THE PIG WAS LONG gone in the minute before the police got to us. Or they could have walked right by him at some point. I heard Dana’s radio when someone said the pig head was in a dumpster a block away from the carousel. I didn’t really care.
Michelle was in my crowded living room on her mom’s lap and Julia leaned against Scoobie, who was seated on one of the dinette chairs. All I wanted to do was find Joe Regan and maim him. Badly. The pig's words rattled around my brain. "You tell the police anything about us, and Joe's dead."
I wanted Joe in prison for a long time. Dead? Maybe not so much. But the pig’s threat wasn't going to stop me from telling the police what I knew. Most of it, anyway.
The storm door opened and shut firmly. My brother-in-law walked in and scooped Julia from Scoobie. Michelle jumped off Renée’s lap and grabbed her father by the legs.
Renée stood and she joined Andrew and the girls in a family hug. After a few moments, Andrew looked over the top of them, to me. "What the hell happened, Jolie?"
"Someone took Michelle, to encourage Joe to give them some money…" I began.
"Who is Joe?" Andrew asked, releasing Renée and the girls.
The front door opened so hard it hit the wall and Morehouse walked in, with Dana and George behind him. We all stopped talking. Finally, Scoobie asked, "You found Max?"
Andrew, a frown deepening, said, "I want to know…"
Morehouse raised a palm, kind of like a school patrol at the bus stop. His expression was grim. "Everybody have a seat. I’ll tell you all at the same time." He looked at Scoobie. "Yes. He was still at the club. He's going to hang at Markle's grocery place for a couple of hours."
I hadn't given Max a thought for the first few minutes after we found Michelle. If the criminal crew was doing clean-up, Max could be on their list to trash.
Aunt Madge and Harry walked in from the kitchen where she had been making tea. As we seated ourselves around the living room, she looked at Morehouse. "Can you get the cars to stop those red and blue flashing lights?"
"Sure." He walked into the hallway, opened the storm door and yelled something to the officers attached to the two police cars that sat in front of my house. In a few seconds the lights were off.
I didn’t see the point of the cars. Whoever had the money wanted to get away from us, not drop by for a visit.
Dana leaned against the door jamb that separates the combined living/dining room from the hall, her gaze roaming among us.
"Okay." Morehouse flipped open his notebook and thumbed a few pages. "Michelle here," he smiled at her, "was taken from the country club main dining room at about three-thirty. We aren’t sure by who yet."
He glanced at her again, now secure on her father’s lap. When he had tried to ask her questions a few minutes ago she had simply buried her face in Renée’s shoulder, and he didn’t push her.
"Darth Vadar," Michelle said, softly. "He’s bad. But the pig was nice to me."
"Yes, Darth Vadar is very bad," Morehouse said. But as he smiled at her he nodded to Dana, who walked outside. Then Morehouse looked at me. "Who was in those costumes?"
"I wish I knew." I looked at Scoobie.
"I don’t think the Darth Vadar guy said a word all afternoon, and I never saw the pig." Scoobie looked at George.
George frowned for a second. "Didn’t hear Darth Vadar talk, but maybe Tiffany tried to interview him." He pulled out his mobile phone and walked into the kitchen.
"Why? Why Michelle?" Andrew asked.
I’d told Renée a bit about Joe insisting he didn’t have the cash from a Kansas robbery years ago, but that was all we’d had time to discuss. Our focus had been on her girls.
"Not likely they knew your daughter," Morehouse said, looking at Andrew and Renée.
I had not introduced Andrew. Morehouse had guessed the obvious.
Morehouse continued. "They may even have wanted to target Jolie, though she’d be harder to handle. Maybe thought they could get her away from the Halloween party, or something."
"Me?" I squeaked.
Morehouse shrugged. "Maybe. Did a lot of people know Renée and the girls would be here today?"
"No," Renée said, "I wasn’t totally sure until this morning, and we don’t usually come to the fundraisers."
"How?" Scoobie asked, his voice strained. "How did they link Jolie to Joe and the money he had?"
Andrew started to ask who Joe Regan was, but Morehouse raised a finger at him and said, "He owns the coffee shop. Could be because she visited him in the hospital and's been talking to him in Java Jolt." He scowled at me. "Probably probing a lot about the shooting."
