Grounds for Remorse

by Misty Simon

  So, Michelle had installed the cameras, and she and Craig had not been sleeping in the same room. Was this whole “pushing me to run to her house” a ruse? Was this her big mistake? Did she want me to find the house on fire while she had a solid alibi?

  I wouldn’t put it past her. She was hot and cold, and her hot was like lava. I could see her burning down her own house to make sure Lily got nothing out of it. And without anywhere to go and possibly no money, would she torch it only to get caught and put in jail where she’d get three squares a day and not have to deal with life after Craig in a town that knew everything he’d done?

  I doubted that last one, but it did bear thinking about.

  “Let me make sure I understand. You saw someone checking things out and didn’t call the cops?” I asked.

  “Told you, I don’t like the cops. I told you, now you go tell them.” She swirled the bubbles so that they played peek-a-boo with her more rounded parts.

  I figured that was our invitation to exit.

  “Okay, well, thanks. We’ll just see ourselves out. Do you want us to lock the door on the way out?”

  “Of course. I’m a woman alone and don’t want anyone to come in while I’m unaware. Thanks, sugar.” She sighed. “And make sure you keep an eye on that big handsome man of yours, or someone else might snatch him up. Just sayin’.” She laughed. I laughed haltingly with her, pulling Max out of the bathroom behind me.

  We made it out the door and onto the street without any other incident.

  “Did you find that weird, too, or was that just me?” I asked as we trekked to his SUV.

  “Uh, no.” He tugged at the collar of his shirt.

  “No, you didn’t find it weird, or no, that wasn’t just me?”

  “It wasn’t just you. Did you get a look at the picture on the opposite wall with the squid and the woman?”

  I’d totally missed that. “No, what was so special about it?”

  “Nothing. Nothing at all.” He gulped. “I don’t always understand art. I hope that isn’t a point against me when you think about the future.”

  I tugged on his arm and brought him down for a kiss. “Absolutely not. Now, let’s go tell Michelle everything she owns is gone and see what her reaction is. Maybe she and Drake are still in this together. She might not want him to touch her, and she might not think he’d be good for her, but I wouldn’t be completely surprised if she’d used his love to get what she wanted in the end, only to have had her rug burned out from beneath her.”

  “I can’t disagree with that.”

  * * *

  Back at Drake’s, the scene was much different than when we showed up last time. Drake stood in the picture window with one hand on his hip and the other waving through the air like he was directing an orchestra, or maybe showing a plane how to land.

  Michelle paced back and forth, gesticulating wildly, her hair a mess and her movements jerky. Were they fighting? Had the partnership finally broken down, and now they didn’t know what to do with each other?

  I was extremely tempted to just see if I could open the door but didn’t want to be arrested for breaking and entering if Drake decided to press charges. In the end, I knocked. There was a half-minute of silence before the front door was yanked open by a disheveled Drake.

  “What took you so long? She wanted clothes and it’s been almost three hours.”

  “Get out of the way, Drake. I’m going to my mother’s once I have my clothes.” Michelle stalked to the door and wedged in front of Drake. “You can take your precious business and shove it.”

  “So, um, there was a slight problem with the clothes.” I explained the scene we’d come upon and Michelle’s mouth went from slightly open to a complete jaw drop, then her lips pressed together and quivered. She was going to cry, and I didn’t do well with crying. Neither did Max, but he stayed with me even though I could feel him trying to step back.

  “Maybe we should leave,” he whispered into my ear.

  “No, I think this is the perfect time to be here. Let’s ask questions while they’re riled.” I whispered it back, but Drake must have had the hearing of a bat.

  “We’re not riled up.”

  Michelle scoffed. “You might not be, but I certainly am. Drake just told me that he and Craig had words the afternoon he died and then he followed Craig around to see if he could talk him into keeping his shares of the company. The man was an idiot and was going to make us destitute. What did I ever see in him?”

  I didn’t know what to say to that question. I certainly wasn’t going to try to answer it. I turned to Drake. “Did you follow him when he went to drop those flowers off to Gina?”

  “Yes!” he yelled, frustration shouting from his every gesture. “Yes, I did. I went to convince him that Gina would never forgive him. He thought that she was just putting on a show in the coffeehouse. He was absolutely and stupidly convinced they were really meant to be together. In his mind, he was going to leave Michelle for Gina, thinking they could run the coffee shop together since he’d never really wanted to remodel houses in the first place. His idea was to have me buy him out, but I didn’t have the kind of money he was looking for.” By the end, he had stopped shouting and just seemed defeated.

  Wow, there was so much wrong with that, I didn’t even know where to start. “And did you see how he got into Gina’s place?”

  Drake sighed and rubbed his chin. “He had a key. I don’t know if he had it made, or if she gave it to him before they broke up, but he had a key and he used it. I followed him up the stairs and we fought in whispers at the landing. He wanted to knock, and I kept telling him to think this all the way through. Think about what he was throwing away and come back another day, after he’d divorced Michelle and was a free man, if that was what he really wanted. But Craig was always impulsive and had to have what he wanted at that very moment. I never quite understood how he had the patience to do the kind of work we did when he was so quick with split-second decisions in every other area of his life.”

