“What is your big secret, Vena, if I may ask?” said Marge.
“I once accidentally killed a gerbil,” said Vena. She proceeded to explain the circumstances of the death of this gerbil named Freddie, and Michele had to admit the revelation wasn’t as terrible as Vena had clearly feared. “I carried that secret around with me for years. Afraid it would come out.”
“I once wrote a series of short erotic novels,” Marge blurted out. “I told my daughter today, and my husband last night, and I have to say they took the news well.”
“You should be proud,” said Vena, “not ashamed. Not everyone can write.”
“Judging from my book reviews it’s not obvious that I can write, either.”
Michele smiled at this.“And to think that Bereng?ria was trying to blackmail us with our secrets. She had a whole list, you know. The police found it in her place. She was going to blackmail all of us.”
“I heard about Ona. How she wanted her to pay ten thousand,” said Marge.
“What was her secret?” asked Vena.
“I’m not sure,” said Michele. “She hasn’t told me.”
“You were also on Bereng?ria’s list, Michele?” asked Marge.
“I was, yeah. My secret being that I can’t cook. And of course that my brother-in-law killed my husband seven years ago. Though that wasn’t much of a secret. More like a family skeleton we’d much rather leave in the closet, since it hasn’t done anyone any good.” The case had received a lot of press at the time, even though Michele’s father-in-law had tried to pull a few strings to make sure the press coverage was buried. As it was, the scandal hadn’t damaged the reputation of the Droba Group as much as Bill had feared, or scared away investors and customers. And eventually thestory had gone away. Until Isobel had decided to write about it, and Bereng?ria had tried to make money from it.
“It has to be Bereng?ria who killed Isobel,” said Marge. “Hasn’t it?”
“I don’t know,” said Michele with a sigh. “The police aren’t telling me anything. They’re not even telling my father-in-law, even though he’s already complained to the chief of police, to the mayor, and to every council member who will listen.”
“But they arrested her,” said Vena. “Which means they know something.”
“They know she tried to blackmail Ona,” said Michele. “And that’s it.”
Ona now entered the kitchen, looking bright-faced and happy.“Can I help?” she asked.
“Sure,” said Marge, and assigned the former supermodel to tomato chopping duties. “You’re looking happy today, Ona.”
“That’s because I am,” said the model. “I did something I should have done a long time ago. I talked to my sister,” she explained.
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” said Marge kindly.
“It was. There were some things I needed to tell her, and I finally did.”
“And she took it well, I take it?”
“She did, yeah. She took it very well. Much better than I expected.”
The woman was positively radiant, Michele decided, and she was happy for her. At least someone in the house was having good things happen to them.
“And I hear they arrested your blackmailer,” said Vena.
“Yeah. I was there,” said Ona. “I hadn’t expected it to be her, to be honest.”
“I hadn’t expected it to be Bereng?ria either,” said Michele. “She’s worked for me for years. And now this.” Which just goes to show you never really know a person.
“She must have seen an opportunity and taken it,” said Vena.
“But how did she get a hold of Isobel’s book?” asked Ona.
“Which is why it must be her who killed Isobel,” Marge reiterated. “How else did she have Isobel’s book containing all of our secrets? No, it must be her.”
“But if it is her, then why are we still here?” asked Vena. “Why haven’t they let us go?”
Michele shrugged.“Beats me. Nobody tells me anything.”
“Is it true Perlita and Nathan are getting a divorce?” asked Ona, mercifully changing the subject. The death of Isobel was horrible, but incessantly talking about it wasn’t going to bring her back, or allow them to process the terrible events.
“They’ve asked for separate rooms,” said Michele as she studied a piece of veal and wondered how to go about turning it into something edible and perhaps even delicious. “Apparently they were both having an affair with the same woman.”
“Oh, my God!” said Vena, clasping a hand to her face. “No way!”
“Yeah, some artist that Nathan was representing and Perlita was organizing a show for.” Izzy Price had tried to further her career in a most creative way, but had only succeeded in destroying it. “They’re talking through their lawyers.”
“How can they talk through their lawyers when they’re both staying under the same roof?” asked Marge.
“A lot of couples getting a divorce stay under the same roof,” said Vena. “Not because they want to, but because they have to. With real estate prices going through the roof, and rent being as high as it is, not everyone has the luxury of moving out while they put the house up for sale.”
“Maybe they’ll reconcile,” said Ona, who clearly had a romantic streak. “Maybe they’ll realize they still love each other and they’ll get back together.”