by Ingrid Thoft
“Is your mom or dad home?” Fina asked.
“Mom!” the older girl yelled. “There’s a lady!”
Fina waited on the doorstep while the girls raced across the huge foyer and started up the curved staircase. The bannisters were polished to a sheen, and an Oriental runner was draped over the risers. They were nearing the top when Gabby Gatchell came through the formal living room into the entryway.
“Yes?” she asked. She was wearing tight jeans and an oversized sweater that dropped off one shoulder. Her dark blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail at the crown of her head.
“We met about a week and a half ago,” Fina said, wondering if Gabby’s lack of recognition was real or feigned. “My name is Fina Ludlow, and Chloe Renard introduced us after the church service.”
Gabby’s face perked up with a smile. “I remember! You’re helping her with the land donation.”
“Right.”
The girls were descending using the opposite rail. Fina imagined the opulent stairs were an endless source of entertainment.
“Please, come in.” Gabby stood back and ushered Fina inside. “What can I do for you?”
“Actually, I had a few questions for Pastor Greg.”
Gabby frowned and consulted a slim watch on her wrist. “He’s not available, but should be in about ten minutes. Would you like to wait? I have tea and coffee.”
Fina wasn’t sure why she was getting such a warm welcome. Either Greg hadn’t shared their most recent conversation with Gabby or perhaps Gabby was savvy and didn’t see the benefit in shutting out Fina.
“Coffee would be lovely.”
Gabby led the way through a series of rooms with shiny wood floors and crown molding. There were fringed antimacassars, scrolled dining chairs, and an inlaid buffet. Everything looked expensive and put-together, but more like a hired designer’s vision than that of an engaged homeowner. Some people decorated their homes because they had a passion for a certain time period or design aesthetic. Others just liked the look of certain things, but Fina was willing to bet that Gabby had given an expert a large check and accepted the deliveries. There was nothing wrong with that approach, but it suggested the homeowner was concerned with making a very specific impression on visitors that revealed little about herself.
Gabby directed Fina to a round glass table in the informal dining area next to the kitchen. The ceiling rose two stories, and a balcony overlooked the space. A second staircase—less ostentatious than the first—connected the two floors.
The girls appeared in the room a moment later, with various toys in tow. The eldest had a Tupperware container filled with Polly Pocket dolls and accessories, and the younger grasped a doll under each elbow, effectively putting the infants in headlocks. One was a baby dressed as a bunny, and the other was a flower, complete with a petal halo around her face. They dropped to the floor by the table and began to play.
“You said coffee, right?” Gabby asked.
“Yes, please.” Fina looked around the room. “Your home is beautiful.”
“Thanks.” Gabby busied herself firing up the fancy coffee machine. “Did you enjoy the service at the church?”
“It was great,” Fina said. “Unlike any other service I’ve attended.”
“Were you raised in a church?”
“Congregationalist.” Fina always thought of it as Protestant light, but that was probably just her family’s approach.
Gabby put a mug of coffee down in front of Fina. “And have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?”
“Wow,” Fina commented, reaching for the sugar and cream. “That’s a big question this early in the day.”
Gabby was silent. There was a challenge in the inquiry and in her gaze.
“I’m undecided on Jesus Christ,” Fina offered after a moment.
“Are you married?”
“No,” Fina replied, wondering what that had to do with anything.
“There are lots of available men at Covenant Rising. Decent, God-fearing men.”
Fina sipped her coffee. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’m sure God has a plan for you, but you need to buy a ticket if you want to win the lottery.”
“Indeed.”
Gabby’s phone dinged on the counter. She retrieved it, glanced at the screen, and set it down next to her coffee.
“So did you know Nadine Quaynor well?” Fina asked.
“I pride myself on knowing all of our members,” Gabby said. “I can’t tell you how heartbroken I am about her passing.”
“It is awful.” Nadine had certainly left a string of broken CRC hearts in her wake, which was odd, considering that no one seemed to like her.
“But she’s at home with the Lord now, which is comforting.”
“Uh-huh.”
“She was a wonderful member of our community.” Gabby looked at her younger daughter, who was stripping the flower costume off her doll. “Charity, leave that on. Dolly’s going to get cold.”
“I’ve heard that Nadine wasn’t universally loved,” Fina commented.
Gabby frowned. “Who told you that?” Her phone dinged again, and she looked at the screen. A smile crept across her face.
“You should take that,” Fina said.
“No, it’s fine.” She put the phone facedown on the table. “Who told you that people didn’t like Nadine?”
Fina screwed up her face in concentration. “I don’t remember. I talk to so many people.”
“Well, that just isn’t true.”
“Maybe I misunderstood.”
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite private investigator,” Pastor Greg said from the top of the staircase.
Fina looked up at him, knowing that he enjoyed looking down on her. “That must be a pretty small pool of candidates, Pastor Greg,” she said.
