Bitty returned empty-handed and looking bewildered. “Oh dear,” she said, glancing around the apartment. “I can’t seem to find my pearls.”
“The fake ones or the real ones?” Leona asked.
“They’ve both gone missing.” Bitty’s hands fluttered. “Oh dear. And my doctor was telling me the other day that my mind is as sharp as a tack.” She let out a jittery little laugh. “Silly me. I must have misplaced them. Just like my brooch and my cameo necklace.”
A pang of sympathy kept me from fleeing the apartment. “When did you last see your pearls?”
She put a hand to her throat, as if reaching for one of the missing necklaces. “I wore the real ones to the cocktail party. The one Yolanda and Minnie held for Freddie.” Her face crumpled in confusion. “I could have sworn I put them back in my jewelry box.”
“I’m sure they’ll turn up,” I said in what I hoped was a comforting voice.
“Yes. Of course they will,” Bitty said, but she didn’t sound at all sure.
Leona lifted her friend’s martini up off the coffee table. “Darling, have a drink. It’ll help clear your mind.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but Bitty accepted the drink and downed a large gulp. Then she sank into the armchair in a rather wobbly fashion.
“Now, where were we?” Leona said. “The key to keeping a man coming back for more—”
“Vincent!” I practically shouted. “I came to ask about Vincent.” I directed my next words at Bitty. “Did he know Freddie?”
“Oh.” She thought for a moment. “I suppose he might have. After all, he visits me here quite often. He probably ran into Freddie from time to time.”
“But they weren’t friends?” I asked.
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Business associates?” I suggested.
“I don’t see how they could have been,” Bitty said. “Freddie was a building superintendent. Vincent owns a store.”
I latched on to that last statement. “A store?”
“On East Fordham Road.”
“What kind of store?”
“He sells a little of everything.” Bitty emptied her glass with a gulp. “Now, who would like another martini?”
Leona waved her empty glass in the air, light glinting off the jewels on her fingers. “I’d never turn down an offer like that.” She fixed her eyes on me. “You know, Emersyn, back when I was onPassion City,I filmed many passionate love scenes. The steamiest one of all was when my character and her evil twin’s husband—who’d recently returned from the dead—encountered each other, quite by accident, while skinny-dipping in a hot spring beneath the full moon. The best part was when I wrapped—”
I made a break for it. “Thank you, ladies! Have a nice day!”
I fled from the unit, letting the door slam shut behind me.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
I ran down the hall like a streak of lightning.
When I burst out into the lobby, I nearly collided with Bodie.
“Hey, where’s the fire?” he asked, putting a hand on my arm to steady me. He held a paper bag in his other hand, and delicious aromas wafted up from it.
I glanced over my shoulder. Leona and Bitty hadn’t followed me, much to my relief.
“No fire,” I said. “Just some very unwanted advice from Leona and Bitty.”
