Designer Detective

First Novel in the Fiona Marlowe Mystery Series

Marjorie Thelen

To my writer and reader friends everywhere, thank you. To the original Aussie girl, Bronwen Porter, who inspired me to write the book, a special thanks; to the Harney Basin Writers for the wind beneath my wings; and for John, always

What readers are saying about Marjorie Thelen’s books

“In Designer Detective the reader is taken along on a fun and fast-paced journey filled with unexpected villains and heroes and is treated to a surprising ending. I literally couldn’t put the book down and anxiously await Fiona’s next adventure.”

Karen Nitz, archivist of the Western Room, Harney County Library and author of Harney County.

“The Forty Column Castle is a perfect blend of filial concern, romance, international intrigue, fashion, and surprising plot twists that create a lighthearted escape from the burdens of daily life. You'll have fun reading it.”

BJ Appelgren, author of The Transparent Feather and Sunny Side Up.

For The Hieroglyphic Staircase: “Of all the noted authors I have read, Larry McMurtry, Craig Johnson, Tony Hillerman and many others, who have that ability, Marjorie Thelen did a magnificent job of portraying every character and all the places where I could just imagine, or close my eyes and picture myself being in the story. It was really enjoyable. I have read some books where the author does not have that ability to transcend the reader from the comfort of their favorite chair to being present as the story unfolds. She does an excellent job. I enjoyed every chapter of the book and was sad when I got to the last page.”

Ron Copeland, re-tired Seattle Law Enforcement Officer.

Also by Marjorie Thelen

The Forty Column Castle

The Hieroglyphic Staircase

High Desert Detective

Chapter 1

The private investigator introduced himself as Jake.

“I understand you’re an interior decorator,” he said.

“Designer. I don’t just decorate I design living space,” I said.

He cast his eyes around the room like maybe he didn't understand me right, like I'm glad you're not my interior designer.

“Okay, I know the place is a mess. I'm busy. I lead an active life. I travel a lot. But that’s not why you’re here.”

We sat on my beige leather couch. His knees didn't quite fit between the couch and the black lacquer coffee table, overloaded with books and empty coffee cups that hadn't made it to the dishwasher. He spread his legs wide in the way only a man can do. His thighs were big, and his Levis fit tight. I like the curve of a man's thigh so I sneaked a discreet glance when he wasn't looking. I didn't think he noticed.

“I understand you found the deceased when you went to his house this morning.”

“Yes. I have a key. I let myself in because he leaves for work before I arrive.”

“What time was that?”

“After eleven.”

“Then you arrived late in the morning.”

“Yes.” I smiled like it was normal to report to work after eleven in the morning. I am not an early riser.

“Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”

I thought that one over and felt a need to explain. “I was in a rush this morning and got held up in traffic. When I arrived at the Lodge estate, parked in the drive, ran through the downpour, struggled with the key in a Byzantine lock, banged open the door and shook off, I was in a foul mood. Finding Albert Lodge on the floor of the library was the final nail in the coffin, you might say. I wasn't at my most observant.”

“I see,” he said, writing in a little spiral notebook. “Describe finding the body.”

I thought back over the scene. “When I walked into the library, he was stretched out on the floor. I thought he was sleeping. Maybe he’d had a wild night. I sniffed the air for booze. Didn't smell like the inside of a bar. I shook him a little, called his name.” I did a mental pause. “Are you investigating a murder?”

His eyes came up from where he was writing in the little spiral notebook. Creases framed his eyes, and he looked as tired as I felt.

“The coroner ruled he died of natural causes.”

“Why are you here?”

He addressed me like I was a bothersome child. “I’ve been hired by the family to find out if the death was, in fact, natural.”

“I see. Sorry. It's been a long day.”

“Right,” he said and checked his watch. “I was up at four this morning.” He plodded on. Tenacious guy. “You didn't notice anything about the deceased's house that would make you suspicious? Like a window open, glass on the floor, muddy foot prints?”

“No, nothing.” I was trying hard to remain patient. He was being too methodical for me. I wanted to jump to conclusions.

“After you tried to rouse him, what did you do?”

“I yelled for help, anybody, help. Loud. Several times. No one came.”

“And then?”

“Like I told the officer this morning, I picked up the phone and dialed 911, because I sensed we had a medical emergency on our hands.”

I must have put too cynical a twist on that last part because he looked up from his notebook. “Miss,” he glanced at his notes, “uh, Marlowe, I believe it is. I'm sorry if it's late, if you're tired, if I'm tired, if I'm asking a lot of questions. I'm sorry but a man is dead, and I am to determine if foul play was involved. If you'd like, if I'm inconveniencing you, I could come back in the morning.”

We stared at each other until I got uncomfortable and looked away. “I'll make coffee,” I said. “It sounds like we might be here all night.”

“No, thanks,” he said, holding up his hand to stop me from rising from the couch. “I'd like to get this done and get out of here. I got another stop before I crash tonight.”

I was impressed with his work ethic. I stepped out of my wiseass suit and answered the man's questions. He left in fifteen minutes, after scribbling his name and cell phone number on a piece of notebook paper. He must have been out of business cards.

“Call me,” he said, “if you think of anything that might help. Any little detail, no matter how insignificant.”

“Do you think Mr. Lodge was murdered?” I asked as we stood in the foyer surrounded by my collection of Australian aborigine masks.

“I don't know,” he said. “That's what I've been hired to find out. Good evening, Ms. Marlowe.” He gave me a two-finger salute, glanced around at the masks, back at me, then walked away down the hall to the elevator. He was taller than I and held himself erect, not the slouchy type, but the slope of his shoulders had some tired to them.

I looked at the piece of paper. Jake Manyhorses. What kind of a name was that?

* * * * *

I sat at my breakfast table window with a cup of organic fair trade coffee, enjoying the view looking across the Potomac River into Washington D.C. To the east the sun was trying to muscle its way through heavy gray clouds. This town had its faults, politics came to mind, but the view from Virginia of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial with the Capitol building in the background was spectacular.

I hadn't slept a wink. Visions of Albert Lodge's face schmushed on the gold Persian carpet kept playing in my mind. Maybe he’d had a heart attack or stroke. Someone must have been pretty clever to conceal a cause of death the coroner thought natural. Who would want to do away with a nice, old gent like Albert Lodge?

I was now unemployed. Too bad. I’d some great ideas for a new, contemporary look to the library. Being the practical woman I was, I fished in my purse for my cell phone to call a client who was waiting for me to faux paint her dining room. After dumping the entire contents of my Coach purse, which seconded as a briefcase, I discovered the phone was not in residence. I must have left it in Mr. Lodge's library when I tried to call 911 and couldn’t get a signal. That meant a trip back to his house. I still had the key, so there'd be no problem getting in. I should have given the key to the policeman or Jake Many Horses, but it slipped my mind. That happened to me.

I decided, as I pulled on a pair of black slacks and olive turtleneck sweater after a steamy shower, I should tell Jake about Mr. Lodge having the library redone to erase the memory of his wife. I had asked him why he wanted to re-decorate the library. He said his wife had decorated it. Now that she was gone, it reminded him of her and he wanted a change. He didn't mention whether the memory of the wife was a good thing or a bad thing.

Zipping along the George Washington Parkway on my way to McLean where the rich and powerful lived and misbehaved, it struck me like a hopper of molten steel that I was involved in a murder investigation. Goose flesh prickled on my arms, maybe even my heart. Talk about a chilling feeling.

I didn't know much about Albert Lodge. He had photos sitting about the library, but he hadn't talked about any of the people in the photos. Maybe I should do some looking around on my own when I got there. What if someone had murdered him? Maybe I should forget about getting the cell phone. But my perverse nature made me blunder on.

As I entered the open gate to the Lodge estate, I noticed a car parked on the side of the road in a ditch under a tree shedding golden leaves. That car wasn't there the day before. Or was it? It was a rust bucket that looked like something an illegal alien would drive, way out of place in this neighborhood. I stopped, whipped out my daily planner and made a note under today's date of the license plate number, color and model. We detectives had to keep track of clues. I'd tell Jake about it.

I swung up the circular drive in my racy Acura Legend and parked in front. The place looked English country estate with lots of red brick and two stories of multi-pane windows. The carved entrance door was recessed into an arched portico with wide entrance steps. The sky was still overcast with leaden clouds lumbering by on a serious northwest wind. At least the rain had stopped. I pulled the collar of my suede jacket up around my neck, boldly strode to the door like I lived there, and commenced to wrestle with the lock.

I was starting to feel maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I kept looking around like I was expecting someone to come up to me and say “Hey, what do you think you're doing?” Finally, the door clicked open after I had jiggled the key at least a million different directions.

The foyer had an odd pungent smell. Maybe it was the pipe tobacco Albert Lodge favored. He had stroked and stoked his pipe in an orgasmic ritual Saturday morning when I had come to talk over what he wanted done and quote him a price. He had not flinched at the ball park number I tossed out. Good omen for us interior designers. Too bad the guy had to up and die.

My high heel boots clicked on the marble floors, echoing in the stillness. The drawing room was to the left, the library to the right. I headed for the library and stopped at the entrance a little apprehensive about what I might find. I peered around but detected no dead body or other undesirables. All was still, which gave me the willies. I hurried to look for the cell phone. A huge couch stood where Mr. Lodge had fallen. I went around the space like stepping on the spot would be sacrilegious. I ran my hand along the couch seams and cushions, thinking the phone might have dropped there.

“May I help you?” said a proper English voice.

I jumped and emitted an unladylike screech, gripping my chest to forestall a heart attack. I searched for the voice and saw the source standing at the entrance. “Good heavens. You gave me a fright. Who are you?” I managed to croak.

“My name is Hudson. I'm Mr. Lodge's butler. And you?”

He was an Anthony Hopkins look alike reminiscent of the butler in the movie, Remains of the Day, displaying a countenance more curious than stern. I detected a bit of a twinkle in his eye.

“Fiona Marlowe. Mr. Lodge engaged me to redesign the library. I'm the one who found him yesterday.”

“Quite. I've been away. My sister has been ill so I took leave to visit her. I returned when I heard of Mr. Lodge's accident.”

He walked to the window by the desk and opened the heavy velvet green drapes. They were the first things I planned to get rid of. The windows needed something lighter, airier.

“You came Saturday whilst I was gone, I believe,” he said.

“Yes. Mr. Lodge gave me a key so I could work when he wasn't here during the day.”

“He mentioned he had engaged you. I sometimes work in the far reaches of the house and didn't hear you come in since you didn't ring the bell. Are you here to continue working?” He cocked his head to one side like that was a suspect idea.

I smiled without humor. “No, I realize under the circumstances, my work won’t be needed. I misplaced my cell phone. The last time I used it was here, so I came back to look for it. Sorry to impose.”

He walked to the desk and picked up my cell phone.

“Is this it? I found it on the couch when I was tidying up this morning.”

“Thanks so much. I better run. Sorry.” I took the phone, plopped it in my purse and turned to go.

“You don't have to leave. Would you care for tea? We could talk about your plans for the remodel.”

I looked at him like he had just told me I’d won the lottery. “I thought the job would be over since Mr. Lodge. .” My voice failed me, and I looked down at the place on the floor.

“The house will be put up for sale, no doubt, and anything you could do to spruce up the place would only add to the value. Maybe you could look at some of the other rooms.”

“Maybe we should have that cup of tea,” I said.

Hudson led the way to a dining area looking out on the spacious grounds to the back of the house. Spacious was an understatement. A virtual park unfolded across the horizon. In the immediate foreground was an Olympic size pool prime for swimming. A hint of steam rose from the water. Deck chairs were arranged as if a party might break out at any minute. A breakfast nook off the kitchen had a sparkling glass oval table with place for six. Hudson held my chair at the end to afford me the best view of the park.

“I just made a pot of tea. It won’t take me a minute to assemble the tray.”

He stepped smartly around a central island big enough for ten of my kitchen. On a crystal plate he arranged cinnamon rolls that by the smell would have just come from the oven. I wondered who else was coming. Maybe he had a sweet tooth.

He placed silver teapot, cups and saucers on a silver tray and brought the whole shebang to the table. Did I mention he was done up in black suit, crisp white shirt, black tie? Shiny shoes, too.

“Here we are,” he said, placing the intricately carved silver tray between us. Brilliantly polished, might I add. He seated himself across from me and served. Lovely china, probably Waterford. I restrained myself from turning over the saucer to check the imprint.

“Thank you,” I said, accepting a cup and plate with cinnamon bun, heavy on the glaze. My favorite. It had been a while since breakfast.

I took a sip while Hudson served himself. He had crow's feet around disconcertingly pale blue eyes and the makings of jowls. His jacket was of impeccable fit. He sipped his tea with a genteel slurp. He looked up and an engaging smile lit his face.

I gathered my courage and waded in. “Not to rush the subject but who's running the show now?”

“I am,” he said with the engaging smile. His teeth were not perfectly straight which I appreciated after years of looking at the orthodontically correct generation. Crooked teeth were a mark of character in my book.

My raised eyebrow triggered more information.

“Mr. Lodge had every confidence in me. I manage the entire operation of the house, including finances. That's what the modern butler does. The library redesign will be small in terms of my signature authority. Mr. Lodge had already approved it.”

That answered my big question of who had the authority to pay me, if I undertook the rest of the project.

“I see. I don't mean to be nosy but aren't there children or relatives or an executor? I mean this is quite an estate.”

“Mr. Lodge has a older sister who is executor of the estate. She's quite sharp given her age. Mr. and Mrs. Lodge had no children. Mrs. Lodge’s sister and brother live abroad.”

Now we were getting into the good stuff.

“Won't the sister or whoever inherits have a say in how money is spent?”

He patted his lips with linen napkin and frowned. “Ms. Marlowe, I know what I'm doing. You shall be paid for your work. Now shall we discuss your plans for the library?”

On the drive back to my condo, I mulled over what to do. I wasn't convinced that Hudson had the authority to go ahead with the job. What about the sister executor? She could refuse to pay. I didn't like working for nothing, and I didn't want to argue about it. If I were smart, I’d try to get hold of the sister. I bet Jake knew who she was.

I tried my cell phone at a red light. Darn thing didn't work. I had to get to that stack of unopened bills. I needed someone like Hudson badly. Maybe I should hire a butler. Maybe younger, more handsome. Infinite possibilities there.

When I got back to the condo, the answering machine was chirping and the message light was on. I listened to a message from PI Jake. He wanted to meet me for coffee in the morning. I called back on the number he left which he didn't pick up, so I left a message on his answering service that I'd be available after ten in the morning.

He called back. “How about eight?”

I chewed my lip. I rarely got out of bed before nine, but I didn't want this guy to think I was a deadbeat freeloader. “Nine,” I said in a bargaining mood.

I heard him sigh through the phone waves. “All right. Nine.” He hung up. Maybe the autopsy report the family had ordered was back on Albert Lodge.

* * * * *

I showed up at Cafe Francois, a little dive I recommended, around 9:15. I like to be fashionably late. Jake was already there, sitting at a window booth, gripping a cup of coffee. I’d thrown on a pair of pressed designer jeans, black turtleneck, and tan corduroy jacket. The weather was forty degrees and raining which I detest. I love corduroy though. Cafe Francois was like home to me. I walked to the booth and slid in. Jake managed a grunt in greeting.

“Bad night?” I asked.

“Not much sleep.”

“I get those, too.”

Kathy, the waitress, came over. “Coffee, Fiona?” she asked.

“And a cinnamon bun,” I added since I hadn’t bothered with breakfast.

“Haven't seen you in a while,” she said, turning up the coffee cup and pouring. “You been out a town on one of the cushy jobs you pull in?”

I shook my head. “No, I've been working locally. Several weeks ago I went to Honduras to do some work for Mrs. Velasquez, you know, the one I did a lot of work for last year.”

“I remember.” She shook her head. “Some people know how to live. Anything else for you, sir?”

“Just coffee, thanks.”

“Sure, big boy,” she said with a grin. As she sashayed away in the tightest black waitress dress you'd ever want to see, I noticed Jake’s eyes following her retreat. He recovered and stirred an armload of sugar into his coffee.

“You know the help,” he said.

“I come here a lot. Where are you from?”

“Out west. Grew up in Oklahoma.”

“You've come up in the world.”

He gave a half laugh that lifted his mouth on one side. “I'm not sure. Not many people speak English around here.”

“A sad commentary on our world.”

Kathy sauntered over and slid a big, warm cinnamon bun in front of me. She plunked down two plates and a knife. “Thought you might like to share,” she said. I knew she was thinking this was the start of another romance.

“Thanks,” I said, not able to hold back a smile. “You devil.”

She winked at me and left to devil another customer.

When I offered Jake a slice of my bun, he held up his hand. “I never indulge. I get all the sugar I need in my coffee.”

I shrugged and sipped my coffee, waiting for Jake to tell me why he wanted to see me.

“The coroner’s report is in. Albert Lodge died of an overdose of Propranolol.”

I'm sure my face registered a dumb look. “Am I supposed to know what that is? I can't even pronounce it.”

“Propranolol is prescription medication used to treat high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, tremors, stuff like that. It can be lethal in high doses. Albert took a small daily dose.”

“Wow, you think he might have committed suicide?”

“Maybe.”

“Of course, someone could have given him an overdose.”

“Maybe someone could have.” He nodded his head up and down slowly, all the while holding my gaze.

Something niggled at my brain and then exploded full screen into my mind's amphitheater. “I'm a suspect.”

He smiled. It was a nice smile, but not under these circumstances. “You might say.”

“Wow,” I said again. My vocabulary seemed to be failing me. “I bet you want to know more about me. Did you do a background check?”

“Yes, m'am, to both.”

“You already know about me then. What's to tell?”

“Current history. How long have you known the deceased?”

I frowned. This conversation was not going in the right direction.

“I met him for the first time last Saturday. He’s a little too old for me, so dispense with that idea. But I have some information that might interest you.”

He sat back and played with his empty coffee cup, twirling it around. “Shoot,” he said.

“When I met with Mr. Lodge to determine the scope of work for the library redesign, he mentioned he wanted the work done because his wife had died. He didn't mention whether he had fond memories. But I got the feeling that he didn't particularly care for her. The redesign might have been his way of scrubbing away an unpleasant memory.”

“Okay,” said Jake. “But the wife is dead so she’s not a suspect.”

“Right. But maybe she had unpleasant feelings for him, which she shared with other family members. Maybe they did him in. I'm just throwing out possibilities here.”

“Grasping at straws?”

“Very funny. I'm trying to help your investigation. I have no feeling invested in this. I met Mr. Lodge Saturday. I was there Monday and Tuesday of this week while he was at work. Wednesday I find him on the floor. Friday I'm a suspect. I don't think I've had enough emotional investment in the affair to murder him.”

“You could be working for someone else.”

“Look at me. Do I look like a murderer?”

“Hon, I've seen sweet little old ladies do worse.”

“I'm sure you have.”

“Can you account for your whereabouts Tuesday night?”

I blew out a breath. “Home alone in bed. No witnesses. What was the time of death?”

“Sometime during the night.”

“Someone could have slipped him something with dinner.”

“The contents of his stomach indicated Chinese food.”

“There you have it.”

“I'm trying to eliminate you as a suspect.”

I threw up my hands. “It was Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick.”

“Hey, that's good. You used to play Clue?” Jake perked up at the mention of Clue. This was the most animated I'd seen him.

“Hours on end when I was a kid.”

“Yeah, me, too. We got white people’s discarded board games on the reservation. We gave all the characters Cherokee names.”

I frowned. “You grew up on a reservation?”

“Yeah, didn't everyone?”

Did I detect bitterness behind that comment? I studied his face but he had withdrawn behind a smirk.

“All right,” I said. “We best keep to the matter at hand. How did you get hired for this job?”

He did a one-shoulder lift. “I owe a family member a favor. How did you get the job?”

“Referral. I've done other estates in McLean. Good work is its own advertisement.” I put on a smile with an edge. “Did you interview the butler?”

“Yes. Did you?”

“I talked to him in the kitchen. I'm being retained to finish the library.”

“Interesting. So you went back there yesterday.”

I could feel heat creep into my face. “I left my cell phone by accident and went back to retrieve it. Here’s an interesting detail for you. There was an old beat up Toyota in the ditch outside the entrance to the estate when I went yesterday.” I opened my trusty daily planner, copied down the pertinent details on an old envelope and slid it toward him. “There, I got the license and model and color. You said any little detail.”

He looked at the envelope. I could see he was impressed by the nod of his head. “Thanks. I didn't see the car. I'll follow up.”

“See, I'm trying to be helpful.”

“I appreciate it. Are you going to tell me what the butler told you?”

“He must have told you the same thing.”

“Let's compare notes. You first.”

“The most interesting tidbit was the sister who is the executor. Is she the one who hired you?”

“Matter of fact she is.”

“You owe her a favor?”

“Yeah.”

“What was the favor?” I was being a bit nosy.

He squirmed a little. “She helped me out once. Long time ago. Let's leave it at that.”

I filed that for later reflection.

“Tell me,” I said. “Do you think she'll pay me if I finish the job?”

He shrugged. “I don't see why not. Between Albert and his wife they had enough money to run California.”

“That wealthy, eh?”

“I'm exaggerating but yeah, they have money.”

“How do you know?”

“Wait a minute. I'm the private investigator here. I ask the questions.”

“I think you need help.” That was out of my mouth before I had time to censor it. What was I saying?

“I work alone.”

I shrugged. “If I'm in there every day, there's no reason to think I wouldn't pick up valuable information.”

His brown eyes closed to slits. “What's in this for you?”

I guess he thought I wanted a take. Not a bad idea. I cocked my head to the side, a habit that helps me think and scheme better. “I’m curious, intrigued, fascinated. And I’m really good at crossword puzzles and Sudoku. You need someone with a sharp mind like mine to help you. It’s obvious that a family member did it. Money is the motive.”

“Might be family. Might be money.”

“Include the executor.”

“I don't think so. She's over eighty years old and got money.” But he didn't look so sure. He was folding a paper napkin in tiny squares.

“What's your theory on whodunit?” I asked.

He stopped fiddling with the napkin and gazed out the window. Small drops of rain splashed the windowpane. The traffic on Wilson Boulevard moved sluggishly, seduced by the rain.

“To tell you the truth,” he said, turning to look at me, “I don't know why she wants me to investigate. She seems to think I have superior investigative abilities since I figured out who was rustling her cattle a while back. She called awful quick after you found Albert on the floor. It was almost like she knew it was coming and had already decided to conduct an investigation of her own. Like maybe she suspected somebody.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “Does she have a name?”

“Opal Crawford.”

“Married?”

“Husband died a long time ago.”

“Does she live here?”

“Nope, lives on a ranch in southeastern Oregon.”

“We should get more background on her. After all, if she inherits, she’s a suspect.”

He looked at me sideways. “We?”

“Hey, I'm not looking for a cut. I just want to get paid for the work I do. I'm fussy that way. Help me get my money. I'll help you get yours.”

He parked his chin on his fist and ran his tongue around his teeth with a focus on my eyes that sized me up in one quick take.

“Okay. But you're not off the hook as a suspect until you have someone can verify your whereabouts Tuesday night.”

“Gosh, I wish I could say George Clooney or Viggo Mortensen spent the night. But they were busy Tuesday. It was just little me in bed with my chicken pillows.”

“Chicken pillows?”

“I'll show you my collection sometime.”

Chapter 2

I left Cafe Francois and headed for the Lodge estate. I wanted to do some work and talk to Hudson about Opal Crawford. As I drove through the gate of the estate, my sharp eyes detected that the beat up car in the ditch was gone. Maybe the owner had it towed. Maybe a neighbor had complained to the police, and they removed it. Maybe it had nothing to do with Albert Lodge’s demise. But I wondered.

I knocked on the door and rang the bell, hoping that Hudson would be in. He did not appear. I waited and rang the bell intermittently for a few minutes but nothing. I whipped out the key and let myself in, after the usual wrestle with the lock.

Throwing my jacket on the couch, I commandeered Mr. Lodge's large mahogany desk for my work area. I was about to sit down and input the layout of the new library while it was still fresh in my head when it occurred to me that now might be the perfect time to sleuth around the house looking for clues. I'd only take a few minutes.

First, I had to find out if Hudson was about. Maybe he hadn't heard the bell, although I'm sure it rang in the kitchen. Calling his name, I headed for the kitchen. I searched but found no evidence of Hudson’s recent occupancy, which was odd. No enticing smells from the oven. No silver service standing ready for tea.

I stood at the French doors that overlooked the swimming pool. Raindrops flipped coins on the water. I reflected on the money needed to maintain an estate of this magnitude. It boggled the mind. But where were the people? No laughter rang through the myriad of rooms. The house sat empty with exquisitely coiffed gardens and rooms, anti-theft systems, and multi-car garage, waiting. I wasn’t sure for what.

A disturbing thought surfaced in my ever-alert mind. There was no burglar alarm on the front door. I didn't have to punch in any code or switch off the alarm before it sounded. Mr. Lodge must have been a trusting soul. I wondered if Jake had noticed the lack of security. He hadn’t said anything, but that was an important clue right there in my detective book. No security on a valuable house bore further investigation.

I decided to tour the back rooms for clues and found pantry after pantry of imported dry goods, silverware, sets of ornate dishes, plush towels, silk sheets, and other extravagances needed to run the wealthy household. A hallway connected the pantries, and I caught a fragrance of damp soil and greenery. I followed my nose to a charming conservatory tucked away in the west wing.

The exterior wall of windows fanned out in a half hexagon shape. Outside, boxwoods surrounded a wide brick patio. The shrubs were clipped in shapes of a suit of cards — clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. The whimsy of it brought to mind Alice in Wonderland. Then again someone might have a gambling habit. A low brick wall trimmed in yellow mums surrounded a single spray fountain in the center of the patio.

A wicker chair with rose cushions faced the patio. On a stand a book lay with a pair of reading glasses on top. I put the glasses carefully aside and picked up the book — Remembrance of Times Past by Marcel Proust. Someone with the fortitude to read Proust might be interesting to talk to. My bet it was Albert’s sister, and I wondered where she was.

Feeling guilty about snooping, I hustled back through the pantries and collided with the door from the garage, which opened right in front of me. Hudson stuck his head around the door to see what he had hit.

“Miss Marlowe. How good to see you. We saw your car in the front drive. Might I be of assistance?”

“No, actually, I was giving myself a little tour. You know, to get an idea of how other parts of the house were furnished.”

“What is it, Hudson?” a quiet, disembodied voice said. “Is someone there?”

Hudson turned back and said, “Yes, ma’am. It is Miss Marlowe, here to attend to the redesign of the library.”

“I see. Let's have tea. I feel chilled to the bone.”

He stepped into the hall, and Opal Crawford followed him in. She looked at me and smiled. Her eyes danced. I liked her at once.

“Tea?” she said to me.

“I'd be delighted.”

While Hudson was assembling tea, Opal led me to the music room complete with piano and harp. Red Persian carpets adorned the natural wood floors in a conversation grouping including two facing loveseats in gold stripe. She sat on one and patted the seat beside her.

“This room is too formal, don't you think, dear?” Opal said to open the conversation. “I never liked Olivia's taste in decorating. She was English, you know. Rather stiff and conservative. I do like a music room though.”

The smile she turned on me, I’ve seen on cherubs. I succumbed to her charm. She didn’t seem disturbed in the least that they found me wandering around the house. And she didn’t look like she lived on a ranch out West. I was expecting leather, fringes, denim and boots. She wore a polyester knit suit in navy blue.

“The library is the same way,” I said, “though I don't have trouble with English formal. That’s the way they are.”

Opal sighed. “Yes, they are. I think Albert was happy with her, or he always pretended he was. Albert excelled at pretense, but he had a good heart.”

“When did you arrive?” I said.

“Yesterday. When Hudson called me, I booked the next plane to Washington, D.C.”

“And before you left you called Jake Manyhorses.”

Again, no surprise. “Yes,” she said. “Then you've met him.”

“He came to see me the night of Mr. Lodge's death. I'm a suspect, you know.”

She smiled. “Jake's very good. He'll get to the bottom of this.” She peered into my eyes. “You didn't do anything wrong, dear. Jake's just doing his job.”

“Then you think there is something amiss?”

“Absolutely. Albert was given an overdose. He would never have done that himself. He had one of those little pillboxes with the days of the week, and he carefully put his medications in each day. He was very precise about things. He would never have taken an overdose. There was no point. He wasn't unhappy.” She stared off into the distance for a while, her hands resting quietly in her lap.

“Olivia died about a year ago. Stroke. She went just like that.” Opal snapped her fingers for effect. “They weren't close but they were fond of each other. They often went their separate ways, what with her family in England and South Africa. No, Albert was a well-adjusted person and took things in stride. He even mentioned a lady friend in our last conversation. I was happy for him.”

“Lady friend? Did he mention her name?”

“No, he didn't. Now I wish I had asked. I'm sure Jake will find out who she is.”

“How old was Albert?”

“Eighty-two. Our family is long lived. Our father died when he was one hundred. He was fit as a fiddle and had a keen mind until a heart attack took him.”

Hudson entered with tea on the fancy silver tray, and Opal poured. “One lump or two?” she asked.

“Just cream for me, thank you,” I said. She handed me a cup and saucer and offered a small crystal plate with cookies. I took one. Ginger snaps. Homemade. I could live like this.

Opal sat back into the loveseat and sipped her tea. “Well, Miss Marlowe. .”

“Please call me Fiona.”

She smiled and said, “Fiona. Lovely name. Is that Irish, dear?”

“It is. I have a strong strain of Irish on my mother’s side of the family.”

“I have a bit myself.” Her soft blue eyes twinkled like she might belong to the Irish little people. She wore a light dose of blusher and lipstick that went well with the snowy white hair. This was anyone's favorite aunt. I adopted her forthwith.

“My dear, we must talk about the library.”

I held my breath. She was going to fire me.

“You might show me what you've done and what you have in mind and how long you think it will take. I suppose we should spruce up the place a bit and get rid of some of these heavy drapes. The house will have to go on the market.”

“You mean, you want me to continue with the library?”

“Of course. Albert wanted it, and it is something I could do for him. I'm executor of the estate.”

“Jake mentioned that.”

“More tea?” she asked.

“Yes, please. I could show you the new floor plan with furniture. I thought we might forego drapes and use simple tiebacks and valances. After all there isn't anyone around to peek in. The natural light would cheer up the room.”

“I like that. What else?”

“Why don't we go to the library, and I'll show you my ideas?”

* * * * *

I called Jake when I got home, that is, after I called my cell phone provider and got my cell phone reinstated. That took the better part of an hour. No one speaks English anymore on help desks. This support person was in Belize of all places.

The hour in the library with Opal was time well spent. She had good ideas. We decided to replace the green paint with tan and use off white for the bookshelves, window and door trim. The huge mahogany desk would remain until the house sold. Opal would remove the personal photos and memorabilia from Albert's travels. She didn't tear up once. I admired her fortitude. I could tell from the way she handled Albert’s personal items like the photos that she was fond of him, but she didn't give way to weepy hysterics.

One photo was of a young couple in cowboy attire. “This is Henry and me,” she said, looking as close to wistful as I had seen her. “We were so young.”

I took the photo in hand and studied it. “What a handsome couple.”

She smiled. “Henry was a good man. He didn't live long enough.”

“When did he die?”

“Two years after we married. A horse threw him on an isolated section of the ranch. Broke his neck. By the time we found him, he was gone.”

“Did you ever think to remarry?”

Her eyes turned mischievous. “I had offers a plenty. But I wanted to make a success of the ranch because Henry had wanted it so badly. That took all my energy. I built it into a prime cattle operation. I have good hands working for me. I'm proud I made it into the ranch Henry wanted.”

“Do you still live there?”

“I'll never leave. I'll be buried beside Henry in the family graveyard. Henry was third generation rancher. The rest of the family is there with him.”

“That's quite a story. Devotion like that you don't see these days.”

“No, you don't,” she said. “Well, I like what we propose for the new library. When you come back next time, we'll talk about some of the other rooms. Now, I must rest.”

She paused at the library door. “The memorial service for Albert is on Monday afternoon, and we'll have a reception here afterward. I hope you’ll come.”

When I finally got Jake on the line, I said, “I met Opal Crawford today.”

“You went to the estate?”

“Of course. I was on the job and looking for clues.”

“You had dinner yet?”

“No.

“Want to meet somewhere and talk?

“How about the Taverna restaurant on Washington Boulevard in Westover Village? What time?”

“In half an hour.”

Jake was sitting at a window in the restaurant. October dusk had set in. Perpetual little white lights strung around the top of the walls and wound around the fichus trees made the Taverna twinkle like a fairyland. Everyone looks better in soft lighting.

“I'll have the tabbouleh,” I said. “And a glass of red wine.”

“I'll have the steak and Lebanese salad. Just coffee.”

“No wine this evening?” I asked Jake.

“I'm on the wagon.”

“I should be, too, but I so love the taste of alcohol.” I smiled happily when the waiter set a goblet of wine before me.

“I did, too, until it got away from me. But that's another story. What did you think of Opal?”

“I loved her immediately. What a smile that woman has.”

“She's something, isn't she?”

“Yes, I was impressed. We worked all the details out for the library redo. I'll arrange for the work crew this weekend. By the way, she said it wasn't me that did Albert in.”

Jake laughed. “She is something else.”

“Here's a clue for you. Did you know that Albert had a lady friend?”

“Yes. I'm working that one.”

I was a little disappointed that wasn't breaking news. “Okay, how about this. The hedge around the fountain off the solarium is clipped in the shapes of hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades.”

Jake tucked his face into his neck in disbelief. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Don't you think that’s unusual? I mean, how many houses have a hedge of card suits?”

He shrugged like he didn't care. “I don't see a fit.”

“It might be a clue. Did Albert’s wife play cards?”

“Don't know.”

I thought this was an important clue, but Jake apparently didn't. I changed tactics. “Did you notice there's no security on the front door?”

“Yes, there is.”

“No. Someone turned it off because every time I've let myself in the front door, I didn’t have to push any buttons to disarm the security. Albert mentioned nothing to me about it when I met with him.”

