by N. M. Silber
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Everyone was late getting downstairs the next morning and we all met for brunch in the dining room. Afterward, we packed up our stuff and got ready to go. Even though we were only a half an hour away, everyone was hugging and promising to call and visit and e-mail. Beth and Claire made me promise to have lunch and go shopping with them too. I could see how happy that made Braden. In the car ride on the way home he had a contented smile on his face.
“Are you and Jessica just going to hang out tonight?”
“Yeah, she’ll be curious to hear about the weekend.” And personally, I wanted to gush about Braden and his family and talk to her about moronic Marla, creepy Cole and mean Mrs. Mason. As far as Cam went, I figured I would just mention the coincidence that an old college friend of mine was Braden’s cousin, and mention that he might be shadowing us sometime in the future.
“I’m going to do the usual Sunday night hang out thing with Mark and Adam.”
I wondered if he talked to Adam and Mark the way that I talked to Jess. Probably not. There would probably be a few suggestive jokes and then they would eat pizza, drink beer and watch sports. That seemed to be their pattern. Braden brought me back to my apartment and helped me with my bags, giving me a warm kiss goodbye and telling me he would call me later to say goodnight. As I walked in the front door Jess came hurtling at me like a human cannonball.
“Was it good?” she demanded in between bites of the Haagen-Dazs she was holding.
“The weekend? Yeah, it was fun,” I answered with a smile. She gave me a “don’t fuck around with me” look.
“And how was the sex?”
“That was amazing.” She followed me into my room and sat on my bed while I unpacked. She listened avidly while I gave her the basic run down as she made appreciative noises and comments. She actually blushed a little when I told her about the pool house. I don’t think she realized that Braden could be such a naughty boy. I also told her all about the rest of the weekend, from Drew’s funny comments to Cole’s obnoxious ones. We spent the better part of the evening giggling and laughing and between the two of us we polished off all of the Rocky Road.
Monday came and went without much fanfare. I visited clients at the jail and caught up on paperwork. Braden made a goodnight call and I was already looking forward to seeing him again. Tuesday morning Jess and I arrived at work as usual, coffee in hand, and we were just sitting down at our desks to start preparing cases for court the next day when Chief Deputy Public Defender, Chuck Collins stopped by our office with Cam in tow. His request had been granted. He would be shadowing Jess and I and sharing our office space for the next few weeks. Jess seemed perfectly happy with that and I suspected that the fact that Cam was a really cute and sexy guy made this assignment a little less burdensome.
Before long Cam and Jess were laughing together, which I took as a good sign. I had been so engrossed in my work I hadn’t even heard what they were talking about.
“Any interesting cases tomorrow?” I asked, wondering what was so funny.
“Nothing spectacular. How about on your list?”
“I’ve got a pretty good one. A guilty plea — Mr. Maximillian Davis. I’m not going to spoil it for you though.” I smiled. The hours went by quickly and we made plans to go out to lunch with Braden, who stopped by at noon. The four of us headed for Reading Terminal Market, chatting on the way.
“So Cameron, give investment advice to any felons yet?” Braden asked with a smirk.
“Not yet but I’ve got definite ideas for expanding their portfolios.”
“Well, I’m sure it will be an interesting experience for you. I hope you’ll get to be there when we do Mr. Davis’ guilty plea tomorrow.”
“We get all the good ones, don’t we?”
“Uh, hello? I get my share of good ones too,” Jess chimed in.
“I hope that you two will let Cameron share in the fun.” Braden smiled.
“Can’t wait,” Cam replied, grinning the grin of the blissfully unaware.
When we arrived, we browsed the various stalls for something good to eat and when we had all picked up our lunches we found a place to sit and dug in.
“So you and Gabrielle were friends in college?” Jess asked Cam.
“Yeah, we were in the same lit class and she obviously got it. I obviously didn’t, so I asked her to help me study.”
“And it had nothing to do with the fact that she was hot,” Braden said dryly.
“Braden!” I rolled my eyes.
“It had something to do with the fact that she was hot,” he said with a laugh and I almost choked on my curry. “But it had more to do with the fact that she was so smart.”
“So you thought she was hot and smart?” Jess asked.
“And funny and very nice,” Cam added, glancing at me and smiling but nevertheless looking a little uncomfortable. He turned his focus to his Pad Thai.
“So how come you never asked her out?” Jess asked. Oh my God! I was going to kill her.
Cam hesitated. “Well, I was kind of a serial dater, and besides, when we first met she was dating somebody. Jonathan Parker, right?” he asked me. “It’s weird but for some reason, I always thought he was gay.”
“He, uh, well,” I coughed. “He was. That is, he discovered that he was. Gay, I mean,” I said and Cam almost spit out the Coke he was drinking.
“Discovered that he was gay? He didn’t know that already?”
“People don’t always realize that right away. Do they?”
“I’m not sure, but I think that most people realize it on some level, although maybe they haven’t come to terms with it,” he answered tactfully.
“How long did you date a gay man?” Jess cut in.
“Just a couple of months.”
