Chapter 17

I dropped Liv back at the shop to pick up her car, but I couldn’t prevent her from going in to do more work. And since I couldn’t let her work alone, I followed her. I figured I might as well look over my appointment book and put together some ideas for the bridal appointments scheduled for later in the week. Time to start shifting my focus back to that aspect of my work.

Amber Lee rolled her eyes when we trudged back in through the door. “Can’t live without the place, or don’t you love that husband of yours anymore?”

Liv shuffled through the mail on the counter. “He’s working late tonight, so I might as well get a jump on things as well.”

I hung up my purse and glanced at the takeout menus on the bulletin board. “Barbecue?” I said hopefully.

“Sounds good,” Liv said. “With extra honey corn bread. I’m famished.”

“Well, all right,” I said. “Amber Lee, you staying?”

“As much as I’d like to . . . I have a date.”

“Ooh, a date, is it?” Liv asked, always the matchmaker.

Amber Lee shook her head. “None of your business.” She teased us with a smile as she closed the door behind her.

Liv and I stared at each other with raised eyebrows. But then hunger won over, so I called in our order. Liv kept adding things to the menu before I could hang up. Baked beans, corn on the cob, slaw, and their red-skinned potato salad. Good thing, too, because Eric arrived just as the food came.

We set up a buffet on the checkout counter and took our plates into the gazebo to eat. Quite the trendy picnic spot of late.

“I thought you were working tonight.” Liv poured lemonade into foam cups.

“I am.” Eric pointed to the file of paperwork he’d set on the table next to him. “I just realized I could spare time to eat. And I wanted to discuss something with you.”

“Maybe I should let you two have some time alone.” I picked up my plate. I was willing to leave, but not without my pulled pork.

“No, Audrey. This concerns you, too.” He stopped to spoon a huge heap of slaw onto his pork. “Mainly you, I think.”

“Me?” His serious visage made me feel like I’d been called down to the principal’s office. If he started lecturing me on making Liv work too hard, he’d get an earful on the real identity of the taskmaster in our organizational chart.

“I took a good look at some of Derek’s paperwork,” he said. “Trying to get an idea of the job ahead of me.”

“How does it look?” I opened a pat of butter and slathered it on my corn, then licked a couple drops that escaped onto my fingers.

“Odd,” Eric said. “He was skimming, all right, taking just enough from each business to not get noticed. Other properties he just left to fall apart, like he didn’t care.”

“He probably didn’t.” Liv snagged another slice of corn bread. “If he didn’t think they were going to make him money.”

“Or if he had to invest ready cash into them to make a go of them,” I added.

“Right,” Eric said. “It seemed to be a matter of spending as little as possible, even if a small investment would have turned a big profit later on. For example . . .” He wiped his hands on one of the moistened towelettes the restaurant had provided, then dried them on a clean napkin before pulling a page from his folder and holding it up for me to see.

I leaned in for a better view. It seemed to be a rental listing for an old restaurant. Only the condition of the building, with the weeds grown up and the cracked parking lot, would have made renting almost impossible. “I don’t recognize that place,” I said.

“No,” Eric said. “It’s closer to DC. But it’s a good property remaining vacant, when a little elbow grease could make it hugely profitable.”

“Real estate out that way is through the roof,” Liv said. “Are you going to fix it up and try to rent it?”

“I’d like to,” Eric said. “Except Mr. Rawling told me not to worry about it, to focus my concentration on buildings closer to Ramble. I don’t know, maybe he’ll get someone else to manage his more distant holdings. But I’ll ask him about it again, maybe after I have a few weeks or months to gain his confidence. The building’s got good bones, even if it needs some work. It shouldn’t go empty like that.”

A knock at the door interrupted our conversation. Liv started to rise, but I told her that I’d get it. As I rounded the corner, I couldn’t make out the face in the gathering twilight, but I knew of only one regular customer who wore white.

“I saw the light on,” Nick said. “And wondered if you wouldn’t mind an off-hours sale to a tired businessman.”

Oh, yes, his regular bouquet for whomever.

He stopped to sniff. “What is that?”

