Fool Me Once

by Fern Michaels

  Gwen straightened her shoulders. “I would be lying if I said there was. You’re nothing like her, if that’s your next question. She was evil, that one.”

  Olivia carried that statement with her when she left. It was still with her when she stopped for pizza. She ordered three slices with the works—pepperoni, green peppers, garlic, and onions—and a Sprite. She devoured it all, then ordered a second Sprite to take with her.

  One good thing was she didn’t have to rush. She wasn’t heading into any kind of rush-hour traffic, since it was Saturday. Olivia drove in a leisurely manner to the airport, her thoughts whirling and twirling.

  After she returned the car rental, she walked into the airport and browsed the shops. She ended up buying Jeff a cap that said STINGRAYS on the bill, and a few rubber toys that could have been baby bath toys or dog toys—they’d serve as the latter. She also bought a bag of salted pecans for herself. Having checked in for her flight, she headed to the bar area, settled herself into a corner, ordered a beer, and called…her destiny. That’s how she now thought of Jeff. A smile as wide as the whole outdoors stretched across her face when her destiny said “Hello.”

  Chapter 14

  It was one o’clock on Sunday afternoon, the weekend almost over, when Jeff suggested they go outside to play in the snow and pretend they were kids again. “My last clear memory of doing that was with my brothers when I was thirteen years old. My brothers, of course, were older, but they humored me. I think they knew somehow that it was my last go-round as a kid. We really got into the whole thing hot and heavy. Mom and Dad came out and joined in. It’s one of my most favorite memories.

  “We were out there in waist-high snow for three or four hours. Frozen stiff, soaking wet, but no one wanted it to end. Finally Mom put her foot down, and we all trooped inside. She made us take showers, put on warm clothes, then she made hot cocoa with tons of those little marshmallows and toast with lots of butter and her own homemade strawberry jam. If I close my eyes I can still picture it all and even taste the jam.”

  “That’s a really nice memory. I have some like that with my dad. Unfortunately, I never had any siblings. It was just him and me. He always used to say, ‘It’s just you and me, kid.’ He was always up for everything, no matter what it was. He didn’t want me to feel cheated in any way. I needed him, and he needed me. We were a good team,” Olivia said, her eyes particularly bright.

  Seeing Jeff’s attentive expression, she continued with her own reminiscing. “I have this one really fond memory of going sled riding in Handley Park with my friends. I think I was sixteen, and I had this enormous crush on a guy named Danny Salyan. He was four years older, a college boy, and he was there with his friends. Even though they were older, we were all the same age that day. I almost fainted when he invited us all back to his mom’s house. She was such a sweet lady. She made us hot chocolate and gave us big, thick slices of cake. Her name was Betty Lou and she looked just the way a mom is supposed to look. His dad was named Bill, and he was just as nice as my own dad. Betty Lou was all cozy and warm, and she smelled so good. She sews. Today you would probably call her an expert seamstress. She even hugged me when we left. I often wondered if she knew what a crush I had on her son. He joined the navy and is married now and lives in Florida. He has a new son, named Connor William. I saw the announcement in the Winchester Star a week or so ago.”

  His voice soft, Jeff said, “And now?”

  Olivia smiled, but it was more of a grimace. “Now it’s Dad and Lea. He doesn’t need me anymore. That’s the way it should be. He deserves his own happiness. I have the dogs. If you mean Danny, I got over my crush that spring.” Her voice was so flat she had a hard time believing it was her own.

  Jeff’s eyes were diamond bright, almost as bright as Olivia’s. “You have me now. You know that, don’t you?” he said gently.

  She’d hoped to hear something like that but hadn’t been sure she would. What she was feeling right then was nothing like the schoolgirl crush she’d had on Danny Salyan years ago. Was Jeff making a commitment to her? It sure sounded like it. She felt light-headed at the thought. She didn’t trust herself to speak, so she nodded.

  Jeff’s eyes twinkled. “You know what else, Olivia? If you marry me, you will be married to Cecil’s handler. That would certainly solve our problems where he’s concerned.”

