by Kay Bigelow
“She’s very beautiful, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is,” Leah said, smiling. I think Rusty has a crush on Jardain. Is that even possible? Why not? Everything else about her is very human-like, including “reading” detective novels.
As she drove to work, Leah received a text from Jardain saying she’d arrived safely at her destination, and she missed Leah. “So glad,” Leah replied. “Missing you, too.”
As she pulled into the parking lot, she was grinning broadly and the refrain Jardain misses me, Jardain misses me was running around in her head.
Leah got another text as she entered the elevator. “Cots is here,” Rusty texted.
As she passed Stacy’s desk, she said, “Send Cots in, please.”
Peony walked into her office with two mugs in her hand. One was for Leah.
“Cots isn’t in yet,” Peony said what Leah already knew.
“Do we know why?”
“He didn’t tell me. He only said he’d meet me here.”
“Okay, let’s get started without him.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for him?”
“Do you think he forgot our standing nine o’clock meeting after attending it for over a year?” Leah asked.
“No. I’ll call him and find out where he is.”
When Cots answered his phone, Peony said, “Where the phuc are you?”
Leah could only hear Peony’s side of the conversation, but by the look on her face, Cots’s answers were unsatisfactory.
“The boss isn’t happy you aren’t here for the morning meeting.”
Leah didn’t know what Cots said, but whatever it was, Peony didn’t reply. Instead, she cut the connection. “Should we wait?”
“No.”
“I need to get something from my office, I’ll be right back,” she said and left Leah’s office.
Leah was sure Peony was trying to give Cots the time to show up before the meeting started. It didn’t work. Leah started the meeting when Peony returned.
Twenty minutes after Peony had hung up on Cots, he entered Leah’s office. Leah was reading the murder board and didn’t immediately acknowledge his presence. A glance at Cots told her he wasn’t pleased with Peony being there.
What the phuc is going on with him? The explanation he gives better be damned good.
“All right, let’s continue. What’s new?” Leah asked.
When Cots didn’t say anything, Peony said, “I’ve located Guy ShaTin. He’s on a small planet named Curielle, and, according to his people, is on vacation. He’s with the wife of one of his competitors. He’s booked on the overnight shuttle in three days. We can meet him at the SpacePort.”
“If he’s with another mobster’s wife, I don’t think meeting him at the SpacePort would be a good idea since the other mobster might be meeting him, too. Let’s be there, but not approach him. No need for us to get caught in the crossfire,” Leah said.
Leah and Peony waited for Cots to report what he’d found out the day before, but he remained silent.
“Cots?”
“Right. You asked me to find Jardain’s itinerary for her lecture series. She landed on Tazmania on the overnight shuttle. They immediately boarded a plane for someplace called Dieman’s Landing. She and the woman she’s traveling with had dinner with the medical school’s faculty, and then she gave her lecture. Immediately thereafter, both women boarded a plane for Hobart. Her lecture there was postponed for three days by the medical school. The three-day delay looked as if it would adversely affect the rest of her schedule, so she left Hobart to go to the medical school next on her schedule. If the rest of her schedule remains stable, she’ll be returning on the early morning shuttle on Sunday.”
That was five days away, not the three weeks Jardain had told Leah she’d be gone. Leah tried not going immediately into cop mode. There was probably a perfectly logical explanation why Jardain had told her she’d be gone for three weeks. At least she hoped there was. The cop side of her brain was wondering what Jardain was hiding from her. The civilian side of her brain kept saying there’s a legitimate reason she’s returning early. God, I hope the change in her schedule isn’t because she lied to me, but because the schedule was screwed up by the venues themselves. Please don’t let her be lying to me.
Chapter Nineteen
“Let’s meet back here at two to write a report for Lionel about what we’ve found out so far. Also, you can fill me in on how our youngsters have been doing.”
Cots and Peony rose from the conference table. Peony stormed out of the room. When Cots had gathered up his paperwork, he didn’t say a word to Leah.
“Cots, a moment of your time.”
Cots all but rolled his eyes like an affronted teenaged boy.
“What’s going on with you?” Leah wanted to know.
“What do you mean?”
Leah said nothing. She waited for him to explain his newfound bad attitude. When Leah didn’t say anything more, he heaved a big sigh. “Nothing’s going on with me.”
Leah wanted to reach across the table and slap him silly, but refrained—barely. Instead, she waited.
“Who gave you permission to mess with my robot?” Cots asked.
“Mess with?”
“Reprogram it.”
“Number one, you might remember having given me the robot as a housewarming gift. I promised to give you feedback, which I’ve been doing. Before you try to turn this on me, let’s not forget you were spying on me using a robot you built and programmed and which you gifted to me.”
“I wasn’t spying on you,” he all but shouted.
“What the phuc do you call it?”
“It’s not spying. I was concerned about your health and safety, so excuse me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my health, and as far as I know my safety is not in question.”
“Both were true when we came here.”
“That was two years ago. Why are you still spying on me? Do you somehow think you know more about me than I do? Or that you somehow have the right to do so?”
