“Which is the only reason I didn’t divorce you.”
“You knew all along? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You ended it. There was no point.”
“How did you know?”
Val raised an eyebrow and nodded toward the house. “Judy contrived to casually let it slip. She and Mandy are friends, you know.”
“Bitch,” Mike muttered.
“I’d have to agree with that,” Val said with a coldness in her voice that I hadn’t heard until now.
“It just gives me all the more reason to despise the woman,” Mike seethed through his teeth, clearly convinced that Judy’s crime of telling his betrayed wife was far worse than his crime of cheating on her.
Something else was very clear—Mike and Val’s uncharitable feelings for Judy Green, and, for that matter, similar feelings for his brother.
“All the more reason? What’s the other reason?” Val asked.
“I just meant her going after George when he was married to Marsha.”
“Like Mandy went after you?”
Exasperated, Mike ran his hands through his graying hair. “Mandy and Judy may be friends but they’re very different. She didn’t go after me. As I said, it just happened. And when I told her it was over, she accepted it.”
“And Judy didn’t? Or George never told her it was over?”
Mike’s laugh was contemptuous. “Either way, the guy married her. She got what she was after. And my relationship with my brother has suffered even more for it.”
Val’s smile was slight. She was an attractive woman, not as stunning as Marsha Green or as voluptuous as Judy Green, but definitely appealing to a man’s eye. She wore her chestnut hair pulled back on one side, just as her twin sisters-in-law had worn theirs the other night. Her light makeup enhanced her cheekbones and her blue eyes. Her dress was one of those simple black ones that would fit any occasion. It managed to show off her small waist and accentuate her subtle bust line. It was her legs that men would notice first, I decided, as shapely as her friend Marsha’s. I suspected they both spent an unnatural amount of time at a health club.
“I’m so sorry, Val. When I realized what I’d done, how stupid I’d—” He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “I’m grateful you didn’t divorce me.”
“Are you?” I could hear the sarcasm surfacing in her voice. “Well, you did help out my parents after all, and with the financial mess we’re in and your brother ‘losing’ half our inheritance, I figured it wasn’t the best time.”
“True, but—you’re not considering leaving, are you?”
“I did, for a while. You hurt me, Mike. You really hurt me.”
He reached for her and after her initial resistance, she allowed him to hold her.
“It won’t happen again,” he said softly into the night air. “I promise you that.”
“How can you promise that? You promised to be faithful when you married me. And look what happened. So, how can you be sure?”
He pulled her more tightly against him and pressed his lips against her hair as if savoring the familiar scent of her. “After I messed up, I realized I could have lost you. And sometimes when I see you flirting with other men—I feel sick to my stomach at the thought of you with another man—”
“Sweet revenge.”
“What?”
“I’ve never acted on it, but I sure as hell like making you jealous.” She smirked. “Like tonight.”
“Well, you’ll be happy to know, it worked.”
Val’s smile was smug. “Good. Just so you know, I’m not above revenge.”
“Apparently not.”
I grasped MacGregor’s roaming hand which was dedicated to pretending we were outside in a moonlit garden for a very different reason.
“Ah,” MacGregor whispered in protest. “I was quite enjoying that.”
I feigned a scowl. “Later. We have work to do.”
He grabbed me and held me tightly while kissing me exuberantly on the mouth. I almost dropped the glass of cabernet I was nursing. “What was that for?”
He chuckled. “Solidifying our cover.”
I glanced toward the couple who had turned from hostile to affectionate. “Yeah, right. They’re not even looking this way. So, back to business. Clearly neither Mike nor Val likes Judy Green,” I whispered.
“Despise her in fact. And neither seems particularly fond of George. And as Charlie would say, they have motive.”
“True. So if one of them is after Judy, they wouldn’t mind if George got wounded in the process,” I commented.
“Apparently not.”
I looked beyond MacGregor as we made our way across the deck to the house. “Uh, I think you’d do better on your own with those two.”
“Those two?” He turned to follow my gaze. When he spotted twin sisters, Cat and Casey, he groaned. “Don’t abandon me now.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll stay nearby to protect you. But I’m sure you’ll have far more success alone.” With a chuckle, I walked away. Catching Josh’s eye across the room, I motioned for him to join me.
“Malcolm! There you are!” One of the twins, Cat, I believe, scurried over, her blond hair flowing down across her shoulder just as her sister’s was. It was the blue versus green dress that determined which twin it was, according to Scott. Although not quite identical, they looked and acted enough alike to keep people who didn’t know them well, guessing.
“We heard you were here.” Casey gripped one of his arms while Cat latched on to the other. “Where were you hiding?”
I didn’t hear MacGregor’s response because at that point, Josh had reached me. “Is something wrong, Jenny?”
“I just need an excuse to stand here eavesdropping on their conversation. I nodded toward my twin-smothered fiancé. “And if I’m alone, someone will probably start talking to me.”
“Oh, got it. So, you want me just to stand here with you?”
“Hopefully people will be more likely to keep their distance if we appear to be having an intense private conversation.”
He grinned. Josh loved playing detective. He would make a good one some day. Unless he decided to follow in MacGregor’s other footsteps and become a physicist.