  Married. “Whoa. Whoa. Slow down. You hardly know me. I hardly know you. You can’t just jump into marriage. That’s what my parents did, and look at the outcome.”

  “My parents only knew each other for two weeks. Look at their outcome. Six handsome, strapping big boys. It’s one for one. I’m not like your father, and you aren’t like your…like Adrian Ames, or Allison Matthews. My parents will love you. I know that. I’m positive you will like them, too, and my brothers. My mother’s biggest disappointment in life was that she didn’t have any daughters. Did I ever tell you she made us wear aprons when we cleaned up the kitchen? She did, and we didn’t argue, either.”

  Aprons. Maybe it had some kind of secret meaning. Her head bobbed up and down as she tried to figure out what boys wearing aprons meant. She didn’t even own an apron. Neither had her father. When either one of them needed an apron they tied a dish towel around their waist. “Okay, let’s go out in the snow. I gotta warn you, Jeff, I have a powerful pitch. The sun is out, so the snow should be wet, perfect for snowballs. My throwing arm was better than my dad’s. Did you ever build a snow fort?” How high and shrill her voice sounded. Why is that? she wondered.

  “Yeah, when I was little. Wanna do it? We can build one big enough for us and the four dogs.”

  “Let’s do it!” Olivia chortled as she grabbed her parka and raced for the sliding door. The dogs barreled out right behind her, Jeff bringing up the rear. Olivia scooped a handful of snow on the run, whirled, and let it fly. She was rewarded with the sound of a loud ooof as Jeff doubled over.

  The fight was on, and they pummeled each other for a solid half hour. It was clear when Jeff threw up his hands that Olivia was the winner. Their arms around each other, they squared off an area of the yard for the fort, then rolled snow into huge, round balls. Two hours later, exhausted, they had a two-room fort, one room for the dogs and one for themselves.

  They crunched themselves in half as they struggled to fit into the room they’d carved out. “Seems to me we had more room when we were kids,” Jeff groused. “Where’s the fun sitting here scrunched up like a Gumby?”

  Olivia laughed. “We were half our present size back then, and it was the thing to do when it snowed. We must be old, because I would rather go inside and watch a movie on TV.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Jeff said, grinning. “Guess you can only be a kid once in your lifetime. I wish I had known that back then. I would have had more fun. Come on, I’ll help you up.” He reached for Olivia’s hand.

  Olivia dug her heels into the snow, bracing herself to be pulled to her feet. Her left foot skidded, and she toppled backward, the fort collapsing around her. With the mountain of snow covering her, she could barely hear Jeff’s frantic voice shouting, “I’ll get you out. Stay calm, I’ll dig you out. Stay calm, Olivia!”

  When she was free of the snow, Olivia’s eyes were wild. “Now I know what it feels like to be buried alive. Snow is heavy!” she gasped.

  “Are you okay? Say you’re okay. Swear to me you’re okay,” Jeff said, his voice rising in panic. The dogs reacted immediately, snapping and snarling as they tried to bite Jeff’s ankles and rip his boots to shreds. They only calmed down when he scooped Olivia into his arms to carry her back to the house. The dogs looked at one another as they tried to figure out if this was a new game that didn’t include them.

  Her heartbeat back to normal, Olivia helped dry off the dogs, wrapping them in lemon-yellow towels before settling them by the fire. She crooked her finger at Jeff as she wiggled her eyebrows.

  Jeff was no fool; he followed her to the shower.

  It was just turning light out
Monday morning when Olivia, her arms crossed over her chest to ward off the frigid cold, waved good-bye to Jeff from the open doorway. She waited until she could no longer see the red taillights of his car before closing the door.

  It seemed exceptionally quiet with Jeff gone. Why was that? He certainly wasn’t a noisy person. Maybe quiet wasn’t the right word. Empty seemed to fit the situation a little better. Olivia looked around. The dogs were nowhere to be seen. She went in search of them. When she found all four of them curled up in the covers on the bed Jeff slept in, she clamped her hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh out loud and wake them.

