by Ginny Gold
Clem shakes her head. “I just have to get my bag. I’ll meet you at home. Denis and Daniel are picking us up at seven?”
“Yeah. I’ll see you at home.”
Maggie walks back to her car and sits for a few moments, knowing that Clem will get home first. She wants the dogs to settle down a little bit before she walks in so they don’t jump on her. Again. She’s always been a cat person to Clem’s dog loving.
When there’s nothing left to do but go back to the house, Maggie backs out of her parking spot in the underground parking garage and turns right on Main Street and then right again on River Road. She decides to take the scenic route back along Spring River.
The road has two lanes going in each direction and Maggie goes slowly in the right lane, all other cars in the small town’s “rush” hour passing on her left. Many of the condos she passes are closed up for the end of ski season and the middle of the week. She knows most of the condos are either second homes or are rented out by the week. Almost all of the weekly rental business is during the winter when the ski resorts bring in visitors from all over the country, and world.
Maggie checks her rearview mirror and notes that even those who are in the slow lane behind her quickly pass her once they catch up. Except for a white SUV.
Maggie’s private investigator instincts kick into high gear and she starts taking turns at random, testing out what the SUV does. It follows her first, second and third turns so Maggie pulls into a driveway. She hopes no one is home. Then she backs out and turns around, no white SUV in sight.
She meanders back to River Road and starts making her way to Clem’s house when she sees another white SUV a few cars back. She can’t be positive that it’s the same one but the hair on the back of her neck stands straight up, making her pretty sure that she’s being followed.
Maggie has taken plenty long enough to get back and sees Clem’s car in the garage. Maggie pulls into the driveway and waits for the SUV to pass before turning off her car and going inside. She even checks up the street in the direction the car went but doesn’t see it parked or coming back around. She decides that the tea Delilah gave her at The Dancing Donkey is doing funny things to her mind.
Maggie goes inside and is accosted by Suzie and Oscar. She puts her knee up to try to protect herself and catches Oscar in the chest but it doesn’t seem to deter him. Clem is nowhere to be seen or heard so Maggie muscles her way through the dogs and into her room.
There, Opal is crouched on the bed, ready to pounce on any unwanted visitor through the door. Lucky for Maggie, she’s not unwanted. Opal stands and meows happily at Maggie’s company, rubbing her head against her offered hand.
“I’m glad to see you’re finally starting to adjust to life here,” Maggie says, scooping the cat up and letting Opal sniff her face. Opal jumps out of her arms back to the bed and resumes her position of guard cat.
Maggie takes her time in the shower and getting her makeup just right. She’s not sure if this is a date so she’s treating it like one. If nothing else, she wants to stay on Daniel’s good side so he feeds her more information about her parents’ murder.
By six thirty, she hears Clem in the living room with the dogs but Maggie is still in the middle of making sure she gets everything just right. She knows Clem isn’t one to spend time on her appearance but Maggie can’t help herself. Her years in Denver have changed her from the small town teen she was when she left Silver Springs.
“Thanks for cleaning up Mom and Dad’s room,” Clem calls through the closed bedroom door. Maggie puts the finishing touches on before walking out and answering her.
“Sure,” she says, taking the offered olive branch.
“Sorry I was such a pill this morning.”
Maggie sits on the couch and puts her feet on the coffee table. “It’s been a while since I saw that side of you.”
Clem smirks. Maybe Maggie pushed too hard to put the past behind them and that will open up another tantrum. But Clem keeps her thoughts to herself.
“Remember that ornament we used to have on our cat’s collar growing up?” Maggie asks, changing the subject so Clem doesn’t have a chance to remind Maggie that she wasn’t the nicest sister either. Clem nods. “I found it this morning. It was on the coffee table. I put it on Opal’s collar.”
“It was on the coffee table?” Clem asks, turning her full attention to Maggie.
“Yeah.”
“That’s weird. I haven’t seen it in . . . years. I don’t even know the last time I saw it. But I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
Maggie responds, “I figured you’d picked it out of the mess in Mom and Dad’s room and brought it downstairs. I didn’t know if you had some other plan for it.”
Clem shakes her head and stands at the sound of tires in the driveway. “Nope. Don’t know how it got there. But Opal is a good place for it. You ready?” Clem grabs her coat from the rack next to the front door and walks outside.
Waiting for them are Denis and Daniel Stevens. Maggie isn’t sure what to expect but she puts her trust in people she’s avoided for over three decades, like Delilah says she has to do. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she whispers so only she can hear.
CHAPTER 22
Maggie slides into the back seat of Denis’ car. Daniel is there, smiling widely at her and chewing gum. Maggie hates it when people chew gum.
“Hey Maggie,” Daniel says congenially. He doesn’t make a move to touch her and she’s thankful for that.
“Hi Daniel,” she responds and notices Denis lean over from the driver’s seat to offer Clem a kiss. She wonders just how serious their relationship is.
“How’s the detective work going?” Daniel asks. Maggie thinks she hears some condescension in his question but she isn’t sure. She decides to ignore it and tell him what she knows.