“And it never occurred to you?” she asked incredulously.
“Well, I’ll admit that I thought it was odd that he was so shy, you know, about physical contact. I didn’t really bring it up though because I didn’t want to pressure him.”
“So you never had any physical side to your relationship?”
“We were affectionate. We held hands and hugged. He put his arm around me and we gave each other little cheek kisses. At the time I had hardly any sexual experience at all so I was pretty naïve.” I saw Cam look away uncomfortably. Braden wasn’t looking terribly comfortable either.
“And what did you do on your dates?” she wanted to know.
“Hung out and watched movies, went out dancing. Stuff like that.”
“Honey, are you sure you were dating? I mean it sounds to me like you were his hag,” Jess said sounding bewildered. I saw Cam and Braden glance at each other and struggle valiantly not to laugh. They were barely holding on there. At least they were kind of bonding.
“I think we were dating. I have to admit that I wasn’t really surprised when he told me he was gay, but I assumed it was something he had just figured out. I didn’t want to push him to discuss it, in case he wasn’t ready.” Suddenly it sunk in. “Oh my God. I had an imaginary boyfriend.”
That one was just too much. They lost it. Those two bastards totally cracked up! Cam turned his head and Braden covered his face with his hands but they couldn’t hide the way their shoulders silently shook. Finally, they pulled it together.
“Just for the record, we’re really dating,” Braden said, catching his breath, which almost started Cam off on another laughing fit.
“I’m glad that you two find this so amusing.” I calmly went on eating my lunch. I was actually thankful for their little laughing fit because it had allowed Cam to avoid answering Jess’s question. I really didn’t want to discuss it at the moment.
We finished up our lunch and Braden kissed me goodbye and whispered in my ear that we would have a private lunch soon. Then he returned to his office and we returned to ours. We worked on through the afternoon and finally at the end of the day, we said goodbye to Cam, and Jess and I headed home. When we got there I stopped at
our box to pick up the mail and we went upstairs.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
We walked in and I was going to toss the mail on the entry table, but something caught my eye; peeking out of the pile was an envelope that was addressed to me in sloppy handwriting that I didn’t recognize. There was no return address. What the hell? I stood there and stared, starting to feel a little apprehensive for some reason.
“Jess,” I called.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, coming over to me.
“It’s nothing big. Just that there’s a letter addressed to me and it doesn’t have a return address. I don’t recognize the writing.”
I ripped it open carefully and removed a note from inside. Jess leaned over to read it along with me. There was a single sheet of plain white paper on which someone had written a short message in the same sloppy script. It said, “You should not be with him. End it now before you get hurt.”
“Who do you think wrote this?” she asked, sounding shocked.
“Well, Marla seems like she may not have both oars in the water and she’s certainly nasty enough. She’s also fixated on getting Braden back.”
“Okay, there’s a good possibility,” Jess agreed.
“Cole was creepy and he was definitely hitting on me. He kept saying that if it didn’t work with Braden I should consider dating him. This letter is so ambiguous. It’s hard to tell if the writer is warning me off for my own good or threatening me.”
“That’s a good point. He could be trying to get you away from Braden. I’d say that’s another good suspect.”
“Then there’s Mrs. Mason, who was giving me dirty looks all evening. She wants Braden for her daughter but I could also tell she just didn’t like me in general. I think she saw me as this interloper in her elite little Main Line WASP community.”
“She did sound pretty evil. It might not be anybody who was at the fundraiser though. There are a lot of strange people out there. Remember that article in the Times you told me about — the one that sounded like a conspiracy theory? What if it’s someone who buys into that stuff?”
“The gossipy magazines that covered the fundraiser in detail haven’t come out yet and I don’t think that the coverage in the papers was very specific. That was really all about the Foundation. So it’s not really public knowledge that we’re even dating. It’s just a hunch, but I feel like it was one of those three.”
“Maybe you should report it to the police.”
“Not yet. I can’t mention that I suspect anybody.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t go around accusing a state representative of doing something like this without any proof, and I think that the Masons are big financial supporters of the Pierce family foundation. I don’t want to risk alienating them based on some dirty looks. As for Marla, her family is wealthy and well-connected and I don’t want anyone to get sued. ”
“Fine, but you should still tell the police. Maybe you should tell your dad, too.”
“It would just worry him and he would want to buy us a Pit Bull or hire me a bodyguard or something. My parents worry about me enough. Actually, I have something else in mind, but I would need your help.”
“Uh oh. I don’t like the sound of this already.”
“Remember I had that forgery trial, the one where I had to hire a handwriting expert?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I still have his contact information. I think that I should hire him to compare the handwriting in this note to samples that I get from all three of the people I mentioned.”
“And just how are you going to get them to give you handwriting samples, Nancy Drew?”
“I’m going to follow them until an opportunity presents itself, but I need your help because they’ve all seen me but they don’t know you.”
“We can’t just follow people around indefinitely. Do these people even live around here?”
