Smoke in Mirrors (13 page)

“Can’t swear to it, you understand. She sure as hell never did them in front of me. But the rumors were all over the place after she died.”

“Where would she get them in a small town like this?”

“Don’t you read the papers? You can buy that junk anywhere these days. Besides, this is a college town. That makes it even easier.”

“I see.” So much for getting the name of the local drug kingpin. This detective work was hard.

“How did you meet Walker?” Alex asked.

“He’s my landlord.” She was pleased with the way that came out. Very casual. Very innocent. “I met him when I rented my cottage.”

Alex looked briefly surprised, as if he hadn’t considered that mundane possibility. Then he nodded. Thoughtful now. And maybe less intent. More relaxed.

“That’s right,” he said. “I think Meredith mentioned that he was into the home improvement scene in a big way. She said he had picked up a couple of the old summer cottages overlooking the cove and planned to remodel them.”

“I have the cottage that hasn’t been redone yet. But it’s warm and dry and comfortable enough for the short time I’ll be in town.”

“How long do you expect your project at Mirror House to last?”

“I’m estimating that it won’t take me more than a few months at most to put that collection online. The original cataloging was clearly done by a pro who devised a unique classification system for the books. It resembles the Library of Congress system to some degree but it’s been greatly enhanced and expanded to allow for nuance and very fine distinctions in the subject—”

“Where’s home?” he interrupted.

Apparently Alex was not terribly interested in the details of her professional work at Mirror House. Before she could decide whether or not to invent a false answer to that query, the door of the coffeehouse opened. She did not have to turn her head to know who had just entered. She was developing a sixth sense where Thomas Walker was concerned.

Alex did turn his head. He watched Thomas coming toward them. There was an almost imperceptible hardening of his spectacular eyes.

“You sure about the status of your relationship with Walker?” he asked. “He’s just your landlord?”

“Yes.”

Thomas arrived at the table. “Don’t knock it, Rhodes. The relationship between landlord and tenant is damn near a sacred trust. Backed up by the full weight and authority of several centuries’ worth of law, custom and tradition. Sort of like marriage.”

Leonora gave him a warning look. Thomas did not appear to notice. He pulled out a chair, reversed it and straddled it. He rested his arms along the back and smiled at her.

“I was at the hardware store across the street. Thought I saw you come in here. Everything okay at the cottage?”

“Fine, thank you.”

“Be sure to let me know if you need any maintenance work.”

“I will.”

She picked up her cup and took a sip of tea while she tried to figure out what was going on here. The testosterone levels were climbing fast. Had she unwittingly achieved that pinnacle of feminine accomplishment that occurred when one became the object of the rampaging lust of two men who were willing to fight for the honor of her favors?

Nah. Stuff like that never happened to her.

Alex glanced at his heavy gold watch and pushed back his chair. “Hate to leave, but I’ve got an appointment with a client. Can’t be late. Nice to meet you, Leonora. You’ve got my card. Give me a call if you feel the need for some advice on how to handle stress.”

“I’ll do that,” she said.

He winked. “One of these days I’d like to know what you planned to do with those frozen soybeans.” He nodded at Thomas. “See you around, Walker.”

“Sure,” Thomas said.

Alex walked away toward the front door of the coffeehouse. He collected his long black coat from a rack, pulled it on and went outside.

Thomas watched through the window as Alex disappeared into the fog.

“Frozen soybeans?” he asked, his gaze never leaving the window.

“They make a wonderful, low-cal appetizer.”

“I’ll have to remember that. Think Wrench would like ’em?”

“I doubt it. Wrench doesn’t strike me as the type who would have much interest in soybeans.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that.” Thomas switched his attention back to her.

The ice in his gray eyes caught her off guard.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“What did Rhodes want?”

She hesitated and then gave a small shrug. “He said that he longed to indulge in a stimulating conversation with a single female who was not a client, student or the wife or girlfriend of a potential client.”

“Stimulating conversation, huh? Could have sworn he was coming on to you.”

She sipped some more tea. “That, too, perhaps.”

