Deep Waters

other than that, I don't know anything."
    "Yes, you do." Phyllis sat down behind an elegant, exquisitely polished nineteenth-century heirloom desk and folded her hands on top of it. "You know that I have a reasonably good motive for murder."
    Charity was stunned. Very slowly she sank down into one of the brown cordovan leather chairs. "Are you talking about those photos that Swinton tried to use to blackmail you?"
    "Yes." The sturdy shoulder pads of her ivory-colored linen suit jacket could not conceal the tension in Phyllis's neck and back. "A lot of people would be willing to kill someone who threatened blackmail. I won't deny that I was very relieved when I first heard that Swinton was dead."
    "I don't blame you."
    "But then I remembered that you had seen the photos. You're aware that Swinton tried to blackmail me. You know I had a reason to kill him. Charity, I need to know if you intend to tell Tybern about those pictures."
    "No, I certainly do not intend to tell him about them. Phyllis, I swear, I never once thought you had murdered Swinton. And even if I had, I wouldn't go out of my way to tell Tybern about the pictures."
    A glimmer of relief appeared in Phyllis's eyes. "Thank you."
    "Rick was a nasty little weasel. Hank says that Swinton was the one who arranged to have a couple of young toughs vandalize my house a month ago. Just because I wasn't turned on by his obnoxious seduction routine. Can you believe it?"
    Phyllis sighed. "Yes."
    "Rick said I'd regret it, but I didn't think he'd go that far."
    "I told you, he claimed that he always got even, one way or another. Nobody got away with screwing him over, he said."
    "Looks like someone did this time."
    "Yes." Phyllis rubbed her forehead as if she was trying to get rid of a headache. "Damn it, I don't know what I ever saw in him. No, that's not true. I know what drew me to him. It was raw sex, pure and simple."
    Charity winced. "Pretty basic stuff. Did he like to cook?"
    "No." Phyllis frowned. "What makes you ask?"
    "Never mind. Look, don't be too hard on yourself, Phyllis. You weren't the only woman who found him attractive."
    "I know." Phyllis's mouth twisted in a self-mocking smile. "I think he took both of us to the same little love nest, too."
    "Both of you?"
    "There were at least two of us. Maybe more, for all I know. It's a wonder we weren't tripping over each other coming and going from the old Rossiter place. I used to find tissues in the bathroom that someone else had used to blot her lipstick. Once I discovered a pair of ripped pantyhose under the bed. Really disgusting when you think about it. But at the time I was only interested in the hot sex. I ignored the hot sheets."
    "Swinton may have taken some of the Voyagers there." Charity recalled what Arlene had said about Rick Swinton's sexual habits. "I was told he entertained himself by seducing some of the younger women in the group."
    "That wouldn't surprise me. He was really a creep, wasn't he?"
    Charity looked at her. "Do you think he might have been blackmailing someone else besides you? One of the Voyagers, perhaps?"
    "Who knows what that vicious little worm would have done?" Phyllis hesitated. "Wait a second. Are you implying that one of his other victims might have killed him?"
    "I don't know." Charity got to her feet. "It's Hank Tybern's job to look into things like that, isn't it?" So long as Tybern did not try to implicate Elias, she was willing to stay out of his way. "Look, I've got to run. Don't worry, I won't say anything about the pictures. I assume you've destroyed them?"
    "Are you kidding? I burned them all right after you left my house."
    "Good." Charity went to the door and raised one hand in a half-mocking salute. "I'll see you at the next town meeting, councilor."
    "Wait. Please. One more thing."
    Charity turned to look at her over her shoulder. "What is it?"
    "What makes you so certain that I didn't kill Swinton?"
    Charity smiled ruefully. "You're not going to believe this, but you and I have some things in common."
    Phyllis raised one brow. "You're into bondage fantasies? Tsk, tsk."
    "Uh, no. I'd probably go straight off the deep end if someone tied me up and tickled me. I tend to be a tad claustrophobic in, uh, certain interpersonal situations."
    "Don't knock it until you've tried it"
    Charity took a breath. "What I meant was, if someone tried to blackmail me, I'd have done exactly what you did."
    "Call his bluff?"
    "Right. And if that hadn't worked, I'd have gone to the