Annie Seymour 01-Sacred Cows by Karen E. Olson

had his back to his entourage.
    “No comment,” the lawyer said. “Now get out of here.”
    “But he must have a comment about Melissa. He was her boyfriend.” I wondered how far I could push this before getting physically thrown out.
    The young man turned then. He had circles under his eyes, and his hair was disheveled. It looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, kind of the way I’d looked yesterday.
    “I want to say something,” he said, a low rumble coming from the back of his throat.
    The lawyer shook his head. “David, you shouldn’t say anything.”
    “For Christ’s sake, I loved her,” David said harshly. “I want everyone to know I couldn’t hurt her, I loved her.” I could hear the pain in his voice, but there was something in his eyes, something that didn’t quite add up to this professed grief.
    “David, honey,” his mother started, but the lawyer held up his hand to silence her.
    “Did you know she was working for the escort service?” I asked, knowing full well he did, but wanting to hear his response.
    He rolled his shoulders back as if he had a crick in his neck. “Yeah, I knew.”
    “I’m advising you as your attorney not to say any more.”
    David and I both glared at him.
    “Did you know who she was meeting that night?” I asked David as if we were the only two people in the room.
    “Don’t talk to her,” his father advised, but lucky for me David wasn’t listening.
    “No. I saw her at the party, then she left. I was pretty drunk, I stayed until about two-thirty, then came back here.”
    “I heard you had a fight.”
    Something crossed his face, but it came and went so fast I couldn’t read it. “Yeah, we fought a lot. There’s a lot of pressure, you know, it’s tough sometimes.”
    The parents exchanged a look that wasn’t hard to notice. “How are your grades?” I asked.
    He shrugged again. “I dunno. Medium. I guess I could be doing better.”
    “How was Melissa doing in school?”
    His face changed again, and the smile he was trying for didn’t quite come off. “Oh, she was doing fine. She’s, she was, I mean, one of those people who didn’t have to study too much to get good grades.”
    “Why did she break up with you?” Throw him a curveball, see if he hits it.
    His eyes grew dark. “She said she had to concentrate more on school, but that was a lot of bullshit. She was getting into that job, big-time.”
    “Now I have to ask you to leave. I won’t allow him to talk to you anymore.” The lawyer took my arm and started leading me out. “If you have any more questions, call my office.” He handed me a card. I glanced at it. Bill Smythe, attorney at law.
    “Thank you for your time, David,” I said over my shoulder. When Smythe and I were in the hall, I asked, “There was a guy in here earlier, tall, dark hair, Italian-looking. Who was he?”
    Smythe looked startled, then recovered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    He knew damned well who that guy was and he wasn’t talking. If it was Richard Wells, he was making sure I didn’t find out his angle. I was soon outside the building, wondering just exactly how I could get more information about David Best, when my cell phone rang. I dug in my bag until I found it. “Hello?”
    “Hey, girl.” Priscilla didn’t waste any time. “I found that place.”
    “McGee?”
    “It’s a fucking Gap.”
    “What?”
    “It’s a Gap store. No kidding.”
    I stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk and some guy crashed into me. He glared at me. “Sorry,” I muttered. “What about upstairs? Anything upstairs?” I asked Priscilla.
    “I checked it out. Lawyers, doctors. No McGee.”
    What the hell was going on? They had an apartment in New Haven but no office in New York, where they supposedly did business. “Jesus,” I said softly.
    “Gotta run. Let me know what’s up, you’ve got me curious now.”
    I put the phone back in my purse and wandered aimlessly, trying to put the pieces