Killer Smile

brain. “The war wasn’t the happiest time for Aaron. He did feel so terrible, being left behind with all us women, when the others were fighting. He didn’t want to remember anything of those days. He never even talked about it.”

Mary remembered that was what Will had said, back in the garage. She shut up and let Mrs. Nyquist think in peace.

“Let me see. The truth is, the other girls in the office liked him, but not me. I thought he was too smooth. You know, bedroom eyes and a slick smile. I don’t like that type. He was my age, in his twenties, but he acted a lot older, and he had a lot of city ways.” Suddenly Mrs. Nyquist snapped her fingers. “Oh, he was from the East Coast – Philadelphia. Like you!”

“He was from Philly?” Mary asked, amazed. No one was ever from Philly, except her. And she had been assuming that although Amadeo and the man in the cap had been friends, they had met in the internment camp. But what if they hadn’t? What if they’d known each other before, from the city? She felt her heartbeat quicken, but it could have been the fructose lava.

“I remember now, his name was Saracone. Giovanni. Giovanni Saracone. The girls in the office called him Gio.”

“Giovanni Saracone! Gio!” Mary jumped out of her chair, came around the table, and gave Mrs. Nyquist the hug she’d wanted to give her at the beginning. “Giovanni Saracone is his name?”

“Yes!” Mrs. Nyquist emerged from her clinch, smiling. “Why are you so happy? Do you know him?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Oh.”

“I know the other man, Amadeo.” Mary caught herself, as she returned to her seat. “Well, I don’t know him, either. I’m trying to find out more about him. I wonder if this Saracone went back to Philly after he was released. Do you know?”

“No.”

“Do you know anything else about Saracone?”

Mrs. Nyquist thought a minute. “No, just that. His name, and that he was a wolf.”

Mary thought a minute, taking in Mrs. Nyquist’s pretty blue eyes and sweet smile. She must have been lovely in her younger days. “A wolf, huh? Did he hit on you?”

“Hit on?” Mrs. Nyquist’s eyes flared behind her bifocals. “Is that what they say nowadays, for making a pass? No, he didn’t make a pass, not at me. I was a married woman, and I can shoot.”

Mary laughed.

“Hold on, let me show you something.” Mrs. Nyquist rose abruptly, walked over to the side table, and picked up a photo in a wooden frame and handed it to Mary. The photo was in black and white, of an attractive woman in fringed leather chaps and a cowboy hat, riding a bucking horse. Despite the death-defying arch to the horse’s back, the woman rider hung on with a huge grin, and Mary looked at Mrs. Nyquist in amazement.

“Is this you?”

“Sure enough. I rode rodeo, roping and penning, I did it all.”

“You were a cowgirl?” Mary handed her back the photo. “How did you learn it?”

“From my mother. I was a rancher’s daughter, like my mother. She became a rancher after my father died. She kept the place herself, she even knew Calamity Jane. Jane was a real Montana cowgirl, born Martha Jane Cannary, she was.”

“Calamity Jane!” Mary knew about her only from a Doris Day movie she’d seen on TMC. If it weren’t for TV, she wouldn’t know anything about Montana. “You were so brave to get on a horse like that! Weren’t you afraid?”

“Surely! It’s no fun if you’re not afraid.”

Mary laughed. The notion was as foreign to her as, well, Montana. “I wish I could be that way.”

“You can. Anybody can.” Mrs. Nyquist took the photo from Mary and replaced it on the side table, then came back to her seat. “You just climb up on the horse and stay on. Why can’t you?”

“I don’t know. I just can’t imagine it.”

“Haven’t you ever been on a horse?”

“Are you kidding? I can barely drive. I’m not brave.”

Mrs. Nyquist set her lips firmly. “I’m not brave, either, but I’m determined, and the horse can sense it. People can, too. Can you be determined, Mary?”

“I think so. It’s like stubborn, and the DiNunzio women are good at stubborn.”

“Well then, you come by it honestly.” Mrs. Nyquist nodded. “If you can’t be brave, be determined. And you’ll end up in the same place.”

Mary blinked. “Is that true?”

“Try it.”

Determined. “I will.” Mary looked down at the photos from the camp, which she had almost forgotten about. “Well, yes, where was I? Okay, do you know anyone else in the office, anyone you knew, who would know more about Giovanni Saracone?”

“No, I’m sorry.” Mrs. Nyquist quieted, her mouth falling into the sad line she’d worn earlier. “They’re all gone, now. The last one, Millie Berglund, she worked with me in the office. Millie passed right before my son and his wife did.”

Mary felt her words like a weight. “Your son and his wife?”

“Yes, they were killed in a car accident, last year. A drunk driver, out on I-93. That’s when Will came to live here. He was their only child. He’s saving to get back to the U, but they didn’t have insurance and the burial expenses alone…” Mrs. Nyquist’s voice trailed off.

Mary hadn’t realized. The older woman had seen so much pain, in only a year. But she had gone on. Determined. Mrs. Nyquist sat stoic in her sweat clothes, and Mary got up, went around the table, and gave her another hug. This time Mary didn’t say she was sorry. The words, for once, couldn’t come. After a minute, Mrs. Nyquist patted her arm, and Mary released her. “You okay?”

“I’m fine, dear.” Mrs. Nyquist reached for her napkin to wipe her eyes. “Why is it you want to find this Saracone fellow, Mary?”

“It’s a legal matter.”

Mrs. Nyquist frowned. “Are you a lawyer?”

“Hard to believe, huh?”

“But you’re so nice!”

“I’m the nice one.”

Mrs. Nyquist smiled, her eyes glistening. “What kind of legal matter is it?”

“I represent the estate of the other man, Amadeo Brandolini. And I actually think Saracone may have had something to do with the death of my client.”

Mrs. Nyquist’s lips parted in surprise. “But didn’t you say it was suicide?”

“I’m not sure it was. I think it may have been murder.”

Mrs. Nyquist’s pale eyes widened. “My goodness, how awful!”

“I’ll say. But I can’t figure it all out. There are too many pieces to this puzzle.”

“You think it was a murder? What do the police say?”

“I haven’t asked. Yet.” Mary got up to go, regretting that she’d even brought it up. “Well, thank you so much for your help. I’ve probably overstayed my welcome.”

“Not in the least.” Mrs. Nyquist suddenly looked crestfallen, for a cowgirl. “You can stay and have another piece of pie, if you like. I’m a night owl. I read for an hour or so, then watch the television.”

My routine, too. Mary thought a minute. She would love to get back to the motel, but Mrs. Nyquist looked so alone. “Who do you watch, pardner? Leno or Letterman?”

“Jay Leno.”

“Right answer!” Mary smiled. “Now for the tough one. Conan or Craiggers?”

“Conan!”

“Yes!”

Mrs. Nyquist grinned. “I’ll get more pie!”

Later Mary hit the road, rejuvenated by caffeine, Conan, and her first break on the case. When she had almost