"About?" I asked, frowning.
"On her card." Brian waited, his pen poised.
"Anything you like," I told him. "I'm sure she'll be pleased by whatever you write."
"Okay..." Brian tapped the pen against the desk, his eyes drifting off into a faraway look.
"It sounds like you two were good friends?"
Brian tilted his head from one side to the other. "We didn't really hang out beyond work but yeah, we got on pretty well. She's a sweetheart."
"You probably met her brother? Zach?"
Brian glanced up at me, pausing in his written message. "He came by a couple times," he said, looking down again as he resumed writing.
"I only met him a couple of days ago," I continued. "Not the friendliest guy."
"You can say that again." Brian folded the card and slipped it back into the paper bag before pushing it over to me. "I can't imagine how the same DNA could be divided so differently between two people. He always seemed pissed and she was always so sunny. He was rude and she was sweet. She always made an excuse for him, but I mean, every single time? C'mon, girl!"
"I'm sure," I said, nodding along. "He's a real character."
"That's a nice way of putting it. I thought Sophie was scared of him. Hey, how is Austen doing? He must be so worried," Brian asked before I could pick up on his previous comment.
"He spends most of his time at the hospital."
"Please tell him I asked about him. We were all delighted when Sophie met him. We didn't even know what a big deal he was until Laeticia told us he donated a huge sum to the museum last year."
"We?"
"All of us here. Sophie seemed surprised too when it came up in conversation but maybe it embarrassed her."
"They met at the theater, right?"
Brian cocked his head to one side. "I think so. Sophie is a big theater fan. Austen took her all the way to New York once just to attend opening night of a new Broadway show. She said they stayed in a fancy hotel and rode in a horse-drawn carriage through the park. Isn't that romantic?"
"Very," I agreed, noticing a father and his two young children joining the queue, and realizing I was holding them up. "Do you know where I can find Melinda or Laeticia?"
"Melinda is probably at the front desk. Laeticia will be in her office. I'm sure Melinda will take you there if you tell her about the get well card. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"
"Lexi," I said. "It was so nice meeting you, Brian."
"And you too! Please tell Austen I'd like to visit sometime."
I agreed I would and went in search of Lily. I found her perusing a selection of scarves. "I was trying to decide whether to get one of these for my mom's birthday until I realized I can't remember her new address," she said as she stroked the material. "I'll email my dad and maybe come back later."
"Good idea," I told her. "I'm sure she'll appreciate whatever you send her."
"Hmph," snorted Lily but I knew better than to answer. Lily's parents were never hands-on. Since we became friends, she probably spent more time with my parents than her own. Lily’s parents traveled incessantly and often forgot they had a daughter. "What did you find out?" she asked as we left the gift shop.
"Only that Sophie and Brian were friendly and he liked her and Austen, but not Zach. Also, Austen is super romantic," I added, retelling Brian's Broadway story as we left the gift shop.
"I like Austen," said Lily. "Any man who does that is a keeper, so long as he's actually normal."
"Weird that you needed to qualify that."
"Have you met any people lately? Awful people can do wonderful things."
"I think Austen might just be one of the nice ones," I replied, wishing I was that sure about Sophie. If it weren't for all the odd things Austen suspected, and the pile of cash, I'd have a hard time imagining her as anyone who did anything out of the ordinary. She seemed to live a very quiet life as a stay-at-home wife. As we approached the front desk, I thought most people would have been pleased to have their skills recognized in the workplace. Especially when offered the chance to use them in a more active way and with some kind of accolade. Yet Sophie shunned any recognition for sharing her knowledge at all. Could it be that she simply didn't want to work harder? It wasn't inconceivable. Perhaps she just wanted a simple life and a job she could leave behind at the end of the day. Unlike me, her job did not have to occupy most of her waking hours.
"Hi, are you Melinda?" I asked the woman we bought our tickets from.
The woman moved her collar and tapped her name badge. "I am. How may I help you?"
