Imitation in Death

Chapter9

Breen set them up in a roomy office just off the kitchen. Two large windows faced the rear, where they could see a kind of tidy patio skirted by a low wall. Behind the wall were leafy trees. With the view, they might have been in some quiet suburb rather than the city.

Someone had put pots of flowers on the patio, along with a couple of loungers. There was a small table shaded by a jaunty blue-and-white-striped umbrella.

A couple of big plastic trucks lay on their sides, along with their colorful plastic occupants, as if there had been a terrible vehicular accident.

Why,Eve wondered, were kids always bashing toys together? Maybe it was some sort of primitive cave-dweller instinct that, if things went well, the kid outgrew or at least restrained into adulthood.

Jed’s father looked civilized enough, sitting in his roily chair that he’d scooted around from his workstation. Then again, he made the bulk of his living writing about people who restrained nothing, and rather than outgrowing any destructive instincts, had bumped it up from plastic toys to flesh and blood.

It took,Eve was very aware, all kinds.

“So, how can I help?”

“You’ve done considerable research into serial killers,”Eve began.

“Historical figures, primarily. Though I have interviewed a few contemporary subjects.”

“Why is that,Mr.Breen?”

“Tom. Why?” He looked surprised for a moment. “It’s fascinating. You’ve been up close and personal with the breed. Don’t you find them fascinating?”

“I don’t know if that’s the word I’d use.”

He leaned forward. “But you have to wonder what makes them who they are, don’t you? What separates them from the rest of us? Is it something more or something less? Are they born to kill, or does that need evolve in them? Is it a single instance that turns them, or a series of events? And really, the answer isn’t always the same, and that’s fascinating. One guy spends his childhood in poverty and abuse”-he tapped his index fingers together-”and becomes a productive member of society. A bank president, faithful husband, good father, loyal friend. Plays golf on the weekend and walks his pet schnauzer every night. He uses his background to springboard himself into something better, higher, right?”

“And another uses it as an excuse to dive into the muck. Yeah, I get it. Why do you write about the muck?”

He sat back again. “Well, I could give you a lot of jive about how studying the killer and the muck he wades in gives society insight into how and why. And understanding, information, is power against fear. It would be true,” he added with his quick and boyish smile. “But on another level entirely, it’s just fun. I’ve been into it since I was a kid.Jack the Ripper was the big one for me. I read everything about him, watched every vid ever produced, surfed the web sites, made up stories where I was a cop back then and tracked him down. Along the way I expanded, studied up on profiling and types, the steps and the stages-you know, trolling, hunting, the rush and the kill.”

He shrugged now. “I went through a phase where I thought I’d be a cop, chase the bad guys. But I got over that one. Considered going into psychology, but it just didn’t suit me. What I really wanted to do was write, and that’s what I was good at. So I write about my lifelong interest.”

“I hear some writers need to experience the subject they’re writing about. Need that hands-on approach before they can put it down in words.”

Amusement bloomed on his face. “So, you’re asking if I’ve gone out and carved up a couple of street LCs in the name of research?” His laughter rolled out, then stopped, like a wave hitting a wall asEve only continued to watch him.

He blinked, several times, then swallowed audibly. “Holy shit, you really are. I’m a suspect?” The healthy color in his face had drained away to leave it pale and shiny. “For real?”

“I’d like to know where you were on September second, betweenmidnight and three A. M.”

“I was home, probably. I don’t…” He lifted both hands, rubbed the sides of his head. “Man, my brain’s gone fuzzy. I figured you wanted me to consult. Was pretty juiced about it. Ah… I was here. Jule-Julietta, my wife-had a late meeting, and didn’t get home until about ten. She was whipped and went straight up to bed. I put in some writing time. WithJed, the only time the house is really quiet is the middle of the night. I worked until one, maybe a little after. I can check my disc log.”

He opened drawers in his workstation, began to root around. “I, ah,Jesus, did the man-of-the-house routine. I go through it every night before I turn in. Check the security, make sure everything’s locked up. Look in onJed. That’s it.”

“How about Sunday morning?”

“This Sunday?” He glanced up, over. “My wife got up withJed.”

