by Ava Miles
His lips turned up at the corners. “I have to admit, I was surprised to hear that you work for her. I might have underestimated you some.”
“Indeed,” she said, her eyebrow rising as she studied him.
“You must be more adventurous than I realized, but you also long for order,” he said, his aqua blue eyes intent. “I won’t make the mistake of underestimating you again.”
She felt like shifting on her feet. This man whom she’d known for only a few days had picked up on something few people ever perceived about her. She was drawn to the wild and eccentric in others—it energized her—but she also liked having a tidy, orderly space of her own to retreat to.
“You must enjoy Gail’s company, or you wouldn’t accept one of her outlandish summonses,” Shelby said, lifting her mug of tea and taking a sip.
“She’s greeted me wearing her Southern theatre costumes before,” he said. “She might dance around the line of professionalism—that’s why I like her—but she never crosses it. Or I wouldn’t work for her.”
Well, that answered Shelby’s question, one she would never have asked either one of them. It took her a moment to recognize what she was feeling as relief. “You never date a client then?”
He set his mug aside and crossed his arms, looking at her intently. “No.”
She felt oddly deflated somehow, even though she agreed it was the best course. It only made her think better of him to know he stuck to the rules of good business.
“Not that I’m not tempted like every other man,” he added in a roughened voice that more than garnered her attention.
Her internal temperature heated like a tin pie plate left out in the sun at a church picnic. So he wasn’t immune to her. Part of her wanted to throw her hands up and cheer like a ninny. “We should go back to your office.”
“Yes, we should,” Vander said, picking up the coffee mugs while she grabbed the tea for her and her sister. “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier, by the way,” he added. “About wishing at Gail’s fountain. It wasn’t about you.”
They stopped at the kitchen door, or perhaps Shelby did. It took a lot for a strong man to apologize. She knew that from growing up with J.P. “I knew it was about something else.”
He looked down, and there it was again, the flash of anger across his face. This time Shelby saw plenty of hurt there too.
“What happened to make you stop wishing?” she asked, unable to stop herself.
“I lost my family when I was a kid,” Vander told her and then walked around her toward his office.
Shelby watched him walk down the hall, her throat thick with emotion from the no-nonsense way he’d said it.
That would make anyone stop wishing, she thought, including her.
Chapter 7
Shelby sure was taking her sweet time getting their beverages with Vander. Sadie wondered if her sister had finally succumbed to flirting with the man. She saw how Shelby looked at him.
But when Vander walked back into the office and handed Charlie her coffee, it was obvious the last thing on his mind was flirting. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be scowling like that. Shelby came through the door moments later, not meeting her eyes.
“Let’s sit over at the table,” Vander suggested. “That way, we can be more comfortable.”
When Shelby sat beside her, Sadie noted her face was ghastly white. What in the world had those two said to each other? She drank her tea and reached for her sister, even though she knew Shelby thought it was unprofessional to hold hands in a meeting. But her sister took it like she needed a lifeline.
Sadie caught Charlie glancing at their clasped hands. That woman was as tough as rawhide if you asked her, with a name that suited her. Charlie didn’t like women much, Sadie could tell, or at least not women like them. Sadie needed to quell the urge to make an ugly face.
“All right, let me walk you through what I think are the best next steps,” Vander said. “There are two paths we could take, so to speak. The formal route would take more time and resources. Charlie and I would check with some of our older police department contacts to see if they remember anyone matching your father’s description. Maybe your mama or your father’s family listed him as missing at some point.”
“A missing person?” Sadie exclaimed. “I never thought of that.”
“What’s the other route?” Shelby asked, gripping her hand.
“We can run his family members in our databases and look up their social media accounts. You’d be amazed how much people put out there, and in some cases we’ve had more luck using Facebook and the like than our databases. Of course, you’d have to decide if it’s worth reaching out to them directly to see what they know. Not everyone wants to go that route.”
“Just because your mother doesn’t know where your father is doesn’t mean his family doesn’t,” Charlie told them, interjecting herself into the conversation for the first time.
Her words arrowed right into Sadie’s heart. Would Daddy really have stayed in touch with the family he’d grown up with but not them, the family he’d made himself?
“So we might have to make contact with them,” Shelby repeated in a soft tone.
“Goodness, that would be something, wouldn’t it, Shelby?” Sadie said, wondering what his kin were like. Mama had always said they were mean, but maybe they’d changed. People did. Maybe they had another whole family waiting to embrace them.
“What do you know about your father’s family?” Vander asked, studying them intently.
“His people are from Memphis,” Shelby said, bouncing her knee, a clear sign she was anxious. “That’s about all we were told. Mama never had any contact with them that we know of.”
“They went to the wedding,” Sadie offered. “I’ve seen the photos.”
Shelby nodded. “Right. I don’t know why they never came around after that. I remember Mama saying his family was unkind to the core.”
“Mean as rattlesnakes,” Sadie interjected.
“Of course, we might not find anything,” Charlie said, “but those are the best bets.”
“You don’t think he’s dead, do you?” Sadie made herself say.
