Jan thought about the suitcase she had packed, all ready to go. Palm Springs was nice this time of year. She’d buy a dog carrier and get on the Internet to find a casita that took dogs. Simple. Fortified with a sip of wine, she took Roman’s hand. “You asked to meet my family,” she said, leading him to stand before her montage of portraits.
Roman nodded, but clearly, he’d lost some of his enthusiasm.
She forged ahead with her introductions, forcing a cheeriness she didn’t feel while she digested the idea that she and Roman would always keep secrets from one another.
****
“Jazz, you decent? I’ve got your morning coffee,” called Roman from the hallway.
Startled by his voice, Jan set down her appointment book and pulled her comforter to her neck. Coffee?
She swiped her index finger on her tongue and wet under her eyes. Good luck rubbing off mascara without make-up remover. No chance at taming her bed-hair or dabbing concealer on the orangy bruise under her eye. Coffee was more important. “Come on in.”
Roman opened the door, a mug aloft in one hand, eyes closed.
She laughed. “Bring me the damn coffee.”
With a smile, Roman opened his eyes. “Ah, you turn into a punk rocker overnight.”
She pushed her hands through her hair, assessing the damage. “I’ve always been a toss and turner.”
“Gives you an edgy look. Menacing in a good way,” he said, lifting his eyebrow suggestively as he handed over the cup.
Jan watched Roman as she savored her first sips of coffee, her “Um” including how easy it felt to have Roman in her bedroom. Hell, he’d picked her up after a fainting spell and he’d seen her sleeping on the couch…no wonder she felt comfortable in his presence. He stood at the side of her bed, barefoot, in jeans and a T-shirt, his hair still wet from a shower. Boyish. Smelling of her soap. Warm.
He surveyed the room. “You sleep well in my bedroom?”
Jan assessed how her body felt. “Better than normal.” She smoothed the comforter. “Is this a special mattress?”
He sat on the side of the bed, looking smug. “I made sure Bella got you the best. Lots of research went into this choice, mind you.”
“Hmm. Good enough for my bedroom, too?”
“Absolutely. You want the same frame?”
“No. I want light maple in my room with a smooth curved wood bed board that feels good on my spine when I sit up and read in bed.”
He smiled. “Last night you told Frank you hadn’t figured out what you wanted in the master bedroom.”
“I didn’t. I hadn’t.” She looked around the bedroom, realizing where her inspiration had come from. “Not until I slept in this one.”
Nodding he said, “Makes sense to me. Bella and I will take care of the order today.”
She put her hand up to protest, but he hurried on. “You’ve got the Weathers thing and the dog trim with your dad as bodyguard. I know you asked Frank to watch your dad, but let’s have him stay with my grandma, instead. Frank can help Bella clean up the mess the fingerprint guys made while I refine my speeches and take a run to the library.”
“Quite the organizer, aren’t you?”
He shrugged. “Just being helpful. Frank and Bella seem to mesh and I figured you and your dad had to work together today.”
“I don’t want Frank and Bella to furnish my bedroom. I—”
Roman put his hand over hers. “That’s not on their agenda, Jazz. Bella will do it later. Alone.” He squeezed her hand, then withdrew it as if to signal a new discussion topic. “So we give up on Tess altogether?”
Jan’s stomach clenched. “While the General and I wait for Elwood to get trimmed, I’ll try to locate her. I promise.”
Abruptly, Roman stood, his expression cold. “I’ll hold you to it,” he said, but his voice lacked conviction.
****
In between the Weathers event and Elwood’s shearing, Jan jogged over to Pete’s house, to find out the results of the fingerprint analysis. She caught him “supervising” his gardeners, lounging against the corner of his garage while a man with a mower and another guy with a hedger filled the air with grass clippings and screaming motors.
Though he couldn’t have heard her walk up to join him at his post, as soon as she touched him, he smiled and guided her into his kitchen, away from the noise of the machines.
“I’ve got the best landscaping on the street, Janny.”
“Really?”
