“The Three Cousins Detective Agency,” Claire said.
“The Nosy Neighbor Detective Agency,” Ed said.
“No, I’ve got it,” Tommy said. “The Curious Cousins Detective Agency.”
“Perfect,” Claire said.
“I’m gonna go design your logo,” Tommy said.
He jumped up and hurried down the hall.
“Have you given any more thought to my business idea?” Ed asked her.
“It’s a good idea, and somebody should definitely do it, but it’s just not me.”
“But, it’s brilliant,” he said. “We get you a van, and turn the inside into a state-of-the-art salon, and you can take your salon to your customers’ homes. We can get the van wrapped in your advertisement, so when you drive around it’s like a traveling billboard.”
“I understand the concept, I just don’t want to do it.”
“You’re too cool for that, aren’t you?”
Claire popped her collar and looked down her nose at him.
“Like, for real,” she said.
‘He looks like the son of Larry and Curly from The Three Stooges,’ Laurie said in her head. ‘Bald and ginger.’
Claire closed her eyes and willed him to shut up.
“What happened?” Ed asked her. “You just shut down.”
He took her in his arms as she felt her eyes fill with tears.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just have these spells.”
“You need to talk to somebody,” Ed said.
“I need to figure out a job,” Claire said. “I need to figure out my life.”
‘At least you have one,’ Laurie said.
“I’m going to go,” Claire said, gently pushing Ed away.
“I thought you were going to claim your territory,” he said. “I feel like everything below my waist is in danger from those insatiable college girls.”
Claire pinched him and he cringed.
“Very funny,” Claire said. “I really need to touch base with my mom and dad.”
“All right,” he said. “But tomorrow night we’ll have a sleepover, okay? I’ve been missing you.”
“Rain check,” Claire said.
She kissed him and scooped up her handbag.
“Hey, Claire,” he said.
Claire turned.
“Everything’s going to be all right, you know,” he said, “eventually.”
“I know,” Claire said. “I just wish it were then already.”
At home, she was surprised to see Ava sitting at the kitchen table with her mother. The atmosphere was strained, and Claire looked at her mother with concern.
“Ava’s been waiting for you to come home,” Delia said.
“I was just about to give up on you,” Ava said, and rose to give Claire a hug.
The thing about her cousin-in-law, Ava, was this: she was beautiful. Not pretty, not cute, not just lovely; she was stunning. Men lost their minds when she walked into a room. She had dark hair and eyes, a dancer’s form and grace of movement, and a smile that lit up the tri-county area.
None of her features were that remarkable on their own, but there was something about how they were put together, the symmetry or something, that had a strong effect on everyone who encountered her. It was star quality, and Claire was an expert at recognizing it when she saw it.
Ava knew it, of course, Claire was certain of that.
Maggie hated her for leading Scott on while they were estranged. Hannah hated her because Sam had once confessed to having a crush on her in grade school. Claire didn’t have anything against Ava, not really; but then the woman had never so much as looked at Ed with anything but kind tolerance. The thing that bothered her about Ava was that she didn’t feel like she ever saw the real person beneath all that beauty and graciousness. She would’ve liked to see Ava get mad, or drunk, or go off on someone. She seemed too good to be true.
Deliah left the room and Ava helped herself to more coffee.
“I’ll regret this later when I can’t sleep,” she said.
“What’s going on?” Claire asked as she sat down.
“Probably nothing,” Ava said. “I saw something the other day at Gigi’s, and I can’t quit thinking about it.”
“Why tell me?”
“I want somebody to tell Scott, and it’s no secret how Maggie feels about me,” she said. “I thought you might tell him for me.”
“I’ll be glad to,” Claire said.
“After Jillian found Gigi, Hannah told us to go downstairs and wait for the police. Gwyneth had another appointment or something, so she left. Jillian and Candace went into the dining room, and Jillian gave something to Candace. They had a heated discussion over whatever it was, and then Candace put it in her handbag.”
“What was it?”
“I didn’t get a good look at it, but my first impression was that it was a note.”
“Like a suicide note?”
Ava shrugged.
“I don’t know, I just thought it looked very suspicious and I wanted to tell someone.”
“I’ll let Scott know,” Claire said. “Hey, Ava, has Charlotte ever mentioned Chippie’s son? They’re probably in the same grade at school.”
“I’ve met him,” Ava said. “He’s part of the group of kids she runs with. He seems like a nice boy, has good manners. Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” Claire said. “I just wondered what Chippie’s son was like.”
Ava stood up and smiled at Claire.
“It’s so good to have you back home,” Ava said. “I know your parents are thrilled about it.”
“I’m glad I can help,” Claire said.
“Well, if you’re ever bored and want someone to hang out with, I’m always around.”
“Thanks, Ava,” Claire said.
“You probably won’t, I know,” Ava said. “But I would love it, really. I don’t have many friends, and it gets lonely sometimes.”
“We’ll definitely do something,” she said, and hugged Ava.
After Ava left, Claire made some hot tea and wondered what was in the note Jillian had given Candace.
‘Now that is one good-lookin’ dame,’ Laurie said.
