Desperate Measures (24 page)

“I'm in a small town called Saston, population 2223, if you count me. It's deadly. I'm not that far from Provo. If you're sure no one followed you, then it might be better for you to come here. I can't give you directions, you'll have to find out on your own. There's a café in town, if you want to call it a town, called Dumfey's. It has two booths and three tables. I'll be sitting at or in one of them. When can you leave?”

“Right now. All I have to do is pick up my diaper bag and I'm on my way. God, Janny, I can't wait to see you. How is it you can get away to use a phone?”

“Maddie, they brought me here, put me up in a boardinghouse for two days and said I had to find my own apartment. They gave me eight hundred fifty dollars and left. They said I'd be watched, but I haven't seen anyone out of the ordinary. I asked in town if there are any strangers other than me, and the local people say I'm the only new person they've seen in months. They aren't interested in me. I do have a case worker who checks on me once a week. My new name is Betty Gill. I'll never be Janny Hobart again,” Janny said, her voice breaking.

“Oh yes you will. And I'll be Madelyn Stern again too. I don't know when, but we'll be ... ourselves again someday. Let's hang up now. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can be there.”

“Hurry, Maddie.”

“I will. Just wait for me in case it takes me a little while. Promise.”

“I'll wait forever. Well, until the café closes, and then I'll wait outside.”

“ 'Bye, Janny.”

“ 'Bye, Maddie.”

“She called me, Jakes. She called the store too. She's
running,” Pete said desperately. He distractedly picked at the Chinese noodles on his plate. “Now what do we do?”

“Try and find her. I'm a detective, remember?”

“She told Annie she was . . . she walked out, in that Witness Protection Program. My God . . . did you find out anything, Jakes?”

“I don't have much to report. I checked out both girls' apartments. Nothing was left behind. Did you know,” he said addressing Pete, “that a double murder occurred in Maddie's building?”

“The doorman at Maddie's building told me.”

“Who?” Annie asked, her face full of shock.

“An Asian couple,” Jakes replied. “They operated a store around the corner. Prior to their death there was a murder in their store. Two hoods. It was in all the papers. It was too late when I found this all out to do anything. First thing tomorrow I'll go to the papers and see if I can find back newspaper articles. This is just a guess on my part, but there were two eyewitnesses that Sunday afternoon when the hoods were gunned down. I'm not saying it was Maddie and Janny, but that's the way it looks to me.”

Pete's legal mind kicked in. “If what you're saying is a possibility, then that means the police know something. It also means they lied to me. I'll sue the goddamn police department if that turns out to be true,” Pete said viciously, his eyes murderous.

“And I'll be his cocounsel,” Annie said spiritedly. Pete reached over to pat her hand, his eyes grateful for the support.

“I need more pictures,” Jakes said as he shoveled the smelly Chinese food into his mouth.

Pete shoved the food cartons to the center of the table with the length of his arms. Seconds later Maddie's pictures were spread out so Jakes could view them.

“She's very pretty, isn't she?” Annie said, closing the carton in front of her.

“She's beautiful,” Jakes said sincerely.

“She's beautiful inside too. Just like Annie here,” Pete said, patting her hand again. Annie blushed furiously.

“How long will you be here?” Jakes said, addressing Annie.

She shrugged. “As long as it takes, I guess, or until Pete boots me out. I'm going to learn the retail business. You never know,” she said lightly. “I might get tired of the law, and this way I'll have something to fall back on.”

“There's no doubt in my mind that you can run Fairy Tales,” Pete said warmly. “I wouldn't have asked you otherwise. This girl is one in a million,” he said to Jakes. “Hell, I couldn't have gotten through law school without her. Someday some guy is going to be very lucky when he finds her. She's as perfect as they come.” Annie turned crimson, but accepted the compliment with a smile.

“That was really good,” Jakes said of the takeout meal. “Let's see what our fortunes are. It's the best part of all. Except for the food.” The detective grinned wryly. He snapped his fortune cookie apart and withdrew the little slip of paper. “Ah, it says here I will meet a handsome woman who has grease on her sneakers and she will sweep me off my feet.” He leered at Annie, who looked everywhere but at him.

“Mine says, it is not enough to persevere, you must prevail. Rather apt, wouldn't you say?” Pete said tightly. “Annie, what does yours say?”

“It says, you are almost there. These things are silly,” she said, getting up to clear the table.

“So, what do you think?” Pete asked, jarring Jakes's thoughts.

