Let's Fake a Deal

by Sherry Harris

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Oh, no. I reversed course and headed back to the door as quietly as possible. Seth must have parked in his garage and who knows where the woman had parked. I’d been so focused I hadn’t noticed any stray cars around.

  “Sarah?”

  Seth. I turned. “I didn’t think you were home. I should have knocked or rung the bell.” Or better yet not have come at all. Why did I have to decide to try this today of all days. When he was home. With a woman.

  “No. That’s fine. I’m glad you’re here. Come in.”

  “You have company. I’m not fit for company.”

  “You look gorgeous. You could do a mud run and be fit for anything.”

  Seth melted my heart. Nichole peeked around the corner.

  “Besides,” Seth added, “it’s just Nichole.”

  A distressed look passed over Nichole’s face for just a moment.

  “Hi, Nichole,” I said before Seth could say anything else. I wondered if there was any possibility that Nichole had made up her fiancé to make Seth jealous. But Seth knew her fiancé, so unless the guy decided to help Nichole out . . . stop it. I had to get over my insecurity when it came to Nichole. “I found some chairs for you.”

  “Sarah’s creating a sitting room upstairs for me, in a corner of the master bedroom,” Seth said to Nichole. “She found some beautiful antique barristers’ bookcases for the space.”

  “I planned to put the chairs in your garage until you were home to help me carry them up.” I looked back and forth between Seth and Nichole. “But here you are.”

  “I decided to work from home this afternoon. The phones were going crazy at the office,” Seth said. “Let’s bring the chairs in.” He shrugged out of his suit jacket and undid his tie. If Nichole weren’t here . . .

  “I can help,” Nichole said. But she was wearing a beautiful dress that must have cost her hundreds of dollars and shoes with four-inch heels.

  “No,” I said. “Your dress is gorgeous. I don’t want you to damage it hauling furniture.”

  “You like it?” Nichole smiled.

  “Purple looks great on you,” I said. Way better than envy green did on me.

  “Thanks,” Nichole said. “I’ll just wait in the living room then.”

  “Hey, Nicky, will you take this and toss it on the back of one of the dining room chairs?”

  Seth gave his suit coat and tie to Nichole. He didn’t notice her grimace when he used the nickname. One I’d never heard him use before. Once we were outside, Seth pulled me to him and kissed the heck out of me.

  “Your neighbors,” I said. “They’ll see us.”

  “So? They’ll know what a lucky man I am.”

  We walked toward my car. “I hope you like the chairs. They are a bit different.” I opened the back. The backs of the chairs faced us, and it was hard to see what they looked like.

  “I love them,” Seth said.

  “Oh, stop. You can’t even see them yet.”

  Seth hugged me. “The fabric looks nice.”

  We pulled the first one out and set it on the driveway. “What do you think? And for goodness’ sake be honest. You have to live with them. Besides, if you don’t like them I can sell them for more than I bought them for.”

  He walked around the chair and then sat in it. “Very comfortable. And they look great. Thank you.”

  We carried the chairs inside one at a time. Nichole met us in the hallway again.

  “What do you think?” Seth asked her.

  “They’re gorgeous,” Nichole said. “Well done.”

  “There’s a nice shop up in Essex,” I said.

  “Sounds interesting,” Nichole said.

  She didn’t sound very interested at all. I knew from past experience that she liked modern things more than antiques. Go figure.

  “I need to get going,” Nichole said. “Thanks for your help, Seth.”

  Even though I was curious about what help Seth had given her, I kept my mouth shut. None of my business. After Nichole left Seth pulled me into another hug.

  “I love it when you get jealous,” he said.

  I blustered a bit. “Why would you think that?”

  He kissed the tip of my nose. “That very expressive face of yours.”

  Rats. I wondered if there were classes that taught you how to have a poker face.

  “It means you care about me. The only thing there ever was between Nichole and me was wishful thinking on our mothers’ parts. We’ve always been pals.”

