Running on Envy

by Felicity Nisbet

  Greg closed his weary eyes for a moment. This time he did grasp Charlie’s intimation, and he could not avoid it, at least not gracefully. “If you’re asking if I’m jealous of their relationship, the answer is no. I’m happy they have each other.”

  “Is there anyone you can think of, any of their friends who might act like a friend, but is in truth envious or jealous of them?”

  “No one.”

  “Well, if you can think of anyone, it would be very helpful.”

  Greg nodded and took a long sip of his strong coffee as if that would fortify him. He needed all the fortification he could get. I knew what was coming, even if he didn’t.

  “Have you been in the Elliots’ home before, Greg?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Often?”

  “Yes often. We’re friends. And my daughter lives here.”

  “And their garden? Have you been in their garden?”

  “Of course I have. What is this about?”

  It was Shelby who stood up to face Charlie with a demeanor I had not seen before. When she spoke, it was with a resolve I would not have expected from her. “Mr. McNair, my ex-husband did not do this. He would never do this. I assure you that Greg would not do anything to harm us. You can stop treating him as if he’s a suspect.”

  Charlie backed off. Charlie McNair rarely backed off. I knew where his thoughts had gone. The same place mine had. The Elliots believed in Greg Rallings’ innocence so strongly that they had left his name off their list as they would any member of their family.

  Chapter 7

  “Odd,” Charlie said as we made our way back across the street.

  MacGregor was walking toward us. “How’d it go?”

  “It was a wee bit odd,” Charlie said again.

  “What was—?” MacGregor asked.

  “One minute, laddie.” Charlie put his hand up to stop us from talking, turned, and walked over to the group of reporters who were sipping coffee, rubbing their arms, and marching in place in an attempt to stay warm in the cold November drizzle.

  He quickly announced that the family of the missing baby was putting up a reward for fifty-thousand dollars. Several questions were asked, but Charlie dodged them well.

  “Fifty thousand?” MacGregor asked me.

  “The Elliots only have twenty-five thousand readily available. Greg Rallings is putting up the rest.”

  MacGregor joined Charlie in his sparring with the reporters. “One-hundred thousand,” he said softly.

  “You’re certain, laddie?”

  “Aye, I’m certain.”

  Charlie announced the increased amount and side-stepped any other questions, particularly the ones that related to who he was and how he was involved.

  “A concerned neighbor,” was all he said as he and MacGregor walked away from the news-hungry troops.

  “So, tell me what’s odd,” MacGregor said as we hurried across the street.

  I took his hand as we walked.

  “Their relationship. It seems a bit unusual for a divorced couple. The three of them are truly close.” Just as Scott had implied when I’d seen him at the Greens’ party. “What about you? Did you discover anything?”

  “I talked to Maureen. She told me that Jillian used to like Carter a lot. Adored him in fact, as she might an uncle. He and her dad are best friends. But once her mom married him, she changed toward him. She said she doesn’t mean to be like that. She just can’t help herself. It bothers her to see him with her mom.”

  I supposed that was understandable. Maybe. In some cases. It was different in my daughter’s case. Her mother had every right to be with another man. Her father had cheated on her mother after all. That thought caused me to wonder why Jillian’s parents had split up. It was something my curiosity would undoubtedly pursue.

  “Did she say anything about the relationship of the three adults? Anything that would cause us to believe that Greg Rallings envies the couple their happiness?”

  “She’s only met Greg a couple times, doesn’t really know him which means that most of her information comes through Jillian. She didn’t get the feeling that there’s any jealousy among them at all. It almost sounded as if Jillian wanted her father to be angry and jealous and to fight for her mother. But now she seems to have reconciled herself to the fact that it’s not going to happen, and that Shelby and Carter are together for the duration.”

  “He certainly seems devoted to her,” I said. “But then they both do.”

  “What about at the park?” Charlie asked. “Any insights?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know why I keep going back there. I suppose I’m trying to figure out how the runner gained so much distance on me.”

