Ms. Brandenburg took a sip of the black tea Martin had served us to brace herself. “I once set my sights on a stockbroker named Vance Gamble. Personal complications—marriage, for example—prevented me from snatching him up immediately. So, I manipulated him into an affair with Elise Weiss, to keep close tabs on him. And that led indirectly to the death of my husband, Theobald.”
My heart went out to her. “Did Elise kill Theobald?”
“Don’t concern yourself with the details,” Ms. Brandenburg cautioned me. “Ivey, I’m wild about you, and someday I’ll take you to be my own. But if you repeat one word of what you hear at this table, I will personally make you regret your error.”
“I’ll bet you’re good with a whip.”
“I’m not referring to some S&M game; I mean I will cripple, maim, and disable you
