The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag (21 page)

Neil’s fists clenched on the arms of the desk chair. “If this is true, you were arrested as a red herring, so Valentino would feel confident enough to make his next move. Then, the feds could close in. You really should sue, Uncle Scrooge. Or at least let me beat the snot out of them all.”

Not the most romantic offer, but it filled in the cold pit in my stomach with light and warmth. “Never mind that now. There are still pieces missing. First, we don’t know if Candie is involved or not. If not, then Markus has an accomplice. While he may have sent those faxes and the dead bird, he didn’t bash himself over the back of the head then set fire to his own house. My money is on Dick Head. It’s too coincidental that he hooks up with Leo right after I started cleaning for the Valentinos. Look at the facts. He uses Leo to get to me and the guise of the cleaning gig to nose around Valentino’s private office. He has a stalker-esqe file on them, for Pete’s sake.”

Neil mulled that over, absently stroking my arm. “Then again, he could be just some whacked-out groupie. Valentino might’ve hired some random thug. You can buy anything on Craigslist.”

“Or it could be the guy who was driving us around. Or possibly Sierra. As his personal assistant, she could cover for him at any point when he was out doing something unscrupulous. Then too, there’s Lucas Sloan. Lord knows that guy has so much financial trouble, he’d get in bed with the devil for a few coins to rub together.” I looked Neil in the eye. “Whoever it is, they’ve decided to take Valentino out. Chances are, the police have a guard posted at his hospital room

door in case the perp has another go at him.”

The corner of Neil’s mouth kicked up. “Perp? You’re really getting into this.”

“Not like I had much of a choice.” But he was right, I realized. While running my own business had been kind of cool, it didn’t occupy my mind the way the CI position did. I turned to my husband. “With cleaning, there was always going to be a need to do it again and the effort is often overlooked. Helping out Capri made me feel as if I was making a real difference, not just a temporary one.”

Neil reached out, pulled me onto his lap. “You make me absolutely crazy, you know that?” He said as his hand stroked lazily through my hair. “All I want in this world is to protect you and the boys and to see that you’re all happy. Figures that the only way for you to be happy is pasting a giant bull’s eye on your forehead.”

“That’s not true, I’m happy doing stuff with you and the boys.”

His hand stilled and dropped to the arm of the chair once more. “Are you? Is that why you went out of your way to invite Leo to come skiing with us?”

My mouth dropped open. “Was that why you were in such a snit this morning? Neil, Leo gets like two days off every six months, otherwise your mother keeps him chained to a radiator. I thought he’d like a change of pace. Besides, you know darn well that I wasn’t going to ski and I know you needed a little physical action.”

“Speaking of which…” Neil mumbled, before claiming my lips.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Go away,” We shouted in tandum.

“Maggie, I need to talk to you.” Sylvia’s meek plea seemed even more pathetic filtered through the door.

I rested my forehead against Neil’s. “Cripes, I should hang up a shingle next to Dr. Bob’s.”

“Come on in, Sylvia,” Neil called out as I scrambled off his lap.

“Hey, you guys. Sorry to interrupt.”

“We’re use to it.” Neil said easily. “I’m going to see what’s left from dinner.”

“Save me something,” I pleaded as he shut the door. On a sigh, I turned to face my friend.

“What’s up, Sylvie?” My heart broke as I watched her wring her hands. Sylvia had changed so much in the last week. Her usual confidence in tatters, she looked like a little girl who’d been abandoned in a foreign city.

“Well, first, I wanted you to know how grateful I am that you’ve been here for me. I know I’m weird and out there and you don’t get all my new age hocus pocus, but you’re still here for me.” Her hands gestured wildly. “And I wanted to tell you, I’ve decided to sell the house.”

I dropped back into the padded chair. Crap. “When?”

“As soon as possible. Eric promised I could have the house, since he’s the one who still has a job, but of course I can’t pay for it on my own.”

