Helen Hath No Fury: An Amanda Pepper Mystery by Gillian Roberts

Author:Gillian Roberts [Roberts, Gillian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Amateur Sleuth, Women Sleuths
ISBN: 9781611875409
Google: GfJ6i-waWloC
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Published: 2013-03-27T05:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

THE PHONE RANG. IF IT HADN’T, WE MIGHT STILL BE SITTING across that oak table, eyes squinted at each other, searching for secrets that weren’t about to be found.

But the phone did ring.

“Hey, it’s Susan,” she said, sounding remarkably chipper. “Where’ve you been? You never write, you never call. What kind of a partner are you?”

“I don’t have much to offer yet.”

“How are we going to crack this if you don’t keep in touch?” Her tone made me queasy. “Guess what,” she said. “Guess what, guess what?”

“Judging by the way you sound, you must have discovered the cure for cancer.”

“The book! I have it!”

The book. As if there were precisely one such object on earth? “Which book? Yours? You’ve finished your book, is that what you’re saying?”

“Helen’s book. See, Clary’s name was on the list for this thing.”

“Back up. I’ve had wine or I’m just stupid, but Helen wasn’t writing a book, and what’s this about Clary? In fact, what’s this thing?”

“Okay, listen. It’s Helen’s notebook—the one she wrote her suicide note in. I have it because our firm’s doing work for—do not scream—Roy Stanton’s election campaign.”

I did not scream. I did not make a sound. Silently, I disapproved.

“I don’t like his politics either, but I do like paying the rent and keeping my job. He has this fund-raiser tonight, and our firm does that kind of thing—the lists, the celebrity speakers—you know the drill. Denise tossed the business my way, and what was I supposed to do? Say I didn’t appreciate her money? Say my boss didn’t really appreciate me more because of her money? I mean …”

At least she no longer sounded giddy. But then something else struck me. “Hold it—Clary’s name was on the list for the fund-raiser? Our Clary?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Clary supports Roy Stanton Harris?” She of the fiercely feminist views on independence, on choice, on self-determination?

“The business bought a table for his dinner. Her business.”

Used to be hers and Helen’s. I didn’t correct Susan, but I thought sadly of how quickly a person begins to disappear. I shook my head in disapproval, even though only Mackenzie could see me doing it. He pretended to be engrossed in tempting Macavity with a feathery cat toy even though the cat wasn’t having any of it. What Mackenzie was doing was eavesdropping.

“You know,” I told Susan, “if Helen weren’t already dead, this alone would kill her.”

“She knew. It was a sore point between the two of them.”

Knowing Helen, this sore would have been septic and festering. A major bad thing.

“In fact, Helen insisted that only Clary’s name and the name of the business be listed. Helen thought it was a disgraceful use of their funds, but Clary thinks it’s smart to cover all possibilities, no matter her own emotions. Never hurts to have a friend in Washington, she says. Besides, he’s the probusiness candidate—”

“And the antiwomen one, as well!”

“She says, ‘Personal feelings,’ and I’m directly quoting now, ‘don’t enter into this.’ Her vote remains her vote, and private.”

I understood the pragmatism, but it still annoyed me.

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