“Picking low cotton,” Muddy Waters’s voice rang out, “sleeping in a hollow log. One more bottle of moonshine, and I—”
A hollow. Some place in that house had a hidden closet, a hidden attic, a gap between the floor and the ceiling. That was it; that was the idea that had been sitting at the edge of his mind for weeks that he hadn’t been able to grasp. A devious man like Leon Farrell wouldn’t hide anything under a carpet, but he’d make a hole in the floor, cover it up, and camouflage it. Definitely. Carson didn’t hear the remainder of Muddy Waters’s song. His mind pitched into high gear, and he pulled over, nearly out of his mind with excitement, and dialed Lucas Hamilton’s cell phone number. A topflight architect, the man lived in North Carolina, but he knew how to fly.
“Lucas, this is Carson Montgomery. Got a minute?”
“For you? You bet.”
He told Lucas briefly of his problem finding the will. “I have a feeling it’s between the floor and the ceiling or someplace like that. I don’t know why he’d do it, except that he believed at least one of his children was greedy and needy enough to find it no matter where he put it. Can you help me with it? I have the keys and the permission to search the house.”
“Sure I can, as long as the house was built after 1940. Earlier than that, I’d have to spend too much time on it. I’d be happier if one of the heirs was there when I entered.”
“I can certainly arrange that.”
“All right. I’ll be at your office tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.”
“Great. I have a feeling I’ll be able to wind this thing up, and soon. Thanks, buddy.”
“Glad to do it.”
He telephoned Gunther and told him that he had an architect whom he wanted to look at the house with a view to determining where a person could hide a will. “He wants you there when we enter, no doubt as legal protection. He’ll be at my office tomorrow morning at nine.”
“I can make that. Let’s hope Edgar doesn’t show up.”
“He may, because he’s in town.”
“I’ll see if I can check his plans,” Gunther said. “Edgar can be disruptive.”
“Tell me about it. I’ll be there at nine tomorrow morning.” So far so good. Now if Providence would only play on Gunther’s team, Edgar wouldn’t be in Ellicott City before noon. As luck would have it, Edgar met them on his motorcycle several blocks before they reached the Farrell house and evidently didn’t recognize Carson’s car.
“I hope you’re able to help,” Gunther said to Lucas Hamilton. “This has been one mind-boggling puzzle.” They shook hands. “I won’t stay, Carson, because I’d only be in the way. Be seeing you.”
“Seems like a nice enough guy,” Lucas said after Gunther left, “so what’s the problem?”
“He’s an all-right guy, from what I’ve seen of him. It’s his brother who’s a pain in the ass. He lives here. He was that motorcyclist we met a few blocks before we got here. Trust me, he’s shady, at least according to my experience with him.”
Lucas examined the floors in Leon Farrell’s quarters. “I’m satisfied that these floors have not been tampered with in any way. Now, let’s get to the walls.” After having examined half of the wall in Leon Farrell’s study / den, Lucas called Carson.
“Come here, man. I can see without touching it that this is a false wall.” He pointed to the wood paneling on one side of the room. “Whatever you’re looking for is probably right here. This entire wall has been paneled in such a way as to camouflage this ruse. Let me see if I can find the key to it.”
After searching more than half an hour, Lucas said, “Well, what do you know? It opens electronically. Press the panel in this spot and it slides open.”
The wall slid back and Carson let out a loud, sharp whistle. “Man, will you look at that! Nearly a hundred robots.”
“Was he a robot freak, or did he make them?” Lucas asked.
“Both, from what I gather.” Carson knocked his right fist into his left palm repeatedly, shaking his head as he did so. “Man, just imagine! I would never have found this. I’ve searched this room for hours. Well, I’ll have to check every one of them and every other inch of this hideaway. Wonder how you close this thing.”