He paused, andEve could see the change taking place. The shock was ebbing and the interest, the enjoyment, even the pride in being considered a murder subject was rolling in.

“Most Sundays I sleep in and she takes over. She doesn’t get as much one-on-one time with him as I do. She took him to the park. They go out early and have a picnic breakfast if the weather’s good.Jed loves that. I didn’t surface till close tonoon. What’s Sunday? I’m not following…”

Then he did. She could see it click. “The woman who was found strangled in her apartment on Sunday. Middle-aged woman, living alone. Sexual assault and strangulation.”

His eyes were narrowed now, his color back. “The media reports were sketchy, but strangulation and sexual assault, that’s not Ripper style. An older woman, at home in her apartment, that’s not Ripper style either. What’s the connection?”

At Eve’s steady stare, he scooted forward in the chair. “Listen, if I’m moonlighting as a killer, I already know so you won’t be telling me anything. If I’m just an expert on serial killers, giving me some details might let me help. Either way, how can you lose?”

She’d already decided what she would and wouldn’t tell him, but held his gaze another moment. “The sash of the victim’s lounge robe was used as the murder weapon, and tied in a bow under the chin.”

“BostonStrangler. That was his signature.” He snapped his fingers, and began to push through the piles of discs and files on his desk. “I’ve got considerable notes on him. Wow. You’ve got two killers imitating the famous? Teamwork, like Leopold andLoeb? Or…” He paused, took a long breath. “Not two, just one. One killer working his way down a list of his heroes. That’s why you’re looking at me. You’re wondering if the people I write about are heroes to me, and if I’m mixing up my work and my life. If I want to be one of them.”

He pushed to his feet, pacing with what looked toEve to be energy rather than nerves. “This is fucking amazing. He’s probably read my books. That’s sort of creepy, but icy in a strange way, too. DeSalvo, DeSalvo. Different type fromJack,” Breen mumbled. “Blue collar, family man, a sad sap.Jack was probably educated, likely a member of the upper class.”

“If the information I just gave you finds its way to the media, I’ll know where it came from.”Eve paused until Breen stopped pacing and looked at her. “I’ll make your life hell.”

“Why would I give it to the media, and let somebody write about it first?” He sat again. “This has bestseller written all over it. I know that sounds cold, but in my line of work I have to be as detached as you do in yours. I’ll help however I can. I’ve got mountains of research and data accumulated on every major serial killer since the Ripper started it all, and a few interesting minor ones. I’ll make it all available to you, pitch in as a civilian consultant, and waive the fee. And when it’s over, I’ll write it.”

“I’ll think about it.”Eve got to her feet. And saw, under the mess he’d made of his desk, a box of cream-colored stationery.

“Fancy writing paper,” she commented, stepping over to pick up the box.

“Hmm? Oh yeah. I use it when I want to impress somebody.”

“Is that so?” Her eyes flashed to his like lasers. “Who did you want to impress lately?”

“Hell, I don’t know. I think I used it a couple weeks ago when I sent what my dad always called a bread-and-butter note to my publisher. A thanks for a dinner party thing. Why?”

“Where’d you get it? The paper?”

“Jule must’ve bought it. No, wait.” He rose himself, looking baffled as he took the box fromEve. “That’s not right. It was a gift. Sure, I remember now. Came through my publisher with a fan letter. Readers send stuff all the time.”

“A token from a reader, to the tune of about five hundred dollars?”

“You’re kidding! Five hundred. Wow.” He was watchingEve more carefully now as he set the box back on his desk. “I should be more careful with it.”

“I’ll want a sample of that paper,Mr.Breen. It matches the type left at both homicides I’m investigating.”

“This is just too fucking weird.” He sat, heavily. “Take it.” Several emotions seemed to run across his face as he scooped a hand through his luxurious hair. “He knows about me. He’s read my stuff. What the hell did the note say? I can’t remember, just something about how he appreciated my work, my attention to detail or something like that, and my-what-enthusiasm for the subject.”

“Do you have the note?”

“No, I wouldn’t keep it. I answer some of the mail personally, have a droid do the bulk. If it’s snail mail, we recycle the paper after it’s answered. He’s using my work as research, don’t you think? That’s horrible, and really flattering at the same time.”

