couple of other people. It was a few weeks before Sam and I called things off.”
“Did you and Ms. Jacobs ever see each other separately?”
“No.” His tone took on an edge. “I didn’t cheat on Sam, certainly not with one of her friends. And Andrea, as much as she enjoyed men, wouldn’t have poached. That’s insulting on every level.”
“I insult a lot of people, on every level, in my work. Murder doesn’t make for nice manners. Thanks for your cooperation, Mr. Dix.” Eve rose. “We’ll be in touch if there’s anything else.”
She started for the door, then turned. “By the way, have you read Ms. Gannon’s book?”
“Of course. She gave me an advance copy several weeks ago. And I bought one on the day of its release.”
“Any theories on the diamonds?”
“Fascinating stuff, isn’t it? I think Crew’s ex-wife skipped with them and made a really nice life for herself somewhere.”
“Could be. Thanks again.”
Eve waited until they were riding down to street level. “Impressions, Detective?”
“I just love when you call me that. He’s sharp, he’s smooth, and he wasn’t in a meeting. He had his assistant say so to flip us off, if possible.”
“Yeah. People just don’t like talking to cops. Why is that? He was prepared,” she added, as they stepped out and started across the lobby. “Had his night in question all laid out, didn’t even have to remind him of the date. Six days ago, and he doesn’t even have to think about it. Rattled it off like a student reciting a school report.”
“He still isn’t clear for the time of the murder.”
“Nope, which is probably why he wanted to flip us off awhile. Let’s hit the travel agency next.”
Eve supposed under most circumstances Work or Play would’ve been a cheerful place. The walls were covered with screens where impossibly pretty people romped in exotic locales that probably convinced potential travelers they’d look just as impossibly pretty frolicking half-naked on some tropical beach.
There were a half dozen agents at workstations rather than cubes, and each station was decorated with personal memorabilia: photos, little dolls or amusing paperweights, posters.
All of the agents were female, and the office smelled of girls. Sort of candy-coated sex, to Eve’s mind. They were all dressed in fashionable casualwear—or she assumed it was fashionable—even the woman who appeared to be pregnant enough to be carting around three healthy toddlers in her womb.
Just looking at her made Eve jittery.
Even worse were the six pairs of swollen, teary eyes, the occasional broken sob or sniffle.
The room pulsed with estrogen and emotion.
“It’s the most horrible thing. The most horrible.” The pregnant woman somehow levered herself up from her chair. She had her streaky brown hair pulled back, and her face was wide as the moon and the color of milk chocolate. She laid her hand on the shoulder of one of the other women as she began to cry.
“It might be easier if we go back to my office. This is actually Andrea’s station. I’ve been manning it this morning. I’m Cecily Newberry. I’m, well, the boss.”
She led the way to a tiny, tidy adjoining office and shut the door. “The girls are—well, we’re a mess. We’re just a mess. I honestly didn’t believe Nara when she called me this morning, crying and babbling about Andrea. Then I switched on the news channel and got the report. I’m sorry.” She braced a hand at the small of her back and lowered herself into a chair. “I have to sit. It feels like a maxibus is parked on my bladder.”
“When are you due, Ms. Newberry?” Peabody asked.
“Ten more days.” She patted her belly. “It’s my second. I don’t know what I was thinking, timing this baby so I’d carry it through the summer heat. I came in today—I’d intended to take the next several weeks off. But I came in because . . . I didn’t know what else I could do. Should do. Andrea worked here almost since I opened the place. She manages it with me, and was going to take over while I was on maternity.”
“She hasn’t been in to work for several days. Weren’t you concerned?”
“She was taking some leave now. She was actually due back today, when I’d planned to start mine. Oh God.” She rubbed at her face. “Usually she’d take advantage of our benefits and go somewhere, but she decided to house-sit for her friend and get her apartment painted, do some shopping, she said, hit a few of the spas