Page 73 of Death at the Deep Dive

“No, of course not.” James’ smile matched Ellery’s for insincerity. “When you went to see my mother, what did she tell you?”

“Probably more than she intended to.”

James drew a breath and sat back in his chair. “No. You’re lying again. I don’t know what you think that’s going to get you. My mother is old, and she gets mixed up. But even so, she couldn’t tell you about something she never knew anything about.”

Reg appeared at their table. “Another round?”

“Not for me,” James said.

“I’ll have another.” As Ellery glanced past Reg, he spotted a familiar set of wide shoulders in a familiar leather jacket at the very end of the bar. His heart lifted.

As Reg moved away, James smiled at Ellery. “You really do love playing detective.”

“Mostly I just get dragged into things.”

“Oh, I doubt that.”

“No, really. It’s true. If I hadn’t discovered my aunt’s involvement with Vernon, I probably wouldn’t have pursued this at all. I can’t say I’m completely sorry, because it turns out my aunt was an interesting woman. She not only had to suffer through losing the man she loved, but also, a lot of people suspected she played a part in his death. I’d like to set the record straight if I can. I think maybe she would expect that.”

James licked his lips. “I liked Eudora. She was nice to me. But bad things happen to good people. It’s nobody’s fault.”

“Except we’re not talking about cancer. We’re talking about murder. That’ssomebody’sfault.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ellery saw Jack rise from the bar and walk down the little hall. Over the babble of the Silver Sleuths seemingly ordering every appetizer on the menu, he heard the restroom door squeak open.

James asked casually, “Do you remember all the names on Vera’s list?”

“There weren’t that many, and I think we can now safely rule out Rocky and Barry.”

James looked perfectly blank.

“Originally, there were six names: Eudora Page, Tony Bernard, Barry Shandy, Douglas Franklin, Joey Franklin, and…” Some impulse drove Ellery to add, “James Franklin.”

James stared and then laughed. “I don’t believe that for a minute. Vera never suspected me. No one suspected. Why would they?”

“Because you were always there listening in to everyone’s conversations—and getting a lot of things wrong. Because you loved your step-mom very much and you were terrified that she was going to take off with Vernon and leave you with an alcoholic, compulsive-gambler father. Even if she’d wanted to take you with her, she couldn’t. She couldn’t legally take you from Douglas.”

“He’d have never let her go. Never let either of us go.”

“But you didn’t know that. And you didn’t know that Vernon had no intention of leaving with her anyway. Instead, you saw an opportunity and you grabbed it.”

“What opportunity?” he asked thickly.

Ellery shook his head. “I don’t know. I know that Vernon wouldn’t consider you a threat. That he wouldn’t be on guard with you. I think after the shouting match with your mother that night, Vernon went outside, and you followed him. And I would guess that maybe he sat down to have a smoke and cool off, and you came up behind him and hit him with something. And then, I think you went and told your father what you’d done, and he figured out some way to dispose of Vernon’s body. You couldn’t do that by yourself. The only people who’d be interested in protecting you would be your parents. There’s no way your mother could have dragged a man the size of Vernon—and there’s no way you’d have told her anyway. So that leaves you and your dad.”

Jack had not yet returned to the bar, and Ellery felt a flicker of uneasiness. Surely Jack hadn’t seen Ellery and James talking and drawn the conclusion that everything was fine?

Everything was not fine.

James was trying to make his mind up to take some course of action, and Ellery was unsure if he should play along and rely on Jack or if the Silver Sleuths were liable to try to rescue him and put themselves and everyone else in greater danger.

“It’s very warm in here,” James said. “I think we should step outside and get some fresh air.”

Where are you, Jack?

“I think we should stay inside. Reg is bringing my drink now.”

James said with a hint of his old irritability, “I think you should know that I’m pointing a thirty-eight special at you from under this table.”

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