Sisters

TWENTY-FIVE




The dressing rooms of the Hillman Center were far from deluxe. They were a series of small, dreary cubicles off a dingy corridor furnished with folding chairs, a mirror, a comb, a brush and a hairdryer. The dressing area was filled with people milling around, joking, eating and drinking. The place was littered with empty soda cans, half-drunk bottles of bourbon and bags of pork rinds.

Walker Henley seemed unfazed by the second-rate accommodations. He invited Dory and Alex into the tiny room and offered them a folding chair. He sat facing a mirror as a girl with multiple piercings and tattoos came into the room with a tool kit full of make-up.

‘Better take your hat off,’ she said.

Walker did as he was told and, while he faced the mirror, the girl stood beside him and began to daub on make-up. Alex examined his face in the mirror. He was about thirty-five and a good-looking guy in a very clean cut, conservative way. He caught Alex studying him and winked at her.

‘Don’t blink,’ said the make-up girl.

‘Sorry. So,’ Walker said, ‘what’s the relationship between you two gals?’

‘We’re half-sisters,’ said Alex.

‘Dory, I knew about you, of course. Because of my . . . friendship with Lauren, I paid a lot of attention to the case. I guess it turned out you did some time for a crime you didn’t commit.’

‘That’s right,’ said Dory.

‘That’s a sin,’ said Walker.

Alex said nothing.

‘Well, what is it you want from me?’ Walker asked.

‘Um . . .’ Dory looked impatiently at Alex. ‘Tell him.’

Alex hoped her voice wasn’t shaky. She was still processing that phone call from Seth which had, undeniably, distracted her from her mission. Dory frowned at her, puzzled by her lassitude. They had barged in on Walker Henley, and they owed him an explanation. Alex forced herself to speak. ‘Once we . . . once the charges were dropped against Dory, I started wondering if maybe Lauren’s killer wasn’t from Boston after all. If maybe it was somebody she knew in the country music world. From Branson. Or Nashville.’

‘Don’t look at me,’ said Walker indignantly. ‘I was on tour out west when she was killed.’

‘Oh, no, I didn’t mean you,’ Alex said.

‘I remember when it happened. Our manager called me to tell me. I was stunned.’

‘Were you two . . . dating then?’ Alex asked carefully.

‘No, we’d broken up a few months earlier. But I still cared about Lauren.’

Alex nodded. ‘You said “our manager.” Did you and Lauren have the same one?’

‘We did,’ he said. ‘That’s how we met. Cilla Zander from TAI in Nashville represents us both. She introduced us. When she started out Lauren’s mother used to be her manager, but Lauren had to replace her with a pro.’

Alex looked at Dory. ‘Did you know that?’

Dory shrugged. ‘She was always busy with Lauren’s career. That was all she cared about.’

The make-up artist finished her work and patted Walker on the shoulder. ‘You can put your hat back on now.’

‘Thank you, ma’am,’ he said politely. ‘Close that door on your way out, would ya? They’re raising hell out there,’ he said cheerfully.

The girl closed the door and Walker turned his attention back to Alex and Dory. ‘So, what was your question again?’

Alex thought about it for a moment. ‘You and Lauren were engaged at one time, weren’t you?’

A pained look flitted over his even features. ‘Well, you know the press. They always exaggerate.’

‘You weren’t?’ asked Alex.

Walker shrugged. ‘We dated. Let’s just say that. She was always nice and fun to be with, but I don’t believe I ever really won her heart. All that girl cared about was her career. In the end I think she did me a favor by being honest.’

‘About what?’ Alex asked.

‘Well, about her ambition. She told me that she’d never love any man the way she loved her music. I think that was probably true.’

‘So you never thought it was another man, or something like that,’ said Alex.

Walker considered this a minute. Then he shook his head. ‘No. Look, I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but your sister was a bit . . . cold. I mean, she just never could . . . let herself go. You know what I mean?’

Dory nodded solemnly.

‘I was lucky she called it off. I met the right gal last year. We’re getting married next summer.’

‘Congratulations,’ said Dory. ‘You were lucky to get away from Lauren.’

Walker frowned and Alex quickly changed the subject. ‘Was there anyone you remember that Lauren was close to?’ she asked. ‘Anyone else we could talk to about her?’

‘Besides her mama?’ he asked.

‘Any friends? Other . . . relationships? Band members, maybe?’

