Getting Away Is Deadly (3 page)

“Foreign Reciprocity Officer Training. Did you know that our military helps train military officers from foreign countries?”

Wellesley shook her head. “No, I had no idea.”

“We do. They’re usually from ally countries. Mitch told me that sometimes foreign countries don’t have the technology for training that we do here. It’s kind of like a foreign exchange program for foreign military officers. Anyway, when these people arrive here for training, each base has to have a point of contact to help them get situated with everything they need. The FROT class trains them in how to handle the paperwork and coordinate everything the foreign officers need.”

“How big is this training program?” Wellesley asked.

“It’s not that large. The FROT training is an additional duty,” I translated for her. “That means the guys will still do their primary job, being a pilot, and they’ll do the FROT thing if they have a foreign officer arrive on base. I don’t think it will be that often where we are. Now, if we were at a training base where they teach people to fly, then I bet it would be another story.”

We walked a few more paces and I said, “I saw the article about the man who died in the Metro. I didn’t realize yesterday in all the chaos that he was someone you knew.”

She stopped walking and looked at me. “What?”

“The man who died. You talked to him on the Mall right before we went to the Metro.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“But his picture was in the paper. You spoke to him by the Reflecting Pool. In fact, it looked like he was angry with you. He grabbed your arm.”

Her eyebrows descended and she quirked her mouth to one side. “I don’t know what you saw, but it certainly wasn’t me. We’re holding up the tour.” She elbowed her way into a crowd around the display case where the Hope Diamond rotated slowly.

That was weird
. Maybe I’d been mistaken? The picture in the paper had been in black-and-white and kind of grainy.

Nadia said, “It’s so beautiful. Can you tell us about the curse?” I stood on tiptoe and looked over the crowd to catch a glimpse of the diamond. The color surprised me. I’d expected a deeper blue, but it had a more translucent quality. Wellesley eyed Nadia warily as if Nadia was trying to trip her up before she said, “The gem has a colorful history, but like most curses, the curse associated with the Hope Diamond—bad luck and death—turns out to be mostly myth. Contrary to the legend, the jeweler who brought the diamond back from India, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, didn’t die from being torn apart by wild dogs in India. Instead, he lived to be eighty-four and died in Russia. Even though the diamond was part of the French crown jewels, Marie Antoinette did not wear the diamond…”

My cell phone rang. The caller ID read
SUMMER AVERY
. I checked my watch as I opened the phone. It was four o’clock and I was late. I waved to Abby, who knew I was meeting Summer, and dashed out of the room to the balustrade overlooking the museum’s gallery.

“Hey, Summer. I’m on my way,” I said, searching the crowds milling around the elephant. “But I don’t see you. Are you by the elephant?”

“No. I’ve been…delayed.”

Shoot
. I hoped she wasn’t about to cancel. I didn’t want to have to tell Mitch that Summer was a no-show. He wouldn’t hold back with the “told you so” comments.

“That’s okay. You’re on your way, right?”

“Umm…I don’t know how long this thing will last.” Now that I wasn’t focused on being late, I noticed she didn’t sound like her usual breezy self.

I slowed down. “What thing?”

“Being questioned by the police.”

 

An Everything In Its Place Tip for an Organized Trip

 

Routines that will take the pain out of packing

• Keep a set of small, travel-size bottles of lotions, shampoos, and other toiletries separate from the items you use day-today. You’ll have all the items you need in one spot and can pack quickly. Restock used items at the end of your trip or save hotel samples for your next trip.
  
• If you travel frequently, invest in travel clothing that doesn’t wrinkle and that you can wash and hang to dry.
  
• Containerize your travel items into smaller bags for quick packing and unpacking. For example, separate jewelry, toiletries, and makeup into different bags. You can even use zip-top bags for this.
  
• To avoid the last-minute search for your airline and hotel confirmation numbers, have a copy of your reservations sent to your e-mail account. Print information and store all travel reservations (airline, rental car, hotel) in a designated place. To make it easy to find your travel documents in your purse or carry-on, place them in a business-size envelope or plastic folder, which will keep them separate from your other items.
  

“C
an I get you anything else?” A dark-headed man with an olive complexion set a glass of water on the end table beside me.

