Operation London (13 page)

The over-friendly headmaster nearly fell off the chair, giving Ava an opening to tuck the scanner in her briefcase and feign an apology before things got further out of hand.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!  Did I hurt you?" she asked innocently.

"No, no
. Listen, what exactly do we have to sign?  I'd like to have this meeting over with as soon as possible," he growled, holding his red face angrily.

Ava brought over a stack of phony documents and contracts she'd run up that morning
. He read with obvious irritation, and Ava used his lack of attention to her benefit. Dropping her pen underneath the desk, she leaned over to pick it up and undid the bug from her arm, adhering it to the inside panel of the desk quickly and silently.

"Well, all signed, thank you for coming," he said, shaking her hand hurriedly
. He ushered her to the exit and waved goodbye curtly without so much as a hand grazing her backside.

Ava had to laugh to herself
. Just one slipped elbow and her harasser was jumping to be rid of her.

Back in the car Ava uploaded the documents from the scanner into her laptop and printed them out
. She also attached the tiny camera in her glasses to a feed that would deposit them into a prepared file on her hard drive, which she backed up with a disk. She couldn't be too careful.

With all the documents printed or loading, Ava took a minute to rethink her three-pronged attack to private investigating
. The first objective was to secure a client for a price that would allow her to hire help and that might build her reputation. That was what today had been about. She had proven both her ability to infiltrate a secure system and gather information undetected. Undetected was the key here. Ava realized that many of the people who hired her would not be pleased having their affairs aired on Channel 4 news because their investigator had felt it necessary to cause a scene. The second part was to establish her team and put them to an immediate test. If she could not work with the people she hired she might as well quit while she was ahead. The third part of the plan involved solving the case, and it was the most important to Ava. Whether or not she struck gold with her private work, she needed to know that Marie was OK. This had long since ceased to be a puzzle for Ava. It was a very serious situation involving a human life. As far as Ava was concerned, way too much time had been wasted already.

Ava checked her equipment in the back and sighed
. It looked like she had been part of a head on collision with an office supply store. Not exactly James Bond level discretion, but it would have to do for the time being.

Speaking of time, Ava realized that she had little of it
. She had to find Josephine Conway and see why the woman hadn't already demanded a search party be sent out for her child. Ava had decided to buzz past Wesley Conway on her quest for answers. She had a feeling in her gut that he wasn't going to be much help at all, and her gut was almost always right.

Flying down the road, Ava kept an eye out for Jackson and his crew while she drank in the lush scenery the wealthy afforded her
. Mansions, grazing animals, manicured lawns in the impossible heat; it was all right there in its grand affluence. This was the life Marie was a part of; what had made her leave it?

Ava sighted the green and white rambling farmhouse long before she reached it
. The house was, by anyone's estimation, enormous. Ava was relying on luck when she guessed that Josephine Conway was home and without her husband, and she was completely banking on guts as she prepared to barge into the woman's home and propose that she should be hired.

Getting out of the car, Ava sucked in her breath
. She wished she had on something more private eye oriented, sleeker or more impressive. Ava would never hire an investigator wearing a beige suit and sensible heels. She just hoped Josephine wasn't as prejudiced as she was about wardrobe and that her research would be the proof of the pudding.

Ava rang the bell and waited, peering in through the small stained glass window on one side of the door
. A trim, neat woman with a golden bob came to the door. When it opened, Ava found herself looking into a more worried, weathered version of Marie Deltore’s face.

"Hello
. I'm Ava London. I'm here to see Josephine Conway," Ava said, extending her hand in friendly greeting.

The woman shook it warily
. "TV reporter," she guessed with distaste evident.

"No
. I'm actually a private investigator. I think I have some information about your daughter that you might find interesting."

The woman looked at her nervously, chewed on the edge of an already raw fingernail, and finally decided to let her in.

Ava was ushered to a sitting room that was creamy and elegant, a satisfying combination of fresh new tones and tried and true antiques. The woman brought out a tray of iced tea and sat across from Ava, looking at her sharply.

"What do you know about my daughter?" she asked, her eyes boring into Ava like twin lasers
. It was as if the woman was trying to read deep into Ava's soul.

"I know that she is missing and no one in her very rich family has thought to put out a reward or head up a search party."  Screw decorum
. She had some here to say what needed to be said in plain English. There was no backing down now.

Josephine rose shakily
. "If you have come here simply to make uninformed accusations then I will see you to the door," she said firmly, her eyes spitting fire.

"Then I will leave you with these," Ava said, placing the glasses in Josephine's
trembling hands. She picked up her briefcase and made it as far as the door before she heard a desperate whisper.

"Wait!"

Until that moment Ava had not been completely sure that the glasses she held were Marie's. But Josephine obviously knew that they belonged to her daughter, and she would have to know how much her daughter needed them just to function.

"Where did you find these?" Josephine begged, losing her facade of polite grace
. Tears began to build up and spill over. "Can you tell me where my baby is?"

