by Jessica Beck
Before I could speak, Jake answered for us. “We’re the owners of the house you were snooping around this morning.”
Instead of being intimidated by our knowledge, she simply laughed. “I’m afraid you’ll have to be a little more specific than that. I’m often found creeping around places I don’t belong. This morning I checked out four separate properties I’m going to try to get the listings for.”
Jake gave her the address, and she nodded knowingly. “Oh, yes. I wanted a look at the place in person. The listing was gone nearly the moment it was placed, and I wanted to see if I’d missed something. I didn’t,” she said with that same ready smile. “You’ve got your work cut out for you on that project.”
“That’s an interesting hat you’re wearing,” I said, not able to help myself. It wasn’t a part of the investigation, but I couldn’t keep from staring at it, so I figured I had to say something about it or she’d notice my steady gaze at her covered forehead.
“It was a gift from a friend,” she said, trying to blow my question off.
“That must have been some friend,” I said softly.
I hadn’t even realized that she’d heard me say it. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s just that it’s ... so flamboyant, wouldn’t you say?” Flamboyant? Where had I come up with that?
“Thank you,” she said, choosing to take it as a compliment. “Have you come by to ask me to represent you when you sell the property after you fix it up? You might be surprised to learn that you might make a larger profit if you sell it right now, as it stands. I’ve seen too many flips fail when people fail to account for all of the expenses they are going to incur.”
“No, we want to do the remodel ourselves,” Jake said, acting a bit offended by her assumption that he didn’t know what he was doing.
“Suit yourself,” she said. “Either way, it’s always smart to line up the sales team first.” Maxine pulled out an old-fashioned planner from an oversized handbag on the back of her chair and started flipping pages, frowning as she did so. “I’m really quite busy, but I may be able to fit you in. When is your projected finish date?”
“Eight weeks,” Jake said.
“Really? How ambitious of you,” she said as she started flipping more pages. “I can make that work.” Maxine put the planner away and reached into one of her desk drawers, pulling out a thick sheaf of papers and sliding them across to us. “I just need you to sign this simple sales contract and we can get started.”
“We have two other partners we need to consult first,” I told her, trying my best to delay her from signing us up for something we didn’t want. There was nothing simple about the contract she was offering, and I wouldn’t sign it without Momma vetting it first, and then her attorneys.
“I see,” she said a little coolly as she pulled the paperwork back toward her.
“We can take that with us,” I offered as I reached for the contract.
The real estate agent was too quick for me, yanking it back toward her with a speed that was impressive. “Just bring everyone by, and we’ll all sign the contract together at that point.”
I had a hunch, and I decided to go with it. “Maxine, why do I get the feeling that you might already have a buyer interested in purchasing the house?”
“Why do you ask that?” she queried as she looked at me for a moment with open skepticism.
“Just curious, I guess.”
Before the real estate agent could answer, her cell phone rang. “Sorry, but I’ve got to get this. Come back when you’re ready to sign with me,” Maxine added, and then she answered her phone call by saying, “One moment, please. I’ll just be a second.”
There was nothing more we could do, so Jake and I stood and started toward the door.
I wasn’t ready to leave yet, though. I had a suspicion that I wanted to confirm if I could figure out a way to do it. That hat was still bothering me. The woman was stylishly dressed otherwise, but here she was, wearing the most garish monstrosity I’d ever seen, and to make matters worse, I was no fashion expert, but even I could see that it clashed with her outfit.
I turned and looked above her head curiously. “What’s that?”
Maxine threw her head to the side quickly, and much to my delight, her hat tumbled down her back and landed on the floor. When it did, I saw that as she grabbed for it and jammed it back into place, there was a rather substantial bandage above the once-concealed eye.
Evidently the hat was meant to be something more than a fashion statement after all.
“My mistake. I thought I saw something, but I was wrong,” I said quickly as Jake and I stepped outside before she could reply.
Once we were back out on the sidewalk, Jake said, “That was a nice move, Suzanne. How did you know?”
“It just didn’t make any sense. The hat didn’t match the outfit,” I said.
“Or any outfit, if you ask me,” he replied. “It appears she took a pretty solid blow if she needs a bandage that large.”
“Maybe it’s not related to the house,” I said warily as we headed back to the truck.
“Suzanne, you don’t believe that for a second, and neither do I. Maxine Halliday and Lionel Henderson both need to go on our list of suspects.”
“Agreed, but do we honestly think that one of them had something to do with the counterfeiting and the break-in?”
“I don’t know, but we’re going to have to figure out a way to find out,” Jake replied.
“How do you suggest we do that?”
“I say we head back to Henderson’s office and see if he’s still there.”
“And if he is?” I asked.
“We park in front of his car so he can’t get out of his parking space, and then we wait until he comes out. The man’s got to go home sometime.”
“What if he’s already gone?”
“Then we go to his home. He shouldn’t be that hard to find. Suzanne, there’s something going on here that is more than meets the eye, and I intend to find out what it is.”
