“Then Barner must have used a different gun. You’re acting strange, Ray. What’s all this have to do with me?”
“At dinner you mentioned I was a history expert. Where did you pick that up? And how I was knowledgeable about Chinese porcelain, and therefore I’d appreciate your giving it to me. How did you know Towson and I talked about those cups?”
“I guess I read it in the paper.”
“No, that detail wasn’t released either. How did you know that Towson and I talked about that rare Chinese trader’s directory, the catalog as you called it? Only Towson could have known we discussed that.”
“You must have told me, Ray.”
”No, you and I have never discussed the cups or the directory, and I never mentioned any of that to the police. In fact, I’d forgotten about the directory until you remarked about it the other night at dinner.”
“Ray, stop it! What’s going on here? Obviously, somebody mentioned those things to me. So what?”
“Towson told me he was going to phone you and he did, in spite of your denial. That’s when he told you about the cups, the directory, and my knowledge of history.”
“Yes, he did phone me after you left his place. He just warned me about you that’s all. He didn’t know what you were up to. That’s all there is to it.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police he phoned? It would show he was alive after I left. Why didn’t you tell the police about the message I left on your answering machine when I was first trying to reach you,? Those things would have supported my improbable story?”
“Sorry, Ray. Thinking back on it now you’re right, I definitely should have. At that time, I believed you were guilty and they had you. I wasn’t on your side then. I didn’t think it important. What difference does it make now?”
“You told Chip you hadn’t spoken to Towson since the party. You said you’d never been given a gun. Those were more lies, weren’t they?”
“I don’t like you talking like this. Barner shot Al. They have the murder case all wrapped up.”
Then Ray set the trap that Sandy had suggested. “You said you didn’t leave your office until six, but they have a witness that went to your office around five, found it closed and left after waiting for over an hour.”
“I was showing a property.”
He gave her a sad look and slowly shook his head.
She closed her eyes tightly and grimaced. “There isn’t actually such a witness is there?”
“No,” he said in a low voice.
“That wasn’t very nice, Ray.”
“Sorry. I can guess the rest of it. You acted very quickly that day. You had the idea of killing Towson already in your mind, but you didn’t know when. You didn’t have a plan. Then I showed up. Al had already told you on the phone that we had been arguing. The pieces of your plan fell into place. The perfect fall guy had fallen into your lap. You realized the day for action had arrived. It was the perfect time to go ahead with what had been on your mind. You then told me to wait a few hours before reporting Loraine, so I’d be out running around with plenty of time to have gone back and shot him.”
“This can’t be happening, Ray. Since our wonderful night together, I’ve thought about nothing but the two of us. I have everything planned in my mind—the rest of our lives together.” She put her palms to her cheeks and looked down at the table. “You’re tearing my dream all apart. I can’t believe you’re saying these things and doing this to me, to us.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing it either, and I might not have the story completely correct. My guess is you didn’t carry the gun around. But you had time to go home, pick it up, and go to his apartment. He let you in, of course, with no problem. You shot him and went back to the office. Then you phoned the police and told them about the stranger in town.”
“This is crazy.” Her eyes were now moist.
“Why did you do it, Tammy? Such a great man that had done so much for you, that you owed so much.”
Her eyes flared. “Not as great as people believed. For one thing, he cheated me on a land deal. Last year he had inside information from some spy in Tallahassee that the D.O.T. was going to put in an additional access ramp to I95. He and his cronies bought up the land around there before the word got out. His involvement had to stay hidden. So, I fronted for him. They resold the land to the state for a huge profit. I was supposed to get a share. He gave me a token amount. The land deal was worth millions. I was counting on big money. It was the payoff for those years of putting up with him. It would have set me up.”
“You wouldn’t kill anybody over money.”
“I was pretty for him every day for years. Every morning getting ready because I was going to see him. Years of exercise and skipping desserts. I tried slitted skirts, short skirts, and no skirts—once I wore inappropriate shorts to a lawn party. Dressing for a party once, I tried on a braless see-thru but I didn’t dare leave my bedroom wearing it. Then, Miss Babalou, or whatever her name is, does her cha-cha and his genitals go up in smoke. She was twenty years younger, and he kept her hidden to avoid negative campaign talk. Hell, he could have had me, I was twenty years younger, and there would have been no talk—everyone already assumed we were a couple. I haven’t seen her but other women he’s dated all looked like boys standing next to me.”
“There’s no explanation for attraction.” It was inadequate but he said it. Sandy had told him to keep her talking.
“One time they were someplace they weren’t supposed to be—I never did find out the details—he phoned me in the middle of the night very nervous, something had gone wrong. He said if reporters checked I was to say he was with me overnight. No one would be surprised at that; it was the perfect affair cover up. Good old Tammy, she’s always there. Move her around like a piece of furniture. Dust her off when you need her. Look right through her when you don’t.”
“He took your loyalty and gave you none of his personal self in return,” Ray said.
“About four months ago, we were leaving his office, and he picked up my keys off the table by mistake. He held them out. Instead of taking them, I took his hand, folded his fingers around my keys, and held his fist in both of my hands. Don’t know where I got the nerve to do that. I looked up at him and told him my apartment key was there in his hand and why didn’t he keep it just in case. He said in case of what? I said well, maybe some night when you’re lonely and feel like, you know, being with someone friendly, having someone who likes you, someone you can trust, someone safe.”
“What did he do?”
“All he had to do was squeeze my hand, or make a tiny smile. At that moment, I was his. I’d have stripped naked for him right there, but he wouldn’t have noticed. All I wanted was a damn smile or at least a sugarcoated rejection. Couldn’t he at least have said that he understood? But you know what he did? He laughed. He laughed at me. He thought it was a joke. Just as though it was beyond belief that the two of us could be intimate. Preposterous, I suppose, that he could be sexually attracted to me. I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl under the rug. I spent that night crying and pounding on my pillow, beating myself. Why did I do it? How could I have said that, how stupid he must think I am, what on earth was I thinking? How could I ever face him again? Then I became angry and pounded on the pillow again, but now it was him. I was pounding on him. I hated him.”
“Understandable.” He knew she had never told anyone, and she had to get it all out, although this was absolutely the wrong time.
“I was angry and afraid. Afraid I’d never be a part of his personal life. I’d never win him over. All those years, all those meetings, and all those parties. See how handsome he is in that tuxedo. Look at that lucky girl on his arm. Their tongues would wag. Hundreds of rumors. Wish I had a dime for every person who was absolutely positively certain that we were having sex. Look, those two are leaving the party together again—ho, ho, ho. Sometimes I felt like standing up and yelling, ‘Attention, everybody, I have an announcement to make. We’re not a couple, we don’t have sex. I’m just for show.’ I’d lie in bed fantasizing he was touching me, but his fingers never did.”