Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [110]
“I'm having a new one put in today,” Emily said. “The technician should be here soon. I wanted both of you to meet my dog so that she won't bother you while you're working.”
The locksmith eyed Bess. “In the old days a barking dog was considered all the protection you needed. He reached down to rub her head. ”Hello, Bess. Hey, you don't scare me."
Emily went back into the kitchen and put the dishes she had used in the dishwasher and then, not wanting to be around the locksmith, whom she suspected of being a talker, went up to her bedroom and shut the door. While she changed into slacks and a sweater, she con?tinued to go back and forth in her mind about how deeply Billy Tryon might be involved, not only with Easton in the Aldrich case but also in the death of Jamie Evans.
Was it possible that Billy Tryon was Jamie's mystery boyfriend?
He definitely resembles the man Natalie described to the police art?ist. He's been divorced twice. The rumor is that both wives got sick of his affairs. Jamie Evans was a young actress. I understand from the scuttlebutt that his girlfriends are usually in some kind of show busi?ness. For heaven's sake, I just met one of them last week.
Billy was assigned to head the Raines murder investigation from the beginning. And then it came up that her roommate had been murdered many years before. He made sure that he was the one who would go to New York and go through that file.
If he did kill Jamie Evans, he must have been frantic when he saw that sketch. So he decided to replace it before he brought back the file.
The doorbell rang again. This time it was the alarm company team. After making the necessary introductions to Bess, Emily de?cided that there was no way that she was going to get any work done at home this afternoon. My bones are aching, she thought. Maybe I can get an appointment for a massage.
I'm just not sure what to do next. One thing I can do is try to find out if anyone knows if Billy ever used the nickname “Jess.”
And there is one other thing that I can follow up on, she thought. If Natalie Raines was really as frightened as Gregg Aldrich testified she appeared to be when he was looking through the window at the Cape house, could that be why she drove there at midnight after her final performance in Streetcar? Not just to get away from it all, but because she was escaping from somebody who terrified her?
There's only one person who might be able to help me find the answer to that question, Emily thought. Natalie's mother. I never re?ally asked her if she was surprised that Natalie had gone to the Cape so suddenly.
Her cell phone rang before she could try to reach Alice Mills. It was Jake Rosen. “Emily, we just got a call from Newark. Jimmy Eas?ton is dead.”
“Jimmy Easton dead! Jake, what happened to him?” Emily could hear Jimmy telling the judge only twenty-four hours ago that he was afraid to go back to prison because the other inmates hated a snitch.
“They're pretty sure he was poisoned. The autopsy will tell.” Jake paused, then said, “Emily, you know as well as I do that we're going to have a lot of problems over this. Some people will believe it was prison justice for cooperating. Others will think that someone took care of him because he wouldn't keep his mouth shut about the Al?drich case.”
“And they'll be right,” Emily said. “Plenty of defendants cooper?ate to get reduced sentences and they don't end up dead. Jake, I'd stake my life that Billy Tryon had something to do with this.”
“For God's sake, Emily, be careful. You can't go around making statements like that!” Jake's tone was both shocked and worried.
“All right,” Emily answered. “Consider it unsaid. But I'm allowed to think it. Jake, let me know whatever else you hear. I suppose that I should come into my office but I am not going to. I'll get a lot more done here. Bye.”
Emily broke the connection and then dialed 411. She knew that Alice's number