by Rose Pressey
“How about coffee this morning?” he asked.
Oh, no. Now what would I say?
“I have a meeting. Maybe we can meet for lunch,” I said.
“I don’t think I can do lunch. I’m busy. I can let you know though. A new client?” he asked.
Oh, I wished it was as simple as that. Was he really going to make me tell him who I was meeting? “No, not a new client,” I said.
He probably sensed the hesitation in my voice. “Well, it sounds like you’re busy,” he said.
“Yeah, I’m running late,” I said.
“I miss you,” he said.
“I miss you too,” I said. “I’ll call you soon and let you know.”
“But promise me something, Maggie,” Jake said.
“What?” I asked as I started the car.
“That you will stay out of trouble today.”
“I can’t make a promise like that. This is a dangerous job.”
“Can you promise me you’ll try to stay safe?”
“I suppose I can do that. I’ll talk to you soon.”
He paused for a moment but then finally said, “Talk to you soon.”
I ended the call and then pulled out onto the street headed toward the café. I just hoped that Jake didn’t stop by there for coffee. Not that I was trying to keep this secret from him, but the less he knew about our strategy the better off we would all be. Usually I went to the coffee shop around the corner, but sometimes I stopped in this place for breakfast.
Before meeting Reynold for breakfast, I had to go to the address for Marie Scott. It could be a matter of life or death actually. A short time later I pulled up to the street. I eased down the road and parked at the curb in front of the house. I was a bit apprehensive but also mad at the same time. Who did this woman think she was? Wouldn’t she be surprised to see me standing at her front door? Jake would flip if he knew I was doing this, but hey, it was my job. And I had to protect myself, plus other citizens of Miami.
I got out of the car and looked around to see if anyone was nearby. It was pretty quiet around here. In the distance I saw a woman walking her dog, but she had no idea that I was watching her. I made my way down the sidewalk and up the path toward the front door.
I pushed my shoulders back and held my head high. I was prepared for this. Well, as prepared as I’d ever be. I just hoped she didn’t attack me while I was standing right there at the door. After a few minutes, the door opened, and a woman stood in front of me. Looking at her shoulder-length brown hair and big brown eyes, I knew this was definitely the same woman in the photo ID.
“May I help you?” she asked with a smile.
She acted as if she didn’t know why I was here. I wouldn’t let her act fool me though. She had attacked me, and I wanted to know why.
I smirked. “Are you surprised to see me?”
“Excuse me?” she asked with a look of confusion.
“I know you were the one who attacked me, and you were also at my apartment last night.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “You must have the wrong house. I don’t know you. And I’ve never attacked anyone.”
She started to close the door, but I put my hand out. “I’m not done talking to you,” I said.
“Well, I’m done talking to you. I think I have to call the police now.”
“Oh, sure, go ahead and call the police. I can tell them what you did. I have your driver’s license to prove it,” I said, waving it in the air.
She frowned. “You’re the one who stole my purse.”
“Excuse me,” I said. “Now you’re blaming me for something?”
“My purse was stolen last week,” she said.
Okay, perhaps I had jumped to conclusions a smidgen. It could be possible that the woman’s driver’s license had been stolen with the purse and just dumped on that boat. I hadn’t seen the face of the woman who had attacked me, so I didn’t know if it was her. I just had assumed that she had dropped the driver’s license. Perhaps I had made a rash decision coming here and now I looked like an idiot. How would I apologize?
“Oh,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
The woman narrowed her eyes and placed her hand on her hip. I knew she wanted more of an explanation. “Did you find my purse, or did you steal it?”
“I found your driver’s license. No purse. Someone attacked me and I thought the person dropped your driver’s license. That’s why I thought it was you.”
“Like I said, I’ve never done such a thing and I would never.”
She seemed offended. I couldn’t say that I blamed her. The odd thing though was that this woman looked like the one who had been on that boat. I’d only seen a glimpse of her back, but it could definitely have been her. I suppose that would just be a coincidence. If she said it wasn’t her, then I had no way to prove otherwise. Why would this woman want to hurt me?
“Where did you lose your purse?” I asked.
“It was stolen at a restaurant near the beach. I left it on the table, and I got up for just a moment to get something from the bar. When I came back it was gone,” she said.
“Does the restaurant have surveillance video? Maybe you could see who took it?”
“Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything set up in the angle where I was sitting.”
“Which restaurant is this?” I asked.
“Surfside,” she said.
I’d have to make a trip there and see if I could get the video. If I could find out who had stolen her purse, then maybe it was the same person who had attacked me. It was worth a shot to check.
I handed her the driver’s license. “Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
She took the license from me. “That’s okay.”
It was time for me to get out of there. “Sorry about that again,” I said. “I’ll be leaving now.” She raised an eyebrow.
