'These girls. They come from nowheresville, never lived in a good house. For a few weeks they're nice as can be—cheerful, helpful. The kids are happy. It seems like everything's finally going to be peachy. Then they start ganging up.' Sound of nervous laughter.
'What happens?'
'They start wanting everything, our houses, our clothes, our jewelry, our husbands. They bring their friends around. . . . What time is it? I have to go.'
'In a minute. Tell me more about these nannies.'
'Oh, some of them are lazy. They start slacking off, and you have to negotiate what they'll do and won't do. You think they want to please you, but then they start faking it. And then little things go missing—and big things, too. One of them stole my tennis bracelet—seven carats of diamonds. It wasn't as big as Maddy's, but I loved that bracelet. I threw her out fast. It was too bad—that one had been really nice. But Jo Ellen always has a replacement. The better ones cost more, of course, and every time it's a new contract.'
'What kind of contract?'
'We pay twenty percent of the salary for a year. If they leave before a year, then I'd get a discount on the next one, but they never leave. I have to fire them. Then we start over. It's a racket.'
Eloise made a note.
'No. Anderson is the best. Jo Ellen vets the girls. She gives them personality tests, and does background searches. Of course they have to be legal, have driver's licenses and everything. I wouldn't trust anybody else to be that careful.'
'How about Remy? Did she come highly recommended?'
'Oh, that was not a good match for Maddy from the get-go. Maddy wanted a first-class nanny, pure and simple. She was not interested in food. Wayne wanted a chef for the boys because Maddy didn't cook. Conflict right there. Remy needed a place to stay while she finished cooking school. They made a deal.'
'She's a pretty girl. Was that a problem for Maddy?'
'No, of course not. You wouldn't want unattractive people in your house, would you?'
Not a smart girl, Eloise thought. She fast-forwarded a number of times, listened to the cocaine questions, and turned off the machine. She found Hagedorn in front of his computer. 'Want to go for a drive?'
His pale blue eyes came alive as if she'd just offered him a joyride in a Ferrari. Then he said, 'I'm the computer guy. Why me?'
'Everybody needs a friend, Charlie,' she said.
He nodded slowly, smiling a little at being invited to the party for the first time. He wasn't used to being anyone's partner, even for a day. 'Okay, but we have to be back for Lorna Dome at two,' he said.
'We'll be back. I never forget a stripper.' She laughed.
They hurried downstairs, and he took the wheel of the unmarked Buick. They crossed town at a snail's pace, and their personal interaction was a replay of the night before. He drove carefully and didn't initiate any conversation.
'You ever do an interview?' Eloise asked him after a while.
'Back when I was on patrol,' he replied.
'Where was that?' Eloise asked.
'Staten Island.'
'No kidding?' Eloise had been to Staten Island only a handful of times. She lapsed into silence for several blocks. Then she asked him how he liked working for the lieutenant.
'She's very determined,' he replied after a pause.
'Is that a good thing?'
He shrugged. 'It is what it is.'
'Very profound,' she said as he parked in a bus zone.
The Anderson Agency was on the second floor of a fine old Lexington Avenue building on Sixty-third Street. The building had a pricey antique shop downstairs and a discreet entrance with a brass plaque that looked as if it belonged on Madison Avenue. The elevator was wood paneled and marble floored. When they got out, without appearing to be aware of doing it, Hagedorn stood up a little straighter. He reached for the office doorknob to open it for the sergeant, but the glass door of the Anderson Agency was locked. He rang the bell for entry, the lock clicked, and they went into a place that looked like an apartment. The reception area was a large waiting room with French chairs and leaded windows with velvet drapes.
A reed-thin middle-aged woman with a bun and no makeup sat at a long table loaded with magazines—Town &
'I'm Sergeant Gelo from the New York City Police Department. This is Detective Hagedorn. Is Miss Anderson available?'
'One moment.' Staring at them as if they were wild animals, she got on the phone and pushed a few buttons. 'Miss Anderson, some people from the police department are here to see you. Yes, Miss Anderson.' She hung up the phone. 'She's just finishing something up. Will you follow me?'
The receptionist stood up and led the way through curtained French doors into another room. This one looked like the antique shop downstairs. It had fabric on the walls, an ornate desk, a number of French-looking gilt armchairs with brocade seats and backs, a fireplace, and the kind of small tables and decorative objects that couldn't easily be copied. They gawked for no more than thirty seconds.
'Oh, good, you've found the parlor. I'm Miss Anderson. '
A rather frightening woman who looked as if she came from another era entered through a different door. She wore a suit that hadn't been seen out on the street since the 1930s. The tweed was old-fashioned. The jacket was long, the shoulders were padded, and the skirt came down to the middle of Anderson's sturdy calves. Under the jacket was a paisley blouse that matched the paisley turban that made her head look like a small beach ball. Miss Anderson looked like the psychic in a Noel Coward play Eloise had been in a long time ago in high school. No lipstick or rouge softened her stern countenance. Eloise found it difficult to believe this was the woman Maddy Wilson and Alison Perkins relied on for their household help.
Although normally she was not daunted by anyone, she actually deflated a little at the powerful beam of disapproval Anderson sent her way. She was wearing the clothes from her locker—tight blue trousers, a revealing sweater, and a leather jacket that did not even try to hide the Glock at her waist. Her hair was in its usual seductive disarray, and she had to remind herself her makeup was perfect.
'I'm Sergeant Eloise Gelo, and this is Detective Charles Hagedorn. We're from the New York City Police Department,' she said.
'Yes, I know. You're the sergeant?' Anderson replied.
'Yes, ma'am,' Eloise told her.
'Humph. Well, appearances can be deceiving.' She sat in the chair that most resembled a throne, crossed her ankles, and gestured for the two detectives to arrange themselves around her.
'One of your customers was murdered yesterday.'
'Clients,' Anderson corrected. 'Yes, Mrs. Wilson.'
'And another one of your clients was murdered this morning.'
' Oh, who?' Miss Anderson tilted her head to one side as if this were a rude bit of gossip.
'Alison Perkins.'
'My, my! That is a startling coincidence, isn't it?' She looked shocked.
'You placed the nannies in their houses,' Eloise told her.
'We've been working with those two clients for years.' She frowned and tilted her head the other way. 'It's hard to believe. . . .'
'How were they to work for?'
'You know how young mothers are these days.' She smiled with no warmth, as if that covered the subject.
Eloise took out her notebook and Charlie followed suit. With no further preliminaries, she said, 'We need your files on Remy and Lynn.'
'Dear me, I know they have no part in this. I checked them out myself.' Miss Anderson clasped her hands