He glanced toward the door. “Any time I’m home on Thursday afternoon, I stand out here watching over Carlos’s work.”
“And why is that?”
“I’m so glad you asked.” He settled against the refrigerator. “See, I’ve learned the names of the plants in my yard. I know the feel of each species, with or without buds or flowers, and year by year, I know how high and thick each bush has grown.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. I know my yard. If things aren’t growing the way they should be, I grill Carlos. I’ve got him thinking if he can’t keep up with a blind man, he’s not worth a bag of fertilizer.”
“You mess with people’s minds, Pete.”
He shrugged. “I like to keep able-bodied folks on their toes.”
Jan laughed as she pulled Pete in a fierce hug. “I wish I were able-bodied.”
Pete pushed her to arm’s length, his pause along with his gaze, making her think he saw her soul. “Think of fainting as a strength, Janny. A sign of your sensitivity, your empathy. That’s what our maladies teach us. You don’t want to be afraid of situations or people that might make you faint.”
“Roman.”
“Moth to a flame?”
Jan put her fists to her forehead. “Wish I weren’t, Pete. Attracted to him, I mean.”
“But?”
“But I am,” she said, her voice a thread of sound.
“Then get out of here.”
“What?” Jan said, feeling hurt.
“I’ve got to supervise Carlos and you, my dear, need to supervise Roman. I know my plants and my forensics and you’ve got a knack for understanding the dead, darling, so you can certainly figure out a live wire like Rome.”
“But the Barkers…what do I do about them?”
“Thrips.”
“Thrips?”
“I’ve got a little insect called a Thrip that is menacing my Ficus tree. I like my Ficus, so Carlos and I are determined to get rid of that bug. Keep at the Barkers until you’re proud of your work and find out what the problem is between you and Roman so you can fix it. Be a master gardener, sweetheart.”
Jan squeezed Pete around the waist. “You’re tough on me.”
“I’ve got my own problems with the Thrips and Carlos.”
She laughed as she drew away from Pete. “I search for sanctuary and you throw me out with a heavy metaphor and a stern rebuke.”
“Actually, you’re here because of my phone message on the fingerprint analysis.”
“Right. All that mess for nothing?”
“Diddlysquat. No extra prints on your computer. Nothing unusual about the prints on your doors or table, either. Frank or Roman could have filched the thumb drive, but so could someone who was wearing gloves or who was fastidious about wiping off the surfaces he touched.”
“Back to square one.”
Pete pressed his forehead against hers. “Be safe, Janny. The mayor’s people are absent a scruple or two. Rome’s right. Don’t be flyin’ around town alone.”
Jan blew a raspberry before she mimicked his stern voice. “Take risks; but don’t take risks.” She patted him on the cheek and headed for the door. “Thanks for the mixed messages, Pete.”
“I’ll charge you next time,” he yelled as she jogged away.
****
“It’s hard to explain, Dad,” Jan repeated, thinking the buzz of the dog clippers and the smell of antiseptic soap mixed with wet dog hair created the worst possible atmosphere for a serious discussion abo
ut values. Fitting, wasn’t it, that her father had picked Elwood’s smelly dog salon as the place to point out her relationships with men stunk.
The General sat on a plastic chair facing her, looking grim, like his Lieutenant had failed for the second time to lead a charge. “Whatever happened to the old idea of getting married and having children?”
“Sorry, sir.” She said it like a soldier, but added sarcasm. Insubordinate.
“Don’t get smart with me, Janny. Your mother and I warned you twelve years ago when Frank virtually kidnapped you.”
“I was a consenting adult, Dad.” She exhaled. “We’ve been over this before. Why now?”
“Roman. You’re holed up with Roman while I get to watch Frank fume at Bella’s. What the hell is going on?”
Jan held her head with her hands, elbows propped at her knees. The buzz of the dog clippers coupled with her father’s questions gave her a headache.
“No child of mine would ever behave this badly,” he probably wanted to say. Instead of telling her to “shape up,” as was his habit, he seemed primed to tell her to “ship out.”
