HAVE YOU EVER had your house broken into? Even if there’s an alarm and three armed guys and a big drooling dog, walking back into the house after you’ve been gone a while is scary.
I didn’t have the armed guys or the dog, so it was really scary.
Teagan offered to stay with me until A.J. got home. According to his most recent text, he should be home in a couple of hours. We’d given thought to just meeting up with him on the panhandle, but it sounded like more work to coordinate — since we don’t know the area — than it was worth.
We dumped all my stuff in the living room, and I told her to go ahead and get home. A good shower and some clean clothes and I’d feel like a human again.
I texted everybody to let them know we got home safe and sound.
Put the stuff from the trip away.
I once left a suitcase packed for three days. About had a heart attack when it dawned on me that it was sitting there in the back of my closet, dirty clothes and all. When I whined about it, six different people told me that if you get your bag unpacked in a month you’re golden.
Really?
A month?
What about all the bacteria that is festering and breeding and having its way with your stuff?
But then I can’t let my clean laundry sit in the dryer or on the couch, and I know lots of people who do that.
I wonder about myself sometimes.
I hesitated taking a shower alone in the house, which made me mad. I don’t want to give anyone that kind of power over me.
I made myself a cup of tea, drank it, walked over, and checked the mail. Junk.
I knew it would be; I do everything online. But then that check I got was a surprise, so I need to keep an open mind about the mail.
I couldn’t justify putting it off any longer without admitting to myself that I’m a wimp, so I got in the shower. Just about the time I was rinsing my hair the alarm made that noise it makes when someone is walking in the door.
Okay, so maybe I held my breath and scoochied into the corner a little bit, but I didn’t scream or fall or take off running, slathered in smelly-good-stuff, which can be slippery, and then you’re back to screaming and falling.
Moments later the all-clear sound came, and moments after that, A.J. came walking into the bathroom.
He looked more exhausted than I have ever seen him.
He also looked happy. Really happy.
“We’re going out.”
“You look tired.”
“I am. But were gonna celebrate. Morgan and Liam are going to be ready in an hour. That give you enough time?”
“Sure.”
He stepped in the shower. No reason to waste water. “You didn’t have any other plans, did you? I was going to text, but when we stopped for gas I had to answer a call, and then I just wanted to get home.”
“No other plans. I take it things went well.”
“I swear to God, Cara, they couldn’t have gone any better. Morgan was so good. No matter what they threw at her, and they threw everything they could think of, she was smooth and informative and knew just when to shut up. She didn’t try to oversell anything. She didn’t seem cocky. She just knew exactly where she was and what she was doing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I’m sure she’ll be saying the same thing about you.”
“Yeah, but it really was all her.”
“So you got the contracts?”
“If we can live through the next six weeks, doing even more work than we’re doing now, we’re good. In six weeks we’ll be nine-to-five people with a twist.”
“A twist?”
“Yeah, we’ll actually be doing the things we love.”
His smile was infectious.
When Liam and Morgan showed up, we were actually ready.
Small miracle.
Considering.
“Where’s Jordan?”
“Aunt Anna’s keeping him for the night.”
“He’ll have a blast.”
“The girls are taking him somewhere. Big surprise. They’ve had this planned for about a week. You know where they’re going?”
“Nope. I wasn’t in on this one.”
Liam asked, “Where are we going?”
“Old Town.”
I’m not going to say that Morgan and A.J. got a hero’s welcome — since I don’t want to be disrespectful of real heroes — but word had already gotten out that their project was a huge success and that as a result the businesses in Old Town would be revitalized.
It’s not like they were failing before, but they weren’t thriving either. For lots of reasons. Morgan is convinced all those reasons can be fixed, and with the right marketing they will all be thriving again.
A.J. is convinced that their approach has to be multi-pronged and visual. Put it all together and we had a really great night, going from one shop to another, food and drinks all comped. And at the end of the night — other than my feet screaming at me because I’d worn really high heels to go with my outfit — I don’t think any of us had ever felt better.
We left A.J.’s car in the lot, with a promise from the security guy that it would be there in the morning, and took a cab home. Liam and Morgan took their own cab.
