Page 57 of Lion & Lamb

Chapter58

“I FIGUREDit was a smartwatch,” Maya Rain continued. “Men don’t wear wristwatches anymore, not since the smartphone came along. Come on inside. Can I get you something to drink? Some water for Lupe?”

“Actually, would you mind if I used your restroom for a moment? I spent a long time down in my car in the freezing cold working up the courage to knock on your door.”

Cooper used a casual tone of voice meant to put her at ease. He was also taking a mental snapshot of her condo. Spare, high-end furniture (possibly rented), generic framed art, not much in the way of screens or electronics. If his daughter, Ariel, were here, she would tag this place a “grown-up apartment,” a jab at his own cluttered digs.

“The guest bathroom is to your left,” Maya said. “And before you waste too much of your time, because it’s awfully late and I suspect we’ve both had a long day, you’re not going to find anything personal in the medicine cabinet.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You know—no telltale prescription bottles, no bag of heroin taped to the inside of the toilet tank, nothing like that. Isn’t that what detectives do, pretend to use the bathroom and then engage in a little impromptu profiling?”

“Uh, I really just have to relieve my bladder. But thanks for the heads-up.”

She’s good,Cooper thought as he closed the door behind him.Too good to be true. Of course he intended to scour her bathroom for any revealing details. Just because she’d told him not to bother didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.

But as Maya had warned, there was literally nothing to reveal, except that she had a taste for expensive grooming products and furnishings. The vanity was white Carrara marble on top, solid wood below, with soft-close drawer glides and brushed-chrome fixtures. This guest bathroom was pristine enough to perform brain surgery in. Cooper felt like a heathen using the facilities.

Back in the living room, Maya was waiting for him with an ice-filled tumbler garnished with a wedge of lemon.

“I probably shouldn’t,” Cooper said. “I still have to drive Lupe home.”

“It’s mineral water, to help replace your fluids.”

“I didn’t have to gothatbadly.”

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked, guiding him to her midcentury-modern couch, made of an impossibly soft woven fabric and supported by stubby walnut legs.

“Can I be totally straight with you?” Cooper asked as they sat down. “I’m trying to save your boss, and for whatever reason, she’s reluctant to tell me the truth. I know she didn’t do it. I’m just looking for evidence so I can prove it to the rest of the world. You’re in a unique position to help me do that.”

“You want me to betray my employer’s confidence?”

“No. I just want to know what you saw.”

“Which is also betraying her trust.”

“Maya, I’m just going to come out and ask you: Did you see Archie hit Francine?”

For the first time, the nanny seemed speechless. This was good. Cooper pressed his advantage by pulling out prints of the photos that Victor had found. He fanned them out on her walnut coffee table. It was difficult to look at them, even though he’d seen them before.

“Oh,” Maya said.

“Look, I know Francine didn’t kill Archie. But after seeing these, I wouldn’t blame her if she had.” Instead of looking at the photos, Cooper studied Maya’s face. She was taking it all in, but there was a hardness there, as if she were unwilling toletit all in. He saw a professional detachment in her eyes. Cooper doubted they taught that in grad school.

“Yes,” Maya said after a while. “There were incidents.”

“You saw Archie hit Francine.”

Maya nodded. “I asked her if she needed my help finding someone to talk to. She swore me to secrecy but also assured me that this was nothing new, and she knew how to handle her husband. I knew better than to press.”

“Even as a crime happened right before your eyes?”

“This is just between you and me, Cooper,” she said quietly. “But Francine gave as good as she got.”

“Does that include murder?”

Maya smiled and shook her head. “I should know better than to talk to a private eye at one in the morning.”

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