“As a matter of fact, I do,” Adele said. “I found some pretty ones on the beach and there’s my cell phone, too.”
“Enough chit-chat. Is somebody going to tell me what’s going on? And for heaven’s sake unwrap his legs,” Nora barked.
I looked at Bennett. “Are you going to tell her, or should I?”
He grunted. “I’ve got nothing to say.”
“In that case,” I said, getting my thoughts in order. But Adele beat me to the punch.
“He not only broke the window of my precious car, but it’s his fault Pink ended up driving my car on the beach. Will you look at it? I wonder if it will ever work again.” Adele went over and stroked her car.
Nora looked at Bennett strangely. “You didn’t do that, did you?” Then she reconsidered. “Don’t say anything.”
“There’s nothing to say. You can’t prove that I did anything to the car, or that anybody else did, for that matter. The evidence is gone out to sea. And that ridiculous story about the s’more…” Bennett said.
“We saw you smash the car window,” Dinah said.
This time Nora spoke. “We’ll pay for the window. I’m sure it was just a mistake. We’ll pay for several windows. Now undo him this instant, or I’m calling the police.” She had her cell phone in her hand.
Dinah and I looked at each other. Before we could tell her to go ahead, I saw a police car park along Sunset, and a moment later Sergeant French trudged across the sand toward us.
Nora rushed over to him. “Thank heavens you’re here. Those women tied up my husband.” Bennett said something similar, and suggested we should be arrested. No one could say he didn’t have nerve.
Sergeant French surprised me by asking me what was going on, then listening carefully as I told him the scenario with the s’more and Bennett breaking the window and tossing the wad of gum and yarn into the water to cover up what he’d done.
Bennett laughed it off and said, “I’m afraid Ms. Pink got carried away with her amateur sleuthing.” He looked to Sergeant French, appearing to expect some kind of agreement. Instead, the police officer took out his handcuffs and slapped them on Bennett.
“What?” Bennett said in shock.
“Do you know who he is?” Nora demanded.
Sergeant French nodded. “I know exactly what name to put on the arrest report. For now, you’re under arrest for vandalizing the Honda. But I’m confident you’ll also be charged with attempted murder and murder.”
“He got rid of the evidence,” I said in a low voice. “Your people took samples before, right? Now they’ll know whose DNA to match it with.”
“Thanks for the suggestion, Ms. Pink. Don’t worry, we’re professionals. He pointed toward the flapping yellow tape on the car. “I had my forensic people go over the car thoroughly when I was here before. They took a sample of the glop under the accelerator along with everything else before they released the car.”
This time Bennett didn’t smile. I noticed Mason had joined our group on the beach, though he had stayed several steps back.
Even though Sergeant French made sure Bennett knew his rights, being handcuffed did something to him. He totally lost his cool and began to babble. “I did it for you,” he said, looking at his wife. He turned to the rest of us. “All these years Nora has stayed by my side. She’s managed my career and seen me as a star when I knew I was just a working actor who most people barely recognize. We’ve been through a lot together. I’ve had my lapses, and she’s always forgiven me. I had to protect her.”
Nora tried to silence him and when she noticed Mason, tried to secure his services on the spot, but Mason declined and Bennett kept talking.
“It was all a plan. When Izabelle asked for help with her presentation, it was just a reason to get me alone.” He paused as if he expected understanding.
“You could have kept your pants on,” Dinah said with disgust.
Bennett shrugged her comment off. “What can I say-I’m weak. When a woman offers herself up, I’m accommodating. When we met again the next morning, I saw the photo of the doll in her book and recognized it as the same doll Nora has. When I confronted her, she admitted she was my wife’s twin. She said our relationship would be our own little secret, but I didn’t buy it. I knew the cruel things she’d done to my wife when they were kids. She took everything my wife valued. You don’t know how devious she was.” He detailed how while his wife had not known where her sister was, Izabelle knew everything about Nora’s life. He spoke directly to his wife. “It seemed to bother her that you had married your way into Hollywood and had stayed married for a long time. She’d been dumped by three husbands. To me our tryst was just a lapse, but she wanted it to be the beginning of something. At the very least I was sure she would throw it in your face. I couldn’t let her devastate you that way.”
He said he’d appeared to go along with her plan and arranged the meeting on the beach. He knew about Izabelle’s peanut allergy.
I couldn’t help myself as I interrupted. “And I know how you did it.”
All eyes went from him to me. “I saw a snippet of a wedding on a TV show. The bride cut the first piece of wedding cake and fed it to the groom, and then they kissed and frosting got all over both of their faces as the cake traveled back and forth.” A low hum of
Dinah muttered something about it really being the kiss of death.
Bennett said nothing, but there was just a flicker in his expression that made it clear I’d hit on the truth. “You probably removed the pouch bag at the same time, or maybe even in advance, and then threw it out of sight. And then you cold-bloodedly walked away.”
Tears were streaming down Nora’s face. Bennett kept silent, but I talked on. “You knew about the doll in the photo and overheard what I was planning to do. You didn’t want me to find out Izabelle was your wife’s twin because you knew that I didn’t believe Izabelle’s death was an accident. And that once I knew your wife was her twin, suspicion would fall on her. But that wasn’t your real concern, was it? She had the alibi of not being able to handle peanut butter without it being a problem. But you were afraid once suspicion was off her, it might go onto you. You were afraid I might figure it out. And I did,” I said with a little pride in my voice.
One of Sergeant French’s colleagues led Bennett off the beach toward the police car parked on the street. He told Adele he’d arranged to have her car towed to a repair shop. She told him to talk to me.
The sergeant turned to me, and I spoke first. “Thanks for showing up. When I left the message, I knew it sounded kind of strange, and after the whole thing with the doll’s head-well, I wasn’t sure if-”
Sergeant French’s face broke out in an understanding smile. “I would show up,” he said, finishing my thought. “This has been one strange case. We don’t get a lot of murders up here, and they’re usually by gunshot or stabbing. Never by s’more.” He paused as if considering what he was going to say. “The truth is, Ms. Pink, I wasn’t going to come. Frankly, when I heard you had set up some kind of sting, I wanted to steer clear of it. But I got a call. Detective Greenberg said sometimes the things you did seemed off the wall, but more often than not, you turned out to be right. I take it he’s a friend of yours?”
Barry was much more than a friend, though I was still working on his exact title. I couldn’t believe what he’d done. It meant more than all the sweet talk in the world. After all his telling me to leave it to the professionals and to stay out of investigations, he’d vouched for my ability. I felt a blush rise. I had some heavy-duty thank-yous to give him when I got back.
CHAPTER 25
“SEE, THE MAN WHO LIKES YOU ISN’T A MURDERER,” I said to Dinah as we headed away from the beach. Adele was just behind and wrapped in the afterglow of her pouch bag swirling.
“Wow, that was really something,” Adele said. “Did you see how I detained the perp with my bag?” She caught up and put an arm around each of us. “Hey, you guys, we’re like the Three Musketeers.”
The purple pouch bag was hung across her chest and bounced as we walked. I was amazed to see how well
