Scarlet Nights (15 page)

“They seem awfully chummy,” Sara said.

“Mike finally got Luke to agree to go to the gym with him tomorrow, and I’m so glad. Luke hovers over me like I’m going to kick off at any second. Promise me that you’ll stay with us in the delivery room. I’m afraid Luke will collapse.”

“I promise,” Sara said. “And I hope you’ll be there with Tess and me.”

“You’re—?”

“No,” Sara said quickly. “Tess is, but I’m not sure Ramsey knows about it yet.”

“So you and Mike have advanced to the point where you share secrets about his sister?”

“We don’t—”

“Is he easy to live with?”

“I don’t actually—”

“Does he have a girlfriend?”

“Stop it!” Sara said, then quietened. “Look, before this whole thing gets out of hand, you should know that Mike is here on a case. And that’s not to leave this room.”

Joce gave a quick nod. “What’s the case?”

“Some woman, a big-time criminal, is living in Edilean and Mike came here to find her.”

“How does he know she’s here?”

Sara shrugged. “I don’t know. He tells me little pieces here and
there, but I can never get a full story out of him. Did you know that your husband ran me out of my own apartment so Mike could go through some secret tunnel and come up in my—Tess’s—bedroom?”

Joce’s eyebrows rose. “I knew something was going on because he didn’t use any pesticide in your apartment. But he did remove your toilet and kitchen sink.”

Sara looked out the window and glared at her cousin, who was drinking beer from a can, turning steaks on the grill, and laughing at whatever Mike was saying. She looked back at Joce. “Want to help me find out what’s going on?”

“Since my husband has been keeping secrets from me too, I’d love to help.”

The two women looked at each other in conspiracy.

Thirty minutes later, the meal was done and they were sitting around Joce’s bed, each with a tray full of steak, salad, and grilled vegetables.

Mike and Luke were dominating the conversation with their endless talk of working out. “I’ve seen what this guy does at the gym and he wants
me
to go with him,” Luke said.

“I know he can play Tarzan,” Sara said, and she and Mike smiled at each other.

“What does that mean?” Luke asked as he looked from one to the other.

Before Mike could reply, Joce spoke up. “So how did you find out this woman you’re hunting is living in Edilean?”

Luke had no idea what his wife was talking about, but he saw that Mike looked like he was about to explode.

“Mike,” Joce said, “don’t worry about it. No one will tell your secret. We want to help you.”

Mike was glaring at Sara, but she was smiling back.

“What’s going on?” Luke asked.

“Mike’s here on a case,” Joce said. “He’s after some criminal, a woman.”

“Yeah?” Luke asked.

“I think we should go,” Mike said as he looked at Sara. His teeth were clenched.

“No,” Sara said. “I don’t want to be alone with you right now.” She wasn’t the least bit afraid of Mike, but she didn’t want to hear his lecture—even though she knew she deserved it. But then, he didn’t know Joce and Luke as she did.

“Whatever’s going on, you can tell us about it,” Luke said. “I can assure you that whatever is said to us will be kept in confidence.”

“That’s not what I’ve seen of the gossip in this town.” Mike was still looking at Sara—who was eating and didn’t seem in the least perturbed by his glare.

“Mike,” Joce said softly, “I know how you feel. I’m new to this town too, and I’m still not used to it, but they
can
keep secrets. When I first came here, everyone in town conspired to keep me from knowing something about the man I was falling in love with, and—”

“Were you?” Luke asked. “I didn’t know that. I thought you and Ramsey—”

“You and Ramsey were a couple?” Mike asked. “But Tess wanted him from the first. She told me—”

“Mitzi!” Sara interrupted loudly. “Remember her? Criminal extraordinaire?”

Mike looked down at his plate. He wasn’t used to sharing his life with anyone but Tess, and even she didn’t know half of what he did.

“Is that the woman’s name?” Joce asked.

Everyone sat in silence as they waited for Mike to speak. They
could see he was in a dilemma, but there was no way he could remove what they’d already been told. He decided that bringing the Vandlos to justice was more important than his own dislike of revealing things about himself.

“Tarot cards,” he said at last.

“What about them?” Sara asked.

Mike took a bite. “You asked how she was found and the answer is ‘tarot cards.’”