Annie tossed the unused chopsticks into the trash basket. She stopped clanking the silverware long enough to listen to what Jakes had to say.
You are almost there.
Where? She turned from the soapy water to stare at Pete and Jakes.

“It would only be speculation at this point. Let's not beat a dead horse just yet. I'm going back out. I know a few guys on the force and where they hang out. I'll nose around and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the eats,” he said cheerfully. “Nice meeting you, Annie.”

“Same here,” Annie said.

“You're coming back here, right?”

“Make up the couch, but don't wait up.”

“Guess it's just me and you, fella,” Annie said cheerfully. “We can watch some television, eat some ice cream, swig a few beers like the old days, and wait in case Maddie calls again.”

“Jeez, Annie, I'm sorry. I'm going out too. I have people I need to talk to. You'll be okay here alone, won't you?” he asked. “By the way, I left a message for Maddie on my machine. Do the same at Fairy Tales tomorrow.”

“Of course. Don't worry about me. I can eat ice cream and watch the pounds go on all by myself. This will be a good time for me to look over Maddie's business plan and make notes. I want to do it right. I don't want Maddie to come back and be upset with me, or you either.”

“Annie, you could never upset me. I owe you so much. It boggles my mind that you dropped everything to come here and help me. I'm going to owe you big-time.”

“Stop it, Pete. I know you'd do the same for me.”

“You know what, Annie? You and I are like Maddie and Janny. We have the same kind of loyal friendship those two have. I want us all to be friends for all our lives.”

Annie smiled weakly. “Go already, do what you have to do. I'll make up the couch for Mr. Jakes.”

“Annie, I need to ask you something. Women have ... a sixth sense—you know, intuition. Do you think Maddie is ... you know . . . do you think they'll find her and do something to her?”

Love, Annie thought, was wanting the other person's happiness more than you wanted your own. “I think,” she said carefully, her eyes on Pete, “Maddie is safe somewhere. I do not believe for one single minute that anything is going to happen to her. She's with Janny wherever she is, so they have each other. If there's a way for her to get to you, she will. Now, go get 'em, whoever they are.”

“Annie, you always know the right thing to say to me.” Pete kissed her lightly on the cheek. “No regrets about Dennis, Annie?”

Annie could feel herself grow light-headed. “Not a one. When something is meant to be, it will be. Like you and Maddie. It just isn't my turn yet.”

“He damn well better be the best of the best, or I won't allow it. Don't wait up, Annie.”

“Okay, Pete. Beat it now.”

“Thanks. Turn the dead bolt when I leave.”

Back in the kitchen after letting Pete out, Annie checked her domestic accomplishments. Everything she did, she did well. The kitchen counter was clean and dry. The table was free of crumbs and stains. The coffeepot was rinsed and filled, ready to be plugged in the next morning. The beer cans had been rinsed and stacked in a separate trash bag under the sink. She looked around to see if she'd forgotten anything. She snapped her fingers when her eye fell on a luscious green plant in the L corner of the counter. She was about to water it when she realized it was a silk plant. A Maddie present. Just like the one in the center of the table. She snapped off the overhead light and turned on the small light over the range hood and the one next to the sink. The last thing she did was straighten the braided rug in front of the sink. Another Maddie touch. Men would never think to put a rug by the sink to catch spills.

“What are you doing now, Maddie Stern?” Annie muttered as she made her way to the living room, where she made up the couch for Simon Jakes. She gave the pillow a vicious punch. Why did he have to stay here and intrude on the little bit of intimacy she was being allowed with Pete?

In the guest bedroom, Annie undressed and slipped into a warm robe that had seen better days, certainly not the kind of robe she thought Maddie Stern would wear.

It was a nice enough bedroom, Annie thought. Small, but cheerful. Neither manly nor feminine. Not a Maddie room at all. It was done in four shades of green and everything matched, right down to the ashtray on the night table.

Annie was sick with jealousy by the time she opened the dresser drawers and closet. Maddie's things. Maddie's scent. Maddie's spare cosmetics. She hated to touch Maddie's things, but she had to make room for her clothing. For the first time in her life she was faced with a dilemma she didn't know how to deal with. Did she take all of Maddie's things and put them somewhere else, which would mean she was taking Maddie out of this room? Or did she simply move everything into the bottom drawer and hope she would have enough room for her own things? And what about the jogging suits and the few dresses hanging in the closet? Would Pete be upset if she moved them? Probably.

