He followed Allie and Mabel down the hall, shaking his head. Women. Couldn’t do without them, though. Especially, for some reason, Allie. Nothing like the Hollywood women he’d always gone for, the ones who knew the score and the rules of the game. His reaction to Mabel proved his tastes had changed, and he didn’t even want to think about what that meant.
Instead of a mountain lion, a long-haired, white puffball sat on Mabel’s desk. Like Mabel, its looks were deceiving. It sent a death-ray gaze at everyone. Nothing pain-filled and patient about that angry yellow glare. If Allie asked him to hold this one, he’d quit. Snow would fall in downtown L. A. before he got anywhere close to this furry Godzilla.
Allie offered it a tiny fish-shaped piece of something, deftly avoided the slashing claws, and dropped a clear liquid on the back of its neck. “There you go, Fluffy. The library should be safe for another month.”
Fluffy stood and growled at Zeph. Zeph took a step back.
“Safe from fleas,” He said. “What’s going to protect it from Fluffy?” The animal looked capable of anything—shredding a book with one swipe, hunting full-grown deer, eating small patrons. “If you use that thing as a threat, I bet you never have a problem with overdue books.”
Mabel smiled and cuddled the disgruntled cat to her bounteous bosom. “Thanks, Allie. You too, Zeph. I owe you one. Anything you need, just let me know.”
Zeph looked away. Even though Mabel didn’t rev his engine, a man had his limitations. His gaze fell on the books on the desk. Now that they were no longer covered by cat, the titles were visible. He got a tingle at the back of his neck. The Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice. Building Codes Illustrated. California Professional & Business License Handbook. “Doing a little research on the building industry?” he asked Mabel.
To his surprise, she blushed scarlet.
Allie put a hand on Mabel’s arm and snatched it back when Fluffy swatted at her. “Mabel?”
“I—I’m—I’ve been helping Santos. Now that Derek is—isn’t here, it’s hard for him.”
Allie made an impatient grimace. “I’m sure that’s true. So what’s with the blushing?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “You’ve got something going. You and Santos, right?”
“Are you accusing me of something?” Mabel burst out. “I like him. He’s a very nice man and—”
“No one’s accusing you of anything,” Zeph said. “But how come he needs help? Allie tells me he’s been Blanton’s foreman for years.”
Fluffy squawked and squirmed as Mabel’s hands tightened around his middle, and she set him on the ground. “It’s not the same. He has to make more decisions, but...Allie, I’m worried. I haven’t said anything to anyone about this, but you never gossip and...sometimes I think something is wrong. He gets phone calls that might be orders, but Derek couldn’t be calling him. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Zeph’s gaze met Allie’s over Mabel’s head. “Someone telling him what to do?” he asked softly.
“Please, please, please don’t say anything to anyone. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I’m just so worried. He mentioned the other day that he’s found some discrepancies in the records and...just don’t repeat this.”
Allie made a zipping motion across her mouth. “Our lips are sealed.”
“You think he’s being asked to do illegal things?” Zeph said.
“No.” Mabel paused. “Maybe. I don’t know. He wouldn’t. But sometimes he seems worried, and I thought if I knew more about his business, maybe he could talk things out. That’s all.”
Zeph carefully kept his expression blank. That just might be enough.
Chapter 7
“Not your typical small town librarian,” Zeph observed when they were back outside.
Allie grinned. “Gee, I hadn’t noticed.”
“I would have figured a small town would be much more—how should I put it—well, I’d expect—”
“Hide bound, strait-laced, judgmental, uptight?”
“Yeah. Like that.”
“Not even close. Where to now?”
“City Hall?”
“Sure. Why?”
“Check out building permits. I might want to build a fancy house here.” Allie stumbled and he caught her arm. “Whoa there.”
She grabbed his arm and dug in her heels, turning him to face her. “You’ve gotten awfully countrified on me. Stop channeling Monty. ‘Whoa there’? ‘Since God was a pup’? And what’s with ‘build a house’? My best guess would be that hell would freeze over before you moved out of the city.” Her mouth flattened. “Silly me. Of course. You’re staying in character.”
