Red Julie (An Olivia Miller Mystery Book 2) (6 page)

Olivia nodded.

Hannigan said, “We both have demanding careers with many late nights, overseas travel, events we are expected to attend. I should have canceled my meeting the night he returned. I should have gone to Ogunquit with him. I should have been with him. I…”

Olivia touched his arm. ”No one can predict what’s going to happen,” she said quietly.

“The police are investigating. But, so far, no leads.” Hannigan let out a sigh and shook his head.

Olivia paused. Her mind was racing. “Where did Mr. Andersen stay when he went to London?”

“He always stayed at the Goring.”

“The Goring? For four weeks?”

Hannigan nodded.

“Would you mind if I looked into Mr. Andersen’s stay?”

Hannigan looked quizzical.

“Things just don’t seem right to me,” Olivia said. “Because of the unusual circumstances around my aunt’s and your partner’s deaths. Something was wrong. Although, I don’t even know where to start or how I would find out anything.”

“Yes.” Hannigan spoke in a whisper and the burden of sadness caused his face muscles to droop. “You have my permission. It can’t hurt for you to look into it. Do what you can. See what you can find out.”

“Do you know the name of any of the clients that Mr. Andersen had in London?”

Hannigan closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. “I know it sounds like I don’t know anything about Martin, but I have no idea who he went to see when he traveled on business,” Hannigan said. “Perhaps you can contact his secretary, Paula Adams. She worked for Martin for years. She booked his flights, kept his calendar and appointments. Her email is on the company website. Tell her that we spoke and that she has my permission to answer your questions.”

“I’ll do that,” Olivia said, then hesitated before saying, “I haven’t told the police this. I don’t know…I’m not sure I want to share this with them. Mr. Andersen said something to me at the scene…it was garbled…it was something like…‘red Julie’. Do you know what he might have meant?”

Hannigan repeated, “Red Julie. I don’t know.”

“Did he know anyone named Julie? A friend? Someone at work? In your building?”

“Not to my knowledge. I can’t think of anyone. Julie. I don’t know.” He looked at Olivia. “Olivia, why don’t you want to tell the police this detail?”

Olivia took a deep breath. “My aunt seemed to know something…or fear something. She didn’t tell her best friend what she was worried about. She didn’t tell me. She didn’t go to the police. It makes me wonder why.”

Hannigan shook his head. “Please keep me informed. I’m going to keep our conversation in confidence.” They exchanged cell numbers and email addresses.

A friend of Hannigan’s emerged from the restaurant. “Rodney, are you coming in?’

Hannigan turned to the man. “Yes. I’ll be right there.” He looked back at Olivia. “Please join us.”

“Thank you, but I need to get back,” Olivia said. “I appreciate your time. I’m sorry for keeping you from your guests.” Olivia was about to offer her hand to shake, but remembered the necklace and said, “Oh, just one more thing…did Mr. Andersen own a gold necklace? A cross necklace with diamonds?”

Hannigan looked surprised. “No. He didn’t. He didn’t care for jewelry of any kind. Why do you ask?”

Olivia glanced across the street. On the corner, staring across the street at them, was the man with dead eyes from the accident scene. Olivia held her breath. Adrenaline shot through her. She looked quickly at Hannigan.

“Mr. Hannigan. Look across the street. There’s a man on the corner. Do you know who it is?”

Hannigan looked to where Olivia indicated, but the man was just turning the corner and was gone.

“I didn’t see him,” Hannigan told her.

“Thank you for your time,” Olivia said quickly backing up towards the street. “I’m so sorry about what happened…and for barging in on you like this. I’ll be in contact.”

Hannigan nodded. “Thank you, Olivia.”

Olivia darted into the traffic, weaving around cars, and crossed to the opposite sidewalk. She ran to the corner. She craned her neck, but the man was gone.

Olivia sat in her car talking into her cell phone.

“So it was a waste of time as far as learning why my name was in his wallet or what ‘red Julie’ means, but now I know for sure the cross necklace wasn’t Andersen’s,” Olivia said. “Which just brings up more questions.” She paused and swallowed to steady her voice. Her fingers nervously twisted a strand of her hair. “And, Joe, that guy from the accident…he was watching us from across the street.”

