A Devious Lot (Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries Book 5) (24 page)

“No. I haven’t bothered with the news since I got here. What happened?”

“I found Tiffany’s body at her cottage,” Molly said. “Someone poisoned her tea. I also found the eye miniature. I knew Giles wanted it, so I told him I’d give it to him . . .” She let her voice trail away. Penelope was still staring at her. Molly hoped she’d take the bait and assume she meant she would give the eye miniature to him for a price.

“Come with me,” Penelope said.

She led Molly into an open-concept living room and dining room. Molly noticed a plate of pasta on the dining room table and a glass of red wine. She’d interrupted her meal.

There was a modern teak-wood desk in the living room. Penelope went to it and opened a drawer. For a brief moment, Molly was afraid she was going to pull out a gun and shoot her. What had she been thinking, coming here alone? Lombardi was right. It was a stupid, harebrained idea! But Penelope took out a checkbook and a pen and carried them over to a sofa, where she sat down. Molly took a chair across from her near the window. She had a direct view of the driveway and a panoramic scene of Rimstock shining in the sun.

Penelope said, “How much do you want?”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Penelope said in a stern tone. “Isn’t that why you’re here? You figured it all out and now you want me to pay you to keep quiet?”

Molly sat very still. What exactly did Penelope think she’d figured out? “Ah, what I want are answers,” she said.

“Answers? Why should I tell you anything?”

“Because if you don’t, I’ll tell the police where to find you. And I should tell you, if my husband doesn’t hear from me within the hour, he’s going to call the police.”

Penelope sighed. “All right, I’ll talk to you, but first I want you to answer a question,” she said. “When did Tiffany die?”

“She was poisoned the same day you left.”

Penelope’s hand went nervously to her throat. “Do the police think I did it?”

“What do you think?”

“My God, what a mess,” she said. “I knew this wouldn’t work. Stealing Penelope’s identity was a huge mistake. And now Tiffany is dead.”

Molly took a deep breath, trying to keep her head clear. “Did I hear you correctly? Did you just say you stole Penelope Cassidy’s identity, and you’re not her?”

She stared at Molly a moment, and when she spoke, her voice trembled. “I thought you’d figured it out, and you came to blackmail me to keep quiet about it.”

“No, I hadn’t figured it out, but sooner or later, the police will,” Molly said. She couldn’t stop looking at her. “You’re Dora Lang?”

The woman who had been calling herself Penelope Cassidy hugged herself, looking like she didn’t know what to do. Finally, she nodded slightly. “It was Giles’s idea,” she said. “I only went along with it because he promised it was the only way we could be together.”

“You were in love with him,” Molly said.

“I fell in love with him the first time we met,” Dora said.

Molly knew she’d have to get used to calling her Dora, but it was all so strange and somewhat unreal. “Did Penelope introduce you?” she asked.

“No.” Dora took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Penelope met him through me.” That surprised Molly. “I met Giles at an estate sale in Chelsea last year. I was there as a buyer for the Gentle Dealer, and Giles was there for Bits & Pieces. It was the day I purchased the eye miniature. The family had found it tucked away in an antique desk. I was fascinated by it.”

“Did you buy the eye miniature for yourself, or the shop?”

“I bought it for the shop, initially, but I fell in love with it and paid Penelope back.”

“So you met Giles at the estate sale . . . then what happened?”

“He invited me to lunch that afternoon. I was so excited, I acted like a fool. I drank too much wine, and told him too much about myself and Penelope.”

Molly glanced at the bottle of wine on the dining room table. “Are you supposed to be drinking?”

“Why would you ask me such a question?”

“I talked to Wayne Peabody at the shelter. I know about your drug addiction.”

“Okay, I’ll admit, I have addiction problems, but not with alcohol, only drugs.”

“What about that day, having lunch with Giles?”

“I was nervous, and I liked him too much.”

Molly thought it was a lame excuse to drink to excess, but she didn’t know much about drug or alcohol addiction, and she wasn’t going to judge her.

Dora went on. “I couldn’t stop talking. I told him I’d done time in prison on drug charges, and I told him how Penelope saved me from myself.”

“Penelope was good to you,” Molly said.