"I'm Lexi, this is Lily. Brian referred us to you. We're friends of Sophie Takahashi. She's in the hospital after having an accident and we thought she would appreciate a get well card from all of her friends."
Melinda sat a little straighter, smiling. "And you thought of me? I'm happy to sign it, although I haven't seen Sophie for a couple months. We all miss her around here."
"Brian was just talking about how knowledgeable Sophie was on the subject of art. I never knew!" I handed Melinda the card and she opened it, laying it on the desk as she scanned Brian's message.
"Oh, yes. We were all so impressed by her unlimited scope in the field of art appreciation. I told her once she could have been an art professor. It's a shame she didn't stay on."
"I don't remember why she left..." I prompted.
"I can't say I know either but it was right after she got married. You must know Austen? Such a nice guy and their wedding was beautiful. I thought they'd have a big, fancy affair but it turned out to be modest, pretty and intimate. Now I think about it, I guess that's more Sophie's style anyway."
"How so?"
"She was never flashy and even though Austen is very rich, she's still not like that." Melinda put her hand to her mouth. "I'm sorry. That sounded so crass. I really like Austen."
"I understand," I told her. "It must be strange to marry someone with a lot of money. I think it has the ability to change a lot of people."
"The only thing that changed about Sophie when she met Austen was her burst of confidence. She was kind of meek before, but of course, you probably already know that. Or maybe it was just at work. Regardless, we really miss her very much but not that brother of... oh! I'm sorry. I was being crass again."
"You mean Zach?" I asked.
Lily leaned in. "He’s a jerk if you ask me," she said quietly with a knowing nod.
Melinda nodded along. "Isn't he? How the two of them could come from the same gene pool boggles the mind. He was always so domineering and crude. I told Sophie she shouldn't let him speak to her like that. Laeticia said she didn't want him coming around. He gave her the heebie-jeebies."
I feigned conspiratorial shock. To be fair, it wasn’t difficult since my first impression of Zach was not very flattering. "What about?" I asked.
"I don't know but she got really rattled one time right before Sophie quit. She wouldn't say anymore about it." Melinda ducked her head down as she wrote a note in the card. Glancing up, she asked, "Should I promise to visit soon? I'd like to do that. Do you know what kind of flowers she prefers?"
"Flowers?" I asked, momentarily confused.
"To take when I visit Sophie in the hospital."
"Oh, yes. I'm sure she would appreciate anything that blooms. She's not conscious yet but her doctors are hopeful she'll come around very soon," I added as Melinda folded the card and returned it to me.
Melinda raised her eyebrows. "Goodness, that must have been a terrible accident! Perhaps I could bake something for Austen?"
"I'm sure he'd appreciate the gesture. Do you know where I can find Laeticia?" I asked.
"You're in luck. That's her right over there." Melinda pointed behind us. "The lady in the white suit."
We thanked Melinda and followed the suited lady, almost losing her when she moved into one of the galleries. "Wearing a white suit is a real power move," said Lily. "I would spill something on it within the first ten seconds."
>
"Me too," I agreed, "but Laeticia looks great in it."
Laeticia was a tall, curvy woman with dark black skin, a closely shaved head and luminous eyes. I had to wonder if she'd been a model in a former life. I could only aspire to look that flawless. We stopped her in front of a still life painting and explained who we were.
"I had no idea," she told us when I produced the card. "Poor Sophie. Will she recover soon and be okay?"
"The doctors are very optimistic," I told her, offering her a pen. "We thought it would be nice for her to know how many people were thinking of her when she wakes up."
"She's very lucky to have friends like you. I hoped she would make some friends when she started working here. She was so shy at first."
"I don't think her dominating brother was much help," said Lily, shooting Laeticia a knowing look. "He's kind of a jerk, if you know what I mean."
"Oh, I certainly do," agreed Laeticia with a weary shake of her head. "He seemed nice at first... anyway, I told her he couldn't come here anymore. I didn't like his attitude."
