Shades of Wrath

by Karen Rose Smith

  “You come up with these recipes all on your own?”

  “I just mix and match favorite ingredients. My mom and Nana were always cooking, and I picked it up easily. So did my sisters. Vince, not so much. He’s our wine connoisseur.”

  “That’s right. You get together with your family for a dinner once a month and everybody brings something. Do you know how lucky you are?”

  “I realize it more and more each day. Did you have a big family?” She really didn’t know that much about Alicia. Even though they were classmates, she hadn’t hung around with her during their teenage years.

  Alicia slowly laid her purse on the counter. Next she pushed up the sleeves of her long-sleeved sweater as if she needed something to do. She’d pinned back one side of her hairdo with a wood barrette. She’d been pretty in high school and was pretty now. Her honey-blond hair had darkened a bit through the years, but it still shone with golden strands.

  Her green eyes were somber now, though, as she said, “I have a brother who moved far away. My parents fought all the time when we were kids. He tried to protect me and my mother.”

  “Protect?” Caprice asked, though she felt she knew the answer.

  “Can I do anything to help with lunch?”

  This was a subject that probably needed to be entered slowly. “Sure,” Caprice answered. “The salad’s in the fridge. Just pull it out. I have salad dressing and a peach balsamic vinegar that’s really good by itself.”

  “That sounds good.”

  Caprice already had the table set with her brightly colored dishes in turquoise, lime, and fuchsia. From her buttercup yellow appliances in vintage style to the sunny yellow and white linoleum on the floor, the room was a more than pleasant place to be.

  Caprice had warmed slices of cheddar-pepperoni bread in the oven. She pulled out the tinfoil pack and placed it on the table.

  After they were seated and Caprice was dishing out the casserole, Alicia poured balsamic vinegar on her salad. “My dad was abusive when he drank. My mother finally divorced him when I was ten and my brother was fourteen. But there were a lot of years that we were unhappy and fearful. I guess that’s why I fell into the situation I did.”

  “I don’t mean to pry,” Caprice said sincerely. “But are you and your children safe now?”

  “We are. Sid is in counseling and goes to anger management classes. We’ll never get back together, and for now his visitation time with the kids is supervised. But I’m getting into a better spot than I was in a year ago. Everything about domestic abuse is so hidden. When I was in the middle of it, nobody knew. I sure wasn’t going to tell anyone and risk humiliation and more of Sid’s anger. And the kids—it’s like they made a pact not to talk about anything bad and maybe that was my fault. Maybe if their teachers had known what was going on, we all would have gotten help sooner. Sid never touched the kids, never even yelled at them. He took all of that out on me. I would have left much sooner if I felt they were being harmed. At least that’s the way I thought then. Most of our arguments took place after they were in bed at night. But they knew. I’m hoping counseling through Sunrise Tomorrow will help them recover so they can have good relationships when they grow up.”

  They turned to eating for few moments, then Alicia added, “I wanted to get together because Wendy was smart about protecting the women she took under her wing.”

  “What do you mean by smart?”

  “Do you know about Wendy’s marriage?”

  “Some. I know she kept a record of her abuse and took photos.”

  “Exactly. Which is what she counseled me to do as soon as I contacted her. She recorded other data too.”

  “Data on the women she helped?”

  “More than that. Because of the information she collected, she often had leverage when she had to deal with an abusive spouse. She did deep background checks and even used a P.I. on occasion. That way she had some control—or rather the wife in danger had some control.”

  “Did you have first-hand experience with Wendy collecting this information?”

  “Absolutely. Somehow Wendy found out that my husband had secretly sent out an e-mail blast campaigning against his boss to have him ousted. The boss didn’t know it was Sid doling out everything he’d done wrong to everybody in the company. Sid used some kind of anonymous e-mail server. Anyway, if the word had gotten out that Sid had done it, he would have lost his job. He didn’t want to lose it. He just wanted a promotion. So after I left him, Wendy threatened him with public exposure if he didn’t agree to my terms.”

  “Wow,” Caprice responded. “That’s not just leverage, that’s almost blackmail.” She remembered Wendy’s phone call when she asked for Detective Carstead’s number. She’d said it concerned blackmail. Was somebody blackmailing her? Or had she gotten herself into trouble by blackmailing someone else?

  “I guess you could say it was blackmail,” Alicia agreed, without being defensive at all about it. Maybe because Wendy’s information had kept her out of harm’s way and helped her set up a new life.

  Suddenly Caprice thought of something. “Where did Wendy keep this information?”

  Alicia shrugged. “She probably stored it on some Cloud, or if she really wanted to be secure about it, a backup drive. I heard the police took her personal computer from her home, but I’ll bet the information isn’t on there.”

  “Do you think Sebastian knows where it is?”

  Alicia shook her head. “I doubt it. Wendy was too careful to keep it someplace obvious.”

  Caprice hadn’t paid a condolence visit to Sebastian and his sons yet. She was going to make a coconut cake for dessert with Grant tonight. It was a recipe Bella had given her. Maybe she’d just bake two and take one to Sebastian.

  Alicia took a big forkful of the casserole as if she was really enjoying it.

