A Knife to Remember

“What did you hear?' Jane prodded.

“Lynette's last film. Before this one. There was talk of a man who almost died because his medicine was taken from the set. I do not know what the illness was, but the pills were important to him.”

Jane nodded. 'And on this set, too, there were thefts. Mr. Cavagnari's watch—'

“No, no, no. This was not stolen,' Roberto said. 'This I misplaced among the food.'

“But Jake had looked on that table only minutes before and he didn't see it there,' Jane said. 'Is that likely?'

“Impossible!' Butch said. 'Jake couldn't miss seeing something he was lookin' for if it was right in front of his eyes. Anybody else could, but not Jake.'

“So whoever stole it must have put it there,' Jane said. 'Just as whoever stole the cash put it in the cup in the makeup trailer?'

“Jokes! You mean these were jokes?' Cavagnari said. 'This is not a thing of good taste to do!'

“Oh, they weren't jokes,' Jane assured him. 'And I misspoke a moment ago when I said the person who stole the things put them back. Butch's medallion and Angela's ring were also stolen, but there wasn't time to put them back. Was there?”

She looked slowly around the table, meeting the eyes of each person in turn.

“Was there, Olive?' she finally said softly.

2 6

A babble of conversation broke out and Butch's voice finally cut through it. 'You mean Olive stole that stuff?'

“No, Olive didn't steal things. Olive returned them,' Jane said.

Olive had started to rise, but Shelley was standing behind her and had laid a firm, but gentle, hand on her shoulder.

“You see, Lynette Harwell was a kleptomaniac,' Jane said. 'That's probably what she was treated for at the psychiatric hospital. Not substance abuse like everyone assumed. And what Mr. Cavagnari said about her last film before this probably explains why. My guess is that the medicine the man needed to take was very likely in an attractive container. A container Lynette stole. When Olive Longabach realized how close her mistress had come to killing someone, she persuaded her to get help. Or perhaps forced her to get help. Is that right, Olive?”

The older woman sat with her head down, staring at the table, and didn't respond.

“But it didn't work. The treatment didn't stick. In fact, she might have been worse than ever. The watch, the ring, the money, the religious medallion. Olive was being run ragged trying to keep track of the things Lynette was lifting whenever she got a chance. That's what Jake realized and it led to his death. He had a phenomenal memory for objects. He knew the watch wasn't on the table when he looked for it. A moment later, after Olive had been there getting tea for Lynette, the watch appeared. To someone with a suspicious mind like his, it didn't take any more to make him realize what had happened.'

“How did he know Olive hadn't stolen it herself?' Maisie asked Jane the question, but was looking at Olive, who still had not acknowledged the conversation.

“We'll never know,' Jane said. 'Maybe it was a lucky guess on his part. But he knew all the gossip in the business and maybe he put together some information we don't have to come to the conclusion that it was Lynette, not Olive.'

“Speaking of lucky guesses, isn't that what you're doing?' George Abington said. He hadn't spoken before and his voice now was tired.

“No, we have a film record of him trying to blackmail Lynette into helping Angela get the vacant role. Remember? The public relations man who taped the lunch? Jake had been hand signing to Lynette, telling her he knew that she was a kleptomaniac. I took the film home to throw it away, but I had — I had other things on my mind and I ended up accidentally keeping it. That's why my kitchen was vandalized. Lynette probably didn't understand signing, but Olive did.'

“I'm sorry, Jane, but this doesn't make sense,' George Abington said. 'Kleptomania? That's just a mental illness. Not a very attractive or appealing one, I'll admit, but—'

“Didn't you know, George?' Jane asked him.

He didn't answer for a long moment, then he sighed and said, 'I suspected. We were married only a very short time and my life was in a turmoil for the duration, but things did keep disappearing and turning up someplace else. I tried to talk to Olive about it, but she acted so offended that I backed off. Then Roberto came along and it didn't matter to me anymore.”

Olive had looked up for a minute while he spoke and gazed at him sadly, but then she went back to studying her hands in her lap.

Talk, Olive! Jane thought frantically. It doesn't mean anything unless you talk. She heard someone behind her clear his throat and she glanced back to. see Mel. He nodded his encouragement.

“But it mattered to Olive,' Jane said. 'Olive knew that taking drugs or having affairs or fighting with the I.R.S. were acceptable foibles in the publicity mill. But kleptomania? No, Lynette would have been a figure of fun for that. It isn't, as George says, a very sympathetic ailment or one that most people can identify with. There would have been jokes, suspicion, maybe even arrests, if she'd pinched something valuable and gotten caught with it.”

Shelley was gently patting Olive's shoulder now.

“More important,' Jane went on, 'Lynette might steal something that did someone genuine harm. She almost did when she took somebody's medicine.' 'It was in a gold box. A gold pillbox. ' Olive said in a near whisper.

It isn't a confession, but it's a step in the right direction, Jane thought. She felt Mel's hand, warm, on the back of her waist.

“So Olive had to silence Jake,' Jane went on. 'She knew that George suspected the truth, but she also knew he was a good man who wouldn't gossip. But Jake was a different matter, wasn't he, Olive?”

No response.

“Jake had to be silenced before he could tell everybody. And then fate intervened.' Jane could have bitten her tongue for saying something so trite, but she had the rapt attention of her small audience and plunged on. 'The next day Lynette gave the performance of her life. A performance that would be a classic, that would save and enshrine her reputation. And not only was it a superb performance, it was the last scene of the movie that she was in. It was the perfect time to save her from herself. That's what you did, wasn't it Olive? You saved her from ruining her reputation. You locked her in amber at her peak.”

Jane stopped speaking and waited. The silence around the table was as real as a block of ice with them all frozen into its cold grip. Those at the adjoining tables, sensing the tension, had grown quiet, too.

Finally Olive looked at Jane. And nodded. 'Jake was an awful person,' she said hesitantly. 'He didn't care who he hurt. Poor Lynette couldn't help herself,but he'd have talked about her. People would have laughed at her. And now you've told everyone. You are a wicked young woman.”

Jane stiffened with outrage. This woman had killed two people in cold blood and called Jane wicked? But she managed to keep her voice calm and soothing. 'Why now, Olive? You watched over her all her life. Why did you have to kill her? You made her get professional help once. You could have done it again. And eventually it would have worked. She would have been cured in time.'

“But I won't be,' Olive said.

“You're ill?' Maisie asked her.

Olive nodded. 'Cancer,' she said bluntly.

This stunned everyone but Shelley into silence. Shelley asked, 'How did you get her to drink the tea, Olive? It must have tasted awful.”

Olive looked up at Shelley, her chin quivering. 'I told her it was something good for her. She drank it.”

Jane's voice was trembling with anger and sadness. 'All we ever saw was Lynette bossing Olive around, but it was really Olive who pulled the strings. Olive told her how to dress, did her makeup, even found the book this movie was based on and persuaded Lynette that it would be a good role for her. Lynette couldn't have found her way out of a closet without Olive showing her where the door was. You wrote the note the limo driver was given, didn't you, Olive?”

Olive nodded.

“And you dressed her and did her hair?' Jane continued.