“You’ve probably looked around here pretty thoroughly. Have you seen anything Wendy might need badly enough to persuade this guy to break in?”
Mentally I went through all the rooms I’d searched, and shrugged at the end of the tour. “She has good jewelry. But I can’t think of anything else, unless wherever she is, she can’t live without her Bloomingdale’s catalogs.”
“It could be the jewelry, but you could use another set of eyes. Want me to take a look?”
I flashed Sean’s dimples in gratitude. “That would be terrific, and I’ll look again, too.”
“Why don’t you start in the garage and kitchen, and I’ll look out here and then in the great room. Afterward we’ll trade.”
I hadn’t really checked the garage, which was conveniently empty of anything but yard tools and garbage cans, since I had parked on the road. I left Teo to search with the help of his nosy canine friend and opened the door. The storm was nearly gone, and the garage was bathed in a soft gray light that helped me see into every corner. I walked along the walls, noting everything, lifting a few flowerpots on a shelf and feeling behind them. A backup battery for the wireless system blinked cheerfully. The electric panel was an old friend because I’d opened it a week ago to flip a circuit breaker.
Nothing turned up in the garage, or in the half bath off the mudroom. The mudroom itself had a few empty hooks, and a narrow shelf with two baskets holding flip-flops, packs of tissues and a school library book. So far the book was the only treasure of the day.
Teo wandered in as I opened the louvered doors to the laundry area. By now the washer and dryer were old friends, too. I wasn’t going to find anything here, except maybe a missing sock.
“You about done?” he asked.
“Close. Did you find anything?”
“Three quarters and a dime between the cushions on the porch.”
Behind me I heard the tinkle of change hitting the counter. I scrunched farther into the narrow space beside the washer-dryer combo and looked behind it. “Nothing here.” As I backed out, something snagged my hair and I set it free. Looking up I saw that the culprit was an electric box, similar, but not identical, to the one in the garage.
I edged backward into the kitchen. “Teo, is it common to have more than one breaker box in a house? Because there’s one in the garage, too. I had to flip a switch last week.”
He joined me. “No, it’s excessive.” He reached around the appliances and swung open a smaller metal door on the front of the box. The smaller door read Voltage Conditioning System. He gave the same low whistle he’d given before, his special “this is new” whistle.
“What?” The inside of the box was different from the one in the garage, smaller, with an electric diagram on the inside of the door, and then against the larger door, two fuses, something called a voltage compensator, and more diagrams, along with the universal danger sign below them. “It looks like it’s specific to something. Maybe the washer and dryer? Maybe a voltage conditioning system, whatever that is, is normal in a laundry area?”
“Not even close.”
“Then what is it?”
“A wall safe.”
I paged through memories of the inventory at I Spy. I’d seen a wall safe hidden behind a picture frame. Glenn might even have said hidden safes were a hot seller. But this one didn’t look familiar.
“How do you know it’s a safe?” I asked.
“Because it’s not what it says it is. It has a door we can’t get beyond and lots of camouflage. I’ve never seen one exactly like it, but I’ve heard gun owners buy them. They’re big enough for a handgun. I don’t suppose you can call your parents and ask if they installed it for their tenants.”
“I don’t suppose I have to. A gun safe? I can guarantee they didn’t. Like the new medicine cabinet, either a former tenant installed it...”
“Or your sister did.”
“Can we get into it?”
“If that was easy, what would be the point?” Teo moved closer and pointed to voltage compensator. “This is how you set the combination. It takes four numbers, which probably equals a thousand or more choices.”
“Do you plan to stand there today and tomorrow trying all the possibilities?”
“Not much chance of that.”
“Me either.” I had a feeling this safe was the reason roofing guy had paid me a visit. And if that was true...
“If this is what your guy wanted, he probably knows the code,” Teo said, beating me to it.
“I was just finishing that same thought.”
“We could ask him for it.”
If any of this was true, my sister had probably given Mr. Carrillon Roofing the code, and I couldn’t think about that now. I preferred consulting Glenn, who was less likely to flatten me than roofing man. I told Teo to take five while I found my cell phone and called him. I left Teo staring up at the safe, as if he hoped the right numbers would suddenly come to him.
Glenn answered immediately, and I listened closely before I hung up and went back to the kitchen. “He says to try the usual things, but there’s no easy way to break in. If I want him to come over next week, he’ll take a look. No guarantees, though.”
Teo stood back, and I tried variations of Wendy’s birthday, the birthdays of the girls, mine, my parents. I finally stepped away. “No go.”
Teo closed the doors to the laundry area. “Do you want to wait for him? It sounds like a long shot.”
By next week I would have to tell my mother what was going on. Wendy might be hiding out in an ashram or dead. And the girls would be getting out of school for winter break.
Teo read my expression. “I’d bet on the roofer.”
He was right, although my stomach was knotting at the thought. “I’ll call Carrillon. At the very least we need to learn the guy’s name.”
I saw the question in his eyes. “I’m not going off half-cocked, Teo. I promise. If I have to confront this guy, I’d like you to be with me. If you’re willing. Are you?”
