New Year's Eve Murder Read Free

night.”
    â€œKevin called Susan at her mother’s yesterday, and Susan wasn’t there,” Harriet said.
    â€œAnd she hadn’t spent the night there.”
    â€œWait a minute,” Jack said. “You dropped her off at her mother’s and she didn’t go inside?”
    â€œI think she went inside.” He looked confused. “If you mean, did I sit in the car and watch her go in, no, I didn’t. I let her off—it was daylight—and while she was walking up to the door, I drove away. It’s Brooklyn. It’s a narrow, one-way street parked up on both sides, and there was a car behind me. I left.”
    It sounded perfectly reasonable. “When did you call her?” I asked.
    â€œI don’t know. Four, five o’clock. Her mother said she hadn’t seen her for a couple of days.”
    I didn’t like the cold feeling in my chest. “What’s the neighborhood like?”
    â€œIt’s as safe at this one,” Harriet said. “Private houses, children playing in the street, mothers pushing strollers.”
    â€œBut you never know,” Kevin said.
    â€œDoes she have a car?” Jack asked.
    â€œNo, but she drives.”
    â€œHer mother have a car?”
    â€œYes. I’m sure if it were missing, she would have said.”
    â€œAda called us several times last night,” Harriet said. “She didn’t say anything about the car being missing.”
    â€œLet me just get this straight,” I said. As I spoke, I glanced over at the baby seat where Eddie was resting, his eyes glued to my face as I spoke. I smiled in spite of myself. “Two days ago, in the afternoon or evening—”
    â€œLate afternoon,” Kevin interjected.
    â€œâ€”you dropped Susan off at her mother’s house. You think she went inside but you can’t swear to it.”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œYesterday about four, you called her there, to make plans for New Year’s Eve.”
    â€œAnd she wasn’t there and her mother hadn’t seen her for a couple of days.”
    â€œCould she have slept over without her mother knowing she was there?”
    He thought about it. “Sure. She’s a grown-up. If her mother came home late and Susan was already asleep, maybe she wouldn’t have noticed.”
    â€œIs there a father there?” I asked.
    â€œThere is definitely a father,” Harriet said. “A good and caring father.”
    â€œWe’ll have to talk to them, Harriet. A young woman missing in the city scares me.”
    â€œMe, too,” she said quietly, looking away.
    â€œScares the hell out of me.” Kevin walked out of the kitchen, as though he had had enough.
    â€œIt’s very unlike Susan,” Harriet said. “I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I’m worried.”
    Jack started to say something when we all heard the key turn in the lock, and then Arnold’s voice saying, “I’m home.”
    â€œCome on in, honey,” Harriet called, leaving the kitchen.
    â€œI’ve got Ada with me. Jack and Chris still here?”
    I knew what was coming next.

2
    Ada Stark was a tall, good-looking woman in her late fifties or early sixties. Her thick, short hair was salt-and-pepper with a lot more pepper than salt, and she had a clear complexion that today was devoid of makeup except for lipstick.
    We had all been introduced and were arranged around the living room, where last night the New Year had been ushered in loudly and happily.
    â€œTwo nights ago,” Ada said. She pressed her fingertips to her forehead as if to conjure up the memory of the second-last night of the year. “I met Ernie for dinner in Manhattan. I’ve been over this with Arnold already, you know.”
    â€œHumor us,” Arnold said. “I want Jack and Chris to hear what happened.”
    â€œWe weren’t back that late, nine maybe, nine-thirty. I turned the news on at ten