Euphoria Lane (25 page)

“I was getting around to it. You’re usually asleep when I’m awake and vice versa.”

“If Reverend Nichols kept the peanuts in his pantry, Tess had access to them.” Jessie appeared to consider the implications. “Okay. You can talk to Nichols.”

Andi felt a spark of satisfaction ignite within her.

“But only if you take Luke with you.”

She could handle seeing Luke again. The mention of his name brought back an overwhelming feeling of affection, maybe even love. She could love the man, even if there was no certainty that they would be together. It was a feeling. Feelings were safe as long you kept your head together.

“I promise I will take Luke with me.”

“Let’s see if this really works.” Standing at the front door of Meg’s condo, Andi placed the receiver in her ear and watched her friend cross the room.

The nurse bounced over a bright floral-print area rug, and walked along the length of a red leather sofa with shiny orange- and lime-colored throw pillows until she reached the corner. She stood in front of floor-to-ceiling striped curtains containing the same color scheme. No wonder she always acted as if she’d downed a dozen energy drinks—the annoyingly bright room could give anyone a sensory overdose.

Her nurse’s uniform that day added to the feeling. It sported an overcrowded fabric petting zoo containing an abundance of baby deer, goats, and llamas. “Is this far enough?” Meg whispered.

The sound played loud and clear in Andi’s ear. “Fantastic! We now know we’ll be able to hear Harry and Valerie if they are whispering at a board meeting, but we need to know what the range is in our complex.”

“All right, Miss Teacher, it’s time for a field trip.” Meg ushered her out the door. “I’ll stay here. You keep walking down the street while talking. Once you’re out of earshot, I’ll raise my hand.”

“Are you sure this listening device is legal?” Andi asked.

“Of course. They wouldn’t advertise it on national television if it wasn’t.”

“Yeah . . .” Andi still had her doubts. She’d have to check with Jessie later. The cardinal rule was not to break the law. “What do you want me to talk about?”

“Tell me about when you and Luke dated in college.”

Andi felt a blush spread from her chest, up her neck, and over her cheeks. “There’s not much to tell.”

“Come on, tell me,” Meg urged. “I haven’t had a date since Britney Spears kissed Madonna on stage.”

Andi blocked the mental image. At least twenty yards away now, she reached into the pocket of her jeans and removed the picture of Luke she’d placed there that morning. Her sister had said to take Luke with her if she continued to investigate, but never specified he had to be there
in person
. If he was too busy to go with her, she could honestly say she took Luke along, even if it was only in photographic form.

Running a finger over his silly grin in the picture, she remembered the good times. Hopefully, they would have more of them in the future, after Harry was thrown off the board and the killer was thrown in jail.

Andi slid the photo back into her pocket and thought back to when she first met Luke. “We both attended Arizona State. It wasn’t one of those unforgettable meetings where you look into each other’s eyes and know it’s love at first sight. No fireworks or angels singing. Just two college students standing next to each other in line for a hot dog. Or maybe it was pizza.”

Meg pointed to her ear and nodded, signaling she could still hear her. Just then one of the neighbors walked past with her poodle. The nurse placed her hand over her ear. Loudly, she sang the words to “Like a Virgin” as if listening to an iPod while opening the back of her van.

An unexpected giggle burst from Andi’s mouth. Meg sang so far off key she was surprised the neighbor’s dog wasn’t howling. Once the neighbor passed, she stopped singing.

Andi suddenly realized she should be pretending to be doing something normal, too. She felt her keys in her pocket. She could check her mail. Walking toward the complex’s mail center, she waved as the neighbor passed. The older woman waved back. She obviously wasn’t a friend of Valerie’s, or she would have snubbed her.

Reaching the community mail center, Andi let her mind wander back to that first meeting. “Luke was having lunch with his roommate,” Andi said, going on with her story. “His roommate happened to be dating a friend of mine. The tables in the student union were all filled. I was about to leave when Luke’s roommate recognized me and invited me to join them.”