As Josh and I acted the part of mother-son, rather mother-scolding-son, we both kept our eyes on the subjects. Not a pleasant sight for me, but all in the line of duty. It began with idle chit-chat about the party, then moved on to their arrest from which they changed the subject as quickly as possible, but not before inviting MacGregor to a party—hmm, did he really look like the coke-snorting type? And then, rather subtly he managed to maneuver it in the direction of their brothers’ relationship.
“Men are such jerks,” Cat said.
“Not all men,” Casey said as she gazed up at MacGregor. I could have sworn I saw dollar signs in her eyes when she looked at my fiancé. I wondered if they fell for all men who happened to be independently wealthy, or if MacGregor’s good looks and charm had something to do with it.
“As you were saying,” he prompted.
Cat groaned. “Those two have been fighting since they were big enough to stand up.” She giggled. “Not that we were born yet, but you get my drift.”
“It must be difficult to watch your brothers feuding, considering how close the two of you are.”
“It is,” Casey admitted. “Especially recently. But they’ve always competed—big time. I mean, like always.”
“Yeah,” Cat concurred. “It’s like they always wanted what the other one had, you know? If Mom brought home two sweaters for them, they’d wait to see which one the other wanted and snatch that one, even if it wasn’t their favorite. Seriously pathetic.”
“And of course, George, tall, blond, and cocky, always got the girls, so Mike got into sports,” Casey said. “Trying to lure the girls away from George.”
“Did it work?”
“Sometimes. It helped that Mike was older and got his driver’s license sooner. And he’s
big into cars. Became a real car buff to impress the girls. But still loves cars.” Hmm, interesting information, considering that all the attempts to injure or kill his brother and his sister-in-law involved cars.
“He must know a lot about cars.” MacGregor’s mind had taken the same path as mine had.
“Oh, yeah. He’s always fiddling with one of his antique investments.”
“How did your parents handle their competitive nature?” MacGregor asked.
They shrugged simultaneously. Cat answered, “Mom stressed over it, and Dad thought it was perfectly normal, you know? Like it almost made him proud or something.” Wiser and more observant than I would have expected, given my assumptions about ditzy drug abusers.
“Did they favor one over the other?”
“Yeah, Mom’s favorite was George, Dad’s was Mike.”
Where did that leave the two of them? I wondered. To fend for themselves, turn to each other, and eventually to drugs?
“Has it gotten any better since your parents died?” MacGregor bravely asked.
“Worse,” Cat said.
“I swear they can’t be civil to each other for more than a minute,” Casey said. “Only a slight exaggeration.”
“That bad?”
“Put it this way,” Cat said. “Thanksgiving was hell.”
“I can imagine.”
“I mean, I love both of my brothers, don’t get me wrong. We both do.” Cat gestured toward her sister. “But it gets old, you know?”
“Did they ever get along?”
“Better than they do now. But they’ve always tried to show the other one up.”
“Yeah,” Casey agreed. “They give the word envy a whole new meaning. Mike wants George’s looks. George wants Mike’s brains. It’s really sad because Mike is good looking and George is smart too but they don’t see that.” She sighed, obviously weary of her brothers’ endless competition. “But at least before—before Judy came along—they could joke and goof off together too, you know?”
Ah, the same thing that Mike had indicated. Apparently Judy Green had succeeded in putting an even bigger wedge between the brothers.
“But not lately.” Cat shook her head and flicked her long hair back in place over her shoulder. “I mean sometimes they act the part of loving brothers, but the truth is they barely speak except to spit venom at each other. It’s like the only time they get along at all is when one of them is asking the other for advice. But that doesn’t happen hardly ever. George did something to piss off Mike. That’s all I can figure.”
“What’s new?” Casey said.
“Is that how it usually is?” MacGregor’s voice had that soft subtle tone he gets when he’s trying to get someone to continue talking. “Little brother pissing off big brother?”
“Yep, always has been. Mike is the more serious one. George is kind of . . . careless,” Cat said. “Screws up a lot.” She glanced up and I followed the direction she was looking. Straight to her brother’s wife.
Fortunately MacGregor noticed because he jumped on the opportunity to segue into the most important subject—Judy Green. “I must say, I am surprised your brother chose his current wife over his ex-wife.”
Casey laughed as she tightened her seductive grip on my fiancé’s arm. I consciously breathed into my jaw that was suddenly feeling extremely tense. “You wouldn’t be the only one,” she said. “None of us gets it, if you know what I mean.”
“I take it neither of you is particularly fond of Judy.”
“You can say that again. Marsha was okay. I mean, we aren’t crazy about her, but at least she and my brother were good together. Like she really cared about him.” Cat’s offering.
“You don’t think he and Judy are good together? Or that she cares about him?”
Casey shook her head, causing her long blond hair to fall into her face. Quickly she flicked it back over her shoulder exactly as her sister had done moments before. “Judy cares about Judy,” she snorted in disgust. “I really don’t get it. I swear sometimes it seems like they don’t even like each other. She acts the part of doting housewife and all, but really I think it’s just the prestige of marrying an attorney, a Green. You know she was his secretary, right?”
