Crazybone Read Free Page B

fucking insurance policy.” Then she said, “You scared the hell out of me, coming in here like that. You’re trespassing.”
    “I’m sorry.” I was tired of apologizing, but she was right on both counts. “Would you like me to come back at some other time?”
    “Why? Why are you bothering me? I told Rich Twining I don’t want to file a claim.”
    “Why not, Mrs. Hunter?”
    “That’s my business. Who sent you here? What do you do for Intercoastal Insurance?”
    “I’m an independent investigator. I was hired to—”
    “For God’s sake!” The fear was back, a lurking presence that made her pale gray-green eyes almost luminous. She raised her hands to cup both elbows, pulling in tight against herself as if she were cold. “Investigating what? Me?”
    “Not exactly. If you’ll just let me explain—”
    “I’m not going to file a damn claim. How much clearer do I have to make it to you people?”
    “Would you turn down the fifty thousand dollars if it was given to you?”
    “Given? What’re you talking about?”
    “Intercoastal deeply regrets your loss.” Company line; I didn’t believe it any more than she did. “As a gesture of goodwill to you and your daughter, they’re willing to honor your husband’s policy without the usual paperwork.”
    Incredulity crowded the fear aside. Twining had called her “drop-dead gorgeous,” and there was justification for that assessment. Flawless complexion as luminous as her eyes, perfect features, that dark silken hair, a long-legged, high-breasted figure. But there was also a worn, haggard quality that diminished and roughened the edges of her beauty. Part of it was grief, no doubt, but it seemed more ingrained than that. The fear, maybe, a physical corrosive if you live with it long enough.
    Pretty soon she said, “Why would they do a thing like that?”
    “A gesture of goodwill, as I—”
    “Oh, bullshit. Insurance companies don’t give a damn about people. They don’t do anything unless there’s something in it for them.”
    “All right, Mrs. Hunter, I’ll be candid. In return Intercoastal would ask the right to publicize their gesture, use your name in a promotional campaign.”
    “So that’s it. My photograph, too, I suppose. And my daughter’s name and photograph.”
    “With your permission, of course.”
    “I won’t consent to anything like that. Never. What’s the matter with them? I just lost my husband, Emily lost her father, our lives are in a shambles. We’re not about to become shills for a fucking insurance company.”
    “That’s not what—”
    “That’s exactly what it is.” She was angry now. The anger was genuine, but I had the impression she was working it up, using it to hold the fear at bay. “They hired you to poke around in my life, my husband’s life, make sure we’re not ax murderers or sexual deviants or something else that would make them look bad if it got out. Isn’t that right?”
    “There’s nothing in your background you’re ashamed of, is there?”
    “Of course not!” She spat the words at me; the gray-green eyes flashed and sparked. “How dare you!”
    “I didn’t mean that to be insulting.”
    “I don’t care what you meant. It is insulting, this whole ploy is insulting. You get out of here right now. You leave my daughter and me alone, stay out of our lives. And you tell your bosses if they bother me again in any way I’ll sue them for harassment. You understand?”
    “Yes, ma’am, I understand.”
    “Now get off my property. And don’t come back.”
    I didn’t argue with her; it would have been an indefensible argument even if I’d had the inclination. All I did was nod and walk out into the sunlight and tree shadows. She followed me as far as the studio entrance. When I glanced back after a time she was still standing there, still hugging herself as if there was no more warmth in the day and little enough in her body.
    As I came around the nearest of the big oaks into the