At six o’clock, they had dinner in the small dining room. The temperature had dropped. A fire was blazing, the white wine chilling, a decanter of red wine on the sideboard. John Hughes, now in uniform, served the beautifully prepared meal. Crabmeat cocktail. Veal medallions. Tiny asparagus. Roast potatoes. Green salad with pepper cheese. Sherbet. Espresso.
Darcy sighed as she sipped the coffee. “I can’t thank you enough. If I’d been home by myself all day, it would have been pretty rough.” “If I’d been here alone all day, it would have been pretty boring.” She could not help overhearing Mrs. Hughes comment to her husband as they were leaving, “Now there is one lovely girl. I hope Doctor brings her back.”
XIII MONDAY March 4
On Monday evening, Jay Stratton met Merrill Ashton in the Oak Bar of the Plaza. The bracelet, a band of diamonds in a charming Victorian setting, won Ashton’s instant approval. “ Frances is just going to love that,” he enthused. “I’m sure glad you convinced me to order it for her.”
“I knew you’d be pleased. Your wife is a very pretty woman. That bracelet will look lovely on her arm. As I told you, I want you to have it appraised when you get home. If the jeweler tells you it’s worth one cent less than forty thousand dollars, the deal is off. In fact, he’ll undoubtedly tell you that you drove a hard bargain. But the fact is that I’m hoping that next Christmas you’ll think of another piece for Frances. A diamond necklace? Diamond earrings? We’ll see.” “So this is your loss leader for me?” Ashton chuckled as he reached for his checkbook. “That’s good business.”
Jay felt the peculiar thrill that came with taking risks. Any decent jeweler would tell Ashton that at fifty thousand the bracelet would still be a bargain. Tomorrow he had a lunch date with Enid Armstrong. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on her ring.
Thank you, Erin, he thought as he accepted the check. Ashton invited Jay to have a quick bite before he left for the airport. He was taking a 9:30 plane home to Winston-Salem. Stratton explained that he was meeting a client at seven. He did not add that Darcy Scott was hardly the kind of client he wanted. He had a check in his pocket for seventeen thousand five hundred dollars; the twenty thousand from Bertolini less his commission. Effusive good- byes. “Give my very best to Frances. I know how happy you’ll make her.”
Stratton did not notice another man quietly leave a nearby table and follow Merrill Ashton into the lobby.
“If I may have a word with you, sir.”
Ashton accepted the card that was offered to him. Nigel Bruce, Lloyd’s of London.
“I don’t understand,” Ashton sputtered.
“Sir, if Mr. Stratton comes out, I don’t want to be observed. Would you mind if we step into the jewelry shop right over there? One of our experts will meet us. We’d like to have a look at the jewelry you just purchased.” The investigator took pity on Ashton’s bewildered expression. “It’s routine.” “Routine! Are you suggesting that the bracelet I just bought was stolen?”
“I’m not suggesting anything, sir.”
“The hell you’re not. Well, if there’s anything funny about this bracelet, I want to know right now. That check isn’t certified. I can have payment stopped in the morning.”
The investigative reporter for the New York Post had done his job well. Somehow he managed to learn that a package had been delivered to Nan Sheridan’s home and that it contained the mates of the mismatched shoes she’d been wearing when her body was found. Nan Sheridan’s picture; Erin ’s picture; Claire Barnes’s picture. Splashed side by side on the front page. SERIAL KILLER ON THE LOOSE.
Darcy read the paper in a cab on the way to the Plaza.
“Here we are, miss.”
“What? Oh, all right. Thank you.”
She was glad that she had had wall-to-wall appointments that day. Once again, she had brought clothes to the office. This time she changed into the red wool Rodeo Drive ensemble. As she got out of the cab, she remembered that she’d worn this outfit the last time she spoke to Erin. If only I’d seen her just once more, she thought.
It was ten of seven, a bit early for her meeting with Jay Stratton. Darcy decided to pop into the Oak Room. Fred, the maitre d’ of the restaurant, was an old friend. Ever since she could remember, when she and her parents had come to New York they had stayed at the Plaza.
Something Michael Nash had said yesterday was gnawing at her. Hadn’t he been suggesting that she was still harboring a child’s resentment at a careless, even cruel remark that had no present validity? She found herself looking forward to the next time she saw Nash. I suppose it’s like getting a free consultation, but I’d like to ask him about it, she acknowledged as a beaming Fred rushed to greet her.
Promptly at seven she went next door to the bar. Jay Stratton was at a corner table. The only other time she had met him had been at Erin ’s apartment. Her first impression had been distinctly unfavorable. He’d been angry about the missing Bertolini necklace, then after it was found switched to a display of anxiety over the missing pouch of diamonds. He’d been infinitely more concerned about the necklace than about the fact that Erin was missing. Tonight it was like being with a different person. He was really trying to turn on the charm. Somehow, she was sure she’d seen the real Jay Stratton the first time.
She asked him where he had met Erin.
“Don’t laugh. She happened to answer a personal ad I placed. I knew her casually and called her. One of those serendipity things. Bertolini had asked me about resetting those jewels and when I read Erin ’s letter I remembered that wonderful piece she did that won the N.W. Ayer award. And so we got together. It was strictly business, although she did ask me to escort her to a benefit. A client had given her the tickets. We danced the night away.” Why had he felt it necessary to add “strictly business”? Darcy wondered. And would it have been strictly business for Erin? Only six months ago Erin had said almost wistfully, “You know, Darce, I’m at the point where I’d really like to meet some nice guy and fall madly in love.”
The Jay Stratton who was sitting across the table, attentive, handsome, able to understand Erin ’s talent, might well have fit the bill. “What ad of yours did she answer?”
Stratton shrugged. “Frankly, I place so many of them I forget.” He smiled. “You look shocked, Darcy. I’ll explain to you what I explained to Erin. I will marry a very rich woman someday. I haven’t met her yet, but be assured I will. I meet many women through these ads. It is not very difficult to persuade older women, ever so gently, to relieve their loneliness by treating themselves to a particularly beautiful piece of jewelry or by resetting their own rings, necklaces, or bracelets. They’re happy. I’m happy.” “Why are you telling me this?” Darcy asked. “I hope it’s not your way of letting me down easily. I didn’t think of tonight as a date. For me, it’s ‘strictly business.’”
Stratton shook his head. “God forbid I should be so presumptuous. I’m telling you exactly what I told Erin after she explained to me her purpose in answering the ads. Your producer friend’s documentary, isn’t it?” “Yes.”
“What I’m trying to say and probably not doing it very well is that there was no romantic spark between Erin and me. The next point I’d like to make is to profoundly apologize for my behavior the first time we met. Bertolini is a valued client of mine. I’d never worked with Erin before. I didn’t know her well enough to be totally sure that she wouldn’t go away on a whim and forget the deadline for delivery. Believe me, I’ve had very uncomfortable moments of communing with myself and realizing the impression I must have made on you when you were heartsick with worry about your missing friend and I was talking client deadlines.”
A wonderful speech, Darcy thought. I should warn him I’ve lived most of my life with two of the best actors in this country. She wondered if it would be appropriate to burst into applause. Instead she said, “You do have the check for the necklace?”
“Yes. I didn’t know how to make it out. Do you think ‘Estate of Erin Kelley’ will be appropriate?”
Estate of Erin Kelley. All the years Erin had cheerfully done without the things that most of their friends considered essential. So proud that she could keep her father in a private nursing home. Just on the threshold of
