Fortunate Harbor (32 page)

Wanda gave a snort of disbelief. “A guy like that could change his identity in a heartbeat. He probably already had a closetful of aliases. He could be living out in the open under another name in another state, still pulling off jobs with his brothers, and spending his free time searching for her.”

“You’re being kind of creative with the facts, Wanda.”

“Maybe so… But what if Pete was hired to find her?”

“Pete?” Tracy almost shrieked the name.

“You said he was an army MP? Do you know how many private investigators are former cops or military? They learn what they need, then they leave the force or whatever, and they’ve got skills they got to do something with. So they hang out their shingle.”

“And you think maybe that’s what Pete did?”

“Of course, maybe Ray himself didn’t hire somebody. What if he’s dead after all? He’s got those brothers, right? What it they’re trying to find Carol Kelly, too, on account of them wanting to know what happened to Ray?”

“Hmm…”

Wanda could see all the possibilities, too many to ignore. “Pete just showed up one day looking for a job. Kind of convenient, wasn’t it?”

“No, I found him at Randall’s, remember? I put a note up on the bulletin board about needing a handyman.”

“And he was right there, watching you.”

“How would he know I was going to be there posting a notice? I’m not even sure if I knew myself when I went inside.”

“He could have been following you, to see if he could find an opening to talk to you and feel you out. Who knows? He
could have been following all of us, hoping he could find some excuse to hang out around here and watch Dana.”

“And why would he be watching her? Why doesn’t he just tell whoever?”

“Maybe he’s trying to find out if she really
is
Carol Kelly. Maybe he’s trying to find proof. This is a cop’s wife talking. Kenny’s a detective, remember? He’s done a lot of stranger things than that to find out what he needs to know.”

“Dana and Pete have a thing going, remember? His car is outside her house until very late on the nights Lizzie’s staying at Alice’s.”

“All night?” Wanda was shocked. She didn’t know things had progressed that far.

“They’ve got Lizzie to think about, even if she’s not in the house, so no.”

“Why didn’t I know!”

“Because you come home from Wanda’s Wonderful Pies and fall into bed ten minutes after you eat dinner.”

“Well, how do you like that?” Wanda was stunned. Dana hadn’t said anything to her about things getting that serious, and they worked together every single day.

Tracy was watching her. “So I’m sure if Pete was working for Ray or his brothers, by now he’d have everything he needed and they’d be sitting on Dana’s doorstep.”

“I still don’t like it.” Wanda made a decision and nodded hard, to seal it. “I’m going to ask Kenny to check out Pete.”

“No! We can’t do anything that’ll make him suspicious about Dana.”

“I won’t even mention her name. I’ll just tell him you’re worried about the new handyman, that something he told you about his past sounded fishy, and you wanted to know more.”

“Me? Don’t you dare.”

“Then I’ll invent another reason, you being so prim and proper about this.”

“Wanda, please don’t involve Ken. I just have a bad feeling that one way or the other that’s going to lead back to Dana. Okay? Take it from me, Pete’s just a regular guy. I called some of his references. Nobody had a bad thing to say about him, and none of them live in California.”

Wanda still felt uneasy. “Okay, but I’m going to keep a good eye on him. You should, too.”

“After everything we’ve figured out today, it’s easy to feel a little paranoid. Let’s just not take it to extremes. I’ll watch, you watch, and we’ll talk if anything seems odd. Okay?”

Wanda got her pie tins off the table where she’d set them. “I never figured when I moved out here there’d be so darned much intrigue. Next thing you know, James Bond will come blasting down the road in one of those cars with all the fancy gadgets, and we won’t pay him any mind. He’ll just be business as usual.”

“The intrigue’s all over. I bet tonight was the big excitement. Now we can all settle down and get back to our normal lives.”

Wanda hoped Tracy was right. But on the off chance she wasn’t, Wanda planned to keep her mouth shut, her next idea to herself, and her options open.

