Nighttime Is My Time

terrible pattern to the loss of the girls at your lunch table. You've got to realize that.'

And I assumed he was worrying about me, she thought. I was even thinking of telling him about Lily. Since he's a psychiatrist, I thought maybe he'd have some insight into what kind of person is contacting me about her.

It was a relief when the waiter, a slight, elderly man, began passing out menus. 'May I tell you our specials for this evening?' he asked.

Robby looked up at the waiter with a hopeful smile. 'Can't wait,' he murmured.

'Filet mignon with mushrooms, filet of sole stuffed with crab-meat…'

When he had finished the recitation, Robby asked, 'May I ask you a question?'

'Of course, sir.'

'Is it a habit of this establishment to make last night's leftovers today's specials?'

'Oh, sir, I assure you,' the waiter began, his voice flustered and apologetic, 'I've been here forty years, and we're very proud of our cuisine.'

'Never mind, never mind. Just a little humor to lighten the table talk. Jean, you first.'

'The caesar salad and rack of lamb, medium-rare,' Jean said quietly. Robby isn't just sarcastic, she thought; he's nasty and cruel. He likes to hurt people who can't strike back, people like Miss Bender, the math teacher at the dinner last night, and now this poor guy. He talks about Mark having a crush on Laura. But no one had a bigger crush on her than he did.

Suddenly, a disquieting thought occurred to her. Robby's made a lot of money now. He's famous. If he invited Laura to meet him somewhere, she would go, I know she would. Jean was aghast to realize that she was seriously considering the fact that Robby might have lured Laura away and then harmed her.

Jack Emerson was the last to order. As he handed the menu back to the waiter, he said, 'I promised some friends that I'd drop in for a nightcap, so I think it would be a good idea to start discussing who we think Laura might have paid a lot of attention to over the weekend.' He shot a glance at Gordon. 'Besides you, of course, Gordie. You were at the top of her A-list.'

Dear God, Jean thought, they'll all be at each other's throats if this keeps up. She turned to Carter Stewart. 'Carter, why don't we start with you. Any suggestions?'

'I saw her talking a lot to Joel Nieman, better known as the Romeo who forgot half his lines in the school play. His wife was here only for the cocktail party and dinner Friday night, then went home. She's an executive with Target and was flying to Hong Kong Saturday morning.'

'Don't they live somewhere around here, Jack?' Gordon asked.

'They live in Rye.'

'That's not that far away.'

'I was talking to Joel and his wife at the party Friday night/' Jean said. 'He doesn't look at all like the kind of guy who would ask Laura to go home with him the minute his wife is out of town.'

'He may not look like it, but I happen to know he's had a couple of girlfriends,' Emerson said. 'Also that he was damn near indicted for some shady deals his accounting firm was involved in. That's why we passed on making him an honoree.'

'How about our missing honoree, Mark Fleischman?' Robby Brent asked. 'He may be, as his introduction at the dinner quoted, 'tall, lanky, cheerful, funny, and wise,' but he also was hanging around Laura every minute he could. He broke his neck rushing to sit next to her on the bus to West Point.'

Jack Emerson finished his martini and signaled the waiter for a refill. Then he raised his eyebrows. 'Just occurred to me. Mark would have a place to invite Laura. I know for a fact that his father's out of town. I met Cliff Fleischman in the post office last week and asked him if he was coming to see his son honored. He told me he had longstanding plans to visit some friends in Chicago but that he'd give Mark a call. Maybe he offered him the house. Cliff won't be back till Tuesday.'

'Then I think Mr. Fleischman must have changed his mind,' Jean said. 'Mark told me that he'd passed his old house and there were a lot of lights on. He didn't say anything about hearing from his father.'

'Cliff Fleischman leaves a bunch of lights on whenever he's away,' Emerson replied. 'His house was burglarized when he was on vacation about ten years ago. He blamed it on the fact that it was so dark. He said it was a dead giveaway that there was no one home.'

