A Family of Strangers

by Emilie Richards

  “Kim knows I wouldn’t do that to her.”

  For the first time I heard warmth in Jonah’s voice. He’d nearly stumbled over “her.”

  “You like her, don’t you?” I didn’t expect an answer. “Maybe more than like.”

  “Where were you going to send everything?” Teo asked.

  “Someplace north of here.”

  I was pretty sure I knew even more. “Cross City?”

  He looked surprised. “So?”

  Risk-Free Remailer seemed to be doing a booming business. I plowed on. “Jonah, that’s your name, right? Jonah Greer? Since you never got inside, you couldn’t send anything to Kim in...Cross City. What does she say about that? Is she still waiting?”

  While I didn’t think Jonah was the brightest star in the Milky Way, he had proved he wasn’t stupid. He could see that Teo and Bismarck weren’t kidding.

  “I don’t know,” he said. And he looked like he meant it.

  “How come? You haven’t told her?”

  “No.”

  “Her phone’s not working, right?”

  He shrugged, which meant yes.

  “Hasn’t she tried to call you?”

  “She might have.”

  “What does that mean?” Teo asked.

  “I got a couple of calls from a blocked number. Maybe it’s her. I don’t know.”

  “But you didn’t answer?”

  He almost looked sheepish, and I understood why. “You don’t want to tell her you failed, do you? Nobody likes failing somebody who means something to them. Plus Kim has a temper. She wouldn’t be happy. So you were hoping you could find a way to be successful after all.”

  “Like I would say that.”

  I smiled a little. “I know Kim pretty well. And I know that guys like her a lot. I think you like her. A lot. And you want her to think well of you.”

  He just stared at me, or almost stared. Every once in a while his gaze darted back to Bismarck.

  “Did you two have a thing going?” Teo asked. “Maybe you’re hoping for more? Like, I don’t know, ending up together?”

  “Kim’s a party girl. You think I don’t know that?”

  I made a guess, and not a wild one. “So you were just one of the guys she slept with. There were others like, you know, Craig Leone, but you hoped for better from her.”

  “None of your business.”

  As if on cue, Bismarck growled.

  This time Jonah didn’t flinch. “You got nothing on me. I was doing a homeowner a favor, that’s all. You go to the cops again, and I’ll tell them I was just coming back around the house that day after trying to use the house key she gave me, and you startled me. That’s all. I took off because you started to scream. That’s it. Nothing happened.”

  “I’m sure Kim will back you up.” I laid a finger on my cheek. “Oh, wait. She’s not answering her phone. And she’s going to be pretty upset you failed. She might not be the best alibi.”

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Want my dog to drag you to your truck?” Teo asked.

  “Give us the combination,” I said. “That’s it. You give us that, and I won’t tell the sheriff I found you. I won’t even tell Kim you gave it to me. Although, you know what? If I were you, I really wouldn’t answer calls from blocked numbers for a while. Because she’s going to be pissed when she doesn’t get her stuff. And when she is pissed...” I shook my head. “She is no fun at all.”

  He could curse, our Jonah. He could make a career out of it. When he finished I was still standing, and he was shouting. “Who are you anyway?”

  “The woman who’s going to call the sheriff if you don’t give me that combination.” I inclined my head toward Teo. “And this is the guy who just heard your story and will back me up if you try to come after me.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and waved it in his direction.

  “Four numbers, and they’d better be right,” Teo said.

  “6-6-8-6!”

  Noelle was six and Holly was eight, so it was possible these were familiar numbers Wendy could remember.

  “Did you come up with that, or did she?” I asked.

  “Her. And now, I’m going.”

  He didn’t hold any of the cards, but Teo nodded and called Bismarck to his side. “Walk away nicely,” he told Jonah.

  A minute later the Carrillon Roofing truck peeled away from the curb and sped down the street.

  I waited until it was out of sight. “Think that will be the last we see of him?”

  “He knows we’re going to open the safe and get whatever’s inside, so his reason to break in is gone. Set your security alarm at night, but I think he’s out of the picture.”

  Since Teo was still standing beside me, I reached for his hand. “Thank you.” I squeezed it.

  “Bismarck was the hero.”

  I stooped and rubbed behind the dog’s ears. “You can live with me forever, boy. Just so you know. Don’t tell Teo.”

  “What’s next?” Teo asked.

  I straightened and met his eyes. “A good cry?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Mentioning the other guys Wendy slept with didn’t faze him. He sure didn’t try to defend her honor. Now do we know the reason Bryce wants a divorce?”

  “Maybe. Although if she came back to Florida after he initiated proceedings...”

  “That means she was probably cheating on him in Connecticut, too. Bryce said she had other plans for her life. Those were his words. Apparently the plans included sleeping with scuzbags.”

  I gave a sigh meant to cleanse my body of poisonous thoughts, but, of course, out they spewed anyway. “She was sneaking off to Against the Wind while she was living here. That’s a fact now. Who was taking care of the girls when she did?”

  “Hopefully somebody.”

  That left so much room for possibilities, I could only sigh again. “Or something. Like a medicine chest full of drugs.” I thought of poor Holly, falling asleep at her desk, of the many teacher conferences Wendy had avoided, of Holly’s antipathy toward her mother.

