Hide and Snoop (The Odelia Grey Mysteries) (16 page)

“That’s a good place for her,” Steele decided. “Zee knows how to handle kids.”

“Oh, and I don’t?” I was sorry we were talking on the phone so I couldn’t snarl in person.

“Come on, Cheesehead Squirrel, you were over your head even in happy times. Admit it.”

“He’s got you there, sweetheart.”

I aimed my snarl at my husband.

“Okay, Grey, it’s my turn to ask you a question and get an honest answer.” Steele’s voice had turned serious on a dime. Both Greg and I noticed and stared at the phone, waiting.

“What in the hell were you doing at Erica’s house in the first place? Did you get it into your thick head to confront her about your job?”

“Yes and no,” I answered. “I couldn’t sleep and had the bright idea she might be home and just pretending she was somewhere else. When I got there, I found Connie’s body.”

“Hold the phone,” Steele snapped. “You couldn’t sleep? What in the hell time did you go over there? On the news it looked like the body was found this morning.”

“It was this morning,” added Greg. “About two this morning.”

Steele groaned. “Dammit, Grey, what possesses you to do these things?”

“Like I said, I got the idea into my head that Erica might just be pretending to be gone to avoid taking care of Lily, so I went over there to find out. What better time than in the middle of the night to catch someone in a lie? And I wanted to find out—” I chopped the sentence off before ending it.

“Find out what?” Steele prodded.

“Go ahead,” Greg urged, “tell him why you were really skulking about in the middle of the night. I’d like Steele’s opinion on this.”

“We’ve already discussed this, Greg. Steele doesn’t need to be involved.”

Greg ignored me. “Steele, would you ever, and I mean
ever
, ask Odelia to spy on one of your law partners while she was in your employ?”

There was silence on Steele’s end of the phone for a full minute. Greg checked to make sure the call was still connected.

“Who sent you over there, Odelia?” Steele demanded. His earlier amusement had taken a hike.

“No one sent me there, Steele. I went under my own steam.”

Greg didn’t like my answer. “Carl Yates has Odelia trying to find out why Erica has it in for her, specifically whether or not she’s sleeping with Mark Baker.”

Again, a long silence.

“If Carl wants to know that,” answered Steele, “he should ask Erica himself, not send you to do his dirty work.”

“Bingo!” Greg jerked his chin at me in an annoying way. “That’s exactly what I said.”

“Let me get this straight,” Steele said, lining up his mental ducks. “You went to Erica’s to catch her with Mark Baker, and Carl Yates sent you? That’s rich!”

“No,” I insisted. “Carl didn’t know I was there or that I was going to go there. He and I talked about why Erica was campaigning so hard with the partners to get rid of me and save Mark’s job. We both wondered if it might have something to do with a personal relationship, so he asked me to do some quiet checking.”

“Freaking unbelievable!” After a slight pause, Steele added, “I hope you don’t have plans on retiring from that firm, Odelia, because it’s not going to happen. Even if Carl was behind it, once this gets out, the other partners will never trust you again, especially the partners from Hamlin-Hawke.”

“I’m thinking they’ll either fire me or play the layoff card this week.”

“If they’re smart, they will lay you off. Less controversy than a firing, especially since they’ve been laying off people already and it’s common knowledge your position was targeted. If you kick up a fuss, they’ll be able to prove it was already in the works before this happened.”

Greg nudged me with his elbow.

“And even if they don’t,” I continued, rubbing my side where Greg had gently assaulted me, “I’m going to give my notice this week. It’s time for me to leave Woobie.”

“Now that’s the smart-thinking Grey I know.” We could almost hear Steele smiling through the phone. “As I told you at lunch, we’ll probably be able to take you on in late summer or early fall. Can you hang tight until then?”

“She’ll be hanging tight,” Greg answered for me. I didn’t mind it when Greg and I finished each other’s sentences. A lot of close couples did that. But this acting as my mouthpiece was really irritating and made me feel like a slow kid that needed looking after or I’d get on the wrong bus.

“In fact, don’t go in on Monday.” Steele spoke in rushed words, his habit when his mind was spinning so fast that his mouth had trouble keeping up. “Call in sick or take some vacation days. Tell them your great-aunt Suzie died. Something. Anything.”

“I don’t have a great-aunt Suzie,” I pointed out.

