Angel Sleuth (23 page)

“I’ll make some coffee,” said Mary Jane. “You have a seat on the couch. Make yourself comfy. You and Kaitlin can chat.”

Kaitlin groaned. She knew talking with her mother meant she’d be grilled about her writing and her love life. Right now she had neither. Well, not strictly true what with Jim Wallace’s face popping into her head every five minutes or so.

Coward that she was, Kaitlin sped after Mary Jane. “I’ll help. We can all chat after the coffee’s ready.”

“Go talk to your mother, honey,” said Mary Jane. “I can handle this.” Kaitlin was about to explain how she wanted to avoid Arlene’s questions about romance or the lack of it in her life, when Arlene pushed open the kitchen door and joined them.

“I thought you never did kitchens,” said Kaitlin.

“There’s some hairy animal on the couch. It growled at me and wouldn’t move when I shooed it.”

“That’s Hester. How did you shoo her?”

“I took my foot and… Oh, God. Look. It put a scratch on my Jimmy Choos. Do you know how much I paid for these?”

“Harold will buy you a new pair. Besides, you can’t even see the mark.”

“I’ll bring the coffee in when it’s ready,” said Mary Jane. Arlene looked around the kitchen at the array of cages filled with Jeremy’s hamsters and gerbils positioned along the far wall. Her eyes widened and she retreated into the living room.

“She’s not real crazy about pets. She thinks they’re nothing but designer rats. Unless they have a pedigree.”

Mary Jane laughed. “No pedigrees here.”

Kaitlin smiled for a moment, then let her lips go slack. “We need to talk. I think you’ve been playing my mother and me.”

“Girls, what’s taking so long in there?” called Arlene from the other room.

“Of course we’ll talk, honey,” said Mary Jane. “And real soon, too. But now we need to make your mother feel at home, don’t we?”

The woman drove her nuts. Kaitlin had come on to her like gang busters with the “we need to talk” approach and all Mary Jane could think about was entertaining her mother. Kaitlin didn’t catch so much as a whisker of worry from Mary Jane.
Impossible!

Kaitlin and Mary Jane carried coffee and mugs out to the living room. Mary Jane poured two cups and started out of the room.

“Aren’t you joining us, dear?” asked Arlene.

“I’ve got an appointment.”

“Not with any old friends, I hope,” said Kaitlin. “It’s better you stay here in town. Don’t wander too far afield, you know.”
Old buddies might be looking for you and put us all in danger
, she wanted to say, but didn’t.

Mary Jane gave her an odd look, waved goodbye and left.

“The coffee’s good,” said Arlene.
Oh, oh, she’s being nice. That meant she wanted something.

“What’s up, Mom?”
Might as well get right to it.

“Mary Jane said you were sleeping late because you had a date last night. A date! That’s wonderful. You’re moving on, getting beyond Zack. So who is this mysterious man? Anyone I know?”

“It wasn’t a date. It was an interrogation. By a state police investigator. About a murder.”

“Oh, dear. Well, I’m sure you didn’t have anything to do with a murder. I taught you better than that.”

“Right, Mom.” Kaitlin sighed with relief. No pressing questions about the so-called date.

“Harold and I have the use of a lovely
manse
on the Hudson, not far from here, and we’re having a little get-together this Friday. You must come. It’s so beautiful there. We’re having just a few people, and they will want to meet you. Bring someone.”

“I’ll see if my friend Brittany at the newspaper has the night free.”

“No, no. Ask her, if you like, but I meant bring a date. A man. Maybe that investigator.”

“You didn’t hear a word I said about him, did you? He’s only interested in me because I’m part of his case.”

“Once he gets to know you, he’ll feel differently, I’m sure. If you’d just wear a dress and a little makeup, you’d be great. Ask Mary Jane. She must have some interesting clothes you could borrow.”

“About Mary Jane, Mom. There’s a lot you don’t know about her, and I think…”

“You’re not still going on about her past, are you? Isn’t that her business? If she wants to tell us, she will.”

No, she won’t, but maybe I can make her talk once I let her know what Jim found out about her.

Kaitlin took a final gulp of her coffee and gave up. “Okay, I’ll be there, but I can’t promise a date.” She felt guilty about not spending more time with her mother. A little guilty, not a lot guilty. Not guilty enough to go along with her next suggestion.

