Chapter 23

 

Sandy Werner sat at her desk trying to make it appear as if she was doing her job on any ordinary day. This morning she’d received a cryptic email from Amber: Arrived. Dad and Sis at hotel. Will get together tomorrow.

Sandy pondered the words. Surely Amber didn’t mean they actually planned to meet with Clint and Kaycie? It must mean the ladies had a plan for tracking the two.

Movement outside her door caught her attention. She closed the page with her personal emails, blanking her screen from view.

Tap, tap. Mary’s face appeared at the edge of the door. “Are you busy?”

Sandy waved her in. “Close the door.” She repeated Amber’s message.

“So, they are in China,” Mary said. “Amazing. And it sounds like they know for sure Clint has arrived, which is perfect for my plan.”

“Plan?”

“I’m paying a little visit to my former business.”

“Mary … are you sure that’s wise?” Sandy had to admit, it must be tempting to go back and see old acquaintances after a life-changing makeover such as Mary’s.

“The bookkeeper and I were pretty good friends. Even after I left her in charge while I cared for my parents, she and I would touch base, have lunch once in awhile. Debbie was the one who let me know he was sneaking around with Kaycie Marlow while we were still married.”

“So, is this visit purely social or are you on a mission?”

“How about we say it’s a little of each.” Mary’s eyes gleamed.

 

* * *

 

The sign above the building had been repainted, Mary noticed. Holbrook Plumbing. Seeing it here in writing brought back too many memories—she and Clint working side-by-side to start the business, the day they’d installed that sign with their names on it. What was she doing, keeping Clint’s name after all he’d done?

She looked away. Depending on how the next few weeks went, maybe she would change hers, go back to her maiden name or pick something she liked better.

The displays in the front windows were less inspiring than before, a collection of miscellaneous bathroom fixtures. In past times, she’d organized things herself, insisted each window depict a finished room—kitchen or bath—with the newest fixtures to showcase the company’s capabilities. Now, it looked like a row of toilets in some public restroom. Clint had probably become so busy with his big projects he’d left something as mundane as window displays to one of the staff.

She pushed open the glass entry door, noticing that the bell she’d had installed to announce customers was no longer operational. It was the little things that told how successful a business was, not the money hoarded away in a bank somewhere. She walked up to the sales counter where no one was visible or acknowledged they knew she was here.

Formalities be damned. She swung open the moveable section of counter and walked through to the employee area. The wall behind the desk held the same tile samples, rather outdated now, that she’d put up three years ago. She let the gate swing shut with a clatter. No response, so she headed down the narrow corridor that led to the offices. Clint’s office door was closed and a quick twist of the handle told her it was locked. The one across the hall had once been hers. She started farther down, toward Debbie’s small office.

“Ma’am?” came a familiar voice as she passed her old office. “Can I help you, ma’am?”

Mary turned and peered around the doorjamb. “Hey, Debbie. It’s me. I was heading for your office.”

“Mary? Oh. My. God. You look amazing.” Debbie, at ten years older and thirty pounds heavier than Mary, stood up and emerged from behind her old desk. “Look at you, girl. You’re doing something right—you look so much younger!”

Mary did a little turn. “Thanks. New exercise program.”

Debbie folded her into a hug. “I hadn't heard from you in so long, I wondered if you’d moved away.”

Another thing living in your car or a homeless shelter takes away from you, the dignity to stay in contact with old friends. She gave a weak smile. “Yeah, well. No, I’ve just been busy.”

“Come on in, sit down.” Debbie waved toward the guest chair, which felt a little awkward to both of them.

“It’s a quick visit,” Mary said. “Just wanted to say hi. Look, I noticed there’s no one up front. We always had a strict policy about that.”

“Yeah, I know … it’s just …” She picked up her phone and hit the intercom line. Her voice echoed in the distant warehouse in the back. “Joey, Rob, we need a counter person up front.”

She sighed and sat down behind the desk. “Hopefully, that’ll bring one of ’em.”

“Things feel different,” Mary said, taking the guest chair. “I suppose because I’ve been away.”

“Nah, it’s not only that. It really is different since …”

“You can say it. Since Clint remarried. Since Clint expanded the business beyond this little shop?”

A nod and a shrug.

“I can say his name, Debbie. I can say Kaycie’s name. I’m over it.” Mary leaned forward and winked. “Unless you’ve got some juicy gossip.”

Gossip had always been Debbie’s weakness.

“Well …”

“Yeah? Something good?”

“He’s out of the country now, so I guess there’s no way he’ll hear me from over there.” Debbie tilted her chin toward the closed office across the hall. “He’s been getting calls from women who aren’t the current Mrs. H.”

“What kind of calls?”

“The kind he goes into the office to take. Where he closes the door and speaks real quiet.” She fiddled with a pen, moving it from one spot to another on the desk.

“The kind he used to get from Kaycie when I wasn’t here?”

Debbie blushed. “I didn’t want to say it that way.”

“I know. It’s okay. So, you think the gleam is off the romance between them?”

Debbie looked as if she didn’t want to voice the opinion, but she gave a little nod.

“What else reminds you of that time before? Is he moving money around, getting it out of sight?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t know about that, Mary. Really. He handles a lot of things he doesn’t let me see.”

Mary eyed a small stack of mail in a tray labeled Filing. The envelopes that were visible seemed to be from an investment firm and a bank she’d never known Clint to do business with. It appeared to be correspondence, not junk mail.

Debbie reached for them at the same moment Mary did.

“Uh-uh,” she said. “He’d kill me if he knew I let you see stuff of his.”

“Sorry. I won’t jeopardize you, Debbie. You know that.” Mary left her hand at the edge of the desk. “I’ll never admit I was inside this office today.”

Debbie met her gaze with surprising candor. “I’d better go see if one of those guys ever showed up to work the counter. Since you’re not here today, you’ll want to be sure I’ve sent him to the back room before you walk out that front door.”

Mary nodded. Was it really going to be this easy?

Debbie stood up and walked out the door, heading toward the showroom. The letters still sat in the tray. Without a second thought, Mary pulled her phone from her pocket and put it in camera mode. She quickly removed the contents of the top envelope, a letter of credit from a bank. Zooming in with the lens, a snap. The page went back into the envelope. Same with the statement from the brokerage firm, where it appeared Clint had liquidated most of the investments. For good measure, she photographed two more documents, although she wasn’t sure of their significance.

She replaced the envelopes exactly as she’d found them and tiptoed to the door. No voices in the hall. None from the showroom. She scurried across the room and out the door, feeling like a character in a spy novel—or like a sneaky ex-wife who’d just betrayed someone she’d once loved.