Larcency and Lace Part 23

"Thick and lethal."

She scoffed. "I aimed at his head st.i.tches. Pulled a con on me, did he? I don't think so."

Ouch. "Remind me not to cross you."

She stopped and ducked, but she forgot to warn me, so I tripped over her and went flying. Now my hands were sc.r.a.ped, too. I understood her reasoning, however, when I saw Councilman McDowell heading for the guesthouse looking fit to kill. He growled when he saw Vinney's p.r.o.ne body, stepped over him, and walked faster, if that were possible.

From the woods, we could hear McDowell shouting-the man had lungs, I'd give him that. He'd seen Eve's car in the woods from an upstairs window, started to investigate, and found what he called "felon cars" in his garage. He didn't want Gary or Vinney anywhere near his place and wanted to know what the h.e.l.l was going on.

After a tirade and a half, McDowell came slamming out of the guesthouse, shouting for them to "Get out!" He grumbled about being mad as he hotfooted it up the hill and disappeared around the house. Two seconds later, he burned rubber as he sped down the drive. Man, he couldn't get away fast enough. He truly did "not want to be connected to the law-breaking sc.u.m" in his guesthouse.

Because he too was guilty?

Vinney groaned and grabbed his head, and the sound seemed to alert Lolique. She and Goodwin came out, and when she got to Vinney, she straightened and looked around, as if she could smell the fear rolling off me and Eve.

We ducked neck-deep into the overgrowth.

Lolique pulled Vinney to his feet, none too gently, and shoulder-shoved him toward the big house, which she wouldn't have gotten away with if Vinney wasn't sporting a head bleed. Silently, she pushed Goodwin's chair up behind Vinney. Along the way, she grabbed one of my shoes and stuck it in her pocket, her grin malevolent.

My gasp made Eve put her hand over my mouth. I jerked it away. I'd had enough of that for a lifetime.

The "felons," all three, skirted the house, then one by one, three more cars sped down the drive, Goodwin's bringing up the rear.

"That bimbette stole my shoe!"

"She called us duped dopes." Eve took a twig out of my hair. "Mad, this is one time that acting first could have finished you. And I mean that literally."

I grabbed my throat. "I'm thinking that at least one of them must be the killer."

Eve shuddered. "Of Sampson or Isobel?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't we get the h.e.l.l out of here?" Eve whispered furiously.

"I'm thinking about it."

Eve sucked in a breath. "Those words always send p.r.i.c.kles of fear down my spine."

"I have to get my other shoe."

"You are a nutcase."

"You've known that since we were five when you jumped into the Mystic River to save me."

"More fool me."

"The guesthouse is wide open. Let's go look around."

"You are certifiable," Eve said. "I'm leaving."

"Don't worry. I won't leave fingerprints on anything, and after we're finished, we'll call Werner and tell him we saw Vinney here."

"I thought you wanted to look inside the main house."

I snapped my fingers and changed directions. "Smart girl."

"Dumb, dumb, dumb," she said, smacking her temple with the flat of her hand while trying to keep up with me. "You've finally sucked the genius right out of me," she said. "Though I must say, I'm proud that you left your other shoe behind."

"Oy!" I ran back for it. "Thanks," I said catching up to her. "Here, I got your boot, too. They must have cost you-"

"Three hundred and seventy-five dollars."

"I am a bad influence on you. Is that why you deserted me?"

"Deserted? Vinney disappeared and I heard footsteps, so I hid in the bushes to unlace one of my lethal boots."

"My hero."

"d.a.m.ned straight."

The back door of the mansion stood ajar. We went in and tried to head straight for the front of the huge edifice, but the place was like a dark maze and we didn't dare use lights. Bad enough we could hear a dog barking somewhere in the house.

Each room was a dead end. "Where the Hermes is the hallway?" I whispered, the barking coming closer.

"This place might be old enough to be laid out like your father's house, Mad. You have to go through rooms to get to others. Wait. I found a bathroom. Too much beer."

"Leave the door ajar," I said, "in case they come back, so I can warn you."

Eve the Bold whimpered, but she did as I asked.

"Don't touch anything but the paper," I said, "and flush with your elbow."

"Wait for me."

"Don't worry. My turn next."

"Mad," Eve said a few minutes later, as I washed my hands. "The dog is here."

"I can hear it growling," I said, peeking out. "Wow. He sure is a big one." The dog backed up to growl at both of us. "Hey, cutie," I said to the miniature dachshund as I took kitty treats from my pocket and dropped some on the floor at my feet.

After he ate them, he wagged his tail, so I bent down to feed him a few from my hand. Then I picked him up. "What a good doggie."

"Are you holding him for ransom?" Eve asked.

