I'll Walk Alone - Mary Higgins Clark [69]
“You did not tell us that instead of meeting Mrs. Aldrich at her Beekman Place home where she waited for you for well over an hour, you were in her town house on East Sixty-ninth Street alone for all that time,” Jennifer Dean said, her tone accusing.
“I was there because she told me to meet her there. I was not surprised she was late. Nina Aldrich was chronically late for our appointments whether they were in the town house she was decorating or the apartment where she still lived.”
“The town house is minutes from the spot in Central Park from which Matthew disappeared, isn’t it, Ms. Moreland?” Billy Collins asked.
“I would guess it’s about a fifteen-minute walk. When I got the call from you, I ran all the way.”
“Ms. Moreland, Mrs. Aldrich is very sure that she told you to meet her on Beekman Place,” Detective Dean said.
“That’s not true. She told me to meet her at the town house,” Zan said heatedly.
“Ms. Moreland, we’re not trying to attack you,” Collins said, his voice soothing. “You say Mrs. Aldrich was chronically late for appointments.”
“Yes, she was.”
“Do you know if she has a cell phone?” Collins asked.
“She has a cell phone, of course she does,” Zan answered.
“Do you have the number of her cell phone?” As he spoke, Billy Collins took a sip of his own coffee and made a face. “Even worse than usual,” he commented amiably.
Zan realized she was still holding the cup in her hand and took another sip of it. What had Collins just asked her? Of course. He asked me if I had Nina Aldrich’s cell phone number. “Her number is in my phone,” she said.
“How long since you’ve spoken to Mrs. Aldrich?” Dean asked, her voice steely.
“Almost two years. She wrote me a note about Matthew and said she knew that it would be far too much responsibility for me to take on such a major project as decorating her large home, meaning, of course, she was afraid to take a chance on me concentrating on the job.”
“Who got the job of decorating her town house?” Collins asked.
“Bartley Longe.”
“Isn’t he the person you claim might be responsible for kidnapping Matthew?”
“He is the only person I know who thoroughly hates me and is jealous of me.”
“Where are we going with these questions?” Charley Shore asked as he applied slight pressure to Zan’s shoulder.
“We’re simply asking if Ms. Moreland was frequently in touch with Mrs. Aldrich at the time she was bidding for the job of decorating her town house.”
“Of course I was,” Zan broke in.
Again she felt the light pressure of Charley’s hand on her shoulder.
“Were you friendly with Mrs. Aldrich?” Dean asked.
“In a client-relationship kind of way, I guess you’d call it. She liked my vision for how I saw the town house should be decorated to best show off, or rather emphasize, some of the architectural features that exist in those wonderful late nineteenth-century homes.”
“How many rooms are in that town house?” Jennifer Dean asked.
I can’t imagine why they’re so interested in the layout of that place, Zan thought as she mentally retraced the rooms in the Aldrich home. “It’s very large,” she said. “Forty feet wide, which I assure you is unusual. There are five stories. The top floor is an enclosed roof garden. There are eleven rooms as well as the wine cellar, and a second kitchen and storage room in the basement.”
“I see. So you went there to meet Nina Aldrich. Were you surprised she didn’t show up?” Collins asked.
“Surprised? No, not really. She was always late. The one time she wasn’t and I was five minutes late, she let me know how important her time was and that she wasn’t in the habit of being kept waiting.”
“Didn’t the fact that the babysitter minding Matthew had a cold and didn’t feel well make you anxious enough to pick up your cell phone and call her?” Dean asked.
“No.” Zan felt as though she were in a morass where everything she said made her sound as though she were lying. “Nina Aldrich would have resented my reminding her that she was late.”
“How often did she keep you waiting