Be My Valencrime

by Amy M. Reade

  “Harry, you’ve got a lot of people here for support, so I’ll get going. Laurel is waiting for me to have dinner. Don’t hesitate to call if you need something, you know that. And let me know if you hear anything.”

  “I will, boss. Thanks for coming by and thanks for the mac and cheese. I love mac and cheese.” Lilly placed her hand on his arm before she left.

  “They’ll find her, Harry. I just know it.”

  Chapter 15

  When Lilly got home Laurel had dinner on the table. Probably as a result of spending so much time with Noley over the years, Laurel was a great cook for someone her age. She had prepared a pork tenderloin with roasted vegetables and pork gravy.

  “This is delicious!” Lilly exclaimed, taking a bite of her food.

  “I made it because Nick hates pork. I’m making stuff he doesn’t like to remind myself of how stupid he is.”

  “If that works for you, go for it,” Lilly said.

  “Can I go over to Vanessa’s for a little while after dinner?” Laurel asked.

  “If your homework is done.”

  “It’s done.”

  “Okay. I’ll do the dishes and you can head out. Don’t be late. It’s a school night.” Lilly kissed her and Laurel left.

  The days of chauffeuring her kids were nothing but a memory, and Lilly was thankful for it. She hurried to wash the dishes, then went over to her mother’s house to do some cleaning.

  When she got there Bev and Nikki were collapsing with laughter over something on television.

  “What’s so funny?” Lilly asked.

  In between gasps for air, Bev answered, “Oh, Lilly, there’s the funniest show on! People take home videos and they get shots of people falling, walking into walls, banging their heads, and the funniest things!” She could hardly breathe she was laughing so hard.

  “Let me get the bathroom cleaned upstairs and I’ll join you,” Lilly said. Her mother nodded, wiping the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. Lilly hurried to gather the supplies she would need, and headed upstairs to clean.

  When she returned to the living room, Bill was there. He was standing behind Bev’s chair, laughing along with her and Nikki.

  “I love these shows,” he said to Lilly.

  “What brings you here in uniform?” Lilly asked.

  “I thought I’d just stop in to see how everything’s going. I was hoping Mom had something in the fridge I could snack on.”

  “I have cheese and fruit, dear,” Bev said. Bill went into the kitchen and Lilly followed him to put the cleaning supplies in the closet.

  “Any word on Alice?” she asked.

  Bill shook his head. “Not yet. The parents are trying to cooperate, but they’re weird. So is the brother, from what I’ve heard.”

  “Harry told me that Alice and her brother don’t get along well.”

  “Apparently there’s always been a lot of sibling rivalry and it doesn’t help that the two of them are close in age,” Bill said. “The guys doing the investigation say the mother hadn’t even shed a tear about Alice. At least not when they’ve been at the house.”

  “Alice lives in an apartment, doesn’t she?”

  Bill nodded. “She lives by herself. That’s the other thing—her purse, car keys, phone, and credit cards were in her apartment. All the things you’d assume she’d take with her if she were planning to go somewhere.”

  That didn’t sound good.

  “Lilly, I don’t need to tell you to stay out of this, right?” Bill gave her the eye.

  “Of course you don’t.” She didn’t look at him.

  “Lilly….”

  She looked at him then, her eyes challenging. “I told you, you don’t have to say a word. I know enough not to get involved.”

  “Good. Don’t go visiting any strip clubs.” He smiled.

  She gave him her best smile in return. She hadn’t promised not to interfere; she had merely told him he didn’t need to remind her not to.

  Just then Bill’s radio squawked. Every time she heard that radio, Lilly thought it was completely unintelligible. Somehow Bill was able to decipher what was being said.

  He pushed a button to talk. “I can be there in five,” he said. He turned to Lilly. “Gotta run. There’s something going on down on Main Street.”

  Immediately Lilly thought of her jewelry shop. “It’s not my shop, is it?”

  Bill gave her an exasperated look. “Wouldn’t I tell you if it were your shop?”

