Page 103 of Over Her Dead Body

When I get out of the shower, a new text is waiting from the representative of the Lisbon estate.

We trust your arrival was uneventful.

CHAPTER 39

EMMA

The hotel sends up a black dress one size too large. From a distance, it could pass for something I chose myself. The shoes are less successful. They are too narrow, too high, and new enough to punish me for both.

By nine, I have dressed, swallowed two painkillers, and discovered how many ordinary tasks require the use of one’s palms. Nearly all of them.

The hotel arranges a car. I spend the drive watching our route instead of the city.

The house is in Lapa, behind a limestone wall and a pair of iron gates. The address belongs to a family trust with no useful public history. I checked from the hotel.

Twice.

The gates open, and the car follows a curved drive toward the house. I watch them close again in the rear window.

A woman and a young man wait beneath the portico. He is dressed in navy, with a tablet tucked beneath his arm. She is in her late fifties, dressed in cream, with silver hair cut precisely at her jaw.

The woman steps forward.

“Ms. Calloway. I’m Marta Vilar. I represent the family.”

She introduces the young man as her assistant.

“We were sorry to hear about your difficulty yesterday.”

Difficulty.

A useful word. It covers everything from misplaced luggage to abduction without requiring anyone to adjust the tone of a meeting.

“Thank you.”

Marta leads me inside. Her assistant follows us into a drawing room, taking notes as we walk. I have not said enough to know what he is recording.

The meeting is already better documented than my visit to the police.

Marta gestures toward a chair. “Please.”

I sit carefully. The dress shifts when I do. I tug the hem toward my knees.

Marta takes the chair opposite mine.

“The family is considering several possibilities,” Marta says. “A formal valuation. Private placement of selected works. Possibly a larger consignment later.”

“And today?”

“They would like your preliminary impression.”

“You requested me specifically.”

“The family did.”

“On whose recommendation?”

Marta glances at her assistant. He keeps typing.