The Marquesa's Necklace (Oak Grove Mysteries Book 1)

by P. J. MacLayne

  “That’s not what it looked like to me.” Janine grinned. Damn. From her spot, she must have been able to see into the back room. “He’s sweet on you.”

  I groaned. “Just what I need,” I said as I signaled to the waitress for another beer. “Is that like jumping from the frying pan into the fire?”

  It took a while, but we finally settled into our usual mode of friendly gossip and easy conversation when something—or someone—caught my eye. “Your new boyfriend just walked in.” I said, poking Sarah in the ribs with my elbow. I’d checked him out as he strolled in the door and sat down at the bar. Tall—check. Dark—hard to tell in the dim light of the bar, but check. Handsome—sure if you go for that type, so check. Dressed liked he had money—check. Yep, her type of man.

  “I don’t have a boyfriend right now,” she said putting her fork down and sitting up straighter. “Where?”

  “Third stool from the end of the bar. Definitely not from around here.”

  Sarah leaned against me as she tried to get a better view and Merrilee and Janine, on the other side of the booth, turned to look as well. “He’s hot,” Janine said. “But by the rules, he’s yours, Harmony, if you want a shot at him.”

  “Hey, I know him. He came into the agency today,” Sarah said. “Out of my way,” I stood so she could slide over and get out. “He’s looking into buying a house here for his mother. She wants to move out of Pittsburgh, and he wants her close enough to help her out.” Sarah straightened her skirt, unbuttoned one more button on her blouse, and then strutted towards the bar. I sat back down and the three of us watched her perform her magic.

  “Five bucks says he’ll buy her a drink,” Merrilee said.

  “I’ll see that bet and raise you five.” Janine reached for her purse.

  “I’ll make it fifteen that she brings him back here to introduce him to us within,” I glanced at my watch, “thirty minutes. It’s ten after now, so she has until nine-forty.”

  Merrilee shook her head, “See the way he’s leaning into her personal space? All bets are off ladies, it’s already a done deal whether he knows it or not.”

  Damn. I would have won. Precisely at nine thirty-five, Sarah strolled back to the booth, her conquest in tow. I pushed over as far as possible to make room for both of them to sit down.

  “Ladies, meet Eric Wolff. Eric, these are my friends,” Sarah said as she squeezed in next to me.

  We all introduced ourselves, and as I leaned past Sarah to shake his hand, I took a moment to study him. Up close, he was even better looking than when I first noticed him. His clean-shaven face had the classic lines of a male model. His smile revealed perfect white teeth. His black hair fell at just the right length to run your fingers through. But something in his eyes made me pull my hand away too soon when we shook hands. They were the eyes of a predator.

  No, it wasn’t Jake who taught me that, it was my father. He claimed he could get the measure of a man by studying his eyes. There’s a certain intensity in the gaze when the man or woman is sizing you up. My father knew that I’d be the target of men after my money, and he wanted to make sure I’d avoid them. Jake didn’t have those eyes.

  Eric left shortly after ten, spending the perfect amount of time chatting with us to be polite. I considered saying something then, but my friends’ excitement about what a wonderful catch he was for Sarah stopped me. He claimed to be a VP for a regional bank with its headquarters in Pittsburgh, but I had my doubts. Too slick, too wonderful, too perfect, and I wondered if it was all an act.

  Once in a rare while we close the bar down, but close to eleven that night, we settled our tabs and went our separate ways. I headed straight home, and pulled out my laptop to do some research. I wanted to see what the internet had to reveal about Mr. Eric “double f” Wolff. If I got lucky, I’d find his criminal record.

  Either he didn’t do social media, or he was good at keeping his accounts private. I waded through the profiles of sports stars and ordinary guys, narrowing down the listings. I found two addresses for the most likely candidate—one in Pittsburgh, one from a small town in Eastern Ohio. Not surprising if he’d moved recently. There was a reference to a speech on current financial trends he’d given to the chamber of commerce. I tracked down a newspaper article, accompanied by a blurry photo, about his promotion to vice president. No matter what resolution I used the picture wouldn’t sharpen up. It looked like the man in the bar, but I wasn’t sure. Disappointed because I been unable dig up anything bad on him, I headed to bed.

