Naked Came The Phoenix

Caroline hesitated. "I know that my mother thinks Claudia was skimming off profits through Ondine."

"What do you think?"

"I don't know! I'm just a simple musician, an ex-musician at that."

"It's impossible to be an ex-musician. Just ask an old geezer like King David. Good Lord, his face looks like a truck ran over it. He is way past the prime meat rating. Some people just can't get past high school." Toscana drank his coffee. "What do you think of him?"

Caroline felt heat in her face. Toscana must have picked up on it and that's why he was questioning her about him. "He's a jerk."

"What specifically makes him a jerk in your opinion?"

"For starters, he's been bothering me, scaring me."

"Oh?" Toscana sat up. "Tell me about it."

"He told me he came here to look for something. He was certain that Claudia had it. Now, for some reason, he thinks I have it."

"But you don't know what he's talking about."

"No," Caroline lied.

"Very mysterious, Mrs. Blessing. And vague enough that I can't pin you down on anything. Why should I believe this ambiguous tale?"

"Why shouldn't I be believed?"

"Because, Mrs. Blessing, your mother has more than a little motivation for wanting Claudia de Vries dead, starting with the fact that Mom now owns the majority stake in the spa."

"Then why didn't you arrest her when she wanted to be arrested?"

"Because, silly old me, I still honor a thing called due process." As far as Toscana was concerned, Hilda's little drama was nothing but a ruse. "If there's something you want to tell me, please speak up. You want to help your mom, don't you?"

"Of course," Caroline insisted. "But I've told you everything I know." She hoped her words rang true to his ears.

"Then let me ask you this. Why are you so intent on setting up David King-"

"King David-"

"First, you tell me about a mysterious voice arguing with Ms. de Vries. Then you tell me about David King looking for some unknown thing-"

"King David-"

"Whatever."

There was something about her that reeked of honesty, or more specially, naivete. For one thing, she was a congressional wife, talking without a lawyer. "Maybe King David was making a move on you?"

"Perhaps," Caroline admitted. "But when that didn't work, he became aggressive, insisting that I hand over something that I don't have and don't even know what it is." Again, her eyes watered. "Now I don't know what to think."

Toscana sighed inwardly as he watched her face. This wasn't just a simple "I'm scared" reaction. This was "I'm seeing my life pass before me and I don't like what I see."

No doubt she was weeping for her deceased father, for her overbearing mother. And judging from the way she was playing with her ring, pulling it on and off her finger, she was in the process of making some drastic decisions in the matrimonial department.

Toscana said, "You got a package today, Mrs. Blessing. Mind if I ask you what was in it?"

Caroline dabbed her eyes. "A cello. My own old cello, actually. My mother traced down the person I sold it to and bought it back for me. It's in my room. Go take a look if you don't believe me."

"So you're a classical musician."

"Once upon a life, I was even symphony caliber."

"What happened?"

"I got married."

"And…"

"And it's a boring story." She smiled with wet eyes. "The main thing is that my mother actually did something selfless for me. Hunting down the instrument. That took effort. My mother made an effort to do something lovely for me."

"And that's unusual?"

"Extremely unusual."

"What's her usual style? Hiring a PI to take dirty pictures of your husband with other women?"

The shock registered instantly. Caroline snapped her head upward. "That was totally uncalled for."

Toscana regarded the look on the young woman's face. It made him shrink. It was one thing to be tough, another thing to be cruel. "That was terrible. I'm sorry."

She stood up. "I think we're done."

Toscana said, "If that's what you want. Again, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not. I'm sure this fits nicely into your stereotype of me-a stupid, i

"You're not stupid, Mrs. Blessing. Furthermore, you don't have to be stupid to be shafted. I nearly lost my entire IRA on a stock tip. It almost cost me my wife as well. That's why I'm here, to placate my spouse. Up to me, I would have never left Philadelphia. But you do things to keep the marriage going. You compromise."

"Up to a point!" Caroline said.

"Up to a point," Toscana repeated. "May I ask how long you have known about your husband's indiscretions?"

Tears pressed onto her cheeks. "Since this morning. When my mother gave me the envelope."

Toscana shook his head. "Why would she do that? Shove those pictures in your face. It seems to me that she wants you as miserable as she is-"

"Oh please! Haven't you said enough things for one day?"

"Probably."

Caroline glared at him. "How'd you find out about them?"

"I saw them when I visited your cabin."

Once again, Caroline was outraged. "You must have been snooping, then. I hid the packet quite well."

"Hid it?" Toscana was confused. "You left the pictures out in the open-"

"I did not! I should report you."

He offered her his cell phone. "You want the number of my superior?"

She pushed the phone away. "If you even think of using those pictures in your investigation-"

"Mrs. Blessing, even if I had found a smoking gun, I couldn't admit it into evidence. You've gotta know that I broke the law by entering your room without permission. I know it's not nice, but it's not murder."

"You don't seem bothered by prying into my personal effects!"

"The pictures were left in plain view, Mrs. Blessing."

"I didn't even open the envelope." She threw daggers at him with her eyes. "You opened the envelope, didn't you? You found the envelope, opened it, and left the pictures out for all to see!"

Toscana said, "Mrs. Blessing, I would never open sealed mail. That's a felony. You can sit here and protest your little heart out, but I didn't find your hiding place. Which means that someone else busted into your room. So why don't we cool down and try to figure out who would go through your things. Please. Let's start over. When did you hide the envelope?"

She thought about it. "I'd say about three hours ago."

"Okay. I went into your cabin right after I revived Ms. Talmadge. Since everyone was at the pond-out in the open-I took the opportunity to poke around. That was around two hours ago. So someone else was in your room between two and three hours ago. First person who comes to my mind is your mom. She certainly has easy access to your room."

"Except that she was the one who gave me the envelope and told me to hide it," Caroline said.

Toscana flipped a page on his notepad. "Maybe that's what she told you. But maybe she wanted to make it public so there would be no turning back."

"No, you have it wrong. She told me not to expose the bastard!"

"And if she had asked you to expose the bastard, would you have done it?"

Caroline was silent.

"So maybe she thought she was helping you."

"It wasn't Mother. She'd be mortified if Douglas's infidelities came out. It would sully her reputation."

"Why would it hurt her? Gossip would be great for the spa's business."

"It wasn't Mom!" Caroline insisted. "It had to have been King David. He did this to warn me that I should give him what he wants or else he'll have the photos published."

"If he was going to use the photos for nefarious purposes, I'd think he'd steal them, then go to your husband for blackmail."

"Well, someone opened my mail! Someone invaded my private life… such as it is." She looked at the remnants of the pizza. The cheese had leaked enough axle grease to oil down an auto lot. Just looking at it made her sick. She wanted to go home. Except where was home now? Certainly not with Douglas. And she wouldn't go back with Mother. "When can we leave this godawful place?"