Nancy moved over to make room for her. She felt uncomfortable in the company of such an unpleasant person, but she didn’t want to be impolite.
“Are you still trying to save Rick Arlen’s life?” Lillian asked suddenly, looking right into Nancy’s eyes.
She certainly is blunt, Nancy thought. Well, I might as well be blunt right back. Whoever was trying to kill Rick already knew that she was on the case. “Still trying,” she admitted.
“You really shouldn’t bother,” Lillian said. She looked down at her feet, so Nancy couldn’t read her expression.
“I don’t understand,” said Nancy, prompting her.
Lillian looked at her curiously, as if she were sizing Nancy up. After what seemed an eternity, she fixed her eyes on Nancy. “Rick is going to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it. And I’ll tell you something else—whatever happens to him, he has coming. He got where he is by stepping on a lot of people, but he made one mistake. Along the way he stepped on the wrong person, and he’s going to pay for it.”
Nancy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was this a confession? A warning? She wasn’t sure how to take Lillian’s statement.
As suddenly as she had appeared, Lillian stood up to leave. “Well,” she said, fingering the hem of her purple lamb’s-wool sweater, “nice running into you.” She gazed at Nancy with a tight smile. “I’ll say one thing for you—you’ve got guts.”
Nancy watched as the strange young woman walked, away. She was sure now that Lillian had deliberately arranged to run into her. But why? Nancy was more in the dark than ever.
“The restaurant we’re going to isn’t far away, Nancy. We’ll just ring for Mattie on our way out.” Eloise was standing in front of the hall mirror, fussing with a teal blue silk scarf. “Is Bess ready yet?”
“Bess!” Nancy called as she knocked on the door of the room where her friend lay sleeping. “Don’t you want to have brunch with us?”
The answer was muffled, so Nancy opened the door. “Leave the address,” was all Bess could manage. “I’ll meet you there.” With that, she flopped over and buried her face in the pillow.
Nancy closed the door. Eloise waited by the main door of the apartment while Nancy wrote down the address and left it on the telephone table. “Ah, youth,” Eloise said, smiling wistfully. “I used to be able to sleep like that on weekend mornings. Now I’m always up at the crack of dawn!”
With a wink, Eloise tugged on Nancy’s arm. “Shall we? If I wait for my morning coffee much longer, I won’t be worth knowing.”
As they sat in the restaurant eating eggs Benedict, Nancy couldn’t stop thinking of her conversation with Lillian Weiss. The look in her eyes had been so intense. Could it be that Lillian was the one who was trying to kill Rick? Or maybe she was just hiding the identity of the person who really was.
Nancy decided not to mention running into her. Still, she had to know what Lillian’s personal situation regarding Rick was. “Mattie,” she began offhandedly, “tell me more about Lillian Weiss. I know you said lots of people hate Rick, but she seems to hate him more than most.”
Mattie looked up, amazed. “You don’t think she’s behind it all, do you?”
“I don’t really know,” Nancy replied. “But I’d like to know more about her.”
“Lillian’s the one Rick broke up with me for,” Mattie blurted out. She looked down at her plate unhappily. “I couldn’t believe it when he fold me. I mean, I’d stuck by him through all the bad times. When he finally made it, he just dropped me. It was so—” she paused for a moment, unable to go on “—so humiliating.” She took out her handkerchief and blew her nose. Suddenly Mattie laughed. “But that’s Rick for you. They were only together for two months. He stuck with her till she introduced him to the film people she knew, then he dumped her. I really can’t blame Lillian for hating him. I just wish she’d get on with her life. She’s Just—I don’t know—the kind of person who nurses a grudge. The kind that never lets go of anything, know what I mean?”