Gordon broke off a bread stick. 'I got the feeling Mark was estranged from his father.'

'He is, and I know why,' Emerson said. 'After Mark's mother died, his father gave up the housekeeper, and she came to work for us for a while. She was a real gossip and gave us the lowdown on the Fleischmans. Everybody knew that Dennis, the older son, was the apple of his mother's eye. She never got over losing him, and blamed Mark for the accident. The car was at the top of that long driveway, and Mark was always pestering Dennis to teach him to drive. Mark was only thirteen and wasn't allowed to start the car unless Dennis was with him. That afternoon he'd started it and then forgotten to put on the parking brake before he left the car. When the car started to roll down the hill, Dennis never saw it coming.'

'How did she find out?' Jean asked.

'According to the housekeeper, one night shortly before she died, something happened and she turned completely against Mark. He didn't even come to her funeral. She cut him out of her will, too; she had big bucks from her mother's family. Mark was in medical school at that time.'

'But he was only thirteen years old at the time of the accident,' Jean said in protest.

'And always jealous of his brother,' Carter Stewart said quietly. 'You can bet that. But maybe he has been in touch with the father, and maybe he still has a key to the house, and maybe he knew the father was away.'

Did Mark lie about having to go back to Boston? Jean wondered. He went out of his way to stop at the table in the bar when I was with Alice and Sam to tell us about walking past his father's house. Could he still be right here in town with Laura?

I don't want to believe that, she acknowledged to herself, as Gordon Amory volunteered, 'We're all assuming that Laura went with someone. It's also possible she went to someone. We're not that far from Greenwich and Bedford and Westport, where a lot of her celebrity friends have homes.'

Jack Emerson had brought a list of the people who attended the reunion. In the end, they decided that each of them would take names to call, explain why they were concerned, and ask for their thoughts as to where Laura might have gone.

When they left the dining room, after promising to be in touch in the morning, Carter Stewart and Jack Emerson headed for their cars. In the lobby, Jean told Gordon Amory and Robby Brent that she was going to stop at the desk.

'Then I'll say good night,' Gordon told her. 'I still have some phone calls to make.'

'It's Sunday night, Gordie,' Robby Brent said. 'What could be so important it can't wait till morning?'

Gordon Amory stared at Robby's deceptively innocent face. 'As you know, I prefer to be addressed as 'Gordon,'' he said quietly. 'Good night, Jean.'

'He is so full of himself,' Robby said as he watched Gordon walk across the lobby and press the button for the elevator. 'I bet he goes up and turns on the television. Tonight's the opening of a new series on one of his channels. Or maybe he just wants to look in the mirror at his pretty new face. Honest to God, Jeannie, that plastic surgeon must be a genius. Remember what a dorky-looking kid Gordie used to be?'

I don't care why he's going up to his room, Jean thought. I just want to check to see if by any chance Laura has phoned and then go up to bed myself. 'More power to Gordon that he was able to turn his life around. He had a pretty nasty time growing up.'

'Like all of us,' Robby said dismissively. 'Except of course, for our missing beauty queen.' He shrugged. 'I'm going to grab a jacket and go out for a while. I'm a health nut and except for a couple of walks, I haven't had any exercise all weekend. The gym in this place is the pits.'

'Is there anything about this town or this hotel or the people you've been meeting that isn't the pits in your opinion?' Jean asked, not caring if her voice sounded sharp.

'Very little,' Robby said cheerfully, 'except for you, of course, Jeannie. I was sorry to see that you looked kind of upset when we talked about Mark hanging around Laura this weekend. For the record, I could see that Mark was playing up to you, too. He's a hard guy to figure out, but then most psychiatrists are more nuts than their patients. If Mark did release the brake on the car that killed his brother, I wonder if consciously or unconsciously it was deliberate. After all, it was his brother's new car, a gift from Mommy and Daddy for graduation from Stonecroft. Think about that.'