E Is for Evidence - Sue Grafton [16]
"Kinsey, you look great. I'm so glad you called. I or-dered us a bottle of Chardonnay. I hope that's okay."
"Fine," I said, smiling. "You look just the same."
"Big rump, you mean," she said with a laugh. "You're just as thin as you always were, only I half expected you to show up in jeans. I don't believe I ever saw you in a dress."
"I thought I'd act like I had some class," I said. "How are you? When I didn't find you listed in the phone book, I thought you'd probably gotten married or left town."
"Actually, I've been gone for ten years and just got back. What about you? I can't believe you're a private detective. I always figured you'd end up in jail. You were such a rebel back then."
I laughed. I was a misfit in high school and hung out with guys known as "low-wallers" because they loitered along a low wall at the far end of the school grounds. "You remember Donan, the boy with the gold tooth who sat right in front of you in homeroom? He's an Ob-Gyn in town. Got his teeth fixed and went to med school."
Ash groaned, laughing. "God, that's one way to get your hand up a girl's skirt. What about the little swarthy one who sat next to you? He was funny. I liked him."
"He's still around. Bald now and overweight. He runs a liquor store up on the Bluffs. Who was that girlfriend of yours who used to shoplift? Francesca something."
"Palmer. She's living with a fellow in Santa Fe who designs furniture. I saw her about a year ago when I was passing through. God, she's still a klepto. Are you mar-ried?"
"Was." I held up two fingers to indicate the number of husbands who had come and gone.
"Children?" she asked.
"Oh God, no. Not me. You have any?"
"Sometimes I wish I did." Ash was watching me with shining eyes and somehow I knew anything I said would be fine with her.
"When did we see each other last? It's been years, hasn't it?" I asked.
She nodded. "Bass's twenty-first birthday party at the country club. You were with the most beautiful boy I ever saw in my life."
"Daniel," I said. "He was husband number two."
"What about number one? What was he like?"
"I better drink some first."
The waiter appeared with the wine, presenting the label for her inspection before he opened it. She waved aside the ritual of the sniffing of the cork and let him go ahead and pour for both of us. I noticed that the waiter was smiling to himself, probably charmed as most people are by Ash's breezy manner and her impatience with formal-ity. He was tall and slim, maybe twenty-six years old, and he told us about the specials as if we might want to take notes. "The sea bass is being served today with a green chili beurre blanc, gently poached first with fresh toma-toes, cilantro, lemon, and white wine, garnished with jalapenos and accompanied by a pine-nut rice pilaf. We're also offering a fillet of coho salmon ..." Ash made little mewing sounds, interrupting now and then for clarifica-tion of some culinary subtlety.
I let her order for us. She knew all the waiters by name and ended up in a long chat with ours about what we should eat. She settled on steamed clams in a broth with Pernod, a salad of field greens lightly dressed, and said we'd think about dessert if we were good girls and cleaned our plates.
While we ate, I told her about my connection to Wood/Warren and the irregularities that had come to light.
"Oh, Kinsey. I feel awful. I hope Lance isn't responsi-ble for the trouble you're in."
"Believe me, I do, too. What's the story on him? Is he the type to burn down the family warehouse?"
Ash didn't leap to his defense as I'd expected her to. "If he did, I don't think he'd snitch on himself," she said.
"Good point. Who'd go after him like that?"
"I don't know. That whole situation got very screwed up once Daddy died. He was crazy about the boys, but Bass