Carol Higgins Clark Boxed Set - Volume 1: This eBook collection contains Zapped, Cursed, and Wrecked. (55 page)

“There was nothing. She could have things in the trunk, but that is obviously locked too.” Regan could tell that Dan was a wreck. “There will be a lot we can do with her driver’s license information,” she said comfortingly. “Right now we should search the house to see if there’s anything else that might be helpful.”

Dorie had come back from the kitchen. “You know, Regan,” she said, “Dan and I just arrived. At first glance it seems Adele Hopkins didn’t bring much with her. There aren’t many clothes in the closet. No sign of a computer. No personal papers. I know she was just renting for six months, but the place seems so stark.”

“It does,” Regan agreed. “But if she just got divorced, she might have had to put her things in storage while she was trying to decide what to do with her life, where to live. I get the impression she used this house as a retreat to escape the world. She only had the house for another month, right?”

“Till the middle of May. But where did she get her mail? Nobody can just disappear off the face of the earth for six months. There’s no way to avoid bills and paperwork, no matter how much you’d like to.”

“We checked to see if she had a PO box at the Chatwich post office. She didn’t. Right now, we should take a closer look around the house. Jack and I were only here for a few minutes this morning.”

“I can’t believe Adele Hopkins woke up here today,” Dorie said. “Her breakfast dishes are still in the sink. It breaks my heart.”

Regan nodded. “Why don’t we look around?” she said softly.

Dorie raised her hands, then dropped them to her sides. “This is a small three-bedroom beach house, simply furnished. Not a lot of nooks and crannies. A damp basement. I’m afraid there aren’t many places to explore.”

“Well, let’s try. Why don’t we start with the master bedroom? I was in there this morning but we certainly didn’t conduct a search.”

Dorie led Regan down the hall, Dan following.

They looked through the drawers, checked the pockets of all Adele’s clothes, and opened up her suitcase. They checked the shelves of the closet and under the bed and found nothing that shed any light on her identity.

Dan got up from the floor and started to lift up the mattress from the foot of the bed.

Regan and Dorie both hurried to help. Together the three of
them lifted it high enough to see that there was nothing underneath. When they eased the mattress back down the quilt and two pillows were rumpled.

They lifted the quilt to reveal perfectly tucked sheets, then placed it back down and fluffed up the pillows.

But Adele’s most treasured item had slipped down the opening between the headboard and the bed when Dan started to lift the mattress.

“Good news!” Jack called from the kitchen. “We have an address for Adele Hopkins in Illinois.”

The three of them hurried from the room.

Reed was walking around his apartment, overwhelmed by a feeling of desperation. Olivia had packed quickly and left for the airport. She’d just called him from the cab, crying, wishing him luck with his meeting. All her kindness only made him feel worse. It was bad enough he was worried that she’d discover what Ellen wrote on the website today. But Olivia knew that Ellen couldn’t stand him and that Ellen might embellish a story to make him look even worse. Maybe he could explain his way out of that one, and he was determined to make sure it never happened again. But if Olivia found out that he lied about the meeting, she’d bolt on him for good. She understood business and how tough things were these days for everyone, especially him. Her support never wavered when his deals fell apart after Ellen’s first hateful interview was published. They’d discussed different projects he was trying to get off the ground and her suggestions were always helpful. He’d been sneaky for no reason, inventing a meeting that she’d probably want to know all about. It was completely stupid. In the end, Olivia would never stick with a pathetic, lying loser.

He felt as if his whole life was crumbling around him.

What am I going to do to make Ellen stop? What? he asked himself as he walked back and forth in front of his big windows overlooking Boston Harbor. I could go down to the Cape and try and reason with her, but that could easily go wrong. She might write about it on her website and make him look like an even bigger sleaze. If Olivia found out, she might assume he really had been interested in Ellen.

If only I hadn’t gotten away with being such a jerk to all those women I dated, he thought. No matter how bad I was, I always got away with it. No one confronted me, except the woman I secretly courted when I was engaged to my wife twenty years ago. She called Sweetsville screaming when she read about his marriage in the newspaper. He and his wife were on their honeymoon and were never coming back. He’d been transferred to a different office. After the honeymoon, the couple went straight to their new home, ten states away. His old boss who had taken the call, found it amusing.

Then, after fifteen years of marriage, his wife found out he was having a fling and filed for divorce. No discussion. No counseling. The only thing he regretted was that his daughter had sided with her mother and didn’t want to see him anymore. Every month he sent alimony and child support, and as of September he had to cover the tuition of an expensive private college. For the daughter he hadn’t seen in years.

When I met Olivia, it was the first time I’d really fallen in love. She was the first woman I was afraid of losing. Flirting with Ellen the night the restaurant opened meant nothing, I was being my usual self. I never in a million years thought my behavior would come to this. Now anyone in the world can turn on their computer and read about how I met women, my failed restaurant, unreturned phone calls to a hardworking employee,
and my cheating heart. I’ll never get another deal going. I’ll lose Olivia. I could end up on the street.

Reed’s heart started beating so fast he thought his chest would explode. With purpose, he headed to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of scotch. He had taken one sip when his cell phone rang. It was his mother. Her timing had always been uncanny.

“Hi, Mom.” That first sip of scotch tasted good, he thought.

