Easy Like Sunday Mourning

by Jennie Marts

  Maggie could see the hotel registration desk from where they sat at the bar. “Our friend is in her late twenties, big blond hair, kind of curvy, dresses slutty.”

  Jeremy pulled out his phone and thumbed through his camera roll. “Here, I’ve got a picture of her in here somewhere.”

  Maggie gave him a look. “You have a picture of her? In your phone?”

  Jeremy shrugged innocently. “What? It’s from the Christmas party. Here it is.” He turned the phone to Lori, and she squinted at the small screen.

  A look of recognition crossed her face. “Oh yeah, I totally recognize this chick. She was here last weekend. I remember because she was laughing really loudly, and she was wearing this awful purple dress, and her girls looked like they were ready to pop out of the top of it.”

  Maggie nodded. “That’s her all right. Was she with anyone?” With a guy? One that looked like the guy standing next to me, but without the Jedi cape on? She knew she couldn’t ask. Leading the witness and all that, but she held her breath as she waited to hear Lori’s answer. Her heart sank as Lori nodded her head.

  “Yeah. She was with a guy. Blond hair, not real tall, kinda cute. But, he had that cocky thing about him, where he acted like he owned the joint. And kind of looked down his nose at this place, like he was better than it.”

  Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Skyler? Was here with Charlotte? I can’t believe it.”

  “I can.” Maggie held out her hand. “Let me see your phone.” She took Jeremy’s phone and Googled “SkyVision CEO”, looking for an image of Skyler. Finding one, she enlarged the photo and held it up to Lori. “Does this look like the guy?”

  “Winner, winner, chicken dinner! That’s him all right.” Lori reached for her bag. “If you all keep showing me these pictures, I’m gonna have to get my reading glasses out.”

  “Don’t bother. That’s all we have.” Maggie smiled at her unlikely friend. “You have helped us immensely.”

  “You’re the one that’s helped me.” Lori leaned closer to Maggie. “I’ve got a job interview with your friend on Tuesday. Thanks for setting that up. I’m kind of nervous.”

  Maggie gave her an assuring smile. “Don’t worry. It’s just clerical stuff. Filing and answering phones. I’m sure you’ll do great.”

  Jeremy tapped Maggie on the shoulder. “I think our friend just arrived for his shift.”

  Maggie turned to see another young, greasy-haired kid in baggy jeans and Converse tennis shoes replace the first guy at the hotel registration desk. “We gotta go, Lori. Let me know how the interview goes. And thanks for your help.”

  “Anytime.”

  Maggie and Jeremy approached the new desk clerk. His eyes were glazed over, and he welcomed them with the goofy smile of a true stoner. “Hey, dudes. What’s up? Need a room?”

  What was up with this place? Was a daily supply of happy grass part of their benefit package?

  “Are you Scooter?” Jeremy asked.

  “Yeah, who wants to know?”

  “I’m just wondering if you recognize me?”

  Maggie’s heart sank as the clerk’s face broke into a grin.

  “Yeah, totally, dude. I just saw you last week.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Maggie gulped, afraid to ask the question, but knowing she had to hear the answer. “You saw him last week?”

  Scooter nodded. “Yeah, they ran a whole Star Wars marathon on TV last week. I spent the whole day watching them.”

  Are you kidding? Maggie rolled her eyes and pointed at Jeremy. “No, I mean this guy in particular. Do you know who he actually is?”

  Scooter looked at her as if she were the confused one. “Yeah, totally. I’m not an idiot.”

  Maggie waited. “Well, who is he?”

  Scooter flashed a grin at Jeremy. “Only the best Jedi Knight in history, Obi Wan-Kenobi.”

  Maggie buried her head in her hands. Jeremy put a hand on her shoulder. “Let me try.”

  He took his Jedi cape off and draped it over his arm. “Okay, now I am just a guy. Can you tell us if you have ever seen me in person, here at the motel?”

  Scooter squinted at Jeremy. “Nope. Sorry dude. Am I supposed to know you? Were you, like, one of my teachers in high school? ’Cause I smoked a lot of weed back then, and some of high school is a little blurry.”

