Heather dug in her purse for her sunglasses and put them on before she started her SUV. Steve voiced his opinion about priorities. “I don’t like to complain, but would you mind starting the engine and blowing some cool air before you fuss with your sunglasses, seat belt, and adjust the rearview mirror?”
“It’s a habit I developed when our chauffeur taught me how to drive. You’re lucky I got out of the habit of doing a walk-around of the car to check for flat tires or any other damage.”
Steve gave a little grunt. “Did you know scientists have recorded temperatures of over a hundred and seventy degrees in cars?”
“It’s not that hot in here.”
He buckled his seat belt. “Let’s not take any chances.”
Heather cranked the motor and turned the air conditioner to its lowest setting and the fan on high. Steve said, “Aah” when cool air ruffled his hair.
She looked at him. “I thought you’d be in a better mood after that interview with Melody. I had her pegged as a bitter, spurned woman. She talked like she might have Chris back if he straightened up and put aside his gambling. And even if he doesn’t, she has a plan in place for his financial wellbeing.”
“That’s the problem.” Steve shook his head. “It’s her plan and not his.”
“It’s an addiction,” said Heather.
“Umm.”
“You don’t think gambling can be an addiction?”
Steve let out a huff. “It’s doesn’t matter what I think. All I’m sure of is people mess up their lives and sometimes commit violent crimes because they gambled themselves into trouble.”
He motioned for Heather to drive. “Let’s talk about the case, the suspects, and what we both learned. You go first and tell me about Dora Chen. I almost swallowed my tongue when you asked Melody if she knew Dora was an optometrist in South Korea.”
Heather waited for a break in the traffic to leave the parking lot. Once on the way to Chris’s retail store, she began her report. “My source said Dora was a top student who had a successful practice before she came to the States. No criminal record. She married a US serviceman and followed him to Texas. That’s where the story gets muddy. I have a call in to find out about his service record. From what I’ve learned so far, he was more of a ball and chain to her than a decent husband.”
“Hmm,” said Steve. “We need to find out if she’s trying to get her license to practice here. Also, see if you can discover if she’s been in contact with anyone from Dr. Raymond Lee’s organization.”
Something clicked in Heather’s mind. “Do you think Dora might angle to work for Dr. Lee?”
Steve shrugged. “It’s worth considering. She’s the assistant in Melody’s clinic. If she’s on the verge of getting her license to practice optometry, she might have designs on a potential fast track to success.”
Heather wheeled a left turn and entered the onramp to I-45. “There’s two big assumptions in that theory.”
“More than that,” said Steve. “But all the pieces could fit together.”
They drove for a couple of miles in silence. Heather broke it with a question. “What about Cindy Green, the evening sales clerk in Dr. Melody’s store? She could have known that the Lee family was interested in taking over the store, along with the practice.”
Steve pulled the seat belt away from his chest an inch or two. “You might as well include Bryson Wayne if you’re looking at people with a key to Melody’s store. They both have access to the file cabinet.”
Heather shook her head. “I’m having a hard time picturing either of them killing Cleo Stanley.”
Steve allowed the seat belt to retract against his chest. “The only motive I can think of is a quick buck for providing the tax returns to Dr. Lee. I’ll have Detective Hall get into their bank accounts and see if they’ve had any recent financial windfalls.”
Heather cut her eyes to see Steve. “You’re giving Hall busy work. Those two are at the bottom of your list of suspects.”
He grinned. “If you’d rather do it, it’s all yours.”
“No thanks. The names I heard this morning are Dr. Raymond Lee and his son. I’ll focus on them this afternoon.”
“It may take more time than that,” said Steve. “He has a large family and any of them could have approached our suspects.”
Steve then veered off the path of talking about the case. “Tell me about your trip to Boston.”
Heather gripped the steering wheel. “Have you spoken with Jack about it?”
“He called, but didn’t go into detail. I understand he and your father had a private meeting.”
Heather tightened her grip. “I should have gone in with him. I know how to deal with Father.”
“Jack also said you two stayed up late to make phone calls to South Korea.”
“And finished the research on the business side of optometry and selling eyeglasses. It was a full day and night.”
“Yeah, I bet.” He chuckled. “When Maggie and I were in college, we’d call our late-night study session in my car ‘extended library hours.’”