  If the police found wherever Wendy kept that storehouse of information, they’d probably have a whole list of suspects.

  Caprice knew a list of suspects would be a good place to start to find Wendy’s murderer.

  Chapter Seven

  Grant’s townhouse, comfortably appointed and decorated with a masculine feel, looked lived-in and comfortable. Caprice and Grant had spent many nights on his faux suede gray couch watching movies and eating popcorn with Lady and Patches at their feet. As both canines ushered Caprice into the kitchen, she caught the scent of frying bacon and meat broiling. Grant was setting a salad bowl on the table when she entered the room.

  “I let myself in,” she said.

  He smiled at her. “Good. I should give you a key, then if the door’s ever locked you can still get in.”

  His words surprised but pleased her. She’d already given him a key to her place as well as the alarm code. If he was trusting her with a key, that meant he was really opening his life to her.

  “Something smells good,” she said, setting the cake on the table, then taking off her poncho.

  “The porterhouse steak needs about another minute under the broiler. I have toppings for loaded baked potatoes and the salad for something healthy. What’s for dessert?”

  “Coconut cake. You seemed to like it when Bella brought it to our family dinner.”

  “It was delicious,” he said, coming toward her. “Bella’s recipe?”

  Caprice nodded as he took her poncho from her and hung it on a peg near the back door. Then he came to her again and pulled her into his arms, giving her a huge hug and a kiss.

  Afterward, he leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m glad you’re here. I have a bottle of Chardonnay that Vince suggested. Wine with dinner?”

  “Sounds good. One glass should wear off before I leave.”

  The timer on the microwave went off.

  “Steak’s done. You like yours medium well, right?”

  “I do, but you like yours done a little less.”

  “The thicker side for me. The thinner side for you. It will be just right,” he assured her. “Steak is the one thing I do know
how to cook. My dad would let my mom splurge once a year for Christmas and buy steak. When most people were having ham, we were having the best cut of sirloin she could find.”

  “Steak was rare in our house too. When Mom splurged, she’d buy round steak to make Swiss steak that stretched a little further with parsley potatoes.”

  “Parsley potatoes. You just boil them and then put butter and parsley on them, right? I could probably manage that sometime.”

  Grant was wearing a light blue Oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up and what looked like new jeans. No holes in the knees for him. With his black hair waving across his forehead, his gray eyes always coming back to hers when he spoke to her, her insides twittered with the recognition that this was the man she wanted to be with.

  “Parsley potatoes would go with steak too. Next time,” she agreed.

  Patches and Lady had already made themselves comfortable under the table as if they were sure they would be getting bites of steak. Caprice motioned to them. “Ready, willing, and able to eat our dinner if we don’t want it.”

  Grant laughed. “We’ll save them some scraps. Patches already had dinner. How about Lady?”

  “She had hers before we came. I didn’t want her to beg.”

  Grant turned off the broiler and removed the broiler pan, setting it on the stove burners. The steak sizzled, investing the kitchen with its deep aroma.

  A few minutes later, Grant opened the wine and poured a glass for Caprice as well as himself. “Did you have lunch with your classmate? Alicia, wasn’t it?”

  “I did, but are you sure you want to talk about it tonight?”

  “I figured if you had lunch with her, you’re thinking about it. So we might as well get it out of the way first, then we’ll have the rest of the night to concentrate on us.”

  He really did know her very well. Her mind was still buzzing about everything she and Alicia had discussed. If she told Grant what was on her mind now, maybe she could just relax and forget about it for the rest of the evening.

  “Stories around murder are never simple, are they?”

  Using his steak knife adroitly, Grant cut his portion into pieces. “Premeditated or not, the motives behind murder are rarely simple.”

  Caprice didn’t know quite where to start and obviously Grant could see that. He reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “Start at the beginning.”

  “I don’t know where the beginning is. Wendy could have been racking up enemies ever since she started Sunrise Tomorrow a decade ago. But her instincts for survival had taught her lessons she used in her work.”

  “Explain,” Grant said, taking a bite of his potato topped with sour cream, cheddar cheese, and bacon bits.

  “Lizbeth told me that Wendy kept a journal while she was being abused. She wrote down details and she took photographs. She threatened to expose the sordid details and ruin her ex-husband’s reputation. She blackmailed him to let her go.”

  Grant stopped eating, fork in midair. “I think I know where this is going. No place good.”

  “No place good,” Caprice agreed. “Alicia told me her own story. Essentially, Wendy blackmailed Alicia’s husband into letting Alicia go, and to get him into counseling. It worked. Many of these men are bullies. Their ego is everything. They don’t want to be humiliated, especially if they have high-profile reputations, and especially if they’ll lose their jobs. Wendy dug into backgrounds. Alicia said she even used a private eye on occasion.”

  “As I said before, interfering in marriage is dangerous, especially if these men are obsessive about their wives.”

  “But if they’re bullies, they back down. Some of them even get help. Maybe we can’t approve of Wendy’s methods, but they worked.”

  “Yeah, and they probably got her killed,” Grant protested.