  “Because you think this will be helpful to the case?” Charlie asked. “Or are you simply attempting to soothe your shattered ego?”

  MacGregor reached around me to punch Charlie in the arm. When I looked up, I noticed Matthew’s car parked in Charlie’s driveway. My stomach tightened, and I scolded myself once again for letting my sprite of a daughter strike fear in the heart of a grown woman.

  MacGregor squeezed my hand tightly, then released it. Why throw our relationship in Holly’s face?

  Charlie was the first one inside. Matt immediately came over to give me a hug. He reached for MacGregor’s hand to shake. Normally he would have hugged him, but he was being sensitive for his sister’s sake.

  Since my daughter wasn’t budging from the kitchen doorway, I closed the distance between us. She accepted my hug with a soft one of her own. “Did you sleep okay, honey?”

  “Yeah, fine. Where have you been?”

  “We were working on the kidnapping case.”

  “Of course. Did you learn anything?”

  “A little. I would have come in to see you but you were still sleeping.”

  She shrugged. “No biggy.”

  I could sense MacGregor behind me now. I stepped out of the way so he could greet Holly. He reached out and hugged her. “Hello, lassie. It’s good to see you.”

  No flinch. No cringe. No shying away. Not as bad as when Carter had hugged Jillian, I thought. Holly allowed him to hug her for all of three seconds, and then simply turned and walked away. MacGregor’s eyes met mine and he winked. No wounded ego here. Only patience and support.

  She opened the refrigerator door as if she were looking for something, but I knew perfectly well that if Matt took her to her favorite diner, she would have indulged in extra-thick sourdough French toast stuffed with a cream filling and covered with blueberry syrup and a mocha with whipped cream—something she did on rare occasion. But it assured that she would not be hungry for a week. Or at least until Thanksgiving. Closing the refrigerator door, she went in search of the tea kettle to keep herself occupied.

  “Put on enough water for all of us, lassie,” Charlie said. “I’ll make my special brew of tea.”

  Holly groaned. She knew what that meant. We all did. It would be thick enough to hold a spoon upright. Still, she filled the tea kettle as her grandfather had requested. Then, she turned around and looked up at MacGregor and me as if she had only now realized we were still standing there.

  “So, now that you’re getting married, are you still going to call each other by your last names?”

  Okay, it wasn’t exactly the question either of us was expecting. We looked at each other and smiled. MacGregor answered. “I think we’ll play that one by ear.”

  She raised an eyebrow in a look of disdain.

  Charlie came to the rescue. “Grab that tea off the shelf, will you, Holly luv?”

  Holly again did as her grandfather had requested. After handing him the tea, she looked up at us with a big smile on her face. “So, where’s this new kid of yours?”

  “Josh is still at the college fair where we were this morning.”

  “A college fair?” College men. Suddenly her interest was peaked.

  “Aye, we believe the kidnapper is a student there.”


  “So you’ve put this kid to work for you?”

  “Josh enjoys it.” Once again I emphasized his name.

  “What about your new dog I keep hearing about? Where’s he?”

  “Rocky is at MacGregor’s. Would you like to meet him?”

  She shrugged as if it didn’t matter but I knew the truth. She was crazy about dogs. Joe’s refusal to allow a dog in the house was one of the few issues she’d had with her father during her youth. I looked up at MacGregor who winked again and headed for the door. Maybe Rocky would provide safe territory. He was, after all, part Bernese Mountain dog and wasn’t their country of origin Switzerland? We could use a neutralizing influence about now.

  By the time the tea was made, poured, and served, Holly was sitting on the floor with an oversized black, white, and caramel colored furry head in her lap. At least someone had managed to win over my obstinate daughter. Or provide her with the comfort she needed. But it went both ways. Every now and then, a contented sigh emanated from Rocky’s large body.