I couldn’t believe how expensive a cab ride is. How do people in New York do it?
When we were in bed, I told A.J. all about Teagan’s ring. He asked what kind of ring I will want. I told him I don’t really want an engagement ring and for a wedding ring I want a thin gold band.
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
“I’m sure that is what you thought about years ago, but I don’t think it is going to work out that way, Cara.”
“Why?”
“I just don’t.”
I didn’t argue with him. Time will tell. That’s what Grandma always said. Plus, you know, we seem to be talking a lot about marriage for people who have no plan for getting married. I like it, but I want to be careful. Sometimes people either build it up so much before the fact that when it happens they are disappointed, or they can live in a little fantasy world so that the real world doesn’t have a chance.
I want to take it really slow.
Glacier slow.
I want my marriage to last the rest of my life, and I don’t want to be like virtually all my friends, who are always rushing into their happily ever after — which I don’t even believe in — and then regretting it.
Besides, we already live together, so there’s no reason to get married until we’re ready to have kids.
Please don’t tell my mother I said that.
You know when you find the perfect spot and the perfect position in bed. You know you will never, ever be that comfortable again. Just as I found that spot and position, there was Teagan.
Not in my room. In my mind.
I remembered she said something kind of brilliant, and I’d completely blown it off.
What if the people who broke into the apartment hadn’t been there to take something? What if they had been there to leave something?
If that was the case, then why did they mess up the whole apartment?
I thought about it.
I thought about it some more.
I was just about to fall asleep when I said, out loud, “So that it would be found!”
Oh, my, God. How stupid am I?
You know that old thing, hiding in plain sight.
It’s an old thing for a reason.
What if what they wanted was for something they put in my apartment to be found?
Then why break into the warehouse?
I couldn’t sleep anymore. This was going to bug me until I figured it out.
It was way too late to call Teagan.
So I texted her. Yeah, sisters can be jerks like that.
Me: I think you might actually be smart.
Teagan: Dingleberry, if you woke me up to say that, I’m on my way over to kill you. I’m awake anyway.
Me: Remember when you said that maybe they left something here? Maybe you are right.
Teagan: Give me a minute.
I put on the kettle while I waited for her to think about it.
Teagan: Sorry, you wake me up in the middle of the night, I gotta make a pit stop. What are you talking about?
Me: Jessie there?
Teagan: Nope.
Me: Can I come over?
Teagan: No! Are you smokin’ crack? It’s the middle of the night. Besides, the whole security thing.
Me: Nobody is going to follow me.
Teagan: Cara, go back to bed. I’ll come over in the morning.
Me: When? Be early!
Teagan: 6
Me: Make it 5:30, and I’ll feed you.
Teagan: Make it 7:30, and I won’t kill you.
Me: See you at 6. Thanks.
I went back to bed but never found that comfortable spot.
A.J. never even woke up.
He’s working too hard.
Teagan showed up a little bit after six with a white bag from the bakery in her hand, her hair in a ponytail, and she was wearing capri leggings with either a long top or a short dress over them. She had on ballet flats, virtually no makeup — by Teagan standards — and she needs a manicure.
“Oh. My. God. I’ve finally done it. I’ve ruined you.”
“Shut up, dingleberry.”
“What is going on with you? Why aren’t you even ready for work?”
“I am.”
“What?”
“Today is moving day. I’m moving into my new corner office. I’m actually kind of excited about it.”
“Congratulations. Enough about you; fix me.”
“What’s going on with you?”
“I think you were right.”
“Of course.”
“No, Teagan, really, I think you were right. After I called you last night — ”
“This morning.”
“Whatever. After I called you I got to thinking about it. I’ve been through all my stuff, mostly. I really didn’t find anything missing. The guys have been through all of Adeline’s stuff in the warehouse. They didn’t find anything missing. I think you were right. I think they left something instead of taking it.”
“Then why didn’t you guys find it when you were looking for what they took?”
“Because we were looking for what they took. We weren’t paying attention to what was there; we were looking for what was missing.”
“Okay, I can see that, so what are you going to do?”
“First, I’m going to have Roland come over and go all James Bond and look for spy stuff.”
