Necessary Detour (15 page)

“Mom is a great cook.” Tony took a mouthful of manicotti.

“Yes, she is,” Pete concurred, and Nikki felt a tiny stab of jealousy, as she caught him smiling at his wife.

“Thank you, boys.” Connie turned to Nikki. “You have to love eating to be a good cook.”

“Then there’s hope for me.” Nikki laughed as she thought about her voracious appetite of late.

After the initial pleasantries were out in the open, the conversation was limited. Uncomfortable. Counting the minutes until the end of dinner, Nikki realized she should never have asked them to come. And they shouldn’t have accepted. Why had they? The four people around the table were an odd group. Interaction was painfully forced. It wasn’t until dessert, when Nikki asked how Pete and Connie met, that bad turned to worse.

Connie glanced to her husband and Pete took the lead.

“Mutual friends introduced us.” Pete took another mouthful of cheesecake.

This was obviously the short version. Four words hardly summed up a courtship. They’d left out the part that Connie had a small son or that they’d had a big wedding in Tacoma or fell in love immediately or dated for a year. Or whatever. There were no details. Nikki wouldn’t let it go. After all, they’d come to dinner. They must have known there’d be conversation. “Did you live in Tacoma and work in software design when you met?”

“No, actually, we lived in Bellevue after we married and that’s when I worked for Microsoft.” Pete didn’t look up. “And you? Did you always write movie scores?”

“Kind of,” Nikki said, wondering what kind of game they were playing. “Did you marry in Bellevue?”

“Yup,” Pete said. “Have you ever performed?”

She shot him a look to shut up. “A bit.”

When dessert was over, they moved to the great room and, while pouring tea, Nikki tried to catch Connie’s eye, but she was avoiding contact more than usual. Tony leafed through Quinn’s copy of a book about dragons.

“That’s a wonderful series,” Nikki said to Tony. “Have you always liked books?”

“Yeah. They say.” He didn’t look up.

“Me too. I think my favorite story when I was a little girl was either Cinderella or Goldilocks,” Nikki smiled at Connie.

Connie’s head snapped up, and she gave Nikki a look that was slightly reproachful.

Pete caught Connie’s gaze and stared, hard.

Had she told him the code word? “Did you have a favorite fairytale, Connie?” Nikki said.

“No, I didn’t.” She looked defiantly at Nikki. “I’m not much for fairytales.”

“You must have had a favorite as a little girl?” Nikki asked.

Pete followed the conversation closely, his eyes narrowing.

“Snow White.” Connie stared at the floor.

“Mom, you like those romance stories.” Tony teased her in his quiet way, and Connie blushed.

“Yes, I do like those, sweetie.” She ruffled his hair in abject fondness.

“Me too,” Nikki agreed. “Romance makes the world go round.” Without thinking, Nikki glanced at Pete.

“Time to go,” Pete announced.

Nikki wasn’t surprised. They’d already stayed too long.

****

Goldy was hiding at Louisa Lake in northern Washington. Obstacles presented themselves everywhere. But knowing her location had changed everything. Having Goldy alone in a wilderness cabin for days on end would be perfect. Much could be accomplished if things went well. Preparations were needed. Soon all labor would be rewarded. Revenge would be sweet.

Out the window, the morning smog was thick. Los Angeles was oppressive. The heat, the crowds of people, the traffic. It was too much for someone not used to city life amongst the masses. A Goldy poster on the wall had faded in the afternoon sun. Was there need for another poster with vivid colors or would it all be over soon? The plan to leave L.A. was like having a vacation itinerary in hand, even though the time spent in Washington wouldn’t be anything like a vacation. It would be more like fulfilling a dream. Retribution. Quinn would be broken gently to the point of giving information. The problem wasn’t Quinn. It was the bitch, Goldy.

A phone rang across the room. Someone else picked it up. Answering the phone was not for someone who was leaving soon, in search of Goldy’s hiding place. In search of justice.

****

Nikki opened the deck door to let the cool morning air of dawn drift in. When the kettle whistled, she made a cup of tea, pulled on her gum boots, wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, and headed down to the dock in her pajamas. The mist drifted and caressed the surface of the water as Nikki studied its patterns, inspired to sing.

