2.Get into Polly’s office and see if she’d left any papers lying around, or even a computer.
Maybe she’d have a manifesto called How I Killed Craig Williams right there in plain sight.
3.Try to break into the safe.
She knew even less about breaking into safes than she did about picking locks. This list wasn’t looking promising. She started a new list of what she had already learned:
1.Polly favored Monaco just like she had favored Craig.
Weird, because Monaco didn’t look like a payday. She could probably have made more from Brandi than Monaco, but Brandi would be a lot harder to fool. Maybe she didn’t have a profit motive. Maybe she really wanted to help Monaco, and she’d really wanted to help Craig. But she sure wasn’t nice to everyone, if Amber was any indication.
2.Polly was in charge, and Gus followed orders.
Why did Gus work there at all, since he really seemed to hate addicts? Maybe Polly forced him to. Or maybe he liked watching addicts suffer.
3.Monaco was still using drugs.
That had been clear from her appearance by the campfire. Did Polly know what Monaco was doing? As an addiction specialist, she had to have noticed Monaco was high. So, she must be looking the other way, maybe even supplying Monaco with drugs. How common was that in rehabs? She’d ask Brandi later. Brandi would know.
4.Monaco was really attached to Polly.
The whole My New Mom thing was creepy. Jenna had mentioned that her brother called Polly his mother. Monaco seemed eager for Polly’s attention, and Polly seemed to be driving a wedge between Monaco and her best friend, Amber. Was that what Polly had done with Craig and Jenna?
5.Amber wasn’t doing drugs.
If Brandi had told the truth, Amber had drug-free urine and was passing it along to Monaco. How could Brandi even know something like that? OK, Brandi probably had her ways.
6.So far she had a lot of suppositions, but nothing useful.
Polly hadn’t told her anything specific about Craig, and neither had anyone else. She’d found no evidence that the rehab center wasn’t legitimate. She’d been stuck in there faking an addiction and hadn’t learned anything. She’d write it off as a waste of time, but at least she’d seen Brandi play and heard Amber sing. That was something.
A board creaked in the hall, and Sofia threw off her covers. She looked through the tiny window in her door, right into Brandi’s eyes. Brandi held up a key and pantomimed unlocking Sofia’s door.
Sofia nodded. She ran over to her bed and adjusted the covers and pillow so it looked as if she was all tucked in for the night. If Gus was watching, he’d catch her for sure, but if he tuned in later, it’d just look as if she was sleeping. She’d know soon enough.
Brandi opened the door, stepped inside, and bowed. Sofia couldn’t stop grinning. She was out past her bedtime. Brandi put one finger up to her lips and motioned for Sofia to follow her.
They stepped out into the shadow together. A dark lump across the hall told her that Polly was sleeping in front of Monaco’s door, just as she had slept in front of Craig’s. But anyone who watched Monaco’s TV show knew that her money was tied up in a trust fund and dispensed by her father. If Polly was a killer for profit, she wouldn’t make any money out of Monaco.
Sofia looked at Brandi.
Brandi put her hands together and held them near her cheek. She seemed to think Polly was asleep. Sofia sure hoped so.
A creak came from the next room. It sounded like Amber had turned over in her bed. Sofia looked at Amber’s door, then back at Brandi. Brandi shook her head. Apparently, they weren’t breaking out Amber.
Barefoot, Sofia crept down the hall. It was too dark to see much, but hopefully that was making things harder for the surveillance cameras.
When they were out of earshot in the living room, Brandi whispered in Sofia’s ear, “Do what you need to do.”
Sofia wanted to deny that she was up to something, but she just nodded and hurried through the living room and the kitchen. The kitchen was empty, but messy. Polly had left the marshmallows and s’mores fixings on the counter.
Sofia’s hands trembled a bit with excitement as she tried to open Polly’s office door. Locked. It didn’t look like much of a lock but, again, she didn’t know how to pick locks.
Brandi opened the fridge and took out a basket of strawberries. She popped one into her mouth and came to stand behind Sofia. “There aren’t any good drugs in there.”
