Hush Hush by Laura Lippman Read Free Book Online

boots with the telltale red soles and five-inch spike heels. Three gold chains of varying lengths and sizes, with complementary drop earrings. Probably $5,000, $10,000 with the jewelry. On her back . There were people driving around Baltimore in cars worth less than what Melisandre was wearing. Tess had been one before buying the minivan. Which carried a $450-a-month car payment—so, smile, suck it up. By the end of this meeting, she’d have covered most of this month’s payment.
    “That remains to be seen,” Melisandre said. “I would like that, of course, but Alanna is a junior in high school, Ruby a freshman. They have lives of their own. Splitting their time between two houses may not suit them. Although my future home is probably more convenient than that strange house Stephen has built in the middle of nowhere.”
    “Your ex-husband has sole custody, correct? At least, it’s my understanding that you surrendered your parental rights a decade ago.”
    Tess watched Melisandre for her reaction. She pulled on her gold chains, pushed up the sleeves of her sweater, exposing a Patek Philippe watch. Okay, make that another ten thousand. Melisandre said nothing, but now Tess had her tell—the tug at the necklaces, the sleeve. That was what Melisandre Harris Dawes did when she was being evasive. Good to know. It was always good to know when people were being evasive.
    Tess nodded for Sandy to begin. He leaned forward, elbowson knees, and fixed his soulful green eyes on Melisandre. Tess had known from the moment she made eye contact with Sandy fifteen months ago that she would hire him. Those eyes made people want to talk. Getting someone to talk was not as important to a private investigator as it was to a homicide detective, but it couldn’t hurt to have a father confessor type on the payroll.
    “I drove by and around your apartment building this morning,” Sandy said. “The building is relatively secure—all visitors are required to sign in. The public areas, such as the gym, are on controlled locks. So even if someone got past the front desk, they couldn’t, say, get into the gym. Okay, so worst-case scenario, someone is willing to, um, do harm to get past the front desk.”
    “Do harm?” Melisandre echoed.
    “Hurt other people. The elevator is open, but your apartment is the penthouse. No entry without a key card. And given the location, on a point of land with only two routes out of the neighborhood, access is pretty limited. I like that. Anyone who wants to give you trouble will have to calculate that getting away will present certain challenges.”
    “Unless they come by boat,” Melisandre said.
    Tess understood that she was joking, but a sense of humor was not one of Sandy’s strengths. “There’s really no place to dock nearby, so I’m not too worried about that. The garage does bug me, though. While it has an underground entrance, the public is allowed to use the bottom floor for parking for certain public services—the wine bar, the salon. Someone could definitely get to you in the garage.”
    “I’ll have my bodyguard.” Said as carelessly as another person might have said: “I’ll have my umbrella.”
    “I was allowed into the apartment after you closed, although there’s still some work being done,” Sandy said. “It is our recommendation that you put an alarm panel in every room. An alarm panel with a panic button.”
    “No,” she said. “That would look hideous.”
    Tess’s turn. She was the boss, after all. “For liability reasons, we’re going to prepare a written report that outlines every suggestion we make and we’ll ask that you sign a waiver, stating we’re not responsible in the event of a breach.”
    Melisandre laughed. “A breach. I thought Tyner said you were a straight talker.”
    “I’d forgotten the sound of your laugh,” Tyner said. “It’s still delightful.”
    Am I too old to make a vomit noise? Tess wondered at her instant animosity toward this