Free Harry Dolan by Bad Things Happen

“One or two of them have keys. There’s a secretary, Sandy Vogel. But she would have left by five.”
    “I’ll need to talk to her. Anyone else?”
    “Cleaning people. Sandy can give you their names. And I have a key, of course.”
    Elizabeth shifted in her chair. “I have to ask: Where were you yesterday evening?”
    Laura examined the backs of her hands. “Now we come to it,” she said. “Rex wanted to be here when I answered that question.” Rex Chatterjee was the pudgy lawyer. Elizabeth waited.
    “I was at the home of David Loogan,” Laura said. “He’s a friend of mine, and of Tom’s. He’s also an editor for the magazine.”
    “And how would you describe your friendship with Mr. Loogan?” said Elizabeth.
    Laura smiled faintly. “That’s an artful way of asking the question,” she said. “David Loogan and I were intimate. We were having what I suppose you would call an affair.”
    Elizabeth took care not to react. “How long had that been going on?”
    “Not long. Since the end of August. But when I went to see him yesterday he told me he wanted to end it.”
    “Why was that?” Elizabeth asked.
    “He didn’t feel right about it. He was fond of my husband.”
    “Was there something in particular that prompted his decision?”
    “Not that I know of. I see what you’re saying. If that was how he felt, why not break it off sooner?”
    “Why start it in the first place?”
    “He didn’t exactly start it,” Laura said. “I pursued him.”
    “Did your husband know about the affair?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “But he might have. What would his attitude have been if he knew?”
    “You’re being artful again,” Laura said. “We weren’t swingers, if that’s what you’re getting at. I wasn’t in the habit of sleeping with my husband’s friends. If he knew, he would have reacted as any man would.”
    “He would have been jealous? Wounded?”
    “Yes.”
    “Angry?”
    “Possibly.”
    “Would he have confronted Mr. Loogan?”
    “I think he would have confronted me. But he never did.” Laura closed her eyes for a moment. “If you think he confronted David and David threw him out a window—well, you don’t know David Loogan.”
    “You don’t believe he’s capable of murder?”
    “I imagine he is. But he wouldn’t kill Tom. He liked Tom.”
    “He might not have set out to do it,” Elizabeth said. “They might have argued—”
    “I don’t believe it.”
    “Because you know David Loogan.”
    “Yes,” Laura said. “I’m sure that’s difficult for you to understand. All you know about David is that he had an affair with his friend’s wife, and now his friend is dead. You can spin any number of scenarios out of that. He argued with Tom and things got out of control. Or he killed Tom to get him out of the way, so he and I could be together.”
    “That possibility has occurred to me.”
    “Or David and I conspired to kill Tom, so we could be together.”
    “I haven’t suggested that.”
    “No. That would be a crude thing to say at a time like this. You’re not crude. You’re artful.” Laura’s blue eyes were locked on Elizabeth’s. “It doesn’t matter. David didn’t kill Tom. I’m sure of that—and not just because of my judgment of what kind of man David is.”
    “No?”
    “No. It’s because of the timing. They told me last night that Tom died at around twenty after seven.”
    “That’s right,” Elizabeth said. “A driver passing on the street called 911. The call came in at seven twenty-two.”
    “At twenty after seven, David was at home. That’s when I left his house.”

Chapter 9
    DAVID LOOGAN HAD COFFEE BREWING WHEN ELIZABETH ARRIVED AT HIS house on Sunday evening. She took the seat he offered her—in the living room on the sofa with the wall at her back. He sat in a chair with the front window behind him.
    A floor lamp stood near the chair and outside was the street and the night coming on. Through the window, Elizabeth could see the