“Barbecue,” I said. “Would you like some? Liv ordered enough for a small army.”

“My mother would be appalled at my manners, but yes, I’d love some. Anything not made of flour and sugar would be great right about now.” He followed me up to the gazebo.

Eric shifted his file over to make room for Nick, and Liv poured him a lemonade.

“I’m afraid the corn bread is gone,” she said.

“No matter.” Nick squinted at the rental listing Eric had set down. “What’s this?”

“Oh, just a property that Derek managed,” Eric said.

“Eric is going to be the new property manager for Rawling Properties.” Liv’s voice held more than a hint of pride.

“Well, that’s good news for me, too, then.” Nick reached across the table to shake hands with Eric.

Eric wiped his hands well with a napkin before accepting the handshake.

“That’s right,” I said. “You’d mentioned that you rented from Rawling.”

“Most business owners here do,” Nick said. “I was a bit surprised to find out he didn’t own this place. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind buying my building, if Rawling would ever think about parting with it. I mentioned it to Derek a few times, but . . .”

“Give me a chance to get my feet wet in this job,” Eric said, “and maybe we could run some numbers.”

“Fair enough.” Nick tapped the rental listing. “You know, I think I recognize that place. That used to be the place for a romantic dinner.” Nick glanced at me, and his face colored a little bit. “But it’s been closed down for years now. Even in its sad state, I’m surprised no one rented it.” Then he took a closer look at the listing and whistled. “This is way overpriced for the condition it’s in.”

Eric snatched the paper back. “I hadn’t noticed that. Maybe that’s why it’s still vacant. But it’s not my problem, I guess.”

I had difficulty swallowing my pulled pork, and it had nothing to do with the meat, tender and tasty as always. “Did Rawling have many properties he didn’t want you to ‘worry about’?”

“No, as a matter of fact, just this one.”

I bit my lip. “Isn’t that odd? A building that close to DC could be taking in a heap of revenue. I can see why Derek didn’t bother with it, if it needed work, but I can’t see Rawling passing up a buck like that.”

“What are you thinking?” Liv asked.

“I’m thinking something’s fishy about it, like he’s trying to hide the place.”

“Hide?” Nick said. “A whole restaurant?”

“Well, not hide it,” I said. “But keep people from becoming too interested in it.”

“Deliberately keep it vacant?” Eric said, studying the listing. “Why?”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t mind taking a peek around.” I shoved my greasy plate and utensils into the empty takeout bag.

“Rawling didn’t give me a key, I’m afraid,” Eric said.

“See, that’s even fishier. What if this is tied into the Rawling secrets? I would kind of like to see what the place looks like.”

“It’s just an old abandoned restaurant,” Eric said.

“And in not the best neighborhood,” Nick said. “I mean, it’s not a ghetto. More industrial, but . . .”

“But it’s a nice night for a drive,” I said. “Clear skies and supposed to be a full moon. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re going now?” Liv said. “Hold up. I’ll ride along with you.”

“Not a good idea.” Eric turned to his wife. “I don’t want you running around all hours. You’ve been working hard. Look”—his voice softened as he took her by her shoulders—“I need to get back to the office for a couple hours, but I want to know you’re safe at home, catching up on your sleep, not running half across Virginia on a goose chase.”

Liv’s lip jutted out, just for a split second, but then she nodded.

I headed to the back room for my purse. I was precisely in the mood for chasing geese. When I came out, Nick was tossing his keys in the air.

“Ready?” he said.

“For what?” I asked.

“Nick agreed to go with you.” The corners of Liv’s mouth betrayed the smile I knew she tried to hide. “Isn’t that nice?”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Eric said. “Besides, he knows the neighborhood.” And yes, Eric had become well familiar with my uncanny ability to get lost, even with a GPS.

“I don’t want to trouble you,” I said. “It could be just a silly hunch.”

“No trouble,” he said. “Like you said, it’s a nice night for a drive, and it would be kind of interesting to see the old place again.”

And then I wondered. Nick said it was once the romantic place to go. Had he taken her there? The recipient of the flowers?