Keeping Mum (A Garden Society Mystery) Read online

  “Tell Jake. That might be important! Now why is he leaving her?”

  “He didn’t say it that clearly—just that it wasn’t working.”

  “Infidelity? Annoying factor?”

  “Seriously,” Annie said. “I wish I knew.”

  “Well, tell Jake. He certainly has a lot better resources than I do. But I’ll help however I can. Are you thinking of doing anything?”

  “A couple of bugs?”

  “Like . . . spying bugs?”

  Annie nodded. “Phone, purse, kitchen.”

  “Isn’t that illegal?”

  “It’s illegal in court, but I just want to know if that harpy had anything to do with my dad disappearing, so I can go kick her butt myself if she did.”

  Cam imagined she’d feel the same way—maybe more so. Cam actually liked her dad. But she looked at Annie, all of five feet, two inches. Still, Annie was pretty resourceful where gadgets were concerned. There was no reason to think gadgets of torture to get her revenge on Elle would be less likely than these bugs, though Annie-torture would probably include a lot of itching and embarrassment rather than pain.

  “So what? We go then . . . you say you have something in a room . . . then plant it when she’s not looking?”

  “Yeah, but we gotta be prepared for her to come with me instead of you. We each need a few bugs on us.”

  “I’ll need a lesson.”

  “Silly. Don’t you ever just browse online for how all this stuff works? I used to try to make my own.” Annie said it as if it were normal, but then she’d been taking things apart to see if she could get them back together since they were kids.

  Cam was uncomfortable, but also a little thrilled at this espionage idea. Annie had helped her a lot. She’d paid the price for helping, over and above what could be expected. Besides, if she was honest, this investigation excited her.

  • • •

  • • •

  Cam and Annie debated when they might actually miss seeing Elle altogether. Neither of them wanted to be stuck in a conversation. Annie thought Elle did a spinning class in the afternoon, so they decided to go right away, Annie coaching Cam on the finer points of bug planting on the way. Unfortunately, either the jet lag hadn’t left her the energy for exercising or something was going on.

  Now that it was light, Cam could see the state of the garden at the front of the house. She pointed out the rhododendrons, a pair of them, that were leaping from their edge. “Those should probably be trimmed or moved. Now is the time, right before we get a freeze.”

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, Henry Larsson has had other things to do for a few weeks. I’m sure he’s been contacted,” Annie said. She rang the bell.

  The housekeeper greeted them.

  “Hi, Louise,” Annie said. “I left something here that I hoped to pick up. Is Elle around? I don’t want to bother her.”

  Louise, who had been the housekeeper as long as Cam had known Annie and had been gray-haired even in those days, got a dark look. “She won’t go anywhere. It’s like she’s afraid I’ll toss her things on the street,” she whispered.

  “Would you?” Annie whispered back with a playful grin.

  “I’d like to some days, but it’s not worth my job.” Then, more loudly, she said, “Ms. Elle is up in the home gym if you need to see her. Can I get you girls some tea?”

  “Oh, no thank you. We won’t be long. I’m not sure if what I need would be in dad’s study or up in the library. Cam, why don’t you check the study?”

  Cam nodded. She thought she knew what she needed to do. Annie climbed the stairs and Cam entered the big study near the front door, where Alden handled some portion of his local business when he wasn’t in Richmond. Since his last term had ended a few years earlier, that had been often. Cam sat in his big leather chair and took off the piece of the phone she needed to remove in order to install the bug and fiddled the little thing into place.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Cam looked up to see Elle.

  “Oh. Annie had some paperwork she thought her dad might have filed for her. I’m trying to figure out where he might have put it in here, and Annie is up checking the library.”

  “I mean to the phone.”

  “When we were little, he used to tape his combinations and stuff on the phone in different locations,” she lied. “I just thought . . . in case it was in the file drawer.”

  “It has a key. And we keep the keys in the bedroom. What kind of papers are you looking for?”