“I’m not looking for drugs,” Sofia whispered.
Brandi shrugged and pulled a key out of her pocket. “OK with me if you were.”
She reached over and unlocked the office door.
“Where did you get the keys?” Sofia asked.
“Picked Gus’s pocket when he was marching you out,” Brandi said. “Usually the dog would have been on me, but I think he likes you.”
That meant this might be her only chance to search the office. Gus might discover his keys had gone at any minute.
Sofia slipped into the office. It smelled of old paper and oranges.
Brandi closed the door and flicked on the light. Sofia did a quick check around the room for cameras. It must be the only place in the house that didn’t have them.
Not a lot of furniture. A giant old desk with a computer monitor and keyboard on top, a bookshelf, a fern that looked dead, and a blue chair with a green-gray sweater thrown over the back.
Polly wasn’t nearly as tidy as Sofia would have thought. Stacks of paper covered her desk, and a pile of orange peel sat on the front edge of a bookshelf. The books had titles like Helping an Addict. A photograph of a much younger Polly, Gus with a moustache, and a boy with wavy hair rested next to her computer. The boy had a crooked grin, as if he wasn’t sure he should be smiling, and he stood ramrod straight, like his father. On him it looked graceful.
“The Coggins family,” Brandi said. “In happier times.”
Sofia hit the return key to wake up the computer. While it booted up, she looked at the papers. She paged through her own admission forms, a receipt for the fire box in the yard, grocery lists. No smoking gun here.
The computer had a password, of course. She tried password, but expected Polly to be smarter than that. On a hunch, she tried Polly’s son’s name: Oliver. That worked.
“What was her password?” Brandi asked.
Sofia felt weird telling her. “Oliver.”
“Ouch,” Brandi said. “It almost makes you think she has a soul.”
Sofia glanced through Polly’s emails. Request for treatment spaces, an email from Experian with Sofia’s name on it, and a letter from a lawyer. She opened the one with her name on it, and clicked on the attachment.
“She has my credit report!” Sofia was outraged. As if her privacy hadn’t been violated enough here.
“Makes sense,” Brandi said. “She needs to make sure we can pay.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Sofia said. “We pay her in advance. Doesn’t matter what our credit rating is.”
“Really? Is mine there?” Brandi asked.
Sofia searched for messages containing the word Experian and found one with Brandi’s name (her real name was Alice Miller). She did a quick search and found credit reports for Monaco, Amber, and Craig.
“Guess she knows what we’re worth.” Now Brandi sounded angry, too. Good.
Sofia also found messages from Trinity Consulting, a private detective agency who competed with Maloney Investigation. She opened up the Trinity email with her name on it, and her jaw dropped.
Polly knew a lot about her: how much she’d made on her movies, who her friends were, what property she owned, where she hung out. She didn’t seem to know Sofia worked for Maloney Investigations, which was a relief. The Trinity investigator had thought that she was dating Aidan and that was why she hung out at the office. She was livid. How could anyone even think she was dating Aidan? Or that she had nothing better to do than hang out at her boyfriend’s office all day?
&nb
sp; Sofia forwarded the message to Aidan, knowing it would probably drive him nuts, too, and a similar report for Craig Williams. Polly had known exactly how much he was worth, how much they were all worth. She was going to send Monaco’s along, too, when a board creaked.
She deleted the evidence from Polly’s Sent folder, then put the computer back to sleep.
Brandi turned off the light, hopped under the desk, and pulled Sofia down next to her. She smelled like cigarettes and toasted marshmallow. She put a hand on Sofia’s shoulder as if to hold her in place.
The office light came on again.
“Who’s in here?” Gus’s voice, and he sounded angry.
His footsteps came closer. Sofia held her breath.
“I see you under the desk,” Gus said. “Get out of there right now.”
Before Sofia could decide what to do next, Brandi pushed the keys into Sofia’s hand and shoved her out from under the desk. Sofia sprawled on the floor and nearly smacked her head against the wall.
