A Truth for a Truth (33 page)

I was stripping off my jeans when the doorbell rang. I zipped them up again and ran downstairs to find Lucy. She held out a woven basket wrapped in cellophane. “Cookies, cheese, you name it. I found a renter for one of my clients today.”

“What am I, the Island of Misfit Gifts?” I grabbed it, in case she thought I was serious.

“Ha, I can dump anything on you guys. Friends with no scruples are precious.”

“We have growing children who need to be fed. And how come we never get good bottles of wine from your grateful clients?”

“It would be inappropriate to bring that much wine to a man of God and his virtuous wife. May I come in?”

I realized we were still standing on my porch. “If you can stand listening to me brag about my investigative abilities.”

Of course she did. I was in the middle of explaining all about Geoff Adler and the Great Insurance Swindle, when the telephone rang.

I held up a finger and grabbed the phone.

“I’m just pulling onto Geoff’s property,” said a soft but familiar voice. “I’m going to prove he stole that money.”

“What!”
My
voice was not low or particularly well modulated. “Hildy, are you crazy?”

“Don’t worry. He’s out of town. I called Emerald Eagle and asked for him. He’s at one of his other stores for a couple of days, the one near Wooster. I even called
them
, and they said he was on his way. The man said he’d just talked to him. I know where he keeps his records, Aggie, and where he keeps the key to get in. Remember his office? Behind the house?”

“Turn around and come home. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking this needs to end. I want it over. I’m tired of people believing I’m something I’m not. I’m tired of that awful Grandower woman pointing her finger at me. I’m going to go through his business records and see if there was an influx of cash after Daisy’s death. I’ll make copies if I find anything, and I’ll send them to the police anonymously.”

“Hildy, finding anything would take the skills of a forensic accountant. You think Geoff made notes in a ledger somewhere explaining that this money came from Daisy’s insurance, meant for the church? Once we know there really was a payment, the police can get those records legitimately and an expert can go over them. Or the church will hire somebody if we have to, I don’t know. But this is too dangerous, and there’s nothing good to be gained from breaking into his office.”

“Breaking into his office?” She gave a humorless laugh. “This is the man who broke my heart.”

The line went dead.

“Hildy!”

Of course, no answer.

“She’s at Geoff Adler’s house?” Lucy’s eyes were shining.

“What on earth should I do? I can’t call Roussos. He’ll have her arrested for breaking and entering.”

“If you don’t call, Adler might reunite Hildy with her husband, and you’ll have to deal with another memorial service.”

“She claims he’s out of town. She called the store to talk to him on some pretense, and they told her. For a couple of days.”

“I’ve got a full tank of gas, and the night is young.”

I really wanted to make an honest woman of myself and stay away from Geoff Adler, his house, and his pharmacy, just as I’d told Ed. I wanted to wait for solid information. I wanted to hand Roussos all the pieces and let him put this jigsaw puzzle together without me. I wanted Roussos to sidle up to an unsuspecting Geoff and hand-cuff him before Geoff knew he’d been cornered.

“This is such a bad idea.” The words sounded like one, long moan.

“You have a better one?”

“Let me grab a jacket and leave Ed a note.”

“Dear Ed,” she chanted, “Lucy and I have gone for a drive.”

“That will worry him enough,” I said.

“No flies on that boy.”

One problem with spring? The sun doesn’t set. It leaps into a coffin and pulls down the lid, particularly when rain is forecast. By the time Lake Parsons was supposed to be sparkling in front of us, clouds were gathering overhead, and nothing but darkness greeted us. In another month, summer houses would be opened and aired, and lamps would glow in many of these windows. Now, though, only a fraction of the houses were illuminated, and very few of the drives leading up to them, as if the lights we glimpsed might be there for security only. Summer communities can be victimized by winter burglars, who probably find little to fence besides badminton sets and molding beach towels. Still, since tourism is the mainstay of the local economy, the county police and the lake patrol were well known for routing out jigsaw-puzzle bandits.

I hoped no one in uniform was planning to drive by Geoff Adler’s house tonight.

