Free Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund by Blaize Clement

pillows and thousands of other things with his face or form on them. They’re collector’s items today.”
    “So if that guy Brossi was telling the truth—”
    “If he was telling the truth, his father should have got some of the money Angelo made.”
    “But Angelo was the one who actually made the idea work. His brother must not have had Angelo’s talent, or he would have become famous himself.”
    “That’s what Conrad said, among other things. Mostly, he said his father had created Madam Flutter-By, that nobody else had ever done the act, and that Brossi was a fraud. But I’m not sure if he could be positive about that. It was so long ago, and in some little place in Italy. Who knows who first came up with the act?”
    “Do you know where Brossi went?”
    “He didn’t go anywhere. He owns a telemarketing firm here in Sarasota.”
    I said, “Did you know Madam Flutter-By?”
    “No, but I knew Angelo Ferrelli. He had already retired from the circus when I met him, but he was a lovely man. Highly intelligent, cultured, witty. Conrad is a lot like him. Was. Conrad adored him. Denton was ashamed of him. Of course, Denton was ashamed of Conrad too.”
    I tried to think of a way to say it tactfully and couldn’t, so I just said it. “Was Denton embarrassed by the way Conrad dressed?”
    She grinned. “He hated it. Marian too.”
    “Is that why Conrad did it?”
    “No, Conrad just liked wearing that crazy stuff. Growing up in a circus family, I guess it seemed normal to him. Sometimes I thought he could have been a little more sensitive to Denton’s feelings about it, but it was a point of pride with him. You know, to be who he was, no matter
what other people thought about it. He was that way when I met him.”
    “Where was that?”
    She looked startled for a moment, as if she’d opened up something she hadn’t intended. “We were both in drama at Yale.”
    Since my education consisted of two years of community college and six months at the police academy, that sentence alone exposed a social chasm between us. It also meant that Stevie could be a very good actress, pretending grief for a husband she’d killed herself. But I didn’t think so.
    I said, “When Brossi came—”
    “Conrad practically threw him out of the house, and the man told Conrad he would be sorry. What he actually said was One day you will see me again and be sorry .”
    “You didn’t tell Lieutenant Guidry about this?”
    “I didn’t think about it until just now. Brossi never contacted Conrad again, or at least not so far as I know.”
    “If Brossi raised the issue now that Conrad’s gone, what would happen?”
    “Now he would be dealing with Denton. I don’t know what Denton would do.”
    “Brossi’s the only person you know of who had reason to hate Conrad?”
    “He’s the only one.”
    The truth lay on the table between us, as tasteless as the bran muffins. Denton Ferrelli had hated Conrad too. Maybe he had settled old scores with his brother.
    “Stevie, I saw Conrad’s car yesterday morning, with Reggie in the backseat. It went past when I was leaving the Powell house and turned onto Midnight Pass Road. I thought Conrad was driving, but he couldn’t have been because just a few minutes later I found his body.”
    “But Reggie wouldn’t have got in the car with a stranger.”
    “Exactly.”
    She stared at me with unfocused eyes. “You think Denton killed Conrad, don’t you?”
    “I think he may have had something to do with it.”

    I didn’t need to remind her that Denton and Marian formed a duo. One of them could have killed Conrad while the other drove his car away with Reggie inside. I could see on her face that she had already figured that out for herself, but she didn’t want to believe it was possible.
    Her eyes suddenly blazed with tears. “I feel like I’m in a bad dream that won’t stop.”
    “Stevie, is there anything I can do?”
    “There’s one thing. Wait a minute.”
    She hurried out