“How did you get involved?”

Elysia shrugged elaborately.

A.J. asked curiously, “Did you pursue him?”

“Not really. I wasn’t looking for anything like that.”

A.J. decided she’d be happier not knowing what that was. “So what happened? Just your ordinary average shipboard romance ending in blackmail and murder?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“You’re not being very helpful, Mother.”

Elysia looked mildly pained. “It’s not as though I anticipated this, pumpkin. I was on holiday and I was enjoying myself. Dicky was… charming. We had great fun together and then… we didn’t.”

Casting her mind back, A.J. recalled that Elysia had ended the cruise early, leaving the ship in Edfu, so perhaps the seeds of the affair’s violent ending had been sown even then? Except that her mother could not possibly have had anything to do with Mr. Massri’s demise, of that A.J. was certain.

“When did he start blackmailing you?”

“Weellllll,” Elysia sounded vague. “Perhaps blackmail was putting it rather harshly. He began to hint that he had certain expenses.”

“What kind of expenses?”

“The usual sort of thing. His tailor, his mechanic, his bookie. I didn’t think much of it.”

“His bookie?”

“Not back in Egypt, of course. But after he moved here, well, Dicky liked to play the ponies.”

“And you paid him ten thousand dollars when he hinted he had these expenses?”

Elysia raised an elegant bony shoulder. “Not in one go. I’m liberated enough to pick up the chit a few times.”

“Then what happened?”

“You know this part of the story, pumpkin. I learned that Nicole Manning had been murdered, and I left the ship in Edfu, hired a car for the return trip to Luxor, and flew back home.”

Nicole Manning had been a local television celebrity. Her violent death had resulted in A.J. being unwillingly dragged into another homicide investigation by Elysia, who had developed an alarming taste for amateur sleuthing.

“That’s the only reason you left the ship?”

Elysia nodded, but it struck A.J. as unconvincing. Perhaps Elysia had not found extortion all that amusing to begin with. Her mother had an ego like anyone else.

“But Dicky contacted you?”

“He turned up one afternoon at the house and said he’d moved to the States to further his career.”

“Which career? Blackmailing?”

Elysia tittered-inappropriately, in A.J.’s opinion.

“Did he try to blackmail you then?”

“He didn’t phrase it quite so crudely.” Elysia smiled reminiscently. “We began seeing each other again.”

“But you never said a word about him!”

“He wasn’t the sort of person you bring home to meet your children.”

“Do you have other children I’m not aware of?”

Elysia seemed amused, which did not do much for A.J.’s mounting exasperation.

“So how long did that go on for?”

“Oh, it was still going on.” Elysia seemed mildly surprised at A.J.’s assumption. “We’d been seeing each other for about seven months. I knew I’d have to break it off soon, though, as he kept pushing for me to marry him.”

A.J. shuddered. “I can’t believe you were living this double life.”

“It sounds much more interesting than it was.”

“Is it possible he could have been killed by his bookie? Maybe he… what do you call it? Welshed on his debt?”

Elysia looked thoughtful. “He took his gambling debts very seriously, true enough. I wonder…”

“Or maybe his death had something to do with his job? His other job. Perhaps he was involved in faking or smuggling antiquities? It’s big business, I know.”

Elysia looked thoughtful. “It’s interesting you should mention that. Dear Dicky did hint once or twice that he knew something, shall we say… unsavory? And wanted to clear the slate. Prove himself worthy before our marriage.”

“Mother, did you tell him you were going to marry him?”

Elysia said evasively, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t.”

A.J. put her hand over her eyes.

“I was working up to it,” Elysia said defensively. “But he was pinning so much on it, poor ducks. I hated to dash his hopes when he was just getting his life on track again.”

When she could speak calmly, A.J. said, “Did he give you any hint as to what this unsavory thing was that he wanted to clear off his slate? Are you sure it had to do with antiquities?”

Elysia said apologetically, “You know, I didn’t always listen as carefully to the dear boy as I suppose I should have.”

“You don’t say!”

Elysia rose and went to the window. She stared out for a few moments and then stiffened. She bit her lip, her attention still glued to whatever she was looking at.

“What is it?” A.J. asked uneasily.

“You won’t like it.”

“I’m getting used to that.”

“I know you’re in pain, Anna, but please don’t take that tone with me.”

A.J. gritted her teeth. “Who is out there, Mother?”

“Now don’t overreact, pumpkin. The police have arrived.”

Four

A.J. had managed to hobble down the hall when Elysia opened the front door. She could see two uniformed officers-looking very uncomfortable-and, behind them, Jake.

Elysia greeted them coolly. “Ah, Inspector. Did you bring your leg irons?”

“For the record, Mrs. Alexander, I’m not enjoying this.”

A.J., hanging onto the wall for support, joined the tableau at the door. “Jake, this is ridiculous,” she protested.

Jake moved past the uniformed officers and Elysia stepped back haughtily, but Jake was not reaching for her. His grip on A.J.’s arms was hard but supportive. “Look, I don’t want to do this. It’s my job, all right?”

“No, it’s not all right. You’re arresting my mother!”

He threw a look at the waiting officers, and lowered his voice. “I know exactly who she is. I don’t have a choice here, honey.”

Honey. Disconcertingly, it undermined her anger.

Elysia said briskly, “No need to fuss, Anna. Call Bradley and tell him to exercise option B.” To Jake, she said disdainfully, “I’ll be out from behind bars by lunch.”

Jake said shortly, “It’s already past lunch.”

Elysia ignored this.

“I’ll call him,” A.J. said. She freed herself from Jake’s hold, shuffling toward the phone in the hall as she threw back, “And you’d better not handcuff her!”

“Ooh, kinky,” Elysia bit out.

Jake said wearily, “Elysia Alexander, we’re arresting you on suspicion of homicide…”

A.J. watched Elysia stalk down the porch steps followed by the bemused officers. Jake hesitated in the doorway, waiting for A.J. to say something or at least acknowledge he was still there. A.J. knew it, yet couldn’t quite bring herself to soften toward him-largely because she was struggling to maintain her composure.

Then Mr. Meagher came on the line, and when A.J. next glanced around Jake was gone and the front door was closed.

Her heart sank, but there was no time to worry about what this disaster was doing to her relationship with Jake. She hastily filled Mr. Meagher in on the latest developments, and he grimly reassured her he was on the case.

A.J. hung up the phone and tottered back to the bedroom, shoved her barely touched brunch tray and Aunt Diantha’s manuscript out of the way, and eased flat on the mattress once more.

She had no doubt that Mr. Meagher would get her mother out of the slammer in short order, but then what? If Jake had gone so far as to arrest Elysia, the evidence piling up against her must be fairly damning.

A.J. wasn’t given to panicking, but the situation seemed bleak, despite Elysia’s casual attitude. It was unbelievable to think her mother might actually go to trial-even be convicted-but unfortunately she had spent too many years married to a man who adored television crime drama not to know that these things happened in the best of families.