Poisoned Prose (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

you’re here. Not only because you came to visit a silly and stubborn old woman, but because I need to tell you something.”
    Olivia curled her fingers around Leona’s, doing her best to avoid the IV lines. “Okay.”
    “It’s about the other night.” Leona had to pause and start again. “When Violetta was killed.”
    Saying nothing, Olivia nodded in encouragement.
    “I’ve thought of little else since then. That’s probably why I’m wearing a paper gown that doesn’t cover a quarter of my ample backside.” She tried to produce a smile but failed. “You see, Chief Rawlings asked me to think about where I was twenty minutes after the performance’s conclusion. I’ve reviewed my actions over and over since giving my statement, and nothing seemed significant. But yesterday, I was feeling restless and out of sorts, so I took a walk and that’s when I remembered an unusual detail.”
    Leona fell silent, and it was clear to Olivia that she was gathering herself to say something that had the potential to alter another person’s fate. The words, once spoken, couldn’t be retracted, and Leona wouldn’t inflict that kind of damage upon someone without hesitating first. And that’s when Olivia realized that she must know the individual in question. Otherwise, Leona would have just come right out and said what she’d seen.
    Olivia squeezed Leona’s hand gently. “You can’t help what you bore witness to. You were just there.”
    “That’s right. I just happened to be at that place at that moment,” she agreed and sighed heavily. “It was Flynn McNulty. That’s the person I saw. He was entering the men’s restroom about twenty minutes after the rest of the audience had relocated to the lobby. I only know how much time elapsed because of how quickly the crab cakes had disappeared. Spotting the empty platter on the buffet table, I checked my watch, thinking that the town’s highbrow residents were greedy little pigs, and went back to the kitchen to inform the caterer.”
    “And then?” Olivia could feel her skin turning clammy, especially where her flesh touched Leona’s, but she couldn’t have moved her hand if she wanted to. Her body was frozen, waiting. Olivia was certain that after Leona spoke again, she would no longer be able to view her former lover as a harmless, easygoing bibliophile. In another moment, Flynn McNulty was about to transform into something else. A stranger. Perhaps even a killer.
    “The detail I keep fixating on is this: Flynn didn’t go into the restroom from the direction of the lobby. He entered from the other end of the hallway. The part leading to the conference room.”
    “Did he see you?”
    Leona shook her head. “He was fiddling with his tie, and to say that he looked distressed is an understatement. Considering how successful our big-ticket event was, he should have been glowing. But there was a shadow hanging over him. I know that sounds like a phrase from an Edwardian novel, but it’s an accurate description.”
    Olivia couldn’t speak for a full minute. She could think of nothing else but Flynn’s tie. Had he used it to hold a plastic bag in place around Violetta’s neck? Had he stood behind her, his arm muscles stretched and taut, as her lungs burned and her body bucked and twisted? “The chief needs to hear this,” she said eventually.
    Leona nodded gravely. “Would you call him? And stay with me while we talk? I know it’s asking—”
    “Very little,” Olivia assured her. “But I’m going to get in touch with him on my way to the parking garage. I’ll put the A/C on for Haviland until Rawlings arrives. I don’t want Haviland to overheat in the car. Is that all right?”
    “Of course. I know how you dote on that animal.” Leona tightened her grip on Olivia’s hand. “Your mother and I always thought you’d grow up to become like one of our favorite heroines from classic literature, but you’re more complex than any of them. Don’t stop your character development now. Let my health scare be a lesson to you. Take a risk, my girl. While you have the time, take the biggest risk of all.”
    Olivia escaped before Leona could continue.
    “Is the entire town colluding to get Rawlings to move in with me?” she mumbled in the hallway, nearly bumping into Roxie in her haste to reach the elevator. “You’ll have to take the next one,” she told the robot and closed the doors on the machine.
    In the parking lot, she called Rawlings and