Divorced, Desperate and Deceived

by Christie Craig

  Sue wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “What if she’s hurt? What if—”

  “Don’t what-if this,” Jason told her. “We know she was okay not too long ago.” As a writer, Sue’s imagination always took off in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, some of those leaps were in the wrong direction. “Right now we need to focus on finding Kathy. And staying calm. Both of you are in the baby-making business. Calm is important. Remember what the doctor said?”

  “Exactly.” Chase placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward. “Can either of you tell us exactly what the relationship was between the plumber and Kathy?”

  Lacy and Sue met each other’s gazes.

  “She liked him,” Sue said.

  “A lot,” added Lacy.

  “Were they dating?” Chase asked.

  “No.” Lacy ran a hand over her belly. “Not yet. But she was thinking about, um, dating him. Why?”

  Chase’s gaze shot to Jason. “Cary Jenkins ran into her and Bradley at a Goodwill drop-off down Highway 101.”

  “When?” Lacy asked.

  “This afternoon.”

  Sue leaned forward. “But if they thought the plumber forced her to go with him, why didn’t Cary bring her back with him?”

  Chase answered, “Because that was before he knew any of this. The good news is, he said she appeared to be fine. But he also said that it was implied during the conversation that Kathy and Bradley were dating.”

  Sue and Lacy shot each other a confused look. “They aren’t as far as we know,” Lacy admitted, and Sue nodded in agreement. “Although…”

  “How well do you think Kathy knows Bradley?” Jason asked.

  “She hasn’t slept with him, if that’s what you’re asking,” Lacy answered.

  “She would have told us if she had,” Sue added. “At least she hadn’t slept with him when she left this morning,” Sue admitted.

  “That’s not what I mean,” Jason said, shaking his head. He didn’t like to consider how much his wife and her friends shared. “I mean, what kind of guy is he?”

  Lacy twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “She’s known him as long as I have. As far as we know, he’s a decent guy. She says he’s always paying attention to Tommy.” She pointed to her husband. “You’ve met Stan Bradley. Actually, both of you met him.” She looked back at Jason. “Remember the day of the inside-out housecoat? When everyone showed up while Chase was hiding in my bedroom? And everyone suspected I was…having sex because of the housecoat mishap.”

  “You were having sex.” Chase chuckled.

  “I remember that day,” Jason said, and grinned.

  “I don’t get it,” Sue spoke up. “Why are you thinking he’s a bad guy? And if he took Kathy, then who do you think shot up his place?”

  Chase let go of a sigh. “They found cocaine, lots of it, at his house. It looks as if Bradley might have been dealing drugs.”

  “Bradley, the plumber, dealing drugs?” Lacy shook her head. “No. I don’t see it.”

  “Me either,” Sue said. “Just a couple of weeks ago, Kathy told us that she found the plumber helping Tommy change a tire on his bike. He was always really nice to both of them.”

  Jason met Chase’s gaze, and the two men shook their heads.

  Chase refocused on his wife. “Being nice doesn’t mean he’s not a criminal. If I remember correctly, I told you that I didn’t care for him.”

  Lacy rolled her eyes. “You said he was too friendly to me. You didn’t say you thought he was into drugs.”

  “He was too friendly to you,” Chase growled.

  “If he was fat and ugly you wouldn’t have minded,” Lacy tossed in. “But because he’s good-looking—”

  “Not true,” Chase said. “And, personally, I don’t think he was all that good-looking.”

  “Yes, he is,” Sue laughed. “He’s hot.”

  Jason frowned. “Guy’s never working on our plumbing.”

  Chase stared at his wife. “It has nothing to do with how he looks. It bothered me that he seemed standoffish. And he knew I was a cop—which, if he was selling drugs, keeping his distance from me would make sense.”

  Lacy shook her head. “None of this makes sense! If he was into drugs, then who at Kathy’s place made Sue go into the closet? And who would have shot up Bradley’s place to start with?”

