by Misty Simon
“The help.” I knew all about that feeling from both sides. “Did he ever say anything in front of you that he shouldn’t have?”
“I’m sure he said a lot of stuff he shouldn’t have, and that’s the other reason he doesn’t want to let me go. He doesn’t want his secrets out there. I could tell you all about Darla being Marla, and how that happened, and about a secret closet she has.”
“I know about the Darla and Marla and the secret closet. What I want to know is if you know anything about the pool boy that could help Burton.”
“Yes. I was going to go there next.”
“Let me think about what I can give up. Call me tomorrow. I’m sorry you’re going through this. I wasn’t sure what I had done to make you stop talking to me, but I guess it was nothing to do with me. Sorry for not seeing the signs.” I dropped my hand from Letty’s shoulder
“You saw them, you just gave me space, and I appreciate that too. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I promise I’ll make you proud. I needed to get out of that house, anyway. There was too much discord in it. Now that Darren is alone, I really don’t want another Darla telling me I’m a piece of shit every day and then having to make her toast without spitting in it.”
She was letting me off the hook too easily, but I let her. I laughed for the first time in twenty-four hours. I showed Letty to the door with the promise to talk to her tomorrow. Now, if only I could find that damn money!
Mr. Fleefers tossed something around on the floor with abandon. He liked pieces of paper balled up so he could bat them around and this was just that.
Or at least I thought it was, until I got a good look at what kind of paper it was, and saw the crumpled face of Benjamin Franklin.
My heart stopped as I considered the fact that I had no cash money in the house. I made a point of not keeping it around with all the people coming in and out downstairs. So if I didn’t have money in the house, then where had the cat . . .
I was on the phone to Max in the next breath. “Get over here right now. We’re going on a treasure hunt.”
* * *
“Where does he normally hang out?” Max was crawling around my floor with a flashlight. I was not going to complain about the view from up here.
“Everywhere, anywhere. The only place you’ll never find him is the body room in the basement.” My dad had given me a stern talking-to about using his prize antique coffin to trap the bad guy. Aaron had made a ton of claw marks on the underside of the lid before Burton had made it down to handcuff him. But I’d told dear old dad it was more authentic now, as if someone had been trapped and the little bell and cord they used to put in with the deceased hadn’t worked.
He hadn’t found that as amusing as I had hoped he would, but he had puffed out his chest and walked off with only grumbling instead of another lecture. I considered that a score.
“And you don’t know where he’d been when you were talking with Letty?” His butt moved around some more. It was all I could do not to at least reach down and touch it. I could pretend I had accidentally brushed against him. Couldn’t I?
He turned his head in my direction. “Are you thinking, or are you ogling?”
I cleared my throat. “Thinking, of course.” About his butt, but that was still thinking.
“Fine, so you have no idea where he was?”
“Well, he came in from the closet, so unless he’s had the money for a while, he might have found something back there.” But where and what?
I had no idea and I really didn’t want to go into the closet one more time. In fact, I was thinking about some kind of hanging tree for my hangable stuff and only using a bureau from now on. Seriously. I was done with closets.
Max’s arms flexed when he hoisted himself off the floor. I didn’t hesitate in taking in the view. He would be gone this afternoon. The interlude and kissing would be over. He lived in Washington, D.C., working for the government in an important job, and I wasn’t willing to go anywhere. Things had to be taken care of here, and while the tax bill wasn’t as whopping as I had originally thought it was going to be, it was still big and would drain all of what Waldo had unexpectedly left me, as well as leaving me with a payment plan that would conceivably last until my retirement at eighty-five. The embezzlement was still an issue for the people he’d taken money from, but I would not be held liable for something I knew nothing about.
Max pointed to the double doors on the far wall. “Walk-in closet?”
“Uh, no, Murphy bed, remember?” And wouldn’t it be nice to pull it down right now and stretch out? I had, after all, shaved my legs when I would be wearing pants for the fall and winter months to come. They should be seen by someone besides Mr. Fleefers when he prowled the edge of my bathtub.
A wicked little smile curved Max’s mouth, and I wanted to lick it. Down, girl!
“It’s . . . um . . . the next door.”