“Hello, dear. You tried to kiss that girl who has the pillow shop?”

“What?”

“I just heard that from the guy here at the club who is on the internet all the time. I think he likes to taunt me because I won’t go out with him. But really, dear, this is embarrassing. He’s spreading the word that my son wasn’t raised right and doesn’t know how to treat women. Every time I see him he asks if I’ve received any new makeup in the mail. Why don’t you talk to that girl and tell her what she’s doing isn’t ladylike? Write her a letter or something.”

“I will.”

“Send it today.”

“Okay.”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes, I promise.”

“Good. How’s Olivia?”

“Her father is sick. She’s on her way to Atlanta.”

“You didn’t go with her?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I haven’t met her parents yet. She doesn’t think this is the time.”

“Olivia hasn’t met me yet, but if I were sick, I’d expect her
to come down to Florida with you. I can’t understand why you haven’t met each other’s parents yet, but that’s another story. I think you should be with her in her time of need.”

“She didn’t want me to go.”

“You should have insisted!”

“Mom!” Reed protested. He couldn’t tell her that Olivia thought he had a meeting. “Olivia’s mother is formal—”

“Well, you two have been together long enough. If she’s so wonderful, you should at least be engaged by now. Neither one of you is a kid anymore. You need to settle down and get a job. Why don’t you call Sweetsville and see if they’ll take you back? You never know, maybe they realize they made a mistake—”

Reed snapped the phone shut and threw it across the room. His head was about to explode. “Call up Sweetsville?” he breathed, his voice trembling. “Sure, Mom. Good idea!” He raced toward the bedroom, scotch in hand, and pulled an overnight bag out of the closet. Before putting the glass of scotch on his dresser, he took a big gulp. It took him three minutes to pack his bag. He zipped it up, downed the rest of the scotch, and called for the car.

Olivia was the only good thing left in his life.

I’m going to do whatever I can to keep her, he thought, tears stinging his eyes. Whatever it takes.

He picked his phone off the floor, strode out of his apartment, and called for the elevator.

What I’d really love to do, he thought, is to hold one of Ellen’s precious pillows over her face. Hold it over her face until she smothers.

He smiled and quickly wiped his eyes. Wouldn’t that make a great story for the Pillow Talk website?

Adele took a final glance in the bathroom mirror, gently touching her swollen nose. I’m sure I broke it when I fell, she thought. It certainly doesn’t look like a pug nose anymore.

She stood at the door and took a moment to collect herself, scared, but aware that she couldn’t let Floyd know. Bullies thrive on the power they derive from instilling fear in their victims. Something she’d finally come to understand after years of living with one of the biggest bullies on earth. I should have stood up to my ex-husband but I didn’t. Now I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ll handle Floyd like I should have handled that wretched excuse of a human being, the biggest mistake of my life, the most rotten—

“Adele!
I’m waiting!”

Adele grabbed the handle of the door forcefully and pulled it open. “Don’t rush me,” she snapped, looking Floyd straight in the eye. She breezed past him and walked back to the living room. “I’m hungry,” she said as she sat back down on the couch.

“Hungry?”
Floyd roared as he charged back into the living room. “Did I hear you correctly?”

“Yes, you did.”

“I’d take you to lunch but people might talk. You’re a mess. Come on, we have work to do,” he said, reaching for his script.

“Did you eat when you were at rehearsal?”

“No, as a matter of fact I didn’t. The others had just come from breakfast. They didn’t invite me.” He shrugged. “I guess they knew better. But the director didn’t even offer me so much as a cup of
coffee.”

“That’s a shame. Where is your play being performed?”

“Somewhere called The Castle by the Sea.”

“That’s not a theater,” Adele scoffed.

“I know that, Adele!
You don’t have to tell me. We will be performing under a tent on their vast front lawn.”

“When does your show open?”

“Memorial Day,” he said, looking down at his script.

What is he going to do with me? Adele wondered. He can’t keep me here forever. I’m not going to think about it, she decided. Right now I’m hungry. I only had toast for breakfast. I ache all over and I need to eat something.

“Adele, turn to page—”

“No!
Don’t you have any food here?” Adele demanded. “I’m starving and I feel faint.” She leaned back on the couch and started rubbing her head.

Floyd looked up from his script. “We wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we? No we wouldn’t. I need you to help me learn my lines. You’re not much of an actress, but”—he paused, rolled his eyes, and shook his head back and forth—“we weren’t all meant for the stage.”

I’m acting now, Adele thought. I’m trying to appear confident even though I’m terrified. “Don’t you have any food in this house?”

“It’s not my house! I arrived late last night. I’m sorry I didn’t go shopping, Adele. You’re very demanding.”

“But I smelled coffee. And you made me tea with milk. Where did that come from?”

Floyd threw the script on the chair. “My director, okay! He arranged with the real estate agent to have someone drop off a few provisions so I could have breakfast. English muffins, juice, coffee, tea bags, milk . . . that’s it! They certainly didn’t go overboard. I found a rotten tomato in the vegetable bin. I can slice that up for you.” He paused. “Would you like an English muffin?”

“I’d like an omelette. With an English muffin on the side.”

Floyd looked stunned. “With or without jelly?” he screamed as he paced back and forth, running his fingers through his hair.