The In Death Collection Books 16-20 - J. D. Robb [244]
“Buy any souvenirs?”
“What are you getting at?”
“I guess you travel to Europe pretty regularly,” Eve said, changing tack. “For your business.”
“I do. For fashion shows, for events, to meet with my counterparts in our European offices. Just what does this have to do with Tom helping you in an investigation?”
“It’s part of my investigation.”
“I don’t—” She broke off when her pocket ’link rang. “Excuse me, that’s my private line. I need to get this.”
She shifted it to privacy mode, slid on a miniheadset, and angled away so Eve couldn’t see the ’link’s view screen.
“Julietta Gates. Yes.”
Her voice warmed, several degrees, and that just-a-little-too-thin mouth tipped up in a smile.
“Absolutely. I have it on my calendar. One o’clock. Mmm-hmm. Yes, I’m in a meeting.” There was a long silence as she listened, and Eve noted the faint flush that rose to her cheeks. “I’ll look forward to that. Yes, I will. Good-bye.”
She disconnected, slipped off the headset. “Sorry, afternoon meeting. Now—”
“Can you tell me where you were Sunday morning?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” She let out a huff of breath. “Sundays, I let Tom sleep in and take Jed to the park, or to some other activity. I’m trying to be cooperative, Lieutenant, since Mavis has asked me to, but I’m finding this very annoying.”
“Almost done. How about the night of September second, between midnight and three?”
Julietta snatched up her calendar again, keyed in. Again, Eve saw the slight change cross her face. “I had a meeting with an associate. I can’t tell you precisely when I got home as I didn’t make note of it, but I think it was after nine, maybe close to ten. I was tired, and went straight up to bed since Tom was working.”
“So he was home the entire night.”
“Why wouldn’t he be? He was working. I took a pill and went to bed. I told him I was going to, so he’d hardly have left the house because of Jed. Tom’s completely devoted, and somewhat overprotective of Jed. What is this?”
“That’s it for now. Thanks for the time.”
“I think I’m entitled to some sort of—”
“If you still want, we can talk about that article.” Mavis popped to her feet. “I just need a minute first.”
She scooted out of the office with Eve, then dropped her voice to a whisper. “So? Did she kill somebody or what?”
“Doubtful. The worst I figure she’s done is cheat on her husband with whoever called her on her private ’link.”
“She did? She is? How do you know?”
“Plenty of tells. Look, if you don’t want to deal with her, you can leave with me and Peabody. We’ll get you home.”
“No, it’s chilly. A spread in Outre’s like my fantasy. And it’ll give a boost to my disc sales. Won’t hurt Leonardo’s biz either. It cooks for all of us. We did good, right?”
“We did good.”
“Night or day, day or night. Hey, what do you think about Vignette or Vidal?”
“What are they?”
“My baby. Vignette for a girl, Vidal for a boy. They’re French. We’re experimenting with French names, and I ditched Fifi. I mean, who names a kid Fifi?”
Eve didn’t know who might name a kid Vignette either, but made a noncommittal mouth noise.
“Somebody will call her Viggy,” Peabody said. “Which rhymes with piggy, so she’ll be Piggy Viggy in school.”
Mavis looked horrified. “You think? Deep-six Vignette.” She gave her belly a comforting rub. “Plenty of time to come up with something else. Catch you later.” She swung back into Julietta’s office.
“Impressions, Peabody?” Eve asked as they rode down.
“She looks great, and she’ll come up with something better than Vignette or Vidal.”
“About Julietta Gates, you moron.”
“I know, I just wanted to annoy you. Sir,” she added when Eve looked at her. “Used to running the show, and likes it. Dresses for power even more than style. Ambitious. She’d have to be to have gotten where she is at her age. Strikes me as a little cold-blooded. There’s no zing when she talks about her kid. That was a good catch with the extramarital. Blew right by me. Then when you said it, and I played it