Evepassed one of the sheets and envelopes toPeabody to seal into evidence. “Give him a receipt for it,” she ordered. “I wouldn’t be flattered if I were you, Mr. Breen. This isn’t research, or words in a discbook.”

“I’m part of it now. Not just an observer this time, but part of something I’ll write about.”

She could see he was more pleased than appalled.

“I plan to stop him, and soon,Mr.Breen. Things go my way, you’re not going to have much of a book.”

“I don’t know what to think about him,”Peabody said when they were outside. She turned back, studied the house and imagined the good-looking Breen swinging his handsome son onto his shoulders and taking him to the park to play. And dreaming of fame and fortune written in blood. “The stationery was right out of the blue. He didn’t try to hide it.”

“Where’s the excitement if we don’t find it?”

“I get that-and he likes the rush, no question. But his story sounds solid, especially if the killer has read his stuff.”

“He can’t prove where it came from, and we have to waste time trying to trace it. And Breen’s juiced by it.”

“I guess it’s the sort of thing that’d juice him. His job’s on the sick side.”

“So’s ours.”

Surprised,Peabody hiked withEve to the car. “You liked him?”

“I haven’t made up my mind. If he’s no more than he claims to be, I’ve got no problem with him. People like murder,Peabody. They jive on it when it’s got at least one of those degrees of separation.Reading about it, watching vids about it, turning on the evening news to hear about it. As long as it isn’t too close. We don’t pay to watch a couple of guys hack each other to death in an arena anymore, but we’ve still got the bloodlust. We still get off on it. In the abstract. Because it’s reassuring. Somebody’s dead, but we’re not.”

She remembered, as she climbed into the car out of the vicious heat, how that thought raced through her head, again and again, when she’d huddled in the corner of that frigid room in Dallas and looked at the bloody waste of the thing that had been her father.

“You can’t feel that way when you see it all the time. When you do what we do.”

“You can’t,”Eve said as she started the car. “Some can. Not all cops are heroes just because they’re supposed to be. And not all fathers are good guys just because they give their little boys a ride on their shoulders. Whether I like him or not, his lack of alibi, his line of work, and his possession of the notepaper put him on the list. We’re going to do a very careful check onThomasA.Breen. Let’s run the wife, too. What didn’t we hear from him in today’s conversation,Peabody?”

“I’m not following you.”

“He told us she came home from a late meeting. She went to bed. He worked. He slept in. She took the kid to the park. But I never heard anything about we. My wife and I, Jule and I. Me and my wife andJed. That’s what I didn’t hear. And what impression do you suppose I get from that?”

“You’re thinking the marriage isn’t good, that there’s friction or disinterest between Breen and his wife. Yeah, I can see that, but I can see how with two careers and a kid a couple could get into a routine that revolves around work and pass the toddler.”

“Maybe. Doesn’t seem much point in being together if you never are though, does there? Good-looking guy like that might start getting resentful and frustrated with that sort of routine. Especially if he sees it as a repeat of his own childhood. A guy doesn’t want to look in the mirror at thirty-something and see his father looking back at him. We’ll take a good close look atThomasA.Breen,” she repeated. “And see what we see.”

– -«»--«»--«»--

Evedecided her next stop would be Fortney. But it was time to play it, and him, a different way. “I want to nudge Fortney on the second murder, revisit the first. His alibi’s bullshit. And since I tend to get cranky when people lie to me, I’m not going to be particularly friendly.”

“As you are the epitome of cheer and goodwill by nature, sir, this will be somewhat of a stretch.”

“I smell the distinct aroma of lame-ass sarcasm in this vehicle.”

“We’ll have it fumigated.”

“But fortunately I’m the epitome of cheer and goodwill and will not rub your nose in it at this time. A few minutes into my unfriendly conversation with Fortney, I’m going to get a tag on my pocket ‘link.”

“As I’m in awe of you in all ways, I’m unsurprised by this sudden psychic ability.”

“I’ll be annoyed, but will have to take the communication, thereby passing the interview to you.”

“Do you also know who’ll be tagging… What? To me?”

