Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot

by Sarah Osborne

  “Sure,” I yelled back. I looked at the menagerie in front of me. “I think we might give Tommy a heart attack.” I looked at Lurleen and Dan. “Maybe you two can get yourselves ready for the day. Feel free to use the shower in the kids’ room. And Lucie and Jason, would you mind playing with Hermione and Majestic in the den? I’ll call you when it’s time to leave.”

  When everyone cleared out, I sat with Mason at the kitchen table waiting for the Keurig to do its thing. Tommy joined us there, grabbed the cup I handed him, and drank it down. He looked a lot better.

  “Sorry I was so uptight,” he said.

  “What did happen to you last night?” I asked.

  “Somebody thought I was being too loud, boasting about my big win. That’s all. What about you?”

  Mason stepped in. “She was attacked by someone called Mark, a valet here. He held a gun on her and demanded she give him something. He said he knew you.”

  “Mark? A valet here? I don’t hang out with valets.”

  “His real name is Charlie Flack. Know him?”

  I swear I saw Tommy flinch, but he immediately recovered. “No. I don’t know anyone named Mark or Charlie Flack. You okay? Did he hurt you?”

  “No,” I said. “I’m perfectly fine. But we can’t stay here. Mason’s found us another place to stay.”

  “Where?”

  “It’s a ways from here,” Mason said. “Your sister will be safe and protected.”

  “What? You can’t tell me where you’re going? What if I want to check on you, make sure you’re okay?”

  “You know my cell number, Tommy,” I said. “Besides, I think I’m always the one calling you. I’ll keep you informed if you want that.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Tommy seemed jumpy to me. Maybe it was too much alcohol and too little sleep.

  “You all right?” I asked him.

  “Yeah, of course.”

  I called the kids in to say goodbye. I thanked Tommy for letting us stay there. It took three trips to get everything packed in the three cars we had—Mason’s, Dan’s, and Lurleen’s.

  “Maybe,” I said, when Mason and I were alone in his car, “Charlie Flack traced us to the condo and waited for me without anyone else knowing about him.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “But it doesn’t explain how he knew your brother’s name, knew enough about him to claim to be his friend.”

  “Lots of people know about Tommy. The more press he gets for a case, the better he likes it.” I said that more to reassure myself than to convince Mason. I don’t think I convinced either one of us.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The kids squeezed into the back seat of Mason’s Jaguar along with Hermione. I held on to Majestic. He was indignant about the idea of more traveling and howled when I tried to put him in his traveling cage. Lurleen followed us in her Citroën. Dan brought up the rear, the back seat of his Honda piled high with the rest of the stuff. When we arrived at Mason’s house, his mother stood on the front porch, an apron tied around her tiny waist. She was about my height, maybe five one, with short silver hair and a grin that was as warm as Mason’s. She waved a hand in a hot mitt at us. This was a woman I was going to like.

  She gave us time to get out of the cars and come up the steps before she greeted us. Something else I liked. She wasn’t going to smother the kids with goodwill or overwhelm us with questions. She took off her mitt, shook my hand, and then hugged me. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” she whispered in my ear. “All good.”

  She knelt down to greet Lucie and Jason, shook each of their hands, and then said hello to Hermione and Majestic. Hermione, tail wagging, smiled in that winning way of hers and ventured inside the opened door. Majestic allowed Mrs. Garrett to pet him and then began to purr. Anyone who could win over Majestic on an initial meeting was a person to be reckoned with.

  “Let me help,” she said to Dan and Lurleen as they climbed the stairs, their arms full of bags.

  “No, we’ve got it, Mrs. Garrett,” Dan said. “Nice to see you again. This is Lurleen du Trois. She’ll be staying here as well if you have the room.” He glanced at Mason. “Shouldn’t be more than a few days.”

  Mason nodded.

  “Of course,” Mrs. Garrett said. “I’m delighted for the company and I’m pleased to meet you.” She gave Lurleen a quick hug. “Call me Eddie. Everyone does. I’m not sure why Dan is being so formal. He practically lives here. Another son really.”

