“Me too, God and traffic willing. I’ll call Minette at around ten thirty tomorrow to remind her about the appointment. She’s already a bit inebriated, so I’ll probably have to remind her of our conversation. No doubt she’ll be hung over and in a foul mood.”

Barnes said, “I’ll pick up some juice, donuts, whatever. Every little bit helps.”

“If only it were that simple,” Amanda said. “Get aspirin, too.”

18

At ten thirty in the morning, Minette was still in bed, having forgotten about the appointment. Amanda decided the most efficient thing to do was just pick her up and bring her in. It took a full hour for the woman to dress and another half hour of plying her with designer coffee until she seemed coherent enough to interview. Even with the star treatment, Minette was surly. Her makeup couldn’t hide the bags under her eyes, making them look more muddy than exotic. Her hair was in need of a good brushing as well as a root job. She was dressed in crumpled khakis, a white tee and sneakers. The woman was lanky and thin and from the back she could have passed for an adolescent boy.

Amanda escorted her into the interview room and helped her to a chair. “Can I get you anything to eat?”

“It makes me nervous when you’re too nice,” Minette groused.

“That’s just the way we are. Here to help.” And we need your help.

“A munch?”

Minette considered her response as if world peace depended on it. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind a muffin. Anything reduced-fat.”

“Not a problem. Be right back.”

While Amanda got someone to pick up the muffins, Barnes watched Minette through a one-way mirror. She seemed more tired than nervous and to underscore the point, she lay her head down in the cradle of her arms and closed her eyes. Five minutes later, she was snoring.

Amanda came into the observation room. Barnes said, “If the woman has anxiety, she’s hiding it well.”

“Maybe she has nothing to feel guilty about.”

“We all feel guilty about something, it’s a matter of degree.” A policewoman entered and handed Amanda the goody bag. She passed it to Barnes, who pulled out a bran muffin and chomped half of it in one bite. By way of explanation, he said, “No time to eat this morning.”

“What were you doing while I was babysitting Ms. Padgett?”

“The official memorial service for Davida is tomorrow afternoon at two in Sacramento. I want to set up an interview with Lucille Grayson afterward.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

“I’m telling you now,” Barnes said. “I got us tickets for the noon train.” He finished his muffin and stood. “Ready?”

“Sure, let’s see what Sleeping Beauty has to say for herself.”

Gently, Amanda rocked Minette’s shoulder. Minette woke up with a start and it took her a few moments to remember where she was. A thin line of drool had slipped out of the corner of her mouth. She sucked it up and wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “Wow.” Minette sipped her coffee. “I’m more tired than I thought. Do we really have to do this now?”

“The sooner we finish, the better our chances of catching a murderer,” Barnes told her.

“Have a muffin.” Amanda offered her the bag. “You can keep all of them if you want.”

Minette extracted the blueberry. “One’s fine. Thanks.”

“Here’s some napkins…need a refill on the coffee?”

“Sure.”

“Be right back.”

As soon as Amanda left, Barnes said, “Again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks. Can we get on with this?” She looked at her watch. “I really got things I need to do.”

Barnes smiled and Amanda came back in with the coffee.

“Here we go. Anything else?”

“Ms. Padgett is a busy woman,” Barnes said without a trace of irony. “We should get started. Before we get into Davida, I have a couple of questions for you concerning the break-in at your condo.”

Minette peered over the rim of the coffee cup. “Yeah?”

“You reported that you didn’t think anything was missing. Is that still correct?”

“I didn’t say that. I said I’m not sure.”

“But your valuables…cash, jewelry, expensive items…were all accounted for?”

“I think I’m missing cash.”

“You think?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah, Davida always kept cash on hand. Couple of hundred. Maybe more. I only found fifty so maybe the burglars took the rest.”

“And your jewelry?”

Minette shrugged. “I guess it’s all there. I didn’t check every piece. What does this have to do with Davida’s murder?”

“Maybe nothing.” Barnes moved in closer. “We have a little bit of a dilemma, Minette, and we need your help. At first, we thought that the break-in was done by Davida’s murderer, that he or she was looking for something specific. Makes sense, right?”

Minette nodded.

Barnes went on. “But then we realized Davida’s office wasn’t ransacked. So we’re figuring why would your condo be ransacked and not the office?”

Amanda said, “So now we’re thinking that the two incidents might be unrelated.”

“What do you think?” Barnes asked.

“How the hell would I know?” Minette was irritated. “That’s your job.”

“Fair enough,” Barnes answered. “So my first question is, who would want to ransack your condominium and not take anything valuable?”

“Am I supposed to answer that?” Minette frowned. “If I could answer that, we wouldn’t be talking.”

“Well, here’s the thing: we didn’t find any pry marks or forced entrance. We’re figuring whoever messed up your place had a key.”

Minette took a few moments to collect her thoughts. She looked from detective to detective, then down at her watch. “I told you we had a creepy manager. Did you check him out?”

“We did,” Amanda said. “He was working on the plumbing at one of your neighbors’ homes that night.”

“Till midnight?”

“Beyond. Seriously clogged line.”

“So he couldn’t have done it,” said Barnes.

Minette didn’t reply.

He pressed her: “Who else had a key to your condo?”

“Lucille Grayson,” Minette said. “You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did it.”

Amanda acted as if she took that seriously. “Why would she do that?”

“To piss me off. I told you the woman hates me.”

Barnes said, “Sorry, that night she was at the club with some friends. We know for a fact.”

“Well…that’s what her friends would say.”

“She was identified by dozens of people, and her nurse stayed with her the entire time. She wasn’t anywhere near the condo.” Barnes tried to get the woman to make eye contact. “Minette, one way or the other, we’re going to get to the bottom of the ransacking- ”

“Shouldn’t you be concentrating on the murder?”

“We’re doing both,” Barnes said. “And right now, we’d like to rule out a connection between the murder and the ransacking. To do that, we’ve really got to find out what happened at your place. Whoever did it, Minette, I just want you to rest assured that we’re going to nail him- or her- and throw his- or her- sorry ass in jail.”

Amanda said, “So if you know anything about it, now’s the time to say something because Detective Barnes and I really don’t want to be spinning our wheels.”

“See that’s what gets us really pissed off…when people lie to us.”

“Yeah, that really is a nuisance,” Amanda concurred.

Barnes said, “Even though we realize that sometimes people don’t lie to us on purpose, know what I’m saying?”

Minette shook her head slowly. Bloodshot eyes focused on something in the distance.

Amanda said, “People sometimes lie to protect someone or something. Would you know anything about that, Minette?”

“No.” Her voice was strong, but she started gnawing on her thumbnail. “You said you needed my help. What do you want from me?”