Heat didn’t personalize. Her style was to assess, not judge. Her assessment was that, personal grief modality aside, Kimberly Starr was treating her like the hired help, and she needed to reverse that power dynamic and fast. “Why did you lie to me about your whereabouts at the time of your husband’s murder, Mrs. Starr?”
The woman’s swollen face was still capable of registering some emotions, and fear was one of them. Nikki Heat liked the look. “What do you mean? Lie? Why would I lie?”
“I’ll get to that when I’m ready. First, I want to know where you were between one and two P.M. since you were not at Dino-?Bites. You lied.”
“I didn’t lie. I was there.”
“You dropped your son and nanny off and left. I already have witnesses. Should I ask the nanny, also?”
“No. That’s true, I left.”
“Where were you, Mrs. Starr? And this time I’d advise you to be truthful.”
“All right. I was with a man. I was embarrassed to tell you.”
“Tell me now. What do you mean with a man?”
“God, you’re a bitch. I was sleeping with this guy, OK? Happy?”
“What’s his name?”
“You can’t be serious.”
The face Nikki gave her could still show the full range of expression. It told her she was quite serious. “And don’t say Barry Gable, he says you stood him up.” Heat watched Kimberly’s mouth go slack. “Barry Gable. You know, the man who assaulted you on the street? The one you told Detective Ochoa must have been a purse snatcher and that you didn’t know him?”
“I was having an affair. My husband just died. I was embarrassed to say.”
“So if you’re over your shyness, Kimberly, tell me about this other affair so I can verify your whereabouts. And, as I’m sure you just figured out, I will check.”
Kimberly gave her the name of a doctor, Cory Van Peldt. Yes, it was the truth, she said, and yes, it was the same doctor she had seen this morning. Heat had her spell his name and wrote it on her pad along with his number. Kimberly said she met him when she went in for a facial assessment two weeks ago, and they had this magic thing. Heat was betting the magic was in his pants and was his wallet, but she knew better than to say so. She prayed Rook had the same sense.
As long as things were in a hostile vein, Nikki decided to press on. In a few minutes she would need Kimberly’s cooperation with the photos and wanted her to think twice about lying, or be so rattled she’d do it poorly if she did. “A lot of things can’t be taken at face value with you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You tell me, Laldomina.”
“Excuse me?”
“And Samantha.”
“Hey, don’t you start with that, nuh-?uh.”
“Wow, that’s cool. You sounded pure Long Island.” She turned to Rook. “See what stress does? All that preppy posing falls away.”
“First of all, my legal name is Kimberly Starr. There’s no crime in changing a name.”
“Help me out: Why Samantha? I’m picturing you with your natural color and see you more as a Tiffany or Crystal.”
“You cops, you always loved to give us girls a hard time for getting by any way we could. People do what they gotta do, ya know?”
“That’s why we’re having this conversation. To find out who did what.”
“If that means did I kill my husband…God, I can’t believe I just said that…The answer is no.” She waited for some response from Heat, and Nikki didn’t give it. Let her wonder, she thought.
“My husband changed his name, too, did you know that? In the eighties. He took a branding seminar and decided what was holding him back was his name. Bruce DeLay. He said the words construction and DeLay weren’t the best selling tool, so he researched names that would be brand-?positive. You know, upbeat and inspiring confidence. He made a list, names like Champion and Best. He picked Star and added the extra r so it wouldn’t sound fake.”
Much as she had the day before, when she’d crossed from his opulent lobby into his ghost-?town offices, Heat watched another chunk of Matthew Starr’s public image crack and drop off. “How did he end up with Matthew?”