At least she’d had a little time to look at Polly’s computer. Maybe Aidan could use those reports to make a better link between Craig and Polly.
“I didn’t expect it would be you, Salgado,” Gus said. “You seemed like a good girl. Give me the keys.”
Sofia scrambled to her feet.
“How did you get out of your room?” he asked.
“A magician never reveals her secrets.” She walked around the desk toward him. Sure, she was caught, but maybe Brandi would get away with it.
“I’m surprised I didn’t find you bent over the drug safe.”
She shrugged.
“I might bend you over that safe myself,” he said.
“What did you say?” Sofia couldn’t believe she’d heard correctly.
“I could get you heroin for it,” he said. “Don’t pretend you junkies won’t trade sex for drugs.”
He smiled, and she thought of Monaco’s glazed eyes.
“Guess I’m not that kind of junkie.” She wanted to punch him in the face.
“You’re all that kind of junkie.” He took a step toward her.
She started running through attack strategies in her head. He wouldn’t be easy to take down. He looked strong, probably had military training, but that didn’t mean she was easy prey. She threaded his keys between her fingers, ready. Hopefully Aidan was listening.
Brandi popped up from the desk. She’d taken off her shirt, and her breasts jiggled.
“What the hell?” Gus stopped advancing.
“We were looking for a place to have some fun,” Brandi said. “And this is the only room without a camera.”
Brandi dropped an arm over Sofia’s shoulders and flashed her trademark bad-girl smile.
“What the hell is going on here, Gus?” Polly stood behind him in light-green pajamas with dark-green shamrocks on them.
Monaco and Amber arrived right behind her. Brandi didn’t seem to care that she was topless. Sofia realized nobody in the facility was locked into their rooms besides her. That hardly seemed fair.
“Please put on a shirt, Brandi.” Polly looked up at Gus as if she wanted to say something else, but didn’t. “And then all of you girls need to get back to bed. Gus, please return to your post.”
Gus shot Sofia an angry look and left. Not good.
Sofia bent down behind the desk. She pushed the keys inside Brandi’s balled-up shirt, hoping no one else would see. Brandi pocketed the keys in one easy movement, and slipped into her T-shirt.
Sofia leaned in close to Brandi, gave her a hug, and whispered in her ear. “Come for me just before daybreak.”
She wasn’t staying in here another day with Gus, case or no case.
On the way back through the kitchen, she grabbed a handful of marshmallows.
CHAPTER 17
Sofia lay on her bed and thought about packing. She didn’t want to leave anything here. But if she did pack, her activities would show up on the camera, and that might bring Gus running. Best to send for her stuff after she was outside. It was just stuff. Except for Snow Cone’s dog tag. That was in her pajama pocket. Jenna would want that.
Sofia stood and fastened her sheet over the curtains. That cut down on the light, and hopefully would hamper the camera. If anyone asked, she’d say she needed darkness to sleep. But no one came.
Maybe Gus wasn’t at his post.
She waited for a long time, too keyed up to sleep, and ran over her plan in her head. She’d already bunched up her pillows under the quilt so it would look like she was still in bed. She needed Gus to be absent from his post for a few minutes.
A quiet click told her that Brandi hadn’t let her down. Holding her marshmallow-stuffed shoes in one hand, she crept to the door in stockinged feet and slid through sideways.
Brandi carried a backpack over her shoulder, and gestured for Sofia to lead the way. Polly was curled up in front of Monaco’s door, snoring. If she wanted to protect someone, it ought to have been Sofia, damn it.
She tiptoed past the sleeping woman, shoes held high. She felt like a kid in a ridiculous sitcom sneaking out of the house after bedtime.
Polly rolled over and stopped snoring. Sofia froze. Brandi ran into her from behind, and Sofia teetered. For one stomach-dropping second, she thought she would fall on Polly and Brandi would fall on her and it would be an un-fun game of Twister. But she righted herself. She held her breath for a count of ten, and hoped for the snoring to start back up. It didn’t. She didn’t dare wait longer. Gus might catch them at any second.