“Were you enjoying this stimulating conversation?”

“I will have you know,” she said primly, “that I was playing detective.”

“Is that so? Mind if I ask why you chose to practice your detecting skills on Rhodes?”

“There were a couple of very sound reasons. First, I found it quite interesting that he approached me out of the blue, so to speak. Just sort of materialized there in the frozen-foods aisle, if you will.”

Thomas tapped one finger lightly against the wooden chair back. “Okay, I’ll give you that. It is interesting. Any idea why he initiated the conversation?”

“My derriere was apparently displayed in an extremely provocative and enticing manner when I bent over to pick up the previously referenced package of soybeans in the freezer case.” She took a sip of her tea. “Never had that happen before. I may have to start buying more soybeans.”

“Doubt if the soybeans had much to do with it. Guys tend to notice things like women’s derrieres. What was your other reason for letting him drag you in here for tea and stimulating conversation?”

“Very early on in our chat, he mentioned Meredith.”

Thomas was silent for a beat.

“Is that right?” he said very softly.

“He brought up the subject all by himself without any prompting from me.”

“Not real subtle, is he?”

“No. I got the feeling that he didn’t have time to be subtle. He wanted answers and he wanted them quickly. He also volunteered the information that he and Meredith had dated for a while after you stopped seeing her.”

“I could have told you that.”

She picked up the teacup and looked at him over the rim. “But you didn’t, did you?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t think it was important.”

“You may have been wrong about that.”

He gave it a few seconds’ thought. “I may, indeed, have been wrong. Damn. What’s going on here? Where the hell does Alex Rhodes fit into this?”

“I don’t know yet. But I can tell you this much, he was extremely concerned about the precise nature of our relationship.”

“
Our
relationship?” Thomas frowned. “As in you and me?”

“Yes. You and me. I was in the process of assuring him that we were merely landlord and tenant when you arrived.”

“Well, now.”

“One could, of course, jump to the conclusion that Mr. Rhodes is a fine example of the upstanding, noble sort of male who does not wish to be known for seducing other men’s girlfriends.”

“In other words, he may have been swept off his feet there in the frozen-foods aisle and was merely doing the manly thing, making sure you were single and free, before he attempted to put his hands on your charming derriere.”

“Always assuming that I would have allowed him to put his hands on my charming derriere, even if I happened to be single and free.”

“Assuming that,” Thomas said.

“Anything is possible in this crazy old world.” She heaved a sigh. “But somehow, I don’t think that it was instant and immediate lust that prompted him to buy me tea and attempt to interrogate me.”

Thomas gave her an approving look. “Obviously you have a natural aptitude for this detecting business. Very clever of you not to be deceived by his sneaky tactics.”

“Yeah, I’m smart all right. But I must admit I’m extremely curious about why he bothered to employ such wily tactics in the first place.”

“Me, too. Think maybe he knows about the money Meredith skimmed off the endowment fund? Figures she stashed it somewhere before she died and now hopes maybe he can find it?”

“I hadn’t thought about that.” She wrinkled her nose. “A million and a half bucks could explain a lot of phony lust. But how would he have discovered her scam? She wasn’t the type to confide in a man even if she was sleeping with him.”

“I figured out that she was up to no good,” Thomas reminded her softly. “With a computer and my brother’s help.”

“But you didn’t become suspicious of her until she left town in a very sudden manner and you got a hunch that it might be a good idea to check out the endowment accounts. What would have made Alex question her disappearance?”

“Rhodes may have had his own reasons to suspect that Meredith was running a con.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Got a feeling they might have had a few things in common,” Thomas said evenly. “Meredith was a scam artist. As far as I’m concerned, that antistress formula Rhodes is selling puts him in the same professional category. Takes one to know one.”

“You think Alex is a fraud?”

“Give me a break. The guy charges a fortune for that nutritional supplement he peddles.”

“A great many people believe wholeheartedly in alternative medicine. And with good and valid reasons.”

“Rhodes strike you as the holistic medicine type?”

She hesitated. “All right, let’s say for the sake of argument that he guessed that Meredith was up to something. How would he know about the missing endowment money?”

