LITMIR.BIZ

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      “You do have spy stuff,” I hissed.

      “Sophie, this is not the place. We’ll talk about it when we’re alone.”

      “Oh, please, no one’s listening. You just don’t want to admit I was right.”

      “You were right. Now shut up.”

      I wasn’t quite as offended by the command now that I knew I was right. I simply spent the rest of the time smiling smugly at him while he ignored me. Finally, Leah emerged from the car and came over to us.

      “Please get me out of here.”

      My smugness was instantly squashed. Hopefully the fact that I kept forgetting about Leah’s plight was due to shock and denial and not extensive egocentrism. I ushered Leah to my car, where Anatoly once again assumed the role of driver. Leah refused my offer of the front passenger seat and tried to open the back door for herself. Unfortunately her hand was shaking so badly that she found even this task too difficult. I opened it and buckled her seat belt for her before crawling into the seat next to Anatoly.

      The first five minutes of the drive were silent. It occurred to me that it would have been better if this had happened back when Leah was under the illusion that her marriage was successful. That way her final memories of Bob likely would have been positive. As it stood now, she had been robbed not only of her husband but also of the right to be angry with him. Unless of course it had been that anger that had led to his death. I shook my head vigorously and Anatoly gave me a questioning glance that I didn’t bother responding to. I wasn’t going to allow myself those thoughts. Leah was a lot of things—neurotic, insecure, judgmental—but she also had a good heart. She was simply not capable of murder.

      “Jack! Oh my God, I forgot about Jack!”

      I quickly turned toward Leah. “Forgot him? Forgot him where?” Images of Jack suffocating in the back seat of her Volvo flashed in front of my eyes.

      “I dropped him off with Miranda for a playdate this afternoon. Oh Lord, what am I going to say to him?”

      I doubted it was necessary to explain a father’s death to an eighteen-month-old child, particularly if the victim was a man that had a stronger relationship with his laptop than his son. “Why don’t you call Miranda and see if Jack can sleep over?”

      “I couldn’t. It’s asking too much.”

      “She’ll understand.”

      “Sophie…”

      “Phone.” I stuck my hand between the seats and Leah reluctantly pressed her cell phone into my palm. I looked up Miranda’s number in the memory and pressed Call.

      “Allen residence.” The woman on the other end of the line spoke with a Mexican accent and sounded extremely harried.

      “Hi, this is Sophie Katz, Jack’s aunt….”

      “Oh, thank goodness! You’re coming to get Master Jack.”

      Master Jack? Who instructed their ethnic nanny to call their charge’s playmates “Master”? “Well, actually I’m not. You know I think I should explain this to Mrs. Allen.”

      “But you are picking him up?” The desperation in the woman’s voice was palpable.

      “I really need to talk to Mrs. Allen.”

      “Of course.” Was she crying? “I’ll get her.”

      My heartbeat quickened as I waited for Miranda to pick up the line. What had Jack done now? Polluted the family’s drinking water with Epsom salts? What if they didn’t let him stay? I empathized with the nanny, but this felt like a her-or-me kind of situation, and I’d be damned if I was up for dealing with a Junior Moriarty.

      “Hello? Sophie? It’s Miranda. Is Leah all right?”

      “Hi, Miranda. Leah’s…” I looked behind me to see Leah methodically rotating her wedding band around her finger. “Leah’s had a rough night.”

      “Yes, she told me about the affair….”

      “It’s more than that,” I began. “There’s been a…an unexpected death in the family.”

      “I am so sorry to hear that, Sophie. Was it your mother?”

      “Mama? Oh, no! Nothing that bad, it was just Bob.” As soon as the words came out I realized how bad they sounded and how horrible I was for saying them. Fortunately my rabbi had informed me there wasn’t a hell to go to. I just had to learn to live with guilt.

      “Bob? What happened to Bob?”

      There was absolutely no delicate way of putting this. “He was shot.” I thought I saw the corners of Anatoly’s mouth twitch in amusement.

      “I don’t understand.”

      “I know it’s shocking. We have no idea who did it—a burglar maybe. Leah’s an absolute wreck. Would it be all right if Jack spent the night with you?”

      “Of course, of course.” Miranda sounded a little dazed. “Consuello will make sure he’s comfortable.”

      Sorry, Consuello, you lose. “Great, Leah will pick him up tomorrow, before nine.”

      “No rush, you can pick him up as late as eleven-thirty if you like. Just…give Leah hugs and kisses from us.”

      “Will do. I’ll have Leah call before she comes over.” I hung up just as Anatoly was pulling into a parking spot five blocks away from my home.

      He tossed the keys onto my lap and made eye contact with Leah through the rearview mirror. “Leah, I’m going to have to ask you a few questions.”

      “No more questions. I can’t take it.”

      Anatoly sighed. We both got out of the car and Anatoly opened the door for Leah. “I know how hard it is to lose someone you care for,” he said, “but if you’re going to get through this, we’re going to have to put the pieces together so we can figure out what happened tonight.”

      “The police are already doing that.”

      “Yeah, but unlike the police, Anatoly works for us, not the state,” I said. “He’ll be more sensitive in his approach to this and he’ll conduct his investigation in a way that will best ensure your protection.”

      “My protection? Do you think whoever did this is planning on shooting me?”

      No, I thought that the police had plans to arrest her for being the “whoever” who did this. “I think you should answer Anatoly’s questions.”

      Leah shifted her weight from foot to foot. She is an inch taller than me, but right then she seemed much smaller.

      Anatoly put a gentle guiding hand on her shoulder. “Let’s walk.”

      Leah nodded and fell into step with him as I trailed behind.

      “When was the last time you saw Bob?”

      God, Anatoly’s tone sounded so comforting that even I felt myself lulled into a sense of tranquility.

      “This morning when he…told me.”

      Anatoly nodded and slowed his pace. “Sophie tells me you went to see Bob’s secretary after you left her place a little after five.”

      “Erika wasn’t home.”

      Anatoly’s pace didn’t change but his shoulders seemed to get a little more rigid. “What did you do then?”

      “I parked my car in front of her house and waited for about a half hour. Then I just drove. Erika lives in Daly City, so I got back on Highway 1 and drove down the coast for a while. Then I came back up to the city and drove around the Presidio. I just drove.”

      “So you have no—you were alone.” His voice remained steady.

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