  “Her birth certificate. Annie has to renew her passport, so she needs it.” It was a stupid answer, but Cam had to think on her feet, so it was all she could manage.

  “And she doesn’t have it? She’s a big girl.”

  Elle looked disgusted, like Annie was an irresponsible child, which was stupid. Elle was probably only three years older than they were and had never supported herself a day in her life. Was it more irresponsible to store a document at a parent’s home or to marry for money so you didn’t have to get a job?

  “Well what do you need it for besides getting a passport or driver’s license? The last time Annie did those things, she was living at home.” Cam knew her smile was sour.

  “I’ll be right back,” Elle said.

  Cam heard her climbing the stairs and let out a breath. On a whim, she darted across the entry to a similar “hers” study and tucked the other bug behind a gadget on a high shelf, then returned to the senator’s study and noticed Louise watching her curiously.

  “And what was that about, Miss Camellia?” she asked, her frame stiff.

  Cam sighed. “Senator Schulz. We don’t want to think Elle had anything to do with it, but we have to be sure.”

  Cam was surprised when Louise seemed to find merit in that and nodded then left.

  Annie and Elle returned together, and Elle opened a drawer for them. Strangely, in a file marked “Birth Certificates” was their alibi. Elle handed the page to Annie, locked the drawer again, and stood. Cam was glad Annie could maintain a poker face, because she was sure she was confused.

  “You two need anything else?”

  “We should be asking you. Are you okay?” Cam asked.

  “A little scared. I manage, though.”

  Cam couldn’t help comparing Elle to Evangeline Patrick, the other trophy wife she knew. Evangeline was leagues ahead of Elle. For one thing, Evangeline was a sincerely nice person, and Cam thought she loved her husband a lot more than Elle seemed to. Elle was barely upset, or at least she wasn’t showing it.

  • • •

  • • •

  When they reached Annie’s Beetle, Annie thrust the birth certificate at her. “Now you’re stuck with it.”

  “What?”

  “You know me. It would be lost forever at my place. I left it there so I knew where it was.”

  “It was the only thing I could think of. Elle was grilling me.”

  “Okay. It wasn’t bad thinking, especially as it was really there. But you need to file it so I can come get it if I need it. I’m not nearly responsible enough to hang on to anything I need forever.”

  “Louise busted me, too.”

  “Man. Some spy you are.”

  “I just told her what we were doing . . . well not what, but why.”

  “She’s probably been spying, too,” Annie said.

  “Should we talk to her?”

  “Yeah, but at home. We’ll stop by her place tonight. Take her a bottle of bourbon. She’ll talk happily then, and Elle won’t know anything about it.”

  At the next stoplight, Cam noticed Annie’s hands were shaking on the wheel.

  “Hey, are you holding up okay?”

  “It’s just . . . I know I complain and everything . . . but this is my dad.”

  “I know. We’ll find him, okay?”

  Thankfully, home wasn’t far away and Annie managed to get there without breaking down.

  “Do you want company? Or would you r
ather be alone?” Cam asked.

  “Company. Jake’s coming over later, but not until six. I may go nuts if I have to be alone.”

  “My place or yours?”

  “Mine. I need to bake.”

  That was normal for Annie—baking as therapy. So they filed up to Annie’s chaotic apartment. She handed a bottle of wine to Cam to open and then started getting out ingredients for something fussy.

  Cam pulled glasses from a cupboard and poured them each a glass of wine, and Annie strapped on an apron, a sign she intended to do this like a kamikaze.

  They spent the next two hours baking and drinking wine, though Cam intentionally paced herself. She didn’t want a headache and figured at least one of them ought to stay sober. Finally, Rob and Jake arrived together with takeout from a nearby Italian place.

  • • •

  • • •

  “So how’s the murder investigation going?” Cam asked.

  “Well, I still have a job, which is good,” Rob said.

  “Griggs was ticked, then?”

  “Wouldn’t you be? Junior reporter scoops you on one of the biggest stories of the year—one you were present for, and the punk has already scooped two murder stories this year?”

