A Clean Kill by Glass Leslie

Author:Glass, Leslie [Glass, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Detective, Mystery & Detective - General, Police Procedural, Mystery & Detective, Fiction - Mystery, New York (N.Y.), Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, Policewomen, Fiction, Woo, Mystery fiction, April (Fictitious character), Mystery & Detective - Police Procedural, General, Women Sleuths, Mystery, Chinese American women, Suspense, Police - New York (State) - New York, Mystery & Detective - Series, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), General & Literary Fiction, Women detectives, Northeast, Crime & mystery, Travel, N.Y.), Murder, Manhattan (New York, Detective and mystery stories, United States, Middle Atlantic, Women detectives - New York (State) - New York
ISBN: 9780451411891
Publisher: Onyx
Published: 2010-10-20T05:00:00+00:00

Twenty-six

That morning Alison was in a rage at her husband for leaving her, at Leah for walking in on her, at Lynn for disobeying her. At Maddy for stealing her lover and stupidly getting herself killed. Everything unbearable was happening at the same time. After firing Lynn, though, the tension left her body and she drifted off to her favorite place. Oblivion. She slept with one hand on each dog, snoring gently, and the Chihuahua, with all four paws in the air, snored with her.

For a short while the house was quiet, and peace prevailed. Then from down the stairs came a soft whistle. The poodle lifted its large head, knocking Alison's hand to the sheet. Roxie rolled over and barked, escaping from under the other hand. The contact with their mistress was broken, but Alison slept on.

After a minute, the whistle came again, this time in three short bursts. Fully alert, the dogs turned their eyes and ears toward the door as they waited for the command to come again. Seconds passed and nothing more happened. The deep . silence of the house was broken only by Alison's breathing.

Then it came. Three short whistles. The tense dogs remained where they were until the chain rattled on Floyd's leash. At that moment they knew for sure what was up, and they heard the word that put it all together. "Walkies!"

Asusual, the call came from downstairs, soft and far away—always a welcome summons. They jumped off the bed to obey and ran down the stairs to the door. It didn't matter to them who took them out. Minutes later a maid came into Alison's room carrying a bucket filled with spray disinfectants on one arm, pushing a vacuum cleaner with her other hand. She was wearing a formal uniform, a gray dress with white collar and cuffs and a white apron over it, and thin rubber gloves. Her hair was hidden under a paisley turban. She didn't look at the sleeping woman on the bed as she went about her business.

She moved quickly, as if this was only one of many rooms she had to do that morning. She gathered up the clothes on the floor and threw them into the hamper in the bathroom, humming as she worked. When the bedroom was all picked up and tidy, she moved to the bathroom, washing out the shower, drying the floor. She put the cosmetics away and lingered over Alison's diamond engagement and wedding rings. After a few seconds, she took off one of the rubber gloves and put them on. She studied the way they looked on her hand, pulled the glove back over them, and went into the bedroom, where she turned on the vacuum cleaner. It roared into life.

Alison's body was still relaxed, but her eyes slowly opened and rolled around at the ceiling above her as if trying to locate the source of the offending noise. She turned her head to the side and her eyes connected with the hose of the vacuum cleaner as it entered her field of vision.

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