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"Oh shit. I knew she'd do that."
"Well, it wasn't anything you could have prevented," she said charitably.
I leaned my head back against the sofa frame, playing mind games. "It could have been Beverly too, you know. Maybe Bev bumped her off in the ladies' room at the St. Louis airport."
"Or killed her in Santa Teresa and impersonated her from that point on. Maybe she was the one who packed the bags and took the plane."
"Try it the other way," I said. "Think about Pat. I mean, what if Pat Usher were a stranger to Elaine, just someone she met on the plane. Maybe they started talking and Pat realized-" I dropped that idea when I saw the expression on Julia's face. "It does sound pretty lame," I said.
"Oh, well-no harm done in speculating. Maybe Pat knew her in Santa Teresa and followed her from there."
I ran that around in my head. "Well, yeah. I guess it could be. Tillie says she heard from Elaine-at least, she assumed it was Elaine-by postcard until March, but I guess somebody could have faked that too."
I filled her in on my conversations with Aubrey and Beverly and right in the middle of it, my memory kicked in; one of those wonderful little mental jolts, like a quick electrical shock when a plug's gone bad. "Oh wait, I just remembered something. Elaine got a bill from some furrier here in Boca. What if we could track him down and find out if he's seen the coat? That might give us a lead."
"What furrier? We have quite a few."
"I'd have to check with Tillie. Can I make a call to California? If we can track down the coat, maybe we can get a line on her."
Julia wagged the cane toward the telephone. Within minutes, I'd gotten Tillie on the line and told her what I needed.
"Well, you know that bill got stolen along with the rest, but I just got another one. Hold on and I'll see what it says." She put the receiver down and went to fetch the mail.
She got back on the line. "She's being du
I could hear Tillie ripping open envelopes on her end of the line.
"Oops. Well, these are all overdue. It looks like she's run up a lot of charges. Let's see. Oh my. Visa, MasterCard. The last date on these is about ten days ago, but I guess that was just the end of the billing period. They're asking her not to use her cards until she's paid the balances down."
"Does it indicate where she was when the purchases were made? Was she in Florida somewhere?"
"Yes, it looks like Boca Raton and Miami for the most part, but you can check them yourself when you get back. Now that I've had the locks changed, they should be safe."
"Thanks, Tillie. Can you give me the furrier's address?"
I made a note of it and got directions from Julia. I left her and went back down to the parking lot. The sky was an ominous gray and thunder rumbled in the distance like movers rolling a piano down a wooden ramp. It was hot and still, the light a harsh white, making the grass turn phosphorescent green. I was hoping I could take care of business before the downpour caught up with me.
Jacques was located in the middle of an elegant shopping plaza, shaded with latticework overhead and planted with delicate birches in big pale blue urns. Tiny Italian lights had been threaded through the branches, and in the prestorm gloom they twinkled like an early Christmas. The storefronts were done in a dove-gray granite and the pigeons strutting across the pavement looked as if they'd been placed there purely for their decorative effect. Even the sound they made was refined, a low, churring murmur that rode on the morning air like cash being riffled in a merchant's hands.
The window display at Jacques had been artfully done. A golden sable coat had been tossed carelessly across a dune of fine white sand against a sky-blue backdrop. Tufts of sea oats were growing on the crest of the sand and a hermit crab had crossed the surface, leaving a narrow track that looked like an embroidery stitch. It was like a little moment frozen in time: a woman-someone reckless and rich-had come down to the shore, had shrugged aside this luscious fur so that she could plunge naked into the sea-or perhaps she was making love to someone on the far side of the dune. Standing there, I could have sworn I saw the grasses bending in a nonexistent wind and I could almost smell the trail of perfume she'd left in her wake.
I pushed the door open and went in. If I'd had money and believed in wearing furry creatures on my back, I'd have laid down thousands in that place.
Chapter 20
The interior was done in muted blues with a glittering chandelier dominating the high-ceilinged space. Chamber music echoed through the room as though there might be a string quartet sawing somewhere out of sight. Chippendale chairs were arranged in gracious conversational groupings and massive gilt-edged mirrors lined the walls. The only detail that spoiled an otherwise perfect eighteenth-century drawing-room was the little camera up in one corner monitoring my every move. I wasn't sure why. There wasn't a fur in sight and the furniture was probably nailed to the floor. I shoved my hands down in my back pockets just to show I knew how to behave myself. I caught sight of my reflection. There I stood in that rococo setting, in faded jeans and a tank top, looking like something deposited in error by a time machine. I flexed, wondering if I should start lifting weights again. The bicep made my right arm look like a snake that had recently eaten something very small, like a wad of socks.
"Yes?"
I turned around. The man who stood there looked as out of place as I did. He was huge, maybe three hundred pounds, wearing a caftan that made him look like a pop-open tent with a built-in aluminum frame. He was in his sixties with a face that needed to be taken up. His eyelids drooped and he had a sagging mouth and a big double chin. What was left of his hair had slipped down around his ears. I wasn't certain, but I thought he made a rude noise under his skirt.
"I'd like to talk to you about a past-due account," I said.
"I got a bookkeeper handles that. She's out."
"Someone left a twelve-thousand-dollar lynx coat here to be cleaned and recut. She never paid her bill."
"So?"
This guy didn't have to get by on good looks alone. He was gracious too.
"Is Jacques here?" I asked.
"That's who you're talking to. I'm Jack. Who are you?"
"Kinsey Millhone," I said. I took out a card and handed it to him. "I'm a private investigator from California."
"No fooling," he said. He stared at the card and then at me. He glanced around suspiciously like this might be a "Candid Camera" gag. "What do you want with me?"
"I'm looking for information about the woman who brought the coat in."
"You got a subpoena?"
"No."
"You got the money she owes?"
"No."
"Then what are you bothering me for? I don't have time for this. I got work to do."
"Mind if I talk to you while you do it?"
He stared at me. His breathing made that wheezing sound that fat people sometimes make. "Yeah, sure. Why not? Suit yourself."
I followed him into the big cluttered back room, taking in his scent. He smelled like something that spent the winter in a cave.
"How long have you been cutting fur?" I asked.
He turned and looked at me as if I were speaking in tongues.
"Since I was ten," he said finally. "My father cut fur and his father before him."