  “She can’t have them back,” I said. “I won’t let her.”

  Teo didn’t argue. “Let’s go back to your place and open the safe.”

  “You’ll come? This isn’t your mess.”

  “You’re planning to steal my dog. I have to stay alert.” He put his arm around me and squeezed. “One step at a time. If you have to, you can tell the girls’ father what you’ve learned and let him take it from there. Will he want custody?”

  I really didn’t know. Bryce couldn’t take care of two young children and play with nukes, too. Of course there was also the matter of his security clearance.

  Teo was right. Getting too far ahead of myself served no good purpose. I started toward my car. “One step at a time.”

  By the time I opened the garage and drove inside, I was no more ready to open the safe than I had been. Teo parked in the driveway and followed me, closing the garage door and locking the one into the house behind him.

  Without a word I walked to the kitchen and threw open the louvered doors. “I think we should do this now. I promised my mom I’d pick up the girls before dinner. She and Dad have a party. His first outside social engagement since the surgery. It’s local, nothing too strenuous... I’m babbling.”

  “Yep, you are.”

  “I hate this.”

  “Of course you do.”

  He stepped aside and let me do the honors. I punched in the numbers Jonah had given us: 6-6-8-6. Part of me hoped he had made them up, although that would have meant another confrontation. As it turned out, though, Jonah had told the truth. I wondered how often that happened.

  I swung open the door. A handgun swung with it, hanging from a built-in holster. I was struggling to see things as they were. At the same t
ime, I wasn’t going to tar and feather my sister unnecessarily. “Lots of homeowners keep guns,” I said. “I have one in my glove compartment right now.”

  “What?”

  I turned. “You should understand why I keep a gun better than anybody else.”

  “Do you know how to use it?”

  “What do you think, I carry it around as a souvenir?”

  “Are you a good shot?”

  “Good enough.” I stepped aside and motioned for him to take it. Teo took down the holster and pulled out the gun. “You don’t need two, do you?”

  I shook my head.

  He checked to be sure the safety was on, then he examined it. “SIG Sauer, a nice little gun. Single action. Six rounds.” He removed the magazine, racked the slide and ejected the cartridge. Then he held the gun up to the light and checked to be sure it was empty before he set everything on the washer. “It was fully loaded and ready to go. At least your sister kept this where your nieces couldn’t get to it.”

  “Do you think Jonah was supposed to mail the gun with whatever else?”

  “More likely he was supposed to keep the gun.”

  He was probably right. Wherever she was, if Wendy needed one, getting one was easy enough. With the gun no longer a threat, I reached into the safe and pulled out an envelope of cash, which, at a glance, looked to be around $200. Jonah’s price tag was high. I handed it to Teo and pulled out passports, Wendy’s and one for each daughter. For a moment I thought I was finished, but at the bottom, behind the ledge, I felt something smaller. Although it hadn’t immediately been visible, the safe contained a flash drive.

  I backed out and held it up.

  Teo looked interested. “The possibilities there are enormous.”

  I slipped it into my pocket. “If I can’t figure out how to download this, my friend Glenn can. I can overnight it to him.”

  “The passports may be just as interesting. Especially your sister’s.”

  “Was she thinking about taking off somewhere with the girls? To prevent Bryce from having them?”

  “Does Wendy seem like someone who would work that hard for sole custody?”

  “Bryce told me her plans for the girls were negotiable.”

  “Check her passport stamps. Let’s see where she’s gone.”

  I’d thought of that, too. Whatever information the flash drive held would take time to discover. But the passport was in my hand.

  It looked fairly new. I opened it and flipped past the first page to see Wendy’s photo staring back at me. Unlike most, the photo was a good one. She looked every inch the sophisticated naval officer’s wife.

  I thumbed through to the final pages for a record of the countries where she had traveled. A few months ago she had been to Jamaica to visit one of Gracey Group’s resorts. My mother had kept the girls for a week, and Mom had sounded wrung out afterward. As expected, I found a Jamaican stamp.

  What I hadn’t expected were the two right before it. Brazil. Both entry and exit stamps, on pages opposite Brazilian visas. Not only had my sister been to Brazil, she had been twice, one year apart, once for a week, another for two.

  As I held the passport up for Teo to see, he watched my expression. “What are the chances Wendy’s trips to Brazil had nothing to do with Vítor Calvo’s death?” I asked.

  “There are still an awful lot of unknowns.”

  He was being kind. We were no longer proceeding one step at a time. I felt as if I’d just been dropped miles into enemy territory.

  I closed the passport and picked up the ones belonging to my nieces. I thumbed through and found nothing of interest. “I’ll put these somewhere safe.” I paused. “Somewhere Wendy and friends can’t get to them if they come looking.”

  “What’s next?”

  “I have to pick up Holly and Noelle, but the next time I get Mom alone, I’ll ask if she knows about the trips to Brazil.”

  “Why don’t I come with you? We’ll take the girls out to dinner. Then maybe drive around and look at the lights.”

  “Everything is such a mess! Why are you willing to be part of all this? Didn’t I mess up your life enough the first time?”

