Lost and Found (17 page)

“Back at square one.”

Maggie soaked in a steaming bath and gazed up at the skylight in her ensuite
bathroom
. Diane left a little over an hour ago after staying for dinner. Before leaving
,
she slipped outside with Richard far enough from the house Maggie couldn’t hear. But when she came back inside and hugged Maggie goodbye, she told her to
let
the stolen truck and Richard’s involvement with Dan
drop
. Of course Maggie didn’t let it drop, she glanced at Richard and followed Diane to her SUV
.
Diane yelled at her to stop asking questions, which startled Maggie
,
and she wondered what Richard had told her.

The telephone rang
,
and Maggie didn’t move. She heard Richard answer the phone
downstairs
, before his heavy footsteps hurried upstairs and pushed open her bathroom door. “Jean’s on the phone, do you want me to take a message?”

She lifted a damp hand out of the water. “No
,
I’ll take it.”

Richard’s finger touched her hand,
and
then he bent down
,
and kissed her before handing her the phone. He left the bathroom, but this time
,
left the door open as he went back downstairs.

She
leaned over the side of the bathtub. “Hi Jean, how’re you doing?”

“Maggie
,
I’m so sorry to call so late. But when I called your home number it was disconnected. I was so worried I called Richard only to find you two reconciled.”

She
sighed. “I guess we have.”

“Oh
,
that’s wonderful. I’m kind of hesitant to call, but Angie’s in trouble. She needs to find a place to live. The guy she was involved with well…she’s got herself into a messy situation. Long story short
,
he’s her landlord
,
and now he’s throwing her and Sammy out.”

“What! How would she find herself in a situation like that?”

“Well
,
this guy’s a piece of work. After her divorce she had to move, so she rented a house from this guy. This guy apparently showed up every night and wooed her with his charm, like he was her knight in shining
armor
,
and
started a relationship with her.
She
followed him around like a love-struck puppy. She said this guy’s been playing games with her for so long
,
she didn’t know if she was coming or going, and he’s taken so much
from
her
—
money, her time, and profited off her. She’s being stubborn and doesn’t want to move. She said it’s like her first real home. But she also said she suspects he’s got grow ops going in a few of the houses on the property
where
she lives.”

“Sounds to me like she needs to get away from this guy, get a lawyer
,
and sue his ass for what he owes her. Jean, what the hell is Angie doing with a guy like this anyway?”

“In her
defense,
I think this guy played her good. Hasn’t every woman at one time been there? And when you get as emotionally attached as she has
,
well she doesn’t want to move. That’s why I was hoping you’d come with me and talk to her. She keeps everything bottled up inside and carries her pain so she won’t burden others. But this guy really hurt her. She was in love with him. I just went over to her place
,
and you should see what she did with that place, what she did for him. This guy…well
,
I can see he’s up to
no
good. I just don’t know how to talk sense into her
.
She
needs to get away from this guy. Emotionally
,
she’s a mess right now.”

“Of course I’ll go. When?”

“Tomorrow morning? I can swing by and pick you up.”

“Sure how about 9:30
?
Who is this guy anyway?”

“Dan…something, what was his last name? Started with Mc or Mac
,
some Scottish name.”

Even though the water she soaked in was still warm
,
she shivered. “It wouldn’t be Dan McKenzie by any chance
,
would it?”

“That’s it. How did you know?”

“Let’s just say you need not say more about this guy, because I have a real clear picture of what he’s really up to, and it’s no good. We need to get Angie as far away from him as possible.”

Long after
she
said goodbye and dumped the phone on the floor
,
she stayed in the bathtub until the water cooled. She couldn’t believe how Dan McKenzie had evaded jail and charges of trafficking, when he’d gotten her and Marcie to get his marijuana for him—from all the marijuana gardens he wooed Marcie into growing for him, by threatening to set
up Richard and Sam with some unspeakable crime. He was dangerous
,
and here he was screwing around a mom with a special needs kid, a mom she knew well
,
and
who
by no means should be mixed up in his craziness. “What are you up to Dan? First my husband, Marcie
,
and now Angie. Whatever it is, I’ll stop you. I’ll find away.”

The last time Maggie was
on
Dan McKenzie’s property was the night
she
and Marcie delivered the marijuana to Sandra.

Jean picked up Maggie after Richard left to take Ryley to school. And of course
,
Maggie didn’t mention where she was going this morning. She knew he’d stop her. But seeing Dan’s property in daylight from the
front
passenger seat of Jean’s Ford Escape filled her with
an
unsettling sense of oddness and dread she hadn’t felt in a long time. The driveway was just as she’d remembered
,
but instead of pulling into the small house built onto the shop
,
they drove past it to the next driveway to a large two
story
house, surrounded
by
beautiful gardens, rockwork and forest.