Elvis had long since disappeared into the bushes after something. She reminded herself that the house across the bay had three sleeping people. She compromised by humming softly to herself.

Last night’s dinner party had been a strange evening and sleep hadn’t found her until sometime after one o’clock. Her voice felt tired, raspier than usual, reminding her of Pete’s scratchy voice. She’d wanted to ask him if he had chronic throat problems, but it was such a personal question. Besides, all answers given last night had been lies.

Nikki sat on the dock and kept her singing low, taking the melody only as high as she could this early in the morning, then dropping to the bottom notes to add some mysterious minors for effect. The blanket of fog was slowly dissipating to reveal the flat dark surface of the lake, like the surface of a black mirror.

She dangled her toes in the water. It was too cold for swimming, but adequate for toe dangling. Taking a deep breath, she sang quietly. A pure sweet note, escaped her lips, lifting higher, then lower, running along the surface of the water and up, up, up to the mountains across the lake. Closing her eyes, Nikki let the music overtake her as she found new combinations of minor notes to match the mysterious mist hovering over the lake.

When she opened her eyes, ripples indicated a fish had jumped. The watery circles grew bigger and just as she hit a quiet little high note, a river otter surfaced ten feet off her swirling feet. Just beyond the drop off. Startled, she stopped singing.

Her eyes locked with the otter’s and then it dove below the surface, the tip of its long tail the last thing to leave for the lake’s bottom. The otter was gone, knowing when to leave a party early. Did she? Certainly she’d left show biz while she was still having fun, but what about staying at the lake when things were less than secure? She needed to leave. Reporters were most likely on their way. Grateful to have had a month at her beloved lake house, that had to be enough for now. She might get back before the snow fell.

Pete Bayer came out the side door and walked to his truck. She might have called a hello but didn’t. For one thing she was wearing a blanket over cow-patterned pajamas and felt silly, suddenly. And if she left today or tomorrow, there was no point in being friendly with the Bayers anymore. It had been a strange dinner party, accomplishing absolutely nothing. Why had she even invited them?

The family was weird. First you had a flirty father, who seemed to be overly protective and jumpy around his wife and son, then you had a wife who was hiding the fact that her husband was a controlling bully, and lastly you had a shy, sad boy being subjected to all this. Nikki’s last conscious thought before she’d succumbed to sleep last night had been that Connie needed help in some form or another.

Nikki walked back to the house and threw the blanket on the couch just as her cell phone rang.

“Hi, Phyllis. What’s up?”

“Have you seen?” Phyllis didn’t mince words. “You have been found. Apparently you are hiding out on an undisclosed lake in eastern Washington State.”

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes, and there’s more.” She paused but Nikki waited. “You have run off with a studly man.”

“Who is it this time?”

“You tell me. I just emailed you the photo taken of him at your house.”

Nikki frantically opened her emails. Before she saw the photo, she knew exactly what the studly man looked like. For one thing, he’d be wearing jeans with a dark green shirt and the wind would be blowing wisps of hair around his handsome face.

Typing in “Goldy Gossip,” Nikki chose a site and opened a photo of Pete Bayer standing at the end of her dock. Her first thought was that he took a good picture. Phyllis was right. The camera had captured him smiling. Nikki knew it was a patronizing smile, but she doubted that was obvious to anyone who didn’t know him. Although the photo was grainy, the world could see that this was one good looking man at “Goldy’s Love Shack.” He looked like someone the famous rock star might be interested in, after the rocker look of Burn. “Poor Pete,” Nikki groaned.

“Do you know him?”

“Yes, I know him.” Had he seen it?

“What do you want to do?” Phyllis was all business.

“Let me think.” Even though there was no proof this was Goldy’s house, Nikki knew most people would believe it to be true, and wonder if she’d shacked up with this man. “Firstly, I want to apologize to that man’s wife who lives next door.” Nikki tried to enlarge the photo. “Then, I want to issue a statement saying that he lives beside a property I own, and he was only trying to see what the photographers wanted, because I’m not in residence. Finally, I want to say that Goldy apologizes for any fallout from the speculation brought to this man’s family, because of this photo.”

