Authors: Lisa Scottoline
“I get that, and you have to be careful.” Jill bent down to pet the puppy, an adorable round-eyed little dog, with ears as floppy as a baby bunny. “She’s so cute! I love that face.”
“Isn’t she something? Corgis are actually dwarf dogs, bred to herd sheep. Let’s go for a walk before it rains.” Nina and Martin started walking, and Jill fell into step with them.
“So, Nina, tell me a little about yourself. I saw on your Facebook page that you work at Pharmcen.”
“Yes. I’m in Pharmacovigilance.”
“Is that even English?” Jill knew what it meant, but she wanted to get Nina talking.
“I know, I get that a lot.” Nina smiled. “Pharmacovigilance keeps track of adverse events of drugs, for reporting to the FDA. There’s almost fifty people in the department, and I just became second-in-command. I’m a VP now.”
Martin snorted. “They gave her a title, but no raise.”
Jill let it go. “Congratulations, Nina. A promotion counts for a lot, in this economy.”
Nina beamed. “I think so, too. If they have to lay people off again, I won’t be one of them, I hope.”
Martin checked his watch. “What do you need to know about the dog?”
“Right, of course.” Jill didn’t want to arouse suspicion. “Was she hard to housebreak?”
“She’s almost housebroken,” Nina answered, warming to the topic. “I crate her, but she hates it. Sometimes she cries in her crate at night, which breaks my heart, so I take her out, love her up, and put her back in. Martin doesn’t want her sleeping with us.”
Martin rolled his eyes. “I’m the bad guy.”
Jill held her tongue. She could see the fissures in their marriage easily, though she had missed so many in her own.
“I keep the feedings and walks regular, and I crate her when I’m not playing with her. I walk on a schedule, three times a day. She even pees in the same places.”
Jill smiled. “You’ve got this down to a science.”
Martin laughed. “That’s Nina to a T. She’s the one who wanted the dog, not me, but I went with it. Only problem, it sheds like crazy.”
Nina elbowed him. “Don’t tell her that.”
Jill saw her opening. “Martin, what other bad stuff can you tell me? I want the truth.”
“You got it!” Martin turned to her. “She bites your heels when you walk.”
“She
bites
?” Jill feigned worry, and Nina gave him a playful shove.
“Honey, go for your run, get! You’re giving her the wrong idea.”
“Does she really bite?” Jill asked, with ersatz concern. “I don’t want a dog that bites.”
“She doesn’t bite.” Nina turned to Martin, nudging him again. “You, get going!”
“Okay, okay.” Martin shook Jill’s hand. “I only do one lap, or I have a heart attack. Nice meeting you.”
“Nice meeting you, too. Thanks for the tips.”
“Take care.” Martin gave Nina a kiss on the cheek, then took off, jogging, and Jill waited until he was out of earshot.
“Nina, I really came to ask you about someone we both know. Neil Straub.”
“What? Who?” Nina blinked, and recognition flickered through her lovely blue eyes. “I don’t know any Neil Straub.”
“I know you do. I’m his ex-wife and I knew him as William Skyler.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Nina glanced down the sidewalk, where Martin was lost in the crowd.
“Yes, you do. I saw your Visa receipt in his car, from Sephora. Please talk to me before Martin gets back.”
“No, really, I don’t know any Neil Straub.”
“I’m sorry, but I have bad news for you. Neil died last Tuesday in Philadelphia, and I think he was murdered.”
Nina gasped. “What? How? That can’t be true.”
“So you do know Neil Straub.”
“Wait, no, yes.” Tears sprang to Nina’s eyes, and her tone turned pleading. “Please don’t tell my husband. He can’t suspect a thing. He gets so jealous.”
“I won’t. The coroner says Neil died as a reaction to a mix of prescription painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs, and alcohol. But I don’t think so.”
“Drugs, Neil?” Nina asked, bewildered. “He never took anything like that.”
“Do you know anybody who would want to kill him, and why?”
“Is this really true? He’s really … gone?” Nina’s eyes brimmed with tears, but she wiped them away, and Jill’s heart went out to her.
“Yes. I’m so sorry.”
“I haven’t heard from him in about a week.” Nina sniffled, trying to stay in control. “I called and called, but he didn’t return my calls. I was so hurt, so angry. Oh my God, I thought he was ditching me, but all this time, he was…”
“I’m sorry.” Jill wanted to be sympathetic, but she didn’t have much time until Martin came back. “He hasn’t been back to the apartment, but they don’t know he’s gone, either. They don’t know him as William Skyler. They know him the way you do, as Neil Straub.”
