"Thanks. This is my assistant, Lexi. She just started so she won't be much help to you," Mitch explained, probably pre-empting any moves to interview me.
"That so?" Maddox took his coffee, his face unreadable, as he glanced up at me.
"My last assistant was Jillian Connor. I'm sure you've heard," said Mitch, his eyes fixed on the officers like I didn't matter. “That is why you’re here?”
"Jillian Connor is part of why we're here," agreed Hennessey. "We're investigating the possible disappearance of her sister, Roxanne."
Mitch nodded as he rocked back in his chair. "She works on base but she’s in catering. I haven’t heard anything about a disappearance. Have you met Roxanne yet, Lexi?"
"I don't know her," I said, which was semi-truthful.
"Did you know the deceased?" Maddox asked, careful to keep his face impassive. "Jillian Connor?"
I shook my head and held still. "No. She passed away before I started."
"You haven't been on base long?" He sipped his coffee and watched me with raised eyebrows. Hennessey apparently thought nothing of it. I was just an office administrator to him.
I held back the scowl. Maddox was testing me and he knew it. "Just a week." I passed the cup to Captain McAuley, who took it with a nod.
"Like I said, Lexi's new," Mitch cut in.
Maddox continued. "Did you happen to see Roxanne Connor around base? Perhaps you saw her in passing? She's about your height. Brown hair."
"Um, I don't know, maybe. There was a Roxanne who came by the office a few days ago. Could be the same one. Ruth would know, only she just stepped out." I kept it simple as my heart pounded. Clearly, he'd got Garrett's message. I was glad about that. I wonder if he knew it came via me, or if Garrett made up some story about a tip. Maybe he stuck it on an informant.
"We're investigating a report that she was kidnapped in downtown Chester last night."
"That's terrible." I feigned surprise.
"We got an anonymous tip."
I shrugged.
Maddox continued, "We think she was snatched on her way home."
"Scary."
Maddox opened his mouth like he was going to ask another question, waiting for me to slip up, so instead, I jumped in. "Is she okay?" The “d” word was too sad to contemplate, but I had a feeling that things weren't looking good for Roxanne. What the hell could the sisters be involved in that culminated in one being killed and the other kidnapped?
"We don't know. We haven't found her yet."
"Well, I hope you find her." I edged backwards, tray in hand, towards the door. Maddox's narrowed eyes watched me leave. He lifted one hand to stroke his jaw in the way he did when he was really, really cross.
"There are plenty of cameras around the area where she was reportedly kidnapped. I'm sure we'll get something interesting off the tapes." His voice had a warning tone in it.
"Uh, good luck?" My voice pitched higher as I edged out and shut the door softly, feeling sick. It hadn't occurred to me that there might be tapes. On the plus side, this was good because maybe the tapes picked up something that could help the police find Roxanne. On the down side, maybe I was on the tapes too, and within a day, Maddox would be able to confirm what he already suspected: that I hadn't resurrected my career as super temp and was, instead, working a job.
"Coming to lunch, Lexi?" asked Gretchen, pausing by the metal filing cabinet.
"Just going to finish this," I said, holding up the papers.
"Want me to bring something back for you?"
I darted a look over her shoulder. Mitch was talking and Hennessey had opened a notepad, his pen poised over it. "No. I'll get something later. Thanks."
"No problem." Gretchen walked away with Denise, leaving me alone in the office. I watched the detectives through the interior window while pretending to file, wishing I could read lips. After a while, they all stood, shaking hands again, and Mitch showed them out before shutting the door. Hennessey nodded to me as they left and Maddox shot a scowl at me, which I returned belligerently, relieved that he exited the building.
Grabbing my cell phone, I fired off a message to Solomon, telling him Maddox had been here on official business. As I hit “send,” I saw Mitch pick up his desk phone and jab at the numbers, turning to look out the window.
A couple minutes later, my least favorite detective was back. He walked through the reception desk swinging door, right up behind me and I stiffened. Skidding my chair back, I stood, straightening my spine and raising my chin defiantly.