  “Probably someone he’s getting his drugs from,” Chase answered. “Maybe this Bradley character owes someone else money. Kathy was driving the van, and it had her address on it. Maybe when Kathy and Bradley took off, the people looking for Bradley went looking for them at her place.”

  Sue made a face. “If they wanted money from Stan, why would they leave all of the drugs behind? For that matter, why would they go to Kathy’s? Oh, jeepers! You two aren’t insinuating that Kathy is in on any of this, are you? Because I can tell you right now that—”

  “I’m not saying that,” Jason interrupted—and he wasn’t, but not everyone on the police force shared his and Chase’s view. He knew Hoke’s Bluff police, including Danny and Cary, were already looking into Kathy’s life, as well as Stan Bradley’s, with a fine-tooth comb.

  Lacy rubbed her belly. “I don’t think Bradley is a bad person. My grandmother liked him. She hired him to clean the septic tank.”

  “No offense,” Chase said, popping up from his chair and slipping closer to his wife. “But your grandmother is almost ninety. Her character judgment isn’t what it used to be. Look at the number of men she’s married and divorced.”

  Lacy frowned. “Well, she’s crazy about you. Should I be worried?”

  “Probably…but it’s too late.” He brushed her curly hair from her cheek and gave a crooked grin. When she didn’t return his smile, he leaned in and kissed her. Then he tapped her cheek with his finger. “Don’t start worrying, Lacy. You’ve got my kid to think about. I’ll do all the worrying, okay?”

  “You’ve got to do more than worry. You’ve got to get Kathy out of this.” Lacy leaned into her husband and let out a soft sob.

  Chase’s arms went around her. “It’s going to be okay,” he said.

  Sue squeezed Jason’s hand. “I want Kathy back home safe and sound and badmouthing men again.”

  He leaned down and kissed her head. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make that happen.”

  Joey’s phone rang, and when he reached over to get the cell on the seat he accidentally swerved. He grabbed the wheel a little too quickly and the car jerked back. In the rearview mirror, he saw Donald’s body stiffly bounce back and forth. A smile tickled Joey’s lips, and he remembered the movie again. Poor Bernie.

  Glancing at the caller ID, he didn’t recognize the number. Probably Lorenzo’s contact. “Hello?” Joey said into the phone.

  “Where’s Donald?” the voice asked.

  The speaker sounded vaguely familiar, but Joey couldn’t place him. Looking over his shoulder he answered, “He’s resting.”

  “Is he with you?”

  “No.” Not in spirit, anyway. “But I’m here and ready to do what I have to.”

  “Lorenzo’s not going to be happy,” the man complained.

  “I can’t do anything about that,” Joey replied.

  Silence followed, and then the contact spoke again. “There’s a mom-and-pop café about a mile off Cypress and north on Newton. Where are you at?”

  “A few miles off FM 101. Pablo said I needed to go back—”

  “Meet me at the café in about thirty minutes.”

  “You got a location?” Joey asked, fearing the worst.

  “Not yet, but we should have one by then.”

  “Really?” Joey asked.

  “Really,” the contact answered.

  “How are we going to manage that?” Joey said, figuring if he was really setting out to protect the redhead, he needed information.

  “How about you just show up?”

  “That was my second plan,” Joey grunted. “How am I going to recognize
you?”

  “I’ll be the only one there who can legally carry a gun.”

  But you won’t be the only person ready to use one.

  Joey hung up and eyed Donald in the rearview mirror. “Is being an asshole a requirement to work for Lorenzo, or does the boss just get lucky?” he muttered to himself. He scratched his jaw. “Of course, since I worked for him, too, I guess I shouldn’t be talking. But you know what? It’s never too late to change.”

  Donald’s dark glasses and the way his head was angled gave the impression that he actually listened.

  “What?” Joey asked. “You don’t think I can change?” Letting out a deep breath, he stared at the road. “Guess we’ll just have to see.”

  He pulled over, shut the car off and got a map out of the glove box to find Cypress and Newton. After spreading the map out on the seat beside him, he looked back at Donald, all buckled up, looking cool in his shades and his SHIT HAPPENS hat. Joey glanced at his watch. “You know what this means, don’t you? I gotta drop your ass off someplace.”

