Kate Blackwell was as still as stone.
'Alexandra couldn't have done it. I checked on her movements the day of the murder. She spent the early part of the day in New York with a friend, then she flew directly from New York up to the island. There's no way she could have rented those two motorboats.' He leaned forward. 'So I was left with Alexandra's look-alike, who signed the name Solange Dunas. It had to be Eve. I started looking around for her motive. I showed a photograph of George Mellis to the tenants of the apartment house Eve lives in, and it turned out that Mellis was a frequent visitor there. The superintendent of the building told me that one night when Mellis was there, Eve was almost beaten to death. Did you know that?'
'No.' Kate's voice was a whisper.
'Mellis did it. It fits his pattern. And that was Eve's motive— vengeance. She lured him out to Dark Harbor and murdered him.' He looked at Kate, and felt a pang of guilt at taking advantage of this old woman. 'Eve's alibi is that she was in Washington, D.C., that day. She gave the cab driver who took her to the airport a hundred-dollar bill so he would be sure to remember her, and she made a big fuss about missing the Washington shuttle. But I don't think she went to Washington. I believe she put on a dark wig and took a commercial plane to Maine, where she rented those boats. She killed Mellis, dumped his body overboard, then docked the yacht and towed the extra motorboat back to the rental dock, which was closed by then.'
Kate looked at him a long moment. Then she said, slowly, 'All the evidence you have is circumstantial, isn't it?'
'Yes.' He was ready to move in for the kill. 'I need concrete evidence for the coroner's inquest. You know your granddaughter better than anyone in the world, Mrs. Blackwell. I want you to tell me anything you can that might be helpful.'
She sat there quietly, making up her mind. Finally she said, 'I think I can give you some information for the inquest.'
And Nick Pappas's heart began to beat faster. He had taken a long shot, and it had paid off. The old lady had come through. He unconsciously leaned forward. 'Yes, Mrs. Blackwell?'
Kate spoke slowly and distinctly. 'On the day George Mellis was murdered, Lieutenant, my granddaughter Eve and I were in Washington, D.C., together.'
She saw the surprised expression on his face. You fool, Kate Blackwell thought. Did you really think I would offer up a Black-well as a sacrifice to you? That I would let the press have a Roman holiday with the Blackwell name? No. I will punish Eve in my own way.
The verdict from the coroner's jury was death at the hands of an unknown assailant or assailants.
To Alexandra's surprise and gratitude, Peter Templeton was at the inquest at the county courthouse.
'Just here to lend moral support,' he told her. Peter thought Alexandra was holding up remarkably well, but the strain showed in her face and in her eyes. During a recess, he took her to lunch at the Lobster Pound, a little restaurant facing the bay in Lincolnville.
'When this is over,' Peter said, 'I think it would be good for you to take a trip, get away for a while.'
'Yes. Eve has asked me to go away with her.' Alexandra's eyes were filled with pain. 'I still can't believe George is dead. I know it has happened, but it—it still seems unreal.'
'It's nature's way of cushioning the shock until the pain becomes bearable.'
'It's so senseless. He was such a fine man.' She looked up at Peter. 'You spent time with him. He talked to you. Wasn't he a wonderful person?'
'Yes,' Peter said slowly. 'Yes, he was.'
Eve said, 'I want an annulment, Keith.'
Keith Webster blinked at his wife in surprise. 'Why on earth would you want an annulment?'
'Oh, come on, Keith. You didn't really think I was going to stay married to you, did you?'
'Of course. You're my wife, Eve.'
'What are you after? The Blackwell money?'
'I don't need money, darling. I make an excellent living. I can give you anything you want.'
'I told you what I want. An annulment.'
He shook his head regretfully. 'I'm afraid I can't give you that.'
'Then I'm going to file for divorce.'
'I don't think that would be advisable. You see, nothing has really changed, Eve. The police haven't found out who killed your brother-in-law, so the case is still open. There's no statute of limitations on murder. If you divorced me, I'd be forced to ...' He raised bis hands helplessly.
'You're talking as though / killed him.'
'You did, Eve.'
Her voice was scornful. 'How the hell do you know?'
'It's the only reason you would have married me.'
She looked at him, filled with loathing. 'You bastard! How can you do this to me?'
'It's very simple. I love you.'
'I hate you. Do you understand that? I despise you!'
He smiled sadly. 'I love you so much.'
The trip with Alexandra was called off. 'I'm going to Barbados on my honeymoon,' Eve told her.
Barbados was Keith's idea.
'I won't go,' Eve told him flatly. The idea of a honeymoon with him was disgusting.
'It will look strange if we don't have a honeymoon,' he said shyly. 'And we don't want people asking a lot of awkward questions, do we, dear?'
Alexandra began to see Peter Templeton for lunch once a week. In the beginning, it was because she wanted to talk about George, and there was no one else she could discuss him with. But after several months, Alexandra admitted to herself that she enjoyed Peter Templeton's company immensely. There was a dependability about him that she desperately needed. He was sensitive to her moods, and he was intelligent and entertaining.
'When I was an intern,' he told Alexandra, 'I went out on my first house call in the dead of winter. The patient was a frail old man in bed with a terrible cough. I was going to examine his chest with my stethoscope, but I didn't want to shock him, so I decided to warm it first. I put it on the radiator while I examined his throat and his eyes. Then I got my stethoscope and put it to his chest. The old man leaped out of bed like a scalded cat. His cough went away, but it took two weeks for the burn to heal.'
Alexandra laughed. It was the first time she had laughed in a long time.
'Can we do this again next week?' Peter asked.
'Yes, please.'
Eve's honeymoon turned out much better than she had anticipated. Because of Keith's pale, sensitive skin, he was afraid to go out in the sun, so Eve went down to the beach alone every day. She was never alone for long. She was surrounded by amorous lifeguards, beach bums, tycoons and playboys. It was like feasting at a wonderful smorgasbord, and Eve chose a different dish each day. She enjoyed her sexual escapades twice as much because she knew her husband was upstairs in their suite waiting for her. He could not do enough for her. He fetched and carried for her like a little lapdog, and waited on her hand and foot. If Eve expressed a wish, it was instantly gratified. She did everything she could think of to insult him, anger him, to turn him against her so that he would let her go, but his love was unshakable. The idea of letting Keith make love to her sickened Eve, and she was grateful that he had a weak libido.
The years are beginning to catch up with me, Kate Blackwell thought. There were so many of them, and they had been so full and rich.
Kruger-Brent, Ltd., needed a strong hand at the helm. It needed someone with Blackwell blood. There's no one to carry on after I'm gone, Kate thought. All the working and planning and fighting for the company. And for what? For strangers to take over one day. Bloody hell! I can't let that happen.
A week after they returned from their honeymoon, Keith said apologetically, 'I'm afraid I'm going to have to go back to work, dear. I have a lot of operations scheduled. Will you be all right during the day without me?' Eve barely managed to keep a straight face. 'Til try.' Keith was up and out early every morning long before Eve awakened, and when she went into the kitchen she found he had made coffee and laid out all the breakfast things for her. He opened a generous bank account in Eve's name and kept it replenished. She spent his money recklessly. As long as she was enjoying herself, Keith was happy. Eve bought expensive jewelry for Rory, with whom she spent