“No date. Well, I’ll introduce you to some nice men at our party, then.”

She thought about this offer and decided she’d get a date even if she had to rent one or kidnap someone off the streets of Aldensville.

“I must be off now. Many things to do for the party. I told Mary Jane about it before you came down. Could you help her find a sitter for Jeremy? You must know a teenager here in town who would like the money.”

Oh, right. The only teen she knew was Bethany, and she was all tied up trying to elope with Kaitlin’s ex-boyfriend. That certainly wasn’t the kind of babysitter her mother had in mind, was it?

* * *

She paced the empty living room after Mom’s limo pulled away from the curb and worked her way into a tension headache trying to think of an acceptable man to invite to the party. If Jim Wallace wasn’t so lacking in human qualities, she might drag him to the thing. Maybe she should anyway. What other eligible man did she know? Who else indeed?

More pressing than her social calendar was the day and evening ahead. She had some planning to do. What was the name of Bethany’s friend driving the car? Emily? Anna? Emma? Right, Emma. She was about to reach for the receiver of the phone in the kitchen, when it rang.

“Hi. Kaitlin? It’s Jim Wal…” She hung up, and before the phone could ring again, dialed Bethany’s house.

“Mrs. Nappi? This is the County Office for Aging.” She made up a story about Emma being in the office when it was a madhouse and wanting an application form for an ARC internship. “The office assistant got her first name, but not her last. She mentioned Bethany as the person referring her. So we were wondering if you knew her. We want to send her one of our application forms. I know your daughter is out of town, so I thought maybe you could help us.” Mrs. Nappi gave her Emma’s last name readily and also supplied an address and phone number.

She knew Jim’s men tailed the car and were probably keeping an eye on the place because they were hoping Bethany could lead them to the bigger fish by serving as bait. Kaitlin intended to extract Bethany from Emma’s and get her to lead Kaitlin to Hiram so she could get back the contents of that music box.

The phone rang constantly throughout the remainder of the morning. Jim stopped calling after she hung up on him three more times.

The next time the phone rang it was Delbert who insisted she turn over her notes on the car in the river. She wasn’t eager to part with them, not because she wanted to hog the story for herself, but when she flipped open the notebook on the counter, it detailed the event as, “Car found in river by local police. It was red.” Well, really. She never said she was a reporter.

Her day was going to be very busy. She made a mental note so that she wouldn’t forget to call Paul at ARC. She wanted him to be her date for Friday night.

* * *

Later in the morning she presented herself to Delbert at the office and assured him that her notes on the car in the river were complete. As for information about Leda? Well, that took more of a lie to get Delbert off her back.

“Yep, I’m working on that. In fact, I’m working closely with the state police. An investigator from the state bureau and I are like this.” She showed Delbert her crossed fingers to indicate how tight she and Jim were.

“I thought we’d have something for this week’s paper. I counted on it. Left space for it to be our lead story. Now what can I do?”

“The authorities are moving slowly and cautiously on this one. There’s a lot at stake here. It’ll take more than a space on the front page to cover this story. Oh, by the way, my column is in the computer.”

Delbert turned his back and mumbled something about the unreliability of part-time help. Kaitlin took the opportunity to back out of his office, waved at Brittany on her way past her desk and hit the sidewalk to the café.

Mac’s imposing frame blocked the door to the café.

“What was that all about last night on the phone? I think you owe me an explanation.”

“Oh, great. It’s you. Just the person I wanted to see. I need to run something by you.” Now she was lying to her friends as well as authorities and employers. Actually, she could use Mac’s help in the plan she was developing.

Mac and she took their coffees down to the river and sat on the bench there. She didn’t want to chance anyone overhearing her in the café.

“So, here’s the deal. I need to get in touch with Hiram. He’s got something I want.”

“Kaitlin, if you want my ear and my advice, you’re going to have to be more forthright about what you’re up to than this.”

Mac was right. She couldn’t keep him in the dark if she wanted to use him. Not use him really, but if she wanted to use his expertise in her little escapade. So she ’fessed up about Hiram and Bethany and about the music box and what she thought it might have contained.

