Unknown Remains by Peter Leonard Read Free Book Online Page A

want? Seeing the woman had freaked her out. Vicki thought she might even get fired, but she didn’t have a choice. She had to get out of there. Vicki wondered who had told Diane about her, and why. Jack’s wife had been so calm, sitting there saying, “You don’t recognize me, do you?”
    No, she didn’t recognize her. Vicki had seen her once from across the room at the funeral reception, and the woman in the restaurant, with her hair pulled back, looked completely different. But when Diane said, “I’m Jack’s wife,” giving her that hard look, Vicki did recognize her, and Vicki’s first impulse was to run, and she did, got her things, told Holly she was really sick, had to be the flu, she should have called in, and walked out. Now she was kicking herself. Why’d she go to the country club after the funeral? How dumb was that? Vicki had seen Diane on the street following her from the restaurant and was sure she’d lost her.
    Jack had brought Vicki to the house in Connecticut one weekend when Diane was out of town, visiting her old college roommate in Chicago. Vicki had agreed to spend the night, but said, “Jack, I’m not sleeping in the bed you share with your wife. It doesn’t feel right.”
    â€œWe’re having an affair. What difference does it make?”
    â€œI don’t know, but it does. And what if someone sees me?”
    â€œWho’s gonna see you?”
    â€œA neighbor, someone coming over to borrow a cup of sugar.”
    â€œPeople in this neighborhood don’t borrow. If they need something, they buy it.”
    â€œI still don’t like it.”
    â€œI’ll keep you hidden upstairs. Come up when I feel like it and have my way with you.” Jack had grinned and put his arms around her. He thought they were invisible; they could do anything they wanted and not get caught.
    Vicki remembered walking around the house, which was enormous, old and comfortable, beautifully furnished. She remembered looking at photos of Diane, thinking how attractive she was, wondering why Jack was having an affair. It didn’t make sense.
    Looking at Diane’s clothes and jewelry, Vicki could see they had similar taste. Looking at Diane’s life, she felt like a voyeur. Looking at Jack, seeing his marriage from a different point of view, Vicki felt guilty, that what she was doing was wrong. But she didn’t have a choice.
    Jack, trying to be funny, had said, “You see the movie Misery ? It’s loosely based on my marriage.”
    Seeing where and how they lived, and how pretty Diane was, Vicki wasn’t buying it. Jack wasn’t miserably married. He might’ve been a little bored, but didn’t that happen to everyone at times?
    â€œDiane’s a drink counter,” Jack had said. “We were at a party last weekend, she came up, said, ‘You know how many drinks you’ve had?’ I looked at her and said, ‘Yeah, twelve.’”
    Maybe Diane had been onto something. Vicki thought he drank too much, too. After a night out with clients, he’d stop by her apartment at three in the morning all slurry, and pass out. He was fun, though. No one liked to have a good time more than Jack.
    He had taken her to Europe, and they had done it on the plane in the tiny bathroom when it was dark and everyone looked like they were asleep. Vicki’s opinion, it wasn’t worth it.
    In L.A., they stayed in a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont. While Jack was at a business meeting, Vicki hung out by the pool and, in one day, saw J. Lo, Justin Timberlake, and Ashton Kutcher.
    One night they went to a party at the Playboy Mansion and met Hef, who was wearing his customary robe and pajamas. They wentinto the famous grotto where Hef had seduced countless women. All Vicki thought was how dark and slimy it was.
    â€œYou take off your clothes in there,” Jack had said, “you better get a tetanus