"You've got some explaining to do," he said in a low voice, despite the empty office. He jabbed a finger at the door. "My partner is out there thinking I'm a klutz for letting my cell phone fall out of my pocket, so make it quick."
I held my ground. "I don't have to explain anything to you."
"Sure you do. You message me that photo, don't return my calls, and apparently leave town. Then, surprise, surprise, I find you popping up during an investigation. I don't know which question I want answered first!"
"Pick one."
"Fine. Are you really temping?"
I cut a glance at Mitch. He was still on the phone, his body turned towards the window, his back to us. "Yes and no," I said.
"Which one?"
My eyebrows pinched together as I gave him an apologetic shrug. "More towards the no."
"I knew it. What are you working on?"
"I can't tell you."
"Is it anything to do with Jillian Connor's death and her sister's disappearance?"
I gulped.
"I knew it! That vein is pulsing in your temple. What do you know?"
"What do you know?" I countered, thinking about Botox. Was it time to lose the facial emoting? Was that how Fletcher always looked stony?
"I know that you shouldn't be anywhere near a police investigation!"
"Says who?"
"Me!"
"Yeah? Well, you and whose army?" I asked, the irony clicking.
"Me and the goddamn police, that's who!" Maddox threw his hands in the air in exasperation as he half turned away from me. When he turned back, he planted both hands on his hips, giving me a nice view of the gun holstered on his belt. I was fairly certain he wouldn’t shoot me.
"You're not here about Jillian's murder," I pressed. "You know the military police are handling that."
"Apparently, you do too."
"What's so interesting about Jillian and Roxanne to you?"
Maddox narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to tell you that. It's confidential."
"Fine. Though if you shared, maybe we could help each other." I crossed my arms.
"Is Solomon here?" he asked.
"Yes." From the periphery of my vision, I saw Ruth across the street. She looked for traffic before stepping onto the road. "In about one minute, this office is going to be full. You need to go before you blow my cover."
"Jeez! I should be blowing your cover by ordering you off base!"
"Yeah, like that's gonna happen." I smirked.
"You know Roxanne Connor was abducted at gunpoint in Chester?"
"Dangerous neighborhood?"
Maddox's jaw thrust forward, setting the way it did when he was frustrated. Abruptly, he changed topics. "Answer me this, what do you think was going on in that photo you sent me? The one where you said we were over?"
"I think that's obvious." I glanced over his shoulder. Ruth had disappeared from view briefly. In thirty seconds, the doorbell would ring.
Maddox stepped closer, bearing down on me, his body close enough to mine that if I flexed my fingers, I would probably touch his. I didn't want to. I wanted to. Argh. "Did it occur to you that I was still undercover?" he asked.
"Yeah. Whose covers?" I snipped.
"Undercover, undercover."
"Yeah, well, you looked like you were having a pretty good time. Kissing. Hand on the thigh, wasn't it?" I looked away. I was afraid I was going to start shaking. The memory of sitting in the car, watching them like a sta
lker, punched me in the chest.
Maddox opened his mouth just as the door opened, bringing in a burst of chatter. "It's not what it looked like," he said in a voice so low, only I could catch it.
"Go away," I hissed under my breath.
"Everything okay, Lexi?" Ruth asked me as she sidled past to her desk, sliding her purse off her shoulder. She had a man with her. Dumb and blond, Denise had called him. Otherwise known as Sergeant Hoag, Gretchen’s new boyfriend.
"Yes. All fine. Thanks!" I smiled, turning my eyes back on Maddox. He didn't wilt. "If you just follow those instructions, you'll get to the exit fine," I said, a little louder.
"Thanks," Maddox replied through gritted teeth, but he didn’t blow my ruse. He turned around and stalked off.
I sank into my chair, wishing I could curl into a ball as the doorbell rang again, this time announcing Maddox's exit. For all my defiant posture, and calm speech, seeing Maddox made me want to cry. "It's not what it looked like," I repeated to myself under my breath.
