Eddie shot Rosa a look and lifted his chin. “Hey, Rosa.”
“Hi, Eddie,” Rosa said. She’d seen Eddie at the fair, but they hadn’t had a chance to speak, not that they’d ever truly been friends.
Arms folded over her chest, Nancy’s impatience stormed across her face. Rosa imagined that her former friend was holding back on tapping her foot. “You wanted to ask us about the night Victor died?”
“To confirm,” Miguel said, “you were both at the boardwalk when Victor Boyd died, correct?”
“Yes. An unfortunate accident,” Nancy muttered.
Nancy wouldn’t consider the loss of Victor Boyd unfortunate, Rosa thought.
“Actually,” Miguel said, “we’ve escalated the cause of death to murder.” He let that sink in.
Nancy and Eddie shared worried looks.
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Miguel continued, his gaze on Eddie, “I’d like to ask you a few questions in private, Mr. Kline.”
Rosa turned to Nancy. “Perhaps we could have a cup of tea.”
Nancy laughed without mirth. “Only if you want it cold. This isn’t England.”
Rosa didn’t blame Nancy for being brash and defensive and took the snub in her stride.
Inside, the boys were engaged in a raucous game of cowboys and scrambled about the house making shooting noises. “Bang, bang!”
Nancy yelled with little effect. “No running in the house.” Then to Rosa. “We can close the door to the kitchen and get a little peace there.”
Compared to the kitchen at the Forrester mansion, Nancy’s kitchen would be considered cozy with its green walls and white cabinetry. But small. Then again, any room of most homes when compared to the mansion would be small.
Rosa took a seat
Nancy pulled down on the handle of a single-door, new-model Frigidaire to reveal the contents inside. She removed a pitcher that clamored for space beside a half dozen glass bottles of milk, then kicked the door closed with her foot.
Nancy spoke as she poured two glasses of lemonade. “You can’t be having much of a vacation with all the gumshoeing you’ve been doing since you got back.”
Rosa accepted her glass and took a grateful sip. “Once a copper always a copper.”
Nancy grinned. “Copper, huh? That’s swell.”
Rosa was grateful for the smile.
At that moment, Diego’s cute little fuzzy face poked out of the satchel.
“Is your cat thirsty?”
“If you don’t mind a dish of water for him, that would be dandy.”
“Water? Phooey!” Nancy plucked a bottle of milk from the refrigerator and poured a little into a small bowl. As she set it on the floor beside Rosa’s feet, Rosa removed Diego from her bag and placed him on the floor. He eagerly lapped up the milk.
“Thanks,” Rosa said.
“I like cats, but Eddie’s allergic, so we can’t have one.”
“Is it all right that Diego’s here?”
“Oh, a few sneezes won’t kill him.” Nancy put the milk away then took one of the speckled vinyl chairs at the Formica-topped table. “So, Officer Reed. Fire away,”
“It’s just a matter of form,” Rosa said lightly. “You know, crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s”
A crash from the other room caught Nancy’s attention. “Fine, but let’s hurry it up before my boys tear the house apart.”
“They’re handsome,” Rosa said. “You must be proud.”
Nancy relaxed. “They’re a handful, but I love them. Can’t imagine life without them now. Sorry I didn’t introduce you to them properly.”
“Another time,” Rosa said, then gently asked, “Did you say that if you got the chance, you would push Victor onto his roller coaster track?”
Nancy’s face went pale. She shook her head. “I didn’t mean it. Did Gloria tell you that? It’s not what I meant!”
“What did you mean?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It was just talk. I wouldn’t kill anyone. Rosa, you know me.”
Rosa patted Nancy’s hand. “I know.”
“Besides, I was with Marjorie and Pauline on another ride when it happened.”
“Eddie’s an electrician now?” Rosa said.
Nancy answered tentatively. “Yes . . . I know Victor died from an electrical mishap, but Eddie wasn’t even in the park at that time. He had an early shift the next day, and had to come home to relieve my mother, who was babysitting. I told you that in the park.”
Rosa nodded, remembering. “Like I said, we needed to speak with you and Eddie as a matter of form.”
Nancy rubbed a finger through the wet ring of condensation on the table left behind by her glass. “I can vouch for Marjorie, so you don’t have to bother her. But I can’t say what Pauline was doing. Although, she’s got a lot of technical engineering knowledge, so you might want to talk to her.”
“Oh?”
“You remember,” Nancy stared at Rosa with meaning. “Pauline Van Peridon of the practically famous Santa Bonita Van Peridons? Robert Van Peridon, Pauline’s father, was the founder of the Aeronautical Research Center,” Nancy explained, “which put Santa Bonita on the map—what with its technological developments in radar.”
Now that Nancy mentioned it, Rosa recalled that Mr. Van Peridon had died at the end of the war in a traffic accident.
“Did you know that Marjorie is interested in Henry Van Peridon?”
Nancy’s brow collapsed. “What makes you say that?”
“I saw them together a couple of times. The way they look at each other—”
“Ah, that’s a bunch of hooey. If Marjorie was romantically interested in someone, she would’ve told me. She always tells me about her crushes.” Nancy’s lips tugged upward. “Even when I don’t want to hear about them. Besides, I think the older brother, Thomas, would be more her style.”
“Oh?”
“Henry’s a little on the small side. Marjorie’s tall and she goes for the stronger type.
The way Nancy was so certain made Rosa question Marjorie’s motives. Despite her mild denials, Marjorie had definitely shown interest in Henry Van Peridon, or at least pretended to, so why was she keeping it a secret from her sister? Did she really like Henry and didn’t want to deal with Nancy’s surprise? Or was she using Henry to gain information about how to rig the electrical panel at the fair?
“Pauline has been working