  “Eddie?” asked Lurleen.

  “Short for Edwina, but if you call me that I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

  “Ooh la la, a woman with spirit,” Lurleen said. “I feel safe already.”

  “You are safe here,” Eddie said. “No one will get in or out of this house without our knowledge. We’re a cop family.”

  Lucie stood near the door. “Does that mean we have to stay inside, Mrs. Garrett? I mean all the time?”

  “Call me Eddie, sweetheart. Of course not. We’ll be outside as much as you want. It’s just that an adult will have to be with you. Are you okay with that? I know you are very independent. Can you live with those rules?”

  “I can,” Lucie said. “But I don’t know about Jason.” She nodded in his direction. He was already exploring the front yard, eyeing a large magnolia.

  “I know about boys,” Eddie said. “Jason and I will get along fine.” She walked over to Jason and the tree. “You can climb it as long as one of us is watching. Deal?” She held her hand up.

  “Deal,” Jason said, giving her a high five.

  Lucie and I looked at each other. It was going to take more than one adult, even an ex-cop, to keep an eye on Jason. I glanced around the front yard. It was fenced. Hermione could hang with Jason, and while she might not be the bravest dog in the world, she’d have the good sense to bark if a stranger entered the yard. At least I hoped she would.

  I thought the inside of the house might remind me of my childhood home, but it didn’t. In Iowa, our farmhouse was adequate but spare. Nothing unnecessary. This home was magnificent. A wide porch circled the front half of the house. Old rockers were strategically placed as if this were an inviting bed-and-breakfast. I guess for us it was. Inside were large square rooms off to each side, circa 1900, with a mahogany staircase rising from the middle of the foyer. High ceilings. Not exactly what I would call a farmhouse. I couldn’t wait to see the kitchen.

  Eddie read my mind. “Come on, my dear. Mason told me what a master cook you are. Let me show you what we have to offer.”

  Lucie took my hand. Shyly she reached out for Mason’s. He squeezed it and walked with us. Hermione could smell bacon and trotted ahead of us toward the kitchen. Majestic had disappeared, no doubt investigating his new home.

  No worries about Jason for the moment. He was helping Dan carry in the bags from the car. While Dan led the way to the second-floor bedrooms, Lurleen swished up behind as if she were Scarlett O’Hara, or whatever the French equivalent of that might be.

  The kitchen had a fireplace at one end, a large country table, and industrial-sized appliances. Two loaves of freshly baked bread stood cooling on a marble counter and strips of bacon were draining on paper towels beside a six-burner stove. I was in heaven.

  Eddie watched me and beamed. “I thought you’d like this. The kitchen is yours any time you want to use it, which I hope will be often.”

  “She may not look like it,” Mason said, “but my mom has the appetite of a truck driver. She’s been drooling in anticipation of your visit. And now that you’ll be living here, she’s beside herself.”

  “I am,” Eddie said. “With two boys, I never got the opportunity to share recipes with anyone. Now I can do that with you.”

  “And with Lucie.” I looked over at her. She was rubbing her hand over the marble counter top and eyeing the bread. “She is already a good cook but with both of us to help her she’s g
oing to become the best chef in Fulton County.”

  Eddie grabbed a spare apron from a drawer and wrapped the tie twice around Lucie’s waist. “Want to help me with breakfast? I have a new pancake recipe to test out on this crew.”

  Lucie glanced at me. “Can I?”

  “Be my guest. I’m happy to help as well.”

  “No, no. You have enough to do to get settled in,” Eddie said. “Mason will show you the bedrooms. Lucie, wash your hands and then grab some milk and blueberries from the fridge. We’ll get started before everyone faints from hunger.”

  Mason took me by the arm and led me upstairs. Four large rooms surrounded the upstairs landing. He showed me the first one, where my suitcase was waiting to be unpacked. “The kids have the room next to yours. Lurleen is across the hall and Mom’s room is next to hers. Dan and I will sleep downstairs in the den and a guest room off the kitchen. We’ll be able to keep an eye on things.”

