The Innocent Woman

12

“All right, where is she?”

Tracy Garvin looked up at him. Steve Winslow had whisked her out of F. L. Jewelry and had not stopped until they were safely around the corner on Sixth Avenue.

“In the office.”

“No, she’s not. I just called there.”

“When?”

“Just now. Before I went in there. I got the answering machine.”

“The office machine?”

“Yes, of course. Why do you say that?”

“It must have been while we were down the hall.”

“Oh?”

“Amy thought she was going to be sick. She went to the ladies room.”

“There’s a bathroom in the office.”

Tracy gave him a look. “You wanna argue with me about it? I’m leading her up to the office, she says she’s gonna be sick and runs down the hall. I followed her, got her together and brought her back. You must have called then.”

“Then what did you do?”

“Went out to look for you.”

Steve’s eyes narrowed. “Oh?”

“Amy said she left a message for you to meet her at the jewelers.”

“Then she said not to.”

“Right. But I figured you would anyway. And you did.”

“I see,” Steve said. “So this all just happened. I mean, you were just a few steps ahead of me. You got here, met her, took her to the jewelers. You got her out of there, took her up to the office. You were down the hall when I called. You parked her in the office and came out to get me?”

“That’s right.”

“How long ago did you find the body?”

“I don’t know. A half hour. Twenty minutes. Why?”

“I’m trying to figure out what to do. Did you touch anything up there? Leave your fingerprints?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What about her?”

“She may have. But she worked there. Her prints would be there anyway.”

“Yeah, but not for some time. She’s up in the office now?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go.”