“No one wants to spy on you, Cara.”
“We are spying on them! Roland put cameras outside in that metal framework under the stairs. What makes us think that we can spy on them and they can’t spy on us? For all we know they’re watching and listening right now. And at this point, I don’t even know who ‘they’ is. It could be Roland and his guys; for the sake of identification we will call them the good guys. Or it could be the people who broke into the apartment; we will call them the bad guys. But you know what? You have me so paranoid I’m not even sure who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, and at this juncture I’m not even sure they aren’t the same guys.”
“Good point.”
“Thanks. It’s your fault, Teagan. You and all your stupid conspiracy theories.”
“Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.”
“Thanks for your Seamus impersonation. All I need is him in the mix. So then the next question is, if they left something here, why did they break into the warehouse?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. All night actually. I can only come up with two reasons. Either they broke into the warehouse so that whatever they left would get found, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, or, and this is what I think is really the answer, they broke into the apartment and trashed it so that what they left would be found, and they broke into the warehouse so that the apartment would be connected to the warehouse.”
“Dammit, that makes sense. And it’s so obvious even I should have figured it out. We should have thought about it a long time ago. They break into my apartment and leave something, and then, of course, Adeline’s people would find whatever they left. These people are connected to Adeline. They know her. They know her habits. They know that she would step in to protect me and have Roland and his people take care of everything.”
“Cara, that really does make sense.”
“In a really twisted way.”
Teagan seems to have a thing about Roland. “So if Roland and his people are so good, why didn’t they think of this? Like we said, it’s pretty damn obvious.”
“Maybe they did, and they just aren’t telling me.”
“Then they’re idiots. You’re the one stuck in the middle of all this. You are the one at risk. Oh, wait a minute, they don’t have any problem putting little old ladies in the middle of the woods so that they can sit up in a tree and take shots at the bad guys when they show up, so I guess painting a big ol’ target on your back isn’t that big of a deal.”
“I’m going to call Roland as soon as the office opens.”
“I’m sure their business runs twenty-four hours a day, Cara.”
“I know, but I’ve had them come running so many times that I feel stupid. Especially if this turns out to be completely wrong.”
“So having me come running is fine and having them come running is a bad thing.”
“Exactly.”
A.J. came out about the time we’d finished that discussion. We sat down and had warm pastries and drinks.
A.J. shared some of what was going on at work.
As did Teagan.
I pretty much kept my mouth shut. I’ve got nothing conclusive to say. I’m trying to train myself that not every fact or theory has to be put out there in the universe.
Teagan and I agreed to meet later in the day. I’d go to her office and help with the move. Then we’d do dinner. Then we’d figure out some kind of welcome home thing for my parents.
Time moves so unbelievably slowly when you are waiting for something.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I texted Suzi and invited her over for the last of the pastries.
She wasn’t much help. We talked for about five minutes while she shoved a small cinnamon roll down her throat, and then she ran out the door.
At eight o’clock I gave up and called Roland’s office.
They put me right through to him.
Does the man have any other life at all?
I explained my theory.
He said I was brilliant.
I’m not sure how sincere he was, but I’ll take it.
He asked if their people could come sweep the apartment today.
No problem, I’ve got things to do.
I have to go interview a group for Adeline’s foundation.
I’ve got to meet with the designer and schedule some stuff with her since JoAnn is off this week, something about her daughter having minor surgery.
Just knowing Roland took me seriously, I felt better.
I took my shower, blew my hair dry, put on reasonable makeup and casual clothes. The group I’m seeing is in a bit of an iffy neighborhood, which is normal, but these particular people are wary of corporate types. They’ve been used and abused by people who want to get publicity but never really come through in the end. I’ve decided the best approach is more casual, so instead of business clothes, I put on a pair of blue, skinny cargo jeans that are supposed to be normal length but on me run short and actually look better. I topped that off with a black skinny-strap tank and a hi-lo, sheer, abstract-patterned backless shirt. Slid my feet into my new favorite shoes; they are really comfortable, padded on the inside so I can walk for miles. Basically they are sporty ballet flats with double crisscross elastic ribbons from the ball of my foot across to the other side and wrap around up to the ankle. Almost gladiator style, but not.