That,Eve thought, had wiped the sassy little smirk off her aide’s face. “You’ll pick it up as good cop. The long-suffering, somewhat inexperienced, and apologetic underling. Play that up, fumble around.”

“Sir.Dallas. I am the long-suffering, somewhat inexperienced, and apologetic underling. I don’t have to play it up or pretend to fumble around.”

“Use it,”Eve said simply. “Make it work for you. Let him think he’s leading you. He’ll see a girl cop in uniform, who takes orders from me. Second-string. He won’t see past that to what you’re made of.”

I don’t know what I’m made of,Peabody thought, but drew a deep breath. “I can see how it could work.”

“Make it work,”Eve said again, and parked outside the office building to set the timer on her ‘link.

– -«»--«»--«»--

Evebullied her way intoLeoFortney ’s office and set the mood. Enjoyed setting it, she admitted. She put a little swagger in her step as she broke in on his holo-conference with a video producer.

“You’re going to want to reschedule your little confab,Leo,” she told him. “Or letHollywood here in on our conversation.”

“You have no right pushing your way in here, throwing your weight around.”

She flipped out her badge so the images in the room had a clear view. “Bet?”

Fortney’s color was edging toward magenta. “I’m sorry, Thad. I need to take care of this… disturbance. I’ll have my assistant reschedule, at your convenience.”

He shut the hologram down before Thad could do more than raise two thin eyebrows into sharp, questioning points.

“I don’t have to tolerate this kind of ambush!” His magenta hair was pulled severely back from his face today, and the sleek tail of it whipped wildly as he flung out his arms. “I’m calling my lawyer, and I’ll see you’re reprimanded by your superior.”

“You do that. And we’ll take this to Central where you can explain to me, your lawyer, and my superior why you handed me a pile of bullshit as an alibi.”

Evetoed in, and punched a finger toward his chest. “Lying to a primary during a homicide investigation doesn’t earn you any points,Leo.”

“If you think you can insinuate that I’m covering up some crime-”

“I’m not insinuating anything.” She got right up in his face as she spoke, and enjoyed that as well. “I’m saying it. Flat out. Your meal ticket didn’t back you up, pal. You did not, as you claimed, retire with her on the night in question. She went to bed alone, and assumes you joined her at some point. Assume ain’t dick. So let’s start this over. Your place or mine, it doesn’t mean a damn to me.”

“How dare you!” He lost all color now, insult and temper robbing his cheeks. “If you think I’m going to stand here and be insulted, have the woman I love insulted by some two-bit dyke bitch cop-”

“What’re you going to do about it? Take me out, like you took out Jacie Wooton and Lois Gregg? You’re going to find it tougher. I’m not a used-up LC or a sixty-year-old woman.”

His voice piped out now, like an adolescent boy’s threatening to crack. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Couldn’t get it up, could you, Leo?” She was careful to keep her hands off him, though she’d have liked to have given him a couple of mild shots. “Even when you had her tied up, and helpless, you couldn’t get the wood on.”

“Get away from me. You’re crazy.” Little darts of fear shone in his eyes now as he danced behind his desk. “You’re out of your mind.”

“You’re going to see just how crazy if you don’t tell me where you were on the night of September second, and the morning of September fifth. Shuffle me again, Leo,” she said and slapped her hands on the desk. “And you’ll see how crazy.”

On cue, her ‘link beeped. With a snarl, she ripped it out of her pocket. “Text only,” she snapped. Waited a few beats as if reading. “Goddamn it.” She muttered it, then rounded on Peabody. “Get the goddamn information from this asshole. I’ve got to take this, and I don’t have time to waste. Five minutes, Leo,” she said over her shoulder as she marched to the door. “Then I’m coming back for the next round.”

He sat heavily when the door slammed behind Eve. “That woman is a menace. She was going to strike me.”

“Sir. I’m sure you’re mistaken.” ButPeabody cast an uncertain eye toward the door still shuddering on its hinges. “My lieutenant is… it’s been a difficult few days, Mr. Fortney, andLieutenantDallas is under a great deal of stress. I’m sorry she lost her temper. Can I get you some water?”

“No. No, thank you.” He pressed a hand to his brow. “I just need to settle down. I’m not used to being treated that way.”

