Dead Velvet Cake

by James, Emily

  I turned around. Mr. Green stood in the doorway, his face just as red and glossy with sweat as when I’d met him at the barbecue, despite the extra-cold air conditioning in the building.

  His words carried a chuckle under them. I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. The building did have signs everywhere that said abusive language or threats to the staff wouldn’t be tolerated. Which, if you thought about it, was a bit ironic considering how Anthony Rigman had treated people.

  Eve pasted on a smile that looked more plastic than the bracelet on her wrist. “Isabel and I were just talking about maybe switching her insurance for her truck over to Rigman and Associates. I couldn’t believe how much she’s been paying for insurance. Isabel practically lives in there, so she thought it was fair, but I think we can do better. I’m going to refer her to one of our agents to talk about it more.”

  Her look dared me to contradict her. Whatever made her a suspect, Mr. Green clearly didn’t know about it. And she didn’t want him to know. I couldn’t exactly blame her. Everyone here already thought she was guilty, and that was without anything concrete like whatever it was that she was hiding.

  Mr. Green motioned to the hallway. “I have a couple of minutes. I can go over everything with you now if you’d like Isabel. Given how you helped us out, we’ll even give you the employee discount.”

  Not for the first time, I wondered how such a kind man ended up with a partner like Anthony. Then again, how had Eve ended up dating him? Maybe that was the nature of truly awful people. They preyed on those who were the least like them.

  Though, Eve hadn’t answered my question. She’d acted like she had no intention of answering it either before Mr. Green interrupted us. Whatever she was hiding had flustered her. She’d seemed like she was trying to hold in her temper.

  Dan might be right. Detective Strobel might not be on a witch hunt after all where Eve was concerned.

  I felt like someone had put me on a tilt-o-whirl. I couldn’t stay in this building any longer, not even to keep up appearances.

  I tucked my check into my pocket. “I have to get back to my truck, but I’ll stop at the front desk and make an appointment for another day.”

  “Sure, sure,” Mr. Green said. “You just make sure to ask for me. I’ll give you the best deal possible.”

  Anthony Rigman had probably hated that about his partner. Anthony seemed to be the kind of man who did whatever it took to get ahead or get what he wanted. From everything I’d heard and seen, Mr. Green cared about the people behind the money.

  It was too bad I wasn’t in the market for insurance. Mr. Green probably would give me a better deal than what I had. But right now, I needed to put some distance between Eve and me.

  Mr. Green waved to me as I left. As soon as he turned away into his office, I walked past the front desk and didn’t look back.

  17

  I rubbed at my eyes with the back of my arm and bit back a yawn. It’d been a long day, but a good one. With summer in full swing, Lakeshore’s beaches were packed on the weekends. The weather this weekend had been in the 90s. Everyone seemed to want to escape to the waterfront.

  The downside of the heat was I was going to have a hard time finding a place to park for the night that was both cool and safe. Last night, I’d barely been able to sleep because of the heat. I’d had to leave my door and flap open for airflow, which meant I kept waking up, thinking I heard someone outside.

  And that wasn’t even taking into account the mosquitos. I’d bought a mosquito net to sleep under, which kept them from mummifying me by drinking all my blood. It didn’t stop the noise. The buzzing nearly drove me mad.

  I pulled my faded map from a drawer. The online maps were more current, but I couldn’t mark them up with the best and worst spots.

  My phone vibrated in its spot on the counter top. How had I managed to turn the ringer off again? At least I’d left it on vibrate this time. Dan had already called in his favor to GPS locate my phone once. Maybe for the sake of safety, I should set up a phone finder app and give him access. If Jarrod ever managed to find me and kidnap me, having something like that on my phone could allow Dan to find me in time to save my life.

  Then again, anything that allowed someone to find me could be turned against me and used by Jarrod as well.

  I nabbed my phone off the counter. Dan.

  I swiped my finger across the screen. “I was just thinking about you.”