Angie must have been watching
because
the front door popped open as soon as Jean pulled in beside a small dodge minivan. The
gray
van appeared quite worn but still in good shape. Maggie stepped out and looked around half expecting to see Dan or Sandra walk out of his shop—the shop and house
she
could see through the opening in the crop of trees.

“Thanks you guys for coming…” Angie appeared thinner, but still quite attractive, with a tightness in her face
making her appear to have
aged since she’d last seen her at school a few weeks ago after Mrs. Johnson’s last tirade. Angie’s long brown hair was tied back
,
highlighting her apple blossom cheeks and big blue eyes.
Maggie realized
as she stared at her friend—if you put her beside Marcie
,
they could have been cousins with those country girl looks. She nodded her head and swallowed hard. Exactly Dan’s type, innocent
,
naïve.

“Did you do all this work yourself
,
Angie?” Maggie gave her quick hug
and
then gazed in amazement at the acre of green grass
,
the rockwork
,
and the gardens filled with perennials
and
bushes all ready to bloom
at
the first hint of spring.

“I moved in over two years ago, this place as you see it now wasn’t like this
. It
was run down. The outside resembled a gravel pit and junk yard. I renovated the inside of the house and landscaped the entire yard.”

“I guess I’m a little confused
.
You
were renting this house from Dan McKenzie, yet you’re having a relationship with him?”

Angie looked down at her clasped hands as she stood shivering in a beige sweatshirt and old faded blue jeans. “I went through hell with my divorce and trying to find a place to live. I work hard and have never bounced a
che
c
k
and always pay my bills, but I couldn’t find a place
to rent because I’m a single mom. I found this house
,
and Dan offered it to me on the condition I do the repairs, which I gladly did because I needed a place to live. I did everything here, painted the entire house, repaired all the broken cupboards, doorframes, re
-
grouted the shower and bathtub, re-mortared the chimney
,
and rebuilt all the brickwork inside. And of course
,
cleaned the place
;
it
looked as if it had never been cleaned. Then I started landscaping and dug every rock from the dirt
,
so I could put in seed grass. And the rockwork you see
?
I built with every rock I dug from the ground. It took me almost a year because I fell in love with this place and Dan. When I first moved here and started the work, Dan showed up here every night. He knew just what to say
,
and I thought he was my Mr. Right. He seemed so concerned with my daughter
;
he knew exactly what to say to me, as if he read my mind.”
She sighed and then continued.

“I don’t even know how to explain our relationship. I slept with him. Then after I was so in love with him
,
all the weirdness and his games started. He knew my insecurities
.
He’d
say to me he’d let me know if he saw other women
.
I thought I could change him. And all through this
,
I’m paying him rent. It felt odd and made me feel powerless
,
as if I was less than him. And the whole time
,
I
continued to believe
we’d have a future together. I’m sure you think I’m stupid for believing all his promises. But for the last year
,
he kind of disappeared and
then
came back as if nothing happened.”

She
wanted to shake Angie and ask her to wake up. But she couldn’t shake
the
bitter feeling that crawled throughout her. Hadn’t he played the same game with Marcie? And
while
he was with Marcie
,
he’d been with Angie
too
.
She
gazed at the red rimmed eyes of
the
lovely lady and at Jean who watched her
like
she hoped Maggie had some answers. “How about some coffee
,
Angie
?
”

She
followed both Jean and Angie into the light cedar house
.
As
the women climbed the inside stairs to the kitchen
,
she
lingered at the open front door and stared at the small bungalow attached to the shop
,
half expecting the blinds on the kitchen window to move.

Maggie stared out the passenger window at the miles of heavy forest.

“A penny for your thoughts?” Richard brushed her arm lightly with his hand as he drove home after picking
her
up from a coffee
shop in town, where
she
and Jean stopped after meeting Angie, mostly to decompress.

“Do you know Angie Mueller
,
one of the special needs kid
’s mom
at school? She lives on Dan’s property.”

Richard took his eyes off the road for a second and squinted at Maggie. “Small world. I met her after she moved into Dan’s house. Didn’t put two and two together
…
She’s
the
same Angie you’ve talked about
?
She did a lot a work to his big old house on the property, landscaping, it was amazing what she accomplished as a single mom.”

“Did you know Dan was sleeping with her and playing
daddy
to her kid?”

Richard focused straight ahead, but Maggie could tell he was angry
by
the way his lips tightened into a thin white line.

“Yah
,
I knew he was banging her. She was head over heels in love with him too. He’s not a nice guy when comes to women. We’ve established that. I warned Marcie. So why are you bringing her up?”