sigh. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.
For a few moments we just sat there drinking our tea. I didn’t know about him, but I was feeling this vibe in the air that seemed to be getting more intense. Barry leaned forward slightly and I saw his hand coming toward my arm.
There was nothing to do but throw cold water on the situation. So I started talking about Kelly’s murder. “I know that Detective Heather has zeroed in on Dan as the killer and dismissed the other suspects, but I’m not so sure she’s right.”
My comment had the desired effect. Barry had pulled his hand back to his armrest as if he’d just hit a hot coal and then he laughed. “As if it’s anything new that you think Heather has it wrong. I suppose you’ve come up with your own list of suspects.”
“Maybe I have,” I said.
Barry sat up in his chair. “Okay, let’s hear it.” His lips were curved in an indulgent smile.
“To start with there’s Nanci Silvers.” Barry’s eyes flickered in response to the name before I went through the reasons why, which were adding up. She lived next door and had no alibi, which gave her opportunity. I had a pretty good idea she knew how to use a gun and probably had one. And as for motive—it appeared there was something going on between her and Dan, along with the fact Nanci seemed determined to keep the Donahue house from being used in future productions. If Adele had been there, she would have said Nanci had the golden triangle of guilt.
“Autumn’s mother?” he said.
“You’d love it to be her, wouldn’t you? Then you could tell Jeffrey his girlfriend’s mother was a murderer. That would break them up for sure.”
Barry rolled his eyes. “I’m not that bad. I just worry about Jeffrey getting in over his head.” He picked up his mug. “Is that it, or do you have more suspects?”
I mentioned that the two prop guys had said they knew Kelly from before.
“I saw them go to lunch, but they could have easily come back. As for means, there are lots of guns in L.A. 911.”
Barry stopped me. “They’re prop guns.”
“But what if they mixed a real one in with the prop ones? It would be a great way to hide it in plain sight.” Barry explained that fake guns were all supposed to have an orange plug in the barrel.
“And what’s their motive?” he said.
“I don’t know.” I gazed upward and began to improvise. “Maybe it had something to do with the disappearing lamp.” Barry seemed unimpressed and I brought up Kelly’s online business. “Maybe it was a disgruntled customer or someone random,” I offered. “But one thing I’m sure of.”
I reminded Barry that Dinah and I had been there that day and someone, which we now knew probably hadn’t been a real estate agent, had come to the door. “Don’t you think that person probably is the killer?”
Barry nodded with approval. “That sounds reasonable. Why don’t you try to think back to what you saw in the street when you left Kelly’s.” He suggested I close my eyes and try to picture the scene. I was surprised how well it worked. After noting that the sidewalk was empty, I began to see a line of cars and commercial vehicles parked along the street.
“Let’s see, there was a plumber’s van, several cars, a cab, the truck with the wooden slates that the prop guys used and the Crown Victoria, North Adams drove. But they were all just parked there for the production.”
When I opened my eyes Barry’s face was lit up in a smile.
“It doesn’t sound like your remembrance changes anything. And who would be more likely to show up at her house than her husband? Ah, we’re back to what Heather thinks.” He rolled his eyes, while shaking his head in good-natured disbelief. “I can’t believe you got me to play clue with you,” he said as we both got up to go inside.
* * *
I never knew quite how to dress for a funeral. The day of everybody wearing black dresses and veils was long over with, if it every really existed anywhere but in my imagination. Besides, with the temperature in the high nineties, long sleeves and heavy clothes were even less appealing. Couple that with my helping at the house afterward, and I felt even more confused about what to wear. Who would have thought Barry would