Talk by Laura van Wormer Page B

Alexandra told her.
    "Mr. Rafferty?" a man said.
    "I was wondering if you could come with me into the next office?"
    "Sure." Then to Jessica, "I'll be right next door if you need me."
    Jessica nodded and, head slightly bowed, walked over to take a seat on the couch.
    "Jessica," Cassy said as the rest seated themselves around Jessica, "this is Detective Jefferson Hepplewhite from the New York Police Department."
    "And my associate," the black detective said, nod ding to a big white guy in the chair across from him who had taken out a pen and pad, "Detective Richard O'Neal."
    "How do you do?" Jessica said mechanically.
    "As you know, Ms. Wright, your secretary, Bea Blakely, was found here at West End last night."
    Jessica felt a blanket of dread and fear descending on her, and the gnawings of pent-up grief.
    "How was she killed?"
    "I'm afraid we can't discuss the specifics right now."
    Jessica stared at him. Finally she said, "Could it have been an accident?"
    The detective shook his head.
    "No."
    "Wonderful," Jessica muttered.
    "A murderer's running around here and you can't discuss it." She glared at him.
    "How are we supposed to help if we don't even know what happened?"
    Cassy and the detective exchanged looks.
    "Let me get you some water, Jessica," Cassy said, rising from her chair.
    "Thank you, that won't be necessary," Jessica said sharply, prompting Cassy to sit down again.
    "Okay, Detective, you've got me here, you won't tell me anything except that someone murdered my secretary. So what do you want to know?"
    "Do you know why your secretary was here last night?"
    "Oh, God," Jessica said, crashing in an instant and dropping her face into her hands.
    "Poor Bea."
    "It's possible she could have been trying to get a jump on this week's shows," Cassy said.
    "So it was not unusual for her to be here on a weekend."
    "It wasn't usual," Jessica said, dropping her hands and sniffing. She took a Kleenex from Alexandra.
    "As a matter of fact, I made a point of telling her not to do any work this weekend." She blew her nose.
    "I
    wish you'd tell me how she was killed. "
    "It's not for public knowledge at this time," Detective Hepplewhite said, glancing at Alexandra.
    Jessica followed his eyes.
    "Oh for God's sake, you aren't reporting this, are you?" Jessica nearly shrieked at the anchorwoman.
    "Not who or how the murder occurred," Cassy said quickly.
    "But of course DBS News has to report the incident Jessica, you know that."
    "That's sick," Jessica said.
    "She worked here. You knew her."
    "We have an obligation to report the news as it hap pens," Alexandra said quietly.
    Jessica stared at her and then turned to the detective.
    "Could we please continue this conversation in private, please?"
    "Jessica," Alexandra protested, "you don't think I'd " "I'm not about to talk about Bea in front of the press, that's for damn sure!" Jessica told her.
    "She wasn't here long, but I don't want her corpse winning anybody a raise around here."
    "Jessica!" This was from Cassy.
    "It's okay," Alexandra said, getting up to leave.
    "I know how she feels."
    "Why don't you use your vultures downstairs to find the murderer?"
    Jessica wanted to know.
    "I will," Alexandra told her, leaving the office and closing the door perhaps a degree or two harder than was required.
    Jessica turned her eyes on Cassy then, as though she might throw her out, too.
    "So Miss Blakely had a set of keys to your office," Detective Hepplewhite continued.
    "Yes, of course she did."
    "Did she have keys to your apartment?" he asked next.
    "No."
    "Have you ever kept keys to your apartment here at West End?" he asked next.
    "In your office, perhaps?"
    "Why do you want to know?"
    "Jessica," Cassy said.
    "All right. Yes, I keep a set of keys to my apartment hidden in my desk."
    "So Miss Blakely had access to them."
    "Yes."
    "To your knowledge, has she ever been in your apartment?"
    "Sure. At least twice, maybe three times. We did some tapings there and she came over with the crew.