The Hammett Hex (23 page)

I figured the sniff meant “no.”

Gram sipped her drink and said, “Don't be long, my dear. Tyler, sit for a minute. We should have a nice dinner tonight. Zoya does a wonderful stroganoff. Don't you, Zoya?”

Zoya's wide silver eyes bulged like Asta's. Oh well.

Gram sipped her drink and twinkled at us. “Oh, I remember! Melski and Kargol.”

Tyler blinked and I'm pretty sure I did too. Zoya's eyes narrowed like slits, her bright red lips thin and angry.

Gram tapped her forehead and chuckled. “William's nieces. Those were their married names. I knew they were in there somewhere.”

*   *   *

JUST ONE TINY
piece of information before we could involve the police.

“No luck, Jordie. They haven't left,” Uncle Kev said when I called.

“Unless they went out the back entrance or left in a car.”

“Why would they do that? They don't know that we're following them.”

“They know something's up. But here's the good news. Check the names of the occupants for Kargol and Melski.”

“Why?”

“Because there's a good chance that they're Tyler's cousins and those are their last names.”

“Oh. Hang on.”

A minute later, Kev said, “Nope.”

“Nope?”

“No one named Melski there.”

“And Kargol?”

“Oh right. I forgot about that part.”

“Are you still there?”

“No, I'm back outside now.”

“Go back in and look.”

I paced and waited.

Uncle Kev said, “I don't remember that name. Oh. There is it. Kargol, just like we said. Unit 310.”

“Right.”

“Good. Now we know that, I also need you to tell me something without any fibbing—”

You always have to say “need” with Uncle Kev and sometimes that's not enough.

“Me fib? LOL, Jordie.”

“Just tell me what you are doing in San Francisco.”

“Well, I came out here to help you, 'course. Didn't I just find those sneaky Kargols?”

I felt my eye begin to twitch. “Indeed. But you didn't know about the sneaky Kargols or that I might need help when you flew out here, Kev.”

“Oh yeah. Well, you know. Lucky hunch.”

I waited. After a minute I said, “So as you didn't know that I would need help—”

“But you did need help, Jordie. In a big way.”

“Agree, but you couldn't have known that when you made your arrangements to come to San Francisco to help me.”

“Exactly.”

“No. Not
exactly.
Why did you decide to do that?”

Uncle Kev was quiet. “Tell me now,” I said. “And you'll feel better.”

“Maybe not, Jordie.”

“Oh, hello!” A woman's voice trilled in the background. Sounded like Uncle Kev's new friend with the poodle. “Any luck?”

“Not now, Uncle Kev. You have to answer me. What are you doing here?”

Silence. Then, “We need to talk, Jordie.”

“We really do. And before we talk, I need you to go back
to that house where you found the dog and check the blue bedroom closet. Don't get caught.”

“Jordie. As if!”

“No offense, but don't. You're looking for a bag with trash, taco tray, coffee cups, that kind of thing. Oh, and of course, Jolly Rancher wrappers. Bring that. Then go behind the garbage can in the side yard and see if there's another bag with a uniform. Got that?”

“Easy stuff.”

“Right. I need them and I need them soon. Then I need you to call me here and let me know when you have it. I'll meet you outside by the back deck. Don't let anybody see you.”

“But—”

“No buts. I need the bags. I need them soon. Call me when you have them or if they're not there. Meet me by the back deck here, at Tyler's grandmother's house. Then you can tell me why you're in San Francisco. And make it good.”

Someone will always believe you.

—The Kelly Rules

I
STUCK MY
head into the sunroom and beckoned to Tyler. He joined me and we headed back to the parlor, our special place to plot and reveal secrets.

“Fine, Officer. I'm ready to talk. You know I made friends with that woman with the baby? Sierra.”

“So far pretty tame.”

“Yep. Well, I mentioned to her that Asta had disappeared the first time and how upsetting that was.”

“Okay.”

“Well, she and her husband, who I think is actually her brother or cousin in real life, actually abducted Asta and kept her in the house across the street.” I pointed at Mr. Himmelfarb's place. “They were spying on us and I think they were also behind the home invasion and—”

“And you know this how?”

“Not, um, by exactly legal methods.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Probably better if I don't know.”

“You should really know.” I sighed. I'd been doing way too much sighing lately. “Don't get too mad until I'm finished.”

He watched, grim-faced, as I went through my unauthorized entry (I may have suggested the door was possibly somewhat open) into Gram's neighbor's house, my hiding out in the closet, and then my shadowing of Jessica and Josh to their apartment building.

“Never mind the illegality of it all, these were really dangerous steps, Jordan. Breaking into a house—”

“Not exactly breaking into.”

