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“Oh, I think he’s just being nice,” Elizabeth said. “Deirdre told me she invited him.” It was strange to think of herself as a single woman.
Nadia took a long swallow from her wineglass. “If you ever need anything, call me. You have my number.”
“Thanks, yes.”
“I mean it,” she pressed.
Elizabeth nodded. She didn’t know how to tell her friends that she was a little overwhelmed by everyone’s eagerness and urgency to help her, that she just needed time alone. To process. To consider her future. To come to grips that she and Chloe were alone in the world.
At that moment, Deirdre swept up to them and said in a conspirator’s voice, “I shouldn’t have invited him, I know. But Gil’s a good, good guy, and he’s got loads of money. Loads.”
What’s that got to do with anything? Elizabeth thought, then remembered confiding to her friends about the state of her finances. Obviously, a mistake.
Deirdre continued slyly, “You know, he might not look like it, but he could buy and sell half the people I know.”
Good guy . . . Her words reminded Elizabeth of GoodGuy and she had to force out a smile and a noncommittal response.
Not so Nadia, who asked suspiciously, “What happened to his wife, then?”
Deirdre gave her a long look. “What do you mean?”
“I heard it was suicide,” Nadia said.
“Oh, I’m so sick of that. Monica would never.” Shaking her head, Deirdre said, “It was a pill overdose. A mistake. That’s all.” She was clearly annoyed with Nadia.
But Nadia wasn’t about to give up. “There was a question about it. That’s what I heard.”
“Can anyone join in this conversation?” Tara asked. Her husband Dave was with Bill and Gil standing near a fire pit. Les, too, staring at the flames, stood near the men.
Elizabeth noted that Vivian was at the bar ordering more drinks.
“Gil’s wife, Monica Dyne, died of a drug overdose,” Nadia said to Tara. “Deirdre says it was an accident, but—”
”It was an accident,” Deirdre snapped.
“There was a question about it.” Nadia spread her hands, her lips pressed tightly together. “That’s all I’m saying.”
“Girls, girls,” Tara said, then grabbed Elizabeth by the arm and pulled her away. “You looked trapped.”
“I was trapped. Thanks for the rescue. Deirdre seems to have invited Gil so I could meet him.”
“It’s way too soon for that.”
“No kidding.”
“I never knew Deirdre was such a matchmaker.” Tara guided Elizabeth away from the patio and fire pits to stand near the front door.
Elizabeth said, “Peter Bellhard stopped by my open house today.”
“You’re kidding.” Tara looked scandalized.
Elizabeth gave her the gist of what Bellhard had said to her, finishing with, “There’s no money and no insurance.”
Tara sighed loudly.
“Anyway, I’m all for full disclosure if it gets Detective Thronson off my back.”
“Yeah, but what do you have to disclose that you haven’t already?”