"Why's that?"
"It seems silly now, and I'm sure he was joking around, but at the time, I was worried that he actually meant what he said. Then Sophie met Austen and Zach stopped showing up anymore. I almost forgot all about it."
Lily and I exchanged glances as Laeticia contemplated the card. "Did he threaten Sophie?" I asked, my heart thumping in anticipation of her answer.
"Not exactly. I suppose Sophie could have told you already so it won't matter what I say. I overheard Zach telling Sophie she should take a close look at the museum security because some of our stuff was so rare and valuable that he could get good money for it." She handed me the card. "He said it would solve all their problems."
Chapter Fourteen
"Do you think Zach would really steal from a museum?" asked Lily as we left.
I wrinkled my nose. "Hard to say but it didn't sound like Laeticia assumed he was blowing hot air."
"I don't feel in any position to criticize, given the fossil I liberated but it sounds like Zach wanted to steal something valuable and sell it. Do you think he succeeded?"
"I'm sure Laeticia would have mentioned a theft." I paused as we hit the sidewalk. "I want to say from everything I've learned about Sophie that she wouldn't steal anything but there's still a large amount of cash I can't account for. It could be proceeds from an illicit sale, but if so, why would she have the money, not Zach?" I gulped, realizing that my question put Sophie in a firmly guilty position. Yet, Sophie left the museum months ago. For someone who apparently loved her job, that seemed strange to me. Was it because Zach embarrassed her at her place of work? Or really to stop him from getting access to its valuable contents? Whichever way I viewed it, Zach didn't come out looking good, and neither did Sophie.
"Maybe she double-crossed him? He came up with the idea, but she executed it, fenced the artifact, and chose to keep the cash and the rich husband?"
I laughed. "This is getting too complicated."
"Complicated doesn't mean it's not true."
I contemplated that. Lily was right. Something weird was going on but so far, everything nasty I discovered seemed to follow Zach. No one had a bad word to say about Sophie. With my new information, I had to talk to Zach again. But before that, something else occurred to me. "Money seems to be a recurring theme in this case," I said. "Austen has a lot of it. Sophie has none, except by marriage. Zach's job doesn't scream big bucks. And Laeticia said Zach inferred they had a money problem."
"Whatever problems Sophie had, surely, marrying a wealthy man solved that?"
"She might not have told Austen if she were in debt."
"Is she?"
"Not that I could find, but there's plenty of debt that doesn't show up in financial records. She could owe loan sharks or bookies." That didn't sound right but Lily got my gist: there were plenty of ways a person could owe money that wouldn't show up in official channels.
"Then why did she have all that cash?"
I shook my head. Lily had me there. "Beats me," I admitted. "That kind of money solves a lot of problems."
"Let's go to Sky Outdoors and talk to the brother. Maybe if we pretend we already know what's going on, he'll 'fess up."
"I've got a better idea. Let's go to his apartment."
"If it's close by, that's a much quicker way to talk to him."
I shook my head. "I don't expect Zach to be there. He'll be at work."
"Then, how..." Lily trailed off. "Oh!" she deduced. "We're breaking in! Yes!" She fist-pumped the air, her glee more than obvious.
"We're not breaking in."
Lily's face fell. "But Poppy is in day care!"
"That's not why you put your kid in day care!"
"It was the reason why today." She shrugged. "So what are we doing there?"
"We're going to speak to the neighbors. Maybe scan his mail."
"Is that a crime?"
"You're too hopeful of a criminal opportunity," I said, evading the question.
"Shame. I've been practicing my lock-picking skills."
"Really? Who taught you?" We started to walk in the direction of Lily's car.
"Jord."
"Why?"
"There was an incident with a pair of handcuffs a month ago and..."
I held up my hand. "Let me stop you there. I do not need to know this."
"It's actually a funny story."