  He spotted a couple of buzzards off to the right making dinner out of some roadkill. He thought about Donald’s body being ravaged by the vultures. When he turned around to stare at Donald, he could swear the man looked right at him behind those glasses.

  “I don’t have time to bury your ass right now,” he told the dead man. Guilt zipped through him as he spotted another buzzard land. “Fine. I tell you what: I’ll come back and bury your ass, okay? But not right now.”

  Donald’s stillness seemed to question Joey’s honesty.

  “I promise,” Joey said.

  He turned and faced forward. A block ahead, he spotted a place to do his dirty work. He thought again about Donald’s hat: SHIT HAPPENS AND THEN YOU DIE. A laugh—a soul-deep belly laugh—fell right out of him, and he started the car.

  “Perfect.”

  “I’m serious. The sooner the better,” Kathy said about ten minutes after they left poor Harry on the side of some dirt road. Luke had told her that Lorenzo’s men left the drugs as a way of explaining what went down. Call her crazy, but she believed him. Maybe because she’d seen it happen on all the police shows—or maybe it was because she really trusted him.

  She’d climbed into the front seat, puppy in tow, tossed his tie and coat into the back, and plopped the puppy back in her lap. “You’ve got to find a McDonald’s or a service station. I’m this close”—she held her fingers a smidgen apart—“to peeing all over the twelve-thousand-dollar car you just bought.”

  Luke glanced over at her. “I think the best I can offer you is a tree.”

  “A tree? I’ve never been good at the squatting position.”

  He grinned. “So which position do you prefer?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Is it always about sex with you men?”

  He cocked his head as if thinking. “Pretty much.” A grin tickled his lips, and he reached up and loosened a couple of shirt buttons. “Isn’t it that way with women?”

  “No.” Then the answer irritated her conscience. When she’d called last week to ask him over, she hadn’t been asking for a serious relationship or marriage. She’d just wanted companionship. Okay…so she’d wanted sex. Tom had cured her of wanting anything long term. And so…

  Luke looked back at the road. “I’ll be damned. This might be your lucky day.”

  “What?” She glanced up, thinking he’d spotted a McDonald’s or a service station. All she saw was a construction sign, without the construction men. And then she saw it: an orange and tan porta-potty.

  She frowned. “Do you have any idea how badly those smell inside?”

  He pulled the car over. “Well, it’s like this. You got a tree.” He pointed to a pine tree off to the right. “Or you got a porta-potty. And you’ve got about two minutes.”

  She grabbed the door handle. “It won’t take two minutes. I can’t hold my breath that long.”

  “What?” he asked, as she started looking around the floorboards.

  “I’ll need…Well, a job’s never done until the paperwork is finished.”

  He shook his head. “Your two minutes are ticking.” He reached over her lap and opened the door for her. “You’re going to have to drip dry.”

  She shuddered. “Men are disgusting.” She crawled out of the car, then looked back and suggested, “Why don’t you walk Goodwill? He probably needs to go, too.”

  He frowned but reached into the backseat for the leash, and as she got to the porta-potty he was stepping from the car with the puppy in his arms. She saw him give the dog a scratch behind the ears. A flutter filled her chest. Then, taking a deep breath meant to last through the entire emptying of her bladder, she opened the door.

  She actually had one foot inside before she realized the porta-potty was occupied. Letting out a yelp, she found herself staring at a man wearing shades, his pants pulled down around his ankles, a magazine in his lap, and a hat that read Shit happens and then you die.

  She yelped again, “I’m so sorry—so sorry!” and slammed the door.

  Jason and Chase left their wives in the living room to commiserate as they walked outside to the patio.

  “What do you think?” Jason asked. “Where do we—?”

  “I don’t think he’s that good-looking,” Chase said.

  Jason stared. “I wasn’t talking about Bradley’s appearance. I meant—”

  “But do you think he’s good-looking?” Chase asked, holding out his palms.

