Motherhood Is Murder Part 32

Why had she been on the cruise anyway? She must have known that the night would be fraught with friction. It seemed silly to insist on going when she knew she would be seated with a bunch of women who didn't like her.

And then there was the fact that her husband was leaving the country for a work a.s.signment. Wouldn't she rather have had a private date night?

Still, as strange as it seemed to me, it didn't gel as a motive for murder. Perhaps she thought getting kicked out of the group was a slight on her kid? Could she be that overprotective as to kill in retaliation for the snub?

And then what would be her motive to hurt Celia?

No. It didn't make sense.

No matter how many times I wrapped my head around it, I came up with Bruce. He had motive because of the affair, and opportunity-he was on the boat and at his house.

I dialed Gary and reported to him about Helene and Alan's affair.

'It's not looking good for Bruce,' I said.

There was silence on the phone. Finally Gary said, 'Well, we just have to look harder. I think there's something suspicious about Margaret. Check into that.'

Another one who wanted to peg it on Margaret!

'I can, of course,' I said.

If she'll call me back!

'It's just that the truth may be that Bruce is responsible,' I said.

'The truth is overrated,' Gary replied as he hung up on me.

For the umpteenth time I reviewed the transcript Gary had given me. Neither Inspector Jones nor Inspector McNearny had questioned Bruce on Helene's affair, yet surely they would have known about it from the preliminary interviews. Why hadn't they asked him?

I reread the report. It was clear that Gary had silenced them before they'd gotten to any substantive questions. They needed evidence. Pure and simple.

And so did I.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

Risk

To Do:

1. Find proof to nail Bruce.

2. Where is Margaret?

3. Laundry-didn't I just do it?

4. Order turkey.

5. Read to Laurie.

6. Sing to Laurie-Am I falling behind on any more milestones?

Paula and I sat inside my car and waited for Bruce to leave. I'd convinced her to watch his house with me for a while, hoping for an opportunity to search his place.

After about an hour of waiting and making small chitchat, Paula said, 'Maybe we should call him and tell him the condo is on fire and that he needs to leave right away.'

I laughed. 'It's not a bad idea. What kind of believable reason to get him out immediately could we use?'

'A fire's not believable?' she asked.

'No. I think he'd notice pretty fast that the place wasn't on fire. No firefighters, fire trucks, et cetera.'

'I could set the place on fire,' Paula offered.

'No.'

'Okay, how about I set you on fire for dragging me along, then when the firefighters come and Bruce peeks out of his condo to see what the commotion is about, I sneak into his place and search it,' Paula said.

'I hate to break it to you, but a pregnant woman can't really sneak' around.'

'Well, I hate to break it to you to you, but pregnant women have a lot of pressure on their bladders and sitting inside a car on a stakeout doesn't exactly elicit brilliance.' She laughed. 'Seriously, can't you call Margaret and ask her to invite him over or something? She is is your client.' your client.'

'I'm not sure where she is or where she stands in all this. What if we just go upstairs and talk to him? You can distract him while I search the place.'

'What am I supposed to talk to him about? And what are you hoping to find anyway? You think a murderer just keeps stuff lying around?'

I opened the door to the car and jumped out. I walked around to Paula's and pulled open her door. 'Come on, you can use his bathroom. I know you're dying to go.'

Paula indicated my new Converse. 'You're actually willing to be seen in public in those?' Paula asked.

'They're my getaway shoes. Just in case.'

We climbed up the stairs to the third-floor condo and rang the bell. After a moment, Bruce came to the door.

'Kate!' He scratched his head and smiled. 'Was I expecting you?'

'I was in the neighborhood and I had a few questions for you. Can we come in for a minute?'

He stepped aside. 'Sure. Of course. Nice shoes.'

Paula snorted.

I smiled. 'This is my friend Paula.'

She stuck out her hand. 'Nice to meet you and all that, can I use your potty?'

Bruce laughed and pointed down the hall. 'Help yourself.'

Paula disappeared down the hallway, while Bruce and I seated ourselves in his living room. Concern showed on his face. 'What's up, Kate? Did Gary send you?'