About a hundred years ago, my cousin got all weirded out about all things toile. She made me a bag, gave it to me for my birthday. It’s handmade, with gussets on the side and a flat bottom. I usually use it for picnics. I’ve used it for a computer bag a few times, and although it works, it’s kind of heavy. When we were looking for all things destroyed by the guys who broke into my house, I found a companion piece in the back of the closet. I’m not sure I’ve ever used it.
It’s basically the same bag, but it is a little smaller and a lot less volume. I mean the outside dimensions are about the same, but the gusseted part and the flat part are smaller, so it’s skinnier. Instead of fitting a whole picnic in there, I can fit my laptop, my tablet, some pens, and my wallet if I don’t want to carry anything else.
I’d say that the toile debacle — when my cousin got so carried away with her toile phase that she covered her husband’s truck seats with the stuff and almost ended up in a mental health facility — has paid off.
I grabbed the bag, which looks a lot like that one designer’s bags — I can never think of her name, but she has the quilted bags in bright colors. Teagan would know.
I stuffed some paperwork, some note pads, the designer’s drawings for what Adeline proposed we do in the main area of their building, a Hershey bar, some before pictures that the designer had scanned, manipulated, and printed out so that I could explain why she was doing what she was doing, and Adeline’s version of a letter of intent.
Basically, we found this really wonderful woman. She saw a special segment on the news about a woman in New Jersey who is using dance as a motivator for young women and girls in her area. She took the idea and ran with it. Problem is that she has no money and is in an area where no one else has extra money either.
She has worked hard and has the use of a space for a long-term lease at a dollar a month, but the inside of the space is so depressing that I’m not sure how the girls can even stand it.
In order to be a part of the dance group all the girls have to maintain their grades in school. They also have to do community service. They’ve never been held to such a high standard, and they thrive.
Adeline is going to decorate the inside of the space.
What the girls are going to find out today is that Adeline has worked her magic, and not only do they have the space they are already using, but they now have the adjacent space on either side, plus they will have it appropriately decorated with ballet bars and mirrors and all of that.
Plus the space adjacent is going to be turned into a kitchen, as many of the girls come to practice hungry and go home the same way.
On the other side of the dance space, Adeline is creating a classroom slash hangout slash safety zone. She will also have security there, as many of the girls have been using the spot as little more than a flophouse.
When it is better to sleep on the floor of a commercial building in a rather sketchy area of the city, you need a little support.
The lawyers have drawn up all kinds of paperwork, but basically all Adeline wants in return is a waiver of liability. If someone falls and breaks a leg, she doesn’t want to get sued.
How sad is it that you have to think about things like that when you are the one who is doing something really meaningful and trying to help.
I’ve found a pro bono lawyer who will help the lady running the place go through all the paperwork without any influence from our team.
I have a meeting there in about an hour and a half. Just enough time for a cup of tea, then I’m off to the meeting. After the meeting, I’m off to do some other errands for Adeline, and one of them is going to be to stop in and see Roland and try to figure out what is going on.
Although I think Teagan might have a really good idea, I can’t imagine what it is that anyone would put in my apartment, and I highly doubt anyone planted cameras to watch my every move.
So although we have a working theory, the more I think about it, the less it is working.
At first the camera thing made sense, but it really doesn’t anymore, and I’m having a hard time figuring out what they would have left if it isn’t a camera. I’ve been through everything in that apartment. Every drawer. Every closet. Every everything. If they left something in my apartment, it is something really tiny.
I know cameras are really tiny now, but I can’t imagine someone sitting at their monitor watching me.
That’s just creepy, but even more important than that, I don’t do anything that is all that interesting.
My tea was off. I’m not sure why, but every once in a while, when I make a cup of tea, it just tastes wrong.
I still drink it. It’s a superstition thing. I don’t know why I can’t ignore those. Things like putting on a shirt inside out. I can’t just take it off and put it on right side out. I have to wash it first. Or dropping silverware. Or walking under a ladder. Or bad guys. They come in threes, right? Depending on how you count your bad guys, I may not be out of the middle of all of this yet.