“Where are you going to live?”
Please don’t move away.
I kept the selfish plea to myself. Being on the outs with Hudson society, I needed the one true friend I had here.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead. I’ll stay in the house until it sells, then I guess we’ll leave it up to fate.”

Fuck fate. “Have you thought about looking for a job in Boston? You could find a small apartment.”

“I really don’t want to live by myself in the city,”

“Then you could commute. Whatever you have to do, I’ll be here to help.”

Her smile was small, but genuine. I know you will Maggie. And look, I’m sorry about your cleaning business.

“All good things must come to an end.” The sage words sounded hollow in my ears.

“No, no, I mean, pushing you into it in the first place. I can’t help but feel that if it wasn’t for me, all these awful things wouldn’t have happened.”

“It wasn’t all bad. I met some interesting people and I have excellent stories to tell at social functions.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Really Sylvia, you didn’t dupe me into this and I guess being self-employed wasn’t in the cards. Come on, let’s go have some dinner.”

* * * *

Neil was snoring on the air mattress next to me when Marty returned. I eased to the floor and signaled to him to meet me in the kitchen. “How did it go? Where’s Leo?”

Marty ignored my questions and poked his head in the refrigerator. “Any food left?”

“Marty, I’m dying here.”

“Mind fixing me something to eat before you expire?”

Grumbling, I shoved him aside and withdrew the plate I’d saved for him. Popping it in the microwave, I fetched a beer out of Neil’s hidden stash in the garage. “If you want this, you’d better dish.” I waved the bottle under his nose.

“You’re a shrewd negotiator, Laundry Hag.” He snatched the bottle and twisted off the cap. “Leo’s fine, a little shaken, but he’ll be all right. I offered to drive him back to your in-laws, but he insisted on driving himself.”

“Are the police going to question Richard?”

“How the hell would I know? I’m just your lousy errand boy.”

“Oh quit that poor, poor, pitiful me act. Wait until your kid is born. Being a dad will redefine you understanding of put-upon.”

Marty shuffled his feet, his gaze focused over my shoulder. “The baby’s not mine, Maggie.”

I blinked stupidly. “Pardon?”

“I met Penny at a restaurant outside of Charleston. I was working on a road crew and me and the guys would stop in every day for lunch. Penny was real nice to all of us, bringing us free fries or slices of pie. Anyway, I stopped in late one night, and saw her walking through the parking lot. She was with this guy and I could see through the window they were yelling. So when I saw the guy hit her, I got in the middle of it. I mean, I couldn’t just let some asshole pound a pregnant girl, ya know?”

“Wait, wait, slow down. What guy?”

“Penny’s high school boyfriend; the father of her baby.”

Behind me, the microwave dinged. We both ignored it, lost in the gaping chasm of words unsaid. I wanted to yell at him, but seeing the bags under his eyes and the hangdog lines around his face, I didn’t have the heart for a verbal flogging.

“How did she end up with you?”

My words jolted Marty out of whatever he’d been brooding over. “She was living with the guy and after I beat the piss out of him, I convinced her to press charges. But his Dad was the local sheriff and she was convinced he’d be out in no time and come after both of us. So, I sold my car and bought the RV.”

I needed to sit down. “Jesus, Marty. Does he know your name?”

My brother shook his head. “We’ve never been properly introduced, other than my fist to his face.”

“You’re damn lucky you weren’t slapped with an assault charge.” His gaze skittered away and I groaned. “Oh, shit, don’t tell me…”

“I don’t guess I need to.”

Cripes, what a frigging disaster. “He’ll be looking for her, Marty. She’s carrying his child. You need to go to the police, get a lawyer.”

“I can’t do that Maggie! Penny’s so stressed out, I’m afraid she’ll lose the baby. This house isn’t exactly the sea of tranquility, you know?”

I slapped my hands on the counter. “How can you dump this on me, Marty? How can you be so selfish as to drag my family into your problems this way? Again! Just what exactly is wrong with you, that you screw up every frigging thing you touch?”

