The Finishing School Read Free Page B

main part of the apartment. It was a large, paneled drawing room with lots of lavishly upholstered sofas and shelf after shelf of the type of gilt-edged books that decorators bought and nobody actually read. A desk sat in one corner, big and shiny as an ocean liner. Seward settled himself behind it in an imposing leather chair.
    “Please, have a seat.” He nodded toward two high-backed, uncomfortable-looking wing chairs facing the desk, and Melanie and Ray-Ray sat down. Ray-Ray opened his notebook, pen poised.
    “I’ll be happy to tell you anything I can,” Seward offered.
    “Let’s start with the basics. What time did you discover the bodies?” Melanie asked.
    “It wasn’t actually me who discovered them. It was the building super, Luis Reyes. He has a master key, and he’d come up here looking for his daughter, who’s a classmate of Whitney’s. I wasn’t home at the time. Charlotte and I were at a benefit at the downtown Guggenheim.”
    “Oh! I was under the impression you’d found the bodies yourself,” Melanie said.
    “The police may have assumed that, since I was here when they arrived. But I never said so. You’re the first person who directly asked me whether I discovered them or not.”
    “But it
was
you who called the police?”
    “Oh, yes. Not just the police. The
commissioner
.”
    “I’m surprised Mr. Reyes didn’t just call 911 when he found the bodies. That’s the usual reaction.”
    Seward hesitated for a millisecond. “Yes. Well. You see, I told him not to. Frankly, I didn’t trust Luis to handle things properly. Given the sensitive nature of the situation, I preferred to pursue it with my own contacts at a…uh,
higher
level. Many of the 911 dispatchers take money to feed tips to the tabloids, you know.”
    “I see. All right, we’ll speak to Mr. Reyes also. He’s here?”
    “No, he went downstairs to his apartment. In the basement. He was quite upset, so I told him to go lie down.”
    “You told him to leave the scene before the police arrived?”
    “Yes. I hope that’s not a problem. I can get him right back up here if you like.”
    “That won’t be necessary. We’ll go downstairs and speak with him after we’re finished interviewing you. But I’m curious as to why you didn’t tell the police that Mr. Reyes was the one who discovered the bodies?”
    “I guess I just didn’t realize it was important. I apologize if I’ve caused any confusion.”
    Seward’s pale eyes gazed at Melanie steadily. There was nothing that odd in what he was saying. It hardly surprised her that someone like him would choose to pull strings rather than let the building custodian dial 911. He obviously felt 911 was for the little people. Still, she got a strange vibe from him.
    “Do you know what time Mr. Reyes found the bodies?” she continued.
    Seward drew a slim silver cigarette case from his jacket pocket and extracted a European-looking cigarette, lighting it with steady hands. He was neither uncooperative nor nervous, yet his pauses before answering were odd, as if he were buying time to think. Then again, give the guy a break. It was almost four in the morning, and his stepdaughter was dead.
    “I wouldn’t want to speak for Luis. Best you ask
him
that,” Seward said finally.
    “Your point is well taken, Mr. Seward. When did Mr. Reyes first call
you
, then?” Melanie asked.
    “I’m not exactly sure when he first called,” Seward said, exhaling calmly. “It was loud at the benefit. I didn’t hear my phone ring. When my wife and I were leaving, I realized I had a voice-mail message. I listened to the message, then immediately called Luis back. That’s when he told me Whitney and Brianna were dead.”
    “What time was that?”
    “Quite late. Perhaps midnight.”
    “What did you do next?”
    “I rushed home, naturally.”
    “At what point did you call the police?”
    “Once I got home. I met Luis at the door, checked in Whitney’s room to see exactly what it was we were