  The day stretched ahead of her. She needed to give some thought to her business and get back on track. She argued with herself about getting back to work on her photography business versus settling Adrian Ames’s business. What she really wanted to do was just sit and daydream about Jeff and their weekend. She knew she couldn’t do that, and she couldn’t go back to her little business, either—not with Adrian Ames on her mind.

  She hoped that Jeff was right about the statute of limitations, which meant they would all be home free legally. It certainly made sense that forty years afterward would be too late to prosecute for bank robbery if priests couldn’t be prosecuted for child molestation after five or seven years. Morally was something else.

  As she walked back to her office, Olivia realized that somewhere in the past few days she’d made the decision to return the money Allison Matthews had stolen from the bank. No matter what. She also knew she would have to do it anonymously as well as discreetly. Any other way would hurt too many innocent people—Mary Louise Rafferty and her little family, Gwen’s son and his family. And last but not least, herself. She knew she was tough enough mentally to handle the fallout, but was Jeff? If he really was her destiny, how would it look to the world if he married a thief’s daughter? It certainly wouldn’t help his career. His employment might well be terminated, raising another problem—Cecil.

  The full amount of money had to be returned with or without Jill Laramie’s share, but she wasn’t going to give up on convincing Allison’s old partner in crime to cooperate unless there was no alternative. Allowing Jill to find some sort of peace was one of the reasons for this project. Since Gwen had found religion and was prepared to take her punishment if necessary, Olivia assumed that there was nothing left to do on that front, except maybe see if she could do something to help Gwen financially.

  Olivia turned on her e-mail and let out a subdued whoop of pleasure when she spotted an e-mail from The Private Detective Agency admidst all the spam. She let out another whoop when she read the message. Jill Laramie had returned to the scene of the crime, Oxford, Mississippi. An address followed with the words, This is a three-bedroom, three-bath rental condominium. Subject signed a year’s lease.

  The phone was in Olivia’s hand in a second. She made an airline reservation for the following morning. She would be able to check out the family bank the three women had robbed. How cool was that? Damn cool, she decided.

  After e-mailing Jeff about her intentions, she called her neighbor to see if he would stay with the dogs. He agreed.

  She looked down at her watch. It wasn’t nine o’clock yet. Promptly at nine she would call Prentice O’Brien to ask him to set up a special bank account with two million dollars in it. She hoped it would be enough to repay the bank. Somehow she had to figure out what the bearer bonds would be worth forty years later. Never a whiz at math, she realized she would have to find a good accountant to figure it out for her. At least she had time to do it all properly and not go off half-assed in all directions, one of her father’s favorite expressions.

  Olivia spent the rest of the day reading and rereading Adrian Ames’s will and poring over the copies of the bearer bonds. This time she paid attention to Allison’s assets. She whistled at the extensive list. She hadn’t known there was that much money in the world. From mail-order, no less. She groaned out loud when she turned the pages to read the intricacies of the mail-order business. Was she expected to take over the reins of the company? Like hell. She wondered if any of Adrian Ames’s competitors would be interested in buying her out.

  She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes so she could think about all the problems facing her. Instead, she drifted into a deep sleep.

  It was late afternoon when Olivia woke with a deep ache in her neck and shoulder. She worked at massaging the tender spots until the pain lessened. Stretching her neck, she reached for the phone to call a local accountant she’d gone to school with. She rattled off what she referred to as a hypothetical problem, promised to pay for his time, and waited for his response. He in turn rattled off every CPA’s February mantra—that this was the height of tax season, and he’d get back to her as soon as possible. Olivia shrugged, knowing she should be grateful for small favors.

  She returned to the computer to send an e-mail to her father and Lea, telling them what she had done thus far about Adrian Ames’s instructions to her. Her father hated the computer, so it would be Lea who would respond. If she responded. She then went to MapQuest to search out Oxford, Mississippi. Once more she lost track of time until she noticed it was almost dark outside. She turned on the lights, checked her e-mail again, but there were no waiting messages. It was time to let the dogs out. Then she fed them and fixed a sandwich and some soup for herself. The evening news told her nothing new was going on in the world. Disgruntled, she took a shower, washed her hair, and was in bed by eight o’clock. She set the alarm for 4:00 A.M. and was asleep within seconds.

