Bundle of Trouble (26 page)

She grimaced. Our eyes locked. Was that fear in her eyes? She slipped past me and locked the store door, pocketing the key.

“What are you doing?” I said, the panic in my voice scaring even me.

Jennifer ignored me and rummaged through a shelf behind the counter.

Blood roared in my ears. I felt dizzy.

What was she getting, a gun?

If I moved now, I could take her. I was taller. I could push her against the wall, grab the gun, and call 9-1-1.

I rushed the counter and shoved hard against her shoulders. She jumped, dropping the object in her hands. A bong.

“Hey! What are you doing?” she demanded.

I stared at the bong. “When you locked me in here, I thought you had a gun. For Christ’s sake, I’m investigating three murders!”

Jennifer rubbed at her shoulders. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted a little something to take the edge off.” She pulled open a drawer. Inside were baggies filled with marijuana.

She selected a bag from the drawer and squatted behind the counter, safely hidden from street view as she lit the bong and inhaled. “Maybe you need a hit, too.”

I exhaled and slumped down next to her. “I’ll pass. Want to tell me about you and Brad?”

After a moment she nodded. “We were working at the restaurant together and, you know, one thing led to another. We were staying out late, partying . . . He was really cool and everything, but a little uptight. So, not totally my type, but, you know, he was so good lookin’.” She opened the baggie and loaded the bong. “Anyway, we were smoking and drinking, and what can I tell you? The sex was really hot, so we just kinda kept at it.”

“Were you seeing each other up until his death?”

“Oh, no! It went down kinda rough. Eventually, I had to tell him that he wasn’t my type. By then I’d started seeing Winter. We were much more alike, much more compatible. I thought he was my soul mate.” She sighed. “I had to tell Brad. He didn’t take it too good . . . cuz, you know, I think he liked me a lot.”

“Why did Brad come to see you on June fifteenth?”

She played with the lighter in her hand. “To try and get back together.”

“You said no?”

“I told him no way in hell. He left really mad. If I had known that I was never gonna see him again, and that Winter was gonna dump me, well, hell, one final final wouldn’t have been too bad.”

“Do you have any idea who killed Brad, Michelle, and Svetlana?” I asked.

Jennifer took a hit and slowly shook her head. “Wish I did.”

•CHAPTER NINETEEN•

The Sixth Week—Discovery

Monday rolled around sooner than I would have liked. I hated the idea of Jim having to go to work.

“I wish you could take more time off to be with me and the baby. After all, I’m
supposed
to be back to the office next week.”

“What are we going to do about day care?” Jim asked.

My throat constricted. Leave my angel with strangers all day? “We won’t need day care.”

“Honey, we have to be realistic. I mean, even if you solve this homicide for Mrs. Avery, we still need a second income.”

“I could get another client.”

Jim looked at me, a cross of pity and love on his face.

“You think I’m kidding myself, don’t you?” I asked.

He wrapped his arms around me. “I totally believe in you and support you and love you.”

“You think I’m kidding myself.”

“How about I ask for a raise today?”

I pulled out of his embrace and looked into his eyes. “You certainly deserve one.”

“Yeah. I’ve been landing them new clients left and right. You should have seen the ad campaign I presented last week. Maybe I can squeeze a few more dollars out of them, or hell, even a promotion.”

Relief washed over me. Maybe I could stay home after all.

“You better get going then,” I said. “You don’t want to be late on the day you get promoted.”

 

1. Find Brad and/or Michelle and Svetlana’s killer.

2. ✓

3. Get some sleep.

4. ✓

5. Figure out how to launch this PI business—need license?

6. Research day care for Jelly Bean—just in case.

7. Start diet.

8. Pick up some dental whitener.

9. Find time for manicure/pedicure.

I looked over my list. How could I prioritize that to-do list? Could I really find a killer?

Well, I had found George, hadn’t I?

Please don’t be one and the same
, I prayed, unable to control the nausea that surfaced.

The phone rang, interrupting my thoughts.

“Kate. Nora Collins here. How are you and the baby?”

My boss from corporate hell.

“Fine. Fine. Everyone is good.”

“Great. Glad to hear it. Did you get the basket we sent?”

The staff from my office had sent a baby bathing basket. In it was a little yellow ducky robe complete with a bill hood and two feet dangling from the end of it, a couple of rubber duckies, baby shampoo, lotion and soap, and a waterproof bath book.

