“Well . . .”
“Besides, didn’t you tell me that your Uncle Dante controls the trust? How could Hugo benefit? The money would go to the children, not the grandchildren.”
“There are lots of ways around a thing like that. Dante could be in on it, the trust could be a lot less airtight than we think, or . . . Hugo may have figured a way around those problems.”
“Maybe. But this is a long way from proof.”
“I’m going to talk to Hugo today. See if he makes any slips.”
“You’d better be extremely careful. If, and I do mean
Skye bounced up from the chair and faced Simon. “Gee, thanks, I was going to go straight up to him, and tell him I knew what he was up to and that he was the killer. Your way sounds so much better.”
“You’ve always got a comeback, don’t you?” Simon drew her into his arms and whispered against her lips: “So how about an answer to my question?”
Skye gave him a quick kiss, wiggled out of his arms, and slipped out the door without replying.
Back in the visitation parlor, Skye sat down on the folding chair vacated moments earlier by Victoria. She could still smell the other woman’s Obsession.
Leaning close to Hugo, she spoke softly, “Hi, how you doing?”
He gave her a startled glance and pulled slightly away. “Fine. Just fine.”
“Sure is something about Grandma. I always thought she’d just go in her sleep. Hard to believe someone killed her.”
Glancing nervously around, Hugo whispered, “We shouldn’t talk about that now. Someone might hear us.”
“Oh, but we don’t have anything to hide, right?”
“No, no of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.” He mopped his forehead with a large white handkerchief. “It’s just not very respectful.”
“You’re probably right.” Skye forced herself to agree with him. “So, how’s the family? Prescott is in third grade now, right?”
Hugo beamed. “Yes, and then there is talk of double promoting him. We’re waiting for the results of this last year’s achievement test.”
“You must be very proud.” Skye turned slightly. “He’s in the Brooklyn School District, right? You live across the county line.”
“Right. But he goes to a private school in Kankakee.”
“Wow, that must be expensive. Not to mention a long ride. Do they send a bus?”
“It’s costly, but Victoria, I mean,
“Yes, I recall.” He was speaking of white flight. Skye frowned, but decided if she wanted to get information from him it would be a mistake to tell him what she thought of his morals and values. “You must be a wonderful salesman. It’s hard to keep up with that type of crowd. Financially, I mean.”
“I make a good living.”
“But Victoria doesn’t work, does she?”
“She takes the occasional interior design job. We both agree that Prescott is her main occupation.”
“Well, selling cars must be better paying than I ever dreamed. Certainly better than being a school psychologist.” Skye laughed self-deprecatingly. “But almost anything pays better than that.”
Hugo smiled stiffly. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to step out and have a cigarette.”
He was gone before she could think of anything else to say.
Skye was writing her impressions of her meeting with Hugo in a little notebook when Victoria and Prescott sat down. She slapped the book closed as Victoria inclined her head in its direction.
“What are you writing?” she asked.
“Just my grocery list,” Skye lied without blinking. “Hugo went out for a smoke.”
“Filthy habit, but the poor dear needs something to help him relax.”
“Sounds like he works really hard.”
“Yes, he insists on making sure we live in the right style.”
“That’s a beautiful ring. Is it new?” Skye pointed to a huge ruby set in gold.
Victoria twisted it, catching the light. “Yes, I just got it yesterday. It’s three carats.”
“I was shopping yesterday too, but all I bought was an answering machine and a dress for the funeral tomorrow.” Skye tried to sound friendly.
“It was a gift.”
“From Hugo?”
“You could say that. At least indirectly.” Victoria suddenly seemed bored. “Excuse me, Prescott needs to leave for his violin lesson.”
Antonia had left instructions that the wake would be held for one day only, with visitation from one to four and seven to ten. The family took a break between afternoon and evening hours, gathering at May’s to eat some of the food that friends and neighbors had been dropping off for days. Many went to their own homes first to do some personal chores. Skye had stopped off at the cottage and taken care of Bingo’s needs.
When got to her parents’ house, she found her father leaning against the dog pen. Chocolate sat near the gate. Jed absently rubbed the lab’s ears.
“Hi, Dad.” Skye kissed his cheek. “What are you doing out here?”
“Chocolate was barking like crazy, and your mother sent me to quiet him down.”
“Was anything wrong?” Skye eyed the dog, who glowed with health.
“Nope, just wanted some attention.” Jed patted the dog’s chest.
“Bingo was a little squirrelly too. Poor thing. Going from spending every minute of every day with Grandma to catching a few hours with me when I’m home. He must be pretty confused and lonely.”
“Yeah, I’m sure no one thinks of the animals when they kill someone.” Jed gave Chocolate a final stroke. “Too bad Bingo can’t talk. He could probably tell us who the murderer is.”
Skye nodded. “He’s a pretty good watch cat. Yowled his head off when someone . . .”
“Someone what?”
“Came to the door selling magazine subscriptions.” There was no need to tell her parents about the Bible.
“Ah-huh.” Jed gave her the same skeptical look he used when she tried to explain getting home late from a date as a teenager. “Well, we’d better be getting inside before your ma’s sisters drive her crazy.” He paused. “They’re good people. They try real hard. Maybe too hard.”
Skye was surprised to hear her father make that kind of pronouncement. He wasn’t much of a talker and never seemed to have much to say about other people. She wondered if he was trying to tell her something.
They made their way into the house through the kitchen. Jed stopped to wash his hands at the half bath off the utility room.
May was at the kitchen sink with Aunt Minnie and Uncle Dante’s wife, Olive. Skye kissed her mother and said hi to her aunts.
May gestured for Skye to follow and led her to the other side of the room. She whispered, “I looked at those pictures in Vince’s safe. I wrote the names of anyone I recognized on the back. Why did you want me to see them?”
“I found them at Grandma’s and thought they’d be valuable if I ever get around to doing the family history.”
“Why do you need to keep them in Vince’s safe?”
Skye thought quickly. “In case of fire. I’d hate to lose them before I can make duplicates.”
May nodded, but looked puzzled.
