suitcase, Judith put it back in the closet. “We threaten them
with the evidence.”
“Which consists of one smudged pillowcase.” Renie shook
her head in a forlorn manner.
“So far.” Judith pointed to the briefcase. “We might find
something in there. Come on, help me collect the water
glasses and the sleeping pill bottle.”
“Fingerprints,” Renie said doggedly. “You’ll ruin any fingerprints.”
“No, I won’t,” Judith replied from the bathroom. “I’m very
carefully putting the glasses back in the paper wrappers they
were set out in by the staff. I’m also going through the
wastebasket.”
“I’m going through the window,” Renie said. “I wish I’d
never mentioned that we were about to be killed.”
The wastebasket yielded nothing except the paper covers
for the glassware and an empty plastic garbage bag. “Let’s
go,” Judith said, grabbing Andrea’s purse. “I’ve checked out
everything I can think of.”
Renie was still on the bed. “I think it’s safer to stay here
with Andrea. At least she’s not babbling like a self-destructive
idiot.”
“That’s because she already self-destructed.” Seeing Renie’s
curious look, Judith clarified her statement. “I don’t mean
suicide. I mean that something she did—or more likely
something she knew—caused her death. I’m guessing that
the same holds true for Barry and Leon.”
Reluctantly, Renie stood up. “If you’re referring to the exchange of gossip, I can see that with Andrea and Barry. But
not with Leon. Did he strike you as someone who would sit
around savoring juicy corporate tidbits?”
“No,” Judith admitted, “he didn’t. But I keep thinking of
that phrase somebody mentioned—‘Mooney’s Money.’
Money is always an excellent motive.”
The cousins went out into the hall. “We’ve got to find a
good hiding place,” Judith said when they were in their own
room. “It’s too obvious to hide anything in here. Think, coz.”
“How about the safe?” Renie said off the top of her head.
“You can change the combination. Nobody will know.”
Judith beamed at Renie. “Perfect. Let’s check out the
briefcase and purse before we go back downstairs. If there’s
nothing of interest, we can put them back in Andrea’s room.”
They went through the black leather handbag first. Andrea’s wallet contained a great many credit cards and even
more business cards. There were also several receipts, apparently saved for the purpose of possible returns or for income
tax records.
“She hadn’t cleaned this out for a while,” Judith remarked.
“Most of this stuff goes back to November and December.
Wow!” She held up a small piece of paper. “Andrea bought
somebody a Rolex watch! A Christmas present for Alan,