“I’ll stand by you. You stand by me.”
I stroked my fingers down the side of his cheek, already just a bit rough, although he’d obviously shaved that morning. “I pick you up. You pick me up. Or better yet, we congratulate each other for not falling in the first place.”
“We’re always going to fall.”
I touched his lips. “Then let’s fall together. Deal?”
He kissed my fingertips. For the moment, it was answer enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The continuum between truth and lies was becoming more than a philosophical problem. Every day was a new tug-of-war. Truth whenever possible. Half-truths for love or safety. And finally, lies, if absolutely needed.
As a fraud investigator, I’d learned to spin believable stories with little or no basis in fact. Sometimes lying was the only way I had been able to protect our consumers. That skill had continued to serve me well on Out in the Cold. Now, once Teo left, I put my dubious skills to work.
Carrillon was a small company. I told the woman who answered the phone that I needed an estimate on a new roof for my waterfront estate. If you have to resort to lying, go for broke. I told her I thought I might have talked to one of their roofers, and described my attacker. Did the guy sound familiar and could I drive by and see one of Carrillon’s jobs in progress?
She told me the guy was probably Jonah Greer. She gave me an address, and said the crew would be working there until late afternoon.
I texted Jonah’s name to Teo. An hour later I cruised by the address, and saw the now familiar Carrillon pickup parked in front of it. This time I called Teo and we made arrangements to meet there later, after I dropped the girls at my parents’ house.
Teo had been busy, too. “I had a buddy check Greer’s record. He’s not a career criminal. A DUI, a bar brawl, and my friend
thinks he remembers a domestic abuse complaint that was later dropped. But he’s been in enough trouble that he won’t want more.”
I hoped he was right.
Just before four, Bismarck and I parked in front of a vacant lot at the end of the block. I’d been told to bring my canine buddy, and I appreciated his warm bulk beside me. I walked halfway up the block to join Teo, who had parked closer to the house, a Mediterranean-style two-story, with a fountain spurting half-heartedly in front.
“I got here about half an hour ago,” Teo said. “Two of the crew are still working, but one of the other guys just left. A blond, not your guy.”
“He’s not my guy.” I paused, and then went for it. “You’re my guy.”
He smiled a little, but he was still staring up at the roof.
I stared, too. “What’s the plan?”
“If you recognize him, we can confront him here, or we can follow him and confront him wherever he stops.”
This neighborhood was either on its way up or down. I couldn’t tell. Some of the houses, like this one, were well cared for, but others were run-down and in need of more than a new roof. Still, it didn’t look like a street where anybody would give us trouble.
“I say give the neighbors some excitement. Unless the second guy on the roof hangs around.”
“Let’s wait in my car and see.”
We climbed in, and I settled back while keeping my eye on the roof. Bismarck panted over my shoulder. I hoped he wasn’t drooling.
“Did you ever do stakeouts?” I asked. “Before you joined the K9 unit?”
“Nothing in the world more boring.”
“Try getting little girls to take a bath and brush their teeth.”
“That bad?”
“Last night Noelle lost her first baby tooth when she was brushing, so after I tucked her in, I had to get on the internet and see what the going rate is for the tooth fairy. Every day I fly blind. I know so little.”
“What is the going rate?”
“What did your parents give you?”
“Fifty cents?”
“You and I were cheated. Just so you know, these days the proper amount is tied to the S&P 500.”
“You’re kidding.”
I slapped my hand over my heart. “I’m not. The amount goes up with the health of the economy. You think I didn’t do my research?”
“So what did you get?”
“I was born after you, and my father has more money than King Midas. But he was careful not to spoil me.” I paused, but he poked my shoulder with his fist. “A dollar, okay? Two for molars, but guess what kids today are getting?”
“A Porsche and a vacation home in the mountains?”
“Four bucks. And get this. Some parents give up to twenty.”
“Not my kids.”
I turned to look at him, eyes wide. “You have kids?”
He grinned. “I’m going to be strict but fair.”
Teo would love his kids to death, and his whole family would be involved in raising them, including a host of cousins who might not share even a smidgen of his DNA. His parents and most of his siblings lived northeast of Seabank, near Lakeland but that wouldn’t stop anybody.
“You should have seen Noelle this morning when she checked under her pillow,” I said. “Wendy missed the excitement. So did Bryce. They should have been the ones to play tooth fairy.”
“It’s possible your sister may miss a lot more.”
“Like Christmas.” I’d been giving the upcoming holiday more than a little thought. “I’m going to have to play Santa, too. And they both have birthdays next week. My mother’s going to throw a party for them. Luckily, nobody can do that better.” I had taken my eyes off the house, but now I glanced back at the roof and no one was there.
I pointed. “Showtime.”
He leaned over to get a better look out my window. “There’s the other guy coming around the house. Not yours.”
The guy coming into view was short, unlike my assailant, with long black hair tied back in a ponytail and a scruffy goatee. I couldn’t believe our luck. He was leaving, and if the other roofer really was the intruder, then we would be alone with him.
