There didn't seem to be much to know. The unoriginally-named Main Street was lined with small shops sporting window boxes and Victorian facades. There was a library, an ice cream parlor, and the pizza place they'd ordered from the night before. Some of the side streets were still paved with brick, which made for a bumpy ride but not much interest. On the outskirts of town was a small grocery, the post office, and a couple of churches. About a block away from that was a strip of funky clothing stores and an honest-to-goodness bar. There was also a coffee shop.
"This much be where the college kids hang out," Adela told Nick. That piqued his interest, and he leaned toward the window to look out. Sure enough, a pretty little college campus, like something out of a postcard, sprang up around them as they drove. The sun had come out, and there were students everywhere.
"Did you like it here?" Nick asked suddenly. "When you were here before?" Adela blinked. The question caught her off-guard, and brought back some memories she would rather not have faced. But Nick talked rarely, so when he did, she always made sure to respond.
"Not really," she admitted, "but it was a long time ago. Looking back, the reason I wasn't happy may have been my own fault. And there were things I liked. Anyway, we needed a place to make a fresh start. If we hate it here, we can leave. But I'd like to give it a chance, okay?"
"How long do we have to stay for?"
Adela hadn't really thought about it. She hadn't thought much beyond getting them the hell away from where Nick's father had been murdered and she had become, albeit briefly, a suspect in the crime. Auberville had seemed far enough away, and just familiar enough not to be intimidating. "I don't know. My lease is for a year, but we could probably sublet this summer if we had to. Does that sound all right?"
Adela couldn't remember her own mother ever consulting her on anything. But she was far away now. Adela realized that it was just the two of them. Together they could order their lives however they wanted. Within reason, of course…she still had to make sure she could pay the rent, and he had to go to school. But otherwise…it was all up to them.
Nick smiled, for the first time in what seemed like years. "Okay."
"Who knows," Adela said recklessly, "maybe we'll even get a dog."
By the time all the errands were finished, it was time to eat dinner. Then Adela promised Nick he could play video games for an hour while she was out. She had decided just to drop by unannounced. Jack probably wouldn't like it, but Adela wanted to see what she could learn from his reaction.
When she drove past his apartment building, however, she didn't stop. Parked right in front was the same car she'd seen Ed Rothermund get out of the day before.
Clearly, the woman behind the wheel was a connection between Rothermund and Jack…a connection he hadn't seen fit to mention. It was, furthermore, a connection Rothermund might not even know about. Adela could think of several reasons for this, but until she knew who the woman was, it was pointless to speculate. She drove home and sent an e-mail to her friend who was running down the license plate number.
The next morning she got a response. The car was registered to a Mariah Davis…and an Internet search turned up the fact that Mariah Davis had been, until recently, a member of Dave Gromsky's staff. So why was Dave Gromsky's former secretary driving around his cousin–the cousin likely to be charged in his death, if anyone was? And why was this same woman meeting with the man who had set up the fatal encounter? Did this have anything to do with the lost painting? Ed Rothermund had told her that 'someone' had told him that the painting was still in Gromsky's possession. Adela now thought she knew who that 'someone' was. What she didn't know was why.
Adela sent Nick off to school on the bus. She only had a little while before her own job started. The high school science teacher was due to go on maternity leave "any day now," and then Adela would have to take over her class. In fact, she had a meeting with the teacher this afternoon. She decided to spend her morning talking to Ed Rothermund.
Judging from the smile with which he greeted her, he had decided she was a friend. Adela hoped that he still felt that way after she was done talking to him. She came inside at his invitation and sat down at his kitchen table.
"Who's Mariah Davis?" She asked as he was spooning coffee into the filter. He stiffened.
"Who?"
"Cut the crap, Ed. You know who she is. I do, too, actually, I just need to know how she knows you. Is she the one who told you Dave still had the painting?"
Ed's shoulders slumped. He pushed the button on the coffee maker and sat down. "Yes. She called me about a month ago. She knew the whole story. Contacting your friend Jack was her idea."
"Any idea why?"
"She said she thought what he had done was terrible. She wanted to put it right, if she could." He looked at her through his eyelashes, as if gauging whether or not she believed him. She didn't.
"So she decided to trick her boss into giving you that painting out of some sense of civic duty? Some woman you'd never heard of approached you out of the blue because she had an urge to help a stranger? That story's not going to help you with the police."
"She was mad at Dave." Ed said reluctantly. "They had an affair, but he broke it off because he wanted to stay with his wife. She said it was just to help him in his campaign, but I don't know. I don't know anything, really, but she said it would be good revenge if Dave was scared into giving me back my painting."
That sounded only slightly less ridiculous, but Adela believed him. Now she just needed to find out how Jack fit into this plan. Was he just part of Mariah's scheme? Or was there something more going on? Share this: Email StumbleUpon Digg Reddit
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