“Well, one thing,” I said as Lucy turned onto the road to Geoff’s place. “If somebody has to come out here and rescue Hildy, at least you’ll have better luck getting Roussos to listen than I would.”

“You’re not going to give up digging into my private life, are you?”

“My mother spent time in a sweat lodge while I was in utero. She-Who-Will-Never-Say-Die is my middle name.”

“That would explain the damage to your brain.”

We were joking because we were nervous, or at least I was. I wasn’t certain about my friend in the driver’s seat.

“I don’t have any clout with Roussos,” Lucy said, when I thought we were finished. “Not as much as you do, anyway.”

“Why, is he afraid somebody will scream favoritism?”

“Aggie, I don’t have
anything
going with Roussos. Never have. You can take that to the bank.”

The world as I knew it was coming unglued. “Are you kidding me? You have the man on speed dial.”

“Any friend of
yours
has to.”

My own cell phone rang at that moment. I fished for it, hoping it was Hildy, and she had regained her common sense. But the voice was a lot deeper and belonged to the man we’d just been discussing.

Roussos never wasted time on preliminaries. “Just wanted you to know that the phone call to the Dorchester house on the night the reverend died? Came from a phone registered to a woman, and not anybody on the guest list. Somebody across town, and from a land line, not a cell phone.”

This was not good news. I’d hoped, really hoped, Geoff had made that call. That would have shored up his status as lead suspect and my right to skulk around his house tonight. I wasn’t ready to give up. Maybe Geoff had driven to somebody’s house and used a phone there. Driven really fast, marched in, and grabbed the phone before the requisite small talk.

How likely was that?

“Do you know why she phoned the house?” I asked, knowing better than to ask the mysterious woman’s name.

“We have a call in, but she hasn’t returned it.”

I thanked him and hung up. I really wasn’t sure where to file this disturbing piece of information. I needed to think about it, and think hard. Right now there was no time for that.

I continued my conversation with Lucy where we’d left off. “Then if you and Roussos don’t have a thing going on, how did you get word the police suspected Win had been murdered? Before I could even tell you? And who were you with in San Francisco?”

She glanced at me. I could just see her face in the glow from the dashboard. “Grayson Adams.”

“The police chief?” I nearly shouted this. I pictured a tall, muscular man who had once wrestled an intruder out of a party I’d attended.

“Do you know another one?” she said.

“I hardly know
that
one. We’ve spoken once. He pretended to know me.”

“He knows all
about
you, that’s why.”

“Man!”

“We’re keeping it quiet, Aggie. Gray’s going through a divorce, and not because of me, so don’t lecture. I came into the picture well after the lawyers got involved. It’s been a long, messy episode in his life. They both want custody, and she wants to take him to the cleaners. We started as friends and now it’s more.”

“Custody?”

“One boy. Nine and cute as a cocker spaniel. Most likely they’ll end up sharing. He’ll do all the work, and she’ll undermine Gray’s authority.”

“Oh, Luce.”

“Don’t be like that. He’s a good man, and I think I love him. The kid thing could be tough, but we’ll work it out.”

Lucy flipped off her lights as Geoff’s house came into sight. Of course Lucy had known exactly where he lived and what the house was worth.

“So what’s the plan,” she asked as she slowed to turtle speed.

“First, you’re not going to drive into the lake.”

“Agreed. Keep your eyes open. I’m pretty sure we’re still on the road.”

I had already told Lucy about Geoff’s office behind the house, our final destination. “We’ll drive up to his office and park. I’ll drag Hildy out of there, making sure everything’s back in place before I do. Then I’ll throw her in the trunk of her own car and drive it back to her place.”

“Maybe you really ought to go back with her, just to make sure she doesn’t turn around and try this again.”

“Agreed. I’ll have the whole trip back to talk some sense into her. You think you love him?”

“He’s hard not to love.”

Despite a boatload of apprehension, I smiled.