Goatee guy got into an old green sedan parked a few car lengths in front of Teo’s SUV and roared away, hip-hop serenading the neighbors.
“And that leaves Jonah,” I said.
“Let’s meet him in front. I’ll get Biz.”
I stepped out, and in a moment Teo and Bismarck were on the sidewalk beside me. We walked to the driveway on the side of the house and waited. Moments later, Jonah came around from the back carrying a ladder on his shoulder. Jonah, the very same guy who had pinned me to the town house porch. Same long nose. Same tanned scruffy cheeks. Same height and weight. He was even wearing what might be the same hoodie.
My knees suddenly felt like rubber. “Fancy meeting you here,” I said loudly enough for him to hear.
He looked surprised but not worried. He hadn’t yet made the connection. “You need something?” Jonah had a strong drawl, with the slow lengthening of vowels I equated with the Deep South. His gaze flicked to Bismarck who was standing at attention next to Teo.
I took a step closer, so he could see me clearly. “Do I look familiar?”
Teo moved up beside me, but he didn’t try to stop me.
Jonah shrugged, the ladder rising into the air and settling down again. “I’m going home, and you’re in my way.”
“Kind of like you were in mine when I tried to get into my house a couple of weeks ago. You know, Kim’s house?”
I watched as he made the connection. Then he dropped the ladder in the driveway and turned to run. With a shouted command, Teo sent Bismarck after him, stopping the dog with another command when he was only a few feet from Jonah’s leg. I had to give my intruder credit for good sense. He had stopped, too. In fact I thought his feet might be sending roots right through the concrete. I wasn’t even sure he was breathing.
“He’s a trained K9,” Teo said, as if they were having a casual conversation. “Used to work for the sheriff’s office. I can put him through his paces to show you.”
“Who the hell are you?” He turned slowly, glanced at me and then back at Teo. “You’ve got me mixed up with somebody else.”
Teo gave Bismarck another command and now, snarling, the dog inched even closer.
“I could never use my dog this way if I were still a K9 officer,” Teo said. “But you know, I’m not. So these days I have more latitude. You know what else? I don’t think you’re going to report me. Because, well, you have your reasons not to draw attention to yourself, don’t you?”
I could almost see Jonah thinking. He looked at the dog, at his truck, at Teo, who smiled and nodded pleasantly. “You wouldn’t get far,” Teo said. “He loves a good takedown.”
“What do you want?”
Teo nodded to me. “The lady wants to ask some questions.”
“Just so you know,” I said, “the sheriff has your description, and I would love, love to tell them that I found you, and who you are. So if you do run, that’s the plan.”
“I don’t think you’re going to tell anybody anything, lady. That’s Kim’s house, not yours. I was just looking for her. I did some handyman work, and she said she might need more.”
“You were hiding in the bushes. Did she need help with the gardening?”
“What kind of work did you do for Kim?” Teo asked.
Jonah didn’t respond until he glanced down at Bismarck, who looked ready to lunge. “I installed some stuff. That’s all.”
“Stuff like a medicine cabinet?” I asked.
He gave a short nod.
“How about a safe that doesn’t look like a safe.”
“No law against that, is there?”
“There is a law
against breaking into one,” I said.
“You think I’d need to break in? I’m the one who set the lock.”
Jonah knew the combination. I wanted to dance a jig.
Teo’s tone was still casual, two buddies discussing a boring football game. “So now, back to why you were prowling around. Why you assaulted this woman. Why I shouldn’t tell my dog to drag you around a little.”
“Kim asked me to look for something.”
“In the bushes?” I asked.
“You trying to be stupid? Inside!”
“In the safe,” I said. “The safe you know the combination to. But apparently you didn’t or couldn’t get through the town house doors. Why was that?”
He was silent, but his eyes never left Bismarck.
“I think my dog’s getting tired of waiting,” Teo said. “He’s a little short on patience.”
“I had a key,” Jonah said. “Kim sent it to me. But it didn’t work.”
My conversations with Wendy had been so short that I’d never mentioned changing all the locks. Nor had it been important enough to tell her, not with everything else going on.
I summed up. “So you were supposed to go inside, open the safe and take something out? Why? What?”
“That’s Kim’s business.”
“No, it’s mine, unless you’d prefer the cops.”
He backed up, but a snarling Bismarck followed. I could almost read the dog’s thoughts—and I was sure he had them. Biz was like a little kid begging for an ice cream cone.
Jonah came to a halt, holding up his hands, although that would never have stopped Bismarck. “Nothing was against the law. She asked me to do this. It’s her house! She told me to send her everything inside except the money. She told me there was cash in the safe, and I could have it all as a thank you, as long as I sent her the other stuff. When she got it, she was going to send me a little more.”
Teo mimicked Jonah’s voice exactly, as if he was trying it on for size. “Nothing was against the law. She asked me to do this.”
As always, I was impressed at his abilities. “Kim sounds remarkably generous. All that for using a house key, opening a safe you already know the combination to and mailing her whatever you found, minus the cash. How did she know you wouldn’t just keep everything else?”
A Family of Strangers Page 30