“And be crazy,” Fawn muttered under her breath.
Eliot shot her a quelling look. “Don’t you have something to do?”
Fawn balked. “I’m standing behind the counter and waiting for customers. What else am I supposed to be doing?”
“I don’t know.” Eliot’s agitation was evident. “Go over there and do something, okay? I need to talk to Avery for a few minutes.” He pointed to the opposite side of the store. “In fact, why don’t you get the glass cleaner and go after the smudges on the cases? That seems like something that will keep you busy and benefit the store.”
“Fine.” Fawn shot me a hot-tempered look. “I’ll clean the cases because I want the store to be a success. I’m always on your side.”
“Even though she would prefer to be under you,” I grumbled.
Eliot slid me a look. “Are you jealous?”
“That’s an ugly word.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“If I say yes, will you fire her?”
“I’ve been considering firing her for a month,” Eliot admitted, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Fawn wasn’t eavesdropping. “I thought after my first warning that she would back off but she seems dedicated to going after you. I have no idea why she can’t let it go.”
“Believe it or not, I have that effect on a lot of women … and men … and small dogs. I can derange people faster than most women can brush their hair.”
“Yes, you’re gifted.” Eliot surprised me when he planted a quick kiss on my forehead. “What else did you and Lauren talk about? Did she ask what the nature of your relationship with Jake was?”
The question caught me off guard. “Maybe a little,” I hedged. “How did you know that?”
“Because it’s a natural question. You and Jake have a fiery relationship. It takes some getting used to. It’s one of the reasons Cara fell off the rails so quickly. She was unable to wrap her head around the fact that you guys could interact the way you do and not sleep together.”
“I think Cara had bigger problems than that,” I said. “She was crazy in a multitude of ways.”
“She was, but it was your relationship with Jake that pushed her over the edge. She couldn’t get past it.”
“Well, I hope that’s not the case with Lauren.” I opted to be hopeful. “She says she likes Jake and she thinks I’m a genius and wants to be friends.”
Eliot snorted. “She didn’t call you a genius.”
“She could’ve called me a genius.”
“But she didn’t.” Eliot ran his hand over my back. “I happen to think you’re a genius, though.”
“You’re the only one. Now that Jake told me about Mary leaving office – and why – I can’t help but wonder what I overlooked. I was certain it was her and she was trying to help Aiken. I guess I was wrong, though. I missed something.”
“You did miss something,” Eliot agreed. “You would’ve realized you missed it eventually, though. That’s why I decided to run the search before you remembered. I want you to reward me as if I’m a genius, too.”
I knit my eyebrows. “What did I forget that you remembered?”
“There were two cars in that parking lot with political stickers.”
“Oh.” I brightened. “You ran the second car. Who does it belong to?”
“Marlena Newman.”
I ran the name through my head. “I don’t recognize that name.”
“According to the county’s hiring records – which are available online – she joined the clerk’s office six months ago.”
“That was right around when all the jockeying started for the county commission seat,” I mused. “Actually, it was a little before then.”
“It was before anyone filed for the special election,” Eliot confirmed. “It was not before the political jockeying started, though. Out of curiosity, I searched to see when your four main candidates started their election websites.”
“You can do that?”
“It’s actually easy to look up domain registrations. Do you know what’s most interesting about the dates?”
“What?”
“Aiken and Justice filed for their domains a full six weeks before anyone else.”
“Coincidence?”
“Or they knew that the seat was going to be open before anyone else.”
“Hmm.” I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. “There could’ve been rumors throughout the commission. They’re all up in each other’s business. If Justice and Aiken have friends on the board, they could’ve heard that way.”
“They definitely could,” Eliot said. “I ran Marlena Newman through my search engine, by the way. She seems clean but does have one rather interesting relative.”
The way he was dragging things out told me I was about to fall in love with him all over again. “Who?”
“What will you give me for the answer?” Eliot’s grin was sly. “I’m thinking an hour-long massage should be part of the package.”
Oh, now he was playing dirty. “If you want to give me a massage, I’m fine with that. You don’t have to ask … or negotiate.”
“Ha, ha. I mean you have to massage me.”
Crap. I figured that was what he was getting at. I didn’t have a lot of options – or time, though – so I couldn’t put up a fight. “Fine. I’ll rub lotion all over you while you’re naked if you tell me.”
Fawn just happened to be walking out of the supply room when I uttered the statement and she scowled. “Is that appropriate talk for a business environment?”
“Clean the cases,” Eliot ordered, pointing. He never moved his eyes from my face. “Shake on it.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Not if you can get out of something you don’t want to do.”
“Fine.” I heaved out a sigh and grasped his hand. “I’ll give you a massage if you tell me what you found.”
“I think you’re going to like it.” Eliot grinned. “It seems Marlena Newman is also Elizabeth Justice’s first cousin.”
And just like that I was back in the game. I grabbed the sides of Eliot’s face and planted a huge kiss on him. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
“I thought you would like it.”
“Now I need to figure out how to use it.”