“That’s why you’re such a good partner,” I said as he drove back to Henderson’s office. “You’re like a dog with a bone when you’re investigating a case.”
“Funny, but that’s exactly how I think of you,” he said before realizing how it might sound to me. “Not that I’m calling you a dog. Far from it. I think you’re beautiful.”
I started laughing at his clumsy attempts to mollify me when I wasn’t even all that upset with the comparison. “I love that we’re both obsessed with uncovering the truth,” I said. “There’s no shame in that, at least in my book.”
“Good,” he said.
When we got back to Lionel Henderson’s office, my worst fear was realized, though.
The luxury vehicle was gone, and so was the man himself, I was willing to wager.
“How do we find out where he lives?” I asked Jake.
“Let me check something,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone.
“Are you calling an old buddy from law enforcement?” I asked him.
He just laughed. “No, at least not yet. I thought I’d look up his home address on the internet.”
“Yeah, that makes more sense,” I said with a smile.
After a few moments, Jake said, “I’ve got it. Let’s go see if he headed home when he left here.”
“I’m ready if you are,” I said.
Henderson’s home wasn’t nearly as nice as I’d been expecting, given the man’s attire and the vehicle he drove. In fact, I would say that it wasn’t even as nice as the cottage that Jake and I shared. “Are you sure this is it?” I asked him.
“This is the address I found online, and we both know that the Internet doesn’t lie.” It was said with a sardonic grin, but really, what choice did we have?
Lionel Henderson answered the door, and he looked to be equal amounts of surprised and unhappy to find us once again on his doorstep. “What do you two want? I was under the impression that our busine
ss was concluded.”
“There was bleach on your car door handle,” Jake said, dispensing with all niceties. “What was worth getting rid of that is most likely going to ruin the finish on your car?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked with a frown. “I never put bleach on my car, the door handle or any other part of it.”
“Would you like me to prove to you that someone did?” Jake asked as he gestured toward the car in question.
“How should I know who decided to vandalize my car? I run a business, not a charity, and sometimes the people I deal with forget that basic fact. I can’t watch my vehicle the entire time I’m in my office. Unlike some people, I have work to do.”
Was that a slam at Jake? I worked more hours than most people in the course of a week at Donut Hearts, but Jake was retired. Or at least he had been until he and Phillip had started on their house flip.
“I get that,” Jake said, not backing down. “So, you’re saying that you didn’t do it?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but that’s exactly what I’m saying,” he replied.
“Then you wouldn’t mind if I smelled your hands, would you?”
It was a brilliant move. I knew that bleach was a difficult smell to get off the skin, so if he’d accidentally splashed a little on his hands, we would probably still be able to smell it.
Henderson looked shocked by the request and immediately jammed his hands into his pockets. “I certainly do mind.”
I saw a bit of movement toward the back of his house out of the corner of my eye, but by the time I looked, whoever had been there was gone.
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt you. Who’s your company?” I asked him.
This time his pause was more noticeable than it had ever been. “I can assure you that I’m completely alone.”
“Sure, maybe you are now, but who just left? Would you mind if we came in and had a look around?” It was purely a hunch, but I wanted to see if there were any signs inside as to who his visitor might have been.
Evidently the request was too much for him to take. “That’s it. I’m through with the two of you. Leave me alone. If you bother me again, I will call the police. What you are doing is harassment, pure and simple. My buyer was interested in the house, and now he’s not. That is the end of my business with you. Now please leave, or I’m afraid I’ll have to have you escorted off the property for trespassing.”
Jake looked at me to see how I wanted to handle it, and after a moment, I just shrugged and turned away from Henderson. My husband followed me quickly, and Lionel Henderson remained silent until we were nearly back to the truck.
“I trust I won’t be seeing either one of you again,” he called out.
Jake and I didn’t even break step as we got in and drove away. It was clear that we’d rattled the man, but had we done it with reason? Were things as he’d stated them, or was there something darker and more sinister lurking behind the scenes? Was it possible he was in fact working for a client, or was there a chance that he was the counterfeiter himself? Had that been his blood at the scene, or possibly even Maxine Halliday’s? We hadn’t really gotten any good answers during our investigation so far, just more and more questions, but that wasn’t all that unusual, as frustrating as it might be.
There was only one thing we could do.
We had to keep digging until we turned something up that would lead us to whoever had been using our flip house for a counterfeiting operation, and whose blood it was that we had found at the house.
I wasn’t sure what to do at the moment, and I hoped my husband had an idea we could pursue. After all, two heads had to be better than one, at least at the point we were at now.
Chapter 13
“WHAT SHOULD WE DO NOW?” I asked Jake.
“I want to swing by the flip house,” he said as he started driving.
“To talk to Agent Blaze?” I asked as innocently as I could.
“That too, but I’d also like to have a chat with Curtis Malone.”
“Our neighbor? Do you think he might be involved in this?” I asked.
