NAILED (8 page)

At least our guest room was getting some action. I was beginning to wonder if I should move all my husband’s clothes in there, because if he was going to work his way down through my family as possible suspects, this was going to be a very long hot summer. And I wasn’t talking about hot in the passion sense. I’d make sure the air conditioning in the guest room was on the blink.

I was seated at the kitchen table the following morning enjoying a slice of toast, a cup of tea, and the left-over cantaloupe from last night when Detective Van der Burg walked into the kitchen. Yes, I was back to not using his first name.

“We’re supposed to have dinner tonight with Mary-Beth and Jeff. Are you still up for it or would you rather I not go?” John asked.

“You can go. No need for our friends to know all our dirty laundry,” I said with an air usually used by royalty. Who was I kidding? I had already emailed Mary-Beth the latest on the misguided murder investigation headed by the guy standing next to me. “It’ll be nice to have dinner with some people who don’t consider members of my immediate family to be murdering miscreants.”

I could hear the detective sigh behind me and I could tell he was counting to ten.

“Alex,” he began as he sat next to me and scooted his chair closer. “I have a job to do. Do I think Michael is involved? Probably not, but even you must be a bit curious as to where he’s been. This is not normal Michael behavior. The guy is a straight arrow, but his daughter is being bullied and his wife is being touched inappropriately and blackmailed before their sunroom can pass inspection. Everyone has a breaking point. And the truth is we don’t know everything that’s going on with Sam and Michael.”

I started to protest.

“Wait a minute. I know you and your sister are close, but even you didn’t know how worried she’s been about him. Am I right?”

I took a couple of seconds to think about this. “Okay. You’re right. I guess I don’t know everything.” I could feel tears stinging my eyes. “We tell each other everything. Or at least I thought so. And I had no idea Kendall was being bullied to the point of crying.”

“Exactly. Let me do my job and whatever happens, we’ll deal with it. Together. So, what time tonight? Would it be better if I drive myself and meet you there? Or can you stand to be in the same car with me?” John had a slight smile tugging at his lips.

“Be home by six. But I’m driving,” I said.

“Fine.” He bent closer to me and kissed my cheek. “I do love you, you know. And your whole crazy family, too.”

“You mean that?”

He stood and touched my shoulder. “God help me.”

Of course he was right. I had no idea what was going on with my sister and there was no better time to find out than now. I headed my car toward the office and parked in the back next to Sam’s car. I walked into the office, said good morning to Millie and Marla, and headed straight for Sam’s office.

“We need to talk,” I said.

Sam straightened some things on her desk and looked at me. “Okay. What’s up? Did John tell you I’m free? I’m so happy. Mortified that I was being filmed the entire time I was acting like a fool, but at least my alibi was confirmed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me Kendall was being bullied by Moshi? And why did I just in the last couple of days find out that you and Michael are having problems?”

My sister had her hair pulled back into a high pony tail again, and a strand had dislodged itself from the band and hung down across her forehead. I would love to emulate this style, but with thin, very short hair, that was out of the question.

“I didn’t know Michael and I were having problems. I’m not sure we are. He seems just fine when he comes home, almost giddy at times. I just don’t know where he is most of the day, and he’s giving me the runaround whenever I ask. As for Kendall, well, she and Moshi were close before Jenna died. As long as Jenna was around, Moshi was fine. If her father dropped her off at school, she became a brat. He let her get away with everything. Anyway, since Jenna died, Moshi’s been out of control and she’s been pushing Kendall around. And she got very angry over the part in the play. But, like I told Kendall, the girl’s mother just died. We need to give her time to come to grips with that. Afterward, I was hoping one of the teachers would be able to sort Vic out or at least Maddi, Moshi’s aunt, would step in and take control. I wasn’t condoning Moshi’s behavior, I was just giving her time.”

“But Michael was really upset about it?” I asked.

“Fathers and daughters. You remember. Mom was so strict and Dad, well, we had him twisted around our little fingers, didn’t we?”

I laughed. “Yes we did. Still do.”

