“A would-be, nobody actor.”
She laughed. “Little Kate did hear me. What an amazing memory.”
“Who was he?”
“I have no idea.” She put up her hand. “There’s no use asking me a lot of questions because I don’t know. All Harry told me about the trip was that I was to negotiate a deal and settle on a price. It was to keep it out of the press about his sexual orientation. When I got here, Derek Oliver told me about the murder. I was livid and I called my husband. But Harry wouldn’t tell me the details, and I assure you that I asked him. At the top of my lungs.”
“Oliver would keep quiet for money?”
“That’s what he said. Do you think he would have?”
“No.”
“Me neither,” Barbara said softly.
They didn’t say any more, as she had just verified her motive for murder. If Derek Oliver hadn’t died, their lives might have been ruined.
It was when they sat down to eat that Randal asked, “What’s the connection between your husband and James Lachlan?”
“Is there one? I know we met at his house, but I thought it was for convenience.”
He didn’t know if she was telling the truth or not. “There must be a connection. We’re pretty sure that Derek found out what Harry did from information that’s in the Palm Room.”
Barbara didn’t reply.
“They’re all dead now,” Randal said. “Harry, the murder victim, and Oliver the blackmailer. There’s no more danger, so why did you come herenow? It makes no sense—unless you’re the murderer. Did you kill him?”
Barbara gave a bit of a smile. “No, I didn’t. I really believed what Billy told us, that Derek had urgent business and left suddenly.”
“His wife must have known that wasn’t true.”
She gave him a look he’d seen her do on the screen. The recipients always backed down. “You would know more about that than I would.”
Randal just smiled—and waited. He knew she was trying to redirect the conversation to keep from answering his question.
She gave a sigh that sounded like defeat. “It’s going to come out so I might as well tell.” She put her shoulders back as though for courage. “Roy and I had a child, a boy. He knows about Roy’s family and he wants to meet his brother. I came here because I wanted to find out what Jack was like. When I first saw him and he looked so much like Roy...” She shrugged. They’d all seen her faint.
Randal tried to conceal his shock. “You said he wants to meet Jack?”
“Troy idolizes him, even though he’s never met him.”
Randal couldn’t stop the widening of his eyes. “Troy?”
“Roy with aT.”
“Did you tell Roy about his son?”
“No, never,” she said quickly. “It’s hard to believe, but at the end of that week, I was pretty sure I was pregnant. I had tingling, nausea, et cetera. I was out of my mind with fear. I’d met Roy’s wife. She was so awful! I asked him why he’d married her. He said, ‘I’m an honorable man. I marry every woman I knock up.’ He meant it as a joke, but I knew he was telling the truth. I knew that if I told him I thought I was pregnant he’d move heaven and earth for us to be together. But I also knew what a life with him would be like.”
“And you didn’t want that.”
“Of course not. My life with Harry was so very comfortable.”
“Ah yes, Harry. Everything depended on him. You must have worried that he would throw you out when you told him.”
“I was deathly afraid. Shaking with it.” Barbara smiled. “But my darling husband was pleased. In fact, he’d talked to someone—probably Billy—and he knew all about my affair with Roy. He’d even asked for a description of him. Harry said, ‘Our child will be beautiful.’”
“And is he?”