Lucas pressed the panel in the spot that opened it, and it closed. “Remember that spot,” he said to Carson. “You’ve got your work cut out. There’re numerous places in here to hide a will. Before you find it, you’ll probably have solved some other mystery.”
They closed the house, and Carson drove with Lucas to the Frigate for lunch. After placing their orders, Lucas leaned back in his chair and a happy grin floated over his face.
“It just occurred to me that you and I have succeeded on every project we’ve collaborated on. And there have been many. Hats off to us, buddy.”
“Hadn’t thought of that. How’s Willis?”
“Getting rich. His ship’s come in. He’s a great guy and a true friend.”
“That he is,” Carson said. “How are Susan and those two great kids of yours? Rudy and Nathan think you walk on water.”
“They’re all well. Marriage is wonderful, Carson. Find the right woman, and your world will finally sit up straight and spin smoothly. Of course, you have to love each other, and there has to be good chemistry. Then, if the two of you have a lot in common, promote each other and complement each other, and if you’re both fully committed to the marriage and to each other, it should be a beautiful ride, man.”
“Sounds like the best of all possible worlds,” Carson said, aware that his words and tone had the ring of bitterness.
“Come on, Carson. Darnell was concerned with Darnell and no one else. Thank God you didn’t have any children. A woman who wants children seems to me a better bet for a wife than one who doesn’t.”
“She didn’t tell me she didn’t want any until I suggested we start our family. Next time, I’ll get that straight before I buy a ring.”
“Good idea. Anybody in the picture?”
Carson reached in his breast pocket for a cigarette and remembered that he gave up smoking years earlier. “Yes, there is, and when I see her tonight, I’m going to ask her that question. I think she’s precisely what I need, but we’ve got some important exploring to do before I take that big step.”
“I wish you the very best. You know that.”
“Thanks.” Carson asked the waiter for the bill, paid it, and looked at his watch. “We’d better head for the airport.”
Even with driving at seventy miles an hour in a fifty-mile zone and occasionally beating traffic by driving along the shoulder, Carson got to the Baltimore / Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport a mere thirty minutes before Lucas’s flight.
“Could we possibly have been more circumspect when we were teenagers?” Lucas asked Carson as the car came to a stop.
“I never had my wild days,” Carson said. “Maybe it’s time. I’ll expect your bill in the mail. The estate will pay for it, so be sure and send it. I am in your debt, and I can’t possibly thank you enough.”
“I was glad to do it. Consulting is a lot easier than drafting.” They enjoyed a good laugh at that, knuckle bumped each other, and said good-bye.
On the drive back to Ellicott City, Carson began to plot ways to examine the robots without the interference of any member of the Farrell family. To his mind, it would be unfair to give any of the siblings an upper hand. Edgar would raise hell, and his objection would have merit, but if he found that will, he intended to give it to Donald Riggs, the executor of the estate. Now he had to find out as much as he could about Edgar’s schedule, because he definitely was not going to search through those robots with Edgar in the house.
Shirley dressed with special care for her date with Carson that evening. She wanted to appear soft and feminine without looking like a sexpot. Her size 34-D bosom took away some of her options; finding a dress that didn’t expose half of it had proved difficult. She’d begun to wonder why dress designers didn’t quit flir
ting with nudity and tell women to go for it all the way. She’d found a sleeveless, V-necked dress with inserts in the skirt that flared below the hips, emphasizing her flat belly and rounded hips. The soft melon color made her cheeks glow. A teardrop diamond, tiny but real, drew attention to her cleavage, and with her hair down to her shoulders and dangling marcasite earrings, she knew she looked great.
“Where are you going dressed up like that?” Gunther asked her when she came down the stairs, her intention being to answer the door before he got to it.
“I’m going out. Why?”
“Who’s the lucky guy?”
The flame of irritability slowly furled up in her. He allowed himself the right to make a hideous mistake with that woman Lissa and yet he questioned her association with Carson Montgomery.
