you.’
‘Oh, absolutely, it made a wonderful honeymoon. Almost as good as the marriage.’
Raveneau studied her. ‘I can’t picture you forgetting the position of the body?’
‘Does it really make a whit of difference now?’
‘It could. A man called in a few days after the murder and left a message saying he heard shots and that he’d looked at his watch afterward to remember what time he heard them. He called us after you and Larry flew home and left a message saying he put it together after reading about the shooting in the newspaper. He didn’t leave a phone number or contact us again, but he did leave the time he heard the shots. He sounded credible to the inspectors. The time was very close to when you said you found the body, so close that Inspector Govich thought you either saw or heard the shooting.’
‘Do you suppose he believes his wife when she tells him things or is she always a suspect?’
‘That’s one of the reasons Inspector Govich flew to Canada.’
‘He flew to Canada because he got an anonymous call? That’s great.’
‘The time he gave was 3:42. Larry told the inspectors you found the body at 3:45.’
‘I can walk a long way in four minutes, Inspector, and watches didn’t always match. I’m sure you remember that. Nothing like the precious cell phones we have now that let us all keep exactly the same time together. Are you going to ask if he was dead when we got there?’
‘I know he was dead, but I’m still wondering about his body position.’
‘You’re back to that.’
‘I haven’t left it.’
‘I’ve tried to block all of it out. It was a horrible thing to see.’
‘I’m sure it was.’
‘His brains…’
Raveneau nodded and she looked down at the floor. She moved her right hand over on top of her left.
‘He was lying on his back with his legs apart.’
‘When you found him?’
Her voice rose slightly. ‘You have photos. I don’t know what you call them, crime scene photos. We saw the photos taken. Look in your files. Haven’t you seen them?’
‘Let’s watch the video.’
She pushed it in and the monitor lit up.
ELEVEN
After the homicide inspector left, Barbara Haney felt light-headed and anxious. She picked up the cordless phone in the kitchen and called her house manager from the den, pulse pounding, fingers drumming as she waited for the house manager to answer. The house manager, a thirty-two year old lawyer named Gail Hawkins, ran the house here and the one in Vail, as well as their New York apartment and the island property. She was well- educated, skilled, and discreet. She worked for them with the rationalization the salary of one hundred eighty thousand dollars a year was about the same as she would earn as a lawyer right now. It was also more than they needed to pay, but Barbara’s husband, Doug, was generous that way. He had a hard start at a career himself.
Gail worked for them but it was understood that the house managing was temporary and even though she might never practice law again, she wasn’t anybody’s servant. She certainly wasn’t. She was much more than an employee. She was her husband’s lover, something she had yet to confront Doug with but was never far from her thoughts and a big contributor to the depression her daughter insisted needed pharmaceuticals. Of course, Cheryl didn’t know anything about the affair.
Barbara called Gail rather than Doug because one side effect of the guilt from the affair was Gail always took her calls and was extremely solicitous and attentive. Ironically, that over-the-top caring courteousness is what made her suspicious in the first place.
‘Gail, I haven’t spoken with Doug yet today and I thought I would check with you first. How’s he feeling?’
‘He’s better. He’s much better. I saw him this morning. He said the fever broke in the night. He wants to go ahead with the dinner. I was just working with the cook. Are you going to be here?’
‘No, things have changed; it doesn’t look like I will be.’
Yesterday Doug had a fever or said he did. It was impossible to tell any more, though he did sound sick.
‘Was he coughing this morning?’
‘Bit of hacking.’
‘Did he take anything for it?’
‘No, you know him.’
Maybe she did once, but not any more. Barbara was quiet and then said, ‘I’ll let you get back to the menu.’
‘No hurry, I’m fine.’
New York investment banker types liked to ski in January, so this is when Doug usually entertained the ones he needed. No doubt the two bankers coming to dinner tonight were both wealthy and incredibly boring. No doubt they would talk their cars and their houses. That they even got called bankers was a joke to Barbara. They were more like hustlers in expensive clothes. They worked where the money was. That was their whole secret. All their smug certainty came from that and trained as she was in finance she had learned that few of them really understood numbers.
Barbara had paused too long and Gail was a little curt asking, ‘Shall I give him a message?’
‘No, don’t worry about it. I’ll call him later. When is he due home?’
‘At six thirty. Dinner is at seven thirty.’
‘Tell him I’m out this afternoon but will call him later tonight.’
‘Should I tell him a time?’
Barbara hesitated. She wanted to leave her guessing. It was her way of making her presence felt, her scream.
‘I don’t know what time yet, but it’ll be after his dinner.’
‘We’ll miss you here tonight.’
‘Are you eating with them?’
‘No, of course not, and I didn’t mean to sound as if I was. I may be in the kitchen helping though. Doug said tonight is very important.’
They are all very important until they don’t matter any more, Barbara thought. She hung up without another word and now felt like she might faint. She didn’t know why she bothered to make the call. She couldn’t believe her marriage had come to this and sat for an hour without moving, without knowing what she should do next.
Then her thoughts returned to the homicide inspector’s questions. She scrolled through her cell directory to the name Lisa Chou and called it as she rose and walked unsteadily back down the hallway to the great room. It rang four times before he picked up.
When Larry answered she said, ‘It’s me. A San Francisco homicide inspector visited me this morning. They’re working the case again. He wanted to know if you moved the body or removed a wallet.’
‘What did you tell him?’
‘That I wasn’t watching you.’
‘Barbara, what’s wrong?’
What’s wrong, everything is wrong, she thought, you, Doug, almost everything I’ve done with my life is wrong.
‘He and his partner run the Cold Case Unit for San Francisco. He said they have new information.’
‘Good for them.’
‘They have a videotape of the killing.’
‘They what?’
‘They were sent a videotape.’
