Read Online Slightly Abridged by Ellen Pall - Free Book Online Page B

to anyone, except—
    Oh. The image of Ada bussing Doug Renny at the Ashtray returned to her. But wasn’t he just the very “husky wrestler type” Ada had deprecated as not “wearing” well? On the other hand, she was eighty-four. Even she must realize she probably wouldn’t be around to see him dwindle. Could she really have imagined—?
    No doubt she could. Juliet recalled Renny’s surprised, rather dismayed look after she’d kissed him.
    â€œNo,” she said aloud. “But I think I know who she had in mind.”
    â€œDo you think I should have offered to pick her up at Dennis’s after her appointment?” Suzy asked.
    â€œNo, of course not. It’s only three blocks, for Pete’s sake. And if it seemed so treacherous outside, he could have walked her back himself.”
    â€œMaybe he did.”

    There was silence on the line. It lasted a long moment. Both women were weighing the likelihood of Ada’s having the consideration to call if she had stayed out overnight with a man (highly unlikely, they thought). Both were trying to figure out how long a very grown-up woman could be missing from a bed-and-breakfast before the police, for example, would consider her missing. Both wondered if Ada could somehow, suddenly, for some reason, have gone home to Espyville unannounced.
    â€œHer suitcase—?” Juliet asked finally.
    â€œIt’s here. I mean, I only glanced in her room, but all her things seem to be here. Except—you know, her coat and stuff.”
    â€œDo we know how to reach Pierre?”
    â€œCall the Plaza?”
    â€œI’ll try Dennis; you try them.”
    Five minutes later, Juliet’s phone rang again.
    â€œNeither snow nor rain nor whatever it is stops the Plaza,” Suzy reported. “Pierre’s at work. I spoke to him myself. He hasn’t seen her.”
    â€œDennis said she left his place about four.”
    â€œHe didn’t go with her?”
    â€œNo. He tried to phone you guys to offer to come down to your place, by the way, spare her the walk. But you must have already left. He didn’t realize till he looked outside just before the appointment how heavily it was snowing. He also offered to bring her home, but she didn’t want him to. He says when she left, she was majorly pissed at him. She took the Wilson pages back. Apparently, their meeting didn’t go well. She didn’t leave alone, though. Someone else happened to be there, too—a collector Dennis had contacted about the manuscript—and Ada went into the elevator with him, talking a mile a minute.”
    Like most artists Juliet knew, Suzy was extremely practical. “I’m going to call her number in Espyville,” she said briskly. “You
see if Dennis will give you the name of the collector she left with; he might know something. Or—there isn’t a doorman at his building, is there?” she added hopefully.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œNo, that would be too easy. Okay, let’s see … It’s ten after ten. Let’s figure if we learn nothing, and if we don’t hear from her by noon, I’ll look in her room, see if she was here, see if I can find the manuscript. She definitely had it with her when she left?”
    â€œYes, Dennis gave it to her.”
    There was a fractional pause.
    Then, “Could she have taken it somewhere else?” Suzy asked. “One of the auction houses?”
    â€œMaybe. But let’s try to figure out if she ever came home at all. Check her clothes. Do you remember what she was wearing when you left her?”
    â€œOf course. Who could forget Ada’s clothes? A dark purple dress with flounces at the hem and one of those high-necked, drapy collars. Circa 1940, I would say. She had a matching purple purse—a cloth one, fairly large, bunched at the clasp, with a thin silver chain—lavender leather gloves, and a purple felt hat with a little