Grace searched for something soothing to say. She had to find out if Ernie Sherman’s ‘chickie’ was Felicia. If so, Felicia had lied to the sisters. If not, there was a fourth woman connected in some way to their husband. In either case, she wanted to be with her clients when she told them.
She settled for, “Don’t do that to yourself. Heath married Felicia without telling you and then abandoned all of you. Whatever the reasons, whether or not he comes back, that’s what he did.”
“I guess it seems that way.”
“Because that’s how it is.”
“Look,” Whitney said with a sigh. “I have to get through today and then tomorrow and every day after that. If I looked at Heath the way you do, I’d just lay down and die. I’m not stupid, or in denial. I’m doing the best I can, and I need your help.”
Cyrus would be furious, and she couldn’t avoid Mac if she continued to work for the Overtons, but Grace agreed anyway.
“Thank you,” Whitney said. “It’s such a blessing to have you to talk to. I have to measure everything I say around Melanie just to keep her functioning.”
“Do you think it’s wise to have Felicia remain in your home after this morning’s incident?”
“Wise? Good Lord, no, it isn’t wise, but I can’t make her leave. Yesterday, we thought the best thing to do was to have her with us so we could keep an eye on her, but we’d never been around her without Heath at least nearby. We’re seeing the real woman now. If she’s mad, she says she and Heath can’t wait to leave us. Then in the next breath, she says we have to fire you, so we don’t look guilty to the police and Lightning Strike. She kept us up past midnight last night talking about new storylines that Lightning Strike might buy if Heath wants out of the film deal. I’ve never seen her like this. She might be on something.”
“Do you mean illegal drugs? Could she be involved with Sawyer?”
“I not sure. I’m so naïve, Hallie had to tell me she was smoking. Even Mel knew that. And I didn’t know Hallie was trying to start a romance with Sawyer and that he was going along with it. Or that he was supplying other clients with marijuana and cocaine.”
“Yeah, about that,” Grace said. “You should keep him well away from your family and tell his uncle as soon as possible. While it’s true that marijuana has largely been decriminalized in Maryland, what he’s doing will land him in prison and cause you no end of problems. If you’re worried Hallie’s involved, I can recommend a lawyer who specializes in that area of the law.”
“No. No more new people in the mix. This nightmare has to end, and we’re not starting over with a stranger.”
They agreed that Grace would talk with both the local and state police. If Hallie was under suspicion, she’d get in touch immediately. If not, she’d call Whitney on Monday with the latest information on Heath.
“Heath promised Mel and Felicia that he would take care of everything,” Whitney said. “I don’t mind doing the heavy lifting while he’s gone, but he should have said those words to me, too. I want my husband wherever he is. I want to bring him home.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Grace used the rest of the drive to make the calls she knew she’d avoid once she got back to Mallard Bay. Some days she regretted the hands-free phone system she had in the car.
She made the easy call first. Desiree Marbury said there was no news related to Heath Overton. The MSP detective was short and to the point with her no information message. Aidan Banks answered the phone at the Mallard Bay Police Department and was just as uninformative as Marbury. Mac was out of the office.
Stymied for the moment, she decided to put all the Overtons out of her mind for a few hours. She’d call Mac later to discuss Hallie, but she needed time to think.
After a quick stop on Kent Island to pick up a few things, she returned to the office but didn’t stay long. She shocked Marjorie by saying she would work from home until Monday. It was petty, but Cyrus had made it clear he could do without her if he had to.
The nausea that had been nagging her wasn’t any worse, but wouldn’t go away. Whether it was nerves, or a bug was hard to say. Between David, Cyrus, Niki, and the Overtons, she was proud of herself for not being in bed with the covers over her head. Which, now that she thought of it, was an excellent idea. There were two things she had to do before she could give in and pamper herself, and she tried not to over-analyze either.
She reprogrammed Nigel with the address of the house David had picked out. She wanted to see it, and at the same time, she needed to pretend it didn’t exist. Mostly, she was ashamed that the man could give her a panic attack from ninety miles away.
“You’ll be double-crossing your legs and twisting your hair next,” she said out loud. The thought of being Melanie Overton’s emotional twin straightened her up.
The house was on a long spit of land that could only be reached by driving east out of Mallard, turning north and then west to circumvent a tributary of the Wye River. The property was only five miles from Mallard Bay, but, thanks to Kingston County’s twisty shoreline with its many inlets, it was a twenty-minute drive from her office — almost enough time to change her mind and turn the car around.
She didn’t turn around.
She was furious with herself and growing angrier every day. She’d drifted back into a relationship she didn’t want because it was easier than standing up to David. And now she had to break up with him — again. If she was going to live the life she’d planned, she had to start acting like the person she wanted to be.
A van came up fast behind her, and Grace realized with a start that she’d slowed to thirty miles an hour. She sped up and gave an apologetic half wave to the van’s driver. As she blew past farmland and large estates, she waited to feel happiness, relief, something. She’d made a life altering decision, but felt nothing. It had taken her much too long to do the right thing.
When she saw the van in her rearview mirror, she said, “If you think my driving’s bad, you ought to be in my head.”
