Unknown Remains by Peter Leonard Read Free Book Online

weight on his small feet, cigar smoke trailing after him.
    Diane walked to West Broadway and checked in to the SoHo Grand. She had three hours till her reservation at Balthazar. She wasn’t hungry, wasn’t in the mood for shopping or sightseeing. So she went to the room and lay on the bed, thinking about what she was going to say to the girlfriend. “Hi, remember me? Oh, you don’t? I’m Jack’s wife.” She’d throw that out and see how the girl reacted.
    Diane wasn’t sure why she was doing it or what it would accomplish. Would it make her feel better to get in the last word? Maybe itwas more primitive than that. This girl, Vicki Ross, stole her husband, and Diane wanted to see her. Was she prettier? Was she sexier? Was she smarter? Was she more fun to be with?
    At five thirty , Diane gave her name to the hostess and was escorted to a table. She wore sunglasses and had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. She opened the menu, using it as a prop, looking over the top at the bustling dining room, saw Jack’s girlfriend taking an order a couple tables away, and studied her.
    Vicki Ross was about five six and thin, but she had shape, a good butt and breasts. Her hair was dark and hung to her shoulders. Vicki was having an animated conversation with four stylish forty-something women.
    A few minutes later, she walked by Diane’s table and said in a sweet girlish voice, “Sorry, I’ll be right with you,” flashing a smile.
    Diane studied the menu, thought she might order something small, an appetizer and a glass of wine, decided on Mussels Provincial, a baguette, and a glass of Puligny-Montrachet. When she looked up, Vicki Ross was standing at the table smiling. “Can I bring you something from the bar, a glass of champagne?”
    â€œI don’t have anything to celebrate.”
    â€œWith champagne you don’t need a reason. It is the reason.”
    Vicki Ross had perfect skin, plump lips, and white teeth. She was even better looking up close. Diane ordered the Puligny. Vicki moved toward the bar. As much as Diane didn’t want to admit it, she could understand why Jack had fallen for this good-looking young girl. She was aware of the way women looked at Jack—like they wanted to eat him up. But she trusted him. He was married. He had given that up.
    Guys hit on Diane occasionally, like earlier, the man in the French restaurant. She never took any of these advances seriously. She was committed.
    Diane took off the sunglasses and put them in her bag when Vicki returned with the glass of wine, setting it on the table.
    â€œWould you like to hear about our specials?”
    â€œYou don’t recognize me, do you?”
    Vicki looked at her and blinked. “Have I been your server?”
    â€œI’m Jack’s wife.”
    They stared at each other. Vicki looked horrified, opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything.
    â€œWhy’d you come to the funeral reception? If you hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have found out. What were you thinking?”
    â€œI’m sorry.” Vicki was flustered. She backed away from the table and started moving toward the bar. The group of women two tables away tried to signal her.
    â€œMiss,” one of them said. “We’re ready to order.”
    Vicki appeared a few minutes later, a jacket over her uniform and a bag over her shoulder, stopped at the hostess stand, said something to the girl, and walked out the door.
    Diane got up and went after her, following her to an apartment building on Sullivan Street in the Village. Washington Square was at the end of the block. There was a sushi restaurant on the ground level. She stood on the sidewalk, looking in the windows at people having dinner, moved down the street, opened the door to the apartment building, stood in the vestibule, scanning the directory, saw V. Ross in 2B and pressed the button.

SEVEN
    Jack was dead. What did his crazy wife