by J A Whiting
Abby looked across the room and then turned back to Claire. “Are you with the police?”
“No.” Claire shook her head. “I have a friend who is with the police force, but I’m a private citizen.” She explained how she and Nicole had been involved in helping with two other crimes and why she had so many questions and concerns about Rose. “I found the body. I felt an obligation to find out why Ashley was killed. When I realized that Rose was in danger, I wanted to help her. I feel a duty.”
“I’m worried, too.” Abby blinked fast. “I’m worried about Rose.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“No,” Abby’s voice was timid and Claire didn’t think she was being truthful, but also believed that the receptionist probably felt a duty to protect her friend.
Claire made eye contact with Abby. “Is there anything you can tell me that might help me figure out Ashley’s death and Rose’s sudden … disappearance?”
Abby put her hands in her lap and looked down. “I’m not sure.”
“What about her former partner, Mel Watts?”
Abby’s head snapped up with an angry expression. “I did not like that guy. Rose did him a favor by taking him on. I didn’t trust him. He could be really charming, but he is just a snake in the grass.”
Claire’s heart beat sped up. “Why do say this?”
“Why would this successful guy with holdings in real estate and in construction have an interest in fashion?” Abby’s eyes flashed and she crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive posture. “Really? A guy in his position would act like an intern in Rose’s business? I didn’t buy it.”
“But didn’t he want to expand into other areas? Nicole and I met with him not long ago. We wanted to talk to him about Rose and if he knew how to contact her.”
Abby said, “I bet he wasn’t any help.”
“He said he didn’t know where Rose was,” Claire said. “Watts told us he wanted to enter other fields of business and that’s why he’d been working with Rose.”
“I don’t believe it.” Abby’s facial muscles were tense. “He’s a CEO of a huge company. He’d hire some expert in the fashion industry if he wanted to expand.”
Claire silently admonished herself for not taking that fact seriously and not being more suspicious about Watts’s motivations for working with Rose. “Why do you think he wanted to work with Rose? What do you think was the real reason?”
Abby blew out a long breath. “I don’t know. I told Rose my ideas, but she always thinks the best of people. At first, she thought I was being paranoid.”
“Did she change her mind?”
“Over time, she grew not to trust his ideas or suggestions. She thought his talents didn’t transfer well to her business. When she didn’t want to go along with him on certain things, he got angry. She kept her eye on him and he didn’t like that. Rose told me he was used to doing things his own way and didn’t want to listen to her. She ended the partnership.”
Claire sat up. “Rose ended it? Watts told me he was the one who ended it.”
Abby’s lips tightened into a line. “Watts is a liar.”
“What about Rose’s husband? Is their separation amicable?” Claire asked, her mind working over possibilities.
“Ricky is a selfish, self-centered child. He surrounds himself with good people who save his butt when he makes mistakes. Rose has helped him a lot with money. He is always overextending and Rose bails him out with loans from her business.”
“Have you met Ricky?”
“Never. I have no interest in meeting him. That man takes advantage of Rose’s kind and generous nature. Rose is a thousand times smarter than he is. He’s so successful because of Rose.”
“Has Rose been into the office this week?”
“No, she hasn’t.” Abby shook her head.
“Do you think it’s possible Rose was the intended target of the killer who murdered Ashley Smith?”
Abby’s hand passed over her eyes as she sighed heavily. “Maybe.”
Claire had to ask the next question. “Did Rose have any involvement with Ashley’s boyfriend, Michael Burton?”
Abby looked at Claire. “I don’t know anything about that.”
Claire leveled her eyes at Abby. “Do you know where Rose is?”
“No.” Abby didn’t hesitate in her response.
Claire was pretty sure she did know.
21
When Claire stepped out of the cab, she checked the time to see if the person she was looking for would be there. Entering the upscale South End bar, Claire glanced around and saw the man standing in front of three young women regaling them with some story about his escapades in the city.
Claire had employed Bob Cooney for a few hours about a month ago to break into an apartment in order to save someone’s life. Cooney was thin, fit, and wiry, well-dressed in dark blue trousers and a pressed white shirt that was open at the collar. Several gold chains hung around his neck. In his mid-fifties, the man had dark brown eyes and jet black hair that didn’t have a single strand of gray in it.
A private investigator by trade who didn’t do much investigating these days, Cooney was known to be involved in many shady dealings, but always managed to come out clean. His involvement in things that weren’t quite aboveboard had made him a very wealthy man.
Cooney spotted Claire from across the room and a shadow passed over his tanned face. Caught off guard, he paused, said something to his adoring fans, and walked to the far end of the bar which often seemed to double as his office.
“Wasn’t expecting to see you.” Cooney leaned on the bar and sipped from a small cocktail glass.
“You don’t look too happy about it.” Claire sidled up next to him.
“Got a problem? That why you’re paying me a visit?” Cooney looked Claire up and down.
“Of sorts.” She stood straight, with her shoulders back, and kept her voice even and firm to keep Cooney from trying to intimidate her.
The corners of the man’s mouth turned down. “I don’t think I can help you.”
