Designer Detective (A Fiona Marlowe Mystery)

by Thelen, Marjorie

  “You hope.”

  “Do you think he’s involved in the weapon’s business?”

  Jake shook his head like maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. “Hudson doesn’t strike me as the kind to want to get involved in much of anything. He’s a butler and that’s it. Though he may be caught inadvertently in something he can’t extract himself from.”

  We continued on. An Exxon sign appeared on the horizon.

  “Jake, up ahead. A service station. Pull in.”

  Jake put on the right turn signal, eased into the right lane. Hudson followed. He was driving the huge Rolls Royce I had seen in the Lodge multi-car garage. Odd that he would be driving the Rolls which alone attracted stares and glances. He wasn’t worried about being seen. Maybe he had a message for us.

  Jake pulled to the side of the station, dodging impatient Washington commuters intent on filling up. He came to a stop in front of the air pump. Hudson pulled in on my side.

  “We stay in the car,” Jake said.

  I pressed the electric window button. A brisk fall breeze poured in. Hudson rolled down his window with less caution than we exhibited.

  “Hello, Miss Marlowe,” he said. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to give you the check for your services. You left in such a hurry I didn’t have a chance to give it to you.”

  Since I hadn’t given them a bill, I was curious. He reached inside his coat and brought out an envelope. “I hope this is appropriate. We appreciate what you did. I’m terribly sorry things turned out as they did.”

  I stretched to receive the envelope he offered and opened it. The check was for $10,000, more than I would have billed.

  “Thank you, Hudson. This is very generous. Are you all right? Are you sure you should go back? Maybe you should continue on to the airport and board a flight to England.”

  His having chased us down the highway to hand me a check well over the amount I would have asked, suggested that here was an honest, well meaning man. I was concerned for his safety.

  “I’m all right, Miss Marlowe, but I can’t leave quite yet.”

  I hesitated to ask, but did. “Is Cody okay?”

  “Cody?”

  “Yes, he, uh, had an accident with hot coffee. I hope he’s all right.”

  “Yes, he told me you had left. He looked a bit red-faced, I recall. I hurried to try to catch you. I certainly wish you well, Miss Marlowe.” He leaned lower to see Jake. “And you, too, Mr. Manyhorses.”

  Jake nodded but said not a word.

  “I must be getting back. Good day, then,” Hudson said.

  We watched him back around and ease into the line of traffic.

  I pulled out the check again. “Jake, this check is for $10,000. But wait.” There was something else in the envelope. “There’s another check made out to you. It’s for $10,000, too.” I handed the check to Jake.

  He studied the check. “Silence money, I’d say, wouldn’t you?”

  We sat in grim reflection, gazing at the overgrown tangle of trees and shrubs to the back of the parking lot.

  “Jake, why would they give us $20,000 when the estate is in such a financial mess?”

  “To buy our silence.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Fiona, don’t go waffling on me. This family is into unimaginable intrigue.”

  “Are you going to tell me what you know?”

  He sighed. “I suspected something illicit but didn’t know it was weapons. I found entries in a ledger book in Albert’s room. It was an account that Hudson didn’t know about, which is why I think Hudson isn’t part of whatever Cody and Albert were doing. The entries were large sums of money. Like $800,000 was the smallest amount I remember.”

  I watched his profile as he spoke. The sun popped in and out of puffy clouds. Yellow and gold leaves fell in hops and skips from the trees. All was well with nature. It was humanity that was in bad shape.

  “He was dealing arms then,” I said.

  “He apparently was. I saw the large sums of cash that wouldn’t be associated with any think tank job.”

  “Do you have any idea why Albert did this?”

  He shrugged, still staring at the trees in front of us. “Financial problems. I found a lot of unpaid bills in the desk in Albert’s room. Big bills. For furniture, appliances, cars, bank loans, credit cards. I don’t know who all that stuff was for since Olivia wasn’t around racking up bills. I don’t know how he laundered the money.”

  “Where did he get the contacts?”

