"But he was talking about Melinda on the phone."

"Talking about her...I don't know. Her name was mentioned, that's all. And he said something like 'your day'll come' or 'you've got it coming' or 'today's the day.'" Violet made a dismissive gesture. "Maybe he was talking about the wedding, and I got it screwed up."

"It sounds like a threat."

"Maybe," she said, c.o.c.king her head as if she was thinking that over.

Watching her, I recalled Melinda's comment about how I should look into Violet's past. I'd dismissed it, mostly because I knew the basics of Violet's history. I'd thought Melinda was just being snarky. But could something else have cropped up? Something about Violet that she still wasn't willing to share? And could this all be an act? A means to push me in another direction?

"And afterward, that's when things got physical," I said.

"We'd never fought like that before," she said. "I was stunned when he shoved me against the wall. It just wasn't like him." She searched through her purse for her keys. "It's just depressing to go over this. I really thought Roland and I had a chance. I wanted to remarry him. It sounds ridiculous now, but I fell in love with him. When we got married the first time, I don't know...I didn't really feel that way about him. I liked him. Sure. He was nice to me and I wanted out of L.A. I was not thrilled about his kids, and they were not thrilled about me, but it wasn't terrible. I even helped Gigi with birth control when she needed it. At fourteen! Trust me, that girl would have been pregnant before she hit high school if I hadn't intervened. And the drugs and alcohol? Roland may have had his problems, but drug abuse runs in that family. Look at Sean, and Gigi sure took her turn around that block when she was younger. So Roland and I split up. Too many forces dragging us down back then." She shook her head at the irony of it all. "But now was our time. It was just us. Somebody killed him, Jane, but it wasn't me."

For the first time I thought Violet looked her age. Every minute of it.

"Okay," I said after a long moment.

She gazed at me uncertainly.

"I get that you loved him."

Violet exhaled as if she'd been holding her breath for eons. "The Dwayne thing got in the way of you believing me before."

That was true, but I didn't feel like confirming it.

"Maybe it was those Wedding Bandits," she said. "Maybe they came to rob the place after I left, but Roland was still there and got in the way. Maybe...they hit him with something, too?"

My skin rippled as if a cold breeze swept over me. Maybe she was trying to lead me in another direction.

Something niggled at my brain. Another thought that swam just out of reach. I tried hard to catch it, but it seemed to leap away at the last moment, a teasing sprite I was going to have to ignore for now and hope it would draw near enough some time in the future for me to grab.

A different issue occurred to me. "You didn't go to the memorial service?"

Violet was opening her driver's door. "Oh, I went, though I know they all wished I wouldn't. I came late and stayed toward the back, but it wasn't really the way I wanted to say good-bye, so I left early." She looked at me over the roof of her car, her smile ironic. "I drank a toast to him by myself. To what might have been."

I nodded.

"Jane?"

"Yeah?"

"Find who killed him. Please."

I nodded again and climbed in my Volvo. As I drove toward the parking lot exit I watched her in my rearview mirror. She took a long time to thread her key in the lock. Sometimes it's weird how people age in an instant. Vitality one moment and then poof. Father Time swings his scythe and hourgla.s.s and knocks them hard on the head.

I thought maybe it was a good thing she'd d.a.m.n near bought out The Face.

CHAPTER TEN.

I drove straight to Dwayne's and we stood side by side just inside the sliding gla.s.s door to his dock. The slider was tightly shut for once, as the rain continued unabated. Balanced lightly on his crutches, his binoculars hanging from one hand, Dwayne silently watched the deluge while I recounted the gist of my latest interview with Violet.

When I was finished he digested the information for a bit, then said, "So, now what do you think about our client?"

"She's been lying to us. Okay, omitting. Amounts to the same thing."

"Think you squeezed her dry?"

"Pretty d.a.m.n close."

Dwayne nodded thoughtfully. I waited for further instructions, but he just kept staring out at the weather. I was feeling frustrated and stymied all over again and asked myself once more if I was really cut out for this business.

"Who do you think called Roland that morning?" Dwayne asked finally.

"Someone involved in the wedding?"

"Roland was talking about Melinda during the call, so it wasn't her. When you talked to Gigi, did she say she'd called him?"

"No...she must have been having mimosas about that time, and getting her hair and makeup done," I recalled. "With Deenie and Melinda."

"Doesn't sound like she'd take a break to call dear old dad," Dwayne said. "It was after the phone call, or calls, that Roland was upset."

