Fool Me Once (14 page)

Gwen laughed again, the same deep raucous laugh. “I lost touch with her early on. She was a piece of work, that one. Even when we were at Ole Miss she was decidedly odd. After we graduated, she began worrying about germs and getting contaminated. If it was possible to live in a bubble, she would have. She told me how she used to wash her money with soap and water. Tell me that isn't weird, or a sign of something. I have no idea where she is. So, does that mean I swing in the wind for that little caper?”

Olivia answered truthfully. “I don't know.”

“You know, kid, your mother was strange. I don't think she had a conscience. All she was interested in was money and more money. She would have sold her soul to the devil for money. I think she did. Sell her soul, I mean. I don't know if she was smart or just downright conniving. She planned the whole thing, and we pulled it off. Hell, I'll never deny it. If you plan on turning me in, you better find Jill and turn her in, too. Wouldn't you know, Allison, I mean Adrian, beat the system by dying! I know that must sound cruel to you but, tough noogies. And, she ended up on top, name change and all. I read somewhere that she was worth tens of millions of dollars. Is that true?” Gwen asked bitterly.

“It could be. The lawyers never gave me an accounting.”

“If she was that rich, let her estate pay back the money. I don't feel like I owe her anything. If they want to put me in jail, let them. It's time someone took care of me. Sweet cheeks, why do you call her Adrian Ames or Allison Matthews? You never once referred to her as your mother. Are you sure she was your mother? You don't look a thing like her. Of course, that's probably a good thing. Allison was no raving beauty. None of us were. Today young people would call the three of us nerdy. I guess we were back then.”

“You know the reason as well as I do. As she told you the day you split the bonds, she gave me up to my father as soon as she gave birth to me. She told him that same day that she wanted a divorce. My father never saw her again. He told me she was dead. I didn't know I had a mother all these years until her lawyer showed up at my door to tell me she died.”

“Yeah, I knew that. Tough break, kid. Listen, you wouldn't have liked her. Trust me on that. Everything back then was about Allison. What she wanted, when she wanted it. She made sure she got it, too. She told us to jump, and we asked how high. The only thing I feel bad about is that my son is going to find out about this. I did my best to try and save a little for him, but that last weasel, Hendrix, conned me out of it. My son lives in Columbia. He's a cop. Do you believe that? He has three little boys. He works two jobs, and his wife works so they can save for college. Oh, well, guess this was all meant to be, otherwise it wouldn't be happening. What do you want me to do?”

A good question. The woman sounded like a runaway train. Olivia looked up at all the religious pictures hanging on the wall. Gwen noticed her gazing at the pictures. “I got religion late in life. That's why I'm ready to take my punishment, whatever it is.”

“Well…I'll get back to you, okay? Do you have a phone number?”

“No. I live a bare-bones existence. I use the phone at the convenience store down at the corner. I call my son every other Sunday. Other than that, I don't need a phone. If you want to get in touch with me, you can call the store, and they'll come and get me. I can call you back, but it will have to be collect.”

“It's okay to call me collect.” Olivia watched as Gwen tore a corner off a brown paper grocery bag and wrote down the number of the convenience store. She pocketed the piece of paper.

Before she left the trailer, Olivia reached in her purse and handed Gwen fifty dollars. “For cat food,” she said.

The woman reached out to hug Olivia. She smelled of cats and cigarettes. “You aren't going to believe this, Olivia, but I'm actually relieved to have talked about all this. It's been like a festering sore inside me all these years. I wish we had never done it, but wishing won't do a thing for you. But like I said, whatever the punishment is, I'll take my share. You have a safe trip home, young lady.”

Olivia stood poised on the top rickety step, knowing she was going to have to jump to the bottom. She turned around. “Gwen, was there even one good thing, one decent thing that you liked about Allison Matthews? Surely she had one redeeming quality.”

Gwen straightened her shoulders. “I would be lying if I said there was. You're nothing like her, if that's your next question. She was evil, that one.”

Olivia carried that statement with her when she left. It was still with her when she stopped for pizza. She ordered three slices with the works—pepperoni, green peppers, garlic, and onions—and a Sprite. She devoured it all, then ordered a second Sprite to take with her.