Jake rubbed his chin. “I never go in that way.”

“Which way do you enter?”

“Through the back entrance.”

“I wonder why I was given the front door key.”

He shrugged. “I'll take a look. Thanks for the tip.”

“See, I’m helpful.”

He laughed.

“Who do you think did it?”

He shrugged. “I don't know. Opal's convinced someone gave him the overdose, that it wasn't self-administered.”

I told him what Opal said about Albert being very precise about his medication.

He nodded. “Right. Someone very precise wouldn't accidentally overdose in normal circumstances.”

“The key words are normal circumstances.”

“Right.”

“Did Opal say who she suspects?”

He shook his head. “No one specific, but she's convinced it’s family. Problem is there's so many of them, and they are all over the globe.”

“What do you mean there are so many of them? I thought there were no children. And there's only Opal, the sister.”

“Opal and Albert had eight brothers and sisters, and she is the only one left. But there are lots of nieces and nephews. Mrs. Lodge's brother in South Africa is still alive and has three children, plus the grandchildren. There's a sister in England who has a child. I'm doing background on all the nieces and nephews.”

“But, wait, couldn't you narrow it down to the ones who live around here? After all, they'd have to know Albert pretty well to know about his blood pressure medication and what would kill him and when to do it.”

“Here's the thing. They always had relatives visiting. Mrs. Lodge loved to have people around. She was a lot younger than Albert and had the money to entertain.”

“And Opal made her money in ranching?”

“She married a wealthy rancher. No children. There's money at stake and not all of the family is wealthy. There'll be the usual money scramble now that Albert and Olivia are both dead. The question is who gets the money.”

“What does the will say?”

“I don't know. Opal’s meeting with the lawyer on Tuesday.”

“Opal doesn't look like a rancher's wife somehow.”

“She is. Has a real pretty spread in Harney Valley, Oregon. God's country out there. That's where I met her.”

Jake and Opal had God’s country in common. There was an interesting twist.

The food arrived and I savored the tabbouleh. I considered another glass of wine and decided not to get too wild and crazy this early in the evening.

“Are there any relatives in McLean?” I asked.

“There is a married niece living in Arlington. She has one daughter. She was a frequent visitor after Mrs. Lodge died. She looked in on Albert to make sure he was okay though Hudson took very good care of Albert.”

“So the niece is suspect. Is Hudson a suspect?”

“Everyone is until I determine who had the motive.”

“I'm still on the list.”

“Pretty far down. Motive is weak.”

“That’s comforting.”

At that point, my cell phone vibrated. I looked at the caller ID. My romance writer friend, Olympia. I remembered we had made plans to go to a movie this evening. I checked my watch. We had decided on the late show of the latest Viggo Mortensen movie. My favorite fantasy man.

I finished my wine, arranged my knife and fork on my plate, and smiled over at Jake. “I've got to be going. I've got a date tonight.” Of course, I wasn't going to tell him it was with a woman friend.

“Okay,” he said. He didn’t seem at all disappointed.

“But let me ask again. Who do you think did it?”

Jake puckered up his lips and thought. “I suspect Albert took an overdose.”

“What?”

“I don't think he was as happy as Opal seems to think. But I got to follow all the angles first.”

“But why?”

“Albert was still working, granted in a Washington think tank. Don't you think a man of his wealth would've retired by now?”

“What's that got to do with anything? Maybe he worked because he liked to work and didn't have any hobbies. And some people get off on power.”

“I think he was in financial difficulty.”

Chapter 3

I had to update Olympia on the case. She’s one of my oldest friends, and I could tell her anything. Like Kathy the waitress, she immediately had me romantically linked to Jake Manyhorses. Olympia was a bestselling writer of romances. Need I say more?

The coming attractions exploded across the movie screen. We talked in whispers, which disturbed the solitary man in front of us with the bent up baby Huey cap. He turned around and said, “Hey, if you broads don't shut up, I'm going to beat the snot out of you.”

Olympia leaned forward and stuck her face in his. “Just who do you think you are, mister? It's a free country and the movie isn't on yet. We have important business to discuss.”

“Hey, take your business somewheres else, lady. This is a movie house.”

He had a point.

“I never,” said Olympia and sat back. In a whisper close to my ear she said, “If Viggo Mortensen weren't in this movie, I'd leave now.”

I admired Olympia’s courage and thought to say something equally daring, but the guy was mean looking. “We'll be quiet,” I said to the back of his head. “We don't want to miss Viggo Mortensen.”

“Ha,” he said without turning around. “What a fairy.”

Olympia and I exchanged glances and watched the movie without a peep.

It was raining when we left the theater. At the movie's end the tough guy had hustled out of the theater before the credits were over, lucky for us. We decided to visit the coffee house next door to the theater. It was crowded with late night theatergoers.

“Great movie wasn't it?” said Olympia. She was dreamy-eyed. Viggo had once again lived up to expectation.

“Too violent for my taste, but his nude fight scene in the steam room was superb. There isn't enough male nudity in films these days. I don't know why Viggo does such violent films. I wish Hollywood would stop making them.”

“Mmm,” said Olympia, ignoring my riff on violence. “What buns. But tell me more about Jake. Think he'll ask you out, I mean, on a real date?”

Interesting that Viggo's buns led to Jake. Olympia could get romance out of a turnip, complete with sexy hero, fainting heroine, riveting plot and happy ending. Turnips, and I'm not kidding.

I lifted a shoulder. “He bought me dinner this evening and didn't ask me to be dessert.”

Olympia guffawed. She has this deep, ridiculous laugh that I loved and that usually got me going. I snorted along with her.

“What's he look like?”

“A mix between Morgan Freeman, George Clooney, and Graham Greene.”

“What kind of a mix is that?”

“Just that. He looks like a big mix of something, emphasis on the big. He's a husky guy. He wouldn’t look good in a suit. They wouldn’t fit him right. He looks like he should be out riding the range.”

I frowned.

“What?” said Olympia, anticipating the next plot point, I’m sure.

“I bet he worked for her on the ranch. He should be on a horse, not driving around the suburbs.”

Olympia arched her exquisitely penciled eyebrows. “Oooo, the plot thickens.”

* * * * *

Saturday morning I slept late. About noon I started making phone calls to get the library job going. I called a superb carpenter and painter and left a message to call. I called Hudson about moving the furniture out of the library, taking down the drapes, and rolling up the Persian carpets and left a message to call me back. He probably was polishing silver and didn't hear the phone. I called Colony Furniture Gallery on Lee Highway to make an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Yes, interior designers work on Sunday. Last, I called my favorite drapery store on North Harrison. The proprietress, my good friend Judith Brooks, employed the most divine seamstress, a Vietnamese woman who was a genius when it came to drape design. All I had to do was give her the faintest sketch of what I wanted and presto she'd whip up something perfect.

Judith answered. She was a working woman after all. “Fiona? What’s up?”

“I need some drapes.”

“Come over. Kahn is coming this afternoon, and we'll have you fixed up in no time.” Judith was a woman of action from New York City, replete with long frizzy hair, dyed red.

Happily, the sun was shining when I finally hit the road. I love Arlington, but a friend who lives in Northwest D.C. won't come here. She says she gets lost if she ventures over Key Bridge. For the same reason she won't come, I delight in living here. Small community neighborhoods abound like Roslyn where I live — Westover, Ballston, Shillington, Clarendon — each with little strip shopping centers with diverse restaurants and shops from every corner of the world. And I’m not kidding.

Judith's store was in one of those cute strip malls off Lee Highway. She saw me pull in, waved and met me at the door.

“Hey, you,” she said and gave me a big hug. “I thought you were out of town.”

“No, I'm working this redo on a library over in McLean except I found the guy dead in the library.”

Her hand flew to her wide open mouth. “Oh, my gosh. I read about that in the Washington Post. You mean that was your job? They didn't say who found him.”

“I did, believe it or not.”

Judith led me to the big design table she had in the back room away from the yards of fabric in the sales room. “Sit. Talk. I want to know all about it. I can't believe you found a dead man on the job. You don't think this is a new trend in interior design, do you?”

I filled her in and she, a woman of some expertise, immediately said, “The butler did it. They always do in the mysteries I read.” She’s quite a connoisseur of the genre.

“No, it has to be one of the nephews.”

“Why not a niece?”

“Or a niece.” I shrugged. “Jake the PI is running all that down.”

“Is he married?” she said.

Driving back to my condo, I thought about Hudson. Maybe he did do it. I mean, fifty million mysteries can't be wrong, can they? Maybe he was broke. Maybe he was ready to retire and needed the money. He'd know Albert's medications. Surely, Albert would have provided for the loyal butler in the will.

I pulled into my parking space in the underground garage. I loved having a sheltered space for the Legend. Then I didn't have to try to find a parking place in a neighborhood that never had any. As the elevator whirred up to the top floor, I envisioned a quiet evening finishing the oil painting I had started of the marina basin near Alexandria in the spring. Popcorn and a beer sounded good for dinner.

The message machine blinked and chirped at me, so I pressed the play and listened as I emptied the grocery sack. Six pack of the latest microbrew, jar of popcorn, two cans of canned chopped clams, celery, and carrots, two bottles of Tabasco, and a dozen eggs.

The great carpenter said to call him back this evening, he'd be home. Shirley at Colonial Furniture Gallery said to come tomorrow around two P.M., she could help me. Dear Shirley, she was a hustler and liked to push what made her the best commission. I'd have to watch her, but she knew her stuff. Last message was from Jake. “Call me” was the message. He was talkative this evening. No message from Hudson.

I dialed Jake's cell phone. He picked up on the first ring.

“You were expecting my call,” I said.

“Right. Have you seen Hudson?”

“No, why would I have seen Hudson?”

“You go out there, don't you?”

“Sure, but not today.”

“He seems to have left town.”

“You mean as in disappear?”

“That's right.”

“I called earlier today and left a message for him to call me, but had no call back.”

“Opal hasn't seen him since he served dinner last night. When she went down to the kitchen this morning, he wasn't there. She checked the garage for his car, and it's gone. She thought he ran an errand, but he still isn't back as of an hour ago. I thought maybe he was with you, doing the library thing.”

“Nope, haven't seen him. So it was the butler in the library with an overdose.”

“What?”

“My friend Judith said it is always the butler that commits the crime. So it couldn't have been Colonel Mustard. Hudson murdered Albert with an overdose in the library.”

“Fiona, you have a very active imagination.”

“You're not the first person who's told me that. Have you called the police to report Hudson missing?”

“Not yet. We'll give him a day to show up. But it’s very unlike him to disappear.”

I hung up and stood looking out the windows across the Potomac at the lights of D.C. The monuments stood stark white against the black of night. Light reflected off the river. Red lights blinked from atop the Iwo Jima Memorial.

Hudson gone missing. Now there was an interesting plot twist Olympia would like.

* * * * *

Shirley at Colonial Furniture was delighted to see me on Sunday afternoon. She always saw dollar signs when I walked in. After a tussle over a number of high priced offerings, I ordered two great off white loveseats with a chicken wire bas relief pattern in the same color. I know, it doesn’t sound haute coteur but trust me, it will look great. Working a deal with Shirley is always exhausting, so I took the rest of the day off.

All afternoon I worried about Hudson and couldn't resist a call to Jake that night.

“Find Hudson yet?”

“Yes, he came back late last night. Opal said he’d gone to his sister's again in West Virginia around Harper's Ferry. She’d had a relapse. He forgot to tell Opal he was leaving. Or Opal forgot that he told her he was leaving.”

“Don't you think that’s strange?

“Apparently there a serious case of memory loss in the Lodge household.”

“But that is strange. Opal seems pretty sharp to me. Unlikely to forget the butler was leaving for the day.”

No answer.

“Jake?”

“Yeah. There's some things not making sense to me. Maybe it's because there's a boatload of relatives descending on the house, and everyone is stressed out. This is traumatic for all of them. Plus Hudson’s sister is going downhill, and he’s worried about her.”

“He runs the household.”

“Right. They hired a maid and a cook through a temp agency to help with the relatives. There’s a relative a minute showing at the front door. Everyone’s running around like coyotes after sage rats because the memorial service is tomorrow afternoon, and the reception is at the house.”

“Are you going to the memorial service?” I asked.

“You bet.”

“I'll look for you there. We can sit together and you can point out the cast of characters.”

“I can't wait.”

Chapter 4

The memorial service was held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, one of those nice old Tudor style churches with lots of pointed arches and mahogany trim. Sun lit the stained glass. The place glowed. Nice touch for a funeral. I arrived early to get a good seat toward the back to watch the parade of people. I was not disappointed. The turnout included men in severe business suits and matching women in stylish black and hats. Jake slid in beside me. He had poured himself into a dark suit, stretching a bit at the buttons.

“How are things at the home ranch?” I said for openers. I smoothed down his collar that was standing up in the back. This man needed a butler. Or a wife. Butler would be less trouble.

“Chaotic.” Jake was watching people walk down the aisle as he spoke.

“See anyone you know?” I asked, following his gaze toward an eye catching blond in tight black skirt, matching jacket, super high heels and black bolero hat.

“That's Albert’s girlfriend.”

“Where?” It couldn't be the blond.

“The blond.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. I talked to her yesterday. She says they were just friends, that Albert thought there was more to it than she did. She's older than she looks. Probably in her forties somewhere.”

“I wonder what she does to keep looking so young.”

“Maybe it's in the genes.”

I looked at him. “More likely in surgical tools. Does she have a name?”

“Lisa Lundgren.”

I watched her sitting alone, toward the middle of a row way in front of us. She, too, seemed interested in the parade of stars.

“There's the niece that lives in Arlington,” Jake said. “She came by the house yesterday while I was there.” He nodded at a woman leading a little boy by the hand, followed by a tall, Ivy League looking guy. She was way shorter than her lanky husband and a bit on the plump side. They sat in front with the family, which was getting more extensive by the minute.

Opal entered escorted by a youngish man in a gray suit.

“Nephew from Oregon,” said Jake out of the side of his mouth. “He arrived Saturday and has been helping Opal with arrangements.”

The church was large, but a respectable crowd filled it. The people looked Washington think tank, white haired men in bow ties, Capitol Hill types with billboard smiles. Albert had friends in high circles. During the eulogy several men spoke in admiration of Albert's work and life that included postings as political attaché for a number of embassies. That might mean he was doing work for the Central Intelligence Agency in his diplomatic postings. One could never be sure in this town. Several of the nephews spoke of their uncle as a mentor, how kind he was, what an inspiration, his droll sense of humor. The usual. It could make a person wish they had known the old guy while he was living.

In the receiving line at the end of the service, Opal pressed my hand. “You will come over to the house, won't you, dear? You can meet some of the family. Have Jake bring you. He's a good escort.”

I smiled. “Sure, I'll stop by for a few minutes.”

I waited for Jake who was behind me in line.

“Opal says you should be my escort to the reception.”

He held out his arm. “My pleasure. Leave your car here. I'll drive you over.”

The crowd at the reception seemed bigger than the memorial service, or maybe it was because they were spread all over the house. Valet parking, waiters in black and white with trays of champagne, maids in black and white with canapés. The din rivaled the Met on opening night. People spilled into the patio to the back of the house where the swimming pool sparkled in the afternoon sun. These folks were seriously into celebrating Albert's life.

I hung on the outer edge of the chaos with Jake and sipped champagne, engaging in my favorite past time of people watching. Washington crowds can be boring, but this one showed promise.

“I think it was an accident,” I heard a nearby matron say. She clutched the arm of a young man. Her accent might be South African. Could this be the wife of Olivia's brother? “Albert was terribly forgetful. He must have slipped up on his meds, don't you think, dear?” She was smiling at the most attractive man I have ever seen in my life. If he wasn't George Clooney, no one was.

“Not for us to say,” he said. “The old boy's gone and there's nothing to be done for it.” His accent was definitely London. I've spent time in England sorting out accents, and I know a London accent when I hear it. This was one of the infamous nephews.

I nudged Jake. “Did you catch the conversation in front of us?”

He looked at me over his glass of champagne. “Yeah. You've already figured out who they are, I bet.”

“Her side?”

He nodded and looked at his empty champagne glass. “I got to get some real booze. This fuzzy stuff just doesn't do it for me.”

“I thought you were on the wagon.”

“Only when it suits me.” He gave me a wicked grin that made him look almost handsome although he would have looked better in a Stetson and Tony Llama boots.

“Can I get you anything?” he asked.

“Glass of red wine, please.”

He sauntered off toward the bar located at the far end of the drawing room where the celebrants, I mean, mourners were congregating three deep. A waiter came by with tray of champagne.

“Thank you, kind sir,” I said as I lifted a fluted glass and replaced it with my empty. What the hell, I thought. I'm not driving, and I do so love the bubbly. Besides, they were small glasses.

I surveyed the crowd for faces I knew from the news. I thought I recognized a congressman or two, maybe a senator from New England. If Albert had been connected to the intelligence community, I wouldn't know those faces. They were a closed group. That set me to wondering what Albert did at his think-tank job and which think tank it was.

Jake returned with the red wine. That put me in the embarrassing position of having two drinks in my hands. I tossed down the champagne and set the glass on a side table.

“Doing some serious drinking, I see,” said Jake. “Don't let it get away from you. There probably are some real leeches in this crowd. I guess I'll have to look out for you.”

I smiled into his eyes. He had disgustingly long lashes for a man. I hate when men have nice eyes and don't have to wear makeup. On the other hand, I do so love to apply eye makeup in the morning. It entertains me and isn’t life all about entertainment? All those marvelous colors of shadow, eyeliner, mascara. All those wonderful shades of blusher and lipstick. But I digress.

Jake looked away from my smile. I guess the smile was too flirty.

“Look, big boy, I've been watching out for myself for a long time. I won't mention how many years.”

He didn't say anything.

“But I appreciate the offer.”

He smiled. “Nice dress.”

I smiled back. “Do you like the plunging neckline?” I take wicked lessons from Kathy the waitress, and the champagne helped.

His eyes rolled around trying not to look. “Yeah,” he said in a whisper. “Kinda fancy, but it fits with this crowd. You'd think Teddy Kennedy died again.”

“Truly. By the way, where did Albert work?”

“The Pinnacle, conservative think tank in D.C.”

“Pretty elitist. Do you think he was in intelligence?”

Jake glanced around, looking to see who might be listening. “Keep your voice down.”

I leaned over and whispered in his ear. “That doesn't answer my question.” Nice aftershave. I couldn't quite put my finger on the scent. This had to be my last glass of wine. My mind was leading me in dangerous directions, and I was feeling as rubby as a cat in heat.

He hid behind a show of sipping his whiskey on the rocks. “Albert might have had his fingers in some stuff he shouldn't have.”

“Are you going to tell me what that might be?”

He turned to face me and put his mouth next to my ear. “It's making me edgy talking about this here. Later.”

I nodded. Us detectives had to keep a low profile. My mind raced on and construed all sorts of cloak and dagger scenarios. Albert's a double agent and the other side poisons him. At least they didn't use radioactive isotopes like that poor Russian spy. Albert's in financial trouble and starts selling top secrets to the Saudis. He gets too demanding, and they overload his Chinese takeout. Albert's the McLean Robert Hansen. It can happen in your own neighborhood.

“Come on,” Jake said. “Let's cruise around and catch some conversations.” He took my elbow and steered me between groups of intent discussions. The rascal. He was using me as cover. But I didn't mind. I set my face in a permanent smile, and we small talked our way around the room.

“Don't you believe for a minute that the stock market will ever recover.”

“Oh, darling, he didn't.”

“I knew it. If she's had one, she's had at least half a dozen.”

“Papa's had too much to drink. We must be going, Dickie.”

“Really, Reggie, you must go along with us on the shoot. Namibia is the going place now.”

On it went. We ended up out on the patio to enjoy what was left of the day. The sun felt delicious on my skin. One of those beautiful washed autumn days after a week of rain.

“I didn't hear any really helpful conversations, did you?” I said, as we settled at an empty patio table where a waiter was clearing empties. The waiter looked at us as I said that, smiled, wiped the table and left, tray balanced on one hand.

“I've always wanted to be able to do that,” I said, watching the young man weave through the crowd.

“Fiona, listen,” Jake said.

I turned my attention back to him. “I'm listening.”

“You got to be careful what you say at a shindig like this.”

“Right. Us detectives can't be giving away secrets.”

“I'm serious.”

“Me, too. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. What shall we talk about?”

His eyes shifted from one group of people to another. He sure was nervous today.

I leaned closer and said, “What are you worried about?”

“Not worried. Just edgy. It's that kind of day.”

“You’ve been looking over your shoulder all day.”

“Is it that noticeable?”

I nodded. He was saved from further intense interrogation when Opal walked over to our table.

“Hello, you two. I'm so glad you could make it, Fiona. I told you Jake would be a good escort. You make a nice pair.”

I pasted on a smile like I had just sat on a mouse or maybe a snake, and I couldn't figure out which. I wanted to squirm but I didn't want to be impolite. I didn’t look at Jake. What was it that drove women to matchmaking?

Opal, still smiling like she was pleased with the match, said, “I want you to meet my nephew, Cody.”

I turned my attention to him and lipped all the proper niceties.

“Aunt Opal tells me you are the one who found Uncle Al,” Cody said.

“Yes. It was most unfortunate. I'm terribly sorry about your uncle.”

“He was a great guy. We'll all miss him, but it wasn't too much of a shock. He'd had heart problems for years. He had his funeral service all planned. All his papers were in order. He knew he could go anytime. It's just like him to not want to burden anyone with loose ends.”

Another partier caught Opal's attention. Dancing had broken out on the patio. Someone had put on a Frank Sinatra CD and ole Frank was singing, “I Get a Kick out of You”. Older couples jitter bugged around the room, the younger set tended to bump, grind, and flail.

“Excuse us,” said Opal. “Stay as long as you like. Isn’t this a great party? Albert would be so pleased.”

Opal walked off on Cody's arm toward another group. He was the one who had escorted her down the aisle at the church. He wasn’t half bad looking in a pale sort of way. With all that sun on the open range, you’d think he’d look a bit more leathery.

“What do you think of Cody's take on his uncle's heart problems? He makes it sound like an accidental death. Surely he must know that Opal hired you.”

“No, he doesn't. Opal didn't tell any of the family she hired me.”

“What?”

He looked a little squirmy, like he had sat on the mouse or snake.

I confronted him. “That's why you’re edgy. Opal hired you to spy on everyone else, and I’m your cover. Well, I never.”

“Will you please keep your voice down?” he said again. He leaned on his elbow and fixed me with a cold stare. “You said you wanted to help, didn’t you?”

I shrugged. “Sure.”

“Then play the part of our couple cover so I can circulate and eaves drop. Do you think Opal brought this crowd together because she likes a party? She did it so I can meet the players, so to speak.”

“You mean Opal knows all these people?”

“Pretty much. She's Albert’s sister, isn't she? Albert often vacationed at the ranch without the missus. Whenever Opal visited here Olivia always threw a party.”

My eyebrows did a little stutter on that one. This was better than Days of Our Lives.

“Geez,” I said. “This is getting too complicated for my small brain. I need a flow chart.”

“I'll show you mine later. C'mon, let's circulate. Grab a drink and look happy.”

Not a bad idea. Jake motioned to the champagne waiter, and I took another glass. He left his empty whiskey glass on the tray.

“Would you bring me a glass of whiskey on the rocks?” he asked the wispy waiter.

“If you follow me, sir, I can show you the open bar where we are featuring hard liquor.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Be right back. Don’t move.”

I sipped champagne and studied the crowd while I waited for Jake to return. The tall, George Clooney lookalike nephew from London walked over.

“May I have this dance or are you spoken for?” he asked, all arched eyebrows and quirky smile.

Frank Sinatra was singing September Song. I could handle that.

“I’d love to dance,” I said, forgetting Jake’s admonition not to move.

Taking me into his arms and pulling me close, he said, “My name's Roger. I'm a nephew from Olivia’s side of the family. Are you family, friend or press?”

“Press? There's press here?” I looked around.

“I’m kidding,” he said. “Uncle Albert wasn't that famous. Some of his associates are.”

He wasn't as good looking as George Clooney face up. Or, let’s say, not the George Clooney I knew from photographs and movies. He had a sharpness about the eyes that suggested sneaky intent, though the champagne could be running away with me. He was thinner, too. Higher cheekbones, narrow face.

I stopped my good looks critique and said, “My name's Fiona Marlowe. I'm the interior designer who found Mr. Lodge in the library.”

“Really? You?”

“Yes. I found your uncle lying in front of the couch, like he was sleeping. I thought it odd he chose the floor. He had a noble profile and handsome white hair. When the medics turned him over he looked very dapper in vest and tweeds, trim, fit. Such a pity. I am so sorry.”

“Do you think it was an accident?” he asked, guiding me out of the crowd of dancing couples to a more secluded corner of the room.

“I think so,” I said, lying through my teeth. We detectives had to maintain our cover. “There was no sign of foul play. No blood.”

“Must have been a horrid experience for you.”

“Shocking, yes. Ruined my day.”

“I'm terribly sorry you were involved. Shall we sit the next one out? Another champagne? I'm afraid they took yours away. The wait staff is frightfully efficient.”

“Champagne would be nice.”

He lifted two from a tray that went by, and I followed him to a corner settee. The crisp autumn evening cut the closeness of the crowd. I wondered what this man wanted.

“You're beautiful, has anyone ever told you that?” he asked, gazing into my eyes.

He wanted an easy touch. He had picked the wrong broad.

“Thank you. All my dates tell me that.” My lips danced a twitchy smile, and he laughed.

“I was just testing.”

“Nice try. I think maybe you should hustle someone your age.”

“I like older women.”

“Lucky me. Not to change the subject, but do you think your uncle's death involved foul play?”

“Definitely.”

I arched my eyebrows. “Why do you think that?”

“Because Uncle Albert was a philanderer.”

“Come now. Wasn't he a bit old?”

“Not Uncle Al. Olivia was a lot younger than he. Viagra put him back in the running. That might have killed him. He might have had a few married ones in the string. Maybe a disgruntled husband got wind of the assignation and did old Uncle Albert in. His latest young thing is here.” He nodded and I turned to look. “That's her over there with Cody. Stunning, isn't she?

It was the blond Jake had pointed out at the memorial service. Full face, she was even lovelier than in profile.

“I don't know how he did it,” Roger said. “I’m sure the money made him look good to sweet young things. We had hardly cast Olivia’s ashes to the wind before he had this one.”

“I heard it was more serious on his part than hers.”

“Did you? Even so, she probably tried to entice the old boy into leaving her something in his will.”

“Interesting angle.” I was filing all this in my sleuthing file. “So who gets the estate?” I was being very smooth.

He tossed back the rest of the champagne before answering. “I hope it will be divided up among the family. I could use some. The financial markets haven't been kind to me lately. We will know tomorrow.”

Aha. A relative with a motive. I went out on a limb. “Do you think someone in the family wanted him dead?”

He gave me a flashy grin. “Anyone could have wanted him dead. Whoever gets the money would be suspect in my book. Now if you will excuse me? I enjoyed our dance.”

He made his way across the room to the dazzling blond. Good choice on his part, but I could hear the hiss of my deflating ego as it zoomed around the room like a pricked balloon.

Chapter 5

I wandered toward the kitchen in search of a cup of coffee and my erstwhile partner, Jake, who had disappeared. As I passed a stand of potted shrubs, I caught a snatch of conversation and paused.

“I have no idea what is in the will,” a woman was saying. “Opal has been terribly closed lipped. If the estate gets divided up, there should be plenty for everyone.”

“I hope that blond doesn't get it,” said another.

“Why would he leave anything to her?”

“You don't know what gets whispered across pillows, do you?”

Albert’s money was the big topic tonight. I could understand why. Money drives the world now, doesn't it?

In the kitchen I retrieved a cup of espresso a waiter was serving from a side counter and dawdled over the sugar server, listening to another conversation. A striking woman, a dead ringer for Elizabeth Taylor, was holding court by the patio doors. Three slick suited men laughed at something she was saying, which I couldn’t hear since she spoke in hushed tones. I wondered if she were another of Albert’s conquests. Even though she was dressed in severe black, hers was the kind of face that would launch a thousand ships. I wondered if Jake knew who she was and wandered back outside to find him.

A brick path meandered off to the side of the house where the Alice in Wonderland hedge was located. I had a sudden urge to see diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs. Who knew what conversations I'd hear on the way? I strolled along the path keeping an eye and ear peeled for clues. Lights from the pantry passageway cast a glow on the brick path. The solarium itself was dark. Odd. You'd think it would be lit for the party. I mean wake.

Garden lamps lit the card hedge, and I ran my hand over the sculpted bushes. I detected strange grunting sounds coming from the solarium. Could someone be in trouble? Was someone being attacked? Maybe that was why the solarium was dark. I burst through the door without thinking, intent on rescue, and stopped dead in my tracks. Straddled in the chair was a couple in various stages of dishabille. The girl yelped. The guy put a finger to her mouth.

“Gosh,” I said rather lamely. “Sorry to interrupt. I thought someone was being attacked.”

The guy laughed. The girl giggled. She buried her face in his hairy, naked chest. I couldn't be sure since the light was dim, but it looked like the tall husband of the dumpy niece Jake pointed out at the service. That didn't look like his wife. Wrong color hair. I hoped it wasn't one of his cousins.

I backed out and fled, slamming the door behind me. Good grief, what next? I didn’t want to speculate on what might be going on in the bedrooms upstairs. I hurried toward to the kitchen, intent on finding Jake to compare notes. When he wasn’t in the kitchen, I started around the dance floor looking for him. A young man asked me to dance, and I couldn't refuse. The disc jockey was playing rap music. Arms flailed and hips gyrated. I was right in the thick of things.

I had no idea who I danced with but my feet were sore by the time most of the guests left in the wee hours of morning. The few left standing scattered about the drawing room and patio. I retreated to the library where I collapsed on the couch and kicked my shoes off. I loved high heels but they were hell to dance in. My hand cradled a steaming mug of coffee. I wasn't sure where Jake had disappeared. He hadn’t been on the dance floor. Someone had opened the window to the library, and a cool breeze cleared the stuffy room.

Hudson came in and headed for the open window. It was the first time I had seen him all night. He latched the window and closed the heavy drapes.

“Hello, Hudson,” I said from the depths of the couch.

He turned stiffly, like his neck was bothering him. “Miss Marlowe, I didn't see you. Did you enjoy the wake?”

“I have to say, it was the best I've ever attended. Albert's family and friends are a lively bunch.”

He smiled, stopping before me. “Mind if I join you? I need to catch my breath.”

I patted the seat, and he sat down with a deep sigh.

“You did a splendid job of orchestrating the affair.”

“Thank you, Miss Marlowe. Might I use you for a reference when the time comes?” He smiled with the twinkle in his eye.

“You're joking, of course. You won't have any trouble finding employment. Hasn't Opal invited you to take over at her ranch?”

His face clouded over. “No. I'm afraid I'm not cut out for the American West. I feel rather more comfortable in civilized society, and, of course, she hasn't asked.”

Hudson's proper English facade did not invite questions. However, my impertinence couldn't resist asking, “What will you do?”

A few moments passed before he ventured a reply. The soft light from the end table lamps nestled between us. The room smelled of leather and books. It was peaceful sitting with Hudson. I was developing a fondness for the old boy.

At last, he said, “I'm thinking of retiring. I'm getting on in years, you know, and butlering isn't what it used to be. I'm afraid I'm terribly old fashioned. Modern young people don't have the respect for the profession that the older generation had.”

“Retirement sounds like a great idea. Would you stay in the area?”

“I’ll return to England. I own a small cottage in Cornwall that was in my family. It will make a perfect place to spend my old age. I do rather miss England, you see.”

“It sounds lovely. I've been to Cornwall. The sea views are breathtaking.”

“Yes.” His chin slumped to his chest, and he sat staring at the Persian carpet, maybe lost in the sea view from his cottage. His eyes closed, and we sat in silence. The last few days had caught up to him, and I had no intention of disturbing his repose.

I gazed about the room thinking what a shame to redo this conservative old library. That was a heretical statement coming from someone who always jumped at the chance to spruce things up. Bookshelves covered three walls. A gas log fire turned down low made a pleasant contrast to shadows hugging the far sides of the room.

Hudson’s eyes fluttered open, and he sat up. “Goodness, I'm sorry to have imposed on you, Miss Marlowe.” He rose. “Now I must see to my duties and look in on the hired staff to make sure everything gets put up properly and laid out for breakfast. You'll excuse me?”

I nodded and smiled. “I enjoyed our interlude, Hudson, and I certainly wish you well. If you need that reference, I'll be glad to oblige.”

He nodded and walked stiffly out.

I finished my coffee. Turning off the end table lamps, I stretched out on the couch, meaning to close my eyes just a few minutes. I was still there when the sun rose. Someone had draped a hand knitted afghan over me. I squinted to see the time. Nine A.M. I snuggled back under the cover, fully intending to go back to sleep since it was one of the things I do best and enjoy so much. As fortune would have it, I heard footsteps come to a stop by the couch. I ventured to open one eye.

“Rest well, Fiona?” Jake asked. He placed a fragrant mug of coffee on the stand beside my head.

I sniffed the air in appreciation.

“Amazingly well.” I coughed and put my arm over my eyes as he opened the drapes. “That light is awfully bright.”

“The day's half over. If you want a ride, you better get up. Breakfast is laid out in the dining room, if you're feeling a bit peckish, as the English say.”

I grunted my way into a sitting position. Jake sat down on the end of the couch and checked me over.

“You don't look half bad when you wake up.”

“Thanks. My dates always say that. How did the mission turn out? Get any good dope?”

“Matter of fact, I did. I got to speak to some of Albert's colleagues and family while you were dancing the night away.”

“Sharing any secrets this morning?”

“None.”

“I got to talk to a few folks myself. We have to exchange notes. Might I add, you don't look bad yourself for staying up all night. Your suit isn't wrinkled.”

He covered a huge yawn with his fist. “All in the line of duty. Opal and I had a long conversation before she finally called it a night.”

“You already had breakfast?”

