Free If Looks Could Kill by Kate White Page B

and it was clear from her expression that she was
     growing impatient with whoever was yapping into her ear on the other end. Finally she cut the person off.
    “So she refuses to wear leather. We’ll put her in something pretty by Dolce and Gabbana. Or Versace. Let’s just get the date
     nailed down.”
    She listened for a minute, simultaneously gesturing for me to pick up the newspapers on the desk behind me. I started to mouth
     that I’d seen them, but suddenly she was riveted to what she was hearing.
    “What?” she yelled. “She thinks silkworms are mistreated?” A pause. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Forget it. I’m not
     going to get into any kind of dance with a nut like that. Her last two movies were dogs, and she should consider herself lucky
     if we asked her to model the Cheryl Tiegs Kmart collection. We’re going to have to find someone else.”
    The person at the other end was obviously Rachel Kaplan, the
Gloss
entertainment editor, who apparently was now making a stab at getting Cat to reconsider her decision to cancel some petulant,
     PETA-sympathizing star’s shot at a cover.
    “Tough,” Cat said. “She sounds like a lunatic, and I know just what would happen. We’d go along and get to the shoot and find
     out she won’t put on cotton because—because it’s bad for boll weevils or something. I’m not taking any chances. Who else has
     a movie in October?”
    Long pause. “No—she’s death on a newsstand.”
    Another long pause. “She could work, though she’s got that heinous publicist who never gives us anybody. Before you try, have
     Peter call in some paparazzi shots of her. We need to do a chubby check. I’ve gotta go.” She put the phone down without bothering
     with good-bye.
    “I thought you’d never get here,” she said, flopping down in the other armchair. “You want anything to drink—or eat?”
    “In a minute, maybe, after we talk.”
    “Did you find out anything about Heidi?”
    “A bit. I didn’t hook up with Jody yet, but I spoke with Janice. She said Heidi rarely drank and didn’t do drugs. She was
     pretty adamant. How did you find Heidi, anyway?” I asked. “Did you get her through an agency?”
    “No, it was a word-of-mouth kind of thing,” she replied. “She’d been working up in Westchester and she wanted to get out,
     to find a gig in the city.”
    “You said Heidi and Jody hadn’t been going out for a while. Do you think she’d hooked up with someone else?”
    “Not that I know of.” She had paused just a beat before answering.
    “Heidi always spent weekends here, even if you guys were up in Litchfield?”
    “For the most part. Though she came up with us a few times this spring. We didn’t expect her to work weekends, so she’d do
     her own thing, go off on a bike for the day. Why?”
    “I’m just wondering what she may have been up to. Janice told me that Heidi hadn’t wanted to spend as much time with her lately.
     She’d become kind of secretive, too.”
    “That’s the kind of thing I need you to look into,” she said, leaning forward. “Like I said, I don’t want any weird surprises.
     Did you see what the
Post
did with this already? They said she died in my basement. They’re making it sound like the Jon-Benet Ramsey case.”
    “I’m happy to help, Cat, but if Janice doesn’t know anything and Jody’s not likely to, that doesn’t give me much to go on.”
    “Why don’t you take a look at some of her things and see if you can find anything out from that? I should do it myself, but
     I can’t bear to.”
    “But are the police finished with the room? Surely they don’t want people traipsing around yet.”
    “They spent a whole day there and they’re done. I called last night and they said it was okay to use the room—though I can’t
     imagine who’d want to.”
    “Well, I can look around down there, but I assume if there was anything interesting, the police took it with them.”
    “They told me they