“Geez, why do people keep showing up in my pool without asking?” I strode forward as the figure twirled in the water, revealing my grandfather – who just happened to be buck-naked. “Omigod!” I slapped my hand over my eyes to block out the horrific sight. “You’re naked!”
“Why don’t you yell that a little louder,” Grandpa suggested, his demeanor remaining calm as he offered up a bright smile. He didn’t appear to be embarrassed in the least about the fact that I’d seen him naked.
“Why don’t you put on a bathing suit?” I shot back, crying out when I stubbed my toe against the metal table in the middle of the patio. I couldn’t see through my fingers – which was both a blessing and a curse – and my memory of exactly where the furniture was located was spotty at best.
“Avery!” Eliot bolted through the sliding glass door, causing me to look over my shoulder in expectation that something horrible was about to happen. I was flummoxed when I realized he was alone.
“What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” Eliot’s eyebrows flew up his forehead as he tossed the towel he carried onto a nearby chair and revealed his bare chest. He really was a marvelous specimen of the male form. He looked like one of those models in an outdoors magazine – only totally straight.
“I asked you first.”
“You’re the one who cried out,” Eliot snapped. “Why do you think I came running out here? I thought someone was attacking.”
Oh, well, that made sense. I gestured toward my foot. “I stubbed my toe.”
Eliot’s expression was impossible to read. “And?”
“And it hurt.”
“Don’t do that again!” Eliot grabbed my shoulders and gave me a small shake, not enough to hurt me but enough to realize he meant business. “I swear you’re trying to give me a heart attack.”
“No, that’s what he’s doing.” I jerked my thumb in the direction of the pool. It was obvious Eliot’s studied gaze hadn’t made it that far. “He’s the reason I stubbed my toe. I was distracted.”
Eliot leaned to the side so he could see around me, his gaze locking with Grandpa’s as he shook his head. “Oh, well, great. We have another unannounced visit from a member of your family. Why am I not surprised?”
That was a pretty staid reaction given the circumstances. “I told you not to invite them over here.” I had very little sympathy for his plight. Since this wasn’t my fault, I had a ton of sympathy for myself. “We should’ve bought a fake address and told people that’s where we live. Now it’s over. They know where we live because you insisted on having that party. Our lives as we know them are over.”
“Oh, good grief.” Eliot pinched the bridge of his nose. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re over-the-top dramatic at times?”
“I tell her that whenever I see her,” Grandpa offered. “It’s a disgrace how whiny she is.”
Eliot made an incredulous face as Grandpa rested his elbows on the edge of the pool and stared at us with undisguised amusement. “She gets the whiny thing from you,” he argued.
“She does not.” Grandpa was understandably affronted. “I don’t whine.”
“No, you just disagree really loud in a voice that sounds kind of whiny,” Eliot countered. “It’s a totally different thing.”
“I’m glad you see things my way.” Grandpa ran a hand through his thinning hair. “So, I really like this place. I didn’t get the chance to tell you that on Sunday because it was too loud and there were too many people here, but this is a vast improvement over that hole you used to live in, Avery.”
“Oh, it’s like spending time with a really grumpy Better Homes & Gardens reporter,” I drawled, sliding into the closest chair and lifting my foot so I could study my toe. It wasn’t bloody but the nail – which had been perfectly painted a few moments before – was broken and jagged. “Crap. I spent thirty-five bucks on a pedicure, too. Now look at it.”
“Yes, surely this is a tragedy.” Eliot tugged a restless hand through his hair. “So … what? You just came to the house for a swim even though you have your own pool? Is this going to be a regular thing?”
Grandpa shrugged. “It might be. I like this neighborhood. Avery hasn’t alienated any of the neighbors yet – although she will in time – and people think she’s normal. That means people think I’m normal by extension. That very rarely happens to me.”
“There’s a reason for that.” Eliot rolled his neck and moved toward the pool. “Well, I don’t care if you’re in there or not. I’m taking a swim before work.”
Grandpa swam backwards, his grin so wide it almost swallowed his entire face. It was only then that I realized Eliot missed the total … um, package … when he came racing outside.
“You’re naked!” Eliot extended a shaking finger, his cheeks flushing with color. “Holy crap! He’s naked!” He looked to me for help, as if I would somehow tell him that he was imagining things and it was all a bad dream.
“Why do you think I stubbed my toe?” I didn’t have the energy to coddle him when I was going through a significant trauma of my own. “I had my hand over my eyes and that’s how I was injured.”
“Oh, please,” Grandpa scoffed. “You’re acting as if you’re going to need an amputation or something. You stubbed your toe – which is entirely on you because you’ve seen me naked before. It’s not even a good injury to brag about.”
“What’s a good injury to brag about?” Eliot asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
“I once knew a guy during my military stint who had a metal heart,” Grandpa replied, not missing a beat.
“You did not,” I argued. “Metal hearts don’t exist.”
“Are you a doctor?” Grandpa arched a challenging eyebrow. “Last time I checked, you were a fairly good reporter with absolutely no job skills outside of your immediate field.”
That was supposed to be an insult, but it lacked the pizzazz he usually managed to muster. “I know that a metal heart isn’t a real thing.”