"What's that?" asked Ruth.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself." I flashed a smile at her and Hoag.
Maddox’s words echoed in my mind. If it wasn't what it looked like to me, what was it? It had looked pretty obvious. It also looked pretty obvious to Lily when I showed her the photo, too. And it had stayed pretty obvious for the whole time intervening. Except… what if I'd gotten it wrong? I gave myself a mental shake. No mind games. No second guessing myself. Catching him with another woman hurt. I certainly didn't want to hear him wheedle out of it.
But a part of me still fastened on Maddox's quiet claim that it wasn't what it looked like.
What if I had gotten it completely wrong?
What if he really was undercover, playing a part, the same way I was playing the part of Lexi Solomon, wife, and administrative assistant?
And if that were so, what had I done by sleeping with Solomon?
Chapter Thirteen
If I thought any harder about my current relationship problems, I was either going to have an aneurysm, or had to be taken off the case. Personally, I thought an aneurysm would be less embarrassing. Delgado wouldn't ask to be taken off a case because he slept with the boss. He'd beat the shit out of the case and nothing more would be said about it. I was pretty sure he didn't fancy Solomon either, and the mental image I got of him sharing a bed with Solomon wasn't pretty.
"Fletcher's still watching the Connor house," Solomon told me that evening after I’d finished informing him about the MPD visit.
"Has he moved since you last told me this?"
"No." Solomon grinned. "Should I tell him he can move?"
"Funny man." I hoped he was kissing. Dammit! Kidding. I hoped he was kidding. See? There was my problem. Too much of the good stuff on the brain and not enough of the surveillance. "So what's happening there?"
"Not a lot."
Far be it from me to suggest we switch and give him some time out.
“No sign of Roxanne?”
“None. Flaherty is working his MPD buddies and nothing’s doing there either. I have a lead I want to check out," said Solomon. "You coming for the ride?"
"Much as I'd love to, I have orders from my mother to show myself for dinner or she's sending out a search party." A search party to my mother meant putting it out on the police band. In an hour, every cop in Montgomery would be looking for me. I'm ashamed to say it's happened twice before.
Solomon shuddered. “How are you getting there?”
“Well…” I gave him an apologetic grin.
"Guess I'm taking you," he said.
"That would be appreciated."
Solomon pulled up outside my parents’ house in his borrowed car, the Lexus currently in what I assumed was a car hospital, and shut off the engine. He sniffed the air. "Something smells good," he said.
"My mother's cooking is the best." I tried sniffing the air. Nothing. What was he? A human bloodhound?
"Let's go." He unsnapped his seat belt.
"Huh?"
"Dinner. Your family. Let's go."
"Um... are you sure you want to do this?" I asked him. “Don’t you have a lead to check out?”
He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. Guess not. "I'm assuming it's the fastest way to get you in and out so we can get on with the case. My lead isn’t going anywhere."
This was probably true. Despite my mother having five children, two daughters-in-law, one soon to be ex-son-in-law, and Lily, who had long ago acquired special status, plus six grandchildren to choose from, she was fairly indecisive about which one got the most attention. She preferred instead to squeeze us altogether and make us beg for it. By the looks of the cars crowding the driveway and road, we would make the full sixteen tonight. I had a brief moment of feeling sorry for Solomon before deciding he'd probably been in more dangerous situations. Plus, he did invite himself. All I requested was a ride.
"A man's life is at stake," I agreed, choosing not to argue as I climbed out. Solomon beeped the car locked and followed me along the driveway. "Mom?" I called as I opened the front door. "It's not too late," I hissed to Solomon, while crossing the threshold. "You can escape now."
"Or just climb out the bathroom window," said my dad, sticking his head into the hall. "That's what Lexi used to do."
"Did not," I said, suddenly lost in a bear hug as my nose was pressed into my dad’s cable knit sweater. He smelled like the garden, and roast potatoes. He smelled like home.