  “She probably felt she was giving these women tools to defend themselves, tools that weren’t lethal like buying a gun and learning how to shoot, which is what some people might recommend in this situation.”

  Grant stabbed at his salad and shook his head. “Harmful information on paper might seem like a good self-defense mechanism. Even blackmail too. But in the end, don’t we have the same result? Someone died.”

  “I’m not disagreeing. If we found Wendy’s journal, we might have a whole score of suspects.”

  “If you found all the dirt she kept, you might have another score.”

  “Alicia didn’t think she’d keep it on her personal computer. The police took that. She didn’t believe Wendy kept it on the one at work either. There’s all kinds of confidential information on the Sunrise Tomorrow computers. The detectives would probably have to get a search warrant.”

  “If the info isn’t on Wendy’s personal or work computers, that leaves . . .” Grant left his sentence open-ended.

  “That leaves either a secure Cloud site or a flash drive.”

  “And that’s what you’re looking for?”

  “That’s probably what the police are looking for too. I think I’d like to talk to Sebastian about it.”

  “Is he ready for that conversation?”

  “I’m going to find out. I’ll pay him a condolence call tomorrow and just feel him out on the subject. I would think he’d want Wendy’s murderer brought to justice just as much as the police do.”

  “And if he doesn’t want to talk about more than the food you bring to comfort him?”

  “Then I’ll find someone else to talk to.”

  Grant arched his brows. “Of course, you will.” He waved at her dish and the steak she hadn’t touched. “But for tonight, let’s concentrate on good food, a fabulous dessert, and each other’s company.” The look in Grant’s eyes said there might be a few kisses in that mix too.

  Caprice picked up her fork and took her first bite of the steak Grant had broiled to perfection.

  * * *

  Early Monday morning, Caprice had just fed her felines and taken Lady out to the backyard for a run when Bella called. Her phone to her ear, Caprice watched Lady roll in the grass as she took a deep breath of the crisp air.

  “I need your help,” Bella told Caprice.

  When the sisters needed each other, they called, and they never turned each other down.

  “With Sunnybud?”

  “No, he’s made himself at home since we let him come upstairs from the basement. I need help packing up orders. Do you have any time you can give me today? I have the morning to work because my neighbor is watching Benny. My Halloween costume orders are ready to send out, but I’m behind packing them up. I have a video consultation at ten.”

  “I can probably be there around eleven. How does that sound?”

  “Eleven sounds good. We should be able to get a lot done before I go get Benny.”

  “I’ll leave Lady at home this time so she doesn’t spook Sunnybud.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll see you at eleven.”

  It was only a few minutes after eleven when Caprice arrived on Bella’s doorstep. Bella waved her inside and Caprice could see the long table she’d set up in the family room with collapsible cardboard boxes, tissue paper, and larger boxes the others could be put in for mailing. Tape and supplies were on the table too. Bella had set up an assembly line that was ready to go. In the living room, there stood a dress rack that held costumes from a pirate to a gypsy to a bumblebee.

  “Where do we start?” Caprice asked Bella.

  “I just pressed them all. I’ll line the boxes with tissue paper if you fold each one carefully. We’ll do one at a time so nothing gets mixed up and I’m sure the right address is on the right package.”

  “Sounds good,” Caprice said, taking the hanger with the pirate costume off the end of the rack and crossing through the French doors to the table in the family room. Bella followed her and readied a box with tissue paper.

  “You have about twenty orders here.”

  “And another ten for next week. Halloween is approaching fast. I did the mail-out orders first.
There are some parents at school who wanted costumes for their kids and I’ll be finishing those next week.”

  Bella’s comment reminded Caprice that she had a long acquaintance stretch because of her kids at school and her involvement with the parent-teacher organization. Maybe Bella could fill in some background she didn’t have.

  “Do you know anything about Poplar Grove Co-housing Development?”

  Bella squinted at her. “Why?”

  “Wendy Newcomb lived there.”

  “Tell me again why you’re getting involved in a murder investigation.”

  “Lizbeth Diviney, Wendy’s assistant director, asked me to get involved. She doesn’t want the work at Sunrise Tomorrow to get stalled.”

  “And that’s why you’re asking about the housing development?”

  There was something in Bella’s tone that alerted Caprice she was about to learn something new. “It’s a cooperative neighborhood and I wonder exactly what they cooperate with. I think Wendy and her significant other, Sebastian Thompson, are two of the leaders.”

  “I’ve heard of the development,” Bella admitted. “One of Timmy’s classmates and his mom were involved in a custody dispute after a divorce. They went to live with someone in that neighborhood. But the odd thing was, they disappeared.”

  “What do you mean they disappeared?”

  “They went to the neighborhood to live with someone at the end of the week, but after that weekend, no one could find them. The police questioned the couple they were staying with, but they said one morning the mom and child went grocery shopping and didn’t return. The thing was—they disappeared the day before they were supposed to appear in court for the ruling on the custody dispute.”

  “How long ago was this?”

  “About a year ago,” Bella answered.

  “What was the rumor on the court decision?”

  “That the judge was going to give the father the advantage and custody.”

  “That would have been unusual.”