  After fifteen minutes of attempting to draw Holly into a conversation about classes, college atmosphere, boys, dance, clothes, and even the weather, we gave up. Despite my feeling guilty for discussing a case on her vacation time, I followed Charlie’s lead. She didn’t seem to care.

  MacGregor’s cell and Charlie’s doorbell went off at the same time. Josh was ready to be picked up. Jack and Rochelle came to report in to their old university instructor.

  When Matt volunteered to pick up Josh, Holly jumped up and went with him. Apparently anything, even meeting the new “kid” in the family, was preferable to hanging out with her mother and her mother’s fiancé. I had to admit that the energy in the room cleared noticeably upon her departure.

  “No fingerprints on the stroller, other than the family members’,” Jack was saying. “Not that we had expected any. Could you see if the kidnapper was wearing gloves?”

  MacGregor shook his head. “He was too far out in front of me.”

  I closed my eyes for a moment, recalling the scene. Even as I was helping Shelby up, I had looked at the two men running. “His arms were in front of him. He was cradling the baby.”

  “What are you saying, lass?” Charlie always noticed when I was in a dazed state.

  I released my breath and blinked hard a couple times. “That he was cradling the baby against his chest. Because he didn’t want anything to happen to her.”

  A common sigh seemed to be released into the silence. The kidnapper cared. Ally was still alive. Ally was being well cared for. Whether the kidnapper had taken her for ransom or because he was hired by someone who wanted a baby, she was safe. At least that’s what my fourth and sixth chakras were confirming.

  “That’s encouraging, Jenny,” Rochelle said. “I doubt it will be information we’ll relay to Blaine, but it makes me feel a helluva lot better. I’ve seen too many violent endings to these kidnappings.” Rochelle didn’t know me that well, so I had to assume that Charlie had told her about my intuition being accurate more often than not.

  “Have you learned anything else?” Charlie asked.

  “The footprints are from athletic shoes, running shoes to be specific.” Jack told us what MacGregor had already concluded.

  “So, is Blaine focusing on the track and field team more?”

  “Not yet. He thinks any of the athletes could be good runners as well.”

  “True,” Charlie said. “Better that you cover more people than too few.” That fact also allowed us to concentrate on the few.

  “Between us, Rochelle and I have personally questioned all the runners. Several of their alibis have checked out for that morning. We’re down to fourteen who all claim they were out running that morning. Unfortunately no alibis. Other than a weak one from a couple guys who were running together.”

  If they could trust those. Still, definitely more manageable. “Sweatshirts? I assume they all own at least a hooded one?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Rochelle said. “They all have one hooded and one non-hooded.”

  MacGregor took their list to compare to his list of middle distance runners. “That puts us at seven,” he said, explaining his event theory. But probably best to keep long distance runners in there as well so that bumps us back up to eleven.”

  I was happy to see that Jack and Rochelle had marked their list accordingly, far more respectful of our theories than Ben Blaine would have been.

  “What about the ones who supposedly went home for the holiday early?” I asked.

  “All of their schedules and flights check out. Those six are the only ones who don’t live locally or driving distance.”

  “What about the three who claimed to have been sick?” MacGregor asked as he went into the kitchen. “Coffee?”

  Rochelle and Jack readily accepted. No donuts in the house, but there were likely to be scones, considering that I had brought over a homemade batch two days ago. MacGregor read my mind and found them in the refrigerator. He set them on a cookie sheet and set the oven on a low heat to warm. The advantage of marrying a bachelor who had survived a kitchen on his own for many years.

  “The three all claim to have slept in. Two hung over, one sick.”

  “Did you believe them?”

  Jack looked at Charlie. “You should probably talk to them. Two clearly were hung over, the third didn’t look too bad. Claims he was sick. No alibis for yesterday morning.”

  “Distances?” MacGregor asked.

  “They all fit into middle or long distance,” Rochelle said.

