“I’m getting to that,” Kate said, adding the last paper clip in the box. “As a wedding present, Moira gave Beth some shares of Blackwell. Moira and Beth and Marie were so close, like sisters—and, of course, when Moira married Frankie, she and Beth became sisters-in-law. I won’t say that Moira and I had a loving relationship, but I appreciated her care for Frankie, who was never physically strong. Strangely enough,” Kate continued, almost as if musing to herself, “when Marie married Will Fleming, Moira didn’t attend the wedding, and gave them a rather ugly vase.”
“No stock?” Renie asked.
Kate shook her head. “There was a falling-out between Moira and Marie for a time. I don’t think Moira cared for Will or trusted him. Recently, they’ve all made up. But Moira’s most significant lack of generosity was her refusal to give Harry any Blackwell shares when she married him. Naturally, he was resentful. The company is in turmoil, possibly because Jocko Morton had been up to no good. Moira has been indifferent, but she’s never had a head for business—which is why Philip and I want to buy the company from her.”
“Wow!” Renie exclaimed softly. “That’s quite an acquisition.”
“Yes,” Kate agreed. “But we can manage it financially. My own family is very wealthy—banking, mainly. Now that Harry’s dead, the real obstacle is Jimmy Blackwell. I wouldn’t put it past him to harm Moira and prevent Philip and me from buying her out. Jimmy is power-mad.”
“Do you think he killed Harry?” Judith asked.
Kate held up the paper-clip chain, which she’d fashioned into a loop with a dangling tail. “Perhaps. That’s not important to me at the moment. Jimmy must go.” She dangled the paper clips from her fingers. They reminded Judith of a rosary.
Or a noose.
Judith still didn’t understand why Kate Gunn had unburdened herself so frankly.
“Kate,” Judith began, “why are you telling us all this?”
Kate put the paper-clip chain aside. “I have my sources of information. I’m aware of who you really are. That’s why I know you have ways to help me solve my problem with Jimmy.” Kate’s eyes sparkled with apparent excitement. “You’re CIA.”
“What?” Judith gasped.
“There’s no need to pretend,” Kate asserted. “My source is above reproach. Let’s say that the law is on my side.”
Judith was so flabbergasted she couldn’t speak.
Renie looked a bit dazed, but recovered quickly. “You’re talking about a covert operation,” she said to Kate. “We need information about Jimmy’s habits, schedule, and so on. We also need lunch. Judith and I will give our orders to Ian. What would you like?”
“Ah…” It was Kate’s turn to look taken aback. “A sandwich. Fish paste will do.”
“Fine.” Renie got up and hauled Judith out of the chair. “Let’s go. I feel like a burger.”
“You act like an idiot!” Judith hissed as soon as the cousins were in the corridor. “Why in the world are you stringing Kate along? And where did she hear that we’re a couple of spies?”
“Listen,” Renie said, deadly serious. “Kate’s got spy-holes all over the place. I’ll bet she’s got the cops bugged somehow. Maybe she overheard MacRae and Ogilvie talking about your detection skills. Or,” she added a bit uncertainly, “they also think you’re from the CIA.”
“They’ve never actually mentioned the FATSO web site,” Judith said. “It’s possible they’re confused, too.”
“Then make the most of it,” Renie said. “Kate probably knows more about what’s going on than the cops do. Let’s find out.”
“Brilliant,” Judith said as they went down the hall. “I think.”
Renie sought out Ian while Judith poked her head into the kitchen. “Grizel?”
Ian’s mother looked up from the grill. “Ah! I hear there’s a meeting in the back room. What’s Mrs. Gunn up to now?”
“A few tricks,” Judith said, offering Grizel a confidential smile. “You know her. Who’d resist an occasional peek in that spy-hole?”
Grizel laughed softly. “Only when I’m not busy.”
“Did David Piazza ever come here?”
Grizel flipped rashers of bacon on the grill. “Aye, often. A charmer, he was. Clever, I have to think. Come up in the world, did Davey. He came to this country with nothing, worked at Tonio’s, and the next thing we know, he’s got an important post with Moira Blackwell. Imagine! And him not knowing the language all that well.”
“Sounds like home,” Judith murmured, recalling the temporary mailman on the Heraldsgate Hill route who couldn’t read English.
Grizel was studying a new order. “Fish paste sandwich and two burgers,” she noted. “Mrs. G must want the fish paste—nobody else ever does. Are the burgers yours?”
“Yes,” Judith answered. “I can wait and save you a trip.”
“Ian will do it,” Grizel said.
Judith thanked Grizel and went back to the office. To her surprise, Renie was standing by the open door. “The hen flew the coop.”
Judith looked into the cramped office. “Did you see her leave?”
Renie shook her head and pointed to a door marked exit. “It leads to a path that ends at Patrick Cameron’s cottage.”
