Read Online Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories by Mary Higgins Clark - Free Book Online Page B

ordered from a catalog. There was not a single picture on the walls. The thin, faded blue carpet was of the indoor/outdoor variety. Certainly any profits from this airline were not wasted on frills.
    Ambrose’s secretary, Eleanor Lansing, had an anxious expression on her narrow face. Mr. Ambrose was on a long-distance call, she told the detectives, and would they mind please having a seat. AsTwaddle and Lyons waited, they heard Miss Lansing answering inquiries on the phone. She ended each conversation with the same tagline: “We have a perfect safety record.” In between calls, Twaddle attempted to engage her in conversation and learned that Marcus Ambrose had started the business six years ago. There were six other pilots and yet it was Ambrose’s hobby to frequently take the controls himself when interesting people booked a charter.
    â€œWasn’t it awful about that beautiful model, Alexandra Saunders, who was murdered?” She sighed. “I heard it on the radio when I was having lunch. She was part of a group that regularly chartered our planes . . . just shows you never know.
    â€œI never met her. I wish I had. Someone else made all the arrangements for that trip. The charter Miss Saunders was on was booked by the Wilson Modeling Agency.”
    The door of the inner office opened. Ben was sure Twaddle would have loved to continue talking with Eleanor Lansing, even though he would never give the slightest hint of disappointment that a conversation was over. Instead, Twaddle rose to his feet and solemnly acknowledged the muted greeting from Marcus Ambrose. The man’s face was flushed, his eyes were half-closed and his hand was trembling when he extended it.
    Ambrose’s private office had been furnished with the same disinterest as the reception area. He waited until he’d closed the door before turning to the detectives and asking, “Do you know who did this to Alexandra?”
    â€œThe investigation into her murder is continuing. We are trying to discover where Miss Saunders might have gone when she left the airport on Monday evening,” Ben replied.
    â€œI had offered her a ride home and she accepted it. But then after I stopped here for ten minutes, I returned to meet her at the terminal, in the arriving passengers area. She was gone.”
    For the next half hour Twaddle and Ben repeated the questionsthey had asked earlier that morning. Ambrose’s statements were identical to those he had given to Mike and Janice. He had been at the filming of the final commercial in Venice. Alexandra neither looked nor felt well.
    â€œDo you have any idea why she would have left the airport without taking her luggage?” Twaddle asked.
    â€œI thought she might have seen one of the paparazzi and didn’t want to be photographed looking the way she was. She certainly knew I would take care of her luggage.”
    â€œWere you and Miss Saunders personally involved?” Twaddle asked.
    â€œI only wish. I won’t deny that I was trying, and as I told her sister, in her free time we did some sightseeing together and I was beginning to think she enjoyed being with me.”
    Fifteen minutes later when Hubert Twaddle and Ben Lyons were in the car, Ben volunteered, “I don’t think we got very much out of that interview.”
    â€œLet us not be too sure of that,” Twaddle answered. “But I believe the background investigations of Mr. Wilson, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Ambrose may make very interesting reading when we get back to the office.”
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    Even though Emma had prepared scrambled eggs for them after the police left last night, Michael had decided not to awaken Janice. He had covered her with a blanket and let her sleep through the night.
    At nine o’clock on Friday morning she opened her eyes and then closed them again. She had had a nightmare. In it, Alexandra had died. No, she had been murdered. And her