Page 12 of Little Hidden Fears

“Lenore Whittaker? Lucas is your ex-boyfriend, right?”

“Wow, you know your stuff, don’t ya? I guess you would, given you’re a private detective and all.”

“I heard you were still friends with Lucas, but what are you doing here, at Dominic’s house?”

“I ... well, I was thinking about him today, wondering how he was holding up. I feel just awful about what happened to his wife, and I decided to bring him and the little one a casserole, something they can heat up for dinner tonight. I didn’t make it, of course. It’s store bought, but we can keep that little tidbit between us.”

“I wasn’t aware you and Dominic knew each other.”

She pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, we don’t, not well. We met the night of the engagement party.”

“You were standing by the stairs when the power went out.”

“I was, and I’ll tell you the same thing I told the cute older detective I talked to the other day—no one went up or down the stairs while the lights were out.”

“I imagine everyone was talking during that time, trying to figure out when the power would come back on again. Maybe try to find some candles ...”

“They were.”

“In all the chaos, how can you be sure someone didn’t slip by you?”

She gritted her teeth. “I’m telling you, they didn’t.”

From down the hall, a male voice shouted, “Lenore, are you still here? Who’s at the door?”

“I sure am,” she said. “I’m having a little chat with a private detective. She wants to talk to you.”

“Tell her I’m not up to having visitors today.”

“I’m sorry for what you’re going through,” I shouted. “But if we don’t talk now, I’ll keep coming back until we do. I’ve been hired to investigate your wife’s murder. I just have a few questions. It won’t take long.”

“Wait here,” Lenore said. “Let me go talk to him.”

She turned and started down the hall.

I followed.

A few seconds later, she glanced over her shoulder, unimpressed.

“I told you to wait at the door,” she said.

“I know, I heard you.”

“Are you always this pushy?”

“I wouldn’t use the wordpushy.Determinedis a much better word. In cases like this one, time is everything, and I don’t have a moment to waste.”

She shrugged. “Guess I see your point. Don’t know if he’ll talk to you, though.”

She spoke about Dominic as if she knew him a lot better than she claimed.

Her snug dress made a lot more sense to me now. Looking around as we headed toward Dominic, at the house, the furnishings, and the elaborate safe I saw when I passed by the sitting room, Dominic had money—and plenty of it.

Hewas a widower.

Shewas single, and, I suspected, looking to mingle.

The casserole she’d brought had gained her entry into the house.

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