I KNEW IT was Teagan when the phone rang. People who say you can’t tell who is calling by the ring just don’t have a sister, or at least a sister like Teagan.
“I can’t find Honey.”
“It’s cell phones.”
“What?”
“I read a thing the other day that said bees don’t like cell phones. Something in the cell phone signal confuses the bee, and then they can’t find their hive, or they don’t want to deal with the queen or something. I can’t remember the details, but it has to do with cell phones. Some say pesticides. It’s complicated. I don’t use it very often, but I think I have some.”
“Not that honey, dingleberry, Honey, honey.”
“What?”
“Honey! As in Mr. Fisher’s wife. She’s flown the coop.”
“Very good, carrying on the whole farm thing.”
“I swear to God, Cara, I’m going to come over there and — ”
“Sorry. Start over. What happened to Honey?”
“That’s the point. I can’t find her. Mr. Fisher came in all but hysterical and said she was going to go out on some call, a new client for her life-coaching business.”
“She’s still on that?”
“Long story, but Mr. Fisher swears that she is. I think she just uses it as a cover.”
“Cover for what?”
“Probably goes off with friends and smokes. I told you she was into that.”
“Yeah, you told me she smoked herself stupid.”
“Not so loud.”
“Am I on speaker phone? Because if I am, I’m gonna kill you, Teagan.”
“No, you’re not on speaker, but you know as well as I do that your voice carries. Forever.”
“It’s just because there is nothing between your ears to block the sound from coming out the other side. Do you want my help or not?”
“I wouldn’t have called if I didn’t want your help.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know. Think of something constructive.”
“Does Mr. Fisher know the name and address of this new client?”
“No.”
“Does she normally work out of an office?”
“No.”
“Does he know where she usually meets clients?”
“No.”
“How often does she have clients?”
“She’s been working here in the office pretty regularly, so I thought she’d pretty much given up the whole life coach thing, but Mr. Fisher says she was feeling like she was in the way here at the office. He didn’t actually say it, but I felt like he was kind of annoyed with me for not making her more welcome around here. Anyway, now she’s missing.”
“How long has she been missing?”
“She left their house at a little after eight this morning, and no one has seen or heard from her since.”
“Have you guys called her?”
“Of course we have, dingleberry.”
“Have you texted her?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell if the messages have been delivered?”
“I didn’t think to ask. Hold on a minute.”
Teagan was back several minutes later. “Can’t tell.”
“Well, crap.” I thought about it for a minute. “What’s the rest of the story?”
“What do you mean?”
“Teagan, Honey is a grown woman. She’s been gone for most of the day, but that doesn’t really constitute abandonment, and there’s no real reason for Mr. Fisher to go hysterical. There has to be more to the story.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. I asked. He didn’t really answer. I’m guessing things aren’t going too well. I’m guessing that he married a little too fast, and if I had to guess based on the vein that is throbbing in his forehead, which I can see all the way down to his eyebrow, there was no pre-nup in place. Based on that vein, he could stroke out at any minute.”
“And he expects you to find her? Really?”
“Cara, don’t judge. Just help me.”
“Okay, where are you?”
“I’m at the office.”
“Okay, I’m on my way. Find out what she’s driving. Find out what she was wearing. Find out who she has been talking to. Just go in and calm Mr. Fisher down and talk to him about anything and everything and see if you can come up with something.”
“Thanks. How long will it take you to get here?”
“Five minutes to make myself presentable, two minutes to check on Suzi and the baby, two minutes to text A.J., and then traffic.”
“Text at stop lights!”
“Don’t be an idiot. I’m on my way.”
I ran to my closet, grabbed some really cute skinny jeans in white and a really weird blouse that I love. Like most of my favorite clothes, it’s hard to describe, but worth the effort, so stay with me. The blouse is white and sleeveless. Perfectly tailored (Teagan is right, a good tailor is necessary in life). The blouse has kind of a mandarin looking collar that stands up in the back but has a big square notch in the front, kind of like a priest’s collar without the white part.
Here’s the tricky part. You slip your arms in the armholes — really, where else would they go? — and you end up with lots of fabric in the front. You take the piece that cascades down the left, and it has two little buttons up by top, which button on the inside of the blouse on the right shoulder. There is another button down the side, probably so your boobs never show, but I don’t have that problem. So now you have fabric that pretty much covers the front of you.
With the fabric that cascades down the other side, you pull it over the top of the fabric that is already there, and there’s a little button down two-thirds of the way to your hip. Button the little button to keep that part in the right place. Then there is a little gold buckle on bright blue leather that comes from the side seam and the part that you just buttoned.
The best part, the piece that flaps over when you buckle the buckle down towards your hip is brilliant blue, and you aren’t sure when you look at it how the whole things stays together, so it is a little bit sexy and a little bit different, and I love it.
Hard to explain, and I really don’t have time to do a better job anyway because Teagan is probably pacing up and down in the conference room, getting more aggravated by the second.
I slipped on flats with a gold buckle. They aren’t matchy-matchy but coordinate with the buckle on my blouse.