“I’d heard.”
I missed the next exchange of dialog because a couple stopped to greet us. Josh quickly came to the rescue and turned his focus on me. His expression turned from vigilant to chastised in the blink of an eye.
“I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have had any alcohol, but it was just sitting there—” He stared down at his shoes the way a nonbelligerent teen in trouble might. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”
Wow, maybe he had a career in acting, I thought. Of course, acting was often part and parcel of detective work.
Clearly uncomfortable, the couple decided to move on. In case they were still listening, I played out the scene. “You’re darned right it will never happen again. Not if you want to ever come out of your room!” With that I diligently turned my attention back to the conversation upon which we were eavesdropping, after mouthing, “Good job,” to Josh.
“She’s just so—she’s so—,” Cat stammered, finally articulating her carefully-chosen word, “Gross.”
I assumed they were still on the subject of Judy Green.
MacGregor chuckled. “Gross?”
Casey supported her sister’s assessment. Clearly their relationship was the opposite of their brothers’. “It is disgusting the way she wears so much makeup and puts on all that expensive jewelry like she’s showing off or something. And she fawns all over George like they’re so in love. Cat’s right. It really is disgusting.”
“But is that reason to despise the woman?”
Cat and Casey looked taken aback. Too blunt a question perhaps? MacGregor’s expression softened in an effort to encourage them to answer. “It does appear that you both truly loathe the woman.”
Cat snickered. “She’s really hard to take.” Her gaze left him and turned into a glare as she looked directly at the subject of their conversation. Then she laughed a contemptuous laugh. “I don’t know if I’d use the word loathe, but I really don’t like that woman.”
Casey followed her sister’s gaze, looking daggers in the direction of Judy Green as well. “Actually, I feel exactly the same way. Since George married her, not only has George’s and Mike’s relationship gotten worse, if that’s possible, but George hardly has the time of day for us.”
Clearly the twins had a strong dislike of their sister-in-law and no compunction about revealing that fact. I had to give them credit for some of their keen observations.
When MacGregor was finally able to free himself from the clinging twins, we walked Charlie and Josh out to their car and gave them a rundown of what we had observed.
“It appears that the one with the strongest motive is Mike,” Charlie said. “While the twins dislike her, clearly Mike truly despises Judy Green, and his brother is a burr under his saddle, to say nothing of his having money problems. They didn’t say more about that?”
“No,” I said. “Val just referred to a financial mess they’re in, and she is well aware of George’s having lost or ‘misplaced’ a great deal of their money.”
“Which gives her ample motive as well,” Charlie said. “I’ll look into their financial situation first thing tomorrow.”
“What did you observe, Charlie?” MacGregor asked.
“The animosity between George and Mike, more from body language than conversation. They were avoiding each other.”
“I can’t imagine what their Thanksgiving was like,” I said.
MacGregor raised his eyebrows. “A harrowing experience to be sure.”
“Why do they even do it?” Josh asked. “If they hate each other so much, why do they do things together?”
“Good question,” I answered. “Maybe they’re trying to live an illusion—happy family, loving siblings, and all that. Anything else, Charlie?”
“M
arsha—”
“What about her?”
“I know you don’t think she’s behind this, Jenny, but I felt compelled to at least observe her.” Rightly so. He was a detective and could ill afford to make any assumptions as I was sometimes prone to doing.
“And what did you observe?”
“She did an excellent job of acting the part of contented date. But clearly she’s still in love with her ex-husband.”
“Too in love to hurt him,” I said.
Charlie shook his head in disagreement. “Never underestimate the wrath of a woman scorned.”
“You’re right, Charlie. I just don’t—Okay, I will not cross Marsha off my mental list of suspects.”
“That’s a lass. So, we’ve established one thing. Basically everyone in the Green family dislikes Judy Green.”
“And we’re no closer to figuring this out than we were an hour ago.”
Charlie’s smile was impish. “I have faith in you, darlin’. You’ll figure it out.”
“Why me? You three were here tonight as well, observing our band of suspects right alongside me.”
“Because I have more faith in you?”
I glowered at him. “Thanks a lot, Charlie. Aren’t you concerned that my intuition has run amuck lately? Or at least my willingness to trust it has. Or is this just your way of dumping it in my lap?”
He shrugged past my frown to hug me. “Take some time, Jenny luv. While I go off to toot my trumpet, you go watch the Green family a wee while longer. And by morning, I suspect you’ll have a clearer picture.”
That was true, at least most of the time. Only this time I had a very uneasy feeling that morning might not come soon enough.
Chapter 15
We slept in. We had earned it. It wasn’t something we did often, but after listening to The Covenant Stompers into the wee hours, we had indulged.
I didn’t usually stay that late to hear Charlie play, but Josh had joined the band, and proud surrogate parent that I was, I did not want to miss a set, particularly when he was the featured sax soloist. And once Holly and Matt had joined us, I found myself thinking I could live right there on the old oak bench of that pub booth forever. When Holly had curled up beside me and rested her tired head against my shoulder, I was ready to call The Shamrock and Thistle home. For me, it was the highlight of her visit. And thus we had stayed out far later than usual, and as a result we had slept in.
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