“I remember.”
“Well, those friends of his — and I use the term loosely — have become a problem. We believe one of the group tried to breach your garage door.”
“Why would they come to my house? They broke in so they could help Adeline. Christophe works for Adeline. He can tell her anything now. Why would they come back around me?”
“Christophe has completely changed his way of life. He’s not the same person. Unfortunately, the other boys have not had the same opportunities offered them. They too have changed their course. Unfortunately, their choices are not as appropriate as those of Adeline’s grandson. Christophe has confided in an individual who in turn confided in me. He’s concerned the young men he associated with will see it their due to, shall we say, liberate some things of value.”
“But how would they even know where I live? I’ve moved since then. And why me? Why not break into some random stranger’s house?”
“They seem to feel you’re the reason Christophe has a good life. They take no responsibility for the sudden downturn in their circumstances and therefore blame you for their recent descent in both social status and funding.”
“What did I do?”
“You were kind to Christophe. You made sure Adeline was fair to him and gave him a chance.”
“I didn’t do that.”
“You sell yourself short, Cara. You, in fact, did do that. And much more. You saved Adeline’s life, and further, you saved her from her children. You put Adeline back in contact with — and then into a relationship with — her grandson. Those accomplishments led to her now having a relationship with several of her other grandchildren. They’re all very aware of your help and without exception give you full credit for their good fortune. In every sense of the word.”
“But I really didn’t do anything.”
Roland chuckled. “Precisely why Adeline trusts you so much. You not only spout absurd claims like that, you actually believe them. You don’t try to cash in on anything.” He stood up. “I must go. I know you don’t like it, but we’ll be watching you for a while.”
“After last night, I have no problem with it at all. Thanks, Roland. If you find out anything else, can you please give me a call?”
“Of course.”
When A.J. and Suzi got home for lunch, I filled them in on everything Roland told me. I’d thought about calling as soon as I’d heard the news, but decided it would just throw Suzi off, and they had a huge client coming in first thing in the morning.
I was right about throwing Suzi off. When I told her it was a guy she had been seeing and then handed her the folder with all the information, she went full-blown hysterical.
All she could think about was the fact she’d put her daughter in danger.
I’ve never seen A.J. look so angry. He’s like Seamus. He clenched down on his jaw so hard I thought he would break teeth.
When Suzi went upstairs to wash her face and try to calm down, A.J. told me he’d actually introduced the two of them. I didn’t start a fight over the fact that A.J. never told me he introduced Suzi to a guy named Grant and that he knew they’d done lunch a few times. He would just argue Grant was one of the guys he knew from Old Town. He would tell me lunch during the daytime wasn’t a big deal, and he figured if Suzi got serious about him, she would tell me. Men can be so clueless.
A.J.’s face turned red, and then he went pale.
He muttered something about paying Grant a little visit.
“Please don’t do that. Roland’s guys have it under control. If we just stay out of it … ”
“Like you and Teagan stay out of everything?” His tone was hurtful and scared shitless at the same. “Sorry.”
“No, I deserved that. You’re right. I give great advice. I just don’t follow it. But you’re a guy. A guy is much more likely to punch you than he would be to punch me.”
“Not true, unfortunately. Plus, any guy who would hack a baby monitor would break your face without giving it a second thought.”
“You’re right. But Roland says he’s already got it under control.”
We heard Suzi coming back down the stairs. She blew into the kitchen. “Wait a minute. Something isn’t right.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know I freaked out and screamed as soon as I saw a man’s face on the monitor screen, and I heard him talking to Evelyn, but it wasn’t Grant. I don’t know why that didn’t hit me immediately. Probably because I was one hundred percent focused on getting Evelyn safe. But it wasn’t him.”
“What?” A.J. seemed more annoyed than relieved.
“The guy on the monitor wasn’t Grant. I’d swear to it.”
“Suzi, Roland told me they were able to trace the signal or whatever it is. Because we didn’t turn off any of the devices, they were able to trace the digital footprint. You know I’m not good with those kinds of details, but Roland was absolutely sure the guy was Grant. He said he — Grant — volunteered to go to their offices, and Grant told them he was just trying to get closer to you. He figured if Evelyn got to know his voice and was comfortable with him, she would be all googly around him, and you would be more open to a relationship.”
“I know, but it wasn’t Grant’s face on the monitor. I can picture it in my mind. It wasn’t Grant.”
“Why would he confess to something if it wasn’t true?” A.J. paced back and forth.
“I don’t know, but I’m telling you it wasn’t Grant!” Suzi was tiptoeing her way back to hysteria.
A.J. shook his head like he was trying to get rid of an annoying bug buzzing around. “What are the chances two guys hacked the monitor?”
“What?” I shook my head. “I’d put it in the high gazillions. The chances of one guy hacking the monitor are stupid high. The chances of two doing it are so far off in the land of fiction they aren’t really worth thinking about.” I’m not a math person, but you don’t need to be to figure it out.
A.J. turned to Suzi. “Does Grant have a roommate?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Maybe a roommate saw him do it and followed suit.”
“Why would he do that?” Suzi all but fell into her chair.
