by Nancy Warren
The next day was Tuesday. And Tuesday happened to be one of Ted’s usual nights to work late. She stayed busy until late afternoon, then she went around the apartment and packed a few things into a box. Then she headed back to the parking garage and got behind the wheel of Lissa’s beater one more time.
As she exited the garage she pulled on her big, dark glasses. Then she drove to Ted’s office building, found parking across the street and settled in to wait.
Ted was a creature of habit. He saw his parents for dinner on Sundays, he ate lunch at a small selection of restaurants every day, he played squash Mondays and Wednesdays after work and he’d often told her he was working late on Tuesday nights.
She had the address of where she suspected he was headed, but she’d decided to follow him anyway. Maybe there was more than one woman, maybe she just needed him to experience what it was like to be spied on by someone you trusted.
She could see his office from the street and the lights were on. That didn’t necessarily mean Ted was there. Recalling the takeout cups on the PIs seat, she’d stopped at a drive through on her way here. In the box on the seat beside her were binoculars and a camera. Also a novel in case he seriously was working late.
She waited about forty minutes. In that time, she wondered where Nick was. Had he flown straight back to Seattle? She imagined so. Was it raining there?
She pulled out her phone then realized it was her throwaway one. Her smart phone with all the cool features, like the ability to check the weather a thousand miles away, was in Miami somewhere.
Or maybe Ted’s company had reclaimed it.
Finally, a light clicked off in Ted’s office. She waited and a few minutes later he pulled out of the parking garage.
She pulled out into traffic and followed. He’d never notice Lissa’s car but even so she stayed a couple of car lengths back.
She knew where his club was and he didn’t make the correct turn.
They motored out of the business district and she followed as Ted drove into a working class suburb where her beater started to fit in better than his luxury sedan.
When he pulled into the driveway of a small bungalow with a tidy garden, she didn’t know what to do. If she stopped he might notice her. She had no choice but to keep going. She pulled in between a truck and a van, grabbed her camera, turned it on and then made a U-Turn. She drove slowly, prickles of nervous energy dancing on her skin.
If Ted was visiting a client or, even worse, someone they both knew, and caught her following him, how stupid would she feel? On the other hand, who could he possibly know in this neighborhood? And she was fairly certain that the company wouldn’t send a blood-born Carnarvon to visit a client in this zip code.
By the time she’d got back to the bungalow, Ted was out of the car and treading in his careful way up the side path to the front door. She pulled in on the other side of the road and cranked open the window. By the time he was at the door, she had the window down and the camera zoomed and aimed.
But he didn’t knock.
He pulled out a key and let himself in.
What on earth?
She snapped a photo for something to do.
Then she double checked the address. It was the one the PI had given her.
Then she waited. She had no idea what to do next. She wished she could call Nick and ask him for some advice. She had a feeling she sucked as a private investigator. She ought to get out and sneak up to the windows and peer in, but for that she’d have to wait until it was dark and she knew she’d never peer in someone else’s windows after dark.
Maybe she should cross the street and knock on the door. See what happened.
While she was debating whether this was a sensible plan or not, a second car pulled into the driveway of the small house.
It was a small runabout. Clean, reliable and a few years old.
The car parked beside Ted’s vehicle in the open garage.
The engine gave a single clunk as it turned off. The driver’s side door opened and a woman emerged.
“Oh, my,” she whispered as first a long leg appeared followed by the rest of the woman. She was a tall, statuesque stunner with red, red hair in a mass of improbable curls. Even from this distance Kate could see that she wore heavy makeup and the reddest of red lipstick. Her tight white dress showed off showgirl breasts, lush hips and long legs. This was a woman Ted would never take home to mother.
The woman scooped a black dance bag from the back seat and walked the path to the front door as though it were a catwalk. Like Ted, she let herself in with her key.
Even with the evidence Kate had trouble taking in the apparently domestic scene before her.
She waited fifteen minutes and then got out of Lissa’s car and crossed the street. She pressed the doorbell and waited.
What would she do if no one answered? Would she bang on the door? Ring the bell again? What if they were having sex, cross-dressing or shooting up drugs or whatever supposedly respectable people living a double life did?
But while she stood there wondering, she heard the click of heels on flooring and then the door opened and the opulent redhead stood at the door.
Her eyebrows rose slightly when she saw Kate standing there.
“Hi,” Kate said.
“Hi.”
There was a tiny pause as Kate realized she had no idea what to say. Finally, the green eyes sparkled with amusement. “Can I help you with something?” She had the smoky voice of a club singer. She was older than Kate probably by a decade, with a few wrinkles already showing at the edge of her eyes.
“Marlene?”
“Who’s asking?”
Kate felt the final kick of betrayal. Of course it was Marlene. It had always been Marlene. “Is Ted here?” Before the woman could deny him or slam the door in her face she said, “I’m Kate.”
Marlene’s amusement vanished. “Oh.”
“I don't want to make trouble, I only want to talk to him.”
For a second the two women stared at each other. Kate felt she was being sized up as much as she was doing the same. Finally, Marlene said, “I thought you’d be different.”
“I used to be.”
Then Marlene turned her head, her hair swinging and letting out a cloud of heavy scent. “Ted? Somebody at the door to see you.”
“What are you talking about?” That was Ted’s officious tone. “No one knows I’m—“ He stepped forward onto the hardwood of the hall and stalled. But of course the floors were hardwood. Ted was allergic to dust mites. All his living spaces had to have hardwood.