“She’s very colorful.”Peabody tried a half smile when he looked up. “I’m sure we can straighten this all out before she gets back. There were some discrepancies in your earlier statement, sir. It’s easy to get confused or mix up times and dates when you’re not expecting to have to remember your movements.”

“Well, of course it is,” he said with obvious relief. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to be questioned about a murder. For God’s sake.”

“I understand that. And it seems to me if you’d killed Ms. Wooton or Ms. Gregg, you’d have arranged a solid alibi. You’re obviously an intelligent man.”

“Thank you, Officer…”

“It’s Peabody, sir. If I could take out my notebook, we could try to put things together for the times in question.” She smiled at him with whiffs of sympathy and nerves. “May I sit down?”

“Yes, yes. That woman’s shaken my manners loose. I don’t see how you stand to work with her.”

“It’s really for her, sir. I’m in training.”

“I see.” He was relaxing, Peabody could see. Just as she could see his amusement at thinking he’d escaped the lion and gotten himself a pussycat. “Have you been with the police long?”

“Not very. I do mostly administrative work. The lieutenant hates paperwork.” She started to roll her eyes, seemed to catch herself and worked up a blush.

Fortney laughed. “Your secret’s safe with me. Still, I wonder what an attractive woman like you is doing in such a difficult field?”

“Men still outnumber women on the job,” she heard herself saying, and felt the quick, flirtatious smile curve her lips. “That can be a pretty strong incentive. I’d just like to say how much I admire your work. I’m such a fan of musical theater, and you’ve been involved in wonderful projects. It seems so glamorous and exciting to someone like me.”

“It has its moments. Maybe you’d like me to give you a tour of the theater, backstage, where the action really is.”

“That would be…” She trailed off breathlessly. “I’d just love it.” She glanced back at the door again. “I’m not supposed to do something like that. You won’t say anything?”

He mimed zipping his lip and made her giggle.

“If I can just clear up some of these discrepancies before she gets back. Otherwise, she’ll skin me.”

“Sweetheart, you can’t really believe I’d kill anyone.”

“Oh no,Mr.Fortney, but the lieutenant…”

He got up from the desk, came around, and sat on the corner of it. “I’m not interested in the lieutenant. The fact is, Pepper and I… well, our relationship has devolved, you could say. We’re really just business partners at this point, keeping up appearances for the public. I don’t want anything to damage her while she’s working so hard in this play. I have a great deal of affection and respect for her even though… even though things aren’t what they were between us.”

He gavePeabody a puppy-dog look, and she did her best to respond with one of sympathy. Even as she thought: Putz. Do I look that green? “It must be awfully hard for you.”

“Show business is a demanding mistress, on both sides of the curtain. I did tell nearly the truth about that night. I didn’t mention that Pepper and I didn’t really speak or have contact with each other when she came back from the theater. I spent that night as I’ve spent far too many of them. Alone.”

“So you have no one to corroborate your whereabouts?”

“I’m afraid I don’t, not directly, though Pepper and I were in the same house together all night. It was just another lonely night, and to be frank, they blur together now. I wonder, maybe you and I could have dinner?”

“Ummm…”

“Privately,” he added. “I can’t be seen having dinner with a beautiful woman while Pepper and I still have to keep up this pretense. Gossip would hurt her, and she’s so temperamental. She needs to focus on the play. I have to honor that.”

“That’s so…” The words that ran through her head were anything but flattering, but she choked out an alternative. “… so brave. I’d love to, if I can get the time off. These murders have the lieutenant working practically24 /7. And when she works, I work.”

“Murders.” For a moment he looked genuinely puzzled. “Is that what all this business about this Gregg person is? Another prostitute’s been killed?”

“There was another attack,”Peabody evaded. “It would help me out a lot if you could tell me where you were Sunday morning, between eight andnoon. That would cover you, and I could probably smooth things out withLieutenantDallas so she won’t bother you again.”

She tried a simper, but didn’t think it was her best look.

“Sunday morning? Sleeping the sleep of the just until ten-ish. I indulge myself on Sundays. Pepper would have been up and out early. Dance class, she never misses. I would have had a light brunch, lingered over the Sunday paper. I doubt I was even dressed untilnoon.”