“Of course not.”
“If you wanted to know something, why not ask me?”
Cots couldn’t meet her eyes.
“What do you know about Jardain you’re not telling me?” Leah asked, taking a stab in the dark.
“The woman she’s traveling with is her ex.”
“And?”
“And maybe they aren’t exes.”
“Did the woman also give a lecture?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the woman’s name and occupation?”
“Hermione Juaarez, with two A’s, and she’s a psychiatrist who specializes in criminal behavior. She works for Xing’s Bureau of Investigations.”
“With a name like Hermione Juaarez, she’d have to become a psychiatrist just to get over the trauma of her name,” Leah said, hoping to at least get a smile from Cots. He didn’t disappoint her. Leah returned to the issue at hand. “So you added two and two together and came up with twenty-two. Why?”
“Now that I’ve said it out loud, maybe I was hasty in my judgment,” Cots admitted.
“Now we’ve put that diversion to rest, tell me the truth of why you have been, uh, keeping tabs on me in my own home.”
“I don’t really have a plausible reason for having done so. I apologize.”
“And you’ll remove all your gadgets from my home within the next thirty-six hours. Why did you go back to my home and how did you get in?”
“I went back to…Oh, hell, I went back to shut Rusty down. I was angry at you.”
“Why? What have I done to anger you?”
“Leah, I’m embarrassed by my behavior. It’s about losing you.”
“Losing me? What does that mean?”
“I can’t tell you. It’s embarrassing, honest it is.”
“Cots, you will always be a part of my life no matter who I’m with or what I’m doing.”
“How’d you know?”
&nbs
p; “It’s a common enough human emotion. I think Peony and I have rubbed off on you.”
“I don’t know which is more embarrassing: the reason for my stupidity or the fact you just accused me of becoming human-like. Forgive me?”
Leah laughed, and went to him and hugged him. Cots was not the kind of man who liked hugging for no real reason. He allowed the hug to go on longer than Leah thought he would.
“Well, I don’t know,” Leah said with a grin.
“Can I bribe you into forgiving me with pastries from Giselle’s?”
Giselle’s was a bakery two miles from the office and was the best in the entire region. Leah would eat there every day if there were any way the results of doing so wouldn’t show up on her thighs.
“Oh, yes, you can. Peony and I will hold off starting on Lionel’s report until you return.”
“Feel free to start without me.”
“Go.”
Leah watched Cots leave the building, get into his red sports car, and zip out of the parking lot. She left her office and at Peony’s office door, motioned her to come with her after putting her finger across her lips indicating Peony shouldn’t say anything.
She led them from the building and into the park where the Vinca lived. They sat on a bench to watch for the swans.
“How much of our lives is Cots monitoring?”
“What do you mean?”
Leah didn’t say anything.
“I’ve removed listening devices from my office at least eight times since we moved in.”
“He’s bugged my office as well? And my condo?”
Peony nodded, obviously miserable at tattling on her lover.
“Let’s have a little fun with him. We’ll remove all the devices we can find in our offices and homes. Then we’ll put those devices in his office and home. And see how he enjoys it.”
“Sounds fun.”
“What does he do with the information he takes from the devices?”
“Are you asking if he’s selling it or something?”
“Do you think he is?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“What do you think?”
“I think he’s being very protective of those he loves,” Peony said.
“Relax. I know about you and Cots.”
“Since when?”
“Since the beginning.”
“Everything?”
“Well, not the intimate details, but enough.”
“Thank the Spirit.”
“Has he told you what he knows about Jardain’s lecture tour?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think is going on?”
“On the surface, I don’t think anything untoward is going on. However, if you have a devious turn of mind, I suppose you could make a case, albeit a weak one, for the two of them being fuck buddies.”
“Yeah, I guess you could.”
“Look! There she is,” Peony whispered loudly, pointing toward the Vinca coming in for a landing on Leah’s lake.
Right behind it came another swan, the mirror image of the first, glided to a landing. The second bird swam up to the first and they began a leisurely tour of the lake together.
Peony and Leah sat watching the two beautiful swans make their way around the lake.
“Did you know the Vinca mate for life?” Peony asked.
“No, I didn’t know,” Leah said. The fact they did pleased her, although why two swans mating for life should make her happy she couldn’t say…but her mind going immediately to Jardain might have something to do with it. Maybe because I want to be mated for life could be one reason the Vinca’s mating habits please me. Drude, can you be more of a romantic? What happened to the tough cop you used to be? She mentally shook her head to rid it of those thoughts.
“Come on. We don’t want Cots to see us whispering to one another. Goodness knows where his imagination will take him with that.”
Chapter Twenty
Cots returned twenty minutes later carrying a box with enough pastries in it to feed a small army. He’d evidently bought enough for the staff, too. Leah and Cots chose one pastry each while Peony chose two and was about to choose another, but changed her mind when she saw her friends watching her.