Everyone sat there staring at him, but Mike didn’t seem inclined to say more.

“See what I have to put up with?” Sara said as she waved her fork about. “He does this all the time. He’ll tell some intriguing little sentence, then not say a word more.”

“I know how you feel,” Joce said. “You mentioned a tunnel, but I’ve never been told about a tunnel under
my
house.” She gave Luke a look that said he had some explaining to do.

“Mike,” Luke said, “you wanta help me out here before I get put in the dog house for the next year?”

Mike had to take a few deep breaths before he could speak. “Everybody has weaknesses.”

“Even you?” Sara asked, blinking innocently.

“Mine seems to be a pretty young woman who runs around surrounded by a gaggle of geese.”

As Sara looked down at her food, her face turned a lovely shade of pink. She didn’t see the way Joce and Luke looked at each other with hope in their eyes.

Quickly, Mike told them the same story he’d given Sara, again being careful to leave out the part about Sara’s fiancé being Mitzi Vandlo’s son.

“So we come back to my first question,” Joce said. “Why do you think she’s here? Other than that she wanted her fortune told, that
is. And by the way, no one in Edilean reads tarot cards. At least not for money. We’d know if they did.”

“We have informants, people who try to save their own skins by ratting out their friends and relatives. One of them told us Mitzi’s great weakness.”

The three others leaned forward in anticipation.

“She collects gypsy tarot cards.”

One by one, they leaned back.

“That’s it?” Sara asked. “All of this because of a bunch of cards with gypsy pictures on them?”

“That’s all of it,” Mike said in a way that didn’t allow for more questions. “Anybody want some more tea? Or a beer?”

“I’d like a margarita with lots of salt,” Joce said as she rubbed her belly.

“Don’t make jokes to him about food,” Sara said. “He’s more of a fanatic than my mother.”

Joce and Luke looked at him in awe.

When Mike stood up to go to the kitchen, Joce said, “If you don’t tell us the rest of this story I may give birth here and now and
you
will do the delivery. Sit! Talk!”

With a smile that showed the dimple in his cheek, Mike sat back down and told them what he’d read in the files the captain had given him. Through an informant, they’d found out that Mitzi Vandlo had what was probably the best—and maybe only—collection of gypsy-inspired tarot cards in the world. In an attempt to trap her, the Feds had obtained a deck that had once been in a museum. “As far as anyone knows, it was the only set in the world, and I can guess how they got them. They put them up for sale on eBay.”

“On eBay?” Sara asked.

“Plain, ol’ eBay?” Joce asked.

“Yes. The Feds made a bidding frenzy, but when it hit $75,000, they all dropped out. Except for one. He stayed until the unknown bidder won at $82,500.”

“And that was Mitzi?” Sara asked.

“They think so. It took six weeks to trace the buyer. There were shell corporations that owned other corporations until they came down to a P.O. box in Richmond. It was owned by a woman who had a driver’s license with an Edilean address.”

Mike was lying at the last, but he was careful not to show it. The truth was that the box had been rented by a man with a Pennsylvania license. The Feds had watched the box, but it had never been opened. Then, one day, a car in the parking lot had exploded, and the post office was evacuated. When everyone returned, the cards were gone.

They had found out about Edilean through Stefan. After years of silence, when they didn’t know where he was, he’d suddenly reappeared long enough to divorce his wife of almost twenty years, then go underground again. The next time he’d been seen was by an off-duty policeman in Richmond, and he was engaged to Miss Sara Shaw and living in Edilean. Put the odd actions of Stefan with the delivery of the tarot cards to nearby Richmond, and the Feds thought they might have found Mitzi. It was a dream come true when they were told that an undercover detective had a sister living in Edilean.

But Mike couldn’t tell any of that. He’d soon have to tell Sara the truth, but not yet.

“Maybe she knew she was being watched, so maybe by now she’s left town,” Joce said.

“We don’t think so. We think she came to Edilean to get something, but we have no idea what she wants. You guys know of any hidden treasure buried around here?”

Sara spoke into the ensuing silence. “Tell them what you saw at Merlin’s Farm.”

Mike had to work to keep from frowning. He was going to have to talk to her about not blabbing what he’d told her in confidence. On the other hand, maybe he should keep his mouth shut and tell her less.