I grabbed my bag, slung it over my shoulder, grabbed my phone and stuck my Bluetooth in my ear, put my purse on my shoulder, and headed out the door.
I completely forgot to do the alarm and was several steps toward the parking lot when I remembered.
I really resent having to alarm my house.
I’d resent it more if somebody got back in, so I shouldn’t complain. About one more break-in and I’m going to have to move, and Suzi just got settled.
Once the alarm was set, I headed back for my car.
Got all the way to the far side of the parking lot when a guy about my height, wearing a white t-shirt and board shorts, came running out of nowhere and grabbed my bag. My phone slammed up against the side of my car. My purse went flying in the other direction. I fell down and scraped my left knee. I know scraped knees don’t sound like a big deal, but they really hurt.
I admit it.
I was more angry than scared, and when I’m really angry — I mean really, really angry — I turn stupid.
I went after him.
Left all my stuff thrown all over the parking lot, and I chased him for all I was worth.
I’m tall.
I’m not a sports person like Teagan, but when you have as many brothers and sisters as I do and a mother who figures if no one is bleeding, she should just stay out of it, you learn to run. Fast.
I almost got him.
But at the water retention pond up by the office, behind the mailboxes, he zipped right, and I slid on the grass, and he was gone.
I limped back to my car.
Collected all my stuff.
My phone is history.
I broke two mirrors in my purse. Fourteen years of bad luck or seven years of really bad luck. Not sure which to hope for.
My car has a mark on it.
My left hip is doing something funny.
And now I’ve got to go back and call Roland — thank God my mother always nagged me to keep a landline, because I’m not going to be calling anyone on my cell phone for a while — and tell him that I have problems. Again.
This is so getting old.
Roland’s guys showed up in their big black SUVs within minutes. They had guys spread out around the neighborhood, but I’m betting the kid was long gone.
I gave them a pretty detailed description, considering I only got a glance at the guy.
Roland said the things I took note of were the right things. That people can change their clothes or whatever, but the things I told him about couldn’t be changed. Like his height. Not so much a guess, but in relation to my height, which is verifiable. And I noticed several other physical characteristics that he can’t change. Not like facial hair, but like a weird thing on his jawline and his nose has been broken or God was not kind.
After we talked for a little bit, it became really obvious that the guy thought that my bag was a computer bag. He didn’t grab my purse or my phone, and they are both worth money.
He was after my laptop.
If it was just for money, he would have gotten my purse and phone too, although now that I’ve thrown my purse across the parking lot, it isn’t worth as much as it once was.
Roland asked if he could take my computer.
No.
I’ve been completely cooperative since all this started.
I’ve done exactly what I’ve been asked on every topic.
I told him that there was stuff on my computer that I didn’t want anyone else to see. Even if Roland and his guys were snooping around on it without my permission — something I never would have thought about a while back, but now seemed like a very realistic suspicion — at least I felt like it wasn’t me handing over all of Adeline’s personal information.
All of the research I’d been doing, not only on the different charities and the people she wanted to help, but on every planned and thought-about adventure she and the girls were discussing.
It’s one thing to turn over your plans to your security guy once they are made, but it just seems more intrusive to hand over all the background things, the wishes, the daydreams. Adeline had shared that stuff with me, and I’d be damned if I was going to share it with anybody else without talking to her first.
I’m done.
I’m not doing what Roland says just because he says it.
I told him I’d call Adeline, tell her how I feel, and if she still wants me to hand it over, I would.
I called Adeline.
I know it’s unprofessional.
I get that.
I really do.
But the moment she got on the phone and was kind to me, I started to cry. I couldn’t help it.
After some back and forth, we decided that instead of handing the computer over to Roland, I’d bring it to her, and we’d look through it and see if we could find anything.
Roland was not happy.
He said something about me stepping all over stuff on the computer.
I’m of the opinion that if his computer guys are good enough to track whatever someone might have put on my computer in the first place, they can track it after Adeline and I look at it.
I just feel like it is time for me to take back some control.
