“Nothing links him to it, at this time.”
“You’re saying maybe.”
“Why would you suspect Doug?”
“Oh, c’mon. His wife was fucking another guy? A cooler guy. Men are all about wienie-wagging. They start feeling like shit, they take it out on someone.”
“Okay,” said Milo. “Any other possibilities come to mind besides Doug?”
“Like who?”
“Someone Meagin dated before she got married. A guy who scared her.”
“The only things that scared her,” said Rhonda Montel, “were in her past.”
We sat up straighter.
Milo said, “What about her past, Rikki?”
“Don’t know the details, she never said.Wouldn’tsay. Didn’twantto get into it. The rest of us spoke about shit from our past, that’s what friendship is. She didn’t like it, would get all nervous, this look would come into her eyes.”
“What kind of look?”
“Like something—like someonewas sneaking up behind her. She’dkind of…get closed up and if you tried to talk about it, she’d give this laugh that wasn’t funny and say what are you talking about, girls, I’m fine. But I could tell she was lying. I’m basically a lie detector—no, screw that, I’m a psychologist. My profession, youneedto be a psychologist.”
CHAPTER
21
Bottled water that Rhonda Montel drank greedily, supplemented by an energy bar that she nibbled to oblivion, added nothing to her account.
When Milo pressed, there were no tells in her eyes or anywhere else.
He looked at me. I nodded. He stood.
“Really appreciate your help, Rikki, and sorry for the hassle. Detective Binchy will drive you back to the Waldorf.”
She said, “Forget that, too many bad vibes today. Take me to the Four Seasons, I need to clean out my head.”
Sean approached. She remained in her chair. “What about my warrants?”
Milo said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
“What does that mean? I’m all good citizen for you and you treat me like a criminal? For fucking traffic bullshit? No way, Jose, don’t want anything hanging over my head, some other Dudley Do-Right shows up and interrupts my reading.”
“I’ll do my best, Rikki.”
“What does that mean?”
“Just what I said. Here’s my card, you have a problem, call me.”
“Yeah, right.” She stood and wiggled and tossed her hair.
Sean said, “Ready, ma’am?”
“We taking a horse? You look like you ride rodeo or something. Be nice to see you in boot-cut jeans.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”