  Charlie pulled his list of names from his pocket and added some notes. We were making progress. Thanks to MacGregor and Jack and Rochelle, a lot more than I had expected to at this point.

  “And the lad who left the event early because he injured his hamstring?” Charlie asked.

  “His roommate says he was in their room until late morning. It’s always hard to trust friends’ alibis though. Most of the other kids have more than one alibi, someone who saw them at the library, in class, that sort of thing. But we’re inclined to believe him. He did go to the college infirmary to get some ice packs, so at least we know that part was true,” Jack said.

  “Blaine thinks this was a very well thought out kidnapping,” Rochelle said. “He’s still convinced that the Elliots were involved.” She shook her head in wonder. “But at least he’s keeping a somewhat open mind.”

  “There have been several kidnappings on the West Coast in the past six months. It could be a baby selling ring.” Jack sighed and I knew he was thinking about his boss. “But you know Blaine. Once his mind is fixed on something, it takes a lot to budge it.”

  “And that something—or someone—is Shelby Elliot,” Rochelle said.

  Charlie rolled his eyes.

  “He keeps pondering whether it was a real kidnapping or just staged to look like a kidnapping,” Jack said.

  “One of his favorite things to remind us of is how many crimes are really just staged to look like crimes,” Rochelle added.

  Considering how many insurance fraud cases Charlie had solved, he knew all about that.

  Charlie and I took over serving the coffee and scones as MacGregor shared our theory about the kidnapper intending to run straight for the street but upon seeing us, he took off running the other way. Both Jack and Rochelle believed that to be significant and if nothing else, it told us that the runner had escaped to the street through the Elliots’ yard because he knew the property. He knew them. It was not a random kidnapping. Again they thought Blaine would not find this information helpful. We were grateful they did. But then, they were Charlie’s protégés.

  Before we finished our afternoon snack, Matt and Holly returned with Josh. Holly’s laughter filled the air as they walked up the front porch stairs to Charlie’s. So someone besides Rocky had won her over. Of course, Matt and Josh had already established a brotherly bond which was certain to influence her, if for no other reason than that she did not want to be left out.
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  The three of them sprawled across the floor in front of the coffee table. I wasn’t sure if that was because the majority of the furniture was already covered or because it gave them a straight shot at the homemade scones.

  We brought Rochelle and Jack up to date on what we had learned that morning and where Josh had spent the day.

  “Did you make any further discoveries?” MacGregor asked Josh.

  He finished chewing his oversized bite of the raspberry scone and swallowed. “Actually I did. There’s another guy you might want to check out.” He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. “Name is Jeff Palmer. He was on the team until a week ago.”

  “What happened?”

  “Academic probation. He was suspended from the team. The guys kept talking about it ‘cause it sounds like he’s one of their fastest runners.”

  “What distance?” MacGregor asked.

  “I think they said fifteen hundred meters.”

  “We’ll check it out,” Jack said.

  “Yeah, ‘cause I mean, even if he’s not going to the school now, wouldn’t he have the same sweatshirt and running shoes and everything?”

  “Yeah, he would.” Jack looked from Josh to Charlie as if to ask if simply living with the detective had influenced the boy’s ability to think like one.

  I gazed down at my “new kid” affectionately, smiling when I saw the three of them grab for the last scone at the same time. Matt, who was in the middle, was the winner, but the smug look on his face quickly vanished when Holly from one side and Josh from the other, snatched their fair share directly from his hand.

  After Rochelle and Jack left, Charlie said, “I have a hunch that as soon as possible we need to check out these three lads who claimed to be out sick.”

  “Particularly considering that they’re all middle or long distance runners,” MacGregor said.

  “We’ll let the police check out the lad who is out on academic probation first, and if his alibi doesn’t pan out, we’ll pay him a visit as well.”

  “Was it helpful?” Josh’s eyes were open wide.

  “Very,” Charlie said. “Exactly the kind of information we’re looking for. Was there anything else you overheard that might be useful?”