She faced him squarely. “I’m going to dinner with Carson Montgomery. We’re both over thirty and neither of us is married. Is there some reason why I should ask your permission? We’ve been on this road before, Gunther.”
He spread his hands, palms out. “Look, sis, for all you know, that guy is after your inheritance. All I’m asking you to do is go slowly. We don’t know the guy. Edgar picked him up, and you know Edgar’s taste in people.”
“Listen here, Gunther,” she said, her temper rising, “you checked his credentials and his reputation as a detective. What more do you need? Both are an open book. He’s an officer of the law and has been for some years. If you’re so skeptical about him, I’ll stand right here while you grill him, and the first time I see you with a woman, I’ll return the favor. I’m also going to find a rental apartment while I look for something to purchase.” She could see that she had upset him with that threat, but she meant it.
“All right. All right. No point in getting angry. You know I’m only thinking about your well-being. That’s all I’ve ever done. It won’t be easy, but I promise I’ll lay off the guy unless I see something I don’t like. If I do—”
“Okay, but be careful about what you don’t like.”
“He’s after you,” Gunther said, “and I’m a man, so—” She lowered her left eye in a squint. “I wish I could know what you guys mean when you boast that you’re a man. It doesn’t explain anything to me. Of course Carson is after me, as you put it. I wonder what his mama would say about the fact that I’m after him.” Gunther’s eyes widened, and she decided to pile it on. “Oh, yes, and I’ll catch him, provided he doesn’t catch me first.”
“Shirley!”
His intended reprimand was forgotten, for the doorbell rang. She winked at her brother and sped to the door.
“Hi.” She gazed up at Carson and imagined that she drooled. “My, but it’s nice to see you.”
He stepped inside, and with one arm around her waist, kissed her on the mouth. “Hi. If I had two free hands, I’d have done a more thorough job of that.” He handed her a bunch of American Beauty roses.
“These are so beautiful. I love flowers. You’re a very sweet man. Thanks.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. Then, having satisfied herself that she’d taught Gunther a lesson, she looked where she knew he still stood, smiled, and said, “Carson, you remember Gunther, my brother.”
“Of course I do.” He extended his hand to Gunther. “Thanks for helping me out this morning.”
“Any luck?” Gunther asked him in a tone and manner that said it was a dutiful question not motivated by curiosity.
“Not yet, but if you can find out when Edgar is out of town, I may luck out. I want to spend an entire day there working without losing my focus.”
“He said he was going back to Las Vegas. I’ll let you know.”
Carson eased an arm around Shirley’s waist. “Thanks for your help. Have a good evening.”
They hadn’t yet reached his car when he said, “Were you and Gunther having some words?”
She nearly tripped up. “Why do you ask? Are you clairvoyant? I was giving him a lecture about staying out of my business.”
“He doesn’t want you to date? Or he doesn’t want you to date me? Which is it?”
“Gunther is overprotective of me, and he has been for as long as I can remember. When I was little, I trailed behind him like a lace train behind a bride. After we lost our mother when I was twelve, he was everything to me. He got me a date for my senior prom, helped me choose my dress, and then helped me select a college. Those don’t begin to suggest how lost I’d have been if he hadn’t looked after me. But I try to tell him that I’m grown now.”
He helped her into the car and fastened her seat belt. “What was his complaint tonight, if you don’t mind telling me?”
“He thinks I’m moving too fast with you.”
“Yeah? If he said that to me, I’d tell him you aren’t moving fast enough.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Trust me. If a man speaks his mind to me, I have no problem dishing it out to him in return. I have to tell you, though, that you’re fortunate to have a brother like Gunther. He may be a busybody, but he’s a respectable man, and he cares about you. Enough about your brother. You look so beautiful tonight. I’d love to show you off. It makes a guy proud to have a woman like you.”
“And I’m proud that you want to be with me. Speaking of looking good, if I knew how to whistle, I’d have done so, loudly and sharply, when I opened the door tonight.” She tried to whistle. If truth were known, seeing him in a pair of tight jeans made her want to pant for relief. The man was lethal.