“In eight hundred feet, you will have arrived at your destination.” Nigel’s chipper announcement was even more exasperating than it had been in Baltimore. And he was still wrong. There were no houses in sight, but sure enough, a glance at the map display on the BMW’s console showed a red blinking dot straight ahead.
Despite her mood, she was curious to see the house that David wanted. Shaking her head at her own mixed signals, she slowed as she approached a three-way intersection and realized where she was. Mallard Bay was to her left, Queenstown to her right, and the Wye River would be directly ahead on the other side of the woods. A large Realtor’s sign with a bright red ‘SOLD’ sticker slapped across it sat at the edge of a newly paved road that disappeared through the trees. Grace’s first thought was that someone had bought David’s dream house while they’d been arguing over it, but she knew that wasn’t how it worked. David had been out here with an agent on Tuesday, and the ‘sold’ notice wouldn’t go up until settlement.
She’d felt bad before, but the idea that David may have already bought the property made everything worse. She stepped on the gas and hurtled down the macadam lane.
After two twists of the road, she was out of the woods and facing a wide expanse of water. She pulled the brochure out again and read the fine print. Nine and a half acres. She sat for a while, lost in the realization David had bought the entire point of land along with the enormous house. She couldn’t imagine why he would do that.
A tap on the driver’s side window nearly gave her a heart attack. Felicia Jones stood beside her car, arms crossed, and an unfriendly look on her face. For a moment, they just glared at each other.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Felicia said when Grace lowered her window. The van that had been behind her now blocked the driveway. Hallie was in the front seat, watching them.
“You mean you’ve been following me.” Grace pushed her door open, making Felicia move back to avoid being hit. If the newest Mrs. Overton wanted a f
ight, she’d come to the right place. Once out of the BMW, she mirrored Felicia’s aggressive stance. “What do you want?”
Felicia was off balance but didn’t back down.
“Your secretary told me you were out, but luckily, I saw you drive past us. We need to get some things straight.”
“Really? Here, with Melanie’s daughter?” Grace nodded toward Hallie, who seemed to take the attention as an invitation. In the next second, she was out of the van.
“I told you to stay put!” Felicia yelled.
“I told you to go to hell, but you’re still here,” Hallie said. “I’ll do what I want. And you should know, that ice cream you had to have is melting, but by all means, talk.” With that, she walked past them, and down to the edge of the water.
Felicia clenched and unclenched her fists but finally said, “My stepdaughter is right, we have to go, so I’ll make this short. You’re fired. I told Whitney to handle you, but she isn’t any better at following instructions than the kids are.”
Behind Grace, her cell rang. She grabbed it from her purse, saw the call was from Mac and hit ‘decline’ as she slipped the phone into her pocket. “You can’t fire me. I don’t work for you.”
“You’ve been encouraging Whitney. Telling her Heath’s in danger so she’ll pay you to find him. But here’s a news flash — she and Melanie aren’t in charge of the family anymore. I am, and we aren’t paying you a dime, understand?”
Grace wondered how she could have ever thought Felicia was pretty. She wore heavy makeup, but the bruise on her cheek from Melanie’s slap was still visible. Anger-pinched lines around her eyes and mouth foreshadowed the older woman she would one day be. Would Heath Overton think she was worth it when that was the face he saw every morning? Or would there be a new model to take her place?
“If that’s all you wanted, you need to leave. This is private property and you’re trespassing.”
Felicia threw her hands up in frustration. “Listen to me. We can’t have you spreading the news that Heath’s missing. You’re stirring up the police and that’s the last thing we need. My husband is fine, but he wanted a break from the whining and nagging those two old women subject him to.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“Of course I do,” Felicia said, and then looked over Gracie’s shoulder at Hallie before moving closer and lowering her voice. “He’s taking a few days off, that’s all. But if I tell the sisters that, they’ll fall apart, and Heath and I need them to make the show. Understand? Nobody’s missing. This is just a family squabble.”
Grace was only inches from the car door. Felicia was planted in front of her, hemming her in. “Back up.” she said and stepped forward.
Felicia smiled but didn’t move.
“Why did you lie about Heath leaving you behind in Atlanta?” The shock on Felicia’s face told Grace she was right. “Did you think Ernie would forget you?” Grace went on, pressing her advantage. “He told the police about the woman who was with Heath, and he described you perfectly.”
“That’s a lie.” Felicia was loud, but she sounded far from certain.
“Chief McNamara told me himself.” Grace sent a silent apology to Mac for the lie. “Now, back up and give me some room.”
But Felicia moved in so close, Grace felt more than heard her next words. “Or what?”
A second later, Felicia was three feet away, yelling, “You shoved me!”
Hallie materialized next to Grace, asking, “Are you okay?”
“Is she okay?” Felicia was incensed. “What about me? I’ll press charges — ”
“No, you won’t,” Hallie said. “I saw the whole thing, and she didn’t touch you.” To Grace, she said, “I’ll tell Mom what happened, and I’ll tell her that Felicia’s been lying.”
