Several Deaths Later

her and…

The movie was Death Wish 9 in which Charles Bronson, now an octogenarian, is dedicated to keeping safe the lives of his fellow prisoners in an old folks' home.

They'd managed to get sex into the film by having the extremely sexy day nurse wear a see-through uniform.

Finally, he couldn't take it any longer-not the movie, his bladder.

He forced his leg off the bed and then his other leg and then he went and had himself a shower.

When he came out he opened a beer left over from last night's frolic and was just having his first sip when the phone rang.

It was an operator and she wanted to know if he was the Mr. Tobin who had called the residence of a Mr. Sanderson and Tobin said he was and then she said go ahead please.

'Mr. Tobin, this is Everett Sanderson's brother. You were supposed to call me this afternoon.' He sounded angry.

'Damn, I completely forgot. I'm sorry.'

'You called last night and was asking the missus some questions about my cousin who died in that trailer fire.'

'Yes, I was, Mr. Sanderson.'

'I'd like to know why.'

'I wanted to know why your brother was on the cruise ship.'

'Did they find out who killed him yet?'

'Yes.'

There was a long pause. Then a noise that might have been a sob. 'There ain't nothin' bad enough that can happen to that man.'

'It's a she.'

'A woman?'

'Yes.'

'Bullshit. No woman could kill Everett.'

Given the circumstances, Tobin decided to overlook the ridiculous remark.

'What the hell did she have to do with Everett?'

'He knew about Ken Norris skimming the money from the 'Celebrity Circle' cast. She didn't want that known.'

'I don't know what you're talkin' about.'

'Your brother was working with a woman named Iris Graves from a newsstand paper called Snoop.'

'Snoop. Everett read it all the time but he sure as hell didn't work for it.'

'You're sure?'

'My brother went on that boat to talk to Mandy Nichols.'

'Who?'

'Mandy Nichols. She was married to a cousin of ours.' Then he mentioned the name of the man in the newspaper clipping-the one who'd been burned to death in the trailer fire.

Tobin leaned back against the headboard. 'Why would he be trailing Mandy Nichols here?'

'Because she killed our cousin-and damn near killed their little girl right along with him.'

Tobin explained about the newspaper clipping he'd discovered along with Everett's personal effects. 'Why didn't it mention a little girl?'

'They didn't find her till next day. She'd crawled away from the fire, then collapsed out in the woods. They'd assumed at first that Mandy had taken her along.' He cursed. ''Course Mandy with her fancy notions didn't plan to take nobody along. My cousin was the kind of man who woulda tracked her down and she knew it. So she tried to kill both of 'em-her husband and her daughter.'

'And Everett's been tracking her all these years?'

'Yes. Till about a year ago when we found her.'

'Mandy?'

'Right.'

'Where was she?'

'Hollywood. That was always her thing. To live in Hollywood. Couldn't sing, couldn't dance, couldn't really even act much based on what I saw in her high school plays. But she did have a good face and a good body. I gotta give her that.'

'So Everett confronted her?'

'He tried. She had him arrested several times. He tried to tell the police what had happened-how she'd hooked up with these so-called actors who were down here on location and the three of them helped her douse the trailer with gasoline and then set it up.'

'You're sure it was the actors?'

'Positive. It had rained three or four hours after the fire and the sheriff found four sets of tracks in the morning-three male ones and then Mandy's.'

'So Everett tracked Mandy down after all these years.'

'He sure did. We run this small investigation agency but every chance he'd get to work on the case, he'd take it. He'd keep going to the sheriff but he said we needed more evidence-then they started saying the case was so old they couldn't do anything about it even if they'd wanted to.'

'So why did he board this cruise?'

'Because something new had come up.'

'What was that, Mr. Sanderson?'

There was a pause, and then Sanderson told him. And then Tobin had to move very, very quickly.

43

7:41 P.M.

'I need to see Susan Richards,' Tobin said, pushing through Captain Hackett's door without knocking.

The captain, dining alone at his desk, looked up abruptly and said, 'What the hell's wrong with you?'

'I said I need to see Susan Richards.'

'Why?'

'I want you to call the steward who's standing guard and tell him I'm going to be there in fifteen minutes and that I'm being permitted to go in and talk to her. But first I need a key to her cabin.'

'I put her in the cabin two doors down from where she was staying-for safekeeping. Care to tell me what the hell's going on?'

Tobin said, 'I don't think she's our killer.'

The captain put down his fork. 'Do you know what the hell you're talking about?'

Tobin shook his head. 'I'm afraid I do, Captain. I'm afraid I do.'

44

7:52 P.M.

Susan Richards's room smelled of gentle perfume and cigarette smoke. The blinds were drawn, the bed properly made, all her cosmetics neatly arranged on the bureau.

Tobin started first in the bureau drawers. He found nothing except the expected lingerie, blouses,