  I cringed. That sounded more flirty than I’d intended. I hadn’t meant it to sound flirty at all.

  “Where are you?” The noise in his background sounded like wheels on asphalt and forced air from an air conditioner.

  His voice didn’t have any of the teasing in it that I would have expected given my verbal slip.

  “In my truck.” Wow. Because that’s what he meant. It was like that old joke my dad always found hilarious that asked where a dog bit someone and the man answered On the corner of Elm and Fifth Street. I couldn’t even blame this on the heat. I’d experienced much hotter conditions before fleeing to Michigan. “At Clarkson Beach. I just sold out for the day.”

  “Stay there. I’m on my way.”

  He disconnected before I could ask any questions.

  Something was very wrong.

  My lungs closed up, and I couldn’t get in enough air. I stumbled outside and over to the nearest picnic table. The shade was at least twenty degrees cooler than inside my truck. It hit me like an ice bath, and I sucked in a breath.

  It couldn’t be Janie or Claire. If anything happened to them, he wouldn’t come to find me. He’d text me and tell me what hospital they were in.

  That left two possibilities. Eve had been arrested, and he wanted to tell me in person.

  Or Jarrod knew where I was.

  That seemed like the most likely situation. Dan didn’t want me driving my truck to him because it’d make me more conspicuous. If Jarrod was in Lakeshore, the more I moved around, the more likely he was to locate me.

  I shoved my fingers into my hair. Him finding me was inevitable. I’d known all along that running would only prolong my life. I’d never be safe.

  It wasn’t fair that when I’d finally found people I cared about and I’d started to make my business a success, Jarrod would come in and take it all away from me again. I’d have no choice but to run. At least this time I’d have Dan to help me prepare for it. After all his years working undercover, he probably knew a lot about fake identities and changing appearances.

  But Janie…and my business…

  My stomach rolled, and I bent forward to put my head between my knees. I couldn’t think about everything I’d be losing when I left here. It was my own fault for getting attached to anyone or anything in the first place.

  Tires hit the gravel of the parking lot, and I straightened up. I couldn’t risk that this was somehow Jarrod instead of Dan. I had to be ready to run.

  Dan’s car pulled toward me.

  His movements when he got out were slow. Much too slow if this was an urgent situation where Jarrod might find me at any moment.

  He motioned for me to sit back down at the picnic table. I hadn’t realized I’d stood up.

  I couldn’t sit until I knew. “Is Jarrod here? In Lakeshore?”

  Dan’s eyebrows drew down. “What? No.” He took my elbow and directed me back to the picnic table instead of waiting for me. “As far as I know, he still doesn’t realize you’re here.”

  My bones felt like they melted underneath my skin. I sank down. “What then?”

  His expression was flat, but something flashed in his eyes that I couldn’t read. Anger maybe? Or frustration? Something akin to one of those at least.

  I felt like I was going to split apart. This made no sense. Maybe it was Eve after all. Maybe she had been lying to me this whole time.

  Dan sat across from me like he had the first time we’d discussed a case together, back when he caught me trying to wheedle information out of the other food truck vend
or who worked his grandfather’s fatal birthday party.

  “Detective Strobel received an anonymous tip as I was clocking out.”

  Dan’s voice was so formal it sent a chill through my fingers. He’d thought Eve was guilty from the start. He wouldn’t have been surprised. So this was concern for me? It didn’t feel like concern. Wouldn’t have concern had him sitting on the same side of the picnic table?

  He locked his gaze on mine. “The person who called in thought you might be living in your truck, which is a health and safety violation. They suggested to Strobel that Anthony Rigman somehow found out about it and threatened you with reporting it as revenge for embarrassing him in public. The working theory is that you killed him to prevent that.”

  I sucked in a breath so hard that it hurt. So many thoughts swirled around in my head that it felt like someone had put my brain in a blender.

