dining room floor. I scrambled to my feet, and headed for the door.
Borman, who'd been in the music room, beat me to the door by seconds.
“Yes?” I heard him say, in a deferential tone.
Her voice got closer as she said, “I own this house. Could you direct me to whomever is in charge?”
“Uh, sure,” said Borman. In two sentences, she'd let him know she was important, and he wasn't. Not bad.
I came around the corner from the dining room, and saw two women in the atrium, beginning to advance past Borman. I could see how Borman had been intimidated. One of the women seemed to be about twenty-five or so, the other I would have guessed at thirty-five, max, if her driver's license data hadn't said she was forty-three. Both were quite fit, slim, with Jessica Hunley about three inches taller than her completely leather-clad young companion. But the remarkable thing was the younger one's hair. It was absolutely metallic-looking, starting with a lemon yellow at her forehead, and sweeping back through lime green, blue, red, and ending in purple. It shimmered iridescently. Arresting, so to speak.
I resolved to be just a bit harder to intimidate than Borman. “Hi. Name's Houseman.” I stuck out my hand. She didn't have much choice, and we shook. Strong. “You must be Jessica Hunley.”
“Yes.”
There was a momentary silence, so I took what advantage I could, and thrust my hand toward the other woman. “Deputy Houseman… ”
“Tatiana Ostransky,” she said. “I'm with Jessica.” Her handshake was cool and firm.
Jessica started the game with me. “Deputy? I would have hoped the sheriff would be here.”
“Two reasons,” I said. “First, I'm the department investigator. Second, Edie was his niece. He has other things to do today.”
That surprised her.
“So, you're the one in charge here?” Nice, wide, absolutely insincere smile.
“You betcha.”
She fixed me with a gaze that told me she knew just exactly what I was up to, and that she thought she could beat me at that game any time she chose. Cool.
I gestured toward the parlor. “If we go in there, I can give you some information.”
I was curious as to why anybody coming to the house wouldn't have been at least announced, if not delayed, by the two reserve officers outside. As we headed in toward the parlor, I saw them coming around the side of the house. Bored, they'd apparently decided to check the perimeter.
In the parlor, nobody sat.
“What,” asked Hunley, “is he doing in the kitchen?” She pointed to the lab tech, who was staring back at her.
As part of my answer, I opened my old leather briefcase, and fished out her copy of the search warrant. I handed it to her, and said, “We're executing a warranted search of this premises. He's one of the lab technicians.”
A search warrant lists the premises with the greatest specificity, and explains very tersely why the place is being tossed. In this instance, the exact wording was “evidence material to a homicide investigation.” Knives were also listed, along with bloodstains.
Jessica Hunley took out a pair of reading glasses from a case at her belt, and read the search warrant over very carefully. She was dressed in loose-fitting olive slacks, made with a microweave fabric, a white jersey turtleneck with the sleeves pushed up, and black leather shoes that appeared to be almost as soft as gloves, that zipped rather than tied. Her brown hair was tied with a white band in a short ponytail. She seemed to be a perfect match for the house. Refined. The glasses made her appear more interesting, if such a thing were possible.
She abruptly removed the glasses, and handed the paper to her companion. “I wasn't told this was a homicide case,” she said. Her tone was completely noncommittal.
“Don't feel bad,” I said. “We weren't, either.”
“Is there a suspect?”
“Yes,” I said. Silence. I wasn't going to tell her who, of course, and apparently she wasn't going to give me the satisfaction of asking.
“So,” she said, changing the unspoken subject, “where is everyone?”
“Well, most of them have been put up in area motels for last night, but they should be allowed back in here sometime this evening, I think.”
“Most of them?”
“Well,” I said, “all but Toby. Toby's in jail.” I do love my job.
Jessica's mouth opened slightly, but before she could say anything, Borman picked that moment to glance out the window and announce that the reserve deputies were now outside. Not his fault, but any immediate reaction I was hoping to get from Jessica was forever lost. I sure would have liked to hear what she was going to say.
Judging from the way Borman was looking at Tatiana of the shimmering hair, I'd say he probably wouldn't have heard Jessica at all.
The main result of Borman's announcement was that all four of us glanced out the window. I checked automatically for Jessica's car. I couldn't see quite all of it, because both reserves were standing around it, but it was the BMW Z8. I'd never seen one before. It struck me that, although completely modern, the car went with Jessica Hunley just as the old Mansion did.
“I'm glad you got here when you did,” I said to Jessica. “We're going to need somebody to unlock the third floor for us.”
“Why? It's only unlocked when I'm here. There couldn't have been anything to do with this… this killing. Not up there.”
“Well, like they say, a lock only keeps an honest man out,” I said. “Let's just agree it's supposed to be locked while you're away.”
“Let's say it's supposed to stay locked when I say it is,” she said, and reached into her slacks pocket, and produced a remarkably small cell phone. She dialed, while saying, “I'm calling my attorney… This is Jessica Hunley. Is he in?” There was a brief pause. “Yes, it's me. I'm at my house above the river,” she said. “There are some local cops here with a search warrant. Get up here now.” She spoke in a near monotone, and if I hadn't been party to what was actually going on, I would have thought her completely unconcerned. She terminated the call and put the phone back in her pocket. She looked at her watch. “He'll be here in ten minutes,” she said. It was a statement of fact, not an estimate.
Well, he either had to be a local or a damned good swimmer. I was anxious to see which of our local attorneys she had so thoroughly wrapped around her finger. “We can wait,” I said. “We have lots to do yet, before we go up to the third.”
She moved to hand the copy of the search warrant back. “No,” I said, “that's yours. We're required by law to either leave it with the owner, or post it on the premises where the owner can easily find it.” As she folded it, I asked, “Do you have the only key to the third floor?”
To my surprise, she said, “I think I'll wait for my attorney to be present before answering more.”
“That's fine,” I said conversationally, “but you really don't need to do that. You're not a suspect here.”
“Anyone,” she said, “can be sued.”
Ah. Right. Absolutely right. I had a feeling that Jessica would qualify as a very deep pocket.
I asked her and Tatiana to please remain in the parlor, and told Borman to stay with them. No complaint from him.
I went to the kitchen, told the lab tech to keep going, and then went up to the second to give them the news.
As I walked down the hall, I saw there were two yellow chalk marks in the blue and red and gold Oriental carpeting. I couldn't see anything particularly different between the areas inside or outside the circles, but I knew they'd found something. All three of them were in the bedroom across the hall from Edie's. By the clothes scattered about, I assumed it was the room of one of the males.
“Hester, got a second?”
“Sure.”
I told her what was happening downstairs.