  “All right, you don’t have to get testy.”

  Bill grabbed a cheese stick and an apple from the fridge and left. Lilly returned to the living room to watch television with her mother and Nikki.

  It was so good to see her mother laugh. Lilly hoped this show would be on the air every night. It was one of those shows that had been on for years, so there were about a million reruns. After a half hour of watching people flip off trampolines, get yanked off docks, and fall into kiddie pools, Lilly bid her mom goodnight and headed home. Nikki accompanied her to the door.

  “I’m thinking about spending a few nights a week here, if that’s okay with you,” Nikki said.

  “That’s fine. I’m so sorry I haven’t had a chance to interview anyone to spell you at Mom’s house.”

  “It’s no problem, really. I think your mom is great, and I worry about her. I just thought if I stayed sometimes it might make her more comfortable.”

  “You’re the best, Nikki.” Lilly hurried to her car and drove home.

  Laurel got home just a few minutes after Lilly. She was red-faced and out of breath.

  “What have you been up to?” Lilly asked with a smile.

  “Having a snowball fight. It was fun.” Laurel slipped out of her winter coat, hung it up, and went upstairs.

  So Bev and Laurel had both enjoyed themselves that evening.

  Things were looking up.

  Harry was at work the next morning, early as usual.

  “How are you feeling this morning?” Lilly asked. They were emptying the vault in the office to place the displays out front.

  “Rested and bloated,” he replied. “I ate too much because there’s so much food in the house, but at least I got some sleep.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Someone stayed overnight with you?”

  “Yeah. Mary Louise stayed, and tonight I think Mack is going to stay.”

  “It’s nice of them to do that.” Lilly turned around when there was a knock on the front door of the shop. The two police officers who had first visited the store stood outside.

  She hurried to unlock the door and let them in, then locked it again behind them since it wasn’t time to open yet. Harry swallowed hard. “Have you found something?” he asked in a tremulous voice. Lilly could feel her heart beating wildly.

  “Not yet,” the older officer said. He was the one who had done all the talking the first time.

  “Do you need something from me?” Harry asked.

  “We’ve checked with the restaurant and they’ve confirmed that you were waiting for Miss Davenport on Monday night. We need to know where you were before that.”

  Harry looked at Lilly. “I was here, at work.”

  “So you went from work right to the restaurant?”

  “No, I went home to change my clothes. I had to put on a suit. I live alone. I went straight home from here, changed my clothes, and went right to the restaurant.” Harry’s eyes widened. “But there’s no one who can prove that.”

  “Miss Davenport’s brother has indicated that you may not have been telling the truth about your whereabouts before you went to the restaurant that evening.”

  The color drained from Harry’s face. Lilly hurried to bring a stool from behind the display case and dragged it over to where he was standing. He dropped into it like he weighed a thousand pounds. The officers watched him, not moving, not saying anything.

  “He said that about me?” Harry finally asked. He knit his brows together as if he couldn’t understand the
implication.

  “Yes, sir,” the second officer replied.

  Harry shook his head slowly. “There’s no way for me to prove what I did, but I swear that’s all I did.” He paused. “How could he say that?”

  “Do you have neighbors who might have seen you coming and going?” the first officer asked.

  Harry shook his head again. “I doubt it. I don’t have any nosy neighbors. I wish I did.”

  “Can you just put together a timeline of Harry’s actions that evening?” Lilly knew she shouldn’t butt in, but she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t stand to see Harry like that. “I can tell you when he left here and I can tell you he wasn’t wearing a suit. The manager at Treetops can tell you what time he checked in for his dinner reservation and can maybe even confirm that Harry was wearing a suit. If there is a tight timeline, then he wouldn’t have had time to go anywhere else.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Carlsen,” the officer replied in a droll tone. He turned to his partner. “Why didn’t we think of that?” The partner smirked and Lilly could feel her face reddening with embarrassment and anger.