  Thursday was my first day back at the library. The research topic du jourwas the space program during the late 1960’s-early 1970’s. An odd time frame for a romance novel, but it held interesting possibilities. I had an unusually high stack of books on my table, and was engrossed in a pile of LIFE magazines, when I felt a cool breeze on my neck. I turned and looked up, and into those pale blue eyes.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, before placing a red rose on the table. He gently stroked the top of my head.

  Glued to my chair with shock, I couldn’t move or respond. My pulse raced and I couldn’t catch my breath. Then, as quickly as he’d appeared, he was gone. I knew it was useless to try and follow him. “Who are you?” I asked the empty space left behind, not expecting an answer. I picked up the rose and imagined I got a response whispered in my ear, “A friend.”

  Keeping in mind Fred’s recommendations, I left the library twenty minutes earlier than normal. I’d parked so Dolores by a big old oak to shield her from the afternoon sun. I almost didn’t spot the man standing by the tree trunk. But he swung his hand in front of his face, swatting an errant fly, and gave himself away. I wasn’t worried about Dolores—she had the latest anti-theft technology, and would scream if anyone touched her. I was more worried about myself. I paused at the foot of the library stairs, pulled my cell phone out of my purse, ready to dial 9-1-1, when the man moved into the sunlight. It was Fred. He must have been waiting for me because he waved.

  I took my sweet time strolling to my parking spot, pretending to dig in my purse for my keys. He was in his work clothes, the tell-tale badly cut suit, and I wasn’t looking forward to another official police visit. He stood on the sidewalk and waited for me, tapping his foot. With a push of a button, I turned off Dolores’ alarm and unlocked the driver’s side door. “Hello,” I said.

  He looked nervous. “How was your day?” he asked.

  “It was a good day. Got a lot accomplished.”

  “Any plans for the rest of it?”

  I carefully placed my laptop behind the seat. “Not really. Janine and I are probably going to watch a movie or something.”

  “Want to go to supper with me?”

  I was glad I no longer had my laptop case in my hands. I might’ve dropped it. I casually let my purse fall off my shoulder. “Where?”

  “How’s Italian? Mama D’s place?”

  “I want to run by the grocery store, there are a few things I need to pick up first.”

  “How about I pick you up about seven? At Janine’s?”

  “Okay. See you then.”

  He smiled and headed for his Mustang, parked around the corner. Had I really agreed to go on a date with him? Now I had to figure out what to wear.

  Mama D’s is casual, so I settled for a nice pair of jeans and a silky deep blue blouse I borrowed from Janine. I went a step further and added gold-toned sandals with a four-inch heel. I was nervous—my last date, with Jake, ended with our arrest—by the same man I was going to have supper with tonight. My sexy underwear hadn’t been replaced yet, but there’s no way Freddie would see it on a first date anyway. The standard white cotton would have to do.

  Right on time, he pulled up in his Mustang. Janine was giggling from a seat near her front window. “I’ll leave the front door unlocked,” she said, watching him walk up the sidewalk. “Because I’m not waiting up. She flashed me an exaggerated wink when the doorbell rang.

  I was blushing as I answered the
door.

  Supper went well. We chatted over our spaghetti and meatballs—a favorite for both of us—about the upcoming city council elections. The same old crowd appeared on the ballot, including Mel Freemont, who ran and lost every election as far back as I could remember. We placed a friendly bet of a home-cooked meal on whether or not he would lose again this year. I keep hoping the sympathy vote will get Mel into office one of these years, so I bet on him. I immediately started planning what I would cook for Freddie come that Wednesday in November.

  I let Freddie kiss me that night. I even kissed him back. There was no magic in the kiss, but I didn’t expect magic. Magic only exists in the books my authors write. I’ll settle for a guy who won’t get me busted.

  I did go buy new underwear the next day, in case I let him do more than kiss me later.