“Yeah, around six A.M. I did a little work on the Internet, chasing down leads. C'mon, get some breakfast. It's quite a spread. Then I'll take you back to your car.”

I sipped on the coffee, not quite ready to bolt into the day. I have a diesel engine. It takes me a while to warm up. “Allow me to finish my coffee. It was sweet of you to bring me a cup. I want to hear who you talked to.”

“Not here,” he said.

“Geez, Jake, you act like the room is bugged.”

Then it struck me. It was. That's why Jake kept telling me to shut up. I'm quick. I wondered if Jake was the bugger. The realization on my face made him smile. Smug but a smile.

“All right, will you please get off my divan, so that I might rise?”

He stood and offered me a hand.

Breakfast was laid out on a buffet replete with silver service and lace tablecloth. I loaded up on eggs Benedict, sausage, bacon, toast, fresh pineapple, and more coffee. Jake had a round of sausage and scrambled eggs.

Cody, the nephew, was sitting at the dining room table, and we joined him.

“Good morning,” he said, chirping like an annoying canary. “Here sit by me.”

He removed the Washington Post from the seat next to him.

I plopped into the seat and winced.

“Too much to drink?” he asked.

“It's my feet. I haven't danced that much in years.”

“One of the cousins was the deejay. She's great, isn't she?”

“I'll say. Where are you from, Cody?”

“Southeast Oregon. My family has a ranch there.”

“So you're a rancher.”

“Yes, ma'am. I got a degree in range management at Oregon State University. I help at Aunt Opal's ranch.”

“Your aunt is quite a woman.”

“She is, but she needs to retire. I keep telling her that but she thrives on ranch work.”

“What's on the agenda for today?”

“The lawyer. The will's going to be read, but some of the family aren’t going to like what they hear.”

“Why's that?”

“Uncle Albert left his money to charity.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“Opal told me.”

I turned to Jake who had finished his second breakfast.

“Did you know this?”

Jake burped creatively behind his napkin and said, “Yup, I knew that.”

“You didn't tell me.”

“Just found out this morning.”

Cody leaned around me toward Jake. “That’s why she hired Jake.”

I looked at Jake again. “I thought no one in the family knew you were hired.”

“Opal told Cody last night.”

Boy, I missed a lot between dancing and sleeping. These people had been busy. I looked back and forth between the two of them. Cody had a big, Cheshire cat grin. Jake was eying the pastry plate on the table, avoiding my gaze.

“I thought we were a team,” I said.

“I'll get into it later,” said Jake.

“I'd really like to get into it now.”

Jake put his arm across the back of my Chippendale chair. “How about I take you home? We'll discuss it on the way.”

“How about you tell me now,” I said. I was feeling spiteful.

Cody said, “Opal hired Jake because she wanted to be sure that no one in the family had taken it upon themselves to do Albert in. I don't blame her. Uncle Al was a nice guy, but he had his faults.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “Opal knows Albert’s left the money to charity but she hires Jake anyway because someone in the family could have wanted him dead. She calls Jake the day of the murder to have him start investigating. She throws a party so Jake could meet all the players, and I’m the girlfriend cover except that you disappear for the rest of the night. The blond might want some of his money, family members want his money and maybe Hudson wants a cut. Albert’s in financial difficulty so there’s no money to leave to charities. The family will be upset because the non-existent money is left to charity.”

Jake and Cody both looked at me with what I thought was new respect. I felt vindicated.

“Good process of deduction,” said Jake “Now let’s go. I’ve got work to do.”

“What time is the appointment with the lawyer, Cody?” I asked.

“Two o’clock, I believe.”

“Are you going?”

“Yes, I’m chauffeur and general all around gofer.”

“Good luck.”

“Well,” I said to Jake on the drive back in his truck, “I guess that ends that. He left the money to charity except that after all the debts are paid off there’s no money.”

“Still a lot of motive out there. No one knew the contents of the will.”

“I don't think it was family.”

“No? Why do you say that?”

“I didn't hear any compelling motive from the family last night in my information gathering, except for Roger who seems to be in a bit of financial trouble. Did you?”

“What did you hear?”

“Lots of conversation about what's in the will. I interrupted one couple humping in the solarium.”

“No kidding?” Jake laughed. “I did, too. In the library, on the couch where you were sleeping.”

“Dear me Horny bunch. Who did you interrupt?”

“The flashy blond and I think the nephew you were dancing with.”

“My, he works fast.” My ego deflated another ten notches. Look what I had missed. I picked up the thread of inquiry again. “I think Albert was a spy.”

Jake nodded like he was interested. “Find any evidence of that?”

“Well, no.”

“I don't think you should consider private investigation as a career.”

Jake pulled into the parking space beside my car at the church parking lot.

“Here we are party girl.”

“Hey, wait a minute. We were going to exchange notes. What did you find out?”

Jake stared out the window, looking none the worse for wear save for puffy eyes.

“I agree that it wasn't family, and it wasn't you.”

“Thanks.”

“I don't think it was an accidental overdose of his blood pressure mediation. I think it was planted.”

“The nephew who humped the blond said Albert was a philanderer, he liked them young and Viagra probably did him in. What do you think of that?”

Jake nodded his head. “Albert had a reputation.”

“For married women evidently. A husband could have fixed him.”

Jake shook his head. “I doubt it. He was careful. None of the married women in question, to my knowledge, had spiteful husbands. The husbands probably had girlfriends on the side. Remember this is the rich and powerful crowd. No, I don't think it was domestic.”

“What? Foreign? He’s a spy. I just know it.”

Jake shifted in his seat and turned to look at me, putting his arm over the back of my seat.

“Fiona, I need you to do something for me.”

“Uh-oh.”

“I need you to start work on the library as soon as you can and in the process, I need you to look for clues, like anything out of the ordinary. You know, like look through books, through drawers, under things.”

“Under things? What do you mean? Why can't you do it?”

“I have. I made a thorough search of the library, but I didn't find anything. I know you can be more thorough than I can.”

Flattery goes a long way. But I was more than miffed that he was not sharing clues with me.

“What are you going to be doing while I’m hard at work?”

“I’m taking a little trip.”

“To?”

“Africa, leaving this afternoon.”

“What? You’re leaving right in the middle of our big investigation?”

He looked around like we could be overhead. He was definitely a nervous guy. But there wasn’t anyone else in the church parking lot except a couple of trees struggling to grow in asphalt. The sun was high overhead, and I was beginning to come down off a party high. I needed a nap bad, and I know I looked like I had spent the night on a couch. But Jake had more explaining to do. He wasn’t answering me.

“Jake?” I asked.

“I guess you aren’t buying that.”

“No, and there’s some other stuff I’m not buying. I don’t think you are a private investigator. I think you’re a family friend who’s trying to help Opal out and not doing a very good job of it. Do you know there is an online Professional Private Investigators Directory, and you are not on the list?”

Jake laid his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes. “I could fall asleep right here.”

“Jake Manyhorses, if that is your real name, you come clean.”

“Oh, boy,” he said, scrubbing his face. Then he turned his head and looked at me with bleary eyes. “You’re pretty good, Fiona, and I’m really not good at this at all. I’m really not good about lying.”

“You’ve got yourself mixed up in a dysfunctional family.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“You aren’t really going to Africa, are you?”

“No,” he sighed. “I just said that. I want to get away from this crazy family. I want to just disappear. I owe Opal a favor, and I’m trying hard to figure out what happened to Albert, but the more I dig the dirtier it gets. I want to go back to Oregon, get on a horse and disappear into the sagebrush.”

“This is a tangle all right. I need to go home and decompress. Maybe we can talk later after we’ve had a chance to recover, and this time compare real notes.” I put my hand on the door handle.

“I still need you to search the library.”

I looked at him. “It seems strange they want the library redesigned. You can appreciate that I don’t want to continue if I’m not going to get paid. Doesn’t sound like there’s going to be any money left over for anything.”

Jake coughed like he had swallowed something pungent, like a habanera pepper. “I know you aren’t going to believe me but Albert isn’t in financial difficulty. Opal has been spreading rumors faster than a Ford 350 diesel in overdrive. I’m not sure what she’s doing but there’s some internal politics that I can’t figure out. She gives me a different story every day.”

“Maybe you should involve the police.”

“Opal does not want the police involved. Definitely not.”

“What’s she got you on the hook for?”

“You mean, why do I keep doing this?”

I nodded.

He sighed. “Opal got me off the reservation. She gave me a job when I really needed one and a purpose in life when I had none. I owe her everything. She literally turned my life around. This is the least I could do for her.”

“How did you get from Oklahoma to Oregon?”

He blew out a breath. “She advertised for cow hands in a regional magazine. I did ranch work when I was in my late teens when I wasn’t sleeping off a drunk in the local jail. The social worker assigned to me got me to apply for the job. Opal has a reputation for taking in stray ranch hands and making something of them. I guess you might say it is her mission in life.”

This guy had some history. Don’t we all? “How’d you get from Oregon to here?”

“I ride bronco in county fairs. Some buddies and I came east to rodeo here.”

“Rodeo in Washington, DC?”

“Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia.”

“You mean there’s more than one of you?”

“Yup.”

I shook my head and checked my watch. “This is making my head hurt. I got to go.” I looked at him. “I’ll go back tomorrow and see what I can find in the library.”

“Thanks,” said Jake. His blood shot eyes glowed. “You’re a real pal.”

Chapter 6

Ridiculous as it may seem I still had a key to the Lodge residence. About eleven the following morning I was back on the job ostensibly to work on the library but in fact to continue my sleuthing. I was feeling up to it. Sixteen hours of sleep helped a lot.

I rang the bell instead of barging in, as the driveway was littered with cars. Hudson answered.

“Miss Marlowe, do come in,” he said and stood back to allow me to pass through the open door. He was all smiles. I was glad to see him so chipper.

“Thank you, Hudson.”

He bowed. “Most of the guests are up and about. Might I offer you tea?”

“Yes, thank you. I could use a bracing cup of tea. May I take it in the library? I don’t want to disturb anyone.”

“Yes, of course. I do believe Cody is in the library.”

I raised my eyebrows. Perfect. I could catch up on family gossip. “It will be good to see him.”

“I’ll bring tea for two.”

I waltzed into the library weighted down with purse, brief case and laptop. I had to have the props to do a proper job of sleuthing. I was planning to dig through the endless volumes of books. Decorators like to have matching book jackets in the library. Believe it or not, there were booksellers who specialized in color coordinated books for decorators. I could make a show of going through all the books looking for the ones with spines that matched my turquoise and burnt orange accessory color scheme, pulling out the ones that didn’t.

The library was tidy. No signs of a party. Cody looked up from the newspaper he was reading at his uncle’s desk. He looked different in ranch attire. He wore a plaid long sleeve western cut shirt and snug blue jeans. When he stood, I noticed the cowboy boots.

“Hello, Cody, planning to ride the range today?”

He laughed and held out his hand. “Good to see you, Fiona.”

His hand was warm and calloused. I guess that was from roping and riding.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you. I have work to do, but I’ll be very quiet.”

“No, be my guest. I was making a half-hearted attempt to read the Washington Post, but they have nothing about the price of alfalfa or yearlings. You rescued me from boredom. May I help you?”

An assistant wasn’t on my agenda. What if I found something important in the books, and Cody saw it before Jake and I had a chance to evaluate? I was at loss for words, not something that usually happened to me.

Cody cocked his head. “You don’t want help.”

“You see,” I said, “what I’m doing isn’t very manly, and it would probably be as boring as the Washington Post. Are you returning to Oregon soon?” Notice my clever change of subject.

“In a few days. I’m waiting for Opal. She likes someone to travel with her. As soon as the family leaves, we’ll wrap things up and head back.”

“What will you be wrapping up? What will happen to Hudson? I hope Albert left him something in the will. Did everything go to charity?” I couldn’t resist probing about the will. I was dying to hear what had transpired.

Cody’s eyes gleamed like the devil himself. “He didn’t leave anything to charity. As it turns out, Albert changed his will the week before he died. Opal knew nothing of the change.”

I didn’t want to appear nosy but I couldn’t restrain myself. I leaned closer.

Cody’s smile widened. “Albert divided the liquid assets equally among his many relations. The house goes to Hudson for taking such good care of Albert all those years.” He laughed out loud. “Trouble is there’s so much debt there won’t be much cash left for the relations. Hudson comes out the best, sort of.”

“Oh, dear,” I said.

“Yes, oh dear,” said Cody.

“I guess that was why Hudson was so jovial when he answered the door.”

Hudson entered the room at that point, smiling like the master of the manor. He set the tea service on the coffee table. “Would there be anything else?” he asked, looking back and forth between us.

“Thank you, Hudson, that will be all,” said Cody.

Interesting that Hudson was still a working man. I poured and served Cody strong black tea, no cream or sugar.

He puckered his lips after the first sip. “Somehow tea just doesn’t do it for a buckaroo.”

“No. Too civilized. Cody, what happens next? What will Hudson do with this big house?”

“He should sell it. Frankly, it is not a prize inheriting a house like this. You got to have the income to keep it up. The value is in selling it. But he’s not going to sell.”

“What?”

“No, he says he’ll be staying on here.”

“What?”

“Yep. I can’t figure it out. But he seems happy with the arrangements.”

“Where will he get the income to keep this place going?”

“That’s what we’re wondering.”

“We?”

“The relatives. Opal says he deserves the house for having to put up with Albert and Olivia. The relatives think otherwise. They’re going to contest. Meanwhile, Hudson has graciously allowed us to stay on.”

“I guess my job here is finished.”

“You should speak to Hudson since he’s responsible for the bills now.”

I sat my empty teacup on the table and looked at Cody’s full cup. “I guess tea isn’t your drink.”

He shook his head and smiled. “I’m going to the kitchen to find something more manly to drink. Better talk to the new boss about your job. I’ll send him in.”

Cody strode from the room in his western gear, looking out of place in an Eastern establishment library. I sat in bemused silence, calculating my next move. Jake had not phoned with this new twist in the plot. I hadn’t heard a peep from him since the church parking lot. Why hadn’t he phoned to tell me about the outcome of the will? Was he still on the hook with Opal to find out who’d done Albert in? This was strange. I felt like a mote floating in space. Now what to do? I poured myself another cup of tea. When in doubt have tea to stimulate the brain cells. I sat there floating in space, my mind wandering, when Hudson came trotting in.

“Is there something I can get for you, Ms. Marlowe? Have you finished tea?”

I patted the seat next to me on the couch. “Hudson, we need to talk.”

He sat down on the edge of the cushion, hands on knees, back straight. He wouldn’t meet my eye.

“Congratulations. I understand you are the new master of the house?”

“In a manner of speaking, Miss Marlowe.”

He wasn’t acting like the new master. He didn’t dress like the new master. But who was I to question if he was slow in accepting the new role.

Since no more details were forthcoming I said, “As I’m a working girl, I need to know if you are going to pay me for what I have already done in the library and if you are going to want me to finish.”

He looked around the library which still retained its old money grandeur. “I rather like it as it is.”

There went that job. How annoying. I put on the-customer-is-always-right smile. “I see. Shall I talk to Opal about the charges I’ve incurred so far or will you be responsible?”

“If you would be so good as to give me an invoice, I will see it is paid.”

“I see. If you’ll give me a few minutes, I’ll figure out the costs I’ve incurred thus far.” I wondered how I might include my sleuthing time. I was disappointed at the loss of my job. I was itching to get my hands on those books and see what I could find. Hudson had moved to number one suspect on the list. Nice house he inherited. Where was Jake Manyhorses when I needed him?

Hudson left and I closed the door after him. I eyed those books. I bet they numbered in the thousands. What did Jake think could be hidden there that would shine light on Albert’s demise? Maybe it wasn’t an issue anymore. Maybe that’s why Jake hadn’t called. Hudson was so glaring a candidate that I decided it couldn’t be him. Too obvious.

I pulled out a book with the title The Last Western and started fanning through it. Nothing but dusty pages. I looked behind the book. Nothing but the back of the bookcase. I pulled out a few more. What if there was a secret passage into the library, a hidden way a person could come and go without being detected? Maybe the murderer sneaked into the room through the secret passage and slipped the drug into Albert’s brandy.

The romance of the thought carried me away and I started pulling selected books out, looking for I didn’t know what, a partition or crack or crevice that would indicate a door of some type. I pulled out every fifth book in the interest of time. Albert had quite a range to his library. He had the entire collected works of Tennessee Williams. Impressive. Then came a few rows of Russian authors. I worked my way along, thinking what a shame I wasn’t going to be able to order colored coordinated book spines in my color scheme. I made it to the end of the row and stepped back to reconsider my strategy. It would help if I knew what I was looking for. I stepped further back. If I was going to hide something in books where would I do that? What would I be hiding for that matter?

A knock on the door interrupted my reverie. I hurried to the desk, threw open my laptop and sat down. “Yes?” I called, hurrying to power up and pull up the numbers for the library job.

Opal stuck her head in the door. “Hello, Fiona. Hudson said you were here, and I thought I’d pop in to say hello.”

“Come in, come in. I’m calculating the bill for work I’ve done on the library so far. Hudson said he doesn’t want it redesigned.”

“That’s what I came to speak to you about,” she said. “I need your help.”

I regarded her as she advanced to stand by the desk. She, too, was dressed western. It suited her. Her dark blue jeans were pressed with a sharp crease down the middle of the leg and set off her slim figure. Her red checked blouse was cowgirl cut and at the open throat she wore a neatly tied red scarf. And she had the cutest red cowgirl boots on tiny feet. All she needed was the hat and horse. She did not look one day over sixty. I liked the way she wore her hair, pixie short. Perfect cut for a hat.

“My, but you look handsome,” I said. “You and Cody are ready to saddle up.”

“Why, thank you. I’m anxious to get back to the wide, open spaces.”

“What help do you need?” I was curious, of course.

She cleared her throat and looked out the window, not meeting my gaze. “I need you to help me keep a secret. You seem like a level headed woman.” She peered at me as if to ask for confirmation.

Level headed was not a term associated with my name but appearances can deceive. “I’m flattered.” I hoped I should be. “I’ll try to help.”

Without further preamble she said, “Hudson and I are to be married.”

I gripped the desk hard to keep from falling off the chair.

“I know this must be a surprise.”

“Surprise?” I croaked getting the word out. “You certainly fooled me.”

She smiled and her eyes crinkled. “Haven’t we, though?”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Years, I think. I mean, we’ve always had a nice friendship. He needed support, what with the way Olivia carried on sometimes. Albert could be difficult, and the butler always gets caught in a family crossfire. We’re comfortable with each other. ”

“But, but. .”

“I know there’s quite an age difference, but we don’t seem to notice.”

“But, Hudson told me he doesn’t like the west.”

Her smile turned impish. “He lied. He adores the ranch. He’s been a number of times with Albert and Olivia, then Albert alone. Albert was quite dependent on Hudson to run everything. He liked Hudson to travel with him.”

“But Hudson said he was retiring to Cornwall.”

“He said that? I guess that was another little fib. He’s put the house up for sale. As a matter of fact, I believe he has a buyer.”

I was running out of buts. One last one. The most important.

“But Hudson is a suspect in Albert’s demise. Are you going to quit the investigation?”

Opal’s smile turned down on the corners. “That’s what we need to speak about and why I need your help. Shall we sit on the couch?”

I followed and sat beside her. She started in before I was settled. “I want Jake and you to continue making the motions of an investigation, even though Hudson and I know what happened.”

“What?” My vocabulary was limited at this point.

“Albert was a spy. The think tank stuff was a front. He travelled a lot because of his work. Hudson was his accomplice, you might say, part of the cover. The house is Hudson’s compensation for being a loyal servant. Does this make things clearer?”

“Muddy, not murky.” I was having trouble formulating complete thoughts.

She exhaled a long sigh. “Hudson told me all this. Albert didn’t know that I knew.”

“Geez, this is complicated.”

Opal gave a funny, one syllable chuckle. “Isn’t it? Who would think an old ranch woman would get involved in the cloak and dagger business? There are, however, problems. First, Hudson is in danger. The family can’t know about this spy stuff. They’re upset because they get little from the estate. Albert lived pretty high and loose. There won’t be much cash left after everything is liquidated and the bills paid. They’ll never understand about the house. They can’t ever know.”

“Cody said the relatives will contest.”

“They won’t get anywhere. It will take a lot of time and cost a lot of money. None of them have much.”

“Fascinating, but where do I come in?”

“Even though I know what happened to Albert and who did it, I cannot take the information to the police. Albert was an undercover agent. If the police know, it could jeopardize other undercover agents. I want to exact revenge on the perpetrator. That’s where you and Jake come in.”

I swallowed hard. This sounded out of my league. Revenge? I wondered if the Russian mafia was involved. Definitely out of my league. “I’m not so sure I’m your woman. Where is Jake anyway? I haven’t heard from him.”

“He’s run an errand.”

“Why me and Jake?”

“You make such a nice couple.”

Here we went again. “Please, Opal, let’s leave out the matchmaking, and I’m not trained for cloak and dagger stuff.”

“Hudson and I are sure we know who killed Albert, and she isn’t a very nice person.”

My interest was piqued. “She?” I said. “As in the blonde at the wedding?”

“No, not her. Albert had others. Lord knows why Olivia ever put up with it. I say this, even though he was my dear brother. He couldn’t help a wandering eye, and everyone knew it.” She leaned closer. “He also was known to have a taste for drink.”

I wished Albert could have come back from the dead. Sounded like a fun guy. “Who then? Who is this mysterious woman who killed Albert?”

“A woman who worked with him. I believe her name is Alice. She and Albert had an affair a while back. Olivia caught wind of it and told Albert to cease and desist or it was the end of the marriage. The affair was pretty public. Albert wasn’t discreet. I think as he got older he was quite harmless, although I understand his Viagra bill was pretty outrageous there for a while. Albert’s charm lay in a flair for the ladies but his extreme wealth didn’t hurt.”

“Fascinating.”

“Albert cut it off with his co-worker. However, you know what they say about a woman scorned. She took it to new heights. Made Albert’s life a misery, threatened him with all kinds of things. I suspect she arranged for his overdose. Those spy people are very creative when it comes to murder.”

“I never think of creative ways to murder people, but I believe you about spies.” Another good reason why I shouldn’t get involved. “So you want to exact revenge on this woman?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Are you certain the woman did this?”

Opal squeezed her eyes shut tight like she was trying to think, then opened them wide. “Hudson and I have given this a great deal of thought. We are ninety nine per cent sure.”

I was concerned about the other one per cent. “What kind of revenge did you have in mind?”

She smiled. “Murder would be too simple. I was thinking more in terms of blackmail or maybe forcing her out of her job.”

Little old ladies can be deadly.

“Blackmail? What kind of blackmail.”

“She has a husband. Maybe he didn’t know about the affair. We could blackmail her for money or with harassing phone calls or maybe hack into her computer and steal her identity.”

I was getting a creepy feeling that Opal was going off the deep end. Maybe I’d forego the money and get the hell out.

“Opal, the action items you mentioned carry jail sentences with them. I’m a law-abiding citizen. Look, I’ll figure out what is owed me and send the bill. Have Hudson mail me a check when it’s convenient.” I busied myself shutting down the Mac and packing up.

Opal didn’t respond. I looked at her. Our eyes met. She smiled. Did I detect a glimmer of insanity in those frosty blues?

“Maybe Jake can do this for you,” I said, trying to be helpful. I zipped the carrying case and hefted the strap over my shoulder.

“Then you won’t help me?”

I shook my head. “Not my line of work.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You’ll keep my secret, won’t you?”

“Sure,” I said, meaning it. I wanted to put some distance between me and the crazies in this family. They were starting to make my head hurt.

“I wouldn’t want any of the family to get wind of this. I thought you would help me.”

“Jake’s your man, Opal. By the way, when will he return?”

“He went to the lawyer’s office yesterday to pick up some documents. He’s not back yet.”

I stopped before my hand reached the doorknob to the library on my way to freedom. “What do you mean he hasn’t returned? Isn’t the lawyer here in McLean?”

She shrugged still sitting straight on the couch. “I don’t know what happened to him.”

I cocked my head. “Where is he staying, Opal?”

“He is staying with us here. But he hasn’t come back.”

“I see.” I had a strong desire to find Jake and see what he made of this. His being away and she not worried added to the urgency.

“Good bye, Opal,” I said and closed the door.

In the car I drove down the street a ways then flipped open my cell phone and dialed Jake’s number. He answered on the first ring.

“Where are you?” I said.

“You’re not going to believe me, but the old lady has me locked in the wine cellar in the basement. I’ve been here since last night. She took me down on the pretense of showing me some rare wines.”

“Damnation,” I said. “Jake, old lady Opal is crazy.”

“That’s just for starters.”

“I think I should call the police.”

“We don’t want that.”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to voice an opinion.”

There was silence, then a hollow laugh. “I guess you’re right.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Would you mind getting me out?”

“Me? First, you need to answer some questions.”

“Fiona, please.”

“No, I’m serious. Why didn’t you call me yesterday?”

“I did but you didn’t answer.”

“Damn, I forgot. I turned the phone ringer off so I could get some sleep.”

“You never turned it back on because I’ve been trying to get you all night.”

“Am I the only one you can call?”

“You’re the only person I know on the East Coast that might believe an old lady locked me in her wine cellar.”

“That’s troubling.”

“Yeah, isn’t it? Look, Fiona, I’ll explain everything if you get me out of here.”

I had heard that before. I coldheartedly ignored his plea. “Opal said she and Hudson are getting married.”

“She did? News to me.”

“She said Albert had an affair with a woman he worked with.”

“Don’t know about that.”

“What is going on here?”

“Hey, I’m sorry if I can’t answer your questions, but if it’s too much trouble to help me, I’ll call one of my buddies.” He hung up. He’d sounded a little put out.

How in the world was I going to get back into the house?

I dialed Jake’s number again. Busy. I guess he was serious about calling his buddies. I contemplated my alternatives. Leave and extract myself from a dangerous situation. Or go back and help Jake.

I dialed his number again. He picked up on the first ring.

“How do you propose I get back into the Lodge insane asylum?”

Chapter 7

I crouched in the Alice in Wonderland hedge and waited for the lights to go out in the house. Damn, damn, damn. Why was I doing this? Why wasn’t I home in my warm, comfy bed, dreaming the night away instead of waiting in the cold and dark to help out a man I didn’t know that well? Curiosity was the only answer I came up with combined with a definite lack of common sense.

Jake said to try the kitchen entrance. He said there was a whole underground storage maze accessed from a door in the kitchen. I hadn’t noticed the door because it was behind the main door into the kitchen which stood open most of the time.

Unfortunately, I had to break in, find the wine cellar key and get into the basement, all without making noise and waking anyone. I was sitting in the hedge freezing my butt because there’d been a party going on for most of the night in the kitchen.

Finally, the lights went out in the back of the house.

I stood, stretched and listened. I wore a long, wool sweater coat in black that kept getting snagged in the hedge. My teeth were chattering, probably more from fright than from cold. I never did stuff like this. What had I gotten myself into? I had black running shoes on, though I never ran. They made no sound on the brick patio. I’d put them on in case I had to run. How’s that for logic? I inched toward the kitchen door.

“Oof,” I said without thinking. I glanced around to see if anyone had heard. My toe had struck a large mound of something that hadn’t been there the last time I was on the patio. It appeared to be a garbage bag. Who had put that there? Maybe the gardener had raked leaves, bagged them and left the bag on the patio. Sloppy gardener. But it didn’t feel like mushy leaves. It felt like metal and had made a clanking sound when my foot hit it. Leaves didn’t clank.

I pulled out my trusty little LED flashlight that I had shoved into my pocket at the last minute and switched it on. Sure enough, it was a garbage bag half concealed under the hedge like someone had dumped it in a hurry. My never ending curiosity kicked in, and I hunched down to investigate. I ran the light over the bag. The top was unsecured so I carefully pulled it open and looked in. Silver. It was the family silver. Tea service, bowls, plates, a few serving spoons. Someone was trying to filch the family silver. Who had dropped these here? A desperate relative? Had they had a party to divide up the family heirlooms, and someone had stashed their loot here?

This was confusing. Better to keep my head and find Jake. Poor guy must be starving by now. I would have been. I inched along the patio that ran by the kitchen, keeping the LED trained on the ground, and eyed the door. The storm door was glass top to bottom. It was closed, but the entry door stood open. I tried the storm door. It wasn’t locked. The partiers must have forgotten to lock up. Maybe that is how the stash of silver ended up in the hedge. A drunken foray by a relative stealing the family heirlooms.

With the stealth of a world class burglar, I eased in the door and shut it behind me. I waited, listening. The quiet hum of appliances was the only sound in the room lit by their red and green lights. Glasses and unwashed dishes sat about. How unlike Hudson to let the place go. Maybe he hadn’t hired cleanup help to take his place. Had he left?

I headed for the door Jake said I’d find that led to the lower level. Moving the interior kitchen door, there it was, just like he said. I tried the knob. Locked. Damnation. My luck hadn’t held. I searched the wall by the door for hanging keys. Nothing. I guess that would be too obvious. I opened the overhead cabinet. Nothing but dishes. I pulled open the lower cabinet drawers. More dishes. Where were those keys? Probably on a ring on Hudson’s belt. As if conjured up like a genie, the overhead lights came on, and I yelped. There stood Hudson in the doorway of the other entrance to the kitchen, staring at me with a look of surprise.

“Miss Marlowe, may I help you? Have you lost something? It is good of you to pay a visit. Isn’t it a bit early in the morning? Have you misplaced something? Your cell phone again?”

“Hudson, you startled me.” I acted like it was perfectly normal for me to be snooping around the kitchen in the middle of the night. “Jake is locked in the wine cellar. I was searching for the key so I can let him out.”

Hudson moved across the room to come face-to-face with me. He was attired in full butler uniform and looked like he had just come from the shower with wet hair slicked back from his forehead, replete with spicy aftershave. I hadn’t noticed before how broad his shoulders were. Maybe he seconded as a bodyguard for Albert.

He cocked his head and did a rapid eye blink, like he was trying to understand what I had said. “That’s odd, Miss Marlowe. Why would he be locked in the wine cellar?”

“Opal tricked him into going in to see some rare wines. She left and locked the door on him.”

“I should have known,” he said like this was a normal occurrence. “I’m sure she didn’t mean to lock him in. Her mind hasn’t been good lately. Here, let me open that door for you. Might I assist you in releasing him?”

Out of his pocket he extracted an impressive ring of keys and opened the door.

“I have a key to the wine cellar on this ring. Shall I lead the way? We will secure Mr. Manyhorses’ release in no time.”

He was about to descend the steps when I said, “Let me congratulate you on your upcoming marriage.” That was a showstopper. Obviously, I was fishing for information as well as checking to see if Opal was a loony as I suspected.

He looked at me like I was sprouting horns and tail.

“I beg your pardon. Marriage?”

Just as I thought. “Yes, Opal told me the two of you are to be married.”

“Married? To Opal?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry Miss Marlowe, but I am quite unaware of such plans.”

In the quiet, humming kitchen, we seemed to come to an understanding. I voiced our understanding. “Opal isn’t in her right mind, is she?”

“No,” Hudson said without the least hint of hesitation in his voice, “she is not, I am sad to say. Some nights she wanders the halls in search of I know not what.”

I could see the tired circles under Hudson’s eyes, but I pressed on with my questions unable to stop. “Forgive me for asking but did you inherit this house?”

His mouth opened and worked but no sound came out.

I said, “Opal said you inherited the house as payment for your service to Albert as a spook.”

“Spook, Miss Marlowe?”

“Spy.”

He started to chuckle, then had trouble stopping. His eyes filled with tears and the chuckles turned to hearty laughs. “Wooo, hooo,” he finally ended, pulling out his ironed, creased, white handkerchief and wiping his eyes.

“I say, she has quite the imagination, doesn’t she? I’m afraid those are stories Miss Opal invented.”

“Probably this is another of Opal’s stories but it’s been bothering me. Did she ever mention to you that while Albert was married to Olivia, he had an affair with a woman he worked with? That she probably murdered Albert using some creative spy technique?”

Hudson didn’t meet my eyes but looked over my shoulder at something I knew he would not share. I read defeat in those eyes but I could have been wrong.

“No,” he said. “I have never heard of her.”

Was this a true story or a figment of Opal’s imagination? Did Hudson know and wouldn’t tell? And why not?

I went in another direction. “Are you having as tough a time as I am trying to figure what is going on in this family?”

“I gave that up long ago, Miss Marlowe. I do my job and try not to look surprised at the odd behavior that transpires under this roof.”

“Has anyone thought of locking dear Opal up in a nice high end retirement home?”

“I don’t know. I am not privy to those decisions. I know what I overheard in Mr. Lodge’s conversations. I don’t believe he was aware of the extent of her illness.”

“Do you know she hired Jake to investigate Albert’s murder?”

He frowned. “Was Mr. Lodge murdered?”

“She seemed to think so. That’s why Jake is here. I’ve been helping him, sort of.”

Hudson was back in control of his butler face. “Miss Marlowe, I catch snatches of conversation. People often think a butler is a piece of furniture so they ignore the fact that I’m in the room, or coming and going or busying myself with something.”

I nodded.

“I don’t share what those snatches are. I don’t even speculate in a family like this one. This is what, I believe, psychologists call a dysfunctional family.”

“That is putting it mildly,” I said.

He turned to the basement stairs. “Shall we liberate Mr. Manyhorses?”

“Do you realize you are a suspect?” I couldn’t stop. I had to know.

He looked back and stared straight into my eyes. “What would be my motive?”

“You don’t seem to have anything to gain except the house, if in fact you’ve inherited it.”

“Precisely so. Do I look like I’ve inherited this house? If I may say, Miss Marlowe, the end of my employment and my move to Cornwall to my comfortable retirement cottage cannot come too soon.”

“I get the picture,” I said. “We better liberate Jake.”

He hadn’t exactly answered the inheritance question, and I now wanted to know if the mysterious spy woman was real. He hadn’t met my eyes when he answered the question. That’s the first time I felt he was lying.