"Nope," I said. "Nothing about your and my brother's sex life is funny to me." About as funny as imagining the entire five times my parents did the deed, which I didn't want to think about either.
"Who said it involved our sex life?" Lily's stare was edging towards accusatory but I wasn't about to fall for it.
"It didn't?" I asked scathingly.
Lily grinned. "It totally did, and it was all because Jord..."
I raised my hand again. "Still nope!"
"Fine, but he did teach me how to pick the lock and I've been practicing on other things. Turns out I'm pretty good at it. I picked the lock to the bar only last night."
"You should get new locks and your security upgraded," I advised. "If you can pick that lock, other people can break in."
Lily's nose wrinkled. "Good point."
We got in the car and buckled up. "Where to?" asked Lily.
"Excellent question. Don't know. I left my notes at the agency."
"We can run over there and get them."
"Or I can call Austen," I said, already dialing. Austen gave me Zach's address with barely a question as to why and I read the address to Lily.
"I know it," she said. "It's near the train station. I read in the Gazette that the area is getting gentrified. Lots of commuters live near the station so they can get to Boston easily without having to pay for parking or relying on bus schedules. A lot of people moved there because it's cheap but now they're getting forced out. All the landlords would rather rent their newly redone studios to the higher-earning professionals."
"Makes sense from a business point of view, but it sucks to be forced out of a once affordable area. Zach isn't a particularly high-earning professional. Or is he? I don't know what his job could really be classified as. Blue or white collar?"
"Beats me. That outdoorsy stuff takes skills but no college degree."
We shrugged the question aside as we headed towards the train station. The lack of parking was problematic so we ditched the car several blocks from the station and headed towards Zach's apartment on foot. He lived in a seven-story walk-up next to the tracks. We raced to catch the door from closing after a man walked out and a train rumbled past. The whole building shook and the glass pane in the door rattled. We needn't have rushed; there was no visible security. This was clearly not one of the buildings upgraded for the professional commuters.
"Wow, that was so loud!" said Lily when the train disappeared around a bend.
"How can anyone sleep with trains like that going—" I was cut off as another train shot pas
t, heading the opposite direction, drowning my words. I tugged the door shut behind us and we moved deeper into the sparse entryway. The walls were dirty white, the flooring worn, brown carpet, and someone attempted to brighten the space with a set of art prints and an artificial ficus placed next to the mailboxes. I straightened the middle print so it matched its neighbors. Then another train shot past and it slipped askew again.
"I got his mailbox open," announced Lily.
I whipped around, raising my eyebrows as Lily held up a small bundle of mail.
"How did you... you picked the lock."
"It was easy. You wanted the mail, right?"
"I kind of hoped it would just be lying around."
"I can throw it on the floor if that helps?"
I sighed and took the mail, shuffling through it. There was a utility bill and some junk brochures. Nothing interesting. I stuck it back in the mailbox and the mailbox popped open again.
"I'll get that," said Lily, sticking a needle-sized tool into the mechanism as she held the door shut. This time, it stayed in place. Then she rubbed the door with her sleeve. "Fingerprints," she explained.
"I doubt Zach dusts his mailbox for fingerprints before comparing them to a national database."
"You can never be too careful," said Lily. "We have just committed a crime."
"Is it a crime if no one knows about it?" I wondered again. Lily shrugged. "Let's go knock on the doors of his neighbors," I suggested, heading for the stairs.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? If someone tells him a woman was asking about him and describes you, he's gonna be pissed."
"Good point," I agreed. "Austen said Sophie used to live here too so we'll ask about her instead. We can say we're trying to find her and this is her last known address. If we're lucky, someone might spill a detail or two about Zach." We headed up to the fourth floor and counted off the doors. Four apartments comprised the floor and Zach lived in apartment B. "Let's check C and D first as we work our way around to A," I said.
"Cool."
I knocked on C and a large man wearing a checkered shirt with no sleeves and a billowing pair of boxers answered the door. "Got pizza?" he asked.
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