California Schemin' (6 page)

I was dragging my three-ton suitcase up the
stairs when the phone rang. I left it on the landing and jogged
back to the kitchen.

“You made it home safe.” The sound of Beau’s
voice hit me in the stomach and made me long for him.

“Yeah, no problems. Did Fogel ever find out
who it was I fished out of the river?” I hated the thought that she
might remain anonymous, her family never knowing what happened to
her.

“Yeah, but hang on, Fogel wants to tell you
himself. I’ll pass you over.” There was some shuffling on the other
end of the line. I leaned back and put my feet up on the kitchen
chair next to me waiting for Fogel to get to the phone.

“The woman is Lily Carver Wallace, wife of R.
Carl Wallace, member of the state senate.” Fogel sounded
distracted.

“Wow. How’s he taking it?”

“Publicly devastated. Privately, not so much.
Resigned I’d say, but not overly emotional.”

“The wife of a state senator. That opens a
can of worms, doesn’t it? Is he liked? Not that it’s any of my
business.”

“It’s your business in that they chose to
involve you. He’s not well loved by a certain faction, but I fail
to see what they could gain by killing his wife.”

“Did the senator and his wife get along? They
weren’t in divorce proceedings or anything, were they?”

Fogel laughed. “You think like a cop,” he
said. “Again, publicly, everything was as it should be. Privately,
I don’t know. We’ve got people looking into it. The thing about it
is, now that a senator is involved, the state police want to get
involved. It’s my jurisdiction, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to
hold on to this case.”

“What will happen at my end if the case gets
transferred? Will anybody be looking out for me, or am I on my own
again?” I didn’t like the sound of this. The last thing I needed
was to end up involved in another murder investigation.

“I’ll stay involved as much as I can, keep an
eye on what’s happening, but if I stick my nose too far into it,
they’ll politely ask me to mind my own business.”

I sighed. On my own again. Not that I
couldn’t take care of myself; I could. I’d just rather not face a
killer on my own.

“Would it be okay if I contacted my state
police and tell them what happened? I’d feel better if someone
local knew what was going on.”

“Sure. Better still, give me the number, and
I’ll clue them in. Is there someone in particular I should
contact?”

I gave him the name of the detective who
investigated my boss’s death and asked to talk to Beau. He called
Beau to the phone, and I could hear more shuffling around.

“What’s going on over there?” I asked.
“Sounds very suspicious.”

Beau laughed.

“Poker game in Fogel’s kitchen. His wife
won’t let the guys smoke their cigars anywhere else. It’s not a
huge room, and there are about ten of us. Every time anybody has to
use the phone, open the fridge or go to the john, we all have to
shuffle around. You wouldn’t believe it. And the phone is attached
to the wall with a three foot cord. No leeway.”

Jealousy crept over me. Here I was all alone,
not counting four dogs and a very pissed off cat, and there he was
in a room full of guys having a great time. The thought that they
were probably hot and sweaty and really stinky didn’t make me feel
any better. I’d rather have a sweaty man in my bed than a dead
snake.

I left the windows open in my room and slept
in my mom’s childhood room. It was comfortable enough, but I’d been
looking forward to being back in my own bed. I lay in bed and
sulked, but travel fatigue caught up with me, and I was asleep
before I could really work myself up.

The next morning I woke to Annabelle on the
pillow next to me. I thanked the powers that be that she hadn’t
brought a snake with her. We spent some time making up, me telling
her how beautiful she was until she rolled over and let me rub her
belly. I went downstairs, wolfed some toast and drove my Toyota All
Trac down the hill to the newspaper office.

I parked in front of the laundry, took the
stairs two at a time and opened the door into the sun-filled
office. It was quiet and empty, too early for Meg or Deirdre to be
in yet. I booted up my computer and rifled through the messages
tucked under the keyboard. It was strange to be so happy to be at
work, but it was good. I looked out onto the green, empty at this
hour, with bare trees and brown grass.
You’re back in your
element, MacGowan
.

I got up, turned on the CD player and plugged
in the coffee maker. I turned back to the computer and pulled out
my notes. I was typing them up when footsteps on the stairs
disturbed my concentration. I looked up from my computer when the
door opened.