  I wasn’t about to point out that may have only been on his side of things.

  “And if you are wondering what I helped Nichole with, it was a suggestion of a gift for the groom-to-be.”

  “I—” Oh, what the heck. Why deny it when my face probably said otherwise.

  We carried the chairs upstairs. I shifted them one way and then another until I got them just where I wanted them. The slender Japanese table I’d bought on Saturday was perfect between them. I stepped back to admire all of it. Seth came up beside me and pulled me to him. I sunk into his arms.

  “You need a good reading lamp,” I said.

  He nuzzled my neck. “Let’s worry about that later.”

  Since I was almost melting, I thought that sounded like a very smart idea.

  * * *

  My phone rang at 6:07 Wednesday morning. I rolled over to my nightstand and felt around for it. By the time I had my phone in my hand, it had stopped ringing. The call had been from Pellner. I’d had a late night and was hoping to sleep in. I closed my eyes, but worrying about what Pellner wanted kept me awake, so I called him back.

  “What?” I said when he answered.

  “You sound bright and cheery this morning.”

  “It’s barely after six.”

  “You’re Miss Garage Sale. I thought you were a morning person.”

  “Only when I have to be,” I said. I needed coffee. “So did you call because you were bored? Lonely?” Although with a wife and five kids I could probably rule out bored. Probably looking for some time alone would be more like it for Pellner.

  Pellner hummphed. “I’m calling to tell you the print you brought me of the cats was stolen.”

  I sat up, finally awake. “Really? From where? Someplace local?”

  “Beavercreek, Ohio.”

  Beavercreek was a suburb of Dayton, Ohio. And Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was in Dayton. CJ and I had stayed with friends who lived in Beaver Creek when we were moving across country once.

  “There’s an Air Force base there,” I said. Not that this bit of information helped identify who the Greens are.

  “I’m aware,” Pellner said.

  Mr. Full of Information. “This couldn’t have waited until a more reasonable time? Say eight or nine.”

  “I’ll be off duty and home with my family by then.”

  “Okay, then. Thanks for letting me know.”

  “You might want to tell your client that she won’t be getting her print back.”

  “I will.”

  As I went through my morning routine, which started with making coffee and ended with a shower, I thought over my day. I planned to call Bristow, meet with a new client, and go to see Erin Imhoff. Next on the list was to avoid seeing Seth in public so he’d stay out of the limelight with his political rival. And then making another effort to find the Greens. The first few things on my list should be fairly easy. Seth had a trial starting next Monday and that would keep him busy. We had talked for a few minutes after my shower. I’d had to assure him I was okay and that I wasn’t worrying too much about the pretrial conference. It was much easier to fake it on a phone call than in person. I’d never mentioned Vincenzo’s idea that we go out somewhere fancy for dinner to be seen. And I hoped Seth wouldn’t run into Vincenzo in court.

  The Greens/Youngs/Fitzwaters—whatever their name really was—they were the ones who stumped me. If Vincenzo’s investigator and Mike Titone couldn’t find them, how could I? And for al
l I knew they’d left the area by now and were on the run. That made the most sense although desertion had major consequences. I didn’t want to believe they had run because that left me in the crosshairs of the legal system. The crosshairs of Seth’s political opponent. With one stupid action I seemed to have managed to ruin my life and maybe Seth’s, too. No pity parties, Sarah. They were counterproductive and wouldn’t find answers for me or Michelle.

  If one of the Greens was in the military, maybe they were still in town because they didn’t want to desert. If one or both of them was enlisted, maybe their reenlistment was almost over. Or if one of them was an officer they could be close to separating—leaving before retiring. They seemed too young to be retiring. You had to serve twenty years. Either option was much better so they could get an honorable discharge. And face it, up to this point they’d never been caught, so why panic and draw attention to themselves now?