Andrew is a big man, almost six-two, weighing maybe two-hundred forty pounds, which he carries well. I’d never thought of him as intimidating before. He didn’t exactly shout, but almost. "Shooting!"
Michelle looked as if she might cry again, and Andrew stroked her hair.
I looked at him directly. "I was on the street when Joe was shot around the corner. Then he came toward me. It was nothing to do with me." I looked at Morehouse. "But I can't get it out of my head."
Renée said, "Madge called me at the time. I didn’t think much about it."
She and Andrew looked at each other for a moment, and I figured they’d talk more later.
Morehouse continued. "Joe was obviously involved in that robbery in Kansas, though he kept that from all of us." He looked at me. "My guess is his partners, or whoever they are, think you're his girlfriend and expected you to know where he hid the money. Or figured he'd give them the money to save you."
"He was pretty convincing about not being involved," Dana said. "I believed him."
"Me, too," Scoobie said.
I looked at Morehouse. "What happened to Joe? I mean, after." I didn’t need to say after what.
"Joe’s gone," Morehouse said. "Did he say anything to you about where he was going?"
"We didn’t exactly talk. You saw where he kept his money, right?"
Morehouse nodded. "Pretty good hiding place."
George was back in the room. "He had to do so much remodeling at Java Jolt after the hurricane, would have been a good time to add a hidden safe or something."
George is hinting for more information.
Morehouse did not oblige. Instead, he asked, "Tiffany talk to the Darth Vadar guy?"
"She tried to," George said. "He just breathed at her. She thinks he had on some kind of platform shoes, so he's not as tall as he looked. She guesses less than six feet, but not a lot less."
"Good," Morehouse said, and looked at Dana. "Tell the others to reduce the height on the guy we're looking for."
I added, "I didn’t see the pig until near the end. When he handed me the note. He isn’t tall, short actually." I suppressed the ridiculous urge to say I couldn’t see the color of the pig’s eyes.
"A man for sure?" Morehouse asked.
"Oh." I thought for a few seconds. "Maybe not. He, the person, was very thin and had on some kind of leggings."
Morehouse turned to Renée. "I don’t want to traumatize your daughter more, but I need to ask her a couple of questions." He looked from Renée to Andrew. "Why don’t the three of us go to Madge’s place? Michelle knows it, right?"
"Of course," Aunt Madge said.
As Madge and Renée gathered their purses I turned to Julia. "How about staying here for a bit longer?"
Julia didn’t look happy about it, but she nodded. "The dogs make me sneeze."
Scoobie stood and reached for her hand. "C’mon. I’ll show you where Pebbles hides."
"She really can’t stink up, right?" Julia asked.
I didn’t hear Scoobie’s response as they entered the bedroom. I wanted to know what Michelle said, but now that I knew she was okay, I wanted most of the people here to leave. My stomach was in knots and I needed to just sit. And maybe have some of the tea Aunt Madge had started to fix.
I could hear the police cars pulling away, and Dana said, "I'll stay a couple of minutes."
"Sure, but, uh, wouldn't you be better with Michelle?"
She smiled. "Morehouse spends a lot of time with his nephews. They're pretty young, and I hear he's good with them."
That made me feel better, and I gestured to the couch. We sat next to each other. George sat across from us, and I could hear Scoobie and Julia in the bedroom.
Dana looked at George. He said, "I won't say a word to Tiffany."
"Good. Since you two worked with Joe most, I have some questions." She leaned into the back of the couch. "First, do either of you have an idea where Joe would go?"
I shook my head slowly. "Because of Tiffany's article mentioning Kansas, I asked him about it."
"Me, too," George said. He looked at me. "Did he give you the line about most of the time in Kansas City?"
Dana cleared her throat. "It would be better if you answered me directly."
Before I could respond, Scoobie walked in, Julia's hand firmly clasped in his. "Just like CSI," he said. "Julia and I are going to drive down to the boardwalk to see if the candy apple lady is still open."
Dana glanced at her watch. "You've got time. She's open 'til six on the weekends."
Julia gave Dana a look that was either questioning or apprehensive.
Dana smiled. "You're always safe with Scoobie."
Julia smiled, but she still didn't let go of Scoobie's hand. I mouthed thank you to him and he crossed his eyes at me.
