File M For Murder

In the kitchen I stowed the cake in the fridge, and when I shut the door I felt pressure against my legs. I glanced down to see Diesel looking up at me. He chirped a couple of times, and I scratched his head. “Hello, boy. Are you glad to see me? I sure am glad to see you.” He chirped again, his way of saying yes, I supposed.

“How is Laura doing? Did you take good care of her?” I realized how foolish it was to ask the cat questions like that, but that never stopped me. Besides, he almost always responded when I did ask him something. Like now, when he meowed several times, almost as if he were giving me a report.

“You and that cat.” Sean chuckled.

Startled, I whirled around to see him in the doorway. My response was a little tart. “You should be used to it by now.”

“Oh, I am, I am.” He grinned at me and arched one eyebrow as he continued. “I’m keeping the butterfly net handy, just in case.”

I had to laugh at that. Then I noticed a sheaf of papers in his hand. “What have you got there?”

“Stuff from Lawton’s thumb drive.” Sean stepped forward into the room and pulled out a chair at the table. “Laura’s still resting, far as I know. So I decided to go ahead and have a look at the contents. I picked a few things to print.”

I took a seat to Sean’s left, and Diesel came to sit by me. “What kinds of things?”

“Mostly letters and e-mails.” Sean fanned the pages out on the table between us. “There’s more upstairs in my room, including the play he was working on. But I thought starting with his more recent correspondence might be a good plan.”

“Have you found anything of interest yet?” I glanced down at the pages in front of me. Ralph Johnston’s name leapt out at me from the page on top.

“Read that one.” Sean indicated the page I had noticed. His smug tone as he continued piqued my interest. “Wait till you see what’s in that letter.”

I scanned it quickly, and my eyes widened as the contents of the letter sank in. “If Ralph knew about this…” My voice trailed off.

Sean nodded. “He’d want to kill Lawton for sure.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

I read the letter again, this time more slowly, to absorb every detail. Addressed to the director of the American Academy of Drama, it offered Connor Lawton’s review of a play submitted in consideration for the Laurette Taylor Fellowship in Dramaturgy. Lawton was apparently a member of the judging panel for the fellowship.

The author of the play in question was Montana (aka Ralph) Johnston. Lawton’s comments savaged the man and his work. Phrases like tediously derivative and staggeringly boring made me wince on Ralph’s behalf. Lawton closed the letter with the complaint that he couldn’t understand why he was expected to waste his time on work that was so manifestly substandard.

I set the letter down and looked at Sean. “Connor made it plain he didn’t like Ralph’s play. But if he knew Lawton had written that, he would certainly be furious. I know I would.”

“A simple no would have been enough, I’d think.” Sean shook his head. “Looks to me like Lawton went out of his way to be a jerk about it. Even if the play was as bad as he says, he didn’t have to say it like that.”

“No, he didn’t, but in my experience some critics can’t resist the temptation to be as nasty as possible. I suppose it feeds their egos somehow to tear other people down so viciously.”

“Lawton had a colossal ego, from everything I’ve observed and things Laura told me.” Sean tapped the letter with his forefinger. “Deputy Berry will look into this, I’m sure, whenever she gets around to reading the letter. You think maybe you should talk to her, make sure she gets to it right away?”

“I doubt she’d thank me if I did.” I rubbed my forehead to ease the tension that was threatening to bring on a headache. “No, it’s better to let her assess this on her own. She already has enough on Ralph and Magda Johnston to consider them prime suspects.”

“Like what?” Sean leaned back in his chair and stretched his long legs farther under the table.

Diesel chose that moment to let me know he needed attention. I felt a large paw on my thigh and heard a couple of insistent meows. He stood on his hind legs, now with both front paws braced on my thigh, and his head was about level with mine. I put my hand on the back of his head and drew it nose to nose with mine.

“You are incorrigible and shameless, and you know it,” I told him. His response was to lick my chin, and I laughed and pulled away. I kept my hand on his head as he sat on his haunches and stared up at me. A few good rubs between his ears, and he was content to let me resume my conversation with my smirking son.

“Now I know what I have to do to get your attention.” Sean chuckled.

I chose to ignore that little sally. “Back to your question. I had an interesting chat with Helen Louise when I went to pick up some dessert for tonight.” I gave Sean a rundown of what I’d learned about Magda and Ralph, their marriage, and her propensity for having affairs.