“I think you should use it somewhere else,” Fawn suggested. “That information won’t do you any good here.”
Eliot slanted a slit-eyed glare in her direction. “I think it’s time for you and me to have another talk.”
Fawn balked. “What? I didn’t say anything. I’m being good.”
I left them to their potential fight and focused on the new information. Exactly what did that mean given the way the pieces were spread across the board?
26 Twenty-Six
I paced Eliot’s shop until I drove Fawn crazy.
That was fun.
I continued pacing even after that, my mind going in a hundred different directions. That drove Eliot crazy.
“Do you want me to wrestle you down to get you to stop moving?” he threatened.
That sounded mildly fun, but I didn’t have time.
After an hour of pacing I was starting to drive myself crazy.
That definitely wasn’t fun.
“I’m going to walk around the festival,” I announced, moving toward the door.
Eliot lifted his gaze from the computer screen. “Wait a second.”
“I can’t stay here,” I argued. “I’m driving you nuts.”
“You’ve got that right,” Fawn muttered. She’d finished cleaning the display cabinets and spent the previous ten minutes glaring at me, my every move a form of agitation. I would’ve kept pacing for that reason alone, but I needed air. I was close but needed to think, and the only thing I could think of was confronting Marlena Newman.
“That doesn’t mean I want you wandering around and poking people with a sharp stick,” Eliot said. “All of those candidates will be r
unning around the festival. This is their last chance to mix with voters.”
“I know.”
“So what are you going to do when you find one of them?”
“Good question.” I dragged a hand through my hair. “I’ve given it some thought. If I find Rayne I’ll ignore him. He’s running a distant fourth and I don’t think he has anything to do with this. He’s too boring.”
“That could be a front.”
“It could be, but I have to go with my gut. I’m almost out of time.”
“Fair enough. What if you run into Justice?”
“Ask her about her cousin.”
“Why not just track down the cousin?”
“I’m considering that, but Mary won’t be thrilled if I head into the clerk’s office again. I hope I can find the cousin once the department shuts down. I hear it’s happening at two today because everyone is staying late tomorrow for the election. I will only have to burn an hour.”
“How do you know what she looks like?”
“They have photos of all the employees on the clerk’s website. I looked when you were in the bathroom.”
Eliot made a face. “And then you left gay porn on my computer screen to mess with me.”
I smirked. “I kept waiting for you to say something, but you didn’t. I have to wonder if that’s because there’s often gay porn on your computer and you didn’t notice or if something else is going on.”
“No, I simply knew engaging you would be the same thing as letting you win,” Eliot argued. “I don’t want that.”
“Of course not.” I rolled my neck. “I considered putting up some Brony porn but I thought that would be pushing it too far.”
Eliot wrinkled his nose. “What’s Brony porn?”
“It’s … .”
“Grown men who dress up like My Little Pony horses and wear shirts and glitter and stuff,” Fawn supplied.
Eliot’s eyebrows winged up. “Is that a real thing?”
I grinned. “Now aren’t you glad it was just gay porn?”
“You have no idea.” Eliot’s gaze was weighted when it snagged mine. “What are you going to do if you run into Aiken?”
“Ask him how he feels the debate went the other night.”
“And when he wants to strangle you, what are you going to do then?”
“He’s older. I can take him.”
“Avery … .”
“Eliot.” I cut him off with a firm headshake. “I agreed to let you drive me around because you were worried about what happened last night. I didn’t agree to let you babysit me for the entire day.”
I gestured toward the window. “It’s sunny. It’s hot. The streets are packed. No one is going to attack me out in the open like this.” I didn’t add that I was convinced none of the candidates were stupid enough to attack me no matter what. “What happened last night could have been a coincidence.”
“Neither of us believes that,” Eliot snapped. “That was on purpose.”
“What was on purpose?” Fawn didn’t bother to hide her curiosity. “What happened last night?”
“Someone followed Avery on the freeway and tailgated her,” Eliot replied. “It was an intimidation move.”
“It clearly didn’t work.”
“That’s because Avery’s head is harder than the pavement whoever was driving that truck would have slammed it against if he got the chance,” Eliot barked.
“What are you afraid of?” I challenged, my temper getting the best of me.
“I should think that’s rather obvious,” Eliot replied. “But because you need to hear it, I’m afraid you’re going to get in over your head.”
“This is hardly the first time you’ve thought that.”
“No,” Eliot agreed, “but that doesn’t mean I like it. I’m afraid you’re going to push someone so far that when he or she pushes back you might not be okay.”
I was annoyed, but he was so earnest I couldn’t maintain my anger. “I’ll be fine. I’m always fine. That’s one of the reasons you like me … I’m a survivor.”
“You are.” Eliot’s expression was hard to read. “Do you promise not to get on the road and go anywhere alone, especially a place someone could follow and attack you?”
“Yes. I promise.”
“Great.” Eliot scooped back his hair. “Well, come here and give me a kiss.”
“Why can’t you come here and give me a kiss?”
“You would argue with a nun just to be right,” Eliot growled.