“I don’t know.” A.J. sat.
Suzi shredded a napkin. “You have to be seven kinds of creepy to do something so weird. What are the chances two guys that sick would happen to be roommates?”
I took a breath. “Maybe their creepiness is what brought them together as roommates. I’ll ask Roland to check it out.” I turned to A.J. “I’ll tell him Suzi is sure the guy on the screen was not Grant.”
A.J. didn’t seem any calmer at all. “Fine. But it still leaves the question of why he would confess.”
Suzi was completely exasperated. “I don’t know. Maybe what he really has on his mind is a thousand times worse than his confession, so he felt like his confession was the better choice?”
The thought seemed to flip my brain. “What is worse than a grown man on a baby’s monitor?”
A.J. was firm. “Good question. I don’t want you bringing Evelyn back here until we get this figured out. You can stay at Teagan’s, or we’ll get you a hotel, or maybe it would be a good idea for you to take a vacation.”
“I’m not going on vacation! At least when I’m here, I know what’s around me and what’s out of place. I have backup. I’m not going where I would be all alone and unfamiliar with everything.”
“That’s actually smarter. Do you think Teagan would mind if Suzi stayed there a while longer?” A.J. isn’t good at asking for help. It cost him something to ask if his sister and niece could stay at Teagan’s.
“Teagan will be happy for Suzi and Evelyn to stay there as long as she wants. Don’t even worry about it.”
Suzi whined. “I’m not Teagan’s problem. I’m not sure I feel comfortable intruding on her life. One night was asking too much of her, but this isn’t right.”
“It isn’t an intrusion. If you aren’t comfortable there, y
ou can stay at Daddy’s. He’s made the offer more than once. You can always stay with Troya. She has a nursery set up.”
“Cara, I’m not a part of your family. You can’t just keep pawning me off on all your relatives.”
“You are a part of my family, and you have been for a long time. Family isn’t just about blood. I’m sorry, but you stepped in it big time years ago when we were roommates, and you can’t escape being an O’Flynn now.”
Suzi muttered, “I’m not an O’Flynn.”
“Okay, you’re O’Flynn adjacent. Where do you want to stay?”
“I guess I’ll stay where I’ve been. I don’t have much of a choice. I’m not going to put Evelyn in the line of fire.”
I tried to be reassuring. “Roland will have this figured out in no time. Then we’ll get back to normal.”
“What about the wedding? We’re supposed to meet here tonight to go over more plans.” Suzi threw what was left of the napkin, near tears. “I’m sorry. My men issues have stomped all over your life. Again.”
“There’s no way you could have seen this coming. It has nothing to do with you.” I’m not sure I believed my statement, but I’m pretty sure I wanted it to be true.
“I’m a magnet for crazy men.”
A.J. snapped at her. “No, you aren’t.”
“The common denominator between all these freaks is me! It’s my fault.”
“Blame the victim?” A.J. tried not to sound as angry as I knew him to be.
“I’m not a victim. I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot, and beating yourself up is just giving the real idiot too much power.” I knew I believed that part.
“Cara, I don’t want to hear all this. I know you and your mom actually believe all this stuff, but I don’t. If anything, it’s bad karma. I don’t know what I did, but somehow I did something so bad all the people I love are paying for it.”
“Even I don’t believe that, Suzi.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore, Cara. I need to figure out what I’m going to do. I need think of a way to get rid of this guy, and I need to do it now. I need to keep my baby safe.”
I wasn’t trying to be controlling, but I think maybe I was coming off that way. “We can help you, Suzi.”
A.J. sat across from Suzi. His eyes were unbelievably intense.
Suzi shook her head. “It’s not your job. The last time you helped me, you almost got killed. I’m not going to let that happen again.”
“Roland’s guys said the man, whoever he is, was just trying to get your attention. He had no intention of hurting you.”
“Yeah, that makes me feel better. Cara, the guy is crazy. Only a crazy person would hack a baby monitor. I found another crazy guy. That’s what I do. I need to get back to work. I’ll see you this afternoon. Then I’ll figure out what to do.”
Suzi stormed out of the house.
A.J. was painfully still.
“Where’s she going? How’s she going to get back to work?”
“She has her own car. She wanted to stop at daycare and check on Evelyn.”
“We need to help her. She’s your sister. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. I gotta think about it. What’s up with you guys meeting up this afternoon? Suzi said something about going over to Teagan’s.”
“The dress designer is here. She wants to talk to me and take my measurements. I’m beginning to think it would be a better idea if we postponed the wedding. I know I said I wanted to do it on my parents’ anniversary, but that’s not as important as keeping Evelyn and Suzi safe.”
“They aren’t mutually exclusive, Cara.”
I wasn’t sure if his voice sounded hurt or annoyed.
“I know. We don’t have to decide right now. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together.”
“Yeah. I gotta go.” He made it two steps toward the door, stopped, turned, and came back. A hug and peck on the cheek, and he was gone.
It didn’t feel right.
It didn’t feel like A.J. and me.
That worries me.