* * * * *

Jake’s prison cell in the wine cellar was comfy, not at all what I imagined. He sat on a loveseat with end tables and lamps. A pint sized frig hummed in a kitchenette. He was surrounded with, and I’m not kidding, thousands of bottles of wine, arranged neatly around the walls of the room. The air was chilly, resulting from the automatically controlled room temperature that fine wines appreciate.

“Hi, Jake,” I said.

He looked from me to Hudson. “I see you found the easy way in.”

I smiled. “Taste any fine wines?”

“I’ll take whiskey any day.”

Hudson said, “If you will excuse me, I have the kitchen to clean and breakfast to arrange. Might there be anything else?”

It was clear Hudson did not want to involve himself anymore than necessary. I couldn’t blame him. The cottage in Cornwall beckoned.

“Thank you, Hudson. We appreciate your help,” I said. “By the way, when will your service end?”

“In two weeks. I have given notice. You’ll excuse me.” He removed himself from the room with his usual studied dignity.

“What now,” I said to Jake, “that I won your freedom?”

He scrubbed his face with both hands. “I need a shower and a decent meal. Wine just doesn’t do it for me. I need steak and eggs.”

“Right. Do you think the wine keeper hides out here?”

“Somebody must. The frig is stocked with chocolate and cheese.”

“Maybe that’s what they eat with wine tastings. This is a crazy house.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Let’s explore the underground while we’re here.”

“What for? I’m not working private investigation anymore.”

“No? Did Opal fire you?”

“Nope, gave my notice. That’s probably why she locked me up.”

“Have you noticed Opal is doing some strange stuff?”

“Yup. In my opinion, she needs to be institutionalized, sorry to say.”

“Agreed. Let’s look around. Aren’t you even curious?”

He shook his head. “I know too much about this family already.”

“Okay, then who inherited the money and the house?”

“Fiona, I can’t put a straight story together. I’ve followed lead after lead, and they all come to the same dead end. Albert died a natural death as far as I’m concerned. I’m headed back to Oregon.”

“What about Albert’s spy bimbo doing him in, and Opal wants us to exact revenge? Do you know who the bimbo is?”

“No. Opal’s story is the first I heard of her which leads me to believe it’s just a story.”

“I wonder,” I said, and let it go at that. What I really wondered was how I could find this woman. I put that on my to-do list. “We should look around. It won’t hurt.”

“I thought you resigned?”

“I’m just curious.”

He rose from the chair. “I’m not. I just want to get out of this place.”

The underground was byzantine. Brick arches framed the doors of the storage rooms. Everything was brick from walls to floors. The architecture was medieval English dungeon and didn’t go with the rest of the house. The storage doors were locked.

“Jake, don’t you think this is strange?” I said, after I had tried yet another locked door.

“Fits with the family.”

“What do you think they store in these rooms?”

“Brandy smuggled from France? Gold doubloons?”

I looked at him under the light of an iron trimmed lamp. “Jake, what if Albert was involved in smuggling?”

“Fiona, to tell you the truth I don’t know what Albert was involved in. If he was a spy, if he travelled a lot, he could have had any kind of weirdo worldwide connections. Who knows what he could have gotten himself into? And you know what? I don’t want to know.”

“What if there is a dead body behind one of these doors?”

“It would stink.”

“True. We need to find a key to these rooms.”

“Hudson has them.”

“Maybe there are extras. Did you ever store an extra key above the door ledge?”

“I never owned anything that needed to be locked up.”

I walked to the last locked door I tried and felt along the top of the arch. My fingers contacted cold metal.

“See, a key.” I slipped the antique key into the metal lock that looked like it came from The Man in the Iron Mask movie. The key turned smoothly in the lock. I pushed the door. It creaked. An odor reminiscent of oil and wood escaped the room. I pushed the door open further. All lay in darkness. I felt inside for a switch. Something with feet ran across my foot. I gave an unfeminine screech.

“What was that?” I said as I watched the little beast scurry down the hallway. My appetite for adventure went sour. Rodents were not in my romanticized version of a dungeon.

Jake craned his neck for a look. “A very large rat.”

“Yesh.” I shivered and pulled the sweater coat tighter. “You find the light switch.”

“This was your idea.”

“I know, but you’re the fearless cowboy.”

“I bet there’s bats in here, too,” he said with a grin.

I surveyed the dark ceiling above me like the little critters would be hanging from the bricks. “Don’t you find all this brick work unusual?”

“Never saw anything like it. Someone must be into dungeons and dragons.”

“Where do they use brick in cellars anymore?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” He was busy fingering the doorjamb. “Here it is.” A flood of light spilled over the room from a bare light bulb. The room was full of crates all the same size, long and narrow.

I cast a glance up and down the hall once more and then followed Jake into the room. I did not have a good feeling about those boxes. They were stacked against one wall, floor to ceiling.

Jake stood studying the stamps on the outside. “Don’t need to open these to know what they are. Says right here.” He pointed to the stenciled numbers on one case.

They meant nothing to me. “What are they?”

“Rifles. Looks like Albert traffics in weapons.”

Chapter 8

“Weapons trafficking?” I said, trying to get my mind around that concept. Jake and I stared at the boxes. Then I said, “This is quite a twist. If Albert traffics in weapons, he must have an accomplice. He wouldn’t be able to move this stuff in and out of here by himself.”

“Right and Hudson would be the likely culprit,” Jake said. “Then again, it could be anybody. Albert knew so many people.”

“The arrow keeps pointing back to Hudson, doesn’t it? I hope that’s not the case. Who would suspect an upstanding citizen like Albert of weapons trafficking?”

“Lots of places in the world use these kinds of rifles.”

“I’ve a feeling we shouldn’t be here.”

“I’ve a feeling you’re right, and this was your idea.”

Footsteps echoed in the corridor. Jake flipped off the light and pushed the door quietly shut.

“Why’d you do that?” I whispered.

“Because we shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t know about these boxes.”

“You’re right.”

The footsteps stopped outside the door.

“Hello?” said a voice.

We made no sound. The key rattled in the lock.

I stifled a croak. “I left the key in the lock.”

“Yes, you did.”

“How was I to know someone was going to lock us in?”

“Locked in small rooms is getting to be a habit.”

The footsteps had not retreated. We waited. The key rattled in the lock again. The door swung in. The hall light outlined Cody’s slim cowboy figure.

“Cody?” I said and flipped on the light.

He had a gun trained on us. I’m not expert on weapons but it was ugly looking. What on earth was he thinking?

“You two are a nuisance.” That solved the question of what he was thinking.

I backed into Jake. “What are you doing with a gun? That’s a rather unfriendly gesture.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I’d never had someone hold a gun on me before. It was an itchy, raw feeling.

Cody sighed. “Come out of there.”

“Sure thing,” I said.

Jake said nothing but pushed his hand against my back and steered me from the weapons room.

Holding the gun on us, Cody closed the door and locked it.

“Too bad, Aunt Opal brought you into this.”

“Right,” Jake said. “I’d like to ask what this is about but the less I know the better.”

“Smart man,” Cody said.

“I’m rather curious,” I said, demonstrating once again a lack of common sense. “You can tell me.”

Cody smiled. “I like you, Fiona. You’ve got spunk. Unfortunately, I’ve got to figure out what to do with you. I haven’t killed anyone yet.”

“Let’s not start,” I said. “What are rifles doing in there?” I was hoping they were legitimate.

“Like Jake said the less you know the better. I got a lot on my mind right now. I got an aunt causing problems with her fantastic stories, an uncle that died and left me with the arms business, and a bunch of relatives that want his money, just like I do.”

“I see. Jake and I really aren’t much interested in the family. We’ve both resigned our jobs, so you can let us go. We promise never to say a word to anyone.”

“You were interested enough to start snooping. That’s where you went wrong. If you had just walked out of the wine cellar and left, you never would have stumbled across my stash.”

“You mean, your uncle didn’t know about this?”

“Of course, he did. He helped finance, arrange for the weapons, and make the sale.”

“Who are the buyers?”

Jake interrupted. “Fiona, I don’t think we want to know.”

Cody’s smile got tighter.

“Cody,” I said, undeterred, “I promise, we won’t say a word to anyone.”

“I wish I could believe that.”

“What about Hudson?” I asked.

“What about him?”

“How does he figure into this?”

Cody’s eyes shifted a few degrees to the right and back. “Hudson is a superb butler who doesn’t ask questions and keeps his opinions to himself.”

“Why don’t we discuss this over breakfast?” I said, trying to be helpful. I needed a strong cup of coffee, at least.

“All right, move. Up the stairs and, Jake, don’t try anything. I know you won’t, Fiona.”

Why would he say that? I must have looked innocuous, but I was ready for a rumble. Jake looked like he wanted to be any place but here.

It was getting light outside, I was pleased to discover. The kitchen was clean, coffee made. A tray of sweet rolls and muffins sat by the coffee maker. Hudson had neatly arranged mugs on the counter. I wished I could afford a butler.

I poured coffee for three, and we each took a mug to the table. I set the tray of pastries on the table nearest my seat. Cody sat across from us at the table with the gun pointed in our direction. He acted like he knew how to use it, too. I had a feeling I might be having my last meal. Why-oh-why had I insisted in sleuthing around the underground? For comfort I selected the largest cherry cheese Danish on the plate and started in, sipping coffee between bites.

The silence was awkward. I wondered where Hudson had disappeared to. No wonder he wanted to return to England as soon as possible. He must have known about this from those overheard conversations. And he could have known about the spy woman from overhead conversations though my mind might be running away with me. Maybe Cody knew about her, although I hesitated to ask. He might not be in the right mood.

Cody sipped his coffee and looked back and forth between us, making me nervous. I had another Danish. Sugar always calmed my nerves.

Finally he said, “Tell you what, if you help me, I’ll see you go free when this is over.”

Jake said, “When what is over?”

“When the last of the goods are delivered. I could use your help. You help me, I let you go.”

I heard jail sentence at the end of that statement.

I said, “I need some questions answered. Aren’t you afraid some of the other relatives are going to walk in and see you with that gun? Does everyone know about what’s in the basement?”

“They never get up before ten. Gives me plenty of time to work.”

I glanced at the clock. Seven.

“Who killed Albert?” I said.

He shrugged. “Maybe some folks who didn’t like us meddling in what they considered their arms business. I can’t be sure. That’s the least of my worries.”

“This is a dangerous business, Cody. I thought you were a rancher?”

“I am, most of the year. We do this trade once a year. It’s very lucrative.”

“Did Albert suck you into this?”

“No. I asked if he needed help.”

“How did you find out?”

“I spent a lot of time with Uncle Al. I was the closest he had to a son.”

“So,” I said, “you must know about his affair with the woman he worked with.” I thought I’d throw it in, see what happened.

“Who?” he said.

“The woman Opal says creatively murdered him.”

“Wow, she said that?” Cody looked sincerely interested now. “Unbelievable.”

“Is she a real person?”

Cody’s eyes went flat when he realized I was fishing, that I didn’t know. He shrugged. “Real as anything can be with Opal right now.”

How was I to find this woman? I don’t think I could just phone up spy central and ask for her. Opal wasn’t even sure about her name.

Jake said, “I guess you wouldn’t consider letting us go on our word. I’m not interested in this line of work. I don’t think Fiona is either, are you?”

I shook my head and helped myself to a third Danish. They were small. “No,” I said, “I’m best at interior design.”

Cody said, “You sure are asking a lot of questions for not being interested.”

Jake tried to rise.

Cody motioned him down with the gun.

“Mind if I refill the coffee?” Jake said.

Cody relented. “Bring the pot over. I want a refill.”

“Me, too,” I said.

This was all so civil.

Jake left his cup on the table and fetched the coffee pot. He poured Cody’s first. Then, as he finished, with a deft flick of his wrist he threw the remaining pot into Cody’s face. Cody’s arms flew up to protect his face, and Jake smashed the coffee pot against the wrist that held the gun. It skittered across the table.

Cody kept screaming son-of-a-bitch while trying to clear his eyes. Jake delivered an impressive chop to Cody’s neck, and the poor cowboy slumped over onto the table.

“Nice work, Jake,” I said.

He yanked me out of the chair. I was still clutching the Danish.

“Which way to the car?” he said.

“Back entrance.”

We high tailed it from the kitchen, leaving another mess for Hudson to clean up.

* * * * *

“Jake, we have to go to the police.”

We were speeding along in a line of lively commuter traffic, going I wasn’t sure where, Jake at the wheel. He glanced in my direction.

“Fiona, this kind of stuff is FBI and ATF people, not a group I want to get involved with. We could get framed by Cody and those goons he’s dealing with. I’m not willing to take that chance. I want out.”

I was perplexed. “In my world when there is wrong doing, one reports the information to the proper authorities.”

“Not in my world. You settle things yourself. You want to be in a witness protection program the rest of your life?”

“Depends where it is. South Pacific Island I could go for.”

“Get serious.”

“I am.”

“Fiona, we need to distance ourselves from the scene of the crime. Our fingerprints are on the door to the weapons room. Have you thought about that? What do you think Cody is going to do when he comes around?”

“What?”

“Come after us. Or have someone unpleasant come after us.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. I guess I could take a vacation. Damnation, I never did get a check for work done.”

“Don’t think you’re going to.”

“What will you do?”

“Can’t go back to the ranch. My career there is over.”

“This might be a good time to visit my friends in Australia. That might be far enough away.”

Jake nodded his head thoughtfully. “Mind if I join you?”

“That’s a possibility. By the way that was an impressive hand chop you delivered to poor Cody. Where’d you learn that?”

“High school.”

“Must have been some school.”

Jake grunted. No more details were forthcoming.

“Jake,” I said, “you haven’t leveled with me about what you know. If we’re going on a extended trip together, we should be honest with each other.”

We stopped at a light in a long line of traffic. Someone kept tooting the horn. I hadn’t paid attention to it, except that now the annoying motorist was right beside us in traffic. I caught a hand wave out of the corner of my eye and turned to give the guy a dirty look.

It was Hudson, red-faced and yelling. I couldn’t make out what he was saying with the window up. I debated about putting it down. What if he had a gun?

“Jake, look. It’s Hudson in the car aside of us.”

Traffic was moving again, and Jake stole a glance in my direction. He kept with the flow of traffic.

“He’s yelling for us to stop and pull over. Do you think we should?”

Jake sped up and kept looking in the mirror. “He’s behind us now. Right on our tail. He doesn’t strike me as the type to be tailing us for no good reason. If he were following with some malicious purpose, he would have kept out of sight and maybe run us off the road into a ditch. I wonder what he wants.”

I looked back. Hudson kept throwing his hands up off the wheel. I became concerned that he’d have a wreck.

“Maybe we should look for a convenience store or somewhere public to pull in and see what he wants. He can’t do too much damage in a public place.”

“You hope.”

“Do you think he’s involved in the weapon’s business?”

Jake shook his head like maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. “Hudson doesn’t strike me as the kind to want to get involved in much of anything. He’s a butler and that’s it. Though he may be caught inadvertently in something he can’t extract himself from.”

We continued on. An Exxon sign appeared on the horizon.

“Jake, up ahead. A service station. Pull in.”

Jake put on the right turn signal, eased into the right lane. Hudson followed. He was driving the huge Rolls Royce I had seen in the Lodge multi-car garage. Odd that he would be driving the Rolls which alone attracted stares and glances. He wasn’t worried about being seen. Maybe he had a message for us.

Jake pulled to the side of the station, dodging impatient Washington commuters intent on filling up. He came to a stop in front of the air pump. Hudson pulled in on my side.

“We stay in the car,” Jake said.

I pressed the electric window button. A brisk fall breeze poured in. Hudson rolled down his window with less caution than we exhibited.

“Hello, Miss Marlowe,” he said. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to give you the check for your services. You left in such a hurry I didn’t have a chance to give it to you.”

Since I hadn’t given them a bill, I was curious. He reached inside his coat and brought out an envelope. “I hope this is appropriate. We appreciate what you did. I’m terribly sorry things turned out as they did.”

I stretched to receive the envelope he offered and opened it. The check was for $10,000, more than I would have billed.

“Thank you, Hudson. This is very generous. Are you all right? Are you sure you should go back? Maybe you should continue on to the airport and board a flight to England.”

His having chased us down the highway to hand me a check well over the amount I would have asked, suggested that here was an honest, well meaning man. I was concerned for his safety.

“I’m all right, Miss Marlowe, but I can’t leave quite yet.”

I hesitated to ask, but did. “Is Cody okay?”

“Cody?”

“Yes, he, uh, had an accident with hot coffee. I hope he’s all right.”

“Yes, he told me you had left. He looked a bit red-faced, I recall. I hurried to try to catch you. I certainly wish you well, Miss Marlowe.” He leaned lower to see Jake. “And you, too, Mr. Manyhorses.”

Jake nodded but said not a word.

“I must be getting back. Good day, then,” Hudson said.

We watched him back around and ease into the line of traffic.

I pulled out the check again. “Jake, this check is for $10,000. But wait.” There was something else in the envelope. “There’s another check made out to you. It’s for $10,000, too.” I handed the check to Jake.

He studied the check. “Silence money, I’d say, wouldn’t you?”

We sat in grim reflection, gazing at the overgrown tangle of trees and shrubs to the back of the parking lot.

“Jake, why would they give us $20,000 when the estate is in such a financial mess?”

“To buy our silence.”

“I don’t know.”

“Fiona, don’t go waffling on me. This family is into unimaginable intrigue.”

“Are you going to tell me what you know?”

He sighed. “I suspected something illicit but didn’t know it was weapons. I found entries in a ledger book in Albert’s room. It was an account that Hudson didn’t know about, which is why I think Hudson isn’t part of whatever Cody and Albert were doing. The entries were large sums of money. Like $800,000 was the smallest amount I remember.”

I watched his profile as he spoke. The sun popped in and out of puffy clouds. Yellow and gold leaves fell in hops and skips from the trees. All was well with nature. It was humanity that was in bad shape.

“He was dealing arms then,” I said.

“He apparently was. I saw the large sums of cash that wouldn’t be associated with any think tank job.”

“Do you have any idea why Albert did this?”

He shrugged, still staring at the trees in front of us. “Financial problems. I found a lot of unpaid bills in the desk in Albert’s room. Big bills. For furniture, appliances, cars, bank loans, credit cards. I don’t know who all that stuff was for since Olivia wasn’t around racking up bills. I don’t know how he laundered the money.”

“Where did he get the contacts?”

“Africa, most likely. He spent a lot of time there. Lot of lawlessness, big need for guns.”

“And the customers?”

“You name it.”

“Jake, the man could have been supplying terrorists and other wacko groups. I think we should go to the proper authorities.”

Jake pursed his lips and said a funny thing. “I think the authorities are probably on to him, and they need evidence. They could have gotten a search warrant, if they’d wanted but they held back. I don’t know why, and I don’t want to know.”

“You might not, but I do.”

He shook his head. “No, you don’t. This whole thing smells like an old bull carcass been out in the sun too long.”

“Why do you think the authorities already know?”

“Just a feeling which is why I don’t want to be hanging around that house any longer. I like your idea of Australia.” He held up his check. “We have the money. Let’s go straight to the airport.”

I looked at him in alarm. “Good grief. I have to pack, don’t you?”

He shrugged. “All I got is back at the mansion, and it ain’t much. I can buy what I need. I’m ready.”

“I’m not. I have to pack the right clothes, and we have to buy tickets and get the checks cashed.”

“That will take too much time. Use a credit card.”

“How about drive to my bank, cash the checks, go to my condo so I can pack and make reservations on an evening flight to Sydney.”

Jake rolled his eyes but started the car, and I directed him to the bank. We ended up depositing both checks to my account and each taking a nice wad of cash, since Jake didn’t have an account. He was a trusting soul.

At my apartment I packed while Jake got on the computer and found an available flight to Sydney through Los Angeles leaving Dulles airport that night. Our getaway preparations were going smoothly until the phone rang.

“Hello, Miss Marlowe, this is Hudson.”

“Hudson? Are you all right?”

“Considering my circumstances, I am relatively fine, thank you. But I’m afraid Miss Opal is in trouble. I wondered if you and Mr. Manyhorses might help.”

Not again.

I covered the receiver. “It’s Hudson. You better pick up on the extension in the bedroom.”

“Jake is getting on the other phone. I’m not sure what I can do. Opal has a lot of relatives that should be willing to help.”

“It’s a bit of chaos here, Miss Marlowe. The relatives are exiting at a rapid pace. Cody is doing battle with them right now. Ordering everyone out. Going around banging on doors and yelling. He’s in a wicked bad mood. Says he has a terrible headache. His face is red as a tomato. I’m rather afraid for Miss Opal. She’s been awfully confused lately. It isn’t like her.”

I heard heavy breathing. Jake was on the other line.

“Isn’t there someone else who can help?” I asked. “We are rather reluctant to get involved, even though you were most generous in payment.”

The light bulb went on. The money was for bribery, not silence. Hudson was bribing us into helping.

“I was particularly interested in Mr. Manyhorses helping. He knows what goes on in the family. Someone might be drugging Miss Opal. The stories she’s been making up are not like her. Could Mr. Manyhorses come and take her back to the ranch in Oregon?” He lowered his voice. “I think Mr. Cody is behind all this.”

“Are you on a cell phone?” I asked.

“No, a house phone.”

“What do you say, Jake?”

“Who’s left in the house?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. I’d have to check all the rooms. Miss Opal is resting in her room, but she doesn’t look well. Might we get her to hospital?”

Jake said, “Why don’t you take her?”

Hudson said, “I don’t believe Cody wants her to leave the house. He’s quite agitated. I would have to go against his wishes. As a long time butler, that is difficult for me to do.”

“You could call a doctor.”

“There are so few these days who make house calls.”

“True.”

“Excuse me,” said Hudson, “but someone is coming along the hallway. I would be so grateful for your help, and I’m sure Miss Opal would be if you came to her rescue. You are the only one I can think who could help.”

He hung up.

I went to the bedroom. Jake was lying on the bed, one foot on the floor, arm over his eyes.

“What are we going to do?” I said.

“I don’t know. I was hoping I had extricated myself from that mess. I don’t think Opal is in imminent danger. I could be wrong, but I need to think. Mind if I take a shower? I could use one, and it helps me think.”

I gestured toward the bathroom. “Be my guest. I’ll get you some fresh towels.”

I did a quick check of the bath to make sure I didn’t have dirty underwear lying about. It was in reasonable shape. I pulled out a stack of fresh, white towels and placed them on the counter. I glanced in the mirror and gasped. I looked a fright. I desperately needed a shower, too.

“Jake, use the guest bath. I need to freshen up. Follow me.”

I lead the way down the hall to the other bath, placed fresh towels on the counter and stepped back so Jake could enter.

“Do you have a change of clothes?” I asked.

“Not on me. These will be okay.”

“Too bad I don’t have any men’s clothes lying about. I’ll run out and pick up a pair of jeans and T-shirt.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll wear this. No big deal. I’ll pick some things up at the airport.” He wore a T-shirt and jeans. Cowboys didn’t make fashion statements.

I looked him over. “You really need a fresh T-shirt. Maybe I have something in the back of one of my drawers.”

I hustled to my room which was to the back of the condo and large enough for a small sitting area by the window that looked toward Rosslyn. I dug through a stack of T-shirts in a remote section of the walk-in closet. They were from conferences and other forgettable events that I’ve attended. I had in mind an extra large maroon T-shirt from a Romance Writers conference to which Olympia drug me. As fortune would have it I found it at the bottom of the stack. I shook it and held it up. Across the front was blazoned, I’d Rather Be Writing. He might not like it but it was double X size and a lot fresher than the one he had on. Maybe he wouldn’t notice the writing. I hung it on the doorknob of the guest bath.

Back in my room I dropped my sleuthing outfit on the floor and succumbed to a long, hot shower. It gave me time to think. I dreaded going back. There was no way to stage the rescue without Cody finding out. One rescue was my quota for the day. I still had the key to the front door, believe it or not. We could let ourselves in after dark. But that would give us little time to make the red eye flight to Los Angeles that we had booked. I guess if we could get Opal out we could take her to the airport and put her on a plane. But Hudson had said take her to Oregon. I guess that meant Jake would accompany her so he’d carry on the rest of the caper alone.

I heard Jake leave the bathroom. I yelled down the hall. “Help yourself to whatever you find in the kitchen.”

“Thanks. I could use a beer.”

“In the frig.”

I leafed through my clothes looking for my favorite travelling outfit, a causal, comfortable navy no-iron slacks and sweater outfit. After I had my clothes in place, my hair blow-dried and makeup applied, I searched my top dresser drawer for my passport where I always kept it. Not there. I commenced a thorough search of all the drawers. The passport was nowhere to be found. What a time to misplace it. I wondered whether Jake had a passport.

“Jake,” I said, as I walked to the kitchen, “I can’t find my passport. Do you have one?”

Jake had a bottle of microbrew in hand and wore the maroon T-shirt that was tight across the chest. Maroon was his color though.

“Passport?” he said.

“Yes, you’ll need a passport to travel to Australia.”

“I never thought of that.”

“Does that mean you don’t have one?”

“Never had cause to leave the country.”

“We might not be going to Australia, since you don’t have one, and I can’t find mine.”

I pulled a brew from the frig and poured it into a glass. I never drink beer from a bottle. It is so uncivilized. Leaning against the counter I savored a sip. Jake and I looked at each other.

“You look nice. Smell nice, too,” he said.

“Thanks. I like to look my best when fleeing the country. What now?”

“We could go to Los Angeles and visit Disneyland.”

“True, or New Orleans and eat jambalaya.”

He nodded.

“What about Opal?” I said. The question hung in the air.

Jake swallowed more beer. He smelled of lavender soap and his curly wet hair was slicked back in a vain attempt to straighten it. He looked a darn sight better in jeans and the maroon T-shirt than a suit.

“I’ll go back. I owe Opal Crawford. If she’s in a jam, I’m obliged to help her.”

I nodded. “We’re wearing a path to that house. Too bad we don’t have a helicopter. We could wait until dark and enter by the front door. I have the key. That is if no one has turned on the burglar alarm.”

Jake looked at me. “You said there was no burglar alarm on the front door.”

“Right. Every time I’ve gone in, I didn’t have to disable a burglar alarm. I opened the door with a key and let myself in.”

Jake studied the kitchen clock, the one in the shape of a crowing rooster. “Cody must have disabled the alarm. That’s how he gets the rifles in and out. Someone has a key and enters when they need rifles or bring them in. Could work both ways. All those relatives in the house might have crimped his style. I wonder why he stores the rifles at the house.”

“It’s a mystery to me.”

“I’m going back. I’ll do this alone. No sense involving you in breaking and entering. I’ll take the key you have in case I can’t walk in the back door. Who knows what I’ll find.”

“I should go with you. You’ll need back up. You’re weak in backup systems.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. A man without a passport who wants to travel to Australia hasn’t thought about his backup systems. I think of these things.”

“You can’t find your passport.”

That shut me up. I finished my beer, pulled another from the frig and offered him one. We stood leaning against the counter, ostensibly thinking.

Jake looked at the clock again. “It’ll be dark in half an hour. Might as well be on my way. Mind if I use your car?”

“I’ll drive you.”

“Fiona, it’s not a good idea for you to go. Drop me at a car rental place, and I’ll take it from there.”

“I’ll be chauffer. I don’t mind. I think you need backup.”

“No, I don’t.”

I fished in my purse lying on the kitchen counter and dangled the car keys before him. “I have the keys so I have the final say.”

Chapter 9

A light was on in the library at the Lodge estate when we drove up. Cody was probably in there scheming. Three windows on the second floor had lights. Was Opal being held hostage? Jake and I decided on the ride over that we’d not do anything sneaky. We would be bold and act like we knew what we were doing. He drove up to the front door and parked. No one came to the door.

“Let’s walk in,” Jake said.

“Wait,” I said. “What about a gun?”

“I don’t have one with me. Do you?”

“Never owned one in my life.”

“Fine, then we walk in like we own the place.”

“What if Cody’s got everybody tied up and is carrying loot out the back door?”

“That’s a chance we’ll have to take.”

Jake tried the front door. It was not locked, and there was no burglar alarm set. We walked in, looked around, peeked in the library. No one appeared.

“Let’s try the kitchen,” said Jake.

We looked in the drawing room, living area, music room as we strolled by but no one surfaced. In the kitchen Hudson was standing at the stove wearing a white, full-length apron, quite the scene of domesticity.

“Hello, Hudson,” I said.

He turned and regarded us with a smile. “How very good to see you. I was making dinner. Have you eaten?”

It never seemed to bother him that we showed up out of nowhere.

“Not yet,” said Jake. “We’ve come for Opal. How’s she doing? Where’s Cody?”

Hudson turned down the heat on a pan of chicken breasts sautéing in garlic and olive oil that smelled heavenly. How could Jake pass on this meal? Hudson wiped his hands on a towel and removed his apron.

“Cody left. He walked out the front door about an hour ago and got into a car that pulled up to the front of the house. Miss Opal, I’m happy to say, has perked up, so I’m making her dinner. Would you care to join her?”

Jake shook his head, no. I nodded mine, yes. Hudson smiled. His cheeks were rosy from cooking. His blue eyes had the twinkle back.

“I like your healthy appetite, Miss Marlowe. I’ll see if Miss Opal will join us. I have a vegetable salad chilling in the icebox. Plenty for everyone.”

“Great,” I said, and he left to fetch Opal.

I smiled at Jake. He frowned and walked to the door to the lower floor.

“Locked,” he said when it didn’t budge.

“I’m sure Cody doesn’t want anyone messing with the goods.”

“I wonder who he left with.”

“I wonder what kind of car it was. Probably black limousine with tinted windows.”

Jake gave half a laugh. “What an imagination. None of that matters anyway. I’ve decided to drive Opal back to Oregon.”

“What?”

“I said I’m going to drive Opal cross country. It’ll take about five days. She might hold up better that way then taking her through airports. Besides, someone might be watching the airports.”

We heard footsteps, and Opal appeared at the kitchen entrance, the perpetual smile on her face. Hudson was behind, urging her in.

“Hello you two,” she said. “Nice to see you again. How have you been?”

Jake nodded. “Are you feeling better?”

“I wasn’t feeling bad. Everyone around here makes such a fuss. Where is everyone?”

Hudson steered her toward the table. “Everyone is out right now. Jake has come to take you back to Oregon.”

“I thought Cody was going back with me.”

Hudson hesitated not a nanosecond and said, “Cody has business to attend to here. He asked Jake to take you back. You’ll be leaving now, won’t she, Mr. Manyhorses?”

“You bet,” chimed in Jake, not missing a beat. “How’d you like to take a cross-country trip?”

Opal seated herself across the table from us. Hudson busied himself setting out plates and silverware. Opal sat smiling, not bothering to answer the question.

“You two are like family.” She smiled wider at the thought.

Jake and I sneaked sideways glances at each other. The idea was not comforting.

Hudson slid a big platter of garlic chicken in front of us as well as a marinated vegetable salad in shiny bright colors. I reached for a serving spoon and helped myself. I was ravenous.

Hudson passed the chicken to Opal. She selected a tiny piece.

Jake said, “Opal, how ‘bout we eat and get you packed. We’ll leave tonight. There’ll be less traffic. We’ll drive across country and take in the sights on our way back to Oregon.”

She helped herself to salad. Hudson poured white wine into her glass.

“My, isn’t this delicious?” she said. “Hudson, you are such a master chef. We will be sad to see you go back to England.”

“Yes, Miss Opal. I’ll be sorry to leave. But I am looking forward to returning to Cornwall. Wine, Mr. Manyhorses?”

Jake shook his head. “Have any beer?”

“Certainly.”

Hudson gave me a good pour of wine. I mulled over the upcoming cross country trip. I would be going alone to Australia, if I ever found my passport.

Jake tried again. “Opal, can you be ready to go?”

“Go where?” She looked up in seeming surprise.

“We’re going to Oregon. I’m driving you back.”

“Is Fiona going with us? Wouldn’t you like to visit the ranch, dear? We’d love to have you. Stay as long as you like. I’m sure Cody will be along soon enough.”

That was true. Cody could fly out and beat Jake to the ranch. “Jake,” I said, “did you consider that Cody would be joining you?”

Jake took a swig from a bottle of Guinness Stout Hudson had placed before him. “We’ll have to see how that goes, won’t we?”

“I reckon,” I said.

“Then you’ll go with us?” Opal said.

“No, actually, I have a trip planned to Australia. I’m leaving tonight.” I checked my watch. “I might not be leaving tonight if I don’t leave soon.” I finished the wine and stood. “Thank you so much all of you. I better get on down the highway so I don’t miss my flight.”

“What about your passport?” Jake asked.

“I’m going by my place to have a look again. It has to be there. I hope you have a delightful trip.”

“I’m so sorry you won’t be going with us, Fiona.”

“Another time, thank you.”

Jake said, “Hudson, will you help Opal pack a light suitcase? We can send for the rest of her things later.”

“Certainly. We’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.” He hustled Opal from the room without protest.

Jake walked me to the front door. As we neared the door headlights turned into the driveway. We both stepped back from the glare.

“Who do you think that is?” I said under my breath.

“I hope it isn’t Cody.”

It was a van, black. Very cloak and dagger looking. Four big men exited. None of them looked like Cody. They came up the front steps. Jake pulled me into the shadows in the library. We waited.

They opened the door, walked in like they lived there, big as you please and headed for the kitchen. They all wore fedoras, looked Anglo, but weren’t speaking English.

Jake whispered in my ear. “Now we know how the rifles go in and out of here.”

“Right.”

“Can you give us a ride to the nearest car rental agency?”

“Me? Why not take one of the Lodge cars. That Rolls is a real looker.”

“For precisely that reason. It stands outs. I can’t believe you are arguing with me. Rental car isn’t as easy to trace.”

“All right, all right.”

“Wait in the car. I’m going upstairs the back way to get Opal.”

“Where is the back way?”

“Through the bookcases.”

“No kidding. How’d you find them?”

“Hudson showed me.”

“I knew it.”

“I’ll be out as quick as I can. We need to leave before those men come back.”

“Right.”

