In Death 22 - Memory in Death

Eve thought.
    “It was wonderful. I’ve never seen anything like it. Mama Tru said we didn’t have very good seats, but
    I thought theywerejust fine. And we went and had an Italian dinner after. It was awfully nice. We
    came back sort of early, because it’d been a long day with all the traveling.”
    She began to rub a hand up and down Bobby’s back as she spoke. The gold band of her wedding ring glinted dully in the poor light. “Next morning, we had breakfast in a cafe, and Mama Tru said how she was going to see you, and she wanted to go by herself this first time. So Bobby and I went to the Empire State Building, ‘cause Mama Tru said she didn’t want to stand in those lines anyway, and”
    “You’ve been doing the tourist thing,” Eve interrupted, before she got more play-by-play. “Did you see anyone you knew?”
    “No. You’d almost think you would, because it doesn’t feel like there could be anyone left out in the rest of the world with all these people.”
    “How long was she gone, out on her own?”
    “That day? Urn.” Zana went back to biting her lip, creasing her forehead as she thought. “I guess I don’t know for sure, because Bobby and me didn’t get back until almost four, and she was here already. She was a little upset.”
    Zana glanced at Bobby again, took one of his hands and squeezed it. “I guess things didn’t go as well with you as she’d hoped, and she was a little upset and irritated that we weren’t here when she got back.”
    “She was spitting mad.” Bobby finally lifted his head. “It’s all right to say so, Zana. She was hopping because you’d brushed her off, Eve, and she felt put upon because we weren’t waiting for her. Mama could be difficult.”
    “Just got her feelings hurt, that’s all,” Zana soothed, brushing her hand over his thigh. “And you fixed it
    all up, like always. Bobby took her right back out, bought her a real nice pair of earrings, and we went
    all the way downtown for a fancy dinner. She was feeling just fine after that.”
    “She went out on her own the next day,” Eve prompted, and Bobby’s expression turned puzzled.
    “That’s right. Did she come to see you again? I told her to leave it alone, at least for a while. She didn’t
    go to breakfast with us, said she was going to be lazy, then go out for some retail therapy. Shopping
    always made her happy. We were booked for dinner that night, but she said she didn’t feel like going
    out. Said she was feeling tired, and she’d have something in her room. She didn’t sound like herself.”
    “How’d she look?”
    “I don’t know. She was in her room. When she didn’t answer the room ‘link, I called on hers, and she
    had the video blocked. Said she was in the tub. I didn’t see her. I didn’t see her again after Friday morning.”
    “What about Saturday?”
    “She called our room, about nine, I guess. Zana, you talked to her that time.”
    “I did. She had the video blocked again, now that I think of it. She said we should go on with whatever we wanted to do. She wanted to be on her own. Truth is, I thought she was sulking a little, and I tried to talk her into coming out with us. We were going to take one of the sky trams, and we had a ticket already for her, but she said no. Maybe she’d go walking. She wasn’t feeling that well anyway. I could tell she was upset didn’t I say, Bobby? ‘Your mama’s irritated, I can tell by her voice.” But we let her be and went on. And that night… You tell it, Bobby.”
    “She wouldn’t come to the door. I was getting a little irritated myself. She said she was fine, but still wanted to stay in, watch the screen. We went out to dinner, just the two of us.”
    “We had a wonderful meal, and champagne. And we …” She slid her eyes toward Bobby in a way that told Eve they’d done some celebrating when they’d gotten back to their room. “We, ah, slept a little late this morning. We tried to call her room, and her ‘link, but she didn’t answer. Finally, when Bobby was in the shower, I thought, ‘Well, I’m going down there and knocking ‘til she lets me in. I’m just going to make her…”
    She trailed off, pressed her hand to her mouth.
    “And all that time. All that time …”
    “Did you hear or see anything last night, anything unusual?”
    Bobby only sighed. “It’s loud here, even with the windows closed. And we’d had a bottle of champagne. We put on music when we got back, never turned it