I turned around and headed back to my car. Okay, I hoped Jake never found out about this little mistake. But I did want to find out if I could get video from that restaurant to see who had taken the bag. I was sure that the person who had followed me had been in the boat and dropped that driver’s license.
Why she had it, I wasn’t sure. A leftover memento from the stolen purse, I guessed. Maybe that was all this was—somebody trying to steal something from me. But the fact that I had been attacked at my office and then followed again at my apartment was a huge coincidence that I didn’t believe in.
The woman watched as I pulled away from the curb. I tried not to look over at her much. How embarrassing. Thank goodness I was away from there now and headed for the café.
Chapter 20
I’d texted Reynold and let him know I was running late. After making the five-minute drive in four and a half, I pulled into the parking lot for the café. Reynold’s BMW was nowhere in sight, so I used this time to check my reflection in the mirror. After reapplying lipstick, I headed toward the door with my purse over my shoulder.
After squeezing my way through the crowd of people at the door, I stepped up to the hostess’ podium. Since it was already crowded for breakfast, I wasn’t sure if we would find a table. Lucky for me, the crowd of people were on their way out. I spotted an empty table at the back of the room.
I followed the hostess to the table and sat down facing the door, so I’d see Reynold when he walked through the door. I’d forgotten to tell the hostess that I was expecting someone else. I just hoped that Reynold saw me sitting back here. As the staff zoomed around the room, I couldn’t grab anyone’s attention to tell them that I was waiting for another person. I’d just have to watch the door for Reynold.
I studied the menu, checking out the breakfast items. I thought I would keep it simple and just have oatmeal with blueberries. It wasn’t the most exciting thing on the menu, but I was having a bit of a nervous stomach about all of this so it was all I thought I could handle. When I got nervous, I lost my appetite.
When I noticed Reynold walk to the door, I stood up from the table and w
aved like crazy. He hadn’t noticed me. Finally, I put my hand to my mouth and whistled. The entire restaurant stopped and looked at me. They stopped moving and talking. They stopped everything. Now I really was embarrassed. Reynold waved and headed over to me. When people realized what I was doing they went back to their food and everything was normal again.
Reynold sat down across from me and laughed. “Well, you certainly have a way of stopping the room.”
“I didn’t expect that kind of reaction,” I said.
“Whatever it takes to get someone’s attention, right?” he said with a smile.
“Right,” I said, hoping my cheeks weren’t too red.
He looked handsome in his royal blue button-down short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts with tiny palm-tree print, his blond hair streaked from the sun. I had to push the thoughts of how handsome he was out of my head though. That had absolutely nothing to do with why I was here.
I handed him the menu. “I’ve decided on oatmeal with blueberries.”
“A safe choice,” he said.
“Well, I have to be safe somewhere in my life, right?”
He laughed again. “You’re certainly not safe with your other choices.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“Am I safe with my choices?” He raised an eyebrow.
“No, what are you having for breakfast?”
“Oh,” he said with a chuckle. “I think I’ll make it substantial with eggs, bacon, and a pancake.”
“Hungry. Interesting.”
“Well, when you stay up all night working sometimes you’ve got to have fuel to keep you going.”
“You stayed awake all night?” I asked.
Before he could answer the waitress came over. After taking our orders, she grabbed the menus and headed away. Now I stared at him, waiting for his response.
“I have several cases I’m working out right now. I wanted to get those out of the way so that I can focus my time on Morty.”
“You know Dorothy and I appreciate that,” I said.
“I know you do.” Reynold studied my face for a lingering moment.
I needed to get us back on track. No romantic looks.
I grabbed my phone. “I have something to show you.”
“Sounds intriguing,” he said with a raised eyebrow.
I showed him the photos of the man and woman. “Do you recognize these two?”
He stared at the photos for a bit. “I’ve seen him before, but I just can’t remember where.”
Think, Reynold, think. I thought I recognized the man in the photos too. Just like Reynold, I couldn’t remember where from.
Chapter 21
A short time after leaving Reynold, I’d pulled into the parking lot for my office when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered anyway—a decision I would later regret. I never knew when it could be a client. This turned out to be one of those times.
“Is this Maggie Thomas?” the woman asked.
“Yes, it is,” I said.
“My name is Milla Caine,” she said.
“What can I do for you, Milla?” I asked, trying to sound as professional as possible as the seagulls divebombed my head.
I waved the birds away with my purse. They just thought I was playing with them or I had food. I’d done this so often that they were used to it now. They just wanted me to give them the same amount of food as Dorothy.
“I was wondering if I could get a meeting with you?” Milla asked.
I hurried toward the office door with my flip-flops slapping against the pavement. “Sure, I can make an appointment with you. When would you like to meet? I have time tomorrow or next week.”
“I need something faster than that. This is urgent.”
I stopped right there along the path toward the door. “What’s the problem?”
“I need to see you right away about a murder case.”
Another murder case?