Janya kept herself busy after her aborted beach encounter with Rishi. She had always been careful not to take more jobs painting murals than she could fit in and still be a good wife. Now she scheduled work that kept her away from home as many hours as possible.

She painted scenes of Italy on the walls at Gonzalo’s, working late at night when the restaurant was closed. She traveled to Fort Myers and painted sumptuous tropical gardens on the patio wall of a twenty-room mansion, making more money than she had ever expected to from a single job and coming home too late each night to converse with her husband.

She wasn’t sure which of those pleased her more.

Now it was July 4 and a weekend, but she was too tired to work, anyway. It was no surprise that despite the holiday, Rishi was at the office. She planned to catch up on shopping and cleaning, since she had to live in the house, too. But by 10:00 a.m. she still hadn’t summoned energy to do much of anything.

She was sitting with her feet propped up, staring at the ceiling, when someone knocked. Before she could answer, Wanda opened the door and thrust her head over the threshold.

“You there, Janya?”

“I suppose I am.”

Wanda came in. “It’s a national holiday today. I closed the shop in honor. You’re supposed to be all peppy and animated.”

“I have nothing to celebrate.”

Wanda flopped down beside her. She was wearing lavender shorts and a tube top of shocking pink. With her coppery hair, she looked as if she were trying to monopolize an entire section of the color wheel.

“Me, neither.” Wanda folded her arms. “Ken was supposed to be back by now, but he got held up until tomorrow. Ain’t that a kick in the head?”

“At least he will be coming home.”

“Things still aren’t any better between you and Rishi?”

“The name sounds familiar, but I can’t remember why.”

“There’s my answer.”

“My mother called this morning. She wanted to know if there had been progress giving her a grandchild.”

“At least she’s calling again.”

“And I am disappointing her again.”

“It doesn’t happen overnight, Janya. She must know that.”

“It will not happen at all until I have a husband who remembers how to find me in his bed.”

“Ouch.”

“Shall we talk of something different?”

Wanda clapped her hands together, as if to liven up the conversation. “Let’s have a picnic. Just you and me. The others are all out and about. Tracy’s at the rec center for some tourna
ment. Alice and Dana took the girls to see the Palmetto Grove parade, but they’ll be back this evening to watch the fireworks.”

“It is good Dana is still here.”

“I know. I didn’t totally expect her to be, but it’s sure better for her than running again.”

“You will watch the fireworks tonight, too?”

“There’s a good place to see them over the water. Remember? We found it last year.”

“Last year Rishi and I watched with you. This year he will be at the office.”

“More reason for you to have a good day anyway. Won’t do to let him think you’re pining away.”

Janya knew that nothing would be gained by staring at the ceiling. There was a brown spot the size of a walnut where the roof had once leaked, and if she gazed at it long enough, she knew she would decide she had to repaint it.

“Shall we go to our beach?” she asked.

“I have cheese—”

“And pie?”

“I have pie.”

“I will see what I have to go with it.”

They agreed to meet at Wanda’s house, which was closer to the beach. Janya washed and sliced fresh vegetables, and added yogurt raita. She put chapatis and canned fruit juices in a wicker basket, changed into her bathing suit and cover-up, then went to find Wanda.

She was almost there when she glanced up and saw Pete Knight getting out of his SUV, which was parked in Dana’s driveway. Oddly enough, he was heading straight toward her mailbox. He glanced around, but he didn’t notice Janya. Opening the mailbox, which stood beside the road, he took
out a stack of mail, leafed through it, then shoved it in the pocket of his shorts. He turned, as if he was planning to get back in the driver’s seat, and realized Janya was watching him.

“Janya.” He waved.

She started walking again, bypassed Wanda’s house and continued toward him. She waited until she was almost there before she spoke.

“I thought there was no mail delivery today.” She didn’t mention that she also thought the mail in this box belonged to Dana.

“I’m about to meet Dana in town. She called on her cell and asked me to get it on my way in. She and Lizzie got home so late last night, she forgot to check, so I told her I’d bring it with me.”