“She was a kind, decent person,” Dora said. Her eyes softened and she looked a little sad. “Nancy Tremblay is the same way. I met her at a church, through a support group they had going on at the time. She owns this house, and helped me get on my feet. And how did I repay her? I screwed up and started using again. By the time Penelope took me in, I knew I was at the end of my rope. I was tired of disappointing other people, and I was really tired of disappointing myself. I let her help me and I got healthy.”

“If you met Giles first, how did Penelope end up dating him?”

“The day after we had lunch together, he came by the shop.” Dora shook her head. “I introduced them. Isn’t that priceless? I knew the minute I did, Penelope was smitten, and I could see Giles was, too. They couldn’t take their eyes off each other.”

“I thought you said Penelope was kind and decent. That doesn’t fit the description of a woman who’d steal her friend’s boyfriend.”

“I didn’t tell her how I felt about him.”

“Why not?”

“I thought Giles was too good for me,” Dora said. “How pitiful is that?”

Molly tried not to feel sorry for her, but it wasn’t easy. “What was your relationship like with Penelope?”

“She was like a sister to me. That’s why I couldn’t tell her how I felt about Giles. The truth is, I could never repay her for what she did for me. Giving Giles to her seemed the least I could do to thank her.”

Molly wasn’t sure she believed that, but it was impossible to know if she was lying. Dora looked sincere, but she was cut out of the same cloth as Giles, another practiced liar.

“Did you give Giles the eye miniature?” Molly asked.

“Yes. It was a week before Christmas and Penelope and I were meeting him for dinner at a restaurant. The shop had been busy all day, and shoppers were still in the store at closing time. Penelope wanted to stay until they all left. She told me to go ahead and said she’d be along shortly. When I arrived at the restaurant and saw Giles sitting there, I knew what I had to do if I was ever going to have any peace of mind. I told him I loved him. I also promised I would never get in the way of his relationship with Penelope, because I wanted them to be happy. I apologized if I’d made him uncomfortable, but I had to let him know how I felt. I gave him the eye miniature and told him to think of me whenever he looked at it.”

“What was his response?”

“He was deeply touched,” Dora said. “He promised it would be our secret.”

“You told me it was Giles’s idea to steal Penelope’s identity, and you went along with it because he told you it was the only way you could be together. But how did that conversation even come about in the first place?”

“Penelope was dead,” Dora said. “I was afraid to call the police, because they’d know I’d gone to prison before for the drugs, and they might think her fall wasn’t an accident. I called Giles and asked him what I should do. He told me to get Penelope’s identification, and when the police arrived, to tell them I was her and the woman on the floor was Dora Lang.” She smiled sadly. “People often thought Penelope and I were sisters. We looked a lot alike, and we dressed the same and wore our hair in the same style. The police had no trouble believing I was her. I told them Dora was a former junkie with a record, that she had no family or friends. They asked me to sign a formal identification for the coroner, and I did. I was so worried they were going to check her dental records to verify it, or at least ask about her at the shelter, but they never did. It made me feel like my life was meaningless.”

Molly could see the pain in her eyes and felt sorry for her again. She had to quickly remind herself the woman had committed a crime when she stole Penelope’s identity, and she might have done worse.

“Did you kill her?” she asked.

Dora’s eyes widened. “Of course not,” she said. “Penelope died from a fall down the stairs. It was a horrible accident.”

“Why sell the house and business?”

“I had to leave London. Anyone who knew Penelope would know I wasn’t her.”

“Don’t you feel guilty about stealing her identity and her boyfriend?”

“No, because . . .” Dora hesitated. “Penelope found out about Tiffany, and broke up with Giles weeks before she died. I wasn’t really stealing him.”

“I guess it also helped he already knew you were in love with him,” Molly said. She thought he must have jumped at the chance for Dora to take Penelope’s place. It was a huge risk, getting past the police, the inquiries. But if they could pull it off, all he had to do was marry her and all that lovely money would be his. For her part, Dora didn’t care what his reasons were, because she was in love with him and wanted him in her life. “You must have thought you had it all sewn up when you arrived in Marlow Crossing,” Molly said. “It was the start of a new life together. You didn’t know Tiffany was going to follow him, did you?”