“I think that they all live near the Pierces but I’ll verify it,” I said, going over to my laptop. I did a quick search and discovered that Cole’s district was just outside the city and that he had a place there and in Harrisburg, the state capital. Marla had a townhouse in the city and the Masons lived within a few miles of Braden’s parents.
“Marla’s right here in the city. It would be easiest to start with her and the most likely time for her to go out would be on a Friday or Saturday night.”
“So what are you going to tell Braden? I can’t take you to meet my parents because I want to follow your ex-girlfriend around?”
“No. We’re going to need extra help.”
“You are going to tell Braden about the letter though, aren’t you?”
“Not yet. He’s just like my dad. He’ll get all worried and uber protective. He might get himself in trouble by going after one or even all three of the people who I suspect. He might even suspect Cam of being jealous or something and I don’t think it was him.” Suddenly it dawned on me. “That’s it! Cameron can help us.”
“But Marla knows him too. Maybe we should ask Mark.”
“Mark would tell Braden. He’ll be with you, who Marla doesn’t know, and she won’t be expecting to see him. Even if he did run into her though, big deal. He could just say he was on a date.”
“What makes you think he’ll agree to spend his weekends following Marla?”
“I think that he’s bored. That’s why criminal law sounds exciting to him. Did you get his number?” I asked.
“I did,” she said a little sheepishly. “Just in case something happened, you know?”
“What, like the courtroom burned down or something?” I teased.
“Something like that.” She fished her phone out of her purse.
“Call him and ask him if it’s too late to invite him to dinner with us. You can tell him we need to talk to him.”
When she hung up she said that although he sounded surprised, he would be happy to join us. He had a place in Society Hill, another Center City neighborhood which was very near here. I was surprised I hadn’t run into him somewhere sooner. We ordered from a local Chinese place and I ran out to pick it up. By the time I got back Cam had arrived and he and Jess were laughing and talking animatedly. I set the table and we sat down to eat.
“So, Jessica says that there’s something you want to talk to me about?”
“Yeah, I got this letter today,” I said, showing it to him.
“Who would send something like this?”
“I have a hunch that it was either Marla, Cole, or possibly Mrs. Mason.”
“Well, any of them would be capable of it, but couldn’t it be anybody?” I explained my reasoning to him and he saw my point. Next I outlined my plan.
“So you would want Jessica and me just to follow her?”
“I was thinking that maybe you could at least find out what places she tends to go to. Then maybe we could come up with a plan for getting the sample. This would be just sort of an information gathering phase. What do you think?”
“I think it sounds kind of interesting — sort of James Bond.” He laughed. “You’re going to tell Braden though, right?”
“Not right away. I’m afraid he’ll get worried and upset and have one or more of them investigated and that could have all kinds of ramifications. I’m not telling my dad either or we’ll have more alarms in this place than Fort Knox before you know it.”
“I don’t know if I feel good about doing anything behind Braden’s back,” Cam said significantly.
“I promise I’ll tell him. I’m just hoping to have a little something to go on first. I really don’t want to worry him and I honestly don’t feel like I’m in any danger. Public defenders and prosecutors get harassing letters sometimes. I think this is just like that.”
“Well, I guess it’s not like I’m sneaking around with you. More like I’m sneaking around with your roommate.” He smiled. “Okay team, I’m in!”
“Great! Okay, I have the address of Marla’s townhouse. I say that this
Friday you two just see if you can figure out what kinds of places she goes to. Maybe it will give us an idea.”
“You’re going to see your parents?” Cam asked.
“Yeah, Braden and I will leave for New York by train on Friday after work, so you guys will be on your own, but call me anytime. If I don’t answer right away I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”
We finished dinner and Cam hung out for a while longer before heading back to his place. When he was gone Jess turned to me and I had a feeling I was about to be cross-examined.
“Okay, what’s the deal?”
“What’s the deal with what?”
“The whole story with you and Cameron and Braden. I get the feeling there’s more there than you’ve shared so far.” Jess was very observant. It was hard to get anything past her.
“Let’s go get comfortable,” I said, heading for the living room and sinking into my favorite armchair. “Cam and I were friends in college and I had a big crush on him. We wound up hooking up one night and I wanted it to be more but he didn’t.”
“Oh wow. You’re kidding.” I could that she genuinely sympathized.
“And he and Braden had some tension because back when Braden was dating Marla, Cam hooked up with her too.”
“Oh my God! He sounds like he was a total ass!”
“It’s weird but I don’t think he was. I know it sounds naïve, but I honestly think he’s basically a nice guy and that there were reasons for all of his screw-ups. I think that he felt really bad about them for a long time.”
“You always give people the benefit of the doubt.”
“Maybe someday I’ll get the full explanation. I really do think that there is one.”
“So do you think that you’ll all be able to get along now that you’re dating Braden?”
“I think so. I hope so. It was a long time ago and I like the present a lot better than the past. Now I’m going to go relax and watch PBS. There’s a special on about the Bill of Rights tonight.”
“You wild woman. Forgive me if I don’t join you.”
“Don’t forget to stick around for Mr. Davis’ plea tomorrow. I think you’ll be more entertained by that.