Valerie Wolzien - Death In Duplicate

But Brett took her suggestion seriously. “People have been killed for less than that. The loss of a job can change a person’s life. And not for the better.”

“But I don’t know anyone who was actually fired.”

“It’s still something to keep in mind. Tell me more about her. If she’s been sitting in your house daily for the past few months talking, you must have learned a lot.”

“Besides that she liked to listen to herself.”

“Besides that she liked to listen to herself,” he agreed. “How about some background. Where she grew up. Does she have any family living nearby? What sort of shape was her marriage in?”

“Actually she grew up in Connecticut, up near Hartford. She was an only child. You know, I always wondered if that’s why she expected so much attention. It can be lonely being an only child. Anyway, she seemed to have a fairly normal childhood. She complained that her mother was a feminist and didn’t allow her to get involved in activities she considered sexist-like the Girl Scouts-which is not at all a sexist organization as far as I’m concerned…” Susan realized she was about to go off on a tangent and returned to the topic. “She was encouraged to play sports on the boys’ teams. But other than that, it sounded like she lived a traditional suburban life. I don’t remember her mentioning her father too much. He was an expert in bridge engineering and was away from home a lot.

“I do know she met Donald in college. She went to Trinity and I think he went to Fairfield. They met her junior year and got married right after graduation.”

“What was her major? What sort of work did she do?”

“Interestingly enough, while she listened to her mother and prepared for a career-she had a degree in marketing-she never worked. She always claimed that Donald wanted a traditional stay-at-home wife and so that’s what she did.”

“So she didn’t listen to her mother after all.”

“I guess not. As far as I know, she’s never worked. In fact I always thought that was a bit odd. I mean, she doesn’t have any children and not a whole lot of interest in domestic things. She hated to cook although she has a wonderful kitchen. Her house is immaculate, but she has a cleaning woman who comes twice a week so I don’t suppose she spends any time on her hands and knees scrubbing the floors.”

“What does she do with her time? Does she have any hobbies?”

“Not unless you consider shopping and taking care of yourself a hobby.”

“What sort of care?”

“Oh, you know. Working out. Getting your hair done. Manicures, pedicures.”

“The usual.”

“And the not so usual as well. She went to a specialist in some sort of stone massage, and an Alexander Technique teacher, a Rolfer, two or three herbalists, a practitioner of Chinese medicine…”

“Any reason why she took such good care of herself?”

“Nothing else to do?” Susan realized she was being seriously bitchy. “I shouldn’t say that. She had a cancer scare a few years ago-irregular cells in a Pap smear-and she always said it changed her life. It probably did. I’ve been lucky enough to have good health. I don’t know how I would react to something like that.”

“After the initial shock was over, you would be mature and sensible, just like you always are.”

“I hope so,” she said, less assured than he was on this subject. “Anyway, Nadine put an enormous amount of time and effort into taking care of herself.”

“And money. I assume these services aren’t cheap.”

“No, but they have a lot of money.”

“How do you know that?”

“Well, Donald has sold a lot of houses around here in the past few years. And there aren’t many that would sell for under a million and most go for a lot more than that. I don’t know exactly what percentage of the sale goes into his pocket, but more than enough for Nadine to indulge, I’d imagine.”

“Six percent.”

“What?”

“The agent’s fee-it can run as high as six percent of the sale price. Erika thinks we need more room now that the baby’s here so we’ve just begun looking at houses in the area-not that a policeman’s income buys much around here.” He frowned. “So you said Donald works for his mother.”

“Well, he’s certainly connected to her agency. If you’re in the market for a house, you would have heard of Blaine Baines.”

“If you’ve picked up any newspaper in southern Connecticut or the Real Estate section of the Sunday New York Times, you’ve heard of Blaine Baines Executive Homes and Estates. The ads are everywhere. And they all have her photograph prominently displayed. Is she old enough to have grown children?”

“I think she’s using a photograph that was taken more than a few years ago,” Susan explained. “Although she looks pretty good for a woman in her early sixties. But I did hear that one of her husbands was a plastic surgeon.”

“Just how many husbands has she had?”

“I think five-or maybe six. I do know that Donald’s father was her first and Travis Dean-you know him; he works down at the Field Club-was her last.”

“The only Travis I know at the club is the bartender.”

“That’s him.”

“He couldn’t be more than twenty-five.”

“I think closer to thirty, but yes, he’s a lot younger than she is. Anyway, they’re divorced.” Susan wasn’t sure what she thought about any of this. On one hand, it seemed very liberal and up-to-date for a woman to be involved with a younger man. On the other hand, she had a twenty-one-year-old son and she sure hoped he would fall in love with someone his own age. The last thing in the world she wanted was a daughter-in-law as old as she was!

“You said they moved to town recently. Did Donald just start working for his mother?”

“No, he ran her office over in New Canaan for years and years. I got the impression that he moved here to help out his mother…” She hesitated.

“But you’re not so sure.”

“Not really. I’m not sure where I heard it or how I got the impression, but for some reason I think Donald’s mother wasn’t too thrilled with the situation. But she owned the firm so she could certainly have him work wherever she wanted.”

“Interesting. How did Nadine get along with her high-powered mother-in-law?”

“I think just fine. I know Blaine liked her. She was always saying that the best thing Donald ever did was marry Nadine. And if Nadine didn’t reciprocate those feelings, she was smart enough to shut up about it.”

Brett nodded. “It’s important for relatives to get along.”

While Susan agreed with him, that wasn’t exactly what she had been saying.

“If there’s nothing else important, I’d better get back to the crime scene,” Brett said, standing up.

“No, there’s nothing else that I can think of,” Susan lied.

THERE WAS A DINER ON A SIDE STREET IN HANCOCK THAT few residents patronized. Frequented by workmen, contractors, landscapers, and groups of disenfranchised high school students, the booths were nearly as greasy as the food, but that didn’t matter as much to the clientele as the fact that they were unlikely to run into their employers-or their parents.

A young man slouched in the rear booth, looking much the worse for wear. His silky blond roots betrayed an inept dye job on hair that drooped into his eyes. The way he fell on the food his waitress brought was a sign of recent hard times.

It was a slow night and the waitress propped one hip against his table, ready to chat. “I don’t think I recognize you. You a student at the high school?” she asked amiably.

“No.”

“Do you work here in town?”

“No.”