“MacGowan.” Lieutenant Miles Brooks came
through the door. “I understand you’ve got yourself mixed up in
another murder. What did I tell you about staying out of
trouble?”

“Hey, Miles! Haven’t seen you in a while.” I
smiled at him. He had let me believe I was a murder suspect for a
really long time in the autumn, but he’d made it up to me, and we
had become friends.

“Yes, but isn’t that a good thing?” He was
smiling. “And as you aren’t suspected of any crimes, I can ask you
to coffee.”

“You came up here to ask me to coffee? You
could have just called.”

He shook his head.

“I was contacted by Officer Fogel of the
Placer County Sheriff’s department and thought I’d drop in on you.
Can I sit down for a minute?”

I nodded, and he pulled Meg’s office chair
across the floor to my desk. He sat across from me and stretched
his legs out. He was as good looking as ever. Tall, blue eyed, dark
haired and fit, he made the green and tan uniform look good. He
scrutinized me over his fingertips

“Didn’t you go to California to get away from
trouble?”

“Why does everyone keep saying that? I didn’t
get into trouble. I did a good thing, pulling a woman from the
river. I didn’t know she’d been shot. Had I known that, I would
have run in the other direction and never looked back.”

“No, you wouldn’t. If there was any chance
she was still alive, you would have tried to save her. You wouldn’t
be able to help yourself.”

“Nope. I’m getting smarter. I would have let
her float down river until someone else discovered her.”

“How you can lie like that without even
twitching an eyelid is beyond me. I admire that quality in a cop,
but you? Scares me.”

“I am not lying! If I had known that trying
to rescue that woman was going to make me a target, I would never
have pulled her out of the water. Never. Anyway, if you were there
you would have done the same thing.”

“Maybe.”

“Don’t maybe me. You would have pulled her
out even if you knew she was dead. Talk about lying.”

Miles threw his head back and laughed. He
pulled his legs back and sat up, leaning into me, his arms on my
desk.

“But what are we going to do about you now?
There seems to be some chance that this guy is going to come
looking for you. How are we going to keep you safe out there in the
woods by yourself?”

“I’ve got my dogs. Nobody in their right mind
is going to tangle with four dogs.” I pushed my keyboard back and
leaned my elbows on my desk.

“There are ways to get around dogs, and you
know it, but as there hasn’t been any indication that anyone
followed you home from California, I’m going to content myself with
checking in on you. Daily. Okay?”

“Sure, if you don’t have anything better to
do with your time. No criminals on the loose at the moment? No dead
bodies up at the Inn?”

“Nope. Nothing to do but keep my eye on
wayward newspaper reporters. Come on, let’s go downstairs and get
some wicked good coffee.”

“You do know I have a habit of dumping coffee
on people, don’t you?”

“I had heard a rumor along those lines. I’ll
risk it.”

”How long are you intending to be in the
office today?” Miles asked as we were clomping down the stairs.
Well, I was clomping; he was descending the stairs with his usual
measured pace.

“Just a little while longer. I promised Meg
I’d come by for lunch. Why?”

“No reason.”

I pushed through the lower door, stepped out
onto the sidewalk and froze. Miles ran right into me and grabbed my
arm to keep me from falling flat on my face.

“What’s up?”

“I’ll tell you inside. Come on.” I led him
into the coffee shop and slid into a booth near the front where we
could see out the window.

“Did you see that woman out there?”

“I’m a cop. Of course I saw her. Why?”

“She sat next to me on the plane from DC.
Claimed to be an alien shape shifter. Sure enough, she went from a
short, heavy woman with bright pink hair to a tall, thin woman with
cotton candy colored hair. I think even her eye color changed.”

“All at once or in stages? Not that it really
matters.”

“Stages.”

“So you’d make the connection. I’m less
concerned about her shape shifting than I am about the fact she
followed you from DC and probably from California before that. Stay
here, I’m going to talk to her.” Miles slid out of the booth and
was out the door before I could collect my thoughts. He disappeared
from view. Sandy brought the coffee and muffins, and I occupied
myself with loading my muffin with butter.

