Parked under the single lamppost at the far end of the lot.
Lainie’s car.
The time is eleven-twenty.
Etta nods bitterly.
Strides determinedly across the lot to the boat. The dock is silent. The boat is silent. As she moves swiftly up the gangway, past the empty cockpit, she hears cries from below, the unmistakable sounds of a woman moaning in ecstasy, hears a woman’s voice now, Give it to me, yes, Lainies voice, yes, do it, do it, and there is no longer any need to ask her husband anything at all.
She will kill him.
She is starting down the ladder leading to the saloon when she hears their voices again. He is reminding her of the tape he now has in his possession. He is telling her the tape can be very damaging to her career. He is suggesting that she might care to drop her infringement suit before all of kiddieland learns about that tape.
——What are you saying, Brett?
——I’m saying drop the suit or I’ll send copies to every company in the field.
——What?
——I think you’re hearing me, Lainie.
——Five minutes ago...
——Yes, but...
——You told me you still loved me!
——I know, but drop the suit.
——You son of a bitch!
——Drop the suit, Lainie.
Etta almost loses her resolve. If he lured Lainie to the boat only to threaten her with exposure if she didn’t...
In which case, why did he make love to her?
In which case, why did he tell her he still loved her?
——You told me you still loved me!
——I know, but drop the suit.
She hears more angry words from Lainie, hears her shouting she’ll never drop the suit now, go to Ideal, go to Mattel, go to hell, you rotten bastard, and realizes she’s about to leave the stateroom, her voice is at the stateroom door, she is hurling these last words at him as she storms out. Etta knows this boat, knows every corner of it, every curve. There is a head adjacent to the saloon, and she slips into that now, closes the door swiftly behind her, and listens, waiting.
Her wristwatch reads eleven-thirty.
There are footfalls rushing past in the passageway outside, hurried footfalls moving through the saloon and onto the ladder leading above. The gangway creaks under Lainie’s weight as she goes ashore. Etta stands still and silent behind the bathroom door, listening for the sound of a car starting, but she hears nothing. Has she gone? Has she really gone? She waits.
Her watch reads eleven thirty-five.
At last, she opens the door.
From the stateroom at the far end of the passageway, she can hear the sound of the shower running. Good, she’ll do a Psycho on him, kill him in the fucking shower. Her hand dips into the shoulder bag. Her fingers find the Cobra. Tighten around the walnut stock. She comes down the passageway. The stateroom door is open. The shower is still running. She comes stealthily into the room. Kill him in the shower, she is thinking. And sees several things on the bedside table. Brett’s side of the bed. Sees all these things in the very next instant.
Sees the time on the digital bedside clock.
11:38.
Sees an empty black vinyl cassette holder.
Idle Hands.
Sees a woman’s scarf lying on one of the upholstered stateroom chairs.
Blue scarf, red-anchor design.
And sees Brett’s pistol.
Everything suddenly comes into clear, sharp focus.
She smiles.
Actually smiles.
And drops the Cobra back into the tote.
The digital clock reads 11:39.
The shower stops.
She moves swiftly to the side of the bed, picks up the forty-five in her gloved right hand. The bathroom door opens. She turns toward it. Brett is wearing only a towel. His eyes open wide in surprise.
“Etta?” he said. “What...?”
Her first shot misses him.
The next two take him in the face.
The digital clock on the bedside table reads 11:40.
Before she leaves the boat, she slips the cassette into its holder, carries it across the room to the bookshelves holding similar cassettes and places it there in plain view. Let them find it, she thinks. Let them link it to Lainie’s scarf and conclude she was here to get the tape from him. Let them link it with this, she thinks, and tosses the forty-five onto the bed. She looks down at Brett where he lies bleeding on the carpet, the towel open now, his penis looking shriveled and shrunken and small.
Good, she thinks, and leaves the boat.
She drives home in twelve minutes.
Gets there at eleven fifty-five.
Changes her clothes.
Leaves the house again at midnight.
Is back at the club again by twelve-sixteen.
Which is when she discovers her husband’s body.
“She told you all this, huh?” Folger asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I wouldn’t have brought her here otherwise.”
“Too bad she wouldn’t repeat it,” Skye said.
“Too bad,” I said.
“What do you want from us, Matthew?”
“Drop the charges against my client...”
“No way.”
“...pending full investigation of Etta Toland.”
“Can’t do that,” Folger said, shaking his head.
“Why not?”
“Make us a laughingstock,” Skye said.
“And suppose we come up empty?” Folger said.
“How can you?” I said. “Get a warrant to search her closets. The night watchman saw someone dressed in black...”
“She may have burned the clothes by now,” Skye said.
“Subpoena her phone bills. In her deposition, she told me she called the boat at eleven forty-five, and got to the club at twelve-sixteen. Instead, she really placed the call...”
“How does that prove she killed him?” Folger asked.
“It proves she’s a liar.”
“So? You never lie?”
“Pete, I’ve got her calling the boat at ten to eleven, and leaving the house ten minutes later. Dressed to kill, I might...”
“No,” Skye said. “The phone bills may show when she called the boat, but they won’t show when she left the house. That’s all in your head so far.”
“It’s in her head, too, Skye.”
“If it is, she’s not letting anybody else in there.”
“How do you see the timetable?” Folger said.
“Full cast?”
“A to Z.”
“From the top?”
“From minute one.”
I took a lined yellow legal-sized pad from the top drawer of my desk. I picked up a pencil and began writing.
9:00 PM: Bobby Diaz calls Toland.
“Toland tells him to buzz off,” I said. “Says he doesn’t need the tape.”
9:05 PM: Toland calls Lainie to invite her to the boat.
“He called her from home,” I said. “Not from the boat as Etta later claimed.”
“Why would she lie about that?”
“She lied about everything, Skye. She killed him.”
“So far, I have no evidence of that. Let’s see the rest of the timetable.”
I began writing again.
9:10 PM: Diaz leaves for Fatback Key.
9:15 PM: Toland leaves for the boat.
9:30 PM: Toland arrives at the boat. Lainie leaves for the boat.
10:00 PM: Lainie arrives at the boat. Diaz arrives at the Toland house.
10:45 PM: Werner spots Lainie and Toland on the boat. Etta finds the video cassette in the Toland safe. Lainie and Brett move to the boat’s bedroom.
10:50 PM: Diaz leaves the Toland house. Etta calls the boat, gets no answer.