  “I’m only trying to help.” She tried to keep the petulance out of her voice, but one look from the senior officer and she knew she had failed. She figured it might be best for Harry if she kept her mouth shut.

  “All right. We’ll be back,” the officer warned Harry. “Don’t go far.”

  Harry slumped on his stool after they left. “Lilly, I don’t know what to do.” He raised his hands and let them fall back onto his lap. “How can I prove that I have nothing to do with her disappearance? I love her. Why would I do anything like that to her?”

  “I’m not sure how you can prove it, but we’ll think of something.” Lilly hoped her tone was reassuring, but there didn’t appear to be much that could reassure Harry. She knew he was beside himself with worry.

  The first customers began to dribble in and their conversation had to be put on hold. While Lilly greeted customers, sold jewelry, and paid invoices that day, she formulated a plan. If she couldn’t help Harry by proving where he was between the time he left work and the time he arrived at the restaurant on Valentine’s Day, she would help him some other way.

  Chapter 16

  When Lilly got home that night, the first thing she did, after checking in with Laurel, was to call Hassan.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said when he answered the phone.

  “I’ve missed you, too, but I have an idea for a date,” she said.

  “What is it?” His voice sounded enthusiastic, and Lilly wondered how long that would last.

  “I’d like to go to Lupine…,” she began.

  “Sounds fun.”

  “... to visit the strip club where Alice works,” she finished.

  There was a pause during which it seemed Hassan didn’t know what to make of her suggestion.

  “Really?” he finally asked. “Huh. I wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

  “I need to help Harry somehow. The police are breathing down his neck and I feel terrible for him. Alice’s brother told the police that he thinks Harry’s somehow involved in her disappearance.”

  “I can’t believe he would say that. He must not know Harry very well.”

  “He doesn’t. In fact, the family barely knows him at all. Otherwise they’d never accuse him of any wrongdoing, I’m sure.”

  “So you really want to go on a date at a strip club?” She could hear the smile in his voice.

  “We won’t be there to sightsee,” she said. “We’ll be there to ask questions.”

  He chuckled. “All right, if that’s what you want. The things I do for love.”

  “Very funny. You just keep your eyes off the stage while we’re there.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Are you free tomorrow night? We can go then.”

  “Sure thing,” Hassan said. They talked of more pleasant things until Lilly had to hang up. She wanted to call her mom before it got too late.

  Nikki answered the phone.

  “How’s Mom today?” Lilly asked.

  “Meh, all right, I suppose. She’s had better days,” Nikki said.

  “Did anything in particular go wrong?”

  Nikki lowered her voice. “She seems very agitated that she can’t find your father. I’ve reminded her—gently, of course—that he passed away a long time ago, but she can’t seem to shake the idea that he’s around here somewhere, hiding from her.”

  Lilly sighed. It was hard enough for her mom’s mental health to be failing, but it was another thing to think that she was upset and lonely because she couldn’t find her long-dead husband.

  “Do you want me to come over tonight?”

  “I’m going to stay tonight, so you don’t need to be here,” Nikki said, still speaking in a quiet voice. “I just gave her a banana and some chamomile tea and I’m hoping that soothes her and makes her sleepy. I’ll see that she goes to bed soon.”

  “Thanks, Nikki. I’m here, so give a call if you need me.”

  “Thanks.” Nikki hung up. Not for the first time, Lilly was glad Nikki was looking after her mother. Even if she was dating Beau.

  “Mom, can I go out for a little while?” Laurel asked, interrupting Lilly’s thoughts.

  Lilly cocked an eyebrow at her daughter. “It’s a little late to be going out, isn’t it? Especially on a school night.”

  “I’m just going over to Karley’s house.”

  “Can you be back in a half hour?” Lilly asked.

  “Probably.”

  “All right. You can go, but remember. Back here in a half hour.”

  Laurel rolled her eyes. “Okay.”

  “And don’t roll your eyes at me.” Laurel kissed Lilly’s cheek and left.

