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The walk back to Cameron’s house didn’t take long. Garrett told her he never pictured himself as an author, let alone a best-selling author, but after leaving the Bureau he’d felt he needed a purpose. An advertisement for a local writer’s conference caught his eye, and after he read that one of his favorite thriller writers was the keynote speaker, he had considered giving it a shot.
“I had so many experiences in my fifteen years as an undercover agent, some threatening—some actually funny, that my author friend Margaret Stanton kept prodding me to consider writing a book. She writes thrillers in between selling multi-million-dollar Beverly Hills homes. Finally, the time came when I voiced my regular protest about not being a writer, and she was armed with a great argument.”
Kate said, “I’ll bite. So, what did she say to you?”
Garrett spoke in falsetto in an attempt to sound like his friend Margaret. “Okay, my friend, I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. There’s a writer’s conference right here in LA the weekend after next. I’m giving two workshops and I can invite a guest to attend the conference free of charge as a part of my perk. Consider yourself invited, and I won’t take no for an answer.”
Kate chuckled. “That didn’t happen to be the conference you were already considering attending, was it?”
“Oh, but it was, Sherlock. I couldn’t let her know I knew about it and had decided to go, because Maggie loves it when she thinks she has out maneuvered me. Besides, it saved me Five Hundred Dollars. I took her out for an expensive, elegant dinner as a thank you. Net savings, Three Hundred.”
He went on to tell her that Maggie was so thrilled when she read his first manuscript that she introduced him to her agent, and the rest was history.
“She brags that she discovered me. You’ll like Maggie if you meet her. Great gal with the same kind of inquisitive mind all of our team has. In fact, maybe I’ll ask her to check on some things about the dead doctor. She is like the Beverly Hills information bureau. She can ask around and might uncover some things we wouldn’t find through normal channels.”
Based upon the admiration in his voice when he discussed Margaret Stanton, Kate had to know. “Um, is she someone you’re involved with? I mean on a personal level, uh, dating?”
“Maggie? A romantic interest? No, she’s just a great friend. Not my type that way, but a real asset with an inquiring mind. Just like you and your friends, we have solved a few things together.”
Kate released her breath and had to admit to herself that she would have been disappointed if they were a couple. She was very attracted to Garrett and sensed the attraction was returned.
When they reached Cameron’s gate, he said, “Well, I’ll see you tonight. Next time we’re alone it’s your turn to tell me how you decided to go into business as a fraud buster. I know you and Cami and your friend Kim put your heads together, cracked open a huge scam and came out with a big reward, but I want to know more. Actually, I want to know a lot more about you.”
She had the gate half open when he surprised her by planting a kiss on her cheek. Before she could say anything, he turned to leave with a wave and a “see ya.”
BY SEVEN-THIRTY EVERYONE was seated in Cameron’s living room ready to share what they had discovered during the day. As was his habit, Clarence turned around a few times before he stretched out in his favorite place in front of the fireplace. The Colonel eased himself into a seat in one of the comfortable chairs and rested his cane alongside it. His grimace was enough to telegraph that he was dealing with pain. He rubbed his knee, but the staunch old military man didn’t utter a word about it hurting. Last to arrive was Matt. The normally virile movie star looked exhausted and plopped into the other easy chair.
He said, “Have we heard anything more from the cops? I’ve spent the day getting a grip on this whole situation, trying to find out what I can. It’s a Hell of a lot different when it’s real and you’re part of it than it is when everything is scripted and all you have to do is read the lines and do the scenes. Who knows? When this whole thing wraps up, maybe you’ll write a book about it, Danny. Hey. If it’s book to movie, I can play myself. Think about it.”
“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To answer your question, Matt, I couldn’t find out anything else about their investigation from our detective friend, but I did get the feeling that they’re onto something and he’s been given orders to keep it within the department. He absolutely would not tell me why they were keeping an eye on the good doctor. I’m going to contact a friend of mine at the Bureau tomorrow if you guys don’t mind and fill her in on the situation. She might be able to get us some inside information. I don’t know why, but for some reason I have the feeling this is bigger than we think. I suspect the cops might be working with them. Nothing really concrete, but sort of a sixth sense, you know.”
No one had an objection to Garrett’s suggestion. They agreed it was important to find information wherever they could. They also agreed if Garrett’s friend Margaret could provide some additional information or insight, that would be great, too. Maybe they would welcome her into the fold as part of the team if she was interested, but that remained to be seen.
Garrett looked at the Colonel. “Oh, Mike, I almost forgot the most important thing. Barrington did tell me you’re off the hook.”
Relief radiated the old man’s face. “I’m not a suspect anymore?”
“Nope. Like I said, I got the feeling they’re going in another direction, but no matter how hard I tried, Barrington wouldn’t tell me anything more than saying you’re no longer under suspicion. And the woman who accused you? They cut her loose, too. He finally figured out that all she wanted was to get on the news and would say anything to do it. I hate people like that.”
Kate filled the others in on everything she’d learned about the missing Barbara Shady, which opened up the possibility for some other scenarios.
The anger in Matt’s voice wasn’t acting when he said, “Here’s a thought. Maybe when she couldn’t figure out a way for the Doc to die of natural causes, she reverted to violence. Obviously, she couldn’t resist the temptation to help herself to some of the millions sitting in our account. I’m still beating myself up for not asking to see the statements and letting her have full control. Maybe she had to get rid of Al Shady, and killing him and making it look like a hit was her only option. I remember in one of my flicks—”.
Cameron cut him off in mid-sentence. “Listen. This whole thing feels like we’re in a movie, but in real life she skipped with millions of dollars of our money, and we’re going to keep at this until we either find her or find out what happened. If she did stage his murder, she would have needed help. I don’t think she could have pulled it off by herself. So, now the question is who she could have been working with. And, on the other hand, if she didn’t do it what was her darling husband up to that could have gotten him killed?”
Clarence let out a little doggie snore, stretched his legs and rolled onto his back with all four legs up in the air, still asleep.
The Colonel looked over at the old hound and smiled. He mused, “You know there are countries that don’t share an extradition treaty with the U.S. I’ll bet she took our money, plus heaven knows how much more money she had stashed in other accounts and is hiding out in one of those countries. One thing is for sure. She will never feel she has to marry another rich old guy again because I’m sure she has much more money than she’ll ever need now. I can almost picture her lounging by a pool, sipping a Martini, living in luxury and relishing the fact that we were such fools.”
He looked over at Matt whose expression looked as though something evil lurked in the room.