“Kay, this is important, did Harry happen to say who was on the phone?”
She shook her head. “No, but Margo did. Lots of people heard her. She hollered, ‘Harry, you got a phone call from somebody named Vic. Do you want to take it?’ Harry groaned, I remember, but went to the phone.”
Lupe had trouble suppressing her glee.
“What I really regret, Detective Hernandez, is that I had no idea Harry was going to kill himself. I should’ve seen it, said something, gone with him-anything.”
She touched her shoulder. “There was nothing you could have done, Kay. Harry was murdered.”
20: Domestics
The next morning DeeDee tried on her maid’s uniform. It was gray and formless and she felt like bawling. Walter’s laughter didn’t help. “God, I look like a frump!”
“And you so wanted to be a saucy French maid.”
“At least something better than this.” In the bedroom mirror she cinched the belt at her waist. “I look like a sack of potatoes. No, two sacks of potatoes.”
He laughed again, then put his arms around her. “I doubt if the Dragon Lady wants the sort of competition you provide.”
“I refuse to let you make me feel better.” She sighed. “The worst is yet to come.” She pulled on a black, curly wig, stuffing her red locks inside. “Do I have to wear this? I’m not me.”
“That’s the idea, love. The Ninjas may not recognize you, but they surely will remember your hair.”
“Are you going to wear a wig?”
“I’ll keep my cap on. A dark mustache should help. And what can they do to me if it doesn’t, kick me off the property?”
They drove to Elite Placements in separate cars and entered the van to be driven to the castle. She professed not to know Susan or what happened to her. Fortunately no one was awake enough to be talkative.
When she first glimpsed the castle fear gripped her. She expected something out of a Disney film, not this dark gray, low to the ground edifice, all roof, no apparent windows. And the stone tower was not at all as she envisioned, but broad and squat, not much higher than the roof with a pointed steeple of gray tile. It looked forbidding and utterly impregnable. Tower of evil, yes.
She shivered and Walter patted her arm. “You can always change your mind,” he whispered.
“Be still, we don’t know each other.”
The van drove through light woods and stopped at a wrought iron gate. “Elite here,” the driver said.
In a moment an unfriendly voice said, “Okay, you know where to go.”
The gate opened and the van turned off to the right and drove around to the back. “Okay, folks, happy slaving,” the driver said, “see you at seven.”
She was the last to alight. Walter was already shuffling off behind the other male toward a greenhouse. She braced herself and entered the steaming kitchen. It was large and quite modern.
“Who are you?”
Hildegard Uberreich was masculine to say the least, built like a bouncer, even deep-voiced. All the woman needed was a swastika. Imperious was a word coined just for her. Her black uniform fitted her, too. Oh well. “Irene, ma’am.”
“Where’s Susan?”
“I believe she’s sick, ma’am.”
The woman looked her up and down. “Elite sure is dragging the bottom of the barrel. How old are you?”
“Forty-seven, ma’am.” It had been a very good year. William had entered college.
“You sure do look every day of it. Oh well. Can you serve food?”
“Of course, ma’am.”
“Get rid of your things over there, and I’ll show you how we serve breakfast. People will be coming down shortly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You may call me Mrs. Uberreich.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She followed the woman into a baronial dining room, with a high, beamed ceiling, heavy oak furniture and a groaning board surely once used in Ivanhoe. She was to arrange trays of food on the sideboard. Guests would eat buffet style. She was to pour coffee and make herself available.
“How many guests are there?”
“You’ll see. Miss Fielding will eat later in her suite.”
They came in twos and threes, some singly, several minutes apart, and DeeDee discovered what it was like to be invisible. No one greeted her or even glanced at her. Even when they asked her about the food or wanted tea instead of coffee, she might have been R2D2.
She didn’t mind. The three Ninjas were sullen and paid no attention to her. She had worried needlessly. As for the others, she picked up a few names and got an idea of who they were. Some were secretaries, helping Dr. Joy with her column. Others were associated with her radio and TV shows. A couple did make-up and wardrobe, but she simply could not figure what three others did. Could be houseguests. Joy Fielding, a.k.a. Mrs. Kinkaid, certainly had an entourage, mostly young. But Walter was right. None had the plumage of the head peacock.
After breakfast, DeeDee was put to cleaning and straightening the downstairs. She wielded the feather duster some, but mostly she explored. The place was cavernous, everything suggesting the medieval without being it. All was posh, plush, dripping luxury, yet somehow trite, straight out of the Warner Brothers prop room. The only thing missing was Errol Flynn.
She found the tower, at least a curved wall suggesting a tower. It lay off the entrance, to the right of the grand staircase leading upstairs. Its stone wall rose past the second floor landing, even the third, disappearing through the roof. There was no door or window. Yet, there had to be some way into it.
The Hispanic fellow who rode out with Byerly went straight to his mowers, leaving him standing there. He felt like a nomad hunting a bus stop in the Sahara. Finally he entered the greenhouse. The humidity and odors assaulted him at once. The place had to have orchids they hadn’t discovered yet, and that was just for starters.
He saw no one until he reached the back of the greenhouse. There in a small room was a human being with a coffee and Danish, pouring over seed catalogs. “Hi, I’m Walt, the gardener.”
The person who looked up at him was young and bookish behind horn-rimmed glasses. He surely read for a part in Revenge of the Nerds.
“I’m Darryl, the floriculturist here.” He offered a hand. “Care for a donut?”
“I had breakfast. Do you give me my marching orders?”
He laughed. “The last thing I am is military, but we do need to take out the summer flowers and put in mums, asters and snaps for fall. Let me finish my breakfast and I’ll show you where things are.”
“No rush.” He looked around. “This is some place.”
“Yeah, a regular castle.”
“That’s the word for it. Have you ever been in that tower?”
“I stay away from the house and the people there as much as possible. You will, too, if you’re smart.”
“Thanks for the advice. Does anyone live in the tower?”
“I guess so. Someone called out once, but I couldn’t’ understand them.”
Byerly walked outside and looked up at the tower. C’mon, Jamie, look out. No one showed.
At midmorning Uberreich summoned DeeDee to the kitchen. “There are two breakfasts to be served this morning. You take this tray and follow me-and keep your mouth shut unless spoken to.”
Yes, mother.
Uberreich led her up the staircase, past the tower to the second floor, down a hallway, through double doors and into a large parlor or sitting room. Queen Anne furniture abounded. In a room to her right she saw secretaries at work at desks and consoles. To her left was an exercise room. Other doors were closed. Ahead lay double doors. The sanctum sanctorum no doubt.