  Back then? Like last week? Maggie took a deep breath, reigning in her patience. She was a lawyer and a mother of two teenage boys; she knew how to gain information. “Scooter, do you remember the police coming in and questioning you about some people you might have seen at the motel?”

  He nodded. “Oh ya, totally. Big bald guy, serious cop. He was asking about some chick and her boyfriend that had checked in last week.”

  Jeremy held out his phone with the picture of Charlotte on it. “Do you recognize this woman? Is this the ‘chick’ he was asking about?”

  Again, Scooter squinted at the small picture. Maybe he needed glasses. She could ask Lori if he could borrow hers. “Yeah, that’s her. I remember her.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Jeremy. “She was wearing this tight dress. I think it was like purplish, and it was totally low cut. She had this big blond hair and big…” He emphasized the last “big” and held his hands out as if he were juggling melons.

  “We get the picture,” Maggie snapped. “Was she alone or with someone else?”

  “She was with a dude and he kept looking at her big…” More melon-juggling motions.

  “All right, forget about her big…melons.” Geez, is this all men think about? Maggie sighed and tried again. “What can you tell us about the guy?”

  Scooter laughed. “Hey dudette, settle down. Don’t be jealous.” He eyed Maggie’s snug black tank top. “Yours are nice too. I like the whole Lara Croft thing doing it with a Jedi idea.”

  Jeremy put a hand on Maggie’s arm, holding her back from pulling one of her Lara Croft guns from their holster and using it on this guy. The guns didn’t really shoot ammunition, but she could whap him upside the head with them. And she might have to whack Jeremy too, since he was grinning like a fool, as if he were enjoying this whole discussion.

  And he should. Actually, she should be quite happy too. She should probably lean over and give old Scooter a hug. He had just cleared Jeremy’s name. He had admitted that he hadn’t seen him before and that Charlotte was lying when she said she spent the night here at the motel with him.

  Jeremy was looking at her as if he were waiting for her to catch up. She nodded, and he turned back to Scooter. “So, this dude she was with. Did he look like me? Like regular me, not Star Wars me.”

  “Nah, dude. He was shorter and had blond hair. He was like a little squirly guy who acted like he was a big shot. I remember thinking I couldn’t be too down on him, though, ’cause he gave me a big tip.”

  Jeremy flipped back to the picture of Skyler on his phone and held it out to Scooter. “Was this the guy?”

  Scooter laughed. “Yeah, that’s the little dude, all right.”

  Maggie was not sure what was so funny that this clerk kept laughing about. She guessed the laughter had more to do with the substance he smoked before showing up to work than the substance in the photograph. “Why did you tell the police that the guy she was with had dark hair?”

  Scooter thought for a minute. “Did I? I don’t remember. I guess ’cause I’ve seen her here before and that dude had dark hair.”

  Maggie’s eyes widened. “You’ve seen her before? Checking into the motel, with a different man?”

  “Yeah, she’s been here a few times. I always remember a good set of…” He cupped his hands again.

  Oh dear Lord, let’s not start with the melons again. Maggie pointed at Jeremy. “Has she ever been in here with this guy?”

  Scooter looked up at Jeremy. “Nope. I’ve never seen you before. You’re pretty tall, dude. I would remember you.”

  “Thank you. I guess.” Jeremy turned to Maggie. “What now?”

  Maggie tapped her fin
gers on the registration counter, then held out her hand to Jeremy. “Do you have other pictures of that Christmas party? Let’s show them to Scooter and see if he recognizes anyone else from the pictures.”

  “Good idea.” Jeremy scrolled through the dozen or so pictures he had taken at the office party, showing them to Scooter, and scanning his face for a look of recognition.

  Scooter pointed to one of the frames. “There. That’s the dude. I’ve seen her with him a couple of times over the last several months.”

  Jeremy held the phone up to Maggie and showed her a picture of Charlotte, her arms draped over a dark-haired man. Maggie was expecting to see Jim Edwards, the man she had been dating the last six months. She drew in a quick breath, not prepared for the dark-haired man wearing a goofy grin to be Leonard Finch.

