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smirked. Lauren silenced her with a glare and nestled her expensive purse against her shoulder.
    “Everyone is talking about Eric’s murder,” Lauren said. “I took an early flight back from D.C. this morning, and Dan called me at the airport with the news.” Lauren leaned in and whispered, “Of course, I always thought Maggie might blow his head off one day.”
    “Why would you think that?” Serena asked.
    “This is a small city. People talk.”
    “What do they say?”
    “Oh, please. We both know that Eric had a reputation.”
    “So do a lot of men,” Serena said.
Like Dan
, she thought to herself.
    “Maybe so, but I own a dress shop, and my store manager says that Eric is a regular customer.”
    “So?”
    “So not all of the dresses he buys are in petite,” she said with a wink. “Get the picture?”
    Serena said nothing.
    “What business do you have with Dan?” Lauren asked, giving Serena a cool smile.
    “I don’t know.”
    “That’s discreet, but you can tell me. Dan and I don’t keep secrets.”
    “I’m sure that’s true, but I really don’t know what he wants yet.”
    Lauren took a long moment to consider Serena’s face and apparently decided that she was telling the truth. Serena suspected that Dan had already given his wife one story, and Lauren was trolling to see if he had told Serena the same thing.
    “As it happens, I’m on my way to see Stride,” Lauren continued.
    “Oh?”
    “Yes, there’s an issue involving one of my employees. She’s disappeared.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Well, it may be nothing, but she’s a little unstable.”
    Serena didn’t reply.
    “I’ll leave you to Dan,” Lauren said. She added with a frozen laugh, “This is almost like wife-swapping, isn’t it?”
    “I’m sorry?”
    “Me with your boyfriend, you with my husband. That’s a Vegas kind of thing, isn’t it?”
    “Not for me,” Serena said.
    “I’m glad to hear it,” Lauren told her. “It’s not my thing either.”
     
     
    Lauren was gone when Dan Erickson invited Serena into his office.
    She wondered how long it would take before he touched her. It turned out to be three seconds. As he guided her toward the red leather sofa near the window, he put a hand on her shoulder and left it there too long.
    “I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” he apologized. “It’s been a crazy day. Everyone’s calling.”
    “That’s all right.”
    “Do you want some coffee?” he asked.
    Serena shook her head.
    “I’m addicted,” Dan said. “Two pots a day.”
    He poured himself a cup and sat down uncomfortably close to her on the sofa. Serena slid away, putting more space between them. He noticed her maneuver and grinned. Serena didn’t think she had ever seen whiter teeth, and she assumed that he treated them every night to keep them glossy.
    Dan was one of those men who was every bit as handsome as he believed himself to be. She could smell his ego oozing from him like cologne. He had blond hair, heavily sprayed so that not a strand moved out of place, and a blemish-free complexion with a store-bought tan. His forehead was creeping northward, and Serena imagined him frantically applying Rogaine to stem the damage. He wore a shimmering navy suit, a gold Rolex, and a thick band on his wedding finger. He wasn’t tall, no more than five feet nine, but she had no doubt that women found him attractive. Serena had seen carbon copies of him for years in Las Vegas. A predator, like a hawk. Self-absorbed. A sex addict.
    “How’s Stride?” Dan asked. “He must be worried about Maggie.”
    “Of course.”
    “Most people around here think she did it.”
    “You’re getting way ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”
    Dan shrugged. “I’ve already talked to Teitscher. It doesn’t look good.”
    “Stride says she didn’t do it,” Serena told him.
    “He would say that, wouldn’t he? Stride’s not objective when it comes to Maggie.”
    “And you are?” Serena asked. “I know the two of you