The pilots made a perfect landing, right on time. She made a mental note to report that to Foster.

After a short taxi to the gate, a flight attendant got on the PA and asked the other passengers to remain seated. Laura felt self-conscious as she was ushered up the aisle. She smiled an apology to passengers with whom she made eye contact.

When she reached the cockpit door, the captain was standing there. He doffed the bill of his hat. “Mrs. Speakman.”

“Flawless flight, Captain Morris,” she said, reading his name tag with peripheral vision, a knack she’d developed over the years.

“Thank you.”

But his expression was grave, and because he didn’t engage her in conversation, she felt a prickle of apprehension. “Is something the matter?”

“Please.” He gestured toward the open aircraft door. She stepped into the Jetway and was surprised that the pilot accompanied her. Even more surprising, he placed his hand beneath her elbow. Before she could react to that, she noticed two men coming toward them.

They were wearing the dress uniforms of senior police officers. Upon seeing her, they respectfully removed their hats.

Her footsteps faltered. The pilot’s hand tightened around her elbow.

“What’s happened?” The words came out drily, scratchily, barely audible. Then she cried out, “What’s happened?”

The homicide detective stared down at the corpse and blew out a gust of air. “Jesus Christ.”

His partner, a man of few words, grunted assent.

A member of the Crime Scene Response team, who for the past hour had been collecting evidence, agreed with a sad shake of his head. “Bad, huh? Bad as I’ve ever seen. Maybe not as gruesome as some murders, but…well, only a real cold-blooded bastard could do this.”

“Or a real hot-blooded one,” the first detective remarked.

“Crime of passion, you think?”

“Maybe. Whatever, the son of a bitch deserves to get the needle.”

His partner harrumphed again.

“Excuse me, Detectives?” A uniformed officer appeared in the open double doors of the library. “You said to let you know as soon as Mrs. Speakman got here. They’re taking her into the living room now. That way.” He motioned in the general direction.

When the pair of investigators entered the room, Laura Speakman was standing between two police chaplains. One gave them a surreptitious nod, letting them know that she’d been told, but that was obvious. She was as pale as the dead body.

The taciturn detective took up a position against the wall. The other advanced into the room. “Mrs. Speakman?”

“My husband’s dead? There’s no mistake?”

“No mistake. I’m sorry.”

Her knees buckled. The chaplains guided her down onto a sofa. One sat near her, placing his arm protectively along the back of the seat. The other asked a uniformed officer to get her a glass of water.

As the detective approached, he withdrew his card from the breast pocket of his jacket and extended it to her. “Stanley Rodarte, ma’am. Homicide detective, Dallas PD.”

CHAPTER 22

LAURA, HE’S HERE.”

Kay Stafford had appeared in the doorway of Laura’s bedroom, where she was reclined on a chaise. The draperies were drawn. The room was cool and dim. Her assistant spoke quietly and slowly, the way everyone was addressing her today, as though fearing a sudden noise might cause her to shatter like crystal. They could have been right.

“I put him in the den,” Kay said. “Take your time coming down. He said he would wait.”

Laura sat up and slipped her feet into her shoes. “I might just as well talk to him now, although I don’t know what I can tell him today that I couldn’t tell him last night.”

Detective Rodarte had stayed until almost midnight. He’d spent some of that time questioning her. The rest of the time he, his silent partner, and other police personnel had moved in and out of the library, doing whatever it was they did at the scene of an apparent murder.

They consulted in hushed voices, casting looks in her direction, occasionally asking her for information. She was asked by a solicitous policewoman if there was someone she should call. “Someone to stay with you tonight.”

Neither she nor Foster had family. Since the accident, they hadn’t kept close contact with friends. “My assistant,” she replied.

She’d given the policewoman Kay’s home number. Kay had arrived within a half hour, sharing Laura’s shock but somehow managing to perform the simple tasks that Laura seemed incapable of doing. She gave directions, supplied answers to practical questions, and dealt with the telephone, which had begun to ring with irritating frequency.

Kay had a notepad in her hand as they walked downstairs together. “I hate to bother you with all this now, Laura.”

“Go ahead. I don’t have the luxury of collapsing. That will come later, when…when everything’s settled. What do you need?”

A proviso of Foster’s will, which he’d altered when they married, was that, in the event of his death, Laura would serve as head of SunSouth until the board could elect another. She’d been granted power of attorney to make decisions and conduct business. So, in addition to becoming a widow last night, she’d stepped into the role of CEO.

Kay said, “The media are camped outside the entrance of our building, awaiting a statement.”

“Ask Joe to write something generic. ‘Everyone at SunSouth is stunned by this tragic event, et cetera.’ But ask him not to release it before faxing it here for my approval.” She trusted her marketing head to write an appropriate press release, but it was her practice, as well as Foster’s, to sign off on everything. “Tell him not to conduct a formal press conference or respond to any questions about the…the crime. We’ll leave that to the police.”

Kay checked that item off her list. “Operations has asked if they should coordinate a minute of silence in memory of Foster. Anything like that?”

Laura smiled wanly and shook her head. “Foster wouldn’t allow the schedule to be interrupted even by one minute. But the thought is appreciated. Make sure everyone knows that.”

“Have you given any thought to funeral arrangements?”

Laura, having reached the bottom of the staircase, stopped and turned to her. “I can’t schedule the funeral until the body has been released.”

Unexpectedly, tears filled her eyes. Two years ago, following the car accident, Foster had lain in an ICU clinging to life. She’d feared that each breath would be his last and that soon she would be organizing his funeral. But she hadn’t had time to prepare for talking in those terms now. This time it was a sudden reality. There would be a funeral. When it would be she didn’t yet know.

Last night she had been advised not to go into the library. She had taken that advice. What had been described to her was grotesque, and she hadn’t wanted that to be her last image of Foster. It had been jolting enough to see the zippered body bag as it was wheeled out on a gurney. Inside the bag was her husband’s body, but to the police, it was evidence.

Sensing her employer’s distress, Kay said, “I apologize for having to mention it. But people are keeping the phone lines hot, here at the house and at our offices, asking when the service will be and where. The lobby is already full to overflowing with flowers.”

Laura touched her assistant’s hand. “I’ll let you know as soon as I know something. In the meantime, ask Joe to include in the press release that in lieu of flowers, people could make donations to Elaine’s foundation. Foster would prefer that.”

“Of course. One last thing. The governor issued a statement this morning, extolling Foster as an entrepreneur, model Texan, and human being. Then she called to ask if there was anything she could do on a personal level, as a friend to you both.”