The Temporary Detective

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Do you think Doreen knew?" Delphi asked, leaning against the bar.

Isobel took a long sip of red wine before answering. "How could she not have?" She set down her glass. She'd had to pay for her drink this time, but it was worth it. "Doreen made it her business to know everything about everybody. And Frank was her boss."

"Then why wasn't he on her blackmail list?" asked Delphi.

"She had that secretarial devotion thing going. Like Conchita has for Stan. If there was any animosity between Frank and Doreen, I have yet to get wind of it."

Delphi shook her head. "I don't buy it. If she knew, she was blackmailing him. I bet she has another page of names hidden somewhere."

"It does seem impossible that she didn't know," Isobel conceded. "Assistants are, by definition, keepers of the secrets."

"And it seems impossible to me that she knew and wasn't using the information to her advantage," Delphi concluded.

Isobel sipped again thoughtfully. "Maybe it suited her better not to. Maybe she enjoyed being in the driver's seat of that relationship. Doreen would have gotten off on that. Maybe she even helped him arrange trysts or whatever, and he rewarded her with little perks."

"What about the wife?" Delphi asked.

"Sì, sì! What about the wife? Will you be mine?" Carlo had come up behind Delphi and was nuzzling her neck.

She pulled away. "You already have a wife, Carlo."

"Seven years it takes to get a divorce in Italy. Who can wait?"

"You can. I can. Especially because I'm not interested."

Carlo staggered and placed his hand over his heart. "You wound me! That dark boyfriend of yours, where is he?"

"Oh, we, uh, broke up." She shot a look at Isobel, who was intently arranging pretzel twists on a coaster.

"Grazie a Dio-there is hope for me!" Carlo gestured melodramatically at the ceiling and left them to greet more diners at the door.

Isobel looked up from her pretzel collage. "He is too much."

"Don't you think he's attractive?"

"We've been through this. No."

"Speaking of attractive, are you sure it was Justin?"

"Positive. He was wearing the same self-satisfied smirk he had after Terence's class. And nothing else."

Delphi sighed. "Well, that's a shame."

But Isobel didn't want to talk about Justin. He was no longer remotely interesting. "Back to Frank," she said. "It explains why Audrey is a shopaholic. She's lonely."

"That doesn't necessarily mean she knows," Delphi said shrewdly. "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt."

"There's some mystery around them having, or wanting, a baby," Isobel said. "Frank said it was a sore subject."

"If he's not sleeping with her and she wants kids, I'm sure it is."

"I overheard them discussing in vitro. I assumed it was because of infertility, but maybe there's more to it."

"Why doesn't she just divorce him? Is he that great a prize?

"He's good-looking in an empty suit sort of way. Sort of moody, though."

"There are a lot of cute guys out there. Why hang onto him?"

"I have no idea," Isobel said. "But I don't think she knows. She barged her way into Frank's office, and he rushed to hide the photo on his computer. He didn't even take the time to quit the program, he just hid the window on the desktop."