Hide & Seek - James Patterson [82]
“I hate to tell you,” I told her, “I don’t like the way you do your job.”
“Too tough for you, huh? Too edgy?”
I put my hand across the table on top of hers. She was single, available, but probably because of the extra twenty pounds she carried, a lot of men were overlooking her. Their mistake. Big mistake.
“What’s on your mind today, sweetie?” I asked her. There was always something with her.
“I want to try to talk you out of your martyr thing. I hate Mother Teresa anyway. Stop being a martyr, Maggie.”
“I am a martyr. That’s what I had to do to be loved in our family, when I was a kid. I can’t help myself.”
Norma flipped over my hand, and she clasped it hard. “I love you, Maggie. I’ve learned to, in a very short time for me. A lot of people love you. You’re unfuckingbelievably lovable.”
I snorted out a laugh—my darkest humor was bubbling up. “Yes, everybody loves me but my husbands.”
“Maybe you picked a couple of losers, so you could play martyr? Like you said, maybe you can’t help yourself, Maggie. Only you can, you can help yourself.”
I sighed deeply. I thought that I knew where Norma was going. I was tired of hearing it from Barry and Nathan, but suddenly hearing it from Norma, from another woman, it sounded a little different.
“I can’t though,” I finally said. “Nice try, but I just can’t do it. I can’t put Jennie up there.”
“You can,” Norma insisted, and suddenly she began to gush tears. She’d never done that before; never completely let down her guard. Then we were both sobbing, holding hands, and crying our eyes out like a couple of old ninnies.
“I talked to Jennie, Maggie. She says the two of you have to talk. She said to tell you this was a ‘continuation’ of Pound Ridge, and that you owed her.”
CHAPTER 99
FOR THE LAST time, Norma Breen went to Maggie’s house in Bedford Hills. She was convinced she’d missed something; that everybody had. What in God’s name was it though?
Mildred Leigh met her at the door and offered her a cup of coffee. Allie was playing in the living room, and Norma was grateful for the chance to talk. She hadn’t interviewed Mrs. Leigh at any length; maybe this time she could get some useful information.
“I know you’ve been over and over this, but tell me about the day of the murder,” Norma said. “Were you in the house?”
“Until about six-thirty, then I left. It was my night off.” She blushed. “And I had a date with Mr. Frazier. Didn’t come back till the next morning, and then only to find the police and the press and Maggie accused of something she would never do.”
She seems pleased with herself, Norma thought. Makes sense. Her fifteen minutes of fame. “Did anything unusual happen before you left?” she asked. “Anything you can think of might help Maggie. Say whatever comes into your head.”
“It was a day like any other. No, nothing was very different. Nothing I can remember. Just like I told the police.”
“The two of them didn’t argue? Nothing like that?”
“They barely saw each other. Mr. Shepherd was in town, in New York for most of the day. I didn’t hear any fighting.”
“Describe what they did. Anything that you think of, Mrs. Leigh.”
“Well, Maggie, she was in her study. Writing her songs, I guess. She would come out to talk with the children during her breaks. She and Allie love to play.”
“And Mr. Shepherd?”
“He got back from the city at some time. Don’t know when. Later that night, I saw him by the club. He was heading on back to the house.”
Norma was momentarily confused. “You were at the club, Mrs. Leigh? Why were you there?”
“J.C., he has a house there, on the grounds. Opposite side of the main building from the parking lot.”
“Do you know what Mr. Shepherd was doing there that night?”
“No, ma’am. Just saw him walk past J.C.’s.”
“What time was this?”
“Around ten, ten-thirty. Something like that.”
“You only saw him briefly?”
“Yes, ma’am. J.C. and I, we had better things to do than watch Mr. Will Shepherd.”
“I’m sure.”
What was Will doing by the club that night? It didn’t track with what Maggie