  Were we standing in the presence of the killer? My heart about stopped. Was he going to confess all and then kill every person in the room? Although he was outnumbered three to one and so far he’d only used poison.

  “And did you push him down the stairs?” I asked. I knew that I was taking a chance here, but I had to know.

  “God, no! I wasn’t going to convince him, and I was done trying. He was a waste of breath, but I did not kill him. He wasn’t worth it.”

  I glanced at Michelle and saw her expression go from a frown to rolling her eyes. Was something Drake said making her disbelieve how naive he was? And why wasn’t she scared? Did she believe him? Was she the killer? My poor brain was overloaded with questions and suspicions.

  Then again, seeing Drake right now, and watching Michelle’s reaction, I had a very hard time believing either of them had done the deed. And neither of them was my blond woman.

  “What do you have to offer to that, Michelle?” Maybe she’d confess to something I had been wondering about for a little while now.

  “Only that Craig didn’t have patience. My God, he didn’t even like to wait for real coffee in the morning. He wasn’t the one working with you.” She sneered at Drake. “That was me. He would bring home the ideas the clients had, would take pictures of the layout of the house, or the room that they wanted remodeled, and I would sketch up a variety of ways things could be done. Since most of the work seemed to be for women, I was able to take what they wanted and make it so much better. Craig took the credit, acting like he was in touch with women, but in fact it was me giving them their dreams.”

  Bingo! Got it in one. The way his house was set up screamed lazy man, and that could have just been the way he chose to live to get away from what he did at work. But for the house to not have a single feminine touch, and with the changes Michelle had talked about while I was there to help her clean things out, it all made sense now that I knew who the real mind behind Craig was. According to Mon
ty, the man hadn’t even been able to pick out complimentary colors with regard to flowers. There was no way he had been able to decorate on his own.

  While I was congratulating myself on a job well done, Drake was apparently having a crisis.

  “Are you kidding me? All these years that we’d been paying Craig and had to deal with him expensing all those flowers and almost running us into the ground financially—and it was you all along?” While I thought he would be relieved because it meant business could go on as usual, and he would have his true partner so maybe things would even turn out okay for them, he looked pissed. Like royally pissed that he’d been lied to all these years. I guess I could understand that. Because it didn’t directly affect me, I was looking at the big picture while he was focusing on the smaller pieces that made it up, like the mosaic in Rose’s bathroom.

  Which reminded me to tell them about the person sneaking around the house.

  “The, um, possible arson isn’t the only thing,” I started. They both turned weary eyes to me. Maybe I should keep this to myself for just a little while longer.

  “Go on, Tallie,” Michelle said. “I’m about done, but I want all the info, and if this is someone’s doing, then I want them punished. I might not have loved that house, but I had plans for it, and my new life, if I even have anything left after this is all over.”

  I had seen a picture once of an old couple turned away from each other, obviously angry with each other in the rain, sitting on a bench, but he still held an umbrella over her head. It had some pithy wording on it about still caring even if you’re mad. Drake showed that now, as he took Michelle’s hand and cradled it in his own. He might be pissed, he might feel betrayed, but under all that he still cared for her and probably always would. I hoped one day she’d see that and appreciate it.

  “Well, it seems there was someone skulking around the place last night before it caught on fire.”

  “We’ll get the feed. . . .” Michelle trailed off. “No, I guess we won’t since it would have burned up in the fire.”

  “Not necessarily.” Drake patted her hand and glanced up at us. “Craig kept that going in the office, too, and had remote access from his desktop. We might be able to see who was there. He told me once that it backs itself up.”

  “The camera burned, though,” Michelle said, taking out her phone.

  “And the neighbor said that the person kept out of the line of the cameras.”

  Michelle giggled and the sound was almost unnatural in the tense mood of the room. But she laughed harder when we all stared at her.

  “Did Rose just happen to be in the bath when she called you over, with all her bubbles and her art depicting various sea creatures?”

  “Um, yes.”

  “She’s a character but she’s also watched out for me over the years. We’ve shared more wine than I can calculate on the nights Craig never came home. And she knows where all the cameras are placed, too— well, most of them, since I had a few installed that only I can access. I didn’t think of that because I was thinking about the fire.”

  Swiping her finger across the screen, she scrolled along and tapped the icon to make it bigger. The shot was grainy when I stood over her shoulder, but you could definitely see someone moving around and trying to keep to the shadows.

  “Do you recognize her?” I was convinced it was a woman with the way the waist dipped in.

  “No, she doesn’t look familiar at all, but then I don’t know everyone who would have been involved with Craig. I never knew any of them, except Gina.”

  And that would have been why she’d gone after the one person she thought she could reach out and slap. But then her husband had died and the real wife had come waltzing in. I still didn’t know how Lily had known how to find him, but thought it would be best to ask Burton for his info.