He nudged her back into motion. Building a house for Allie, for them, sounded so good, so right, it took his breath away. And that ought to scare him more than a twinge. “Of course.”
She didn’t notice his distress, thank God. “And what do you really want to find out?”
“I want to know how much work Blanton’s has actually done right here. It looks like most of his work has been elsewhere.”
“Huh.” Allie chewed her lip. “I think you’re right. I’d never thought much about it, but most of their work has been out of town. Derek built those cabins down the road from my office, but…well, the first few got gobbled up, but then sales really slowed down and he didn’t build any more. I thought he had planned to cover the entire ranch with those nasty little cracker boxes.”
“That sounds promising. No idea why he stopped?”
“There were lawsuits. The people who bought the first few said they were really shoddy. Derek had to take them all back. One owner talked about a lawsuit, but then he was in an auto accident and the whole thing got dropped.”
“Interesting.”
The tiny City Hall building crouched on one side of the town square. An antique shop, a bank, the post office, Monty’s office, Wentworth’s office, and a general store, all brick and curliques, occupied the rest of the space. “Looks like something out of the last century,” Zeph said and pulled out his tiny camera to snap a picture.
“It is. These are all historic buildings.”
“And city offices are probably open one afternoon a month,” he grumbled. “Or by appointment only.”
“Behave,” Allie admonished. “City slicker. And they’re open five days a week. Well…” She raised an eyebrow.
“Well?”
“Except during hunting season.”
“What? You mean the local government closes so people can go out and murder Bambis?”
“Lots of people here depend on hunting for their winter meat.”
Zeph shook his head in disbelief and followed her into a hall that ran the length of the building, a grand total of about thirty feet. On his right, propped-open double doors led to a meeting room. On his left, three doors bore signs: Administration, Mayor William Bartelett, and Records. All three showed lights through the frosted glass panels, which surprised him in spite of Allie’s assurances.
Inside the Records office, a middle-aged woman bent over a table. She looked up and smiled. “Allie. And you must be Allie’s young man. Zeph, isn’t it?”
He should be used to it by now. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “But we haven’t been introduced. I’d remember such a lovely woman.”
“Shoveling it on a bit thick, I think. Allie doesn’t let you get away with that kind of stuff, I’m betting.”
“Allie doesn’t let me get away with a da—a darned thing.” Real amusement bled into his deliberately charming smile.
“I’m Ethel Hudson,” she said. “And this is the Records Department. Marriage licenses are down the hall.”
“Ethel!” Allie protested.
“I can’t think of any other reason you’d be bringin’ him in here.”
Allie blushed.
Zeph returned Ethel’s bright, inquisitive gaze and waited for the bolt of panic. Just as before, he got only a tingle. No, no, no. Settling down with one woman, in a solid marriage like his parents’,
had always been on his agenda. But not now. And definitely not in a place like this. No matter how Allie tempted him. The job. Focus on the job.
He turned up the wattage on his smile. “Believe in the direct approach, do you, ma’am?”
She glanced from him to Allie and back with her head tilted like a bird waiting for a worm. “I learn more that way,” she said with a laugh.
He should be getting used to the direct approach by now. It wouldn’t surprise him to have Ethel check his teeth and feel his legs.
“I’m just showing him around town—” Allie said at the same time Zeph said, “I—uh—I’m thinking I might be interested in building a house here in Stone’s Crossing. I was hoping to look through your building permit file. See who’s done what and what kinds of inspections get done…you know, all that kind of stuff.” He leaned across the counter and grinned at Ethel.
“Just showin’ him around town, huh?” Ethel snorted. “That ought to take you all of about ten minutes, and you ought not to tell me fibs like that, Allison Marie. What if I told your dad? And as for you,” she turned her gaze on Zeph, “we got records going back to 1867. You ought to be able to find what you want.”