Walker frowned. ‘No. She had no loyalty to the musicians who worked for her. She was always happy to use a house band or a pick-up band. She said to me once, “It’s me they come to hear, not the band.”’

‘That sounds like her,’ said Dory.

‘What about when she was home? In Branson?’

Walker stretched his legs out in front of him and folded his hands behind his head. ‘That was the sad thing. She spent all her time working. She had a nice house out in Branson, but other than the gardener and the housekeeper, she lived alone and kept to herself.’

‘What about them?’ Alex asked. ‘The gardener and the housekeeper? They might know of someone.’

‘It’s not like we were talking about two particular people. Even they were temporary. They were always quitting on her or getting fired. No one ever lasted long with Lauren.’

The door to the dressing room opened. ‘Walker. Fifteen minutes,’ said a young man wearing a leather jacket and a headset.

‘Ladies, you will have to excuse me,’ said Walker Henley, standing up.

‘Thank you so much for talking to us,’ said Alex.

Walker Henley smiled. ‘Enjoy the show.’

They stayed through Walker’s set and then headed out to the car. Alex was tired, and it had been a long day. She navigated as they retraced their route and got onto I-95, heading back to Boston.

They rode along in silence for a while. Then Dory sighed. ‘That was a waste of time.’

‘He wasn’t a lot of help,’ Alex admitted. ‘Nice guy though.’

‘Too nice for my sister,’ said Dory.

‘I guess we could follow up on this manager, Cilla Zander. Did you ever meet her?’

‘No, but I heard about her. My mom was pissed that she took over Lauren’s career. But Lauren was moving to Branson, and my dad wouldn’t go.’

‘Your mother wanted him to?’

‘Of course,’ said Dory. ‘That was all she cared about.’

‘Do you remember when Lauren was dating Walker?’

‘She brought him home at one point.’

‘I guess at that time your mother didn’t know that Lauren was gay.’

‘Apparently not. She was planning the wedding,’ said Dory ruefully.

‘I guess she did it for appearances,’ Alex observed. ‘It’s a high price to pay for success. Living a lie.’

Dory threw her an angry glance. ‘Nobody made her do it.’

‘Are you sure about that?’ Alex asked. ‘It sounds like your mother was pretty heavily invested in Lauren’s career. She was willing to move to Branson, for heaven’s sake.’

‘Are you kidding? Lauren was a hog for the spotlight. Pulling out that goddam guitar everywhere. “Do you want to hear ma new song?”’ Dory imitated her sister in a sing-song drawl.

‘Did she have a Southern accent?’ Alex asked.

‘She . . . acquired one,’ said Dory bitterly. ‘Whatever she had to do.’

Alex was quiet for a moment. ‘Was there anything about her that you liked?’

‘No,’ said Dory.

Alex thought about the song she had listened to, ‘Love You Only’, and the picture it painted of a woman trying in vain to please her mother, her fans and all the strangers around her. A woman whom no one really knew.

‘You think I’m terrible, don’t you?’ Dory asked. ‘You’re thinking how you’d be a much better sister than me.’

‘No, I’m not,’ said Alex, suddenly weary of Dory’s automatic habit of taking offense.

‘You probably think I was crazy, accusing her of trying to steal Rick Howland away from me. Why would she do that if she was gay? I’ll tell you why. Just for the pure meanness of it. She didn’t care who she hurt. Look at that Walker guy. He was thinking about marrying her, and she was just using him to make it seem like she went with men.’

Alex felt a headache forming as Dory drove along in the dark, ranting. Suddenly her phone rang.

‘Who’s that? Seth again?’ Dory asked sarcastically. ‘Must be nice to be so in demand.’

Alex frowned when she saw the caller ID. It was Detective Langford of the Boston police. She hit the button and answered the phone.

‘Ms Woods,’ he said. ‘How you doing?’

‘Much better,’ said Alex. ‘I’m doing fine.’

‘I just wanted to call you,’ he said, ‘because we got the lab tests back on that piece of liver we found at your house.’

‘Oh?’ said Alex, wondering why he would call her with that.

‘I thought you should know. That wasn’t poison on the liver. It was a sedative. A mild sedative for dogs.’

Alex felt a sickening flip in her stomach. ‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘You ought to be aware that your assailant, whoever he or . . . she might be, had no intention of poisoning that dog. Only wanted him to take a short nap so she . . . or he . . . could carry out their plan.’

Alex understood exactly what he was saying. She did not reply.

