Head to Head Read Online Free PDF Page A

to Miki Tudor and the gal at the reservations desk. Been relaxin’ out here for almost two weeks, with daily therapy sessions with the resident guru. Been spendin’ a lot of time with him, from what I hear.”
    “Very interesting. Okay, let’s get this over with.”

3
     
    Inside, the bungalow was spotless, perfection as usual from Black’s top-notch maid service. The neatness didn’t fit. Not that I frequented pricey hotels, or anything. My gut told me that wealthy socialites and cinema stars didn’t spend time straightening up after themselves. Sylvie was probably the typical spoiled, pampered diva, and spoiled, pampered divas didn’t hang up their clothes. I’d have to check on when the maids had done the bungalow last and what they thought of Sylvie. Where were the scattered newspapers and magazines and wet towels and flip-flops and half-empty cups of coffee? Like at my house.
    “She didn’t put up much of a struggle in here.” Bud wadded up a gum wrapper and stuffed it in his pants pocket.
    I said, “Could be the perp never came into the house. Maybe he sneaked up on her outside on the deck. Maybe she was sunning or napping on the chaise or soaking in the hot tub.” I looked out the window. “The woods come right down to the bungalow, with bushes thick enough to hide somebody who doesn’t want to be seen. It would’ve been easy to hide out there. She wouldn’t have seen him.”
    “Yeah, sure,” Bud said, “if he avoided about ninety security cameras and twice that many employees scurryin’ around this place.”
    “Have a uniform walk the property after we finish in here. And crime scene needs to sweep the woods. Tell them to grid the woods behind the bungalow.”
    “Rained some over the weekend. Maybe the ground’s soft enough to get a footprint.” Bud held his blue silk tie with one hand while he carefully straightened the knot. He did that, maybe, say, one hundred times a day, a nervous habit that had grown since he’d stopped smoking. Bud said, “Might get lucky and get a shoe size. If he’s a stalker watchin’ her, he might’ve left a cigarette butt or gum wrapper behind.”
    “This guy’s not that careless. He gets off on the act itself, treats it like a photo shoot, down to every detail. My guess is he thought this out in advance, fantasized it over and over. Control, effect, power, that’s what he’s into. Look how much time he took setting this up. He wants us to wonder why he offed her this way. That’s his message to us, and all we’ve got to do is figure out the why. One thing for sure, this isn’t any crime of passion. This guy has ice water in his veins.”
    I looked outside and saw the dive team readying underwater cameras. “It’d be easy enough to bring a boat in here. Cut the motor out a ways and glide in to the dock or bank. Or a canoe could’ve come in anywhere along here. If he’d waited until after dark, nobody would’ve been out on the water.”
    “Uh-uh. Security’s too tight out here. You did notice the surveillance cameras at the top of the driveway?”
    I nodded. “Tag the film for review, but I doubt if he’d be that stupid.”
    “Already done. Told the manager we’d be up to the main lodge sometime this mornin’ to screen the tapes.”
    I shook my head. “This place is too damn neat. It looks like something out of House Beautiful. Or your house.”
    “So I’m neat. Is that a crime? Come look at the master bedroom. Looks like the maids bypassed it for some reason.”
    “They wouldn’t do that unless they were ordered to.”
    “The guest room’s spotless and so are the bathrooms. Both bedrooms have private decks with hot tubs, but the big hot tub’s out on the back deck. Beds’re made. Kitchen’s clean, all the dishes put away. Except for her bedroom, Miss Border was a tidy lady.”
    “Or the killer wiped the place clean after he was done with her.” A growing foreboding twisted up some knots in my belly. “My bet is he’s not going