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They left the Shady house and took their time walking toward Sherman Canal. No one said a word. Finally, Danny broke the silence.
“I don’t know. Something felt off. I mean that scene in their living room—I’d bet money it was set up. A few years ago, when one of my books was made into a movie, I snagged a role as a consultant. Maybe you saw it—Who Killed Mandy Blake. Anyway, the way they set up the home invasion scene, it was really close to what we saw tonight.”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “A set designer’s idea of what a break-in looks like sometimes shows they have never been at a real crime scene. Anyhow, it smacked so much of staging, I made them change it. It was just too perfect. Like someone developed a formula for making a place look like it was ransacked. That’s what hit me the minute I turned on the light—the sense that I had stepped onto a movie set, that is, except for the blood. I didn’t want to say anything in front of the cops, so I clammed up. How well do you know this Shady couple?”
“Well,” the Colonel said, “I actually just know them from the HOA. Al Shady—that man isn’t the most pleasant guy. He’s a retired orthopedist, and I guess he was a very good doctor from what I’ve heard. Almost considered asking him whether there’s any help for my leg. But, truthfully, after a few encounters I decided the less I had to do with him, the better. Retired doctor—big deal. Everyone on the Board has some claim to fame. I never make a big deal about all the ‘fruit salad’ that decorates my uniform jacket, but that jerk strutted around like he thought he was better than everyone. I think he’s friendly with a few of our neighbors in the music business, though.”
Garrett gave a wry smile that barely lifted the corners of his mouth. “Sounds like I haven’t missed anything by not knowing him. What about the wife?”
They had reached the gate enclosing Cameron’s little courtyard. Before addressing that question, she said, “If we’re going to have this conversation, why don’t you two come in for a bit. I’ve got some nice chardonnay chilling and we can kick back and brainstorm for a while. I do have a very definite opinion of Barbara Shady.”
Garrett and the Colonel traded glances. It was clear to Cameron they hadn’t missed the implication. The emphasis when she said very definite left no doubt that whatever she was going to say, it wouldn’t be flattering. She pushed open her gate and they followed her into the house.
Garrett took a seat on a sofa facing the floor-to-ceiling span of windows. “Great view you’ve got here, Cameron.”
The Colonel lowered himself into one of the easy chairs, then stretched his leg straight out to ease the pain in his bad knee.
“Thanks. I do love my view. Just make yourselves comfortable and I’ll get the wine.” She headed to the kitchen and came back a short while later carrying a tray with three glasses, a freshly opened bottle of Robert Mondavi Winery Reserve Chardonnay and a bowl of mixed nuts. After setting the tray down on the coffee table, she poured a glass for each of them.
“Okay,” Cameron said after settling into the other easy chair. “You asked about Barbara Shady. To say she is a piece of work would be an understatement.” She gave a little disgusted snort.
“That woman might be a great accountant but trust me —she’s not even as nice a person as her husband, and he certainly wouldn’t win a popularity contest. Truthfully, I steer clear of her whenever I see her, except the HOA Board meetings, of course. Barbara has only been Treasurer for the last five months, but she acts like she’s the one who negotiated the whole settlement with the developers. For Pete’s sake. It was a done deal by the time she was elected, but you would never know that to hear her talk. And she’s constantly patting herself on the back and talking about super wealthy clients she has had as a CPA. I mean, look around. I don’t want to sound elitist, but I don’t think talking about wealthy clients impresses any of us.”
The Colonel nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. To put it in a word, the lady is a bitch and awfully full of herself.”
They spent the next half hour speculating about anything that might explain the scene at the Shady house and the apparent disappearance of the couple.
The Colonel finally said, “Danny, you’ve been through stuff like this many times, I imagine. What do you really make of it?”
“Yeah, Danny. I think we’re all in agreement about one thing. Something doesn’t gel. If you were still on the job, what would you make of it?”
Garrett looked thoughtful. “Look, I don’t want to jump to any conclusions and the cops obviously aren’t real anxious for my input. I think—wait—that one cop, what was his name? Oh yeah, Barrington. He was a fan of my writing. Why don’t I look him up tomorrow and see if he’ll tell me anything. I’ve discovered if someone is a fan, I can generally get them to say more than they ordinarily would because they want to impress me.”
“Oh, it was clear he wanted to impress you. I do hope nothing awful happened to them, though. What if we’re wrong? What if someone kidnapped them or worse?”
It was an impossible question to answer and left all three with more questions tugging at them.
The men left a short while later with the agreement that they would touch base by phone the next evening. Cameron locked up, then had another glass of wine. Sleep wasn’t going to come easy. She knew that. Too many memories of past scrapes she’d been involved in swirled through her mind. If only it wasn’t too late to call Kate and try to talk it through with her. Kate was so analytical and with her FraudBusters business she was really good at that kind of reasoning. Kim was another good sounding board, but she lived clear across the country, so it was definitely beyond too late to call her. Cameron kicked off her shoes and flicked on the TV instead, then sat there sipping wine, lost in thought and not tracking one thing that played on the big screen.
What reaction would the other Board members have? Did they even know it appeared that something awful had happened? People didn’t just disappear with no sign of whether they were kidnapped or what. And, Al had not shown up at the meeting. Maybe whoever was responsible had laid in wait for Barbara to return home. But if that was what happened, what did they want, and where were the Shadys?
An hour and a half later she turned off the TV and climbed the stairs to her bedroom. Even then, sleep didn’t come right away, and when it did it was filled with bizarre dreams.
The next morning she forced herself to get up and get dressed. There was so much to do at the office. Even though she felt like taking the day off it was impossible. After showering she chose a light blue Michael Kors outfit with matching shoes and headed downstairs to grab a quick breakfast.
The Shady puzzle would have to wait. She had a business to run