Gloria lowers her head, as if acknowledging my thoughts. Then she says in a subdued voice, “Anna is right.”

David sucks in a breath, and Gloria raises a hand as if to ward off his protest. “It’s true. I did know Rory was dead, but I swear, I didn’t kill him.”

She may as well have sucker punched him. He stares at her, uncertainty creeping like a shadow across his face. “How could you have known? When you called me, you said you’d just arrived in town. It didn’t take me more than twenty minutes to get over here.”

She looks at me, and there’s an instant when I think she actually expects me to come up with an alibi for her. She’s crazier than I thought. When the only response she gets is my staring back at her, she lifts her shoulders in a half shrug.

“I had a meeting with Rory early this evening. At his house. I know I shouldn’t have gone. He sounded so angry on the phone. I thought if we met face-to-face I could—”

She stops suddenly, realizing that if she says any more, she might give away what Rory was demanding of her.

David asks the obvious. “Why would Rory be angry with you? Business is great. You’re here whenever you’re in town. What else did he want?”

“Yeah, Gloria,” I chime in. “What else did he want?”

Gloria’s eyes flash at me, but she focuses on David when she answers. “He didn’t say on the phone. Only that it was important we meet. So I went over. The front door was open.”

Gloria starts to pace, wringing her hands. “Unusual, the door open like that, but I rang the bell anyway. I expected the maid must be close by. When no one appeared after a minute or so, I went inside.”

Gloria has graduated from hand-wringing to picking at the fabric of her dress. She’s not looking at us, and her expression is tense, drawn. I have the fleeting thought that she might be making this up as she goes along. With Gloria, it’s not easy to determine where truth stops and delusion begins. She’s an actress. I wish I could crawl into that pea brain of hers and divine the truth, but she’s not a vampire or a shape-shifter, so I can’t. I push skepticism aside to catch the rest of the story.

“I called out to Rory. I thought I heard a noise from the den. When I went back there, I saw him. He was slumped over his desk. There was blood everywhere. I panicked and ran out. I came straight here.” Those big eyes fasten with fierce intensity on David. “I called you. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Sounds fishy to me, but when I glance over at David, his expression never waivers from anxious concern. He believes every word out of Gloria’s mouth. He looks ready to scoop her into his arms.

If David weren’t here, I’d ask her why she agreed to meet Rory, alone yet, considering what was going on between them. Instead, I ask the second obvious question. “Why didn’t you call the police? Like any rational, normal person would have done?”

“I was scared.” The words come quickly. She’s answering my question, but her eyes never leave David’s. She couldn’t be holding his attention more fiercely than if he’d been hog-tied to the desk.

I don’t know whether she’s telling the truth or not, but I’ve had enough of the drama. Time to send David on his way so I can get some direct answers from Gloria.

“David, go home. Detective Harris expects Gloria and her lawyer downtown in half an hour. I’ll stay here until he comes. Gloria, get your lawyer on the phone.”

David takes an instinctive step toward Gloria. “I’m not leaving. I’m going with her.”

I take a step, too, between them. “Did you not hear what Harris said before he left? He’ll have you arrested. I don’t think he was kidding. You pissed him off.”

David grabs my shoulders. “Then promise me that you’ll go with her. Make sure she’s not tricked into saying something incriminating.”

“Her lawyer will be there. That’s his job.”

“I don’t care. If you won’t go, I will.”

I remove his hands from my shoulders. “You can’t help. If you’d stayed out of it when Harris was here, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Gloria will call her lawyer, and he’ll protect her interests. That’s what she pays him for, right, Gloria?”

We both turn toward the spot where until a minute ago, Gloria was pacing the carpet. Only now, there’s no Gloria. The office door is open. I don’t know how she did it, but like the alley cat she is, Gloria has managed to slink away.

CHAPTER 12

“SHE LEFT?” DAVID’S VOICE RATCHETS UP TEN OCTAVES in astonishment. He takes two steps to the door, looks out. “She’s gone.” He turns back to me, bewilderment settling like a thundercloud on his features. “Why would she do that?”

I look from the open door to David. Good question, but David is out the door before I can speculate. I’m right on his heels when his cell phone rings. That brings him up short. He looks at the number and snaps open the phone.

“Gloria? Why the hell did you—”

He stops, listening, frowning. After a minute, he shuts the phone without saying another word. He looks at me. “That was Gloria.”

“No kidding. What did she say?”

“She’s leaving town. She told me she’d be in touch soon. To stay out of it.”

He yanks out his wallet and starts rifling the contents.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer until he finds what he’s looking for. He holds up a business card. “Gloria’s lawyer. I’m going to call him.”

“For Christ’s sake, she said to stay out of it. Let Gloria call her lawyer. She’s the one in trouble.”

David isn’t listening. He’s already at the desk phone and punching in the digits. I listen to the one-sided conversation.

“Hal? This is David Ryan. Yeah, I know. Long time. I’m calling because Gloria’s going to need you. Oh, you’re not? You’re in Florida? It’s three hours later there than California? Sorry. Um, do me a favor. If Gloria calls, will you tell her to get in touch with me? Well, yes, it could be serious, but Gloria should be the one to tell you about it. I’m sure she’ll be in touch. Thanks, Hal. Sorry, again, about the time thing. Yeah. See you.”

David sets the receiver down. “He’s not in town.” He passes a hand over his face and slumps into Gloria’s desk chair. “Why did she take off? And where is she going?”

The answer that springs to mind—to hell, probably—is not going to help David. Nor is pointing out that Gloria is not behaving like the innocent she proclaimed herself to be.

I take his arm, pull him to his feet and steer him toward the door. “Come on. No use hanging around here. Let’s go back to your place. We can have a drink and wait for her to call. As soon as she calms down, you know she will.”

David nods glumly. We’re heading toward the bar and the exit when we hear the commotion. It’s coming from the parking lot outside. It’s loud enough that it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on.

The press has gotten wind that billionaire Rory O’Sullivan was found dead in his home and that his partner, Gloria, was here at the restaurant. There’s a cacophony of shouted questions. At first, I think they must have waylaid Gloria on her way out.

Until a familiar voice calls for quiet. Detective Harris’ voice.

David plunges ahead, almost shoving me out of the way in his haste to see what’s going on.

Harris is standing outside the back door, his hand on Gloria’s arm. Video cam lights turn the dim parking lot into day, casting harsh shadows on his face. He must have been waiting for her to come out. If she was alone, he probably intended to follow her or to convince her to accompany him to the station voluntarily. Two police cruisers block the entrances to the parking lot.

David makes a move to push through the crowd. I grab his arm. “You want to make things worse? You know how Harris feels about you. Stay here.”

Surprisingly, he heeds my advice. He shifts from one foot to the other, though, like a racehorse ready to break from the starting gate. One crook from Gloria’s little finger, and he’ll mow down everything in his path to get to her.