Fast Women Read online

  “Here’s another question,” Gabe said. “How big a coincidence is it that we find a box with Trevor’s name in it at roughly the same time a woman starts blackmailing him, which is also roughly the same time that Lynnie calls in sick?”

  Riley sat very still, looking at the possibility from all sides while Gabe waited. “Maybe,” he said finally. “It’s sure not out of character for her.” He looked up at Gabe, frowning. “Doesn’t explain Jack and Budge.”

  “Jack, maybe,” Gabe said. “He was a partner in ’78.” He pulled the box back and closed it so he wouldn’t have to look at the damn title transfer, and the devil leered up at him. “My dad loved that car. The last fight he had with my mother was over that car.”

  “You love that car,” Riley said. “Maybe this is a sign that it’s time for a new one.”

  “There are no signs,” Gabe said. “Stop talking to Chloe.”

  “Well, there are clues,” Riley said. “I don’t know about this one, though. If it was Lynnie, how the hell did she know the box was here?”

  “Maybe she didn’t,” Gabe said. “Maybe she was just snooping around and found it and took what she wanted and then put it back.” He shook his head. “No, that makes no sense. She was looking for something.” He stood up and picked up his jacket. “You may now investigate Jack Dysart at will.”

  “What are you going to do?” Riley said.

  “Find Lynnie,” Gabe said grimly. “And then I’m going to talk to Trevor.” He looked around the office and saw his dad everywhere. “About the good old days.”

  * * *

  Nell watched Gabe leave and gritted her teeth. She’d never been evicted from anyplace as fast as he’d thrown her out of that office. And she could have helped, if he’d just—

  “Back later,” Riley said, coming out of his office and heading for the street door. “Much later.”

  Well, the hell with you guys, Nell thought and went back into the bathroom to wipe down the last shelf. She was just finishing when she heard the street door rattle and pop open. “Nell?” she heard Suze call, and she said, “Just a minute,” and climbed down from the toilet, the last of the cleaning done. It wasn’t very satisfying.

  When she came out into the office, Suze said, “We have to talk to you,” and Nell looked beyond her to see Margie’s tearstained face.

  “What’s wrong?” Nell went to Margie. “What happened? Did Budge do something? Is it about the teashop? Because you don’t have to—”

  “Oh, Nell!” Margie threw her arms around her.

  “What?” Nell looked over the top of Margie’s curly head to Suze, who looked equally miserable, although her misery was mixed with rage. “Did Jack do something? What’s going on?”

  “Margie talked to Budge last night,” Suze said grimly. “She suggested that since she was getting a job like you, maybe they shouldn’t get married.”

  “I told him that marriage wasn’t an answer,” Margie said wetly into Nell’s shoulder. “I told him you’d had a good marriage and it just ended for no reason, so I didn’t see why we’d be any luckier, and that’s why I needed a job.”

  “You shouldn’t do that to Budge,” Nell said, patting her shoulder. “You probably shouldn’t marry him, either—”

  “That’s not the problem.” Suze swallowed. “Budge told her your marriage didn’t just end.”

  “What?” Nell said, going suddenly cold.

  “Tim was seeing Whitney all along,” Margie said, pulling her face out of Nell’s shoulder. “Way before he left you. He was cheating the whole time.”

  I knew that, Nell thought, and then the office swooped around her and her knees buckled and light exploded in her head like stars.

  Chapter Four

  Nell felt Suze grab her before she hit the floor, easing her down to sit on the Oriental rug. We should replace this rug, Nell thought. It makes the place look ratty. She started to fall backward, but Suze held her and shook her.

  “No, you don’t,” she said. “Stay with us.”

  “He cheated,” Nell said, and saying it made her want to throw up.

  “I hope he dies,” Suze said, still holding onto her. “Are you okay? You look awful.” She hooked her hands under Nell’s arms and hauled her onto the rickety brown couch. “Put your head between your legs.”

  Nell obediently dropped her head between her knees. He cheated. He made a fool of me. “Did you know?”

  “No,” Suze said. “I swear, I would have told you. But it never made any sense that he’d fall out of love with you. You gave him everything. I couldn’t believe he’d have the guts to leave you to do everything for himself. He’s such a toad, and that kind never leaves without backup.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Margie said.

  Nell took a couple of deep breaths to get some oxygen back to her brain. Tim had cheated. She’d been fair and practical and adult, and he’d cheated. He’d cheated twice, first when he slept with Whitney and then when he’d told her there wasn’t anybody else. The second betrayal was worse. That was the lie that he’d used to swindle her out of her anger. He’d taken her job and her house and half her china, and he’d broken her life, and then he’d lied so she couldn’t even kill him for doing it. The bastard.

  Nell sat up straight, rage making her blood thick. “I hate him.”

  “Well, it’s about time,” Suze said. “What are we going to do about it?”

  I’m going to scream. “I have to go,” Nell said, pushing herself up from the couch, and Margie moved out of her way as she headed for the door.

  * * *

  Gabe spent a frustrating hour getting nowhere, so when he got back to the agency and Nell was gone, he was not amused. What the hell? he thought and grabbed the phone when it rang. It was a client from out of town and he sat down at Nell’s desk and took down the details with the gold pen that lay precisely to the right of her notepad. Everything on the desk was precise, right down to the expensively gold-framed photo of Nell and a much younger man who looked enough like her to be her son. The boy was good-looking, and Nell was flushed and happy and healthy. What happened to her since then? he thought as he hung up and then forgot about her as the phone rang again.

  “What did you find out?” Riley said, when he answered.

  “Not much. Lynnie wasn’t home and her landlady was watching from next door so I couldn’t go in on my own. And Trevor was not a help.”

  “He never is,” Riley said. “The question is, was he not a help because he was clueless, or was he not a help because he was stalling?”

  “Stalling,” Gabe said. “He couldn’t remember signing over the car.”

  “He forgot a Porsche?”

  “His position is that he couldn’t possibly remember it after twenty-three years.”

  “His position is flawed,” Riley said. “Is Nell there?”

  “No,” Gabe said looking around. “Which is why I’m answering the phone.”

  “Well, when you find her, get her to dig out the ’78 files,” Riley said. “I know this is something Patrick was covering up, but there might be something in there, and if there is, she’ll find it. That woman can find anything.”

  “If she ever comes back. She left some of her things, so I suppose we’ll see her again when the mood strikes her.”

  “Will you get off her case?” Riley said. “She’s probably at lunch, for Christ’s sake. You’re developing a fixation here.”

  “Speaking of fixations, how’s Jack?”

  “I’m just getting started,” Riley said, his voice thick with anticipation.

  Gabe sighed. “So am I. Oh, and before I forget, you have a decoy for tonight. Can you get your hort major to help?”

  “She has a paper due,” Riley said, and Gabe thought, This is what you get for dating infants.

  “I’ll get somebody,” Gabe said and went to find Chloe in the tearoom. She was opening the oven behind the counter. “Can you do a decoy tonight?”

  “No.” Chloe said. “I hate thos