She tiptoed down the hall again. She had never noticed how creaky the floor was, like walking across a pan of popping popcorn. Brandi was a lot quieter. She must have roamed around at night before.
They got to the end, crossed the living room, and eased out of the front door. Muffin stood on the top landing. He growled but didn’t bark.
Brandi stayed behind Sofia and whispered. “He’s going to be a problem.”
“No, you’re not, are you, Muffin?” Sofia took a marshmallow out of her shoe and held it out in her left hand. Muffin trotted over and took it. “You’re going to shush like a good boy!”
Muffin shushed and licked his lips. Brandi raised her eyebrows in silent mock surprise.
“‘Cavalry,’ Aidan,” Sofia said. “Sooner would be better. ‘Cav-al-ry.’”
She hoped that he hadn’t been lying about the earrings. What if he’d done that as a prank?
Brandi gave her a startled look.
“Friend on the outside,” Sofia said. “I hope.”
She edged down the stairs. Brandi was as close as her shadow. It took one more marshmallow to get to the bottom. Sofia paused on the last step and ruffled the dog’s fur. “Good boy!”
He didn’t relax, but he didn’t seem as if he was about to take her arm off either. That might be as good as things were going to get.
She glanced at the gate. No sign of Aidan.
She spent another marshmallow getting them across the lawn, then dropped two at the base of the gate. She still hadn’t had time to put on her shoes.
Brandi clambered up the wrought iron like a monkey. Sofia wasn’t far behind. She swung her leg over the top. She was almost free.
Still no sign of Aidan, but she’d walk home if she had to.
“Get down from there!” Gus yelled from the top of the stairs. “Muffin, go!”
Muffin knew who his master was. He swallowed the last bit of marshmallow and launched himself at the gate. It shook from the impact, and Sofia almost fell on top of him. Her shoes did, one sneaker landing on his snarling muzzle. He’d gone from good dog to fierce dog pretty darn fast.
Brandi leaped from the top of the gate, rolled, and jumped to her feet like some kind of martial arts expert. Violet would have been proud.
Afraid to jump, Sofia tried to climb down. The gate started to move under her like the lamest amusement-park ride ever. She lost her balance, her pajama pants ripped up the back, and she tipped toward the ground. She reache
d out with one hand and grabbed the wrought-iron bar.
The sidewalk looked very far away, but the dog and Gus were close. Her feet were inches from Muffin’s snapping teeth, and Gus was halfway across the yard, bellowing as he ran. He had a dark shape in his hand. A Taser. No more time to be careful.
She let herself drop, bending her knees as she landed to take up some of the shock. It still hurt.
Brandi grabbed her arm and yanked. The two took off, running down the street. Sofia was still in her socks and the breeze on her behind meant her pajama pants were well and truly open and she was flashing her booty at Gus and the dog.
The whine of the gate’s motor kept going. Once Gus got it open even a few inches, Muffin would squeeze through, and the jig would be up.
CHAPTER 18
Sofia stumbled and went down on one knee. Brandi hauled her upright again. Dark houses lined both sides of the empty street. No chance they’d be able to get help in time.
A triumphant bark urged them on. They’d never be able to outrun a German shepherd. She hoped Muffin had been trained not to injure his prey. Hopefully, he’d just knock them down so Gus could Taser them and drag them back by their hair. Yeah, that was probably the best case scenario.
A flash of yellow streaked by and screeched to a stop in front of them. Aidan’s Porsche. The door popped open. “Come with me if you want to live,” he said, in the worst Austrian accent she’d ever heard. She didn’t care.
She pushed Brandi inside and piled in after her. Yanking her foot out of the way, she slammed the door. Muffin’s paws thudded on the window glass by her ear. He barked at her through the glass. He looked both angry and apologetic.
Aidan spun out and left the dog behind. They streaked down George Avenue, passing streets with the names of British royalty on either side—Charles, Elizabeth, and William. It was as if they’d been plunked down in a London suburb.
“There’s slobber on my window, isn’t there?” Aidan asked.
B is for Bad Girls (Malibu Mystery Book 2) Page 11
