Inside, he was directed to an office, where Bari Macaby was waiting for him.
“Agent Mahoney, I wish I could help!” she said, standing to shake his hand and indicating a chair in front of her desk. “That this happened here— Well, we’re just horrified. I’ve spent hours with the police. I don’t know if there’s anything else I can possibly say.
“I did get Mr. Highsmith a snack. I manage the place, and I’m not usually involved with service situations related to our clients, but...I was a fan,” she told him, blushing slightly. “I don’t even live in New York City, but I was convinced that Richard Highsmith would’ve been elected—and his next step would’ve been the governor’s mansion or the senate, and then, who knows? He might have gone all the way to the top.” She sighed. “As you can tell, I was a huge fan.”
“I’m sure Richard appreciated your feelings, Ms. Macaby,” Aidan said. She sounded very sincere. Dressed for efficiency in a pantsuit, she was a slender woman and appeared to be in her mid-fifties. Her hair was iron-gray and neatly tied back. She looked very natural, proud of her age and wearing it beautifully.
He had a feeling she spent much of her free time hiking or perhaps at a gym.
“Richard,” she repeated. “The way you say that, you knew him, Agent Mahoney?”
“Richard and I grew up in the area. Yes, I knew him.”
“Oh, you grew up here! Lucky man. I escaped the city to come here about ten years ago, once my children had moved on and my husband...well, he moved on, too. The city’s exciting but it’s filled with crime—nightly muggings, murder, rape. Here, bad things just don’t happen at an hourly rate. In fact, they seldom happen at all.” Tears welled up in her eye. “And now...this.”
He nodded sympathetically. “Ms. Macaby, the last time you saw Richard, he was in the greenroom, right?”
“Oh, yes, he was a man who asked for so little! He wanted tea, and cheese and crackers. I was happy to get them for him.”
“When you went to the greenroom to inquire about what he wanted, he was with Taylor Branch?”
“Yes. Mr. Branch and Ms. Durfey. They were going over some last-minute notes on the speech. Jillian had her clipboard and she was about to do the initial sound check.” She sat back, sighing. “That little girl! They say she was charged with the murders!”
“Evidence was found that indicated she might have been at least involved,” Aidan said carefully.
“According to the press, chloroform was found in the bodies. And there was chloroform in her room.”
“That’s right.”
“If you have her, I’m a bit confused. What else can I give you?”
“She swears she was framed. And, admittedly, the chloroform is circumstantial evidence,” Aidan said. He steered the conversation back to the greenroom. “So, Taylor Branch and Jillian Durfey were in the room when you went in there. You found out what Richard wanted—and you brought it to him?”
“Yes. Well, I brought it to the greenroom. There was no one present when I came in with the tray. I called out to him, assuming he was in the restroom. Then I was sure of it because I heard him answer me. I left the food and went back to my office.”
“You heard him answer you. Are you certain it was Richard?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Absolutely certain?”
She stared at him, unblinking.
“It had to be him. Mr. Branch and Ms. Durfey had gone. They were checking the sound system.”
“You knew that because?”
“That’s where they said they were going. And I’m sure— Yes, I saw them there when I went out to the stage.”
“Yes, but was that right afterward?”
She hesitated.
“You told the police it was right after you’d dropped off the tray in the greenroom, Ms. Macaby. Is that accurate? Or could there have been a few minutes in there?” Aidan asked.
“Agent Mahoney, I’m not a liar!” she said.
“I didn’t suggest that. But, trust me, it’s easy to forget that we might have been distracted—checked on something else, slipped outside for a cigarette.”
She turned a million shades of purple. “I...I don’t smoke!” It had just been a suggestion. He could as easily have said that she’d gone for a soda or a cup of coffee for herself.
But he hadn’t—and she’d given herself away.
“That’s it, isn’t it? You stepped out for a cigarette?”
She seemed to explode. “Oh, but I don’t smoke! I really don’t. I’d quit. But there was so much pressure, what with the size of the audience and the fact that he might’ve been a future president and I...I was gone less than five minutes. I really did quit. I just needed a few puffs to calm my nerves, you know?”
“Can you show me where you went?” he asked her.
“What?”
“Where’s the hideaway? You didn’t go out where others go out, did you? You wouldn’t have wanted them to see you.”