Charity dropped her doll to the floor and scurried up the stairs to her father. He lifted her up, and she wrapped her arms around him like a koala around a tree.
Gabby’s phone dinged again. She turned it faceup and glanced at the screen.
Greg came down the stairs and took a seat at the table. He settled his daughter into his lap.
“Can I get some of that coffee?” He smiled at Gabby.
“Of course, sweetheart. Do you need a refill?” she asked Fina, rising from the table.
“No, thanks.”
“So what did you misunderstand?” Greg was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved crew neck T-shirt. His hair was wet, and Fina guessed his pressing business had been a shower.
“Sorry?”
Before he could clarify his question, Gabby’s phone dinged yet again. Greg reached for the device, but Gabby hightailed it over from the kitchen and snatched it from his grasp.
“It’s just Donna having a crisis,” Gabby insisted. “She’d be embarrassed if you knew about it.”
Greg looked at her with a tepid smile. “No need to be embarrassed.”
“You know how she is.” Gabby fiddled with a button on the phone and slipped it into her pocket. Greg watched as she retrieved his coffee from the kitchen counter, and Fina watched Greg. Spouses shouldn’t be privy to each other’s e-mails or phone calls, but in her experience, hypersensitivity to this tenet was also a red flag.
“You said you misunderstood something,” Greg continued. “I heard you say that when I was coming downstairs.”
Fina wondered what else he had heard and how long he’d been lurking in the upstairs hallway.
“About Nadine,” Gabby interjected. “Fina was under the impression that people didn’t like Nadine.”
Charity hopped off her father’s lap onto the floor, where she shoved a bottle into the doll’s puckered mouth.
“Who told you that?” Greg asked.
“I wondered the same thing,” Gabby said.
“Not at all,” Greg said. “Nadine was a beloved member of our community.”
“Right. So why was she removed from the leadership committee?”
The couple exchanged a quick glance.
“Fina.” Greg reached out and took her hand. She struggled not to pull it from his grasp.
“Pastor Greg.”
He shook his head and smiled. It was the same affectation she had witnessed during his sermon. It was a bid to communicate warmth and regret, but condescension was the prevailing feeling that Fina got.
“We can’t discuss sensitive church information with you, but please know that we loved Nadine.”
Fina reclaimed her hand. “But somebody didn’t.” She sighed. “I’m just disappointed.”
“Why?” Greg asked, gazing into her eyes.
“Because the church isn’t cooperating with the investigation.”
“We are cooperating. We’ve spoken with the police.”
“But the police and I are working together,” Fina said, knowing Pitney would throw a fit over that characterization. “Your unwillingness to be candid with me is only drawing out the process.”
“Why don’t we pray together?” he asked.
“Oh God, really?” Fina couldn’t help but exclaim.
“You have something against prayer?”
“Of course not. I meant that I didn’t want him to think I was asking too much. I don’t want to be too needy.”
“There’s no such thing as too needy when it comes to our savior,” Greg assured her.
Clearly, given that the man never missed an opportunity to request divine intervention.
“Faith, Charity, join us.”
The girls stood and joined a circle of hands with Fina, Greg, and Gabby. Fina hadn’t done this much hand-holding since preschool.
“Dear Lord, please grant us the patience to surrender to your wisdom and your plan. Please give Sister Fina the support she needs as she navigates these troubled waters and tries to make peace with your sacrifice. Amen.”
Why was it all about her?
“I appreciate the coffee,” Fina said, bringing her mug to the sink.
Greg and Gabby followed her to the front door, where they stood, their arms around each other’s waists. “I know you’ll find what you need,” Greg said, as Fina made her way down the path.
She stopped and turned toward the couple. “I have complete faith that I’ll find out who killed Nadine, Pastor Greg, and that that person will face judgment in this life.”
Pulling away from the curb, she watched them in the doorway.
She knew it was ungodly, but she really didn’t like those two.
SIXTEEN
With an inkling of dread, Fina drove to the BPD. She locked her gun in the trunk of her car and hoped that whoever was after her didn’t have the balls to attack her on the steps of the police station.
The clerk at the front desk took her name, and ten minutes later, a uniformed officer brought her upstairs to an interview room in the Major Crimes department. She sat in a plastic chair affixed to the floor and tried not to touch too many surfaces. Fina could only imagine the unwashed bodies that had graced the room.
Another ten minutes of waiting gave her time to text Haley and Milloy and play a game of solitaire. Her stomach was starting to growl when Pitney and Cristian came into the room and took chairs across from her.
“Why do we always have to meet in here?” Fina asked.
“Because the billiards room is occupied,” Pitney replied. “What can we do for you, Fina?”
“I’m here to report a potential crime.”
Cristian looked perplexed, and Pitney opened her hands in a “lay it on me” gesture. The lieutenant was true to style in a bright red top and plum-colored pants. Her curly hair provided a cushion for the lavender beaded earrings dangling from her lobes.