“He
is
Neil Straub.”
“You didn’t know he had a double identity?”
“No, of course not.” Nina flushed.
“Do you know why he did?”
“No.”
“What did he tell you he does for a living?”
“He’s a real-estate investor.” Nina wiped her eyes with a shaky hand.
“How do you know that?”
“He showed me buildings he owns, in the city.”
“He lied.”
“No, this can’t be. I
love
him.” Nina’s voice broke, and Jill knew exactly how she felt.
“I know, I’m so sorry. I loved him, too, but he used me. I don’t mean this to sound hurtful, but I suspect he might have been using you, too. Can you think why? Did you give him money—”
“He wasn’t using me, he
loved
me.” Nina’s eyes spilled over with tears, and she wiped them away again as a young couple passed.
“How long have you been seeing him?”
“Why should I tell you?”
“If you loved him, it can help find his killer.”
“What do the police say?”
Jill didn’t have time to go through everything. “Please, just tell me. It could help, and your husband will be back soon.”
Nina paused, weepy. “Four years.”
Jill reddened. Another thing she hadn’t seen coming. She’d only been divorced for three years. So cheating was proven. She masked her shock. “Where did you meet him?”
“At a Starbucks.” Nina frowned, recovering. “Wait a minute. Were those little boys on your Facebook page his sons, with you?”
“No, we had no children together. Did you give or lend him money?”
“No. He had plenty of money.”
“Did you introduce him to anyone important?”
“No, of course I didn’t. We kept everything on the down-low. It was just the two of us, always.”
“Did you help him contact people at Pharmcen, like higher-ups? Give him names of people he could call, to sell them something or take something from them? He used to be a drug rep.”
“Neil wasn’t a drug rep.” Nina shook her head, recovering her composure. “He doesn’t know anything about the drug business.”
“He told you that?” Jill was trying to piece the puzzle together.
“Yes, he told me that, and he used to listen when I talked about my job. He cared about me. He
understood
me.”
Jill guessed that cheating wives felt as misunderstood as cheating husbands, and maybe they were. “What else did he tell you about himself?”
“None of this makes sense.” Nina forced a smile for a woman pushing a stroller across the street. “Wait, stop. That was my next-door neighbor. We can’t talk here.”
“Look at this.” Jill dug in her purse, pulled out the photo of William with the man in the blue polo shirt, and pointed at William, just to double-check. “This is the man you know as Neil, right?”
“Yes, that’s Neil.” Nina’s eyes filled anew. “Oh my God, it’s so hard to see him, now. I can’t believe this. I don’t believe it.”
“Who’s this other guy, do you know?” Jill pointed at the mystery man.
“I think that’s Joe Z.”
“Joe who?”
“Neil’s friend, Joe Zeptien.”
“Did you know him?”
“Not really. Neil talked to him on the phone all the time, and I met him once.” Nina wiped tears from her cheeks, getting her bearings. “I was leaving the apartment one night, but I forgot my earrings, so I went back, and he was going in. Neil introduced him to me.”
“So who is Joe Zeptien and what did he do? Did he have any reason to want to hurt William? I mean, Neil?” Jill slipped the photo back into her purse. “I’m wondering if Joe Zeptien is the man who killed him.”
“No, never.” Nina shook her head, tears returning to her eyes. “They were tight.”
“How do you know?”
“Neil told me, and like I say, they talked all the time.”
“How do you know he was talking to Joe Zeptien? You only know what he told you. It could have been anyone.”
“No, I knew it was him. I answered Neil’s cell once, by accident, when we were together. We both have BlackBerrys and we kept them by the bed, because I had to answer in case Martin called, and Neil always had to answer his email. I picked his BlackBerry up when he was in the bathroom, and it was Joe calling.”
“What did they talk about, usually?”
“Hold on, here comes my husband.” Nina looked left, stricken, and Martin was running down the block, breathing hard. She wiped her eyes, cleared her throat, and backed away. “End of discussion. I have to go. You have to go. We can’t talk here—”
“What did they talk about?”
“I don’t know. He always took the calls out of the room, so Joe wouldn’t hear that he was with me. Neil was careful that no one find out about us, to protect my marriage.”
Jill figured that William must’ve been protecting himself, so Nina couldn’t hear his calls, not the other way around. “Where does Joe live?”
“I don’t know. In the city, I think.”
“New York? What did he do for a living?”
