Grand Prize: Murder!. Vivian Conroy

gown, but she didn’t dare leave Lilian alone now that she was so upset and crying.

      “We need a hot drink.” She filled her kettle with water for tea. “Calm down now and tell me all about it. You said that somebody was…”

      “There is some body in my conservatory,” Lilian said between gasps. “It’s a man. He bled all over my tiles.”

Chapter Five

      Vicky turned to her, the kettle spilling water over the floor and her bare feet in her slippers. She gasped under the cold sensation. “Some body as in some dead body? A dead man in your conservatory?”

      “Yes. And Sydney is nowhere to be found.” Lilian stared at her with wide eyes. “I wanted to call the police right after my find, but then I thought that it might look bad for Sydney and…”

      Vicky didn’t follow. “Why would it look bad for your brother? Just because he is missing?”

      “Uh…” Lilian stared down at her hands.

      Vicky straightened up. She sensed there was more to it than Lilian was letting on. “If you want my help, you have to tell me everything. Who is this dead man? Was he a guest at the party? A friend of yours? You think that maybe he quarreled with your brother and…”

      “No,” Lilian said in a horrified tone, “he was no guest. And certainly no friend. He merely worked for us. Deke hired him. From a reputable security company he said, which caters to all the stars. But I guess he was wrong. It seems that…Sydney caught him during the evening taking photographs of guests. Like some lurid tabloid reporter! Knowing how much harm something like that can do, Sydney was angry about it, and they got into an argument. Sydney forcefully took his camera away from him, and then the guy threatened Sydney. My brother has quite a temper so he said that he’d…” Lilian swallowed.

      “He threatened him in return?” Vicky supplied.

      Lilian nodded. “So when I saw him lying there dead…”

      Vicky’s thoughts raced. “You said there was blood on the tiles. Do you have any idea how he died?”

      “Struck down.” Lilian stared ahead. “I have this marble pedestal on which to put flower pots. It’s solid marble, rather heavy. It lay on the floor. So I suppose that was used to deal the victim a hard blow to the head.”

      Vicky nodded. “Sounds quite probable. An impromptu weapon, it seems. That could indicate it was a fight gone wrong.”

      “Which implicates Sydney! Where can he be?” Lilian chewed on her lip. “I was scared out of my mind alone with the dead man.”

      Vicky asked, “What about Deke?”

      Lilian waved an impatient hand. “He took sleeping pills last night. I couldn’t wake him. He’s never of any use to me when I need him.”

      She looked up at Vicky. “A dead man in my house! Do you have any idea what my friends will say?”

      Vicky leaned against the sink, the kettle still in her hand. A murder most likely committed during the party. People walking about. Lots of people. Lots of possible suspects. This wouldn’t be easy.

      “You have to call Cash,” she said with determination in her voice. “He has to secure the area and all traces that he can find. You touched or changed nothing?”

      “No, I was scared to death. I didn’t look too closely. I’m…not even sure he was dead now that I think about it. He lay very still, and there was blood, so I suppose he was, but…”

      Vicky put down the kettle on the sink with a resolute bang. “We’re going back together. We have to make sure he is dead. Then we will call the police and I’ll stay with you during the questioning. We’ll see if we can figure out why this guy might have been killed at your party.”

      Lilian got up from the chair, her hands shaking. “This is a nightmare,” she whispered, “especially if my brother gets implicated.”

      As soon as Vicky walked into the conservatory, she was certain the man was dead. The body lay in a strange position, and nobody who was injured would stay lying like that. He would have tried to move, turn over, grab at something. Besides, there was the blood. She didn’t want to go too close and stepped back. “We can call Cash now. I’m not going anywhere near that body. I don’t want new trouble with evidence.”

      During the earlier murder investigation she had participated in, the idea that evidence had been touched or changed had caused them endless trouble, even almost allowing the killer to get away scot-free. She was not making that same mistake again.

      Lilian nodded, and they returned to the living room where Lilian called Cash. He first thought it was a joke, because it really didn’t seem likely a dead body could have ended up in his sister-in-law’s home. But then as he realized Lilian meant it, he told her to keep calm and he’d be there soon.

      Cash arrived in a rush, certainly having broken the speed limit, and hugged his sister-in-law.

      Vicky knew they were not close because Lilian was too posh and too busy with appearances and reputation for Cash’s liking. But right now he had forgotten all about that and just wanted to help her and comfort her. Vicky liked him all the better for it.

      Cash focused on Vicky and frowned. Lilian explained she had turned to Vicky first thing when she had found the body. “I thought she could help. She knows something about solving murders.”

      Cash frowned even deeper as if he disliked the statement, and Vicky hastened to say she hadn’t touched anything. “I didn’t even get near the body. It seemed obvious he was dead. Had he been merely wounded, he would have tried to attract attention, get help.”

      Cash nodded. “Seems likely.”

      Together they went to the conservatory, and Cash approached the body and touched it. “He’s dead all right. Has been for hours. The body is cold and stiff. I’ll have to wait for a report to know the exact time of death. What’s this?”

      He leaned over by the dead man’s shoulder. “It looks like a piece of something painted. A picture of a little house and bridge, black on white with some red. And a bit of feather stuck to it. Could be from a peacock, for all I know.”

      Vicky froze. She looked at Lilian. “Bella had a fan with her last night, painted silk with peacock feathers.”

      Lilian looked shocked as well. “She was here with us to look at my orchids. Maybe she lost a bit of the fan then?”

      Vicky shook her head. “She used it to cool her face, I saw it well. It was in one piece when we left to go back to the hall. It must have gotten damaged later in the night.”

      She hesitated and added softly, “I suppose it takes some force to break off a piece like that?”

      “You can bet on that.” Cash exhaled heavily. “That doesn’t look too good for your guest author.”

      He got up from beside the body and came over to where Vicky and Lilian were standing at a safe distance. “You know where she is staying?”

      “Yes, in the apartment over my store.”