A Streetcar Named Expire by Mary Daheim

Author:Mary Daheim
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061752926
Publisher: HarperCollins

To Judith’s relief, Joe was much more forthcoming when he got home at five-fifteen. Maybe that was because he smelled like whiskey.

“Where’ve you been?” Judith asked, trying not to sound like a suspicious wife.

“With Woody,” Joe replied, stealing one of the oysters Rockefeller Judith was preparing for her guests’ social hour. “We stopped at our old haunt to have a drink.”

“That’s nice,” Judith said, and meant it. “How’s Woody?”

“Good,” Joe replied, swiping another oyster. “He sends his love.”

“What’s new with the case?” Judith asked.

“Pour me a Scotch and I’ll tell you,” Joe said.

“Take another oyster and I’ll call you Stubby,” Judith warned as Joe again eyed the platter.

“Woody and Sancha Rael have talked to almost all of the witnesses except for a couple of tourists who slipped through their fingers and left town,” Joe said, lighting a cigar.

“Anything new?” Judith said, making them each a drink.

“Nothing suspicious,” Joe replied, checking to make sure the cigar was lighted. “Woody left Alfred Ashe to me. I trust he’s still here?”

“He is,” Judith said, sitting down. “I talked to him this afternoon. If you ask me, he’s hiding something.”

Judith went on to explain how Alfred had dodged some of her questions. “I understand his interest in the Alhambra because his wife’s family lived there before they were shipped off to the internment camp. But why would he need an old city directory to figure that out? I’m guessing he was looking for someone else, maybe even somebody who lived in the apartment house at the same time that the Hasegawas did.”

“Mmm,” Joe responded, puffing on his cigar. “Now what does that have to do with Mrs. Carrabas?”

“Nothing, I suppose,” Judith admitted. “But I’m just puttering around, trying to figure out what happened with the Meachams.”

“A waste of time, Jude-girl,” Joe asserted.

Judith offered Joe a coy smile. “You know how I like a puzzle. And I realize you don’t want me getting in your way on the Carrabas case.”

Joe made an expansive gesture. “Any input is appreciated. I told you that from the start.”

“You’re so sweet,” Judith said, still demure. “What does Woody hear from the police in California?”

“Aimee Carrabas had recently put her house up for sale,” Joe said. “Apparently, she was looking at a place in Newport Beach, which is why she’d asked for that loan.”

“Newport Beach is very pricey, isn’t it?”

“Very,” Joe replied. “The detectives down there talked to the loan officer, who said that they intended to approve the request. The loan would have been for the down payment. It seems that Mrs. Carrabas was due to come into a large sum of money. Her father had recently died, and he’d made a pile in construction. I gather she was his only heir.”

“Poor woman,” Judith said. “She had everything to look forward to. Not that I suppose she wasn’t sorry to lose her father. Is her mother still living?”

Joe shook his head. “She died several years ago—cancer, I think. Mrs. Carrabas was waiting for the estate to go through probate—it

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