"Yes, but Violet said he was distracted and they were having trouble the night before, too."

"But not like after the phone calls. That's when things got physical."

"True."

"Somebody set him off. Whoever called Roland gave him some information that sent him over the edge, enough for him to push Violet against the wall."

"Do you think he was mad at Violet?" I asked. "Or he was just enraged and she was there to take the brunt?"

"Could be either. We know that after Roland talked on the phone he and Violet got into a fight, and she hit him with the first available object, the silver tray."

"She says it was the first time they fought physically." When Dwayne didn't immediately respond, I asked, "You're not convinced Violet's telling the truth anymore?"

"I don't think she killed Roland, but I don't think she's giving us the complete truth, either. Was Roland going back to Melinda? Was he breaking up with Violet? Were he and Violet getting back together? There's no way of knowing. I'm not even sure Violet really knows. We've got to stick with the facts. And the fact is Roland took at least one call that precipitated the fight with Violet."

"Roland's cell phone," I said suddenly. "The police must have confiscated it. You think Larrabee might tell us about those calls?"

"Not unless it suits his purposes."

"What do you think we should do?"

"Stir things up."

"Okay." I waited. "How?"

"When you interviewed Melinda she asked you to keep her informed if the investigation led away from Violet," Dwayne reminded me. "Go ahead and do that. Tell her you're certain of Violet's innocence and you're looking in other directions. Maybe she'll tell you what she was hinting at before."

"Good idea."

"Tell Gigi and Emmett the same thing. Have you called Emmett's parents? Maybe it's time to check with them. I'll give Larrabee another call and push him."

I was thrilled Dwayne's brain was humming along. This was what I'd missed while he'd been recuperating. I could have shouted my joy to the skies.

"And the plastic surgery partner?"

"Dr. Wu."

"d.a.m.n convenient that he's out of the country right now," Dwayne muttered. "Go to one of the clinics. See what they're about."

"Oh yeah, sure. That'll be easy. Roland sold that business," I reminded him.

"Money's a big motive for murder."

"Melinda thought there was something fishy about the business sale, but she really doesn't have much nice to say about anyone or anything."

Dwayne snorted. "Do any of them?"

"Not really."

"What about after Thursday's game?" he asked suddenly. "Are you planning to meet Dawn?"

"Thursday?" I repeated, before I remembered that we were approaching Veterans Day, one of those holiday weekends that sometimes include a teacher in-service day, or whatever they call them now. "The game's on Thursday?" Dwayne nodded. "You seriously think they'll meet at Do Not Enter after last week's fiasco?"

"Maybe not. But it's like their clubhouse."

I drew a breath, gazing across the bay. I let my eye travel along the sh.o.r.eline. "I should return Social Security's canoe," I admitted.

The house where I'd docked was nearly out of sight from Dwayne's, tucked into a slight bend as far west as I could see. I took the binoculars from Dwayne's hand and adjusted them. I could just see the end of the canoe, peeking from beneath the shelter of the boat-port. Through the rain I could see it was a faded red, its tags barely visible. If I didn't move it back, someone might eventually discover it and learn it was registered with the Lake Corporation, so its owners.h.i.+p would be established. But how long would it take for someone to find it? It wasn't like there was a lot of bustling activity over there. I was doomed to take it back.

"Could it just stop raining?" I muttered.

Dwayne snorted in agreement.

Binkster greeted me at the door when I returned, wriggling around my legs excitedly, as if she hadn't seen me in a decade. I had stopped at the market and purchased several sacks of essential foods. I'd even gone so far as to buy hamburger, half price, a few days old, and had visions of spaghetti or lasagna or something. I was pretty sure I could stir in tomato sauce and pour it over pasta. Hefting my brown bags on the counter, I bent down to scratch Binkster's ears, which earned me a long, happy inhalation that sounded like a train rumbling over tracks.

"Guess what?" I told her, to which she c.o.c.ked her head from side to side. "I bought groceries!"

She wagged her tail slowly, clearly trying to a.s.sess the importance of my words. Dogs apparently have about two hundred words they understand. Treat, mochi, walk, she gets. Groceries, apparently not.

Note to self: increase dog's vocabulary.

I put a call into Melinda's cell, wondering if she would pick up or dismiss me as quickly as she had the caller who'd phoned the day I'd interviewed her. I got her voice mail fairly quickly, so I left a message, telling her that it appeared the Wedding Bandits were more at fault than originally thought. I added that she'd asked if I would let her know if the investigation was turning away from Violet, so I was following through, just letting her know. I topped off the lie about the Wedding Bandits by saying I'd talked with the police and though they hadn't come right out and said so, they, too, were concentrating on the Wedding Bandits instead of Violet.

