ame tone angled under a floor lamp.
Earnestina – as Eve would forever think of her – didn’t suggest they sit down, and Eve didn’t ask.
“You were acquainted with Dorian Kuper, and in fact, had an argument with him at a club called After Midnight.”
“I knew Dorian, yes. I heard today he’d been killed. That’s a great loss for opera, but has nothing else to do with me.”
“You were pretty angry with him.”
“Disgusted is a more accurate term, that a man of his considerable talents would waste them on the lowbrow.”
“He won’t be doing that anymore.”
“Nor will he transport those who value true music with his skills and comprehension.”
“Let’s move on to whereabouts. Where were you Sunday night between eleven p.m. and one a.m.”
“I was here, and would have been in bed by eleven.”
“Alone?”
“My personal life is none —”
“Alone?” Eve repeated, her tone hard as brick.
“Yes, alone. I attended an afternoon musicale, and was home by six. I had a meal, and worked until ten. You can’t possibly believe I had anything to do with Dorian’s death.”
“Last night, between ten p.m. and one a.m.”
“I attended a rehearsal of La Bohème, at Juilliard. I was there from seven until after ten. Two colleagues and I went for a drink afterward to discuss areas that required improvement or change. We met until a little after midnight, then we shared a cab, and I came home.”
“Names.”
“You’re insulting.”
“Yeah, add that to your notes. Names.”
She reeled them off, chin jutted high. “I want you to leave now.”
“Heading that way. Do you own a vehicle?”
“I do not. I live in a city with excellent mass transit, and my work is a five-minute walk from my residence.”
More to needle the woman than anything else, Eve threw out one more. “Have you ever been to Nashville, Tennessee?”
“Certainly not, why would I? That’s the land of Opry, isn’t it?” She said the word as if it was the vilest expletive. “For that reason alone, I will never step foot anywhere in the state.”
“I’m sure they’ll manage without you. Thanks for your time.”
“If you harass me again, I’ll have a lawyer.”
“The only way I’ll come back is if you lied to me about any of this. If that turns out to be the case, you’ll need a lawyer.”
And now, Eve thought as she stepped out into what felt like beautifully fresh air – and Earnestina slammed the door behind her – she needed a drink.
At least the traffic fight comprised a much shorter distance, and she drove through the gates of home not long after the sky went to indigo and the streetlights spread pools of white.
The deeper silhouette of the house that Roarke built, the house that had become hers, rose and spread castle-like with its fanciful turrets and towers. Lights glowed in too many windows to count.