by T. F. Walsh
“Hey Lu. Are you here?” Susan still sounded high on happy pills.
“Yup. I just checked into the Hilton in Eugene.”
“You’re not staying in Springfield?”
“I decided we should have a pool to celebrate. And they’ll have more bridal stores here for us to hit,” Lu added.
“You’re right. Do you want to come to my place and I’ll take you to see the gown I’m thinking about?”
“Why don’t you come here and we’ll look at some other stores. Then you’ll know if you’ve already picked the best. And there’s a restaurant Byron suggested in Eugene, so maybe we could go there for dinner.”
“Sure. What room are you in?”
“Four-oh-two.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon. Bye.”
Lu fell back onto the comfy bed. Geez, Byron was right. It did get easier to lie the more you did it. Now she just had to look up restaurants and stores close to Slime-Bucket’s office, and she’d be all set. Lu picked up the hotel brochure to locate the business center. There she could Google all the info she needed.
• • •
After trooping through five bridal boutiques, Lu’s brain was numb with all the details. The sales clerks had patiently outlined the merits of the different fabrics, fasteners, and embellishments. One would clean better if Susan wanted her daughter to have the gown later. This was considered endlessly despite the fact that Kaitlynn was already a good thirty pounds heavier and three inches taller than Susan. And would the silk one be more suitable if they got married on the beach?
“Why don’t we grab something to eat and think about what style you want?” Lu suggested when Susan started veering back to the gargantuan taffeta monstrosity for the fifth time. Not only did it make her look like the Michelin Man in drag, it was also the most expensive of the dresses she was looking at.
“Okay.” Susan fingered a white fur-trimmed gown as Lu pulled her out of the store. “I guess that would be too hot on a beach?” she asked wistfully.
“Definitely.” They walked a couple of blocks east before Lu stopped and looked up at a blue awning. “I think this must be the restaurant Byron suggested,” Lu said pushing open the blue and white painted doorway. The décor was reminiscent of ocean, sand and boats. A strong waft of garlic assailed them as soon as they walked in. “Oh yeah, this smells like a restaurant Byron would like.”
“Mmm, me too,” Susan agreed.
They ordered the lamb souvlaki dinners which were huge and arrived almost instantly. Despite the early hour, the place was busy. And it was a nice break from the constant stream of white dresses parading before her eyes. Lu bolted through her food, hoping they’d be able to catch Greg at his office before he left for the day. Susan seemed to be hurrying, too, probably hoping to visit ten more bridal shops before they closed. Luckily the waiter was equally swift with their bill and change and they were once more on the street.
Lu recognized Greg’s workplace quickly from the Google street picture she’d pulled up earlier on her computer. As they passed it, Lu pretended surprise.
“Hey. Isn’t that the company Greg works for?” Lu pointed to the pillar directory for the building.
“Which?” Susan quickly scanned the businesses listed. “You’re right! Wow. It’s a nice-looking building. I’ll have to tell him later we were here.”
“Shouldn’t we pop up and say, ‘Hi.’?” Lu asked. “I mean, if he’s with a client obviously we won’t interrupt. But otherwise we could just meet and see if he’s free to meet us when he gets off.”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t like surprises …”
“We’re not going to throw him a party or anything. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Doesn’t he want to meet me?” Lu’s stomach clenched with guilt, but she knew she had to push it. Susan had to find out before she wasted a bunch more money on a bloody wedding gown. Lu’d already stalled the checkbook once when a sales clerk had mentioned that a particular gown had been designed by the woman who’d made Hillary Duff’s gown. Lu opened the glass door for Susan and watched her hesitantly step inside.
“I guess it’ll be okay.”
“Sure.” Lu read the floor directory. “They’re on the eighth floor.” She smiled at the guard standing by the directory and led her friend to the bank of elevators. Susan’s two inch heels clattered on the shiny marble floor in contrast to the faint squeak of Lu’s sneakers. Inside the elevator Susan checked her hair and make-up in the mirrored walls until someone else got on at the fifth floor. Then they stood silently watching the floor numbers flash by until the elevator gave a discreet hiss on the eighth and let them off.