  ##

  Half an hour later, Maggie and Jeremy pulled into her driveway. She reached for her purse, then remembered that she had given it to Cassie to take back to her car. They had left the motel, and Jeremy had insisted they stop at a cell phone store to replace her iPhone.

  As tired as she was, she was glad they had made the stop. She hated being without her phone today. It had taken a few extra minutes for the sales-girl to get it all set up and explain how to load all of her previous info onto the new phone. Then the girl had insisted on taking their pictures, raving about how adorable they looked in their costumes.

  Maggie felt anything but adorable right now. She felt hot and tired and wiped out from the crazy activity of the day. She looked up at Jeremy, who had come around the car and stood holding the car door open for her. He wore the same drained expression that she felt. “Thanks for bringing me home.”

  He pulled her from the car and into his arms. He held her against him in a tight embrace. As tired as she was, the pressure of his body and his voice at her ear sent goosebumps racing down her arms. “Thanks for not giving up on me. I don’t know what’s going on around here, but I know that I don’t want to lose you.”

  Jeremy drew back and tipped her chin up to look at him. “As much as I want to find out what happened to Jim and what kind of crazy scheme is going on, the most important thing to me right now is you.”

  He couldn’t possibly know how much those words meant to her. She had never felt like the most important thing to Chad. He had always been concerned about the house and the cars and the boys. She believed that he loved her, at one time. And he was a good dad to their boys. But she couldn’t remember him ever looking her in the eye and telling her she was the most important thing to him.

  She reached up and touched Jeremy’s cheek. A light stubble had formed after the long day, and she brushed her fingers along the fine whiskers. She liked the way his face looked. His jaw was strong. His nose was narrow and just a little too long. His dark eyebrows framed his brown eyes, and as she looked into his eyes now, all she saw was affection reflected there.

  Could she really take a chance on this man? Return that affection and risk being hurt again? She felt so good being in his arms. So right.

  Especially when he ran his hands down her back like that. And dipped his head to lightly kiss her neck. And…oh forget it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Pressing her body against his and indulging in the pleasure of this moment. Of his mouth. His lips, his tongue. Of his hands pulling her closer to him. Of his hips against hers, the evidence of his want pressing against her.

  Slamming the door behind her, he pushed them against the car, her back against the frame. He buried his face in her neck, his breath ragged. “You are so sexy. I love your hair and the way you smell. And this outfit on you is making me crazy. You are like a video game fantasy come to life.”

  She kissed his neck and nibbled his earlobe, loving the effect she was having on him. “I like being one of your fantasies.” She wrapped her leg around his and teased him playfully. “Do you have any places you want me to explore? Any precious artifacts you want me to check out?”

  Jeremy groaned. “You are killing me. It’s bad enough you look just like Lara Croft, now you sound like her too.” He laughed and pulled his hands back in an “I surrender” gesture. “I think we better stop. Or I’m gonna have to throw you down on the lawn and take serious advantage of you.”

  Maggie smiled. He was probably right. For a second, she entertained the thought of him laying down his Jedi cape on her lawn and showing her his light saber. But her neighbors probably wouldn’t be as excited. Well, that one guy, in the brown house down the street, he would probably love it. He’d come out and take pictures.

  She pulled away, missing the warmth of him, the feel of him already. “You’re right. I should go in.”

  He drew her back once more, kissing her fully on the mouth, one hand tight against her back and the other cradling her head. He completed the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. “Maggie, you mean everything to me. You fill up my thoughts and my dreams. You are always in my head. I think about you all day. I wake up in the morning and can’t wait to call you. And I know as soon as I drive away tonight, I’ll already be missing you. You make me crazy.”

  Maggie closed her eyes. “You make me pretty crazy too.” She pulled back and headed across her lawn. She opened the front door and waved at Jeremy, who was still standing by the car, watching her walk away.

  She sighed as she pushed the door closed behind her.

  “It’s about time you got home.”