One good thing was she didn't have to rush. She wasn't heading into any kind of rush-hour traffic, since it was Saturday. Olivia drove in a leisurely manner to the airport, her thoughts whirling and twirling.

After she returned the car rental, she walked into the airport and browsed the shops. She ended up buying Jeff a cap that said
STINGRAYS
on the bill, and a few rubber toys that could have been baby bath toys or dog toys—they'd serve as the latter. She also bought a bag of salted pecans for herself. Having checked in for her flight, she headed to the bar area, settled herself into a corner, ordered a beer, and called…her destiny. That's how she now thought of Jeff. A smile as wide as the whole outdoors stretched across her face when her destiny said “Hello.”

I
t was one o'clock on Sunday afternoon, the weekend almost over, when Jeff suggested they go outside to play in the snow and pretend they were kids again. “My last clear memory of doing that was with my brothers when I was thirteen years old. My brothers, of course, were older, but they humored me. I think they knew somehow that it was my last go-round as a kid. We really got into the whole thing hot and heavy. Mom and Dad came out and joined in. It's one of my most favorite memories.

“We were out there in waist-high snow for three or four hours. Frozen stiff, soaking wet, but no one wanted it to end. Finally Mom put her foot down, and we all trooped inside. She made us take showers, put on warm clothes, then she made hot cocoa with tons of those little marshmallows and toast with lots of butter and her own homemade strawberry jam. If I close my eyes I can still picture it all and even taste the jam.”

“That's a really nice memory. I have some like that with my dad. Unfortunately, I never had any siblings. It was just him and me. He always used to say, ‘It's just you and me, kid.' He was always up for everything, no matter what it was. He didn't want me to feel cheated in any way. I needed him, and he needed me. We were a good team,” Olivia said, her eyes particularly bright.

Seeing Jeff's attentive expression, she continued with her own reminiscing. “I have this one really fond memory of going sled riding in Handley Park with my friends. I think I was sixteen, and I had this enormous crush on a guy named Danny Salyan. He was four years older, a college boy, and he was there with his friends. Even though they were older, we were all the same age that day. I almost fainted when he invited us all back to his mom's house. She was such a sweet lady. She made us hot chocolate and gave us big, thick slices of cake. Her name was Betty Lou and she looked just the way a mom is supposed to look. His dad was named Bill, and he was just as nice as my own dad. Betty Lou was all cozy and warm, and she smelled so good. She sews. Today you would probably call her an expert seamstress. She even hugged me when we left. I often wondered if she knew what a crush I had on her son. He joined the navy and is married now and lives in Florida. He has a new son, named Connor William. I saw the announcement in the
Winchester Star
a week or so ago.”

His voice soft, Jeff said, “And now?”

Olivia smiled, but it was more of a grimace. “Now it's Dad and Lea. He doesn't need me anymore. That's the way it should be. He deserves his own happiness. I have the dogs. If you mean Danny, I got over my crush that spring.” Her voice was so flat she had a hard time believing it was her own.

Jeff's eyes were diamond bright, almost as bright as Olivia's. “You have me now. You know that, don't you?” he said gently.

She'd hoped to hear something like that but hadn't been sure she would. What she was feeling right then was nothing like the schoolgirl crush she'd had on Danny Salyan years ago. Was Jeff making a commitment to her? It sure sounded like it. She felt light-headed at the thought. She didn't trust herself to speak, so she nodded.

Jeff's eyes twinkled. “You know what else, Olivia? If you marry me, you will be married to Cecil's handler. That would certainly solve our problems where he's concerned.”

Married
. “Whoa. Whoa. Slow down. You hardly know me. I hardly know you. You can't just jump into marriage. That's what my parents did, and look at the outcome.”

“My parents only knew each other for two weeks. Look at
their
outcome. Six handsome, strapping big boys. It's one for one. I'm not like your father, and you aren't like your…like Adrian Ames, or Allison Matthews. My parents will love you. I know that. I'm positive you will like them, too, and my brothers. My mother's biggest disappointment in life was that she didn't have any daughters. Did I ever tell you she made us wear aprons when we cleaned up the kitchen? She did, and we didn't argue, either.”

