Who Glares Wins (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (25 page)

Good point.

I called Garrett next and caught him at the station. "How's
Sam
?" I asked.

"Still vomiting. You might want to avoid my house for a while."

"That what you are doing?"

"No, I'm working overtime.
That’s a lot different. Ask anyone. Anyway,
I looked into the impound report for your missing person. Her car was picked up at the
Fenway Plaza
. You familiar with it?"

"Yes."

"It had a bunch of warnings before it got towed.
Any idea why she would leave her car there?”

"No
ne
. I have time to check it out now."

"Let me know what you find.
Maybe you’ll
get
lucky and
find someone who saw something weird
;
then
I can
ask
someone to take another look at the case.
I don’t like your odds though, Lex.
"

Instead of heading straight to Maddox's apartment, I navigated to the
Fenway Plaza
, circled twice and parked, wondering what Marissa
was
doing here on a Sunday afternoon. The place was a nice
series of
street
s
,
with individual boutiques selling anything from fashion to homewares, coffee shops, a nail bar
,
and
restaurants and bars that mostly catered
to
the lunch and evening crowds. Even now
,
in the early evening with most of the boutiques closed, there were plenty of people in the coffee shops. I
found
The Coffee Bean
,
but I couldn't see Lily and her Mini wasn't anywhere
in sight
either
,
so I figured she parked on a side street somewhere.

There were more people, in twos, threes and fours moving towards the restaurants and bars. It would be a good place to meet somebody
,
and as I continued to scan the area
,
I wondered if that was what Marissa had done. Had she met someone here? Someone who fright
ened her enough to make her run? O
r had someone slipped her a roofie and abducted her?

It wouldn't be hard to do. Wait until she was woozy, help her out
of
the bar or the restaurant and into a car
,
and bam
! G
one.
No one would think anything of it. Just as I was thinking the worst,
I spotted a familiar car glid
ing
into a space across the street and my
brother-in-law climbed out
and
adjusted his tie,
looking very pleased with himself. He was dressed in the same
suit
from earlier and I wondered if he'd been with Donna the whole time
, an idea
that
made my stomach roll. Without looking backwards, he strode over to
Dooley’s Steak House
and walked inside. I watched as he said something to the
m
aitre d' and she
pointed
towards the bar. Either he was meeting someone else and w
as early
,
or he needed a drink after
getting jiggy with his mistress.

What I needed was to find out. I got my cell phone out of my pocket and Googled the
restaurant
.
I
found a phone number
,
which I
dialed
.

From my vantage point in the car,
I watched the
m
aitre d'
pick up the restaurant phone and listened as she ran through the greeting.

"Hi," I said. "I'm running a little late to meet my friend
,
and I got my
restaurants
all mixed up. I think he has a reservation with you."

"If you can give me the name the reservation is booked under, I can check for you
,
Madam
e
."

"Ted Whitman.”

I watched as her arms moved behind the console. "Whitman, party of four," she told
me
. "The table is booked for our last serving of the evening.
Only one member of your party
has arrived
.
"

"Thanks so much!" I clicked off. A party of four didn't sound like a date for two, which meant Ted probably wasn't meeting his mistress alone
, if at all
. I popped the trunk, got out
of
the car and walked around, pulling the camera case out and getting back in the driver's seat again.
I really needed some
place
better to store it, I decided, but it was just too valuable to leave on the seat. I slouched in my seat,
adjusted the lens and fired off a couple of shots of Ted s
itting
at the dimly lit bar
,
while jotting down
in my notepad.

On the off chance that I could get some help, I
dialed
Lily.

"Hey," she said. "What's up?"

"What's up with you?"

"Huh?"

"The whole 'I'll walk you out' thing."

"Oh
,
right. Nothing!"

"Really?"

"Really!"

"You'd tell me, right?"

"Absolutely."

I gave up.
I knew a lie when I heard one.
"I have a favor to ask."

"Shoot."

"I was following a lead on Marissa and I spotted Ted going into a restaurant."

"OhmyGod, with his mistress?"
she squealed.

"No, he's on his own. But I saw him with her earlier. I think he just came from her place." I waited while Lily finished faux-vomiting
into the phone
. "I want to see if he will come on to a woman."

"Like a honey trap?"

"Exactly like a honey trap."

"I don't think he's going to go for me if that's what you're asking.
He’s not that stupid.
"

"
That’s debatable
,
but n
o, it isn't. I wondered if Ruby was with you?"
I asked, suppressing a wince at the idea of launching the poor, unsuspecting woman at Ted. On the other hand, she’d worked in Flames. She’d definitely seen worse.