I left through the front door and got in the car. I hoped Jake wasn’t going to kidnap me and take me with them. I really was not in the mood. Before Jake could return, the men in fedoras trundled out with dollies loaded with rifle boxes. I slouched down in the seat so they couldn’t see me. The boxes were ones like we had seen in the basement.

Cody was working fast. Where was he? I hope nothing untoward had happened to him. I still liked him in a misguided way, but his career choices disappointed me.

The men loaded the boxes in the van, got in, and left.

I sat back up. That was strange. They had only taken maybe a fraction of the boxes. Did that mean others would be arriving for more? Maybe they had already gotten the rest.

Where was Cody?

I checked my watch. There was no way I was going to make that plane to Los Angeles. The door opened and out came Jake carrying a small suitcase with backpack over one shoulder and Opal on his arm. Hudson stood at the door like a worried mom. I hope nothing ugly happened to him. How involved was he?

Jake opened the back door, threw in the suitcase and backpack and helped Opal in. He had managed to find a jean jacket to ward off the chill of the night. He slid into the front passenger seat, and I drove off before he closed the door. As we sailed through the gate another vehicle turned into the other end of the semi-circular drive. Busy night tonight at the Lodge estate.

“Cody must be having another party,” said Opal. “He’s been entertaining a lot lately. I didn’t know he had so many friends in the area. I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

“You’ll be seeing him soon enough,” I said. “You’ll have a lovely drive across country in the meantime.”

As we pulled onto the roadway, I noticed the other car hadn’t stopped and was coming up behind us.

“Jake, that car is following us.”

I sped up going down the road and told him about the men leaving with boxes.

“I don’t want to look back,” he said. “What kind of car is it?”

“Black.”

“That’s a help.”

My cell phone rang, and I fished around in my purse. “Jake, can you look for my cell phone. I can’t seem to find it.”

He took over the search and rescue operation. “Here it is.”

I opened it up and before I could get a word out, someone said, “You two have a lot of nerve coming back. What do you think you are doing?”

“Cody?” I looked at Jake.

Jake said, “Don’t tell him anything.”

I nodded and wished I weren’t driving.

Cody said, “Who do you have in the back seat? I think you better pull over. We need to talk.”

I held the phone to my chest. “He wants to talk,” I whispered to Jake, hoping Opal wasn’t following what was transpiring.

“No way,” said Jake. “Floor it.”

I closed the cell phone and did as directed. The Legend responded beautifully. We tore down the street as if pursued by banshees. I kept checking the rear view mirror. “I can’t tell if he’s behind us.”

I headed onto I-66 West, racking my brain for the nearest car rental agency. There were a million lights in the mirror, and I couldn’t tell one car from another. If Cody was behind us, he was being discreet.

Jake took my cell phone. “How do you check caller ID on here. I want to see his number.”

“Press the red phone icon and it should show last caller.”

“Oops, I pressed redial.”

“Close the phone, close the phone. We don’t want to talk to him again.”

“Calm down, Fiona. Calm down.”

“Me? Calm down? This is not how normal life is lived, fleeing from criminals.”

“It’s not my fault. I’m an innocent bystander like you. I was just helping out Opal, and I still am.”

“Good, you keep helping her. I’m going in a different direction. Where do you want me to drop you?”

“You should go with us.”

“No way. I want out. I’m history. I’m going to Australia where people drink beer and sit on the beach and don’t get involved with spooks and criminals. I’m going to Dulles Airport to get my flight. You can get a rental car there easy.”

“You don’t have a passport.”

“True. I have other plans.”

“What other plans?”

“I’m not telling you. If you are caught and tortured, you might tell these criminals where I’ve gone and they might find me and then where will I be? No, I’m disappearing, never to be heard from again.”

“Fiona, you are being unreasonable.”

“I’m being unreasonable? You’re the one who has been absolutely no help at all. You didn’t tell me what a nut case the Lodge family is.”

“Quiet. Opal will hear you.”

I checked the rearview mirror. Opal was head down, fast asleep. “She’s out. You two get the rental car as planned and head out I-70 toward Ohio.”

“Got a map on you?”

“No, they have them at the rental car place.”

We headed out the Dulles toll road toward the airport. I still couldn’t tell if the car was pursuing us. This was nerve wracking. The phone rang.

“Who is it?” I said.

“ID says Olympia.”

“Here, give it to me. I want to talk to a sane person.”

“Olympia?”

“Hi, Fiona. Where are you? Did you forget we were having dinner together this evening?”

“I did. I’m so sorry. Where are you?”

“At my house still waiting for you and about half looped drinking your cocktail and mine. Where are you?”

“I’m on my way to Dulles Airport”

“Really? Why?”

“I’m catching a flight to Australia. It’s a long story.”

“I wish you’d told me. I want to go.”

“I might not be going because I can’t find my passport.”

“Did you look in the freezer? That where you said your new safe hiding place is.”

“You’re right. Olympia, you are fantastic and the perfect friend. Listen, I’m sorry about dinner. I’ll call you when I get to Australia, okay? Plan to come in a few days. Pack and book a flight to Sydney. I’ll call later.”

“We have to go back to my condo,” I said to Jake. “My passport is in the freezer.”

“We’re driving all over Virginia tonight.”

“Look at it as a diversion for those kooks who are following us. I’ll drop you at the rental car level at the airport since I’ve got to go to the airport to return to the city. This is an airport access only highway.”

“Fine.”

Traffic was heavy into the airport, and we got caught in a slow lane. As I tried to change to a faster moving lane, I looked to the left and who should I see but Cody waving at us from the passenger side of the black limo. I couldn’t see who was driving.

“Uh-oh, Jake. Look who’s beside us.”

“Guess we didn’t lose them.”

“Damnation, now what are we going to do?”

“Keep moving.”

“Uh-oh, look. He’s got the window down. Should I roll mine down?”

“Only if you’re curious.”

I was. I pressed the auto electric button and down the window went.

“You having dinner at Dulles Airport?” Cody yelled at me.

“Sure, there’s lots of good restaurants on B concourse.”

“We have to talk. You don’t understand. We have to talk. You need to help me.”

Yet another member of the Lodge family in need of help.

“Not me. Jake, do you want to help him?”

Cars were honking. Cody’s car bumped into my side of the car.

“Cut it out,” I said.

We were in the far right lane. I had to move onto the skirt of the road to avoid being banged again, and the car jerked and jumped.

“Watch it,” called Jake. “There’s construction over here.”

“I can’t help it. This guy is trying to run me off the road.”

Jake wasn’t much help. It wasn’t like he could drive. Opal woke up in the back seat with all the bumping and swerving.

“What is it?” she said.

“We’re having a little problem,” Jake said. “Nothing to worry about.”

We were back in the slow lane. Our lane of traffic started to move faster, and Cody’s car dropped behind.

“Jake, this is crazy.”

“Yup. Is there anywhere we can exit?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Let’s give it a try. Maybe we can lose them on a back road. Does that exist in this area?”

“There are plenty of scenic back roads, but do we want to go down a lonely back road with them in pursuit? Maybe it’s better to stay on busy four lane highways. We could lose them easier.”

“Who are we trying to lose?” asked Opal. She had moved forward and stuck her head between us. “My-oh-my, I must have fallen asleep. My head feels dizzy. It must be my medication. Where are we?”

The colossal wings of the Dulles terminal loomed before us. The bright lights on the building and the dark night made the structure look surreal, like science fiction. I wished it were a spaceport, and we could get a shuttle to Mars.

“We are on the way to the airport,” said Jake “We’re trying to lose Cody. He’s in a black limo that is trying to run us off the road.”

“That’s not very nice. What’s gotten into Cody?” she said.

“He’s been trying to drug you, and he seems to be involved in a weapons smuggling scheme. Albert was, too.”

I glanced at Jake. What a time for true confessions. I guess he was trying to be kind to Opal. She didn’t respond. I was busy trying to drive and figure out at the same time where Cody’s car was.

“Are they still following us?” said Jake.

“I can’t tell.”

I was now dodging traffic on the airport departure level, as cars pulled over to the right to let passengers out. I stayed to the left in the through traffic lane. Jake was pivoting about like a whirligig, trying to see what was going on around us.

“I won’t to be able to stop long enough to let you and Opal out at the car rental place,” I said.

“Keep moving. There has to be a million car rental places down the road.”

We passed the terminal and were on the way to the airport exit when the car behind zoomed up close and banged our rear fender. This was annoying. I did not appreciate having my beautiful car abused.

“Speed up,” said Jake.

“I’m trying but there’s this small problem of the cars in front of us.”

“I believe someone hit us,” said Opal.

“It’s Cody. He’s doing it on purpose,” said Jake.

I glanced at Jake. He was on truth serum this evening.

“Why is Cody trying to hit us?” asked Opal.

“He says he wants to talk.”

“We should stop and talk to him,” said Opal. “Cody can be very persistent when he wants to be.”

“Cody might want to harm us,” said Jake.

“Oh?” said Opal.

“We found out about his weapons business, and I don’t think he likes that so we are trying to get away from him.”

“Weapons? I didn’t know he had a weapons business. He has been acting funny.”

“Funny?” I said.

“Yes, he’s not himself. Back at the ranch he’s a pretty good hand. Here, he’s a different person.”

“How so?”

Opal was quiet for a moment then said, “He’s been short tempered with me. He’s never like that. He’s always been sweet natured. Something is bothering him.”

Something was bothering him all right, I thought to myself. He’s mixed up in something he can’t get out of. Maybe that’s what he wants to talk about.

“Jake,” I said, “we should talk to Cody.”

“I think you agreed we’ve helped this family all we can.”

Opal said, as if talking to herself, oblivious to what Jake and I were saying, “Cody’s been helping me with my medications. He insists I keep up with them, but they make me sleepy.” She gave a huge yawn.

I checked Jake out of the corner of my eye. He was nodding his head.

The car behind bumped us again. This was making me mad. I floored it and cut to an opening in the left lane and hit eighty miles per hour going back toward the city on Route 267. The Herndon exit shot by.

“Goodness,” said Opal. “Are we going to a fire?”

“Maybe,” I said.

A bell started chiming on the dash. I scanned the myriad of lights and saw flashing blue on the gas tank indicator. I was almost out of gas. We were done for.

Astutely picking up on our plight, Jake said, “Where’s the nearest exit?”

“Reston is coming up.”

“Maybe Cody will follow,” said Opal, “and we can have a talk with him. Maybe he wants to drive back to Oregon with us.”

“I hope not,” I said and shot across three lanes of traffic to get into the right hand exit lane. As fortune would have it, the light on the overpass road was green. We screeched around the corner to the left, but hit the red light at the end of the overpass.

“Impressive driving,” said Jake, cool and calm.

My hands were slipping on the steering wheel, and I was sure my deodorant had failed me. “Lucky I didn’t attract a traffic cop.”

I studied the mirrors as the traffic moved forward again.

“Is Cody behind us?” asked Opal.

“I can’t tell,” I said.

A Shell convenience store loomed on the horizon, and I changed lanes to the right.

“When we pull into the station,” said Jake, “I want you to hustle Opal inside. I’ll fill up. If you see Cody pull up and talk to me, or do anything weird, don’t come out. If he doesn’t find us, come out when you see I’m finished filling.”

“Right.” I didn’t question his logic, pulled into the lot and up in front of the first available self serve pump. Jake jumped out and started filling.

“Come, Opal, let’s use the rest room.”

I opened the rear door and helped her out, all the while searching cars for Cody’s smiling face. Opal had trouble getting up from a sitting position, so I reached in and gave her a hand.

“I’m sorry it takes me so long to get out of a car. I’m not as agile as I used to be.”

I tucked her hand under my arm and tried to hurry her into the convenience store. A cold wind blew drops of rain by us. I shivered and drew my jacket tighter around my neck. I wish I had brought a heavier coat. Needless to say, I hadn’t checked the weather forecast. It felt like snow even though it was early in the season.

Inside the store the overhead lights gleamed garishly. Two people stood at the check out to pay. I saw the restroom sign and hurried in that direction. “Do you need to go?” I asked Opal.

“Yes, I’d like to.”

“I’ll wait outside the door.”

She entered and locked the door while I waited, shivering with nerves and cold. The hall where I stood led to a back entrance, and the door blew open. I hurried to close it because the rain was now coming down in buckets. As I reached for the door banging in the wind, Cody stuck his head into the opening.

“We need to talk,” he said and then inconveniently collapsed onto the pavement.

Chapter 10

“Good Lord, Cody, get up. Can’t you see it’s raining?” I said, bending over. “How did you get here?”

He groaned in response.

I stepped in front of the door to keep it from banging and knelt over him, the door thumping against me. I didn’t want to move him because I didn’t know what was wrong. I saw no blood. I looked down the hall for anyone who might help. No knight in shining armor appeared.

Cody gasped and went limp.

I had to find help. I couldn’t lift him on my own. I hurried inside. Opal stepped out of the rest room in front of me. I didn’t want her to see Cody.

“My goodness,” she said, “You’re all wet. Is it raining?”

“Sure is,” I said, hooking my arm through hers and pulling her to the front of the store. “I’ve got to find Jake. I’m going to help you into the car, okay?”

She smiled her pleasant little smile and trotted along beside me. Standing inside the store I looked out, trying to locate Jake.

The car was gone. It wasn’t at the pump where I had parked it. My eyes scanned the lot. No sign of the car or Jake. I shivered, unable to control the shakes.

“My goodness, you’re taking a chill, Fiona. Where’s the car?”

“I can’t see it, can you?”

“No. Where could Jake have gone?”

“Opal, stay right here. I’ll check in the back.”

I rushed to the back entrance where I had left Cody. He hadn’t moved, not that I thought he would. Jake was bent over him.

“What happened? Where’s Cody’s car?” he asked.

“Gone, I guess. I came to shut the door and there he was. Where’s my car?”

“Over there,” Jake said, pointing. “When you didn’t come out I pulled to the side out of the lights and saw you go back inside. I came over to investigate.”

“We need to get him to the hospital. I’m not sure he’s even breathing.”

“He’s breathing. If he goes to the hospital, the police and everyone else will be involved.”

“We just can’t leave him here.”

“The driver must have dumped him. But why?” Jake looked around like he was searching for clues.

The rain drummed on the pavement, and I was shaking worse than ever. “What do you think happened to him?”

Jake leaned close to Cody’s mouth and sniffed. “I think he’s been drinking and passed out. I’ll bring the car over and load him in. Where’s Opal?”

“Inside waiting. I’ll get her.”

I rushed back inside convinced the convenience store clerk must think I was a real loon. I smiled and he nodded. He didn’t look suspicious, like this sort of running back and forth happened all the time in his store. Opal was buying a handful of chocolate bars. There was some logical thinking.

I steered Opal to the back entrance. Jake was hefting Cody into the back seat. I helped Opal in the other side. When she settled she gave a little exclamatory “oh” when she realized that Cody was her seatmate. His head lolled against the back seat. He was groaning again.

“Oh, dear,” said Opal, “don’t tell me, he’s been drinking. He never could hold his liquor.” She shook her head, lips pressed tight.

I left him to Opal’s care, got in the front passenger seat and turned on the heat full blast. I was soaked, and my teeth were chattering. “What do we do now?”

Jake looked me over. “You need dry clothes and your passport. We’ll go to your place.”

“Isn’t it strange that guy dumped Cody off?” I said, as we barreled east toward the Arlington.

“Fits in with the rest of the family,” Jake said.

We were in fast traffic, the usual Washington crowd going somewhere important.

Jake said, “The way his eyes were rolling around in his head, I think he might have mixed a few drugs with the alcohol.”

“Or someone did it for him.”

“Here’s my read. Cody got sucked into this but is trying to get out. Someone took pity on him, why I don’t know, and dumped him out. He must be desperate for help given how hard he tried to stop us.”

“His behavior confounds me. I wonder how he got caught in this. Could the rifles be a legitimate business?”

Jake shrugged. “Maybe, but why all the secrecy and the guns stored in the basement?”

“And why did Opal lock you in the wine cellar?”

“She’s on drugs, too. Cody’s drugging her to keep her from seeing what is going on in the house.”

“That’s as good an explanation as any.”

Traffic slowed at the beltway. Jake maneuvered the car from lane to lane to get to the I-66 spur that goes into the heart of Arlington. The rain continued, blowing sideways in the high crime lights that lined the slick, black highway.

“At least we don’t have anyone on our tail anymore,” I said.

I held my numb fingers against the dash heater vents. My clothing stuck to me. I felt like I was submerged in a bowl of cold, wet noodles. I turned to see how Opal and Cody were doing. Opal was trying to pat Cody dry with her scarf.

“How’s Cody?”

“He’s got it bad this time. I’ve never seen him in such a stupor. Usually, he’s a funny drunk and passes out. But he seems to be in a coma.”

“We’re going to my place. We’ll get him into some dry clothes and into bed. Maybe something hot to drink will help.”

When we pulled into my parking space in the garage I breathed a sigh of relief.

“How are we going to get Cody upstairs?” I asked.

“Where’s the elevator?”

I nodded toward the elevator bank in the middle of the garage.

Jake backed the car out of the space and pulled alongside the elevator. “Help me get him out, we sit him by the elevator, I park the car, we ride up together.”

Cody was dead weight. When we got to my floor, we dragged him from the elevator along the hall to my door. I unlocked the door, and all three of us pushed and pulled him down the hall to the guest room.

Jake said, “I’ll get him undressed and into bed. See if you can make some hot coffee.”

Opal followed me to the kitchen. “You get out of those wet clothes. I’ll make the coffee.”

I flashed a thank you smile, pointed to the coffee maker and opened the cupboard where I stored the coffee. She nodded and went to work. I stumbled down the hall, pulling off clothes as I went. A hot shower later, I put on my warmest lavender sweat suit and heavy red wool socks and made my way along the hall to the guest room.

Cody lay in bed with the blankets pulled to his chin. I heard Jake and Opal talking in the kitchen. I sat on the side of the bed. “Cody, can you hear me?” I said.

He snored softly away, oblivious to his plight and ours.

Jake entered with a mug of steaming coffee.

“Cody is in Neverland,” I said.

“Yup. I’ll sit this watch. You get something hot. You feel better? You look great. Do you ever look bad?”

I laughed. “Never.” He should see me first thing in the morning without makeup. No, he shouldn’t.

In the kitchen Opal sat at the tiny ice cream parlor table with two mugs of coffee.

“Thanks, Opal. Just what I need.”

“You look better. You feel okay?”

It was nice to have people interested in one’s welfare.

“I’ll live. What time is it?” I looked up at the rooster clock. Almost midnight. “I can’t believe the time. I guess I missed my flight to Australia.”

“Were you really going?”

I nodded, sipping my coffee. “But I couldn’t find my passport. That reminds me.”

I jumped up and rummaged around in the freezer for the plastic bag I kept my legal papers in. It was behind a stack of frozen chicken potpie boxes.

“Here it is,” I said, waving my passport in the air. “I’m on my way to Australia.”

She smiled wearily. “Can we postpone our trip to Oregon until tomorrow? I’m a bit tired.”

“Of course. There’s a comfy day bed in my studio. You can stretch out there for tonight. I’ll get you some towels and a night gown.”

“That would be perfect.”

“Jake can have the couch in the living room, though I think he’ll keep vigil beside Cody.”

“Cody will sleep it off. I wish he wouldn’t binge drink like he does. I’m afraid it runs in the family. His father was the same way.”

“His father was your brother?”

“Yes, all the youngest in my family were boys. They were all drinkers, and they’re all gone. Cody’s father was killed in a car accident when Cody was a boy. He spent more time on my ranch growing up than with his mother. She fell apart when my brother died. Never took very good care of Cody. As a boy he was always in trouble. I’m afraid trouble has followed him into manhood.”

“He’s gotten himself into a real pickle.”

“I don’t understand who those men were that he has been having over to the house.”

“You remember them?”

She frowned. “Not exactly. I haven’t been well these last few days. Things seem a bit fuzzy.”

“Opal, do you remember locking Jake in the wine cellar?”

“Me?”

“That’s what Jake said. Why would you do that?”

She blinked her eyes in double time. “Why, Fiona, I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Do you remember telling me you and Hudson were getting married?”

She giggled. “Now you are teasing me. Why would I say anything like that? I’m too old for him.” She finished her coffee, and I could read tired in her eyes.

“C’mon, I’ll get you fixed up in the studio. You’re worn out. Tomorrow we’ll decide where we go from here.”

After I got Opal tucked in, I checked on Jake and Cody. Jake was stretched out on the king size bed with the snoring Cody. His eyes fluttered open as I approached.

He rubbed his eyes and coughed. “What time is it?”

“After midnight.”

He looked at Cody. “Who knows when wonder boy will wake up? Is there any more coffee?”

“Sure. Are you holding vigil here tonight?”

“Someone should stay with him.”

“Why don’t you stretch out on the couch? I’ll lie down beside him for awhile.”

“You talked me into it. I’m beat. I can’t keep living like this.”

He rose stiffly from the bed and followed me into the living room.

“Still want that coffee?”

“You bet.”

I poured another cup, heated mine, carried the mugs to the couch and made myself comfortable.

“I guess we won’t make Australia tonight,” he said.

“No.”

“Did you find your passport?”

“In the freezer where I put it, just like Olympia said.”

We sat in silence. The rain beat against the window. The night kept vigil with us. The slow tick tock of an antique kitchen clock I had picked up at a yard sale kept time with our thoughts. The events of the day receded. I was cozy and warm and snuggly.

“Do you mind if I put my feet across your lap?” I said

He looked at me and smiled. “Not at all. Want your feet rubbed?”

“I kill for foot rubs.”

He slipped off my socks. His big, firm hands kneaded my feet in a soft, smooth motion.

“Where’d you learn to give a massage like that?”

“Horses,” he said and grinned.

“Horses like their hooves rubbed?”

“No. Some like their legs stroked. I’ve done a lot of stroking in my life.”

“I bet it wasn’t all horses.”

“Not all.” He smiled and smoothed my aching feet into submission. “Pretty toes,” he said.

“Pedicures. My one weakness.”

He smiled.

“Don’t you have any weaknesses?” I asked.

“Sure. Lots.”

“Like what?”

“I used to smoke. I like alcohol a lot. It’s controlled me some of my life, not so much now.”

“Gambling?”

“Not a gambling man. Never was much of a speculator. You?”

“No, I’m addiction free.” I laughed and so did he.

“I don’t think so. You seem like a woman of big appetites.”

I shook my head and laughed. “Not really. I like investing money.”

“Not me. Don’t really much care about the things it buys. Cowboys don’t make much. I don’t spend much. I have some savings in a bank back home. That’s it.”

“Are you still driving to Oregon?”

He nodded. “Opal needs to go home. The lawyer can handle all the estate business. She needs to get back to where she belongs.”

“What’s it like on her ranch?”

He leaned back against the couch.

“Prettiest country you’d ever want to see. You can see forever. Big, big sky. Blue a lot of the time. After a night rain you can smell the sage in the morning air.”

“Aren’t there rattlesnakes and creepy things like that?”

“Sometimes, but they keep to themselves mostly.”

He put my wooly red socks back on. I sighed in contentment and closed my eyes.

“Tired?” he asked.

“More like frazzled. I’m not cut out for this.”

He laughed. “Me neither. That’s why I want to go back. If Cody wakes up in decent shape, I’m turning him loose, tell him he better get his act straight, and get on back to the ranch as soon as he can.”

I laid my head against the couch and drifted in and out of a doze. The next thing I knew, he was taking the mug from my hand.

“C’mon cowgirl, time for bed.”

He took my hand and tugged me along the hall.

“I’ll sleep with Cody,” I said. “You take the couch.”

“I’ll not argue with you.”

He tucked me in beside Cody who snored on. I was beginning to think he’d never wake up. Jake turned off the table lamp and left the room. I heard him in the bathroom and that’s the last I heard.

When I awoke it was light outside. I lifted my head. Cody was staring at me.

“Fiona?” My name came out in a croak.

I smiled across the pillow at him. “You were great, Cody.”

“Oh, no.” He put a hand on his forehead. “Did we. . “

I was being wicked, I know. “No, we didn’t. How do you feel?”

“Lousy. Is there any orange juice?”

“Yes. But first tell me, do you remember anything of last night?”

He coughed and moaned. “God, my head feels horrible. I remember being with the guys, then one of them said he’d drive me home, since I guess I was in pretty bad shape. I can’t remember much past that. Where am I?”

He gazed around the room.

“At my place.”

“Fiona, I’m sorry if I behaved badly. I’m sorry I can’t remember anything. Did I. . did I take advantage of you?”

“No, you were too drunk to do anything. Have any drugs to go with the drinks?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “Maybe, I can’t remember. Sorry.”

I threw back the covers and emerged with my honor and sweat suit intact.

“What are you doing?” he said, elbowing himself up. “Fiona, I’m terribly sorry about this.”

“Are you sorry you held a gun on us the other night?”

He groaned and laid back down on the pillow. “God, I’m a mess. Someday I’m going to grow up.”

I stood over him. His lips were caked dry and he had one puffy eye. “Where’d you get the shiner?”

“What?”

“Your eye is puffy.”

He touched the wrong eye.

“No, the other one.”

“I can’t remember.”

He went to sit up then lifted the covers and frowned. “I could really use a bath room but someone has stolen my clothes.”

“Bath is in there,” I said with the point of a finger. “I’ll get coffee going.”

“Thanks. Do you know the time?”

I checked the clock on the nightstand beside him. “Almost seven A.M.”

“What day?”

“That I can’t be sure of.”

I turned to leave.

“Fiona. How did I get here?”

“Long story. I’ll make coffee. Your clothes are on the table and chair. They might be dry. You’re welcome to a shower. Towels in the cupboard.”

I left and made my way to the kitchen, checking on Opal along the way. She was still abed and appeared to be sleeping. Jake was stretched out on the couch with my favorite afghan in primary colors covering the top part of him. I tried to be quiet as I made coffee. I searched the refrigerator for the quart of orange juice I thought I saw there recently. It was behind the twelve pack of beer and was past the date stamp but Cody would never know. I opened the carton and sniffed. Smelled okay to me. I filled a glass, took it back to the guest room and set it on the nightstand. The shower was going in the bathroom.

I performed my own toilet, pulled on a pair of clean pressed Levis and a black turtleneck, and light footed it back to the kitchen. Jake sat up on the couch as I went by.

“Good morning,” I said. “I’ll get you some coffee.”

“Thanks,” he said, barely above a whisper.

I returned with a mug and placed it on the coffee table. He had gone somewhere to use a bathroom, so I sat down with my legs curled underneath me and flipped on the television. The local news went over the same sad stories that never seemed to change. The weather forecast was for rain all day. Roderick Smart came on with breaking news. Firefighters were on their way to a fire in McLean. A second unit had been called. A picture flashed on screen, and Roderick explained it appeared to be a large McLean estate. The camera focused on flames shooting from the roof of Albert Lodge’s lovely mansion.

Chapter 11

“This can’t be possible,” I said, trying hard to believe my eyes.

The reporter was saying the second fire truck had just arrived. The roof was on fire. Leaping flames. Plumes of black smoke.

“It is not clear if anyone was at home when the fire started,” said the reporter in a yellow rain slicker.

“Hudson,” I said. “I wonder if he made it out.”

“Made it out of where? Who?” Jake said, coming into the room and reaching for the mug of coffee.

“Albert’s estate is on fire. I hope Hudson made it out.” I jumped up and stood inches from the screen like that would help me believe what was happening better.

“You’re kidding,” Jake said, watching the report. More photo footage flashed across the screen. “You’re not kidding.”

“Because of the isolated setting,” the reporter said, “the house may have been on fire for some time before a neighbor saw the smoke and called it in. No one was found in the house. Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of the family should contact local police.”

I gnawed on my thumbnail. “Do you think Hudson set it? He wanted Opal out of there awfully bad.”

Jake said, “I hope not. I hope he made it out. Maybe he had this planned.”

“It’s a brilliant idea to set fire to a house you inherited, and you couldn’t keep up. Collect the cash and retire. Fire would be a perfect way to settle the whole messy estate. I wonder what the real estate was insured for.”

Then something that Hudson had said came back to me and gave me pause.

“Jake, when I asked Hudson if he was now master of the house, he said, ‘in a manner of speaking’. What if he didn’t inherit the house?”

Jake shrugged. “Fiona, I can’t make heads or tails of the inheritance thing. I never saw any documents. I only know what Opal and Cody told me, that Hudson got the house. We better tell them.”

I hurried back the hallway. Cody’s door was closed. I rapped.

“Cody, Albert’s house is on fire. Come quick.”

He cracked the door and stuck his head through. “What?”

“The house is on fire. I hope none of your buddies is responsible for it. There were four there last evening, and they took out a load of rifles. That was before you arrived.”

“I’ll be right out. I need to dress. You don’t have any guy clothes lying around, do you? Mine are still damp.”

Cody was about as tall as I and slim. “I might have a sweat suit.”

I ran to my room and found a pink sweat suit that was too big for me that I thought would fit him. It might be a bit small but it beat damp clothes. I dropped it by his room then ran to Opal’s room. “Opal,” I said softly and touched her shoulder. “Wake up.”

She started awake, eyes wide. She gazed at me like she didn’t recognize me.

“Fiona?” she said. She gave owl like blinks.

“Albert’s house is on fire. It’s on TV breaking news. Get up and come out to the living room. The authorities are looking for family. We don’t know where Hudson is.”

I rushed back to the living room, forgetting to help Opal out of bed. Jake was still watching the news.

“Any new developments?”

“No, they keep repeating the same stuff.”

“Opal and Cody are dressing. Tell them what happened and have them call the police. I’ll take you to a car rental place on my way to the airport. You can run them to the mansion.”

“On your way to the airport?”

“Yes, I’m leaving town. I’ve resigned my commission.”

“You’d desert me?”

I paused to gaze upon Jake’s rugged face. He was starting to look good to me. That was added incentive to leave.

“Yes, I’m deserting you. You are a big boy. You can take care of these folks. I’m not sure about Cody’s game, but I bet you can straighten him out.”

Cody came striding into the room in the pink sweat suit. That was a real conversation stopper. The legs were Capri length on him and the sleeves about three inches too short. He was taller than I thought.

“I hate pink,” Cody said, his cheeks coloring to match the outfit. “What’s going on? What’s this about a fire?”

“Albert’s house is burning. It’s on TV,” Jake said. “They’re looking for family. It isn’t clear who was in the house.”

Cody sat on the couch and buried his head in his hands. “This is a mess.”

“Funny,” I said, “I’ve been using the same word to describe the situation.”

Cody’s mouth twisted in agony. Or was it irony? “Who was in the house when you left?”

Jake said, “As far as we know only Hudson. He made dinner for us. He thought the situation at the house was not good for Opal and asked us to take her back to Oregon.”

“Good old, Hudson,” said Cody. “He never commented on the crazy family doings, the men in and out, the rifles in the basement. When Albert left him the house, we thought we’d be able to fight it.” He gestured toward the TV. “We never reckoned on how clever he is. What a way to get a lump sum cash payment.”

“We are assuming the house is insured,” I said.

“I’m sure it was,” he said.

The report came on again. The three of us watched standing guard around the screen, the house in flames, the same footage from the earlier report.

Opal hurried into the room garbed in my vintage chartreuse green silk robe with white boa feather trim. It was a little item I kept around for fun. She clutched the feathers close to the chin. Her face dropped as she watched the report with us.

“My goodness, it’s true. Albert’s home is on fire. There won’t be any fight over the house. Now it will be over the insurance money.”

How calm they both are, I thought. They didn’t seem overly concerned about Hudson. Unless, and here we needed a drum roll — unless they were in on the house fire for whatever devious reason.

I said, “Shouldn’t you rush out there to see what is going on or at least call the police?”

Cody roused himself from a TV stare. “We should go. We should call the insurance people and talk to the police. Opal, what do you want to do?”

She was quiet. “I can’t think so good. Those pills you give me make me loopy.”

Some understanding seemed to be just out of her grasp. Was she hiding behind the drugs? Maybe she had an inkling of what was going on in the strange mansion, but she didn’t want to face it. If the house burned until nothing was left but ashes, there would be more insurance money.

Cody said, “Stop taking the pills, if they bother you. I wanted you to sleep better.”

I watched the interplay of body language between the two of them. Opal kept her eyes down, staring at the floor. Cody kept his eyes averted. They did not look at one another.

“Want to tell us what’s going on, Cody?” Jake said. “Are you afraid of what the police will find in the house? Was it arson?”

Cody walked to Jake, stood toe to toe with him, and shoved his face in Jake’s. “I didn’t do anything. Albert and I had a legitimate arms business that Albert started. He asked me to help when he got too old, and it got to be too much for him.”

“If it was too much for him, why didn’t he sell the business?”

Cody went up on his toes, beating his chest. “Because I wanted the business. I like guns. Remember I collect guns. It seemed like a fun thing to do. Something different from ranching. It was lucrative. So I helped him out. Then he up and died on me. But there were some things about the arms business he didn’t tell me, like who some of the customers were.”

Jake didn’t back down. “Are things that bad at the ranch?”

Cody’s shoulders slumped. “I stand to lose everything if I don’t cover the bank loans.”

“You might lose your life. If your customers don’t get you, the authorities will.”

Cody looked Jake in the eye. “No they won’t, because you’re going to help me.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because Opal’s in this, too. You wouldn’t want an old woman to end up spending her final years in jail, would you?”

Opal, all five feet of her, came alive and pushed in between the two of them. “Now you boys listen to me. I’m not going to jail and neither are you, Cody. Such talk.”

Cody put his hand on his aunt’s shoulder. “Dearest Aunt Opal, you don’t understand what has been going on under old Uncle Albert’s roof.”

“You better tell me then. I may know more than you think. I may be a little forgetful but I’m not deaf, dumb, and blind.”

Cody put his hand to his forehead and blew out a breath. “My head feels awful. Is there any coffee?”

“Sure,” I said, thinking what a clever stalling tactic that was. At least he wasn’t holding a gun on us. “How about you, Opal?”

She nodded and said, “I’ll get it.”

“Call the police,” I said to her while we were banging around in the kitchen. I could hear Jake and Cody talking but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. “It will look better if you come forward and talk to the police.”