“Exactly. Michael was just, well, pissed that Kendall was being mistreated, and by someone she considered a good friend. But the truth is I think he was projecting some of his anger with Vic onto Moshi.”

“Did Michael ever confront Victor and tell him to knock it off?”

“Not that I know of. I convinced him to give the whole family time to mourn, get back on their feet, and then we would sit down with Victor and tell him to knock off the inappropriate behavior with me, and help Moshi work through her anger issues over losing her mother.”

“So what are you going to do about Michael? Do you still want me to find out what he’s up to?” I wasn’t sure if John had mentioned that Michael was now in his sights and I wasn’t going to be the one to tell Sam.

“Hmmm. I don’t know. If you hear something, then sure, let me know, but you don’t have to go out of your way. I’d rather you find out who killed Victor, and find out if Victor killed Jenna. Michael’s clearly up to something, but he’ll tell me in his own good time. Or I’ll hire someone to follow him and break his legs.”

Sam laughed and so did I. I had Shirley doing exactly that, but I had no plans to share that information with my sister. Best to wait until I had some good news to give her. Besides, she obviously felt better about Michael than she had on Wednesday, so I thought I’d leave her be for now.

“Well, I’m glad you’re not going to jail, although orange is the new black, and you have always looked lovely in that color.”

“It does suit my skin tone, doesn’t it?”

I left my sister to get back to work. I had a few things of my own to take care of, and then I wanted to check in with Shirley, because I really wanted to find out what my brother-in-law was up to before the police issued a manhunt.

About eight-thirty Millie came in to tell me that Mrs. Cumberland had made an appointment and was very anxious to start working with
Always Prepared
.

“Well, that’s very nice, but who is Mrs. Cumberland?” It wasn’t like Millie to come into my office and announce every new potential candidate that came through the door, or in this case, called on the phone.

“She said she knows you. You told her to call. You had tea with her yesterday. Any of this ringing a bell for you, Alex?” Millie said with a smirk.

“Oh, right! Suzette!”

“That’s the one.”

“She seems like a nice lady. Lots of experience. Put her through everything we have. I think she might be a real asset for executive assistant positions.”

“You got it.” Millie turned and left.

So Suzette had already called. She must really want out of Connecticut Custom Homes, or maybe her husband just wanted her to be home more often.

I took a couple of hours to finish up some work and then called Shirley. She said she had just been about to call me, so we agreed to meet up at Oceanic again for an early lunch. My piece of toast for breakfast was eaten hours ago and I was hungry. I hung up the phone slowly. Was I just imagining it or did Shirley sound somber? Maybe she was just having a bad day.

I poked my head into my sister’s office and told her I was headed out, and would see her tomorrow when I went by to pick up the kids. With any luck, Shirley would have some good news about Michael’s whereabouts that I could share with my sister.

I expected Oceanic to be a lot more crowded, but maybe it being a Friday and summer, people were at the beach or off to more exotic locales.

Once again, I arrived before Shirley, but she was coming from Westport. I found a table and looked through the small lunch menu. Oceanic was basically a café, but had a few sandwiches, salads, and a soup of the day to bring in the lunch crowd. I had just decided on tortilla soup and half of an avocado-and-bacon sandwich when Shirley came in.

“Gosh it feels good in here. My air conditioner needs some coolant added or whatever it is that makes the thing colder. So, what looks good?”

I told Shirley what I was getting and we went to the counter to place our orders.

“We’ll bring it to your table when it’s ready,” a perky young woman in a pair of tan shorts and an Oceanic T-shirt said.

We took our iced teas and went back to our table. As soon as she took a sip, Shirley got right to it.

“Is Sam okay?”

“She’s fine. She told John everything and luckily for her, the place where she parked while spying on her husband had security cameras, so her alibi held out.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

“Yes, but now John wants to know where Michael was that night. We know he wasn’t home and not at the office, obviously. And he had some issues with the victim.” I spent a few minutes telling Shirley about meeting Jenna’s sister and going to the office of
Connecticut Custom Homes
.