“What? Oh no. Thank you. I’ll be fine.” As he moved across the office’s reception area, I noticed he had the compact, solid body of a wrestler. What had he said his name was? Tom? Terry? And what did it matter? Was I focusing on that minor detail so I didn’t have to think about Summer being questioned by the police? He did look a little familiar, but after my encounter with Wellesley, I wasn’t sure if I’d seen this guy either.

A short, lean man with a shriveled face entered the office and shouted, “Tony!” as he scurried by the reception desk. Tony met him in the hall. They talked about a contract as they walked down the hall and disappeared around a corner.

I pushed my sweaty bangs off my forehead and tried to get my breathing under control. It had been quite a hike from the Mall to K Street, where Summer worked. I probably could have taken the Metro to the offices of the Women’s Advancement Center, but I hadn’t thought about it, and the truth was that if I
had
thought of it, I’d probably have avoided the underground trains anyway. I still felt a little skittish about the Metro.

I was glad the reception area was deserted. It was frigidly air-conditioned and everything was either clear glass, transparent plastic, or white fabric. Even the receptionist’s desk was a plastic and glass concoction that looked like an ice sculpture. I’d gone for the touristy look today with a skort, sleeveless shirt, sunglasses, and tennis shoes. I definitely looked out of place with my vacation duds and flushed face.

I took a sip of my water and noticed Tony had reappeared in the doorway. “Tony, how long has Summer been in with…”

He forced a smile. “Only fifteen minutes or so. It won’t be much longer, I’m sure. Routine questions. They didn’t take long with the rest of us.”

“Oh, they questioned you, too?”

“Yes, of course. We were all on the platform in the Metro.”

I finally placed him. He’d been the man that the tall, blond woman had tossed her lanyard and cell phone at shortly before the television interview began in the Metro. So the woman had been Summer’s employer and landlord. I hadn’t made the connection until just now.

I was about to ask what the police wanted to know, but I heard voices from somewhere behind Tony. Summer stopped abruptly in the doorway, her long red curls swirling around her shoulders. “Tony! There you are. I’m out of here. Remember, I told you I had to leave early today—” She caught sight of me and hurried across the reception room to hug me. “Ellie!”

Her long hair tickled my nose as I returned her hug. I pulled away and held her back by her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

She shrugged and broke away. “Sure.” She dashed over to the reception desk, jerked open a drawer, and tossed her hobo bag on her shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning, Tony,” she said as she leaned over and tapped a few keys on the computer keyboard. “I’ll have that spreadsheet finished after lunch tomorrow, I promise.”

Summer picked up a denim jacket from the back of the chair, then linked her arm through mine and pulled me out of the office. “I’m so sorry about that! No big deal. Where do you want to go to dinner? Is Mitch still waiting for us?”

“I called him on the way over and told him you’d been delayed. He’s tied up anyway. One of his meetings was rescheduled, so we’re going to meet at six.”

“Perfect. Where do you want to go? Do you feel like Thai?” She kept chattering as she pulled a black beret out of her purse and situated it on her curls at a jaunty angle. “Oh, I’m so glad I got out of there before I saw Mr. Archer. Did you meet him? I heard him talking to Tony right before I left. I
know
Mr. Archer’s going to ask me to babysit Emma again and I don’t want to see him go ballistic when I tell him I can’t. He’s unpredictable. Ms. Archer says he has sleep issues and that’s why he’s so irritable.” Summer rolled her eyes. “He’s just plain old mean.”

I stopped dead in the quiet hallway. “Summer, you were questioned by the police. That is a big deal. Are you sure everything’s okay? Why did they need to talk to you anyway? You weren’t on the platform at all.”

Her green eyes narrowed as she studied me for a few seconds. Her busy, almost frantic manner fell away. “So what they say about pregnancy hormones is true. I’ve never heard you use that tone.”

Why is it that when a woman is pregnant and she displays any emotion from frustration to irritation or just plain crabbiness, everyone in the vicinity has to tell her it’s the pregnancy hormones? It’s as if a pregnant woman can’t have legitimate emotions. Every state is attributed to hormones. “This has nothing to do with me being pregnant or my hormones. It’s about the police questioning you. I’m worried about you and you don’t seem to have a care in the world.”

“Let’s go downstairs. There’s a restaurant where we can talk.”