  By Saturday, the apartment was livable again. The carpet had been cleaned, the new mattress delivered, the loveseat hauled up the stairs, all the books dusted and returned to their ordered places. Everything looked fine, but I knew it would never be the same again. There’s no shortage of places to rent in Oak Grove, I could take my time and find a new place. The hard part would be telling Luke and Joe I was moving.

  If there was such a thing as a course in advanced gossiping, half the citizens of Oak Grove could teach it. Within a few days, everyone knew Freddie and I were an item. Hell, most of the town knew it before I did. Girls’ night out at the Flamingo, most of the guys wouldn’t even look at me. A lot of them kept glancing towards the door, as if they expected Freddie to walk in at any time. Definitely a downer, for me and for them. I said good night early, telling the ladies I had a headache, and drove Dolores to a hilltop at the edge of town. It’s called Lookout Point, and it’s where the kids go, but there were no teenagers necking that night. I guess I still had some good karma banked.

  I’m a loner by nature. I try to hide it, but sometimes I need to get away from everyone and commune with Mother Nature. Guess I got that from my mother.

  I put the top down, leaned back in my seat, and stared at the stars. The silver crescent moon hung in the sky. Although I’m not a religious person, nights like these I think I could worship the old gods—the moon, the sun, the wind. For a moment, I felt wild and free and safe.

  A dark cloud moved past the moon, reminding me I wasn’t safe. Even with all the time I spent with Freddie, the fear never totally went away. My luck would run out eventually. I sent a plea for help to whatever spirits might hear me, hit the switch to raise the roof, and watched as the stars disappeared. I was alone. And lonely.

  As I pulled back onto the dirt road, a few drops of moisture rolled down my cheeks.

  Still lost in thought, I pulled up to the garage. Before opening the overhead door, I took another long look at the moon riding high now, and thought about taking off and leaving everything behind. That’s when I realized Piper was going nuts in the house. With my engine still running, I locked my doors—the soft top wouldn’t be much of a deterrent against a determined attacker with a knife, but the move would buy me some time. I had my cell phone in my hand, ready to dial as I looked around.

  The back porch light provided just enough light for me to see a shadow where it didn’t belong at the base of the stairs. My imagination shifted into overdrive when it floated up the first two steps. Maybe it would have made more sense to call the police or Freddie, but I dialed Luke instead.

  Chapter Nine

  “Let Piper out,” I told Luke without as much as a hello. Good thing I’d entered my name into his contacts and it showed up on his phone. He didn’t even ask me why. Watching in my mirror, I saw the narrow stream of light as the back door opened just enough to allow a forty pound ball of fury to hurl himself through the narrow space—and not inside the fence either.

  A guttural scream told me Piper had found his victim. A moment later, spotlights burned the darkness away. Luke had talked about installing them, but I didn’t know he’d already finished the project. The light revealed a man curled into a ball, trying to protect what he could from the threatening teeth of the overly-excited dog. Piper was joined by Luke wielding a baseball bat and Joe with his shotgun.

  I turned off Dolores and eased the door open, in case the intruder had a companion. Cautiously I walked over to join my landlords, mentally reviewing some of the more effective self-defense moves. “You know this guy?” Luke asked, poking him with the end of the bat.

  I studied the face. “Don’t recognize him, but he’s seen better days, don’t you think?” The guy looked like the poster boy for meth—sunken eyes and cheeks, sores on his face and half of his teeth missing. The slobber dripping from Piper’s mouth into the guy’s hair added to the picture of misery.

  When Luke poked him again, the man whimpered. “What are you doing here?” Luke asked. The man’s silence elicited yet another thrust of the bat, and Joe cocked the shotgun.

  “Don’t shoot! I’ll talk!” The intruder struggled to sit up, but Luke forced him back down. “He paid me to scare the lady and grab her necklace, that’s all! I wasn’t going to hurt her.”

  My hand moved instinctively to my throat to the turquoise necklace I’d owned for years and wore almost daily. Luke, Joe, and I exchanged glances. “What’s so special about her necklace?” Joe asked. “And who paid you?”