Heather let out a huff. “There has to be Puritan blood running through Father’s veins instead of Scotch-Irish. He used our midnight rendezvous as a reason to send Jack packing.” She looked down at her fingertips, white from the grip on the wheel. “I was so proud of Jack for telling Father what he could do with the airplane ticket he bought.”
Steve turned toward her. “Your father actually bought an airline ticket for Jack?”
“He delivered it at breakfast and made it abundantly clear that Jack wasn’t welcome to stay any longer.”
“That doesn’t sound like your father.”
“You don’t know him like I do.” Her voice hardened. “He likes things his way. Can you believe he thinks I’ll come back to Boston? Then he’d choose a husband for me with the proper pedigree and portfolio.”
She looked straight ahead and spoke to herself as much as to Steve. “This time Father is sorely mistaken. After hurricane season, I’m shopping for a very special item.”
The rest of the trip to Chris’s office passed without talking until Heather pulled into the parking lot. “We’re here. I hope you have questions ready for Sandi. My life reminds me of a Jenga game that came crashing down. I’m not sure I can think straight until I put it back together.”
“You’ll rebuild your life higher than you ever thought possible.”
Heather shook her head. “I appreciate your optimism, but when I looked in the mirror this morning, I saw Humpty Dumpty.”
Steve moved his hand to the door latch. “There’s nothing like solving a case to help put the pieces back together. Let’s find out what Sandi knows about keys to Melody’s store.”
Heather leaned into Steve and whispered as the door to Chris’s eyeglass store closed behind them. “Sandi’s fitting one customer for glasses and has four more waiting.”
“I’m in no rush. Does anything look different in here?”
Heather scanned the oversized room. “Another employee is coming out of the back room. We may not have to wait as long as I thought.”
Steve placed both hands on the top of his cane. “Five customers at a time isn’t bad.”
“Five?”
“Your reading glasses should have arrived.”
“I forgot all about them.”
Sandi greeted them from across the room. “Hello, Ms. McBlythe. Your glasses came in yesterday afternoon. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
Heather turned to Steve. “Do you want to try on sunglasses while we’re waiting?”
“Do I need to?”
“I thought you might like a change. Those have a tendency to slide down your nose.”
Steve shrugged. “They’ll be cheaper at other stores. Perhaps Kate could go with us to pick out a new pair.”
Heather pulled away an inch or two. “Don’t you trust me?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you. Kate and I are the same age. We speak the same language when it comes to style.”
Heather spurted out a laugh. “Who are you trying to kid? Your favorite place to shop is Goodwill.”
“That’s what I mean. Kate told me she finds all kinds of decent clothes there. Do you know if they sell sunglasses?”
“You want used sunglasses?”
Steve huffed. “Goodwill sells both used and new items. How long has it been since you shopped there?”
“I hit the second-hand stores hard during the lean years as a cop.”
“And now your personal assistant picks out your clothes for you.”
Heather tented her hands on her hips. “It makes little sense for me to spend a half day shopping when I can—”
“Add to your portfolio?”
She took a long look at Steve. Something about this conversation grated on her. Was he pressing her buttons on purpose? Kidding banter was their stock-in-trade, but this went deeper. Was it mild criticism? Probably not, but what was it? Then it came to her. Steve was afraid. His feelings for Kate went deeper than he let on. He wanted to hang on to Maggie’s memories, but time has a way of fading them. He’d mentioned his desire for Kate to help him make a selection with sunglasses. Was he ready for her to share his dark world?
Heather made a tactical retreat. “You’re right. Kate’s closer to your age than me. I’m likely to have you in leopard-print frames with dark blue lenses.”
“More likely, mirrored aviator sunglasses. All the young women would think an old pervert was checking them out.”
They made a slow trip around the perimeter of the store and wound up at Sandi Fields’s work station as she finished with a customer. The young man left with a smile of satisfaction on his face. Heather wondered if it was because he thought the glasses made him look smarter, or because Sandi had told him how women went for men in glasses with frames that communicated power and affluence.
Sandi collected her paperwork, stood, and said, “Take a seat at the center work station. I’ll get your glasses and make any final adjustments they may need.”
Heather led Steve and settled him in the chair next to her. “You remember Steve, don’t you?”
“Of course. How are you Mr. Smiley? I saw Heather looking at our selection of men’s sunglasses and noticed how yours have a tendency to slide down your nose. If you like, I can fit you with something that will make you look five years younger.”
