Larcency and Lace Part 20

Scary stuff, straddling the veil between the planes. Or comforting? Or all in my mind?

My father headed for the stairs. "I'm off to buy black enamel and pale matte yellow paint."

"Thanks, Dad."

He waved. "Madeira, you might want to get that black candle away from your cat. And Fee, don't forget to sweep up the salt by the windows and doors."

He knew!

Thirty.

Just like the silhouette of a car needs to be changed periodically so as not to lose its power of attraction, in the western world the female body is also reshaped from time to time.

-BERNARD RUDOFSKY.

I grabbed Chakra so she'd stop gnawing on the candle and I gave her some of the kitty treats I kept in my pocket. "You gave us away, you."

"She only confirmed our activity," Aunt Fiona said. "Your father probably saw the salt at the front door. He always had a way of ferreting out spells, but I must say, he's mellowed in his old age."

"Old? Dad's a young fifty-two."

Fiona grinned. "So am I."

I chuckled as my watch alarm rang. "Time got away from us. I have an hour before Eve and I leave to pick up my car, and another before we have drinks with Lolique."

"Lolique? Councilman McDowell's midlife crisis?"

"You mean his late-in-life crisis. How long have they been married?"

"No more than a year. He had to have his first wife declared dead before he could marry her."

My head came up. "Why? What happened to her?"

"n.o.body knows. She went missing years ago, and they say he did everything possible to find her. Him and the Groton police."

Groton? "I saw her picture but didn't know her history. Speaking of whom, come see this." I brought Aunt Fee to the stacked white boxes. "This is where I found the cape and dress. Look, these are priceless." I took out several outfits to show her.

"I might buy this." She held up a patchwork skirt and vest set, slipping her hand in the skirt pocket. "Look, a broken fingernail."

I reminded her about how we found Lolique. "If these are from Lolique," I said.

"It's weird that she should break two nails packing clothes," Aunt Fiona said.

"And that they should all end up in pockets? Seems practically premeditated to me." I pulled out a silk draped evening dress by Lucien Lelong in a translucent aqua coloration. A one-of-a-kind masterpiece. "This looks so familiar. I must have seen a picture of it when I studied fas.h.i.+on design. It's decades older than the rest, and I hate the way it's been treated. Who would put such treasures in boxes? Help me get them on hangers and into garment bags, will you?"

I rolled a rack over. "I'll send some of them to an artisan friend in New York to be cleaned and restored."

Before Aunt Fiona hung each piece, she searched their pockets and found four more leopard fingernails.

I scoffed. "n.o.body breaks that many by accident."

"Maybe Lolique didn't care about her nails or the clothes. They surely belonged to McDowell's first wife."

"I thought that, but they keep leading me to an Isobel when the councilman's first wife was named Gwendolyn." But I'd flashed to Isobel wearing the cape with the diamond on her finger, the diamond from the quilt. "When exactly did his first wife disappear?" I asked.

Aunt Fiona slipped a garment bag over an early Versace. "McDowell didn't live in Mystick Falls back then, so n.o.body knows the details."

Right. Groton, I remembered. But unfortunately, the only connection I had between the woman in the cape from these boxes and McDowell's first wife was psychic and worthless at best. I wondered what Natalie knew.

When Eve and I left to pick up my car, Aunt Fiona stayed to finish hanging the clothes from the white boxes.

"You're quiet," Eve said. "I thought you'd be chatty after spending the night with Nick."

"You're fis.h.i.+ng, Meyers."

"No, you're too quiet. You and Nick didn't break up or anything, did you?"

"You wish."

She gave me an innocent look. Not.

"It's just that we're on our way back to the dealers.h.i.+p and whatever was bothering me when we left there is bothering me again, but I still can't put my finger on it."

"I'll tell you what I remember from the last time we were there: that portrait of the councilman's late wife. Was that a rock on her hand or what?"

I looked sharply over at her. "Was it an emerald-cut diamond?"

"I'm not the fas.h.i.+onista here, but it was the focus of the entire portrait. How could you not notice it?"

How could I not be sick at the thought of it? But if the ring in the portrait matched the one I found in the quilt, that would tangibly connect Gwendolyn McDowell to the quilt and cape set. Who the heck was Isobel?

"Sorry I have to drop you and leave," Eve said. "But I have a ton of schoolwork."

"No problem. I'm driving that beauty out of here." My Element sat in the parking lot, s.h.i.+ny clean and registered. I needed to go in for keys, warranties, and registration, but I wanted a better look at the portrait, so after the car became mine, I went to the ladies' room.

On my way back, I stopped to examine the picture, and my knees nearly buckled. Gwendolyn McDowell sat for that portrait wearing the Lucien Lelong gown.

Lolique had definitely given me the first Mrs. McDowell's clothes, the gown in the portrait being a tangible connection. Now if I found that same ring in the quilt, we'd have a second connection. I wished I could reveal my psychic visions to Werner, especially of the well, but I'd take what I could get . . . for now.

