“I concede, Ms. MacPhee. I suppose we should rise to the occasion. So what is our plan of attack?”
I plunked my glass on the table. “I think someone made fools of all of us. We're too emotionally involved with Elaine.…”
“Speak for yourself.”
“…and Lindsay.”
“Ah, yes. Lindsay.”
“We need to figure out what's really going on here. I'll talk, you react.”
“Splendid. Let us begin with the big question: if not Ms. Ekstein, then who?”
“I'll do the talking. Okay, in a typical murder, the guilty party is likely either a spouse, lover, family member or close friend, or a business associate with serious cash to gain or lose, or some drugged-out thug who meets the victim in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She nodded. She loved this kind of thing.
“Call me sentimental,” I said, “but I figure you, Alvin, and Merv are not the perpetrators.”
“Excellent. I will assume the same for you, Ms. MacPhee. And surely you can eliminate the random mugger. Whoever did this was organized, mobile and had done all the proper reconnaissance work.”
“Never mind reconnaisance work, the killer must have known Elaine well in order to set her up by wearing her clothes. Otherwise that video didn't make sense.”
“It is not necessary to keep banging your glass on the table.”
“If you'll give me a chance to talk, I won't have to. Let's see, the spouse is usually the most likely suspect. But Rina was dead long before Benning's body rolled into the Crystal Garden.”
“Someone in the late Ms. Benning's family might have the motivation,” Mrs. P. said.
“I thought of that, but how could they have framed Elaine?”
Mrs. P. wasn't giving up. “Nevertheless, let us leave no stone unturned.”
Lucky me, I had my pen and paper. I started a TO DO list for Alvin and wrote “leave no stone unturned” on it.
“Lovers are right up there with spouses,” I said.
“Well, Ms. MacPhee, Lindsay is the most obvious of the lovers. Let us speculate that she exited the house in the night while we conveniently slept, slipped into Elaine's hat and coat and wheeled Benning's body into the Crystal Garden, all the while keeping her lovely face averted from the cameras. She certainly had the means and opportunity to drug us. And presumably him. He would not have been afraid of her.”
I hated this version.
“And what if Lindsay did kill him? She had reason enough. I quite like the girl,” Mrs. Parnell said.
“You think I don't? Lindsay definitely had means, opportunity and big-time motive. The police wouldn't have to work hard to convince the Crown about that. She feared for her life and rightly so. She was much better off with him dead. She said it was time she opted for fight over flight.”
“High time she did, too. Good for her.”
“If he contacted her, she could easily have lured him to meet her. But it's still murder and premeditated. And may I remind you, if Lindsay did do it, that means she's deliberately framed Elaine.”
Mrs. Parnell topped up her sherry. Lester and Pierre cheeped.
I rubbed my forehead. “On the other hand, let's use our brains. Lindsay's so delicate, she'd never have the strength to move a body.”
“Nonsense, Ms. MacPhee, were you truant during all your high school physics classes?”
So I'd skipped a few of them, but how did she know? “What?”
“Pulleys, wheels, incline planes, winches and other contrivances. Don't forget the pyramids, Ms. MacPhee. Moving the body wouldn't be the big problem. No, in favour of Lindsay's innocence, I would say she loved Ralph Benning.”
“I'm with you there, but we have to think it through. There's something else troubling me. When we saw her in the morning, she was not wearing the same outfit she fell asleep in. Remember that cream-coloured cashmere ensemble? It should be in her home somewhere. It's not. I was searching for it when I got into that dust-up with Merv and Alvin.”
“Another indication that she'd gone out,” she said.
“What do you mean, another one?”
“Did you notice her boots lying in a puddle in the foyer in the morning?”
“Yes.” I hadn't realized Mrs. P. had spotted them too.
“But how would she have eluded the officers outside?” Mrs. Parnell sipped her sherry speculatively.
“They were obviously drugged too. I'm certain of that.”
“Ah! The pizza or the coffee?”
“Well, Lindsay didn't touch her pizza.”
“Everyone else tore into theirs.”
“That's the bad news. And everybody drank coffee. Even the cops, although we didn't actually see them drink it. Everybody except Lindsay.”
“Troubling. But how would Lindsay have known where to find Elaine's coat?” A stream of smoke wafted by my face.
“She didn't need to know in advance. She could have nipped the keys to the SUV, spotted the coat and hat and used them to throw suspicion onto Elaine.”
“To cast suspicion on a friend, that is not in the least bit sporting. If she did that, she'll get no sympathy from these quarters.”
“Wait a minute, this is all conjecture. I still don't think it was either Elaine or Lindsay. Elaine's nutty, but not cruel, and this was a cruel crime. I can't imagine Lindsay carrying out such a calculated scheme. Never mind showing enough imagination to encase the bastard in ice. But if the police or the Crown get wind of the fact Lindsay left the house, they might even decide Elaine and Lindsay colluded to kill Benning.”
“They could both end up in the hoosegow. We will have to get busy, Ms. MacPhee.” She leaned over and refilled my glass before I could protest.
“You bet. And while we're busy, we should ask ourselves why they're both lying. You can stay up and do that. This sherry is messing up my brain, and I need a good night's sleep so I can think clearly in the morning. So hand over my key.”
“Young people. Personally, I believe sleep is highly overrated.”
* * *
I had a faint post-sherry throb in my temple when Alexa showed up at my door, in full make-up, at eight-thirty the next morning.
“No can do. I have a full slate today. And I'm already way behind schedule.”
“This will take a minute.”
“Look, Alexa, I see the light of madness in your eyes. But even so, we both know it will not take a minute for me to pick out a bridesmaid's dress. I don't have a spare couple of hours today. So forget it.”
“Not a chance. I'll be in your face until you get that dress, so get with the program.”
In your face? Get with the program? What had happened to my warm-hearted favourite sister? I headed for the kitchen.
“You know, Alexa,” I said as the coffee worked its slow, slow way through the drip, “this wedding has eaten your brain. You know, Paul and I just eloped, if you remember…”
Talk about a reaction. “Of course I remember.”
“Why are you yelling?”
“Maybe you and Paul were happy, but no one else was.”