All Dressed in White

28

“Are you sure you don’t want my help, Dad?” Laurie called out to the kitchen.

“Tonight’s my night with my sous chef,” Leo said, popping his head around the corner. Laurie smiled at the sight of her father in the chef’s hat that Timmy had given him last year for Father’s Day.

Timmy’s grinning face, smeared with tomato sauce, appeared for an instant and then disappeared into the kitchen again.

Her father was preparing what he called his “Leo lasagna” for dinner. She knew from eating it that it contained Italian sausage, mozzarella, and fresh ricotta, but that didn’t explain why it tasted better than every other sausage lasagna she had ever sampled. Her father was so protective of the recipe that he joked about putting it in his will.

“I’ll get it out of Timmy,” she said. “What’s that new video game you’re asking for?”

“Nice try, Mom,” Timmy said. “Grandpa, your secrets are safe with me.”

“Laurie, I’m actually surprised you’re home. Alex told me that Andrew was coming into town. I assumed you would want to join them for dinner tonight.”

After Alex accepted her invitation to host Under Suspicion, Leo had struck up a friendship with him outside of the show. They had grown even closer since Laurie and Alex had started seeing each other. She was delighted that her father approved and had someone to talk sports with, but sometimes there were downsides to their independent communications.

“I was too wired,” she said. “I needed to get some more work done before I could relax.”

“Well then, go ahead and do it,” her father said. “Chardonnay or pinot noir?”

With her father and son hard at work on dinner and a glass of wine in hand, it was a good time to follow up on some of the issues that had come up today on Amanda’s case. First on her mind was Charlotte’s claim that Meghan accused Amanda of stealing a multimillion-dollar idea. There was no reason Charlotte would make that up, but it seemed far-fetched to think that Meghan would kill her best friend over a business dispute. Besides, Ladyform continued to own the idea, whether Amanda was there to control it or not.

But Laurie’s conversation with Charlotte echoed for a second reason: her description of her sister’s personality. Sandra made Amanda sound almost impossibly happy about every aspect of her life. She hadn’t even mentioned Amanda’s cancer. But Charlotte spoke about Amanda in a darker way, as if both women were trapped beneath their parents’ expectations. Laurie had gotten the same impression from Mitchell Lands. If the lawyer was right, maybe Amanda had changed her will to leave some money behind for Jeff once she disappeared for good.

She scrolled through her emails until she found the one from Jerry with all the contact information for the show’s participants. She dialed a number on her cell phone. Amanda’s brother, Henry, answered after two rings.

A moment later she was having a hard time hearing Henry over the sound of a crying child in the background. “I hate to say this, but I probably know less about Ladyform than you do. Maybe no one told you, but I’m sort of the black sheep in the family. I love my dad, but I had no interest in spending the rest of my life making underwear, let alone fighting with my sisters about the right to do it. I moved out west with a college buddy and started an organic wine company in Washington. Aside from both of us preferring to run our own businesses, I’m about as different from Walter Pierce as a son could be. If Meghan accused Amanda of stealing some idea, I know nothing about it. And I can’t say anything about Jeff’s whereabouts that night, because I crashed early. It was a party weekend for everyone else, but Holly and I had just had our first baby, Sandy. All I wanted to do that week was sleep.”

“But you were at the Grand Victoria with the rest of the wedding party. You must have spent time with Meghan and your sister.”

“Oh yeah, sure. I didn’t hear a cross word between them. And I think if they’d been talking about the company, I would’ve tuned them out because, frankly, it’s boring. I understand that Charlotte would blow some tiff about a Ladyform idea out of proportion, but if I had to guess, I’d say there was no bad blood between Meghan and Amanda. If Meghan came across as not being worried, that’s just how she is. Maybe it’s because she’s a lawyer or something like that.”

“What do you mean by not worried?” Laurie asked. They had received her signed agreement to participate, but even though they had exchanged messages, she had still not actually spoken to Meghan directly.

“You know, she’s kind of a cool cucumber. Never gets ruffled. I can be the same way. Like at first, when Jeff was running around the resort looking for Amanda, I assumed she went for a swim or something. But once we realized she hadn’t slept in her room, even I was panicked. But not Meghan. She was acting like everything was okay.”

“Do you think she knew more than she let on?”

“Wow, you really are suspicious, aren’t you? No, like I said, it’s just her way. Different strokes for different folks. So has everyone agreed to do the show?”

“Yes, everyone we asked.”

“Kate Fulton?”

“Her, too. Is there something I should be asking her? As you said, I’m suspicious of everyone.”

“Touché. No, I was just wondering. I don’t stay in touch with any of Amanda’s friends anymore. Look, I have no idea what happened to my sister, and I still miss her like crazy, but I’ve got to be honest: I don’t think you’re going to learn anything new with this show.”

“And why is that?”

“Because, as much as it pains me to say it, my best guess is that she went out late for a swim or a walk and crossed paths with the wrong kind of person-the kind of person who doesn’t get caught. I for one am not looking forward to being back down there.”