13
When Laurie arrived to work the following morning, she found Grace in Jerry’s office. Both of them were huddled over the phone in Grace’s hand.
“He hates dogs?” Jerry was saying.
“What kind of person hates dogs? What’s wrong with him? That’s an automatic swipe left.” Laurie heard a little beep as Grace swept a perfectly manicured index finger across her screen.
“Browsing for boys again?” Laurie asked, interrupting their latest online matchmaking session. She had been spared the now common practice of online dating, but knew that “swiping left” on someone’s profile was the virtual equivalent of slamming a door on him. Laurie marveled at Grace’s carefree attitude about dating. She was perfectly content as a single woman, but obviously enjoyed the butterflies that came with meeting new people.
Grace sheepishly tucked her phone into the pocket of her fitted black blazer. “Sorry about that. We were both in early, but I guess it’s officially work time.”
Laurie waved a hand. “Don’t worry.” As much as she thought of Jerry and Grace as her “work family,” she realized that ultimately, they also saw her as their boss.
“We can’t all be as lucky as you and Alex,” Grace said. “You found the right guy at work. Meanwhile, I’m out kissing a bunch of frogs from the Internet.”
“What about Ryan?” Jerry pointed out. “When he first started working here, all you talked about was how fine he was.”
“Yeah, and then I got to know him,” Grace said, rolling her eyes. “No, thanks. Speaking of the ever-confident Mr. Nichols, he came by your office just a few minutes ago, Laurie. He wanted to know when Kendra Bell would be coming in for an initial interview. Excuse me for speaking out of turn, but sometimes I think that man forgets who literally runs the show around here.”
“To be fair,” Laurie said, “I’m the one who asked him to go to Kendra’s with me yesterday.”
“And how did that go?” Jerry asked.
“It worked,” she said, reaching into her briefcase to produce Kendra’s signed participation agreement. “She agreed to do the show. It’s weird, though. She called me after we left her house last night, and she sounded absolutely petrified.”
Jerry crossed his arms, mulling over the observation. “Well, you did put her between a rock and a hard place. Either she had to do the show, or her in-laws would have realized that she was the one holding it up.”
Laurie nodded. “But that much was already true when we were at her place. When she called, it was different—as if something had happened in between that really rattled her.”
“Maybe she looked into our track record,” Grace said. So far, Under Suspicion had solved every case they had selected for production.
“Maybe,” Laurie said, thinking again about the unknown man that Kendra was supposedly meeting at a dive bar shortly before the murder. If Kendra had hired a hit man to kill Martin, she had more than Laurie’s investigation to be afraid of. The man who pulled the trigger would not want her talking to a television producer. She remembered her father’s warning from last night and found herself wondering where this case might take her.
• • •
Laurie found Ryan in his office, practicing putts on a strip of green Astroturf. He was just about to hit a ball when she said, “Grace said you were looking for me.”
The ball went careening to the right and rolled onto the office carpet.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Good thing it didn’t count.” He held out the putter to her, offering her a try, which she declined.
“Trust me. I’d somehow find a way to send it through the windows.” She told him about the frightened phone call from Kendra Bell the previous night. “She can leave early today, so we’ll meet at three. My guess is she won’t want us at her house because of the children, so I’ll see if she’s willing to come up here.”
“I can’t do three. I’ve got an appointment with my trainer.”
“I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ll be interested to hear any alternative theories she has about the murder. The only public speculation has been about her.”
“You’re not going to reschedule it?”
“No. She works full-time and has two kids, and this was the time she had available. But have a good workout.”
• • •
Laurie had carefully worked her way through half of the real estate listings that Rhoda Carmichael had dropped off at her apartment the previous night when the Realtor called her cell phone. “So don’t leave me hanging,” Rhoda said. “Give me your list of must-see’s so I can line up some viewings.”
Laurie flipped through the binder and realized she had only dog-eared two pages so far. The properties were all stunning by any reasonable definition, far beyond anything Laurie could ever afford on her own. But they were all so . . . cold. Almost too pristine. She couldn’t picture herself and Timmy in any of them.
“The one at Eighty-sixth and Lex would be a great location for us,” she said halfheartedly, wondering why the listing included only two photographs. “And the apartment on Ninetieth has a good setup for Ramon to have a separate living area from us, but it’s a little too far east.”
“Well, don’t forget the new Second Avenue subway,” Rhoda chirped. “What used to be the boondocks is now prime neighborhood real estate.”
“It’s more about being close to my father and the school. We have our routines.”
“I swear, Laurie.” Supposedly Rhoda was born and bred in Queens, but somehow she had a slightly Southern accent. “Sometimes I get the impression you don’t want to move at all.”
And you’re right, Laurie thought to herself. I want to be married to Alex, but I don’t want to upend everything else about my life. “Maybe we can bribe the Hollanders next door to move and just combine two apartments,” she said whimsically.
“Good luck getting your co-op to agree to that. And then where are you going to live during a year of construction?” Laurie’s trial balloon was quickly deflated. “The Eighty-sixth and Lex property won’t last long. Let me get you in there today. Does noon work?”
Laurie sighed. She was available, and Alex should be, too. “Sure, set it up.” At least she’d have an excuse to see Alex in the middle of the day.