The three partners worked on their report to their largest client, carefully wording each sentence. They used no names in the report, including their own, but managed to make the report sound more upbeat than reality warranted.
Next, they tackled the staff. It wasn’t anything they liked doing.
“You know what we need?” Leah asked. “We need an office administrator,” she said, answering her own question. “Someone who can handle the tasks we don’t enjoy. Someone like Stacy.”
“Sounds good to me,” Peony said. Cots nodded his agreement.
“I’ll explore that with Stacy. Anything else we need to discuss?” Leah asked.
“Nope. We’re in a holding pattern waiting for ShaTin to come back.”
“When’s he due in?”
“If he’s really returning, he has a return ticket for the day after tomorrow at nine that evening.”
Leah spent the rest of the afternoon reading the reports on the other cases being handled by Black Orchid Investigations. She was amused by some of the reports because of how diversely they were written. Some were flowery, effusive, and overly-expansive while others were so terse as to be more minimal than could be called minimalist. Perhaps she should ask Cots and Peony to conduct a class on report writing. That would be fun to watch.
As their workday was ending, Leah asked Stacy to join her for a cup of coffee.
“The partners have decided to hire an Office Administrator, someone to handle the tasks specific for the office like time reports, quarterly reviews, spending analysis, etc. Are you interested in the position? If you are, it’s yours. There will be a pay increase for you, of course, and an office.”
“Of course I’m interested and want it. When can I start?”
“As soon as you hire your replacement.”
“Thanks, Boss.” Stacy seemed elated as she rushed from the room.
Leah was glad Stacy wanted the job because it meant not having to train a new person for it. And Stacy would hire her replacement, so nothing for the partners to do there either.
Leah was home by seven. She’d changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt with a very angry looking cartoon character named Donald Duck on the front. She’d asked the salesperson about it when she’d bought it and had been told that the duck was very retro, having been popular in the twentieth century but he and his friends were making a comeback. Leah brought her mind back to the present and didn’t bother putting on either shoes or socks.
She went to her office and pulled her cello from the small closet there. Once she was set up, she played the hauntingly beautiful Traveling Alone by the composer Henri Dàtíqín. As the last soulful notes faded into silence, Rusty let her know dinner was ready.
Rusty had prepared a salad for her dinner and added homemade bread with real butter. While Leah was enjoying her dinner, her mind drifted back to the last time she’d had dinner with Jardain. Had it only been two nights earlier? It seemed longer. Much longer. I miss her. Does that mean something?
After dinner, Leah sat in her favorite chair and began reading a book on the history of Xing. At midnight, she went to her room and changed into her sleep shirt—a T-shirt that was so faded the picture on the front was barely discernable. It had been a Dalmatian with a wooden leg which was the logo for a seaside restaurant whose name she no longer remembered, but she remembered the food had been excellent. When she climbed into bed, she took the book, which she mentally called her bedroom book, from the bedside table and was quickly engrossed in the story of a fictional detective who was the head of the Canadian homicide bureau. When she could no longer keep her eyes open, she put her bookmark—a tattered receipt for coffee at The Coffee Pot—in the book and closed it.
It was close to one thirty, and she wond
ered what Jardain was doing. If she were doing something with—or to—her ex, Leah was pretty sure she didn’t want to know about it. Maybe she’s thinking about what she wants to do to me. Do you know what you want her to do to you? Oh, yes.
Before she could take that thought further, her phone buzzed on the bedside table where it lay charging.
“Hello?”
“Did I wake you?” Jardain’s sultry voice asked.
“No,” Leah said, trying to modulate her voice so Jardain wouldn’t know how madly her heart was pounding at hearing her voice.
“Well, damn. That means you weren’t dreaming about me doing you.”
“That’s awfully presumptuous of you to think I would be thinking of you at all, much less dreaming of you ‘doing’ me.’’
“I’ve offended you.”
“Not at all. I’m flattered you were thinking of me. Where are you?” Leah asked.
“In Hobart. Did you hear about the Governor being assassinated?”
“I didn’t. How awful.”
“The school had to postpone the lecture because of it, and the other lectures’ venues have asked for a postponement until next September as well. So I returned to Hobart and will do a lecture at the university. I’ll be heading home tomorrow.”
Leah noticed that the pronouns Jardain was using were all singular. She hadn’t mentioned Hermione Juaarez at all. Maybe I should ask her about Hermione. If I do that, she’ll know I looked up her itinerary. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know why she’s traveling with her ex. I’ll wait until we’re face-to-face so I can watch her reaction.
“I miss being with you. Can we have dinner when I return tomorrow?
“Of course,” Leah said.
“I’ll let you get to sleep. I’ll call you when I arrive home.”
“Goodnight, Jardain. I’m glad you’re coming home.”
Before she could get to sleep, her phone rang again.
“Sorry to wake you, Boss. I just found out Guy ShaTin has changed his itinerary and will be arriving tomorrow morning at seven ten. Do you want to be there when he comes in?” Cots asked.
“Yes, I do. What time?”
