To Have and to Kill by Mary Jane Clark Page A

Arthur. “Of course I like her. Why else do you think I’d go to the trouble of packing up a case of diamonds for her?”
    Casey was puzzled. “I don’t get it. What are you talking about?”
    “I got a call this morning from the guy who runs Glenna’s soap opera.”
    “Quent Raynor?”
    “Yes. He asked if Walden’s would lend him diamonds for a special finale scene they’re doing for Glenna before she leaves the show. I agreed to have the diamonds there on Friday,” said Arthur. “Believe me, I wouldn’t go to the trouble if it wasn’t for Glenna.”
    “Thank you,” said Casey, slightly mollified. “But I still need that hundred grand.”
    “May I ask why?”
    “Not that it’s any of your business, but Glenna has her heart set on having Martha Killeen photograph our wedding. I want to make that happen. Actually, I should be asking for more. I’m going to have more expenses when I’m married and I have no intention of being a kept man.”
    Arthur sighed deeply. “All right,” he said. “But you have to promise me that’s it for a while.”
    Casey shook his head. “I’m not going to promise anything of the kind, Arthur. All these years, I’ve only taken that small stipend from the business when I was entitled to much more. That was fine with me then, but it’s not now. Going forward, I have to get what’s mine.”

Chapter 33
    W ord spread that there was no chance the dream sequence would be shot that day. Quent was said to be making arrangements to add something to the scene. There would, however, be some dry blocking after lunch.
    The free hours were fine with Piper. She used them to catch up with colleagues. She learned who had moved, what great vacations people had taken, and that there were three new babies born to crew members since the last time she had been on the show. But most of the conversations began and ended with expressions of disbelief that Travis York had been murdered and agreement that missing his funeral, scheduled for the next day, would be unthinkable.
    Mid-morning, Piper knocked on the door of Glenna’s dressing room.
    “Come on in.”
    Piper opened the door and gasped. Glenna stood in the middle of the room, wearing the most beautiful dress that Piper had ever seen. It was a floor-length gown made of ivory embroidered-silk satin organza. The off-the-shoulder, pleated V-neck bodice led to Glenna’s tiny waist, and below that was a flowing skirt of cascading petal ruffles. The effect almost made it seem as if Glenna was standing in the clouds.
    “What do you think?” asked Glenna, holding her arms out.
    “I think you should never take that off,” said Piper. “You look absolutely gorgeous! Like a fairy princess, a fantasy.”
    “Or a soon-to-be-dead soap opera character,” Glenna said. “How nice to be wearing a Monique Lhuillier gown on your deathbed.” She smiled as she looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror. “You got to give it to Quent. He’s pulling out all the stops on this one. My last bow is going to be a memorable one.”
    W hile Glenna changed out of the dress, Piper brought up the subject of the wedding cake.
    “I know it’s crazy to talk about this with everything that’s going on, Glenna, but I have some questions to ask you before finalizing the design.”
    “I thought you wanted to talk to Casey and me together.”
    “I did,” said Piper. “But, if it’s all right with you, we’d better go ahead and do it now. The wedding is rapidly approaching. We can call Casey if there’s anything he really needs to be consulted on.”
    “You’re right,” said Glenna. “And anyway, Casey couldn’t care less about the wedding cake. He just wants me to be satisfied. So, go ahead. Shoot.”
    “Great,” said Piper, taking a small spiral notebook out of her robe pocket. “First of all, how many guests?”
    “It looks like there will be about a hundred,” answered Glenna. “No more than that.”
    “Perfect,” said Piper. I’ll be