Booby Trap Read Online Free PDF Page B

and Jane have grown apart in the past several years. I know this because she’s told me, and because I’ve seen it with my own eyes. They are very polite to each other. Too polite, if you ask me. Like strangers who suddenly find themselves as roommates.” Lil hesitated. “Jane confided to me that she thinks he’s having an affair.”
    “Having an affair and being a serial killer are two entirely different things. They’re not even in the same solar system, as far as offenses go.” I chuckled. “If every man who had an affair turned into a serial killer, no one would be safe outside of their homes and maybe not even in them.”
    Lil shot me a soft but impatient scowl. “That’s not why I think Brian might be the Blond Bomber. It’s just part of the background I’m giving you.”
    “Okay. Well, then, let me ask you: do you think Brian is having an affair?”
    Just as Lil was going to respond, her doorbell rang. She excused herself to answer it. A few minutes later she returned, followed by a muscular man carrying a small antique table. She directed him to place it against a small section of wall between the dining room and living room, after which he was introduced to me as Paul Milholland, one of Jane Sharp’s workers. Paul Milholland appeared to be in his thirties, a bit shy, with sun-bleached sandy hair, a deep tan, and toned body. After Lil thanked him and showed him out, she returned to the table.
    “I’m sorry for the interruption.”
    “That’s a lovely table, Lil. Did you recently buy it?”
    She smiled. “Actually, it’s a gift from Jane and Brian. More from Jane, of course. She saw it at an auction and bought it for me as an early birthday gift.” She took a sip of tea. “Paul is her right-hand man, sort of a delivery man, furniture restorer, and carpenter, all rolled into one. You name it, he can do it. He even built the bookcases in my spare room. Been with her for years.”
    “Sounds like a good man to have around.”
    Lil nodded. “After Jane’s former assistant, Mason Bell, left her to start his own design firm, Paul became indispensable. He really helped bolster Jane, especially after Mason started stealing her clients.”
    As interesting as this decorator gossip seemed, I wanted to get back to Brian Eddy. I sensed that Lil was using Paul’s interruption to stall. Gently, I guided her back to the matter at hand.
    “Lil, just before Paul arrived, you told me you thought Brian was having an affair.”
    Lil got up and went to the new table, caressing its smooth top with a hand. “I know he is.”
    “Because Jane told you?”
    “No.” She shook her head and continued to study the top of the table. “I know because he’s having it with me.”
    I could’ve sworn I heard the doozy meter pop a spring.

“Excuse me?”
    Lil didn’t answer but instead turned to look directly out the window. Her face was as still as a mannequin’s. I waited and restrained from verbalizing the ewww on the tip of my tongue.
    “Not a real affair, of course. Just an online fantasy thing, but very emotional and captivating at the same time.” She still didn’t look at me. “It has been going on for nearly six months. I should be ashamed. And I am. But I also don’t regret it.
    “It started one long weekend when I was bored and lonely. I went into several chat rooms that I frequent under my usual screen name of JersyLil, but the conversations were always the same. I tried a couple of new chat rooms, but no one wanted to talk to an old lady.”
    Lil turned and went into the kitchen. I stayed where I was but could hear her adding water to the tea kettle and setting it on the stove. I gave her space while she spoke.
    “Of course, I knew that people used fake identities all the time on the computer,” she called from the kitchen. “But I never had, until then. I created a new name, a new identity, and tried it on. It was rather like trying on shoes. Over the course of the weekend, I sampled three names