“The security tapes from the building zeroed out and so did Richard’s financial records. I brought in a D.A.’s investigator with forensic accounting training. No suspicious payments to anyone. Pawing through Ursula’s house turned up a couple of vibrators in her undies drawer and a date-book. She was a popular bachelorette, dated twenty-three swains since the divorce, listed their names and numbers. A few she found on an online dating service for attractive, affluent middle-aged singles. Most she met at upscale cocktail lounges or restaurants.”

“Your basic casual pickup.”

“Just add Martini. I talked to every one of them and they back up Richard’s take on her as a lusty gal. But a classy one—several guys used the word. The only objection was she cut everyone off after three dates but did it diplomatically. Nothing personal, she needed to travel for a long time. Still, no one had a bad word to say about her, Alex.”

I said, “Gracious or not, injured male pride’s a great motive.”

“Hell, yeah, wars have been started over it. Too bad every single one of these jokers has been ruled out with solid alibis.”

“Twenty-three solid alibis?”

“Not as unlikely as it sounds because most of them are from out of town and can prove being in another city at the time of the shooting.”

“She picked up travelers.”

“The picture I got was she allowed herself to be picked up,” he said. “Of the six locals she met online, three were also traveling. The last three work alone—screenwriter, freelance financial advisor, sculptor—but they, too, had eyewitnesses placing them at home.”

I said, “She list any dates during her own Asian travels?”

“Nope.”

“Maybe she cut off the wrong guy overseas.”

“And he flew halfway around the world to express his displeasure? That would be nifty, lad, but during her travel periods, the date-book’s crammed with business appointments. I’m talking dawn-to-dusk, visiting marketplaces, shipping agents, manufacturers, even farmers for stuff like bamboo. There really doesn’t seem to be any allowance for partying and that was backed up by Phyllis Tranh who I talked to again, yesterday at her hotel in Hong Kong. She never observed Ursula do anything but business on business trips, we’re talking one focused woman.”

“Twenty-three men,” I said. “Ashley and Marissa claimed not to know about any of them.”

“I had a couple more sit-downs with Ashley and Marissa and their not knowing doesn’t surprise me. Like that, they live in their own pad, mostly come by to play with their horses. Ursula would sometimes be there, working in her home office, but more often she wasn’t.”

“Do the girls work?”

“Apart from on their tans? Negative. Yeah, they’re a couple of indulged rich kids but that’s not a crime yet.”

“Any boyfriends in the picture?”