Elaine Viets & Victoria Laurie, Nancy Martin, Denise Swanson - Drop-Dead Blonde (v5.0) (pdf) by Unknown (howl and other poems .TXT) 📕

``The way I figured it, if Vicki was buried in a landfill somewhere--and I didn't know that for sure--she brought it on herself.'' 154 Elaine Viets

``So Vicki got the death penalty for stealing?'' Helen wished she didn't sound so sanctimonious.

``No, she got it for attempted murder of a career, the worst possible corporate crime. That kind of killing has no recourse under the law, but it does irreparable damage. A smart, talented young woman would have been unemploy- able if Vicki had had her way--not that I'm saying Min- freda murdered that lying slimeball of a boss.''

Margery lit another cigarette. The yellow flame illumi- nated her face for just a minute. She was grinning, but I couldn't tell if she was laughing at me.

Helen sat in the heavy silence and wondered: Did Mar- gery really add those details to make her story more realis- tic? Or did she actually touch that dead foot with the sad pink polish?

The dropped high heel . . . she could have made that part up, maybe. But the warm foot and the pink toenail polish sounded too real.

Helen could feel the hair go up on the back of her neck. It was midnight, and she was drinking white wine with a woman who'd helped a murderer get away.

Maybe I should be glad, Helen thought. Maybe if the cops come for me, Margery will help me escape, too.

No, that couldn't be right. Margery didn't see anything.

Okay, she was an accomplished snoop. Most good office managers were. Helen had seen some sterling examples at the Coronado. She could imagine her landlady loose in an office. Margery would enjoy her power over the confiden- tial files. She'd like being wallpaper and watching the little personal dramas.

Margery had known there was going to be a confronta- tion that night. Did she sneak back to the office with some trumped-up excuse? Did she see a murder instead of a fight?

Did she watch, hidden behind a desk, while Minfreda moved the body--or did she help?

She remembered Margery's careful wording: I missed the dramatic moment. Not, I didn't see any murder.

Did Margery miss the murder, but see the corpse? Was that why she knew those details?

Did she watch her battered boss go headfirst down the KILLER BLONDE 155 chute into eternity? Did she throw plaster and wallboard on Vicki's grave, instead of roses and dirt clods?

Your imagination is wilder than a college kid on spring break, Helen scolded herself. Margery is a law-abiding citi- zen. She's seventy-six years old.

But Helen saw her landlady on the chaise longue in the silvery moonlight, smoking cigarettes and swilling wine, wearing sexy purple shoes. Margery was not your sweet old grandmother.

``Did you . . .'' Helen started to ask, Did you help move the body?

But the words died on her lips. Margery fixed her with a look that made Helen feel like a butterfly on a pin.

Margery wouldn't actually commit a murder, Helen de- cided. But she might keep silent if she approved. Margery might believe that old Southern defense, ``She needed kill- ing.'' Margery didn't always believe in the law, but she al- ways believed in justice. Justice said Minfreda should have had that job.

``Did I what?'' Margery demanded.

Suddenly Helen was nervous. The moon gave the night a graveyard glow. I've been listening to spooky stories and scaring myself, Helen thought.

But she was never sure about Margery. She did know Margery was not fond of the police. Whenever possible, she solved the problems at the Coronado without calling the cops. There was some history there that Helen didn't understand.

``Did I what?'' Margery demanded again, and Helen's last questions about Margery's role in the murder died in the cold moonlight.

``Did you find out why Chris, her lover, never came for- ward?'' Helen said. ``Maybe they really did run off to- gether. Otherwise, why wasn't she looking for Vicki?''

``Because they'd had a fight right before Vicki's death and broke up,'' Margery said. ``Chris never wanted to see Vicki again. She said so. I knew that because Chris called her once. It was the only time she called Vicki at the office. I happened to pick up the wrong extension and heard them fighting.''

Right, Helen thought. 156 Elaine Viets

``When Vicki missed her own birthday dinner, Val called Chris looking for her sister. Chris knew she'd be the num- ber one suspect if her lover was mysteriously missing, and the law was not kind to homosexuals. Chris really did take off for San Francisco. She lived happily ever after with another woman. I ran into the couple on a trip a few years ago.''

``Did you ever see any signs that Minfreda felt guilty about what she'd done?''

``Was she wracked with murderer's guilt?'' Margery said. ``No, not that I could tell. I think she was glad Vicki was gone. I certainly was. Our office was a better place with- out her.

``But the murder and the double promotion did make Minfreda crazy. She started believing she was all-powerful. Minfreda flirted outrageously with the boys. Really, it was shameful, and they were married men, too. I was disap- pointed in her behavior. I think she may have actually had an affair with Jimmy.

``She ignored the deserving women in our office, and even made fun of the hardest workers. Minfreda's pretty blond head got fat on all that flattery.''

``It's almost as if, after killing Vicki, she turned into her,'' Helen said.

``Maybe,'' Margery said. ``Or maybe all that gorgeous blond hair went to her head. Or maybe she thought she could get away with anything.

``Minfreda forgot that hard work got her promoted. She started coming into the office late and leaving early. She took long, boozy lunches with Jimmy, Bobby, and Irish Johnny while the rest of us slaved at our desks. People were starting