There were no lights in view at Geoff’s house. Some might be on in rooms where curtains were drawn, but from here, I couldn’t tell. I gave directions to the office, which in daylight was easy to spot. Now the drive that circled the house was almost invisible.

“Do you have a flashlight?” I asked.

“Trunk.”

“If you stop, I’ll get it and see.”

“Or, get this, I could turn on my parking lights and make sure we’re on the road the easy way.”

“Smart ass.”

She did just that. The soft light swept the driveway for just seconds, to prove that Lucy, at least, had the eyesight of an owl. We were exactly where we were supposed to be.

After she crept forward for another excruciating minute, an even larger sign we were on the right track loomed in front of us. We finally glimpsed the office. I could just see the shape of Hildy’s car parked under a tree to the side of the driveway. If she thought that would render it invisible, of course she was wrong, but at least it wasn’t blocking us from turning around.

“While I’m gone, turn around so you’re heading out,” I whispered, “in case we need to make a fast exit.”

“I’ll probably have to put on my lights to do that.”

The night seemed to be holding its breath. No sound, no movement we could see, nothing but inky darkness that stretched out to the silent lake.

I grasped the door handle. “Why don’t you just wait, then? I’ll go take a look around. If it looks safe to turn on your lights, I’ll come back and tell you.”

“I want to come.”

“We might need you behind the wheel in case things don’t go well.” She might need to drive to the first occupied cottage for help.

“If you’re gone too long, I’m calling Gray.”

How could I tell her not to? Hildy’s future was important, and I wanted to keep her out of jail. But sometimes a good cop comes in handy. Like when a crazy pharmacist realizes he’s about to get nailed for murder and embezzlement and probably forgery, to boot. What’s another body or three if they guarantee his secrets a little longer?

“What’s too long?” I countered.

“Seven and a half minutes.”

“How did you come up with that?”

“If I said five, you’d be halfway up that drive, then you’d ask yourself if I said five or ten. You’ll remember this. Now get.”

I hated that my distractibility had assumed legendary proportions.

I couldn’t make out anything on the dial of my watch, so the whole discussion was futile anyway. I opened the door quietly and slipped out, flooding the immediate area with light as I did. I pushed the door closed until the light went off, then started down the driveway.

A click sounded behind me, and I whirled. Lucy had gotten out of the car, too. I heard another click and in a moment she came around, flashlight extended but unlit.

“Forgot this,” she whispered.

Sheepishly I took it. I wasn’t planning to use it, and unlike the one I’d nearly beaned Zoey’s ex with, it was slim and ladylike and not likely to do much damage as a weapon. But in a pinch, at least I would be able to see.

Lucy would get a real head basher next Hanukkah.

I started back down the driveway. My eyes were adjusting, although by the time my pupils strained to maximum width, I still couldn’t see beyond my outstretched hand. Despite Lucy’s timetable, I had to move slowly enough not to trip, screech, and ruin the surprise of my approach.

I was so relieved when I finally got to the overhang sheltering the office door that I rested a moment. Aware of time, I listened hard for sounds inside, but the night was just as still as before. After I caught my breath, I inched forward and peered through a sidelight. It was shrouded by a thin curtain, but I was almost sure if someone had a light on, it would glow through the fabric.

No glow.

I remembered where Geoff kept the key, and I could make out the shape of the boulders where he’d hidden it. But before I squatted to feel around, I tried the door. No need to worry about spiders or other nocturnal flesh-eating insects on the ground. The door was unlocked.

This was not a situation easily slotted into good vs. bad. Hildy had called to tell me she was nearly here. Hildy’s car
was
here, proving she was as good as her word. And now, the door of the office she had planned to search was unlocked, as well. But three strikes or three home runs? I had no clue. The fact that I couldn’t see a light glowing inside worried me. If Hildy was in there searching, she was wearing night-vision goggles.

I really had no choice, and my minutes were ticking down. I opened the door as quietly as I could and stepped inside.

I waited until my eyes adjusted to this deeper darkness. I could make out the desk looming in the middle, the wall of file cabinets, even the seating area on the opposite side. What didn’t I see?