I feel like I’ve been letting everybody else tell me what to do and when someone isn’t telling me what to do, I don’t do anything.
That’s just not like me.
I’m not passive.
Well, I’m not that passive.
This has got to stop, and it has got to stop today.
I don’t want my parents coming back and having me in the middle of yet another big drama.
I’m done.
Roland tried for a couple of minutes to talk me out of it. When that didn’t work he said one of his guys would drive me over to Adeline’s house to make sure that no one ran me off the road to get at the laptop.
I hated to admit that I wanted someone with me, but I was still a little freaked out, and I don’t have a phone, so it was probably a good idea to agree with that one.
When I got to Adeline’s loft there was a young woman there.
Adeline introduced her as one of Roland’s employees.
I groaned.
I actually groaned.
First I cry in front of my employer, and then I groan.
Great.
Adeline explained that when they were looking for Barry, Kimberly, a computer genius of sorts, had helped set up all the equipment they needed in Anna’s house. She then replicated the whole network at the loft and at Carolyn’s condo. Each of the girls had more computer equipment than most small businesses, and I’m pretty sure that most small businesses can’t afford the kind of setup that each of the girls have.
Adeline said she would appreciate it if I allowed Kimberly to look around in my computer. She wouldn’t be snooping as much as creating a timeline that would check to see what was done when.
No problem.
I know it’s sexist and everything, but having Kimberly searching through my stuff didn’t seem as intrusive. And it is my computer. My personal computer. I just do all of Adeline’s work on it because I didn’t really want to have to keep track of everything on two laptops.
Judge me all you want, but I’ve had a bunch of guys treat me a little less than kindly lately, and it’s beginning to take a toll.
Before I handed over my laptop, I printed out a copy of all my contacts so that I could call my appointments and beg off. I normally just hit a couple of buttons, but my phone is dead. Thank God for backups. I hope they can just use the backups I’ve got to set up my phone exactly as it was before.
I don’t need a new contract.
Getting a new phone is going to be expensive.
No subsidy.
Great.
Such nice people. Even though I canceled at the very last second, they were very understanding.
It took Kimberly about three hours.
Adeline and I were sitting in the kitchen eating crispy grilled cheese sandwiches when Kimberly came in. At first I thought the smell got to her. They really did smell good, and although she’d turned down the offer of food, I figured the smell got to her. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d seduced someone into unplanned high-caloric intake.
“I found it, and, Adeline, I’m really sorry.” The look on her face was heartbreaking. She looked so sad.
We walked into the office. Great smelling sandwiches left forgotten.
Kimberly tapped some buttons and brought several files up onto the big screen.
“These files were placed on the computer the day of the first break-in. The day the warehouse and the apartment were entered and vandalized.”
“I’ll be damned. Teagan was right. She said that they probably left something instead of taking it and that they probably broke into the warehouse to raise suspicions so that we would look for something and connect it all together.”
Kimberly took a deep breath. “It’s all supposition at the moment, but my guess would be that when they broke into your apartment, they intended it to look like they were stealing something, assuming that Roland and the guys would do a thorough investigation and find the files on the computer, once they linked the problems at your apartment to Adeline through the break-in at the warehouse.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what my sister said.”
“Your sister want a job?”
I responded without thought. “No, she was just made partner at her company.”
I completely missed Kimberly trying to lighten the mood. Good job.
I stared at the files on the screen. She hadn’t actually opened them yet. I don’t know what I thought I was going to gain by staring at the little icons, but I just couldn’t look Adeline in the eye, so there was no where else to look.
When Kimberly came into the kitchen and said she was sorry about what she had found, it was worse than the look someone has on their face when they knock on your door and say they are sorry they just ran over the family pet.
Total devastation.
And she really doesn’t know Adeline all that well.
“Kimberly, please, show me what you have found.”
“I made a copy of the hard drive. I wanted to keep everything separate, just in case you decided to go to the police.”
“Understood.”
“Okay, I was looking around.”
“No need to explain the process to me. I am only interested in what the files contain.”
“Okay. Basically, they are medical files. I took the time to search a few databases I am aware of. I can give you the information on the doctor. He seems to be extremely well respected, and I’m certain this would have all ended up in a courtroom, so I’m not sure what they did to bribe him into saying what he says.”