“Google it.”
“Please, people on the internet claim that the chupacabra is real. I’m not Googling anything. Knowing you, you created a website just to back yourself up.”
“Like I could do that,” Grandpa groused.
“No, but Mario could, and he’s your partner in crime of late,” I pointed out. “Speaking of Mario, why aren’t you swimming at his house?”
“Because he doesn’t have a pool.”
“He has a tub … and you have your own pool,” I countered. “Why are you really here?”
“I think he wants to render me blind.” Eliot kept his gaze on the tree to our left, making sure that he didn’t accidentally glance in Grandpa’s direction and see something that would give him nightmares.
“If I was going to do anything to you, it would involve cutting your hair,” Grandpa said. “As for why I’m here … I got a call last night. Someone wanted to set up an interview with me for later this afternoon.”
That made absolutely no sense. “You own your own business. Why would you be interviewing for a job? Unless … do you mean another reporter wants to interview you? If so, for what? You’re not ignoring a jury duty summons again, are you?”
“I still maintain I was in the right on that one,” Grandpa said, his expression twisting. “That’s not what the interview is for, though.”
“Okay. What’s it for?”
“A Michigan State Police inspector named Shane Fraser wants to sit down and have a chat with me,” Grandpa volunteered. “He says it’s in regard to you and your relationship with long hair, here, and Jake Farrell.”
My stomach did an inelegant cartwheel. “You’re kidding.”
“Yes, I often make up stories about my grandchildren being questioned by state police investigators,” Grandpa deadpanned. “I get my jollies in odd and out-there ways.”
“I know you meant that to be sarcastic, but it doesn’t really hold up given the fact that you’re naked in our pool.” Eliot didn’t
look happy about Grandpa’s announcement. “I can’t decide if this is bad or good.”
“It’s bad,” I supplied. “I saw my grandfather’s … little friend. I saw it when I was a teenager, too. He was naked on the trampoline. I think I blocked out a full month of my life to get past the horror.”
Instead of reacting the way I expected – with potential tears and muttered curse words – Eliot cracked a smile. “You saw your grandfather naked when you were a teenager? He was on the trampoline?”
“He wasn’t bouncing around or anything,” I sneered, wrinkling my nose. “He was drying off after skinny-dipping. It was dark, and Derrick and I were sneaking into the pool when he finally spoke. It was a freaking tragic night.”
“It sounds like it.” Eliot’s smile remained firmly in place. “So, you’re basically telling me that you get your need to constantly strip naked in the pool from your grandfather. I should’ve recognized that, yet somehow I missed it.”
“I hardly think that’s the case,” I argued. “It’s not as if he inspires me or anything.”
“That’s exactly what I do,” Grandpa shot back. “As for this inspector, do you want to tell me what to expect from him or should I use my own judgment when answering questions?”
That was a loaded question. “Don’t use your own judgment.”
“Wait, let’s not be hasty.” Eliot held up his hand to temper my response. “I think that letting your grandfather loose on Fraser might benefit us.”
“How?”
“Because Fraser is convinced there’s dirt to uncover where Jake is concerned,” Eliot replied. “He doesn’t believe you guys are simply friends. I see it when he looks at me. There’s a mixture of sympathy and sadness on his face because he thinks I’m too stupid to realize you guys are banging.”
I widened my eyes. “He doesn’t think that!”
“That’s exactly what he thinks,” Eliot argued, flicking his eyes to Grandpa. He looked relieved to find Grandpa pressed against the pool wall, Grandpa Jr. carefully tucked away and out of sight. “How much of the story do you know?”
“Not much.”
Eliot filled Grandpa in, hitting the highlights before wrapping up. When he was done, Grandpa was flabbergasted.
“You people don’t know how to do normal things, do you?” Grandpa made a clucking sound with his tongue as he shook his head. “Normal people don’t have problems like this. You’re my only grandchild who has stumbled over multiple bodies and been threatened with deadly force more times than I can count on one hand.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Grandpa ignored my sarcasm. “How much trouble are you guys in?”
“We have a solid alibi,” Eliot replied. “The security system backs our assertion that we were sleeping at the time of the murder.”
“That’s good.” Grandpa rubbed his chin, his eyes serious. “What about Jake?”
“Jake was home alone, so he’s in a more precarious position,” Eliot replied. “We all know that Jake didn’t kill Cara, though. That’s not his style.”
“That doesn’t mean they won’t pin it on him,” Grandpa argued. “I’ve watched enough television to know that dirty cops will do anything to make someone else look guilty and ease their workload. I’m guessing this Fraser is a dirty cop.”
“I think you should ask him when he comes to interview you.” Eliot looked genuinely amused. “As for the questions he’s going to ask, I’ll bet he wants information on Avery’s relationship with Jake. He’s convinced that something is going on between them and I’m either covering for them or oblivious to what they’re doing.”
Grandpa snorted, amusement returning to his features. “Please! Like she would have time to get it on with Jake. You two are completely and totally infatuated with one another. She wouldn’t be able to walk if she was juggling the both of you.”
I was mortified. “That’s a terrible thing to say about your own granddaughter!”
