The Girl in the Green Raincoat_ A Novel - Laura Lippman [42]
“I thought you didn’t have a computer. That’s what you told me, when I asked for your e-mail.”
Whitney thought quickly. “There are computers at the library.”
“Then you do know.”
“I know what’s been in the newspaper. I haven’t heard your side of it.”
He sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it now. But next Saturday, there’s someplace I’d like to take you. Someplace almost . . . well, sacred to me. Would you do that for me, Whitney? Would you let me take you to this sacred place and explain myself?”
Of course she would.
Tess was happy to know that Whitney was spending so much time with Don Epstein, although it didn’t seem that she was learning very much. “Pin him down,” she reminded Whitney the next time they spoke on the phone. “Get him to talk about Carole, take you to the house. You’re looking for inconsistencies, remember, the sort of details that reveal a lie.”
“I have to say, he’s been remarkably consistent. He’s very melancholy, in a way.”
Tess snorted. “ ‘Melancholy’ is an interesting choice of word.”
“Well, if he’s a liar—”
“If?”
“He’s a remarkably good one.”
“Sociopaths usually are,” Tess said. She felt a prickle of worry. “On this next date, Whitney? The one where he’s taking you someplace special?”
“Sacred,” Whitney corrected.
“Whatever. Be . . . careful. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a handgun in your purse. I know you have rifles and shotguns, but you still have a handgun as well, right?”
“Tess, there’s no reason he would want to hurt me. I don’t know anything. If you’re right, he kills for financial gain, to trade in one model for the next, and the previous model is indisputably gone.”
“Or he kills because someone knows too much. I think that was the case with Carole. She found something, maybe his second wife’s engagement ring, which he claimed was stolen.”
“You know, that doesn’t prove he killed her—”
“Whitney, whose side are you on?”
“I’m just trying to keep you tethered to the facts.”
Tess wished she could see her old friend’s face, but she stopped by less and less these days, preferring to check in by telephone.
“Here are some facts, Whitney, in case you’ve forgotten. Three dead women. One missing, at best. Be careful.”
“Okay, okay.”
Tess’s computer beeped, announcing the arrival of an e-mail. She had once loathed e-mail, but now it was her lifeline. She even found herself IM’ing at times. This one was from her mother, who had attached a file. Tess didn’t even know her mother knew how to attach files.
Isn’t this the ring you asked me to research? she had written. I was trying to find out how common the design was, and my search terms yielded this item on eBay. Looks awfully similar to me.
Interesting indeed. Far more interesting to Tess was the seller’s location, listed as Glen Burnie, a mere few miles south of Cherry Hill. Could Epstein be that stupid? She clicked on Other items by this seller and found a pair of diamond earrings, a tennis bracelet, and several other items—bracelets, pins, necklaces. Except for the ring, it was what she considered mallish—expensive, but not distinctive. Diamond studs and a tennis bracelet had been listed among Annette Epstein’s missing effects. Did the other pieces belong to her as well? How to explain the ID bracelet with “DM” on it? Did it stand for Don and Mary? Or Danielle Massinger?
He gave Danielle a lot of jewelry, Mrs. Zimmerman had said. Gave it—and took it back after pushing her down the stairs? This could be what Carole Epstein had found, which was why she had to disappear. Annette’s jewelry proved only that Epstein was a liar and a fraud. Danielle’s jewelry proved he could never let go of anything.
Tess clicked Ask the seller a question, using her personal account, TEMonaghan@aol.com. She was interested in the ID bracelet, she wrote, but had been burned in other online auctions. Could the seller provide any details about its provenance?
Three days later Whitney couldn’t help remembering Tess’s warning as Don Epstein drove farther and farther into the country, racing the sunset. “We should have gotten an earlier start,