Tutti began to laugh. It was a warm rich laugh, and it made Quill think of her father's mother, a round woman with a joy of life that was infectious. Quill touched her arm. 'I don't want to upset you. But I'm almost sure that the senator is behind these murders. And since Sheriff McHale's been here, every single murder that's been committed in Hemlock Falls has been solved. All this beauty,'' Quill said. 'I just hope it's not wasted.'
'We'll be fine, my dear. Just fine.' Her pink cheeks got a little pinker. 'There's Dina. Yoo-hoo! Here we are, dear.'
' `Scuse me, Quill?'. Dina, unusually tentative, crossed the dining room with a hesitant air.
'Now, Dina, did you call that young nephew of mine?' Tutti asked fondly. She pinched Dina's cheek. 'He's first-year law, Cornell,' she said to Quill. 'The poor boy doesn't have time to find himself a nice girl, so when Dina came to the Welcoming - those of us with the Gift don't call it a s‚ance - it's so - Fox sisters, if you know what I mean. We call it a Welcoming. So, you called him?'
'Your nephew Anthony, Mrs. Mc - I mean, Tutti. No. There's this botanist I've been dating - '
'Botanist!' said Tutti. 'What kind of living does a botanist make? Now a young lawyer...'
'Well, there's one to see you,' said Dina. 'A Mr. Greenwald.'
'Oh, really?' said Quill, 'I certainly would like to see him, too, Tutti.'
'Joey? Here? How nice!' Tutti beamed at them both. 'He's engaged, though, to my brother's third daughter, Christina. A beautiful girl.'
'Where is he, Dina?' Quill asked grimly. 'I put him in your office.' She gave Tutti an apologetic glance, leaned forward, and whispered in Quill's ear, 'Meg said that's the guy who tried to kill you!'
Quill nodded.
'Shall I get a gun or something? John's got that rifle he uses for rabid woodchucks and stuff.'
Quill shook her head. 'How does Greenwald look?'
'Pretty banged up. His arm's in a sling and his face is purple.'
'Oh, dear.' Quill marched after Tutti and found her fussing over Joseph Greenwald, who was, to Quill's guilty satisfaction, looking very banged up, He rose to his feet as she came in. Quill folded her arms and glared at him.
'I see you've met,' Tutti said comfortably. 'Sit down, dear.' She settled herself behind Quill's desk and waved at the couch.
Quill sat.
'I received a phone call from Joseph this morning, after your sheriff had a little interview with him down at the Municipal Building.' Quill blinked at her.
'Joseph is a young member of a law firm that has represented my family's interests for years,' Tutti said.
'Then you absolutely need another law firm, Tutti. This man tried to run me off the road last night. In the storm.'
'Why in the world would he want to do that?' Tutti cocked her head. One white curl fell charmingly over her left ear. She patted it back into place. 'If Joseph was following you, and I say if, it was because perhaps you had something that belongs to me.'
'Belongs to you?'
'What are those little things called, dear? You know, they stick them into those machines all the young people have these days.'
'Computer disks?' Quill, perhaps because she'd had a late night, was feeling a little faint.
'That's it. Computer disks.' She turned to Joseph, who had resumed his seat next to Quill on her couch. 'Now, Joey. What's the number of that New York State statute you were telling me about?'
'The breaking and entering statute? Or the fraudulent impersonation statute?'
Tutti turned her blue gaze onto Quill. There was a scene in Jaws that had scared the dickens out of her as a little kid. The one where Bruce the shark pulls along the boat, and his flat black eye hypnotizes Robert Shaw. 'Either one,' said Tutti, with a click of her white teeth. 'Either one.'
'I have no idea what you're talking about.' Quill kept her hands still and her voice steady.
Tutti pulled out a jeweled compact, a lipstick, and frowned at herself in the mirror. Then she reapplied the lipstick, put the compact away, and said, 'Rita the security guard does. The boy from the pizza parlor who stuck the flyer under the windshield of that battered Oldsmobile of yours does. On the other hand -if you said that you'd met Joseph on Interstate 81 headed north - there wouldn't be anyone who could gainsay that - or prove it, either. You see, dear.' She leaned forward. 'No witnesses.' She sat back. 'We'll wait here.'
'It's not going to do you any good.' Quill stood up. 'You know about computers, Mr. Greenwald.'
'Some.'
'What type did Nora Cahill use?' He shrugged.
'I can give you a hint. Those software disks you found in the box of her office equipment? It was the latest edition of Microsoft Word. Practically every PC with the power to run that software automatically backs up files. Even if Nora erased it, the likelihood of one of those disk doctors being able to recover it is pretty high. And you know who has her laptop?'
'Who?' Tutti demanded.
Joseph Greenwald rubbed his forehead. 'Mrs. McIntosh, ah, McHale's got it.'
