License to Thrill

is?"
    "Yep...can I use your bathroom?" He rubbed his stomach. "The chili dog I had for lunch is working on me."
    Kat smothered a smile.
    Gloria scowled. "Try the gas station across the street."
    "Okay," Tenner said cheerfully. "After we talk."
    Anger lit her eyes, then Gloria stepped back sweeping her arm magnanimously. "I don't know how I can help, but sure, come on in—what is this, Sunday afternoon?"
    The woman’s apartment was breathtaking, filled with expensive, smart furnishings and dressed in an offbeat flair that Kat bet was Gloria's doing, and no designer's.
    "I'm sure you'll understand if I don't offer you a seat," she said, smiling tightly.
    "That's all right," Tenner said, rubbing his stomach again. "I probably should stand. Now then, can you account for your whereabouts Saturday morning between the hours of midnight and one o'clock?"
    Confusion clouded her pale eyes and she shook her head slightly. "Wait a minute—you think I broke into the museum?" She laughed in high-pitched amusement and dropped into an armless leopard-skin chair. "Detective, that is the most fun I've been accused of in a while."
    "So you have an alibi?" Tenner pressed.
    She smiled dreamily, as if a life of crime was a direction she hadn't considered, but might give serious thought. Then she looked heavenward. "Let's see, I was at Barishka's Friday night—or was that last night?" She glanced back to Tenner. "No, I'm sure it was Friday. Dragged myself home around three or three-thirty."
    "That's a lesbian bar right?"
    Gloria nodded. "Lesbians, drag queens, and wide-eyed, curious heteros."
    "Did you go to the bar after you visited Denise Womack at Ms. McKray's apartment?" the detective asked, pursing his lips.
    She gave Kat a surprised look. "Oh, you know about that. Well, I for one am glad it's out in the open, although I'm not sure Denise is ready to deal with it just yet. She's worried about what you'll think, Katherine."
    "What prompted your visit to Ms. McKray's?" James asked, breaking his silence for the first time.
    Gloria flicked her eyes over him appreciatively. "To give Denise a check for a down payment on her condo—why she wants the dump, though, I can't fathom."
    Tenner grunted. "Did she need the check that night?"
    She shook her head. "I think she has a few weeks to get the money together. But Kat's place is on the way to the club where I work out, and I wanted to give Denise some peace of mind. We had a cup of coffee and cold pizza."
    "Detective," Officer Raines interrupted, holding up a large black gym bag he'd pulled from a coat closet. Tenner walked over to retrieve it, then unzipped it and rifled through the contents.
    "If you're looking for dirty underwear, you're out of luck," Gloria offered dryly.
    "Ms. Handelman," James said, crossing his arms, "would you mind telling us why you left Jellico's?"
    Gloria shrugged her bony shoulders. "Boredom—oh, sometimes it was exciting, but the day-in, day-out stuff was a drag."
    "Yeah," Tenner chimed in. "Working for a living stinks, doesn't it?"
    Her thin mouth pulled back into an arrogant smile.
    He handed the bag back to Raines, then frowned at Gloria. "Ms. McKray tells us your family wanted that letter badly...bad enough for you to steal it?"
    Kat shifted nervously at the expression on Gloria's face. Tenner was treading on thin ice—the woman could have him for a snack if she wanted.
    "Detective, my parents derive their enjoyment of having an expensive manuscript collection from being able to display it prominently and make all their rich friends green with envy. I can assure you they have no interest in something which has to be squirreled away for fear of prosecution."
    "What about you?"
    "I'm only interested in Victorian correspondence between homosexual lovers—if it turns out he wrote the letter to a man, call me. And as for as hiding anything—" Her gaze cut to James. "Everything about me is available for inspection."
    One of James's dimples appeared and Kat felt an irrational zing of jealousy. Gloria Handelman was notoriously bisexual.
    Tenner was growing impatient. "I'll need the names of people who saw you at Barishka's around midnight."
    She shrugged again, searching her memory. "Everyone on the staff knows me, and the regular weekend customers were there—wait a minute." A wicked smile crept across her face. "Here's the name of someone you might know...Ronald Beaman."
    Shock bolted through Kat. "Ronald?"
    "Jellico's head of security?" James