When he caught sight of her he first looked stunned, then she saw a moment when utter fear showed through. “Kate! What the hell are you doing here? How did you find me?” He ran forward and glanced behind her as though checking to see if anyone were with her. He was wearing an apron and the smells of dinner cooking followed him into the hallway.
Instead of yelling at him, she reassured the scared little boy she’d glimpsed for a second. “I’m alone,” she assured him. “I followed you from your office.
He looked angry and guilty and scared all at the same time. Not a good look on him. “Why?”
It was ridiculous having a conversation like this at the open front door. “Do you think I could come in?”
She spoke to Ted but it was Marlene who answered. “Sure.”
“But—“
Marlene opened the door wide. “It’s time, Ted.”
Kate walked in and Marlene shut the door behind her. Kate usually thought of herself as a tall woman but Marlene dwarfed her. The woman must be six feet tall. In her heels she was almost as tall as Ted.
“Come on in to the kitchen,” Marlene said. “We might as well sit.”
Of all of them she seemed the least disturbed.
“Thanks.”
They all headed back down the hallway and through a door into a kitchen that had been renovated with granite counter tops, cherry wood cabinets and top-of-the-line appliances. It looked a
lot like the kitchen in Ted’s apartment.
“I’m not here to make trouble,” she said again, for Ted’s benefit.
“Why the hell are you here? What kind of woman follows her own fiancé? And what have you done to your hair?” He sounded petulant and aggrieved and not at all apologetic. Instead of an apron he should be wearing a diaper. He was a huge baby.
Marlene indicated a chair at the kitchen table and then pulled out one for herself. An open bottle of wine sat on the table along with two almost full glasses. “Want some wine?”
“No thank you.” She swallowed. Her throat felt dry. “But could I have some water?”
“Sure.” Marlene rose and went to the kitchen.
There were so many questions crowding in her head, along with the big ball of shock, that she didn’t know where to start. Ted frowned down at his wine, his fingers beating the table top. Finally, she asked, “Why haven’t you cancelled the wedding?”
“Nobody knew where you were. Your mother was convinced you’d been kidnapped.”
He was trying so hard to make her feel bad and she wasn’t going to let it happen. “No, she didn’t. I discovered you had hired a private investigator to attempt to seduce me. You had to be certain I would never cheat.” She cut her eyes to Marlene and back to Ted. “I was so angry that you would doubt my fidelity that I broke up with you and then I left town.”
“You were angry, upset. I wasn’t going to believe you were serious. Your mother was certain that you’d calm down and realize what a mistake you were making.”
Marlene set the glass of water in front of her and sat down.
Kate gazed from Ted to Marlene and then back again. “Do you really think I made a mistake ending our engagement, Ted?”
It was so quiet she could hear a clock ticking somewhere. Ted sipped his wine and she heard him swallow. Finally, he met her gaze and he looked defeated. Frightened. He gestured between Marlene and himself. “This is complicated.”
“Is it? What’s complicated about it?”
Marlene snorted. “You are definitely not what I was expecting.”
Ted took another sip of his wine. “I can’t. I mean, how could I?”
“Oh, don’t worry about my feelings,” Marlene said. “I’m not good enough. I’m too trashy.” She dropped her voice to a stage whisper. “I have a past.”
“How long have you been in love with Marlene?” Kate asked.
Ted blushed a deep, ruddy shade. “You don’t understand. Marlene and I go back a long way.”
“Ted, I didn’t even know you could cook and here you are in an apron making dinner. The entire time we were together, you were still playing house with Marlene. Weren’t you?”
“I told you. It’s complicated.”
“No. It’s not. It’s simple. If you love someone, you should be brave enough to fight for them. And not ever live a fake life to please other people.” She sighed sadly. “You and I, we’ve been doing that our whole lives.”
“I do care about you,” Ted said, looking miserable. “You’re a wonderful woman, exactly the kind of woman I should marry.”
She shook her head. “No. I’m exactly the kind of woman your parents think you should marry. Probably your business associates. But you should marry someone you love. You don’t love me. And I don’t love you.” She turned to Marlene. “I don’t know you at all, but I’m pretty sure I was wrong about you, too.”
Marlene gave a shrug as though she were used to being misjudged.
Kate asked her, “Why did you stay with him when he was dating other women, when he was planning to marry me?”
Marlene shrugged. “God, I wish I still smoked. I so need a cigarette right now.” Then she studied her long white nails, with leopard print on two of them. “He’s rich. He buys me things.”
He hadn’t moved her out of this neighborhood, or upgraded her car. He might be rich, but it wasn’t the kind of money you could squander without being accountable. He was paid a healthy salary, and bonus, but his father knew to the penny how much Ted took home. His trust fund was bound with strings. No doubt he was as generous as he could be with Marlene, but he was pretty limited in how much he could lavish on her before his father grew suspicious.
“I can only think of one reason why you’d still be in this relationship.” It wasn’t money, it had to be love.
“Don’t go there,” Marlene warned, her eyes hardening.
“Ted, this woman has stuck by you for a long time. Don’t you think it’s time to man up?”
“Easy for you to say.”
She blew out a breath. “No. That wasn’t at all easy to say.” She turned to Marlene. “Maybe I will have a glass of that wine.”
Chapter Sixteen