  Olivia slept through three calls, one from her accounting friend, one from Jeff, and one from her father. In the morning she was in such a rush she didn’t bother to check her messages. She was out the door the moment the dog-sitter arrived. Zipping down the interstate on clear roads, she made it to Reagan National in time to buy herself a cup of coffee before boarding her flight.

  With no seat companion, Olivia was able to spread out the photocopies from her bulging carry-on bag. She read, reread, then committed to memory those points she needed to remember.

  By the time she arrived in Mississippi, she felt a scorching anger ripping through her. This wasn’t her fight, yet here she was. She hated what she was feeling, hated what she was doing. She wanted her old nice, placid life back. She shrugged out of her denim jacket before she climbed behind the wheel of her rental car. After spending several minutes acclimating herself to the workings of the four-by-four, she slipped it into gear and headed away from the airport.

  At Wendy’s she bought a salad and a soft drink before she got back on the road. I wonder what this area was like forty years ago, she mused, when Allison Matthews and her friends were here. She shrugged away the thoughts. Thinking about the three women would cause her to become more involved than she already was. She wished the whole thing had been as simple as three wild and crazy college girls pulling a heist on the spur of the moment. But, no, this was planned, premeditated, and carried out with incredible precision. And they’d gotten away with it. Surely they would have gotten caught if it had been a wild, crazy, spur-of-the-moment thing.

  Olivia clenched her teeth, so angry at her circumstances that she missed a turnoff that would have taken her to Jill Laramie’s leased condo. It took her forty-five minutes to backtrack, which only made her angrier. By the time she parked her car in the area reserved for visitors she knew she was in the right frame of mind to take on Jill Laramie and whatever excuse she might come up with. She was also prepared to bang on the woman’s door until Jill either called the police or went deaf from the noise. But at this moment, Olivia hated herself almost as much as she hated Jill Laramie.

  She walked up four steps to a small, covered entryway, pressed her finger on the doorbell, and held it there. She knew an eye was staring at her from the peephole in the middle of the door. She pressed harder on the bell. If necessary, she would lean against it and ring it till it wore out. She was stunned when the door opened wide to reveal an
attractive woman staring at her. Olivia found herself blinking at Jill Laramie, who looked nothing like her college photos.

  “You don’t look like an eight-hundred-pound gorilla,” Jill Laramie observed.

  “You don’t look like a bank robber,” Olivia shot back.

  “Touché. Come in. I didn’t think you’d find me so quick.”

  “Yeah, well, let’s just say I’m motivated, okay?”

  Jill Laramie was tall and angular. Thin but not skinny. She wore designer clothes and sported a fashionable haircut. So much for being a recluse. Her manicure was professionally done. Olivia would just bet she had a pedicure, too. There wasn’t the faintest hint of the old, moon-faced Jill Laramie in the pictures Adrian Ames had saved. A face-lift for sure. A definite nose job. She was probably nipped and tucked all over the place. The thought irritated Olivia for some reason.

  Jill motioned Olivia to follow her into a living room that looked like it had been decorated by a professional in white wicker, golden yellows, and lime greens. There was nothing personal lying around, not even a book or magazine. There was, however, an ashtray and a package of cigarettes on the glass-topped table. A stopover place.

  “Would you like coffee? I just made some.”

  Olivia grimaced. “What, so you can doctor it up and skip out again? I don’t think so.”

  The woman laughed. It was an unpleasant sound. “That’s something Allison would have said. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. What do you want?” she asked coldly.

  “Your share of the money, so it can be returned to the bank, where it belongs.”

  Jill laughed again, this time with amusement. “My dear,” she drawled, “what planet have you been living on? The statute of limitations has run out on that little caper. I’m in the clear. That means no prosecution, and I can keep the money. Allison knew that, but she never chose to tell either Gwen or me about it. I did some research. Gwen, on the other hand…What can I say.”