘as if your pants were on fire,’ as he so colourfully put it. He was afraid that you and Amy might be up to something, so he asked me to check on the Primos. I’d already interviewed them at home, so I knew where they lived. What did you expect to gain by following them here, Anna?”
I glanced at him, thinking fast. “If you must know, I was afraid that Connie might hurt Karen once he got her home. He was acting very aggressively at the bar, and they were both drunk. I followed them to check up on her.”
“I see. And what were you going to do if he started beating her?”
“Call 911.”
I tripped over a stone and Tremaine grabbed my elbow to steady me. I was too busy keeping up with him and trying to gauge his reaction to my lies to watch where I was going.
“And what were you and Amy doing talking to the Primos in the first place?”
“Oh, the Spur is an old haunt of mine. Amy and I hit it off the other night, so she invited me out for a drink. We bumped into Karen at the bar, and Amy introduced us. The tables wer
e really crowded, so we joined her.”
“That’s odd. Constable Walker is a regular at the Spur and he said he’s never seen you there before.”
“Uh, that must be because he’s always in the back playing pool.” Suddenly, Tremaine swung me around and started pulling me back toward the house. “What are you doing?” I sputtered, stumbling after him.
“I’m taking you back to the Primos to see if they want to press trespassing charges.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” I protested, ineffectively digging my heels into the gravel. “Let’s not be rash.”
Tremaine dragged me along beside him. “Anna, you just told me a pack of lies. If you won’t tell me the truth, the least I can do is keep you out of harm’s way by putting you in jail for a day or two. Maybe that’s what you need to realize how serious this situation is.”
I stopped and wrenched my elbow from his grasp. “All right, all right, here’s the truth,” I said. “Amy heard that Karen Quill and Jack were sleeping together, and I wanted to find out if Connie was the type to kill Jack if he found out that his wife was cheating on him.” I glanced at Tremaine for his reaction. There was a steely look in his eyes that made me look away again.
“Don’t you think that I already know about Jack and Karen’s affair?”
My mouth gaped open. “How did you hear about it? Not from Karen, I bet.”
“Anna, I am the police. I question people, and they tell me things. If I don’t believe them, I keep digging until I discover the truth. That’s what I’m paid to do. Why do you continue to involve yourself in this investigation when I’ve warned you to stay away?”
I was afraid of Tremaine at that moment, and when I’m afraid, I have a tendency to mask my feelings with aggression. I guess it’s the old “fight or flight” instinct, and I’m not as fast as I used to be.
“Okay, hot shot, just because you’re the police doesn’t mean that I can’t talk to people and look around myself, especially when it’s my head that’s in the noose.”
“Hot shot?” he said, his lips twitching.
Okay, now he was laughing at me, which really made me mad. “Look, you told me that I’m the prime suspect in this case. Has that changed?”
He paused for a moment, his eyes becoming cautious. “No.”
“Then just leave me alone. I promise if I find out anything important, I’ll let you know right away. Come on, Tremaine, I could be useful to you.”
Tremaine took a step closer until we stood toe-to-toe. “Anna, I want you to listen to me very carefully because I’m not going to say this again. You cannot be of any use to me in this investigation. As a matter of fact, you’re a liability. I’ve questioned the Primos, who have been cooperative up until now, and I’m corroborating their alibi. What I don’t need is your ham-fisted interference spooking them and ruining their cooperation. Now, I do not want to see or hear of you trying to interview suspects, spy on people, or anything else that you can come up with, do you hear? I swear that if I find you doing anything illegal, I’ll haul you away to prison before you know what happened. Have I made myself perfectly clear?” He grabbed me by the shoulders and gave me a shake to emphasize his point.
I’m not proud of my reaction that night – okay, secretly I am. I swung back my foot and kicked him as hard as I could in the shin. As he hopped around on one leg, cursing, I shouted, “Don’t you ever touch me again! How dare you threaten me! What kind of a cop are you, anyway? Haven’t you ever heard of police brutality? I swear I’ll make a complaint to the top RCMP guy if you ever touch me again. Just leave me alone!”
My voice cracked on the last bit and I ran back to the car. Tremaine had parked in front of me, blocking the driveway leading up to the house. I aimed the remote at my car, flung the door open, and jumped in, slamming it shut behind me. Amy woke with a start. I turned the engine over, jammed the stick shift into reverse, and spun the car around. Tears I couldn’t stop began to spill out of my eyes as I turned onto the side road and headed, much too quickly, back to town.
“Anna, what’s wrong?” Amy asked, huddling on her side of the car. “Are you okay? Did you get caught?”
“Nothing’s wrong and I didn’t get caught – by the Primos, anyway. I just bumped into Tremaine. The nerve of the man. He makes me so mad! Just give me a minute to calm down.” I reached the main road and began taking deep, relaxing breaths. Amy stopped watching me to stare out of her window. By the time we were a few miles outside of Crane, I had stopped shaking and started thinking. Something Karen had said at the bar had caught my attention.
Amy glanced at me. “Do you feel better now?”
“Yes, thanks. Sorry if I scared you,” I muttered.
“Was Sergeant Tremaine mad at you for spying on the Primos?”
“Yes, but never mind him. I’ve been thinking of a plan, and I’m not going to let that bully stop me. We made a good start tonight, Amy, but we didn’t get enough information out of Karen. I want to know what she and Connie were doing on the night Jack was killed. Now, Connie said he’s working tomorrow, so he won’t be home. Karen said she isn’t called until tomorrow night – right? So why not try a two-pronged attack? Why not drive back to their house in the morning, too early for Karen to have gone anywhere, but late enough for Connie to have left for work. You can ask her to go shopping with you – how about the Saturday market? While she’s getting ready to go, you slip me into the house. Then you can pump Karen for information while you’re out shopping.” I glanced at her. “What do you think?”
Amy frowned and bit her lip. “I guess I could try, but what will you be doing in the house while Karen and I are gone?”
“I’ll be looking for the gun that killed Jack.” Amy gasped. “Come on, how can it fail? No one will be home. I’ll have lots of time to look around. Believe me, I’m a pro when it comes to searching a house, thanks to Jack and his cheating. If I find a gun, the police can check it out to see if it’s the murder weapon. And we know that whoever shot Jack took the ring, so if I find either the ring or the gun, we’ll have conclusive evidence.”
Amy shook her head. “I think we ought to leave this to the police.”
“Come on, Amy, please help me,” I pleaded. “I can’t do it on my own. I’ll be frank with you – I don’t think that Tremaine suspects you of murdering Jack, but he sure suspects me. He just told me so. Please?”
Amy sighed. “Okay, I’ll try,” she said in a resigned voice.
“Thanks, you’re the best,” I gushed. Under my breath, I muttered, “Charles Tremaine, I am so going to prove you wrong!”