Thomas shrugged. “Beats me. But we can’t rule out the possibility that he’s looking for it and thinks that you might be able to help him find it.”

“In other words,” she said neutrally, “Alex may have picked me up in the frozen-foods aisle for many of the same reasons that you cornered me in Meredith’s apartment the other day. He knows that Meredith ripped off a million and a half bucks and he knows that she knew me so I might know where the money is.”

Thomas looked irritated by that summary of events.

“The money may have brought us together,” he said, “but it’s not the reason we formed our partnership. If you will recall, you more or less blackmailed me into this arrangement.”

“Oh, yes, that’s right. I forgot.”

“You’ve got a selective memory.”

“My librarian training, no doubt.” She paused. “You know, I’d say it’s just barely possible that Meredith mentioned me to Alex, although not very likely. But I’d stake my last dime that she did not tell him about her scam or the money. She was very cautious with her secrets. I certainly never knew her to confide them to those of the male persuasion.”

He considered that briefly. “Good point.”

“Not to change the subject, but what did you do with Wrench?”

“He’s tied up outside where he can ogle females of the four-footed variety.”

She raised her brows. “You mean he’s still capable of enjoying the opposite sex? I thought when you got a dog from a shelter they made you get the animal neutered.”

“I never explained the details of the operation to Wrench. Figured it would depress him.”

“Thoughtful of you to withhold the facts.”

“He’s my buddy. A guy does stuff like that for a pal. You ready to leave? I’ll walk you back to the cottage.”

“All right.” She got to her feet.

He helped her into her coat. “By the way, while you were busy with your detective work, did you happen to notice Rhodes’s eyes?”

“How could one fail to do so?”

“Weird, huh? I’ve never seen anyone with eyes like that.”

She smiled. “Tinted contact lenses.”

“. . . And center yourself.”
Cassie assumed a half-lotus position, one ankle tucked into the crease between torso and thigh. “Ground yourself, clear your mind and allow yourself to sink into the stillness.”

Deke followed instructions, folding himself into the final pose of the session. He tried to concentrate on clearing his mind but the process was, of course, a contradiction in terms. If you concentrated on something, after all, you were not exactly clearing your mind.

That was especially true when his concentration was focused almost entirely on the lush curves of Cassie’s thighs.

The woman had outstanding thighs, full and ripe and elegantly curved. They were excellently showcased in her
snug, black tights. But, then, everything about Cassie was outstanding. She was magnificent, in his opinion.

If he had any sense he would cancel these sessions. Doing yoga with her always made him hard. He was torturing himself.

“. . . Relax and find the nexus of your energy lines . . .”

He lived for these yoga lessons. They were the bright spot of his week. No need to search himself for the nexus of his energy lines. They were all fused into a stiff erection.

“. . . And release . . .”

Nothing he would like better, he thought, than a good release. If only . . .

Cassie studied him with a troubled expression. “This was not one of our better sessions,” she said. “I got the feeling that you were unable to ground yourself today. Is something wrong?”

He told himself that he should keep his own counsel. She was his fitness instructor, not his best friend or his therapist. But he needed to talk to someone and she was a woman. Women sometimes saw things that eluded men.

“Do you think Thomas is sleeping with Leonora Hutton?” he asked.

“I beg your pardon?”

He had made a mistake. He knew that now. But it was too late to turn back.

“You saw them together the day before yesterday when you arrived for our Tuesday session. I just wondered if you got the impression that they might be involved in a relationship.”

“Deke, I only saw them for five minutes. They were on their way out the door, remember? How could I possibly tell what kind of relationship they have?” She gave him a scorching glare and uncoiled to her feet. “Besides,
Thomas is your brother. You know him much better than I do. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. Thomas can be hard to read sometimes, even for me. But it seemed to me that there was something different about the way he was with her. He couldn’t stop looking at her. And he seemed sort of restless. Like he wanted to get up and move around. Pace the room, maybe. That’s not like him. He’s the most laid-back guy I know, even when he’s with a woman he happens to be, uh—”