I hadn’t had the time or energy to mail the thank-you cards. What had happened to my manners? I reached for the pen that was near me and re-added “Mail thank-you cards” to my to-do list.

“We got the basket,” I said. “Thank you.”

“Glad you like it. Sheryl picked out everything. You know how she likes to shop.”

Sheryl was Nora’s ever faithful and devoted assistant. Everyone in the office knew Nora would be lost without Sheryl.

“Have you thought about your return date?” Nora asked.

I’d thought of little else, except for Laurie and solving this mystery.

What to tell Nora?

“I don’t have a return date yet. I have to see my doctor first and get a release,” I said.

“Of course,” Nora said. “I understand.”

Did she understand? She didn’t have any children, or a spouse for that matter. She had given up everything to climb the corporate ladder.

I tried to put a little cheer into my voice. “Thanks for calling and checking in. Tell everyone I said hello. I’ll let you know about my return date after I see my doctor.”

We hung up.

I paced.

Return to work? Ugh!

Not that there was anything wrong with my job. It was a good job, and I worked with decent people. I was responsible for the management of the entire architectural office. It was a creative place to work, and things were always busy around me. But I would have to be away from Laurie all day, every day.

I had to find a way to solve this crime. Investigation was much more exciting than my corporate job ever had been. And more important, if I could launch my own business, it would give me freedom and flexibility.

I googled “starting a business” and got busy reading.

 

 

Laurie was nestled comfortably in the baby carrier, lunch barely on the table, when I heard the front door slam. Laurie and I peeked into the hallway in time to see Jim let his briefcase fall to the floor with a loud thud.

“What are you doing back so soon?”

He stared at me. “I was fired.”

“Fired? I thought everything was going well.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You said the presentation went great. What about the promotion? The raise?”

“My presentation
was
great. We got the account. I landed my firm a multimillion-dollar account and they canned my ass.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They found out that I got arrested.”

“What? How? And what does that have to do with anything? You’re not guilty of anything! You were released.”

Laurie began to wail, as though she sensed we were upset. Funny how intuitive people are when they start out.

“That cop, McNearny, plays poker every Saturday night with Josh Garner, the top partner at my firm. Turns out McNearny blabs that I was arrested. Josh pulled me into his office this morning and said I’d violated, get this, a moral turpitude clause in my employee contract.”

I sat on our couch, stunned. Waves of disbelief washed over me. “I can’t believe it! You haven’t been convicted of anything!”

“I know. He said it didn’t matter, said it was bad for the firm’s image.”

“Maybe if you talked to another partner. What about Dylan—”

“Screw it! I’m not going to beg for my job. Ungrateful bastards!”

I stared at the mallard print that hung above our fireplace. A bird in flight. I love that picture simply because it’s an incredible act of nature. Such a small creature defying nature’s biggest law. Gravity.

I mustered the most courage I could. “Honey, we’re a team. We’re going to figure this thing out. Together!”

Jim’s shoulders slumped. “I’ve never been fired before.”

Pain shot through my temples. “You think I should go back to the office?”

His eyes searched out mine. “I don’t know what I think. I know how you feel about being home with Laurie.”

We sat in silence. I unbundled Laurie from the baby carrier and placed her on the little play mat. She was happy again, and played with a little witch rattle Mom had brought her in preparation for Halloween. Laurie clutched the rattle and studied her hand in surprise, as if wondering how the witch had gotten there.

Jim and I looked at each other. I covered my face and burst out crying, shaking all over. It seemed every time we took one step forward, we managed to take two back.

He hugged me tight. “Don’t cry, honey. We’re going to figure it out. We have our savings and I’ll have unemployment, for all that’s worth. Don’t worry, Kate. Please don’t cry.”

 

 

Miraculously, we ended up getting a good night’s sleep. Laurie must have tired herself out playing with the little rattle and ended up sleeping for a blessed six hours straight, which all the medical books comically term “sleeping through the night.”

In the morning, Jim awoke at his normal time—6 A.M.—in a panic. “Oh! Oh. This is weird, honey, really weird.”

“What is?”

“Not having to get up and go to the office.”

He turned over in bed and looked straight into my eyes. “I’m sorry, honey. I feel guilty. If I hadn’t picked a fight with George—”

“No! You didn’t know. How could you know that you would be fired over that? And by the way, George had it coming for getting us involved in all of this in the first place.”

Jim smiled. “You’re finally starting to see things my way.”

“Let’s look at the bright side,” I said. “At least this will free you up to help me solve the murders.”