He thought that might have been the case with Dex-he was attracted to the aloof. Now that he had captured Maggie, she was no longer of interest to him. That led him to hunt on other, more dangerous ground at times. But Maggie would not cause problems for the Fletchers. Giles had no concerns about Maggie-which did not mean he relaxed his vigilance. His vigilance was exactly why he had no concerns.
Roy. Roy’s wife, Victoria-formerly Bonnie Creci Ives-had been difficult from the beginning. Roy had been crazy about her when he first met her, insistent on bringing her into the family. He was her rescuer, in those days. So the family had taken extraordinary measures to include her and her child in their number, rather than risk losing Roy.
Alas, Roy was finding Victoria to be a difficult wife. Roy was not one who would abandon his children, and imperfect though it might be, Giles didn’t believe for a moment that Roy would give up on the marriage. Now Roy had brought his problems to his brothers, seeking advice. Victoria was the topic at hand. As Giles had expected, it was Nelson who spoke first.
“Maybe Victoria is right. Maybe Huntington Beach is too close,” Nelson said. “I mean, I don’t want you to move away, Roy, but if your wife thinks she’ll be recognized by a reporter…”
“I can’t move much farther away,” Roy said. “Not unless I give up a large part of my business. Most of my client base is here in Las Piernas. And I don’t want to be any farther away from the family.”
“What exactly is it that Victoria is afraid of?” Dex asked.
“The article that you showed me. The one in the Express about missing children. Understandably, seeing that her former coworker-this Irene Kelly-is looking into cases of missing children disturbs her. She knows her ex-husband is still looking for the child who used to be known as Carla Ives. Victoria thinks Irene Kelly has a grudge against her or something, and will be fired up to try to find the woman she knew as Bonnie.”
“The woman she knew as Bonnie Creci,” Giles said. “A woman who was long gone from the paper before she became Bonnie Ives. Her name has changed a second time now. There is no reason to believe Irene Kelly has any reason to know of Victoria Fletcher’s existence, let alone that Bonnie and Victoria are the same person. The child’s name has been changed as well, and she’s not in the public school system. How is it that this reporter will find her?”
“None of these stories have mentioned Blake Ives,” Nelson added. “And now that it has published one set of stories on the topic, it probably won’t do so again, at least not for a year or two.”
“Besides,” Dex said, “Huntington Beach isn’t really in the news coverage area of the Las Piernas News Express.”
“I’ve told her all of this a million times,” Roy said, shaking his head.
“Do you think she’s losing her nerve?” Dex asked, getting right to the heart of the matter.
Roy hesitated, then said, “I worry about that, given her history of running away from problems.”
“What would she do? Try to go back to her first husband?”
“No. She knows I’d find her. She also knows Blake Ives won’t forgive her for taking the child. He undoubtedly still thinks of her as the alcoholic he last knew her to be.”
“She can’t divorce you.” Nelson stated this as fact.
“We are married, so technically, I suppose she could,” said Roy. “Our marriage was in another state, but under her real name. Her ex-husband believes she was with another man when the child went missing, so her ex has never known about me. If she starts proceedings to divorce me, though, she risks calling attention to herself from a system that’s been looking for her in connection with a missing child. And she knows that would lead to other discoveries, would mean our entire family would split up. Our children would be taken from us. She and I might go to prison.”
“You could leave her,” Nelson said.
Roy shook his head. “Even if I disappeared with the children, she would be able to cause a lot of problems. She disappeared with one child. A man disappearing with four children is another matter. She wouldn’t take any of that silently, either. Nothing would keep her in check-she wouldn’t have anything to lose. She would cause as much trouble for me as she could.”
“Ultimately not just for you and your four children, but for many others,” Dex said, in his cool, unruffled way.
“Yes. For many others in the Fletcher family. That’s why I’ve come to you. I want you to be aware of the situation.”
“Does she know of your infidelity?” Dex asked.
Roy and Nelson looked shocked, then Roy blushed.
Giles smiled a little. Dex glanced at him, and Giles saw the faintest hint of shared amusement in Dex’s eyes.
Roy said, “No.”
“No what?” Nelson asked. “No, you aren’t cheating on her? Or no, she doesn’t know?”
Roy took a deep breath and said, “No, she doesn’t know that I have cheated on her.”
“You don’t think she knows,” Dex said.
“Does she?” Roy asked anxiously, as if Dex might know his own wife better than he did.
Well, Giles reflected, that was entirely possible.
“She suspects, at the very least.” Dex smiled, a look of apology on his face. “At the gathering yesterday? After Sheila’s death?”
Roy nodded.
“Victoria approached me and said she was worried about Maggie, because Maggie’s looked a little tired lately. I said I thought Maggie looked quite well, as beautiful as ever. She said she thought most men thought Maggie was beautiful. She then wondered how Maggie coped with all the late-night business meetings we’ve been having, and said perhaps that might account for her lack of sleep.”
Roy looked stricken.
Nelson glanced between them, then asked Dex, “What did you say?”
“I didn’t deny the meetings, of course. I said that Maggie understood that it was easier for the men with small children if we occasionally met after the children had gone to bed. It gave those men more time with their children.” He paused. “She smiled and said Maggie was generous to put her own needs as a wife aside for the needs of the Fletcher brothers. She added that Maggie seemed to get out and about more than the other Fletcher women did, so perhaps she didn’t mind my neglecting her in the evening.”
Giles said, “Oh, my. Usually Victoria is more subtle with her barbs.”
“Yes,” Roy said, his voice a dry whisper.
“Let’s review,” Giles said. “You cannot relocate as a couple, you cannot leave her, she cannot leave you-at least, anyone who left the marriage would lose the children.”
“Right.”
“She believes this Irene Kelly is a threat. Do you?”
“I won’t say that it’s impossible for Ms. Kelly to track us down. The Express might publish photos of a woman who looked something like Victoria does now, and that might lead someone to identify her, but I think all of these possibilities are highly unlikely. The only place Victoria visits in Las Piernas is Dad’s house. I don’t believe anyone in the family would try to harm us, do you?”
“No,” said Nelson. Giles wasn’t so sure, but he kept this to himself.
“What about the possibility of someone in your neighborhood recognizing her?” Dex asked.
“Some people in Huntington Beach subscribe to the Express, but they’re a minority. Most people subscribe to the Register or the Times. I’ve looked around, checking driveways in the morning when I go for a run-I don’t think anyone on my street gets the Express.”
“Not at home, perhaps, but what if they see it elsewhere?”
“Our neighbors aren’t nosy types. We keep the house painted, the garage clean, and the lawn cared for. The children do nothing to annoy them. It’s suburban Orange County. All of that adds up to invisibility.”