  “Am I kicking you out of your room?” I asked.

  Mason gave me a funny look. “I haven’t lived here for years. I have a condo in midtown. When all of this gets cleared up, I’ll show it to you.”

  “Your mom mentioned a brother. I didn’t know you had a sibling.”

  “I had a brother. He died a long time ago.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  Mason left the room and knocked on the door next to mine before I could ask anything more. I joined him and together we entered what was to be the kids’ room. Jason was climbing over Dan on the huge bed, giggling when Dan tried to tickle him. Lurleen was sitting in a chair, her short skirt revealing one of her best features—her long, shapely legs.

  “You know,” she said sweetly, “this house reminds me of a chateau owned by my great-aunt Therese.” Lurleen had never mentioned a great-aunt Therese before or a chateau, but I let it pass. “I’m going to be very comfortable here, dreaming of my summer vacations in the south of France.”

  “I’m glad,” Mason said. He led me to the large windows in the bedroom that looked out on the backyard. “Let’s walk out back.” He took my arm and we headed downstairs.

  The backyard was half an acre with apple trees near a six-foot fence at the back. Mason showed me the outdoor potting shed, padlocked, the lights on the back of the house that would illuminate the yard. “We have an alarm system, but with all of us roaming around at night I might be reluctant to use it.”

  “You think someone will come after us?” I said.

  “I think it’s possible. Whoever is behind this believes you have something they want.”

  “Like information of some kind. Secret information. To sell to the highest bidder,” I said.

  “And they seem to have an uncanny ability to figure out where you are.”

  I shivered. “That’s what I think as well. Do you know why they’ve taken you off the case?”

  Mason shook his head. “I don’t know. I hope I’ll get some answers when I talk to my captain tomorrow. I’ve gone over everything in my head.”

  “Is it about me? You offered your friendship to me. And I’m connected to Ellie. I could be a suspect.”

  “It’s not about you, but everyone’s under suspicion, including your brother.”

  That made me catch my breath.

  “You do know he worked for Sandler’s.” Mason looked at me in a way I’d never seen before. As if he were sizing me up, wondering how truthful I was going to be.

  “I never knew that,” I said. “As far as I knew, Tommy moved from one high-profile criminal case to the next. I saw more of him on TV than I ever saw of him in real life. Born for the stage, only his stage was the courtroom.”

  “Apparently, Tommy got called in by Sandler Senior from time to time, whenever there was an employee who needed to be sacked or sent to jail. Your brother would handle the situation discreetly. No scandal, no bad press.”

  “That changes everything, doesn’t it?” I said. “It means Tommy hasn’t been honest with me. If he did work for Sandler’s, he must have known Ellie was there, and he never told me. She denied seeing him as well. I suppose that’s possible but unlikely. When I told him about Ellie’s death, he acted upset and surprised. Like he had no idea what she was up to or where she worked.”

  Mason shook his head. “How well do you know your brother?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  I stood still in the middle of the backyard. Birds chattering. Azalea bushes in full bloom. I probably looked like a plump topiary soaking up the sun. But the warmth of the sun didn’t reach me. A chill settled in my bones.

  “Apparently I don’t know my brother well at all. I had no idea he did work for Sandler’s.”

  Tommy at Sandler’s. While Ellie was there. She would have sought him out. No question about it. But Tommy didn’t say a word about running into her. The chill spread. I saw Ellie as she was the day she came to see me. I saw her dead, on the slab in the morgue, barely recognizable. And Tommy never said a word about her or his work at Sandler’s. Why?

  I looked over at Mason. He didn’t urge me to speak or move on. He just stood there calmly staring out at the trees.

  Tommy and Ellie were all about money—that was something they had in common—and they didn’t really care how they got it. Did Tommy use Ellie the way he often tried to use me—to do his dirty work? And then what? Ellie didn’t deliver the goods? The way she so often didn’t?

  I didn’t want to go to the darkest place, but I couldn’t stop myself from going there. Did Tommy have something to do with her death? We were raised in the same household. Whatever might be said about my mother—her criticism, her coldness—no one ever accused her of dishonesty. She was ramrod straight. Not Tommy. He loved the con.

