“And were you hers?”
“Not a chance. She could have-and did have-pretty much any guy she wanted. Quite honestly, I was surprised as hell to discover she was still working here when I arrived from New York on Tuesday. I figured she’d be married by now, have her own house, a couple of kids.”
“So you two haven’t stayed in touch?”
“Well, I did see her occasionally when I was at Yale,” he conceded. “A buddy of mine, Pete Willet, sailed out of the Dorset Yacht Club, and we’d come out here every so often to kick back. If Jory was free, she’d scrounge up a girlfriend for Pete and we’d party out on the Sound together. Jory works hard for a living. She likes to rock and roll when she gets the chance.”
“So when the college boy got him the itch, he’d give the chambermaid a call. Does that about cover it?”
“I wouldn’t portray it that way at all,” Spence said defensively. “Nobody got used. It was a mutual-consent kind of a deal. Good times. Good sex. Well above average, actually. Jory wasn’t looking for anything meaningful with me. She was just looking for humpage. She’s really a lot like a guy in that regard.”
Des smiled at him sweetly. “Is that right?”
“Not that I mean to plunge myself into the quicksand of sexual politics,” he added hurriedly. “I’m just trying to give you my sense of things.”
“How about giving me your sense of last night, Spence?”
“I couldn’t get to sleep,” he recalled, letting his breath out slowly. “I was freezing cold, and missing Natalie like crazy, when out of nowhere I hear footsteps and Jory’s sliding right into bed next to me, peeling off her clothes, reaching for me. And I’m like, ‘Jory, what the hell are you doing?’ And she’s like, ‘Just for old times’ sake, okay? I’m so lonesome and blue.’ Des, I was totally up-front with her. I told her I’m seriously into somebody. And she said, ‘That’s okay, so am I.’”
“Who is she seeing?”
“She didn’t say.”
“You weren’t curious?”
“At that particular moment, I couldn’t have cared less-not that I’m trying to be offensive.”
“You’re doing fine, Spence. Well above average, actually. How long did she stay with you?”
“A couple of hours.”
“And you say this was all her idea?”
“I swear it was. I was swamped with work from the moment I got here. I barely had a chance to say two words to her. I asked her how she’d been, but that’s all. I didn’t hit on her. And I sure didn’t invite her up to my room. I’m involved with Natalie, remember?”
“Right, you’re involved with Natalie,” Des said back to him. “Did Jory tell you anything at all about this man who she’s involved with? What he does for a living? How they met?”
Spence shook his head. “Mostly, she talked about Jase.”
“What about Jase?”
“How dependent he is on her. How she feels responsible for him, and frets over him day and night. She keeps hoping he’ll meet a girl and settle down on his own. Lately, she’s been trying to fix him up with the weekend chambermaids and waitresses. But the guy hasn’t so much as gotten out of the batter’s box, let alone to first base. I guess he’s kind of shy around the ladies. Jory asked me if I’d give him some pointers while I’m here, man-to-man. She’s getting kind of anxious, I guess, because if he doesn’t break away from her soon, chances are he never will.”
“Does Jase know about you and Jory?”
“I think he must. He’s always glowering at me. And he was really busting my chops this morning when we were out working in the driveway. My sense of things is that he sees me as some hotshot who’s been taking advantage of his sister. Which, as I said before, is not true. Jory is just as responsible as I am. More so, last night.”
“You said she left you after a couple of hours.”
“Yes.”
“By way of the trapdoor again?”
“She seemed pretty familiar with the drill, to tell you the truth. I’m guessing she’s dropped in on plenty of guys over the years.”
“I see,” Des said, figuring that it was most likely she whom Mitch and Carly had heard up there in the night, not Norma. “What did you do after Jory left?”
“Well, I didn’t fall asleep, I can tell you that. I felt so incredibly guilty. I still do, because I’m in love with Natalie. Jory and me, that shouldn’t have happened. But it did. And I let it. And I liked it. And I…” Spence hesitated, his jaw muscles tightening. “I kept thinking, hey, it’s not like Natalie isn’t climbing into bed every night with her husband, Joel, right? And you have to figure they’re still partaking of the humpage sometimes, don’t you? It would be dopey to think otherwise, wouldn’t it?”
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” Des responded, noticing that Spence was digging the fingernails of his right hand so deep into the palm of his left that he was about ready to draw blood. The smooth young studio executive did not have it so totally together after all. When it came to his love life, he was a tortured mess of emotions. Was he in control of these emotions, or were they running the show? She wondered. “After Jory left, did you hear anyone coming or going out in the hall?”
“I didn’t hear anybody.”
“And where were you this morning when Ada was attacked?”
“Right here,” he replied, stabbing the arm of the chair with an index finger for emphasis. “I was talking to Natalie on my cell phone when I heard Hannah scream. Natalie could hear her over the phone. She asked me what was happening. Go ahead and call Natalie if you don’t believe me. She’ll back me up. I was on the phone with her at the time of Ada’s death.”
“Okay, that’s not actually what I’m hearing from you, Spence.”
He frowned. “What are you hearing?”
“That you were on the phone when Hannah found Ada’s body. Technically, you could have strangled her before you slipped in here to call Natalie.”
“Well, yeah, okay,” he allowed readily enough. “I can see your point. But why would I do it? What possible reason would I have for killing Ada Geiger? Or the others? I’ve just landed a huge promotion. I’m in love with a beautiful woman. Why would I want to get dragged into any of this?”
Des didn’t answer Spence, for the simple reason that she didn’t have an answer. Not unless, somehow, he’d gotten himself dragged into it against his will. Or unless every single word he’d just told her was a carefully scripted fabrication. Which was certainly possible. But if Spence was being reasonably straight with her, then he was right. He had so many positive things going on right now. Why get dragged into this? For Jory, whom he could apparently sleep with anytime he wanted to? Where was his motive? What was in it for him? For that matter, what was in it for Jory? True, she stood to gain fifty thousand dollars from Norma’s death. Not exactly chump change, but was it worth murdering the woman for?
No, not a whole lot of sense here. Not yet.
Spence was looking at her searchingly, trying to follow where her mind was going. “Why would I do it?” he repeated.
“I wish I had some answers for you, Spence,” she replied quietly. “But I don’t. All I have is more questions.”
It seemed eerily quiet down in the taproom, considering how many people were crowded in there around the kerosene space heaters. So quiet that Des could hear the tick-tock of the antique wall clock behind the bar, punctuated by the occasional scrape of Jase’s plow outside on the pavement of the parking lot. It took Des a moment to realize what was missing.
There was no background music.
Teddy wasn’t playing the piano in the Sunset Lounge. He was seated at the bar, sipping a Scotch and looking very sad. Aaron sat on the stool next to him, chewing halfheartedly on a sandwich. Isabella was sprawled on the bar before them with a saucer of milk, offering up her soft white belly for a rub. The big cat was getting no takers. No one was paying any attention to her. No one was saying anything. They were all just sitting there, trying not to go insane with fear.