  Jason sighed. “I don’t know. I personally don’t go around checking out other men. And I don’t exactly like it when my wife does either,” he added, frowning, remembering Sue calling the guy “hot.”

  “Well, I guess he’s not bad-looking for a plumber,” Chase mused.

  “Right,” Jason said, hoping to get back to business. “Now, back to my real question. Where do we start looking into Bradley?”

  Chase pointed to the lot next door. “Right in front of you.” A truck with a construction sign on its door panel was parked in front. Two men were walking around as if surveying the property. Chase explained, “We should talk to the contractor and see if he can enlighten us about what went down earlier—and what he knows about the plumber.”

  Jason nodded, falling into step beside Chase. Then he chuckled. “If you ask if he thinks Bradley is good-looking, I’m out of here.”

  Chase gave a brief smile.

  “So you think this Bradley character kidnapped Kathy?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t know,” Chase replied. “But something doesn’t add up. Cary said she looked fine. Said she was even acting friendly with the guy.”

  “Then we both know it was an act,” Jason replied. “Come on, Kathy friendly with a man?”

  Chase chuckled.

  “Seriously,” Jason continued. “No offense or anything, but I always got the impression that men weren’t her thing.”

  Chase looked at him. “Just because she didn’t swoon over the Almighty Jason Dodd, you think she’s a lesbian?”

  “No. Not a lesbian. She just…doesn’t like men.”

  Chase shrugged. “I just always figured she resented us for taking her best friends away. Also, if you remember correctly, neither of our wives was too keen on the opposite sex when we met them. I think Kathy’s ex did a number on her, too.”

  “Maybe,” Jason agreed, then let out a deep breath.

  Chase stopped and turned. “You know the Hoke’s Bluff PD is going to be asking questions as soon as they go over to Kathy’s. You going to lie to Danny and Cary?”

  Jason paused, knowing what his friend wasn’t saying. “Do you have any reason why Sue being involved would help?”

  “Right now I don’t. But there’s a lot we don’t know.”

  “If it were Lacy, what would you do?” Jason asked.

  Chase ran a hand over his face. “Probably the same thing you’re doing.”

  “Thanks,” Jason replied. “You know, I talked to Danny before I left the hospital
. Hoke’s Bluff PD is looking hard at Kathy for being involved in all this.”

  “Now, that I don’t believe,” Chase said. “She may not like men, but I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who cared more about her son. Drugs? No way. I can’t see her doing anything illegal.”

  “Me either,” Jason agreed. “That’s why I’m thinking we might be looking at the whole thing ass backwards. Maybe Bradley’s not—”

  “You think he’s innocent?” Chase asked. “They found cocaine at his place.”

  Jason gave his friend a hard look. “Considering I’m talking to a guy who had a corrupt cop plant drugs under his bed a little more than a year ago, yeah, I think it might be a possibility.”

  “Damn. You got a point. And I really hate that.” He stood there for a second, thinking. “But who would go out of their way to set up a plumber?”

  They started moving again. “I don’t know,” Jason said. “You’re the guy who always figures out the puzzles. I just point them out.”

  “True,” Chase agreed. “But I think we’d both better get to work on this one, because if something happens to Kathy…”

  “I know,” Jason said. “It will break our wives’ hearts.”

  “Yup,” Chase said. “And you know what our jobs are?”

  “To keep anything from breaking their hearts. Because they’re our right arms.”

  Chase nodded. “You know, for a former womanizing son of a gun, I’ve taught you well.”

  “As if you didn’t do your own womanizing,” Jason muttered.

  Kathy crossed her arms over her chest and tightened her thighs to keep her bladder from releasing. She stared at porta-potty. She did a little side-to-side dance, then leaned toward the door. “Are you almost finished?”

  “What is it?” Luke appeared behind her, sounding concerned.

  She swung around, and he gave the leash a yank when Goodwill sniffed at his shoe. “It’s occupied.” She bit down on her lip and gave the tree another glance. Desperate times called for desperate measures.