"You said it yourself," Karen replied, before Tony could speak. "He's a coward. He was afraid he'd be seen."
"Whose side are you on?" Mark demanded.
"Tony's," Karen said.
"I knew this woman had brains," Tony said, relaxing. "You have a point, Mark, but again you're assuming this guy was behaving rationally. After we've talked with the owner-"
"You're about to have that pleasure," Karen said, as the doorbell set up an angry, persistent clamor. "That sounds like Julie. I thought she'd come here looking for me. Somebody hold on to the dog."
She never knew whether the request was deliberately ignored, or whether Alexander's escape was accidental. He arrived on the scene just in time to turn Julie's angry greeting into a scream of pain. It was Mark who removed the culprit and sent him flying with a whack on his hairless rump.
Mark's appearance halted Julie's outcries. Smiling and brave, she allowed herself to be escorted to the kitchen, and accepted a beer.
"You can't blame me for being upset," she said plaintively. "Karen understands; she knows how I am.
Darling-" She fumbled for Karen's hand and clasped it tightly. "Darling Karen, I'm so relieved you weren't hurt. That was my first thought: Thank God Karen wasn't there, she might have been hurt."
Karen freed her hand. "It's not likely that I would be at work in the middle of the night."
"Oh," Julie murmured. "Was that when it happened?"
"So we assume," Tony answered. "Do you mind answering a few questions, Ms. Kerchak? It's not official procedure, but since we're both here…"
"Do call me Julie." She smiled at him, lips tremulous, lashes quivering. "And please ask any questions you like."
At first Julie refused to believe Rob was the thief. She defended him so vehemently that Karen wondered again whether their relationship was more intimate than she had believed.
Yet Julie's arguments were not those of an infatuated lover. "He might sneak things into his pockets-he's done it before-but he wouldn't risk his job. He's got a soft deal with me and he knows it, lots of perks on the side…"
"Like meeting wealthy women customers," said Mark.
Julie's lids veiled her eyes. "That's not my business. I tell you, Rob will turn up in a few days. He's gone off with one of his women, that's all."
"The locks weren't forced," Tony said. "Who else had keys?"
"Why, no one. Except Karen, of course…" Her indecisive tone and the quick, sidelong look she gave Karen virtually amounted to an accusation.
No one spoke. Cheryl was crimson with anger, but Tony's hand on her shoulder kept her quiet. After a moment Julie threw up her hands. "I'm so upset I don't know what I'm saying. I won't sleep a wink tonight, I just know I won't. I'm afraid to go home. What if someone is there, waiting-"
"I'll take you home if you like," Tony said.
"Oh, would you? That is so sweet of you. I'd appreciate it more than I can say. Good night, all. Karen, I'll see you tomorrow."
Karen cleared her throat. Even after Julie's latest outrage she felt some qualms about what she was planning to do, but Tony's casual comments still rankled. A helpless victim type, was she? Not if she could help it.
"You won't see me tomorrow. I quit, remember?"
"Quit? Oh, but Karen-"
"I quit three times."
"I thought you were joking. You didn't take those things I said seriously, did you? Karen, you know how I am!"
"You also fired me. Right after I quit the first time."
"Oh, Karen." Julie clung to her hands. "You can't leave me in the lurch. You can't abandon me when I need you."
"I'll try to help you out now and then, until you find someone else. But I can't come in tomorrow. I'm busy."
Julie looked as if she were choking on the words she had to hold back. It was Tony's presence that restrained her; taking the arm he had not offered, she drooped and clung her way out of the house.
Cheryl immediately opened the back door. "Place needs airing out. What a bitchy broad! I was afraid for a minute you were going to let her talk you into going back to work."
"I'm not quite as big a sucker as everyone seems to think," Karen said shortly.
"Hey, I didn't-"
"I know. I wasn't referring to you." But even Cheryl had a protective big-sister attitude at times. That could be charming-if one wasn't overly sensitive about one's passivity. Mark did not protest. Instead he said mildly, "She's the kind of friend immortalized in the classic saying about not needing enemies. Has she really been out of town the past week?"
"I have no reason to suppose she was lying," Karen said.
"Right. Well, Tony will find out."
"Is that why he was so gallant about offering to take her home?" Cheryl asked.
"It wasn't because he's wild about her company. She's not his type." Mark spoke abstractedly, as if his mind were on something else.
"Well, if it was her, she'll be too tired to try anything tonight," Cheryl said. "And if it was Rob, he's long gone. Looks as if we can get a good night's sleep, Karen."
"Is that a hint?" Mark asked, without moving.
"No, just an announcement. You two can sit here all night if you want. I'm going to bed."
Mark got to his feet. "What's on the schedule tomorrow?"
"Virginia," Cheryl said with a grin. "Not all of it, just as much of it as we can cover. Why, were you about to make us an offer?"
"Just curious. Drive carefully, hmmm?" He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and nodded casually at Karen. "Good night."
Karen stayed in the kitchen when Cheryl went to the door with Mark. He had made it clear he wasn't interested in her company. Why was he so determined to deny Tony's theory? Tony was the professional; and Tony felt sure the trouble was over. Rob and/or Julie were certainly the most likely suspects. It was almost as if Mark wanted her to be afraid.
OCCOQUAN, the town in Prince William County Cheryl had mentioned, was charming-small in size, fronting directly on the river, with a disproportionate number of craft and antique shops. According to Cheryl, its other advantages included restaurants with liquor licenses and lots of salads on the menu.
"That's important," she insisted, when Karen laughed at her. "I went antiquing a couple of times with some of those high-class Washington women-friends of Mark's, being nice to his poor relation-and I'm telling you, they consider the day a dead loss if they can't get their booze at lunchtime."
However, the only available building had no living quarters attached and the structure was in poor repair. They left their names with the realtor and inspected a few other properties in nearby towns before heading northward, following a route Cheryl had mapped out.
Shortly before noon they were in Leesburg, which Karen remembered as a quiet country town with a number of fine eighteenth-century houses. It also had several antique shops and restaurants that met Cheryl's specifications. However, Cheryl was pessimistic about their chance of finding anything in their price range.
"Loudon County is getting fashionable, which means expensive. There's a new shopping mall in Leesburg, one of those restoration projects like Harborplace and Faquier Square; that will drive prices up too."
They found one house that tempted both of them. Though the original structure was much older, turn-of-the-century additions had turned it into a late-Victorian gem with a wide veranda supported by white pillars and a profusion of gingerbread trim. The third floor had been converted into a separate suite with its own kitchen and bath, and there were two other bedrooms in an annex that overlooked a sunny, tree-shaded yard. The moment Karen saw the twin drawing rooms, one on either side of a wide, handsome hall, she knew they were the perfect ambiance for her gowns and linens. They were so like the mental image she had formed that she had an eerie sense of deja vu.