I called Gigi and Emmett with about the same message, and then I tried the number for the Popparockskills, but David and Goliath also weren't answering. I left my name and contact information with them, then Renee once more, just for the h.e.l.l of it, since she seemed to have dropped off the planet. Finally, I gave Deenie another jingle, reaching her voice mail. Then I took my dog for a walk in the rain.

As I was returning, I saw Mr. Ogilvy's blue pickup truck in my drive and my heart sank. Now what?

The side door to the garage was open, to my surprise. I'd never really seen inside and since this could be my one and only opportunity, I hurried to the open door and peered in. Binkster pulled at the leash for all she was worth, but I held her tight. She shook water from her coat and whined at the door while I stared past her at a huge pile of old, dispirited furniture, rotting trunks, boxes of files seemingly marked from the beginning of time, some bicycle tires and various and sundry other stuff. Above my head were several planks laid over the open rafters, and on those planks were more boxes.

"Jane?" Ogilvy called, straightening up from a dim back corner. The guy had a shock of gray hair and about the blackest, bus.h.i.+est eyebrows around. He could give Scorsese a run for his money.

"You're starting to clear this out?" I asked, looking at the pile of old toys, circa mid-seventies, early eighties. Fisher-Price scored big. Lots of little, cylindrical people wearing big smiles. There were also a couple of yellow, red and blue Big Wheels, molded-plastic vehicles with pedals.

"Garage sale," he stated. "This Sat.u.r.day."

We were practically shouting at each other to be heard above the rain as it pounded on the roof. I had a picture of would-be "garage-salers" blocking my driveway and trying to involve me in their purchases.

"You want anything, you can have it," he added generously. "Better tag it or get it outta here quick."

I want my cottage , I thought. Binkster snuffled on the ground, eye to eye with a group of displaced centipedes disturbed by Ogilvy. They gave me the w.i.l.l.i.e.s as they moved like a wave to the nearest group of Fisher-Price people lying on their sides, having been tossed out of their faded Fisher-Price home.

I feel for you , I told them silently as I pulled Binks away from the centipedes. Aren't they supposed to be poisonous? Or is that something I learned from a video game that has no merit? Whatever-they're creepy. I had a picture of myself pulling one out of Binkster's mouth and it gave me the heebie-jeebies.

"I got an offer on the place," Ogilvy grunted. "No real estate commission."

I regarded him in horror. "I thought you weren't selling for a while. You said I had time."

He shrugged. "Can't ignore a good offer."

"I was thinking about trying to buy the cottage myself," I said, the words flying from my mouth as if I'd been put under a liar's spell.

He a.s.sessed me for a moment, checking to see if I was serious, I guess. "Better get it in writing soon," he muttered, bending back to his task.

I stumbled to the house with Binks in tow, practically falling through the door in my haste. Binks ran to her bowl, shaking off rain, and I skidded with wet feet onto one of the stools at my little breakfast bar.

I felt ill. Flushed. Feverish. I sensed a closeness moving into my peripheral vision, as if I'd been drugged or dealt a blow to the head. He was selling. Selling. It was real. I had to buy it. I couldn't buy it. Couldn't afford it. Needed to have it.

I charged to the refrigerator, yanking open the door. Miracles. I'd bought a jug of orange juice in my shopping frenzy. I unscrewed the top and gulped thirstily. Sugar. I needed sustenance. Energy.

I felt Binkster's paws on my leg and looked down to see her staring up at me. Did she understand I was stressed? Or did the orange juice look good? Hard to tell with her.

Soberly, I said, "We are about to be evicted from our home."

Now, there was irony for you: I made part of my living from evicting people. But it wasn't the same. Those people didn't pay their rent, whereas I paid on time, every time!

My cell phone bleeped. A text message. Expecting it to be Dwayne, I was a little surprised to see it wasn't. I thought it was Violet for a moment, when I saw the one line missive: break in the case. vl Then I realized it was Vince Larrabee.

I phoned him back immediately but the call went right to a generic voice mail. I left him my name and number, though he already had it, just in case that would speed his return call. I couldn't believe he'd taken the time to let me know. What kind of break? I wondered. Could the police have nabbed one or more of the Wedding Bandits? Larrabee had sounded hot on their trail when we met. I hoped like h.e.l.l he continued to keep me in the loop.