Designer Detective (A Fiona Marlowe Mystery) (16 page)

She started awake, eyes wide. She gazed at me like
she didn’t recognize me.

“Fiona?” she said. She gave owl like blinks.

“Albert’s house is on fire. It’s on TV breaking
news. Get up and come out to the living room. The authorities are looking for
family. We don’t know where Hudson is.”

I rushed back to the living room, forgetting to
help Opal out of bed. Jake was still watching the news.

“Any new developments?”

“No, they keep repeating the same stuff.”

“Opal and Cody are dressing. Tell them what
happened and have them call the police. I’ll take you to a car rental place on
my way to the airport. You can run them to the mansion.”

“On your way to the airport?”

“Yes, I’m leaving town. I’ve resigned my
commission.”

“You’d desert me?”

I paused to gaze upon Jake’s rugged face. He
was starting to look good to me. That was added incentive to leave.

“Yes, I’m deserting you. You are a big boy. You
can take care of these folks. I’m not sure about Cody’s game, but I bet you can
straighten him out.”

Cody came striding into the room in the pink
sweat suit. That was a real conversation stopper. The legs were Capri length on
him and the sleeves about three inches too short. He was taller than I thought.

“I hate pink,” Cody said, his cheeks coloring
to match the outfit. “What’s going on? What’s this about a fire?”

 
“Albert’s
house is burning. It’s on TV,” Jake said. “They’re looking for family. It isn’t
clear who was in the house.”

Cody sat on the couch and buried his head in
his hands. “This is a mess.”

“Funny,” I said, “I’ve been using the same word
to describe the situation.”

Cody’s mouth twisted in agony. Or was it irony?
“Who was in the house when you left?”

Jake said, “As far as we know only Hudson. He
made dinner for us. He thought the situation at the house was not good for Opal
and asked us to take her back to Oregon.”

“Good old, Hudson,” said Cody. “He never
commented on the crazy family doings, the men in and out, the rifles in the
basement. When Albert left him the house, we thought we’d be able to fight it.”
He gestured toward the TV. “We never reckoned on how clever he is. What a way
to get
a lump
sum cash payment.”

“We are assuming the house is insured,” I said.

“I’m sure it was,” he said.

The report came on again. The three of us
watched standing guard around the screen, the house in flames,
the
same footage from the earlier report.

Opal hurried into the room garbed in my vintage
chartreuse green silk robe with white boa feather trim. It was a little item I
kept around for fun. She clutched the feathers close to the chin. Her face
dropped as she watched the report with us.

“My goodness, it’s true. Albert’s home is on
fire. There won’t be any fight over the house. Now it will be over the
insurance money.”

How calm they both are, I thought. They didn’t
seem overly concerned about Hudson. Unless, and here we needed a drum roll --
unless they were in on the house fire for whatever devious reason.

I said, “Shouldn’t you rush out there to see
what is going on or at least call the police?”

Cody roused himself from a TV stare. “We should
go. We should call the insurance people and talk to the police. Opal, what do
you want to do?”

She was quiet. “I can’t think so
good
. Those pills you give me make me loopy.”

Some understanding seemed to be just out of her
grasp. Was she hiding behind the drugs? Maybe she had an inkling of what was
going on in the strange mansion, but she didn’t want to face it. If the house burned
until nothing was left but ashes, there would be more insurance money.

Cody said, “Stop taking the pills, if they
bother you. I wanted you to sleep better.”

I watched the interplay of body language
between the two of them. Opal kept her eyes down, staring at the floor. Cody
kept his eyes averted. They did not look at one another.

“Want to tell us what’s going on, Cody?” Jake
said. “Are you afraid of what the police will find in the house? Was it arson?”

Cody walked to Jake, stood toe to toe with him,
and shoved his face in Jake’s. “I didn’t do anything. Albert and I had a legitimate
arms business that Albert started. He asked me to help when he got too old, and
it got to be too much for him.”

“If it was too much for him, why didn’t he sell
the business?”