“I talked to Harriet and Vince Flint today.” Daniel nods but looks out his window as Denis starts driving. “They told me they saw a red sedan at my parents’ house the afternoon they died.” She doesn’t want to use the word ‘killed’ and remind him that his office may have dropped the ball.
Daniel continues to nod but he turns back to Maggie. “We talked to them, too.”
“I didn’t see anything about the red sedan in their statement in the folder you gave me.”
“No. Because their story changed. One of them said it was a red sedan and the other said it was a green sedan.”
Maggie understands how that’s conflicting but it’s her parents! She has to follow this lead. She decides that she should call Trista tomorrow morning to see if she’s found anything, and if not, have her look up green sedans as well.
“That’s enough work talk,” Denis says. He glances in the rearview mirror and smiles at Maggie. “We thought we’d take you out to Indian. How does that sound?”
“I didn’t know there was an Indian restaurant in Silver Springs,” Maggie says, surprised.
“There are probably a lot of things you don’t know about Silver Springs,” Clem responds. Maggie feels the jab but Clem’s voice is friendly. She decides to let that go too.
“So, Maggie,” Denis starts. Maggie can tell he’s trying to keep everyone civil. She’s sure he didn’t know there might be so much tension between Maggie and Clem. “You have a boyfriend back in Denver?”
Maggie chuckles. It’s dark enough in the car that no one can see the color creeping into her cheeks. “No,” she answers after a noticeable pause, but thinks about Garth. They’ve worked so close together for so long and both remained single that it almost feels like they should give it a try. And being away from him this week has made her even more convinced it would work.
“I heard some hesitation,” Daniel teases. “An ex-boyfriend you’re hoping to reconcile things with?”
Maggie shakes her head and turns to watch the town go by. “Nope.” This conversation is no better than the last when she was the target of potential arguments. “What about you, Daniel?”
“I�
��m in the same boat as you. No girlfriend—”
“But your ex situation is wildly different,” Clem pipes up. Maggie wonders if her sister starts conflict with everyone or just those in this car.
Maggie doesn’t press and Daniel hesitates to explain. “I was married for eight years.”
“Divorced?” Maggie asks, not wanting to assume that’s what ended their relationship when his wife could have died.
“Yeah.” Daniel has gotten quieter and more distant. “But that was a long time ago,” he says more cheerily. “So, Indian food. I hope it’s as good as what you can find in Denver.”
Denis parks and Maggie is relieved she doesn’t have to answer. She didn’t come out tonight looking for a possible relationship and she doesn’t want to spend the entire evening fighting that off. Talking about her life in Denver has never been something she shared much with Clem, mostly because Clem never asked. So it feels funny having someone so interested.
Denis has made a reservation for the four of them and they’re quickly seated. Maggie loves Indian food and her stomach flips over on itself at the smells. She’s starving.
“Want to start with a couple appetizers?” she asks.
“Definitely,” Clem agrees and they both start reading the menu as if their lives depend on it.
Maggie notices that Daniel is no longer chewing gum and she hopes he put it in a trash can instead of just spitting it on the ground. The only thing worse than gum chewers are gum chewers who leave their sticky habits around for others to step in.
“How about the coconut shrimp and the wings?” Clem asks. Maggie quickly reads the two suggested items and agrees. Denis and Daniel seem indifferent to it all.
“How long have you been in the private investigator business?” Denis asks. His question is friendly but Maggie still feels like she’s being grilled.
“Twenty five years. But not all with my own office. Well, the office I share with my partner, Garth. We’ve run that for seventeen years,” Maggie answers, proud of herself for the success she’s created from nothing.
“What’s been your most interesting case?” Denis asks, keeping the conversation going when Maggie is happy to leave it where it is.
“Hmm . . . this one is shaping up to be rather interesting.” She pauses to think about the hundreds of cases, big and small, she’s worked on over the years. “Well, there’s been a lot of wives wanting to know if their husbands are cheating. And a smaller number of husbands wanting to know if their wives are cheating. Those are pretty common.” She pauses again. “But the most interesting—or at least the most unique—might have been a few years ago when we were asked to look into a potential employee for a company. There hadn’t been any red flags in their background check, but the hiring manager just had a weird feeling about the individual. And he was everyone’s top pick. So we looked deeper than just a background check and found out that he was actually in the witness protection program, had had dozens of plastic surgeries to completely alter his appearance, and after our investigation he had to start all over. So it wasn’t necessarily a good outcome—for the individual or the company.”
By the end of Maggie’s story, everyone is staring at her with rapt attention but Daniel is the only one who speaks. “I didn’t think you’d be able to access that much information.”
Maggie looks down at the plate of shrimp that’s placed in front of her to avoid his gaze. Not everything she’s done in her investigations has been by the book. Not necessarily illegal, but also not always black and white. There are plenty of gray areas that she uses to her advantage.
Maggie takes a bite so she doesn’t have to answer. “This is delicious. Here, pass the plate around. You all have to try this.” Despite the rocky start, she’s loosening up and thinks she might actually be able to enjoy her evening.