“She must be expecting something important.” She said it with a smile.

“She ordered something for Lizzie, and she wants it to be a surprise. She was worried Lizzie might get the mail this afternoon before she could. She knew I was over at Tracy’s installing an electrical outlet on the front of her house.”

The explanation was casual; the man was casual. Janya still sensed something else in the air.

“Well then, enjoy the parade,” she said.

“I’ll probably miss it, but we’re going out to lunch.”

She nodded a goodbye and turned back toward Wanda’s. Halfway there, Pete passed her and honked his own goodbye.

Wanda was waiting at the door. “What was that man doing over at Dana’s when she’s in town?”

Janya told her what she had seen and Pete’s explanation. Wanda stood perfectly still for a moment. Then she exploded.

“I told Tracy I wouldn’t do it, but I’m going to!”

“What are you going to do?” Janya asked.

“I’m going to have Kenny check out Pete Knight. I won’t tell Kenny a thing about Dana. I would never go back on my word about that. But I never actually promised not to have Pete checked out.”

“He didn’t act like a man who was doing anything wrong.”

“We told Dana we would watch out for her, and that’s what I’ll be doing. Do you trust him?”

Janya liked Pete. But did she trust him? That was a different question. In the past she had made enough mistakes in judgment that these days, she was slower to form opinions. Unfortunately, now—with everything they knew about Dana and Lizzie—she saw shadows everywhere. It was a burden.

“It did seem as if he explained too much to me,” she said. “Of course, perhaps he realized it did not look good, going through someone else’s mail.”

“Well, we’ll know soon enough,” Wanda said. “Or we’ll know soon as Kenny can get back to the station and find out for me. I don’t know when that will be, him doing all that traveling and those classes. But just as soon as he’s able.” She nodded decisively. “Meantime, keep those gorgeous brown eyes of yours open, you hear?”

“It will give me something to do.”

Wanda turned, and got a quilted bag and pie plate from the table behind her. “Well, we got something to do right now, you and me. Let’s go have ourselves a Fourth of July picnic.”

Janya so rarely called anyone that in the late afternoon when she picked up the telephone to call her brother and heard the stuttering signal that announced a voice mail message, she wondered how long ago it had been left. Perhaps Rishi had called while she was on the beach to tell her that, yet again, he
would not be home before midnight. If so, he had wasted words, since that was only what she expected. Perhaps her mother had left a message before her call that morning. Or perhaps Janya had won a free weekend at a Miami time-share resort, an opportunity to lower the interest rate on her credit card, or a free inspection by a pest control company.

She punched in a number to retrieve the message and waited until a recording came on the line.

“This message is for Mr. Rishi Kapur,” the disembodied voice droned. “This is Hazel, at Dr. Peterson’s office, and we just want to remind you that your follow-up appointment is tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Please call back to confirm you will be here.” Then she left a number.

Hazel—whoever she was—hung up. The automated operator came on the line and reminded Janya of all her options. She could play the message again. She could delete, save, play other messages….

Janya hung up without punching another button.

Dr. Peterson?

Who was the mysterious Dr. Peterson? And why did Rishi have an appointment with him? Unless Dr. Peterson saw patients on the Sunday of a holiday weekend, Rishi had probably already been and gone to this follow-up.

And
what
was he following up?

She supposed she could ask him, if she ever saw him long enough for a conversation. That would be the expected thing to do, the behavior of a dutiful wife. Perhaps Dr. Peterson was a dentist who had found and filled a cavity. Or perhaps he was an internist, and Rishi’s blood pressure had been high. This last would not surprise her, considering his recent behavior.

Or maybe something was wrong with her husband that he was reluctant to share. Something seriously wrong.

She shoved the thought away, but it sprang back. Could
that
account for the way Rishi had been acting? Was he so worried about his health that there was no room for her in his life just now? Perhaps he was dying, and he wanted her to adjust slowly to losing him.