“Liv, maybe it just looked like the guy. A lot of people in the city fit his description. You were talking about the accident. Maybe you just thought it was him because he was on your mind,” Joe said.

Olivia let out a big sigh. “Maybe, Joe. I’m not sure I guess.”

“Are you leaving now?”

“Yeah. With the traffic leaving the city, I’ll probably be back in two hours or more.”

“Drive careful. I’ll be leaving Wells in about an hour. Come over when you get back. I’ll make spaghetti. We can talk.”

“Sounds good. See you later.”

Olivia started the car and pulled out of the parking lot into the street. She headed for the highway. On I-95 she sat in bumper to bumper traffic for ten miles. She kept switching radio stations every few minutes. Nothing suited and she turned it off.

Her thoughts wandered. Images of the accident flashed through her mind. The desperation. Feelings of helplessness. The tongue. A necklace placed in her pocket by someone who didn’t own it. Aggie. Aggie’s gun. The detective who wasn’t a detective who showed up asking her questions. The man at the accident. The man on the sidewalk across from her today. Her name in the victim’s wallet.
What’s going on?
She wanted to write everything down and stare at the words on the paper so that maybe they would shift into order and reveal something to her.

The traffic picked up speed and she glanced in the rearview mirror to change lanes. She moved the Jeep into the middle of the highway. She checked the rearview mirror again. Her heart started to pound. A dark sedan, a few cars behind her, switched lanes right after she did. Olivia brushed her hair behind her ear with shaking fingers
. I’m imagining things.
She forced herself to take a deep breath. She noticed that she had sped up and was going too fast. Olivia eased up on the gas pedal. She switched back into the right hand lane. Her eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror again. The dark sedan was still a few cars behind, now also in the right lane. Olivia set her jaw.

She sped up and switched lanes again, this time to the far left. As soon as she could, she switched back into the middle. She continued these maneuvers for several miles keeping her eyes on the road ahead. She pressed harder on the gas pedal, forcing the car faster than she felt comfortable with. She gripped the steering wheel, determined to keep on like this for a few more miles. The highway was crowded but all of the vehicles were moving along rapidly. She weaved in and out between them.

She slowed a little and looked into the mirror. Her heart pounded like a jack hammer. The sedan was three cars behind her. It was too far back to make out who was in it. Olivia’s mind raced. Was it following her or not? She had to find out.

A rest area was coming up in a few miles. Olivia switched to the middle lane again. The sedan moved into the middle. Just as she approached the rest area, Olivia swerved into the right lane and took the exit leading into the parking lot without slowing. The sedan jerked to the right and followed. Instead of turning into the lot, Olivia floored it and shot ahead to the roadway leading back to the highway. Sweat beaded on her forehead. The sedan was coming up fast behind her just as she merged back onto the interstate. Whoever was in the sedan had to know that she was aware she was being followed.

Olivia glanced at her cell phone on the console. Her hand moved for it but she changed her mind and took hold of the steering wheel again. She had another plan. Olivia knew that on weekdays the state police usually had a speed trap set up a few miles ahead. She pushed on the gas pedal to cover the distance as fast as she could. The speedometer needle touched 85mph. Her breath was coming quick. Her sweaty hands slipped on the wheel. Her friends usually teased her because she drove like a little old lady. They wouldn’t recognize her today.

Olivia prayed that the police were in their usual place. She pressed harder on the pedal and shot past the spot where they often hid. A State Police car flew after her. Relief flooded her body. She slowed and pulled over to receive her ticket. As the cop pulled in behind her, she saw the sedan drive past.

Olivia knew the sedan would slow and wait for her up ahead, so as soon as she got her ticket, she took the first exit off the highway to avoid them. After traveling the back roads for a half hour, she pulled into a McDonald’s. She went in, used the bathroom sink to splash water on her face, and ordered a coffee. She returned to her car, her limbs feeling shaky and rubbery, and found the entrance back to the highway. She felt sick to her stomach for the remainder of the ride home. No one followed her.
I lost him.

Olivia parked the car in her garage, grabbed her wallet, and strode across the lawn to Joe’s house. His truck was in his driveway.