“And alone again?”

He gave a sad, crooked smile. “Afraid so. Pepper would have gone directly to the theater after class. Sunday matinee. I did go to the club, but not until at least one. For a swim, a steam, a massage.” He lifted his hands, let them fall. “I’m afraid I did nothing of any interest all day. Now, if I’d had a companion. Someone… simpatico… we’d have taken a leisurely drive in the country, stopped at some charming little inn for a champagne lunch, and whiled away our Sunday in a much more entertaining fashion. As it is, I have nothing but work, illusion, and solitude.”

“Could you tell me the name of your club? Then I can giveLieutenantDallas something solid.”

“I use the Gold Key, onMadison.”

“Thanks.” She rose. “I’ll see if I can head her off.”

He tookPeabody ’s hand, looking into her eyes as he brought it to his lips. “Dinner?”

“It sounds mag. I’ll contact you as soon as I know when I’m clear.” She hoped she had one more blush in her. “Leo,” she said shyly.

She hurried out and straight to whereEve stood with her ‘link. “I can’t break character yet,”Peabody reported. “He might ask one of his bimbos what went on out here, so you should look annoyed and doubtful, and like you could ream my ass at any moment.”

“Fine. Then I don’t have to break character either as that’s the one I walk around in on a daily basis.”

“He’s a total sleaze, and he doesn’t have a solid for either murder. Hard for me to see somebody that slimy being our guy, but he’s not covered.”

She looked down at her shoes, studying the shine, and hoping the body language looked subservient. “He also cheats on Pepper, regularly by my take. He hit on me, and it seemed like a natural rhythm.Guy ’s got more tired lines than an afternoon soap and less talent at selling them.”

“You hit back?”

“Enough to keep the rhythm up, not enough to get me a reprimand should there be an official inquiry. Maybe you could stomp off to the elevator now. It’s getting hard to keep looking naive and subservient.”

Eveobliged and timed it soPeabody barely had time to nip in with her before the doors shut. “I thought that was a good touch.”

“Good thing my butt isn’t any bigger than it already is. He’s shifting his story for the night of the Wooton murder. Says he and Pepper are just business partners now, and keeping up the pretext of otherwise so there isn’t any negative publicity through the run of the play. Still says he was at home all night, though, and home all Sunday morning. Alone. The original Lonely Guy.”

“What kind of moronic female falls for that crap?” Eve wondered.

“Lots, I guess, depending on the delivery.” She moved her shoulders. “His wasn’t bad, actually. But it was too quick, and too obvious. Anyhow, he claims he went to the Gold Key on Madison about one on Sunday. I say he’s twinking at least one of those bimbos on the side. He’s not the type for an LC. Isn’t going to pay for it when he can bullshit and brag his way into it. And I’d say it’d be news to Pepper that they’re just business partners now. I’d also say he doesn’t think much of women as a species.”

Go, Peabody, Eve thought, and leaned back against the elevator wall as her aide ran it through.

“Thinks about them, because he probably imagines fucking any woman who’s remotely attractive. But he doesn’t like them. He kept calling you that woman. Never referred to you by name or rank. And there was a lot of passion in the way he said it.”

“Good job.”

“I don’t know that I found out anything really useful. Except now that I think about it, I can see him doing the murders.”

“You found out he’s lying to his lover, and if he isn’t actively cheating-which he likely is-he’s open to cheating. You found out that he had the opportunity to commit both murders. So he’s a liar and a cheat. Doesn’t make him a murderer, but he’s a liar and a cheat with opportunity, with access to the stationery found at both crime scenes, and that he has an attitude toward women. That’s not bad for the day.”

– -«»--«»--«»--

Carmichael Smith was in the studio-in New L.A.-so she gave him a pass for the day. She found Niles Renquist so heavily wrapped in red tape that she decided to do an end run around him and aim for his wife.

The Renquists’ New York home wasn’t Breen’s upwardly mobile family neighborhood, or Carmichael’s trendy loft. It was all dignity and restrained grace in faded brick and tall windows.

The entrance hall, where they were admitted with considerable reluctance and disapproval by a uniformed housekeeper who could have given Summerset a run for his money, was done in creams and burgundies and the subtle sheen of religiously polished antiques.