He held up his hand to silence me and oddly enough it worked for a minute. “The law wouldn't see it that way. And aside from the law, you could have been hurt. Or killed. Think of all the bizarre and dangerous events that have occurred since we've been here. You were alone in a house and none of us had any idea.”

I said, “It's true. I didn't think it through. I didn't know they'd be there. When I found out she wasn't who she pretended to be, I had to follow up.”

“It was across the street, Jordan.”

“In retrospect, I see I should have found a way to get here. I was worried about being followed to Gram's.”

“I understand why you were worried, but it was a ridiculous course of action.”

“In a way, it's like we've been hexed by Hammett.”

He glared at me. “That is unfair. You can't blame Dashiell Hammett for you breaking into a house.”

“Unfair? Of course I can blame him. Those Pinkerton operatives would stop at nothing. Neither did I. Did you not read the books?”

“Can I remind you that you are a book researcher, not a Pinkerton operative?”

“Don't patronize me. Okay, I know that. But let's remember that I'm all right and I did get to overhear them and I have their real names.”

“What are they?”

“Jessica and Josh. One of them is a Kargol and the other
one will turn out to be a Melski. They were talking about getting us out of the picture. The main point is that we now know what they're up to.”

“You make my head pound. What exactly are they up to?”

“If I understand their conversation right, they're trying to alienate you from Gram and to scare us away.”

“But why?”

“Money. Greed. Gram will be worth a bundle . . . at some point. You are her heir.”

“We have never talked about that kind of stuff. We're just getting reacquainted. It's not about money.”

“Not about money for you. You really love her, but her brother-in-law's descendants won't have the same warm and fuzzies. They referred to you as ‘the so-called grandson' and me as ‘the nasty girlfriend.'”

“I am not ‘so-called.'”

“They're probably thinking of Gram's assets as Huddy money and you as coming from the other side. I'm betting they feel not only entitled but cheated out of a potential inheritance.”

“So get me and you out of the way.”

“Then they can cozy up to her and get her to change her will.”

Smiley was flame-red by this time. I wouldn't have given much for those cousins and their chances if he ran into them. We'd have to get him calmed down when we did involve the local police.

Finally, he said, “You think that they were responsible for everything?”

“We don't know how many cousins there are.” I fished out my camera and flipped through. It was the last of many photos I'd taken that day. “But here's a shot of these two. Have you seen them around?”

He shook his head. “I recognize her from our walk, but I haven't seen him. I know him now.”

“Jessica and Josh look a lot like those photos of William's nieces, same noses, tall, slender, all-American good looks, great hair. Almost annoying. And now, as it turns out, dangerous.”

“And when the cousins were across the street watching the house, they would have known when Gram was alone.”

“Exactly. She was in danger because of that. They must have staged that home invasion, to scare us away.”

“And they dognapped Asta. They don't know who they're dealing with. It made us more determined not to leave Gram. It was actually a bizarre bonding moment for us. She's pretty gutsy.”

I expected a chuckle, but he said in a dejected tone, “And this is all because of me.”

“What? No. Nothing that's happened is because of you. It's because Howard Huddy's family is greedy and wants what isn't theirs.”

“They must have been behind it all.”

“Looks that way. And now we just have to prove it.”

He straightened up and got his cop face on. “One thing we do really well together is—”

I was ahead of him. I grinned. “We set traps.”

Make sure they trust you.

—The Kelly Rules

Y
ES INDEED, SOME
of our most romantic moments had grown out of traps set successfully. I'll fill you in on the daring details sometime.

“These people are dangerous,” he said. “We know that because of the lengths they're willing to go to and their access to weapons. Dangerous and maybe even unhinged. With wacky ideas.”

I thought back to the stockings over the faces of the home invaders and the weapons and shivered. “For sure. So we'll have to be careful that no one gets hurt.”

He nodded. “If we stage our trap here, Gram could be hurt. We'd have to make sure she was somewhere safe.”

I had a memory flash of Gram facing down the invaders. “She'd hate to miss out on the excitement.”

“Jordan, she's old. What if she had a heart attack?”

“She would have had it already with what she's been through. But she'll probably resent it. Maybe we could tape the whole sting and play it for her. That's worked well for us in the past.”

“We need some allies.”

“Right. Too bad my uncles and Cherie are not here. They're always so—”

He shot me a look. “I'll assume you're kidding.”

So, this wasn't the perfect time to tell him about Uncle Kev. Once I found out what Kev's actual reason for being in San Francisco was, that would have to be the right time. Some revelations are best left for the future. “Not Zoya,” I said, deflecting the conversation. “I'm still not sure what's going on with her. What if she was feeding them information from the inside?”

He scowled in the direction of the sunroom and Zoya. “Do you really believe that?”