Andi sighed. There was no doubt about it, Luke was a handsome man. Back then, he was tall and cute. Now he had broad shoulders and a smile that could melt the coldest heart. “I had seen him around campus before—always with a different girl. I labeled him a player before getting to know him. When his roommate later told me Luke wanted to go out with me, it took him at least twenty minutes to convince me Luke was really a nice guy.”

Andi turned to see if Meg had signaled that she was out of hearing distance yet.

No. Not yet. She was pretending to clean the back of her van by holding a plastic grocery bag with one hand and playing with objects in her vehicle with the other. About every fifteen seconds she glanced in Andi’s direction and gave the thumbs-up sign.

“Later that night, Luke found my number in the campus directory and asked me out to a movie. I remember changing my clothes at least twelve times before our date. I wanted to look perfect. He always did. Still does.

“He smelled great, too. Calvin Klein cologne. I couldn’t pay attention to the film. I don’t even remember what was playing. All I remember is that whenever I leaned close to him, I couldn’t think straight. I let myself fall for him.”

Andi opened her mailbox to find it half-filled. She rummaged through the collection of envelopes and junk mail, but her mind refused to focus on the present. “I desperately wanted him to kiss me. I gazed up into his eyes, hoping he would get the hint. He only smiled and made me wait until he dropped me off at my dorm.” She closed the box and leaned against it. “That kiss was worth the wait.
Heavenly
doesn’t begin to describe it.”

“What was heavenly, dear?” A smartly dressed woman stepped around Andi to get to her box. They’d spoken at the last homeowners’ association meeting when she offered her services as an accountant if they wanted to request a copy of the financial statements from the board.

Andi jumped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you standing there.”

“Then who were you talking to?”

“Who was I talking to?”

Who was I talking to?

“I was just reminiscing. Is it strange to talk to yourself?”

She hadn’t fibbed. She didn’t say she was talking to herself.

The woman looked her up and down with a smile that said she thought Andi had issues with reality. “No, but if you answer yourself with an unusual accent, call a professional.”

Andi laughed even though she wanted to melt into her surroundings. She waved good-bye to the neighbor and caught Meg doubled over in a fit of laughter.

“Keep it up, Meg, and
you
can play the crazy lady talking to herself next time.”

“I’m friends with Roxie,” Meg said. “The neighbors already think I’m crazy.”

“I see your point. I’m going to keep walking down the street. Scratch your head when you can’t hear me.” Andi reached the corner and spotted Doctor Owens at Harry’s door with a man she didn’t recognize. Quickly, she hid behind a car in a neighboring driveway. “Meg, get over here, but don’t let anyone see you.”

The nurse ran to the closest tree, grabbed hold of the trunk and searched for witnesses before rushing to the next tree and then to the next. Andi shook her head at the ridiculous scene, hoping no one had seen them moving in a similar fashion on their way to catch Helen washing her car.

Meg ducked behind the sedan next to her. “What’s up?”

“Harry has company. Doctor Owens and a man I don’t know.”

Keeping low, Meg peered around the corner of the car. “That’s Roxie’s son. He’s Harry’s bookie. I think he lives near the mall.”

Andi put her hand out for the listening device. Her friend wasted no time in giving it to her.

“I’ll give you your money by the end of the week,” Harry promised. “I’ll give you another hundred if you can dig up the goods on this witch.”

Andi peered around the corner. All three men perused a bright-yellow paper. She’d be willing to bet it was one of the flyers Harry had placed on everyone’s windshields.

What was he up to now?

“Looks like she’s a stripper, or maybe a hooker,” the bookie said. “What else do you need to know?”

“Anything that will embarrass her enough to move. I want her and her trouble-making sister out of this complex—and my life—
today
.”

It was the flyer!

Andi and the anti-board had made Valerie angry, and now for revenge, he was going after her sister again.

Roxie’s son spit on the grass. “Don’t know about the today part, but if she’s hiding anything, I’ll find out what it is.”

Andi waited for the men to leave before coming up with an excuse to rush home to call Jessie. She had to warn her sister about the bookie trying to find the goods on her.

How easy would it be for him to discover she was a police officer?

“Hold the line a minute,” Jessie said.