Greg jumped onto Steele’s bandwagon in a flash. “Great idea, Steele.” Greg turned to me. “You’re not busy, so why not take some time off, sweetheart?”

It did sound nice. I wouldn’t have to face Carl or Mark or the stares of my coworkers in the event they knew what had happened. And I could go to Zee’s and spend more time with Lily.

“And while you’re home, Grey,” Steele said, “do you think you could stay out of trouble? Maybe you could grout your bathroom tile or something like that.”

nineteen

Sunday turned out a
lot like Saturday. Time dragged. Greg was going to stay home from his twice-a-month basketball game, but I urged him to go. He even asked me to go with him, but I declined, saying I could use the time to catch up on laundry and other stuff. Of course, since I was going to be unemployed soon, I’d have plenty of time to do the wash and clean the house. I could even do it anytime during the next few days.

Clean the house—now there was an unwelcome thought. When Greg and I married, Cruz Valenz, the housekeeper I’d had for years, started working her magic at Greg’s house. He’d been using a service with spotty results and was thrilled with Cruz. Her husband, Arturo, who had been taking care of the few plants and shrubs I had on my patio, migrated to Greg’s with Cruz. Arturo was happy to see we had a real lawn, both in the front and back, and lots of greenery. Now that I’d be off work, I might have to go back to cleaning my own house. Cruz had spoiled me. The idea of taking care of this house, which was much larger than my condo, was not appealing. It’s not that I don’t know how to clean, it just wasn’t my strong suit.

Greg kissed me goodbye and underlined Steele’s admonishment to keep out of trouble. As soon as he got home and showered, we’d be off to see Lily. I couldn’t wait to see her, even if it was under tragic circumstances.

Before I did anything, I placed a call to Tina Swanson, the office manager at Woobie, and left a voice mail to let her know I would need to take a couple of unplanned vacation days. Tina’s position seemed safe since Hamlin-Hawke had not brought any management positions over with them, but she definitely seemed the worse for wear since the merger. I’d heard a rumor she was shopping around her résumé, and I wasn’t surprised.

I didn’t give Tina an exact day I’d be back but simply said an emergency had come up and I would be in touch. I also told her in the voice mail that there wasn’t anything on my desk that couldn’t wait until my return. That was a laugh. There wasn’t anything on my desk at all to speak of, and what was there was routine. Erica and Mark had seen to that. Normally I would never do such a thing as take unscheduled time off like this except for a very serious reason. But I wasn’t busy, and I did have quite a few vacation days accrued and didn’t want to face the office. Last night Greg and I did the math. I had enough vacation days that even if I gave Woobie a two- week notice, I’d never have to go back to work before officially leaving the firm. Steele had encouraged me not to pull the trigger so fast on quitting, but to wait it out for a few days to see if they’d make me an offer to leave with cash, so we shelved the plan for me to give notice on Tuesday.

I had just thrown a load of towels into the washer when the front doorbell rang. Usually Wainwright would echo the chimes with barking, but he was with Greg. The cats were both useless when it came to announcing people at the door. I glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was just after eleven. Greg would be home shortly after one. Sunday dinner with the Washingtons was at two thirty.

“Hi, Odelia,” said a familiar voice when I opened the door. Standing on the other side of the locked screen door was Alyce Allen and her husband, Gary, both dressed in their Sunday best. “I hope you don’t mind the intrusion,” Alyce said, “but when we heard what happened to Lily’s mother, I wanted to see for myself that you were okay.”

“You know what happened?” I remained dumbstruck, not moving to invite them in.

Alyce nodded. “The police came by our house yesterday.” She glanced at Gary as if awaiting permission to say more. He gave her a small smile of encouragement. “They asked a lot of questions about Erica and”—she paused—“and about you.”

I shook off the surprise of their visit and unlocked the screen door. “Please come in.”

The Allens came into my home and awkwardly looked around. I invited them to sit down. They sat side by side on the sofa like a mismatched set of salt and pepper shakers but didn’t take off their coats. “Can I get you anything to drink?” I offered.

“No,” Gary answered for the two of them. “We’re fine.”

“I’m surprised to see you,” I said to Gary. “Especially since you’re a pastor. Shouldn’t you be behind a pulpit about now?”

He gave me a slow, calm smile, the same type he gave his wife. I’ll bet the man had great bedside manner when it came to comforting the sick and grieving. “Our worship service is at nine in the morning. It’s a small congregation of early birds.”