She tried to remember if she had noticed anything different, other than his disinterest in her. Had he lost weight? Was his skin sallow? Was he wincing or moving frequently, like someone in pain?

The truth was, she had been so hurt, she hadn’t noticed much of anything about her husband. When he entered a room, she left. And the need to leave was rare, because for the past weeks she had made a real attempt not to even be in the same house with him.

She went to discover what she could about Dr. Peterson. According to the White Pages, there were three in the wider metropolitan area. With a sigh she punched in the number for her voice mailbox again and listened to the message, gazing at the doctors’ phone numbers as she did. The message was from Dr.
George
Peterson, which was really no help, since there was no other information listed.

She was on her way to the computer to see what she could find when she realized she should simply dial the office to see if there was a recording. She did, and waited until the phone rang four times. Then Hazel began to speak.

Janya listened carefully, pressed the hang-up button, redialed and listened again, before she put the telephone back in its cradle.

Andrology Associates?

She completed her trip to the computer and turned it on.

An hour later she was still clicking links when she heard the front door open.

Perhaps Rishi had come home to see the fireworks with her. That was good, because he was about to see all the fireworks he had ever bargained for, right here and now.

He came into the second bedroom, where she sat at the desk. She made no attempt to hide what was on the screen. She swiveled and examined him.

“I came home early,” he said. “I thought perhaps you wanted to go out to the beach…?”

“This is not early, Rishi. It is Saturday, the Fourth of July, and you should not have been at work at all.”

“I—”

She made a slashing motion with her hand. “I do not want to hear any more of your lies. There is no project so important you could not take this day off. To pretend otherwise is to say out loud that I am a fool.”

“I don’t—”

“Please be quiet!”

He looked astonished. She had never spoken to him this way. She had never spoken to
anyone
this way.

“Tell me where you were yesterday morning at nine o’clock,” she demanded.

He was startled. She could see it by the way his eyes widened. He hesitated. She knew he was trying to calculate what she might know.

“I will tell you, since you find it so difficult,” she said. “You were at the office of Dr. George Peterson, an andrologist. And shall I tell you what his specialty is?”

“Janya…”

“Male infertility.” She gestured to the screen behind her. “He
has written articles for medical journals. The abstracts are online. And I am educated enough to know what all those long, difficult words mean, Rishi. He seems particularly adept at varicocele repair.”

He swallowed. Then he turned and walked out of the room. She was after him like a stone released from a slingshot.

She grabbed his arm. “Is that why you saw him, perhaps? This specialist so famous that his articles are on the Internet?”

“I can see you aren’t in the mood for my company tonight. I will go back to work.”

“If you do, I will be gone when you return. And I will not be back at all.”

He turned, and he looked horrified. “You would leave that way?”

“I will not live with a man who lies to me.”

“I have not lied.”

“And have you told the truth?”

Rishi looked the way he might if someone close to him dropped dead at his feet. He passed a hand over his face, but he didn’t reply.

“Rishi, have you told the truth?” she repeated a little softer.

“Would you tell the truth, if you knew it meant the end of everything you ever wanted?”

The anger that had been building for weeks disappeared. Just like that. Gone, but, as the English saying proclaimed, not forgotten.

“We will sit and work this out,” she said. “We must.”

“I don’t think we can.”

“You will sit, then, and
I
will work it out.”

He didn’t smile, but he went into the living room and chose a seat on the sofa. She joined him.

She was the first to speak. “We must start with the truth. All of it.”

“What do you know?”

She hesitated, and the night she and the other women had confronted Dana flashed through her mind. They had told Dana everything they’d discovered, but since then, Janya had wondered if they shouldn’t have let Dana tell
them
instead. What additional details would they know now, if they had?

She had learned from that experience, and now she shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, but you must tell me.”

He looked cornered and thoroughly miserable. For a moment she didn’t think he would speak. Then he cleared his throat.