  “When you say it like that . . .” Cam smiled a little, feeling proud.

  “He found out by reading the article, too. It’s not that I didn’t try to let him know, but he must have gone for drinks with somebody after the fund-raiser, because I got Kathy when I filed the article.”

  Kathy was the assistant editor, and normally Rob didn’t get along with her quite as well as he did with Griggs; she thought sports was a fluff topic. But on this, she’d probably been pleased to rush through an important piece while her boss was busy.

  “I noticed there was no mention of the kidnapping.”

  “That cop asked me to keep that quiet—said it could put the senator in more danger if it became public.”

  Cam nodded. It was what they’d heard the night before, too, and what she expected was being weeded from her press releases.

  “But Griggs got over being mad?” Cam asked.

  “Yeah. He swore at me awhile, then confessed he was mad at himself.”

  “Was he willing to tell you what he saw?”

  “He sure was. Got an eyeful.”

  Jake eyed Rob. Cam thought maybe Rob had waited to tell them when they were all together.

  “Griggs thought it looked like Derrick was basically campaigning for Koontz. He went from table to table, group to group, always with the same couple of lines. He thought it seemed really important to Derrick that Koontz win. Pretty normal for a fund-raiser, if you ask me. But he also saw Derrick, and this is different from what we’ve heard, get into a fairly nasty argument with Melvin Entwhistle. They had words, Melvin walked away, and then Melvin came back a little while later with one of the women who’d been with Derrick. Griggs thought maybe she’d been sent to appease Entwhistle.”

  “I’ll bet,” Annie said.

  “Any other arguments?” Cam asked.

  “Not that he noticed.”

  “Okay. How about you, Jake?”

  Jake gave her a look to mind her own business, but he’d known her long enough to know that would never happen. Rob slurped his last strand of spaghetti.

  “They figure it’s either a political rival or one of the people he bilked.”

  “Genius. Who thought of those motives?” Cam asked. Annie swatted her, not appreciating the sarcasm, but Cam had thought those two angles were obvious the night before.

  Rob eyed Cam, and she realized he knew more, but wasn’t going to tell her in front of Jake. That probably meant he’d either been told in confidence, or he’d been told by his non-Jake police source—a guy in the forensics lab whom he preferred to keep secret from Jake. Otherwise, the guy would get reprimanded and Rob’s source would dry up. She decided to tackle what they could talk about.

  “So is there a list of people who lost their shirts to Windermere’s business strategies?”

  “Those financial records have been requested, but there are an awful lot of people to sort through,” Jake said.

  Cam sighed. “Okay, what about witnesses?”

  “We’ll start looking more tomorrow. Only thing we know is the screamer was a pregnant woman.”

  “Jessica,” Cam said. She’d been the only noticeably pregnant woman at the party.

  “Shoot,” Annie said.

  “What?”

  “I keep ruining our leads. She’s official, too. She was screaming for the game—an official witness. She probably didn’t actually see anything.”

  “You don’t plan to tell me anything else, do you?” Cam asked Jake.

  “He’s just doing his job,” Rob said reasonably.

  He wouldn’t get away with the “just his job” card on that front, not with Annie as his girlfriend, but it could wait.

  “How about the kidnapping then?” Cam said to Jake.

  “They think I’m too close. They don’t want me investigating it. Besides, Len is coordinating with Special Forces. FBI does kidnapping, especially with a public figure.”

  “Seriously?” Annie asked. She looked devastated.

  “Hey, I’ll still talk to the guys so I know everything they can share and will keep you in the loop.”

  “Jake?” Annie said. “Dad hinted last night that he was leaving Elle.”

  “Hinted?”

  “You know Dad. He never says anything outright.”

  “I’ll tell the guys. They’ll listen to my input. They just won’t let me be out in the field on it.”

  “Speaking of field,” Annie said. “I bet Louise is home!”

  “Louise?” Rob asked.

