A Talent for Murder by R.T. Jordan Page A

and…” Polly said.
    “I remember that the security system wasn’t activated.”
    “It was daytime,” Placenta said.
    “Yeah, but Thane was paranoid about being burgled … or worse,” Lisa said. “He kept the system activated twenty-four-seven.”
    “Of course, you knew the code because you’d used it often enough. Like the night before?” Polly said.
    Lisa swallowed hard. “I suppose my affair with Thane is making news everywhere.”
    Tim sniggered. “I don’t mean to laugh, but
Daily Variety
said, ‘Psycho Secretary in Pillow Talk before the Big Chill.’“
    “Then I’m probably as dead as he is.”
    “The media are having a blast playing up the jilted lover angle,” Polly continued. “The
Peeper
is concluding that yours is a case of being cast aside for a new play toy.”
    Lisa looked down. “That sums it up,” she saidalmost in a whisper. “After we made love Friday night, the SOB told me I needed to join a gym.”
    “Yikes! That’s insulting,” Tim said. “Thane wasn’t exactly God’s gift.”
    “You can say that again. I got angry. I said I was leaving him. He laughed at me. He said that I was saving him the trouble of dumping me. He told me to get permanently lost.” Lisa’s voice broke as she cried.
    For a moment, the entire jail cell was quiet. Then Lisa looked up and declared, “But he wasn’t worth killing! I didn’t do what they say I did!” She began to weep again.
    Placenta withdrew a Kleenex from her pocket and handed it to Polly to give to Lisa.
    “We don’t have many ticks of the clock left, honey,” Polly said, looking at her Cartier wristwatch. “Fast-forward this melodrama. You’re trespassing in Thane’s house. You see … what?”
    “At first, nothing,” Lisa continued. “Nothing unusual, that is. I didn’t want to startle Thane, so I called out his name a few times. As I wandered through the house and down the hallways, I kept calling his name. I even went into the backyard, thinking he might be in the pool. Then I figured he was probably in the steam room, or in bed with someone, so I went to his suite. It’s way in the back of the house, where he might not have heard me earlier. The door was closed. As I got nearer I listened carefully. I didn’t hear anything. So again I called his name. No answer. I knocked on the door. Nothing. I suppose I should have called 911 before going in there, but I never expected …”
    “What?” asked Polly.
    Lisa looked at Polly. “Thane was in bed. Facedown. Naked. The sheet drawn to his waist. Blood … everywhere! At first I didn’t do anything except try not to throw up. I guess I was in shock. Then I heard a noise and realized that whoever stabbed Thane might still be in the house. I saw a bloodied knife on the floor, so I picked it up for self-defense. That’s when Thane’s maid, Ophelia, came in. She looked at me. Then she looked at Thane’s body. She said, ‘Miss Lisa!’Then something in Spanish. She looked really frightened and slowly backed out of the room. When she got to the door she closed it behind her. I heard her scream, ‘Miss Eva! Miss Eva! Nine-one-one! Nine-one-one!’ I guess that’s when I fainted.”
    “Miss Eva? The new significant other?” Polly asked.
    “Thane’s stupid Persian cat.”
    “Did you see anything that might suggest someone else had been there after you left the night before?” Polly asked.
    “Besides a dead body? A butcher’s knife on the bedroom floor? Bloody bedsheets? No.” Lisa shook her head. “But it was damn odd that the security chimes weren’t on. It’s possible that Thane might have forgotten to turn the alarm system on, but he would never have been in the house—even if he had company—without the chimes that signaled whenever any outside door opened.”
    Suddenly the door at the entrance slammed open. Officers Betty and Garrett marched into Lisa’s cage. With her arms folded across her chest, Betty looked first at Polly, then at Tim and