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Erin’s acting either, and he’s wrong there—she really is talented. I hope you’ll get to see her play Olivia tomorrow night. She’s great.”
    The salads arrived to appropriate oh’s and ah’s. Elizabeth speared one of her succulent pink shrimp and dipped it in the creamy green dressing. After taking time to savor the bite she continued, “But what is Dirk doing here? Does he have a job?”
    “I guess he must be independently wealthy. He’s always talking about places he’s been in France and Switzerland. Must be nice. Anyway, right now he’s just hanging around Erin as far as I can tell.”
    Richard had been silent while Elizabeth and Erin talked, his brow furrowed in thought. Now he asked, “This father of Erin’s—just who is he?”
    “I don’t know.” Tori’s long, thick braid swung from side to side as she shook her head. “He owns about half the oil wells and cattle ranches in Texas, I guess. And a construction company, too, I think.”
    “Renton?” Richard repeated Erin’s last name.
    “No. That’s her stage name. I think she uses it so no one can say she got a part on Daddy’s reputation. Her real name is Erica Wooton.”
    The name didn’t mean anything to Elizabeth, but it was clear it did to Richard. “Eric Wooton! That’s her father? No wonder she wanted to get out on her own. I don’t think he owns quite half of Texas, but maybe half of their politicians.”
    “And you tease me about using overstatement.” Elizabeth grinned at her husband.
    Although they all declined dessert, Elizabeth dawdled over a pot of lemon grass tea. Since this was their honeymoon, a week that was supposed to have been filled with long quiet times with her husband in romantic spots and leisurely strolls through the flower-strewn park, Elizabeth had suggested they not plan to attend the matinees. Hard as it was to deny her English-teacher’s desire to see She Stoops to Conquer in a new setting as a musical and An Enemy of the People , her favorite Ibsen, which were performed on alternate afternoons in the beautiful indoor Angus Bowmer Theatre, and her curiosity to see the two modern, experimental plays being done in the intimate, theatre-in-the-round Black Swan, experience had taught her what head-spinning insanity it was to try to see nine plays in five days. That was not what she had wanted for her honeymoon with Richard.
    Nor was a murder investigation.

Chapter 6
    RICHARD SUGGESTED ELIZABETH AND Tori go on to Tori’s apartment while he check to see if he could find out anything about the results of the postmortem and leave Erin’s pill bottle with the police to be analyzed. Elizabeth thought longingly of the enticing double-wide hammock on the porch of The Bard’s Haven. How lovely it would be to spend the afternoon swinging gently in that with Richard. She envisioned them taking turns reading Shakespearean sonnets to each other, then sighed. Duty called.
    At the apartment she gave Richard a quick good-bye kiss, then jumped out of the car. She ran up the sidewalk behind Tori, then turned back to wave to Richard. She was still turned away from the door as she took another step. “Oh!” she cried, as something tangled in her feet and she went sprawling into the grass.
    A pair of strong hands helped her upright. “Are you hurt?” Gregg’s mellow voice asked her.
    “No, I don’t think so. But what happened?”
    “Thompkins,” Tori answered from the open doorway. “Our landlady has about ten cats. They’re an awful nuisance.” As she spoke a large white fluff of angora joined the grey creature that had scampered away from Elizabeth’s feet. Both cats scooted through the open door into Tori’s apartment. “Out!” Victoria commanded. The angora jumped onto the bookshelf, almost knocking off a pair of large china dogs. “Oh, no, you don’t, Angie.” She carefully retrieved the enormous ball of white hair. “Erin would kill you if you broke her dogs. She’s not a cat lover in the