A Clean Kill

Thirty-three

Lnn studied the disturbing scene in the bedroom where Alison was still swaddled in her quilt. Two men completely covered in white, right down to their shoes, were measuring and going over the room as if the body weren't there.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked Lieutenant Woo Sanchez.

"You said earlier that the room didn't look like this when you left to take the girls to play school. Tell me how it looked then."

Lynn sniffed back her tears. "It's always a mess in here in the morning. Andrew's underwear and socks are on the floor on his side of the bed." She pointed to where that was. "He never picks up in the morning. Alison dropped her clothes on the floor, too—whatever she was wearing. I think she just threw the decorative pillows off the bed. They never landed on the bench."

The bench at the bottom of the bed had nothing on it now.

"And there's almost always an empty wineglass on the bedside table. She prefers white wine," Lynn added.

"What else?" The Chinese detective followed her gaze as it traveled around the room.

"That's about it in here, except for her magazines. She read them in bed. I don't see them now."

Woo consulted her notes. "Earlier you said that when the children came up to say good-bye in the morning, she was often in bed."

Lynn made a face. "They have sex in the morning."

"How do you know?"

"The spots are still wet when I make the bed at noon," she said simply.

"They had an active sex life. Okay. What else?"

Lynn looked past the bed toward the bathroom. "There's always water on the floor in the bathroom. Maybe they showered together. I don't know." She closed her eyes. "Two wet towels on the floor, her jewelry on the vanity. He's meticulous about his toiletries. She's messy with hers. They have two sinks. She leaves her rings on the side of the sink, and never wears them to sleep. She doesn't like them to get oily from body lotion or soap."

"Do you know all her jewelry?" the Chinese detective asked.

"Only . what she's worn. There may be some pieces I haven't seen. She keeps the box locked."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, it's on a shelf in her closet."

"What are your duties? Do you do the cleaning?" The detective moved away from the bedroom door, down the hall to the front of the house.

"I do light housekeeping." Lynn followed her into the sitting-room side of the master suite that took up the whole third floor.

"What would that consist of?"

"I pick up, and make things look neat. I have to put the towels and the kids' clothes in the washing machine and dryer, but I don't iron or do the sheets. A cleaning lady comes in twice a week to do the heavy work."

"What days does she come in?"

"Monday and Thursday."

"That would be yesterday."

"Yes."

"What about this room?" April asked.

Lynn noticed that the coffee table in front of the love seat was piled with Alison's fashion magazines and recent issues of People. Two armchairs with a reading light between them. Plasma "TV on the wall near the fake wall with the powder room behind it.

"Looks the same, except her magazines are il here."

"They weren't in here this morning?"

Lynn shook her head.

"Was this room cleaned yesterday as usual?"

"Yes."

"What about the bathroom?"

She nodded. "Top to bottom, everything's cleaned. No exceptions. That's the rule."

"Who uses the bathroom?"

"Nobody."

"Are you sure?" the detective asked.

"People have their habits. I use my own. The girl use theirs. Andrew and Alison each have their own toilets. They don't use this one. It's really small," she added.

"Just look at it for me."

Lynn shrugged and punched the wall so that it popped open.

"Anything different about this?"

"Well, the sink's wet . . . and somebody's used the hand towel."

"Anything else? Look carefully."

"No."

"Thank you." April said, shutting the door.

They moved into the dressing room, where all the clothes were in careful order except for Andrew's and Alison's clothes from the night before, which looked as if they'd been hurriedly dumped in a heap. Lynn commented on that, then pointed out the jewelry box. In the bathroom a diamond watch was on the vanity right where she'd said it would be, but no rings.

"Anything missing here?" the detective asked.

A lump rose in Lynn's throat. "Her rings. She had three—a big diamond engagement ring, and two diamond bands that she wore on either side of it. Maybe she forgot to take them off last night," she said uneasily.

"Maybe."

They came back into the hall, where a number of people had gathered.

"We're ready for you now," someone said, and Lynn knew that it was Andrew's tum to look at the body.

"Lynn, could you wait downstairs? I'll be back with you later." The detective gave her a reassuring smile. "Thanks."

Lynn didn't want to see Andrew again, so she ducked through the door to the narrow back stairs and ran down to hide in her room two floors down.