“And what is it that he says?”
“Basically that you are incompetent.”
“I see.” Her voice was so quiet. Still, it begged more information.
“There is a lengthy report and lots of test results. It states that the doctor did a bunch of due diligence and that it was his opinion that you were no longer capable of dealing with the responsibilities of your life. Business or personal. And that all of your power to do so should be taken from you immediately.”
I didn’t know what to say or how to say it. I let “Oh, dear, that’s not good” slip out of my mouth.
It was such a stupid thing to say that Adeline started to laugh.
Then Kimberly.
Then me.
We laughed and laughed, and finally when we got ourselves under control we could move forward.
“Kimberly, please see to it that Roland has this information immediately and have him do whatever is necessary to discredit this mountebank.”
I’d never heard that one before. “Mountebank?”
“Swindler.”
“Got it. I have a stupid question.”
“There are no stupid questions, Cara. What is your question?”
“Why?”
“I think that is pretty obvious.” Kimberly couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
I tried to do the same, keep the sarcasm out of my voice, and was slightly more successful. “It isn’t obvious to me. If they really thought that they could pull this off and they have a well-qualified doctor who is willing to put in writing that he examined Adeline and that he ran a bunch of tests — and they seem to have documentation to back all of that up — then why did they do it this way? Why didn’t they just make a couple of phone calls to some high-placed judge or something and make it so? If you’re going to keep all of this rather high up there on the food chain, why involve me? Why break into my apartment and trash everything? Why plant documents on my computer and then make such a big deal that we are bound to find them? Why plant the documents at all? Why not just hand them over to a judge? This makes sense to you? It doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”
Adeline thought about it for a moment. “That is a good question. Why plant the documents on Cara’s computer?”
I muttered. “It just seems to me that if you want to do something dishonest, you would keep it simple. And that raises another big question for me. I really didn’t want to get involved with all of this, so just tell me if I’m overstepping, but why did they hire dweebs in Las Vegas?”
Kimberly looked confused. “I’m sorry?”
“It just seems to me that if you have as much money as these people have, and you are trying to go after as much money as they want, you would hire the best of the best. You would hire people who never got caught, not people who were spotted by three women who didn’t even know what they were doing.” It dawned on me I’d just insulted my boss. “No offense.”
“None taken. Anna asked that question as well, and we got so busy doing other things that we just let it slip away. I think that is a question that deserves an answer.”
“I guess that I just assumed that these people would be more sophisticated in their attempt, you know what I mean?”
“Perhaps it is not my children, but their children. Perhaps they lack life experience as well as polish.”
“Do they have the kind of money that it would take?”
Kimberly said, “Maybe that is the reason for the budget approach.”
“While I understand what you are saying, I would hesitate to concur. My grandchildren are not wealthy, but they are rich. The resources they have available to them would be more than adequate to fund anything and everything they could imagine.”
“Then what’s really going on? It’s not my place, Adeline, but I have to tell you that I think that there is a lot more to this story that we don’t know anything about. I’m not really well educated, but I’m pretty good with people, and there is something that just isn’t right here.”
Kimberly tried to inject some logic. “Why don’t we take this one step at a time? First, we can document everything I’ve found. We can have Roland and the guys do their thing and figure out just who this doctor is and why he would be willing to risk everything.”
I jumped in. “Good point, because if he got caught, they’d take his license, wouldn’t they? How much would you have to pay a doctor to risk everything? I know doctors don’t make as much as they used to, but that’s gotta be a really big bribe.”
Adeline warmed to the idea. “Or maybe it was the opposite. Maybe it has nothing to do with money. Perhaps they have some unsavory detail about his life that they are using as leverage.”
“That would have to be pretty abhorrent.” See, I can use interesting words too.