“Apparently,” Fina continued, “there’s some kind of contract out to have me beaten up.”
“What are you talking about?” Cristian asked, leaning toward her.
“You know, a contract. Someone wants to hire a thug to beat me up. Put me in the hospital, I presume.”
“Not kill you?” Pitney asked.
“No,” Fina said, smiling.
“This isn’t funny,” Cristian remarked.
Fina leaned back against the unforgiving chair. “It’s a little funny.” She looked at the two cops. “How many people can say that someone is willing to pay to hurt them? It’s like an anti–bucket list item.”
“Well, at least you see the silver lining,” Pitney commented.
“Don’t encourage her,” Cristian said, glaring at his boss.
“Give us the details.”
“First, my condo was trashed.”
“When?” Cristian demanded.
“Week ago Monday. After we had dinner.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“You two need to save the domestic drama for home,” Pitney said. “Seriously. I’m not interested.”
“And then my tires were slashed in my garage.”
“Any idea who’s behind it?” Pitney asked while Cristian glowered next to her.
“There were some nuts who sent me hate mail when Liz Barone died,” Fina said, referring to her previous case, “but none of the letters raised a red flag. I looked at older cases, but came up empty.”
“Is anyone else working on this?”
“I’m going to call Dennis Kozlowski since he did the security assessments for me on the Barone case. Also, I’ve been told that Glen Sullivan might have some information.”
“Maybe Buckley and his guys have heard something,” Pitney said to Cristian, referring to the anti-crime squad. “You don’t have any idea who might be behind this?” she asked Fina.
Fina shook her head. “I really don’t. If I did, I’d be on it.”
“I know. Are you carrying?”
“Yes. Not at the moment, obviously.”
“Have you considered hiring some protection?” Pitney asked.
“I’d rather not.”
“Fina—” Cristian protested.
“You and I both know, Cristian, that having a shadow interferes with my job. I don’t like having anyone breathing down my neck.”
“Don’t be stupid, Fina,” Pitney said. “That someone could save your life.”
Fina massaged her forehead with her fingertips. “I’ll think about it.”
“You hired a bodyguard for Haley when she was threatened,” Cristian said.
“Haley is a teenager who isn’t armed—thank God. Are you really comparing the two situations?”
“Wow,” Pitney said, “you guys get more irritating with each passing moment.”
Fina and Cristian were silent.
“I think you should hire someone,” Pitney said, “but short of that, stay alert.”
“I will. I’m very interested in not getting the shit beaten out of me.”
“Good to hear.” Pitney stood up. “I’ll talk to some people, and Menendez will update you.”
She left the room, pulling the door closed behind her.
“I think you should stay with me until this blows over,” Cristian said.
“Not going to happen. I appreciate the offer, but it’s not a good idea.”
“You’ll be safer with me.”
“You have a child, Cristian.”
“He isn’t with me all the time.”
Fina shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. I don’t want this anywhere near him, and if you were thinking clearly, you wouldn’t either.”
“I don’t like this.”
“I don’t either, but
I promise you, I’ll be careful. Please don’t make me regret telling you.”
“What do you want me to do, Fina? Not give a shit?”
“Of course not.” She felt badly and decided to throw him a bone. “Did you know that Nadine Quaynor was kicked off the leadership committee at Covenant Rising Church?”
“Who told you that?”
“Everyone is so interested in my sources,” Fina mused.
“Who’s everyone?”
“The point is that everything wasn’t smooth sailing at the church.”
“Not surprising, but what are you thinking? Getting kicked off gave Nadine a motive to kill someone, not the other way around.”
“True, but what if kicking her off the committee wasn’t enough? What if she had to be dealt with in a more permanent way?”
“We’ll look into it.”
They stood, and Cristian put his hand on the doorknob. Fina leaned her palm against the door to stop him.
“I promise you that I will talk to Dennis Kozlowski about a protection detail, and I will be extremely careful.”
He looked at her. “Okay.”
“Okay.” She leaned in and kissed him.
Back at the car, Fina unlocked her gun from the trunk and nestled it back into the holster.
If she let some creep beat her up, Cristian would kill her.
• • •
Fina knew that she was safer in a controlled environment as opposed to the open road, so she made a beeline for the Ludlow and Associates office.
Matthew wasn’t available, so she went to Scotty’s office, where she found him sitting on his couch, reviewing some papers.
“Hey. Do you have a minute?”
He glanced at his watch. “Sure.”
“Do you have any of those vouchers from Cheerful Cleaners?”
“You interrupted me to talk about housecleaning?”
“I need it for a case—a bribe of sorts. It says something about our modern society, doesn’t it, that offers of housecleaning garner all kinds of information in return?” Matthew had won a generous settlement for a housekeeping company from a cleaning supply conglomerate. In addition to his cut, he was showered with housekeeping vouchers that Fina found most helpful.
“I thought Matthew had those.”