“No. Not really. But I don't really understand her relationship with Gram and I don't think we should let Zoya in on whatever plan we develop.”

“Agreed. But we will need the police.”

“The police! Are you out of your—”

“Keep in mind, I
am
the police.”

“That's not the point. You're not the police
here
.”

“What is your problem with the police? Don't you like Officer Martinez?”

To my surprise, I had to admit that I did like Jennifer Martinez. She was smart and sympathetic and most likely going places.

But quite aside from the Uncle Kev aspect—back-burnered in the talk department—there were issues. “Maybe I'm a bit worried about my, um, visit to the Himmelfarb house.”

“I can see where that might be a hurdle. We just have to put the right spin on it.”

“I suppose.” What kind of spin that might be, I had no idea. But I did have the glimmer of a plan.

I said, “If we talk the cousins into revealing themselves, how I found out wouldn't be an issue.”

He nodded. “If I can keep my hands off them.”

“We will use Gram to build their trust. They think they're manipulating her. They think they're pretty smart. They'll never suspect she's tricking them. It will work like a charm.”

“You know as well as I do that Officer Martinez won't be part of a sting without involving her superiors. “

“We'll just have to find the right way to set it up. It could be good for her career. As you say, these are dangerous people. And we don't know how many there are. And we only know what two of them look like. I guess the pudgy fake cop must be part of it and the guys with the guns at the hotel.”

He said, “Here's an idea. Let's take the weak links, the two cousins. Let's invite them in and trick the truth out of them, and then we'll let the cops go after the thuggish ones.”

“That's what we'll do.”

I had a nagging worry that before anything was set up. I needed to talk to Uncle Kev again and get the story of why he was here.

He said, “But we'll have to let Gram in on the plan.”

“Right. You'll have to tell her, Tyler.”

He nodded.

“I'll get Zoya out of the way when you do. Then we'll have to arrange to meet with Officer Martinez away from here and bring her up to speed.”

“Good point. I'll set that up.”

“She could meet us at the hotel.”

“And we'll need some reinforcements here. I have an idea or two.”

We ambled back to the sunroom, holding hands. There's nothing like planning a sting to perk up a relationship.

“Tyler, pet, come here,” Gram said. I noticed she was holding a fresh G and T. I hoped she'd remember what he told her. I hated to miss that conversation, but I had to lure Zoya away.

I headed toward the kitchen, where Zoya was slinging together dinner with her usual look of irritation. “I think Asta really needs a walk. She's circling in that way. Would you come with me, Zoya? I'm worried that someone would try to take her again.”

Zoya gasped. Her hands shot to her face. “No!” One thing was for sure, Zoya was not faking her concern for Asta. She loved that little pug. If she had been involved with the cousins or the nieces or anyone else, she sure hadn't been party to Asta's dognapping.

“But with two of us right in the neighborhood, she'd be safe.”

Zoya whipped off her flowered apron and stepped forward. “Asta! Valk!”

So that went well.

I wish I could say that Zoya and I bonded watching Asta scamper from bush to bush around the block, but you can't have everything. At least I got her out of the way.

*   *   *

BACK IN THE
sunroom, Gram and Smiley were grinning like a couple of kids who'd found the hiding place for their gifts from Santa.

Zoya glanced at them with grave suspicion. I was thrilled. From the look of things, they'd cooked up something very sneaky. I couldn't wait to hear all about it.

Never mind Zoya's surliness, she sure could produce a fast and tasty meal. Maybe she wasn't in the signora's league, but Gram was lucky to have her. The beef Stroganoff with egg noodles was nicely retro and totally delish. We ate casually at folding tables in the sunroom. Of course, it was hard to wait to find out if Gram had agreed and what they'd worked out. That wasn't possible with Zoya sitting there, giving us dirty looks every few minutes.

I was torn between smiling at her or ignoring the looks.

Gram and Smiley chitchatted happily through dinner. They looked so sweet and innocent with the little gap-toothed smiles, no one would ever suspect what they were plotting.

*   *   *

KEV DELIVERED THE
uniform and the bag of trash.

I took them from him and said, “Now, the truth.”

Smiley's voice broke through. “What are you doing out here? Haven't you taken enough chances, Jordan?”

Kev melted away into the shadows.

“I was just going to do a bit of laundry. I found the uniform. The bag must have slipped behind the chair when I got here.”

“Just come inside. Please. I don't think you can get into any trouble doing laundry.”

In the basement laundry area, I took out the uniform. I checked the pockets and found Ana Maria's telephone number. I wondered if she'd tried to reach me. She wouldn't have gotten far as I'd lost my original phone. I called her number. It went straight to a Spanish message. My own message started with “
Hola!
” and shifted straight to English.