She knocked on the screen door and called, “Joe?” She opened the door and stepped into his kitchen. Joe wasn’t there. She walked into the living room. His cell phone was on the coffee table.

“Joe?”

She flung open the French doors that led to his patio. He wasn’t there. Olivia’s heart started to pound. She turned and went back into the house. She rushed to the master bedroom. Empty. She raced to the bathroom. No one. Olivia’s stomach was churning. She ran through the living room again and out through the French doors into the yard.

“Joe!” Olivia screamed.

“What the hell?” Joe called down to her from the roof.

Olivia ran to the side of the house and saw the ladder leaning there. She looked up and saw Joe fiddling with the chimney.

“Joe.” She smiled, tension draining out of her. “I thought something happened.”

“Something almost did. Almost fell off the damn roof. You scared the hell out of me.”

Olivia sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. She put both hands on her head while Joe edged to the top of the ladder and made his way down to the lawn. Olivia was as white as a ghost.

“What the hell’s wrong?”

Olivia’s eyes brimmed over with tears. Joe stepped forward and enveloped her in his big arms. She cried into his shoulder.

Later that night, Olivia sat in her pajamas, curled up on the sofa with her laptop. Joe had urged Olivia to report the incident on the highway to the police, but she refused. Being back in Ogunquit and talking it over with Joe made her feel like she was overreacting and she wondered if she misperceived that the car was following her. She admitted that the man in Boston may have just reminded her of the man with the dead eyes at the accident scene. She felt much better after relaxing, eating dinner with Joe and talking through things. She went home, showered, watched some reality television, and made a cup of tea.

Olivia pored over internet articles about Martin Andersen and Rodney Hannigan, trying to find a ‘Julie’ who was connected to either of them. She reviewed Andersen’s company website, looking for any Julies or Julias who worked there. She did the same for the firm that Hannigan worked for. She came up empty. Olivia typed in addresses of the properties surrounding Martin’s brownstone in Boston’s Back Bay and his beach place to see if she could find out if any Julies were neighbors of his. She searched Facebook to see if Martin had an account. Everything was a dead end.
How am I supposed to find this Julie?
Olivia stood up and started pacing. She decided she would pay a visit to Andersen’s secretary sometime in the coming days.

Olivia left the house early the next morning. She hadn’t gone for a run for a few days and she hoped the exercise would shake off some of the tension and confusion she was feeling. The first mile was torture and her legs were burning, but she pushed on. She started to get into a rhythm and her breathing smoothed out. She was completing a four mile loop of the town when a companion joined her.

“Hey,” he said, smiling at her.

“Hey,” Olivia grunted. The guy was gorgeous but she hoped he wouldn’t strike up a conversation as she needed all of her air at the moment to remain upright and finish the last mile. And besides, she was drenched in sweat. Not the time to make a best impression.

He ran the last mile alongside her. They matched strides until they reached the center of town and Olivia stopped to cool down. Mr. Handsome stopped with her.

“Nice run,” he said.

Olivia nodded.
Accent. Eastern European?

His blonde hair was cut short and showed off his tan to advantage. He didn’t have that skinny look of a long distance runner. The guy was in good shape and his arms and legs were toned and muscled. His dark brown eyes held Olivia’s as he extended his hand to her. “Alexei Sidorov,” he introduced himself.

Olivia wiped her sweaty hand on her sweaty shorts and shook his hand. “Olivia Miller.”

“I’ve seen you running around town,” he told her. “But I could never catch you.” He smiled.

Olivia laughed at that. She wasn’t the swiftest thing on two legs but she could hold her own. They walked down the hill to the beach.

“Vacationing or local?” Alexei asked her.

“A bit of both. I’ve been coming every summer since I was little,” Olivia answered. “You’re here for a visit?”

“I’m a bit of both as well. My father recently purchased a place here.”

“Oh, really? Whereabouts?”

“Out on the Marginal Way. The old Victorian.”

Olivia’s eyebrows went up. “Nice place. You’ve done a lot of renovating.” That was an understatement. The place had been turned into a palace.

Alexei nodded. “Maybe you’d like to see it sometime. It has turned out quite beautifully.”

Smooth, Olivia thought. “That might be nice.” They turned onto the walkway that would lead back up to the main street. “Are you spending the summer here?”