Corpse Suzette Read Online Free PDF Page B

down her body, giving her what she
called, the “elevator look,” stopping at several floors along the way to
window-shop.
    Apparently, he liked what
he saw, because he flashed her a dazzling smile. A bit too dazzling. Savannah
suspected he was one of those males who hadn’t met a female he didn’t like
since hitting puberty.
    She pulled her hand out of
his and resisted the urge to wipe her palm on her pants.
    “Nice to meet you,” she
said through only slightly gritted teeth. “And you are...?”
    He visibly swelled with indignation.
“7 own the Mystic Twilight Club, an exclusive spa that caters to only those of
the most refined taste and—”
    “I know the place,” she
said. “I meant, who are you in relationship to the missing pers—”
    “I’m Dr. Du Bois’s business
partner. Have been for years. And she was also my ex-wife.”
    Savannah lifted one eyebrow
ever so slightly. “Was? I should think she still is and always will be
your ex-wife.”
    He shrugged. “You know what
I meant. I mean she’s missing now and...”
    And you’re already referring
to her in the past tense ,
she thought, but she kept any further comment to herself. There was little to
he gained by letting a potential suspect know how suspicious they appeared.
    And if, indeed, Suzette Du
Bois was a missing person or a victim of foul play, ex-husbands and current
boyfriends were always at the top of the suspect list.
    She could feel Dirk tense
slightly beside her, and she knew he had picked up on it, too.
    He cleared his throat and
took on an even more officious tone. “Is Dr. Du Bois in the habit of missing
work?”
    “Never. Never, never. She
was a workaholic and she knew more than anybody how important it was for her to
show up today to start this new Emerge campaign.”
    Again with the past tense.
    Savannah decided something
then and there. For all of his high-falutin’ name, Brioni suit, and Tutima
watch, Sergio D’Alessandro wasn’t that sharp. Obviously, he knew or strongly
suspected his former wife was dead, and he was too dumb to realize he was
exposing that fact.
    And while most people might
fear that possibility if an otherwise responsible, predictable person went
missing for twenty-four hours, experience had taught her that most innocent
folks continued to speak of their loved ones in the present tense, even after
they were confirmed dead. It was only natural.
    “All right,” Dirk said,
flipping his notebook closed. “I’m gonna have a look around. You can get back
to whatever you were doing before you drove over here.”
    Sergio shifted from one
Bruno Magli to the other. “Don’t you want me to stay... in case you need
something or . .
    “Nope. You let me into the
house. That’s all I need or want from you right now,” Dirk replied with his
usual lack of charm. “Don’t call me. I’ll call you. And stay in town. Don’t go
takin’ no unscheduled vacations to Tijuana or Vancouver, if you know what I
mean.”
    He turned and walked away,
leaving D’Alessandro standing there with an aggravated look on his face.
    When Dirk was out of
earshot, Savannah sidled up to him. “There’s something you should know,” she
said. “Sergeant Coulter’s bite is a lot worse than his bark.”
    “Huh? Don’t you mean...?”
    “Nope. I meant what I said.
You should probably leave now.”
    The next thing she saw was
the back of Sergio D’Alessandro’s fancy suit, walking briskly out the door. She
couldn’t help but think that the atmosphere improved with his absence. There
was something about the man she didn’t like... beyond his basic smarminess. And
her instincts seldom led her astray in that regard.
    Yes, if anything had
actually happened to Dr. Suzette Du Bois, she would give ol’ Sergio a second
look. Maybe a third and a fourth.
    She found Dirk in the
kitchen, listening to the messages on an answering machine on the counter.
    “Anything good?” she asked.
    “Just the usual crap,” he
replied. “A couple of