Max opened the door and shone the light on the floor and around the side of the walls. Then he used his flashlight to separate my black pencil skirts from my jewel-toned shirts. I had a moment where I was embarrassed by the sheer amount of shoes lining the left side, but it couldn’t be helped and it didn’t matter. He would be leaving.
He stepped into the closet and used his hand to keep the clothes separated. I might never again wash the peach shirt.
“Did you know you have a door back here?” he asked, his voice muffled by the clothes.
I almost smacked myself in the head. I had forgotten all about that door. It almost never even registered anymore. Most times, I opened the closet, grabbed the closest skirt and shirt, then closed the door again. “Where does it go?”
“You don’t know?”
I had a vague recollection of being up here and playing with the boys long ago, but not any real remembrance of where it led, or what was on the other side, at all. Trying to lay out the top floor of the house in my mind, I couldn’t imagine what was beyond the door. The attic took up the other side of the house.
“I don’t. The attic, I think, but I don’t know which part.”
“Well, let’s find out, then.”
The door opened on soundless hinges and swung out to a small room with a window. It was the garret at the front of the building, one of the features that made the building unique. Long ago, when I was a small girl, I’d thought of being a painter and suffering for my art up in that garret, but hadn’t given it a thought since.
“Do you see anything in there?” The anticipation was killing me.
He took another moment to sweep the light around and then I heard a shooshing of something across the floor.
“Do you want to open it?”
It was a huge carry-on case, one of those bags that looked like something a trendy man would wear over his shoulder as he swiftly walked to get on a plane to jet off to a business meeting. And I’d bought it for Waldo four years ago. My heart didn’t stop this time—it almost did a hula in my chest.
“Oh, my.”
“That’s right. Oh, yours.”
I dropped to my knees and unzipped it so fast it could have been Max’s fly. But instead, bunches of money, enough to lie down and roll around in, spilled out of the case. Mr. Fleefers chose that moment to crawl through a hole that probably led to the attic on the other side and attack one of the many bills. I crumpled it and let him have it.
Maybe I’d be opening that store next to Gina after all.
Before I had a chance to cry, Max lifted me to my feet by my elbows. “We did it.”
“Oh holy wow, we did!”
“And I’m sure with this much cash we’ll be able to better settle on an offer to pay the taxes all at once. They want it off the books as badly as you do.”
“Oh.” Before I could start to bawl like a baby, he kissed me square on the mouth, making my toes curl.
I enjoyed the time in his arms, now that I was out of danger and could not only pay the taxes, but also try to give at least a percentage back to those who Waldo had stolen fro
m.
Then all thoughts of money and restitution flew out of my head when Max coaxed my mouth open and delved in deeper.
When we came up for air some time later, my hands were shaking. Was that what kissing was supposed to be like? What it was supposed to do? Jesus, I’d been doing that wrong for years.
“Will I see you again?” I asked as I toyed with the ends of his hair.
“Oh, I have a feeling you’re going to be seeing more of me than even you can imagine.”
“I don’t know. I have a pretty good imagination when it comes to this kind of stuff.”
“We’ll have to put it to use.” He pulled me into his lap. “For the moment, though, we should call my office and Burton and let them know it’s all wrapped up with a shiny bow. You were brave, Tallie.”
“Thanks.” I was pretty proud of myself, to be honest. I’d caught a killer, found the money, and saved the day. Not that I ever wanted to go through this being a suspect thing again, but at least I knew now that sometimes things were worth fighting for. I’d take that lesson with me when next I thought of doing the easy thing, instead of the things that were right for me.
I reached up for another kiss, which Max gave me in spades.
We were interrupted by a knock on the door right before the thing swung open and my mom walked in with a plate of cookies.
“Oh, look at you two! So cute! I love it!”
She’d just used up her quota of exclamation points for the day.
Gina came trucking in behind her, yammering on about how pissed she was that I’d left her out of all this when she could have been a big help.
Perhaps following Max at a later point might be something worth thinking about. D.C. wasn’t so far away after all. I could always come back here to visit.
But then I’d miss my family, my friends, and my community, and I wasn’t ready for that. With the taxes cleared up and the charges about to be dropped, I felt like I had a new lease on life.
Things were good and they’d stay that way.
Or so I hoped.
Keep an eye out
For Tallie’s next adventure
GROUNDS FOR REMORSE
Coming soon from
Misty Simon
And
Kensington Books
