Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [200]
“Ms. Endicott was having an affair?”
“Oh God, no, but I think she was tempted. As far as I know, it was just some heavy-duty flirting.”
“How do you know all this?”
Susan avoided Maggie’s eyes, pretending to watch outside the window.
“Rachel and I were friends.”
Maggie didn’t point out that Susan had suddenly switched to past tense. “How did she meet him?” she asked, instead.
“He’s been working in the area for the last week or so. On the phone lines. Something to do with new cable that’s going to be laid. I haven’t heard much about it. It seems like they’re constantly putting in something new and different in this area.”
“Why do think this man may have taken Rachel against her will?”
“It sounded like he was getting serious, trying to escalate their flirting. You know how guys like that can be. They really just want one thing. And for some reason they always seem to think us lonely, rich wives are more than ready to let them—” She stopped herself, realizing she may have revealed more than she intended. Immediately, she looked away, her face a bit flushed, and Maggie knew Susan Lyndell was no longer talking about her friend, but speaking from experience. “Well, let’s just say,” she continued, “that I have a hunch this guy wanted more from Rachel than she meant to give him.”
The image of the bedroom came to Maggie. Had Rachel Endicott invited a telephone repairman to her bedroom and then changed her mind?
“So you think she may have invited him in and that things got carried away?”
“Isn’t there something in the house that makes it look that way?”
Maggie hesitated. Were Susan Lyndell and Rachel Endicott really friends, or was Susan simply looking for some juicy gossip to share with the other neighbors?
Finally Maggie said, “Yes, there is something that makes it look like Rachel was taken from the house. That’s all I can tell you.”
Susan paled beneath the carefully applied makeup and leaned against the wall as though needing the support. This time, her response seemed genuine.
“I think you need to tell the police,” Maggie told her again.
“No,” she said quickly, and immediately her face grew scarlet. “I mean, I…I’m not even sure she met him. I wouldn’t want Rachel to get in trouble with Sid.”
“Then you need to at least tell them about the telephone repairman so they can question him. Have you seen him in the area?”
“Actually, I’ve never seen him. Just his van once—Northeastern Bell Telephone Company. I’d hate to have him lose his job because of my hunch.”
Maggie studied the woman who clutched and wrung the hem of her cardigan. Susan Lyndell didn’t care about some nameless repairman’s job.
“Then why are you telling me all this, Ms. Lyndell? What do you expect me to do?”
“I just thought…well…” She leaned against the wall again, and seemed flustered that she had no clue what she expected. Yet, she made a weak effort to continue. “You’re with the FBI. I thought maybe you could find out or do a check…you know, discreetly without…well, I guess I don’t know.”
Maggie let the silence hang between them as she examined the woman’s discomfort, her embarrassment.
“Rachel’s not the only one who’s flirted with a repairman, is she, Ms. Lyndell? Are you afraid of your husband finding out? Is that it?”
She didn’t need to answer. The anguished look in Susan Lyn-dell’s eyes told Maggie she was right. And she wondered if Ms. Lyndell would even call Detective Manx, though she promised to as she turned and left, hurrying away, her head pivoting with worried glances.
CHAPTER 14
Tess McGowan smiled at the wine steward who waited patiently. Daniel had rambled on into the cellular phone the whole time the tall young man had uncorked the bottle and poured the obligatory amount for the taste test. At first, when he noticed Daniel on the phone, he had offered the glass to Tess. She quickly shook her head. Without a word, she directed the steward to Daniel with her eyes, so as not to embarrass