Caroline said, "Do you think she'll make it?"
Again, Toscana was less than forthcoming. "I'm not a doctor, so I can't answer that. Is something on your mind, Mrs. Blessing?"
Caroline couldn't get the words out. Her eyes were fixed on the grisly photos of Claudia, face caked in mud, a sick parody of a vaudeville minstrel.
Toscana blew out air. "Your mother isn't here, if that's what you wanted to know."
"Did you arrest her?"
The detective tried to keep his face flat, but it didn't work. He must have thrown her a highly nasty look because the young woman recoiled, taking several steps backward and bumping into the wall. He said, "No, I did not arrest her. I detained her. I took her down to the precinct to have her questioned officially. Which is what I should have done with the lot of you when I was originally called down."
"Why didn't you?"
"The spa's a cash cow. Our city's revenue base is limited, if you haven't noticed. But I can't operate like this, tippy-toeing around a bunch of…" He caught himself, bit his lip to hold back venom. Not good to lose it in front of a suspect. "What can I do for you?"
"Does my mother have a lawyer?" Caroline asked.
"Several of them."
"Your lawyers or her lawyers?"
"I think she has both."
Caroline tapped her toe. "Can I talk to you, Detective Toscana?"
Again, he pointed to the empty chair. She sat down on the opposite side of the table, taking him in. No-nonsense eyes peered out of a weathered face. Stubby fingers. She noticed them when he lit a cigarette. He saw her staring at him.
"What?"
"Smoking isn't allowed here," Caroline said weakly.
He took in a deep drag, then blew it out, away from her face. "If it bothers you, I'll put it out. But if you're afraid of my breaking some rule, don't worry about it."
"It doesn't bother me."
Vince was surprised. "No?"
"No." Caroline looked at her lap. "My father… he used to smoke cigars until my mother finally won that battle. Even so, every time she went away, he used to sneak a few. Before she came home, we'd spend hours trying to fan out the smell." She chuckled as her eyes swelled up with water. "It never worked. Mom always knew."
"I can believe that." He raised his brow. "You talk about your dad like he's…"
"He is."
"I'm sorry."
"So am I."
A voice with a drawl interjected. "Where should I put this, sir?"
Caroline looked up. A handsome man in his thirties was carrying a coffee maker, a can of MJB coffee, a jar of coffee whitener, a box of sugar, and some thermal cups. He had dark hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a wedding ring. She twirled her own band around her finger, playing with the mockery.
Toscana said, "Anywhere you can plug it in, Mikey." He looked at Caroline, then at his man. "Officer LeMat, this is Caroline Blessing, wife of Douglas Blessing."
"The congressman?"
"The congressman," Toscana confirmed. "That means we gotta be nice to her."
Caroline said, "You're being condescending."
"Not possible," Toscana replied. "You folks own the monopoly on condescension. If it weren't for that woman over there"-he pointed to the photos of Claudia-"I'd say you all were funnin' with me. You know, let's have some yucks over the Southern crackers out here."
"You're not from the South."
"No, I'm not." He tossed her a bitter smile. "I'm from Philly, Mrs. Blessing. But I can assure you and your gang of high rollers that Virginia takes murder very seriously."
"No one thinks this is funny," Caroline said.
"Coulda fooled me," Vince said. "Mikey, you mind making up a pot of coffee?" He paused. "You want a cup, Mrs. Blessing? Or is caffeine against the rules, too?"
"Probably."
"Would you like a cup? Yes or no?"
"Yes."
"Make the entire pot, Mikey."
LeMat put on the pot and left. The room fell quiet, the only sounds coming from the gurgle of the coffee maker. Caroline licked her lips. "Any idea who pushed poor Ms. Talmadge into the pond?"
"Who said she was pushed?" Toscana answered.
"I just assumed…" Caroline stared at him. "Are you saying she tripped and fell in?"
"It's a possibility."
"But no one heard her scream."
"And if she was pushed in, you don't think she might have screamed?"
Caroline was silent.
Toscana said, "Do you know anything about the woman?"
"Not a clue."
"Nothing about her personal habits?"
"Meaning?"
"Did she drink?"
Caroline absorbed his words. "You think she was drunk?"
"Possibly. Wearing heavy shoes and being a bit tipsy, she could have lost her balance. If she was more than a little tipsy, her reaction time might have been off its prime, gone under before she realized she needed to do something. She might have tried to scream, but water's a pretty effective muffler."
"Did you smell alcohol on her breath when you revived her?"
"No."
"Then she couldn't have been that drunk."
Toscana sat back in his seat. "Not necessarily. What I smelled was lots of perfume and lots of mint in her mouth, like she was embalmed in wintergreen. You drink and you don't want anybody to know, what do you do?"
"You suck on a breath mint," Caroline answered.
Toscana nodded. "There you go."
"So her drowning was an accident?"
"I didn't say that. I'll know more once she's conscious-if she regains consciousness." The detective evaluated his subject. "Why are you here, Mrs. Blessing, and without a lawyer? Suddenly stricken with a bad case of conscience?"
"I thought that maybe…" Caroline looked at the ceiling. "You know, if we pull together some stuff… information… maybe we can solve this thing together."
Toscana smiled. "Now that's a great ideal Do you want a thirty-two or a Beretta semiautomatic, Annie Oakley?"
Caroline was silent.
Toscana sighed. "Look, Mrs. Blessing. You seem like a sweet kid. A real thin one, too. Why on earth are you here?"
"For my mother's sake. After Dad died, my husband…" She almost choked on the word. "We thought the trip might help get Mother through a difficult time."
"That's nice." He smiled. "That's really nice."
"The whole thing has been a disaster!" Caroline got up and began to pace. "Since my mother is the majority shareholder in this place, we both have a vested interest in solving this mess."
"Did she send you here?"
"No, she didn't. I actually came here on my own. I am capable of independent thought."
"I don't doubt it."
But he did doubt it. Caroline could see it in his eyes. "I want this to work for her. For her sake as well as my own. When she's happy, she leaves me alone."
"So what are you holding back?"
"If I tell you everything I know, will you tell me what you know?"
"Probably not. But give it your best shot… ah, the pizza." He shoved some papers off the table and onto the floor. "Put it right here, Mikey. Take a piece for yourself."
"Pizza!" Caroline cried out.
Toscana regarded her face. The woman needed a life. He slid the box over to her. "Knock yourself out."
Her eyes traveled to the postmortem snapshots. "I'm too sick to eat it now."