  Someone either had to know about me living in my truck, or they guessed or they made it up as an attempt to deflect suspicion onto me, not knowing they’d actually hit on the truth. And now I was the primary suspect. Eve…please God let Eve not have been the one who did this.

  I’d been poking around at Casa Bella Catering and at the Rigman & Associates barbecue. Someone there might have gone looking for a way to shut me up and stumbled on my secret. It didn’t have to be Eve. All it would have taken was for someone to feel threatened by me and then follow me around for a while to figure it out. It’d be clear after only a couple of nights that I didn’t have anywhere else to go.

  If there hadn’t been a white glob on the picnic table that looked suspiciously like bird droppings, I would have put my head down.

  This wasn’t as bad as Jarrod finding me, but it came close.

  My business was ruined. I’d have to pass a health-and-safety inspection and prove I wasn’t living in my truck before I’d be allowed to stay open. I couldn’t do that.

  “Isabel?” The tone in Dan’s voice said this wasn’t the first time he’d called my name.

  I forced myself to focus on his face. On his words. He was staring at me like he’d asked me something and was waiting for a reply.

  “Isabel, are you living in your truck?”

  He knew the answer already. He had to know the answer. He was a detective. He’d been an undercover police officer before that. As soon as the accusation came in, he’d probably put the pieces together and figured out it was the truth. Otherwise, he could have simply called me and told me about it.

  Instead, he’d come here to confront me in person.

  That look on his eyes that I hadn’t been able to identity before. It was hurt. I’d hurt him by keeping it from him.

  So much so that he’d come to me to confirm it rather than believing that I’d still been lying to him after everything he’d done to help and protect me.

  “Yes.” I squeezed the word out. “I’ve been living in my truck.”

  He stood up. The motion seemed abrupt. “Not anymore. We need to get all your personal stuff out of your truck before anyone comes to check on the tip, and then we need to find you a place to live.”

  If finding a place to live was that simple, I wanted to shout, I would have done it months ago. It wasn’t like I enjoyed sweating it out in my truck in the heat or huddling under blankets next to a tiny space heater in the winter. I didn’t enjoy jumping every time I heard a sound, wondering if someone was going to try to steal my truck with me in it. I certainly didn’t enjoy not having a toilet in my “home.” Or a shower.

  I stuffed all that back down. Because I wasn’t really angry at Dan. He’d been blindsided by this, and he was trying—again—to rescue me, even though I’d basically said I didn’t trust him by withholding things from him.

  No, I blamed Jarrod.

  And myself. A little. Jarrod had forced me into running, but I could have told Dan the truth. He wouldn’t have judged me. Looking back on it now, I wasn’t even sure why I’d kept my living situation a secret.

  But that didn’t change the facts. “I can’t rent an apartment. I don’t have first and last month’s rent. I don’t have references. And I can’t put my real name on a lease.”

  “Isabel.” He said my name gently, in a way that made me think he’d forgotten it wasn’t my real name. “I’m officially tampering with the investigation right now. This I could lose my job over, but if I don’t do this, you could lose your job and a whole lot more. So please, grab up your stuff, put it in my car, and follow me to Claire’s. We can talk about it more once we get there.”

  The fact that he told me to put my personal stuff in his car now instead of waiting until we got to Claire’s made me think he was worried Detective Strobel might put a Be On the Lookout out on my truck. Had it come to that?

  At the very least, Claire might let me pretend to be living with her. That was probably Dan’s idea. I couldn’t think of any other reason we’d be going to Claire’s instead of to his place. I couldn’t pretend to be living with him without opening him up to a lot of questions and speculation. Me living with him and Janie was less believable.

  He probably wouldn’t find it as funny as I did that the fake address I’d given to Detective Strobel was in Claire’s neighborhood.

  I went back into my truck. I didn’t own much. I’d left the home I shared with Jarrod with only what I could carry to a church within walking distance. Since then, I hadn’t acquired much. A pillow. A couple of blankets and my sleeping bag. My mosquito netting and space heater. A couple extra changes of clothes. My small bag of toiletries.