She hummed in key with the dog clipper’s buzz to calm herself. “I’m short on staying power, Pop. I’m a fainter and therefore, risk averse.” When Jan felt the tears come, she bowed her head.
Moments later, she felt his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Janny. I wish…”
Wiping her cheeks, she faced her father, unable to rein in self-pity. “Might as well give up, Dad. The boys turned out normal. Four successes out of five is a pretty good success rate.”
The General squirmed in his seat and passed his hand over his crew cut. Jan could swear she saw the glint of tears in his eyes. Was he tearing up in anger? Frustration?
He cleared his throat and said, in a gentle voice, “Janny, you’re here and they’re not.”
“So, they have lives…”
“And you don’t?”
“I’m the daughter, the typical caregiver. I’m not busy raising children so I had time to visit you guys. I’ve got the money to pay for plane trips and a loose arrangement with Frank so I could be here all these months. It’s not that my brothers don’t want to spend more time with you.”
The General frowned. “Don’t you dare belittle your efforts, Janny. Just like a liberal, you’re muddling around in gray areas, questioning the hell out of your actions.” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “When your mother got sick, you dropped everything, including your job, to help her. And help me. You’re still here propping me up.” With a shake of his head, he said, “I order you to stop thinking less of yourself for not coming south soon enough or not rising to the top of your company before bailing or not making it with Frank.” He slid to the end of his chair. “You’re too damn hard on yourself. Hell, you even take blame for the stalker that made your life miserable in Seattle.” Patting her hand, he said, “And I apologize for sounding critical about Frank and Roman. The threats have got me jumpy and irritable. I shouldn’t take my worry out on you.”
Someone shut off the dog clippers, so the silence was profound. Stunned by her father’s long speech, Jan turned to look out the window. She wondered how her father would feel when she told him her next stop was Palm Springs.
“I’m leaving, Dad,” she said to the window.
“What?”
She turned to him. “Elly and I are heading south, just as soon as we wrap up the last memorial.”
The smile that lit up his face startled her so much, she touched his hand. “I tell you this and you grin?”
“You bet. Best thing for you, Janny. You don’t need Frank hanging on to one of your legs and me clinging to the other.”
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely.” He squeezed her hand. “Now that you’ve got the house fixed up, I know you’ll visit me sometime and maybe help me out with a client or two.” He winked. “When you come to town, we’ll call up Bella. See if she wants to go out to dinner with us.”
Jan squinted at her father. “Bella?”
Seeming relieved to switch to lighter matters, the General crossed his legs and brushed imaginary lint off his pants. “Bella says you’re testing your wings, but Roman’s still trying to find his.”
Jan couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea of a befuddled Roman researching “Wing Locations” on Google. “He is?”
The General shook his head. “She’s sad you two are out of sync, whatever that means.” He rose, looking expectantly at the door where a shorn Elwood should soon emerge. “I told her you weren’t interested in Roman anyway. Now that I know you’re heading to Palm Springs, you’ve proven me right.” He smoothed the front of his shirt and reached for Jan’s hand to help her up.
“You ready to meet with Tess?” he asked.
She nodded as she stood, but kept her head down, knowing her father would read grief in her expression. The meeting with Tess signaled her break with Roman. She’d lied to Roman about Tess already, with more dissembling to come in the next few days.
“Janny?”
“Yes,” she said, even as her heart clutched. Save Tess. Lose Roman. “I’m sorry, Roman,” she whispered. Then she turned to pull a wriggling Elwood into her arms.
Chapter Twenty
Roman squirmed in his car seat, trying to work some feeling into his butt. “How long does it take to shear a little dog, for crissake?” he muttered as he kept an eye on the entry to “Kittencapoodle.” For almost an hour he’d been waiting for Jan, the General, and the dog. Roman had parked his Beemer next to a Ford 150, the truck hiding him from their view, but allowing him to observe the front door of the dog salon. To cover his true purpose, he drank coffee and worked on Sidney’s eulogy. He hoped he looked like a real estate agent, getting an extra jolt of caffeine before meeting with another client.