Aprons. Maybe it had some kind of secret meaning. Her head bobbed up and down as she tried to figure out what boys wearing aprons meant. She didn't even own an apron. Neither had her father. When either one of them needed an apron they tied a dish towel around their waist. “Okay, let's go out in the snow. I gotta warn you, Jeff, I have a powerful pitch. The sun is out, so the snow should be wet, perfect for snowballs. My throwing arm was better than my dad's. Did you ever build a snow fort?” How high and shrill her voice sounded.
Why is that?
she wondered.

“Yeah, when I was little. Wanna do it? We can build one big enough for us and the four dogs.”

“Let's do it!” Olivia chortled as she grabbed her parka and raced for the sliding door. The dogs barreled out right behind her, Jeff bringing up the rear. Olivia scooped a handful of snow on the run, whirled, and let it fly. She was rewarded with the sound of a loud
ooof
as Jeff doubled over.

The fight was on, and they pummeled each other for a solid half hour. It was clear when Jeff threw up his hands that Olivia was the winner. Their arms around each other, they squared off an area of the yard for the fort, then rolled snow into huge, round balls. Two hours later, exhausted, they had a two-room fort, one room for the dogs and one for themselves.

They crunched themselves in half as they struggled to fit into the room they'd carved out. “Seems to me we had more room when we were kids,” Jeff groused. “Where's the fun sitting here scrunched up like a Gumby?”

Olivia laughed. “We were half our present size back then, and it was the thing to do when it snowed. We must be old, because I would rather go inside and watch a movie on TV.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jeff said, grinning. “Guess you can only be a kid once in your lifetime. I wish I had known that back then. I would have had more fun. Come on, I'll help you up.” He reached for Olivia's hand.

Olivia dug her heels into the snow, bracing herself to be pulled to her feet. Her left foot skidded, and she toppled backward, the fort collapsing around her. With the mountain of snow covering her, she could barely hear Jeff's frantic voice shouting, “I'll get you out. Stay calm, I'll dig you out. Stay calm, Olivia!”

When she was free of the snow, Olivia's eyes were wild. “Now I know what it feels like to be buried alive. Snow is heavy!” she gasped.

“Are you okay? Say you're okay. Swear to me you're okay,” Jeff said, his voice rising in panic. The dogs reacted immediately, snapping and snarling as they tried to bite Jeff's ankles and rip his boots to shreds. They only calmed down when he scooped Olivia into his arms to carry her back to the house. The dogs looked at one another as they tried to figure out if this was a new game that didn't include them.

Her heartbeat back to normal, Olivia helped dry off the dogs, wrapping them in lemon-yellow towels before settling them by the fire. She crooked her finger at Jeff as she wiggled her eyebrows.

Jeff was no fool; he followed her to the shower.

It was just turning light out Monday morning when Olivia, her arms crossed over her chest to ward off the frigid cold, waved good-bye to Jeff from the open doorway. She waited until she could no longer see the red taillights of his car before closing the door.

It seemed exceptionally quiet with Jeff gone. Why was that? He certainly wasn't a noisy person. Maybe
quiet
wasn't the right word.
Empty
seemed to fit the situation a little better. Olivia looked around. The dogs were nowhere to be seen. She went in search of them. When she found all four of them curled up in the covers on the bed Jeff slept in, she clamped her hand over her mouth so she wouldn't laugh out loud and wake them.

The day stretched ahead of her. She needed to give some thought to her business and get back on track. She argued with herself about getting back to work on her photography business versus settling Adrian Ames's business. What she
really
wanted to do was just sit and daydream about Jeff and their weekend. She knew she couldn't do that, and she couldn't go back to her little business, either—not with Adrian Ames on her mind.

She hoped that Jeff was right about the statute of limitations, which meant they would all be home free legally. It certainly made sense that forty years afterward would be too late to prosecute for bank robbery if priests couldn't be prosecuted for child molestation after five or seven years. Morally was something else.

