Charleston with a Clever Cougar: A Dance with Danger Mystery #6 (13 page)

“Carole,” I said as soothingly as possible,
“know what I think? I think you were so sick with the cancer and
the chemo, you never properly ended your marriage. Is that
possible?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everything kind of got shoved to the side
because you were so nauseated and weak. You just didn’t have it in
you to handle the divorce, other than in little bits and pieces.
Maybe it’s all catching up to you now because this is the first
time in almost two and a half years that you’re finally feeling
better.” There was a look in her eyes that suggested I hit a
nerve.

“I never cried when Doug left me. I just
rolled over and went back to sleep. That’s all I wanted to do.”

“And now you have men paying attention to you
again. They think you’re attractive. Maybe there’s a part of you
that thinks you could have kept Doug if you hadn’t had that
cancer.”

“Maybe. I know he didn’t like the scars.”

Don’t ask me why I said it. As soon as I did,
I thought it was an idiotic thing to say to someone looking for
that little piece of straw to cling to, that fleeting sense of
hope.

“Maybe it wasn’t that Doug didn’t like the
scars, Carole. Maybe he was scared about what they really meant.”
Oh, I was so mad at myself for giving that rat an excuse for
leaving my friend. But I didn’t want her to think that the loss of
her sex appeal was what drove that jerk away. I wanted her to think
it was the bigger issue of cancer. “That he might lose you.”

“So, what are you saying? He went out and
replaced me before I died?” There was a sharpness in Carole’s tone
as she took exception to my remark. We both gazed at each other
like sisters, united in our fight against masculine stupidity. “Oh,
my God! That’s exactly what he did. That bastard got out while the
getting was good. He couldn’t stand the thought of me lingering, so
he reinvented his life!”

Watching her, I knew she had finally hit the
nail on the head. And because her aim was so accurate, she managed
to fix what really ailed her. The why of Doug’s leaving. In that
moment of clarity, my friend realized there was nothing she could
have done differently. Doug would have left anyway. It was all
about his inability to handle his own fears.

“All this time....” A sense of wonder crept
into her voice. “I’ve been beating myself up. I’ve been thinking
that I drove him away, my scars drove him away.”

“Real men don’t leave,” I told her. It was
true. Roger didn’t leave my mother. He was dedicated to her to the
end. But Allen left Aunt Pinkie in the lurch over and over again.
He faltered because he just couldn’t quite commit to her
whole-heartedly. That’s really what love was all about, wasn’t it?
You signed on for the duration, and when the going got tough, you
worked harder to find the solutions. You didn’t quit. You didn’t go
out and have an affair. You didn’t leave your dying wife or your
kids in search of a better life for yourself. Doc would never do
that, any more than he would tolerate a lover who would. Doc was
genuine. There was no guessing about how he felt. He was blunt, but
he knew how he felt and he knew he was willing to do battle for
what he believed in. Doug walked away from a good woman and two
good kids, not because they did anything wrong, but because he put
himself first. Carole finally saw the light. Maybe it was the last
stage of really healing from all the hurt. Maybe it was the part
where she could finally forgive herself for so vulnerable. So
human.

Carole leaned back in my desk chair. There
was new resolve behind the eyes. It was as if she had finally come
to her senses and cast off that heavy weight. What was the point of
surviving cancer, of doing the battle against a powerful foe, if
you were going to go under because your ex-husband was a jerk?

“You okay?” I asked, already knowing the
answer.

“Karl asked me out on a date. I’m going to
go.”

“Really?”

“Really.” A little smile tickled Carole’s
lips into curling up at the ends. She smoothed the pattern on her
skirt, put a hand up to touch her earring, and then she pushed
herself away from my desk and stood up.

“I might even buy myself a new outfit.”

“Lovely. Just don’t fall head over heels for
the guy. Make him earn it.”

“I will. And now, if you will excuse me, I
shall return to the cash register.” She flounced out of the office
with a new purpose in her stride. Good for her. Carole got her
groove back.

Minutes later, Daisy arrived. She was
followed into the shop by Doc, who gave me a little nod towards the
kitchen. I left the teenager telling her mother all about her
school day and let Doc lead the way out into the parking lot.

