Page 102 of When She Dreams

“Look, Larry smokes reefers now and again to relax. Who doesn’t? But he’s not a dope fiend. The marijuana the cops found in his room is probably his, but not the cocaine and those pills.”

“What about the clothes in the trunk of his car?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The killer put them there to frame Larry.”

“You said you could prove Larry was innocent. How do you plan to do that?”

“He was with me last night—the whole night. But no one will believe me on account of the drugs. They’ll say I was lying to protect him.”

Maggie heard a door open behind her. She whirled around in time to watch Dolores Guilfoyle walk out of a supply closet, a black-beaded evening bag clutched in one gloved hand. There was a pistol in her other hand.

“Gloria can’t prove anything,” Dolores said. “You have caused more than enough trouble, Miss Lodge. This ends tonight.”

Chapter 47

The pistol Dolores gripped was a small one, to be sure, but Sam’s words shivered through Maggie.A small pistol can be just as scary as a big one at close quarters.

“I’m sorry, Miss Lodge,” Gloria whispered.

“What did she promise you in exchange for your help getting me alone tonight?” Maggie asked. She did not take her eyes off Dolores.

“She said she would hire the best lawyer in town to help Larry,” Gloria said. Her thin, sad voice indicated she now knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“I promised her I would make sure Larry walked free if she did as I asked,” Dolores said.

The gun did not waver in her hand. She appeared to be cool and in control. It was obviously not the first time she had done this sort of thing. But there was an air of hot, frantic excitement about her that indicated she was close to some inner edge.

“You’re not going to get Larry out of jail, are you?” Maggie said. “You need him to take the fall for Oxlade’s murder.”

“I’m afraid so,” Dolores said.

Gloria whimpered.

“Shut up,” Dolores said. “You are only useful to me as long as you do what I tell you.”

Gloria’s mouth opened and closed. She stared at Maggie with the same desperate look in her eyes that had been there earlier when she had offered the note on a tray and silently pleaded for help.

“What’s this all about?” Maggie said to Dolores.

“I don’t have time to stand around chatting,” Dolores said. She motioned with the pistol. “Into the supply closet, both of you. There’s a door inside. It leads to a hallway. Hurry. We’ve got to make this fast. I have to get back to the lobby before I’m missed. Move.”

Maggie went reluctantly to the open door of the supply closet. Gloria, seemingly numb with panic, trailed after her. There was another door on the inside of the closet. It stood open, revealing a narrow corridor illuminated by a wall sconce. An old servant’s hallway, Maggie thought. It had not been remodeled.

Maggie moved into the corridor. Gloria followed. Dolores was right behind them. She paused long enough to close the outer door of the supply closet.

“Keep walking,” she ordered.

Maggie obeyed. Gloria followed her along the shadowy passage. Dolores stayed very close behind them. In the narrow hall there was no way she could miss if she pulled the trigger.

“Mr. Sage will be looking for me,” Maggie warned.

Dolores chuckled. “I saw him slip away earlier. I suspect he’s searching our villa, looking for something that will prove Arthur and I are a couple of con artists. That’s why you attended the conference, isn’t it? You want to expose the Guilfoyle Method as a fraud. You’re wasting your time.”

“You were the one who tried to murder Sam last night,” Maggie said.

“That was the plan. I took Larry’s Ford and waited for Sage to comeout of the hotel lobby to pick you up after the dream reading. But he came from a different direction. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Obviously,” Maggie said. “That leaves you with a real problem, doesn’t it?”

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