  “Africa, most likely. He spent a lot of time there. Lot of lawlessness, big need for guns.”

  “And the customers?”

  “You name it.”

  “Jake, the man could have been supplying terrorists and other wacko groups. I think we should go to the proper authorities.”

  Jake pursed his lips and said a funny thing. “I think the authorities are probably on to him, and they need evidence. They could have gotten a search warrant, if they’d wanted but they held back. I don’t know why, and I don’t want to know.”

  “You might not, but I do.”

  He shook his head. “No, you don’t. This whole thing smells like an old bull carcass been out in the sun too long.”

  “Why do you think the authorities already know?”

  “Just a feeling which is why I don’t want to be hanging around that house any longer. I like your idea of Australia.” He held up his check. “We have the money. Let’s go straight to the airport.”

  I looked at him in alarm. “Good grief. I have to pack, don’t you?”

  He shrugged. “All I got is back at the mansion, and it ain’t much. I can buy what I need. I’m ready.”

  “I’m not. I have to pack the right clothes, and we have to buy tickets and get the checks cashed.”

  “That will take too much time. Use a credit card.”

  “How about drive to my bank, cash the checks, go to my condo so I can pack and make reservations on an evening flight to Sydney.”

  Jake rolled his eyes but started the car, and I directed him to the bank. We ended up depositing both checks to my account and each taking a nice wad of cash, since Jake didn’t have an account. He was a trusting soul.

  At my apartment I packed while Jake got on the computer and found an available flight to Sydney through Los Angeles leaving Dulles airport that night. Our getaway preparations were going smoothly until the phone rang.

  “Hello, Miss Marlowe, this is Hudson.”

  “Hudson? Are you all right?”

  “Considering my circumstances, I am relatively fine, thank you. But I’m afraid Miss Opal is in trouble. I wondered if you and Mr. Manyhorses might help.”

  Not again.

  I covered the receiver. “It’s Hudson. You better pick up on the extension in the bedroom.”

  “Jake is getting on the other phone. I’m not sure what I can do. Opal has a lot of relatives that should be willing to help.”

  “It’s a bit of chaos here, Miss Marlowe. The relatives are exiting at a rapid pace. Cody is doing battle with them right now. Ordering everyone out. Going around banging on doors and yelling. He’s in a wicked bad mood. Says he has a terrible headache. His face is red as a tomato. I’m rather afraid for Miss Opal. She’s been awfully confused lately. It isn’t like her.”

  I heard heavy breathing. Jake was on the other line.

  “Isn’t there someone else who can help?” I asked. “We are rather reluctant to get involved, even though you were most generous in payment.”

  The light bulb went on. The money was for bribery, not silence. Hudson was bribing us into helping.

  “I was particularly interested in Mr. Manyhorses helping. He knows what goes on in the family. Someone might be drugging Miss Opal. The stories she’s been making up are not like her. Could Mr. Manyhorses come and take her back to the ranch in Oregon?” He lowered his voice. “I think Mr. Cody is behind all this.”

  “Are you on a cell phone?” I asked.

  �
��No, a house phone.”

  “What do you say, Jake?”

  “Who’s left in the house?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure. I’d have to check all the rooms. Miss Opal is resting in her room, but she doesn’t look well. Might we get her to hospital?”

  Jake said, “Why don’t you take her?”

  Hudson said, “I don’t believe Cody wants her to leave the house. He’s quite agitated. I would have to go against his wishes. As a long time butler, that is difficult for me to do.”

  “You could call a doctor.”

  “There are so few these days who make house calls.”

  “True.”

  “Excuse me,” said Hudson, “but someone is coming along the hallway. I would be so grateful for your help, and I’m sure Miss Opal would be if you came to her rescue. You are the only one I can think who could help.”

  He hung up.

  I went to the bedroom. Jake was lying on the bed, one foot on the floor, arm over his eyes.

  “What are we going to do?” I said.

  “I don’t know. I was hoping I had extricated myself from that mess. I don’t think Opal is in imminent danger. I could be wrong, but I need to think. Mind if I take a shower? I could use one, and it helps me think.”

