If Catfish Had Nine Lives(70)
I was glad to be getting the information without having to be the one to ask the questions first. “Yes, his name is Teddy. Did you see what happened?”
“Not really. No, not when he was being beaten, but I saw some other stuff before that that I’ve been thinking I should tell the police, but I’m kind of scared.”
“Are you scared of the police?” I asked. “You don’t need to be.”
“No, I’m scared of what might happen to me if I talk to the police about what I saw. I was hoping to tell you and between the two of us we can figure out how to get the information to them.”
I nodded. “Certainly.”
“The night that your brother was beaten—as I already told you, I did see him. I’d seen him around for a couple days. He seemed to be having a good time. He’s quite adorable.” Esther smiled and blushed a little. I wanted to remind her of Jake, but again I just nodded. “Anyway, he obviously likes to have a good time, too, though I don’t think he was drinking much, just having fun. He seemed to enjoy the poetry and the music.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t drinking, or acting drunk?”
“Not when I saw him, no.”
“Okay.”
“Right. Well, there was a woman who seemed very interested in both him and Norman, and I feel kind of rotten for not telling you about her earlier, but she seemed pretty upset when neither of them returned the interest. I didn’t want to tell anyone about her anger that night after Norman was killed because I didn’t want to be the one to make someone else maybe look guilty of something so horrible, but then I heard about your brother and her anger at both of them suddenly seemed even worse than her anger with just one of them. Gosh, I’m not sure that makes any sense at all.”
I’d had plenty of moments when something had suddenly become clear after only receiving a little more information. I got what she was saying. “Who?” Though I was pretty sure I knew who she was talking about.
Esther looked around and then whispered, “Vivienne.”
“I see.”
Esther was claiming that Vivienne was doing what Teddy had claimed that Esther had done. Was Esther lying or was Teddy misremembering?
“However, Betts, the thing about Vivienne that I think is more important than the fact that she hit on your brother and Norman is the fact that she’s been hitting on lots of guys. She’s pretty, but mostly she seems like she’s glad to be on vacation or something. You know, like what happens at the poetry convention stays at the poetry convention.”
“I get that.” Orly had mentioned some people having that attitude earlier.
“But she was more upset by being pushed away from Norman and your brother than by anyone else. And she was extremely upset right after the murder—you know, when you found us in the shoe repair shop—but other than that, she seems to be almost unaffected by it all. And . . .”
“Go on.”
“And, well, her behavior and reactions seem inconsistent, and her anger over your brother and Norman was so off the charts. Rage, maybe.”
“That’s never fun to see. Who else? Who else has she . . . well, seemed to be interested in?”
“One of the other guys I’ve seen her talking to a lot is Orly.”
“I don’t understand. You think she’s interested in Orly?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I just saw them arguing and I wonder what he was so angry with her about.”