Read Online On the Street Where you Live by Mary Higgins Clark - Free Book Online Page B

brokerage firm and fulfilled a lifelong dream by opening a decidedly upscale restaurant in Rumson, a town twenty minutes away. He’d called it The Seasoner.
    Natalie was thirty-four. Bob was sixty-one, but clearly each had gotten what was wanted from the marriage. Bob had a trophy wife, and Natalie a luxurious lifestyle.
    She also had a roving eye that sometimes settled on Will.
    But today, when she came in, Natalie was not her normal flirtatious self. She skipped her usual effusive greeting to him, which always included a warm kiss, and flopped into a chair. “Will, it’s so terribly sad about Martha Lawrence,” she said, “but is this going to stir up a hornet’s nest? I’m worried sick.”
    â€œWith all due respect, Natalie, you don’t look worried sick. In fact, you look as though you just came back from a shoot for Vogue.”
    She was wearing a three-quarter-length chocolate-brown leather coat with a sable collar and cuffs, and matching leather slacks. Her long blond hair hung straight past her shoulders. The even tan, which Will knew had been recently acquired in Palm Beach, accentuated her turquoise-blue eyes. She slouched back in the chair as though too burdened to sit up straight and crossed one long leg over the other, revealing a slender, high-arched foot in an open-backed sandal.
    She ignored the compliment. “Will, I came straight over to talk to you after I saw that news conference. What do you think about that finger bone in Martha’s hand. Isn’t that a little weird?”
    â€œIt’s certainly very strange.”
    â€œBob almost had a heart attack. He stayed to watch the prosecutor finish his statement before he left for the restaurant. He was so upset I didn’t even want him to drive the car.”
    â€œWhat would make him so upset?”
    â€œWell, you know how that Detective Duggan keeps coming around to talk to all of us who were at that damn party at the Lawrence house the night before Martha disappeared.”
    â€œWhat are you getting at, Natalie?”
    â€œWhat I’m getting at is that if we thought we saw a lot of Duggan before, it won’t begin to compare with how much we’ll see of him now that the investigation has heated up. It’s obvious that Martha was murdered, and if people around here get the idea that one of us was responsible for her death it’s going to be pretty damn bad publicity.”
    â€œPublicity! For godssake, Natalie, who’s worried about publicity?”
    â€œI’ll tell you who’s worried about it. My husband is. Every nickel Bob owns is sunk into his fancy restaurant. Why he thought that he could make a success of one without knowing about the restaurant business is a question only a shrink could answer. Now his guts are all tied up in a knot because he has the idea that if there’s a lot of attention aimed our way because we were at the party, it might hurt hisbusiness. Such as it is, I might add—he’s gone through three chefs so far.”
    Will had gone to the restaurant a few times. The decor was heavy-handed and luxurious, jacket and tie were required in the evening, which didn’t sit well with people on vacation. I suggested he drop the requirement for a tie, Will thought. The food had been only average, and the prices much too steep.
    â€œNatalie,” he said, “I understand that Bob is under a lot of stress, but the idea that all of us being at the Lawrence party would keep anyone away from his restaurant is really reaching.”
    And if it fails with a pile of money lost in it, your pre-nup won’t be worth much, he thought.
    Natalie sighed and untangled herself from the chair. “I hope you’re right, Will. Bob is one big quivering sea of nervous tension. Barks at me if I make even the smallest suggestion.”
    â€œWhat kind of suggestion?” I can only imagine what kind, Will thought.
    â€œThat maybe before he fires