  I gestured toward the bathroom. “Be my guest. I’ll get you some fresh towels.”

  I did a quick check of the bath to make sure I didn’t have dirty underwear lying about. It was in reasonable shape. I pulled out a stack of fresh, white towels and placed them on the counter. I glanced in the mirror and gasped. I looked a fright. I desperately needed a shower, too.

  “Jake, use the guest bath. I need to freshen up. Follow me.”

  I lead the way down the hall to the other bath, placed fresh towels on the counter and stepped back so Jake could enter.

  “Do you have a change of clothes?” I asked.

  “Not on me. These will be okay.”

  “Too bad I don’t have any men’s clothes lying about. I’ll run out and pick up a pair of jeans and T-shirt.”

  “Don’t bother. I’ll wear this. No big deal. I’ll pick some things up at the airport.” He wore a T-shirt and jeans. Cowboys didn’t make fashion statements.

  I looked him over. “You really need a fresh T-shirt. Maybe I have something in the back of one of my drawers.”

  I hustled to my room which was to the back of the condo and large enough for a small sitting area by the window that looked toward Rosslyn. I dug through a stack of T-shirts in a remote section of the walk-in closet. They were from conferences and other forgettable events that I’ve attended. I had in mind an extra large maroon T-shirt from a Romance Writers conference to which Olympia drug me. As fortune would have it I found it at the bottom of the stack. I shook it and held it up. Across the front was blazoned, I’d Rather Be Writing. He might not like it but it was double X size and a lot fresher than the one he had on. Maybe he wouldn’t notice the writing. I hung it on the doorknob of the guest bath.

  Back in my room I dropped my sleuthing outfit on the floor and succumbed to a long, hot shower. It gave me time to think. I dreaded going back. There was no way to stage the rescue without Cody finding out. One rescue was my quota for the day. I still had the key to the front door, believe it or not. We could let ourselves in after dark. But that would give us little time to make the red eye flight to Los Angeles that we had booked. I guess if we could get Opal out we could take her to the airport and put her on a plane. But Hudson had said take her to Oregon. I guess that meant Jake would accompany her so he’d carry on the rest of the caper alone.

  I heard Jake leave the bathroom. I yelled down the hall. “Help yourself to whatever you find in the kitchen.”

  “Thanks. I could use a beer.”

  “In the frig.”

  I leafed through my clothes looking for my favorite travelling outfit, a causal, comfortable navy no-iron slacks and sweater outfit. After I had my clothes in place, my hair blow-dried and makeup applied, I searched my top dresser drawer for my passport where I always kept it. Not there. I commenced a thorough search of all the drawers. The passport was nowhere to be found. What a time to misplace it. I wondered whether Jake had a passport.

  “Jake,” I said, as I walked to the kitchen, “I can’t find my passport. Do you have one?”

  Jake had a bottle of microbrew in hand and wore the maroon T-shirt that was tight across the chest. Maroon was his color though.

  “Passport?” he said.

  “Yes, you’ll need a passport to travel to Australia.”

  “I never thought of that.”

  “Does that mean you don’t have one?”

  “Never had cause to leave the country.”

  “We might not be going to Australia, since you don’t have one, and I can’t find mine.”

  I pulled a brew from the frig and poured it into a glass. I never drink beer from a bottle. It is so uncivilized. Leaning against the counter I savored a sip. Jake and I looked at each other.

  “You look nice. Smell nice, too,” he said.

  “Thanks. I like to look my best when fleeing the country. What now?”

  “We could go to Los Angeles and visit Disneyland.”

  “True, or New Orleans and eat jambalaya.”

  He nodded.

  “What about Opal?” I said. The question hung in the air.

  Jake swallowed more beer. He smelled of lavender soap and his curly wet hair was slicked back in a vain attempt to straighten it. He looked a darn sight better in jeans and the maroon T-shirt than a suit.

  “I’ll go back. I owe Opal Crawford. If she’s in a jam, I’m obliged to help her.”

