Lisa Gardner - Touch & Go

“The husband did it,” he declared now, leading her to a back room marked Experts Only. She took that to be a euphemism for Employees Only. “Trust me, honey. Justin will appear out of nowhere, sweet little Ashlyn will be found. But Libby will never be seen again. Don’t you read the papers? That’s always how these things work. Mango-pomegranate tea?”

“Um, no, thank you.”

“Wouldn’t hurt, you know. Rich in antioxidants for the investigator on the go.”

It seemed important to him, so she finally agreed. Maybe having been denied access to her under-tended hair, the man needed to at least provide vitamins and minerals.

“Did Libby love her husband?” Tessa asked, taking a seat at a black lacquer table while Farias fished out two bags from a beautifully decorated container.

“He wasn’t worth it,” James declared.

“How so?”

“Wasn’t even home most of the time. His job, his crew, his buildings. Puuullleeeze. Everyone was allowed to need him except Libby. She just had to maintain the perfect home, raise the perfect child and greet him each Friday night with a smile. I told her at the beginning she gave too much. And trust me, honey, men don’t appreciate what women give willingly. A thousand years of evolution later, it’s still about the chase.” James paused in the act of reaching for a row of mugs. “You know how many Libbys I see in a salon like this? Beautiful, talented women, each and every one. And they do everything their rich, self-centered hubbies ask of them, right up to the moment the rich, self-centered hubbies kick them to the curb in favor of the younger, fresher model. It’s like driving by an auto accident. No matter how many of them you see, you still think it’ll only happen to someone else.”

“Justin had a younger, fresher model?”

“Yep. Went on for months before Libby found out. She was blindsided by the discovery. Simply blindsided. File for divorce first, I advised her. Hire the power lawyer and go after him, big legal guns blazing. But no. They had a daughter, they had a marriage, they had a life. I’m telling you now, he didn’t stop seeing the bimbo just because his wife found out. I mean, maybe he told her he did, but a leopard never changes his spots.”

“Who was it?” Tessa asked, frowning.

James returned to the table with two mugs of fragrant tea. He set them down, then jabbed her in the forehead with his index finger. “Stop it. Didn’t your mother ever tell you your face will freeze like that? You don’t need to be developing any frown lines. Your face is stern enough as it is.”

“Well, I am an investigator.”

“That may gain you a suspect, honey, but it’ll never help you find your man.”

“So true. So did Libby know the bimbo?”

“Travel agent. His. Justin’s on the road all the time. Guess his firm uses a travel agency with offices in the same building to handle all their arrangements. Pretty soon, it became a full-service relationship.”

“Did Libby know the woman?”

“Please, girl is more like it.” James took a seat, leaning close. “Libby went in one afternoon. Wasn’t going to talk to her, wasn’t going to approach. Just wanted to size up the competition, you know. According to her, she walked through the doors of the agency, took one look and walked right back out. Said the girl couldn’t have been a day over twenty-one. Just some starry-eyed kid who no doubt hung on every word Justin ever said before catching up with her friends at a concert.”

“Name?”

“Kate. Christy. Katie. Something like that. Libby couldn’t take her seriously. If anything, she seemed to feel bad for her, just some young girl getting involved with a married man. In her mind, Justin had taken advantage.”

“Generous of her,” Tessa remarked.

“Oh, she’s that kind of woman. Not a catty bone in her body, which is more than I can say for most of the felines around here.”

“How long have you known Libby?”

“Oh, honey, I never give out that information. Next thing I know, you’ll guess my age.”

“Okay. A longtime client?”

“Certainly. Woman needed help in the beginning, too. She grew up in the projects. A regular Little Orphan Annie with a hard-knock life. I understand no one thinks of Back Bay as being the mean streets of Boston, but trust me, love, they’re tough in their own way.”

“Didn’t exactly fit in?”

“Her husband’s in construction. Wears work boots. Seriously?”

“Yeah, but a hundred-million-dollar company…”

“And once word got out, trust me, attitudes softened. Plus, Libby herself is a fabulous artist.”

“Jewelry?”

“Exactly. The ladies who lunch liked that. Maybe Libby’s upbringing wasn’t Back Bay, but her fine-arts education was a step in the right direction. Not to mention her home is gorgeous. Have you seen it? I’ve been over several times, and with the exception of that chandelier in the foyer, there isn’t a single thing I would change.”

“Did Libby like the ladies who lunch?” Tessa asked. “Have a circle of close friends?”

For the first time, Farias hesitated. He covered the pause by taking a sip of his tea. “Libby… Libby is a kind soul. I’ve never heard her say a bad word about anyone. She doesn’t hold to social circles the way some do—she would have these dinner parties from time to time that would include, say, myself and her neighbors, but also Justin’s construction crew.” James shivered. “Delicious bunch of men, positively divine, each and every one of them, even if they did make me fear for my life.”

“Libby got along? Liked everyone, was liked by everyone?”

“Libby is genuine.” James stopped, repeated the word, seemed pleased with the description. “Not much of that going around here these days. And up until a few months ago, I would’ve also said she was happy. Justin’s job didn’t bother her, his absence didn’t bother her. She loved her daughter, had her jewelry. She went out when Justin was away. I know she’d talk about going to the movies with some ladies, various lunch dates, but…” He paused again, hands wrapping around his mug. “Libby was a bit of an island. I don’t know any other way of saying it. Neighbors, organizations, the local pecking order, I never got the impression she cared about any of that or for any of them. Her world was Justin and Ashlyn. As long as they were happy, she was happy. And that worked for them.”

“Until Justin took up a side project. She must have been devastated.”

“Oh, Libby doesn’t do devastated. She does withdrawn. Last few times I saw her…” James sighed heavily. “Trust me, honey, there’s no haircut in the world that can compensate for a shattered heart. She claimed she and Justin were trying to work things out. She claimed she hadn’t given up. But let me tell you, that’s not what her hair and skin were saying about things. Woman was a wreck. And that’s no way to win your cheating husband back.”

“Rumor is, Friday night was date night.”

James merely sniffed. “Really, like going back in time is any way to move forward. A couple like that…you have trust issues, you have insecurity, you have a family business that routinely destroys any hope of true family time. What kind of dinner date can fix all that?”

“Well, when you put it that way,” Tessa murmured. Her tea had finally cooled to the point where she could take a sip. It was fruity; she liked it.

“What do you think?” Farias asked.

“I can already feel the antioxidants rushing in,” she assured him.

“Hmm, I’d recommend at least two to three cups a day. And no more frowning. Otherwise, in another year or two, it’s Botox for sure.”

“Good to know. So, tell me about Ashlyn.”