By the time I got around to dumping the
little plastic container of half-and-half into my coffee Miles was
sliding back into his seat.

“What was that about?” I asked. I emptied a
couple of packets of sugar into my coffee.

“I couldn’t find her.” He looked perplexed.
“Went around the block looking in all the shops. Disappeared.”

“Yeah, but why did you want to talk to her in
the first place?”

“Are you kidding me? A strange woman follows
you from California, where you just happened to see a murder, and
I’m supposed to ignore her?”

“She seemed harmless enough.” I watched Miles
cut his muffin into four pieces.

“No such thing as coincidence. No such thing
as harmless. Evidence, allegiance and circumstances … those things
matter.”

“You’re such a cop. Don’t you ever just
forget about that stuff?”

“Nope, especially not when the circumstances
revolve around someone I care about.”

I looked to see if he was pulling my leg, but
he was concentrating on buttering the four quarters of his muffin.
I felt my cheeks getting warm, and I wondered if I should remind
him about Beau. About the time I realized my mouth was hanging open
he glanced up and saw me staring at him. I snapped my mouth shut
but couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I care about everyone in my jurisdiction,
Bree.” He was so matter of fact that I felt foolish for thinking
differently.

“Oh, yeah, of course.” Could I get any more
lame? I took a sip of coffee and focused on not burning myself or
spilling it when I set it down. Life took so much concentration
sometimes, it exhausted me. I looked around and noticed Steve
Leftsky, esteemed State Trooper and one of my lifelong friends,
sitting at the back of the café.

“Hey, Steve’s over there. Want to ask him to
sit with us?”

Brooks turned and looked.

‘Normally, I’d say yes, but he’s been lousy
company lately.”

“How come?”

“Didn’t you hear? Shirl dumped him. Said he
was spending too much time at the barracks or hanging out at the
bar with the guys.” He shot me a sideways look. “Your name was also
mentioned.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. She brought
that up again? I’ve never even dated Steve. Never. Not even in high
school. That girl’s got something wrong with her brain.”

Brooks shrugged, but I couldn’t let it go, so
when Miles headed back to work I went and sat with Steve.

“Hey,” I said as I slid into the chair across
from him. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. Just taking a break.”

“Anything new in your life?”

“You heard didn’t you? Someone told you that
Shirl left me. God, I wish people would mind their own
business.”

“Sorry.” I stood up. “Thought you might like
to talk about it. Give me a call when you feel like company.”

I turned away, but he called me back.

“Oh, sit down! I wasn’t talking about you; I
was talking about whoever told you. Can’t keep a damn thing a
secret in this town.”

“You expected that would change?”

“No, I’m just mad. I was trying to get a
promotion at work, and you know how social it is. Who you know, not
what you know.”

I nodded. I did know.

“So I was hanging out with the guys, trying
to be more of a team player so I could maybe get a raise. Shirl
asked me to cut it out, and I said no, not until promotions were
handed out. She kicked me out. Said she had to be more important
than work or it was over. I’m bunking with one of the guys for
now.”

“Do you want me to talk to her? I might be
able to get her to change her mind.”

“Shit, no! You’re part of the problem. She
doesn’t believe we’re just friends. Thinks there has to be
something going on. Just leave it alone, Bree. I’ll figure it out.
I’m thinking I may have to ask her to marry me. That might settle
her down a little.”

“Do you want to marry her?”

“If she isn’t going to let me live with her
anymore, I guess I’m going to have to marry her.”

“Now there’s an endorsement for romantic
love. Jeez, Steve. If you love her, great, marry her. If you don’t,
this is as good a time as any to move on.”

“Hell, Bree, how the hell am I supposed to
know if I’m in love or not? I’m a guy, for God’s sake.”

“I’m going over to visit Meg. If you get it
figured out, let me know.”

He raised his hand in a half-hearted salute
as I left. I was having a hard time feeling sorry for a guy who
didn’t know if he was in love with the woman he’d been living with
for the last ten years. As far as I was concerned, Steve needed to
get a grip.