  I nodded. “We’re wearing a path to that house. Too bad we don’t have a helicopter. We could wait until dark and enter by the front door. I have the key. That is if no one has turned on the burglar alarm.”

  Jake looked at me. “You said there was no burglar alarm on the front door.”

  “Right. Every time I’ve gone in, I didn’t have to disable a burglar alarm. I opened the door with a key and let myself in.”

  Jake studied the kitchen clock, the one in the shape of a crowing rooster. “Cody must have disabled the alarm. That’s how he gets the rifles in and out. Someone has a key and enters when they need rifles or bring them in. Could work both ways. All those relatives in the house might have crimped his style. I wonder why he stores the rifles at the house.”

  “It’s a mystery to me.”

  “I’m going back. I’ll do this alone. No sense involving you in breaking and entering. I’ll take the key you have in case I can’t walk in the back door. Who knows what I’ll find.”

  “I should go with you. You’ll need back up. You’re weak in backup systems.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I said. A man without a passport who wants to travel to Australia hasn’t thought about his backup systems. I think of these things.”

  “You can’t find your passport.”

  That shut me up. I finished my beer, pulled another from the frig and offered him one. We stood leaning against the counter, ostensibly thinking.

  Jake looked at the clock again. “It’ll be dark in half an hour. Might as well be on my way. Mind if I use your car?”

  “I’ll drive you.”

  “Fiona, it’s not a good idea for you to go. Drop me at a car rental place, and I’ll take it from there.”

  “I’ll be chauffer. I don’t mind. I think you need backup.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  I fished in my purse lying on the kitchen counter and dangled the car keys before him. “I have the keys so I have the final say.”

  Chapter 9

  A light was on in the library at the Lodge estate when we drove up. Cody was probably in there scheming. Three windows on the second floor had lights. Was Opal being held hostage? Jake and I decided on the ride over that we’d not do anything sneaky. We would be bold and act like we knew what we were doing. He drove up to the fr
ont door and parked. No one came to the door.

  “Let’s walk in,” Jake said.

  “Wait,” I said. “What about a gun?”

  “I don’t have one with me. Do you?”

  “Never owned one in my life.”

  “Fine, then we walk in like we own the place.”

  “What if Cody’s got everybody tied up and is carrying loot out the back door?”

  “That’s a chance we’ll have to take.”

  Jake tried the front door. It was not locked, and there was no burglar alarm set. We walked in, looked around, peeked in the library. No one appeared.

  “Let’s try the kitchen,” said Jake.

  We looked in the drawing room, living area, music room as we strolled by but no one surfaced. In the kitchen Hudson was standing at the stove wearing a white, full-length apron, quite the scene of domesticity.

  “Hello, Hudson,” I said.

  He turned and regarded us with a smile. “How very good to see you. I was making dinner. Have you eaten?”

  It never seemed to bother him that we showed up out of nowhere.

  “Not yet,” said Jake. “We’ve come for Opal. How’s she doing? Where’s Cody?”

  Hudson turned down the heat on a pan of chicken breasts sautéing in garlic and olive oil that smelled heavenly. How could Jake pass on this meal? Hudson wiped his hands on a towel and removed his apron.

  “Cody left. He walked out the front door about an hour ago and got into a car that pulled up to the front of the house. Miss Opal, I’m happy to say, has perked up, so I’m making her dinner. Would you care to join her?”

  Jake shook his head, no. I nodded mine, yes. Hudson smiled. His cheeks were rosy from cooking. His blue eyes had the twinkle back.

  “I like your healthy appetite, Miss Marlowe. I’ll see if Miss Opal will join us. I have a vegetable salad chilling in the icebox. Plenty for everyone.”

  “Great,” I said, and he left to fetch Opal.

  I smiled at Jake. He frowned and walked to the door to the lower floor.

  “Locked,” he said when it didn’t budge.

  “I’m sure Cody doesn’t want anyone messing with the goods.”

  “I wonder who he left with.”