The four of them finally find a rhythm that doesn’t have anything to do with Clem and Maggie’s parents’ murder, work or past relationships. Maggie is almost positive that Daniel is interested in something more with her, but she’s not even close to being in the same place. For one, she doesn’t want to spend any more time in Silver Springs than is absolutely necessary. A relationship would complicate things well beyond what she’s looking for.
By the time their stomachs are so full that Maggie wants to lie down immediately, it’s past nine o’clock and Clem is yawning. “You look ready for bed,” Denis says to her, a devious twinkle in his eye that he doesn’t even try to hide. Clem nods through another yawn. “Let me get you home.”
They split the bill four ways and Maggie is grateful that Daniel doesn’t try to pay for her portion. In the car, he makes no move to get any closer to her than sitting next to her with space in between and Maggie wonders if she misread some of his earlier signs.
Back at Clem’s house, Denis and Clem spend several minutes on their goodnight, but Maggie is quick about getting out of the car, thanking everyone for a fun night out instead of stuck sitting inside, wondering what the truth about her parents’ death is. As she closes the door, a white SUV drives past slowly. Maggie stares after it but she can’t see the driver in the darkness.
CHAPTER 23
It’s not until after midnight that Maggie finally falls asleep and she has plenty of new notes for Thursday. The white SUV makes her mildly nervous but this isn’t the first—or second—time she’s been followed while investigating a case. She almost wants to tell someone so if anything happens to her there will at least be a starting point from which to look for her. But she doesn’t want to worry Clem and this isn’t anyone else’s case to solve.
Thursday morning, Maggie wakes much slower and much later than the previous day and Clem is already gone by the time she pulls herself to the kitchen to find something for breakfast. She considers skipping coffee at The Coffee Bean but she wants to talk to Ginger Rae, Erline and Winona since she didn’t see them yesterday.
Maggie scratches Opal’s head one last time before leaving the house and then heads once again toward Main Street where the only parking she finds is in the parking garage. She walks quickly to the end of the block and finds the three women sitting on the tan couch already enjoying their coffee.
“Maggie,” Erline exclaims when Maggie walks through the front door.
“We didn’t know if you were coming today,” Ginger Rae says, shifting on the couch to make space for a fourth person.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Maggie asks.
“It’s just almost nine and we were getting ready to pack things up and leave,” Winona explains quietly.
Maggie is not surprised she’s later than the last few days. This is closer to her normal time of getting going in the morning. She just didn’t realize that the other women would already be finished with their coffee by now.
“Get a coffee and join us. We’ll stay for you.” Erline winks at Maggie and turns back to her friends to chat while Maggie orders her coffee.
Maggie fits onto the couch between Ginger Rae and Winona. Their warmth, along with that from the coffee, makes her want to take off more layers than she can and still be decent. She wonders if it’s actually hot flashes making her this warm.
“I missed you guys yesterday,” Maggie says to fill the silence. They all seem to be waiting for her to speak.
“We meant to tell you when you left Bingo with Josh,” Erline wiggles her eyebrows with a devilish grin on her face, “on Tuesday night.”
Maggie blushes even though they didn’t leave together. He’d tried his hardest but she’d insisted she was fine. “I wasn’t surprised you didn’t come. After all the wine you had.” Maggie laughs, hoping they won’t take that as an insult.
“Well we’re allowed a little bit of fun at our age, aren’t we?” Winona asks, teasing.
“I didn’t mean—” Maggie starts but is quickly interrupted.
“We know that.” Winona waves her hand in the air, brushing away Maggie’s concern. “But you must have not missed us too much. I heard you had a date last night.”
Maggie wants to protest, but she supposes it was a date whether she’d call it that or not. She tries her best to call it something else. “We were just out to dinner.”
“That’s not what Sylvie says,” Ginger Rae protests.
“What do you mean?” Maggie’s head whips around to glare at Sylvie behind the counter but Sylvie is busy with other customers and doesn’t notice.
“She said she saw you out to dinner and Detective Daniel Stevens had his arm around your shoulder.” Ginger Rae smiles, widening the roundness of her face.
Maggie thinks back to last night. Was there a time when he had his arm around her shoulder? She doesn’t remember that. And she would remember if it’d happened. She would have been uncomfortable with his touch. Maybe it was just around her chair. Yes, that must be what happened. “Well, whatever she saw, there’s nothing between us. Just Clem and Denis.”
Maggie catches Ginger Rae’s wink in Erline’s direction and she fights the urge to protest even more. She knows it will only make her look guilty.
“Well, regardless of what is or is not going on between you and Daniel, is he helping you with your investigation?” Winona asks.
Maggie relaxes again with the start of a conversation she’s more comfortable with. She takes a sip of her coffee, at just the perfect temperature, and leans back into the cushions. “He is. He gave me the case file. He said there were too many signs of suicide not to call it that, but there were some other inconsistencies that the department didn’t look into for lack of manpower.”
“Well, I never,” Ginger Rae starts, her hands on her hips in anger. “This is Eleanor and Charles Boothe we’re talking about. Not some out of towner. If there were questions, he should have answered them.” Maggie is surprised at her outburst.
“Now, now,” Erline says calmly, reaching across Maggie and patting Ginger Rae on her oversized knee. “That’s what Maggie’s here for. Right, Maggie?”