Deadly Little Secrets Page 0,16
interest. “Yes, of course. Here you are. Please, go right in. The bar is to your left about halfway down the gallery. It’s quite a crush in there,” he added, his impersonal smile back in place.
“Oooh, I’ve so been looking forward to this,” she gushed, turning toward the doors with an absent “thank you.” She had to suppress a smile at his soft sigh of relief as she turned her attention elsewhere.
Once inside the doors, she moved confidently through the crowd. She’d recognize Jen, of course, but her friend was quite petite and there was, as the gatekeeper had warned, a real crush. However, she’d seen photos online of Jack D’Onofrio. It was hard to miss a six-foot bald man with a goatee.
Thought was as good as deed, and she homed in on the tall form of the supposed millionaire standing near a pillar not far from the bar. Easing through the mass of people, Ana touched Jen on the arm.
“Hey, A—”
Ana hugged her friend to cut off the use of her real name.
“Hi sweetie!” Ana gushed. “How fun is this? Ohmygosh, I told that gorgeous man at the door my name, and he let me right in.” She rolled her eyes at Jen and saw her friend’s expression change. “And he said, ‘Here you are Ms. Shirley Bascom, go right in,’” Ana grinned at her ploy to remind Jen of the name she was using. “How about that?” She pushed the fashionable green glasses she was wearing back up on her nose. The action was always good for distracting anyone from remembering her face. The more you adjusted them, the more they focused on the glasses, the less they saw the features. Make the glasses a color and people only remembered the glasses.
“It’s fun, all right,” Jen agreed. “Glad you could make it. Let me introduce you to my date tonight, Shirley.” Jen managed to say the name without flinching. She easily introduced Ana to Jack, and using the effusive Shirley persona, Ana took his measure. He was solid rather than fat, a good weight for his height and interesting looking rather than handsome with his shaved head, goatee, and a shadowy scruff of beard where the goatee ended.
She decided D’Onofrio seemed very self-possessed for someone who used a dating service to meet a woman. To his credit, D’Onofrio had eyes only for Jen. He did offer his services however, for drinks. “It’s quite a crowd,” he murmured, his New York accent making the words sharp and distinct. “What can I get you from the bar, Shirley?”
When he’d maneuvered through the crowd to get her a glass of red wine and to refill Jen’s vodka tonic, Ana filled Jen in on what she was hoping to accomplish. “I want to meet Carrie McCray, if I can manage it. Other than that, I just want a look around at the facility; get a sense of the place.”
“You gonna tell me about this case later?” Jen asked, handing her empty glass to a passing waiter.
“Sure. It’s long cold. Probably won’t amount to much.” Ana shrugged.
Jen laughed. “Yeah, right. You closed that other one, didn’t you?”
Pleased she remembered, Ana was forced to admit she had.
Jen grinned at her. “See? You’ll do something with this one too. I know you. Why else would you be here incognito?”
“It’s just procedure,” Ana began when a look from Jen forestalled her.
“Here you are, ladies.” D’Onofrio was back with their drinks.
Ana accepted the wineglass and gave him an absent thanks. She kept one ear half tuned to Jack and Jen—and wasn’t that too cutesy for words?—as she scanned the crowd.
“So, Jack,” Ana said, pretending interest. “You have that accent. Are you from New York City?”
He laughed and said, “You might say that. My business is all over. Magazines in racks, that sort of thing. I grew up near the Big Apple though, and worked there for a long time. You don’t lose the accent.”
Or the bluntness, Ana thought, letting his talk of his business prowess in getting West Coast contracts flow right over her. She made interested noises periodically, just to keep him talking. I wonder if he buys art?
She spotted someone who could only be the artist, a flamboyant young man in yellow brocade. Hideous color for his swarthy skin tone, dark hair, and dark eyes. It made his sallow tones lean toward jaundice rather than jaunty.
Had she seen this guy before? Despite the Technicolor coat, he looked familiar.
Ana felt a spurt of adrenaline. Next to