Harlan Coben - Play Dead

‘Would you like something to drink?’

‘No, thank you.’

‘Anything at all?’

‘Thank you, no.’

Diana Klenke sat on the plush chair next to Laura. The room was beautiful and immaculately kept by what had to be a large staff of servants. The Victorian mansion must have held twenty-five rooms, each done in a style that would have made the Palace of Versailles envious. ‘How was your trip?’

‘Fine,’ Laura replied. ‘You have a beautiful home, Diana.’

Diana Klenke smiled as she nodded. ‘My husband loved this house. It was his pride and joy. He died ten years ago. Killed in a car crash on his way home from the airport. As you might have guessed, he was a very wealthy man and now,’ she paused, laughing lightly, ‘I am a very wealthy widow.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be. We were never all that close. Besides, I have the older-man market cornered. They all want my money.’

‘I’m sure that’s not true.’

She shrugged. ‘No matter. What can I do for you, Laura? You mentioned on the phone something about Sinclair?’

‘Yes.’

‘I read about your husband’s tragic death. So damn sad. He was so young. Sometimes I think there must be a curse on the Baskin men.’

‘It seems so,’ Laura agreed.

‘So what can I help you with?’

Laura’s leg shook. It would do no good to try and stop it. The leg would only start up again. She leaned forward. Pain shot through the burns on her back as she reached into her purse. ‘Will you take a look at this photograph?’

Diana Klenke took out a pair of reading glasses. Somehow, they added to her looks, making her appear even more stately and beautiful. Sinclair Baskin’s former secretary took the photograph in her hand and studied it for nearly a minute without saying a word. ‘That’s Sinclair all right. The woman’s name is Judy…’

‘Judy Simmons?’ Laura offered.

‘Yes, that’s the name. I remember that one very well.’

‘That one?’

Diana nodded. ‘Sinclair Baskin was a full-fledged womanizer, Laura.’

‘He had affairs?’

She laughed. ‘Dozens. Blondes, brunettes, redheads – it made no difference as long as they were beautiful. He changed them in a blur. One day, this one. The next day, another. You see, Sinclair Baskin was a handsome, smooth-talking man. He fooled around with co-eds, with school colleagues, with married women. I remember when he slept with the department chairman’s wife.’ She stopped, smiled. ‘He even fooled around with his own secretary.’

Laura was not exactly sure how to continue. ‘You say there were dozens of other women?’

‘At least.’

‘Do you remember most of them?’

She shook her head. ‘Hardly any.’

‘But you said you remembered Judy Simmons.’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘Because she was something special. For one thing, she was not his type.’

‘Why not?’

‘Just look at her photograph. Don’t get me wrong. Judy was pretty. But Sinclair did not go after girls who were merely attractive. He wanted gorgeous. After all, he was looking for some extra-marital thrills. He already had a wife. Looks were all he cared about.’

‘I see.’

‘I mean, it would be normal for him to try to bed her once maybe, but not more than that.’

‘And that’s why you remember her?’

Diana Klenke shook her head. ‘That’s only part of it. The main reason I remember her so well is that she lasted. They were together for more than two months. It was the first time I had ever seen Sinclair care about a woman – myself included. He was as close to helplessly in love as a man like Sinclair Baskin becomes. He even considered divorcing his wife so that he could marry Judy. Thoughts of other women disappeared from his mind. It was all highly irregular for him.’

‘So what happened?’

‘Happened?’

‘What went wrong?’

Diana stood. She walked over to the window and drew back the curtain. The backyard was as magnificent as the house. There were statues, gardens and fountains. Laura could see a swimming pool, a tennis court and a gazebo. Diana stared out, inhaling deeply as if the sight alone would make the air fresher and better to breathe. ‘Sinclair broke it off.’

‘Just like that?’ Laura asked. ‘He was madly in love with her and he just let her go.’

Diana nodded, her eyes still looking out the window. Outside, a branch cast a thin shadow over her face. ‘One day it was love. The next… it was over.’

‘Was that normal? I mean, did Sinclair Baskin do that sort of thing a lot?’

‘Like I said before, Judy Simmons was an unusual case. I was surprised… at first.’

‘But why did he break it off? His family? His kids?’

She still did not face Laura. ‘Not because of his family and not because of his kids.’

‘Then what?’

A tight smile slowly came to Diana Klenke’s lips. ‘My husband loved this yard, Laura. When the weather was nice, he would come home from work early and just putter in the garden. Enjoying the fruits of his labors, he would say. He found gardening to be very therapeutic. Me, I hate gardening. But I do love the results, don’t you?’

Laura nodded. ‘It’s beautiful.’

‘I’m sorry. You were asking me about Sinclair and Judy.’

‘Yes,’ Laura said. ‘What ended their romance?’

Diana closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she slowly turned away from the window, her gray eyes locking on to Laura. ‘His weakness. His weakness destroyed his relationship with Judy.’

‘His weakness?’

‘Beauty, Laura. Beauty came back and blinded him again.’

‘You mean he found somebody else?’

Her smile chilled Laura. ‘Not just somebody else. Like I said before, Judy Simmons was attractive enough, but his last girl…’

‘Yes?’

‘She was incredible to look at, a woman sculpted by the gods. Her kind of beauty could twist a man’s mind, Laura. A man’s soul. And this woman did just that. Her beauty tore at Sinclair until the pain became unbearable. My God, she was gorgeous, nearly as gorgeous as – ’

Diana’s words stopped so suddenly that Laura jumped. The color ebbed away from her face.

‘What is it?’ Laura cried. ‘What’s the matter? Diana?’ The older woman’s whole body trembled, her eyes wide and out of focus. ‘Mother of God.’

‘What? What is it?’

‘… as gorgeous,’ Diana said slowly, ‘as gorgeous as you.’

Laura’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘The woman who stole him away… she looked just like you, Laura. You’re the spitting image of her.’

Laura’s face froze in confusion. A stray thought, an awful, unforgivable thought, stabbed at her chest with a pointed edge. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be. ‘She looked like me?’

Diana nodded.

Without thought Laura reached into her purse. Her mind and body were numb. She took out her wallet and thumbed through it. With trembling fingers she plucked out a photograph. ‘I know it’s been thirty years,’ she began in a voice that had no tone, ‘but could this be the woman?’

She passed the picture to Diana Klenke, who once again slipped her reading glasses onto her face. She stared at the picture for a very long time. ‘Yes, that’s the woman.’

‘How can you be sure? It’s been – ’

‘I’m sure,’ Diana interrupted. ‘You don’t forget a woman like that.’

Laura snatched the picture back, almost defensive now. She held the picture against her chest as if it were more than just an image on paper. After a few moments, her hand pulled the picture back, her gaze studying the woman in the photograph as if for the first time.