  “She’s been my dad’s housekeeper since I was six. She’s a gem and I love her, and Cam and I were going to ask her if she knew anything. Can we all go?”

  “Ah! That Louise. I like her,” Rob said.

  “Won’t she feel overwhelmed?” Jake asked.

  “No, silly. You’re my boyfriend. Rob is Cam’s. She’s known Cam and me forever, like family. It will be nice. She’ll be glad to help us.”

  Cam wasn’t sure she’d be glad, but she’d sort of forgotten their plans for Louise when they invited the boys over, and she really wasn’t in the mood to wait. Besides, Louise was pretty unflappable. She’d even made the media feel stupid in her days as a senator’s housekeeper.

  They all went in Cam’s car, since it was the most comfortable for four people. Louise obviously hadn’t been home very long. She still had on her housekeeping dress. But she invited the four of them in, and when Annie handed her the bottle of bourbon, Cam explained. She hoped that in doing so, she could also avoid Louise mentioning her and Annie’s trip to the house later in the conversation. Thankfully, Louise was quick on the uptake and used to Annie keeping a secret now and then.

  “Louise, have you met Annie’s boyfriend, Jake, and my boyfriend, Rob?” Cam asked.

  “I think I remember Rob. You and he have been together quite some time, haven’t you?”

  “We have.”

  “Good to see you again. And it’s nice to meet you, Jake.”

  “Jake is a police officer. He’s not officially investigating Senator Schulz’s disappearance because of his relationship with Annie, but we thought maybe you might be more comfortable thinking about all this at home with people who know you instead of at work when it’s official.”

  “Well, yes. I suppose.”

  “Louise, I know it’s horrible to think about,” Annie said. Cam was glad she finally chimed in. “I don’t think Elle would hurt Daddy.”

  “Well no. She’s not . . .” Cam thought she was hesitant to say anything bad about her employer. The pause was fairly long, but then she looked at Annie and went on. “ . . . not my cup of tea, but I always thought, to the extent she can, she loves him.”

  “Did you know Daddy planned to leave her?”

  Louise looked very uncomfortab
le. “I might have guessed.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “There were a lot of phone calls. Some were at strange hours,” she said.

  “Do you think she was having an affair?”

  “Well I don’t know about that, but I suspect your father thought so. She refused to answer questions about it. I heard her say she’d clear it up.”

  “With her marriage on the line?” Annie asked. Her eyes were wide.

  “Miss Annie, your daddy is not always so forthcoming. He told her he understood and he’d give her time to explain. You and I have known him a long time and know that means a day or two. But Miss Elle sees the world through rose-colored glasses. She probably wished so hard he meant weeks that she made herself believe it.”

  Cam had known people like that. They were frustrating to deal with, but she could see Elle being that way.

  “So you don’t think she knew he was leaving?”

  “Well, it’s possible I hinted that to her.”

  “How?” Annie asked.

  “She called to speak with your father and he wasn’t here. She said some things she thought I should do, and I disagreed and knew your father would, too. I refused. She threatened what she’d do when she got home, and I said something like . . . I wasn’t sure she would be welcome. She just made me so mad. Of course, I got my punishment. She was home two days later, far earlier than scheduled. I don’t know what she thought!”

  Cam did. The woman heard she might be evicted and was planning to squat. Cam wondered if there’d even been a call from a brother. Coming home to squat, though, was a lot better than returning from Europe to kidnap or murder your husband. So in a way it was hopeful.

  “Have you noticed anything strange around the house since Senator Schulz was taken?” Cam asked.

  “Other than Miss Elle refusing to leave? Not really. I mean . . . your dad being taken, of course, but not before that.”

  “Would you mind . . . keeping an eye open for odd things?” Annie said.

  “Of course not, sweetheart. You’re like my own daughter, and Senator Schulz has been good to me over the years. I’m happy to keep an eye out.”

  They all rose and Annie hugged Louise. Cam was surprised neither Jake nor Rob had more to add, but they’d gotten some decent information anyway.

  • • •