Andi listened to silence, wondering if her sister was discussing the matter with the chain of command.

Would they yank her off her undercover case? Would they go after Harry?

“I’m back.”

“And?”

“I wanted to talk to my friend at the IRS while I had you on the line.”

“And?” she repeated.

“Harry is nowhere near being a millionaire. At least not according to his tax returns. Aside from his retirement, he made forty-three dollars in interest income last year. There isn’t anything to indicate he has any stocks or bonds.”

“Then where is he going to get the money to pay back the bookie?”

“I’m willing to bet he’ll trick Valerie into forking over the money,” Jessie said.

Andi sighed. “In the meantime, he’s going to blow your case, Jess. I should have just paid the fines and kept my big mouth shut.”

“You had to fight him. He’s a tyrant.” Jessie paused for a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. “We’re too close to making a bust for me to pull out of my undercover assignment right now. We’ll have to try to contain the situation.”

“What does that mean?” Hopefully something painful for Harry. Visions of water tortures danced through her head.

“I’ll deal with it from this end. You try not to worry.”

“That’s like asking me not to breathe,” Andi said with a sigh.

“Do it anyway.”

The next evening, Luke marched into the crowded library meeting room and found Andi perched on the edge of a metal chair in the front row, near the table. Her tight expression spoke volumes. He leaned close, catching the scent of sugar cookies. She had been baking again.

“Are you all right?” he asked, knowing he was about to get an earful.

“No.” Anger sparked in her eyes. “Harry hired the bookie to dig up dirt on my sister and Roxie hasn’t been able to reach him to call him off.”

Luke wanted to tell her everything would be okay, but he wasn’t sure how much damage Harry could cause. If Roxie’s son started showing Jessie’s picture around, he might discover her true profession. He might also figure out she was undercover. He could even discover she owned Lenny’s Detective Agency.

“What’s the emergency meeting for?” Andi asked.

“Harry won’t say, but he’s all riled up.” Luke lifted a pile of papers. “He just gave me copies of violation letters he handed out this morning. I haven’t told him yet, but this is my last meeting.”

“What about your mother’s retirement cottage?”

“I’ll come up with some way to convince my boss to drop this account without firing me.”

Andi didn’t appear convinced. “I didn’t receive a violation letter like the others. Maybe because he wants to give me a false sense of security before he hits us with whatever he digs up on my sister.”

“You’re one of the lucky few who didn’t receive a letter.” Luke hefted his briefcase onto the table and tossed the papers inside. “There are at least fifty letters here. He got his hands on a radar gun to catch anyone going even a mile over the speed limit.”

Luke took in the sea of red “Anti-Board” shirts filling the meeting room. More than half of the community had joined their cause. Those who weren’t already members most likely would be after the meeting. The heightened tension thickened the air like a low-rolling fog.

Andi followed his lead and checked out the crowd. “I’m willing to bet Roxie and Meg will get the number of signatures they need to get Harry tossed off the board now.”

“If they don’t toss him off a bridge first.”

“You know Harry brought this all on himself,” she said, as if checking to make sure he was still on their side.

“I know, but the fallout is getting ugly.” The community was spinning out of control and he couldn’t stop its building momentum. He didn’t think anyone could.

“Speaking of ugly, how is Harry paying off his bookie?”

“He has money. Everyone knows that crotchety old man is worth at least a million.”

“Not according to my sources. Is there any way Harry could be receiving kickbacks from any of the companies the association has been hiring?”

“I hadn’t thought about kickbacks. I did check into the possibility that he could be pocketing fine payments without me knowing it, but I didn’t find anything.” Luke could kiss his job good-bye if they uncovered that Harry was taking kickbacks right under his nose.

Harry stormed down the aisle toward the table where they were standing. His clenched fists could barely be seen beneath the long sleeves of his puke-green suit jacket. If he wore a suit thinking it would give him an air of authority, he needed to think again.

Noting the man’s scowl, Luke wondered if he had been taking kickbacks and Bernice found out. That had been Andi’s theory before she decided Tess was responsible for Bernice’s death.