When the door shut behind them, I said, "Joe said he mostly was in Kansas City, and worked day-labor type jobs. After he came back to work at Java Jolt a few hours a day, I asked him where he got the money to start the shop. He looked like he wanted to fire me, but he had that sling, so he needed me."
"And he said?" Dana asked.
"Didn't," George said.
"Maybe not to you. I probably asked more politely." I thought back to the conversation with Joe. "Basically, he said he needed work and he liked the beach. He came here in early spring four years ago. He worked two jobs, slept on the beach, and saved almost all he earned. He said he brought a little with him, but didn't say how much that was."
Dana nodded. "Heard that version the second time we questioned him after the shooting. We didn't ask him to explain where he got his money, but that was kind of the point of asking him about his life when he got here."
I need to tell them about the note. If I didn't, the police could hear it from Scoobie or George. But maybe it wouldn’t come up. Dream on.
Instead of confessing to my lack of candor, I asked, "Did you know about his other name?"
Dana's tone was sharp. "What other name?"
I swallowed. "On the papers he filed for Java Jolt's New Jersey business license. The name on the application was James Rosen." When I saw her expression, I was glad I told this to Dana rather than Morehouse. "Sorry. I assumed you looked at that."
Before Dana could say anything, George added, "I looked that up, too. Internet. I thought it was like an accountant who filed the papers for him or something."
"Oh, I guess it could have been," I said.
"I'll check," Dana said, dryly. "Probably someone else in the department knows the name."
"Dana." She looked at me. "I'm exhausted. I guess because it was Michelle..."
"Sure." She stood. "Mr. Insurance Investigator can come down to Java Jolt with me to see if things look out of place."
As George shut the door, I heard him ask, "So where was the money?"
I wandered into the kitchen in search of tea, but it was cold, and I really l didn't have a taste for it. With a tall glass of ice water in hand, I went into the bedroom, took a sip, and sat on the edge of the bed. How would anyone have known to take Michelle? I didn't even know they were coming until a few hours before.
My pillow looked inviting, so I plopped my head on it and rolled on my side.
"JOLIE? YOU OKAY?"
I registered that Scoobie's voice sounded concerned even before I opened my eyes. "Gosh, I didn't mean to fall asleep. Where are they?" I sat up halfway and he turned on the table lamp.
"If you mean your family, they called my mobile and met Julia and me on the boardwalk." Scoobie sat on the edge of the bed. "Renée was worried when you didn't answer the phone, but I told her George was with you."
I lay back down and stared at the ceiling before I looked at Scoobie again. "He went to Java Jolt with Dana. How was Andrew?"
"Furious, but keeping it under control. Do you think he blames you?"
"Hard to tell, but something Renée said made me think he didn't want them to come down today."
"What?" Scoobie asked.
"He asked her what kind of 'element' would be at the party. When he heard it was at the country club it was okay with him."
"Hmm. Well, he cares about his kids." He grinned. "Maybe he thought the 'element' would all be like me."
I gave him a playful slap on the arm. "He knows you aren't Mr. Pot Smoker now. He likes you."
Scoobie nodded, and then his expression grew serious. "Why didn't you wait for me? Or George? He saw the note with you."
"All I could think about was Michelle. George said...hey. He said he was going to tell Renée that Michelle and I went to the ladies room."
"He did for five seconds. She can get stuff out of people faster than Aunt Madge."
I looked at him. "I'm sorry. I just...ran. They said go to Java Jolt."
Scoobie nodded. "It took a couple of minutes for George to get me out of my costume. Geez. I was supposed to call Dr. Welby and tell him what happened to you and Michelle. I’ll do that in a few minutes."
"You told him she was gone?"
"He's the one who got Julia to calm down. Renée was good, but the kid freaked."
I closed my eyes. "She said it was the Darth Vadar guy, but we don’t know much besides that, do we?"
"No. When I called the police from the car, I said that made sense to me because he was by the door. I'm surprised she went with him though."
My mind played the scene in the country club. "I watched him with the kids. If he grabbed her and turned around fast, no one would have noticed. Everyone was looking at the piñata."
Scoobie nodded. "Scary thought. She was kind of at the edge of the crowd, not too far from where he was standing."
I put my head back on the pillow, and Scoobie looked at me. "You okay?"
"Yes, just really tired."
"I'll make us some soup." He kissed my cheek, stood, and walked toward the kitchen.
As I closed my eyes, I wondered who had finally hit the piñata.