Day Shift

“What’s that? I may or may not know the answer.”

“Would it have been fatal even if she hadn’t been sick?”

“Yes, probably. Of course, I haven’t read the autopsy report or talked to the medical examiner. Not my place, not my case. But that’s what the Bonnet Park cops say.”

“So her blood pressure just dropped? Until she couldn’t live anymore?”

“Essentially, yes.” Arthur lifted some papers on the desk in front of him, then dropped them. “The important point as far as you’re concerned is that unless something was radically different about Rachel Goldthorpe’s metabolism, she ingested that medicine before she got to your room. Probably forty-five minutes to an hour before, but it could have been a little later.”

Manfred felt overwhelmingly relieved. “How do you know?” he said.

“She died less than fifteen minutes after she’d entered your room. The toxicologist says that makes it almost a hundred percent certain that she ingested it earlier than that.”

“So I’m off the hook for putting pills in her water bottle and causing her death. But I’m still on the hook for the theft of her jewelry.”

“Based solely on Lewis’s words.” Arthur leaned back in his chair, which creaked alarmingly. They devoted a minute to thinking about that.

Footsteps went by outside, the telephone rang, voices rose and fell in conversation. A man laughed, full out, as if he’d heard the funniest joke ever. Manfred had the sense that life flowed all around them, that they were on an island in the middle of a stream. It was curiously comfortable and personal.

“I have to worry about the jewelry?” Manfred said.

Arthur spread his hands. “Lewis is acting so irrational that the Bonnet Park police hate to deal with him. But they have to take what he says seriously. And the jewelry is not in the house. There are six pieces that aren’t accounted for. They’re insured for quite a large amount.”

“As I told the cops there, she told me she hid the jewelry from Lewis.”

“As he told the cops there, she was carrying it in her purse and you stole it while she died. He said versus he said.”

“They searched the room. They searched my luggage. They searched her purse. They searched her poor old body, I’m sure.”

Arthur patted the air to tell Manfred to calm down. “Until it shows up, you need to be concerned. I wish you had a recording of Mrs. Goldthorpe saying those words.” He stood up. “I’m sorry, Manfred, but they’re bringing in a suspect in those convenience store robberies. I’ve got to question him.”

“Sure, and thanks for the good news.” It just wasn’t good enough. Manfred hoped his talk with Olivia and Barry today was productive. He was ready to feel free again.

29

To Manfred’s astonishment, he had a guest when he returned from Davy. And she was as mad as anyone he’d ever seen. Magdalena Powell pulled up in her car just as he got out of his, and Olivia (with perfect timing) came out of the side door of the pawnshop and walked across the dry brown lawn.

Magdalena shot out of her car and launched right in. “Forging my letterhead to send a bogus letter from me! Don’t deny it. I’m seriously considering bringing a case against you. You’d never get out of jail once I got through with you.”

“Hello, Ms. Powell,” Manfred said, spreading a big dollop of calm all over his voice. “Before you get any more upset, let me tell you the circumstances.”

“Ms. Powell, I have to confess,” Olivia said, her voice so charming that Manfred turned to her with his mouth hanging open. “It wasn’t Manfred. It was me.”

It was hard to say who was more astonished by Olivia’s confession.

“And you are?”

“Olivia Charity. I’m Manfred’s neighbor. I’ve been so worried about him. In trying to get him out of this terrible predicament he’s in, I confess I went overboard. But when you hear the result of the stunt I pulled, I think you’ll forgive me. I had Manfred’s welfare at heart.” She looked at Manfred meaningfully. The ball was in his court.

Manfred made his jaw snap shut and said numbly, “Please come in. I can tell we need to talk for a while.”

“We sure do,” Magdalena said, though in a somewhat modified tone. She swept into the house when Manfred stood back, and Manfred gave Olivia a big, silent, questioning expression when Magdalena’s back was to them. Olivia just smiled. Then Magdalena turned around and the moment was over.

“Um, please, come in and sit down,” Manfred said. He’d had a lot of visitors lately, and he was beginning to wonder if Midnight was isolated enough. As he turned to close the front door, he saw a naked man walking on the sidewalk across the street. He froze for a second. The man was Diederik, and Diederik was definitely fully grown. Manfred pushed the door shut before Magdalena caught a glimpse. He thought, What the hell?

But he turned to face his guests, who hadn’t seen. He did his best to act as though they were the sole focus of his attention.

“Can I get you a glass of water or some coffee or some tea?” he asked, not too surprised his voice came out funny.