'She worried about it practically constantly.'
'Was he sleeping with Remy?'
'Oh, of course. Maddy told me many times that
Remy was trying to take over. 1 told her what to do.' Alison scratched her neck somewhere behind her ear. 'I wouldn't put up with that kind of shit in my house.'
'Did Maddy take your advice?'
'She called me early this morning very upset. She left a message for me to call back at nine. 1 called her back but she didn't pick up. Now that 1 think of it, she might have been on the line with Jo Ellen.'
'Who is Jo Ellen?'
'Oh, Jo Ellen places people.' Alison reached for the bag, then thought better of it and shoved it back behind her butt. 'Aw, shit. This is horrible. Do you have a bathroom here?'
April ignored the question. 'What agency does she work for?'
'Anderson. Jo Ellen Anderson. It's her own.'
'She placed Remy with the Wilsons?'
'Of course, and the last girl and the one before that.'
'How many have there been?'
Alison shrugged. 'I don't know. A lot. They never work out. It's always something.'
'Tell me about Remy,' April said.
'What's there to say? She. comes from Wyoming. She doesn't know how to dress and she doesn't know how to clean.'
'Can't clean?' April said. Somebody cleaned that gym pretty well.
'Oh, no, she's a terrible cleaner. The place was always a mess. All she cared about was food and Wayne. 1 have to get out of here.'
'Did Remy have any special friends?'
'She and Lynn, my nanny, are very close. Our kids are close. They all spend time together. And there's another girl in the neighborhood, Leah. I don't know who she works for. She hangs around a lot. There are others. You'll have to ask them.'
April changed the subject. 'What about Maddy's husband? Has he ever hurt her?' April asked.
'Wayne? No! He gave her everything, wanted her to be happy. He built that gym. Wayne would never hurt her.'
A uniform called Ulla came in with a mug of hot water and a cup of regular coffee from the deli down the street. She handed the coffee to Alison without asking if it was for her. 'You need anything else?' she asked.
'Do you have Sweet'n Low?' Alison asked.
'I could look downstairs,' Ulla offered.
'Here, I have some.' April reached in her desk and passed two over.
'See, you know about maintenance. Are you married?' Alison dumped the powder in her coffee, stirred, sipped, and was distracted. 'Ugh. This is terrible coffee. Do you have anything stronger?'
'Sorry about the coffee.' April returned to the subject. 'Would you say the Wilsons were a happy couple?'
Alison shook her snakeskin boot. 'What's a happy couple?'
'I think you know what I mean.'
She dipped her head. 'Well, they're totally famous. He's a busy man. I have one like that, too. You have to watch them all the time.' She glanced at her watch. 'I could use a drink. Oops, I didn't
say that.' She glanced guiltily at the tape machine. 'Don't tell my husband I said that.'
'Alison, did Maddy use, too?'
'Excuse me?'
'Alcohol, cocaine, other drugs?' April said as if it were a given.
'Uh, no. Of course not.'
'It'll show up in the autopsy if she did,' April told her.
Alison looked scared. 'Why are you asking me that? I wouldn't know something like that.'
'You were her best friend. You did everything together, shared the same trainer, the same employment agency. I think you shared a lot of things. Did Derek sleep with you both, supply you with your drugs?'
'Oh, God, no! Don't drag Derek into this,' she wailed.
'No to which?' April asked innocently.
'Jesus. You're intimidating me.'
'This is a murder investigation. The truth is going to come out, Alison.'
'Well, he didn't sleep with her. I know he didn't.'
'How do you know?'
'He liked her, but it wasn't like that. She wouldn't give him the money for his place. It was strictly, and I mean strictly, business with those two!'
'That's not the way I hear it,' April murmured.
'Well, let me put that rumor to bed. It was him and me,' she said angrily. 'Not her and him.
Don't get me in trouble. My husband would kill me.'
'Alison, where were you at nine o'clock this morning?'
'I told you. I was at home waiting for Maddy to call me. Jesus, are you crazy?' She pulled her bag back onto her lap, clutching it tightly. 'What are you saying?'
'Just wondering how angry you would be if you found out Derek was having an affair with Maddy.'
'But he wasn't.'
April didn't say anything for a while.
'He didn't tell you he was, did he?' she asked in a small voice.
'What about the coke? Where did she get it?'
'I don't know anything about any coke.'
'Don't lie to me, Alison. I can see it in your eyes.'
'It's not a big thing. I had a bad day.'
'You had a bad day?' April repeated.
'Yeah, my best friend was killed.'
'But you didn't hear about it until we came to the gym, right?'
'So?'
'Then where did you get the coke? Was it at the gym?'
'No, I had it with me. . . . Shit.' Alison pulled on her ear. 'It wasn't about cocaine. Don't make it about that. It's all over the place in the restaurant business. Modeling business. Advertising. Wayne had it around. Believe me, no one would murder anybody over that.'
'Somebody's dealing. Who is it?'
'Don't make it about that,' Alison begged. 'If you go there, you could arrest the whole fucking city.'
'So you don't think your boyfriend, the coke dealer, killed her?'
'Shit, I never said he was a dealer, and he would never hurt anybody.'
'So you think maybe Wayne got angry when Maddy fired his girlfriend?'
'No! I never said anything about Wayne, either. Maddy's fired girls before, lots of them. It wasn't a big deal. If Wayne liked one of them, he'd give her a waitress job. Nobody lasted long,' she said furiously.
'But Remy probably didn't know that,' April murmured.
Alison started sobbing. 'If Remy did it, then I'm really upset. I can't take any more of this. I have to go home now.' She looked as if she might be sick again.
'Well, who else could have done it?'
'I don't know. But Lynn is Remy's best friend. How can I have her in the house now? I'm afraid,' she said.
'What are you afraid of?'
'I could be next,' Alison cried. 'I need protection.'
'Why? Who would want to kill you?' April asked.
'They hate us. They wear our clothes. They steal our things. If they can get our husbands, they'll steal them,