  My folding chair and pop up table could stay. They weren’t incriminating.

  I brought it all out and dropped it into his trunk.

  He slammed the lid. “That’s everything? You’re sure?”

  I nodded again. What could I really say? I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d lost my best friend over this. The worst part was I hadn’t even realized until I was dumping my meager belongings into his trunk that that’s how I thought of Dan. He was my best friend. The best friend I’d had since my dad died.

  He looked at me for a second more, then turned his back on me and climbed into his car. He drove away without waiting to see if I was following. Having some extra space between our vehicles was probably a smart idea anyway. If someone did pull me over, at least they wouldn’t spot Dan and figure out that he’d warned me.

  My eyes burned, but I wasn’t sure whether it was over the rift I’d caused in our relationship or over the thought that my lies might actually cost him his job.

  * * *

  Claire’s car was in the driveway when I pulled up, and Dan had parked on the road, leaving me space to park in the driveway as well. That was the way it’d be if I actually lived here. He hadn’t taken any chances.

  He must have already taken my stuff and gone inside because neither he nor Claire were waiting for me by either car or out front.

  That must mean they expected me to walk right in. Which made sense. If I did live here, I would walk right in. I might as well start playing the pretending game from this moment on or I could slip up when it mattered most.

  I opened the door and stopped in the entryway to slide off my shoes. A man and a woman’s voice, slightly raised but not yelling, came from upstairs.

  “This is a terrible idea,” Claire was saying.

  “It solves both your problems,” Dan replied.

  I shouldn’t be listening to this. Claire wasn’t on board with Dan’s plan, and that was only going to make me feel worse. Me being here could put her at risk of criminal conspiracy too. Though, if it came to that, I’d deny until my dying breath that she’d known about it.

  “I’m…” I stopped. I was about to say here. Should I say home? I opted to finish with “Hello?” instead.

  “Come on up,” Dan called out.

  Since they were sticking their necks out for me, I wasn’t going to question it. It did show me one thing. Dan had no doubts about my innocence. If he had, he wouldn’t have taken this ri
sk, and he certainly wouldn’t be bringing me in to live—however temporarily—with the cousin who was like his second mother.

  “We’re at the end of the hall,” Dan said as I was partway up the stairs.

  I hadn’t been on the second floor of Claire’s home before. I passed what had to be the master bedroom, judging by the king-sized bed, and a second bathroom before reaching the room where they both were.

  Claire held out something to me. I moved forward feeling like a robot being controlled by a remote.

  A key.

  “This is my spare that Dan had. I’ll make him another one. I didn’t have time after he called me. Make sure you put it right on your keychain.”

  She stopped talking, dipped her chin, and gave me a look that said now. I did as I was told.

  “There are clothes in the closet. Hopefully I got the right size. No one was going to believe you lived here otherwise. Not even minimalists have less than a week’s worth of clothing. And I unpacked your personal hygiene stuff into the bathroom.”

  Heat burned my face. I could think of few things more embarrassing than Claire picking through my personal hygiene items—unless it was Dan picking through them.

  Claire had done a lot for a person who didn’t want to go along with Dan’s idea. It spoke to the closeness of their relationship. She really was like a mom watching out for her kid, even when he was grown. Dan had mentioned something about his mom dying young and his dad remarrying a woman he was never close with. It was no wonder Claire filled that role in his life instead. Without any children of her own, they would have naturally fallen together.

  And now I was stepping into the center of it and putting them both at risk. “It’ll only be for a short time. I’ll be gone as soon as the Anthony Rigman case is closed.”

  They exchanged a wordy glance.

  “Where will you go?” Dan asked.

  I shifted my gaze away from his. It was a guilty move, but I couldn’t seem to help it. The only honest answer was that I’d go back to my truck.