It took Grandpa a moment to realize what he’d implied. “I didn’t mean that. You have a gutter mind, kid. It’s freaky. I meant that you would simply be wearing out your feet running back and forth between them.”
“Oh, well … how is that better?”
“It’s better than what you were thinking,” Grandpa said. “As for this Fraser guy, don’t worry about him. I can handle the likes of a lazy cop, and it sounds as if that’s exactly what I’ll be dealing with. I’ll make sure that I play down Avery’s relationship with Jake.”
“Don’t do that,” Eliot countered, taking me by surprise. “Tell him the truth. Just make sure you do it in your own special way.”
I got what Eliot was trying to do right away. “You want to drive Fraser crazy, don’t you?”
“I’m pretty sure he deserves it.” Eliot sat in the chair next to me and stretched out his legs. “As for the rest, I think we’ll have to do some digging on our own. We can’t trust Fraser to uncover the truth, because he’s too fixated on us to look elsewhere.”
“Where do you suggest we start looking?” I asked.
“That’s easy,” Grandpa answered for him. “You’re too focused on your little trio to see it, but you need to expand your investigative circle. This case doesn’t start with Jake. It starts with the woman Jake dumped.”
Realization dawned. “Cara.”
“Right.” Grandpa tapped the side of his nose. “You know how to uncover a story, kid. You just need to look in the right place to do it.”
“You’re right.”
“I’m always right.”
Eliot rolled his eyes. “You get that from him, too.”
“There are worse things in life.”
12 Twelve
It took me twenty minutes – and one sexy shower – to talk Eliot off the ledge after Grandpa’s visit. I wasn’t particularly sympathetic to his plight. I told him what would happen if we invited members of my family to the house, but he didn’t listen. He thought I was being dramatic. Oh, pooh, pooh on Avery. Well, who was right this time? That’s right. Me. I’m always right, and people should naturally listen to me because I’m the smartest woman in the room.
By the time I got to the office I had a firm plan in place. Standard operating procedure would be to hold a news conference. Because the body was discovered at a public display – one that was due to attract a lot of interest from residents and prove a financial windfall to the county – that would make for extended media coverage. Once the conference was over, I figured I’d start tracking Cara’s family. Strangely enough, I knew very little about them.
I found Fish sitting at his desk in the newsroom. I was eager to get moving on this one. The sooner we found answers, the sooner my life would get back to normal. Sure, that wouldn’t solve the problem of a naked grandfather swimming in my pool, but it would give me time to focus solely on that problem and come up with an acceptable solution.
“Did the state police send a news release?” I didn’t bother with a greeting. Fish knew I didn’t really care about his night, and there was no reason to put on a show for him.
“Good morning to you, too,” Fish grumbled.
Perhaps I was wrong. There’s a first time for everything. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I sang out. “How was your night? Did you have a nice evening with your wife? Did you watch some television? You strike me as a Perry Mason fan. We had a pleasant evening, except for the fact that I came home to find my cousin in my pool with what looked to be an extra from Scarface. That’s on top of the fact that when I walked outside this morning I found my grandfather swimming naked in our pool. So, how was your evening?”
Fish’s expression reflected dumbfounded wonder. “That’s a lot to absorb on only one mug of coffee.”
“Try being me,” I suggested. “No one wants to see their grandfather naked in their pool.”
“How old is he?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. How old are you?”
“Not old enough to be your grandfather.” Fish look
ed affronted. He boasted the same hairline as my grandfather, so I had the distinct impression I wasn’t far off with my guess.
“You’d be lucky to be my grandfather,” I pointed out. “My grandfather thinks I’m witty, wise and an overall wonder. You should think that, too.”
“Wasn’t your grandfather arrested for refusing jury duty?”
“So?”
“I think I’m happy being me,” Fish said dryly. “If you were my grandchild I’d have to commit myself to an institution because you’d drive me insane.”
“I’m guessing that’s a short trip, and blaming it on me seems bitter and sad.”
“Yeah, you would definitely drive me insane.” Fish turned his attention back to his computer screen. “What’s first on your agenda today?”
“That depends on when the state police scheduled their news conference,” I replied. “I happen to know that Cara Carpenter was strangled, by the way. The inspector on the case stopped by our house.”
“Was this before or after your cousin brought a thug to swim in your pool?”
“After.”
“And your grandfather’s arrival?”
“Before.”
“You’ve had a busy twelve hours.” Fish looked tired and I hadn’t even started being annoying yet. “As for the state police holding a news conference, I assumed they would go that route. I checked the email and fax machine. We didn’t receive notification to that effect, so I called them.”
“And?”
“And they’re not holding a conference,” Fish replied, his eyes weighted as they locked with mine. “I have a couple of theories why, but they said they don’t hold regular conferences on other cases, so they have no intention to do it for this one just to placate media interest.”
“That’s not true,” I protested, my temper getting the better of me. “Just last year I had to go to that conference they hosted for that skull they found in the Clinton River. They had some forensic dynamo put modeling clay on it to try to get an identification. We had to sit through the world’s longest demonstration.”
[Avery Shaw 11.0] Unwritten & Underwater Page 11
