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the woman. No wonder she got the promotion to detective. She was one smart lady. She got the truth out of me. And someone else. Now I had to do some swift maneuvering of my own.
    â€œ The reason you assaulted her?” Frida’s pencil was poised over her notebook, ready to get the goods on me. Timble came to life, scribbling nonstop in his little black book.
    â€œ You assume the assault was unwarranted? She came at me first. I only hit her to protect myself.”
    â€œ Still. The reason for the two of you getting physical?”
    I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I let out a sharp sigh. “Can’t you guess? Valerie Sanders was cheap. She may have been rich, but she was tight with her money. Maybe that’s how she got so rich. She wanted me to take a smaller percentage for the consignment of her castoffs. I told her no. She went crazy. Came at me as if I had accused her of buying her clothes at Sears.” Privately, I was pretty certain she did buy some of her stuff at Sears, but then sewed on designer labels. That’s how damn cheap she was.
    â€œ And then?”
    â€œ Once I gave her a good bop on the puss, she seemed to come to her senses. Grabbed her purse and left. The next time I saw her was the day of our grand opening, the day she—”
    â€œ How did she act toward you that day?”
    â€œ As she usually did. Like I was lowlier than the help she hired to clean her toilets, but a necessary evil.” I glanced at my watch. I’d been here for over a half hour. Madeleine would be frantic if I wasn’t back soon.
    Frida and Timble exchanged looks and nodded at each other.
    â€œ Okay. You can go, but we may have additional questions.”
    â€œ Well, I have one of my own. Who told you Valerie and I had a run-in?”
    â€œ Madeleine. This morning on the phone. I asked her if she knew of anybody who didn’t like Valerie. She volunteered your name.”
    I could feel the blood rush to my face. That little rat! Here I’d been trying to protect her by lying about my whereabouts this afternoon. Once I got back to the store, I intended to up her stress level. Her wrinkles be damned! But before I did that, I needed to find out what she’d overheard between Valerie and me.
    Had she heard the real reason for Valerie’s attack? If so, had she told Frida? If Frida knew I hadn’t been honest about the reason for our confrontation, she’d be examining my background, which wouldn’t stand up to that kind of scrutiny and could lead to too much interest in Jerry’s dealings with the Sanders family. Oh yeah, as usual, Jerry had lied to me. I knew him well enough to detect the dissembling in his voice when we talked. He was up to his armpits in the Sanders’ investments. Not that he could be involved in the murder. No way. Nuh-uh.

    I kept my mouth shut about the fact that Madeleine had been shooting off hers to Frida until we were already headed for the coast.
    â€œ They’ve been burning the sugar cane fields south of here all day,” I said. “You can still smell that acrid scent in the air.” It was not an odor I savored. I rolled up the window and turned on the air conditioner.
    Madeleine said, “Should we go to Cory’s first, since it’s all the way on the other side of West Palm?” She lowered the vanity mirror on the visor and examined her face.
    That did it. “I told you this morning,” I said. “There’s no wrinkle. I lied to you. Your forehead is as smooth as the inside of a cream puff.”
    â€œ Why are you yelling at me? You’ve been acting funny ever since you picked me up at the store. If you’re going to treat me like that, let me out here.”
    I almost did just that, but we were driving the 714 East after the commuter rush hour had already passed, and I doubted anyone would be on the road. She’d get eaten by an alligator crossing to hunt overnight