Frenzy

Jody looked at Qui

“Mrs. Hoffermuth was a number of things,” Qui

“I meant, what she must have gone through.”

“Do you know something about it?”

“How she was tortured. It was on the news. It—”

There was a scratching on the door to the hall. Craig exchanged glances with Ida French.

More scratching. Insistent.

The kitchen window must be completely closed.

Both of them leaped toward the door, bumping into each other. It was Craig who wrestled the door open.

A large black tomcat strutted in, arched its back, stretched, then continued toward a hall leading to what Qui

On the welcome mat behind him the cat had left a glittering jeweled bracelet.

This time Ida French managed to elbow Craig aside and snatched up Boomerang’s offering.

“Boomerang?” Pearl asked, to make sure.

“There isn’t any doubt,” Craig said, staring at the bracelet in Ida’s cupped hand. “But that bracelet looks like an imitation.”

“Sure does,” Ida French said, after a slight hesitation.

Qui

“It has to be imitation,” Ida French said.

“Unless Alexis Hoffermuth was trying to pull off an insurance scam,” Craig said.

Qui

“You would know about scams,” Qui

Craig looked at him, surprise on his handsome features. Then he smiled. “Part of your job, I guess, looking into people’s unsavory pasts.”

“ ’Fraid so,” Qui

He saw that Jody was leaning forward in her chair, the only one in the room more interested in what was being said than in the half-million-dollar bracelet. She was a people person.

“Where is your daughter, Miss Beene?” Pearl asked.

Ida French seemed not at all fazed. Pearl had to hand it to her.

“Eloise is with my sister in Queens.” She gave a wistful smile. “I didn’t think you set up this appointment for just a chat.”

“You pla

“It didn’t happen exactly like that,” Craig said.

“The details will be tended to later in court,” Qui

Qui

“Everything was going to be split three ways!” Craig said.

Ida French appeared dubious.

“The fence spotted the makeshift cat collar at the pickup point, as Boomerang was ru

“Maybe we can work a deal as to who that fence was,” Craig said. “Who killed my brother. Along with whatever else you need to know.”

Ida French stared at him in disgust. She knew he’d give her up in a minute. Even a New York one.

Pearl’s phone played its four musical notes from the old Dragnet TV show theme.

She checked to see who was calling.

“That Grandma?” Jody asked.

Pearl nodded, furious at her mother. She could pick the damnedest times to call.

“Can I talk to her?” Jody asked.

“You don’t have—”

“I want to,” Jody said. “You never know when it might be important.”

Pearl tossed her the cell phone. Jody caught it and went out into the hall.

“You can do your plea bargaining with the prosecutor,” Qui

“My daughter—” Ida said in a choked voice. But not before Qui

“The people we want—and are going to get—are the ones who killed Jack Clairmont and Alexis Hoffermuth.”

“I can tell you who they are!” Craig said.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Ida said. She’d apparently thought this out. “We didn’t kill anyone. Didn’t have the real bracelet for very long. There might not even be enough evidence to convict us. Especially if I keep quiet and don’t testify against you. They can’t make a wife testify, you know.”

“You two are really married?” Pearl asked.

Ida gri

Qui

Boomerang strutted into the room, and when Qui

The door to the hall burst open. Jody was there, still talking on Pearl’s cell phone with Pearl’s mother. She extended her foot daintily and tripped Craig Clairmont. Ida tripped over Craig. Qui

She quickly struggled to her feet, and staggered over to help Qui

Jody took several steps backward, the phone still pressed to the side of her head.

“So now you can go back to sitting with the same people for di

She gri

If a person was persistent enough, things had a way of working out.

“The insurance company has agreed to let the heirs cancel their claim and place the bracelet in a vault,” Qui

Craig and Ida silently nodded in unison. They both looked small and pale.

“It’s possible that we haven’t enough to charge you, or to get a conviction, but the people who cut off your brother’s finger and killed him in an attempt to make him talk, probably the same ones who tortured and killed Alexis Hoffermuth, are still out there. There isn’t enough evidence against them, either, to trigger an arrest.”

“Damned legal system!” Craig said.

“You want some advice?”