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The car stopped at the steps of the main house. Jason leaped out and rushed to open the door. Alvirah Meehan struggled back into her shoes and, stooping awkwardly, hoisted herself from the seat. "It's like sitting on the floor," she commented. "Oh, look, here comes Mrs. von Schreiber. I know her from her pictures. Or should I call her Baroness?"
Elizabeth did not answer. She stretched out her arms as Min descended the steps from the veranda, her gait rapid but stately. Leila had always compared Min in motion to the Q.E. 2 steaming into harbor. Min was wearing a deceptively simple Adolfo print. Her luxurious dark hair was piled on her head in a swirling French knot. She pounced on Elizabeth and hugged her fiercely. "You're much too thin," she hissed. "In a swimsuit I bet you look scrawny." Another bear hug and Min turned her attention to Alvirah. "Mrs. Meehan. 'The world's luckiest woman.' We are enchanted to have you!" She eyed Alvirah up and down. "In two weeks, the world will think you were born with a forty-million-dollar spoon in your mouth."
Alvirah Meehan beamed. "That's the way I feel right now."
" Elizabeth, you go up to the office. Helmut is waiting to see you. I'll escort Mrs, Meehan to her bungalow, then join you."
Obediently Elizabeth went into the main house and walked through the cool marble-floored foyer, past the salon, the music room, the formal dining rooms and up the sweeping staircase that led to the private rooms. Min and her husband shared a suite of offices that overlooked the front and both sides of the property. From there Min could observe the movements of guests and staff as they went back and forth between the areas of activity. At di
Elizabeth knocked softly on the door of the private office suite. When there was no answer she opened it. Like every room in Cypress Point Spa, the offices were furnished exquisitely. An abstract watercolor by Will Moses hung on the wall over the oyster-colored couch. An Aubusson rug shimmered on the dark tile. The reception desk was authentic Louis XV, but there was no one seated there. She felt an immediate sense of sharp disappointment, but reminded herself that Sammy would be back tomorrow night.
Tentatively, she walked to the partially open door of the office Min and the Baron shared, then gasped in surprise. Baron Helmut von Schreiber was standing at the far wall, where pictures of Min's most famous clients were hung. Elizabeth 's eyes followed him, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out.
It was Leila's portrait Helmut was studying, the one Leila had posed for the last time she was here. The vivid green of Leila's dress was unmistakable, the brilliant red hair that floated around her face, the way she was holding up a champagne glass as though offering a toast.
Helmut's hands were clasped tightly behind his back. Everything about his stance suggested tension.
Elizabeth did not want him to know that he had been observed. Swiftly she retraced her steps to the reception room, opened and closed the door with a loud thud, then called, "Anyone home?"
An instant later he rushed from the i
"Tall, anyhow." Elizabeth stepped back. "Let me look at you, Helmut." She studied him carefully, observing that no trace of tension showed in his baby-blue eyes. His smile was relaxed and natural. His parted lips showed perfect white teeth. How had Leila described him? "I swear, Sparrow, that guy makes me think of a toy soldier. Do you suppose Min winds him up in the morning? He may have decent ancestry, but I bet he never had more than a nickel behind him till he latched on to Min."
Elizabeth had protested, "He's a plastic surgeon, and certainly he's knowledgeable about spas. The place is famous."
"It may be famous," Leila had retorted, "but it costs a bundle to run, and I'd bet my last dollar even those prices can't carry that overhead. Listen Sparrow, I should know. I've married two free loaders so far, right? Sure he treats Min like a queen, but he's putting that tinted head on two-hundred-dollar pillowcases every night, and besides what she's spent on the Spa, Min's dumped a pile of dough into that broken-down castle of his in Austria."
Like everyone else, Helmut had seemed grief-stricken at Leila's death, but now Elizabeth wondered if that had only been an act.
"Well, tell me. Am I all right? You look so troubled. Perhaps you have found some wrinkles?" His laugh was low, well bred, amused.
She made herself smile up at him. "I think you look splendid," she said. "Perhaps I'm just shocked to realize how long it's been since I've seen you."
"Come." He took her hand and led her to the grouping of Art Deco wicker furniture near the front windows. He grimaced as he sat down. "I keep trying to convince Mi
"Busy. Of course, that's the way I want it to be."
"Why haven't you come td see us before this?"
Because in this place I knew I'd be seeing Leila everywhere I turned. "I did see Min in Venice three months ago."
"And also, the Spa holds too many memories for you, yes?"
"It holds memories. But I've missed you two. And I'm looking forward to seeing Sammy. How do you think she's feeling?"
"You know Sammy. She never complains. But my guess would be-not well. I don't think she's ever recovered, either from the surgery or from the shock of Leila's death. And she is past seventy now. No great age physiologically, but still…"
The outer door closed with a decided thump, and Min's voice preceded her entrance. "Helmut, wait until you see the lottery wi
She rushed across the room and embraced Elizabeth fiercely. "If you knew the nights I've lain awake worrying about you! How long can you stay?"
"Not very long. Just until Friday."
"That's only five days!"
"I know, but the district attorney's office has to review my testimony." Elizabeth realized how good it felt to have loving arms around her.
"What do they have to review?"
"The questions they'll be asking me at the trial.
The questions Ted's lawyer will be asking me. I thought telling the simple truth would be enough, but apparently the defense will try to prove I'm mistaken about the time of the phone call."
"Do you think you might be mistaken?" Min's lips were grazing her ear, her voice a suggestive stage whisper. Startled, Elizabeth pulled back from the embrace in time to see the warning frown on Helmut's face.
"Min, do you think if I had the slightest doubt-"
"All right," Min said hastily. "We shouldn't talk about that now. So you have five days. You're going to be pampered; you're going to rest. I made out your schedule myself. You start with a facial and massage this afternoon."
Elizabeth left them a few minutes later. The slanting rays of the sun danced on the beds of wild-flowers along the path to the bungalow Min had assigned her. Somewhere in her subconscious she experienced a sense of calm observing the brilliant checkerblooms, the wood roses, the flowering currant hedges. But the momentary tranquillity could not mask the fact that behind the warm welcome and seeming concern, Min and Helmut were different.