He took Allie’s hand and tried to look innocent. And trustworthy. In a big city, he’d have to go through a dozen hoops to see records but here…well, maybe. “That’s perfect, Ethel—if it’s all right to call you Ethel…?”
She nodded, leaning conspiratorially over the counter. “The only real builder in town would be Blanton’s,” she said. “Big-time company. Does stuff all over the state. Not much here in town.”
“What do people do if they want to build here?”
“Not much building goes on. Most people do stuff for themselves. Although—Santos has picked up a few jobs.”
That sounded promising. “How’s that been working out?”
“Pretty well. He built a house for my daughter and her husband and they’re very happy with it.”
Not so promising. “Not like those vacation cabins built when Blanton was running—”
“He isn’t running anything around here anymore,” Ethel said. “I can’t believe we elected him mayor. Sit down over there.” She motioned to a library table on the other side of the room. “I’ll get you the permits ledger.”
Zeph smiled and sat. Only in Stone’s Crossing. He already knew that privacy wasn’t something these people understood. Ethel must never have heard of confidentiality either. In a few minutes, she came back bearing a large book. He leaped up and took it, setting it carefully on the table. “No microfilm here, I guess.”
Ethel laughed. “In Stone’s Crossing? Not a chance. We’re not like all those citified places with their high-falutin’ technology. These go back about ten years. Have fun.”
“I’ve got to get back to the clinic,” Allie said. “I’ll come back for you in an hour?”
“I’ll meet you out front.” Zeph put a finger under her chin and tipped her face up to brush a kiss across her mouth.
“Aww,” Ethel said. “Sweet. Bet you five dollars we’ve got us a new resident.”
Zeph winked at her and settled in to review the permits. An hour later, he thanked Ethel and strolled down the hall to the door to wait for Allie.
A tall, blond man came out of the door marked Mayor and stopped short at the sight of Zeph. “Help you?”
“Just on my way out,” Zeph answered. The man looked familiar. Zeph ran a quick mental scan of the photos he’d studied before leaving L. A. Of course. Mayor Bartelett. “Ethel took care of what I needed.”
“We don’t often see strangers in here. Bill Bartelett. Mayor of this fine town.” He offered a hand. “Welcome to Stone’s Crossing.”
“Zeph Granger. It’s a pleasure, Mr. Mayor,” Zeph said. “You’re new since the last time I came here.”
“Yep. Monty told me about your role in the recent problems. Appreciate what you did, you know. If you hadn’t helped clear things up, I’d still be sitting in Sacramento hating retirement. I was at U.C. Davis until I retired, and then we moved into Sacramento. My wife wanted something a little more...dynamic than Davis. But it didn’t suit, so we moved here.”
“Quite a change.” Zeph bit his tongue to keep from saying something tactless like, “You moved here on purpose?” Admittedly, Sacramento wasn’t the most cosmopolitan place in the world, but at least it was a city. Still, people came in a lot of flavors, and this guy might like little towns. Allie did, after all. But his detective’s sixth sense quivered over the possibility of some nefarious reason for the move. “You couldn’t have ended up in a prettier place. How did you happen to pick Stone’s Crossing? It’s not exactly high profile.”
Bartelett’s expression didn’t change but his gaze shifted a fraction, and Zeph’s attention sharpened. “I knew the previous mayor. Didn’t have any business dealings with him, of course,” he added hastily. “But I knew about the town, and it always sounded like a nice place to live.”
Bartelett shifted so shadow fell across his face, smoothing age lines, and recognition hit Zeph. This was the third man in the photo of Mentrine and Blanton. His attention sharpened and the sense of familiarity clicked into place. This guy had not only known Blanton, he’d apparently been buddies with Mentrine also, because he’d been in that photo on Mentrine’s office wall. “You must have moved here right after Blanton—went away.”
“Ah, yes. That’s right. But what brought you back to town? Not planning to arrest another mayor, I hope.” The mayor’s voice held an uneasy note that caught Zeph’s attention.