Cody went up on his toes, beating his chest.
“Because I wanted the business.
I like guns. Remember I
collect guns. It seemed like a fun thing to do.
Something different
from ranching.
It was lucrative. So I helped him out. Then he up and
died on me. But there were some things about the arms business he didn’t tell
me, like who some of the customers were.”

Jake didn’t back down. “Are things that bad at
the ranch?”

Cody’s shoulders slumped. “I stand to lose everything
if I don’t cover the bank loans.”

 
“You
might lose your life. If your customers don’t get you, the authorities will.”

Cody looked Jake in the eye. “No they won’t, because
you’re going to help me.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because Opal’s in this, too.
You wouldn’t want an old woman to end up spending her final years in jail,
would you?”

Opal, all five feet of her, came alive and pushed
in between the two of them. “Now you boys listen to me. I’m not going to jail
and neither are you, Cody. Such talk.”

Cody put his hand on his aunt’s shoulder.
“Dearest Aunt Opal, you don’t understand what has been going on under old Uncle
Albert’s roof.”

“You better tell me then. I may know more than
you think. I may be a little forgetful but I’m not deaf, dumb, and blind.”

Cody put his hand to his forehead and blew out
a breath. “My head feels awful. Is there any coffee?”

“Sure,” I said, thinking what a clever stalling
tactic that was. At least he wasn’t holding a gun on us.
“How
about you, Opal?”

She nodded and said, “I’ll get it.”

“Call the police,” I said to her while we were
banging around in the kitchen. I could hear Jake and Cody talking but I
couldn’t make out what they were saying. “It will look better if you come
forward and talk to the police.”

“I don’t trust Cody,” said Opal. “He’s not
himself. I don’t know what’s got into him.”

“That’s not the point, Opal.”

“I don’t know where the rest of my nieces and
nephews are.”

“Who cares? Call the police.” I almost shouted
it. What was it going to take to get through to her?

“Do you think they’ll put me in jail?”

I stopped my frenetic hustle around the kitchen
and faced her. “I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. What do you know about Albert
and Cody’s weapons dealing?”

She shook her head, looking as fragile as the boa
feathers in her outfit, and chartreuse wasn’t her color. “My brothers have
always been trouble.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted a family history.

“Opal, you need help. You aren’t getting it
from your relatives, go to the police.”

She shook her head. “Could you put me on a plane
to Oregon?”

“I could, if that’s what you want.” That would
at least get her away from Cody. “Go get dressed. I’ll take you to the airport
with me.”

“Are you leaving?”

I nodded, but not wanting to give her any more
information than necessary.

“Is Jake going with you?”

I shook my head. “I’m going to get ready. You
have fifteen minutes, Opal.”
 

I hustled down the hall without a backward
glance.

In my room I closed the door and dialed Olympia’s
number.

The phone rang and rang. The answering machine
didn’t come on, and I was about to hang up when I heard a groggy grump.

“What?” It was Olympia’s husky voice.

“Olympia, sorry to wake you, dear, but I’m
leaving for the airport. I found my passport. I’m going to board the next
flight to Los Angeles, then on to Sydney. Have you packed? I can pick you up.”

“Fiona, darling, have your senses left you? Of
course, I’m not packed. I was up till all hours writing after you failed to
show for dinner. The muse was hot last night.”

“You won’t believe what happened. I’ll fill you
in over margaritas on the beach in Australia.”

“I love that image. What happened to the rest
of your co-padres, especially the hunky guy?”

“Hunky?
You never saw
him.”

“But I have an imagination.”

“You surely do. I’m through with the case. I’ve
resigned my detective job. Did you see the news? The house is on fire.”

“No, I didn’t see the news, you just woke me
up. What house?”

“The house where I was doing
the library.”

“Good grief. What you don’t get tangled in. I
had so hoped for a nice romance for you.”

“I’ll admit Jake was looking better and better,
but the house is on fire, and I think
it’s
arson, and there’s
an illegal weapons business, the old lady isn’t in her right mind, and everybody
lies.”

“Fiona, they aren’t with you, are they?”