For a few minutes, he drove down Columbia Pike without speaking. He appeared to have come to a decision when, without glancing at her, he said, “I’ve got an idea. What do you say we have dinner in Columbia and then drop by to see some friends? I hadn’t planned that, but they invited me and weren’t happy when I declined. I think you would enjoy meeting them.”
“I’d love it. I want to meet your friends.”
At the elegant restaurant, the sight of a crown roast of pork on a table with eight or ten people made her mouth water, but she ordered shrimp Diablo with saffron rice, because she didn’t want to chance soiling her dress with the pork gravy. But she vowed that one day she would drive over to that restaurant alone for lunch and feast on the spaghetti vongole at a time when she wouldn’t worry about the slices of garlic that littered the dish of tiny clams, olive oil, and parsleyed noodles.
“Would you like wine?” Carson asked her. “I’d love some, but I don’t drink when I’m driving.”
“Thank you, but I think I’ll skip it.” She didn’t want to enjoy it when he couldn’t.
“Remember me telling you that I love to please you?” he said. “If I drank some wine, would you?”
“Probably, but I’d prefer not to drink right now.”
His gaze sharpened, and he seemed to be reading her. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it, so he didn’t make her uncomfortable. But she decided to beat him to the draw. “You want to ask me something? I’ll tell you if I know the answer. This shrimp is delicious.”
A smile played on one side of his mouth. “I’m glad you’re enjoying that. It’s really good. I wish this cook would teach me how to prepare rice. It’s wonderful.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“No. I didn’t. You said you’re thirty-two. Does it bother you that you’re entering the period when childbearing can be difficult, or does it matter?”
She understood that he hadn’t asked the question he wanted to ask, but that her answer would nonetheless tell him what he wanted to know. She didn’t believe in pussyfooting around an important issue, so she handed it to him straight.
“If you are asking whether I want any children, the answer is of course I do. I hope I don’t give the impression that I don’t want any. I have my heart set on a boy, a girl, and a boy in that order, or, if not, I’ll be happy with whatever I get.” She gave him a level stare. “By the way, was it by choice that you didn’t have any children with your ex-wife?”
“Definitely not by my
choice. When I suggested we start a family, she said no way.”
“Was that the deal breaker for you?”
“That’s something you tell a person before you marry them. Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought to ask her. But she knew I loved children, so ... Well, no point in rehashing that.”
“You can’t be an only child, Carson. How many siblings do you have?”
“I don’t know how you figured that out, but I have a younger brother. He’s a managing electronic engineer with Faulks Engineering, Inc. My father’s a chemical engineer. Why did you conclude that I’m not an only child?”
“Because you’re so generous, and I’m not talking about money. You give yourself, and you don’t judge others harshly. That tells me you’re not self-centered. Unless parents work overtime to prevent it, an only child is likely to think of me, myself, and I.”
He drained his espresso cup. “I’m glad you think I have a congenial personality. Ready when you are.”
She stopped at the women’s room, brushed her teeth, combed her hair, rubbed a paper towel over her face in a light buffing, and dabbed some Obsession behind her ears. “Who knows where he’s taking me? Thank goodness I put on this dress.”
“It isn’t too far from here,” he said. “I almost wish we hadn’t decided to go there. This night is something special. Moonlight, a soft breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. It would be wonderful to walk and ... and just be together.”
“October is my favorite time of the year,” she said. “Sixty-five degrees and so calm.”
Carson grasped her hand and held it as they walked to his car. He started the engine, but then turned it off and looked squarely at her. Was this happening to him, or was he hallucinating? “You really get to me. You know that? Are you happy when we’re together?”
She leaned toward him. “Happy hardly describes what I experience when I’m with you. It’s ... As soon as you leave me, I’m lonely for you.”
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