“I don’t know that, either.” Nina panicked as Martin got closer. “Stop. We’re done. I want to know more, but we can’t talk here. Did you get the police involved? Do they know my name? Are they going to contact me?”
“I can explain it all, but you have to meet me. Tell me where and when, tomorrow.”
“I can’t. I have work.”
“I’ll meet you there. How about noon, for lunch?”
“No, the only time I’m free is in the morning. I’ll message you a place to meet me, on Facebook.” Nina tensed as Martin got closer, panting and puffing, his T-shirt dark with perspiration. “Go now. I’ll tell Martin I cried because I twisted my ankle.”
“Wait, what time in the morning should I meet you?”
“Ten o’clock. I’ll say I have a doctor’s appointment.”
You do,
Jill thought, but didn’t say.
It was until she was back in the car that she remembered:
Rahul.
Chapter Forty-eight
A thunderstorm broke on the way home, the rain pounding on the roof of the car, and Jill struggled to hear on the cell phone. “Padma, are you there?”
“Yes, hello?”
“I’m so sorry, but I have to cancel our appointment tomorrow morning.” Jill cringed. She hated doctors who canceled, and now she was one. “I’m so sorry. Can you meet me later in the day? How about noon tomorrow?”
“I can do that.”
“Good, let’s make it then. I’ll have the bloodwork. How is Rahul?” Jill switched lanes, keeping an eye on the rearview. Behind her was a FedEx truck, and the traffic was heavy, moving fast despite the fact that visibility was poor, the sky prematurely dark, and everything grayed out with rain.
“About the same. He’s sleeping now.”
“Fever?”
“Yes, but low.”
“Eating and drinking?”
“Still not so great.”
Jill made a mental note. “Okay, hang in. See you at noon. Again, my apologies.”
“Good-bye,” Padma said, hanging up.
Jill fed the car gas and checked the rearview, but the truck behind her had moved, showing a gray sedan. She pressed
END
, then M, to call and check on Megan, who would be home from practice by now, probably foraging in the refrigerator. Jill kept her eye on the road while the call connected, then said, “Hi, honey!”
“Hey, Mom, I was just about to call you.”
“What’s up?”
“I’m not home, I’m at Courtney’s. We have to do our scene tomorrow, and we’re almost ready, but I need to stay over one more night.”
Jill groaned. “No. Megan, it’s too much. It’s an imposition on Carol.”
“I knew you’d say that, and she’s right here. She wants to talk to you.”
“Good, put her on.” Jill heard a shuffling on the other end of the line. “Carol, that you? Don’t you need a break?”
“No, not at all.” Carol sounded bright and cheery. “How have you been?”
“Fine, busy, and thanks for letting my daughter take up residence.”
“Not at all. She’s a dream, you know that. Let her stay here tonight. They’re working so hard, you’d be proud of them, making costumes and all.”
Jill felt so guilty. “But you’re even doing the driving.”
“You’ve done your share, plenty of times before. Don’t worry about a thing, I swear. I’ll be out of town next week, and you can be the chauffeur then.”
“Okay, thanks.” Jill felt grateful. “You’re a saint.”
“Aren’t we all? Take care, and here’s Megan. See you.” There was a pause, and Megan came back on the line. “Okay, Mom?”
“Okay, honey. Don’t forget to thank her for everything, and get some sleep tonight, okay?”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you and miss you, too. Bye-bye.” Jill pressed
END
and set the phone aside, spotting the gray sedan, still behind her. Its driver was a shadow of a man, and the sedan stayed to her left, on her bumper.
She accelerated, and a minute later, so did he. She didn’t like to drive fast when it was raining, so she decelerated. So did he. She switched to the slow lane and let her speed decrease to fifty miles an hour. So did he, which set her heart thudding. She hit the gas and picked up her phone, in case she had to call 911.
Suddenly a sign came up for the service area, and the gray sedan split off, taking the ramp leaving the highway. Still, Jill didn’t let off the gas, her hand holding the phone, and she sped all the way home in the storm.
Chapter Forty-nine
It was dark by the time Jill got home, and she let Beef out in the backyard and lingered at the door. She scanned the privacy fence for anything suspicious, but there was nothing, and Beef was acting normal, burying his muzzle in the wet grass. Mist wreathed the air, which smelled musty and thick, and steam curled from the pool. It had stormed here, too, leaving the night sky oddly bright in patches, with particles of light hidden in the dark clouds, like vermiculate in potting soil.