‘Based on these test results and, in the interests of our own investigation, we have decided to get a search warrant for the Colsons’ apartment in Boston. We feel that we need to go over that place again.’

‘I see,’ said Alex.

Dory was looking at her suspiciously.

‘You be on your guard, Ms Woods,’ said the detective.





TWENTY-SIX




The minute they walked into the house, Remus rushed to the door to greet them. Dory immediately crouched down and began to tussle with the dog, crooning to him and tugging on his ears. Alex looked on in sickening fascination, thinking about the call from Detective Langford. A canine sedative. A way to quiet the dog without hurting him. Would Dory have done that? Could it have been Dory, after all, who had attacked her? Suddenly Alex felt completely unmoored. She didn’t know what to believe. Was it possible that Dory had, in fact, been the one who killed Lauren? It would be difficult to find anyone who hated Lauren more.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ Dory demanded, looking up at Alex.

Alex jumped. ‘Nothing. Nothing. I’m going upstairs. I’m worn out.’

‘Go ahead,’ said Dory.

‘G’night,’ Alex mumbled as she hurried up the steps to her room, closed the door and locked it. Then, just for good measure, she took her desk chair and tilted it up so that it was wedged beneath the doorknob.

She got into her bed but didn’t take off her clothes. She picked up her phone and toyed with it. She was so tempted. Tempted to call Seth and tell him everything. Tell him that she was in the hospital because she had been stabbed. Tell him that now she was locked in her room, and that her possible assailant was just down the hall. But what could Seth do? she chided herself. She would be alarming him when there was no way he could help her. It wasn’t fair to put him in that position. She had to handle it herself.

She checked her address book and punched in Laney Thompson’s number. The phone rang several times and then went to voicemail. ‘Laney, this is Alex across the street. I’m just feeling a little jittery after that incident the other night. Please call me when you get this. I’d feel a lot better knowing you were right there.’

Well, she thought, that was no help. She tilted her head back against the headboard on her bed and tried to think. She couldn’t tell Dory that she suspected her of being the one who stabbed her. There was no rational explanation for why she would do that. Surely Dory hadn’t become so attached to Seth that she would hate Alex for stealing him away. And want to kill her. A person that did that would be . . . out of their mind.

Alex shuddered, remembering Dory’s rant in the car about Lauren. The force of her anger against her sister. I need to get away from her, Alex thought. No matter what. I have to put distance between us without letting her know of my suspicions. Tomorrow, she thought, I’ll tell Dory that I don’t need her here after all, that I’m going to stay with Uncle Brian. And this time, Alex thought, I’ll actually do it. I’ll stay there until Seth gets back, and then I’ll be safe.

Alex could feel a tightness in her chest, and her breathing became shallow. Stop it, she thought. Stop getting yourself into such a panic. If Dory had wanted to hurt you, she could have done it yesterday. Last night. Just because the person who attacked her had not tried to poison the dog that didn’t mean, ipso facto, that it was Dory. There are lots of dog lovers in this world, she told herself. Lots of people who wouldn’t hurt a dog, but wouldn’t hesitate to hurt their fellow man. Perhaps, in the end, it was just a burglary gone wrong. She couldn’t think of anyone in her life who might want to hurt her. What good would killing Alex Woods do for anyone else? She couldn’t think of anyone she had injured to that extent that they would want revenge. And no one stood to gain much if she should die. She didn’t even have an heir to leave her property to. She recalled her attorney John Killebrew telling her that she had to make a will and designate an heir, but she hadn’t done it yet. It didn’t seem necessary. It would probably go to Uncle Brian.

Or . . . to Dory.

The doorknob to her bedroom suddenly rattled and she cried out in alarm. ‘Who is it?’

‘Who do you think?’ asked Dory.

‘What do you want?’ Alex demanded.

There was no answer.

‘Dory?’ She waited. ‘Dory?’

She looked anxiously around the room. There was no other way in. From her front windows it was a sheer drop to the ground. Relax, she told herself. You have your phone. You’re perfectly safe. But no amount of reassuring herself seemed to work. She sat up in the bed, fully clothed and, try as she might, she could not get to sleep.