“Nope. I don’t know what Monty told you, but I’m not law enforcement.” He’d stick with the investor story, just in case Bartelett and Mentrine compared notes.
“Strange. I had the impression you were a private detective. If you’re here to investigate one of my voters, I’d like to know about it.”
“On vacation, Mr. Mayor. Just visiting.”
“There wouldn’t be much here for you anyway,” Bartelett said heartily. Too heartily? “From what I understand, most detectives don’t do much except follow cheating spouses. Not much scope for that here.”
“Really? I would have thought human nature was the same everywhere.”
“I’m sure it is. But—well, you’ll find out what a small town is like if you stay here very long. Like I told my wife, if I have a stray thought, it’s gossip at the café within an hour and on the front page within a week. Anyone who cheats in this town doesn’t have a chance.”
Interesting choice of subject. Was the mayor guilty? Of what? Did he think Zeph had come to town to catch him? And did he mean being unfaithful to a spouse or actual illegal wrongdoing? “Good thing neither one of us is thinking of cheating then,” he said. “I’m just hanging around to spend time with Allie. A man would visit places a lot worse than Stone’s Crossing to see a woman like her.”
“Can’t say I blame you,” the mayor said with a rusty laugh. “She’s a beauty, all right.”
Zeph glanced at the wedding band on Bartelett’s left hand.
Bartelett flushed. “I’m married, Granger, not dead. My only hope is that you’re not going to rob us of our only veterinarian.”
“That wasn’t in my plans,” Zeph said slowly, and wondered if he lied. Could he really want Allie for more than the pleasure of a short, hot fling? Want her in L. A., in his house, in his life?
“We’ll have to hope your plans don’t change then,” Bartelett said.
“Nothing for you to worry about, Mr. Mayor. Just hanging out and enjoying the town. I’ve got some great pictures already. Very photogenic place.”
“I’ve heard that you’ve been photographing—”
“There’s Allie. Thanks for the welcome.” After shaking hands, he added, “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around town.” He sauntered out to the truck, glancing back at the mayor as he climbed in and slammed the truck door.
Curious . The man had gone quite pale.
****
“Now
what have you done?” Allie turned the truck onto Main Street and her hands tightened on the wheel as if it were Zeph’s neck. “He looked like he’d seen a ghost. Did you accuse him of—”
“Nothing. I accused him of nothing.”
“All right. What did you say to him?”
“Is there any chance he’s cheating on his wife?”
Allie suppressed a flash of irritation. “Honestly, Zeph. You go out of your way to sound dishonest and wimpy to make a sleaze like Wend Seldon comfortable, and then when you’re with a solid citizen like the mayor, you go all private eye. No, he’s not cheating on his wife.”
“I am a private eye. And I was just fishing.”
“What did you catch?”
“Not sure.”
“What does cheating have to do with your case?”
“Watch the road. Nothing. Probably. But he knows I’m a detective and thinks I’m here to catch someone cheating. He turned pale when we talked about me taking pictures and seeing him around. So I have to wonder—is he stepping out on his wife, or skimming the town treasury, or…is he the person I’m looking for?”
“You really see the down side of everything and everyone, don’t you?”
“Pretty much.”
“Does this mean he’s your prime suspect now?”
“Think X-Files, honey.”
“X-Files?”
Zeph’s grin turned wolfish. “Trust no one. Except you, of course.”
“Of course.” She made a careful stop at the town traffic light which blinked red at this time of day. “Oh, and by the way? I didn’t tell anyone you’re a detective. But let me see…Hannah, Luke, Monty, and Wend’s brother have always known. Betty, my father, my sister, Bartelett, and Wend do too. You think maybe it’s just general knowledge?”
“I could be on vacation. I could have changed careers and be looking for investment opportunities. I could be visiting a woman I met and liked.”
Allie shivered. “Sure, you could. And I’ll keep telling people that’s what you’re doing, because I said I would. But I don’t think I can stand much more of this. What can we do to get my father off your list?”
Zeph Undercover Page 11
