Designer Detective (A Fiona Marlowe Mystery) (9 page)

“I know this must be a surprise.”

“Surprise?”
I croaked
getting the word out. “You certainly fooled me.”

She smiled and her eyes crinkled. “Haven’t we,
though?”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Years, I think. I mean, we’ve always had a nice
friendship. He needed support, what with the way Olivia carried on sometimes. Albert
could be difficult, and the butler always gets caught in a family crossfire. We’re
comfortable with each other. ”

“But, but . . .”

“I know there’s quite an age difference, but we
don’t seem to notice.”

“But, Hudson told me he doesn’t like the west.”

Her smile turned impish. “He lied. He adores
the ranch. He’s been a number of times with Albert and Olivia, then Albert
alone. Albert was quite dependent on Hudson to run everything. He liked Hudson
to travel with him.”

“But Hudson said he was retiring to Cornwall.”

“He
said that? I guess that was another little fib. He’s put the house up for sale.
As a matter of fact, I believe he has a buyer.”

I was running out of buts.
One
last one.
The most important.

“But Hudson is a suspect in Albert’s demise.
Are you going to quit the investigation?”

Opal’s smile turned down on the corners.
“That’s what we need to speak about and why I need your help. Shall we sit on
the couch?”

I followed and sat beside her. She started in
before I was settled. “I want Jake and you to continue making the motions of an
investigation, even though Hudson and I know what happened.”

“What?” My vocabulary was limited at this
point.

“Albert was a spy. The think tank stuff was a
front. He travelled a lot because of his work. Hudson was his accomplice, you
might say, part of the cover. The house is Hudson’s compensation for being a
loyal servant. Does this make things clearer?”

“Muddy, not murky.”
I
was having trouble formulating complete thoughts.

She exhaled a long sigh. “Hudson told me all
this. Albert didn’t know that I knew.”

“Geez, this is complicated.”

Opal gave a funny, one syllable chuckle. “Isn’t
it? Who would think an old ranch woman would get involved in the cloak and
dagger business? There are, however, problems. First, Hudson is in danger. The
family can’t know about this spy stuff. They’re upset because they get little
from the estate. Albert lived pretty high and loose. There won’t be much cash
left after everything is liquidated and the bills paid. They’ll never
understand about the house. They can’t ever know.”

“Cody said the relatives will contest.”

“They won’t get anywhere. It will take a lot of
time and cost a lot of money. None of them have much.”

“Fascinating, but where do I come in?”

“Even though I know what happened to Albert and
who did it, I cannot take the information to the police. Albert was an undercover
agent. If the police know, it could jeopardize other undercover agents. I want
to exact revenge on the perpetrator. That’s where you and Jake come in.”

I swallowed hard. This sounded out of my
league.
Revenge?
I wondered if the Russian mafia was
involved.
Definitely out of my league.
“I’m not so
sure I’m your woman. Where is Jake anyway? I haven’t heard from him.”

“He’s run an errand.”

“Why me and Jake?”

“You make such a nice couple.”

Here we went again. “Please, Opal, let’s leave
out the matchmaking, and I’m not trained for cloak and dagger stuff.”

“Hudson and I are sure we know who killed
Albert, and she isn’t a very nice person.”

My interest was piqued.
“She?”
I said.
“As in the blonde
at the wedding?”

“No, not her.
Albert
had others. Lord knows why Olivia ever put up with it. I say this, even though
he was my dear brother. He couldn’t help a wandering eye, and everyone knew
it.” She leaned closer. “He also was known to have a taste for drink.”

I wished Albert could have come back from the
dead. Sounded like a fun guy.
“Who then?
Who is this
mysterious woman who killed Albert?”

“A woman who worked with him.
I believe her name is Alice. She and Albert had an affair a while back. Olivia
caught wind of it and told Albert to cease and desist or it was the end of the
marriage. The affair was pretty public. Albert wasn’t discreet. I think as he
got older he was quite harmless, although I understand his Viagra bill was
pretty outrageous there for a while. Albert’s charm lay in a flair for the ladies
but his extreme wealth didn’t hurt.”