“Usually we go out for brunch after,” Alyce chimed in, “but today we left our kids with friends and came to see you. I hope that’s okay.”

“I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Alyce. Have you heard from Erica at all?”

“Not a peep,” she answered. “And I don’t think the police have found her yet either. Under the circumstances, I’m getting pretty worried about her.” Gary reached over and placed a comforting hand on his wife’s arm. The gesture made me smile. Greg would have done the same thing to me.

Gary glanced around. “Your husband home? I’d like to meet him.”

“He’s off playing basketball. He plays twice a month in a wheelchair league.” For some reason I couldn’t explain, I tacked on, “We’re not much on going to church.”

The pastor laughed. “Not to worry, Odelia. We’re not here to proselytize, just to see how you and Lily are holding up.”

“Lily’s not here either.”

Alyce looked alarmed. “The county didn’t take her into protective custody, did they?”

“Yes and no,” I answered truthfully. “Lily is now under the authority of the county but is still with my friends. They know some of the higher-ups and were granted permission to keep her at their home until her family could be located.”

“That’s wonderful,” said Gary with obvious relief. “A much better solution to an overcrowded children’s home.”

“Yes, my husband and I are going over there later for dinner and to visit with Lily.”

Alyce looked about ready to cry. “It must have been just awful finding Connie like that.”

“The police told you I found her?”

She nodded, her eyes cast down. “I’m glad it wasn’t me who found her. Sometimes Erica had me drop things off at her house.” Alyce visibly shivered.

“Did they say anything about Hank Holt?” I asked, wondering if the police had disclosed that bit of information during their questioning.

“Only if I had ever met him,” Alyce answered, “which I hadn’t.” Her brows knitted with concern. “You don’t think he killed his wife, do you?”

“Let’s pray that’s not the case,” added Gary with deep concern. “The child has enough to deal with in losing her mother without her father being a murderer.”

While the Allens contemplated their prayers for Lily, I kept my mouth shut. If the police were choosing to keep Hank’s murder on the QT, I wasn’t going to trample on their investigation. My plan was to stay off their radar as much as possible.

“Odelia,” Gary said, swallowing hard, “could I trouble you for that drink you offered? I guess I’m a bit dry after my sermon this morning. Water would be just fine.”

“You sure? I have some freshly made iced tea.” I got to my feet.

“No, the water would be great. Thank you.”

I looked at Alyce. “How about you, Alyce? Can I get you something?”

“No, but I would like to use your bathroom, if I may.”

“Sure, I’ll show you where it is.”

I directed Alyce down the hallway that led to the guest room, our home office, and the guest bath. “It’s the first door on the left.” As she toddled off, I went into the kitchen to get Gary his drink. I’d just filled a glass with cold water from the jug we kept in the fridge when I felt something close by, like a ghost leftover from Halloween. I turned around, coming face to face with Gary Allen. Startled, I sloshed the water but managed to hang onto the glass.

“I’m so sorry, Odelia,” Gary said, grabbing my arms to steady me. “I didn’t mean to startle you. These darn shoes don’t make a bit of noise. I should have at least cleared my throat.”

“It’s okay. Really.” Grabbing a dish towel, I wiped the glass and handed it to him, making it necessary for him to unhand me. Then I dried my hands and dropped the towel to the floor to sop up the spill. “It’s just water.” I gave off a nervous laugh. “Now if our dog was here, he’d have that lapped up in a heartbeat.”

Gary chuckled along with me but didn’t move out of my personal space, nor did he take a drink of the water. His behavior almost made me wish Wainwright was home for other reasons. Just then the doorbell rang. I scooted past Gary to answer it. At the door was Dev Frye and Beverly, the woman he’d been seeing for quite a while.

“Hey, Odelia,” Dev said. “Bev and I were on our way home from brunch and thought we’d stop by to see how you were, considering yesterday.”

“Seems to be my day for company,” I announced, trying to shake off the creepy feeling I’d gotten from Gary. “Gary and Alyce Allen are here. Alyce is Erica Mayfield’s secretary.” Just as I said her name, Alyce emerged from the hallway. She looked surprised.

“We’ve already met Detective Frye,” Gary told me. He turned to Dev. “Nice to see you again, Detective. You here to question Odelia again?”