I smiled as I sauntered up to him, rolling to my toes and planting a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “There. That was a compromise, right? You drove me to work and now you’re letting me wreak havoc on the election without babysitting me. I came to you for the kiss, thus giving you the power position. It’s balance.”
“It’s nowhere near balance,” Eliot shot back. “If things were balanced you’d be suffering from a potential ulcer, too.”
“I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing. Even if I completely infuriate whoever stole the money – and it’s looking as if Justice is the main suspect – that doesn’t mean that he or she will physically attack me. Threaten? Sure. Attack? I don’t see it happening.”
“Yes, but you only see what you want to see at times,” Eliot argued. “You have a way of looking at the world that is … unbelievably narrow.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“You see some things better than most. Other things, you only see what you want to see. I want this to be a time when you see better than most.”
“I’ll be careful,” I stressed. “I won’t do anything stupid or put myself in a position where I could get hurt. You have to trust me. You can’t watch me every second of every day.”
“No, because that would drive us both crazy.” Eliot smacked a loud kiss against my lips. “Be good. If you run into any trouble, text me.”
“I will. It’ll be fine, though. Trust me.”
“Yeah. I still have that bail money if you need it.”
“Good to know.”
I PLANTED MYSELF IN front of the municipal parking lot to watch for candidates. Most of downtown driving was cut off, but the county employees had a parking lot of their own. I knew what Marlena looked like, so I constantly checked in case she exited the building. Otherwise I simply watched the crowd.
I’d just about given up on a candidate stumbling across me when Tad appeared on the edge of the carnival area. I thought he was going to walk right into my open arms, but he saw me at the last second and veered into the crowd. I considered giving chase – it might be fun to watch Tad bob and weave as he tried to avoid me – but I didn’t want to risk missing Marlena. Ultimately that turned out to be a good idea, because that’s where Elizabeth Justice found me shortly before the clerk’s office was about to close.
“What are you doing here?” Justice pulled up short.
Since it was halfway through the afternoon and I was seriously pressed for time, I decided to push Justice to see if any gossipy tidbits would jar loose. If that didn’t work, I planned to hit her like a piñata in an effort to dislodge the truth.
“I’m waiting for your cousin.”
Justice did a double take that was so exaggerated it was straight out of a bad sitcom. “Excuse me?”
“Your cousin,” I repeated. “Marlena Newman. She works for the clerk’s office. I have a few questions for her.”
Justice was instantly suspicious. “And what kind of questions would those be?”
“Well, for starters, I want to ask if she’s the clerk hiding campaign finance reports.” I saw no reason to hold back. “Someone is and she’s as good a suspect as anyone. I mean … she is your cousin. You already had your daughter working for Tad, so it’s not a stretch to think you might ask your cousin for favors.”
Justice balked. “Excuse me? Are you accusing me of hiding campaign funds? How is that even possible?”
“Well, someone – and I’m not saying you, but someone
– has been turning over documents so they can’t get nailed by the authorities but they’re somehow not making it onto the website, which is a direct violation of campaign finance laws. That means someone in the office is scanning the documents to keep the candidate safe, but then hiding them so the public is unaware exactly how much the candidate is taking in.”
I searched Justice’s face for a reaction and found her to be genuinely flummoxed.
“You’re kidding.” I could practically see the gears working in her head. “It’s Ludington, isn’t it? I always knew he was a mistake.”
“Actually, Tad uncovered the financial shenanigans,” I supplied. “It turns out he was keeping files on all of his opponents, and one of you is the rule breaker.”
“One of us, but … you don’t know which one, do you?” Justice’s eyebrows drew together. “You know someone did something, but you’re not sure who. You’ve ruled out Ludington, which means you’re focusing on Aiken, Rayne and me.”
I wasn’t thrilled with her reaction. If she were the guilty party she would’ve made a big show of declaring herself innocent. Instead she was merely interested in nailing her opponents. Crap! “It’s not you, is it?”
“It’s not, no.” Justice tilted her head to the side. “I can see why you’d assume that. Honor and I had a long talk this afternoon, and she informed me what happened at Ludington’s office.”
Uh-oh. Justice didn’t look happy. In fact, she reminded me of a mother bear about ready to strike. I held up my hand to still her. “Before you go all … grizzly mama or whatever you’re envisioning … you should know that I’m not going to apologize for what happened. Your daughter is the one who did wrong here, not me. For once – and I rarely get to say anything of the sort – I’m completely innocent.”
Justice snorted. “Don’t play me. We both know you were looking for dirt on me. That’s the only reason you stumbled over Honor’s ties to me. You wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise.”
And people say my ego is big. “Don’t flatter yourself,” I shot back. “I only ran Honor because she seemed slightly off to me. She worked for Tad, but didn’t put up a fight about the sexual harassment. She was forthcoming enough for me to realize that was out of character for her. I don’t care how much she wanted the grade, she wouldn’t have put up with Tad’s crap unless she had a reason.
Extra! Extra! Dead All About It (An Avery Shaw Mystery Book 12) Page 25