“You helped me last time I asked.” Claire wanted to add, and I paid you handsomely for it, but she didn’t think that would convince the man to talk to her so she refrained from saying anything about last time’s payment.
“Here’s the thing.” Cooney placed his elbows on the glossy bar. “I don’t care to assist the girlfriend of a Boston detective.”
“Oh, that’s what’s bothering you.” Claire eyed him. “First off, I’m not his girlfriend, we’re friends, training buddies.”
“Is that what you call it these days?” Cooney smirked. “Training buddies?”
“We compete in athletic events.” Claire didn’t know why she felt compelled to explain her association with Ian.
Cooney was about to say something sassy and off-color about “athletic events,” but Claire raised her hand, palm forward. “Why don’t we move away from this train of thought. The last time I employed you, I never said a word to the detective about what we did. I didn’t mention your name.”
Cooney swirled the liquid in his glass. “What do you want this time?”
“To talk. I have some questions I thought you might be able to clear up for me.”
Cooney smiled showing his perfect white teeth. “Information isn’t free, you know.”
“I didn’t expect it to be.” Claire pushed her blond curls back from her face. “How much?”
“Depends on what you need clarification about.”
Claire told him. “A murder. A case of mistaken identity. Does it sound familiar?”
“I don’t know who killed the girl.” Cooney’s brow furrowed and he took a swallow of the alcohol in his glass.
“I’m not asking about that.”
The man raised a questioning eyebrow wondering what she was going to ask about.
Claire said, “I wouldn’t mind knowing who paid the killer to do the job.”
“I wouldn’t want to do your work fo
r you,” Cooney said. “It wouldn’t be right. People need to develop a work ethic, learn to dig for information, put two and two together, use their reasoning skills.” He shrugged a shoulder.
Claire wanted to bop him one. “Do you know Melvin Watts or Ricky Harris?”
Cooney gave Claire the eye. “I know who they are.”
“Watts told Ricky’s wife, Rose Smith, he wanted to learn the fashion business in order to expand into other areas of commerce. They formed a temporary partnership to work together so that Watts could get some experience.” Claire watched Cooney’s face. “The partnership ended sooner than planned.”
“Not surprised.” Cooney looked amused.
“Would you think that Watts had a legitimate interest in fashion boutiques?”
“Watts would have a legitimate interest in anything that made him money.” Cooney drained his glass and raised a finger to the bartender indicating his desire for another drink.
“Wouldn’t he hire someone with strong experience in the field of interest instead of partnering with Rose?”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Cooney’s drink arrived and he picked it up and sipped. The bartender looked at Claire, but she shook her head.
“I don’t think he’d take time out of his other pursuits to work with Rose,” Claire said.
“I think you’d be right.” Cooney smiled at two chesty blondes at the other end of the bar.
Claire moved to position herself in his line of vision. If she was going to have to pay the man for the conversation, she wanted his undivided attention. “Then why would he do it?”
“It’s my turn to ask some questions.” Cooney adjusted his collar and gold necklaces.
“Okay.” Claire waited.
“Why would a guy like Watts form a temporary partnership?” Cooney asked.
“I assume for some sort of financial gain,” Claire responded.
“Why the temporary part?” Cooney pressed.
“Because he would get what he wanted in a certain period of time and then he’d move on,” Claire answered.
“Bingo. You get a gold star.” Cooney moved slightly to the side so he could ogle the women at the bar.
“I had that figured out already,” Claire told the man.
“Okay, then. What’s Watts’s specialty? He runs a real estate investment company, but what is his experience in?”
“I don’t know.” Claire’s shoulder went up in a shrug.
Watts gestured to her phone. “Look it up.”
Claire scowled and tapped at her phone to do a search on Watts. “Finance. He started at a financial company, did fraud investigations, things like that. Then he moved to another company, worked with hedge funds. He left to join a real estate and construction firm. He stayed there for two years and then he established his own company.” She looked up. “So? I knew most of that.”
Cooney rolled his eyes. “You’re supposed to be smart, Rollins. You’ve got a law degree. Think.”
Claire narrowed her eyes. “How do you know I have a law degree?”
“I know a lot of things. Use your reasoning skills, put two and two together. I’ll wait.”
Annoyance bubbled up in Claire’s chest, but if she didn’t play the game, she wasn’t going to get anywhere. She looked down at the phone and re-read the information on Watts. Something pinged in her head. “Finance. Fraud. Watts was doing something with Rose’s finances?”
Cooney cocked his head. “I’ll give you a B+ for that.”
Claire tried to make sense of what she read and knew. Things swirled around in her mind, but she couldn’t grasp the answer. “Do you know what Watts was up to?”
“No. But I’d bet he had his hands in Rose’s cookie jar and if I were you, I’d follow that path and see where it leads.” Cooney picked up his drink. “Now, I must return to what I was doing.” Tapping his finger on the bar, he stared at Claire and she sighed.
“How much?” she asked.
When Cooney told her his fee, her face hardened. “That’s ridiculous,” she fumed.
The man said, “And here is a little lesson for the day … agree on the fee before the work begins.”
