Safe In His Arms. Kay David
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But he was fascinated by it. And that’s why he didn’t hear Anise when she walked into the room.
CHAPTER FOUR
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Bishop turned as Anise spoke. She didn’t appreciate his presence in her studio and she wasn’t bothering to hide it.
“What are you doing in here?” she repeated.
“My job,” he said.
“Snooping in here won’t help you find Kenneth’s killer.”
“You never know,” he answered. “Sometimes things you think aren’t important turn out to be significant in a case like this. I have to get all the information then decide.”
His words didn’t seem to mollify her but he continued before she could say more. “Tell me about this.” He waved a hand toward the box. “What does it represent?”
“I don’t talk about my work.” Her words came out stiff. As if realizing how harsh she’d sounded, she tried again. “You know artists…they’re funny about stuff like that.”
“Actually I don’t know any artists,” he said. “So enlighten me.”
“It’s like a jinx, I guess. If I tell you what it’s all about, then it won’t come out right.” She took a piece of black silk from the table and draped it over the box, a phone starting to ring as she did so. She stepped to the desk in one corner of the room and answered.
The person on the other end of the line was angry. Bishop could hear the agitated voice from where he stood. When the caller paused, Anise spoke into the silence.
“I’m sorry, Sarah. I know I promised.”
The art dealer continued her harangue and Bishop began to understand. Anise hadn’t called her friend back. He wasn’t surprised by her reaction. Sarah Levy had grated on his nerves the night before but he also appreciated the fact that she wanted to protect her friend. He didn’t run across that too much anymore. People never seemed to put anyone else first.
“Yes, it was wrong…” More talk. “I’m sure you were worried, yes…” Anise let the other woman continue then finally, she raised her hand. “Look, Sarah, I’m sorry I upset you, okay? It was thoughtless and I won’t do it again, but I was tired and I thought you’d understand.”
The voice on the other end dropped and became conciliatory and Anise responded in kind. “No, no, it’s okay. But I can’t talk right now. I’ve got to go to Kenneth’s office with the investigator. He needs to examine the files and talk to Robin. I’ll call you later, okay?” A pause. “I will phone, I promise. I’m writing myself a note right now, okay? Good…bye-bye.”
She hung up the phone and turned, a sheepish expression on her face. “I didn’t call my friend last night.”
“Seems like she didn’t cut you any slack, either.”
“Sarah doesn’t know how to do that for anyone, including herself.” She smiled, then the expression slipped away. “I was just so out of it… All I wanted to do was work….”
“I’m sure she understood once you explained. I would.”
Her eyes met his and she lifted an eyebrow as if to ask why.
“Let’s just say, I have some experience in that area myself. Sometimes it’s easier to concentrate on work than to deal with the hard stuff.”
“The hard stuff being?”
He answered truthfully. It was the only way he knew how. “The hard stuff being life,” he said. “Nothing about it is easy. Not as far as I can see.”
TEN MINUTES LATER they were in Bishop’s car, heading for Kenneth’s office. The freeway was a mess as usual, the ever-present construction a daily occurrence for Houston drivers. They merged on I10 at a crawl then slowed down even further, all the lanes that ran downtown at a virtual standstill.
Anise turned to the cop sitting beside her. Finding him in her studio then getting Sarah’s call had flustered her but she didn’t want him to know that. She wasn’t sure why. Generally speaking, she didn’t care what people thought about her yet for some reason she wanted to impress him.
“Tell me what you learned,” she asked in an attempt to regain her bearings. “You said you’d found something?”
He glanced over his shoulder and bullied his way into another lane. “One of the kids who works the valet stand at the restaurant saw a guy running down a side street right after the shooting. He couldn’t see much beyond that, though. The runner had on a sweatshirt with a hood and it was pulled up to hide his face. We’re following up on that. If he saw him, then someone else probably saw him, too.”
She caught her breath. “Do you think it was the person who shot Kenneth?”
“I have no way of knowing.” His hands went tight on the steering wheel. “But I’m damn sure gonna try and find him so I can ask him that question myself.”
She nodded and looked out the window, her stomach in knots.
“Something else came up when I went back to the scene.”
She turned to stare at the detective’s profile again. The car they were in was a big one but he seemed to fill up more than his share of the front seat. “What?”
Instead of answering her question, he asked her another one. “Did your husband have a girlfriend?”
“Not that I knew about,” she said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised.”
He cut in front of a delivery truck and gained them an extra five feet before shooting her a glance. “Why is that?”
“Kenneth was a nice-looking man. He wouldn’t have been lonely for long.”
“The idea doesn’t disturb you? I mean, your divorce wasn’t final, was it? Some women might not like that.”
“At this point in the game, I hardly think it matters.”
“Not even to your ego?”
“I don’t have an ego. I’m not famous enough.”
“I’m not famous, period, but I wouldn’t appreciate my wife hooking up with someone else.”
She hesitated. She’d had her suspicions but she’d never confronted Kenneth so she wasn’t sure. Finally she answered. “If he’d had someone when we still cared for each other, that would have bothered me, I suppose. But he’d moved out and I’d moved on.”
“Do you have someone new?”
The question was so ludicrous, Anise almost laughed. At the last minute she managed to catch herself. “I’m too involved with my work. I don’t have time for anyone else and even if I did, I wouldn’t be interested.”
“Why?”
“I’m happy being alone. I should never have married Kenneth in the first place. It was a big mistake for me and an even bigger one for him.”
ROBIN ESTES WAS WAITING for them when they reached the office. She was one of those small, mousy women no one ever really saw. Medium height, medium build, medium everything. The only distinguishing thing about her was her nervousness and even that seemed ordinary. Cops tended to make people feel that way.
She jumped up from her desk and rushed to Anise as they walked inside. “Oh, Anise, I can’t believe what happened! I was so shocked last night.”
Anise let the woman run on, her platitudes the usual ones. When she paused to take a breath, Anise introduced her to Bishop. “We’re here so Investigator Bishop can look at the files, Robin. He needs to see what Kenneth was working on.”
He shook her hand and tried not to intimidate her but apparently