Dad released me and ran an appraising look over Solomon. It was the kind he used to give each of us as kids when he suspected some wrongdoing. Usually, he followed it up with a silence that was so uncomfortable, we just made something up. I presume he used the same thing on criminals back in his crime-fighting days. Clearly, he was losing his touch as he asked me, "Who's this?"
"My boss, John Solomon." I paused as they shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. "Hope you don't mind an extra. We're on our way to work."
"Catching criminals? Putting fraudsters behind bars?" asked Dad, hopefully.
"Freezing our butts off, watching empty houses," I countered and Dad gave a soft sigh of remembrance.
"I hear you were on the force, sir," said Solomon, and away my dad went with his years in the MPD, leaving me free to find my mother after wading my way between relatives.
"I hear you brought someone," said Mom as I entered the kitchen. "I haven't seen Adam in a while."
"How did you know? We only just got here. Anyway, it's not Adam," I told her, pausing to kiss Victoria on the head and give my sister a quick hug. Victoria burped loudly and Serena rolled her eyes. "I brought my boss."
"Your boss? You should have called ahead. I would have used the good china."
"I don't think Solomon cares about good china."
"I do! Do you think it's too late to change?" We both looked at the dining table, fully extended and just about breaching the doorway into the enclosed sun room, a recent addition to the house, given that it strained at the seams every time my parents hit the jackpot and got a full complement of Graves.
"Yes," said Serena and I.
"Never mind." Mom shrugged as she handed me a bowl of vegetables, inclining her head towards the table.
"How come I always serve?" I asked as I carried it through, returning for the platter of meat. It looked like Mom had gone to town on two roast chickens and some beef. Not that it mattered how much she cooked. The Graves could pick an entire cow apart, leaving nothing but bones. We were like vultures, but with flatware. Not a pretty picture, but true.
"You're always late," came my mother's reply. "It's penance."
Fair enough, if I were late, but I wasn't. I just happened to arrive after everybody else. As everyone knows, that's completely different. I suspected my brothers and sister arrived early just to grab the most comfortable seating anyway.
Solomon was parked next to me for dinner, and funnily enough, we got the central leaf of the table, right in prime eyeballing di
stance of everyone. To his credit, he didn't even seem to notice the surreptitious glances from my siblings and sisters-in-law, though Traci kept nudging me with her foot and winking. Finally, I took advantage of the moment by stealing her last roast potato and taunting her before eating it. Solomon, meanwhile, kept my dad engaged by asking him about his police days.
"We're glad you're all here because we have an announcement," said Jord, rising to his feet, his hand holding Lily's as she beamed up at him.
"Shit, a speech," muttered Daniel, yelping when Alice smacked his hand.
"Language," she muttered, nodding towards the children.
"It's okay, Mom," said Ben, her oldest. "We know what shit means. It's the stuff that hits the fan."
Daniel spat his beer into the glass. Alice winced.
"Fantastic," said Dad, beaming.
"No, it's not a speech," snipped Jord, picking up a roast potato from his plate. He threw it, waiting as it bounced off Daniel's head and hit the floor.
"Five second rule," said Ben, picking the potato up and dumping it on his plate.
"No such thing," said Alice, removing it.
Jord cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said loudly. Pausing for effect, a big, goofy smile spreading across his face, he continued, "Lily and I are getting married."
My mother screamed and pretty much threw herself across the table to hug Jord and Lily, while my Dad went to get the emergency champagne, which was stored in the refrigerator next to the emergency vodka. The cork flew, glasses were raised, congratulations given and I wondered what the hell Solomon made of the dinner-slash-celebration he'd inadvertently walked into. When I looked over at him, he just smiled. His plate was clean. He didn't look perturbed at all.
"Bridesmaid?" Lily said, escaping from my family's clutches as we returned to our seats, breathless and excited.
"Stylish?" Always best to get the terms ironed out first.
"You bet."
"Yes, please!"
After the congratulations died down, Jord dropped his second bombshell. "It'll be in a couple of months before Lily starts showing," he said, dropping the emphasis on the final word. My mother fanned herself with a napkin.
Command Indecision (Lexi Graves Mysteries) Page 15