Missing Marlene Read Online Free Page A

Anyway, the New York commuter train passed right through town, so they could travel easily to the city whenever business demanded— making them still “New York agents.” But any clients who didn’t like it could leave. No one did.
    Life was good, very good. And when Nicholas was born, Jane, an only child whose parents were both dead, felt her world was complete.
    Heaven lasted six years. It ended on the day Kenneth, forty-eight years old, walked out of the Simon & Schuster building on Avenue of the Americas, stepped into the street to hail a cab, and was hit by a produce truck whose twenty-two-year-old driver was tearing into a sandwich and didn’t see Kenneth at the curb.
    Jane was told Kenneth never felt a thing. She wondered. She always would.
    On the morning of the day Kenneth died, Jane had asked him for some advice on a difficult situation involving one of her clients and her publisher. Later, as Kenneth had walked out of the office to catch the New York train, Jane had reminded him about her problem. So handsome in his navy blue suit, he’d turned to her with a dazzling smile and said he’d come up with a brilliant strategy that he’d explain to her when he got back. He was excited that day, like a little boy, because of the deal he expected to make during his meeting at Simon & Schuster.
    As it turned out, the editor he met with wasn’t ready to make the deal. Later, much later, after Kenneth died, Jane, who had taken over representation of the client Kenneth had hoped to make the deal for, called the editor to follow up. The editor was no longer interested, and it seemed to Jane that the reason was that Kenneth was gone.
    That was how it had been with Kenneth. He had the kind of magical enthusiasm that got editors excited about a project simply because he was.
    Kenneth’s client eventually left the agency.
    As for Kenneth’s strategy about her own client, he of course was never able to share it with her. To this day Jane wondered what it was.
    Life was funny. Cruel. Or just indifferent. Kenneth would have laughed, and said, “Better get on with getting on, my love,” or something like that. And of course she would. Did. She still had Nick. And the agency.
    How would Kenneth handle it?
    At that moment Roger appeared through the steamy shop window. He waved to Jane and strode in, smiling heartily. He was underdressed, as usual—no overcoat, just a gray tweed sport jacket over black slacks and a cream-colored silk shirt.
    He looked very handsome. She remembered the kiss they’d shared as he’d left her party, the softness of his lips against hers, the tickle of his trim mustache. She felt her face flush hotly.
    “ ‘Morning, my dear.” He kissed her cheek, then dropped into the chair opposite hers. “Feeling all right?”
    “Yes, I’m fine. It’s warm in here.”
    He gave a little nod, glancing back at the fireplace. “And how are things?”
    “Hectic till I find a new nanny,” she said, though she knew those weren’t the things he meant.
    He stared at her. “Why? What happened to Marlene?”
    “That’s right—you don’t know. She left Monday.”
    “Why?”
    “I haven’t spoken to her, so I can only guess she didn’t like the job.”
    “Why haven’t you spoken to her? Where did she go?”
    “No idea. She never picked Nick up at school. When we got home she was gone.” She was getting tired of telling this story. “Her mother and I are trying to track her down at a friend’s place in New York.” Ivy still hadn’t called with Zena’s number.
    Roger looked thoughtful, then seemed to shake himself from his reverie. “So! How is my old friend Arliss Krauss?”
    Jane looked down at her half-eaten muffin.
    “What is it?” he said. “You’ve got to tell me now.”
    “Roger, it’s not good. The book’s doing badly. You know they didn’t ship as many as they’d hoped to, and the returns are heavy already.”
    Ginny reappeared with the coffeepot, smiling sweetly. “Coffee,