Читать книгу Camilla MacPhee Mysteries 6-Book Bundle - Mary Jane Maffini - Страница 39

I prefer not to break bread with Det. Sgt. Leonard Mombourquette. But I found myself between a rock and a rat. Even though it was nearly noon and I hadn't set foot in the office, Elaine had to be my priority.

Mombourquette surprised me and agreed to meet at The Mayflower. He didn't even hesitate. When I arrived, on foot and out of breath, he was already waiting in a booth.

“Nice hat,” he said.

“Nice ears,” I said.

It was lunchtime, and we opted for the Winterlude Specials. I had chicken pot pie. Mombourquette took the tourtière. We followed it up with carrot cake with cream cheese icing. “Gotta get all your food groups,” Mombourquette said.

I agreed. I was glad to eat whenever I had the chance, since I had kissed regular meals goodbye.

It was a long time to spend in Mombourquette's company, but I reminded myself Elaine merited serious sacrifice. On the up side, I figured he'd be as emotionally distanced from weddings as I was.

“So,” I said, “this wedding fuss. Giving you a headache?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know all this hassle about the perfect flowers, they have to be calla lilies and they have to be the precise shade of cream. I mean, do you believe there are dozens of shades of cream, and then the lights matter a lot and the type of deckle on the edge of the invitations…”

He shrugged.

“Not to mention the hysteria about the music.”

“Well…”

“And the candles, for God's sake, they have to be special too.”

“It's all…”

“Exactly. Especially the business with the dresses. It's enough to make you nuts. Do I look like I want to wear a butt-ugly bridesmaid's dress at my age?”

“What's eating you? I think the wedding will be beautiful. Two nice people happen to be very much in love and deserve some happiness. Why shouldn't they celebrate it?”

I spilled a bit of coffee. Very much in love? “Sorry, call me crazy, but I remember you gave McCracken a hard time about getting involved with a member of my family.”

“But now I understand the difference relationships can make in the quality of a person's life.”

“Sorry? I missed that.”

Mombourquette squirmed a bit on the banquette. “You know. Love.”

“Love?” I'd never suspected Mombourquette was aware of the concept.

He narrowed his beady little eyes. “Problem with that?”

No matter what kind of situation you find yourself in with Mombourquette, you always have to be careful not to corner him. “I never expected you to believe in love.”

“What do you mean? Of course I believe in love—I'm human.”

“Well, hey, I'm certainly human.”

“Good thing you told me, Camilla. It sure doesn't show.”

I felt like reaching out my icy Sorel and stepping on his tail.

“Okay, Leonard, forget the wedding. I'm on another project. Saving Elaine Ekstein from a life sentence.”

Did I imagine his pale gray complexion turned a soft dusty rose? I wasn't about to let up. “So. You think she did it? I mean Elaine is an extraordinarily bad driver. She does have a serious record of traffic tickets, even though she pays them, and this criminal life is a slippery slope. It doesn't take much to move on from parking under a No Parking sign in front of City Hall to fast-freezing the bodies of your enemies and plunking them in parks as part of a ceremonial display.”

Sure, I talked smart, but he had me worried. If the evil wedding spirits could get to Mombourquette, no one was safe. But I had other fish to fry. “My calculations tell me you didn't have that surveillance tape in your hot little hands before you rousted us at Lindsay's.”

I liked the way he couldn't quite meet my eye.

“Right, so what made you and McCracken focus on Elaine?”

He stared down at the table.

“Hmm?”

He fiddled with a package of sugar.

“Intuition, maybe?”

He shook his head.

“Let me guess, you consulted a psychic?”

The sugar packet ripped. “We got a call.”

“How convenient. It didn't occur to anyone the caller might want to put Elaine in the frame?” I did not suggest Elaine was wacky enough to place the call herself. Why buy trouble?

“Of course it occurred to us,” he said.

“The rest of your colleagues seem happy to think Elaine did it. And tickled pink to charge her.”

He shook his head. “Pressure from up the line.”

“Maybe it's the same place up the line that made sure the evidence against Benning didn't hold up in all those earlier charges?”

He shrugged. I took it as a maybe.

“What's the grudge against Elaine, anyway?”

“I think she made our lives miserable about a lot of cases. Particularly in spousal abuse cases where charges were dropped against batterers because of evidence problems. And she was always agitating for public inquiries and demanding official apologies.”

I nodded. “That's our girl.”

Mombourquette said, “Anyway, she made plenty of enemies. Inside the force and out.”

I had to agree. “Any names?”

“Be serious.”

“What about the officers outside the house? You think one of them was involved with Benning in some way?” I was careful not to get Alexa into the soup.

“They weren't in on it.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Trust me.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Look, this will come out eventually, but those three officers were drugged. They were still knocked out when we arrived.”

“All of them?”

“What? Yes, all of them.”

“How do you know one of them wasn't left awake?”

“If one had been awake, don't you think they would have reported the others passed out?”