A is for Alibi

makes her eyes look small and suspect.
    When Nikki walked in that night, she hesitated, scanning the place. Then she spotted me and moved through the empty tables to the booth where I usually sit. She slid in across from me and eased out of her jacket. Rosie ambled over, eyeing Nikki with uneasiness. Rosie is convinced that I do business with Mafia types and drug crazies and she was probably trying to determine the category into which Nikki Fife might fit.
    "So are you eating something or what?" Rosie said, getting straight to the point.
    I glanced at Nikki. "Have you had dinner?"
    She shook her head. Rosie's eyes moved from Nikki to me as though I might be translating for a deaf-mute.
    "What have you got tonight?"
    "It's veal porkolt. Veal cubes, lotta onion, paprika, and tomato paste. You'll love it. You'll go nuts. It's the best kinda stew I make. Henry's rolls and everything, and on a plate I'm gonna put some good soft cheese and a coupla gherkins."
    She was already writing the order down as she spoke, so it didn't require much from us in the way of consent. "You gonna have wine too. I'll pick the kind."
    When Rosie had left, I related the information I'd picked up in the files about the murder of Libby Glass, including the telephone calls that had been traced to Laurence's home phone.
    "Did you know about her?"
    Nikki shook her head. "I heard the name but it was through my attorney, sometime during the trial, I think. I can't even remember now what was said."
    "You never heard Laurence mention her? Never saw her name written down anyplace?"
    "No little love notes if that's what you mean. He was meticulous about that sort of thing. He was once named as correspondent in a divorce action because of some letters he wrote and after that, he seldom put anything personal in writing. I usually knew when he was involved with someone but never because he left cryptic notes or telephone numbers on matchbook covers or anything like that."
    I thought about that one for a minute. "What about phone bills though? Why leave those around?"
    "He didn't," Nikki said. "All the bills were sent to the business-management firm in Los Angeles."
    "And Libby Glass handled the account?"
    "Apparently she did."
    "So maybe he called her on business matters."
    Nikki shrugged. She was a little less remote than she had been but I still had the feeling that she was one step removed from what was happening. "He was having an affair with someone."
    "How do you know?"
    "The hours he kept. The look on his face." She paused, apparently thinking back. "Sometimes he would smell of someone else's soap. I finally accused him of that and afterwards he had a shower installed at the office and used the same kind of soap there that we used at home.
    "Did he see women down at the office?"
    "Ask his partner," she said with the faintest tinge of bitterness. "Maybe he even screwed 'em on the office couch, I don't know. Anyway it was little things. It sounds stupid now, but once he came home and the edge of his sock was turned down. It was summer and he said he'd been out playing tennis. He had on tennis shorts and he'd worked up a sweat all right, but not out on a public court. I really zapped him that time.
    "But what would he say when you confronted him?"
    "He'd admit it sometimes. Why not? I didn't have any proof and adultery isn't grounds for divorce in this state anyway."
    Rosie arrived with the wine and two paper napkins wrapped around some silverware. Nikki and I were both silent until she'd departed again.
    "Why did you stay married to him if he was such a jerk?"
    "Cowardice I guess," she said. "I would have divorced him eventually, but I had a lot at stake."
    "Your son?"
    "Yes." Her chin came up slightly, whether from pride of defensiveness I wasn't sure. "His name is Colin," she said. "He's twelve. I have him in a boarding school up near Monterey."
    "You also had Laurence's kids living with you at the time, didn't you?"
    "Yes, that's right. A boy and a girl, both in school."
    "Where are they now?"
    "I have no idea. His ex-wife is here in town. You might check with her if you're curious. I don't hear from them."
    "Did they blame you for his death?"
    She leaned forward, her manner intense. "Everyone blamed me. Everyone believed I was guilty. And now I take it Con Dolan thinks I killed Libby Glass too. Isn't that what you were getting at?"
    "Who cares what Dolan thinks? I don't think you did it and I'm the one going to work on this thing. Which reminds me.