THREE
I GOT TO Teagan’s early. She was already home from work and said the designer would be there in about an hour. Teagan had offered to pick her up, but she and her husband had decided they wanted a rental car so they could see some sights. It turns out they’ll be in the United States for about a month.
Teagan told me Suzi checked in, and she would be back at Teagan’s for the night in about half an hour. The original plan had been for Gran to watch Evelyn while we had our design meeting, but Suzi was no longer comfortable allowing Evelyn out of her sight.
“Is she okay? When I talked to her this afternoon, she sounded even worse than she did last night. Even Jessie’s worried about her.”
“Roland’s people tracked the hacker. It’s a guy Suzi knows. I guess they’ve been out for lunch a few times. Suzi and A.J. came home for lunch today. We were all talking about it. Suzi swears the guy they’re blaming was not the guy on the screen. A.J. is beside himself. He introduced Suzi to the guy Roland is blaming for this whole mess.”
“That sucks.”
“Suzi went to the dark side. She feels like she picks monsters and like it’s her fault Evelyn’s in danger. Plus she’s finally feeling guilty about the whole Barry thing.”
“Finally feeling guilty?” Teagan let her eyes go round. She hasn’t done that in a while.
“Okay, that was mean. I’m sure she felt guilty before. Even if she jumped to his defense at the time. And, well, after.”
“When are you going to let it go? The woman and her child live with you. If you’re still all freaked out about how she dealt with the worst thing in her life, then you need to find a new place for her to live.”
“Worst time in her life? It wasn’t exactly a party for me, Teagan.”
“I get it. I do. But they aren’t mutually exclusive, dingleberry.”
“Damn. A.J. said the exact same thing to me today.”
“That you’re basically a … ”
“No, the mutually exclusive thing.”
“It’s not exactly an unknown concept.”
“True, but Mom always said when you notice something like that, it’s important and you should pay attention.”
“Noted. You want tea?”
Maybe I’m finally over the either-or part of life. “Please.”
Suzi got to Teagan’s right on time. I don’t know what I expected, but when she let herself in with a key, it surprised me. It kind of annoyed me. Having a key to Teagan’s has always been a really big deal. There are people in our family that don’t have a key. I reminded myself Teagan was doing me the favor. I’m the one who called and asked if Suzi could stay with them. My being upset about it was just stupid.
Suzi looked terrible. She looked like she’d aged and lost weight and maybe her will to move forward. It wasn’t like she’d lost her will to live or anything; it’s more like she just wanted to climb in bed and stay there. Maybe not forever. Just until things got back to a place where she could deal with all of it again.
Teagan was up from the table and gave her a hug before she made it two steps into the room. “What can I get you?”
“Nothing. I’m fine. I’m just going to change Evelyn.”
Teagan’s house is big, but it’s far from soundproof — hers has a much more open floor plan than mine — so I was careful not to say anything Suzi might overhear.
Teagan and I talked wedding arrangements while we waited for Suzi to come back.
I knew Suzi was on her way when I mentioned to Teagan I had offered to postpone the wedding.
Suzi was instantly at my side. “Don’t do that. I swear to God, Cara, if you postpone the wedding I will never forgive myself. Or you. I’ll go away. Evelyn and I can go on the vacation A.J. was talking about, or I have a friend in Louisiana we can stay with. I’m not going to do this to you again. Not again.”
“What are you talking about?”
>
“It’s not important. Just promise me you won’t change your wedding plans.”
“I promise.”
“Swear.”
“I swear on everything that’s important to me, I will not change any of my wedding plans because of anything that has anything to do with you or Evelyn. Short of — you know — you finding your one true love and asking us to make it a double wedding.”
“Not funny.”
“Not meant to be. Suzi, this is ugly, but it isn’t the end of the world. Any normal family would just pull out the baby monitor and make sure the door is locked. My family making you stay in a strange person’s home and everything has just added to the stress.”
Teagan gave a genuine smile. “Strange person’s home? I resemble that remark.”
Thank God Teagan has a good sense of what’s important as well as a good sense of humor.
“I know I’m overreacting, but too much has happened in the last couple of years, and I’ve never really gotten my feet back under me before the next thing knocks me off balance. If you’d told me three months before I married Barry any of this would happen, I’d have laughed. How sad am I?”
I didn’t want to talk about Barry.
Teagan knew it instinctively.
Nothing I say about Barry will be the right thing, and I will be Suzi’s sister-in-law for the rest of my life, so even I realized it was better to say nothing.
Teagan stepped in. Kind of threw herself on the emotional grenade. “We’re getting off track. This will all be figured out way before Cara’s wedding. No reason to worry about it. We need to focus on what’s important.” Teagan stood up, went to her cupboard, and came back with copious amounts of chocolate.
“Dingleberry, you could still use a few pounds before we hang the perfect dress on your bony shoulders. Eat!”
The doorbell rang and startled all of us.
Teagan had Jessie show up at about the same time as the designer.
Her name is Agatha, and her husband is Cornelius, and they’re so cute together they belong on a show on PBS or the BBC.
Jessie and Cornelius went out for beers and darts while Agatha and Teagan shared all of their ideas on dresses.
Wedding Tea Page 4