Murder Is A Piece Of Cake Part 29

"Please tell me you're not going to confront Phoebe on your own," Alyce said. "At least wait until Justin feels better, so I can go with you."

"Are you nuts?" Josie said. "Neither of us will do that. I'm giving this information to Lenore's high-priced Boca lawyer. He can earn his keep and use a real detective to investigate the murderous Winstids."

"What did Ted say when you told him?" Alyce asked.

"I couldn't reach him last night," Josie said. "I left a message and he hasn't called back yet. He must have worked late. Speaking of late, I'd better leave if I'm going to make it to Emily's by nine thirty."

Josie heard Justin wailing in the background.

"That's my poor boy," Alyce said. "Thanks for helping Emily with those presents. I'm glad you're not doing anything dangerous."

Chapter 33.

Thursday, November 1 "Ted!" Josie was almost to her car when her fiance called. She sat on the b.u.mper to talk.

"Sorry I didn't call sooner, Josie," Ted said. "I had to euthanize a patient last night and didn't finish until nearly midnight."

Josie thought he sounded subdued. "Who was it?" she asked.

"A thirteen-year-old beagle with cancer," Ted said. "The owner called as I was leaving. Danielle said Buddy was suffering so much, she didn't want to wait until morning. By the time she got here, said good-bye, and I did the procedure, it was too late to call."

"How are you?" Josie said. "I know it's hard for you to put down a pet."

"It was time," Ted said. "Buddy couldn't eat or drink and he'd lost control of his functions. He was a dignified old guy."

"I have news that will cheer you up," Josie said. "I know who killed Molly."

"Really?" No trace of tiredness now. Ted's words tumbled out. "Who? What? Why?"

Josie told him how she'd tracked down Molly's first stalker victim, George, and his mother, Phoebe, then figured out that neither one had an alibi for the time of Molly's murder.

"Both are possibilities," Josie said. "But I think Phoebe killed her. She has a good motive: Bridezilla drove her only son out of St. Louis. Phoebe won't get to see her future grandchildren grow up. She can't afford trips to Montana."

"Money and mother love," Ted said. "Powerful reasons."

"Here's something else: Phoebe drives a dark gray Impala."

"The car in the surveillance video. You got her!" Ted said.

"Not yet," Josie said. "I'm not tackling a killer on my own. It's time for Lenore's lawyer and his investigator to prove it."

"Mom will be out in time for our wedding," Ted said.

"I hope," Josie said. "Will you call Shel Clark?"

"Right now," Ted said. "But Shel may want to talk to you. You're brilliant. And beautiful. Did I tell you I love you?"

"Not since yesterday," Josie said.

Ted kept saying, "I love you," until Josie hung up laughing.

Ted made her feel better. She could face the trip to Emily's house alone.

She sang all the way to the Estates at Wood Winds. As she parked in Emily's driveway, Josie was struck by the stark lines of Emily's house in the midst of the subdivision's fanciful mansions and mock castles.

This morning, Emily's eyes were ringed by bruised circles and her short brown hair needed washing. Egg yolk was dripped down her dark turtleneck.

"Come in," she said. "It's nice of you to help when Alyce can't make it."

Josie followed her to the vast living room with the tangerine walls and the fashionable khaki carpet. Two sculpted dining chairs sat by the metal folding tables heaped with boxes.

"We can open and sort the gifts," Emily said. "I set up a system."

Sheets of paper were on the carpet, with the name of a store's bridal registry: Macy's, Tiffany, Crate & Barrel and Williams-Sonoma.

"Should I keep track of who sent each gift?" Josie asked.

"No reason," Emily said. "People know Molly can't write thank-you notes. You take that table, and I'll do this one. Here's a pair of scissors to open boxes. If you find a gift receipt, tape it to the box." She handed Josie Scotch tape. "Before you add a gift to the store pile, show it to me."

Emily never addressed Josie by her name or offered her anything to eat or drink.

Josie opened a box with a De'Longhi toaster that looked like it could launch a satellite. "Do you want this to go back to Macy's?" she asked.

Emily studied the gleaming metal. "It has the extra-wide slots for bagels," she said. "Ours is an old two-slicer. Put it in the keeper pile."

Josie sought to hide her shock. Emily didn't hesitate to keep Molly's gift for herself.

"What about these?" Josie held up a six-pack of Lenox winegla.s.ses etched with tiny flowers.

"I like my gla.s.sware better," Emily said. "Those can go back. Along with this soup tureen." Josie recognized it as the cabbage rose dish she'd wept over yesterday.

"My sister liked all that flowery c.r.a.p," she said.

This was the woman who couldn't move on with her grief? Josie wanted out of Emily's ice palace. The fastest way was to tear through the mountain of unopened boxes and wrapped presents.

Josie dutifully held up each opened gift for inspection.

Emily wanted the Breville blender and the bright red KitchenAid stand mixer. "I like to bake," she said. Antique silver candlesticks etched with garlands and grapes were rejected as "fussy." So was a dainty porcelain vase.

"I never iron," Emily said, and banished that appliance. "Molly needed one for her ruffles."

Josie had the eerie feeling that Emily was settling an old score with her sister with each acceptance or rejection.

She waved away Molly's blue-flowered everyday dishes, nixed ten place settings of bone china, but said yes to the big Turkish bath towels. "Brad and I have been married ten years," she said. "Our linens are getting worn."