Dawn came and went and still Alex sat on her bed. She was not sure if she had dozed off or not but, if she had, it hadn’t lasted long. She felt utterly exhausted and nervous at the same time. She realized that Laney Thompson had never called her back. She must have gone away. Well, the night was over, Alex thought. Thank God for that. Suddenly she heard a minor commotion in front of the house. Several cars pulled up, and she heard car doors slamming. Alex jumped off the bed, ran to the window and looked out. A dark sedan was parked in front of the house with a black and white cruiser just behind it. Two men in suits and overcoats were coming up the walk, followed by a pair of uniformed officers. Jiggling the chair out from under the doorknob, Alex left her room and clattered down the steps. She had opened the front door before they even rang the bell.

‘Ms Woods,’ said Detective Spagnola. ‘You look tired.’

‘I haven’t slept,’ said Alex. ‘I’m glad to see you.’

‘We need to talk to your sister. Is she here?’

‘Yes, she’s upstairs. I’ll call her.’ Alex went to the foot of the staircase. ‘Dory,’ she called out. There was no answer.

Spagnola directed the two young uniformed officers to mount the stairs. They did as they were told, thundering up the steps.

‘Last door on the left,’ said Alex.

There was silence for a moment, and then one of them shouted down the stairwell, ‘No one here.’

At that same moment, Alex realized that there was no sign of Remus. ‘Oh, wait. She must have taken the dog out for a walk.’

‘Where does she take him?’

‘Probably down by the park at the end of the street.’

The detective summoned the uniformed officers to come back downstairs and then directed them to go down to the park at the end of the block to look for Dory and the dog.

Once they were out the door, Alex turned to the detectives. ‘Why are you here? What do you want to talk to Dory about?’

‘We’ve just come from the Colsons’ home,’ said Detective Langford. ‘As I told you on the phone, after we found out about the dog we obtained a search warrant and executed it early this morning. There was a knife with traces of blood on it hidden under the mattress in Dory’s room. We are testing it against samples of your DNA from the crime scene to confirm whether it is the weapon that was used to stab you.’

Alex felt suddenly light-headed. She sagged against the wall. ‘Oh my God.’

At that moment the back door opened and Dory came in with Remus tethered to her on a leash. Her cheeks were pink, and she was wearing a knitted blue cap with ear flaps and long tassels in a Nordic design. She looked as if she had skated in on the Zuider Zee. She bent down to let Remus off the leash and he rushed down the hallway. Dory straightened up and looked at her sister and the two detectives at the end of the hall.

Detective Spagnola turned his back on Dory and began to murmur into a two-way radio which he raised to his mouth.

Dory looked from the police to Alex. ‘Why are they here?’ she asked.

Alex looked at her coldly. ‘They want to talk to you.’

The look on Dory’s face shifted from curiosity to anxiety. ‘What for?’ she asked.

‘They want to question you,’ said Alex.

Detective Langford raised a hand as if to silence her. ‘We’ll handle this, Ms Woods,’ he said.

‘Question me about what?’ Dory demanded. She glared at Alex. ‘Did you call them?’

‘No,’ Alex said.

‘Based on results of some tests conducted here after the attack on your sister,’ said Spagnola, ‘we obtained a search warrant and went to your parents’ apartment this morning. We found a knife in your room. We believe it is the knife which was used to stab Alex Woods in the attack which occurred in this house the other night.’

‘No,’ said Dory. ‘That’s not mine.’

‘Come along then, and you can tell us your version of what happened.’

‘Come along where?’

‘To the police station. We are taking you in for questioning.’

Alex looked on anxiously as Dory pointed an index finger at the detective’s face. ‘No. I’m not coming. You can’t blame this one on me,’ she said.

‘If you don’t come willingly, we’ll have to place you under arrest.’ With that Detective Langford walked up to her and put a hand under her elbow.

Dory twisted away from him. ‘Let go of me.’ She turned furiously on Alex. ‘Tell them. Tell them I didn’t do this. You know I didn’t do it.’

Alex felt her face flaming.

‘You leave us no choice,’ said Spagnola. ‘Dorothy Colson, we are placing you under arrest for the attempted murder of Alex Woods.’

‘NOOOO . . .!’ Dory shrieked, and her wails echoed through the house.

Detective Langford, aided by Spagnola, lifted her by the arms and started to half-drag, half-carry her down the hallway.

Alex stood back to let them pass. She didn’t want to look at Dory as they dragged her by. She was afraid to see the hate, the contempt in Dory’s eyes. But as her gaze inadvertently met Dory’s, she saw instead the face of a frightened child looking back at her. Confused, defenseless and utterly alone.