Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [story read aloud .txt] 📗

she kept on the guy who gave her the apartment, there was some other attorney I think who seems to have been pretty sweet on her, and there was me.”

“So where was it going? What kind of future did a relationship like that have?”

He laughed and his eyebrows both rose in a high arch. “Well, obviously none, because here we are.”

I said, “But what did you want from it, Mr. Shaw?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

“I’d like to hear it from you. Stop fencing with me.”

“Fine! I had hoped for a wife. She suited me. She looked great, she had good taste and good manners, you could take her anywhere, people liked her. It would have suited both of us down to the ground.”

I frowned, feeling suddenly curious. “But…?”

“But she had suddenly got hormones or something, because out of the blue she became all doe-eyed and romantic and went and fell in love with one of her Johns. Suddenly she was hopelessly in love and wanting to get married to him, not me.”

I said, “To whom?” Dehan turned and frowned at me. She was thinking we knew who, Stephen.

Then her eyes opened wide as Grant said, “The guy, what was his name, who gave her the apartment. Jack, Jack Connors.”

SIX

I held up a hand to stop him.

“Hang on a minute, Mr. Shaw. Let me just get this clear. Are you telling us that Penelope Peach told you that she was in love with Jack Connors and intended to marry him?”

The small frown told me he was surprised by the question. “Yuh, in retrospect it’s not that surprising, really. He was the one who was willing to provide her with a luxury apartment on Riverside Drive, so I guess he got the prize.” A small shrug, more from the eyebrows than his shoulders. “I was willing to give her a monthly allowance, but for real estate I expected something more.”

I thought about it for a moment. “Did you ever meet him?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I’m not a jealous man, but I have my pride and I don’t care to socialize with the man who is fucking my girlfriend.”

Dehan asked him: “How did you two break up?”

He looked up at the ceiling, slightly to his left. After a moment he said, “We went out to dinner. I can’t remember where. I told her I wanted her to marry me. We’d discussed it a few times, but it had always been left in the air. Typical of a woman, she had a way of not saying no and not saying yes. It’s like, the door is open but you can’t come in—yet! So I had decided to press her.”

“What happened?”

“She told me she was pretty serious about this Connors character. I forget what he did, might have been financial services…” He shook his head. “Something in the services industry, anyhow. She said she was falling in love with him and they planned to get married.”

Dehan had a face like she’d just got five out of two-plus-two and didn’t know how. She shook her head. “Wait, you are sure this is Jack Connors we’re talking about, not some other guy, an attorney maybe?”

“Of course I’m sure. Aside from the fact that I have an excellent memory, it’s not the kind of thing you forget.”

I scratched my chin and asked him, “So, what happened after she told you that?”

He laughed. “We got drunk and had wild break up sex in her apartment, in the bed bought for her by Mr. Connors. Lucky old Jack. That was typical Penny.”

“You didn’t row?”

He sighed noisily. “No, we didn’t row, and I think, unless you’re willing to tell me what this is all about, we are pretty much done.”

I stared at him for a long moment, thinking it through. “You really don’t know who Jack Connors was?”

He frowned. “Did I not make myself clear just now?”

I nodded. “You made yourself clear. Jack Connors was murdered the day after you broke up with Penelope Peach.”

There was absolutely no change in his expression. He just nodded once and said, “You have to leave now. Any future communication will be through my attorneys. My secretary will give you their details.”

I stood. Dehan leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. “Did you have Penelope followed?”

“Get out now or I will have you ejected. Out. Now.”

I gave him an empty smile. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Shaw.”

We left.

Out on the sidewalk, Dehan turned and squinted at me in the late morning sun. She fingered some strands of hair from her face and said, “What the hell was that about?”

I nodded as though I was agreeing with something she’d said and moved toward the car, turning the key over in my fingers. She followed after me. “Our prime suspect didn’t even know who Jack was. He freaked out when he discovered he’d been murdered.”

I unlocked the door and stood a moment, arranging all the people in my mind. She moved around the car and opened the passenger door. “Do you realize what this means, Stone?”

I frowned at her. “That he is even subtler than you thought?”

She stood motionless for a moment, then climbed in the car. I got in behind the wheel and closed the door.

She stared, first at the road ahead, then at me. “We’ll explore that possibility in a minute. Right now, it looks to me as though he had no idea who Jack was or that he was even dead, let alone murdered.”

I grunted and turned the key in the ignition. The engine growled and I pulled out into the traffic, making for East 22nd and the FDR. “So what does it mean?”

“It means the subtle manipulator here is Penelope. It’s what you said