'No. I was just going through my notes last night and realized there was some stuff I hadn't asked you about.'

'Okay, shoot.'

I was desperate to find out what Bruce knew of Helene's affair, but didn't want to alienate him before I had a chance to snoop.

'Can you tell me a little more about the adoption?' I asked.

'Well, I don't think it's going through now. Celia won't return my calls, which is understandable. I don't know how to reach Father Pedro's. I feel so badly about everything that I think I should still give the girl the money, you know? Help her out. I mean, what's two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to me?'

'What? Wait a minute. What do you mean, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?'

'That was the agreement. Helene and I were going to donate money to Father Pedro's orphanage.'

'You were buying buying the baby?' the baby?'

'Well, no. I don't consider it buying buying, more like we needed to give Father Pedro something. You know, get to the top of the line. I've got the money, that's no problem.'

'Bruce, that day Celia and I were here. Did anyone else come over?'

He looked thoughtful. 'No.'

I couldn't contain myself any longer. I had to find out if he'd known about Helene's affair.

I squinted at him. 'What can you tell me about the affair?'

'What affair?'

'Between Helene and Alan. When did you find out about it?'

The color drained from Bruce's face. He looked as if I'd landed a punch square in the solar plexus. 'Helene was having an affair?'

I nodded slowly.

Bruce swallowed and took an involuntary step back. 'How do you know this?'

'Witnesses on the cruise.'

Oops!

I wasn't supposed to say anything about having that information!

Yikes, please don't tell Gary. Please don't tell Gary.

Why didn't I just tell him I'd heard it from Alan?

Now, I couldn't very well tell him my mother had snagged the information from Alan's receptionist. That would sound completely stupid-like I was dependent on my mommy for my survival as a PI. Never mind the fact that it was one of her boyfriends who was letting me use his license.

Bruce slouched and allowed his head to fall heavily into his hands. 'I didn't know anything about it. Are you sure?'

'I'm sorry. Yes. It's true.'

Was he legitimately stunned or had he rehea.r.s.ed this reaction?

At that moment, Paula emerged from the bathroom and walked down the hallway toward us.

I gestured to the bathroom 'May I?'

'Of course,' Bruce said.

Paula reached us and said, 'I hear you have a great view.'

I excused myself and headed down the hall as Paula said, 'I love views of the bay. Can we take a peek?'

Bruce, still slightly pale, said, 'Um . . . Yeah, sure.'

Paula called after me, 'We'll be on the roof, Kate.'

'No problem,' I said over my shoulder.

I stopped at the bathroom door and listened as they climbed the metal staircase. I could hear them chatting overhead. Mostly Paula, Bruce seemingly going through the motions or pretending he was.

I made a mad dash into the master bedroom. There were gorgeous gold curtains and a matching coverlet on the bed. The furniture was handsome and heavy. An antique set of dressers adorned either side of the bed. On top of each dresser were gold candlesticks and several dishes that held knickknacks.

I circled the room quickly. The closet looked in order, nothing out of the ordinary. It would help if I knew what I was looking for, but I was clueless. I entered the master bath and pulled open the medicine chest: cold creams, makeup, makeup remover, and nicotine patches. Looked like Helene had taken Margaret's advice and bought some. I peeked in the package-half empty. Apparently they hadn't worked for her either, because that night on the cruise she still wanted a cigarette.

Sadness filled my gut and I felt a hopelessness overcome me.

What was I looking for?

If I was Bruce, where would I hide a poison? Certainly not in the bathroom. That would be obvious. I returned to the bedroom. If he still had anything incriminating, which he probably didn't-unless he was planning on poisoning someone else . . .

Paula was alone with him upstairs.

Fear raced through me and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. I knew she was fine. It was more likely that I'd be caught snooping than anything happening to Paula.

If I were Bruce, I would hide poison . . . where?

I went to one of the dressers and pulled opened the top drawer. My hands were shaking. The drawer held ties and silk handkerchiefs. The balance of the dresser held clothes, and the closest thing I got to poison was a few mothb.a.l.l.s.