“I don’t trust Cody,” said Opal. “He’s not himself. I don’t know what’s got into him.”

“That’s not the point, Opal.”

“I don’t know where the rest of my nieces and nephews are.”

“Who cares? Call the police.” I almost shouted it. What was it going to take to get through to her?

“Do you think they’ll put me in jail?”

I stopped my frenetic hustle around the kitchen and faced her. “I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. What do you know about Albert and Cody’s weapons dealing?”

She shook her head, looking as fragile as the boa feathers in her outfit, and chartreuse wasn’t her color. “My brothers have always been trouble.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted a family history.

“Opal, you need help. You aren’t getting it from your relatives, go to the police.”

She shook her head. “Could you put me on a plane to Oregon?”

“I could, if that’s what you want.” That would at least get her away from Cody. “Go get dressed. I’ll take you to the airport with me.”

“Are you leaving?”

I nodded, but not wanting to give her any more information than necessary.

“Is Jake going with you?”

I shook my head. “I’m going to get ready. You have fifteen minutes, Opal.”

I hustled down the hall without a backward glance.

In my room I closed the door and dialed Olympia’s number.

The phone rang and rang. The answering machine didn’t come on, and I was about to hang up when I heard a groggy grump.

“What?” It was Olympia’s husky voice.

“Olympia, sorry to wake you, dear, but I’m leaving for the airport. I found my passport. I’m going to board the next flight to Los Angeles, then on to Sydney. Have you packed? I can pick you up.”

“Fiona, darling, have your senses left you? Of course, I’m not packed. I was up till all hours writing after you failed to show for dinner. The muse was hot last night.”

“You won’t believe what happened. I’ll fill you in over margaritas on the beach in Australia.”

“I love that image. What happened to the rest of your co-padres, especially the hunky guy?”

“Hunky? You never saw him.”

“But I have an imagination.”

“You surely do. I’m through with the case. I’ve resigned my detective job. Did you see the news? The house is on fire.”

“No, I didn’t see the news, you just woke me up. What house?”

“The house where I was doing the library.”

“Good grief. What you don’t get tangled in. I had so hoped for a nice romance for you.”

“I’ll admit Jake was looking better and better, but the house is on fire, and I think it’s arson, and there’s an illegal weapons business, the old lady isn’t in her right mind, and everybody lies.”

“Fiona, they aren’t with you, are they?”

I hesitated. “Well, yes.”

“Have you called the police?”

“No, I don’t want to get tied up in all that.” I was beginning to sound like Jake.

“You may already be. You could get booked on aiding and abetting. Remember, the bad guys always get to the damsel before the story ends.”

I gulped, and I’m sure Olympia heard it over the phone. “Don’t say that. Now I’m worried.”

“You should be worried. What if hunky is one of the bad guys?”

* * * * *

I was shaken by what she had suggested, I guess because I had my own doubts. But Jake a bad guy? Was that why he never leveled with me about what was going on? Maybe he wasn’t a cowboy from Oregon.

There was a tap at the door.

“Who is it?”

Jake stuck his head in. “Fiona,” he said. “We need to talk.”

I turned away. “No more talking. I’m through talking.”

He came up behind me and stood so close I could feel his body heat.

“Fiona.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I’m not good at words. You’re making this difficult. I don’t want you to think that I’m being some kind of jerk.”

He must have heard my doubts. Had he been listening to my phone conversation?

“You have to believe me. I’m not part of this.”

I turned to study his face.

“I have to get away from them, too. I didn’t know about all this before I said I’d help Opal. I thought. .” He didn’t finish. The dejected look on his face almost made me repent. Almost.

I stepped around him, trying to get closer to the door. “I can’t help you, Jake. You’re a big boy. I’m ready to leave. I’ll get a coat.”

I searched in the closet and grabbed a hooded red wool jacket so I wouldn’t freeze to death on the trip. It would be spring in Australia, but you never knew. I was hoping to get the Jesse James gang out of my condo before they did something weird, like tie me up. Or worse.

I started for the door but Jake caught my arm and stopped me. I froze. This was it. He was going to bind me hand and foot and leave me to starve to death in my own bedroom. I wondered if Olympia would figure it out and come to my rescue. She was good at plot.

“Fiona.”

“Jake, please.” I tried to wrestle out of his grip but he held fast.

“I want to go to Australia with you.”

“Sorry, the invitation is off. You have to take care of Opal. You don’t want her ending up in jail.”

“I’ll see that Opal gets to Oregon. Cody can take care of the rest. You’ve got to help me.”

With that I exploded. “What’s with everyone associated with this family needing help? What happened to psychotherapists? I’m through helping anyone. I’m helping Fiona disappear.” I stopped for one instant and looked into his big brown eyes. Big mistake.

He said, “Okay, I don’t need help. But. .”

Our eyes held. I knew I shouldn’t have looked into his. Gigantic mistake. I waited to hear what else he had to say.

He tried to pull me closer, but I pushed away. What a time to get romantic.

“But what?” I said.

“I like you.”

He wasn’t much on words, was he? I hoped he hadn’t in mind to kiss me.

Backing away I said, “Jake, you appear to be a nice guy. I’m sorry you’re caught up in such a bizarre family. Look me up when it’s over. Maybe we can go from there. You have my number.”

I picked up my carry on, slung the coat over my shoulder, and left the room. At least he hadn’t tied me up. Olympia would be disappointed that I had passed on a romantic scene with a hunky bad guy.

In the living room, Opal was still in the boa outfit sitting with Cody on the couch deep in conversation. They looked like they were dressed for a Halloween party.

“Have you called the police?” I said.

They shook their heads in time like synchronized clappers in a bell.

“I’ll call you a cab. You can take it from there.”

“No, wait, Fiona,” said Cody.

“Wait? Wait? For what? For the end of the world? Albert’s mansion is in flames, and you sit there like it’s nothing. I got a life to live. I’m asking you kindly to leave.”

Cody got up, looking absolutely ridiculous in the pink sweat suit. “My friends are coming to pick us up.”

This was going from bad to worse. “I hope they aren’t the ones you owe money.”

Cody did a good imitation of looking like he didn’t understand English.

“It is perfectly clear to me that you must owe money and that the men who keep company at your place are trying to collect.” Well, it wasn’t that clear to me, but it seemed like a respectable hunch given the circumstances.

“I don’t owe money. They’re bringing me decent clothes and a car. Opal and I will go to Albert’s place and see what’s to be done. We’ll be out of your life.”

“Praise all the saints and angels.”

I noticed he hadn’t included Jake in that scenario.

“When are they coming? I have to leave.”

“Within the hour.”

“You can wait in the lobby for them.”

“I can’t go out like this.”

“Stop stalling, Cody. I’ve had enough.”

“What if I say I’m staying?”

I was afraid of this. I wondered if Jake was going to be on my side if we got into a standoff. I should have been nicer to him. I should have kissed him. I looked out the window, considering my options, which weren’t many. The rain had stopped. The sky was overcast. The gray, dreary world matched my mood. How did I get stuck with this odd assortment of humanity? I’d have to retire from interior design if I kept getting clients like these. How was I going to get rid of this crew?

A spectacular idea came to me. It was something Olympia had said once about plot. When the plot is floundering, kill someone. The problem was that I didn’t have a gun and that was another of those acts that carried a jail sentence. Knives were an option but I had never been good at carving a roast. I couldn’t kill anyone, so who was I kidding?

The phone rang as I was mulling over the possibilities. I looked at caller ID and didn’t recognize the number. I debated if I should answer. Given my current predicament it might be an improvement.

“Hello,” I said.

“Miss Marlowe?” a familiar voice said.

“Yes?”

“This is Hudson.”

“How are you?” I wanted to blurt out, I’m so glad to hear your voice and I’m so glad you are alive, but I held back, playing it cool.

“I’m quite fine. There’s been a fire at the Lodge house. I called to let you know. I didn’t know if I’d catch you at home. I’m so glad I did. Is Opal with you? Is she all right? Has she heard about the fire?”

“Yes,” I said, not turning around to see who might be listening.

“Is something wrong, Miss Marlowe?”

“Yes.”

The doorbell rang. Cody jumped up to answer it before I could. I didn’t want to hang up on Hudson. In the commotion made by Cody’s answering the door, I said to Hudson, “I need help now. Cody is holding me hostage. Send help.”

“Where are you?”

I gave him the address and hung up, still watching the door. I caught sight of a fedora and, could it be? A woman. Cody stepped outside and closed the door. I hadn’t got a good look, it all happened so fast but she looked like the Liz Taylor double from the party. What was she doing here? It was everything I could do not to follow Cody. Maybe Opal knew her.

“Opal, come, we are going to get you dressed.”

She followed me to the studio.

“Do you know who that man and woman are?” I said.

“What man and woman?”

“The ones who were at the door when Cody answered. Didn’t you see them?”

“I’m sorry, Fiona. I couldn’t see from where I was sitting. I wondered why he went into the hall.”

I helped her from the boa wrapper and into her street clothes. “Do you remember a woman who looked like Liz Taylor, who was at the wake?”

Opal seemed to reach into the dark recesses of her mind. “I’m not sure.”

“Black hair, striking eyes, voluptuous figure, lots of cleavage. She was with several straight laced men when I saw her.”

“Oh, that woman. Yes, Cody said she was a friend of his, but if he said her name, I’ve forgot. I didn’t get to speak with her. We were with some other people at the time.”

That meant I had to ask Cody who she was. I tried a different tack with Opal.

“Who inherited the house?” I said.

“Why, Hudson. That’s what the lawyer told us.”

“Did you see the actual written will?”

“Well, no.”

“Do you know this lawyer well?”

“No, but Albert knew him for years. He handled my brother’s legal work.”

My mind was racing. The lawyer could be in cahoots. Albert had to have someone who knew the ins and outs of an international business. Who better than a lawyer, a lifelong friend who could cover for you when necessary, who you gave a piece of the pie? Hudson had said he had inherited the house in a manner of speaking. That didn’t sound affirmative. Maybe Hudson was a cover for something. Cody wouldn’t have been surprised at a fire that he had orchestrated. Hudson must have known about the fire and that was why he wanted Opal out of harm’s way. Why hadn’t Cody taken care to make sure his aunt was out? Unless he had told Hudson to. Cody must be blackmailing Hudson, and that’s why Hudson said he inherited the house in a manner of speaking. But why?

Jake appeared in the doorway as we were gathering up Opal’s coat and purse. He came in and closed the door.

“Fiona, I made some phone calls. I’m trying to get help for you and Opal.”

“Are you on our side or theirs?”

“Yours, of course.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Opal, can she trust me?”

“Oh my, yes,” said Opal.

Remember, this was the little old lady who was on drugs and made up stories. I wasn’t comforted.

I said, “I’m not sure we’ll be able to get out of the building. Cody may still be in the hall with those people. Do you know who they are? Who that woman is? Did you see her at the wake?”

“What woman?”

“The woman in the hall. The Liz Taylor look alike that Opal says is a friend of Cody’s.”

He seemed genuinely puzzled.

“C’mon, Jake. Don’t tell me you didn’t see her at the party. She was very striking.”

“Yes,” said Opal. “She didn’t stay long. As a matter of fact, I remember now that Cody excused himself, said he had to talk to someone and left me with some friends. I happened to see him walk this nice looking woman, if it’s the same one, to the door. But I lost sight of them because I was talking to a lot of people it seemed all at the same time.”

“I didn’t see any woman in the hall,” Jake said. “But the woman at the party. . you mean, Alice?”

“Alice?” Opal and I said in unison.

“Alice. I talked with her while Fiona was dancing the night away. I mean a woman looks like her you want to at least talk.” He managed a weak grin and shrugged. “She seemed nice enough but she was with a tight lipped guy who didn’t seem to like me talking with her. I mean I was just making conversation. I mean I was supposed to be the private investigator, right?”

“Keeping digging yourself into the hole, Jake,” I said. “Let me understand this. You talked to this good-looking Alice woman, but you didn’t find out who she was, what she did, or why she was there?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. She told me how Albert created the card hedge out in the patio for her because she liked the Alice in Wonderland story. That’s all. Besides, the guy with her was trying to escort her out of the room.”

“Albert created the hedge for her? How intriguing.” My mind went into overdrive again. Alice was the name Opal had said was Albert’s lover. Alice was the good looking woman at the wake. I needed to know if she worked with Albert. I bet Cody knew that detail. A friend of Cody’s indeed.

“I hate to end our little chat,” Jake said, “but we have a crisis situation here. Is there any other way out of the building?”

“The stairs,” I said. “In a pinch we can try the fire escape. I know my neighbor pretty well on the floor below. Maybe he’s home and would come to our rescue if we came down the fire escape.”

“My rodeo buddies are coming to pick Opal and me up. You’re coming, too, Fiona.”

This should be good. I wasn’t sure I needed to be rescued but climbing down a fire escape didn’t excite me. I’m afraid of heights.

“Let’s see what Cody is up to,” I said. “Maybe he left. Maybe we won’t need the fire escape alternative.”

“I’ll check.” Jake started for the entrance. He listened at the door, cracked it, opened it wide, and peered down the hall.

“No one there. C’mon. We’ll use the stairs.”

Jake steered Opal out the door.

I had the presence of mind to run to the kitchen and pull plugs on the appliances. I took one last look around. Who knew when I’d be back?

Chapter 12

Of course, I had no intention of going anywhere with Jake and Opal. Australia, here I came. I headed for the basement, taking the elevator to avoid the stairs since Jake and Opal had gone that way. For some perverse reason the elevator stopped at the lobby level and opened. There stood Cody with his back to me in jeans and leather jacket. I wondered what he had done with my pink sweat suit. I rather liked it. The man in the fedora was with him but the mysterious woman was not in sight. The two seemed to be holding high level talks with cell phones stuck in their ears. Cody didn’t seem to be in any rush to get to Albert’s burning mansion.

I punched the close door button in rapid succession. The door stuck. What a time for mechanical breakdown. Maybe I had scrambled its computer brain by pushing every button in sight, trying to get it to do something. Cody turned toward the open elevator door, phone still appended to his ear.

“Fiona,” he said with a grin, “just the girl we’re looking for.”

“I’m not really here.”

Why-oh-why wouldn’t this stupid door close so I could get to the basement, my car, and freedom. My escape had been working so well. In desperation I kicked the door. It belched a metallic croak and slid closed. Regrettably, Cody managed to shoot his hand into the opening, and the electric eye sensor stopped the door. He wedged in and the door slid open again.

“Where are you going, Fiona?” he said.

The door tried to slide close. Cody got caught in a banging elevator door routine. I let out a nervous laugh and kept punching buttons.

“I was checking my mail,” I said as the door banged Cody.

“Do you check mail wielding a carry-on bag?”

He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me from the elevator.

“Get your hands off me,” I said.

He wouldn’t let go of my arm.

“I’m going to scream if you don’t unhand me,” I said and whacked his arm hard with my purse.

“What do you have in that thing?” he said, wincing.

I brought it down on his arm again. With the added inconvenience of my whacking his arm, he lost his grip on the banging elevator door and stumbled back out. His buddy had been watching the scene at a distance. I guess he didn’t think Cody needed help. The elevator door slid closed but started up. Now where was it going?

It stopped on floor five. An old gentleman got in. I smiled at him and exited, deciding to risk the stairs. I certainly didn’t want to get hung up in the lobby. I worried that Cody would figure out that I was on my way to the basement to get my car. But maybe he was so out of it last night he wouldn’t remember where my car was or how to get there.

I started down the stairwell, trying hard not to make clicking sounds with my cute black Bruno Magli boots. I stopped and listened on the first floor, holding to a bare minimum my gasps for breath. I heard no one on the stairs.

I sneaked past the lobby door. One more level to go. At parking level one I inched the door open a crack. No one appeared in my line of sight. I opened the door until I could squeeze through and started for my car.

I had wondered as I fled down the steps, exactly what Cody wanted with me. The problem was I knew too much, and I didn’t like the looks of Cody’s friend. I hurried to my car, hoping it was still there, that no one had done something stupid like steal it. Praise all the gods of Olympus. It was there. I guess I was too focused on getting to the car and getting out of there. The next thing I knew someone grabbed me from behind and spun me around.

“You’re not trying to get away are you?” Cody said, holding me in a King Kong grip. I struggled side to side, trying to free myself. Dammit all. I had almost made it to the car and now this had to happen.

“Let me go,” I said between grunts. “Whatever do you think you’re doing, Cody. Unhand me.”

“First, tell me where Jake and Opal are.”

“They left ahead of me. Jake said they were taking a taxi.”

Of course, I was lying.

“Where are they going?”

“To Albert’s house to straighten out the mess you left behind. Let me go. I can’t breathe, and you’re ruining my clothes.”

He eased his grip, and I stood trying to catch my breath.

“Let me go, and I will disappear from your life forever. I never heard of the Lodge family, estate or anything related.”

Cody’s piercing blues drilled into mine. “Fiona, there’s just one problem. You know about the rifles. We can’t have this. My friend is concerned that you and Jake know about our clandestine operation. If it got out, they might go to jail. I might go to jail. You wouldn’t want that would you?”

I stretched to my full height, thinking I might be more intimidating that way. “Cody, why did you ever get mixed up with this bunch?”

“They came with the territory.”

“You mean the rifle business?”

He nodded.

“What about the woman?”

“What woman?”

“Don’t play dumb. The one at the door when you answered at my place just a little bit ago.”

“You wouldn’t believe me, if I told you. It’s a long, messy story.”

“Is her name Alice?”

He didn’t answer.

“Did she work with Albert?”

He looked away.

“Did she and Albert have a thing going?”

He looked back. “What do you mean thing?”

Then it dawned on me. “Alice and Albert had more than one thing going, didn’t they? They were lovers, but Alice is also connected to the rifles.”

“Like I said, you know too much. I’m not a killer, Fiona, but the people I do business with believe in murder. I should let you go right now, but. .”

He still gripped my arms. We weren’t a foot apart. He pulled me to him and lowered his head like he was going to kiss me. What was with these cowboys? I wondered what they did when there was nothing but cattle as far as the eye could see. Was the fool out of his mind? He already admitted he was, but I wasn’t in the mood for his shenanigans and wrenched to the side. He tried to nuzzle my neck.

I pushed my hands against his chest. “Cody, stop right now. It’s too early in the day.”

“Never too early.”

I struggled but he pinned me against his chest.

“You’re too young for me,” I said.

“I never knew there was an age limit on what we’re doing.”

“I have a communicable disease.”

“Me, too.”

That was alarming.

“You are not in your right mind. Did anyone ever tell you that?”

“Yes.”

I kept turning away from his attempts to plant his mouth on mine.

“Cody, stop this right now.”

“But you smell so good. I don’t want to stop. You turn me on, Fiona, have I told you that?”

In tense moments like this the hero should come to the rescue. Where was Jake when I needed him? That reminded me that I was the one who told him to look me up later. He had taken my advice and left me to my own devices which were mighty slim. My keen ears picked a scuffling commotion and then a car door slammed.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Help.” I shouted as loud as I could. “Help.”

A head of white hair bobbed between cars. It was the little old man I had passed on the elevator.

Cody put his hand over my mouth.

“Fiona, shut up. People will think I’m trying to rape you. I just wanted a little kiss.”

The old man turned and ran toward the stairs. Big help he was.

Cody laughed. “I guess we scared him off. Really, Fiona, you should enjoy this. Don’t you think I’m a sexy guy?”

I kept mumbling into his hand, trying to tell him to remove his slimy hand from my mouth and get lost.

“I’ll take my hand away, if you promise to quiet down.”

I nodded once, and he inched away his hand.

“You are an idiot.” I hissed and sputtered. “Don’t you dare put your hand over my mouth again. Let me go. Get your nasty hands off my person. And sexy? You and Godzilla.”

Cody gave me a lopsided grin. “Fiona, you don’t understand. I’m in a bit of a bind here. I need to disappear. That guy up there expects me to get rid of you, as in permanently delete. But I want to get away from him, so I thought we could disappear together. I was trying to warm you up to the idea. Wouldn’t you like to escape to a desert island with me?”

“No. Absolutely, not. I’m perfectly capable of disappearing on my own, and you would be the last person with whom I’d escape to a desert island.”

“Fiona, you hurt me to my heart. I’m doing you a good turn here. I’m supposed to be getting rid of you.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Cody.” I did not want to think about being permanently deleted.

“I’m afraid you are. Isn’t this your car? I recognize the dents on the door. C’mon. We’re getting out of here.”

“What about Alice?”

“She took off. Open the car.”

At least we had action. As I pulled the keys from my purse, he snatched them before I had a chance to take control of the situation. Gripping my arm, he steered me to the passenger’s side.

“Let me go, you sorry-excuse-for-a-cowboy. I hope this isn’t abduction. I told you I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Get in and shut up. Lord, woman, you can talk a man to death.” He yanked opened the door, shoved me onto the seat, and slammed the door. I turned to see where he was going. As he walked around the back of the car, an arm snaked out and grabbed him from behind. At the end of the arm was my hero, Jake, who lifted Cody into the air and slammed him against the trunk of my beautiful, battered car. Jake proceeded to punch Cody around like a rag doll.

Opal appeared at my side of the car with the old gentleman from the elevator.

“Fiona,” she said, “are you all right? We heard the shouting but we didn’t know where the noise was coming from. The sound ricochets around these walls. This kind gentleman told us about a woman down here in trouble, and we came looking, afraid it was you. Cody didn’t hurt you, did he?”

I got out of the car. “My stars, am I glad to see you. What are you doing here? I thought Jake’s cowboy buddies were coming for you.”

“They’re waiting in the lobby. We saw the man who was with Cody in front of the building, but there wasn’t any woman. Are you sure you saw a woman in the hall, Fiona?”

I was ecstatic they hadn’t abandoned me and hugged her to express my gratitude. “Yes, Alice was around here somewhere, but she took off according to Cody.”

Cody was gasping, flat out on the ground. Jake stood over him, sucking air himself. He limped over to me.

“Are you all right? He didn’t, did he?”

I shook my head. “No, he didn’t. He was merely trying to abduct me. You don’t look so good.”

“Son of a bitch,” Jake said and pressed the back of his hand to his mouth. “The bastard drew blood.”

“Let me see,” said Opal. She examined Jake’s lip and pulled hand sanitizer from her purse. “It’s the only thing I have but it’ll stop the bleeding.”

Jake nodded and dabbed his lip.

“You were going to leave without us,” he said to me.

“Cody thought the two of us needed to disappear together. It seems his customers don’t like that you and I know about the rifles. Apparently, Cody’s in some kind of trouble with them and thought to do a disappearing act of his own. I appreciate your success in finding me.”

Cody tried to sit up. Jake placed a big booted foot on his chest to hold him down.

“What the hell were you doing?” he said to Cody.

“We were exchanging pleasantries,” he said and touched his jaw. “Damn, you still got a mean punch, Jake.”

“You mean you two have been in fights before?” I said, looking from one to the other. “The Wild West arrives in Virginia.”

Jake nodded. “It’s usually not over a woman.”

“I see. You’re caught in another of Cody’s messes.”

“This is another in a long line of messes.”

I took the few steps necessary to stand before Jake. “What does that mean?”

Jake met my eyes. One cheek had a nasty red welt across it. His lip was puffy. His eyes were sad dog brown.

“Cody and some of his buddies were rustling cattle at the ranch. We caught them. Opal didn’t turn them in, just gave them a warning. It turned out Cody was the one who was opening the gates and helping them load the calves on trucks. She couldn’t turn them in without turning Cody in. Opal warned him. There’s a whole list of bad deeds that Opal warned Cody about. She tried to protect him, hoping he’d wise up.”

Opal stood with pressed lips, looking at Cody. “I’m afraid the past is catching up with you, Cody. Now it’s arms dealing. That’s as bad rustling cattle. They used to hang cattle rustlers. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Cody staggered to his feet and shrugged. “I didn’t mean no harm. What’s a few calves anyway. I had too much to drink, and, well, things happen.”

The old man spoke up. “You could always parboil him.”

We looked at the old man, forgotten in all the excitement.

“They do those things out west, don’t they?”

“Tar and feather,” said Jake.

“I like that idea,” I said and turned to Jake. “What about Albert and the rifles?”

“Opal wanted me to dog Cody. That’s when I found out about the rifles. The night Opal locked me in the wine cellar we’d had an argument over the rifles that I discovered.”

I turned to Opal. “You knew about the weapons business.”

She nodded. “I do now.”

“That’s all of us,” I said. I turned to Cody. “If you don’t go straight, we get to parboil you.”

That put a smile on the old man’s face. He saluted and left for parts unknown, probably exhausted from the Wild West show.

Cody sighed. “I’ll try but I have before and, I don’t know, something always happens. Right, Opal?”

She nodded. “But I never told you I’d parboil you. I think Fiona would.” She smiled over at me.

“I’d enjoy it,” I said.

“I’ll help,” said Jake. “I’m tired of ending up in fist fights with Cody.”

The four of us leaned on the trunk of my car looking at a panorama of parked cars and inhaling stale exhaust fumes. I was trying to sort things out.

“What I want to know,” I said, “is who set the fire?”

“Hudson,” said Cody.

“I don’t believe it.”

“He’s the one who stands to gain the most. I hope he did a good job of it and burned it to the ground.”

“I think your buddies set the fire.”

“Why would they do that?”

“To burn evidence, of course.”

Cody made out like he couldn’t be bothered. “Rifles don’t burn very good. Besides, the last of the rifles left yesterday.”

I smiled “It wasn’t the rifles. There were records and checkbooks and other incriminating stuff. I bet they find that the fire started in Albert’s private study. If they started a good fire, Hudson would get the money, and you’d get off. I think you planned the fire and had your buddies do the deed while you got drunk and ended up with us for your alibi. You coerced Hudson into looking the other way and told him you wanted part if not all of the insurance money.”

“Why would I do that? Why would Hudson do anything I’d tell him?”

“You held a gun to his head.”

“Maybe I was able to persuade him it was in everyone’s best interest.”

“You blackmailed him.”

“Fiona, you better leave well enough alone.”

“No, because you bribed Hudson with something that is so bad, Hudson went along with your nefarious scheme.”

Cody said nothing but looked at me.

I pressed my advantage. “Where is the rest of the family in this?”

“Albert and I operated alone. None of the others know.”

“That leaves the four of us. We are the only ones who know about the arms business.”

“Right. That means that our lives are in danger because my business associates know that you know. They have no qualms about silencing people.”

On that ominous note, the stair door from the lobby banged open, and two lanky cowboys sauntered over to join our sorry looking group.

“What’s going on?” said one of the cowboys to Jake. “You okay? We got worried when you didn’t come back. We been looking all over this gawd durn building for you.”

If that wasn’t enough, the elevator doors opened and a barrel-chested man in the brown fedora stepped out and looked around.

Jake leaped into action.

“Boys, take Opal and load her in the rig.” He nodded toward the stairs.

Cody was already hot footing it for the stairs.

Jake grabbed my bag and steered me by the back to the stairway door leading up to the lobby. “Keep moving,” he said, pushing me to the steps. “Keep moving and don’t look back.”

The door closed with a soft thunk behind us. He shoved me up the steps to the lobby. Outside stood a Texas size truck parked by the curb. We all squeezed in. Jake took the wheel and started the engine.

“You can drop me by the airport on the way to wherever you’re going,” I said in my most agreeable voice.

“We’re going to Albert’s place,” Jake said.

“Where’s Cody?” I asked. We all looked around.

Cody had disappeared. Unfortunately, he still had my keys.

Chapter 13

A plume of gray smoke was still visible above the trees. A smell like burning tires penetrated the cab of the truck. But we couldn’t get close enough to see the Lodge mansion. The street was blocked with rescue vehicles, a TV van, and cars of the curious. No one had offered to drop me at the airport even though I had asked politely several times. Jake said he’d drop me later. He parked the truck half off the road on someone’s manicured lawn.

“You girls stay in the rig. The boys and I will look things over.”

The girls watched the boys maneuver between vehicles until they were out of sight. Never one to follow orders, I climbed out to stretch my legs and get a better view. Opal followed. We craned our necks trying to see. A plan was forming in my head. If I could divert Opal’s attention or find someone she could talk to, I could take the truck and be on my way to the airport. I had no qualms about theft. My morals were beginning to worry me.

“I wonder where Hudson is,” I said to Opal.

“I guess we can’t call him. He never carried a cell phone.”

“Let’s walk a little closer.”

Ever game, Opal followed me through the line of cars.

“Don’t you think you should make contact with the police?” I said.

“I guess I should. Where would they be?”

“Follow me.” Off we went through the cars and groups of gawkers to find the police. A better opportunity presented itself when we caught sight of Hudson.

“Hudson. Hudson.” I waved with hands high over my head, trying to catch his attention. He was talking to a man and woman who looked familiar. Maybe they were family, someone I had seen at the wake. It turned out to be the tall guy with the dumpy but cheerful wife. I wondered if she knew what her husband did in his spare time.

Hudson caught sight of us and came hurrying over. “Miss Opal, Miss Marlowe. I’m so glad to see you. I wanted to come to your assistance, but I had my hands full with the fire. I’m glad to see you are both all right.”

“Good to see you didn’t get caught in the fire. Do they know what started it?” I asked, innocently.

“No, but apparently it started in the upper story on the west wing where Albert’s rooms are. The damage is confined to that wing but there’s also water damage.” He looked in the direction of the house. “It was such a lovely mansion. Hopefully, it can be restored.”

“So the insurance money will go to rebuild?”

“Yes, of course.”

But that meant no insurance money to split among greedy family members. Keen to be on my way and remove myself from harm’s way since I didn’t know where Cody and his friends were, I said to Opal, “I forgot something in the truck. You wait here. I’ll be right back.”

Before she could say anything, I fled to the truck, hoping I wasn’t running too hard to stir up suspicion. When I looked back, Opal and Hudson were walking toward the house with the niece and nephew. Jake and the boys were nowhere in sight.

I jumped into the cab of the truck, retrieved the keys from the visor where I saw Jake stow them and powered up. I tried to make a U turn in the street but it took several back and forth tries, and I worked up a good sweat in the process. Finally, I was on my way to the Washington Capital Beltway. If they’d try to track me down they’d go to Dulles International. At the Beltway I headed north to Maryland and Baltimore-Washington International Airport. We could all play the same game.

* * * * *

I sat in the VIP lounge at BWI and gave Olympia a call.

“Where are you?” she said.

“At the airport. Where are you?”

“Still packing. I leave tonight. How’d you get away so quick?”

“Long story best told on the beach, watching gentle blue waves roll in, sipping a glass of bubbly.”

“That’s my girl. When does your flight leave?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll call you when I have the details.” Superstition dictated that my plans would go awry if I told them to anyone. I kept looking over my shoulder expecting Jake, Cody or Opal to materialize. I heard my name and ducked down in the seat. Surely, it had to be a different Fiona. I sat with hand shading my eyes waiting for the voice to evaporate.

“Fiona, it is you,” said a bright, squeaky clean voice.

I looked up. There stood one of my blaringly gay decorator friends who I ran into in the oddest places, like the VIP lounge at BWI.

“Bobby, how are you? It’s been ages. Where are you headed?”

He batted a hand at me. “I’m on my way to Fiji on a little job and then some R and R. It’s the most divine place. Have you been?” He plopped down on the armchair facing me and chattered away, not pausing for answers.

He stopped after I didn’t say a word. “Are you all right, Fiona? Like I was saying, you must try Fiji.” He paused and frowned. “Fiona, I’m not sure but I heard on the news, you know, the airport TV that the police are looking for a woman named Fiona. I didn’t catch the details. No, it can’t be you.”

My mind snapped to attention at the mention of Fiona and police.

“There’s more than one Fiona in this world,” I said with a laugh I didn’t feel.

He shrugged. “I must be mistaken. But you might want to check it out. Anyway, I just got back from Minneapolis and do you believe it was snowing when I left.”

“Really? But, Bobby, did you catch a last name for this Fiona person they are looking for?”

“I don’t remember. I thought of you then dismissed it when the announcer said something about a fire.”

Damnation, now what had happened? How did my name come up, if one of my so-called friends had not offered it to the police?

“No,” I said, “of course, that’s not me. Now what were you saying about Minneapolis?”

My mind focused on my next move. I had to check out the news report, so I slithered out of Bobby’s monologue on the mid-west as soon as I politely could and hightailed it to the nearest TV. Bobby hadn’t been kidding. After cycling through all the usual exciting news of the day, there was a short blip on a major fire in McLean. Police were looking for information on one, Fiona Marlowe, who may have perished in the fire.

What game was the Jesse James gang playing now?

It was time to call Jake and tell him where to pick up his truck. Maybe he could tell me more.

He picked up on the first ring. “Fiona?”

“Your truck is parked at BWI airport, section A3. Why is my name in the news?”

“You haven’t been answering your phone.”

“No.”

“You stole our rig.”

“Borrowed. I just borrowed it. The keys are under the floor mat.”

“Listen, Fiona. You have to come back.”

“Can’t do it. I’m on my way to Moscow.”

“No, you aren’t. You hate cold weather. I can find you in Sydney.”

“I’m not in Sydney. Why is my name on TV news?”

“We suggested the police put out an APB on you, because maybe you had been in the house decorating when the fire broke out and got trapped in the flames.”

“Very clever of you, Jake, but it won’t work. Tell the police you found me. I’d like my name taken off the TV news.”

“Fiona.”

I waited. “I’m hanging up now. Take my name off the damn TV or. . “

“Or what?”

I hung up.

The phone rang back, and I let it go to messaging. I waited, considering my options while watching harried travelers scurry through the airport. Curiosity overtook me, and I listened to the message.

“Fiona, we’re in a bit of a jam here. We need you to testify that Hudson was with you on the night of the fire. I mean, me, Cody and Opal, we need you to testify that we all were with you. The police suspect Hudson. I know how much you like Hudson. Come back to help him out.”

I was the alibi. Very clever.

I phoned Jake.

“Where’s Hudson now?”

“Right here, I’ll put him on.”

“Miss Marlowe, how good to hear your voice.”

“Hudson, are you being charged with arson?”

“Not yet. The police have not finished the investigation. But they seem less friendly now than when they came to investigate Mr. Lodge’s demise.”