She hung up. Had Burn seen the picture? What would he think of Pete as his replacement? Someone had probably sent it to him by now. She should have been mortified, but it was difficult to hold back a smile. There was no doubt in Nikki’s mind that she had a huge crush on her neighbor. She was also sure of one other thing. Even though Goldy was a master at flirting, Nikki had never flirted with a married man with intention, and would not start now, no matter how innocent it seemed, no matter how many holes popped up in Connie and Pete’s story of being a married couple.

And now that the photo was out there for the world to see, Shakespeare would be privy to it. Would he know where she was now?

Quinn would see it too.

Next, she phoned Quinn to explain that a photo of Pete Bayer would be all over the tabloids later that day. Then she called Gateman to explain that the man next door had done her a favor by getting rid of the photographers. She wasn’t comfortable owing Pete a favor.

Elvis trotted happily down the road to the log house as Nikki rehearsed what she would say to the Bayers. It was a gross imposition and an insult to Connie to have that picture of Pete all over the news. As a married couple, there was a strong likelihood that Pete and Connie had friends or relatives who’d phone to question the news that Pete had taken up with a rock singer—people who were bound to recognize him. Nikki realized she should have told him to wear a hat or sunglasses, knowing that they’d get a shot of him. And, until Goldy’s statement was picked up in an hour, she owed the Bayers an apology.

As she walked across the bridge of land to Dickerson’s, Nikki could smell the skunk cabbages rotting at the end of the bay. Autumn was in full bloom and she pulled her cashmere cardigan tighter across her chest. Elvis took off into the trees, challenged by a squirrel that was chattering from high in the trees. Nikki let him go. The sunshine had ducked behind a great cumulous cloud above her and Nikki wished she’d worn a coat.

“You can’t go into town and that’s that!” Pete Bayer’s voice was muffled, but his words were clear enough, from where Nikki stood near the door. “If you want something I’ll get it, but you…” and he emphasized the last word, “cannot leave the property. And Tony, don’t even think of stealing the keys again! Are you stupid? I told you how it is. Do you want to end up dead?”

“Pete!” Connie sounded frightened.

“I have rules and both of you better damned well follow them or that’s what’s going to happen.”

Nikki stood paralyzed, twenty feet from the log house’s door, sickened by the tone Pete used with his wife and son. Did Tony want to end up dead? Who was going to kill them? Pete?

It all became clear now. Connie and Tony were being held captive at the Dickerson’s house, and Pete had just said he’d kill them if they didn’t follow his rules. Had he kidnapped them? Nikki’s heart jumped against her chest as adrenaline set in. She had to get to a telephone to call Harold, and if he didn’t take this seriously, she’d bring in the bigger guns, literally.

As she turned to run, she heard the door open behind her.

“Nikki?” Pete said.

Thinking he might have the gun pointed at her, Nikki turned slowly, hands in full view.

“What’s going on?” Pete seemed surprised to see her, his gaze softening, as he walked toward her. No gun.

She let her arms fall to her sides. Did he know she’d heard him yelling at his family? She’d have to improvise. “Hi, is Connie home?”
Of course she was home. She wasn’t allowed to leave the property.

Pete glanced back at the house. “I think she’s in the shower.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“Not if she’s in the shower.” He laughed without smiling.

“I’ll wait.” Nikki’s heart beat against her chest, as they exchanged a strange look.

Pete hopped up onto the deck and disappeared inside.

Nikki stood in the driveway. Pete Bayer had gone from being a tyrant, to being a congenial neighbor in twenty seconds. Nikki knew damned well Connie wouldn’t have had time to get in the shower after their argument, unless she jumped in fully clothed.

Something was terribly wrong with this family, if it was a family, and Nikki had to do something. Tony was only eleven years old. She walked across the deck and opened the door to the house. “Connie?” Her voice sounded as scared as she felt. The alarm buzzed to warn of her intrusion.