Day Shift

“We don’t know at the present. But, all right, at this time we don’t suspect Mr. Bernardo of murder,” Freemont said baldly.

“Then what?” Magdalena Orta Powell looked puzzled and vexed. She pulled it off beautifully.

“There are the charges leveled by Lewis.”

“You charging Mr. Bernardo with theft? Do you seriously think Ms. Goldthorpe brought a purse full of jewelry to a séance with her late husband?”

“She might have.” Freemont tilted his chair, waving his hand in an “anything’s possible” gesture.

“Right. And when she slumps over dead, my client’s first impulse would be to go through her purse? No, I don’t think so! He calls downstairs, like anyone would do. His first concern was Mrs. Goldthorpe.”

“That’s what he says,” Detective Sterling said, stopping just short of insulting sarcasm.

“Do you have any evidence at all that suggests any different?” Ms. Powell’s eyes were practically shooting fire. Manfred was proud of her. He was positive that she was defending him brilliantly.

“No, we don’t,” Detective Sterling said. “But we find it strange that his friend”—and here he poked his finger in the air in Manfred’s direction—“was sitting with two people who later that evening died in an apparent murder/suicide, while Mr. Bernardo’s guest, the very next day, died in his room.”

“There’s no connection whatever,” Manfred said calmly. He knew they would believe him. “I didn’t know someone I knew from Midnight was going to be there. I don’t think Olivia knew the couple very well. And the next day, while I was having clients in my room, she went shopping, at least as far as I know. I’ve scarcely seen her since then. You haven’t been by to ask her any questions about their deaths, or she’d have told me. And you know I didn’t kill poor Rachel. I didn’t know she had jewelry to hide until she told me that day during our session.” And here his voice sharpened. “Why was my name even leaked to the press? There’s no evidence at all that I’ve ever done anything wrong!”

Only Ms. Powell’s hand on his arm stopped Manfred from rolling forward. He stopped talking then. But he didn’t lower his gaze, and he waited to hear what they would have to say.

“All right,” Sterling said finally. He pulled off his glasses and polished them with a pocket handkerchief he conjured out of nowhere. “Well, I’ve got to say you put forth a convincing argument, Mr. Bernardo.”

Yes! You go, Fiji! Manfred thought.

“Where were you last night, Mr. Bernardo?”

“At home,” he said promptly.

“Did you go out at all?”

“Nope. The night before, I had some friends in,” he said.

“Who?”

“Actually, Olivia Charity. And Joe Strong and Chuy Villegas, who also live in Midnight.”

“And the night before that?”

Manfred knew this was the question they really wanted to ask, because of the body at the Goldthorpe house. “I went out to eat,” he said. “Then I went home.”

“Where did you eat? It any good?”

Oh, come on! Manfred thought. He got out his wallet and pulled out the receipt from Moo and Oink. “I don’t usually keep receipts,” he said, “but I haven’t cleaned out my wallet lately.”

Freemont leaned over to take the receipt from Manfred, and the detectives gave it a very serious look. They wouldn’t be able to get past the time and date stamp. Sterling sighed.

Freemont said, “So you contend that you were at Vespers for your…” He looked down at a paper. “Client weekend, the same weekend your friend from this tiny, tiny town is there, completely by coincidence. Also by coincidence, the people you both meet happen to die.”

It did sound fishy, put that way.

“He doesn’t contend that, he states it,” Ms. Powell said calmly. “Because that is exactly what happened. He never met the couple who died so tragically. His acquaintance, Olivia Charity, never met Rachel Goldthorpe, at least not to my client’s knowledge. This is all nothing more than coincidence, the kind the world is always throwing at us. Mr. Bernardo has never seen Mrs. Goldthorpe’s allegedly missing jewelry. You can hardly charge my client with her death when you don’t know what killed her. So that’s the end of this conversation.” Ms. Powell got smoothly to her feet. Following her lead, so did Manfred. “This was a long way for my client to drive to answer a few questions he’s answered before.” Nobly, she did not mention her own inconvenience, because she would get paid for it. “I trust you won’t demand his presence again.”

“Only if the tox screen shows something,” Freemont said, suddenly sounding bored. He stood, too, towering over them. “And you ought to know, that little shit Lewis Goldthorpe plans on dragging your client through as much mud as he can.”

Ms. Powell and Manfred left the Bonnet Park police/fire station within an hour of entering it. Manfred realized he was now much poorer, but since he was walking out a free man, the price was fair. Ms. Powell was silent until they reached her car. Then she said, “I think we should bring action against Lewis Goldthorpe.”

“Won’t that just draw more attention to a bad situation?”