“I’d rather research dead people, thank you very much. At least they stay put,” he said to the empty passenger seat. The numbness crept from his butt to his back. What he wouldn’t give for a numb brain. He decided the worst part of a stakeout was it gave a person too much time to think, easily working up a serious funk.
The woman whose body he was entrusted to guard, didn’t trust him.
“You lied to me, Jazz,” he grumbled, practicing what he’d say to her. “Promising we’d meet with Tess together, when you’d already met her in secret. You kept one rendezvous from me. What clandestine activities are on your docket today?”
She’d had her moments to come clean. He’d embraced her, danced with her, drunk wine with her, complimented her newly decorated rooms and stunning gallery of portraits. He’d even surprised her with the spare bedroom and persuaded her to sleep in the new bed. Morning coffee delivered in person.
One tough, secretive woman was Jan Solvang. He’d never worked so hard to curry a woman’s favor, to get her to trust him. Sure, through all his ministrations, she’d smiled and said the right words, seeming appreciative. When he’d brought coffee to her…God, she looked good in bed, all tousled and sleepy-eyed. In repose, she was an angel; newly awake, Jan was the picture of eroticism, pre-ruffled and ready for him.
A dog barked.
He scootched up in the car seat, alert. Sure enough, out came the General, holding the door open for Jan who cradled a decidedly smaller dog in her arms. Shearing complete.
Roman started his car and eased to the end of the coffee shop’s driveway, hiding behind a parked car. Movement on the other side of the street caught his attention. A black SUV roared out of the grocery store parking lot and stopped abruptly at the side of the entryway. The extra dark windows of the car made it difficult to see who was inside.
One person? A man? “What’s he waiting for?”
Jan put Elwood in the rear of her Volvo station wagon. The General hopped into the passenger seat; Jan took the wheel and headed east on Highway 1.
While Roman calculated how far he should retreat to keep Jan from recognizing his car, the SUV rolled onto the road behind Jan. “Shit! Who
the hell is that?”
Roman gripped the steering wheel, forcing himself to wait until the SUV disappeared from view. “She’s safe in her car. The General’s with her. I won’t lose her.”
He looked both ways for traffic, cursing as he tore onto the highway ahead of a car threatening to come between him and the SUV. Punching the accelerator, he raced to spy on his woman.
****
Jan parked her Volvo in a shady spot near the Medi-Quick Clinic, cracked all the windows, and promised Elwood she’d return in ten minutes. The dog, seemingly in the throes of adjusting to his new haircut, gave her a baleful look and a “humph,” then curled up in the seat to sleep.
“And we’re here because?” asked the General, following her to the side of the clinic hidden from Grand Avenue.
“Hi, Tess,” Jan said, holding out her hand to shake Tess’s. “And this must be your brother, Ryan,” she said, turning to the man standing at her side and shaking his hand as well. Jan beckoned to the General. “My father, Walter Solvang. We’re This is Your Life, Inc., together. Both of us need to hear what you have to say.”
Neither sibling spoke. They’d shaken hands automatically. Grim. Tense. Tess wore old jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt, absent make-up and hair askew. Ryan was her match in ragged wear, but a head taller than his sister. Same mousy brown hair; slim, too, verging on anorexic. Jan wondered if they were twins, but knew it wasn’t the time to ask. Standing in a parking lot with two event planners was the last place on earth these two wanted to be.
Tess thrust a sheet of paper at Jan. “You have to sign this before we show you anything.” Tears coursed down her cheeks while she cast furtive glances around the parking lot, apparently looking for enemies. “Read it.”
Ryan handed Jan a pen.
The General leaned over to examine the document with Jan.
“Confidentiality Clause,” “Bring suit,” “Ensure privacy.”
Jan looked at Ryan. “You’re an attorney?”
The man nodded. “We keep the secret between us and you stop the memorial.” He shrugged. “But if you tell, we sue your asses.”
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