Six, remember?”
“This whole situation is intolerable,” Winifred declared. “Do you both realize that all three of us are out
of a job?”
“No, we’re not,” Morris replied. “I work for the studio as well as for Bruno. Eugenia has other clients. As
for you, Win, someone will have to stay at the helm of
Bruno’s production company at least for a while. Who
knows? His children may want to keep the company
going.”
“No, they won’t,” Winifred asserted. “I know them.
They’re utterly irresponsible. They couldn’t run a convenience store.”
“Win’s right,” Eugenia conceded. “Besides, there’s
the problem of bailing out
very complicated, not to mention the harm done to
Bruno’s reputation.”
A door opened in the corridor. Judith and Renie
both jumped as they turned around to see who had
caught them eavesdropping.
It was Joe, coming from the family quarters. “Jeez,”
he said in a low but vexed voice, “could you be more
obvious?”
Judith gave her husband a sheepish look. “Okay,
we’re done here anyway. But this is how we sleuth.”
“Unprofessional,” Joe murmured, heading for the
back stairs. “I’m going to lock up for the night. It’s ten
o’clock straight up.”
Judith glanced at her watch as the cousins followed
Joe downstairs. “You’re right. I suppose they’re still
watching the movie in the living room.”
“I suppose,” Joe said. “It was scheduled to run until
eleven.”
“I should go home,” Renie declared as they reached
the main floor.
“Don’t,” Judith urged as she saw the computer printouts on the kitchen counter. “We never had a chance to
go over the material you found on
origins.”
“Oh. Well . . . sure.” Renie began sorting the pages
as Joe headed for the front door to lock up.
A terrified scream erupted from that vicinity, causing Renie to drop several sheets on the floor. But the
exclamation of “Wow!” followed by “Way cool, Ben!”
from Ellie and a couple of masculine chuckles indicated that the scream had come from another hapless
movie victim.
Judith heard Joe say something to the guests that
she couldn’t quite make out. A moment later he was
back in the kitchen. “Everybody’s here except Dade,”
he said. “He has a key, right?”
“He should,” Judith said. “That’s odd. Has he been
back since they all left Capri’s?”