Lilies, white and burgundy in a crystal vase, sat on a long narrow table along the staircase and scented the air. Along with it was an echoing hush she associated with empty houses or churches.

“It’s like a museum,” Peabody said out of the corner of her mouth. “You and Roarke have all this cool, rich-people stuff, but it’s different. People live there.”

Before Eve could respond there was the female sound of heels on wood. People lived here, too, Eve thought, but she had a feeling they were a different type altogether.

The woman who walked toward them was as beautiful, as dignified, and as quietly elegant as the home she’d made. Her hair was a soft blonde, carefully coiffed into a short bob that caught the light. Her face was pale and creamy, with a hint of rose on cheeks and lips. This one, Eve thought, never left the house without sunscreen, top to toe. She wore wide-legged pants, killer heels, and a blousy shirt with a faint sheen, all in cream.

“LieutenantDallas.” There was a high-toned drift ofEngland in her voice, and the hand she offered was cool. “PamelaRenquist. I’m sorry, but I’m expecting company shortly. If you’d contacted my secretary, I’m sure we could have arranged an appointment at a more convenient time.”

“Then I’ll try to keep the inconvenience short.”

“If this is about the stationery, your time would be of more use speaking with my secretary. She handles the bulk of my correspondence.”

“Did you buy the stationery,Mrs.Renquist?”

“Quite possibly.” Her face never changed, held its mildly pleasant expression as she spoke with the kind of undiluted politenessEve always found insulting. “I enjoy shopping when inLondon, but I rarely keep track of every little purchase. We certainly have the paper, so it hardly matters if I bought it myself, orNiles, or one of our assistants made the purchase for us. I was under the impression my husband had discussed this with you.”

“He did. There is considerable repetition and overlap in a homicide investigation. Could you tell me where you and your husband were on the night-”

“We were precisely whereNiles has already told you we were on the night of that unfortunate person’s murder.” Her tone became frigid and dismissive. “My husband is a very busy man, Lieutenant, and I know he’s already taken the time to speak with you regarding this matter. I have nothing to add to what he’s already told you, and I’m expecting guests.”

Not so fast, sweetheart. “I haven’t yet spoken to your husband regarding a second murder. I’d like you to tell me where you both were on Sunday, between eight andnoon.”

For the first time since the woman had walked down the hall, she looked flustered. It was momentary, just a slight heightening of color on that creamy skin, a slight frown around the rosy mouth. Then it was smooth and pale again.

“I find this very tedious, Lieutenant.”

“Yeah, me, too. But there you go. Sunday,Mrs.Renquist.”

Pameladrew air sharply through her chiseled nostrils. “We have brunch on Sundays at ten-thirty. Prior to that, my husband would have enjoyed a well-deserved hour in our relaxation tank, as he does every Sunday, when schedule permits, between nine and ten. While he was doing so, I would have joined him in our home health center for my own Sunday morning hour of exercise. At eleven-thirty, after brunch, my daughter would have gone with her au pair to a museum, while my husband and I prepared to go to the club for a doubles match with friends. Is that detailed enough, Lieutenant?”

She said lieutenant as another woman might have said nosy, insolent bitch.Eve had to give her credit for it. “You and your husband were home on Sunday from eight untilnoon.”

“As I’ve just said.”

“Mummy.”

They both turned and looked at the young girl-gold and pink and white, as pretty as a frosted cake-on the stairs. A woman of about twenty-five, with a spill of black hair clipped back neatly at her nape, held the girl’s hand.

“Not now, Rose. It’s impolite to interrupt. Sophia, take Rose back upstairs. I’ll let you know when the guests have arrived.” She spoke to her daughter and the woman in the same polite and distant tones.

“Yes, ma’am.”

She gave the girl’s hand a little tug-Eve saw it, and the slight resistance of the child before the girl went obediently back up the stairs.

“If there’s nothing more, Lieutenant, you’ll have to make an appointment with either myself or my husband through our offices.” She walked to the door, opened it. “I hope you find who you’re looking for soon, so this can be put to rest.”

“I’m sure Jacie Wooton and Lois Gregg feel exactly the same way. Thanks for your time.”