I told her who I was. She seemed thrilled to meet me.
“Mr. Tripp is at his club,” she said. “I’m sure he didn’t realize you were coming.”
She was wearing taupe hose that fitted her legs perfectly.
“Actually I’d just as soon talk with you,” I said.
She lowered her eyes for a moment, and smiled.
“Really?” she said.
I was probably not the first guy to say that to her, nor, in fact, the first guy to mean it. I hooked a red leather side chair over to her desk and sat down. She smiled again. Ready to help.
“You know I’m looking into Mrs. Tripp’s murder?”
“Yes,” she said. “How terrible for them all.”
“Yes,” I said. “How’s business?”
She shifted slightly in her chair. “I beg your pardon?” she said.
“How’s business here?” I said.
“I… I don’t see why you ask.”
“Don’t know what else to ask,” I said.
“I’ve talked with the police,” she said.
Her big eyes looked puzzled but hopeful. She’d like to help, but how?
“I know,” I said. “No point in saying all that again. So we’ll talk about other stuff. Like business. How is it, are you busy?”
She frowned. Conflicting emotional states were a breeze for her. A pretty frown, an understated hip wiggle, a slight shift in her eyes. It was beautiful to see.
“It… it’s not that kind of business.”
“What kind?”
“The kind where you can say how’s business?” she said and smiled so warmly that I almost asked her to dance.
“Are you busy?” I said.
“Well, no, not in a regular business sense.”
“What are your hours?”
“Nine to four,” she said.
“And Mr. Tripp?”
“Oh, he’s usually here when I arrive, and he frequently leaves after I do. I’ve offered to come earlier and stay longer, but Mr. Tripp says that is not necessary.”
“Is he busier than you are?”
“I… well, frankly, I don’t see why he would be.”
“And how busy are you?”
She shrugged and spread her hands. Her nails were beautifully manicured and painted a pale pink.
“There are some phone calls, there are some letters. Sometimes I make restaurant reservations, sometimes travel arrangements…” She paused. “I read a great deal.”
“Good for the mind,” I said. “They eat out a lot?”
“Mr. Tripp has lunch with people nearly every day.”
“Dinner?”
“I rarely make dinner reservations,” she said.
“They travel much?”
She uncrossed her legs, and crossed them the other way. When she had them recrossed, she smoothed her skirt along the tops of her thighs.
“Mostly I make arrangements for the children, during school vacations.”
“They do a lot of that?”
“Oh, yes, they’re very well traveled. Vail or Aspen usually, in the winter. Europe sometimes, during summer vacations. And they were always flying off to visit friends from college.”
“Family travel much together?” I said.
“Mr. Tripp and the children would sometimes go places, especially when the children were small.”
“Ms. Nelson?” I said.
“I don’t think Ms. Nelson liked to travel,” she said.
