D.C. Dead (Stone Barrington 22)

“Very classy,” Dino said.

A door opened, and a uniformed maid, their second of the day, beckoned them in. “This way, please.”

Milly Hart simultaneously entered the living room through another door and walked toward them. She was a striking redhead wearing a negligee with a matching silk dressing gown, right out of an Arlene Dahl movie. In fact, she resembled Arlene Dahl in one of her old films. “Mr. Barrington? Lieutenant Bacchetti? How do you do?” she said, with an accent right off the New York stage. She extended a perfectly manicured hand and allowed both of them to shake it, then waved them to a sofa and took a chair. “You’ve piqued my curiosity with talk of the president,” she said.

“We’re speaking with you at his request.”

“I’m flattered, but I’ve met the gentleman briefly only a few times, at White House dinners and such. What are you a lieutenant of?” she asked Dino. “I was expecting an army uniform.”

“Of the New York City Police Department,” Dino replied.

“Oh, dear,” she said. “I hope this isn’t about that parking ticket last winter. It was a hired car and driver, and I assumed his company would take care of it and bill me.”

“No, ma’am,” Dino said. “It’s not about—”

“Would you gentlemen like some tea?” she asked. “It isn’t too early, is it? Or would you prefer something more potent?”

“Tea would be lovely, Ms. Hart,” Stone said.

“Please call me Milly,” she said. “Absolutely everybody does.”

“Thank you, Milly,” Stone said. “I assure you the president has not taken an interest in your parking tickets.”

“Oh, yes,” she said. “Frankly, I thought you were making that up to get past the doorman.”

“No, the presidNo,y curiosent has asked us to look into the murder and apparent suicide of Emily and Brixton Kendrick.”

For a moment, she nearly lost her composure, but she quickly recovered. “Really?”

“Really. We understand that you and Mr. Kendrick were . . . close.”

“And where did you come by that particular item?”

“It’s Washington,” Dino said, looking pleased with himself.

“Ah, yes, so it is. Am I suspected of murdering one or both of them?”

“No, Milly,” Stone said. “We’re here because you and Brix Kendrick were having an affair.”

“I remember the day the news broke,” she said, ignoring his remark. “I was in New York at the time.”

“You spend a lot of time in New York, do you?” Dino asked.

“I suppose I’m up there once a month, sometimes more often.”

“We don’t need an alibi from you,” Stone said.

“Then, pray tell, what do you need?”

“We’d like to know who else Brix Kendrick was seeing.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” she said, “but I am not privy to that information. Frankly, Brix did not seem to be the sort who would have affairs.”

“And yet you were having an affair with him,” Stone pointed out.

“I mean, multiple affairs,” she replied. She still had not admitted her own affair, explicitly.

“What else can you tell us about Brix?” Stone asked.