  Maggie jumped and let out a little shriek, turning to see Chad sitting on the sofa in the living room, a book in his hand. “Holy crap, you scared me.”

  She put her hand to her rapidly beating heart. “And it doesn’t matter when I get home. You’re not my dad.” Or my husband. Anymore.

  She sank into the armchair across from him and waited as she heard Barney running from his bed in the kitchen to welcome her home. She held open her arms, and the dog jumped into her lap, licking her neck and face.

  She greeted the dog with kisses and coos, then looked up at Chad. “What are you doing up, anyway?” She motioned to the book in his hands. “And since when do you like to read?”

  Chad gestured to her outfit. “Since when do you like to role-play?”

  “Since none of your business.” She laughed inwardly at the shocked look that crossed her ex-husband’s face and took a little satisfaction in surprising him. “But as far as this costume is concerned, it was purely for investigative purposes. We followed Jeremy up to this comic book convention thing in Denver, and we needed costumes as disguises.”

  “I know.” Chad pointed to the loveseat, where her purse sat on top of the clothes she had on earlier that day. “Cassie and Piper dropped by earlier and told us about it. They wanted to drop off your purse, and I think Piper wanted Drew to see her costume.”

  “That was nice of them. Cassie is always thinking of us.”

  “She looked pretty hot in that Wonder Woman outfit. It was a new look for her. I think Matt’s gonna be a happy man tonight.”

  Maggie laughed. He was probably right. Cassie did look pretty great in that outfit.

  Chad wiggled his eyebrows at her. “And that’s a pretty sexy look on you, too. You make a good Lara. Wanna raid my tomb?”

  Oh, brother. This outfit consisted of a tank top and a pair of shorts. But throw on a pair of guns with thigh holsters and men couldn’t think straight. She shook her head. “Uh, no.”

  He gave her a lecherous grin. “I’m around if you change your mind.”

  Time to change the subject. “So, what are you reading?” She ducked her head to see the cover. “Is that our book club book?”

  He shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I heard you guys talking about it and thought I would check it out. I kinda like it.”

  Before she could formulate a response, her new cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and grinned as she read the text from Jeremy: Just made it home. Still thinking about you. Goodnight, Beautiful.

  Chad’s light tone was replaced by one of annoyan
ce. “Get a text from Loverboy?”

  Maggie ignored Chad as her phone buzzed again. Expecting another text from Jeremy, she was surprised when the caller ID read Unknown. A shiver of terror ran down her spine, and the color drained from her face as she read the new message: Keep your nose out of where it doesn’t belong, or you could end up like Jim.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “It was probably just a prank.” Maggie took her new phone back from Cassie after showing her and Piper the threatening message. It was Sunday morning, and the wagons were circling around Maggie. She had called Sunny the night before to tell her about the message and Sunny had spurred the Page Turners into action.

  The front door opened, and Sunny marched in. Edna was right behind her, a huge pink handbag slung over one arm and a pan of her famous cinnamon rolls in her hands. As the heady scent of freshly baked bread and cinnamon filled the room, Maggie’s mouth watered in anticipation of the rolls.

  As one unit, the group filed into the kitchen. Amidst excited chatter, plates and forks were dispensed and cups were filled with coffee. Drew had wandered into the kitchen and was met with a hug from Piper and a plate of cinnamon heaven, a yellow pat of butter melting in the middle of the roll.

  They passed Maggie’s phone around, and each read the message.

  Sunny looked at the display then handed the phone to Edna. “And you called the police, right?”

  “Only after I told her that if she didn’t, I would,” Chad said as he ambled into the kitchen and made his way to the coffeepot. “You guys want me to make waffles again?”

  “No, thanks. Edna brought cinnamon rolls.” Cassie scooped a gooey roll onto a plate and passed it to Chad, who took a seat in one of the bar stools at the counter.

  Both Maggie and her friends were getting used to having Chad around again, and she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about that. But that was a question she would have to ponder later. Right now, they had bigger fish to fry. “Yes. I called Mac and told him about the message. But I got to thinking that maybe we could do some investigating on our own.”