I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You heard what Maddie said. Josh has an investigator. He’ll look at everything.”
“One investigator,” Charlotte said. “How many clients does that office have?”
I closed my eyes for a moment. It didn’t matter how many deep breaths I took; I still felt frustrated.
“I know that you all want to help Maddie,” I said. “But you’re not detectives. You don’t have the skills to do this.”
“But we do,” Rose said. There was a determined gleam in her eyes that I knew was trouble. “Together we have more expertise that any retired police officer.” She stuck out her chin and stared defiantly at me. Charlotte folded her arms. Liz leaned against the back of the oversize tub chair and a small smile played on her lips. Avery nodded, and even Elvis got into the act, resting one black paw on Rose’s leg.
I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at them. “Okay, explain this expertise to me,” I said.
Rose pointed at Charlotte. “Charlotte was a school principal and I was a teacher. Between the two of us we’ve heard every excuse and made-up story there is, and we can see through all of them.” She looked at Liz. “Liz ran the Emmerson Foundation for years. She can follow the money trail.”
Avery raised her hand then. “And I’m a master at underhanded and sneaky.” She said the words with a certain amount of pride. “I can spot a fake a mile away.” She pulled herself up a little straighter. “And, by the way, when that Arthur Fenety guy came in here last week I said he was off, and you all said I was rude.”
Liz gave her head a tiny shake. “Next time we’ll pay more attention to your judgment.”
Avery inclined her head in her grandmother’s direction like she was royalty. “Thank you, Nonna,” she said. She glanced at Rose, who gave her an encouraging smile.
They’d practiced this, I realized. I sighed and pulled a hand over the back of my neck.
“We have life experience, Sarah,” Rose said.
They were going to do this whether I liked it or not. And whether Nick liked it or not. Maybe I could at least keep them out of trouble. I seemed to be the only responsible adult in the room.
“There’s no way I can talk you out of this, is there?” I said.
Liz and Avery shook their heads.
“No,” Charlotte said.
Elvis chimed in with a loud meow while Rose watched my face.
I sighed. “Just don’t do anything illegal,” I warned. “There isn’t enough in petty cash to bail anyone out.”
Rose beamed at me. She got to her feet and wrapped me in a hug. “You are the dearest, dearest girl,” she said.
“I’m the craziest girl,” I said.
She pulled back and smiled. “I think you should tell Nicolas. He’ll just try to give his mother orders and you know how that will turn out.”
“In other words, you’re sticking me with the job no one else wants.”
Rose put a hand to her chest and looked offended. I knew it was an act. “Of course not,” she said. “It’s just that I think Nicolas will respond a lot better to your charm than he would, say, to mine.”
I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad you use your powers for the good guys and not for the evil empire,” I said.
We closed the shop, and Liz gave everyone a drive home. Actually, Avery drove, sitting exaggeratedly upright with her hands at ten and two on the steering wheel as she pulled out of the parking lot, her latest act of rebellion over her grandmother’s comments about her driving.
I collected Elvis and we headed home. The first thing I did was change into the gray sweatpants I used for running and a long-sleeved orange T-shirt so I was easy to see.
“Want to come running?” I said to the cat as I tied my shoes. He yawned, flopped to the floor and rolled onto his back. “So not funny,” I said.
I stretched and turned south so I could run around the water tower. I hoped the running would help me figure out how I was going to explain to Nick that I hadn’t exactly talked his mother out of nosing around in Arthur Fenety’s murder.
I took a shower when I got back, pulled on jeans and a sweater and sat down to make the promised phone call to my grandmother. I could hear the relief in her voice when I told her Maddie was out on bail and staying with Charlotte. After I talked to Gram I tried my mom and dad but the call went to voice mail. The same thing happened when I tried my brother, Liam. I knew Jess was on a date, although I couldn’t remember who with. Elvis was watching Jeopardy! I was restless, wired, with no one to talk to, and when I looked in the refrigerator I remembered that I still hadn’t gotten to the grocery store. Maybe I should take Rose up on her offer of cooking lessons, I thought. I was getting tired of scrambled eggs and toast. I grabbed my jacket and purse. “I’m going out,” I called. I felt a little silly letting a cat know I was leaving. Then I heard an answering meow and it didn’t seem quite so ridiculous.
I was hungry, thinking more about Sam’s chili over a bowl of rice than I was paying attention to where I was walking, which was probably why I turned the corner and walked smack into Nick Elliot.
Chapter 12
Both of my hands landed on Nick’s broad chest. “Are you okay?” he asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” I realized I still had my hands on his chest. I dropped them and took a step backward, almost tripping over a crack in the sidewalk. I reached out, just out of reflex, grabbing his arm.
“I’ve got you,” Nick said, tightening his grip on my shoulder.
I caught my balance, giving him a sheepish smile. I let go of his arm, but I couldn’t help noticing the bulge of muscle under the sleeve of his jacket.
“Thinking deep thoughts?” Nick asked, dropping his hand from my shoulder.
“Only if you consider daydreaming about a bowl of Sam’s chili to be thinking deep thoughts,” I said, brushing a stray strand of hair off my cheek.
He frowned. “So, you haven’t had supper yet?”
I shook my head. “I went for a run. You know, something that you couldn’t do because you were so busy.”
“Oh yes, I was busy,” he said solemnly. “Very, very busy.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. He reminded me of a teenage Nick.
“I haven’t eaten, either,” he said with an easy smile. “Have supper with me. We said we were going to have dinner and catch up. I’m assuming you weren’t going to just eat and run.” He waggled his eyebrows at me when he said run.
“You are so, so not funny,” I said shaking my head. “So, I’m going to take pity on you and have supper with you.”
We fell into step and walked maybe ten feet before I stopped. Nick got a couple of steps ahead of me before he noticed I wasn’t beside him.
He turned to look at me. “Sarah, is something wrong?”
“I couldn’t talk them out of it.”
It took a second for what I meant to register. He looked skyward for a second, shaking his head. Then he looked at me. “What happened to your powers of persuasion?”
“Rose’s logic,” I said.
“Which is?”
I stuffed my hands in my pockets and shifted from one foot to the other. “That their combined life experience makes them better at investigating Arthur Fenety’s murder than anyone else.”
Nick put both hands behind his head, lacing his fingers together. “They’ve lost their minds,” he said. “All three of them—my mother, Rose and even Liz. They have some kind of age-related cognitive impairment.”
“No, they don’t,” I said. “They’re trying to help a friend. They haven’t gone senile.”
“My mother and her friends seem to think they’re some kind of geriatric version of Nancy Drew.” He exhaled loudly. “How exactly is their life experience going to help them investigate a murder? That’s a job for the police.”