Josie nodded. Emily didn't seem to notice that she was the only one talking. She disemboweled cartons and ripped apart festive paper like a hungry lioness attacking her prey.

"Look at this ten-cup coffeemaker," Emily said. "With a built-in bean grinder." Her excited squeal sickened Josie. "Want to try it?"

I want out of here, Josie thought. "I'm almost done," she said. "Let's finish. That will make your husband happy."

"So will all this loot," Emily said, her eyes glittering with greed.

Josie pulled a round flat tray out of a colorful box.

"Oh. My. G.o.d," Emily said softly. "A pizza stone. I've always wanted one."

She grabbed it from Josie and carried the trophy to the keeper pile.

"That was my last box," Josie said.

"I still have more," Emily said. She handed Josie a stack of greeting card envelopes, a notebook, and a pen. "Open these, and write down the amounts."

"After I call my mom," Josie said. "I'll have to ask her to pick up my daughter at school."

She hoped Emily would tell Josie to leave, but she was staring raptly at a vegetable chopper. "I saw these Alligator choppers on TV," she said. "I'm keeping this."

Josie fished her cell phone out of her purse. "Of course I'll pick up Amelia," Jane said. "She wants to learn more about cooking fish. I got some nice tilapia."

"Thanks, Mom," Josie said.

She checked her messages to see if Lenore's lawyer had called, then slipped the cell phone into her pocket. Josie didn't want to miss Shel Clark's call. Maybe the lawyer could spring her, too.

Josie tackled the tower of greeting cards. Most contained checks. A check for fifty thousand dollars was in a card frosted with lace and signed, "Love to my Darling Niece, Aunt Martha." Molly would have loved that card, Josie thought, maybe even more than the check.

Lingering made her feel sadder. Josie opened the last two cards, swiftly added up the checks, and circled the total.

"Done!" she said.

Emily was unwrapping three bamboo storage baskets from Crate & Barrel. Josie was glad she'd included them in her own bridal registry.

"How much?" Emily asked.

"Fifty-eight thousand and twenty-five dollars," Josie said.

"Including Aunt Martha's money?" Emily asked.

Josie nodded.

"I knew my sister would rake in at least fifty thousand for her wedding," Emily said. "Brad and I didn't do nearly as well. Molly always got everything."

Including an early death, Josie thought.

"I appreciate your help," Emily said. "Now all I have to do is take Molly's clothes to a consignment shop, clean out her apartment, and I'm done."

She said this without a trace of sorrow. Emily had processed her grief in record time. She checked her watch. "I should have time to deposit the checks at the bank this afternoon," she said.

"Do you have a special account for Molly's estate?" Josie asked.

"Don't need one," Emily said. "I'm the executor. The money's going to me, anyway. Molly and I already had a joint account, so I could help her with the wedding."

Right. Josie remembered Rita the saleswoman mentioning that. Looks like Molly helped you instead, Josie thought. There's more than enough money here to cover what you embezzled from the Thanksgiving food bank fund. I wonder if a timely check will save your bacon.

"Your friends and family were generous to Molly," she said.

"That was Aunt Martha's doing," Emily said. "Molly was always her favorite. She promised Molly fifty thousand dollars as part of a down payment on a new home."

Just like Mom offered Ted and me money to put toward a down payment, Josie thought. She felt uneasy. Her tidy picture of Molly's killer shifted slightly, but she didn't know why. She was starting to think Aunt Martha's fifty thousand dollars, Molly's wedding gifts, and Molly's death were somehow connected and they had nothing to do with Phoebe Winstid or her son.

"Molly said she'd be a traditional stay-at-home wife," Emily said. "Aunt Martha didn't realize my sister was a master manipulator under all those frills. She fell for Molly's old-fashioned-girl act, wrote her a fat check, and encouraged everyone to help Molly and Ted buy a house."

Josie jumped when Emily said Ted's name.

"Why isn't Ted's name on the checks?" she asked.

"Molly promised Aunt Martha she'd handle the family finances. That was a slap at me. I let Brad handle our money and some of his investments didn't pan out."

"I see," Josie said. She saw the bare walls, the empty living room, and the dents in the carpet where the furniture used to be.

"I never had my sister's advantages," Emily said. "No one helped Brad and me that way. Well, we'll get by. I've put her wedding dress on eBay."

"The one she wore on TV?" Josie asked. "It's been used."

"By a famous person," Emily said. "Denise refused to take back her veil and tiara. The fact that Molly wore those would increase their value. Denise took back Molly's first bridal veil and tiara, like she did for that other ditz who worked there."

"Rita?" Josie asked. "Wasn't she your sister's friend?"

"That's what Rita said," Emily said. "She wanted me to give her Molly's dog. Just hand it to her for nothing. Bella had papers. I sold it for five hundred bucks."

The picture of Phoebe Winstid as Molly's killer was losing focus. "Were you friends with Rita, too?" she asked.

"I met her at the shop," Emily said, "but we didn't socialize. Rita invited me to her apartment to have dinner with Molly, but I said no. I wasn't wasting an evening with those two. Rita was like Molly-obsessed with her looks, her clothes, and her wedding."

"Rita had exquisite taste," Josie said.

"She spent a lot on herself, if that's what you mean," Emily said. "But taste? I don't think so. Rita had an old c.o.ke machine in her living room."

The picture of Molly's killer was coming clearer.

"How did you know about the c.o.ke machine?" Josie asked.