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Chapter 28

I tried tohide my surprise as I stared at Ellen Minshew. She was clearly a woman used to shocking people. For some reason I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.

She led me onto a patio, where we sat at a round glass table. The backyard was more spectacular than the front. Ferns hung from branches of some tropical tree. I had no clue what they did when the temperatures dropped. I was still trying to get a read on this woman. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t playing me. I tried to focus on what she had said. Her “relationship” with Emily was all I could think about.

Without any obvious orders or movement from Mrs. Minshew, a young woman brought out a pitcher of iced tea. My host sat across from me like we were at a garden party.

She said, “When I first met Don, he was an oilman. That was over fifteen years ago. I’d just graduated from Yale with my economics degree. I sensed the change in the oil business and shifted Don into lobbying. You can’t believe how much lobbyists get paid.”

I glanced around the lush backyard. I thought I could believe how much they were paid.

I said, “Sounds like you’re the brains and, forgive me, your husband’s just the front man for this band.”

“That’s a beautiful analogy, Detective. Aren’t you as sweet as peach pie? Don’s got a few tricks up his sleeve too. We work well together. He knows the right people and I know what to say.”

“Obviously you guessed correctly that I want to talk about Emily Parker. How did you meet her?”

“At one of the endless parties here in the district. She struck me as an interesting and intense young woman. We hit it off almost immediately.”

“Did your husband have much interaction with her?”

“Don doesn’t have much interaction with anyone who’s not connected to the House or the Senate. He knew Emily and I were friends, and that’s about it.”

“If I may be frank, Mrs. Minshew, I heard a rumor that Emily and your husband were an item. Now you’re saying that wasn’t true. You and she were an item. I didn’t realize that Emily was interested in women.”

“Emily was interested in a lot of things.”

“But not your husband.”

“I never said our relationship was sexual. We were close friends. We liked the outdoors and marveling at how immature men could be. You know, the usual.”

She winked at me like she was making certain I understood she automatically included me in that assessment.

She said, “It was fun to let people think she was sleeping with Don. In fact, she and I had a lot of laughs about it. Emily was a good friend who was smart enough to not care what people thought.”

Now she leaned across the table toward me and put her hand on my forearm.

She said, “I have a lot of things I’m interested in too. Tall cops from New York are right at the top of my list.”

I pulled my hand from her grip and off the table. I didn’t want there to be any confusion about why I was here. I concentrated on pulling my notepad and a pen out of my jacket pocket. Then I said, “Did Emily ever say anything about Robert Steinberg?”

“A little. He’s another wild one.”

“Is that what Emily said?”

“No. She didn’t speak about the justice. She could really keep secrets. But I’ve known Steinberg for years. I knew him when he was a regular at Jeffrey Epstein parties. He didn’t slow down much once he got married.”

“You know Justice Steinberg’s wife?”

“Of course. Everyone knows Rhea. She’s just a slip of a woman with big, fake boobies and a pretty face. That’s all some people need. I like a little danger as well. Maybe if she didn’t think she was some kind of artist she could focus more energy on her husband.”

I didn’t really see this interview going anywhere toward establishing who might have had a motive to kill Emily.

Mrs. Minshew said, “You know how some people say they don’t like to gossip?”

I nodded.

“I’m not one of them. I can imagine what people say about me, married to a roly-poly old man. They probably say a hair weave would improve his looks. I don’t really care. But I get a kick out of hearing comments about everyone else. Would you like to hear some juicy gossip?”

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