Hollyhock Ridge (22 page)

“I’ll call Scott when I get home,” Kay said.

“Laurie’s going to be mad I told on him.”

“There’s more than Laurie’s life at stake,” Kay said. “I
can’t, in good conscience, let him take over at Pendleton knowing he has this
problem.”

“I hope you and Scott can work something out for him,”
Claire said.

“You’re done with him, then?”

“Until I know he’s sober, and staying that way.”

“How could you ever be sure?”

“I guess I couldn’t,” Claire said. “Looks like there’s not
much hope for us.”

“And Ed’s going to stay married to Eve?”

“Sounds like it,” Claire said.

“You didn’t tell him about her affair with the senator?”

“It wouldn’t matter,” she said. “He wants a son or daughter
and he doesn’t care who the biological father is.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’ll be all right,” Claire said.

“Then why are you crying?”

“Feeling sorry for myself,” Claire said.

“Do you want a cookie?”

“No, silly, weren’t you listening?” Claire said. “I want new
shoes.”

When Claire checked her phone before bed, there was a
message from her cousin Maggie.

“Hey,” Maggie said. “Scott just got off the phone with Kay.
She told him about the payments Stuart and Knox were making to Marigold. I
don’t know if this will help, but when Theo Eldridge got murdered, Hannah and I
did some snooping around up at his house. We found where he kept his blackmail
information, and there was a file on something that happened when Knox was in
college. His fraternity lost their charter, and Knox transferred to another
school rather than be expelled. The folder is at my apartment hidden in my
bookcase behind the big art books. If Hannah and I were there we’d be right in
the middle of this thing, so you have to represent us. Get in there, girl, and
investigate! Let me know if any of this helps. See you Sunday.”

Claire’s mind was off and running, so she got on the Internet
and went to work. She quickly found out what college Knox had graduated from,
but couldn’t find any mention of the one at which he started and from which he
transferred.

Marigold’s online campaign bio listed a different college
than the one Knox had graduated from. Could that be the college where the
scandal happened? Stuart was much older than Knox and Marigold and hadn’t
attended either college.

Claire heard a light tapping on her bedroom window. She
opened the curtains and found her ex-husband looking in. She pulled up the
sash.

“What in the hell is wrong with you?”

“I need some money,” he said. “You’ve got to help me.”

“Running away is only making you look guilty,” Claire said.
“No one thinks you killed Knox.”

“But I’m the one who found him,” Pip said.

“They just want to question you,” Claire said. “I’ll go with
you.”

“Are you sure they won’t arrest me?”

“I’m sure,” Claire said, although she wasn’t. “Let me get
Melissa over here to stay with Dad and we’ll go down to the station together.”

Claire called Melissa and then got dressed. When she opened
the back door, she found Pip smoking a joint.

“Oh for crissakes,” she said. “Put that out. You don’t have
any more of that on you, do you?”

He looked guilty.

“Give it to me,” she said, and held her hand out.

Reluctantly, he handed over his rolling papers and a small
baggie of weed.

“Don’t flush it,” he said. “It’s all I have left.”

Claire took it in the kitchen and hid it in the cabinet over
the refrigerator, next to the whisky.

Melissa let herself in the front door.

“Hey,” she said.

“Thank you for coming,” Claire said. “I don’t know how long
we’ll be.”

“That’s okay,” Melissa said. “Patrick’s going to come here
when he gets off at two.”

“If it’s going to be any later, I’ll call.”

Claire left by the back door and Pip followed her.

“I can’t go back to jail,” Pip said. “You don’t know what
it’s like.”

“This will keep you from going to jail,” Claire said. “Just
tell Laurie what happened. He’ll help you.”

Claire knew Laurie was on the night shift; she just hoped he
was sober.

He answered the door of the station when she rang the bell.
His eyes were bloodshot and there were dark circles underneath. He looked at
her, then at Pip, and his eyebrows went up.

“Good evening,” he said as he opened the door. “Mr. and Mrs.
Deacon, I presume.”

“Knock it off,” Claire said.

“Hey, Laurie,” Pip said. “Long time no see.”

“Mr. Deacon,” Laurie said, and shook his hand.