“It’s that way,” Susan pointed. From the smile on her face it seemed her happiness at seeing Greg was overcoming her anxiety. “This is nice,” she said vaguely as they passed by several glassed-in receptions.
As they neared his office, Susan straightened her back, making her already lush boobs look more prominent and smiled broadly. “Secretaries make me a little nervous,” she admitted to Lu just before opening the etched glass doors to the architectural office.
“May I help you?” The sharp featured woman behind the large marble reception desk seemed to assess them and found them wanting within the first seconds of their arrival.
“Um, yes … We’d like to see Greg Kelso? I mean, if he’s not too busy … Otherwise — ” Susan’s confidence deflated instantly under the other woman’s icy stare.
“Do you have an appointment?” The woman was enjoying watching Susan squirm and Lu had definite second thoughts about letting this woman see her friend laid even barer.
“Um, no. But …” Susan paused and then seemed to decide she’d had enough of the woman’s snooty attitude. That was something that had originally attracted Lu to Susan, the wild swings between low and high self-esteem. “If he’s available, I’m sure he wants to see me. I am his fiancée.” Susan brushed her bangs back with her left hand, casually showing off the honking big rock she’d been flashing at Lu all day.
“Excuse me?” The perfectly painted lips gaped open.
“Just tell him Susan Miller is here,” Susan said smugly before turning to regally place herself on the leather couch opposite the desk. She picked up an Architectural Digest magazine and flipped through it to complete her air of one-upmanship.
Under other circumstances Lu would’ve applauded her friend’s display of confidence, but as it was she felt terrible. She paused to listen as the receptionist picked up the phone and pushed a few buttons.
“Hi, Sally? I have a Susan Miller here who says she’s Mr. Kelso’s fiancée.” The arched eyebrows rose a little higher while she listened. “I know. It was a surprise to me, too. Will you ask Mr. Kelso what he’d like me to do?” She sat there a moment, her face frozen in anticipation. “Right then. Call me back.” She turned to Lu, her tight smile confidently in place. “Someone will be with you in a moment.”
Lu went and sat down next to Susan. She noted incongruously that her casual jeans looked definitely out of place on the soft, luxurious leather couch. This one piece of furniture probably costs more than everything in my apartment put together. The shiny marble coffee table was beautiful with several streaks of pink-tan that matched the couch exactly. Lu concentrated instead on the ugly, dull paintings. They were minimalist abstracts in washed out colors and probably also expensive, but that didn’t make them attractive.
Lu looked for something else to focus on. She didn’t want to think about what was going to happen next. Would Greg come out? Or maybe they were getting security. Could he then plead innocence and keep up the charade? Did he —
A tanned, dark-haired man with perfectly symmetrical features strode into the reception area. Even before Susan leapt to her feet, Lu knew it was him. There was something fascinating about the man, his smooth, glowing skin, the vibrant blue eyes, the trim physique enc
ased lovingly in what had to be an expensive tailored suit. Susan’s smile lit up until she saw the tense set of his lips.
“Greg. We were just walking by and saw your — ”
“Susan. How nice to see you. Won’t you come this way?” He latched onto her elbow and started to move her toward a hallway the opposite direction from which he’d come.
“Excuse me,” Lu interrupted and waited for him to turn and face her. “Hi. Greg? I’m Lu. Susan’s told me so much about you.” His blank expression and total silence made Lu babble on. “We’ve just been out shopping for wedding gowns, and, well, I thought it was time for me to meet the groom.” She could see the receptionist hanging on their every word, most likely wishing she could record it for Sally later.
“Hello. Please, follow me.” He tightened his grip on Susan’s elbow and again pulled her down the hallway.
Lu followed, wondering briefly if he was going to shoot them both. They’d backed him into a corner. Greg opened a door and ushered them none too gently into a large room with a gleaming dark wood table surrounded by numerous black leather office chairs. And again the dull abstract paintings. Susan was looking unsure, so Lu took the lead.