“I hope you’re not planning on interviewing the illegal Eastern Europeans Victor was hiring. If they’re being smuggled in, I can guarantee you whoever is doing the smuggling will not look kindly on you interfering. They have some serious mobs in that part of the world.”

“I agree. I wanted to tell John about it last night, but then he would know I went out to visit with Mr. Hachmeister. No, I’ll have to find another way to let the police know what’s going on at
Connecticut Custom Homes
. Maybe an anonymous tip to the station. But if it turns out that Victor was killed by one of them, then I’ll just be going around in circles with my own investigation.”

“True, but there’s a good chance he wasn’t. And besides, you love this stuff.”

I smiled. “I do. I really do.”

“Well, I have some news that might help you find other suspects you can toss to the police as well, but first Michael.”

“Okay,” I said hesitantly.

“Remember what you said yesterday about Michael that you wanted to know what I find no matter where it leads?”

I closed my eyes for a second and then placed my elbows on the table and leaned my head on my hands. I tried John’s trick of counting to ten and then looked up at Shirley. “Oh, God. What did you find out? Tell me. I’ll decide whether to let my sister know after I hear what you have.” I held up my hand. “No. Never mind. I don’t want to know. Wait. Okay. Just tell me and get it over with.” I glanced at a couple of tables around us. People were looking at me like they had paid money to be here and I was the show.

“Are you sure?” Shirley asked, clearly amused at my antics like the rest of the patrons in Oceanic.

“Yes, go ahead. I’m one hundred percent ready. Make that eighty percent or closer to sixty.” I closed my eyes again and scrunched up my face like I was waiting for Shirley to slap me.

“Well, it’s not good, but it’s not bad, either. At least not yet.”

I opened one eye and looked at Shirley. “What does that mean?”

“After I left you yesterday, I went over to his office. I saw his car, so I waited a while and then he came out and I followed him to Branford.”

I opened my other eye. “Branford? What the heck was he doing in Branford?”

“Do you really want to know?”

I took a big gulp of tea and coughed because, well, it was a big gulp of very cold tea, much too much to swallow at one time. I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “Okay. Hit me with it.”

“He met a woman.”

I gasped. “Sorry. Go on,” I said with a lump in my throat.

“They met at a little restaurant on the main street. She was already there when he arrived and he kissed her on the cheek. I couldn’t go in because Michael knows me, so I had to watch from my car and people kept moving around inside obscuring my view. They sat across from each other and talked, but I didn’t see any hand-holding or anything like that.”

“So, who is this skuzzy skank?” I asked none too kindly. “Sorry. I’m upset. I’m sure she’s a lovely woman. I can’t believe this.”

“I don’t know who she is, and the truth is, she didn’t look like a skuzzy skank at all. She looked, well, normal. Mid forties, I’d say. Dressed in business attire. Very attractive.”

“You’re not helping.”

“Sorry. But I warned you that you might not like what I find out.”

“So what did they do next, and please don’t tell me if they headed to some nearby motel where flimsy lingerie was involved.”

The young perky thing from the counter came and put our orders in front of us. I smiled up at her and thanked her. As soon as she left I looked back at Shirley and waited for an answer.

“That’s the problem. I had another appointment to get to and I had to leave. I hadn’t expected to follow him all the way to Branford and I needed to be back in Westport. I was hoping to see which car she got into so I could run the plate, but no such luck. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s probably better that I don’t know. What am I going to tell my sister?”

“Does she know you asked me to follow him?”

“No.”

“Then don’t say anything. Look, the kiss on the cheek didn’t look like anything but a friendly greeting, like when you and I haven’t seen each other in a while and we hug. It was like that.”

“Really?” I was grasping at anything I could to make this whole thing be nothing more than an innocent meeting between friends.

“Really. I’ve been doing this a long time. They just didn’t look like lovers to me. Do you want me to keep following him?”

“Are you crazy? Of course I want you to keep following him. I have to know what that guy is up to. Maybe it’s drugs. Did she look like she was selling him drugs? Was she scary-looking?”