Read Booked for Murder for Free Online

inhabited a different financial dimension from her and Sophie. While Meredith was making coffee, Lindsay prowled the room, noting the deep pile of the carpet and the expensive brocade of upholstery and curtains. The weekly rate was probably about double the monthly mortgage on the house in Half Moon Bay. Whatever had brought Meredith to England, it was clearly something she valued.
    It hadn’t been difficult to persuade her that the arrivals lounge at Heathrow wasn’t the best place to deal with her grief. Stifling her Calvinist conscience at the thought of the expense, Lindsay had followed her to the cab rank, secretly grateful that she wouldn’t have to lug her bags any further than absolutely necessary. They hadn’t said much on the stuttering journey through west London’s heavy traffic, contenting themselves with superficial conversation about San Franciscan acquaintances and Lindsay’s flight. It had been a relief to escape from the stuffy cab and feel able to talk openly.
    Meredith carried through a tray with mugs and milk jug grouped around a steaming cafetière and placed it carefully on a footstool large enough to accommodate a pair of seven league boots. As she poured, Lindsay looked at her more closely. Meredith’s dark blonde hair was ratty, pulled back into a ponytail held by an elastic band. Her eyelids looked bruised and puffy, and dark pouches had appeared under eyes whose grey irises swam in a background of red
and white craquelure. The skin on her face and neck seemed to have sagged and crêped overnight, and her lips were chapped and split. Passing her in the street, a casual observer would have assumed the expensive clothes, carefully chosen for their flattering cut and color, belonged to someone else. Lindsay had always thought Meredith attractive; now she understood that it was only the spark of her liveliness that had made her so. With Penny dead, the light in Meredith’s face had died, leaving her damaged and ordinary.
    â€œI appreciate you coming,” Meredith said. “I didn’t know if you would.”
    Lindsay felt a pang of guilt that she’d even considered refusing. “Yeah, well, we’ve been friends a while now.”
    â€œI haven’t behaved much like a friend since Penny and I split up. I didn’t return your calls, I didn’t come round.”
    Lindsay shrugged. “I assumed you weren’t ready to talk about it. I wasn’t offended.”
    Meredith sighed. “It wasn’t just that I wasn’t ready. I knew Penny was seeing Sophie. I saw Sophie pick her up one night around dinnertime and drop her off a couple of hours later. I figured you’d have heard Penny’s side of it. Which would not have been a pretty story. I didn’t expect you’d be too bothered about the case for the defense.”
    â€œYou should know me better than that.”
    Meredith acknowledged her reproach with a sad smile. “I know. But I haven’t been thinking too straight.”
    â€œThat’s what I’m here for now. But if you’re serious about wanting me to investigate this, you’re going to have to give me a free hand.”
    Meredith nodded, cradling her coffee in her hands as if it were precious and fragile. “You got it,” she said.
    Lindsay nodded, her lips tight in anticipation of awkwardness. She pushed her hair back from her face and said, “It means I have to ask difficult questions. You probably aren’t going to want to answer some of them, but it’s important that you tell me the truth, okay? Even if it’s something that makes it look bad for you, you have to tell me. I’m not going to misunderstand the way your lawyer might, because I know you couldn’t have killed Penny.” Well, not like that, she added mentally. Not with that degree of premeditation.
    Meredith stared into her coffee. “I don’t have anything to hide,” she
said, her