"She is. You want me to ask her
?
"

"Yes, please." I waited while Lily spoke to Ruby. I couldn't quite hear their conversation
,
but there was some back and forth between them
before
Lily came back on the line. "She wants to know more. Where are you?"

"Down the street. I'm parked outside a stationery store. There are some cute owls in the window.
I think they would look good in David the
P
lant.
"

"I know it. We're
on our way
."

I alternated between watching Ted at the bar and Lily and Ruby leav
ing
The Coffee Bean
on their way to meet
me.

Ruby was exactly Ted's type, unfortunately for her. But then
,
so was Lily. Both were slim and pretty, but Lily was more toned
,
and Ruby a little more hourglass. Where Lily was blonde, Ruby was dark
-
haired.
While Lily wore jeans, Ruby wore
a
tight
,
knee
-
length skirt and a white blouse, enough to pass for a ruse
of
just getting out of the office, despite the late hour.

Lily got in the front and Ruby got in the back.

"Lily told me what you do," Ruby said.
“Catching cheatin
’
husbands is cool.”

"How'd you like to make forty bucks?" I asked, turning to see her.

She cocked her head to one side and considered the request. "What will I have to do?
There are some things I draw the line at.
"

"There's a guy s
itting
at the bar in Dooley’s
that I'm tailing. I want you to talk to him."

"Just talk?
” Ruby asked, sounding relieved. “
What'd he do?"

"He's cheating on his wife with at least one woman. I want to see if he can get tempted in a bar."

Ruby
stared at
me with shre
w
d eyes.
"Lily said he's your sister's husband."

"He is."

"What makes you think he'll go for me?"

"He's a slut."

"Thanks!"

"Him, not you. And you're pretty."

"Better." Ruby smiled as she leaned forward, her elbows resting on each seat top.
I could tell she was intrigued. My hunch that working at O’Grady’s wasn’t nearly as much fun as Flames was paying off.

"I just need to get pictures of him chatting up a woman. Sit next to him, get a drink, talk to him. Be flirty."

"What about him? Any wife could write that off
, like
he isn't really a cheat."

"True.” I pondered that. “
What about a kiss?"

"I could do that, I guess. Is he gross?"

I wrinkled my nose.
"I have no idea. I've never kissed him."

"He's gross," said Lily.

Ruby held out her hand. "It's an extra twenty bucks if he uses tongue."

"Deal." I paid her two twenties and
added one more
, trying to reassure myself that my financial loss was for a good cause
. "For drinks," I told her. "
Make sure I can see you
,
but don’t be obvious about looking at us
. I need to get pictures. I'll give you
the extra if you can get a kiss, o
r even get his hand on your thigh."
Lily shuddered
,
and
even as I said it,
it was all I could do to not vomit at the thought of Ted touching me. How Serena did it, I
had no clue
. I wondered if she was still doing it, or if Ted's mistress was the sole recipient of his poky stick.

"How about a lift home too?" asked Ruby. "I was going to take the bus."

"No problem."

"What does he look like?"

"
Mid-thirties
. Balding on the crown. He's wearing a
pinstripe
suit and he's s
itting
at the bar. I think he's drinking whiskey or vodka." I cued up the photo
gallery on the camera and showed the last snap
to Ruby.

"Got it," said Ruby. "Get snap happy. I'm goin' in."

"You are way cool," said Lily, admiringly.

"I know," agreed Ruby
, without any attitude, just the air of someone who was totally okay with being awesome
.

"If he suspects anything, just say you saw your
friend outside and you gotta go,
"
I added.

"I can't believe Ruby agreed to this," said Lily as Ruby got out and walked over to the restaurant. She spoke to the
m
aitre d'
,
then cro
ssed over to the bar, slipping o
nto the stool next to Ted
,
and
immediately knock
ing
him with her oversized purse. We watched as she giggled and touched his arm
,
probably apologiz
ing
copiously for knocking
over
his drink.
It was hard to tell with the silent movie version.

"
I didn’t know who else to ask.
She's good," I said
, pointing
my camera at them
.
I slunk down
in my seat a little so it wasn't immediately obvious to anyone walk
ing
past
. I fired off a couple of shots then glanced at Lily, who’d also slunk lower. A pedestrian passed by, glancing briefly at us and frowning.
"Are you really not going to tell me what Jord said?"