As she walked back to her office, Olivia realized that somewhere in the past few days she'd made the decision to return the money Allison Matthews had stolen from the bank. No matter what. She also knew she would have to do it anonymously as well as discreetly. Any other way would hurt too many innocent people—Mary Louise Rafferty and her little family, Gwen's son and his family. And last but not least, herself. She knew she was tough enough mentally to handle the fallout, but was Jeff? If he really was her destiny, how would it look to the world if he married a thief's daughter? It certainly wouldn't help his career. His employment might well be terminated, raising another problem—Cecil.

The full amount of money had to be returned with or without Jill Laramie's share, but she wasn't going to give up on convincing Allison's old partner in crime to cooperate unless there was no alternative. Allowing Jill to find some sort of peace was one of the reasons for this project. Since Gwen had found religion and was prepared to take her punishment if necessary, Olivia assumed that there was nothing left to do on that front, except maybe see if she could do something to help Gwen financially.

Olivia turned on her e-mail and let out a subdued whoop of pleasure when she spotted an e-mail from The Private Detective Agency admidst all the spam. She let out another whoop when she read the message. Jill Laramie had returned to the scene of the crime, Oxford, Mississippi. An address followed with the words,
This is a three-bedroom, three-bath rental condominium. Subject signed a year's lease.

The phone was in Olivia's hand in a second. She made an airline reservation for the following morning. She would be able to check out the family bank the three women had robbed. How cool was that? Damn cool, she decided.

After e-mailing Jeff about her intentions, she called her neighbor to see if he would stay with the dogs. He agreed.

She looked down at her watch. It wasn't nine o'clock yet. Promptly at nine she would call Prentice O'Brien to ask him to set up a special bank account with two million dollars in it. She hoped it would be enough to repay the bank. Somehow she had to figure out what the bearer bonds would be worth forty years later. Never a whiz at math, she realized she would have to find a good accountant to figure it out for her. At least she had time to do it all properly and not go off half-assed in all directions, one of her father's favorite expressions.

Olivia spent the rest of the day reading and rereading Adrian Ames's will and poring over the copies of the bearer bonds. This time she paid attention to Allison's assets. She whistled at the extensive list. She hadn't known there was that much money in the world. From mail-order, no less. She groaned out loud when she turned the pages to read the intricacies of the mail-order business. Was she expected to take over the reins of the company? Like hell. She wondered if any of Adrian Ames's competitors would be interested in buying her out.

She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes so she could think about all the problems facing her. Instead, she drifted into a deep sleep.

It was late afternoon when Olivia woke with a deep ache in her neck and shoulder. She worked at massaging the tender spots until the pain lessened. Stretching her neck, she reached for the phone to call a local accountant she'd gone to school with. She rattled off what she referred to as a hypothetical problem, promised to pay for his time, and waited for his response. He in turn rattled off every CPA's February mantra—that this was the height of tax season, and he'd get back to her as soon as possible. Olivia shrugged, knowing she should be grateful for small favors.

She returned to the computer to send an e-mail to her father and Lea, telling them what she had done thus far about Adrian Ames's instructions to her. Her father hated the computer, so it would be Lea who would respond. If she responded. She then went to MapQuest to search out Oxford, Mississippi. Once more she lost track of time until she noticed it was almost dark outside. She turned on the lights, checked her e-mail again, but there were no waiting messages. It was time to let the dogs out. Then she fed them and fixed a sandwich and some soup for herself. The evening news told her nothing new was going on in the world. Disgruntled, she took a shower, washed her hair, and was in bed by eight o'clock. She set the alarm for 4:00
A.M.
and was asleep within seconds.

Olivia slept through three calls, one from her accounting friend, one from Jeff, and one from her father. In the morning she was in such a rush she didn't bother to check her messages. She was out the door the moment the dog-sitter arrived. Zipping down the interstate on clear roads, she made it to Reagan National in time to buy herself a cup of coffee before boarding her flight.

With no seat companion, Olivia was able to spread out the photocopies from her bulging carry-on bag. She read, reread, then committed to memory those points she needed to remember.