Beverly flashed a smile at all of us. I liked her. She was tall and slender and about my age. She’d been teaching high school for years and had a sharp wit that kept Dev on his toes. “We’re here in an unofficial capacity,” she said, nudging Dev lightly in his side. “Isn’t that right, Dev?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Dev confirmed with a shrug. “But you can’t turn off being a cop like you can a spigot.”

“The Allens dropped by to make sure Lily and I were okay,” I informed Dev.

“We can see Odelia is in good hands,” Gary announced, taking his wife’s arm. “We should go, dear, and get back to the children.”

As the Allens started to take their leave, I remembered something. “By the way, Alyce, I won’t be in the office for a few days.”

She looked at me through her oversized glasses like a spooked owl but said nothing.

“I’ve decided to take some time off. I’ve already left Tina a voice mail. If anyone needs me, have them e-mail me. I’ll be checking it often.”

“A few days off sounds like a great idea,” Dev said as he helped Bev out of her coat.

“I agree with Detective Frye,” Gary said to me. “Taking time off sounds sensible after everything you’ve been through. But if you need anything, anything at all, please call me or Alyce.”

After the Allens left, I had a short but lovely visit with Dev and Beverly. With Bev’s help, Dev managed to steer clear of talk of the investigation, at least until they were leaving.

“Mrs. Allen seemed somewhat squirrelly. Any idea why?” Dev asked, one foot out the door and the other still in my house.

I shrugged. “She’s always a bit of a nervous Nelly, but I’m sure all this stuff with Erica Mayfield and her sister is making it a lot worse.”

Dev and Beverly weren’t
gone but fifteen minutes when my cell phone rang. The display was Mark Baker’s office number.

What in the hell did he want?

In the months since he’d come to Woobie, Mark had only called me on my cell once, and that was on a weekend to ask about a client file he couldn’t find—a client I had always handled until Erica reassigned the matter to Mark.

I answered with a snarl, which was fast becoming my signature response to the phone. “What?”

“Charming way to answer the phone.”

“I’m busy, Mark.”

“Okay, I’ll make it quick. A firm-wide e-mail just went out from Tina saying you won’t be in for a few days. Any particular reason?”

“Since when are you the boss of me?”

“Just want to make sure you’re okay. I saw Erica’s house on the news. You didn’t happen to be there when that went down, were you? After all, you do have some anger issues and a résumé for finding bodies.”

I’m sure steam started coming out of my ears about then. Instead, I decided to be a smarty pants and answer his question with one of my own. “Been to Erica’s house much, have you?”

“A few times to drop stuff off or to give her a ride when her car was in the shop.” Mark paused. “You saying you’ve never been to Mike Steele’s place in all the time you worked for him?”

He had me there.

“Why would you think I’d know anything about what happened at Erica’s? It’s not like we’re BFFs like you two. All I know is what I saw on the news.” I wasn’t about to tell him anything, and it sounded like the police hadn’t reached Mark yet to question him. “Although expect the police to be grilling you about her. They’ve already talked to Alyce and me.” Neither was I going to admit I was the one to find the body.

“I wasn’t around much this weekend until just now,” Mark told me. “The police will probably catch me tomorrow at the office.”

I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the police questioned Mark, especially when Detective Fehring went after him. “Speaking of Erica, have you heard from her?”

“Not a word.”

“Would you tell me if you had?”

“No, Odelia, I wouldn’t. Not unless she wanted me to tell you.” Another pause. A long one. “Listen,” Mark finally said, “the real reason I called is I wanted to know some of the background on the Shane acquisition that went down last year. Erica wanted me to handle some cleanup on it. I’m in the office going over it this afternoon.”

Kiss-ass.
I didn’t have any work, but he had enough to pull overtime. And on a matter I had handled with Mike Steele. I wanted to crawl through the phone and choke Mark on principle alone. I’ll show him anger issues.

“I was going to ask you about it tomorrow,” he continued when I remained silent. “But since you won’t be in and it doesn’t say when you’ll be returning, I thought I’d give you a quick call now.”

“And it didn’t occur to you that I might be busy or have people over? It is the weekend. Some of us have lives outside the office.” I looked down at the dirty towels clutched in my left hand. They were going into the washing machine with a bunch of their friends when the current load was done. Mark Baker was getting overtime on my client, and I was separating whites from coloreds. I wanted to scream. Greg and Steele were right—I needed to leave my job.