“Pip’s here to assist with your inquiries,” Claire said.
“He’s willing to answer your questions without an attorney, provided he’s not
under arrest. If you arrest him, he wants an attorney appointed before he says
anything.”

“Yeah,” Pip said. “What she said.”

“Come on in,” Laurie said. “Sherlock and Watson have the
night off so it’s just me. I’ll make us some coffee.”

Pip walked past Laurie toward the break room. As Claire
started past, Laurie grasped her by the arm.

“I’m sorry I haven’t called,” he said.

“That’s not why I’m here,” Claire said, as she pulled her
arm free. “I’m here to help Pip.”

“I have to call Sarah,” he said. “She’s in charge of the
investigation.”

“Then do it,” Claire said. “Let’s get this over with.”

With deep interest, Claire paid attention to how Sarah interacted
with Laurie. If the woman hadn’t as much as confessed her deep feelings for
him, Claire would never have known. Sarah was curt, insulting, and bossy; in
short, she treated him the same way she treated every other member of law
enforcement who wasn’t in a position to do anything for her career. Laurie was
obsequious and accommodating, but the more passive he behaved the more
aggressive Sarah became.

They let Claire stay with Pip while they questioned him. He
told them the truth; that he had gone to Knox’s to ask for money and found him
dead on the stairway inside his unlocked house. He ran off because he was
scared they would think he did it.

Sarah was not as hard on him as Claire anticipated she would
be. She actually treated him more like a scared child, which he basically was,
and asked him the same questions several different ways. To his credit, Pip did
not back off of his story and didn’t change it. Claire was proud of him.

“He was in shock when he took off. As soon as the shock wore
off, he came back to help,” Claire said. “He’s not going to leave town. He has
a paying job here and his mother’s here. If you have more questions, he’ll make
himself available.”

“Are you vouching for him?” Sarah asked.

Claire hesitated.

“Claire,” Pip said.

“Wait a minute,” Claire said. “I’m thinking.”

“Miss Fitzpatrick,” Sarah said. “You are under no obligation
to guarantee Mr. Deacon remains within the city limits; I’m asking if you truly
believe he won’t take off.”

“I don’t know,” Claire said. “I hope he won’t.”

“Thanks a lot, Claire,” Pip said.

“Well, what have you usually done, Pip?” Claire asked him.
“I can only go on my past experience with you.”

“That’s all anyone can do,” Laurie said.

Their eyes met and Claire knew he wasn’t talking about Pip.

Sarah and Laurie left the room to confer.

“They’re probably going to arrest me now,” Pip said, “and
it’ll be all your fault.”

“Oh, Pip,” Claire said. “What’s sad is you truly believe
that.”

“If you gave me some money, I wouldn’t leave.”

“If you finish the work on Sean’s office, you’ll have some
money.”

“You could give me an advance,” he said. “Sean will pay you
back.”

“Listen,” Claire said. “I’ll give you twenty dollars, but
that’s it. Don’t ask again.”

Claire gave him the twenty.

“Thanks, Claire,” he said. “And thanks for coming with me.”

Claire took a deep breath.

“I wish they’d hurry,” she said. “Seems like they oughta be
more interested in questioning Marigold than you.”

“Who’s Marigold?” he asked.

“The lady who lives across the street from Knox,” Claire
said. “She was at his house before you.”

“So she killed him?”

“They don’t know,” Claire said. “They just need to talk to
her.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one,” he said.

Laurie came back in and said to Pip, “You have to write up
your statement and then you can go.”

“Thanks, man,” Pip said. “D’ya hear that, Claire? I get to
go.”

“That’s great,” Claire said.

“Hey, Claire,” Pip said. “Would you write that statement
thingy for me?”

“No,” Claire said. “I’m out of here.”

“But Claire ...” he whined.

As Claire left the break room, Sarah came back in.

“Thanks,” she said, so softly Claire could barely hear it.

Claire didn’t speak to Laurie before she left the station.
He had to chase her halfway down Rose Hill Avenue.

“Excuse me, miss,” he said as he caught up. “I think you left
some of your baggage in our break room.”

“Very funny,” she said.

“Please stop,” he said. “I’d like to apologize.”

Claire turned around.