“I’ll call your mother,” Grace said, raising her voice over Felicia’s squawking.
“Nope, I’ve got this.” Hallie trotted to the van and climbed in. “I’m driving, Felicia,” she yelled out the window. “If you want a ride, get your butt in here.”
“I’m not finished with her.” Felicia said, not looking away from Grace. “Now get out of the driver’s seat, Hallie.”
Appalled at how the situation had devolved, Grace stopped the back and forth by reminding Felicia she was trespassing. When her warning had no effect, she threatened to call the police.
“Grace?” McNamara’s voice boomed out of the phone in her pocket.
Felicia turned and ran for the van.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“I told you not to come,” Grace said.
“And yet, here I am,” McNamara said.
They were on the patio, looking out over the lawn that rolled down to the riprapped shoreline and gently lapping waves. The humidity was high for May, and the temperature was pushing ninety, but the breeze off the water was like a silky caress. It would have been peaceful, if not for the tension between them.
Grace didn’t know what to say. Mac was such a sweet man. A good man. A man who usually made her happy. Today she felt ungrateful and selfish. And angry — couldn’t one thing in her life go right?
“It bothers you that I came out here, doesn’t it?” he asked.
And damn him for always seeing right through her.
“I hit ‘decline’ on your call, not ‘accept.’” Her words came out sharp and angry. “It shouldn’t have connected. Why didn’t you tell me you could hear us?”
He frowned. “Yes, you hit decline, and five minutes later, you called me. I heard a scream and arguing, and you said something about calling the police. I thought you needed help.”
She remembered holding onto the phone in case she needed it. Needed him. And then she’d dropped it into her pocket. She could have accidentally called him at almost any point. “I guess your number was still up on the screen. I didn’t mean to call you.”
It was a lame non-apology, but he nodded. “I was only a few minutes away. It was easy enough to check on you after you gave me the address.”
She couldn’t tell if he was hurt or only irritated, but he wasn’t happy. And why shouldn’t he be? She’d ruined his afternoon. “I told you I was fine,” she said, not able to let it go.
“Understood. Next time, I’ll listen.”
She wanted to say there wouldn’t be a next time, but he deserved the truth. “Yes, it bothers me that you felt you had to come and save me, and it bothers me that I let you.”
“You’re assuming you could stop me.”
Grace focused on the small waves rolling in, slapping the stone shoreline. Take it back, please take it back.
He didn’t.
Hating the nervous tone in her voice, she said the first thing that came to mind. “Felicia Jones ordered me to stay away from Whitney and Melanie. I didn’t cooperate by staying at the office where she could reach me, so she came after me. It was bizarre. She had Hallie with her and groceries. She couldn’t have been planning to visit me, just acting on impulse.”
“How did Hallie react?”
“Most of the time she was down at the riprap, looking at the water.”
The memory of shoving Felicia and Hallie offering to cover for her was embarrassing now. Then she remembered how quickly Hallie had reached them. Had she been close enough to hear Grace say Felicia had been in Baltimore with Heath when he rented the car? Was that why she’d called Felicia a liar?
McNamara interrupted her worrying by making it worse. “You’re right to be concerned. The woman’s exhibited some anger issues today.”
“Yeah. I heard about this morning, too. Whitney called and filled me in.”
“Is that why you’re mad at me?” he asked. “I told your clients I’d wait to question them if they wanted to call you.”
She had to laugh. “You offered to let them call me after you dangled information about Heath in front of Melanie.”
“All in a police officer’s arsenal.” He smiled briefly at her, but the awkwardness was still there.
&
nbsp; “It’s okay. Even if I’d been there, it would have been difficult to shut Melanie up. Whitney said you asked Felicia about Heath, and after she left, you were asking about the fire. Is there new information on either situation?”
“Your clients didn’t tell you about the drugs?”
Grace sighed. “Yes. And about Sawyer and Hallie. If you and the State Police are interested in Sawyer, that’s fine, but no one talks to Hallie without me.”
“Yes, ma’am. Same thing go for Heath Overton?”
“What does he have to do with the garage fire and the drugs?”
“Don’t know, but I’d like to ask him. When he showed up in Mallard Bay that last day, he stayed a few hours, and then disappeared right before we found the evidence of illegal drugs. APBs were issued for the Land Rover he rented and for Mr. Overton. This isn’t a case of a late return, anymore. The lease restricted the car’s use to Maryland, but it was caught on a speed camera in South Carolina over a week ago.”
Grace tried to make all the pieces fit. She needed to tell Mac about Felicia being with Heath in Baltimore, but she had to tell her clients first.
“Are the Overton women hiding their husband?”
She was so surprised by the abrupt change; she looked directly at him for the first time since he’d almost made her heart stop. Shading her eyes from the sun, she tried to read his expression. “No, but nice try.”
“I’m not playing games, Grace. Not anymore.”
He was angry, and she didn’t have a chance to catch up before he changed the subject again.
“This place,” he gave the house a dismissive glance. “This is the property David was talking about last night, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Grace said, grateful to get off the subject of the Overtons. “He’s quite pleased with himself.”
Bad Intent Page 12