“That’s very good news.”
“I suppose. Bye.”
Amanda placed the phone back in the cradle.
Being clean meant Minette realized that her worst fear had been true. Davida had been cheating on her. The big question was with whom? Minette must be wondering the same thing. That could explain her drinking this early.
She looked around the squad room for Barnes- tucked into a corner, facing the wall, talking on the phone. She went over and tapped him on the shoulder. Barnes whispered a “gotta go” into the receiver and disconnected his cell.
“Who were you talking to?” Amanda asked casually.
“No one.”
“On the phone, talking to no one. They’ve put people away for far less, Will.”
“It wasn’t business-related.”
Amanda’s smile widened to a grin. “You were talking to that cop in LA- ”
“Amanda- ”
“What was her name?” Amanda snapped her fingers. “Marge. Tall drink of water, but nice-looking, I’ll grant you that.”
“She adopted an orphan in her teens. The kid goes to Caltech. We were just talking about kids.”
“You’ve never had any.”
“I was doing the listening.”
“Willie and Margie sitting in a tree- are you going down south or is she coming up north?”
“She’s got a couple of days off. Can we move on to business?”
“Sure, because I took care of some. Minette’s coming down to the stationhouse tomorrow at eleven.”
“You got her to come in?” Barnes nodded with approval.
Amanda punched his shoulder lightly. “Call it the old charm. I’m going home now to work my magic on my husband. Unless you want my advice on something.”
“Like what?”
“Like where to take Margie. They’re predicting high sixties with sunshine. You should rent a convertible and take her to wine country. Spring for some bucks and stay at the Sonoma Mission Inn.”
That actually wasn’t a bad idea, but damn if Barnes would give her any satisfaction. “You can go now, Mandy. I’ll be in around nine tomorrow.”
“Me too, God and traffic willing. I’ll call Minette at around ten thirty tomorrow to remind her about the appointment. She’s already a bit inebriated, so I’ll probably have to remind her of our conversation. No doubt she’ll be hung over and in a foul mood.”
Barnes said, “I’ll pick up some juice, donuts, whatever. Every little bit helps.”
“If only it were that simple,” Amanda said. “Get aspirin, too.”
18
At ten thirty in the morning, Minette was still in bed, having forgotten about the appointment. Amanda decided the most efficient thing to do was just pick her up and bring her in. It took a full hour for the woman to dress and another half hour of plying her with designer coffee until she seemed coherent enough to interview. Even with the star treatment, Minette was surly. Her makeup couldn’t hide the bags under her eyes, making them look more muddy than exotic. Her hair was in need of a good brushing as well as a root job. She was dressed in crumpled khakis, a white tee and sneakers. The woman was lanky and thin and from the back she could have passed for an adolescent boy.
Amanda escorted her into the interview room and helped her to a chair. “Can I get you anything to eat?”
“It makes me nervous when you’re too nice,” Minette groused.
“That’s just the way we are. Here to help.” And we need your help.
“A munch?”
Minette considered her response as if world peace depended on it. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind a muffin. Anything reduced-fat.”
“Not a problem. Be right back.”
While Amanda got someone to pick up the muffins, Barnes watched Minette through a one-way mirror. She seemed more tired than nervous and to underscore the point, she lay her head down in the cradle of her arms and closed her eyes. Five minutes later, she was snoring.
Amanda came into the observation room. Barnes said, “If the woman has anxiety, she’s hiding it well.”
“Maybe she has nothing to feel guilty about.”
“We all feel guilty about something, it’s a matter of degree.” A policewoman entered and handed Amanda the goody bag. She passed it to Barnes, who pulled out a bran muffin and chomped half of it in one bite. By way of explanation, he said, “No time to eat this morning.”
“What were you doing while I was babysitting Ms. Padgett?”
“The official memorial service for Davida is tomorrow afternoon at two in Sacramento. I want to set up an interview with Lucille Grayson afterward.”
“Thanks for telling me.”
“I’m telling you now,” Barnes said. “I got us tickets for the noon train.” He finished his muffin and stood. “Ready?”
“Sure, let’s see what Sleeping Beauty has to say for herself.”
Gently, Amanda rocked Minette’s shoulder. Minette woke up with a start and it took her a few moments to remember where she was. A thin line of drool had slipped out of the corner of her mouth. She sucked it up and wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “Wow.” Minette sipped her coffee. “I’m more tired than I thought. Do we really have to do this now?”
“The sooner we finish, the better our chances of catching a murderer,” Barnes told her.
“Have a muffin.” Amanda offered her the bag. “You can keep all of them if you want.”
Minette extracted the blueberry. “One’s fine. Thanks.”
“Here’s some napkins…need a refill on the coffee?”
“Sure.”
“Be right back.”
As soon as Amanda left, Barnes said, “Again, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks. Can we get on with this?” She looked at her watch. “I really got things I need to do.”
Barnes smiled and Amanda came back in with the coffee.
“Here we go. Anything else?”
“Ms. Padgett is a busy woman,” Barnes said without a trace of irony. “We should get started. Before we get into Davida, I have a couple of questions for you concerning the break-in at your condo.”
Minette peered over the rim of the coffee cup. “Yeah?”
“You reported that you didn’t think anything was missing. Is that still correct?”
“I didn’t say that. I said I’m not sure.”
“But your valuables…cash, jewelry, expensive items…were all accounted for?”
“I think I’m missing cash.”
“You think?” Amanda asked.
“Yeah, Davida always kept cash on hand. Couple of hundred. Maybe more. I only found fifty so maybe the burglars took the rest.”
“And your jewelry?”
Minette shrugged. “I guess it’s all there. I didn’t check every piece. What does this have to do with Davida’s murder?”
“Maybe nothing.” Barnes moved in closer. “We have a little bit of a dilemma, Minette, and we need your help. At first, we thought that the break-in was done by Davida’s murderer, that he or she was looking for something specific. Makes sense, right?”
Minette nodded.
Barnes went on. “But then we realized Davida’s office wasn’t ransacked. So we’re figuring why would your condo be ransacked and not the office?”
Amanda said, “So now we’re thinking that the two incidents might be unrelated.”
“What do you think?” Barnes asked.
“How the hell would I know?” Minette was irritated. “That’s your job.”
“Fair enough,” Barnes answered. “So my first question is, who would want to ransack your condominium and not take anything valuable?”
“Am I supposed to answer that?” Minette frowned. “If I could answer that, we wouldn’t be talking.”
“Well, here’s the thing: we didn’t find any pry marks or forced entrance. We’re figuring whoever messed up your place had a key.”
Minette took a few moments to collect her thoughts. She looked from detective to detective, then down at her watch. “I told you we had a creepy manager. Did you check him out?”