“I have your uniform. I'll return it to you clean as soon as I have a chance. Thank you for all your help. I've had to get a new phone.” I didn't give my name, but I did leave my new number.

As the first load whirled in the new front-loader washing machine, I sat in the corner and tried Uncle Kev.

“The thing of it is, Jordie, that I'm not really in a position to talk.” I thought I heard a muffled giggle in the background. But he was just here!

Kev is the most frustrating and distractible person in the world and he does love to drag it out. If you get mad, he gets spooked.

“I'm sorry that our conversation got cut off, Kev. I need to know why you are in San Francisco, who paid, and I really need to know now.”

“No problem. I'll talk to you tomorrow then.”

“No! Don't hang up on—”

I banged the phone on the washing machine in frustration. So much for filling in the blanks on Uncle Kev's mission.

The phone rang again just as I was putting the clothes in the dryer.

“It is Ana Maria.”

“Great. You got my message. Look, I'll deliver your uniform, but I wasn't sure if anything had happened at work because you helped me.”

She hesitated. “Not really. But I need to tell you I found your phone in the pocket of your jeans just after you left. There was a can of talcum powder there too and your big earrings. That's probably why I didn't feel it when I put them on.”

“Of course,
that's
where I put it. And since we were all in such a panic, no wonder you didn't notice that phone. I'm so glad you found it. I had to get a replacement and I don't have any of my information on it. How can I get it?”

“I am at night school.”

“Can I send someone to get it after night school then?”

“Sure.” She gave me the address. I recorded it.

“Thank you, Ana Maria. You took a chance for me and I'm grateful.”

“I'll wait at the door by the west side of the school at nine o'clock.”

I wasn't sure how our sting would play out so I needed to get Uncle Kev in on this. “Someone will be there. It probably won't be me. You can expect a man with red hair
and blue eyes. He's okay, but whatever you do, do
not
fall in love with him.”

She laughed. Not worried about that. But then again, she hadn't met Uncle Kev.

“Wait for a few minutes. If he doesn't show up, we can make a new plan tomorrow. I'll go to the hotel.”

“Maybe not the hotel. I thought someone was watching me today. It was just a feeling.”

*   *   *

HEADING UPSTAIRS CARRYING
clean, dry laundry, I spotted Smiley and Gram grinning conspiratorially over a new three-thousand-piece puzzle. As far as I could tell, it was a picture of the Sahara, minus an oasis.

More interesting was a plate of chocolate chip meringues.

Zoya was keeping a wary eye on them while covering up the birds. I caught her yawning and she looked furtive.

“Zoya, dear, do go to bed,” Gram said. “You'll have us yawning too, and then we'll never get a start on this.”

“What about Asta? Does she need to go out?” I plunked down in one of the chintz-cushioned wicker chairs. Asta jumped up beside me and curled up.

“Zoya took her out for another evening visit. I kept an eye on them in the backyard,” Smiley said. “She's a nervous little pooch, isn't she?”

“You'd be nervous too if people were kidnapping you,” I said. “Right, Asta?”

Asta snuggled her little body closer.

Zoya snorted. “Iss no choke.”

“Help yourself to the meringues, my dear,” Gram said. “They were always Tyler's favorite. Zoya whips them up these days.”

We all listened as Zoya climbed the stairs. For such a whippetlike figure, she sure could thump on the old
treads. I went to the foot of the stairs after a minute, and when I heard the door close on the second floor, I dashed back.

“It's all settled,” Smiley said. “Gram reached the nieces, Janet and Clara, when we were in the backyard and invited them to a tea party tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Do we have time to plan our trap?”

Smiley glared at me. “Give us some credit, Jordan.”

Gram said, “I called Clara, she's the older of the two, on the Melski side. I had a heart-to-heart with her and told her how things hadn't worked out the way I'd thought with my grandson. He'd turned out to be unstable and grasping and I suspected criminal connections. I told her I was sending him and his greedy girlfriend away.”

I said, “What?”

“All part of the game, my dear.”

“Hmm.”

Smiley said, “Don't you complain. I'm the one who's unstable and grasping.”

“Oh, that.”

Gram was chortling away. “I told her I was going to update my will quickly because I was really worried about what my grasping grandson might do. I said we need to keep our money in the Huddy family, as William would have wanted, although they're not Huddys. I said I hoped I could reconnect with Clara and her sister sometime. I said I'd be willing to put them up in a hotel and host their meals here.”

“That's very generous of you,” I said.

Smiley chimed in as he reached for another meringue, “And it gets better.”

Gram said, “Didn't it turn out that she and her sister are just winding up a tour in California and they will do everything in their power to make it tomorrow.”

“What a coincidence,” I said. I'd finished one meringue
and now another one had found its way into my possession. Like magic.