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wrong. But it s the only thing out of place in her suitcase. And
there had to be some reason the killer was trying to dig her up
after all this time.
196 E li zabeth B loom
 Maybe she didn t steal it, Sonya said.  Maybe whoever did
steal it was afraid it could somehow be traced back to him.
 Maybe, Ginny said, though she didn t really mean it.  Any-
thing s possible.
She called Father LeGrand and got his voice mail; with all the
money going to settle those molestation suits, the diocese had
laid off the church secretary. Ginny left him a message saying
she d like to speak to him, then went out for a run. Sonya, who
was pacing the apartment like a caged leopard, was starting to
drive her out of her mind.
She did three miles, wimped out, and went home for a
shower. Sonya was on her hands and knees, waxing the kitchen
floor. The priest hadn t called back. To avoid getting roped
into Sonya s cleaning frenzy, she told her friend she had some
errands to run, and went down to the Golden Skillet for a
burger.
It was still early for lunch, and there wasn t much of a crowd.
Ginny sat at the counter and ordered her usual artery-slamming
concoction. The college-aged waitress was someone Ginny
didn t recognize; she hadn t served her before, and she hadn t
been there when Ginny trolled the place for useful information
about Danny during what would have been his weekend shift.
 Are you new here? Ginny asked when the girl delivered her
lunch, the burger glistening amid a sea of crispy fries.
 Been here a month or so, she said.  I usually work week-
ends. But I swapped with Wanda last Sunday, so here I am.
The girl had a sturdy build, a long brown braid that flopped
down her back, and a moon-shaped face with milky white skin.
She reminded Ginny of the farmers daughters who d ride in the
Fall Foliage parade on the float marked DAIRY PRINCESS. She was
T he M or ti ci an s D aughter 197
smacking her gum and leaning against the counter, coffeepot in
hand like she was auditioning for the role of waitress, and she
wanted to make sure she had all her clichés covered.
 I was wondering, Ginny asked,  did you used to work with
Danny Markowicz?
 Poor guy, the girl said.  But he s in a better place. You
know?
Ginny didn t know, not at all. But she just nodded and
smiled.  Did you know him very well?
 We worked together a bunch of times. She blew a bubble,
popped it, sucked the gum back into her mouth.  Would ve
liked to know him better. Danny was a hottie. Her eyes widened,
like she d broken some taboo about wanting to bang the dead.
 I mean. . . May he rest in peace.
 Did you ever notice anything unusual going on with him?
She shrugged.  Like whaddaya mean?
 Was he arguing with anyone? Was there a particular person
he had a problem with, something like that?
 Not really, she said.  Except that time somebody came in
screaming about wanting him dead.
33
Z
here was not a trace of irony in her. From her braided hair
Tto her sensible white sneakers, Ginny could see that the girl
was utterly without guile. And, she suspected, the better part of
a brain.
198 E li zabeth B loom
 Someone came in here threatening his life?
The waitress looked at her through round eyes.  I never said
that.
 You said someone wanted him dead.
 Right, the girl said.  That s not the same thing.
Ginny took a big bite of her burger. She felt like she needed
the protein.  How about if you explain it to me?
The girl shrugged.  People say stuff like that all the time.
 Drop dead, I wish you were dead. Nobody ever means it.
Ginny wanted to point out to her that, perhaps, if the per-
son on the receiving end of that particular wish does end up
dead, maybe that changes things an eensy-weensy bit. She de-
cided not to bother.
 Can you just tell me what happened?
 Danny and me were closing up one Saturday, just the two
of us mopping down the floors and like that. And there was
this wicked knock on the front window, like so hard I thought it
was gonna break the glass. I went to tell them we were, you
know, closed, but it was Danny s girlfriend.
 Monique?
The girl s bulky shoulders rose into a shrug.  I guess. I mean,
I was never introduced. I saw her around here a couple times, a
little Skinny Minnie cheerleader type, but Danny never really
talked about her. I asked him once if he was seeing anybody.
And you know what he said?
She seemed to want an answer, so Ginny said,  I don t.
 He said he was in a transitional phase, she said with a dra-
matic roll of the eyes.  I mean, what guy our age talks like that?
Ginny was momentarily distracted by the fact that the girl
had somehow taken her for a fellow college student; before she
got too excited, though, she recalled that this Dairy Princess was
a few ounces short of a full gallon.
 A transitional phase, the waitress said again, waving the pot
T he M or ti ci an s D aughter 199
in the air so the coffee sloshed dangerously toward the spout.
 What the heck is that?
Ginny knew exactly where he d picked up that particular turn
of phrase his new friends over at Café des Artistes.  Did you
hear anything she said to him?
The girl s eyes narrowed.  It s not like I was eavesdropping
or anything.
 Of course not, Ginny said.  But if she was yelling, you
probably couldn t help but hear.
The waitress paused to put the coffeepot back down on the
warmer; Ginny felt her odds of getting through lunch without
third-degree burns improve considerably.
 Well, she said,  like I told you, she was pissed. She told
Danny she wished he was dead. She said he couldn t humiliate
her like that and get away with it. She was the queen of the Win-
ter Carnival or some stupid thing she said she could have any
guy in town and he was a disgusting pig. Or something like
that it was all sort of a rant.
 Do you remember anything else?
The girl thought about it.  She said something about a rub-
ber a wrapper she found someplace. I guess it was the wrong
brand. I didn t catch it all.
 How long did she stay?
 Maybe not even two minutes. Danny asked me to finish up,
and he hustled her out of here. And the next day he wouldn t say
diddly about it, and that was the last I ever saw of him.
 You mean this happened the Saturday before he died?
 Yeah, the girl said with a shrug.  I thought I told you that
already.
More customers were starting to come in, and the girl went off
to wait on them. Ginny sat and ate her burger, wondering whether [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]