“I hope this wasn’t a bad time to drop by. We can always come back later.” Lu smiled, trying to appear apologetic. “In fact, we told the receptionist not to bother you if you were busy.”
Greg ignored Lu and turned to Susan. “You shouldn’t have come here.” He shook his head sadly, but Lu noticed that other than his mouth, his facial muscles didn’t seem to move. Botox? “You know I didn’t want my mother to find out about us. Now you’ve gone and ruined it.”
“What? Ruined what?” Susan’s voice rose and her eyes widened in terror. “Everything’s fine.”
“I’m sorry, Susan. The wedding is off. Obviously I can’t trust you — ”
“No, but Greg — !” Susan’s large eyes filled instantly with tears.
“Don’t bother. It’s too late for tears,” Greg dismissed Susan.
Lu’s stomach clenched as she watched the jerk treat Susan so cruelly. She stepped firmly between them and said in a low steady voice, “Why don’t you tell her the real reason you’re breaking the engagement, Greg?”
“W — what?” Susan looked at Lu warily.
Lu stared down at Greg glad of the fact that she was taller than him. “Tell her.”
He huffed indignantly, “I don’t know what — ”
Lu turned to Susan with frustration. “He’s already married. Isn’t that right, Greg?”
Susan turned to Greg then suddenly turned a scary shade of green and Lu pushed her gently into one of the leather chairs.
“Well?” Lu prompted Greg. His mouth was flapping like a guppy wanting food.
“No, n — not really.” He looked at Susan. “We’re getting a divorce.”
“You’re married? But you said …”
“I was going to marry you …” he glared at Lu then took a step closer to Susan. “I just had to wait until — ”
Lu jumped back as Susan leaned forward and vomited her souvlaki lunch on the bottom half of Greg’s trousers. They all watched transfixed as the liquid and chunks dropped onto his shiny black shoes.
Susan covered her mouth and started scrambling in her purse. She pulled out a small plastic covered mint, unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth. Lu smiled. She’d worried Susan was looking for something to wipe off Greg’s pants with.
“Shall we go?” Lu asked. She put her hand on Susan’s shoulder.
“But what about our trip to Disney World?” Susan whispered, fixing her big Golden Retriever eyes on Greg. “And the house we were going to build in California?”
“We could still do that,” Greg looked hopefully at Susan.
Lu watched the two of them start to draw closer and blurted out, “What about your damn mother?”
“What?” Susan broke eye contact with Greg.
“His mother died eight years ago,” Lu spat out. This wasn’t going at all like she’d hoped. She’d wanted Greg to confess so she could pretend to be shocked along with Susan. To hell with it. “And the money isn’t even his. It’s his wife’s inheritance.”
Susan looked sharply at Greg.
“Yes, but I get half of everything if we divorce. I didn’t sign a pre-nup.”
“You lied about your mother?” Susan looked defeated. Then she drew in a long shaky breath and stood up. “Good-bye Greg. I hope you get all the rotten things you deserve.” She marched out of the room without a backward glance.
Lu followed Susan silently back through the hallway and reception area. The receptionist opened her mouth to say something then snapped it shut again.
CHAPTER 18
“I think we’ll be able to wrap this case up finally,” Byron said as he poured her morning coffee. “The next grow will be processed this week, so we’ve been rounding up some of the henchmen.”
“Yeah.” Lu smiled at his eager expression. “But won’t you then be out of work?”
“I never run out of work,” he answered. “But I do like actually catching the occasional bad guy. And Huang is getting on my nerves. We need to find his mole.” He swigged the last of his coffee and stood up from the table. “Speaking of which, I’ll be incommunicado most of today.” He leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head. “I’d better get a move on. These bad guys won’t catch themselves. Hey, want me to barbeque tonight?”