“Where are you?”

“In a hotel. We’ve been asked not to leave town. We are wanted for more questioning.”

“What’s your alibi?”

“I was at the same party at your place with Jake, Cody and Opal. You will cover for me, won’t you, Miss Marlowe?”

“I don’t know. I have to think this over.”

“It would certainly help. I would be forever indebted to you.”

“Hudson, you need to get away from that bunch. You are small potatoes in this caper.”

“No, Miss Marlowe. I’m the big potato, as you say. I’m the one with the money.”

How dumb of me not to make the connection.

“Did you make a deal with the family?”

“Yes.”

“They get a cut of the money?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

He lowered his voice. “Quite a bit. But the estate was left to me, and I can’t get the money if I go to jail for arson, can I? This complicates matters now that the house will have to be renovated before I can sell it.”

“I’d hate to see you go to jail. But something doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Yes?”

“How did you set the fire?”

“Accomplices,” he said in a mere whisper.

“And they will go un-named.”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me who’s black mailing you and why?”

He cleared his throat. “Jake wants to talk to you.”

“Hudson, wait. . .”

“Fiona,” Jake said, “are you going to help us? What can I promise you?”

“You don’t seem to understand that I am trying to separate myself from the Wild West show.”

“Opal said she’d give you a nice little place she has on the ranch and a few acres, if you’ll help us out.”

That was a clever bribe. I didn’t answer and Jake said, “She also needs her house redecorated. She’d like to engage your services.”

“Really?” I said. This sounded lucrative. I’d never been bribed before, but I could see its advantages. I’d always nursed a hankering for a place out west. I wondered what Opal’s spread looked like. I pictured herds of cattle, cowboys on horseback looking like the Marlboro Man, big skies, rattlesnakes.

“She says you have free reign, no budgetary limits. What do you say? A nice decorating job, a little place out west, get away from the big city.”

The lure was too good to pass up. “What’s my guarantee that you’ll make good on these bribes.”

“Bribes? Fiona, these are incentives.”

“What’s to keep you from backing out after I show up and perjure myself?”

Jake didn’t answer at first. I pressed the phone closer to my ear. “Jake?”

“How about my word?”

“How about a signed contract for redesigning Opal’s house and a deed to her little place. Photos would be nice, too, just to make sure I like it. Let me talk to Opal.”

“Right, here she is.”

“Fiona, it’s true. I want you to have this nice bunkhouse that’s sitting empty on my place. It’s got a pretty view of the mountains and a tree. It doesn’t sit too close to my house and is on a little knoll so you won’t have to worry about spring flooding. You’ll like it. I’ve been meaning to find just the right person to live there. I’ll write out a contract and a letter deeding the place to you.”

“It’s a deal.”

Chapter 14

The drive around the Capitol Beltway gave me time to have second thoughts. It was late. I was tired. By the time I arrived at the Marriott Tysons Corner in Virginia where the Wild West show was staying, I had decided my return was a bad idea. As I drove by the front entrance in that humongous truck, looking for a parking space, I spotted Alice under the portico. I did a double take. She was in profile, standing alone by the door. But it was her. I needed to talk to that woman.

I found a place to park which, unfortunately, was at the end of a long row of fancy cars, the only place big enough for the monster truck. Even though it was dark, I put on my sunglasses, shouldered my bag, and, carefully, made my way toward where I saw Alice standing. She was gone. I hurried inside, gyrating in all directions but at the same time trying to be cool behind the Hollywood glasses. I almost collided with Jake who came into the lobby from the bar.

“Fiona, you are a princess.” He pulled me into his arms and hugged me till I cried time out.

“Wait,” I said, “I’ve changed my mind. I can’t do this. I could end up in jail.”

“We all could. But let’s not worry about that now. The important thing is that you are here.” He released his grip and his hands drifted down my arms. “You want to share my room? It has a king bed,” he said, with a twitch of his lips. “We wouldn’t have to get close. We could just be friends.”

I laughed. “Is this part of the incentive package?”

“Part of my incentive package.”

I studied him and saw hope in those big browns. I hated to turn him down but I had my standards. Trouble was they were slipping. But I had to be strong.

“Thanks, but I snore, and I always sleep alone.”

“Too bad.” He still held my arms, seeming reluctant to turn me loose. “You’re going through with the alibi, aren’t you? We’re counting on you.”

“I have to think it over. We need to talk about how this is going to play out and when I have to perjure myself and what the consequences are. Our stories all have to be straight.”

“Right. No problem. Opal, Hudson and I have already thought it through. You tell the police that all of us including Hudson were at your place for a little party and that we all had a little too much to drink so we all stayed over. Very simple.”

“Sounds more like an orgy than a party.”

He shrugged. “Whatever. I know how much you like Hudson. You’d be saving his ass.”

“Put it that way, I have to do it.”

“That’s my girl.”

“By the way, you didn’t see Alice around here, did you?”

“Don’t tell me you’re back on Alice. You have Alice on the brain. Why would she be here?”

“That’s what I want to know. I saw her when I pulled in. She was standing out front, alone. I went right by her. By the time I parked and came in, she was gone. I thought maybe you saw her in the bar.”

Jake looked around. “I was the only person I knew in there. But let’s look again. I’ll buy you a drink. You could probably use one.”

The No Name Lounge, as it was oddly called, featured the elegant carved wood look. We settled at a high top table for two.

“This is a stake out,” I said, pulling my sunglasses down to look around.

“Fiona, take off the shades. You’re overdoing it.” Jake said, signaling for the waiter.

“Sure.” I slipped them into my purse. “We don’t want to draw attention.”

“Red wine for the lady,” he said, “and a Sam Adam’s on tap.”

I smiled at the waiter who looked no more than ten years old. I contemplated carding him.

“Excuse me,” I said. “You didn’t happen to notice a striking woman in here who looks a lot like Elizabeth Taylor.”

“Elizabeth who?”

“No, you’re too young. You wouldn’t remember. She has black hair, wears lots of makeup, dresses nice.”

He crinkled his wrinkleless brow. “We have a lot of ladies come in here look like that. I’ll get your drinks.”

He scurried off, probably to report us to the police.

“So much for our stake out,” I said and scanned the room which for the lateness of the hour was pretty crowded. The younger set was in predominance, and they were the usual loud bunch. The waiter was half right. Every girl in the room seemed to have black hair and wore layers of makeup in a rainbow of color. I couldn’t say a lot for their skimpy dresses, because there wasn’t much to them.

“Will you tell me why you are so fixated on Alice?” Jake asked as we waited for our drinks to arrive.

“Jake, don’t you get it? Alice is the key. The man in the fedora who we fled from in the garage was last seen in the company of Alice. She was the woman at the door when Cody answered. Cody said so himself. Cody reminded me several times that the man wanted me disappeared, as he put it. Alice is connected to that man. I want to know how. I want to know what she is doing here, the same place you, me, Opal, and Hudson are tonight.”

“You better stay in the room with me. I can protect you then. Besides I doubt they have any more rooms. There’s a big dentist convention in town, and people with perfect smiles are here from all over.”

I considered his suggestion, believe it or not, more seriously this time. “You think she might try to abduct me if I stayed in a room by myself.” I’d heard this line before.

Our drinks arrived, and the child hurried off before I could quiz him again. Smart boy.

“You bet. She may try. Or one of those guys will try. I think you need my protection for the night.”

I sipped my wine and knew that if I had too many of these, my morals would slip again. I frowned. My thinking ran wild.

“You’re just saying that because you want me in the sack.”

He shook his head. “I’m serious. If you think Alice is a threat because she’s connected to Cody’s business associates, we better take precautions.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re finally coming around to my way of thinking. I propose we ask if there is a woman named Alice registered here and search the hotel.”

“We don’t know her last name.”

“Yes, we do. Her last name is Wonderland. She’s Alice Wonderland. Don’t her parents have a great sense of humor?”

“More like strange sense of humor. Okay, we can give it a try.”

“Bottoms up. We’ll do some sleuthing. Are Opal, Hudson, and the boys tucked in for the night?”

“Opal went to bed,” Jake said. “Hudson and the boys went out carousing.”

“Hudson carousing? That seems out of character for him.”

“He’ll be fine. He’s in good hands. They promised to have him back by the stroke of midnight.”

“It’s way past midnight.”

“Then I’m sure they’re back.”

“Is Opal’s room beside yours?”

“No, we’re all over the place. The boys and Hudson are in one room.”

“Maybe we should all stay in one room for the night. I worry about Opal.”

Jake didn’t look like he was too pleased with that picture. “Let’s see if we can scare up the mythical Alice,” he said.

* * * * *

We checked out the exercise room, sauna and steam room and scared two nude guys wrapped around each other in a serpentine embrace, checked out the restaurant but it was closed, went to the bar again, but no Alice.

“Do you have a woman registered by the name of Alice Wonderland?” I asked the attendant at the front desk, who maintained a plastic smile on his youthful face.

“Alice Wonderland,” he said as he read the computer screen. “No, I’m sorry we don’t.”

“How about just Alice?”

He widened the smile. “I’m sorry but I can’t search on just a first name, we file by last name.”

“Too bad,” I said.

Jake and I stepped aside to consider our options.

“Of course,” I said, “if she were staying, she may not be registered in her real name. Maybe Alice Wonderland isn’t her real name. She may have a hundred aliases.”

Jake yawned. “How about we get some rest and resume our search in the morning?” He checked his watch. “I guess that will be in just a few more hours.”

I looked at him. “You’re right. I’m dog-tired myself. This has been too exciting a day.”

“We’ll go to my room and do nothing but sleep. I can look after you better that way.”

“I think we should check on Opal. We should probably camp out in her room for the duration of this night.”

“She’s been in bed for hours.”

“I know, but I’d feel better if we checked to make sure she’s okay.”

Jake led me by the hand to the elevator.

“Has anyone seen Cody?” I asked as the elevator zipped up to Opal’s floor.

“Not a sign. Vanished.”

We got lost in the endless morass of look-a-like hotel doors and corridors, had to backtrack several times, but finally found the right room number. Jake knocked softly at the door, and we waited.

“Better rap louder. She might be in a deep sleep,” I said.

Jake rapped, then pounded, but still no answer.

“Do you have her room key?”

Jake shook his head. “I brought her to the room, and she said she’d be fine. I never thought to ask for an extra key for her.”

“How are you at breaking into a room?”

“Through these doors? They make them practically burglar proof now.”

“I heard you can open them with a credit card.” I rummaged in my purse and pulled out one. “Let’s see if we can get it open.”

“Wait, what if we have the wrong room.”

“You mean you aren’t sure this is the right one?”

“Maybe we should check with the front desk to make sure. Remember this room number.”

“501,” I said, writing it down on my hand for safekeeping.

Down we went to the front desk.

A new receptionist was on, a young woman with piercings and maroon hair. She matched the décor. Her smile revealed two steel tipped teeth. Our standard of beauty these days escaped me.

“We’re looking for our friend, Opal Crawford, who should be in room 501. Could you confirm that number for us? We’ve come to pick her up.”

“Certainly. One minute.” She ran Opal’s name through the computer. “Yes, that is correct, she is in room 501. You can call her on the house phone.”

Jake followed me to the house phone set in a lighted alcove, and I dialed the number. No answer. The phone rang and rang. I shook my head at Jake and hung up.

“She isn’t answering. I’m worried.”

Jake chewed his cheek. “I know I put her in that room. I carried in her bag myself.”

I tried the number again. No luck.

“I vote for breaking in,” I said. “She may be having a stroke or something. She is in her eighties, you know, and this has been a stressful week for her.”

“Let’s try the credit card thing.”

Back we went and I pulled out the card again. “I’ll take the first pass.”

“Let’s knock again.” Jake pounded away.

No answer.

“Have you ever done this before?” Jake asked.

“Of course not. I’ve never associated with people like you and your friends before.”

I knelt before the door and slipped the card between the frame and the door latch. We worked every position, being as quiet as possible, afraid we’d wake someone up.

“What if someone kidnapped her,” I said, voicing my worst fears.

“How would they get in, if we can’t? Let’s go to my room and re-group. I’ll call the boys. Maybe they have Opal with them for some reason. We can’t keep banging and trying to break in without someone calling security.”

In the quiet of his room, he dialed one of the boys cell phone number.

“Hey, give me a call. We want to know if Opal is with you.” He closed the connection. “He’s not picking up. It went to his answering machine. “I’ll try the other guy.” He listened. “Call me.” He closed the connection again and shook his head.

“No luck. And Hudson has no phone.”

He dialed their room. “No answer. I’m going to their room and see if I can rouse them. They rented a car. I can check the parking lot to see if the car is back but who knows where they may have parked. You wait here.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, if Opal or any of the guys show up, someone has to be here. Fiona, promise me you’ll stay here. This is getting weird, and now you have me worried.”

“All right. But call me with reports, will you?”

I stretched out on the bed, thinking to rest my tired eyes for a minute. I dozed off and snapped awake to a tap at the door. I struggled up, disoriented from the new venue and lack of sleep. Jake had the key, so why would he be tapping? Maybe it was Opal or Hudson or the boys. I checked the burglar hole but saw no one. I cracked the door.

A small woman in black with huge dark glasses, red lips and violet headscarf stood in the hall.

“Hello, Fiona, may I come in?”

“Who are you?” I said through the crack in the door.

She removed the glasses and pulled off the scarf.

“I’m Alice. I understand that you are looking for me.”

“Holy Smokes. How did you know?”

“Are you going to keep me standing in the hall?”

“Can we meet in the restaurant in about fifteen minutes?”

“We could but it’s closed and I have only a few minutes. If you don’t want to see me, I’ll be on my way.”

“No, wait, come in. Yes, I want to talk to you.”

She pushed past me and walked to the room phone. “I’m calling room service. I could use a latte. You want anything?”

“Sure,” I said, wanting to be agreeable. “Same for me. Won’t you have a seat?”

After ordering, Alice sat at the little table for two and indicated I should do the same. I eased into the seat and sat on the edge. I had trouble thinking of what to say now that the real Alice sat across from me. She checked her appearance in a hand mirror she pulled from an expensive leather purse and pushed her hair around a little.

She looked at me. “Well?”

I launched in. “How do you know I was looking for you?”

“A little bird.”

“And here you are.”

She smiled. She really did look like Liz Taylor in her younger days. Alice may have been about forty, no wrinkles, dark violet eyes, black hair with not a hint of red in it. Expensive short haircut. Perfect teeth. Perfectly applied make up, lots of it.

She checked her watch. “I don’t have much time. I wanted to meet you, too.”

That was intriguing. “What do you want with me?”

She smiled again. “I don’t know how much you’ve figured out about Albert Lodge’s demise.”

“I have more questions than I have answers.”

“Yes. I assume you wanted to find me because my name came up on the radar.”

I nodded.

“Whatever it is you know about me, it doesn’t matter. I’ve found out a lot about you since you appeared on my radar screen. Frankly, I don’t know what to do with you outside of warning you to back out of your meddling and take a flight to Sydney tonight.”

“I’ve been trying to extricate myself from this family mess, but I keep getting sucked back in.”

“I’m here to take you out permanently. We don’t intend to kill you, though that is an option. Don’t look alarmed. I mean to take you out of this operation. We don’t need you mucking it up. And you are mucking it up.”

“Can I inquire as to the nature of the operation?”

“No. Suffice it to say that we are trying to break the back of a criminal operation that extends into many countries. I am not here with you. I am a figment of your imagination.”

Room service knocked and I opened the door, not sure what to expect. A little uniformed guy stood with two carry out lattes on a tray. He conveyed them to our table and left with a tip.

Alice opened hers and took a dainty sip. “I love caffeine,” she said with closed eyes.

Mine was steaming, and I set it aside, waiting for more revelations from Alice, the figment of my imagination.

“We’re prepared to give you an incentive to distance yourself from this. If you don’t take it, we may put you someplace you don’t want to be.”

Meddling was getting more and more lucrative. Of course, I was interested.

“Take the trip to Sydney and lay low for a month or so. We arrange to pay your expenses at a location of our choice in Sydney for the time you are there. We make a car available and provide a daily stipend.”

“Then you will know where I am if I need to give evidence, and you can protect me at the same time.”

She smiled. “Clever girl. You figured it out. The criminals have taken an interest in you. We are doing you a favor.”

“Sort of like a witness protection program.”

“Sort of.”

“What kind of danger am I in?”

“The criminals know that you helped Cody. That you know about the rifles. It is nothing to them to delete such a person who does not meet with their approval.”

“Delete.” I wondered if I would go to the recycle bin.

“You cannot help the Lodge family anymore. You cannot be an alibi. We will take care of all that.”

“We?”

“Let’s call it a loose confederation of agencies.”

“I see. What will happen to Jake, Hudson and Opal? If I’m not their alibi, the police could charge them with arson.”

“That’s of small consequence. We’ll work a deal with local authorities.”

“Small consequence? How did they get involved in the first place?”

“Through Albert. Cody is a bumbler. Albert should never have brought him in. Jake and Opal took matters into their own hands when they shouldn’t have.”

“You left out Hudson.”

“Hudson is one of ours. We take care of him.”

The shock waves from that pronouncement reverberated about the room and nearly knocked me flat on the floor. “One of yours? What does that mean?”

She finished her latte and sat back.

“I’ve told you enough. Don’t worry about your friends any longer.” She opened her purse and withdrew an envelope and pushed it across the table “Here. This should cover it. It’s a ticket for tonight’s flight to Sydney on Qantas and a travel voucher. Are you in?”

I wasn’t sure. I needed some time to think. She was giving me a persuasive out and protection. I had been trying to get to Sydney for days. I did not want to meet the bad guys. It made me nervous to have their interest in me confirmed. I opened the envelope. There was a one-way Quantas ticket in my name and a money order for $5,000.

“Do you think that will cover it?” she asked.

“I think so. Where am I staying?”

“One of our people will meet your flight and take you to where you’ll be staying.”

“You are assuming that I trust your people.”

“You have no choice. If you don’t leave we’ll keep everyone on the hook for arson. No deal with the locals. Jake and Opal will be in a difficult position.”

“I see.” I was being blackmailed and didn’t like the feeling. I sat back and gazed around the room.

“What’s your hesitation? It seems pretty clear to me what you need to do. We’re offering you a fabulous deal. You get to stay alive. Believe me, this isn’t easy for me to arrange. You should be grateful.”

I looked at her. “But why me? I’m of small consequence. I believe that is how you put it. You’re going to an awful lot of trouble and expense to remove me.” Maybe I didn’t know as much as they thought I did. I didn’t know who her people were. They could be any government agency. They could be a gang of your everyday criminals. Why were they so interested in getting me out of the picture?

She didn’t answer but stood and moved the curtain aside slightly. “Do you see those men across the parking lot? The ones sitting in the brown Chevy?”

I looked. I saw shadowy heads in a dark car. That was all. It gave me a creepy feeling like they were looking straight at me. I nodded.

“Those are the men I’m telling you about. I am offering you a means of escape.”

“Where are Jake and Opal? Opal wasn’t in her room when we went looking for her. Jake is looking for all of them. Have you kidnapped them?”

“Opal is with us. Jake soon will be. We’ll move them out today. We’ll make sure they get to Oregon. That is, if you play by our rules. One of our people will come to escort you. You need to sit tight here until then. We will personally deliver you to the airport and your flight.”

“I guess I have to decide now. I don’t get to sleep on it.”

“That’s correct. I need you to sign on the dotted line right now.”

“Where’s the pen?”

Chapter 15

An expense paid vacation to Australia was now part of the incentive package. But I wasn’t sure about the remodel job and ranchette.

My cell phone rang.

Jake said, “Fiona, you okay?”

“Alice just left. She said she’s taking care of everything.”

“Alice? You’re kidding. What did she want with you?”

“She offered me an incentive to leave the country real fast. I’m awash in incentives. I didn’t realize the criminal life could be so lucrative. I’m definitely in the wrong field.”

“Are you okay?”

“I think so. I hope so. I’m not sure. What about you?”

“I haven’t found anyone. They all seem to have disappeared. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. I’m glad you’re still here.”

“Alice says Opal is okay and that you two are going to Oregon. She said Hudson is, and I quote, ‘one of ours’. Trouble is she wasn’t forthcoming with a lot of details. Where are you?”

“I’m at the door, let me in.”

I opened the door cell phone still to my ear. Jake shut his phone and walked inside.

“Jake, the bad guys are in the parking lot, and Alice says they are after us. She’s providing us — you, me, Opal — a safe out so the bad guys don’t get us.”

“Fiona, are you sure you aren’t hallucinating? You’ve been under a big strain lately. You wouldn’t be making all this up, would you? You have a very active imagination.”

“Jake, she offered me money and a ticket to Sydney.”

“What about Hudson and the arson and all that.”

I shrugged. “She says she’ll take care of everything. Look.” I handed him the envelope she gave me. “Look inside, if you don’t believe me.”

Gingerly, like I had just handed him a bomb, he peeled open the envelope and whistled. “You’re telling the truth.” He ran his hand through the disarray of his dark curls. “I can barely think. You sure Opal is okay?”

“Alice said she was in their safe keeping.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Jake, I’m going to Sydney. I’ll lay low for a month, and then I’ll be back in touch.”

He lifted my chin with his finger. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

“You have a nasty habit of eluding me.”

“I’ll reform.”

“Will you come to Oregon?”

“I have a house and job waiting there, don’t I?”

He smiled. “You bet.”

Someone banged on the door.

“Who is it?” I called through the door.

“Friends.”

“That must be my escort. Here we go,” I said. “Alice said she was sending someone to escort me to the airport.”

I opened the door a crack only to have it slam into me, forcing me backward into Jake. Two men in brown suits muscled their way into the room. One whacked Jake so hard with a hand chop he crashed to the floor. The other had his hand over my mouth and my arm up behind my back in an excruciating grip. He smelled of onions. He wasn’t tall but made up for it in width and grip. The other guy kicked the door closed.

“Listen good,” Onions said. “You will not make a fuss or we kill you. But that would be messy and hard to explain. Nod your head if you understand.”

I could barely move my head up and down.

“Good.” He eased his nasty smelling hand off my mouth and relaxed his grip. Of course, I couldn’t speak I was so scared. I looked at Jake who was crumpled on the floor. I was impressed with how fast they operated. Very impressed.

“Did you kill him?” I said, rubbing my maltreated arm. “You’ll be sorry if you did.” My brave self wanted to whack them with something, wanted to go out fighting.

Onions laughed. “Wow, I’m scared. Your boyfriend, he’ll be fine. Little headache, maybe.”

“What do you want with me?”

“We want to know what you know. We seen you at the Lodge place. We want all the information you have on Alice and Albert and Cody and their operation.”

“I’m an interior designer. I found Albert dead on the library floor and somehow got pulled into this ridiculous mess.”

Onions manhandled me into the room and shoved me down on the bed, which, unfortunately, I hadn’t gotten to use much. The other guy watched Jake.

“Girlie, you know a lot more. You been hanging with these people since Albert died.”

“Did you kill Albert?”

“We should have. Dumb bugger couldn’t do a job right if he wanted to.”

“Did he work for you?”

“We thought so, but then Alice muscled in.”

I had the uncomfortable feeling that he was sharing information with me because my life wasn’t worth much in the grand scheme of things. That was unnerving, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking more questions. Curiosity was my one weakness.

“Muscled in? What does that mean?”

“It means she wanted a cut, too.”

“Alice? She was Albert’s co-worker. She’s a good guy.” Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

“Nice try, girlie. She was his squeeze and the wife’s.”

“The wife? You mean Olivia?”

“I mean whoever was the broad living with Albert. Alice was doing them both. We got that on her. She was willing to pay money to keep that quiet. Trouble is she stopped paying us. You’re going to help us get our money.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “I know absolutely nothing.”

“I don’t believe you. We want to know where Cody has the rest of the rifles we paid for, and he hasn’t delivered. He shorted us.”

Missing rifles was bad enough but Alice’s convoluted involvement in this whole thing was making my head hurt. I kept glancing at Jake to see if he was coming to. I didn’t want to be in this alone, and I was worried they’d done him permanent damage.

“Don’t worry about him, girlie. He’ll be fine. But you won’t be if we don’t find them rifles and our silence money.”

It was now clear why Cody wanted our help. Why he had to talk to us. He hadn’t delivered on his part of the bargain. That’s why they wanted him. I wondered why he hadn’t delivered but now wasn’t the time to go through a bunch of scenarios, not with the ugly looking guy in front of me making menacing faces.

“You have a funny accent,” I said. “Where are you from?”

“What?” he said. “Don’t make fun of me, girlie.”

“My name is Fiona, it is not girlie.”

“I don’t care what your name is. It won’t really matter if you don’t level with me.”

“You know, I wish I knew where the rifles were. I would tell you. But I didn’t know about them until the day before the fire.”

“Are you the one who set the fire? You were trying to get rid of the evidence, so’s we can’t find the guns.”

“I thought you set the fire. Cody said you set the fire to get rid of the evidence.”

Onions rubbed his square chin. “You’re testing my patience. You’re making me crazy here, girlie. I may have to use a little persuasion if you don’t stop being cute.”

The other guy pulled something out of his suit pocket. With a click it snapped out into a blade. Shades of West Side Story. I didn’t like my part in the drama.

“If you don’t start talking,” said Onions, “we relieve your boyfriend of some of his body parts.”

I nearly fainted. Here I was in a luxury hotel, in an upscale neighborhood, with three nice incentive packages in the offing and these two have to show up. I should never have answered the door.

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“What?” he said. “Ivan, take off that guy’s little finger.”

“No, wait. Stop.” Now I was getting mad because that weasel Alice had double-crossed me. She sent these guys to torture us. It was all a hoax to get us to talk.

“Talk.”

“I’ll talk if you let Jake go.” This was sounding very noble.

“You ain’t exactly in a position to make any deals, girlie.”

“I’m not kidding you. Jake doesn’t know anything. I was the one did all the deals with Cody. You let him go then I’ll talk. Where is Cody by the way?”

“We knew where Cody was we wouldn’t be here with you. We’d be frying his ass instead.”

I didn’t like the imagery of an ass frying.

There was another knock on the door. Maybe help was on the way.

“Who is it?” I called before Onions could answer.

“Your escort.”

Why couldn’t they have come first?

Onions pulled a knife and held it to my throat. “You tell them to come back later. Got it?”

I nodded cautiously against the tip of the blade. We did a twosome shuffle to the door.

“I don’t need any,” I said through the door.

“This is your airport transport. You’re expecting us.”

Alice wasn’t kidding. Bless her heart. Maybe she was still on the good guys’ side although the good-bad line was very blurred.

“Just a minute,” I called through the door.

I turned to Onions. “I better talk to these people. Alice sent them. If I just send them away, she’ll know something is wrong.”

“Pull the big guy away from the door,” said Onions.

Ivan tugged Jake to the end of the bed and dumped him on the floor.

“Now, girlie, first you put the chain on, open the door a little crack, and tell that guy you need more time, come back in an hour.”

I did as directed, thankful we had only an hour left of torture time, and looked to see who was there. Hudson was standing behind another man who I had never seen before. My eyes went wide. I wanted to throw open the door and hug and kiss Hudson into oblivion. But I, of course, couldn’t. I kept staring at him until I felt a little prick against my arm.

“I’m not ready,” I said. “I need about an hour yet. Could you come back?”

“Alice said we take you now,” said the first guy who had one of those 1960s buzz cuts. “Sorry but those are the orders. We can wait out here if you want but we aren’t leaving without you.”

Hudson gave me a reassuring smile. I motioned with my eyes toward the room. That’s all I could think to do.

Onions pulled me inside and pushed the door shut. “Did you recognize that man?”

Good, he didn’t catch on that there was more than one of them. “No, I don’t know who he is, but he isn’t leaving without me.”

I forgave Alice and silently thanked her for sending Hudson. He wasn’t wearing the butler attire, rather a black windbreaker. He looked very clandestine.

Onions shoved me to where Ivan stood over Jake.

“We got a problem. Alice sent a guy to take this broad to the airport. He won’t leave without her. We’re trapped in here with the two of them.”

Ivan said, “Shit. Let’s kill them now and battle our way out of the room.”

Onions seemed to consider that. “Messy. Ratko don’t like messes.”

Who was Ratko?

The house telephone rang. Onions said, “Don’t answer.”

It rang and rang and rang.

“Someone knows we’re in here,” I said. “They may come looking for us.”

“Who wants to talk to you?” said Onions.

“I’m supposed to talk to the police about the fire. I’m wanted for questioning.”

Onions frowned. That obviously had no part in his plans. “You mean the police might be phoning you?”

The phone kept ringing. The three of us studied it. I wasn’t sure who else might want something from us. Maybe it was Jake’s buddies. The police were a possibility. Alice said she was going to make it right with the local authorities, but I wasn’t sure how that would play.

A voice with tones from the bottom of a well said, “Hello? Somebody answer the phone.” Jake was coming to.

I sidestepped Ivan and Onions and knelt to try to help him.

“Jake, Jake, can you hear me?” I said, smoothing his rumpled clothes.

“Someone should answer the phone. Why don’t you answer the phone, Fiona?”

At least he knew who I was. “Lie still. You had a terrible blow. Just lie still. Can you open your eyes?”

One eye popped open. “My neck is killing me.”

The phone stopped ringing.

Ivan and Onions stood over Jake.

“These guys did it,” I said. “They want information.”

Jake’s other eye popped open. “Who are you?” he said to the two heads leaning over him.

“Don’t matter who we are. It’s what we want. We want the rest of them rifles that Cody stiffed us on. You know anything about them rifles?”

Jake eased up on one arm and winced. “One of you guys hit me?”

“Yeah, what of it?”

“That’s very unfriendly.”

“Listen, buddy, we don’t have time for pleasant conversation. We want them rifles. Where’s your friend, Cody? He knows where the rifles are.”

Jake coughed and sat up and moved his head gingerly. “I don’t know where Cody is. He disappeared when some guy showed up looking for him.”

“That was me,” Ivan said. “He slipped outta that garage, and we can’t find him.”

Jake shrugged. “Easy come, easy go.”

“Don’t be a wiseass or I slug you again. Your girlfriend here and you need to come clean with us or we get creative how we extract information from you.”

My cell phone started ringing in my purse.

“Someone is trying to get a hold of me,” I said, stating the obvious.

The phone kept ringing.

“Will someone please answer the phone?” said Jake. “My head hurts.”

“Nobody answer anything.”

“I think I should. They are going to know something isn’t right if I don’t answer. Don’t forget the two men at the door.” Oops, I let that one slip.

“Two men?” said Onions. “You said only one.”

“I miscounted. There’s two men at the door waiting to take me to the airport.”

The phone kept ringing.

“Check the ID. Tell us who is trying to call you.”

I fished in my purse and looked at the ID. “Don’t know,” I said. “I don’t recognize the number.”

Before Onions could tell me what to do, I answered it.

“Miss Marlowe?” said Hudson.

Onions moved closer and put the tip of the blade under my ear and pressed. Jake was watching and yelled, “Hey, get that knife away from Fiona.”

Onions slapped the phone from my hand onto the floor and stomped on it. I only hoped Hudson had heard the exchange.

“Now look what you’ve done. You’ve ruined my phone,” I said. “I liked that phone, and it cost a lot of money.”

“Shut up,” Onions said. “I should bang your head in right now. Who was on the phone?”

I shrugged. “A heavy breather. No one spoke. I think I’m being stalked.”

“Fat chance,” said Onions.

I think he was getting a little frustrated. I didn’t want to push him too far. With my newfound respect and total astonishment that Hudson was ‘one of ours’, I knew he must be working the case. That didn’t help wounded Jake and me. I didn’t know how much longer we could hold them off. That knife was sharp as sharks’ teeth.

Onions motioned to Ivan, and the two of them retreated for a conference to the corner of the room out of view of the window. Jake and I exchanged glances.

“Can you get up?” I asked him, taking his arm.

“Hold on, let me try myself. Maybe I can make it to a sitting position on the bed.”

“Don’t try anything funny,” Onions barked at us.

“Wouldn’t think of it,” I said. “Jake is merely trying to sit up.”

Jake pushed and I tugged until he was able to sit on the bed. He rotated his neck. I checked for cuts but found none. He’d have a nice bruise on his neck though from the hand chop. I sat beside him and put my arm around his shoulders, then leaned in for what I hoped looked like a kiss. I whispered in his ear, “Hudson’s waiting at the door. He’s the one who called.”

Onions yelled, “Shut your mouth.”

“I was only giving Jake a little kiss to make things better.”

The two came back to stand before us.

“You both are going to leave with those guys at the door. You will not tell them anyone is in this room, do you understand? You get five minutes to get down the hall and out the main entrance. Do not try to give us the slip because we’re following you.”

He flipped open a cell phone and dialed. “Ratko? Send some of the boys to the front entrance right away. We got two of them, the girl and the big guy, so watch for them. Some guys are here to escort the girl to the airport. Tell the boys to be in front to head them off.”

“All right, let’s go,” Onions said to us.

The only thing Jake and I could do was play along and hope. At the moment my brain wasn’t working fast enough to formulate an escape plan. Jake managed to stand. I grabbed my carry on and his arm, and we shuffled to the door.

“Wait,” Onions said. He positioned the knife at Jake’s throat. Don’t get funny on us. You go with these guys, but if you try anything funny, the girl gets it in the head.” He made a finger gun and pointed it at my head. “Pop, pop. Get it?”

Jake nodded once. We made it to the door, and I opened it. Standing across the hall was Hudson and the short, wiry guy with the buzz cut.

“We’re ready,” I said.

“This way,” said Hudson, pointing to the right, not acknowledging that he knew me. “We’ll go to the elevator.”

As we cleared the door, the one to the room across the hall exploded open, and two guys in suits with guns lunged into our room before the door closed. Hudson shoved us against the wall.

We heard a cry, then another. No shots were fired. Then everything was quiet.

A typical day at your five star hotel.

Chapter 16

Hudson herded us in a half run to the elevator.

“Their friends are waiting to meet us at the main entrance,” I said, trying to catch my breath after we gained the relative safety of the down elevator. As far as I knew, the two attack guys were still in the room with Onions and Ivan. No one had been in hot pursuit.