“We can’t be one hundred percent sure,” Vander said, “but there’s no death certificate with his name on it in our databases. I wish I could offer you more assurances than that, Sadie, but right now I can’t.”
Sadie didn’t like thinking her daddy might be dead—even if he had up and left them.
“We also can’t be certain he’s not incarcerated,” Charlie added, and that statement was enough to elicit a gasp from both McGuiness sisters.
“Incarcerated?” Shelby croaked out.
“You mean prison?” Sadie asked, her heart contracting at the mere thought. “Good Lord above, I never even thought about that. Oh, Shelby, that would be the end of the world.” Imagine that, their daddy behind bars for doing something illegal, wearing some horrible orange jumpsuit. She felt faint.
“But wouldn’t the court know his real name?” Shelby asked in that logical way she had sometimes. “Wouldn’t it be listed somewhere?”
“Yes, wouldn’t it?” Sadie prodded.
“Not all the records go that far back,” Charlie said. “He could have served his sentence and been released.”
“But he still would have been on probation, right?” Sadie asked.
Shelby shot her a look.
“What?” she said. “I listen when Amelia Ann speaks about her work at the legal clinic.”
Vander’s eyes narrowed. “You know someone who works at a legal clinic?”
“Yes,” Shelby told him, reaching for her tea. “She’s rather like our sister, I guess you could say. She’s the sister of our sister-in-law. Amelia Ann’s in law school at Vanderbilt and helps abused women.”
Judging from the way Charlie’s button nose rose in the air, she was surprised they knew a serious woman like that. “Amelia Ann almost got herself killed one time helping a client in East Nashville on a home
visit,” Sadie burst out. “It was scary.”
Her sister cleared her throat, and Sadie knew it for the message it was. She shut up.
“We’d need to talk to our brother and other sister about contacting Daddy’s family if you find anything,” Shelby said, looking like she was barely breathing now. “But I say look there first. Sounds more efficient. Sadie, what do you think?”
Shelby would put it that way. “I agree.” Plus, she wanted to know more about Daddy’s family, even if it was only basic information. “You should know, we only agreed to tell them of developments. It’ll be up to them whether or not they want to be a part of contacting a family member. Frankly, it’s not going to stop me from doing it if I feel it’s best.”
“Or me,” Shelby said, and they shared a look of solidarity.
“We’ll start plugging right away,” Vander said. “With Charlie helping, it’s going to go a lot faster.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “He’s flattering me. But he’s right. Vander has a lot on his plate, running the show here. I only do straight investigative work. I’ll start tonight.”
Sadie couldn’t exactly imagine having lunch with Charlie, but the woman seemed more than competent—and dedicated. “Thank you, Charlie.”
Vander stood. “I’ll be in touch. I know the waiting is hard, but we’ll keep pulling strings until there’s nothing left to pull—if you want that.”
“We appreciate it,” Shelby said, standing as well and extending her hand to him.
He shook it, and Sadie stood and did the same despite how unnatural it felt. It got even weirder when Charlie shook both of their hands too. Business people mystified her. No one in the craft store or her quilting circle would have shaken her hand.
Shelby and Vander shared another look before they left his office, and Sadie had to bite her tongue until she and her sister were walking out of the building.
“Do you think he brought Charlie on to help because you two are attracted to each other?” Sadie asked her sister.
Shelby gave her a look and pushed the heavy glass door open. Sadie followed, gasping at the hot, damp air she encountered. Heavens, the weather was atrocious.
“I won’t dignify that with a response,” Shelby said, walking up the street to where she was parked. “Where are you?”
“I parked in the garage over there,” Sadie said, pointing toward the area. “Shelby, do you think we should meet his kin if it comes down to it? If Mama had wanted them in our life, she would have made sure it happened. Part of me wants to meet them, and the other part is scared spitless. I’m a mess of contradictions.”
Her sister put on her sunglasses, and Sadie rummaged for her own in her purse.
“Let’s cross that bridge when we get there,” Shelby said matter-of-factly.
Her sister was right. No use worrying over something that might not come to pass. “You and Vander took an awfully long time making tea and coffee,” she pressed.
Her sister kissed her on the cheek. “I’m going to the gym. We can give J.P. and Susannah an update once we hear back from Vander and Charlie.”
“Unless they ask us beforehand,” Sadie said dryly. “If I were them, I wouldn’t be able to wait past tonight.”
“Well, you aren’t them,” her sister said, “which is why you’re here with me. Thanks again, Sadie.”
Her sister might be a little abrupt sometimes, but she had a heart of gold. “You too. Have fun at the gym. I’m going to go home and design a quilt for Gail. Do you think Vander might like one too? Or is that silly?”
Shelby lowered her sunglasses to the edge of her nose. “Why ever would you want to make him a quilt?”
She shrugged. “Because it’s how I say thank you.”
“He’s getting paid, Sadie,” her sister told her. “It’s not like he’s doing this from the kindness of his heart.”
“Goodness, you sound jaded when you speak like that,” Sadie told her. “He’s been kind to me, and I’d like to do something for him. Maybe some jam then. Men like food stuffs.”