  At 8:00 a.m. I called Special Agent Bristow and was surprised when he answered. “Any chance anyone fitting the description of the Greens has gone AWOL?” I asked.

  “Do you think we wouldn’t have thought of that?” Bristow asked.

  “And?” I prayed he would tell me what he had learned.

  “Do you think I can answer that?”

  Darn it. “I hope so, but from your question I’m guessing not.”

  “Bingo.”

  “I have a court appearance next week. I’m feeling a bit desperate. A lot desperate. And don’t tell me to trust the system. Seth Anderson’s political opponent would like nothing more than to dangle him out in the wind with this. Seth is a good man and doesn’t deserve this.” I’d been saying that a lot this week. I worried I was starting to sound unhinged.

  “I get that,” Bristow said. “No one has gone AWOL this week.”

  Maybe unhinged was the way to go when I wanted information. “Thank you. Any luck finding people who were stationed at the same bases at the same time as Major Blade?” I was thinking maybe someone had an old grudge. Maybe they were stationed here now, too.

  “It will take thousands of man-hours to sort through all that.”

  I guess unhinged only got one so far.

  “I’m not saying someone isn’t working on it, though.”

  “Thanks, Bristow. I was also wondering—”

  “I have to go, Sarah,” Bristow said.

  After that all I had was dead air.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  An hour later I drove away from my new client’s house. A normal-looking woman, not that I’d count on appearances anymore since the Greens had looked normal, too. I took along a contract, one that Vincenzo had a friend draw up for me. She’d signed it without protest. And seemed to enjoy talking about where her antiques came from. That was my subtle way of trying to make sure she owned them and hadn’t stolen them. My questions about her lovely neighbors and how long had she lived here came off as friendly and not as an interrogation, which is what it was. I’d satisfied myself that she was legitimate but would look her up on social media later today.

  * * *

  I arranged to “bump” into Erin at the Ellington Library at 10:30. The Spouses’ Club had a book group that met there once a month in the meeting room. Erin led the group. I used to attend back when CJ was still active duty. The Ellington Library was catty-corner from the police station, which I’d rather avoid, but I thought bumping into Erin might work better than calling her.

  I browsed the mystery section as I waited, thinking about the irony of that. I looked through the movies, too, but nothing appealed to me. I finally heard chattering voices coming down the hall and peeked out behind a shelf. Erin wasn’t with the group. I hoped it meant she was still in the room and not that she didn’t attend today. A few moments later I heard footsteps clattering down the hall. I came around the corner.

  “Erin. I haven’t seen you in ages,” I said. We hugged. Erin was a tiny thing with big loose brown curls and lovely pale skin. Her smile didn’t seem as bright as normal, and I wondered if that was because Major Blade had been murdered.

  “What are you doing here?” Erin asked.

  “Looking for something to read,” I said. “What about you?”

  “We just finished book group.”

  My status with anything to do with base and Spouses’ Club activities was always awkward. I couldn’t be a member of the Spouses’ Club anymore, because I was no longer a spouse of an active-duty or retired military member. They didn’t care at the thrift shop because they always needed volunteers.

  “I could send you the list of books we’ve been reading.”

  “That would be great.”

  “You know you could come even if you aren’t technically affiliated with the base anymore,” Erin said.

  Tears sprang to my eyes. It had to be stress. I wasn’t normally a crier. “Thank you,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t notice the tears.

  “Hey, do you have time for coffee?” Erin asked. The sympathy in her voice almost did me in.

  “Sure. The Dunkin’s on Great Road?” That way I could keep an eye out for the Greens. Although I was beginning to think their meeting me there had been a one-off for them. It made sense that they wouldn’t be with a patsy at a place where they regularly went.

  “I’ll be there in five,” she said.

  * * *

  We settled in with coffee and glazed donut holes. I gazed over the other people. No sign of the Greens.

  “How are you doing?” Erin asked. She leaned in and dropped her voice.