“I’m pleased to hear that more men are coming,” he said with his usual smile, not even winded, looking very spy in black windbreaker and gray slacks.

I was having a panic attack myself.

“You are?” I said.

“By all means,” Hudson said. “They are coming out of the woodwork now, as the saying goes. We will catch them at their game. You performed your role as bait splendidly. I apologize for the terrible ordeal, but you helped catch two of the gang we’re targeting.”

“We were bait? Hudson, those guys threatened to cut body parts off Jake, if we didn’t tell them where the rifles were. They had knives. Jake got a head chop out of the deal.”

Jake seemed to be coming back to life after the run down the hall. He was rubbing and rotating his neck.

“It was all in the line of duty,” he said. “No permanent harm done.”

Hudson examined Jake’s neck. “You have a nasty welt, but I rather suspect you’ll live. We will need your continued cooperation. Those fellows think you know where the rifles are. We’re going to pretend to take them there.”

“I thought we were going to the airport,” I said. “Alice said we’d be removed from harm’s way. I’m going to Australia. I have the ticket right here.” I tapped my bag. “Jake and Opal are going back to Oregon.”

“Right. But before you do, we need you to be a decoy of sorts.”

“I don’t like the sound of this.”

The elevator door opened before I had more time to protest.

Hudson hustled us to the sitting area of the main lobby done in colors of maroon, yellow and gray with lots of sharp corners and pointy designs in the carpet. I was trying to look cosmopolitan and together, but I felt more like a bag lady.

“I’m sorry,” Hudson said, “I didn’t introduce you to my associate. This is Mike.” Hudson motioned to Mike who didn’t look like he could knock over a flea.

“Mike is going to drive. All four of us will be going together ostensibly to the airport.”

“Hudson,” I said, “some guys are set to kidnap us in front of the hotel right now.”

“No, they won’t,” said Hudson. “We will exit the main entrance so the men can see you. We are trying to force their hand and get them moving.”

“Hold on,” I said. “Those guys said Cody didn’t deliver on the rifles, that half are missing. They think we know where the rifles are. They might kill us.”

“Not if I can help it.” Hudson smiled his warm, comforting smile again.

I was not comforted.

Hudson said, “Cody couldn’t deliver the rifles because I concealed them so these men would come after the rifles. It was a way to draw them out in the open, to make a move, so that we can catch them in the act. We’ll be grateful if you continue to play along. It will be just a matter of one more car ride.”

“Let me understand,” Jake said, “we draw these guys out by becoming targets.”

“Not quite. We have people monitoring your every move who will come to your aid if anything goes wrong. Trust me.”

“That’s asking a lot,” I said.

Hudson took my hand. “I know none of this makes much sense to you. I may never be able to explain everything, but I am asking this one last favor.”

I heaved a great suffering sigh and looked at Jake.

He shrugged and said, “Lead the way.”

Mike peeled off to get the car. Hudson led us out the main entrance, and we stood outside under the portico in clear view, sitting ducks. The morning mist swirled around rush hour traffic already in full swing along Route Seven, although it was barely light.

“Keep smiling,” said Hudson. “Let’s appear a joyous group. Not a care in the world.”

Jake said, “I could use a drink. I’d settle for some strong coffee.”

I said, “I would like to know how you managed to deceive us for so long, Hudson.”

He smiled. “It was my job.”

“Why did you say you needed an alibi?”

“Opal and Jake thought I needed an alibi so I played along. Jake especially didn’t want you to leave.”

We both looked at Jake who kept his eyes on the horizon.

“I had to play along,” said Hudson, “you must understand. These men set the fire. Cody egged them on, telling them about the receipts and the incriminating evidence in Albert’s study. They got carried away and nearly burned the place down. It’s a terrible tragedy to destroy a fine house like that. I must say, I had some anxious moments with the police till we got that sorted out.”

A dark gray Suburban pulled in front of the entrance.

“Here we are.” Hudson said. “Now the fun begins. Maybe we’ll get into a high-speed chase. I do so love them.”

“High-speed chase?” I said, as he helped me into the back seat. Jake got in the other side. “It didn’t say anything in my contract about a high speed chase.”

Hudson jumped in the front seat, and we pulled out slowly as if taunting the other guys to follow us in full view of the bustling world of Tysons Corners. Two cars fell in behind, one a brown Chevy, the other a dark green SUV. I counted it lucky no one shot at us so far.

“Those guys must be confused,” I said. “The other two were supposed to be with us.”

Mike and Hudson kept moving their heads an inch or two side to side, monitoring the rear view mirrors.

“Confusion is good,” said Hudson. “What counts is that they are following us.”

We turned right on Route Seven, heading west through the surreal world of Tysons Corners strip malls and car dealerships. Jake’s hand reached over and covered mine on the seat. I looked at him and managed a weak smile. The gesture calmed my wired tight nerves for a nanosecond.

“What about Opal and the boys?” Jake said.

“Yes,” I said, “Alice is supposed to help Jake and Opal get to Oregon. We can’t leave Opal behind. Hudson, do you know where she is?”

“When the boys and I came back from our late night outing, I arranged for them to pick Opal up and head out to Oregon in their truck.” He checked his watch. “They’ll have been on the road for hours by now. We’ll contact them to make sure all is well as soon as we catch a few more criminals.”

“That’s a relief. Hudson, might I ask for whom you work?” I said.

“All I can say is that I’m on loan. We are trying to break an intricate crime organization that spans a number of countries. This sting operation is one link in the chain. Now that we are on the move, the dominoes are falling. Everything will turn out just fine, you’ll see.”

“I wish I could feel as confident.”

Mike set an easy pace through the Tysons area, stopping at nearly every light. Traffic was bumper to bumper. It was the usual Northern Virginia snarl. Hudson and Mike checked mirrors and peered about, exchanging a terse word or two. Apparently, the brown Chevy was behind us.

I glanced at the car beside me. It was a large truck that looked a lot like the truck Jake’s buddies were driving. I nudged Jake and pointed. Lo, there sat one of the boys at the wheel, giant cowboy hat fixed firmly on his head. Opal waved at us through the back window.

Jake said, “Hudson, to your right.”

Hudson glanced over and did a double take. “I say, there are your friends. And there is Miss Opal. I thought they would be far afield at this hour. How extraordinary. I thought the Geronimo unit was taking care of them.”

Mike leaned forward and looked. “Geronimo said everything was good to go. I guess they got delayed. I hope they don’t follow us.”

“I don’t want to draw attention to them,” said Hudson.

Opal rolled down her window and waved, trying to shout to us. I rolled my window down to hear her.

“Fiona, it is so good to see you. Thanks for coming back. And there is Hudson. Well, I never. Is Jake with you?”

I could barely hear her over the traffic.

Hudson turned around. “Please, Miss Marlowe, please. Try not to draw attention to Miss Opal. We don’t want anything to jeopardize our plans.”

“Opal,” I said, motioning with my hand, “you go on. We’ll catch up with you later. We’ll be in touch. Go on now.”

She nodded and rolled up the window. They forged ahead in traffic.

I leaned forward to speak to Hudson. “I hope this doesn’t mean that plans are going awry.”

“Nothing to worry about Miss Marlowe, we are on track to wrap this caper up today.”

“Great. That’s really comforting.”

Jake said, “I could use a cup of coffee.”

“Me, too,” I said. “Are they still following? Maybe we could talk the boys into breakfast and coffee. We could talk rifles.”

“Watch out,” said Mike as he swerved to avoid the car in front that had hit its brakes. A head-wrenching crunch reverberated through the car. The car behind smacked into us. The car to the left of us swerved to miss the guy in front of him and skidded sideways into us. The sound of screeching metal, squealing brakes and angry shouts swirled around us.

“You all right, Fiona?” Jake said, as we jerked to a stop.

“I think so.”

We pivoted around surveying the damage. Crumpled cars and red faces hemmed us in. People got out of their cars. No one was moving in the westbound lane. The eastbound lane slowed to a crawl as people rubbernecked to see what kind of fool traffic pile up had happened this time.

Hudson said to Mike, “I say, isn’t that the people from the Geronimo unit in that late model Ford truck?”

Mike looked and cursed a few choice words under his breath. “Man, they never follow instructions. They weren’t supposed to be with us out here. They were supposed to have the other folks on the road. What are they doing here?”

Hudson shook his head. “They are so very unreliable. You would think with all their funding they’d be able to have better trained people.”

He turned to us. “Wait here. We will reconnoiter and ascertain what is to be done.”

Mike got out with him. Both stuck their hands in the pockets as only men can do and walked to the Ford truck.

Jake put his arm around me. “Looks like we might be here for awhile. I wonder if these seats recline. Want to sleep with me, Fiona?”

He kissed me softly on my hair, and I couldn’t help but snuggle against him. “Sounds tempting. We never did resolve whose room we’d end up in last night. What a night. What happens next?”

“Haven’t a clue. I’d say we are caught in forces beyond our control, and the vise is closing. How I got here from a ranch in beautiful southeast Oregon is beyond me. It all started with Albert croaking.”

“Yes, and you know we still don’t know who murdered him, or if he opted out himself.”

By this time everyone had gotten out of their cars and were milling about, looking at damage, talking to other motorists. Hands waved. Voices rose.

“Look, Jake, the Ford truck guys are talking to Mike and Hudson. Maybe the confederation of agencies is battling this one out. I’ve heard of that, federal agencies fighting over whose jurisdiction has the upper hand.”

“Don’t know. What do you say we split and find some coffee?”

“Do you think we should? What about the guys following us?”

“We’ll be careful and be back before anyone misses us.”

Chapter 17

We walked through the milling motorists and found a little dive called the Silver Diner opened on a side street and settled into a booth. The waitress brought coffee with the menus. I sighed in contentment and ordered a cinnamon bun to revitalize my soul. Jake ordered steak and eggs.

“Now what?” I said. “I have my ticket to Australia. Opal is on her way to Oregon with the boys. The estate may never be settled, but we don’t have to worry about that. We may never know how Albert died. So we’re off the hook, as far as I can tell.”

“Not quite,” said Jake. “The rifles are missing, and the bad guys are still looking for them, us and Cody.”

“Yes, but we can walk away, and the mysterious confederation can take care of everything.”

“You can walk away. I have to live with Opal and Cody. Opal doesn’t realize how bad the charges are going to be against Cody. That might be for the best. I’m glad she’s leaving because she is forever trying to protect him. I’m going to call the boys and see where they are.”

He flipped open his cell phone. I was envious. Mine was smashed on the floor of the hotel room, and I hated deciding on a new one, there are so many. Maybe I’d get an IPhone this time.

“Where are you? Why are you going there? No, turn around. You can’t take Opal to New York no matter what she says she wants to do. You take her home, you hear? I know she’s your boss, but she has funny ideas these days. It’s her medication.”

He closed the phone and laid it on the table. “Can you believe Opal wants to see the Statue of Liberty?”

“She doesn’t get east that often. I can’t blame her.”

Breakfast arrived and more coffee. We wolfed down every last morsel. I smiled as I laid down my fork. I wanted to burp in delight like the ancient Romans did after a meal to express their pleasure but I restrained myself.

“Let’s go,” said Jake. “Maybe the traffic jam is over by now. Hudson probably has an All Points Bulletin out on us.”

Outside the fog was clearing to reveal another cloudy, overcast morning. We walked along the side street toward the traffic jam. I heard footsteps and a man with a black goatee and shaved head fell in beside us. He wore a sweat suit and looked like he might have been running.

“Another lousy morning,” he said.

I nodded. “Out for a run?” I said, making polite conversation.

“No, I dress this way all the time. More comfortable. I hate suits. My name is Ratko.”

There was no mistaking that name.

“Let’s go,” I said to Jake and tried to pull him away.

Ratko grabbed my arm. “Hey, what’s the hurry, Fiona? You and your friend, Jake, here have some talking to do.”

Jake took a good look at Ratko. “Do we know you?”

“I do business with your buddy, Cody. But he reneged on the bargain, and I’m here to collect.”

A dark green Cadillac Escalade SUV pulled in front of us and stopped. Ratko opened the door. “Get in. We’re taking a little ride.”

“What if we say we don’t want to take a ride?” Jake said. “We got other commitments.”

Ratko pulled out a tiny silver gun and pointed it at us from the fold of his jacket. “This little guy says you do want to. Now get in.”

“Maybe we should talk this over.”

“I need action, not talking. You’re going to take us to the rest of the rifles. Then we’ll talk about whether you get to live.”

He tightened his grip on my arm and shoved me in the back seat.

“Move over,” he said. “You, Jake, get in beside her.”

Great, I thought. If he gets in the front seat, then maybe we could fling ourselves from the car when it got underway. But then I saw the two guys in the seat behind. They sported unfriendly faces.

Ratko slammed the door and got in front. The driver slid away from the curb and into the line of traffic. Ratko turned to look at us. “Tell us where to go because we are going to get those rifles.”

Jake said, matter-of-fact, “They’re in the back shed at Albert’s house.”

A meteor from outer space could not have hit with the force of that pronouncement. I nearly lost my grip on reality, not that I ever had much of one. I shoved my face into Jake’s. “What are you talking about?”

His eyes locked mine with a boa constrictor grip. “I’m saying that I know where the rifles are at Albert’s. That’s what I’m saying.”

I stayed eyeball to eyeball with him. Was he telling me to play along or was he telling me the truth this time? But that had been my problem all along, ever since I saw Albert Lodge stretched out on the floor of his library. I didn’t know who was telling the truth.

Ratko said, “That’s what I like, a man who knows how to cooperate. See Joey, I told you we’d get somewhere with the guy. The girl’s a bimbo, but the guy I can like.” He grinned at me and turned around to face the traffic.

Bimbo? He referred to me as a bimbo?

Joey turned onto a side road and through a series of impressive side street short cuts made his way to McLean. The Cadillac smelled new and was shiny inside. A GPS screen on the dashboard showed where we were going and spoke directions in its metallic voice from time to time. Like it was a normal day, Joey and Ratko talked about football, which teams they liked and who was going to win tonight’s game.

I closed my eyes. Jake’s fingers touched mine. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or smack him. I hoped his gentle touch meant that he knew what he was doing. I wondered where Hudson and Mike were. Could they possibly have known that Ratko himself was afoot? I looked around to see if I could see the gray Suburban that we should never have left. Maybe they had seen us get in the Cadillac Escalade and were following. Not in sight. This whole affair had been what I should have done. How was I to know? I was a miserable failure as a detective. Jake’s fingers closed over mine, and I looked at him. One of the guys in the back leaned forward and stuck a gun between our heads.

“Better you should watch the scenery,” he said.

Those were pretty clear instructions. I wondered what was going to happen when we got to Albert’s mansion. I wondered if there was a guard on the place and what would happen then. I wondered where Cody was and if Opal was going to New York or Oregon. And how did Jake know where the guns were hidden?

At the entrance to Albert’s place there was no guard, and we swung through the gate. The front door was covered with police crime scene tape.

“Go to the back of the house where the garages are,” said Jake.

He spoke with a confidence that impressed me. I was sitting on knife points. Behind the house there was a line of outbuildings, well maintained, not touched by the fire. The house itself sported a charred hole in the roof that some fast thinking contractor had put a bright blue tarp over. The manicured bushes and lawn in front were trampled and broken. The back of the house looked undisturbed.

Ratko put his hand on Joey the driver’s arm. “Hold up. Something’s not right here. Too quiet. This is too enclosed. Someone could ambush us.”

Joey stopped the car and waited, engine running. Ratko turned to Jake. “You and the boys get out. You show them where the rifles are. The girl stays with us. Anything goes wrong, she’s dead. Understand?”

Jake nodded once slowly. He looked at me, and our eyes held for an extra moment. I didn’t know if that was goodbye or trust me. I was trying my best to come up with a plan of escape, feeling like a pawn, wanting to be the queen. Jake got out and the two men in the seat behind us got out with him. Ratko moved in beside me.

“Now, girlie. You behave real nice and nothing will happen to you. But if your man there doesn’t come up with the rifles, we got serious trouble.”

Jake and the two men walked to the far end of the lot. Half hidden in the shadows of a stand of tall pines was a low building. A shutter hung loose, and the roof sagged. The scrub around it had not been trimmed. Why had I never thought to come out here to sleuth? Why had Jake never told me about this place? If Hudson had hidden the guns, and Jake knew where the guns were, then Jake and Hudson were in cahoots. Why hadn’t I figured this out before?

Jake opened the door of the shed and ducked in. It hadn’t been locked. One of the men followed him in. The other stood outside, watching with a drawn gun. Jake and the man came out of the shed. The man looked in our direction and nodded his head.

Ratko said, “Joey, call the office and have them get the truck on the road. Looks like we’ve found the rest of the shipment.”

I said, “Aren’t you taking an awful chance picking up rifles in broad daylight?”

Ratko gave me a stupid-broad look. “Not in a furniture delivery truck.”

Clever. Could I help I was a bimbo?

Ratko got out. “Watch the girl, Joey. I’m going to look around. There might be something else we need in this dump. Too bad the old man had to go and die on us before we could blackmail him more. He was such an easy squeeze.”

Ratko walked over and talked to Jake. Joey and I sat in the car. The men disappeared from sight. We waited, my nerves fraying into gossamer strands. Jake wouldn’t be able to help me, not surrounded by three men with guns. It was now or never. Joey might think I was a bimbo, too. I didn’t see a gun, though he must have had something concealed.

I leaned forward and said, “Joey, do you happen to have a cigarette? I used up all of mine.”

“Sure, babe. I was just going to light up myself.”

He drew a half filled pack of Marlboro’s from his jacket and shook out a few. I selected one. I hadn’t smoked in years, but the idea of a cigarette right now was appealing.

Joey lit my cigarette with his lighter then lit his own.

“Nothing like a good smoke, eh?” he said. “You’re a nice looking broad. That your husband?”

“No.” I was playing it cool but I noticed my fingers were trembling so bad the cigarette was twitching. I put the cigarette down so Joey couldn’t see.

“You ever free for dinner?” he said.

I shrugged. “Maybe.” I couldn’t believe he was hitting on me, but this might lead to escape.

“I know some good restaurants around town. I do pretty good driving for Ratko. I could show you a good time.”

Joey must have been all of five feet high with a pencil thin mustache that looked like it would draw blood if you kissed him. He sported a black and white check jacket that I had last seen the likes of in a 1950s movie. In any other circumstance I would have laughed at his cheekiness, but this wasn’t the time. I played along. “It doesn’t look like I’m going to have too many more good times, if things don’t go like Ratko wants.”

Joey shrugged. “He’s pretty pissed about the rifles. Them vodka swillers are unpredictable. I don’t much like working for them but they pay good. If Ratko ever finds that guy Cody, he’ll be mincemeat. Say, do you like mincemeat pie? My mother always made it at Christmas. One of my favorites.”

In my mind I saw Joey grinding up Cody arm by arm and a fat Italian woman rolling pie dough. I developed a coughing fit.

“What’s the matter? You don’t like Marlboros?”

I beat my chest. “I must have inhaled down the wrong pipe. You mind if we get out? It’s a little stuffy in here.”

Joey looked around. “I guess it’d be okay. Here, let me get the door for you.”

The guy had manners. Maybe I should switch allegiances. Where could Jake have gone with those men? I hoped they hadn’t killed him. If they killed Jake, a thought I was reluctant to entertain, there wasn’t much hope for me.

Joey opened my door and held out his hand to help me down. I didn’t see any sign of a gun. Trusting soul. I calculated that I probably outweighed him by a good fifty pounds. Instead of daintily stepping down, I launched myself and caught him off guard. Over we went in a scuffle.

“What the hell, what the hell,” he kept shouting. We rolled around on the ground, me trying to whack him with my purse, he trying to shield his face. Surprise had been to my advantage. He seemed more interested in trying to defend himself than in trying to subdue me. I kept trying to whack his bony head. Finally, my purse connected hard with his head, and I jumped up and ran. I wasn’t sure where to go but the trees beyond the shed looked like a good bet. Unfortunately, I had on high heel boots. I kept tripping on stones and pinecones and whatever else resides on a pine forest floor.

I didn’t hear footsteps, and I didn’t look back. My only thought was cover. I came to a clearing and saw a quaint gazebo on the bank of a small pond on the Lodge extended estate. I ran for it. The gazebo was open around the top but the bottom half was enclosed, and I collapsed behind the wooden wall.

I had a sharp pain in my side from running and could barely get my breath. The cigarette hadn’t helped. I clawed my way up to look back the way I had come. I could see the garage through the trees but nothing else. Where was Jake? Where had he gone? I didn’t see any houses. I had no idea where to go. I was afraid I’d run into someone I didn’t want to see.

Damn that Jake. Damn that Hudson. Damn Cody. At least Opal got away. I hoped. I slid back down and sat against the wall. How did Jake know where those rifles were? How was it that Hudson had concealed them without Cody knowing? Were they going to kill Jake after they had gotten the rifles? Had they already knifed or shot him? Maybe they hadn’t finished off the job, and he was hurt.

The suspense was killing me so I decided I’d sneak back to see what was happening. Maybe the furniture truck had arrived. I sat up and brushed off my clothes. They were dirty, and my feet hurt. But it could be worse. I could be dead. At least, I hadn’t been tortured.

I made a wide cautious circle toward the back of the garage and outbuildings. If I planted myself behind the old shed, maybe I’d see them hauling out the rifles. Jake seemed awfully comfortable with Ratko’s men. Maybe he was in on the heist. Maybe he was getting a cut. Maybe he bought and sold on the black market for extra income. I’d read that anything was for sale in the global arms bazaar, that you could even buy an F-16 if you wanted.

I crouched in a laurel thicket behind the shed. The furniture truck had arrived. Joey was leaning against the hood of the Escalade, and Ratko was yelling at him. Two men who must have come with the truck and the two men who had gotten from the car with Jake were carrying long, narrow boxes from the shed.

I shook my head. It was so easy. The hiding place was so easy. Jake must have figured it out in the investigating he had done without me. Of course, he had never bothered to share that information.

I heard a crunch and froze. I was afraid to look and tried to wiggle further into the laurel thicket. I stretched my neck to see what had made the noise. Off to my left were four men in black windbreakers with ATF in huge white letters across the back, crouching under the pines. I guess they wanted to make sure they didn’t shoot each other. They eased closer to the rifle shed. One was snapping photos with a fast action camera. They’d have Ratko dead to rights. They could walk right into the clearing, say ‘Stick ‘em up’ and they’d have them red handed.

But then all hell broke loose.

Chapter 18

A fireball exploded in front of the furniture truck. Pops and flashes flew between the ATF guys and the men in the clearing. I flattened out on the ground. The ATF guys ran in the other direction. The gunshots continued. I was in a live action Hollywood movie.

As fast as the firefight started, it stopped. I stayed down. Gunfire started up closer to the house then quit. I struggled up, inched closer to the shed and peeked in the window. Someone was lying over a stack of rifle boxes. I couldn’t tell through the dirty window who it was. Another man was down beside the truck. The front of the furniture truck was black. In a half crouch I sneaked into the shed. I had to see if it was Jake even though I didn’t know if the dirty rat was on my side or theirs. A man in a furniture mover uniform lay on his stomach face turned away from me, his head bloody.

My stomach turned upside down, and I thought for a moment I’d lose breakfast. After a moment or two, I garnered my courage, what was left of it, and said, “Can you hear me? Are you okay?”

He didn’t respond. What did they do on those television police shows when they found a body? Check for pulse. Tentatively, I placed my fingers on his neck. He was warm, and I thought I could feel a pulse.

I heard shouting and eased out of the shed. Only because I had seen it in the movies, I made a zig-zag run to the first garage. One of the bay doors was opened. I didn’t remember it being open when we came in.

I saw no vehicles that would have signaled how the ATF guys got there. But then they would have hidden the vehicles. I looked in the bay door that was open. There was the banged up dark gray Suburban Hudson had been using. Hudson’s spy car. It sat alongside the Rolls, his butler car. He was a man of many talents.

“Hello?” I said in a hoarse whisper. “Any body here? Hello?”

I checked out the Suburban. My carryon luggage was in the back where Jake had thrown it when we left the hotel. Hudson had followed us here. But then he knew where the rifles were hidden. Had Jake helped him organize the sting? How much had they both known about the set up? I wondered if they had the bad guys in a room with their hands held high.

I could leave. I could take the Suburban and leave. I checked for the keys. Not in the ignition. Not in the glove compartment, nor the center console. They were under the floor mat. I had the airline ticket to Sydney in my purse. I had transportation. I could be off in an instant. As I was about to climb into the driver’s seat, I heard my name.

“Fiona, where are you going? I’ve been looking all over for you.”

I paused in my getaway and looked around. Jake came around the back of the car and stopped. We stood looking at each other.

“Jake Manyhorses, you have some explaining to do.”

He nodded and his hands came out to embrace me, but my lethal stare stopped him mid-air.

“Fiona,” he began but his voice trailed off.

“How did you know those rifles were in the shed?”

“I helped Hudson put them there. The rifles you discovered in the basement were half the cache. We had already removed most of it to the shed.”

“You knew about the rifles. You led me astray on a number of occasions. You used me.”

“It may look like that but really I was trying to keep you out of harm’s way. But you kept getting in the way. I didn’t want anything to happen to you. This whole thing kept playing like some bad movie.”

“Bad movie all right with live ammunition,” I said. “Ratko said he’d been blackmailing Albert. Did you know that?”

“Not exactly. I knew Albert was being blackmailed but I didn’t know who.”

“But I did.” Hudson walked through the open bay door and came to stand beside us. His hair wasn’t even disheveled. “I knew someone was getting to Albert but I couldn’t find out who it was. When Cody came into the picture and started helping him, he was freer with information than Albert. I was able to get names. When they started showing up at the house after Albert’s demise, we were able to close in. I had to hold back some of the rifles so we could set up the sting.”

“What was the blackmail?” I said. I stood with my arms folded tight across my chest, not feeling kindly disposed toward either of them.

“Alice,” said Hudson. “She insisted on a cut when she found out Albert was dealing arms. Instead of turning him in, she wanted a cut. If she got a cut, she wouldn’t turn him in, would she?”

“And,” I said. “Albert was sleeping with her. Maybe in love with her and married to another woman.”

“Yes,” Hudson said. “Albert had the hedged clipped like a suit of cards for his love, Alice Wonderland. That’s when Olivia knew Albert was involved with Alice because she was, too. Olivia knew the connection with Alice in Wonderland. You cannot imagine the row that ensued in the Lodge household. I think it ultimately caused Olivia’s stroke.”

“We are back to square one,” I said. “The reason I got caught up in all this trouble. Who killed Albert?”

Hudson said, “Albert killed himself with an overdose of his meds. He’d been despondent over Olivia’s death, and Alice’s double cross. I found the empty bottle of medication he had mixed with his evening toddy in the kitchen when I tidied up.”

“You didn’t share that information with the family. Why?”

Hudson’s shoulders slumped. “I tried to tell Miss Opal, but she was convinced that someone in the family murdered him and insisted that Jake find out who it was. Then things started spinning out of control. We had to set up the sting operation to break up this end of the arms trafficking.”

“Then all of this was an elaborate scheme about an arms deal. It wasn’t about people like me and Opal and Jake.”

Hudson sighed and looked away over my shoulder. “I know it sounds cold and heartless but Albert was mixed up in something that sucked innocent people in.”

I shook my head. “We’re lucky none of the innocents were hurt.”

Hudson gave a faint nod.

“Poor Albert,” I said. “Why would he get mixed up dealing arms?”

“He had huge debts. You can imagine with two women and one blackmailing you. Plus Ratko somehow found out about Alice’s involvement. He started blackmailing Albert. Those were the entries that Jake found in the ledger. Ratko had his men torch the study to burn the evidence. I’m guessing the evening of Albert’s demise Ratko had demanded more money, a lot more money. Albert didn’t have it. Ratko had slowly bled him to death, you might say.”

“Where is Alice? What will happen to her?” I asked.

“Alice is being held for questioning though she will probably get off. There are entries in Albert’s ledger that showed payments to someone, but he used a coding system, and we don’t know who. We might not have enough evidence to charge Alice.”

“Ratko was extorting Alice, too, because he said she wasn’t making payments.”

Hudson’s eyes lit up. “Thank you, Miss Marlowe. That is valuable information. We will follow up. You are a superb detective, and I heartily thank you for your valuable service to the cause.”

I smiled at the idea of being a superb detective. I felt more like the superb bumbler. I turned to Jake. “And you were nervous the night of the party because Alice was there and you knew who she was and you didn’t want any of her ears to hear what we were talking about.”

“Yes. That was the problem all along. You were good at figuring things out. I wanted you out of harm’s way, but I wanted you close to me, too.”

“There is irony in that,” I said. “And Cody?”

“He’s still on the loose,” Jake said.

“I guess that’s the end for me then. I’ll leave Cody in your capable hands. I have a plane ticket to Sydney, and I’m going to be on the flight.”

Jake exchanged looks with Hudson, who cleared his throat.

“Miss Marlowe, I’m terribly sorry, but I need to ask you for that ticket and the check that I believe you said you had. You see, that is evidence against Alice. We’ll need your statement as to what transpired in your conversation with her.”

There went that paid vacation. I searched in my purse and found the ticket and voucher and handed it to Hudson. I felt strangely defeated. The worse feeling was being a pawn in the game. “Let’s get to the paper work. I’ll be free to leave then, won’t I?”

“Yes, I believe so. Shall we step into the kitchen and have tea? Just like old times.” Hudson gave me that gallant little smile that always won me over.

“Why not? Tea is always so civilized.”

“Right this way,” he said with a gentlemanly flair of the hand.

We entered through the infamous back entrance where it seemed all the real intrigue with the family took place. I guess, though, that Hudson wasn’t part of the family as much as he was part of the intrigue.

* * * * *

Jake gave me a ride home in the Rolls Royce which was a nice touch since I had never ridden in one. The interior was all burled wood and tan leather. It had that wonderful old car smell, but I hardly could appreciate the luxury, I was so out of it. I had duly signed a statement that might keep Alice on the hook. I signed a statement that I was a witness to the happenings at the Lodge house that morning. My part in the whole woeful affair was over.

I didn’t feel like talking, and Jake didn’t either, so it was a glum ride. A ray of sun finally peaked through the miserable overcast that had dogged the day. The clouds were breaking up in the western sky. I took that as a good omen. Normal life as I knew it was returning.

“Drop me in front, please,” I said when we pulled in the circular drive to my building. The Rolls rolled to a stop at the main entrance. As I grabbed the door handle, Jake put his hand on my arm. “Fiona, don’t go like this. I’m sorry. I was trying to protect you. I didn’t want you hurt. The more I knew, the more I had to cover up to protect you.”

“You keep saying that. Why did you insist Hudson needed an alibi? That brought me back into danger.”

“I didn’t want you to leave. I was afraid I’d never see you again. Hudson decided at the last minute that you’d fit into the sting operation, that you and I were the perfect bait. We were the ones Ratko and his men were following. I figured if I stayed with you, I could protect you.”

I leaned back against the headrest. “Jake, I’m so exhausted I don’t know which end is up. It has been a nerve wracking twenty-four hours. You keep saying you were trying to protect me.” I looked into his big browns. “Frankly, my dear Jake, I don’t need any more of your protection.”

I opened the car door and with carry on and purse in hand walked inside my dear, familiar building to the elevator. On my floor I stumbled down the hall, rummaging in my purse for the keys which didn’t seem to be there. I stopped at my door ready to turn the darn purse upside down when I noticed the door wasn’t latched. Then I remembered. Cody had the keys.

I eased the door open, hoping I had an ounce of adrenalin left to flee, if need be. Maybe I had forgotten to latch it when we left. There was a funny smell in the air, like burned toast. The venetian blinds were closed. I always left them open. Someone had camped out in my beautiful condo. Step by step, I inched to the living room. Cody sat spread leg on the couch, the coffee table littered with beer bottles.

“Hello Fiona,” he said, slurring his words. “I need a little help.”

I started to laugh, and then I couldn’t stop. Tears ran down my face. I shook so hard with laughter I dropped my purse and carry on.

“Fiona, it’s not funny. I can’t find my wallet, and I need money. I don’t have a cent. You don’t seem to keep any cash around this place. I got guys on my tail. I’ve been waiting all night for you to come. I’ll leave as soon as you give me money to get out of here.”

I had lapsed into hysterical giggles. “Sorry,” I said between hiccups, “I don’t mean to laugh it’s just that. .” I got hysterical again.

Cody started yelling. “Stop it. Stop it right now.”

I heard the door open behind me and was afraid to turn around to see who else had joined the party.

“Excuse me,” Jake said, delicately moving me aside so he could get by. He yanked Cody off the couch before he could protest and gave him a resounding punch in the face. He went down in a drunken heap.

Jake stood looking down at Cody a moment then came over and pulled me into a big bear embrace. “Fiona, I keep saying you need me to protect you.”

“You’re right, Jake Manyhorses.”

Epilogue

Jake and I sat on the front porch of the old bunk house in Harney Valley, Oregon, watching a line of rigs stir up the dust on the ranch road to Opal’s house. Opal had hosted a come-one-come-all barbecue, the guests were leaving, and we were recovering.

Jake said, “I’m glad the Lodge family disaster is over.”

“Yes, it is. Let’s not think about the disaster. I want to think about decorating my bunkhouse and Opal’s house. That’s all I want to think about.”

“Right. Though, you know, I heard they found a guy down in the desert east of here. He was in an old rusted car, nothing but bones. The sheriff doesn’t know if it was murder or suicide.”

Really?” I said, trying to keep the excitement from my voice.

Jake started laughing.

I soon recovered my senses. “I’m not interested in the least.”

THE END

About the Author

Marjorie Thelen lives and writes novels outside a small town on the Oregon frontier. She enjoys writing stories that entertain her and, hopefully, her readers. If you would like to learn more about her books or to contact her, visit her web site: www.MarjorieThelen.com. She enjoys hearing from her readers. The second book in the Fiona Marlowe mystery series, High Desert Detective, is now available on Amazon.com.