She tilted her head up for a proper kiss and then almost forgot his question. “I would … but I think I’d better spend more time with Susan.” She smiled apologetically. She’d invited Susan to come up for a few days and felt guilty about not spending enough time with her. “I’m driving her back tomorrow and then she’ll have to figure out what she’s doing.”
“Just don’t let her take over your life,” he grumbled as he ambled out of the dining room. “I’ll call you later.”
Lu heard him pick up his keys from the bowl by the door. “Be careful out there.” She stood up to stretch. The tension with Susan’s situation was taking its toll on her neck muscles. She’d better schedule in a jog for the day to keep from totally freezing up her muscles. Lu walked back to the bedroom and got ready to leave. She loved Byron’s house, but it just wasn’t as comfortable when he wasn’t in it. She had to spend the day with Susan anyway, so she might as well go home and touch base.
• • •
Lu juggled the grocery bags so she could knock on her apartment door again. The large sweet onion rolled across the can of beans and slid over the edge of the bag. Shit. She carefully placed one bag of groceries on the floor beside the door so she could root in her pocket for her keys.
Where the hell was Susan? She’d phoned Lu several times at work and now when Lu was finally actually available, the woman had gone out. Lu pushed the door open, then bent over to pick up her bag. Then she saw it. One ridiculously high heeled sandal sitting in the middle of her hallway. Puzzled, Lu looked for the other one.
“Susan?” she called out halfheartedly. No answer so she carried the groceries into her small kitchen and dumped them onto the Formica counter. There were several dirty dishes in the sink and a pot with some mac and cheese sitting on her stove. Great, not only is she driving me nuts, now she’s decided not to clean up after herself.
She took the fruit to her dining nook and that was when she saw it. A large knife was gouged into her table, pinning a paper in place. Lu’s stomach jumped and a wave of nausea washed over her as she moved to take a closer look.
PIG. WE HAVE YOUR GIRLFRIEND. FOLLOW ORDERS OR SHE DIES.
Why would they want Susan? she thought blankly. Unless the note was for Byron and they’d taken Susan by mistake. Oh, fuck! Lu reached for her phone. Her fingers trembled and she had to punch the numbers in twice before she connected. Byron’s answering mac
hine picked up and Lu let out a scream.
“Call me right away. They have Susan!” Lu disconnected and phoned his work number. His office answering machine picked up right away. Oh shit. He’d said he couldn’t be reached. Should she drive down there and try to find him or call 911? But if they’d grabbed Susan thinking she was Lu, she didn’t want to tip off the informant that she was still at large. That would jeopardize them both.
Fuck! Think, Lu. Ace was at work, so he couldn’t help. Byron’s home computer! Maybe he had something on there. Lu grabbed her keys and drove back to his place, constantly easing up on the gas to keep from speeding too much.
She ran to his computer and booted it up, tapping her fingers impatiently while she waited for the sign-in message.
Finally.
She typed in Byron’s password and let out a sigh of relief when it opened.
“Okay, Topdog,” Lu tapped in the code and waited to see what files came up. Byron had switched to doing a lot of his brainstorming on his home computer when he’d discovered the leak at work. Ah, there it is, complete with surveillance photos and mug shots. That must be the next grow-op sting he was talking about. Would they have taken Susan there? But what else did she have to go on?
Could she pretend to be a city inspector, salesperson or pollster? From what Byron said these guys were pretty ruthless killers. She couldn’t afford to go in half-assed. Then again, she had to do something.
She threw on some black pants and a white blouse. Rifling through Byron’s desk, she found a beat up clipboard and affixed some old invoices. She wasn’t sure what the plan was, but clipboards always seem official.
She tucked her ponytail through the back of one of Byron’s dark baseball caps grabbed her keys, purse, clipboard and headed back to her car. This was a Hail Mary pass, if there ever was one. She called Byron’s two phones one more time and left him the address she was going to. Damn, she felt stupid running into the lion’s den again, but she couldn’t see any way around it. Susan was in danger because of her. If she could call the cops she would, but given what she knew about the leak, that might put Susan in more danger.