Carlene Thompson - Don

"The same thing he'd say if it were ten p.m." She deepened her voice. "My darling girl, alcohol is not good for you."

"You obviously disagree," Lily said, pulling a bottle of wine from the refrigerator.

"At the moment it's exactly what I need. I've had quite a nerve-wracking morning, thanks to you."

"Thanks to me?" Lily poured white wine in a glass, then ran water into a bowl and set it on the floor. Blaine lapped loudly. "What did I do?"

"You called me," Natalie said, walking back into the living room and sitting down on the couch.

"I didn't call you this morning."

"Lily, your voice is on the answering machine. You said something like, 'Natalie, it's Lily. I'm at Tamara's. Meet me. It's urgent.' "

Lily stared at her for a moment. "Natalie, I did not call you. And I don't ever remember using the word urgent. And why would I be at Tam's? Why would I want you to meet me? What time did the call come?"

"Around ten."

"And it sounded like my voice?"

"Yes, but rushed and breathless."

"So it wasn't exactly like my voice."

"Well, no." Natalie paused. "And you said Tamara instead of Tam."

"I didn't say anything. I'm telling you, it wasn't me. Don't you believe me?"

"Yes, but I don't understand why someone wanted me to go to Tam's."

"Did you go?"

Natalie nodded. "You weren't there so I wandered around a bit. Then I…" She hesitated. She didn't want to remind Lily of the vultures. "I thought you might have gone down Hyacinth Lane to the Saunders house. On the way I ran into Jeff Lindstrom."

"Jeff Lindstrom?" Lily looked blank.

"The guy who was in your store yesterday morning. Lily, he was weird."

"He didn't seem weird in the store."

"Today he was like a different person. He asked me questions about Tamara and Warren and Charlotte."

Lily closed her eyes. "I suppose everyone is talking about them."

"These weren't the questions of someone expressing normal curiosity. He was so intense. He kept looking right into my eyes and coming closer. He asked if Tamara knew Warren was having an affair with Charlotte."

"The son of a bitch." Lily's tired eyes filled with tears. "My poor sister was pregnant at last and Warren was screwing around with Charlotte."

"Pregnant?" Natalie echoed. "You didn't tell me."

"Sheriff Meredith just told Dad and me after the autopsy. She was eight weeks along. Do you know how badly Tam wanted a baby?"

"Yes." Natalie reached out and touched her hand. "Lily, I'm so sorry. I know that doesn't help."

"Nothing can help. Tam is gone. The baby is gone." Lily shuddered. "Oh, God."

"Lily-"

She held up a silencing hand. "No. Don't indulge me. I have to pull myself together. I was doing better yesterday until I heard about the baby. I need to be strong, though. There's the visitation tonight and the funeral tomorrow." She drew a deep breath. "Tell me more about Jeff."

"Well, obviously he made me uncomfortable with all those questions. I said I had to go, but he wouldn't move. I was getting scared, when Jimmy Jenkins came flying up on his bike. After Jeff left, Jimmy told me he'd been hanging around Tam's house earlier."

"What do you suppose he's up to?"

"I don't know. I'm going to call Nick Meredith this afternoon and ask him to check out this guy."

"Good idea. He's not Tam's murderer, though."

"You don't know that."

"Oh yes I do," Lily said vehemently. " Warren killed Tamara. I know it."

"And left that note saying something about tombs?" Natalie said, careful to sound vague about the quotation. She had not told Lily about the anonymous phone call or the voice in The Blue Lady. As far as Lily knew, Natalie had only seen the quotation once, briefly, on a blood-stained note. "Why would Warren do that?"

Lily's attention quickened. "I think he left the note to throw off the police, to make them think some nut killed my sister. He was a psychologist-it's the kind of thing he would think of."

Natalie was taken aback. She hadn't liked Warren, but she knew he was extremely bright. If he were capable of killing Tamara to get rid of her, the murder would be care fully plotted. He'd already lied about his alibi for the night of the murder. He'd even somehow coerced someone into verifying the alibi. But why had he invented an alibi in the first place? Simply because he had no alibi and he was afraid he would be the number-one suspect? Or because he was guilty?

"If Warren killed Tamara, then who killed Warren and Charlotte?" Natalie asked evenly as the simmering hatred in Lily's eyes alarmed her.

"I don't know. I don't care. If I'd had any idea what Warren had been doing to my sister…"

"You'd have killed him yourself?"

Lily blinked and her expression grew guarded. "Now you think I'm a murderer? Natalie, I would have felt like killing him, but feeling and doing are different things."

For the first time in their long friendship Natalie felt a flicker of doubt about Lily. She hated the feeling. Would she be having it if Nick Meredith hadn't raised the possibility that Lily had killed Warren and Charlotte? Lily looked at her questioningly, and she realized she hadn't responded.

"I understand how you must have felt about Warren," Natalie said quickly. Then she thought of the other possible killer she had discussed with Nick. "How is Alison doing now that her beloved is dead?"

"Last night she was moving around like she was in a trance," Lily said, her face growing defenseless again. " Warren 's father Richard stopped by. He has acquired this very young, flashy wife since you met him at the wedding. He also brought along his hulking younger son Bruce. Richard had already had a few too many drinks before they arrived, then he started in on Dad's brandy. He acts mad at Warren for getting killed."

"Well, they say anger is one of the stages of grief."

"It isn't that kind of anger. He was ranting and raving about how this was typical of Warren -he never showed good sense. What the hell was he doing with that Bishop woman? Did we all know about the affair? Did we all know what a complete ass Warren was making of himself? He was shouting and glaring at all of us. Alison started to cry. Her whole body shook. Viveca left with her. As soon as they were gone, Richard said Alison looked crazy. His wife told him to hush, but he just got louder and drank more and went on about what an idiot Warren was."

"I remember Richard Hunt from Tam's wedding. I thought he was awful."

"We all did. Thank goodness we haven't seen much of him and probably will never see him again after this mess is cleared up. As much as I detested Warren, I could see why he turned out the way he did."

"He certainly set off Alison for the evening," Natalie said, clumsily steering the conversation back to the direction she wanted. "Do you think she's worse?"

Lily looked away for a moment. "Yes. I hadn't really thought about it, but she's different than she was when Dad and Viveca began seeing each other."

"Do you think she's capable of violence?"

"Violence? Well, I've seen her throw a couple of tantrums that were pretty scary. She's stronger than she looks and her temper is fierce. She's been wandering around at night. I know Viveca is really worried."

"Alison is very unstable. And she had a wild crush on Warren." She paused. "Lily, Alison probably saw Tam as a rival."

Lily's eyes widened. "Do you think Alison might have killed my sister?"

"Maybe. And as for Warren -well, with her rival out of the way, Alison could have thought Warren would turn to her. But he didn't, of course. He ran straight to Charlotte."

"He did, didn't he? Two nights after his wife was murdered, he was with his mistress."

Lily suddenly sounded vague, detached. Was it because she'd been profoundly shocked by the possibility that Alison killed Warren? Or was it because she knew Alison had not murdered him?