  The wail of a siren broke the quiet of the night. Luke poked the trespasser again. “Don’t know who he was,” the man blurted. “Never saw him before. That’s all I got to say,” he added. “I got rights.”

  “We don’t care about your rights. We’re not the cops,” Luke snarled. “With us, you’ve got no rights. Now what’s so special about the necklace?” But as the police car squealed to a stop on the street, the man curled back up into a fetal position and turned his face away.

  The “alleged attacker” was being transported to the police station and I sat on the sofa, tucked between Luke and Joe in their living room. Officer Clearmont sat across from us. I wondered why he kept showing up whenever it was me. He was as bad as Freddie, and, to add to my misery, Freddie was on his way.

  Officer Clearmont flipped his notebook closed and stood. “You’re sure there’s nothing unique about your necklace?” he asked again.

  I fiddled with it, letting it flow back and forth between my hands. Everyone had examined it and reached the same conclusion. “I bought it years ago at a flea market. It’s just your basic turquoise necklace, there’s not even any silver in it. Not worth assaulting me to steal it.” But I wore it all the time, and it was a part of me.

  “If you think of anything else, give the station a call. Or just give Detective Thomason a buzz.” I caught the faintest hint of red in his cheeks. What stories about me had Freddie been spreading? We all stiffened when the doorbell rang. Joe got up and looked out the peephole, while Officer Clearmont moved so he was in a better position to control the room.

  Joe glanced at me and grinned. “It’s your boyfriend,” he said. “Should I let him in?”

  My boyfriend? I didn’t think of him that way, but I guess that’s the way it seemed to everyone else. Besides, what choice did I have? I nodded, and Joe flipped the lock and opened the door.

  Freddie took a look around, nodding in satisfaction when he noticed Officer Clearmont’s stance, and walked over and kissed me on the cheek. Marking his territory, I guess. There was far too much testosterone in the room for my comfort. “Are you all right?” he asked, pushing a stray lock of hair from my cheek. He sat by me in the spot abandoned by Joe and put his arm around my shoulders. A sweet supportive gesture, but it made me uncomfortable.

  “You get everything you need, Bill?” he asked looking at the officer.

  “Yeah, I was just wrapping things up.”

  “If you’ll put a copy of the report on my desk, I would appreciate it.”

  Officer Clearmont, understanding he had been dismissed, slid the notebook into his pocket, adjusted his duty belt, touched his hat, and headed for the door. “Good night, M
s. Duprie, gentlemen,” he said, and closed the door behind him. Joe locked it before perching on the arm of the sofa next to Luke.

  “So are you really okay?” Freddie asked, running his fingers through my hair. I had let it down for my night with the girls.

  “Yes, thanks to Luke and Joe. And Piper.” That hero was behind the closed kitchen door, gnawing on a fresh rawhide bone.

  “You’ve never ever seen this guy before?”

  I shook my head. After retelling the story to Officer Clearmont several times, I didn’t want to tell it again. “I’m tired,” I said, to stop the predicted rush of questions. “I’d like to go home and get some sleep.”

  Bad move. The three men started arguing about where I was going to spend the night. Freddie wanted me to go stay with him—he had been trying to get me into his bed anyway, and Luke and Joe offered me their spare bedroom. It gave me a headache. All I wanted to do was go back to my own place, and be by myself.

  So I stood and stretched, and pretended to yawn. “I’m sure nothing else will happen tonight. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?” I picked up my purse from the coffee table, dropped my necklace into it, and pulled out my keys.

  “I’ll walk you upstairs,” Freddie said, jumping up. How was I going to stop him? I let him take my hand, but I dropped a kiss on both Luke and Joe’s foreheads before I left. I would have liked to pat Piper one more time, but I was afraid he would attack Freddie after the excitement.

  He insisted on doing a quick walk-through of my apartment. I was only allowed inside once he was convinced it was safe. And when he offered to stay, I was tempted. But I knew what he was hoping for, and I wasn’t ready to give it to him. So I sent him home, after a passionate kiss. Or two.