When Mike hesitated, Sara said, “All right, I’ll tell them.” She then proceeded to give an accurate recounting of all Mike had told her of his day on the farm. “Did I miss anything?”

“No,” Mike said cautiously, “but remembering where traps are set doesn’t mean you can go there by yourself. Tomorrow I’m going to go talk to Lang and tell him that I now own the farm and—”

“Mike only gets to keep it if he lives there with Ariel and produces umpteen kids,” Sara said with a fake sigh.

Mike put up his hand before anyone could speak. “I’ve never even met the woman. But my brother-in-law did put quite a few restrictions on the deed.”

“I can imagine,” Luke said. “My cousin is a born lawyer.”

“Harsh,” Joce said.

“Way too harsh,” Sara echoed.

“So how can we help?” Joce asked, but she was looking at her husband.

Mike saw that Luke seemed to be in a trance. His eyes were glazed over, and he was staring at the wall. Mike looked at the two women in question.

“It’s his writer’s face,” Joce said. “He has a book idea, and it’s no use talking to him until he returns to earth.”

“Oh,” Mike said. “I’ve never been around a writer before.”

“Joce is a writer too,” Sara said.

“But I write biographies. I dig and find out about people. It’s
not the same as making up plots. Luke starts with a blank piece of paper and—”

“The fair,” Luke said.

“What about it?” Mike asked. “By the way, where’s it to be held?”

“Nate’s Field,” Joce and Sara said in unison.

“Merlin’s Farm, K Creek, Nate’s Field,” Mike said. “Where do all these names come from?”

“No idea,” Joce said, her eyes on Luke.

He turned to Mike. “How do you plan to draw this woman out?”

Mike couldn’t very well say that he intended to use Sara’s fiancé to get the woman to show herself. “You have any ideas?”

“My publishing house has a fantastic in-house art department with state-of-the-art equipment.”

“Great,” Mike said, but he didn’t see the connection.

“What if we create a set of tarot cards with gypsy pictures on them, my pub house prints them, then we get someone to tell fortunes at the fair? That way this …”

“Mitzi,” Sara said.

“Mitzi—if she’s here—will see them.”

“And want them,” Joce added.

Mike sat there blinking at them as he thought about the idea. It was either brilliant or could get someone killed. “I … I don’t know if it would work. Where do we get an artist on such short notice?”

“Shamus,” Luke, Jocelyn, and Sara said in unison.

“Don’t believe I’ve met him,” Mike said, smiling at the assurance on all three faces. “Who is he?”

“He’s the youngest of the Fraziers,” Luke said.

“The afterthought,” Sara added. “The surprise to his parents.”

“He’s only fifteen, but he is a Frazier,” Joce said.

“What does that mean?” Mike asked.

The other three looked at one another but didn’t reply.

“So I get to be the fortune-teller, right?” Joce said. “I can lie on a chaise lounge and turn over the cards Shamus makes.”

“Absolutely not.” Luke’s tone said it was a done deal. He had spoken.

“Oh?” Joce asked, her eyebrows raised. “I guess you mean for me to stay here in this house during the fair. Lie in bed taking care of
your
babies, looking after
your
house, seeing to
your
food, and—”

“It was your house when the tunnel was mentioned, and now it’s
my
house?” Luke was calm, and his voice was firm.

“I think we’ll be going,” Mike said as he held out his hand to Sara.

She scooted off the bed, took Mike’s hand, and after making their farewells, they left the house. When they were outside in the evening air, they looked at each other and started laughing.

Mike didn’t release Sara’s hand. “So who do you think will win?”

“I’ll put twenty on Joce calling me tomorrow and asking me to make her some outfit for fortune-telling.”

“I never take a bet I know I’ll lose. Doesn’t Tess have some big, round earrings?”

“I know which ones you mean. Small children could use them as swings.”

Smiling, Mike kissed the back of her hand.

“Hey!” Sara said as she jerked out of his grasp. “Married woman, remember?”

“You’re not even close to being married.” It was dark and cool outside and the crickets sounded good. “Want to take a walk?”

Sara was familiar with the big garden, so he followed her. There were no outdoor lights, but the moonlight was bright. “Are
you looking forward to getting this case done and going home to Florida?”

“I just got here. You want to get rid of me already?”

“No, but when your case is solved, you’ll be free.”