My eyes narrowed on Donald. He was an attractive charmer, but I knew he was holding back. “It was more than that, wasn’t it? Did Angel threaten you somehow?”
Once again, Donald shifted uncomfortably. “After I had gone down there . . . you know . . . and saw Bethany like that . . . my mind started racing. I put it together that Angel had done this . . . I ran back upstairs, found Angel coming in from outside. Her torn silk jacket was gone . . . her long white gloves were gone . . . I pulled her into an alcove.” He shook his head. “I could have strangled
“You got scared?” I coaxed. “You panicked?”
“Angel told me that Johnny Napoli was about to go down to have sex with Bethany, and he would be the one to discover the body and the police would discover it was his belt . . . she said the police would pin it on Johnny . . . I knew she was right . . . and I wasn’t thinking clearly . . . so I went along with it . . . when the chaos started, after the body was discovered, I made sure people
“And when you considered coming out with the truth,” I said, “your family raised the nightmare specter of those celebrity scandals? The Klaus von Bulow case and the Michael Skakel and O. J. Simpson trials?”
“Right,” said Donald.
“And then Angel wrote that book.”
Donald shook his head. “When I saw her in the street, I really cursed her out. It wasn’t enough she killed Bethany, now she wanted to cash in on it.”
“What did she say?”
“She just laughed in that way she does,” said Donald. “She was such a bitch. She jacked up her usual threat level. This time she told me to keep my mouth shut or she’d come out with evidence that I had been cheating on Bethany with Kiki and that Kiki and I killed Bethany together. It was just a bluff. I knew it, but it made me crazy, and I told her to go to hell.”
“Your story is very detailed, Donald. But why should I believe you?”
“Because Kiki and I still have Angel’s torn silk jacket and white opera gloves from that night. There’s blood on the jacket and gloves, so it probably has traces of Bethany’s DNA.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “You’re joking.”
But Kiki shook her head. “I also noticed Angel had ducked outside. Donny saw Angel come in downstairs, but I actually watched her from an upstairs bedroom window. She’d stuck something behind some statue in the garden. And when she came back, she wasn’t wearing her jacket or gloves any longer. I’m sure she expected to retrieve the clothes later, but I went out, took them, and threw them in my car. I thought it was a good idea to hold on to that stuff.”
“You forgot about the other pair of gloves,” said Donald. “They were in that bundle, too.”
“Whose gloves?” I asked. “Kiki’s?”
“No,” said Kiki. “Bethany’s.”
Donald explained. “Angel had taken Bethany’s opera gloves off her corpse. One can only assume she wanted to make sure there was as little physical evidence left behind as possible.”
Kiki nodded. “That’s why there was no skin under Bethany’s fingernails from their fight.”
I blinked in astonishment. The two of them would make a formidable couple, I concluded.
“There’s still something you aren’t telling me,” I said. “When exactly did you two start your romantic relationship?”
Donald and Kiki exchanged glances. It was Donald who spoke. “By New Year’s Eve I was through with Angel, and I was getting tired of Bethany’s endless demands and tantrums. Kiki and I became close over the holidays and hooked up.”
“Kiki said she saw Angel from an upstairs bedroom,” I noted. “But those Cliff Walk mansions are essentially museums. The upstairs rooms are supposed to be off limits, even during private parties. So I’m guessing Donald was with you up there, Kiki? And that accounts for the ‘mysterious’ hour Angel claimed in her book that Donald was missing from the party?”
“Yes, he was with me,” she admitted. “The whole idea that the rooms were off limits is what made it so”— she shrugged—“interesting. Donny and I hooked up in one of those museum bedrooms, then Donny went back to the party first. I waited fifteen minutes before coming down to the ground floor again. You know, so people wouldn’t see us coming down together.”
“So, if this is all true, then who murdered Victoria Banks?”
“It wasn’t me,” said Donald. “I liked Vicky. After Bethany was gone, the Banks family wanted me to stay in touch—to help them get over their loss. I did. Vicky and I got to be friendly . . . When Hal wasn’t around, we talked.”
“How close did you get?” I asked.
“Close,” said Donald, glancing nervously at Kiki.
“Close enough to tell Vicky Banks that Angel was the one who killed her sister?”
“Maybe . . .”
“No wonder that poor girl was gunning for Angel. It wasn’t Angel’s book at all—it was your telling Vicky that Angel got away with killing her sister that drove her over the edge.”
“I didn’t kill Vicky,” Donald replied. “I have dozens of witnesses that will tell you I never left this house since Friday night when I drove through Quindicott and spotted Angel.”
“No, you didn’t kill Vicky with a
I stood and faced Ashley, whose expression was nothing short of shock—whether it was from the startling truths she’d just heard or the fact that I’d stood my ground and shook those truths loose, I couldn’t say.
“Thank you for your gracious invitation,” I told my sister-in-law. “Now I’ll collect my son and we’ll be leaving.”
I arrived at paintball headquarters in time to witness the junior team being rewarded for their efforts. Every little solder got a plastic medal, complete with a red, white, and blue ribbon. Spencer’s eyes were bright when he rejoined me a few moments later.
“It was so cool, Mom. Captain Bob led us on a commando raid and we ‘achieved our objective.’ ”
“I’m proud of you, honey,” I said sincerely. “Mommy achieved her objective, too.”
CHAPTER 24
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated into their money or their vast carelessness . . . and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . .
Planning is for the poor.
AFTER TAKING SPENCER out for ice cream, then stopping by the bookstore to make sure Sadie and Mina had