  Next Lilly called Noley. “How’s the search for Alice going?” Noley asked.

  “Not so well.” Lilly told Noley about Alice’s secret job and of her own plans for the following evening.

  “You and Hassan are going to a strip club?” The disbelief in Noley’s voice was palpable.

  “I know, I know. It’s not normally the type of place I would choose to go on a date, but I think maybe we can get some information there.”

  “Don’t tell Bill what you’re doing,” Noley said. “I don’t want him to think that a strip club is a good place to go for a night out.”

  Lilly laughed. “I’m not going to say anything to Bill, believe me, but not for that reason. I don’t want him to know I’m looking for information about Alice.”

  “I won’t say anything to him,” Noley said. “He’ll be furious if he finds out.”

  “I know. And thanks.”

  Lilly was fuming an hour and a half later. Laurel still wasn’t home, despite her promise to be out only thirty minutes. Normally Lilly would have texted her, but since Lilly still had Laurel’s phone, it would have been useless. She had no choice but to wait for Laurel.

  This was now the second time this had happened. What was going on? Lilly knew she should be worried, but she was more angry than anything else. Then, of course, there was the guilt over being angry instead of worried.

  An hour later there was a terse knock at the back door and it opened. Lilly had been in the living room trying to focus long enough to read a book, and when she walked into the kitchen ready to read Laurel the riot act, she stopped short.

  Bill, still in his uniform, was standing in the middle of the kitchen with Laurel, who was scowling.

  “What’s going on?” Lilly felt a twinge of uneasiness prick the nape of her neck.

  “You know the vandalism cases I’ve been working on?” Bill asked.

  A cold ball of shock dropped from Lilly’s throat into her stomach.

  “Yes,” she said, hesitating. It couldn’t be.

  “I found out who’s responsible,” Bill said in a stern voice. “Tonight’s crime spree consisted of putting glue in store locks.”

  “Don’t tell me it was Laurel.” Lilly’s gaze darted betwee
n her brother and her daughter.

  “Among others,” Bill said. Then he addressed his niece. “Laurel, you can explain everything to your mom.”

  Laurel stood silent, looking at her feet.

  “Laurel?” Lilly asked.

  “It wasn’t just me.”

  “But you participated?” Lilly’s voice was inching toward a full-throttled yell.

  Laurel nodded.

  “You have got to be kidding me! What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing is wrong with me.”

  “Don’t get smart with me, Laurel.”

  “I’m not! You asked what’s wrong with me!”

  Lilly looked at Bill in exasperation, as if he could help.

  “Who else has been doing it?” Lilly asked him.

  “Two friends of hers,” he said, nodding his head toward Laurel. He took a notebook out of his pocket and flipped a few pages. “Their names are Karley and Bella.”

  I should have seen this coming, Lilly thought. “That’s why you’ve been spending so much time with those girls,” Lilly said, addressing Laurel. “And here I am thinking they’re nice kids. That’s the last time I let anyone in this house without knowing them better.”

  “They’re not bad, Mom.” The look Lilly turned on her obviously convinced Laurel to stop talking.

  “What about Vanessa?” Lilly asked Bill. “Is she involved in any of this?”

  Bill shook his head. “Not to my knowledge. The three girls admitted that they had been pulling off the acts of vandalism lately by themselves.”

  Lilly turned toward Laurel again. “The places you’ve been vandalizing belong to people just like me! Small business owners!” she yelled. “How is this going to make me look?”

  “You didn’t do anything,” Laurel said in a small voice.

  “I raised you!” Lilly shouted. “It makes me look like a jerk and a failure as a parent! How did you even think to put glue in someone’s locks? It’s despicable!”

  Laurel let out a long sigh and Lilly gave her another stink eye.

  “Listen,” Bill said. “The merchants she vandalized haven’t decided whether to file charges. We’ll know more once we talk to them again. If I hear anything I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I have to get back to work. I’ve got reports to fill out about this. I told the guys I’d be back after I drove Laurel home.”