Her sister sighed. “He doesn’t strike me as a quilt or jam kind of man, Sadie.”
“What kind of man do you think he is then, Shelby?” she asked, hoping to get a little more out of her this time.
“Not the kind you’d know what to do with,” she said, blowing her a kiss and taking off.
“What about you? Would you know what to do with him?”
Her sister ignored her, and she seemed to march rather than stroll off to Pearl, her convertible. Shelby was riled up by Vander, no doubt. She only sniped like that when she felt backed into a corner.
No good could come of it, if you asked her.
Chapter 8
“What have you found out?” Vander asked, pretty much stalking into Charlie’s office.
She looked up from her computer and gave him the don’t-rush-me look. “The McGuiness girls only left an hour ago—and from a meeting you could have easily had on the phone.”
Her pointed remark about him making up a reason to see Shelby was best ignored. His motivations weren’t completely pure, and he knew it. “I know how fast you are, Charlie.” He sat on the edge of her desk, his favorite place when they were researching a case together. “Let me remind you that we don’t call our clients girls.”
She blew him a raspberry. “I’ll add that to my list of Vander’s Dos and Don’ts. So far, I’ve found a brother, Virgil, who died two years ago at age sixty in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There’s also the mother: seventy-eight-year-old Lenore McGuiness living outside Memphis. She has a handicap Tennessee license plate for a 1971 Ford LTD, and while she owns her own trailer, it looks like she’s delinquent in paying her property tax.”
“Good work.” Memphis was only a three and a half hour drive. “What else?”
“The sister, Deedee, did some jail time for shoplifting. She lives out in Texas now, in Abilene. Tons of speeding tickets. She’s the only one of the immediate family I’ve found on social media. Her Facebook page is a cautionary tale about bleached hair, the toll hard living takes on a woman, and drama of balancing multiple boyfriends and kids. The kids have Facebook pages, but all I’ve found are photos of their immediate family and various racist political opinions guaranteed to curl your toes.”
“Wonderful,” he said, shaking his head. As P.I.s, they were used to seeing the full swath of humanity from the seemingly well adjusted to the radical, militant elements. “They’re probably not close then.”
“Yeah,” Charlie said, pushing back in her chair from her desk. “From my initial findings, Shelby and Sadie’s mom did them a service by keeping their father’s family away from them. Preston McGuiness’ family is a peach. Of course, we don’t know for certain if the family ever wanted to be connected in the first place.”
Not everyone wanted to know their children or grandchildren, as Vander had discovered in his own version of the school of hard knocks after his mother had moved them in with his grandparents. “We know they didn’t,” Vander said, feeling it in his gut.
Charlie nodded. “Frankly, I think you visit the mother first and see what she knows. The sister looks volatile.”
Neither one of them liked to start with volatile.
“I’ll call our clients right now and see what they want to do.” He found himself unduly excited by the prospect. “You go on home. Don’t you have a kickboxing class tonight?”
She rose from her chair and put her hands on her petite hips. “I can be late if you want me to call them with you. Or are you looking for an excuse to hear Shelby’s voice again today?”
Charlie busted his balls like none other. Shelby did have a lovely voice, smooth as spun sugar one moment and then firm as… Steel was the wrong term. Firm as something elegant…like marble. When he came back to the moment, Charlie was staring at him.
“You’re worrying me,” she said, her hazel eyes troubled. “First the in-person meeting today and now this. Please let me take over this case, Vander.”
He just shrugged and said, “She’s Gail Hardcrew’s personal accountant.”
Charlie sat back in her chair. “Hmmm.”
He put his hand on his hips. “Don’t ‘hmmm’ me. Dammit, Charlie, why didn’t you say anything? When Gail told me during our meeting, I was totally caught off guard.”
She worried her lip. “I was hoping you wouldn’t find out. I knew this would make you more curious about her. Heck, it made me more curious, and I’m not even into her.”
Shit. “Gail had a reason for our meeting today. She thinks so much of Shelby she wants to pay my…our fee.”
“Well, Ms. McGuiness becomes more interesting by the day,” Charlie said, putting her finger to her lips. “I was hoping Gail’s out-of-the-blue summons was about something else. A new lover to investigate, perhaps.”
“I bet you did. That way you wouldn’t get busted.”
“You need to work on your glower, Vander. How was Gail dressed for your meeting today, by the way?”
He let her divert the conversation because he wasn’t eager to discuss Charlie’s instincts regarding his interest in Shelby. “She had on a low-cut pink number with a white feather boa, which got in her mouth a couple of times,” he said, his lips twitching. “I really shouldn’t talk about one of our clients this way.”
“Please, it’s Gail,” Charlie said, rolling her eyes. “She loves the attention. But I suppose we should get back to Shelby. You’re cogitating over what you might have missed the first time you met her, aren’t you?”
He stared her down.
“Vander, you really need to give me this case. I know you. You can’t stand learning someone has more layers than you originally suspected. It’s your investigative nature. Add in your attraction to her, and you’re toast.”
He hoped he was stronger than that. He was a grown man, after all. “It’s just a stupid infatuation. Embarrassing to admit really.”