“For what?” she asked him. “For being an alcoholic? For not
having it under control like you said you did? For doing exactly what you
warned me you would do?”

“Well, yes.”

“I should apologize to you,” Claire said. “I expected too
much, or at least more than you’re capable of.”

“Ouch.”

“It’s the truth, though, isn’t it?” she asked. “You’re not
ready to be in a new relationship because you’re still in one with your wife.”

“My dead wife.”

“Yes,” Claire said. “Miss whatever-her-name-is, the second
one, is only another symptom of your disease, like Sarah and all the other
women you slept with. I don’t want to be your next mistake.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You deserve better.”

“You’re damn right I do,” she said, and to her
embarrassment, she began to cry. “So become someone better, Laurie, but don’t
call me until you do.”

She turned and walked away, but this time he didn’t follow her.

The folder with the newspaper clippings was right where
Maggie said it would be. Claire sat down at the table in Maggie’s kitchen to
look through it. Maggie and Scott’s cat, Duke, twined around her legs, purring
like a motorboat. He jumped up on the table and lay down on the documents
Claire was trying to read. He was a big cat, and due to the stories she’d heard
about him, Claire was a little afraid of him, so rather than pick him up she
found the cat food, took it to the front room, and he followed.

“Don’t tell Melissa,” she said. “This will be our little
secret.”

When she returned to the kitchen, she closed the door so she
could read uninterrupted.

Knox had been a member of the disgraced fraternity at the
college Marigold went to. His name was one of the five listed in the complaint,
a copy of which Theo had somehow managed to get ahold of. Marigold’s name
wasn’t mentioned, but the crime that had been committed against the unnamed
young woman was. Claire shuddered; how would you ever get over something like
that? And if Marigold was that young woman, why did she wait so long to get
back at him?

Claire knew she should take what she had found to Laurie;
instead, she called Sarah. She hadn’t left the Rose Hill station yet, so she
agreed to meet Claire in the Rose and Thorn. Claire went back down Rose Hill
Avenue to the Thorn, where Patrick and the stalwart late night locals greeted
her with enthusiasm.

“You owe me for the free drinks you gave these bozos,”
Patrick said. “I had them all house-trained and you had to go spoiling them
with treats.”

Claire gave him the money, and then went to the far end of
the bar to wait for Sarah.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Claire asked her when she arrived.

“No, thanks,” Sarah said.

Sarah saw Patrick and yelled, “Looking good, Fitzpatrick. What
time do you get off, and can I help?”

Patrick held up his arms and made a bodybuilder pose for
her. She whistled and the locals laughed.

“Your brother’s something else,” Sarah said.

“He’s my cousin,” Claire said, “and his fiancée is one of my
dearest friends.”

“Miss West Virginia?” she asked. “I’ve met her. I wasn’t
impressed.”

“She’s from Tennessee, actually,” Claire said, “and stop
being such a bitch when I’m trying to help you.”

“Sorry,” Sarah shrugged. “What have you got for me?”

Claire gave her the folder and told her what she knew.

“Very interesting,” Sarah said. “So you think Marigold was
the girl who was raped, and that she waited all this time to get her revenge.”

“I don’t know,” Claire said. “I do know that Knox and Stuart
Machalvie have been paying money into an account that only Marigold withdraws
money from.”

“How do you know this?”

“I’d rather not say,” Claire said. “I also heard Knox was
embezzling his Aunt Mamie’s money, and this account may be where that money was
going.”

“Hmm,” Sarah said. “This is all good; what else?”

“Knox started paying into this account two years ago,”
Claire said. “That was right around the time he married Meredith.”

“And decided to run for the Senate,” Sarah said.

“Yep,” Claire said. “What better time to blackmail someone?”

“The feds took everything we had on Knox when they took
over,” Sarah said. “I probably should take this to them.”

“Whatever,” Claire said. “I just wanted someone to know
about this.”

“Why not Laurie?”

“He’s only got another couple of days here,” Claire said.

“You could have saved this for Scott.”

“I wanted it out of my hands and into someone else’s
tonight,” Claire said. “That’s all.”

“Purcell’s in love with you,” Sarah said. “I saw how he ran
after you.”