leaping and twirling and—”
“That was a double,” Angela said, opening a couple
of plastic containers. “I’ve got two left feet.” She
looked at Judith. “So they ate all the truffles?”
“I guess so,” Judith replied. “Eugenia Fleming
seemed especially fond of them.”
“Bummer.” Angela took in the official yellow tape
that Stone Cold Sam Cairo was putting up between the
kitchen and the dining room. “Oh,” she said with mild
interest, “is this a crime scene or what?”
“Bruno couldn’t have drowned,” Ben Carmody remarked. “Win must be wrong. He probably had a heart
attack. Not that I blame him after what happened
tonight.”
Cairo whirled around with surprising agility for
such a thickset man. “And what was that, young fellow?”
Ben gazed incredulously at the detective. “The premiere. What else? Bruno bombed. Big time.”
“Ah, yes.” Cairo rummaged in the pocket of his
navy-blue raincoat. “What’s it called?” He peered at a
small notepad.
“It might as well be,” Ben said with a heavy sigh.
“It’s
syllable.
“So,” Cairo said, stuffing the notepad back inside
his raincoat, “the deceased had suffered a big disappointment, had he? Did he have a history of heart trouble?”
Angela and Ben looked at each other.
“Ulcers, maybe,” Angela said.
“High blood pressure?” Ben suggested.
“Ask Win.” Angela pulled the folds of her wrapper
more tightly around her body. “Win knows everything,” she added with a sniff.
Cairo nodded sagely. “Let’s have a word with this
Win. That would be Winifred Best, correct?”
“Right,” Ben said. “Come on, Angela, let’s go back
upstairs.”
“But no further,” Cairo called after them. “We don’t
want any of you fancy birds to fly the nest. Har, har.”
Angela, who had started down the hallway, turned
around and glared at the detective. “What do you
mean? Are we stuck in this place for some weird reason?”
“That’s right,” Cairo said with a sharp shake of his
head. “You’re stuck until I unstick you. Surely you’re
enjoying the company of Mr. and Mrs. Flynn here.”
Angela managed an ineffectual smile. “They’re
nice, but . . .”
“We’ve got meetings to take, lunches to do, people
to . . .” Ben began in a not unreasonable voice.
“In due time, my lad, in due time.” Cairo waved the
pair off with a faintly sinister smile.