"No. Insurance. If he likes us, he'll be quiet."

Dog in hand, we backtracked to the back door, then we walked through the rooms and managed to reach the front hall.

I peered in one of the doors leading off of it.

"This is it. McDowell's office." By then my eyes had adjusted to the darkness. "Nothing's the same in this room compared to the one in my vision," I whispered. "Except, maybe-" I used my shoe to move a big painting aside, which action called for a few more kitty treats on the dog's part, and sure enough, there was the safe. "Those ledgers might still be in there," I said.

"If it was the councilman you saw, he owns Goodwin's now. No need to cook the books."

"If he embezzled from family, can Uncle Sam be far behind?"

"A cape, Mad. All you have is a cape."

The light went on, and I whipped around to scold Eve for hitting the switch.

Werner's hand fell from the switch, his gaze locked on mine.

Thirty-four.

I like fashion to go down to the street, but I can't accept that it should originate there.

-COCO CHANEL "Mad and Eve strike again," Werner said. "Safecracking and dognapping, this time?"

I lowered the painting. "Sure, I always open safes with a shoe. This is McDowell's watchdog. See?" I put the little guy down and he began a growling approach until he cornered Werner. Then the dog lifted a leg and tinkled on the detective's shoe.

Werner jumped aside, making the dog growl the more, and gave me a look that I'd come to interpret as his "I could beat you" look. "You gonna call him off?"

I bit my lip to hold in my amus.e.m.e.nt at both the dog's antics and at Eve, bent over double, out of Werner's range of vision.

I cleared my throat. "Here, boy." I put the last of my kitty treats on the floor and McDowell's dog came galloping back as only a wiener dog could gallop. Oh, I'd thought a pun. Good thing I hadn't called him a wiener dog in front of the Wiener.

Werner looked me up and down and shook his head.

Because of it, I took stock of my appearance. Torn stockings, mud on my knees and, ugh, sore, muddy feet. They'd be able to track my b.l.o.o.d.y muddy footprints right through the house. Eve, too, since she wore only one shoe and one foot was as bare and bad as mine.

Werner shook his head. "You're a blight on the pride of the fashion industry, Madeira. Shame on you. You look like a frostbitten flower bed."

"I match my bag. My bag! I lost my Pucci bag!"

"You left it in the car," Eve said.

I relaxed. "Whew!"

Eve chuckled. "Funny you should mention flowers, Detective. Because I was gonna make Mad lie down in a flower bed to hide in plain sight, if they-"

"They?" Werner raised his brows.

"Vinney was here," I said. "We were gonna call you."

"Too bad you forgot."

"We didn't get away from them until they left."

"At which point, you decided to ransack the house?"

"No. Vinney robbed me, remember? And he probably put the bones he stole from my place into the playhouse fire." I raised my arms. "Look at me. I'm not hiding an old mailbag of anything."

"Does anybody have a house key to show me this time? Officer," Werner said, indicating Eve, "take that shoe from Ms. Meyers, will you? It seems to have blood on the heel."

Eve sighed and handed over the boot in her hand.

"Looks like," the officer said, bagging it.

"It's Vinney's blood," Eve explained. "He had Maddie by the throat. I hit him in the head, exactly where he got those st.i.tches the other night."

"The st.i.tches you took him to get?"

"Well, yes, but tonight my best friend's life was in danger. I wrote off Vinney the minute he tried to kill Mad."

"Madeira, you said 'they.' Who else was here, besides Vinney?" Werner asked.

"Detective, did you hear Eve? I nearly died. Strangled. Literally. Could we have a moment of acknowledgment and maybe a 'so glad you're alive, Mad'?"

"Strangled, eh?" Werner nodded thoughtfully. "For the first time, I understand the mind of a perp."

I stamped my sore foot and regretted it.

Werner eyed me with a thimbleful of concern. "How's your throat?"

"A little sore," I snapped.

He took a box from his inside jacket pocket. "Here's a cough drop. Now, who else was here?"

I was underwhelmed by his concern, but the cough drop felt good.

"Councilman McDowell," Eve told him. "He let us in when we brought Lolique home drunk."

Werner shook his head in denial. "No. The councilman is working late, tonight. He called from his office to tell us that the silent alarm on this place went off. So, here we are."

"The rat!" I said. "They're all rats. He probably called from his cell phone as he drove away from here."

"Save it for the station. Put them in my car," Werner told the officer, "and make sure forensics goes over this place after they're finished in the guesthouse. Ms. Meyers, give your keys to the officer and tell him where to find your car."

"In the woods off the drive. I left the keys in the ignition."

We sat for a long time in the backseat of Werner's car waiting for him. I sighed. "I'm so glad we stopped to pee. Too bad the doggie didn't."