Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row

with a friend."
    "Good. I was certain it couldn't be you."
    Holly knew exactly what she meant, but asked anyway. "I couldn't be what?"
    Bobbi narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Why, the killer of course. Surely you heard the news about Billy O'Day."
    "I heard, but I haven't decided what to do about it yet."
    Bobbi gasped. "Dear god. You can't be thinking of actually doing something about it. You mustn't. We could all end up being investigated. Things could come out that have nothing to do with the murders. I—I could lose my job."
    "Two men have been murdered. I can't just pretend that I don't know they had something in common."
    "Yes, you can," Bobbi said, nervousness making her voice crack. "Rachel is on the case. She'll handle everything without any of us being implicated. All she wants us to do is make sure we have alibis, just in case the worst happens and someone makes the connection. That was one of the reasons I came to see you. But since you were with a friend, you're covered."
    "And everyone else?" Holly asked warily.
    Bobbi picked at something on her skirt and answered without looking up. "Rachel said everyone else is taken care of."
    "But you're not so sure, are you?" Holly ventured. "Do you think Rachel killed them?"
    Bobbi's head snapped up. "Rachel? Heavens no. She and I have been friends since high school. She would never do anything to jeopardize the rest of us, no matter what she says when she's... not feeling well."
    Holly had to find out what the woman thought. "Then who?"
    Bobbi frowned. "I shouldn't say it. Rachel said she didn't do it, and I should believe her, but it's just that she's so blinded by her."
    Holly waited, sensing that Bobbi wanted to share her opinion, despite her hesitancy.
    "I think it's that bitch. If she could kill her own husbands, Ziegler and O'Day would be nothing to her."
    "Erica?"
    "Of course, Erica. She's mean and vicious and has no conscience. For some reason, Rachel is too infatuated to see her for what she really is."
    Holly's brain was frantically assimilating all the different hints Bobbi was dropping. "You mean Rachel and Erica..."
    Bobbi nodded. "Please don't think badly of Rachel. We each have different ways of coping with what happened to us. Rachel happens to prefer the company of women to men. But Erica, that's a different story. She doesn't have feelings for either sex. She just does whatever will most benefit Erica."
    "Are you suggesting that Erica not only killed her husbands, but also Ziegler and O'Day, and Rachel would protect her?"
    "Rachel would do anything for Erica."
    "Even murder?"
    "No!" Bobbi exclaimed. "Rachel wouldn't kill someone any more than you or I, or Cheryl or April, for that matter. Except in the line of duty, of course. That's different. No. It can't be Rachel. It has to be Erica."
    Methinks thou dost protest too much, Holly thought. "Why are you telling me this?"
    Bobbi got up from the couch and walked across the room. For a moment, she just stood there, with her back to Holly, then she removed her glasses, straightened her spine, and turned slowly around.
    Holly had encountered Bobbi's other personality before, but seeing the change occur before her eyes was much more disturbing. It was not only the glasses and posture that had changed, Bobbi's whole demeanor became strong and aggressive.
    "To warn you," she answered in a deeper, clearer voice than she'd been using before. "You're new. I was afraid you might feel obligated to report what you know, and you can't possibly understand all the repercussions that would have on the rest of us. Besides that, I think you should consider the risk you'd be taking. If Erica thought you were going to talk to someone other than Rachel, she might stop you from talking to anyone ever again."
    Holly was stunned at her own naïveté. It hadn't even occurred to her that the murderer or murderess, whoever it was, could turn on her.
    Roberta laughed lightly. "Finally got the picture, huh? Just keep what you know to yourself and no harm will come to you. You haven't told anyone else about us, have you?"
    Holly thought about her confession to Philip the other day, and how much her parents knew, but there was no reason to put them at risk as well. "No. I haven't told anyone. But now that you mention it, there are other people who know about Ziegler, O'Day, and most of the other men, too. Besides the rest of the Little Sister Society and any people they may have told, Cheryl Wallace waved a list of names on