‘Why have you turned into a Damon Runyon character all of a sudden?’ Claire asked.
‘I knew she was trouble when she walked in the joint,’ he said.
‘I knew you were trouble when I danced with you in my dad’s bar,’ she said.
‘There are all kinds of trouble, sister, and I’m the kind you run to, not away from.’
‘You’re ruining my life.’
‘It was ruined when I met you,’ he said.
“Claire,” her mother said from the doorway. “Who are you talking to?”
“Myself,” Claire said. “Sorry.”
Claire woke up in a sweat, her heart pounding. It took her a moment to figure out where she was, and what had happened.
She had been dreaming about Laurie. He was trapped in a car and she was trying to rescue him. She had smashed the window with a rock, unlocked the door, and tried to pull him out, but he was so heavy, and unconscious. His ex-wife was there along with his dead wife, standing behind her on a hill. Claire begged them to help her, but they were too busy arguing about whom he’d loved the most.
A fire started under the hood of the car and Claire knew it was going to explode within seconds.
“Help me!” she screamed, but her voice made no sound.
Laurie opened his eyes and smiled at her.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he said.
Then she woke up.
There had been an earlier dream, she now remembered, something about Jillian and Candace, and a note they were passing in class. The teacher took it away from them and read it silently in front of the class.
“Shame on you,” the teacher said to them. “You ought to be ashamed.”
Claire was wide awake now. The clock read 3:14 a.m. She pulled her tablet out of her handbag, turned it o
n, and went to the list-making app she used when she was a personal assistant.
She wrote:
Tell Maggie and Hannah about the note
Ask Candace about the note
Ask Jillian about the note
Tell Scott about the note
Ask Laurie if his first wife is with him wherever it is he is
Call Doc Machalvie
Chapter Six
“I know I can’t stop you from nosing around in this case,” Scott said. “But …”
“That was in our prenup,” Maggie said.
“We don’t have a prenup.”
“Post-nup, then. We had this discussion in the car on the way to Myrtle Beach after the wedding,” Maggie said. “About all the things we didn’t say in our vows but are still part of this marriage deal.”
“I promised not to try to change you,” Scott said. “That doesn’t mean standing idly by while you risk your life.”
“My investigations with Hannah are part of who I am,” Maggie said. “We aren’t pretending to be cops, we’re just being efficiently nosy.”
“If you break the law, I can’t protect you,” he said. “Sarah would enjoy nothing more than to arrest you for interfering in her investigation.”
“I can handle her,” Maggie said. “Just let Hannah and me be us.”
“Please be careful,” he said. “I say that all the time but I wonder if you even hear the words.”
“I hear you,” Maggie said. “I don’t want to get hurt. I’m a pretty smart person. Have some faith in me.”
“I just don’t want you to end up getting shot at in the state park.”
“That was Claire. She’s such an amateur.”
“Well, watch out for her. She wants to be close with you and Hannah, so she’s likely to do something stupid just to fit in with you guys,”
“You make us sound like twelve-year-olds.”
“Well …”
“Don’t say it,” she said. “Kiss me instead.”
“You’re always distracting me with your womanly wiles,” he said. “Please don’t ever stop.”
“Where have you been?” Hannah asked Maggie when she arrived at the farm an hour after she said she’d be there.
“I got waylaid,” Maggie said.
“I can tell,” Hannah said. “You’ve got bed-head.”
“Will you braid it for me?”
“Come here,” Hannah said.
Maggie took a root beer out of the refrigerator and sat down at Hannah’s kitchen table while Hannah went looking for her wide-tooth comb. She found it in Wally’s dog bed, with tooth marks all over it. She started at the bottom of Maggie’s long, curly red hair and gently tugged the knots out until it was sorted out enough to braid.
“Not too tight,” Maggie said. “It gives me a headache.”
“Not too tight,” Hannah mimicked. “Yes, your majesty.”
“How’s Eugene?”
“Not good,” Hannah said. “He’s still talking great but he had a bad headache this morning, so bad that he threw up. I called Dr. Schweitzer, and we’re going to see him tomorrow.”
“I feel so sorry for him,” Maggie said. “He must feel so helpless and alone.”
“He’s got us,” Hannah said. “He’ll be okay.”
“How’s Sam taking this addition to the family?”
“It was his idea,” Hannah said.
“No way.”
“It was,” Hannah said. “I was as surprised as you.”
“Has that girl still been calling him?”
“Yes,” Hannah said. “I decided not to worry about it but then I still am.”
“We’d kill him; he has to know that.”
“I think he has good intentions but she’s got a huge crush on him. It’s happened before. His buddy David says it’s called transference; something patients do with their doctors.”
“As long as Sam behaves himself.”
“You know, I never worry about him cheating on me. He can barely stand being in a relationship with me, let alone with some high-maintenance, clingy young thing,” she said. “Can you picture it?”
“No,” Maggie said.
“I keep reminding myself of that,” she said. “If she just wasn’t so pretty.”
“And so needy.”