  I started to cry. Mason whipped out a handkerchief, the old-fashioned kind. That broke the tension and made me smile. “I can’t use this.” I never knew what you were supposed to do with cloth handkerchiefs. Get them all snotty and then give them back to the poor fellow. “Don’t you have a Kleenex?”

  Mason shook his head. “No, but we do have a washing machine. Just use it.”

  “I love Tommy. No matter what he’s done, I will always love him. He hasn’t had an easy life. He got sent off to boarding school when he was a teenager, and I never knew why. I don’t think he wanted to go. And I don’t think my dad agreed with the decision, but my mother was the law.” Now I was really crying. “I can’t bear the thought that he might have had something to do with Ellie’s death.”

  Mason hugged me. No one was in the yard and hopefully no one was watching from a window. He held me tight for a minute until I stopped sniffling.

  “Look,” he said. “I know what it’s like to have a brother you can’t trust. I didn’t tell you how my brother died.”

  He hesitated, and I stood as quietly beside him as he had stood beside me. If now wasn’t the time to tell me more, that was fine.

  But Mason was ready to talk. “He was seventeen. I was three years older and away at college. Johnny wasn’t a bad kid, but he couldn’t stand rules. He had to test everything out for himself, push the limits. He hated school, but he could fix anything and he loved cars. I think that’s how he got caught up with the wrong people. There was a strip of old highway near Kennesaw, where kids used to drag race. His buddies supplied the cars. He fixed them and raced them. Then the kids got restless. Maybe they wanted money for drugs. We’ll never know. Anyway, Johnny drove the getaway car for a bank heist and was shot and killed before they got out of the parking lot.”

  “Oh, my God, Mason. I’m so sorry.”

  “It was twenty-seven years ago,” Mason said. “Somehow we all recovered. He was just a stupid kid. A rebel without a cause. A movie he loved by the way.”

  Mason held me at arm’s length for a moment and then he kissed me. A long, slow, gentle kiss. A kiss that pulled me under like a tidal wave. It was a good thing we wer
e in a backyard and not a bedroom. Because I’m not sure what would have happened next. When we came up for air, he held my face in his hands and then he kissed me again. I could feel his arms around me, and what were mine doing? I felt the strength of his back, his rapid breathing and my own. Then we both heard the clang of a cowbell.

  We jumped apart and stared up at the porch.

  There stood Eddie, cowbell in hand, grinning. “Hope I didn’t startle you,” she said innocently. “Breakfast is ready.” From behind her peeped Lucie.

  “Oh, no,” I said and turned scarlet.

  Lucie tripped down the steps to me, took my hand, and said, “It’s okay, Aunt Di. I told you that Detective Garrett had a crush on you. Remember?”

  I smiled unhappily. This was not in my game plan. None of it. The timing was all wrong.

  Lucie squeezed my hand. “I won’t tell anyone. I’m very good at keeping secrets.”

  I kissed her on the top of her head. “I know you are.”

  Mason looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt. He didn’t seem to know if he should join Lucie and me or keep his distance. Eddie had already disappeared inside. Lucie said she needed to help get the table ready. She scooted ahead of us and didn’t glance back.

  Mason came up to me and stood beside me. “I’m really sorry,” he said. “Not about the kiss. That was wonderful—for me anyway. But I know it was inappropriate. It was something about the way you listened, the way you looked at me. I couldn’t help myself. It won’t happen again, at least not until this case is solved.”

  “You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to do. It’s just more than I can handle right now. The kids, the danger.”

  “I know. Believe me, it won’t happen again.”

  What came over me was not the sense of relief I expected, but a wave of disappointment and longing. Not happen again? That wasn’t what I wanted.

  I didn’t know it at the time but that moment in the garden was when I fell in love with Mason Garrett.

  Mason took my arm and guided me toward the steps. We had only a few minutes before we’d be back inside the house. We both needed to clear our heads, and I needed to find out a few things.