Put some gold hoops in, tinted moisturizer and mascara, flipped my head upside down and sprayed it with freeze spray, then flipped it back up and ran my fingers through it to make it a little bit piecey. Another shot of freeze spray, some perfume, grabbed my purse and keys, and I even remembered to set the alarm.
I very quietly knocked on Suzi’s door so that I wouldn’t wake up Evelyn.
Explained to Suzi that Teagan is insane and I had to go. She didn’t even question it, which says a lot.
Ran to the car and texted A.J. before I left. No response. He has been so busy that it can be hard to get a hold of him, but I’m so proud of all that he and Morgan are getting done.
Teagan hadn’t worn a hole in the carpet yet, but there was no doubt that she’d been pacing.
She sounded completely exasperated. “Mr. Fisher doesn’t know anything.”
“She still hasn’t checked in? Has anybody checked the house? For all you guys know, she turned off her phone and went home to take a nap.”
“I thought of the same thing. I sent Mr. Fisher home to check on her. He should get there any minute.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“Cara, I don’t know. I just need to do something. If we sit around and do nothing, Mr. Fisher is gonna go crazy, and that’s gonna make me crazy.”
“I still think it’s strange that he is so upset when she’s only been gone a few hours. I think there’s more to the story, and I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere until we know what that is.”
“I know.”
“Have you guys called the police?”
“They aren’t going to do anything this soon, Cara.”
“They might, but I don’t think you or Mr. Fisher are going to like the results.”
“What do you mean? Do you think they would look for her? I thought you had to wait seventy-two hours or something.”
“I was thinking more that they might bring in the guys with the straightjackets for you and Mr. Fisher.”
“Very funny, dingleberry. You aren’t helping!”
“Other than standing here for moral support, I’m not sure there is anything that I can do. You have to admit this is a little bit strange.”
“What is strange?” We both whipped around at the voice.
“Honey? Where have you been? Mr. Fisher is frantic.”
“I told him I was going out to see a new client. That’s where I’ve been. What’s this about? What is strange?”
“First, you need to call him. He went home to check if maybe you went there.”
“Why would I go home? It’s the middle of the business day. I am not calling him. This is just ridiculous. What on earth?”
Teagan tried to sound calm. “I’ll call him then.”
I tried to get Honey’s attention away from the call. She seemed more than a little bit annoyed that Teagan was making it. I didn’t want problems.
I didn’t see any evidence that Honey had spent the day smoking herself stupid, as Teagan had thought.
She actually looked very professional. For once.
She was wearing a nice pair of slacks, with a lovely lavender blouse and a well-tailored jacket. Her hair and makeup were, for her, understated. She had on beautiful jewelry and lovely high heels.
I decided it might be a good idea to get her out of the conference room so that she wouldn’t overhear whatever it was Teagan had to say to Mr. Fisher.
“Honey, can you show me where the kitchen is? I would kill for a cup of tea.”
“Sure, I don’t need to hear what Teagan has to say. I’ll find out later anyway. How have you been, Cara?”
“I’m good. Better than good, actually. What’s up with you?
“It’s been an interesting day. I’ll say that much.”
“Do you care to say more?”
“I’m not sure how much I should say. I was with a client. That stuff should really be confidential.”
“Yes, but if you talk about it hypothetically and you don’t tell me the person’s name, just kind of tell me in general terms, then maybe I can help.”
“True. Okay. Well, this isn’t really about life coaching. This is one of my old clients. When my husband was a private detective. I guess that he was one of my husband’s clients more than one of mine. I just did the books. Mostly.”
“That sounds interesting, if not a little dangerous. Are you sure you want to be out there detecting?”
“After today, maybe not.”
“Did something happen? Are you okay?”
“It’s not dangerous, just sad.”
“What do you mean?”
“The people who hired the people who hired me wanted to keep everything hush-hush, so they hired a company that hired a company, and that company used to do a lot of work with us. They called me. They didn’t know my husband had passed.”
I had to run that whole thing through my head about twelve times and still wasn’t sure I understood her. Maybe Teagan is right about the whole smoking herself stupid thing. I tried to stay with something neutral. “That sounds a little iffy. How on top of things are they if they don’t even keep track of who is available?”
“They wanted some distance between them and the people doing the work, so my guess is they reached pretty far out of their usual comfort zone. Anyway, long story short, they are really rich and trying to get dirt on each other, and they want me to provide that dirt, which my husband, ex-husband, no, late husband, he would have loved that. But I’m not that into it, and my current husband is going to be really angry.”
“Conflict? Does he do work for them too?”
“What? Oh, no. They aren’t from around here. I just kind of promised him I’d mind my own business. After the whole thing with Teagan, when she almost left the company, he said I’d done enough.”
“Maybe he’s right.”
“I know, but when I first started I thought I was doing a good thing. Helping out a family and all that. The dynamics of a family can be pretty complicated, and the way they made it sound, they were just trying to protect their future.”
“Honey, I can see where you’d be interested. It even sounds kind of noble.”