“Fascinating.”
 
 

“Albert cut it off with his co-worker. However,
you know what they say about a woman scorned. She took it to new heights. Made
Albert’s life a misery, threatened him with all kinds of things. I suspect she
arranged for his overdose. Those spy people are very creative when it comes to
murder.”

“I never think of creative ways to murder
people, but I believe you about spies.”
Another good reason
why I shouldn’t get involved.
“So you want to exact revenge on this
woman?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Are you certain the woman did this?”

Opal squeezed her eyes shut tight like she was
trying to think,
then
opened them wide. “Hudson and I
have given this a great deal of thought. We are ninety nine per cent sure.”

I was concerned about the other one per cent. “What
kind of revenge did you have in mind?”

She smiled. “Murder would be too simple. I was
thinking more in terms of blackmail or maybe forcing her out of her job.”

Little old ladies can be deadly.

“Blackmail?
What kind
of blackmail.”

“She has a husband. Maybe he didn’t know about
the affair. We could blackmail her for money or with harassing phone calls or
maybe hack into her computer and steal her identity.”

I was getting a creepy feeling that Opal was going
off the deep end. Maybe I’d forego the money and get the hell out.

“Opal, the action items you mentioned carry
jail sentences with them. I’m a law-abiding citizen. Look, I’ll figure out what
is owed me and send the bill. Have Hudson mail me a check when it’s
convenient.” I busied myself shutting down the Mac and packing up.

Opal didn’t respond. I looked at her. Our eyes
met. She smiled. Did I detect a glimmer of insanity in those frosty blues?
 

“Maybe Jake can do this for you,” I said, trying
to be helpful. I zipped the carrying case and hefted the strap over my
shoulder.

“Then you won’t help me?”

I shook my head. “Not my line of work.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You’ll keep my secret,
won’t you?”

“Sure,” I said, meaning it. I wanted to put
some distance between me and the crazies in this family. They were starting to
make my head hurt.

“I
wouldn’t want any of the family to get wind of this. I thought you would help
me.”

“Jake’s your man, Opal.
By the way, when will he return?”

“He went to the lawyer’s office yesterday to
pick up some documents. He’s not back yet.”

I stopped before my hand reached the doorknob
to the library on my way to freedom. “What do you mean he hasn’t returned?
Isn’t the lawyer here in McLean?”

She shrugged still sitting straight on the
couch. “I don’t know what happened to him.”

I cocked my head.
“Where is
he staying, Opal?”

“He is staying with us here. But he hasn’t come
back.”

“I see.” I had a strong desire to find Jake and
see what he made of this. His being away and she not worried added to the
urgency.

“Good bye, Opal,” I said and closed the door.

In the car I drove down the street a ways then flipped
open my cell phone and dialed Jake’s number. He answered on the first ring.

“Where are you?” I said.

“You’re not going to believe me, but the old
lady has me locked in the wine cellar in the basement. I’ve been here since
last night. She took me down on the pretense of showing me some rare wines.”

“Damnation,” I said. “Jake, old lady Opal is
crazy.”

“That’s just for starters.”

“I think I should call the police.”

“We don’t want that.”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to voice an
opinion.”

There was silence, then a hollow laugh. “I
guess you’re right.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Would you mind getting me out?”

“Me? First, you need to answer some questions.”

“Fiona, please.”

“No, I’m serious. Why didn’t you call me yesterday?”

“I did but you didn’t answer.”

“Damn, I forgot. I turned the phone ringer off
so I could get some sleep.”

 
“You never
turned it back on because I’ve been trying to get you all night.”

“Am I the only one you can call?”

“You’re the only person I know on the East
Coast that might believe an old lady locked me in her wine cellar.”

“That’s troubling.”

“Yeah, isn’t it? Look, Fiona, I’ll explain
everything if you get me out of here.”

I had heard that before. I coldheartedly
ignored his plea. “Opal said she and Hudson are getting married.”

“She did?
News to me.”

“She said Albert had an affair with a woman he
worked with.”

“Don’t know about that.”

“What is going on here?”