I hesitated. “Well, yes.”

“Have you called the police?”

“No, I don’t want to get tied up in all that.”
I was beginning to sound like Jake.

“You may already be. You could get booked on
aiding and abetting. Remember, the bad guys always get to the damsel before the
story ends.”

I gulped, and I’m sure Olympia heard it over
the phone. “Don’t say that. Now I’m worried.”

“You should be worried. What if hunky is one of
the bad guys?”

* * * * *

I was shaken by what she had suggested, I guess
because I had my own doubts.
But Jake a bad guy?
Was that
why he never leveled with me about what was going on? Maybe he wasn’t a cowboy
from Oregon.

There was a tap at the door.

“Who is it?”

Jake stuck his head in. “Fiona,” he said. “We
need to talk.”

I turned away. “No more talking. I’m through
talking.”

He came up behind me and stood so close I could
feel his body heat.

“Fiona.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I’m not good at words. You’re making this
difficult. I don’t want you to think that I’m being some kind of jerk.”

He must
have heard my doubts. Had he been listening to my phone conversation?

“You have to believe me. I’m not part of this.”

I turned to study his face.

“I have to get away from them, too. I didn’t
know about all this before I said I’d help Opal. I thought . . .” He didn’t
finish. The dejected look on his face almost made me repent.
Almost.

I stepped around him, trying to get closer to
the door. “I can’t help you, Jake. You’re a big boy. I’m ready to leave. I’ll
get a coat.”

I searched in the closet and grabbed a hooded
red wool jacket so I wouldn’t freeze to death on the trip. It would be spring
in Australia, but you never knew. I was hoping to get the Jesse James gang out
of my condo before they did something weird, like tie me up.
Or
worse.

I started for the door but Jake caught my arm
and stopped me. I froze. This was it. He was going to bind me hand and foot and
leave me to starve to death in my own bedroom. I wondered if Olympia would
figure it out and come to my rescue. She was good at plot.

“Fiona.”

“Jake, please.” I tried to wrestle out of his
grip but he held fast.

“I want to go to Australia with you.”

“Sorry, the invitation is off. You have to take
care of Opal. You don’t want her ending up in jail.”

“I’ll see that Opal gets to Oregon. Cody can
take care of the rest. You’ve got to help me.”

With that I exploded. “What’s with everyone
associated with this family needing help? What happened to psychotherapists?
I’m through helping anyone. I’m helping Fiona disappear.” I stopped for one
instant and looked into his big brown eyes.
Big mistake.

He said, “Okay, I don’t need help. But . . .”

Our eyes held. I knew I shouldn’t have looked
into his.
Gigantic mistake.
I waited to hear what else
he had to say.
 

He tried to pull me closer, but I pushed away. What
a time to get romantic.

“But what?”
I said.

“I like you.”

He wasn’t much on words, was he? I hoped he
hadn’t in mind to kiss me.

Backing away I said, “Jake, you appear to be a
nice guy. I’m sorry you’re caught up in such a bizarre family. Look me up when
it’s over. Maybe we can go from there. You have my number.”

I picked up my carry on, slung the coat over my
shoulder, and left the room. At least he hadn’t tied me up. Olympia would be
disappointed that I had passed on a romantic scene with a hunky bad guy.

In the living room, Opal was still in the boa
outfit sitting with Cody on the couch deep in conversation. They looked like
they were dressed for a Halloween party.

“Have you called the police?” I said.

They shook their heads in time like
synchronized clappers in a bell.

“I’ll call you a cab. You can take it from
there.”

“No, wait, Fiona,” said Cody.

“Wait? Wait?
For what?
For the end of the world?
Albert’s mansion is in
flames, and you sit there like it’s nothing. I got a life to live. I’m asking
you kindly to leave.”

Cody got up, looking absolutely ridiculous in
the pink sweat suit. “My friends are coming to pick us up.”

This was going from bad to worse. “I hope they
aren’t the ones you owe money.”

Cody did a good imitation of looking like he
didn’t understand English.