  I figured I was a huge topic on base right now what with the arrest and finding Major Blade dead. I could brush it off or use it to my advantage. I gave myself a mental shake. What was I becoming through all of this? Some kind of manipulator or whiner? Being arrested had rocked my world and not in a good way, but I couldn’t let it change who I was.

  “It hasn’t been the best week of my life. I guess you heard about my being arrested.”

  “Totally unfair. I’ve told anyone who mentioned it just that. No one who knows you would ever believe you’d sell stolen goods.” She leaned forward. “There are a lot of new people on base since you moved off. But trust me, anyone who knows you sticks up for you.”

  I sat back. Wow. The talk on base must be out of control.

  “I’m being thoughtless,” Erin said. “I’ve been the subject of some unwanted gossip myself as of late.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” I was. I didn’t add anything, hoping she’d elaborate. With the stuff going on between her and Becky, and what Becky had said about the gossip about Erin, her husband, and Blade, Erin must be getting a lot of unwanted attention, too.

  “Becky threw me under the bus and ran me over a couple of times because of the fund-raiser.”

  I murmured something sympathetic. Then I broke off a piece of donut hole and shoved it into my mouth so I’d keep quiet.

  “I have to admit I dropped the ball on a couple of things. My dad was ill, and I had to fly home in the middle of arrangements. But Becky made it sound like I didn’t do anything. And that I should be grateful she left me in the program.” Erin crumbled one of the donut holes.

  “How’s your dad?” I asked.

  “He’s doing fine. It was just a little health scare, and my mother doesn’t handle stress well.”

  “I’m sorry about the situation with you and Becky.”

  “I know she’s a friend of yours,” Erin said. “But I’ve been trying to own up to my part and keep the facts out there.”

  The woman at the thrift store had told me a different story than either Becky’s or Erin’s. She made it sound like she’d heard it all from Erin, which contradicted what she just said. But that isn’t what I wanted to talk about. “That’s not always easy,” I said. “Did you hear that I was there when Major Blade was found dead?”

  Now tears showed up in Erin’s eyes. “I did.”

  “Oh dear. Were you friends with him?”

  “My husband was at the academy wit
h him. He was the best man at our wedding.” She picked up a napkin and dabbed at her eyes.

  “That’s tough then.”

  “My husband is going to be one of the pallbearers. And I’ve heard there are some nasty rumors going around about the three of us.”

  “Really?” I kept my tone as neutral as possible. “That’s awful.” I didn’t want her to know that people—Becky—had been gossiping about her.

  “Blade was a flirt. There’s no doubt about that. But a harmless one,” Erin said. “He was at the Protestant church service on base every Sunday.”

  Maybe repenting I thought, but I managed to keep that to myself. It was interesting how people could only see certain sides of their friends.

  “He volunteered at the Youth Center and tutored kids, too,” Erin said.

  This was a side of Major Blade I hadn’t heard of. “Did he have a girlfriend?” I asked. An upset girlfriend might have a reason to kill him.

  “No one serious,” Erin said.

  “Eleanor thought he had one who lived somewhere else.”

  Erin shook her head. “He did for a while, but they broke up.” She paused. “There are a lot of rumors about Blade, but he wasn’t a bad man. You believe me, don’t you?” Erin asked.

  Was there a little too much desperation in her voice? Or did I just want a bunch of square clues to fit into a round hole to get Michelle off the hook? “Of course. I know what being the focus of attention on base is like. Not fun.”

  Erin left a few minutes later after we both promised we’d stay in better touch. I stayed to finish my coffee and to try and think things through. People killed other people for a lot of reasons. Could Erin’s husband have gotten tired of Blade flirting with his wife? It got me back to thinking about the men with Blade at Gillganins that night. What about them and their wives? Frustratingly, I didn’t know or have access to any of them. Maybe that was for the best.

  I finished my coffee, stood, took one last look around for the Greens, and dumped the cup in the trash as I headed out the door.