The Fortieth Birthday Body by Valerie Wolzien

Author:Valerie Wolzien [Wolzien, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2019-08-21T22:00:00+00:00

FORTY PLUS FOUR

I

Kathleen and Jerry were continuing the conversation that had ruined their chance for romance last night.

“Look, I’m meeting Jed for lunch—and I had to cancel an important meeting to get that time today—but I am not going to press him for any details about Dawn or what he’s told the police or …” He stopped and took a large bite out of his bran muffin.

“If you’re not going to bother to find out anything, why are you lunching with him?” Kathleen poured herself a cup of coffee and replaced the pot on the stove with a slight bang.

“Look, to you this is an investigation, to me it’s trying to help out an old friend—”

“Just because I haven’t known the Henshaws as long as you—” Kathleen began, her voice angry.

“I’m sorry. We went through this all last night, Kath. You do what you have to do and I’ll do everything I can to help.” He reached out to pick up the wall phone; its ringing had interrupted them. “Jed, good morning … Sure, I’ll be leaving in about ten minutes. I’ll pick you up at your house, okay?” He listened a moment more before laughing and hanging up.

“That was Jed?” Kathleen asked quickly.

“Yes. The Mercedes is still at the garage and since Susan needs her car for something else today, he asked if we could drive in together. You remember that we have that big banquet tonight, don’t you? Did you get … ?”

“Your tux was pressed at the cleaners yesterday and everything is hanging by the front door.”

“Studs?”

“I said everything, didn’t I? I don’t think you have any faith in me,” she added, laughing.

“I …”

“I know,” she interrupted. “I don’t take it as an insult. Have a good day, and a good dinner tonight. You know,” she added, “you’re going to be spending an awful lot of time with Jed today. You should be able to find out something.”

“I certainly did marry a persistent person, didn’t I?” he answered, also smiling.

“Yes, you did.”

II

“You would think that spending forty-seven thousand dollars for a car would be some sort of guarantee that the damn thing would work two days in a row, wouldn’t you?” Jed stuffed a black jacket into a garment bag as he spoke.

“Jed, that’s going to be all wrinkled if you don’t straighten it out,” Susan protested without much enthusiasm. She always had mixed feelings about social office functions to which wives weren’t invited. Part of her resented seeing her husband all dressed up going off to eat, drink, and be merry without her. But she had been to enough dinners in the ballrooms of New York hotels to know that the food was fancy and mediocre and the speeches usually full of in-jokes and self-congratulations. So much for being merry.

“You have a busy schedule today?” Jed asked, wrapping a silk cummerbund around a matching bow tie and adding it to the garment bag.

“Sort of. The first of my new aerobic classes is today. And I still have to buy a gift for Missy.

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