“You’re not going to believe this. Mimi wants
me to come down to Maryland after I get rid of Daisy and off
Doug.”

“What?”

“Yes. And she wants me to set up Carole as
the one who hired a hitman, so she can collect on the life
insurance policy she just bought for Doug, because he’s the chief
breadwinner now.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“And yet, I’m not. I think it’s been the plan
all along. Daisy’s death is supposed to look like anything but a
hit, only those two clowns screwed up.”

“Thank God for that.”

“Of course,” he agreed. “But I think she’s
been planning to kill Doug all along. If all she’s waited for is
that job with the the State Board of Ed, she’ll be able to live a
nice life, Cady, with Daisy
and
Doug gone, especially if
Carole looks like she hired someone to kill her ex-husband. Mimi
will get control of Dylan and all that trust money.”

“Unconscionable. What are you going to do
about it?” I wondered. He took my hands in his, gently, tenderly.
At his touch, I found myself melting, fighting the urge to just
drape my aching arms around his strong neck and be done with all
this nonsense. I longed to just forget about the hitman and Mimi,
about Doug being such a jerk, even about the Henslacker wedding. I
wanted to get on with my own life, to get the chance to know Doc.
The few brief, sweet kisses we’d shared were like drops of nectar
on the tongue of a woman stranded on a desert island -- they left
me hungry for more. And all the while, as my body came alive at the
thought of the nearness of him, I looked into those green eyes
behind the thick glasses. Focus, Cady. There are more important
things than love at this moment in time. Put that aside and
concentrate on saving Daisy.

“We got a good recording of all the planning
she did, and the cops think they have enough for a pretty good
prosecution, but this thing about hiring me to also kill Doug makes
jurisdiction complicated. That’s crossing state lines, so now
federal laws kick in. It might take a little while longer to really
wrap this up.”

“Oh.” I was disappointed. I admit that. I
wanted Mimi in jail. I wanted Carole and the kids safe. I wanted
Doug to know what he had gotten himself into because he was
selfish. But I also wanted Doc free and clear of this mess, because
I was ready to move on.

“Not to worry. We’ll get through this.” He
leaned in and gently kissed my cheek, just brushing past my waiting
lips.

“I hope so,” I sighed, wanting to give myself
up to the tingling that effervesced in my blood.

“I know so.”

Chapter Thirteen --

At half past five, Doc drove Daisy home to
get ready for her dinner with Mimi. He returned in time to carry
the lacy cake into the walk-in refrigerator. All that was left to
do was add the flower sprays and bees. We would do that first thing
in the morning. And then we would make the ten-minute drive to the
reception site, where we would deliver the decorated cake to the
display table, for all the guests to ooh and aah.

At six, I locked up the shop and hopped into
Doc’s waiting van at the curb. Just up the street, we stopped at
Alforno Trattoria. The host seated us at a small table with
bentwood chairs. The usual Friday crowd was chowing down on pizza
and pasta. Doc and I took our time deciding what to have. Our
server brought us a bottle of pinot grigio. We ordered calamari,
lightly fried and served with aioli and tomato sauce, to share as a
starter. I loved Doc’s way of digging in and enjoying every morsel.
He kept urging me to eat, even as he stuck his fork in another
tender piece. I ordered the pasta with littleneck clams in white
sauce while Doc had the flounder Livornese. While we waited for our
dishes to arrive, we had the house salads, served up with warm
artisan bread. We talked about Italian food and wine, the Uffizi
Gallery, Pompeii, and even the best ways to enjoy Italy on a
budget. Doc had spent time on the Amalfi Coast as well as in Venice
and Naples, and he regaled me with the highlights of his travels. I
shared my opinions on the techniques of baking rustic breads and
how I had always wanted to go to Lake Como. By the time we got
around to dessert, Doc suggested we split a flourless chocolate
ganache torte. I took a few nibbles in between sips of coffee,
savoring the deep, dark chocolate on my tongue. We were just
finishing up when my cell phone rang.

“It’s Carole,” I told Doc. “I hate to do
this, but in case there’s an emergency, I should answer it.”

“Not a problem,” he reassured me.

“Carole, what’s up?” Before my words were out
of my mouth, she started talking.

