Lady Killer

“No luck?”

“Not yet.” Mary thought a minute. “Trish told me she kept a diary. That’s probably in her bedroom, right?”

Giulia frowned slightly. “No, she didn’t. She said that? You sure?”

“Yes. She had a gun, too, didn’t she?”

“Sure.” Giulia seemed distracted, her forehead creased slightly. “I don’t think she had a diary. She woulda tol’ me.”

“Do you know where she kept the gun?”

“No.”

“I’m wondering if she took it with her.”

“I don’t know. Prolly.”

Mary thought the gun and the diary would be upstairs. “Let me ask you something else. Where would he take her for her birthday? Which restaurant?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t like to take her out. He liked her home. It drove her nuts.”

“Okay, where does he go when he goes to work, or whatever Mob guys do?” Mary didn’t know much about organized crime and wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. “Where does he sell drugs?”

“I du

Mary remembered Trish had said that. They don’t know the whole story.

“Once she told me that the boys hang at Bia

Mary made a note on an imaginary legal pad. AVOID BIANNETTI’S AND DENVER STREET. “Did she ever mention any friends of his in the Mob, or just guys he knew? Maybe Mob guys he hung with at Bia

“No. Like I said, we didn’t talk about it.”

Mary sca

“Two, one and a half baths, no cellar.” Giulia frowned again. “I can’t remember the last time I was even upstairs. It’s like she’s not allowed to have girlfriends.”

“How can you get along without your girlfriends?” Mary was thinking of Judy, and Giulia smiled.

“For reals.”

“Did Trish mention any other friends she had? Maybe a friend who might know something about where they could be?”

“No way. She had us. She was loyal to us.” Giulia frowned, and Mary let it go.

“Did you check the bedroom? I’m curious to see if her clothes are missing. Or if there are any signs she packed anything, or he did.”

“I didn’t check.”

“Where does she keep her suitcase, do you know?”

“I du

“I’ll check that, too.” Mary filed it away. “By the way, where’s their computers?”

“He didn’t have one, I know that. She told me he never liked ’em. He said he had ADD.”

Mary thought back. He had been a poor student. He could have been undiagnosed, back then. “No e-mail or anything?”

“T had it.”

“I want to look upstairs.”

“I’ll go out and smoke.” Giulia turned, but Mary touched her arm.

“Wait, I have a job for you and the girls. I want you to go up and down the street and interview the neighbors.”

“Why?” Giulia frowned.

“When there’s a crime, cops canvass the neighborhood to find out what people saw. They interview them to get witnesses.” Mary walked into the dining room and picked up one of the photos from the credenza. “Take this with you. Show it to the neighbors when you talk to them.”

“Don’t need it. I got a picture of them in my cell phone.” Giulia’s eyes narrowed, so that with the eyeliner tattooing, they looked like two black dashes. “So what do I ask in this interview?”

“Ask people if they saw Trish last night, or recently. Ask if anyone saw them leave and if they were alone.” Mary was thinking out loud. “Ask them, what time was it? Did they carry suitcases? Did they leave alone in the BMW? Did someone go with them and maybe follow them? Did it look like she was forced? Did they hear any yelling last night? How about a scream?”

Giulia frowned in confusion.

“I’ll write it down for you.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Giulia reached into her purse for her cigarettes.

CHAPTER NINE

M ary entered the bedroom and flicked on the light switch, feeling oddly as if she were walking into her alternative life, the world of what-if.

He was so crazy about her. He loved her since high school.

She shook the thoughts off, disturbing as they were, and concentrated on the task at hand. A large king-size bed sat against the far wall, between two windows covered by closed shades. The bed’s black quilted comforter was completely flat and four zebra-print pillows sat in neat layers, but at the foot of the bed lay a heap of clothes. Mary picked up the top one. It was a woman’s sweater, black with silvery glitter scattered on one padded shoulder, reeking of smoke and perfume, and underneath it lay another sweater, red with tiny red beads in the shape of a heart. It had to be Trish’s clothes, and from the looks of it, she’d been trying to find something to wear at the last minute, or maybe packing to go somewhere.

Mary set the clothes back down and looked under the bed for suitcases, but there was nothing there, not even a single dust bu

A high school ring winked back at her, and she remembered the day he’d gotten his class ring. Their first date had been that night. He’d asked her out one Wednesday at their session, their books side by side on the kitchen table, momentarily forgotten.

You mean, like a date? she had asked him, amazed. It was all that she had hoped for.

That night, in the car, he’d showed her his ring, and she’d misunderstood, thinking for a thrilling moment he was going to offer it to her. He didn’t, but the ring and the romance were knotted together in her mind, unsettling as it was, in retrospect.

She shooed the memory away and looked at Trish’s jewelry box, which looked like the treasure chest in a Disney cartoon. Gold chains of all sizes glittered from a hanging bar on the open lid, golden bangles sat stacked in a lopsided heap, and gold earrings overflowed their little trays. Mary lifted up the tray. Underneath, more gold chains and bangles covered the bottom, almost hiding a set of car keys, still with the rubber keychain from the dealership. They must have been an extra set. Impulsively she took the car keys and slipped them into her jacket pocket. Then she went quickly through dresser drawers, piles of neatly laundered and folded undies, socks, polo shirts, and shorts. Neither Trish’s gun nor her diary was there.

Mary straightened up and eyeballed the room. A long closet stood open, its louvered panels slid aside, and she went over and searched the pockets on the hanging jackets and pants. No diary. No gun. She grabbed a footstool, undoubtedly used by Trish, and searched the top of the closet, stocked with sheets and electric blankets. No gun. Then she bent down and searched the bottom of the closet, where shoes lay in piles. No gun, no suitcases, no nothing. Mary stood up and dusted herself off. Beside the closet was a bathroom, and she looked inside, turning on the light.

It was large and white, with two side-by-side sinks on a single, long, superclean vanity. On Trish’s side, an electric toothbrush upright in a holder, and a thin bar of Neutrogena sat in a white plastic dish, and his side was almost a mirror image. A chrome blow dryer sat on the sink, and all the towels on the racks had been folded and were in size order, from bath towel to facecloth. The mirror over the sink had to be a medicine chest, and Mary opened it.