fired up about it, but Olivia said not to worry.”
“What about Dr. Blocken or Bree?”
Topaz thought for a minute. “Olivia’s father didn’t really react. He sat off away from the group with some book that made Moby Dick look like a thriller. Bree’s behavior didn’t change at all. She ran around the room being annoyingly helpful. I finally had to make up something for her to do so that she’d leave me alone during O.M.’s fitting.”
“Did Olivia order the dresses from you?”
“The Fourth was the first day I ever saw Olivia, although I spoke to her on the phone a few times, for measurements and things. All of the business went through her mother. From now on, I’m getting the money up front. I had a commission contract with Regina to design that dress. I suppose that I could sue her for breach of contract. But I know she’d bury me with some high-priced lawyer.”
I made sympathetic noises. Topaz zipped my bridesmaid’s gown into its dress bag and handed it to me. “Know any good lawyers, cheap?”
I gave her Lew’s name.
She wrote his name in her ledger. The bell chimed. I peered through the sheer curtain.
“She never tried it on, you know.” Topaz spoke, barely above a whisper.
“What?” I asked, thinking I misheard her.
“Olivia never tried on her wedding dress.”
Topaz put on her customer service face and stepped through the curtain into the showroom. I followed with the garment bag draped over my arm
A girl in her early twenties and a dour-looking woman stood by the mannequin wearing Olivia’s dress. “Oh, look at the bodice. It’s perfect. You know I love suns and moons,” the girl gushed.
The older woman teared up. “This is the one. Oh, honey, you’ll be breathtaking.”
Topaz smiled brightly at the pair. She turned to me. “India, thanks for coming in. You might want to buy some form-shaping lingerie for that dress.”
From my car, I watched Topaz remove the mannequin from the display window. The girl jumped up and down excitedly and the older woman sobbed.
I wiped the moisture from my cheeks and backed out of my parking space.
Chapter Forty-Three
Back at the duplex, I found a note from Mains taped to my front door telling me rather gruffly to come down to the Justice Center for questioning. I wondered why he hadn’t called my cell phone, until I realized much to my relief that he didn’t have the number. My stalling over my statement about the purloined picture wasn’t going to help me in any way, but I had decided to go to Topaz’s shop first, since it closed at six. Now that it was well after that time, I knew I should drag myself to the Justice Center.
Ina, who sat on her resin lawn chair, said, “Don’t worry, honey, I held down the fort.” She waved the garden hose’s nozzle. “I got rid of him real quick.” Theodore snored in her lap.
I thanked her and unlocked my door. Inside my apartment, my answering machine displayed six messages. I suspected a good number of them were from Mains with a healthy selection from my mother. Instead of listening to the machine, I called Carmen.
“Nicholas! Don’t put that into your mouth!” my sister shouted into my ear.
“Are you listening to me?” I asked.
A frustrated sigh. “Yes, India, I’m listening to you.” A pause. “Nick, find your father. Dinner will be on the table soon.”
I spoke over her cries to her son. “Carmen, you have to talk to Mom and Dad about Mark. We can’t let him go to prison.”
“We’ve been over this before. Do you honestly think our parents will let that happen?”
I didn’t respond.
She sighed again, louder this time. “Lew bought Mark a couple extra days at the Stripling jail, right?”
“Well, yes, but time’s up tonight . . .”
“Mom and Dad are waiting till the last possible minute. They’re making another elaborate point. You know that.”
“But it takes time to speak to bond agents. I went to several this morning; they all turned me down.”
“Mom and Dad shouldn’t have a problem. They probably have a favorite agent who’s gotten them out a time or two, and they’re more reputable than some twenty-something kid who still has thousands in student loans.”
Not exactly thousands. I ground my teeth. “You won’t speak to them.”
“No, I won’t. You’re not the only one this is happening to, India. I want you to remember that.”
“You’re right. It’s happening to Mark. Let me ask you this, Carmen. What if it was Nicholas?” I hung up.
I grabbed a pad of paper and pen off the end table and half-sat, half-crouched at the end of the sofa. I wrote a list of all the people that had reason to frame or could have possibly framed Mark. I included everyone that was at the Fourth of July picnic at the Blockens: Dr. Blocken, Mrs. Blocken, O.M., Bree, Kirk, Bobby, and Topaz. Mrs. Blocken was my number one suspect, but my theory stalled. I couldn’t think of any reason why Mrs. Blocken, who worshipped her daughter and, maybe even more so, the upcoming nuptials, would hurt Olivia. Maybe it was an accident. That was it. She could have pushed Olivia into the fountain accidentally.
Number two on the list: Kirk. He’d proven to have an outrageous temper, and he was certainly strong enough to push Olivia into the fountain. However, there was no denying that he was devastated by Olivia’s death. Could he be so upset because he knew he was the one responsible?
Dr. Blocken was a suspect for the same reason Mrs. Blocken was, but I still couldn’t fathom a reason why either one would hurt their daughter.
Bree was also a suspect merely because she was present at the picnic, but again, she had no motive. And the thought of fifteen-year-old O.M. killing her sister was more than I’d let myself fathom. I knew some teenagers were violent, and O.M. definitely had an attitude problem, but . . .
Topaz had made it plain that she didn’t know Olivia, and Olivia’s death had cost her a lot financially. If it had been Mrs. Blocken who was found in the fountain, Topaz would be a much more likely suspect. After Topaz, I considered Bobby. He’d just met Olivia the day before she was attacked, hours really. Furthermore, the thought of Bobby up that early on his Saturday morning off from the library was ludicrous.
I added a final name to the list, the most likely suspect, the one person who had indisputable means, motive, and opportunity: Mark. Ina said to solve the crime I must assume that Mark is guilty. He had motive. He still loved Olivia, and she was marrying another man in his hometown. He had means and opportunity. He could have easily pushed Olivia into the fountain and returned to his office at Dexler without any problem. During the summer, the campus was deserted early in the morning. No one would see him. In fact, no one did see how Olivia ended up in the fountain, even with the ill-placed surveillance cameras and Mutt’s rent-a-cops roving the grounds.
My front door opened. Ina ambled in with a mug of steaming liquid.
I hid my list underneath a throw pillow. “Ina, I need to get ready to go to the Justice Center. I have to give Detective Mains a statement. I should get it over with before he throws me in the cell next to Mark.”
She set the mug on the coffee table in front of me. “Now, honey, I know that you’re upset about Mark, but everything will work out just fine, you’ll see. Why don’t you drink this cup of tea I made for you?”
“It’s too hot for tea.”
Ina sat on my rocker stubbornly. “I’m not leaving until you drink every last drop.” She scooted to the front of the chair and planted her feet firmly on the floor. “I’ve heard you rambling around here in the middle of the night. When is the last time you were able to get any real rest?”
I picked up the mug and took a sip. It tasted awful. I gagged.
“It’s good for you.”
I’ll bet it is, I thought.