“Cady, Doug called me. He wanted to talk.
You’re not going to believe this. He took the triplets and moved
out of the house.”

“What? When?”

“Tonight. He said he was finished with Mimi.
He caught her with another guy last week. They were making it in a
car at the Metro station just outside Bowie. Cady, he was crying,
saying that he totally screwed things up. He wants to move back to
Connecticut with the babies.”

“This is very, very important,” I said as
calmly as I could. “Does Mimi know that he’s moved out?”

“Yes. He said he called her this afternoon to
tell her. She was really mad, but he said it didn’t matter. He
wasn’t going to put up with any more of her nonsense. Do you
believe it -- she didn’t tell him she was coming to Old Saybrook to
see Daisy.”

“Hold on,” I told her, muting the phone, so I
could share the news with Doc. When I got done, he instructed me to
find out where Mimi and Daisy were having dinner.

“I don’t know,” Carole admitted. “Daisy said
she’d leave her phone on, in case I needed her. Does that
help?”

“Did she say what time Mimi was bringing her
back?”

“No.”

“Well, it’s interesting about Doug, I’ll give
you that. What do you think you’ll do?”

“Honestly, Cady? I don’t have a clue. I don’t
know how I feel at the moment.”

“That’s a healthy reaction. All the more
reason to take a little time and think things through. Talk to you
later.”

“Bye.” Even as Carole signed off, Doc’s phone
rang.

“Yeah?” His face went dark as he listened to
his caller. “Right. Right. It has to be tonight? Well, I’m in the
middle of something. That’s a change in plan. No, that’ll cost you
another ten grand.”

Our server brought the check, dropping it off
with a smile and a nod, while Doug was on the phone. As I reached
for the folio, he slapped my hand away, wagging his finger at me as
he frowned. Then he went back to his caller.

“Hey, you don’t want to pay? No problem. Find
somebody else to do it. Your choice. No, no. That’s my fee. Take it
or leave it. Non-negotiable.” With that, he hung up. A moment
later, the phone buzzed again. “What? Is that right? You have the
cash tonight or the deal is off.”

Doc hung up again, looked over the bill,
pulled out a credit card, and signaled our server. Before she had
managed to cross the dining room to retrieve it, Doc’s phone rang
again.

“Now what?” he growled. “Fine. Where are you
right now? Because I want to know. If I have to set this up for
tonight, I want the advantage. Where is that? Okay, don’t go
anywhere. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

After he hung up, he shook his head. “That
woman is horrible. I’m supposed to kill Daisy tonight.”

Six minutes later, Doc dropped me off with
instructions to stay with Carole and Dylan until he got back. He
waited until the door of the Walchuk condo opened and I was safely
inside. He wouldn’t explain why he wanted me there, but I could
tell it was important to him. I didn’t argue. I just watched him
drive away with a little prayer that it would all go according to
plan. I wanted Doc to bring Daisy home in one piece.

Dylan wanted to play crazy eights, so we sat
around the kitchen table, flipping cards down, getting silly as the
game progressed. Carole seemed relatively calm, considering her
ex-husband had thrown her for a loop with his news. Each time he
won, Dylan did his victory dance around the table, waving his arms
and legs, making his mother and me chuckle. Carole settled for an
over-the-head, arms-raised, cheer each time she threw down the
winning card. I kept my celebratory movements low-key, given my
sore shoulder, but I managed to hoot, for Dylan’s benefit.

By nine o’clock, I was starting to get
worried. Carole got Dylan off to bed and then suggested we move
ourselves to the sofa, to watch a little TV. I noticed her eyes
straying to the mantel clock as the minutes ticked on.

“I hope they’ll be home at a reasonable
hour,” she said to me. “Daisy’s looking forward to that wedding
tomorrow. I don’t want her to be too tired to do a good job.”

“I’m sure they won’t be too much longer,” I
offered. I was wrong. By ten, Carole was nervous. She tried Daisy’s
cell phone three times. It kept going to voicemail.

“Maybe there’s been an accident. Should we
call the hospital?”

“No, let’s give them a little more time.
Another fifteen minutes.” The minutes seemed to crawl by, and when
there were just three to go, my cell phone went
bing
. It was
a text from Doc. I glanced down at it.