Motherhood Is Murder

One agency or other was always advertising firework displays on the San Francisco Bay, whether it was after a ball game or during a dinner cruise. Usually there was an extra charge at those events.

I shook my head at him, conjuring visions of the medical examiner hovering over a pasty Helene.

Poor thing!

Fred leaned in toward Evelyn. “What did she mean, you aren’t a member of Roo amp; You?”

Evelyn flicked her hand about as though to distract us or at the very least indicate to her husband to move off the topic. “I saw Helene and Sara bickering at the top of the staircase that Helene fell down.”

“Over what?” Fred asked.

Margaret and Officer Lee approached our table. Evelyn fanned her hand at Fred, silencing him.

Margaret reached her chair and seated herself, tucking in her tutu around her. Lee scanned the room. I followed his gaze, which settled on Sara and Howard arguing in a corner of the lounge. I turned back to face Officer Lee, only to see him leave our table and head toward Sara.

Margaret’s lipstick had faded to nothing and her eyes looked drawn. I glanced at my watch. It was well past midnight now and I was feeling sapped. With Margaret’s return, the table had fallen into silence and I longed to be alone with Jim.

Jim wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Are you cold, honey? You want me to get you some hot coffee?”

I perked up. “I’ll go with you.”

We stood to leave and ended up taking orders from our table for hot teas and coffees. As we made our way to the bar, I noticed that several passengers were speaking with officers at strategic locations throughout the dining and lounge area. One silver-haired woman was speaking animatedly with a female officer. She was gesticulating wildly while the officer scribbled notes on a notepad.

I tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but Jim was walking too fast. At six foot two, Jim has serious long legs, so they don’t even have to be moving all that fast to leave me in the dust. I pulled at his arm to slow him down.

He stopped walking and smiled at me. “Sorry, honey.” He kissed me. “It’s terrible about your friend. I hope she’s okay.”

“She’s not. When I called Mom, I bumped into Nick Dowling,” I said.

Jim’s eyes narrowed. “Isn’t he the coroner?”

“Medical examiner, yeah.”

Jim paled. “Does his being here mean Helene is—”

“Dead,” I whispered.

“Does anyone else know?” Jim asked.

I shrugged. “Well, I suppose the cops do and I’m sure Margaret’s podiatrist husband knows. Right? I mean even though he’s—”

“Okay, okay. I know a podiatrist can be a doctor. I meant, do you think anyone at our table knows?”

“I think they all know a podiatrist can be a doctor.”

Jim shook his head at my bad joke. “Do they know about Helene?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, don’t say anything, all right? It looks bad that the ME is here, but we don’t know anything for sure, right? So let’s not say anything and get anyone more upset than they already are.”

I nodded in agreement. We reached the bar and placed our order. Officer Lee appeared next to me.

“Mrs. Connolly, I’d like to have a word with you next.”

CHAPTER THREE

Digging

Officer Lee and I situated ourselves in a corner of the bar, each of us in a black lounge chair, a video console game of Pac-Man between us.

I placed my coffee on the video game tabletop and fingered the recycling logo on the Styrofoam cup. “What can I do to help?”

“Tell me about your evening. What were you doing on this dinner cruise?” Lee asked.

I shrugged. “What everyone else was doing, having dinner.”

Lee closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, indicating he didn’t think my comment was funny.

He placed his notebook on the tabletop. At the moment the game preview was killing off one of the Pac-Mans and the defeat music accompanied Lee as he said, “How well did you know Mrs. Helene Chambers?”

“Not well at all. I met her and Margaret last week. They invited me on this cruise. I was checking out the Roo amp; You club.”

“The mommy club?”

I nodded.

“What about the spouses?” Lee asked.

“What do you mean?”

He looked at me as though I was incredibly naive. “Did you know anyone else at your table? Any of the spouses?”

Was he asking if I’d had an affair with any of them?

I looked down at my red cocktail dress. Certainly some cleavage was showing, but nothing risqué. Why would he suggest anything like that?

I leveled my stare at him. “Only my own spouse.” “Did your husband know anyone?”

I shook my head again.

Lee’s expression looked sour. “I don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“Why you would go on a dinner cruise with a group of people you don’t know.”

“Like I said, I met Helene and Margaret, they were funny and smart and invited me to join this mommy support club.”

He wrote in his pad and said slowly, “Mom-my support.” He finished writing and looked up. “What’s that mean?”

Another Pac-Man bit the dust and the music played as the token crumpled into thin air. I was beginning to feel aligned with the little game piece, running and dodging. And from Lee’s tone I feared that my end could be the same.

“I wanted to talk to other moms. You know, have a peer group. Be able to check in with someone and make sure you’re not nuts.”

He made another note. “So you feel like you’re going crazy?”

Was this guy for real?

I reflexively glanced around the room for the woman officer. Surely, she would understand.

I shut my eyes and shook my head. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I understand that you were away from your table when the accident occurred. Can you tell me your whereabouts around ten thirty P.M.?”

“Well, I didn’t look at my watch, but I was in the ladies’ room when Sara told me the captain wanted us back at our tables.”

Lee nodded. “And prior to that?”

Another Pac-Man warbled to his demise.

“I was on the upper deck, admiring the view of the Golden Gate.”

“With whom?” Lee asked.

“By myself.”

Lee squinted at me. “Where was your husband?”

“Dancing. Are you with homicide?”

Lee looked surprised. “No. Why would you think the homicide division would be here?”

Oh no! Way to put your foot in it, Kate!

“Sorry. I . . . never mind.”

Lee scowled and made another note. “So you were on the upper deck and your husband was on the main. Dancing? Alone?”