“That’s the same thing a vitamin supplement salesman said on television. Could you adjust these instead?”
Sandi leaned across the table, wasted showing cleavage to a blind man, and said, “I’m not supposed to adjust glasses that weren’t purchased here, but I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”
Steve made an X over the left side of his chest with his right hand. “I cross my heart and hope to die if I squeal on you.”
Sandi leaned back and pulled up the zipper on the medical-looking smock. Heather guessed one reason for Sandi’s success had to do with giving a show to the male customers who came in without a wife or girlfriend.
“Do you want me to take off my sunglasses?” asked Steve.
“I’ll get them after I see if they’re sitting crooked.”
After a visual inspection of the earpieces, Sandi grasped the glasses on each side, slid them forward, and pushed them back. “The hinges are a little bent on each side. This will be an easy fix.” She pulled an unusual-looking pair of pliers from a pocket and went to work bending the glasses back into shape.
While she worked, Steve said, “Since we’re here, there’s something I wanted to ask you. Do you still have keys to Dr. Melody’s retail store?”
“I gave my keys to the store and the file cabinets to Dr. Chris.”
“Do you know if he gave them to Dr. Melody?”
“I suppose he did. She sent out a tacky email demanding them back… or else.”
“Or else what?” asked Heather.
She shrugged. “Beats me. I sent a curt reply, telling her Chris had them. I never heard from her again.”
She took the sunglasses, cleaned the lenses, and slid them back on Steve’s head. “How do they feel?”
“Like a new pair. I didn’t realize how loose they were.”
“Come back if they continue to slide. Eventually, I’ll get you into something more sophisticated.”
Steve then asked, “It’s our understanding that Chris considered selling his practice and eyeglass store before his divorce. Did you know that?”
“Sorry,” said Sandi. “I had my head buried in a drawer where we keep newly received glasses and didn’t hear you.”
“I asked if you knew Chris considered selling his practice and store before he and Melody split.”
“Everyone knew. He was excited about it.”
“Why was he excited?” asked Heather.
“He said it would put an end to his problems.”
Steve asked, “Do you mean his problems caused by gambling?”
Sandi froze in place and then thawed enough to lower her head. “You found out.”
“It wasn’t hard.”
“He does good for two or three weeks, and then something snaps in his brain. I try talking to him about it. He listens and agrees with everything I say. Then he finds a cheap flight to Vegas and he’s off again. He’ll straighten up for a while, get back on his feet, and work his way out of the holes he dug.”
“How far down is he now?”
Sandi lifted her chin. “Have you been to his practice lately? Everything he owns is in one of the exam rooms. They evicted him from his apartment. Right now, he’s sleeping on my couch.”
“I get the picture,” said Steve.
Sandi kept talking without being prompted. “He hides what’s going on, but I can tell he’s scared to death about what happened to Mattie Arnold.” She then regained her composure and went about fitting Heather’s glasses.
Heather had one more question as Sandi made adjustments to the earpieces. “Do you know if anyone has approached Chris again about selling his practice and this store?”
“He’s been more upbeat lately, so something like that wouldn’t surprise me. If it’s the same people that tried to buy him out before, I’ll need to look for another job. They pay straight salary with no sales bonuses. Where’s the incentive to give great service and upsell?”
Heather looked in an oval mirror. “Not as bad as I feared.”
“Bad?” said Sandi. “Those give you that little something special that men find adorable.”
Heather didn’t know if she agreed, but she had to admit squinting at menus wasn’t the look she wanted.
They thanked Sandi for her great service and promised to leave a review online. Heather remembered to start the SUV with her key fob and had it cooling as they left the store. Steve nodded his approval as he entered the vehicle. “Much better.”
“What’s next?” asked Heather.
“Home. We need to verify that Chris is trying to sell his businesses.”
“How do we do that?”
Steve adjusted the air vent on his side. “That’s up to you, but if it were me, I’d call Chris and tell him you want to put in a bid.”
“If my mind wasn’t so scattered, I’d have thought of that.” Ghostlike figures of Mother, Father, and Jack all paraded across the dashboard and were gone with a blink of her eyes. “What are you going to do while I’m preparing an offer?”
“Lunch, and work on my short story with Kate.”
“Good for you,” said Heather, and she meant it. Perhaps someday Steve’s ability to mix work with rest would rub off on her.