  Burton, who was waiting for me to report that I’d done his favor. Burton, who was not going to be happy that I’d seen the fire. Though, of course, it was his fault I was there in the first place.

  “Can you send me that footage?” I’d hand it to Burton, who could then send it to the fire chief across the river.

  “Yes.”

  I rattled off my e-mail address, then Max and I took our leave. There was nothing more to do here, and I still wanted to get to that dinner, though it was getting closer and closer to eight. If I wanted to look fancy, I was going to need time to actually shower and put some makeup on.

  “Burton?” I asked Max, sitting in the seat next to me with the ignition running.

  “I guess so, but we might need to do the dinner another night. I don’t know if we’ll have time.”

  “We’ll make time. I’m sorry this is taking up so much of your vacation. I’m sure when you came up here you weren’t expecting to be embroiled in another murder case.”

  With his foot still on the brake, he turned to me in the driveway. “I expected to spend time with you, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. It doesn’t have to be anything special; it doesn’t have to be fantastic. I’d prefer it not be so mysterious sometimes, but it’s time with you, and that’s the important thing.”

  Be still my thundering heart. I leaned over the console in his SUV and kissed him hard. “Let’s buzz by Burton’s and then we, sir, have a dinner to attend.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He shoved the car into gear and hightailed it down the road and away from the two people I hoped might be able to get it right as long as neither of them had really killed Craig.

  * * *

  Burton only sighed when I told him about Drake and my feelings about his innocence. He was all set to go get the man for questioning anyway when I broke the news of the fire. He already knew about it, of course, but shook his head at me for being on the frontline once again. He did at least nod at me when I handed him the footage from Michelle’s phone.

  “I’d tell you ‘good work’ like I would a rookie, but I’m almost afraid it would inflate your ego to the point that I’d never get rid of you, even if you or your friends had nothing at stake in what was happening in the department or the borough.”

  Well, that wasn’t exactly a thanks, but it wasn’t a kick in the teeth, either. I’d take it.

  “Oh, and I was able to look into that marriage certificate, and it seems that Lily is mistaken. Since she and Craig got married when she was underage, and she had no parental consent, the marriage is null and void.”

  “Holy crap.”

  “Yes, well, I was going to let Michelle know she could go back to her house, but I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

  “Oh, I think it would matter to her. In fact, is there any way you’d let me tell her? Please. I want to deliver good news for once.”

  Burton sighed, but he fanned his hand to shoo me out with a nod.

  I waved to him on the way out, letting him know I’d give him anything else I thought might help him actually solve this one himself. He growled, I laughed, and the world was back on track.

  “Can we postpone dinner until tomorrow?” I asked Max. We walked out to the car hand in hand.

  “I kind of figured you might ask, and it’s fine. It’s going to be ten before we even get back to your apartment. I’m tired, I’m sure you’re tired, and I’d like to go on a day when we’re not wrapped up in the middle of a murder case.”

  I listened for signs of irritation or anger and found none. Just my guy, tired but still sticking with me.

  “I could ask Gina if she has anything left over from last night. We could heat it up on the stove and snuggle in for a movie?”

  “That would work for me.”

  Me too. We got into the car, and I held his elbow as he drove. Life was what you made of it and I was just realizing that. Thankfully, I had Max to remind me if I forgot again.

  * * *

  To say Michelle was overjoyed when I told her about Lily and Craig’s marriage being illegal was an understatement.

  She even hugged Drake in front of us.

  “What do you
say to a different fifty/fifty split?” she asked him. “I promise to only expense the flowers I buy for my desk, and you and I can take the remodeling world by storm. We’ll even give that other woman at Craig’s funeral, Amanda, a run for her money. I’ve known her for years, and we’ll be the place to go for deals and construction, too. I have some ideas that Craig always shot down that you might be interested in.”

  “Of course. Why don’t you let me make you dinner, and we’ll talk about it.” He got a twinkle in his eye, one of respect and admiration, and I fully approved.

  “Why don’t we make dinner together while we lay out a plan. The first part is that you have to tell my brother to back off. He gets nothing and is not involved. I don’t want him to have any part in this. Just you and me.”

  We left because the looks were getting intimate, and as much as I was rooting for them, I didn’t need to see it happen to be happy for them.

  Max and I made it back to my apartment with food from Gina in hand. Jeremy was at her place. I had no idea if that was still from the night before, and I really didn’t need to know.

  We settled into the couch after heating up our food and I really looked at Max. This could be my every night. No matter if we were here or in DC, this could be my every night, and I found myself very much drawn to that image. Now I’d just have to talk with him about it. But we could do that later. There was no rush when it was right. And this was very much all right. Now if I could just find a killer and nail him or her to the wall so that Max and I could enjoy the rest of his vacation without chasing people around.

  * * *

  The Bean was hopping with coffee and gossip the next day. I didn’t normally hear stories about out-of-towners here, but this morning, the fire and voided marriage were hot topics. I didn’t know how they’d all found out since I’d kept my mouth shut without even having to be told by Burton. But it was interesting to see the way everyone shared and then shared again.