“Hey, I’m sorry if I can’t answer your
questions, but if it’s too much trouble to help me, I’ll call one of my buddies.”
He hung up. He’d sounded a little put out.

How in the world was I going to get back into the
house?

I dialed Jake’s number again. Busy. I guess he
was serious about calling his buddies. I contemplated my alternatives. Leave
and extract myself from a dangerous situation. Or go back and help Jake.

I dialed his number again. He picked up on the
first ring.

“How do you propose I get back into the Lodge insane
asylum?”

I
crouched in the Alice in Wonderland hedge and waited for the lights to go out
in the house. Damn, damn, damn. Why was I doing this? Why wasn’t I home in my
warm, comfy bed, dreaming the night away instead of waiting in the cold and dark
to help out a man I didn’t know that well? Curiosity was the only answer I came
up with combined with a definite lack of common sense.

Jake said to try the kitchen entrance. He said
there was a whole underground storage maze accessed from a door in the kitchen.
I hadn’t noticed the door because it was behind the main door into the kitchen
which stood open most of the time.

Unfortunately, I had to break in, find the wine
cellar key and get into the basement, all without making noise and waking anyone.
I was sitting in the hedge freezing my butt because there’d been a party going
on for most of the night in the kitchen.

Finally, the lights went out in the back of the
house.

I stood, stretched and listened. I wore a long,
wool sweater coat in black that kept getting snagged in the hedge. My teeth
were chattering, probably more from fright than from cold. I never did stuff
like this. What had I gotten myself into? I had black running shoes on, though
I never ran. They made no sound on the brick patio. I’d put them on in case I
had to run. How’s that for logic? I inched toward the kitchen door.

“
Oof
,” I said without
thinking. I glanced around to see if anyone had heard. My toe had struck a
large mound of something that hadn’t been there the last time I was on the patio.
It appeared to be a garbage bag. Who had put that there? Maybe the gardener had
raked leaves, bagged them and left the bag on the patio.
Sloppy
gardener.
But it didn’t feel like mushy leaves. It felt like metal and
had made a clanking sound when my foot hit it. Leaves didn’t clank.

I pulled out my trusty little LED flashlight
that I had shoved into my pocket at the last minute and switched it on. Sure
enough, it was a garbage bag half concealed under the hedge like someone had
dumped it in a hurry. My never ending curiosity kicked in, and I hunched down
to investigate. I ran the light over the bag. The top was unsecured so I carefully
pulled it open and looked in.
Silver.
It was the
family silver. Tea service, bowls, plates, a few serving spoons. Someone was
trying to filch the family silver. Who had dropped these here?
A desperate relative?
Had they had a party to divide up the
family heirlooms, and someone had stashed their loot here?

This was confusing. Better to keep my head and
find Jake. Poor guy must be starving by now. I would have been. I inched along
the patio that ran by the kitchen, keeping the LED trained on the ground, and
eyed the door. The storm door was glass top to bottom. It was closed, but the
entry door stood open. I tried the storm door. It wasn’t locked. The partiers
must have forgotten to lock up. Maybe that is how the stash of silver ended up
in the hedge.
A drunken foray by a relative stealing the family
heirlooms.

With the stealth of a world class burglar, I
eased in the door and shut it behind me. I waited, listening. The quiet hum of
appliances was the only sound in the room lit by their red and green lights.
Glasses and unwashed dishes sat about.
How unlike Hudson to
let the place go.
Maybe he hadn’t hired cleanup help to take his place. Had
he left?
 

I headed for the door Jake said I’d find that
led to the lower level. Moving the interior kitchen door, there it was, just
like he said. I tried the knob.
Locked.
Damnation. My
luck hadn’t held. I searched the wall by the door for hanging keys.
Nothing.
I guess that would be too obvious. I opened the
overhead cabinet.
Nothing but dishes.
I pulled open
the lower cabinet drawers. More dishes. Where were those keys?
Probably on a ring on Hudson’s belt.
As if conjured up like
a genie, the overhead lights came on, and I yelped. There stood Hudson in the
doorway of the other entrance to the kitchen, staring at me with a look of surprise.