Adeline smiled. “Kimberly, please take everything you have learned here this afternoon and present it to Roland. Please advise him that on my authority he is to pursue this aggressively and that whoever is responsible is to be held accountable. Please make him aware that I would like the parties involved to be charged legally and that any and all steps to assure the successful conviction of those responsible is of particular personal interest to me. Further, I would like to pursue any and all options available to me in a civil arena. I want to make it quite clear to those involved that I will not be taken advantage of. I would rather burn my assets in the street than see any involved in this outrage benefit in the least.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Cara, please thank your sister Teagan for me. I am aware that she has been forthcoming with several theories, and although I am confident that you would have drawn the same conclusions, eventually” — Adeline has a beautiful smile, and she graced me with one — ”her involvement may have expedited this whole process.”
“I will let her know. Thank you.”
“And, Cara, I’d like to meet with you once Kimberly has packed all of this up and taken her leave. Please wait for me in the living room. I’m going to go into my bedroom and make a few phone calls. I won’t be long.”
“Can I make you a fresh sandwich?”
“Dear, I’ve completely lost my appetite. I’ll be just a few minutes.”
Adeline had come out of her room earlier with a smile on her face. Kind of scary since we’d just figured out that someone had put forged information on my computer. Okay, maybe it wasn’t forged, because it seems like the doctor who put together the report was legitimate, but I can’t think of another way that a well-respected doctor would allow his name to be besmirched. Yeah, besmirched. What else would you call it?
When I started to ask what was going on, Adeline told me that I’d been really patient and that she appreciated it, but that it was better for me to just stay out of it.
Plausible deniability and all that.
Sounds very Seamus-like.
He’s all about plausible deniability. If you don’t know anything about something, no one can haul you into court or tell your boss you said something you didn’t or whatever. One of the reasons that I’m not a big fan of social media, I guess. Once you put something out there, you can never take it back.
Well, that and the fact that I’d rather live my life than record it.
Oh, and then there’s the whole thing that my life really isn’t all that exciting. Don’t do an eye roll! I know all the stuff that’s been happening lately isn’t boring, but I’m still boring, and, besides, I would never put the other stuff online anyway. Nobody but family would read my page or posts or whatever, so why bother?
I called Teagan on the way home and explained everything that happened. For some reason I just want her to be a witness, however long distance, to help me remember if I forget something — although the whole memory thing is getting better — or if something goes really wrong, I want her to at least look for the body. I guess I also wanted the guy driving me home to know that someone knew what was going on and would look for me if I mysteriously disappeared.
Cancel that thought!
Besides, if you disappear, how can it be anything but mysteriously?
The good news is that this time, on the way over to Adeline’s, I’d texted A.J. all about it. I had to borrow a phone from the guy from Roland’s office, but A.J. responded, so I know he knows.
Major growth.
How weird is it that I’m proud of the fact that I remembered to inform the guy I love, the guy who lives in the same house, but I take it as a given that I informed Teagan?
I’m going with a little.
It’s a little weird that I always think of Teagan in emergencies instead of A.J.
Teagan has been saving my butt for years; A.J. hasn’t. Even since I met him, it’s been mostly Teagan with me when things blow up and I need saving.
Maybe it’s all on Teagan.
Maybe she has bad-guy-attracting vibes and they get all over me when I’m around her.
Of course, if it were her vibes, she’d be the one with the broken phone, the ding in her cute little car — I’m so sad my car has a ding; I know most cars have parking lot dings, but my wee little car didn’t — and a skinned knee.
I’m trying not to focus on my skinned knee, since it stings really bad, and my poor pants, I love those pants, and I don’t like the fashion trend of distressed clothing. Or destroyed clothing. Where you spend extra so that it looks worn out. Or torn up. Or worse, dirty. What are people thinking?
Probably comes from all the hand-me-downs and hand-me-ups I wore as a kid. It’s not that I resent it — much — it’s that when you spend your whole life trying to think of a way to make your clothes seem new and unique when everyone has already seen them on a sister, it sticks with you. Probably why I grabbed some of the clothes from my brothers. Guys pants always fit me better because of my long legs and lack of curves.
Where was I going with all this?
Maybe my brain isn’t doing as well as I thought.
Oh, yeah, Teagan thinks I’m insane because I didn’t force them to do things my way, let Kimberly walk off with my laptop, and now they are keeping me in the dark for my own protection.
She may be right.