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ankle-strap slides. It s all set. I called the office and got the
address where Trevor is tenting. He ll be there until six.
Margery took a dozen brownies out of the freezer and
microwaved them. They ll smell like fresh-baked, she
said, wrapping them in foil. Helen followed Margery out to
her big white Cadillac. Helen was sure that once you col-
lected Social Security, the state of Florida automatically is-
sued you a big white car.
We re in luck. He s at a hardware store in Pembroke
Pines. Margery drove at a stately pace. They didn t need to
MURDER BETWEEN THE COVERS 163
check the address. They could see the building, covered in
flapping canvas, a block away.
Do you think he ll talk to us? Helen said.
No man can resist my brownies, Margery said.
Certainly not Trevor. Fresh-baked, he said when
Margery handed him the warm package. Helen felt rather
baked herself, standing in the hardware store s parking lot
in the four-o clock heat. Trevor looked cool in his pressed
uniform. The man didn t sweat.
I wish I could help you, he said after he stashed the
brownies in his truck. I d like to set an innocent free, like I
was set free. But those door-shield locks are mostly for
show. You could pop them with a screwdriver.
Helen said nothing on the drive back. There was nothing
to say.
It all went back to Peggy. She had the answers. Helen
had to ask the questions. She caught the bus after work.
This time Helen had no fear of the police when she vis-
ited the North Broward jail. She had put on her cloak of in-
visibility. The ugly thick-soled bookstore shoes and
sensible clothes turned her into a faceless clerk. She pre-
sented her fake ID without fear. You can get used to any-
thing, she thought. Even talking to your friend through
Plexiglas. But nothing could protect her from the sight of
Peggy.
Peggy wasn t just losing weight. She was shrinking. She
seemed to be collapsing inside her baggy jailhouse suit. Her
pale skin was an unhealthy yellow. Her large elegant nose
had become a bony beak. For the first time, Helen saw gray
in Peggy s dark red hair.
Now Helen was going to add to her misery. She took an-
other look at this new, frail Peggy and almost stopped. But
it had to be done or she d never get Peggy out of here.
She picked up her phone and said, A legislative assis-
164 Elaine Viets
tant to Senator Hoffman was at the bookstore. I found him
wandering in the restricted area. I can t prove it, but I know
he s the one who broke into Page Turner s office. The place
was trashed. Whoever did it was obviously looking for
something. They even broke open the locked video cabi-
net although why anyone would bother to lock an empty
cabinet, I ll never know.
A single tear rolled down Peggy s cheek.
What is it, Peggy? What s going on? You ve got to tell
me. How can I help you if I don t know?
They don t have it, Peggy said. I thought they did.
That s why I kept quiet. But they don t have it.
Don t have what? A deputy walked by. Helen realized
she was almost shouting into the phone.
The video. That horrible sex video. Peggy was crying
harder now. Helen had trouble understanding her. It would
have destroyed me, but the fight wasn t about me. It was
about two powerful men. I was caught in their cross fire.
Page Turner never blackmailed me. I wasn t important
enough.
Peggy stopped and began plucking at a loose string on
her top until Helen thought she would scream. Tell me,
Peggy. Please.
Peggy wiped her eyes and took a deep gulping breath.
You know about the video with the cocaine and Senator
Hoffman s son.
Helen nodded.
There was some ugly stuff on that video. Not just the
sex. Collie hated his father. He said things like, My fa-
ther s big on law and order for other people. When I get
caught, he calls in his fixers. If I did crack in Homestead in-
stead of coke in Lauderdale, they d lock up my ass and
throw away the key.
And he said this while snorting the white stuff? Helen
said.
MURDER BETWEEN THE COVERS 165
Peggy nodded. There was a lot more. It s like he made
this tape to get even with his father. And then. . . there was
the sex. You must think I m a real slut. She was picking at
the loose thread again.
I think you re my friend, and I m sorry you re in this
mess.
Peggy quit torturing the thread. Collie s death was my
wake-up call. I went into rehab and got Pete and played the
lottery.
She laughed bitterly. Doesn t sound like much of a life,
does it? But I was happy. Or at least I didn t hurt anymore.
Then Gayle found out that Page was planning to use the
tape to ruin Senator Hoffman. She warned me.
Gayle? How did she know?
Peggy shrugged. She must have overheard something at
the bookstore.
Why would Page do that? Was he drunk or crazy?
Neither, Peggy said. Senator Hoffman cost Page
Turner several million dollars. He talked him into investing
in some energy stock.
Enron?
No, that s not the name. But it tanked like Enron. Un-
fortunately, the senator neglected to tell Page to sell the
stock when it started diving. Page lost about three million.
He was going to have to close the bookstores because of
the losses. He d used their working capital.
Finally, the store closings made sense. The stores weren t
losing money. Page had taken their cash and blown it on
bad investments.
He d embezzled from the stores.
Well, he owned the stores, so I don t know if you d call
it embezzling. But the family wasn t going to bail him out.
Gayle said they hushed it up, but he was stuck with the
losses.
Page tried to get the senator to cover his losses, but
166 Elaine Viets
Hoffman said he couldn t do anything about it. That s when
Page vowed to ruin him by turning that tape over to the
press. It would make the senator a laughingstock.
Right, Helen said. Hoffman s running on a family-
values, antidrug platform. If the voters saw his coke-snorting
son saying what a hypocrite he was, the senator couldn t
run for a bus.
Page hoped to get his money back by threatening Hoff-
man with the tape. But it would also ruin my life. I d be a
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