“I’m not saying that he is or isn’t part of this. Look at it one way. If he is the one responsible for the counterfeiting, wouldn’t it make sense for him to use our house for his base of operations instead of his own? After all, he’s got easy access to the place, he can see who comes and goes, and he appeared to be as caught off guard by us buying the place as everyone else was. On the other hand, let’s assume that he’s clean. Given his proximity to the place, maybe he’s seen something suspicious going on around the house while we’ve been gone. You’ve seen the man. He can’t seem to keep himself from spying on us.”
“Is it really spying, though? I thought he was just curious about what we’re doing,” I said.
“Maybe, but it just might work to our advantage if he’s watching the place,” Jake said.
As we drove by Curtis’s home, I was surprised to see that no curtains flipped closed on our approach. In fact, there was no sign of the man at all. Maybe, with our temporary departure, he’d given up his vigilance.
There were two black sedans in the flip house’s driveway, so it was clear that the Secret Service was still there.
I just wondered how much more they could actually do, given how bare the house was already.
I was about to find out.
“Agent Blaze, may we come in?” Jake asked formally as we both stood just outside the door.
“No, I’ll join you out there,” she said as she moved a wisp of red hair from her forehead. From the look of the place, they’d been busy.
“How’s it going?” Jake asked.
“We aren’t finished with our sweep yet, if that’s what you’re asking,” she said.
I looked over her shoulder and saw that all of the light switches and fixtures had been pulled away from the walls and ceilings, and one agent was on his hands and knees tapping each and every floorboard, prying occasionally to see if any came loose, while another agent was probing at the ancient baseboard, covered with so many layers of paint that I had no idea how we were ever going to get them free. “It seems as though you’re doing a thorough job,” I said with a straight face.
“I missed something once. I’m not letting it happen again,” she said resolutely. “I’m afraid it’s going to be a few more days before you get your house back. We’ve just been working on the first floor, so we’ve still got the loft and the basement yet to examine.”
“I get it,” Jake said, though it was clear that he was as disappointed to hear the news as I was. I was eager for the project to get going again, and I couldn’t even imagine how antsy Jake and Phillip must be to start working on the place once more. “Any chance it will be sooner than that?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she said firmly as her cell phone rang. One glance at the number, and she said, “I’ve got to take this. It’s my direct supervisor.”
Blaze stepped back into the house, but I was still hoping we might be able to overhear her side of the conversation when she shut the door.
“Wow, she’s determined not to miss a thing this time, isn’t she?” I asked Jake.
“She won’t make that mistake again,” he said. “If I know her, she’s going to be here for at least another week looking for anything else she might have missed.”
“Do you think there’s anything left here for her to find?” I asked him.
“I’m not sure,” he said after a moment’s thought.
“Seriously? What else could there be?”
“I don’t know, but whoever was here before clearly had some kind of physical confrontation. I’m guessing that shut down whatever they were going to do, so whatever they may have been trying to retrieve might still be here.”
I didn’t like the thought that there was something the bad guys still wanted with our flip house. I was tempted to open the doors and let them get whatever it was they so desperately wanted, but I knew that I was in th
e minority on that front. Agent Blaze, and to no lesser extent my husband, wanted the bad guy or guys brought to justice.
All I wanted was our house back.
Agent Blaze came out with a look of disgust on her face. “Here are your keys,” she said as she handed them to Jake.
“I don’t get it,” I said. “What changed your mind?”
“Evidently there’s a bigger problem on the coast with counterfeit hundreds that I need to investigate immediately. We’ll be back when we wrap that up, but I’ve been given orders to turn the property back over to you in the meantime. As far as my immediate supervisor is concerned, this case goes on the back burner, especially since we have a suspect under arrest.”
“But you don’t believe Slick Willie did this any more than we do,” I protested.
Blaze looked as though she were about to say something when she quickly changed her mind. “What I believe is of no consequence. I’ve been given my orders, and I mean to follow them.” She softened a moment as she turned directly to Jake. “You understand, don’t you?”
“Completely,” he said. “Tell you what I’ll do. As we work, I’ll keep my eyes open for anything that might be of interest to you. We were planning on taking the walls down to the studs, so it’s hard to imagine what we might find in our remodeling work. I’ll document anything we find that might be of interest to you and let you know about it immediately.”
“I’d appreciate that very much,” she said, softening even more. “I always knew that I could count on you.” She started to extend a hand to his shoulder when she glanced at me and changed direction to make it a handshake. “You’ve got my number.”
“We both do,” I said, offering my hand as well. Blaze took it briefly, and as she did, her staff came out of the house carrying a full set of tools between them.
“Let’s move,” she told them as they headed for their respective cars.
“Wow, can you believe that?” I asked Jake as I saw them drive away.
“Unfortunately, it’s the way of the world these days. Law enforcement is so understaffed that there’s not nearly enough time for old-fashioned police work anymore.”