I wanted to match the ring in the portrait to the ring I found in the quilt, but I needed to see it up close.

At nearly closing time, with the place quiet, McDowell did not sit behind his desk. I ran up the employee stairs and down the upper hall beneath which the portrait hung. From there, I leaned over the balcony, as far as I could, to see the ring.

Yes! Emerald cut and twice the size of Texas. Definitely the ring I found in the quilt. I wanted to scream with elation, but euphoria turned to panic when I got b.u.mped from behind with enough force to keep from calling it an accident. I hung forward too far over the rail to be safe.

I lost my grasp for a flailing minute and my bag slid off my arm and hit the floor, pieces flying everywhere.

Broken, as I knew I would soon be.

Someone screamed. Maybe me, then someone pulled me safely back from the precipice.

"Natalie! Thank you," I gasped, heart racing. "I think someone pushed me. Did you see what happened?"

"What were you doing up here?" McDowell came from a nearby office. "Are you all right, Ms. Cutler?"

Natalie looked startled, shook her head, and left.

"Thank you," I called, but she didn't look back.

"I wanted to see your wife's ring up close," I told McDowell. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I'm kind of a fas.h.i.+on nut, you probably know. Do you still have the ring? Is it for sale?"

"No," McDowell said, his face suddenly devoid of expression and color. "It disappeared with my wife, a tragedy you keep bringing to my attention."

"My apologies. I'll get my bag and my car."

The minute I got into my Element, I felt safe but needed to hear Nick's voice.

McDowell watched me from the showroom. I s.h.i.+vered, turned my back on him, and called Nick.

"Hey, ladybug. Are you wearing your lucky panties?"

"I must be. I just didn't get killed," I explained.

"I should be there to keep you out of trouble," Nick said, "but I can't, so stop taking chances! Is Werner on the case?"

"He is. I may have underestimated him in the past."

"You may have. When is your grand opening?"

"Halloween. Can you be there even if it's late? We're having a costume ball upstairs from eight till dawn. No costume necessary. Try to come, will you?"

"Don't count on it, okay?"

I sighed inwardly. No sense in making him feel worse. "Okay. I'll just hope." Good thing he couldn't see my eyes fill up or he'd know what a real scare I'd had. "Nick, did you find anything on that missing persons search I asked you to do?"

"Nothing. Sorry I didn't get back to you. It's wild here."

"Wild like in the jungle?"

Nick sighed heavily.

"Never mind. Listen, it turns out that the owner of the bones didn't live in Mystic when she went missing. Try Groton"-site of the first Goodwin dealers.h.i.+p-"and plug in Gwendolyn Goodwin McDowell this time. Oh, and look up Suzanne Sampson, too."

"Gotta go, ladybug."

"Did you get that?" I asked, but he'd hung up.

Thirty-one.

My vision: A nymph who, in her heart of hearts, is a leopardess.

-JOHN GALLIANO.

Still shaking inside, I chose my sixties Pucci "waterfall" handbag with its bold geometric design as a palette to dress for drinks with Eve and Lolique. I paired a purple V-necked sheath of my own design with a wide aqua cinch belt and teal cork sandals.

Eve, in black, wore bell-bottoms, a belted safari jacket top loosely laced up the front over a white sh.e.l.l, and over that, the sweater we'd confiscated from Vinney's. "Nice outfit," I said when she picked me up. I'd been too shaky to drive when we talked on the phone, so when she offered, I agreed. "Where'd you get the awesome boots?"

"You mean my Fendi platform, lace-up boots?"

"With heels. Go you!"

"See, I have this friend in fas.h.i.+on who's been a good influence on me." Eve wiggled her ladybug pinky.

"I'm so proud." I hadn't told her about my close call that afternoon, but I couldn't talk about it yet. "I forgot to try and get a vision from that sweater," I said.

"I know. That's why I grabbed it, then I thought it might add to my layered look."

"I'll take it home with me later. I read Lolique's newspaper column today," I said. "I think she's hiding a brain behind that big hair, voluptuous figure, animal prints, publicity stunts, and celebrity."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Eve, she planted so many fingernails in those outfits, she would have thought I was a moron if I didn't go looking for her."

"Why would she do that? She found us."

"Impatient? I don't know, but she must have a reason, and I'm going to find out what. Listen hard with that uber brain of yours, tonight, will you? Watch her body language. Memorize every bit of the conversation."

"I always do."

"You know, for a second, I thought she gave me the clothes because she wanted me to read them, but that's impossible. Only you, Sherry, Nick, and Aunt Fiona know that I'm psychometric."

"Maybe she did give them to you for a reason. That might be right."

I shrugged because I couldn't imagine what the reason would be. "Where are we meeting her?"

"At Cubby's."