“I know he’s up to his eyebrows in what’s going on at ARC, but I also don’t think he’s anything other than a foot soldier. If I can convince him that his criminal involvement could go away in the eyes of the law for his cooperation, I’d have a way to find out what those papers are about.”

“Maybe you can put a scare into him by making him believe his life is in danger from the folks he’s working with or for.”

“Good thinking.” And just what she had in mind.

“Of course, this isn’t something you should do on your own. You need to call Jim Wallace and talk this idea over with him. He can work out the details,” Mac said.

Oops, that was not what she had in mind. Slight alteration of plans necessary. “Okay. But I’ll tell Jim you’ll be willing to help.”

“Within reason.” Whose reason? Mac’s and Jim’s or hers?

Mac went back to his car and left her sitting on the bench listening to the sounds of the river and contemplating her next move. She flipped open her cell phone, heard one ring followed by a pickup and started talking.

“Jim, I was thinking. You’ve got Bethany under surveillance, but it’s not going to do you any good. She may not be able to slip by you, but one of the major players in ARC and maybe in Barbara’s murder has gotten through the net.” She paused. “Are you there?”

“I’m here.” The voice came from both the cell and from behind her. “May I? Or do you consider sitting too familiar?” he asked.

She looked up and motioned him to the bench. My, but he looked positively yummy today in his grey slacks and blue sport coat. Too bad today was the day she didn’t like him as much as she had when he didn’t look quite as GQ. She squinted her eyes at him. Was he trying to get into her good graces by appearing irresistible? He smiled at her in a way that made Kaitlin think he could read her mind. She hated that. They flipped their phones shut in unison.

“Don’t let me interrupt you. It’s your dime.” He used that even, steely cold voice of his. Actually, it was more of an even, throaty and sexy voice. She hated that, too. Or loved it.

“I’ll bet you’d love to find Hiram, wouldn’t you?”

“Go on,” he said.

“I can deliver him to you.”

“Go on.” His brown eyes didn’t waver from hers.

“Could you stop saying that?”

“I’ve been trying to be friends with you, and you’ve rebuffed my advances because you think I’m using you for this case. I’m not, but how should I react when you overtly and brazenly decide to use me to get something, maybe the missing papers from the music box and won’t tell me what you’re doing?”

So he figured out she was looking for those papers, but he still didn’t know the connection between Hiram and Bethany, and she wasn’t going to tell him. She put on her best innocent and forthright look. It probably didn’t fool him for a second, but she plunged ahead.

“It’s a matter of trust. I’ve been thinking it over, and I decided to trust you. Fine, I believe you want to be friends, and I’m sorry about how I’ve treated you. Now I want to show you how bad I feel about my behavior by doing you a favor. That’s all.” That sounded pretty good.

“What do you want from me?”

“Just a little information. You can just say nothing when I say something that’s true, but say no if I’m off the mark.”

“Go ahead.” She thought they’d gotten beyond that, but she decided to take him at his word, so she rushed ahead with her version of the story.

“There’s some drug thing going on up at ARC. It has something to do with stealing drugs and other items from the residents there. We know Bethany stole money and jewelry, but not for herself. Someone was directing her to do it. I don’t know what role Hiram had in this, but he wasn’t the mastermind behind it. He doesn’t have the brains for that.” She paused and looked for a reaction from him. Nothing. “How am I doing so far?

“Not bad.”

“Okay, so Bethany is scared stiff of whoever is running the show there. I think it’s a party from outside. Locals are being used because they blend into the community. The head honchos must have something to hold over the locals’ heads, otherwise I can’t see kids like Bethany getting involved. I’ll bet Hiram’s scared, too, and I think I can convince him that his boss or bosses no longer trust him and would like to get rid of him the way they got rid of Barbara Bartlett. They were behind her death, weren’t they?” He dipped his head toward her, the first sign of encouragement she’d gotten from him. She raced on.

“The guy who used the lug wrench on the pig also used it on Barbara, right? He’s the guy Mary Jane met when she was visiting at Hiram’s. So he and Hiram knew each other. I think Hiram even loaned him his car to get rid of Barbara’s body, and the fool drove it into the river.” She gulped a quick breath of air.