“Exactly,” Hannah said. “Sam loves to rescue people like I love to rescue animals. The only difference is he doesn’t want anything to do with them once they’re out of danger.”
“This, too, shall pass.”
“Let’s hope.”
“What’s our game plan today?”
“Follow everybody and find out stuff.”
“That’s about as well-thought-out as anything else we do.”
“Oh, I have a scanner granny update,” Hannah said. “Did you ever wonder how Candy and Jillian got to be friends?”
“Should I care?”
“Yes, shut up,” Hannah said. “There was a brief period when Candy and Bill were broken up, and Candy used that time to sow some wild oats.”
“Was this at college?”
“Yes,” Hannah said. “Jillian was in nursing school at WVU and Candy started running around with Jillian and her friends.”
“Setting fire to couches up on Sunnyside, that sort of thing?”
“Absolutely, guaranteed,” Hannah said. “Then Candy and Bill got back together and got engaged.”
“Jillian has sort of a rough background, doesn’t she?”
“Oh, yeah,” Hannah said. “She was a wild child at Pendleton High School, back when there was one. No football player left behind, that sort of thing.”
“So, Miss Perfect walked on the wild side for a while,” Maggie said. “That’s pretty common for girls like Candy. I’m just surprised they stayed friends.”
“That’s just it,” Hannah said. “Candy was glad to leave Jillian behind, but Jillian wasn’t happy to be left.”
“Blackmail.”
“Mm hm,” Hannah said. “Candy must have done something pretty wild during that time, and Jillian has proof.”
“All this time has passed,” Maggie said. “You would think things would change, that people could change, but evidently, we are all the same idiots we were in high school.”
“I saw Hatch yesterday,” Hannah said.
“I see Hatch every day,” Maggie said. “He works at your dad’s gas station.”
“I mean he came out to the farm to see me.”
“That’s interesting,” Maggie said. “Was Sam here?”
“Sam’s not jealous of Hatch,” Hannah said. “It’s insulting how not jealous that man is of anybody.”
“When you’re a narcissist, you can’t imagine anyone can compete.”
“Sam is not a narcissist,” Hannah said. “He’s just infuriatingly confident.”
“Same thing.”
“Shut up,” Hannah said. “I’m trying to tell you something.”
“What did Hatch say?”
“He said Claire’s dad is getting worse,” Hannah said. “Evidently, he’s been picking fights with the old coots who hang out in the gas station and no one wants to tell Deliah.”
“Well, crap,” Maggie said. “We need to tell Claire.”
“I don’t want to do it,” Hannah said. “She’s been so weird lately. I feel like we have to tip-toe around her. What’s her deal?”
Maggie hesitated.
“What do you know?” Hannah asked. “I know you know something.”
“I don’t know anything,” Maggie said.
“I love her, don’t get me wrong,” Hannah said. “But sometimes she irritates the hell out of me. All that fussy hair and make-up, dressing up like it’s a fashion show every day, and worrying about celebrities like she knows them. How could we three grow up so close together and turn out so differently?”
“She’s just a girly girl,” Maggie said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“All that worrying about your appearance must be exhaust
ing,” Hannah said. “It’s no wonder she sleeps all the time.”
“We have to tell her about her dad.”
“You go ahead,” Hannah said. “I’ve got my hands full.”
“Let me think about it,” Maggie said.
“Okay, Rapunzel,” Hannah said. “I’ve tamed the wild beast that is your hair. Now you have to help me round up the dogs and get ready for the funeral.”
Claire and her mother, Delia, dropped her father off at the family service station where his brother, Hannah’s father, Curtis, would watch him. Once they arrived in the parking lot of Machalvie’s Funeral Home, Claire’s mother walked up the hill to the Rose Hill Community Center, where the reception was to be, in order to help prepare. Claire met Hannah and Maggie in the funeral home parking lot.
“Okay, here’s the game plan,” Hannah said. “Maggie, you watch Jillian, go everywhere she goes. Claire, you’ve got Chip. When he leaves, you follow him in your car. If he and Jillian leave together, take both cars in case they split up later. You’re both also on suspicious character watch. Anybody does anything weird, you take note.”
“Who are you watching?”
“Sam and I are all about Eugene today. Sam’s his bodyguard and I’m running social interference. Anybody upsets Eugene, and I’m in there like a flash, removing them from his proximity using my expert charm and social dexterity.”
“This I have to see,” Maggie said.
“I know how to do it,” Hannah said. “I just mostly choose not to.”
“They’re going to read the will here at the funeral home,” Claire said. “I’m supposed to be there.”
“Great,” Hannah said. “Now I don’t have to figure out how to get one of us in there.”
“What did you find out about the son?” Maggie asked.
“Tommy says Chippie Junior’s the high school equivalent of a boy bander,” Claire said. “He’s a huge, spoiled brat with more money than sense.”
“Figures,” Maggie said.
“On the other hand, Ava says he’s a well-mannered young gentleman.”
Hannah snorted.
“He’s probably in love with her,” Maggie said.
“Okay,” Hannah said, as cars began to arrive. “Let’s go.”
Sunflower Street Page 12
