“Maybe”—Dilys swallowed hard—“someone put
the spider up there to frighten the deceased. You know,
like a practical joke.”
Cairo frowned at her. “Come now, isn’t that pretty
far-fetched?”
Dilys was blushing furiously. “Ah . . . maybe, but—”
“She could be right,” Judith put in, unable to watch
the young woman suffer further. “The deceased—Mr.
Zepf—was superstitious about spiders. They terrified
him. Someone had already tried to scare him by placing one of these phony tarantulas in his bed.”
“No kidding.” Cairo moved his frown to Judith.
“You sure about that, Mrs. Flynn?”
“Absolutely,” Judith replied. “There were several
witnesses. Not to mention that Mr. Zepf became frightened by a very small but very real spider out on the
back porch. I saw that with my own eyes.” To Judith’s
satisfaction, Dilys had slipped behind Cairo and was
making bunny ears above his head. Maybe, she
thought, the young detective wasn’t quite as cowed as
she pretended.
At that moment Angela La Belle and Ben Carmody
appeared in the hallway that led from the back stairs.
“What’s going on?” Ben asked, looking sleepy.
Joe turned to the pair. “Didn’t Ms. Best tell you?”
Ms. Best hadn’t. “What’s to tell?” Angela inquired.
“Bruno’s dead.” She was wearing a paper-thin wrapper
over a sheer, short nightgown. “Are there any truffles
left?”
Cairo’s dark eyes were bugging out from underneath the black brows that grew together. “Now who’s
this, I might ask?” He leered at Joe. “Another one of
your slaves?”
“This is Angela La Belle,” Joe said woodenly, “and
Ben Carmody. They’re part of the movie company that
came here with Bruno Zepf. You do have a list of possible witnesses, don’t you?”
“Ah!” The question was ignored as Cairo beamed
and put out a pawlike hand. “Celebrities! I’m thrilled.”
Despite the grin, it was obvious that Cairo would have
preferred meeting a pair of real tarantulas.
Dilys, however, was goggle-eyed as she stared at
Angela La Belle. “Ohmigod! I saw you in your first
big movie, that musical—
such a beautiful voice!”
Angela was scanning the kitchen counters, apparently for truffles. “Thanks. It was a small part. My
voice was dubbed.”
“But the dancing!” Dilys enthused. “Looking down
from way up high on you with all the spinning and