We sat down at a tiny table in the back corner and ordered. “So what happened?” I asked.

Summer pulled her long hair over one shoulder and raked her fingers down the curving strands. “They wanted to talk to me because they thought I was on the platform yesterday.”

“But you weren’t. You were babysitting what’s her name—the Little Terror.”

Summer actually glanced around the restaurant guiltily. “I shouldn’t call her that. Her name is Emma. Anyway, they wanted to talk to me because there was someone on the platform who looked like me from the back. Long hair, beret, denim jacket. But it wasn’t me. I told them that.” She smiled and sipped her latte.

“Summer, why are they still investigating?”

“They’re not sure it was an accident.”

“What?”

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and leaned across the table. In a quiet tone she said, “They think he was pushed. They’ve got photos from the security cameras and they’re talking to everyone who was on the platform.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you can prove you were at the Archers’ house. Believe me, I’ve dealt with the police before and you don’t want to get…” I trailed off as I realized Summer’s face had a slightly pinched look. “What? You can’t prove it?”

“No. I called you early in the day yesterday and I didn’t make any phone calls from the Archers’ house. And no one saw me yesterday afternoon either. Well, Emma saw me, but I doubt they’re going to take the word of a four-year-old. And she slept most of the afternoon anyway.”

“Still. That’s no reason to worry. Surely, the video will show what happened—show who pushed him.”

“Apparently not.” Summer shifted and kept her eyes on the table. “They weren’t telling me much, but Tony, that’s Ms. Archer’s assistant, he found out from Ms. Archer that the video ‘isn’t conclusive.’ There’s a crowd of people around Jorge and they can’t tell who pushed him.”

“But then how are they sure it wasn’t an accident?” I pressed.

“They isolated one shot from the camera seconds before he went over the edge. There’s a hand on the man’s back, shoving him. They’re just not sure who the hand belongs to. It’s too far away to get any details about the hand—no rings or nail polish. Of course, they were able to eliminate Ms. Archer and Tony.”

“Wait. You said a name—Jorge?” It wasn’t just the fact that she’d said the name that caught my attention. It was the way she’d said it, casually, like she’d said it before.

Summer studied the table more intently. “Jorge, the man who died.”

“But how do you know who he was? His name wasn’t in the paper. Did the police tell you?”

“No,” Summer said.

“You
knew
him?”

Summer shrugged and said, “It’s nothing. He was the Archers’ yardman. He was around their house.”

“So the police know that you knew him.”

“I didn’t tell them.”

There was something about the way she was determinedly
not
looking at me that worried me. Having a kid taught you all sorts of suspicious body language. “How well did you know him?”

“Not that well.”

“Summer.”

“Okay.” She looked up at me and said, “I knew him. He asked me out. He was good-looking, but there was something…I don’t know…cold about him. You know me, I don’t care what people do. It didn’t matter to me that he was a landscaper or that some people would think he was a little too old for me. Anyway, I turned him down politely. Then he got—persistent. It was kind of scary, so I went to the police to see if I could get a restraining order.”

“So the police know all this?” I put down my glass.

“No,” she said disdainfully. “I talked to the police on campus. They don’t have any connection with the people who questioned me today.”

“They’ll find out, though, if you filed a report or a complaint. They’ll make the connection eventually. You should call them and tell them. It’s not going to look good if they find out later. They’ll think you’re hiding something.”

Summer leaned in again, bracing her forearms on the table. “But I didn’t file a report. I only asked some questions.” She must have been able to see that I wasn’t convinced. “Ellie, do you have any idea how many people die in this city every year? Hundreds. It isn’t called the ‘Murder Capital’ for nothing. Then there’s the other crimes—rape, robbery, carjackings. Pretty soon Jorge’s death will be buried under the avalanche of other crimes.”

 

An Everything In Its Place Tip for an Organized Trip

 

Travel guides

A good travel guide can be your most valuable resource on the road. Find the one that best suits your type of trip. Some travel guides focus on bringing the place alive visually with lots of color photos and maps. Others are heavy on text. Some guides specialize in off-the-beaten-track locales, while others spotlight traditional stops that are usually on the most popular tourist itineraries. There are even guides for traveling with kids and pets. Your local library will probably have a wide variety of guides that you can browse before purchasing some for your trip.