In the end she carried a plastic trash bag in from the kitchen and carefully folded everything into it. She placed the bag in the back of the corner closet and proceeded to hang up her own clothing. She used all the dresser drawers, and had to put her panty hose in the night table drawer. Maddie's cosmetics and perfume went into a shoe box of her own. She set the box on the floor of the closet next to the large green trash bag. She didn't know if she felt good or bad about what she'd just done.

“Life sucks,” Annie muttered when she sat down in Pete's chair, with Maddie's business plan in her lap. She wished, and not for the first time, that she was prettier, more stylish, less bookish, less business-oriented. She wanted to be more earthy, with sex appeal that drove men crazy, first for her body and then for her mind. She wished she didn't like the Maddie Pete spoke of so lovingly. Having never met her, and only heard her briefly on the phone, she only had Pete's glowing testimonials to go on.

Annie looked around Pete's apartment. There was no way she would ever have anything half as nice, not even if she worked twenty hours a day, seven days a week. Her eyes dropped to the business plan in her lap. A money maker. Maddie would be earning just as much as Pete in a year or so. Money to money, she thought sadly, while the rest of us bust our hump to get by from day to day. Sometimes it just wasn't fair. And who did Pete call when he found himself in a jam? “Me!” she said aloud. And she did mind, even when she said she didn't.

She flipped through the business plan, appreciating the work Maddie had put into it. She shifted into her legal mode and worked diligently until midnight, when she crawled into bed.

She was up early, perking coffee and frying bacon that she served alongside golden, fluffy eggs.

“Can this girl cook or what?” Pete said stuffing his mouth. “Maddie can't cook. Well, that's not fair, she takes a stab at it, but everything tastes the same.”

Jakes blinked when Annie said, “It's hard going to work and then having to come home and cook for just one person. Anyone can make eggs and bacon. I'm not much of a cook myself. Most of the time I just eat soup or make a sandwich or eat a big lunch out so I don't have to cook. It helps when a client pays for lunch. Saves me money in the end.”

Pete stopped chewing long enough to listen to what Annie was saying. “Are you having financial problems, Annie?”

“No. But it's hard on a single girl. Financial aid, rent is high, car payments are out of sight. You have utilities, and a woman has to dress in the business world. It don't come cheap, Mr. Lawyer.” She forced a smile to cover her defensive tone. “Food is expensive.”

“Tell me about it,” Jakes grumbled.

Annie sat down at the table. She started to eat. Now her breakfast was spoiled, a meal she'd been looking forward to. She knew Pete was comparing her to Maddie and she was coming up short. Thanks to defending herself. She chewed methodically, knowing Pete was watching her out of the corner of his eye, sensing something out of kilter. Let him sense all he wanted, she thought irritably.

“So, Jakes, what did you find out last night?” Pete asked.

“More than I was prepared for. It's going to cost you. Five hundred.” Pete waved the amount aside as if it were inconsequential. Jakes shrugged. “I spoke to one of the officers who responded to the call at the store around the corner from Maddie's apartment. There were two witnesses, and both fit Janny and Maddie's descriptions. The guy was feeling no pain. Because of that, and the money, he agreed to talk. I know, I know, you're thinking the cop is crooked. He probably is, but do you care? Hell no you don't. So I promised him the money and he talked. He said if word gets back, he'll deny it. So would I. I think he knows more. He said Nester has all the answers.”

“Son of a fucking bitch! Nester is the guy I spoke to when I filed the Missing Persons report,” Pete bellowed. “Are you sure that guy was telling you the truth?”

Jakes looked offended. “Do I look like a guy who can be conned? Trust me, he was telling the truth. I had another guy check out the duty roster for that shift. It computes.”

“I'm going to speak to Nester today,” Pete said, “and demand some answers!”

“Well, when you do,” Jakes said mildly, “I'd forget where you got this information. The guy will deny it anyway, so there's no point.”

Jakes looked at Annie after pushing his plate aside. “Good breakfast,” he said.

Annie waited a moment to see if Pete echoed Jakes's comment. When he didn't, she carried her own plate to the sink. She felt like crying.

“You'd better get a move on, Annie,” Pete said. “You need to be at the store at least thirty minutes before it opens.”

Annie whirled around. “Pete, I only have two hands and two legs. You asked me to make breakfast. You didn't tell me I had to be at the store thirty minutes before it opened. And another thing, don't tell me to do something, ask me.” She turned on her heel and marched out of the kitchen.