Tricia had been only too happy to help. She’d told Vanessa that there were ways to get around the ceiling Hal had placed on his credit card. Since the limit applied to a single purchase, Vanessa could buy the towel on one charge slip and the washcloth on another. Tricia would write it up for her. And while she was at it, she’d be glad to help Vanessa find lots of other items under fifty dollars.

Naturally, they’d had a big fight when the charges had come in and now Vanessa was forced to ask Hal every time she needed anything, even a new toothbrush. She was right back where she’d been as a single girl—short of cash.

Vanessa knew everyone in the building suspected that she’d married Hal for his money, but she’d honestly loved him and thought that their marriage would work. Of course his money was the reason she was sticking it out, but it hadn’t been the deciding factor.

When Vanessa was a child, her mother had told her that it was just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor one. Money made everything easier. If her mother had married a rich man instead of the truck driver who’d deserted them before Vanessa was born, Vanessa could have grown up in a nice house with nice clothes and plenty of spending money. And she certainly wouldn’t have been forced to drop out of school to take a job in a factory. She’d gotten out of the small Southern town eventually, but it had taken her three long years of punching a time clock and saving every penny to do it.

Things had started to look up the moment she’d rolled into Vegas. She’d bought herself some fake ID and landed a job as a change girl in a downtown casino, where she’d met the producer who had turned her into Vanessa Thomas, rising young starlet. Of course, it had been only one movie and she hadn’t spoken any lines, but it had been a far cry from the plastic seat cover factory in Georgia.

And then she’d met Hal and fallen in love. He’d taken her out for dinner almost every night and sent her roses at least once a week. She hadn’t guessed how wealthy he was, not then. Of course, she knew the places he took her were expensive, but lots of guys put fancy meals on their expense accounts.

Then, one night when her roommates weren’t home, she’d invited Hal to her apartment for dinner. Afterward, she’d tried to seduce him and that was when she’d found out about his problem. Poor Hal had been so embarrassed that Vanessa’s heart had gone out to him. She’d told him she loved him anyway, and Hal had said he was crazy about her, too. But there was no way he’d ever ask her to marry him. It wasn’t fair to ask a healthy young woman to live without sex.

After Hal had left, Vanessa had settled down on the lumpy couch and done some hard thinking. She’d had a red-hot affair with the producer, but he’d treated her like an absolute nothing when they weren’t under the covers. Hal was just the opposite. He said he couldn’t make love to her, but he treated her just like a princess.

The next morning she’d told Hal she wanted to marry him anyway. The sex wasn’t that important to her. She’d signed the papers he’d asked her to, and they’d gone off to a wedding chapel to make it legal. She hadn’t found out Hal was rich until after it was all over.

Now, looking back on the whole thing, Vanessa knew she’d set herself up. She hadn’t really believed that a good-looking, masculine man like Hal couldn’t perform in bed. She’d simply thought that he just hadn’t met the right woman yet. And she’d talked herself into believing that she was that woman.

Right after the wedding, she’d bought all kinds of books guaranteed to get results, and treated herself to lots of sexy negligees and kinky outfits. When the books and the clothes hadn’t worked, she’d driven down to the strip and talked to a couple of hookers she knew. She’d tried every single thing anyone had suggested, but Hal had just gotten more anxious and uptight. So she’d moved into a separate bedroom and resigned herself to a celibate life. They would be loving roommates and that was fine with her.

In some ways, Vanessa was an old-fashioned girl. She’d taken her marriage vows seriously. She’d promised Hal she wouldn’t sleep with anyone else, and she hadn’t, not then. But Hal still got angry if he thought her dresses were too tight and someone whistled at her on the street. He stopped taking her to restaurants because he said the waiters leered at her. And he made her give up her acting classes because of a love scene, even though it was right there in the script.

Then he’d started to harass her about the other men in the building. Couldn’t she see that Clayton was staring when she wore her pink bikini? She should wear a modest one-piece suit. And no more tennis in the mornings with Jayne and Paul. He was sure that Paul had gotten an eyeful when she’d bent over to lob the ball.

At first Vanessa had tried to please him. But one day last year, when he’d yelled at her about parading around in front of the man who came to repair the refrigerator, Vanessa had lost her temper. The refrigerator repairman was at least sixty years old and life was too short to put up with this kind of grief. She’d told Hal she wanted a divorce.

Hal had laughed and told her to talk to Clayton about that prenuptial agreement she’d signed. An honest lawyer, Clayton told her all the facts. She’d only get a small allowance if she divorced Hal, but she’d get half of everything Hal had if Hal was the one to divorce her.

Vanessa had set out to drive Hal straight to divorce court. First, she’d spent hours in town, shopping in all the expensive stores and picking out everything she’d ever wanted. But Hal had just cut off her credit. And he’d taken away the keys to her car so she was stuck up here on the mountain like some sort of prisoner.

When spending too much of Hal’s money hadn’t worked, she’d tried to play on his jealousy. Surely he’d divorce her if he knew she was sleeping with his friends. Vanessa was a little ashamed of herself, but she’d set out to seduce them systematically, starting with Clayton. Ever since Darby had died of cancer, he’d been lonely and he’d jumped at the chance to take her to bed. Then there was Marc, who was always up for a pretty woman. And Johnny Day. But Hal hadn’t reacted at all, even though she’d flaunted it.

Paul had been polite and friendly, but he hadn’t seemed to understand what she wanted. Vanessa figured it was his Scandinavian background, so she’d finally given up and tried for Jack. He’d been impossible, too. One day, when she’d practically thrown herself at him, Jack had hugged her and told her that he was flattered. She was pretty and sexy and he didn’t blame her for trying to drive Hal to divorce, but he wasn’t about to play her game.

She’d picked Alan next, mostly because Hal liked Laureen. But sleeping with Alan hadn’t worked, either. Hal had shouted at her and called her a tramp, but he hadn’t filed any papers. There was only one man left, Walker Browning, but while Vanessa no longer had a Southern accent, she still had her Southern prejudices. There was no way she’d seduce a black man. At her wits’ end, she’d figured that Moira was nice enough, and Hal might go crazy if she slept with a woman. So she’d spent the past two weeks cozying up to Moira, asking her advice on decorating and pretending to be very interested in learning about furniture arrangement and color schemes. Moira was flattered at all the attention, but Grace kept interrupting at just the wrong times.

Vanessa sighed as she tossed the towel into the hamper. Over a year old, its satin edges were already beginning to fray, just like her nerves. Something just had to happen to take Grace out of the picture for a couple of days so she’d have time to zero in for the kill.

Thirty Minutes before 10:57 AM