Motherhood is Murder(72)

I slipped on jeans and a sweatshirt, then scribbled a note to Jim. I headed to the café and tried to sort out my feelings.

Last night Margaret had effectively terminated me, but technically I was still working the case for “The Grizzly.” I thought about my report to him. Now more than ever he would think Margaret was guilty or at least try and build a case against her—anything to steer attention away from Bruce.

With the toxicology results available now, I thought it was just a matter of time before McNearny arrested Bruce.

I pushed open the door to the café. Kenny was seated at a table near the counter, earphones securely in place and feet drumming out a rhythm.

“Kate! Got time for chess?” He pulled the earphones out and reached for the chess set that was on a nearby bookshelf.

I ordered a decaf latte and perused the pastry case.

How many calories did a biscotti have?

Ooh! They had chocolate-dipped ones today.

I ordered two and put one in a bag to take home to Jim.

I took a seat across from Kenny. “I don’t have time for games, Kenny. I’m working on serious business.”

“Cool,” he said, ignoring me and setting up the board.

“Shouldn’t you be rehearsing or something?”

He looked confused. “I was.”

I laughed. “You were listening to your iPod drinking a cappuccino. How does that count for rehearsal?”

He looked offended. “No, no. Not just listening. I was visualizing playing!” He continued to set up the chessboard as the barista brought my coffee.

“Yeah? You can visualize yourself playing chess, too, because I just told you I have serious work I need to do.” I dipped my biscotti into the latte and ate it.

Kenny nodded thoughtfully as he completed setting up the board. “Okay. On your investigation stuff?”

I nodded.

He pushed the chessboard to me. “Tell me about it.”

“Okay.” I picked up the white queen, rook, bishop, knight, and a pawn, then selected the counterpieces in black. I grabbed the pair of pawns. “So, Jim and I go on this cruise—”

“Wait. Are you guys the pawns?”

“Yeah.” I sipped my latte.

Kenny shook his head. “No, no. Here.” He replaced the pawns with the king and queen. “There. You and Jim.”

I laughed. “No seriously. I was a pawn.”

“Never!”

“Right, I’m not going to argue with you, let’s make them all pawns. Except for the victim. We’ll give her the respect of being queen.”

I laid Queen Helene down.

Kenny made a sad face by sticking his lower lip out and turning it down. “You killed off the best piece right away. I told you, you should be queen.”

“This is serious, Kenny.”

He sat up. “Right.”

I took the matching king representing Bruce and placed him next to Queen Helene. “Husband,” I said.

Kenny nodded and frowned, trying to give the respect I was requiring of him.

Then I lined up the four sets of pawns. “These are the couples on the cruise.” Then I took the other queen and placed her precariously on the edge of the board. “She’ll be Celia, the midwife. She wasn’t on the cruise but had an attempt made on her life.”

“The price of royalty,” Kenny said.

I glared at him. He ducked his head and drank his cappuccino. I sipped from my latte.

Yum.

But it needed a little extra something. I pulled out the second biscotti that I’d been saving for Jim, dipped it in the latte, and ate it.

Much more yummy.

I took one pawn representing Alan and placed him next to Queen Helene. “Affair.”

Kenny nodded. “Affair equals motive, right?” He raised his eyebrows and wiggled them up and down to demonstrate how clever he was.

“Not in this case. Long story—just take my word for it.”

I replayed the drama as best I could with the chess pieces. Kenny seemed to be following along nicely and it was helping me to review all the facts I knew. I ended by lining up the pieces that had seen Celia on the day she was poisoned. Me, Margaret, Evelyn, and Bruce.

Kenny studied the layout then took the pawn representing Howard and placed it in my lineup.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“You said Margaret saw them together at the sandwich place.”

I froze.

Suddenly the drama before me changed. If Celia was having an affair with Howard, we had a motive for him . . .

No. Not Howard.

Why would he kill his mistress, or Helene for that matter?

Sara.

A motive for Sara, Miss No-Nonsense. What if Sara had known Howard was having an affair but didn’t know with whom? Let’s say she suspected Helene. Certainly Helene could have been acting suspicious because she was having an affair, only not with Howard.

Sara had been on the cruise. They’d had a fight. The wet dress, the spilled drink, it was all starting to add up.

Had she seen Celia that day?

Celia hadn’t mentioned seeing Howard or Margaret to me; maybe because she’d been covering up her affair. Had she seen Sara, too, and just not told me?

I stood. “I gotta go. I need to talk to Sara.”