“Yeah, well, it isn’t near as noble as they made it sound. The asshats are trying to take advantage of their matriarch.”
Alarm bells went off in my head. “Interesting. Do you know the family?”
“I don’t know them. Never even heard of them before. The lady owns a big house, you know, over there where all the big shots live. I guess lots of people have horses and stuff, but her house is so big it takes up the same size lot, and there are no animals there.”
My heart raced. That sure sounded like Adeline. “Wow. That sounds interesting. What kind of information is the family looking for? Did you get anything?”
“Not really. I snooped around. Found her house. Damn near killed myself getting past the guard. Truth is, I walked for miles, and I’m pretty sure they saw me, but if you take a look at me, the last thing you are going to think is criminal. Probably more like crazy lady who is lost. They didn’t bother me. I got a look at the place. It’s beautiful, if you like that kind of thing. Too much house for one person. Too much house for ten people. So maybe the old lady is crazy, but you know what? I’m a live and let live person, and if she is crazy and wants to live in that big old house, whose business is it but hers?”
“That’s true. Maybe the family thinks they are protecting her.”
“I thought about that, but I don’t buy it. If you wanted to protect your mom and dad, would you hire a private detective? And one that is distanced from you? I got a creepy feeling about this one.”
“Maybe you should tell somebody.”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should call the police. Or talk to the older lady. She’d probably welcome the information.”
“No, I can’t do that. That would be unethical.”
My first thought was, How ethical is it to spy on old ladies? but I kept that thought to myself. I really wanted to find out more and figure out if by some strange cosmic wrinkle, Honey was spying on my employer.
Just then, Teagan, the queen of bad timing, walked in and informed Honey that she was expected at home.
“We were just in the middle of a conversation, Teagan.”
Teagan’s look would have been hilarious had the situation been different.
“Yeah, well, that’s great, but Mr. Fisher said that if Honey isn’t home in twenty-seven minutes — that allows for traffic problems — he’s calling out the troops. Those were his words. I’m just delivering them.”
“I should go. It was nice talking to you, Cara. Thanks for listening.”
“If there’s anything I can do to help, you let me know. I’ll be happy to join you on a surveillance mission or whatever.”
“Thanks. Teagan, you can let him know I’m on my way.” The resentment in Honey’s eyes would have burned a lesser person, but Teagan seemed immune to all things Honey.
When Honey was out of earshot, I hissed, “Don’t you ever listen? I was trying to talk to Honey.”
“What could you possibly have to say to Honey that is more important than her going home to her royally pissed-off husband? And for the record, I thought I was saving you from Honey. Who wants to sit and talk to her?”
“She wasn’t out doing life coaching today; she was out snooping around for a private detective client of her late husband’s, and I swear to you, Teagan, by her description, she was snooping around on Adeline.”
“That is so far past ridiculous that it doesn’t even warrant comment. Why would Honey be snooping around on Adeline?”
“I can’t tell you all the details. Adeline is having some issues with two of her kids. They are pretty much out to destroy her. Remember we finally figured out that it was her family who had broken into my apartment?”
“We figured out? Don’t you mean that Roland figured it out and called you? What did you have to do with figuring it out?”
“Shut up. Anyway, if Honey is investigating Adeline, I need to know about it.”
“If Honey is investigating Adeline, you’re in luck. Do you think that Adeline has anything to hide? Do you think if she did, Honey of all people would find it? Stop being so paranoid, Cara. Honey isn’t investigating Adeline.”
“And you know this because…”
“Things like that just don’t happen. Too much of a coincidence.”
“Serendipity.”
“What?”
“I believe in serendipity. So do you. This could be a case of serendipity. The world is a much smaller place than you think it is, Teagan. If the universe was kind enough to hand me this information so that I can hand it to Adeline, then I’m not going to doubt it; I’m going to be grateful.”
“You’re going to get locked up. In a padded room.”
“Now you sound like Mom.”
“Doesn’t it concern you, even a little bit, that me having you locked into a mental health facility is reminiscent of something you have heard from your own mother?”
“Don’t do this. I need to find out, and you’re going to help me.”
“Why would I help you?”
“Why did I help Jessie? How do you think your weekend would have turned out without any cooperation from me? From the family? You know that we’re family, and even if you don’t like it, you’re my sister, and you have to help me because that’s the first rule of being a good sister, so you have to help me.”
“Or what?”
“Or I go all Cara on your butt, and you don’t want that.”
“No, nobody wants that.”
“Then help me!”
“Fine.” Teagan rolled her eyes. “I hate you, you know.”
“I know. Want to come over for dinner tonight?”
“Sure. Can I bring Jessie?”
“You know that he and A.J. aren’t gonna have any interest in what I have to say.”
“They can go play basketball after dinner.”
“That works. I’ll talk to A.J., you talk to Jessie, and we’ll plan a medium-late dinner, and they can play basketball while we cook and talk.”
“Cara, you just want witnesses so that I don’t accidently on purpose kill you.”
“Exactly.”