Killer Riff Read Online Free PDF Page A

that specializes in champagne, was to be celebratory, but apprehension was letting a little helium out of the balloons, as it were.
    Tricia shivered. “What an awful thought.”
    “If it’s between believing he was murdered and believing he committed suicide …” Cassady shrugged. Tricia considered that a moment, then nodded in agreement.
    Not a theory I’d broached with Olivia on the phone. What I’d done was take a deep breath and say, “It was my understanding your father’s death was accidental.”
    “That would be a misunderstanding, then. An all-too-common one, which is why I want it cleared up. You’ll discuss that in the article, won’t you?”
    I could hear the train whistles screeching, yet I said, “When would you be free to meet with me?”
    “I have patients in the morning…. Are you free for lunch tomorrow?”
    Patients. It took me a moment to remember that the papers had described Olivia as a therapist. Interesting choice for someone who’d grown up around the outsize behavior of a band like Subject to Change. “One o’clock?” I suggested.
    “Let’s make it twelve-thirty. The Grill Room at the Four Seasons? I’ll get us a table.”
    A very old school, pro-establishment choice that struck me as odd. But maybe she was consciously separating herself from the wilder world in which she’d grown up. I agreed to meet her there, making a mental note to check with Henry about the expense account that went with my new job. She had thanked me for calling before she hung up. It had impressed me, but I still felt as though the heat of her anger had scorched my ear. Even now I considered putting my champagne glass against it as a salve.
    “So,” Cassady continued, drawing out the word deliberately, “what are you going to do?”
    “I’m going to have lunch with her.”
    “Will you try to talk her out of her theory?” Tricia asked.
    “Not until I’ve heard it.”
    “What if she’s right?”
    I did my best to sound matter-of-fact and ignore the odd gnawing in the pit of my stomach, especially since I couldn’t tell if it was nerves or excitement. “Then it’s a bigger story than we thought it was.”
    We all knew what the next question was and everything that was riding on it, but Cassady voiced it anyway. “What are you going to tell Kyle?”
    I checked my watch. Was he late, or was he not coming? “That I’m very glad to see him. I hope you’ll do the same.”
    Tricia gave that little snap of the head that makes her shining hair bounce beautifully yet still conveys total disagreement. “If you really want Kyle back in your life, you have to stop hiding things from him. Especially things that are central to your relationship.”
    “Tricia,” I said lightly, “did I tell you they’re looking for someone to take over my column?”
    Tricia frowned less lightly. “You’re only being mean to me because you know I’m right.”
    “She’s not being mean,” Cassady said soothingly, “she’s being snippy. But give her time, it’s early.” She checked her watch. “Earliness being a relative concept.”
    “Now you’re being mean. He’ll be here,” Tricia said crisply.
    And suddenly, he was. Even though I’d been doing my best to watch discreetly as people passed the front window and approached the entrance, Kyle was standing in front of us, breathtaking in his effortless way, running his hand through his hair to absolutely no avail. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
    Tricia bounced to her feet and hugged him in greeting, while Cassady rose more elegantly. I stayed planted on the sofa right where I was because I wasn’t sure I could stand up. As he hugged both of them, those amazing blue eyes tried to lock on mine, but I wasn’t sure I could do that, either. I wasn’t sure I could do any of this. I swallowed a sharp urge to cry.
    Freed from my friends, Kyle held out his hand to me. I took it and felt as though he were lifting me to my feet. Eye to eye, I was even more