Curtains for the Condo Casanova by Barbara Barrett

Author:Barbara Barrett [Barrett, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbara Barrett

Sixteen

“This is a surprise,” Rita Haley said when she opened her door to Marla and Rex.

“A good one, we hope,” Marla answered. “May we come in?”

“Uh, sure, but I need to leave for my exercise class in fifteen minutes. Have a seat. Why are you here?” she asked as soon as they were each sitting.

Though the same floor plan as Kitty’s, Haley’s condo was like an instantaneous trip to the Far East. The living room boasted rich red and black brocade furniture resting on a plush gold carpet. A large black teak cabinet with gold pulls and hinges occupied a place of honor along an interior wall. Along another wall, a low-boy cabinet, its gold sides painted with scenes from a wood, was topped with three brass tapers. Everything screamed recent makeover costing thousands.

Marla took her time deciding where to sit. She was afraid she might break something. “I think I mentioned at book club the other day that I was spending time in Minnesota with my sister while I looked for a new project. At the time, I didn’t anticipate finding something so soon, but this recent murder of one of the residents has given me an idea. I want to turn the investigation into some sort of television project.”

Haley settled in a chair facing them and waited expectantly. “I got the impression from your remarks at book club that you were quite done with the private eye genre. Anything to do with crime.”

Marla nodded. “You remember correctly. But then this murder happened and I got to talking to Rex, who I learned was a former cop, and the next thing I knew, I was deep in an unofficial investigation. More like research.”

“And I’m part of your research?”

The woman didn’t pull any punches.

“Here’s what we’ve learned so far. Ever since Drake Elliot moved into this building,” Marla said, “he began wining and dining various single women who live here, insisting they meet him in private so no one else knew how many different women he was seeing. That part would’ve only made him a Lothario. But he also got some of these women to invest in various financial opportunities, and he wound up scamming them for over a hundred thousand dollars.”

“And you’re asking me what I know about all this?”

“That and more to the point, were you a victim of one of his scams?” Rex asked.

Rita’s eyes revealed no surprise. “Why do you think he hit on me?”

“Months ago, you rode on the elevator with him and another resident. You were apparently wearing a diamond bracelet in which he showed interest to this other person. He then asked if you were married.”

“That’s it?”

“No,” Marla said. “We’ve found evidence in his own handwriting that he got you for fifty thousand dollars.”

They did their silent act again, waiting for Rita’s reaction to that revelation.

Rita chewed a lip. And then, like the sudden burst of the rain shower earlier that week, she broke down. Tears poured down her face, even though she tried to stem them with her hands.

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