Motherhood Is Murder

decided to clear out of there and in the process ended up spilling her drink on the woman.?

Sara.

So if Alan and Helene were planning on running away together, it made sense that Helene would cancel the home remodeling plans. And it would also make sense that Bruce didn?t know she?d done it. But what about the adoption? Hadn?t Helene wanted kids? Had she really been planning to leave Bruce and stop the adoption proceedings?

Maybe she only seemed to be agreeing with Alan about moving to North Carolina. Maybe she was scared of him.

?What do you think?? I asked Galigani. ?You think the doc did it??

?It?s not the doc.?

?Why do you say that??

?There is another very important thing in the prelim report,? Galigani said.

I rubbed my temples. ?What?s that??

?The doc?s the one who pushed the ME to run a tox screen. There?s no way he?d do that if he killed her. I told you McNearny knew something we didn?t.?

?How did you get him to share this report with you??

?I didn?t. Mac doesn?t share. He?s by the book and he?s tough.?

?Who then? Did you woo the lady officer??

Mom, who was hovering near me rocking Laurie back and forth, scowled at the mention of another lady and I had to laugh at her double standard.

?Jones,? Galigani said. ?He was taking a couple days off, spending a little time with his kid. I dropped in on him and we had a couple beers. Don?t mention any of this to anybody or we?ll have no one left to play in the sand-box with. Capisce??

?I capisce all right,? I said.

Did Bruce know about the affair?

That would fit. He?d found out about the affair and killed Helene, then he must have feared Celia knew something and took a whack at her.

?So you think Bruce did it?? I asked Galigani.

?No. Killing the wife maybe, but the midwife at his place makes no sense. I think it might have been Margaret.?

?Margaret?? I asked.

Mom nodded her agreement.

Margaret? If she was guilty, then I was a ruse designed to throw suspicion off her. Why else would someone guilty hire a PI?

Had I been used as a pawn?

No! Couldn?t be.

?As far as I know, Margaret wasn?t with Celia that day of the poisoning. Only Bruce, Evelyn, and I saw her that day. And why would Margaret poison Celia anyway? She had been her midwife.?

?What about at Bruce?s house?? Mom asked.

?What?? Galigani and I asked at the same time. I put Galigani on speaker phone and Mom got close to the microphone.

?Maybe Margaret was over at Bruce?s before Celia got there. Maybe she mixed a little cocktail intended for Bruce.?

?Why, though?? I asked.

Mom shrugged. ?I can only do so much work for free.?

Galigani snorted through the phone line. ?I?m working on getting the tox results right now. Maybe they?ll shed a little light on some of this stuff, but let?s not hold our breath.?

After Mom left, I tried phoning Margaret and ended up leaving another voice mail. She had effectively disappeared. I wondered if ?going to her mother?s? was a euphemism for ?skipping town.?

Both Mom and Galigani had suggested Margaret was the murderer, but if my client was guilty?what did it make me?

Was I just being prideful?

Had Margaret played me? Perhaps she had found out about Helene?s betrayal. Or had she legitimately believed she was in danger from Alan?

And what about Evelyn? She?d been on the cruise and had seen Celia the day of the poisoning. But what possible motive could she have for killing Helene, or Celia for that matter?

Was getting kicked out of a mommy group motive enough to kill someone?

Hardly.

No matter how peeved it had made her, I couldn?t see it being cause for murder. Unless there was something else to the story?