Claire made a face. “What if I can’t afford it?”
“Here’s the second lesson of the day … know who you’re dealing with before dealing with them.” Cooney smiled. “I did my research after our last business transaction. I know you can afford it.”
Claire did not like that Cooney looked into her finances and had some idea that she had plenty of money. She would like to know how he found out and who helped him, but she understood there was no point in asking.
In anticipation of Cooney’s high fees, Claire had been to the bank before arriving at the bar. With another sigh, she dug into her bag, counted the money so no one could see what she was doing, and handed it to the man. “Thanks for the discussion.”
“Any time.” Cooney started to saunter away to join the women standing at the end of the bar, but turned back for a moment with a serious expression. “Listen, Rollins, there are some people in this world who don’t think like you do. They’d do anything to get what they want. Anything. In order to figure stuff like this out, you need to think like someone with a twisted, devious mind. Someone who only cares about one or two things … money ... or power ... or both.”
With that, Cooney gave Claire a nod and walked away.
22
Claire and Nicole sat under the shade tree on the patio eating macaroni and cheese with tomatoes and broccoli, green salad, and garlic bread while the Corgis sniffed along the fence and watched a squirrel high on the branches. Claire told Nicole about her visits to Abby Wilcox and Bob Cooney.
“It was pretty clear that Abby is a friend of Rose and I’m pretty sure she knows where Rose is.”
“Abby is protecting her.” Nicole reached for the jug of iced tea and poured some into her glass. “How was our buddy, Mr. Cooney?” The man’s behavior the last time the two friends met with him and his reputation for misdeeds had left Nicole with a bad taste and she preferred never to interact with him again.
“The usual.” Claire rolled her eyes. “He did say some things that made a lot of sense though. He told me I needed to think like someone with a devious and twisted mind.”
Nicole stopped chewing and held her fork in the air. “Even though that sounds really awful, Cooney is right. We need to start thinking like the evil-doers.”
“So what do we do? Pretend we don’t care about anything? Pretend we have no values or morals?”
Nicole said, “I guess so.” Thinking about it, she asked, “How do we start?”
Claire looked up at the inky blue of the darkening sky. “Let’s start with Mel Watts. It doesn’t make any sense that he would want to work closely with Rose. Like we’ve said, he’d hire someone to develop that additional business. So what was he doing?”
“Obviously, it must have to do with money.”
“Right. Was he stealing from Rose?” Claire asked.
“It seems that he must have been.”
“Why pick Rose to get involved with?”
Nicole thought about it. “Maybe he thought he could manipulate her easily? Hide things from her without her finding out?”
Claire asked, “Wouldn’t that mean Watts had to know Rose fairly well in order to think she was an easy mark? He had to know her well to even propose the idea of temporarily working together, wouldn’t he? She probably agreed to it as a favor to him.”
Nicole narrowed her eyes. “Or as a favor to someone else.”
“Rose’s husband? Watts told us he didn’t know Ricky Harris well.”
“We need to think like a deviant,” Nicole reminded Claire. “Is Watts lying about how well he knew Ricky? To throw us off?”
Claire went inside to get her laptop and did a search on the two men. Her face took on a hard look. “Why didn’t we research those two earlier? Look at this.” She turned the screen for Nicole to see, thinking how Cooney told
her to know who she was dealing with before she had to deal with them. “Look at all the pictures of these guys together. There’s even one with Watts at Rose and Ricky’s wedding.” Rubbing her temples, she asked, “Why didn’t I pick up on this?”
“Well, you did, sort of.” Nicole scrolled through the information on the laptop. “You were sure that Watts and Ricky Harris were holding back information from us.”
“Are those two working together? Did they steal money from Rose’s business?” Claire groaned. “I want to talk to Abby Wilcox again. Maybe Rose had money concerns and talked to Abby about it.”
Lady rubbed her nose against Claire’s bare leg and made her jump. She chuckled and reached down to pat the sweet dog. “You want to go for a walk? We missed our walks today, didn’t we?”
“That’s a good idea. It’s a nice evening. Let’s go walk.” Nicole stood up to clear the table. “We need a break from murder and misfortune.”
After loading the dishwasher and washing pans in the sink, the young women got the leashes from the closet and set off with the dogs down the brick sidewalks.
“We’re not allowed to talk about anything related to what’s been going on,” Nicole announced.
Claire agreed. “Did you decide on any of the people you interviewed to work in the shop?”
“Not yet. With the food festival and this case, I feel like I’ve been running in circles. We’ve had an increase in customers since we won at the festival so I’d better get on the ball and hire some new people or we aren’t going to be able to keep up with things.” Nicole stopped to let Bear sniff at the curb. “The gold medals for you and Robby are in and ready to be picked up. I got an email saying the receptionist in Ricky Harris’s office has them.” Because of the first place tie, the organizers hadn’t ordered enough medals for the winners.
“We can go by later in the week,” Claire suggested.
They turned onto the street where Ashley’s and Rose’s townhouse building was located. Claire looked up at the penthouse apartment. “Wouldn’t it be a stroke of good luck if Rose had returned to her place and we saw her in the window?”