“No. Giles broke up with her after his father died,” Dora said. “But she couldn’t accept it. She moved into White Dove Cottage and started harassing us. Giles told me she’d leave eventually. He was convinced she would, because she hated village life, but she didn’t leave. She even adopted a cat.”

“Is it true you were angry at Giles because he agreed to buy the eye miniature from her?”

“Is that what he’s saying?”

“Yes,” Molly said. “He says that’s why you left.”

Dora leaned back on the sofa. “You thought the door at Bits & Pieces was locked that morning, and you were right,” she said. “I locked it because Tiffany came to see me at the shop. After she left, I was sick to my stomach and had to close until I felt well enough to reopen.”

“Why did she come to see you?”

Dora crossed her legs, swinging a bare foot. “I’m surprised you even have to ask,” she said. “I thought you were doing the same thing, asking for money because you knew who I was.”

Molly felt her eyebrows shoot up. “Tiffany asked you for money?”

Dora laughed. “You’re like everyone else. She made you feel sorry for her, didn’t she? The ugly truth is, Tiffany was a blackmailer. She threatened to go to the police unless I paid her a very large sum of money.” Molly was stunned. “It’s pathetic, how surprised you look,” Dora said. “Everyone thinks so highly of Tiffany. Poor girl, Giles tossed her overboard for another woman, she didn’t deserve it, blah, blah, blah. Give me a break. She was as devious as they come.”

“How much money did she want?”

“Two million dollars,” Dora said.

Molly’s eyes widened. “Two million?”

“I told her I’d have to talk to Giles before I handed over that much money,” Dora said. “She wasn’t happy about it, but I insisted. I was suspicious, you see, that Giles might have put her up to it.” She shrugged. “Guess I lived on the mean streets too long. It makes it hard to trust anyone, even someone you love.” Dora rubbed her eyes wearily. “When she showed up at Channing Hall that afternoon, I knew what she was doing. She was pressuring me and Giles to pay up.”

“Let me get this straight,” Molly said. “When he told her he’d give her what she wanted for the eye miniature, he was really telling her he agreed to pay her two million dollars to keep quiet?”

“Yes . . . at least that’s what he wanted her to think. Giles had no intention of paying her that much money. We came up with a plan.” She paused. “Why am I telling you all this? Are you going to call the cops if I don’t pay you?”

“I don’t want money,” Molly said. “Actually, I’m feeling sympathetic toward you. I might just walk out of here and never tell a soul where you are. But I want to know about the plan.”

Dora considered a moment. Finally, she said, “Okay, this is what happened. Giles thought it would be a good idea for me to get out of town while he worked things out with Tiffany. He managed to get hold of Mrs. Jackson’s phone and told me to call Nancy with it, which I did. She was already in Spain, but she told me I could stay here, and where to find the spare key. She really is a good person. I packed a bag and drove here directly. Lucky for me, there’s plenty of food in the pantry, so I haven’t had to go out.”

“Why did you turn off your phone?”

“Giles made me swear, under no circumstance would I use it. He was afraid the police would be checking my phone records. He said he’d post a letter to me, overnight delivery, when it was safe to come home.”

“And what would make it safe to come home? Didn’t it occur to you that he might kill Tiffany to shut her up?”

Dora shook her head slowly back and forth. “I refuse to believe that,” she said. “Giles is too smart. He wouldn’t kill her, because he knew the police would look at the ex-boyfriend first. The plan was for him to talk to her when she came to see him to collect the money. He would offer her a million, but that’s all, no more. He was sure she’d take it and we’d be free of her.”

“Why would she take it when she had the upper hand?”

“He knew her better than anyone. He said everyone accused him of spending money like a madman, but the truth was, they spent it together, using his credit cards. Tiffany loved expensive things—a fancy flat in London, traveling the world, designer clothes. A million is a lot of money, and I trusted his judgment that she’d take it.”

“Does Reggie McGee fit into your plan?”

“Reggie? My neighbor?” Dora looked confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“He’s gone missing, too. And like you, he disappeared around the time Tiffany died.”

“What are you implying? Do you think Giles got him to murder Tiffany?”

“You know Reggie spent time in prison?”