  “Apparently I’m a sucker for punishment. Or you. Can’t tell which.”

  I couldn’t look at him. “Does it matter? They seem to be inextricably linked.”

  He reached around me, closed the safe and pocketed the gun and ammunition. “Life was pretty dull until you came back into it.”

  “Teo, you told me you liked dull. You sat right here on my porch today and said that.”

  He put his arm around me and guided me toward the door. “You, of all people, shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  One more thing I had learned about lies? They have a shelf life. You can plump them up with more of the same, smile when you utter them, insist all is well, but only for so long. At some point, lies expire.

  I knew this from firsthand experience. A week had passed since Teo and I had opened the safe. I’d just spent most of the day with my parents, who had royally entertained my nieces and the little girls in their classes at a joint birthday party, and the expiration date on the lies I’d told them was about to come due.

  Luckily, with some people I could tell the truth and nothing but, and I was with one of them now.

  Teo pulled his SUV into my driveway, and turned off the engine. “You have two sleepy little girls here. I think you’ll need some help getting them inside.”

  I peeked behind me and neither girl looked all that sleepy to me, but I was delighted to have an excuse to invite him in. “I’ll handle them if you handle all the presents.”

  Both Holly and Noelle had birthdays during the week before Christmas, and a celebration had been in order. All afternoon my parents’ quiet lanai had rivaled a college football game for noise. From a comfortable patio chair at poolside, I’d watched overly chlorinated water churn like waves in a tropical storm as two dozen little girls swam for balloons filled with trinkets. Teo had been kind enough to keep me company.

  “Finding places for everything is going to be a challenge,” I said.

  “Mommy doesn’t like our room to be messy.” Noelle, who still believed her mother was coming home soon, sounded worried.

  I waited for the inevitable, which was Holly telling Noelle to be quiet—or worse. But Holly seemed less worried these days, and while she still refused to talk about her mother, she was less apt to force silence on her sister, too.

  “We’ll make sure we keep everything neat.” Fully awake now, both girls unbuckled their seat belts and scampered to the front door clutching some of their favorite new treasures.

  “Forget what I said about sleepy. Looks like you have some night ahead of you,” Teo said, stepping down from the driver’s seat to join me.

  “Stay. We can get them in bed after they calm down, and the rest of the evening might be ours...” I flashed my dimples and stopped just shy of wiggling my eyebrows.

  “You think you’ll get them in bed anytime soon?”

  All right, it was doubtful. The birthday party had started with caterers flipping sliders and hot dogs on my parents’ outdoor grill. After lunch and before the mermaid birthday cake, a pack of poodles wearing silly bathing suits had arrived to entertain. Finally, each of the two dozen guests had gone home with a sand pail painted with her name containing a colorful beach towel, rhinestone flip-flops and a blow-up beach ball that read “Thank you for coming to my birthday party.”

  Both Holly and Noelle had been too excited to be sad that their parents weren’t there. My overachieving mother had known exactly how to manage their special day.

  Unfortunately, she’d left tonight in my incapable hands. Now I pretended I knew all about children. “I’m going to wrestle them into pajamas, and they’ll go right to sleep.” I
linked my arm with his. “But really, I’ll understand if you want to leave.” I grasped his arm tighter, so moving would be a challenge. “You already went above and beyond the call of duty.”

  “I might have enjoyed a moment or two.”

  He had loved the whole thing, laughing and dodging water balloons, even pretending to be a pirate when one brave little girl asked about his leg. He was a natural, an experienced uncle, and sometimes, at heart, a kid himself.

  I pulled out all the stops. “You might enjoy a moment or two of the upcoming evening, too. Besides, there’s a dog inside who’s dying to see you.”

  “Maybe I’ll come in for a little while.”

  Successful, I disentangled myself and went to open the back of the car. “I’ll get an armload.”

  Weighed down like a pack mule with board games, a fancy spa set, a fairy garden and two American Girl paperbacks, I made it to the front door, noting the predictable demise of TropiSanta, once again a sad vinyl puddle. “Key’s in my front pocket,” I told Holly.

  She fished it out and eventually all of us, plus the loot, made it inside. The girls divided the spoils and started hauling them upstairs. I turned on schmaltzy Christmas carols and flipped a switch in the great room so the tree lights sparkled.

  After another trip to plug in the outdoors lights, I noted Teo conferring with Holly at the head of the stairs. “Coffee or something stronger?” I asked.

  “How about both?”

  “Done.” At the well-stocked liquor shelf, I pulled out Irish whiskey. Then I selected dark roast pods and started the coffee maker.

  Since the afternoon we’d confronted Jonah Greer, Teo and I hadn’t seen much of each other, although he’d made it clear that when I needed him, he’d be available. He’d been letting me know that this was my life, and he wasn’t going to interfere. And he was letting me come to terms with Wendy’s life in my own way.

  Between the girls and the holidays, I’d spent whatever hours were left researching Out in the Cold’s next podcast. Sophie and I had taken several trips north to interview principals involved in the new case. We’d also done on-site records searches, and snapped hundreds of photos of buildings and settings relevant to the story. We were on our way, but, of course, not fast enough.