“All right, I can meet you right away.”
Just then movement caught my attention and I noticed a woman walking from around the side of the building. She had her phone up to her ear. As she neared me, she took the phone away. I couldn’t stop staring at her.
“Hello?” I said into the phone.
I needed to wrap up this call with this woman so that I could find out what this other woman wanted. She was walking right toward me. There was no answer when I talked into the phone. I said hello again. Still no answer. I looked at my phone screen and realized that the call had been dropped. I focused my attention on the woman because she was almost beside me now. I would have to dial that number back after I dealt with this lady.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hi, Maggie. You said you could meet with me right away.” The tall blonde stared at me with her big blue eyes.
My mouth dropped open. “Well, I didn’t know you were right around the corner.”
That was the fastest I’d ever had anyone show up to meet with me. It was a bit strange and kind of creepy.
“I hope that’s not a problem,” Milla said.
“I guess not,” I said. “I haven’t opened my office yet, so if you’d like to follow me inside…”
“Oh, I can come back if you’d like me to,” she said.
She was already here now. There was no point in her returning.
“You said it was urgent. Plus, it’s no problem. I just need to open the door.”
I knew Dorothy wouldn’t be able to focus on work, so I’d told her to take the entire week off. She would be no help anyway, though I was missing her. I pulled out the key and opened up the door. The woman followed me inside.
I motioned toward my desk with the leather chair in front. “Please have a seat.”
“Thank you,” she said in a weak voice.
I put my purse down on top of my desk and then sat down. “So you said this is about a murder? When was the murder?”
“I think you have knowledge of the murder,” Milla said.
I stared at her for a moment. “Excuse me?”
“You were there when the body was discovered.”
Chapter 22
Okay, now I was really freaking out. What was the deal with this woman? I was starting to panic.
“Yes, I was on the scene when a body was found,” I said.
I was certainly going to be cautious with this woman.
“Well, Jessica was my best friend and I need to find the killer. I know your friend wasn’t the one who did this.”
I released a deep breath. “I’m happy to hear you say that. Can you tell me who you think might have done this?”
“I have some ideas, but I don’t know for sure. That’s why I need you to help.”
“And what makes you think that my friend didn’t do this? I mean, I know he didn’t, but that’s not what the police say.”
“Just because I had a feeling that someone was following her. And it’s no coincidence this happened. Plus, I don’t think your friend could be a killer. I saw his picture on the news.”
Jessica had been followed? I wondered if someone had tried to attack Jessica too. “You saw Morty’s picture?”
“On all the channels,” she said with a nod.
“His appearance doesn’t exactly scream killer, that’s for sure,” I said. “I’m glad you feel this way though. It’s important to me because I’ve been trying to find the killer. However, I can’t really take the case. I would do it anyway. No need to hire me.”
“No, really, I want to pay you,” Milla said with pleading eyes.
“Maybe later we can discuss it, but right now we need to focus on finding out who did this. Maybe you can give me your list of suspects and I can see what I can find out.” I pulled out my trusty legal pad and pencil.
This was just the way that my uncle Griffin used to do things. He still had all kinds of notes in the file cabinet. I intended on continuing the tradition.
“First off, her estranged husband Stuart Combs.”
“Yes, I read a little bit about that and I have him on my list,” I said. “What can you tell me about him?”
“Well, off the top of my head, I can’t think of one nice thing to tell you about him. Does that help you at all?”
“He was a nice guy, huh?” I asked.
“Certainly not,” she said. “He was verbally abusive. Plus, he was pressuring her into selling a property she owned for land development. Some big developer wanted to buy it, but Jessica thought she could get much more money for it. She was savvy like that.”
“Do you know the developer’s name?” I asked.
“I can’t remember, but I know she had a few meetings with him.”
“You are the woman who contacted me and said her friend was missing. You were supposed to meet me, and you didn’t. Isn’t that right?”
She picked at the hem of her shirt and then made eye contact. “Yes, it was me. I apologize. I have a perfectly good explanation as to why I didn’t make it.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
This I’d really love to hear.
“Someone was following me, and I was pretty sure I was in danger. So I couldn’t go anywhere but home.”
I would have liked to think that she could have come here and that I could have helped her if someone truly was following her.
“Do you know who is doing this?” I asked.
“No,” she said.
“Can you describe the person?” I asked.
“It was a woman. Probably taller than you, but with same hair color as yours.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
It couldn’t be a coincidence that I had been attacked right around the same time by someone with the same description.
“By the way, someone attacked me right after you were supposed to meet me. And I’m pretty sure that person is the same one you just described.”
Her eyes widened. “What makes you think so?”
“Well, she fits the description. Plus, then I saw her at an office building, coffee shop, and my apartment.”
“Why would she do that if she’s following me?”
“I’m not sure. It’s a very strange connection, but I’ll find out.”