“That’s enough, Uncle Scrooge.” Neil said from the doorway.

“Oh, we’re not even in the same dimension as enough! I’m just warming up here and—”

“Marty, go to bed. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Neil’s tone was hard and unyielding. “Maggie, come outside with me a second.”

I took one last look at my brother’s devastated face, before closing my eyes. “I’m sorry Marty, I didn’t mean—”

“Save it, Laundry Hag.” Marty nodded to Neil, then stormed down the hall. At least he had enough sense not to slam the door. I launched myself from the barstool and flung the microwave door open.

“God, can you believe him?” I asked as I scraped the food into the trash. “Running from a damn assault charge with a pregnant stranger riding shotgun. Un-frigging-believable”

“Maggie, come outside.” Neil repeated the command.

“I don’t want to go outside, it’s too cold. Hey!” I shouted as the fleece comforter from our makeshift bed was tossed over my head. Neil spun me until I was swaddled like a mummy and lifted me off the ground in a fireman’s carry.

“What the hell are you doing, you’ll hurt your shoulder.” My words must have been muffled by the blanket because he patted my backside once and didn’t respond.

A lock clicked and I hissed as the freezing air stung my bare feet. Neil must have put on boots because I heard the distinct crunching of snow as I jounced along like a tuna in a net.

“Seriously Neil, how much did you like dinner, ‘cause we might experience it again if you keep bouncing me around.”

“Quit your bellyaching, we’re almost there.” Another light slap on the butt. He was having way too much fun with this.

“Almost where?” I asked at the same time a door squeaked open. The world came back into view as Neil set me down and the comforter fell away from my head. Me feet were planted on the steps to the RV.

“Are you out of your ever-loving mind? The heater isn’t on, we’ll freeze to death.”

Pushing past me, Neil kicked off his boots and flicked the space heater on. “See, no popsicles in here. Besides, you needed to cool off. Come in and shut the door before you let the heat out.”

“Wiseass,” I grumbled, hopping over the small puddles of snow his boots had left behind. Tempted though I was to hog the blanket, I sat down next to him, so close that our thighs touched, and flung one corner over his shoulder.

His arm wrapped around my waist and he sighed. “Let it all out Uncle Scrooge.”

I blew out a sigh. “My brother’s an idiot.”

“That’s not exactly a news flash.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “You know what I mean. Part of me wants to box his ears for not thinking this through, for dragging us into the muck with him.”

Neil made a sound of commiseration. “And the other part?”

I looked him in the eyes, a small smile turning up the corners of my mouth. “I’m very proud of him, for standing up for someone weaker than himself.”

Neil smiled back “Me too. He’s not just a selfish kid anymore.”

“Oh he’s still a selfish kid,” I said “And he got in way over his head this time, but the reason he did, the fact that he wanted to help someone other than himself….”

“It changes things.” He finished for me.

I sniffed, my nose dripping unattractively, whether from the cold or emotion I couldn’t tell. “So, what do we do now?”

“Well, tomorrow, we contact that lawyer, explain the situation and see what he advises and take it from there.”

I groaned. “I’m going to have to sell a kidney to pay for this.”

“Worry about that later.” He leaned in, kissed my neck followed by a quick hit to the corner of my mouth. “Since we’re out here, all alone in the cold, you wanna share body heat?”

“That,” I told him “is the best offer I’ve had all night.”

Chapter Nineteen

“Have the two of you worked on that homework assignment I gave you?” Dr. Bob asked. He sat in a rolling desk chair, his little notebook perched on his lap. He’d chosen a green sweater-vest to wear over a pinstripe dress shirt. His glasses now sported tape at the bridge and a safety pin over one ear. The effect was almost painful with his graying comb-over and pleated khaki pants.

Neil’s eyebrows met dead center above his nose. “What’s this?”