Ava did not claim to have any idea what it was like to be a mother
. But her heart wrenched at the simple plea. This was a woman who was hurting deeply. Which made Ava's main question all the more pressing. Why had no one taken action to find Marie?

"No, Josephine
. I can't tell you where Marie is. But I've done a fair amount of research and I have a feeling that I will be able to tell you before anyone else can. If you want me to help you, I'm going to need your full cooperation," Ava said, passing over a cream business card, one of several she had printed out that morning.

"London Private Investigating," Josephine read aloud
. She took only a moment before looking Ava square in the eye. "I'll do it. I'll help you in any way I can."

"What stopped you and your husband from looking for Marie sooner?" Ava asked gently
. She and Josephine had sat down once again, and this time her host's interaction level was way up. This was a woman who was serious about seeing her child again.

"Wesley and Marie never did take to one another
. She's from my first marriage, you see. When I met Wesley, he wanted something new, something fresh. I guess she just didn't fit into his equation. I mean, he provided for her, but it always seemed like he was trying to push her away. Camps, boarding schools, expensive lessons.......nothing near us, nothing close to home."  Josephine paused, trying to get her voice under control before she continued. "And I just let it happen. I so wanted her to have the best education and the best material life that I let him get away with ripping her apart emotionally," she sobbed.

Ava leaned over and put a hand on the woman's shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly.

"She just became so distant," Josephine continued with a wan smile. "She was back home, which was good, but she was also full of hate. Which just ripped apart everything Wesley and my other children had worked so hard to build up. I think everyone resented the whole situation."  She shook her head, frustrated and angry. "I could have done something sooner. When she ran off, Wesley convinced me that it was just a ploy to get us to give in to her erratic behavior. So we never really searched. And then more time passed…Wesley is so stubborn sometimes!"

"Will your husband support our efforts?" Ava asked
. She had to know every adversary she was going to come up against.

"No, I don't think he would agree to this
. But I've always had my own money and I can damn well make up my mind without asking Wesley Conway's permission," she insisted.

Ava smiled at her show of bravado
. She liked it.

"I guess you'll want to look through some of Marie's things
. As for price, I think it would be fair if I paid you what I pay my top law consultant. And if you find Marie, I'll double it," Josephine said, taking out a small notepad. She wrote down a number and Ava tried to make sure her jaw didn't swing down. That was more than enough to get started.

"That would be fair
. I'm pleased to be working with you," Ava said decidedly. The women shook hands, each relieved to start the relationship up.

An hour later Ava was cruising towards her house with a pile of Marie's journals, notebooks and pictures next to her
. Luckily, Marie kept an extensive personal record. Hopefully it would lead Ava to her.

Pulling into her house, she showered and changed, checking her answering machine as she toweled her hair.

There was a message from Miguel. He sounded very sexy, and for the first time all day, Ava stopped thinking about work and got all entangled in thoughts of the gorgeous bronzed god she was sort of dating. He wanted to spend some time together, which was great.

Except that she had already set up a meeting with Maggie and Cormac
. And she had a mission that she needed them to accomplish that night.

There was a tiny window of time in between the two
. Ava called Miguel, hoping he might agree to a drink before she had to jet.

"Hello, Miguel
. It's Ava," she said at his sultry greeting.

"I know your voice already
. I'm glad you liked the flowers," he said silkily, his voice making the skin along her neck tingle with blush.

"Yes
. I did. Thank you. Again," she said haltingly. In her mind she groaned at her ridiculous behavior around him.

"Are you busy tonight?  I'd love to see you again," he said simply
.

She adored his honesty
. He wasn't afraid to tell her that she excited him, that he was thinking about her. It was incredibly sexy.

"I'd love to
. I have to meet with some people in about an hour, and it should take about an hour, but then I have three or four before I have to get back and get some work done," she said.

"You're becoming a very busy woman
. What work are you doing, since we've discovered the truth about your computer analysis?"  he asked, and Ava floundered for an answer.

"I am going to teach a dancing class at Piper's a few times a week
. And I really have to brush up on my cha cha." 

He could smell that she was lying.

"Great, I'll come over and help you out," he said, not missing a beat.

"No!  I mean not tonight. It's important that I have my lesson ready and I can't afford any distractions," she said firmly.

In her mind's eye she could see his sensuous mouth curving into a smile. She heard him take a deep breath into the phone.

"OK, OK, I'll be a gentleman tonight
. Can I come and watch those lessons?  I might need a few myself," he added.

"Feel free to come check them out
. Actually, why don't you volunteer to dance with the women?  Bring Jackson along. I said women only, you know, so no one would feel intimidated, but I'll need some men to show off the more complicated couple moves," she said. He'd learn soon enough that Lucia Espino was in her class, there was no point in trying to hide it from him.

"Great, I'll be there
. And I'll invite Jackson along. So, I'll see you around eight?"

"At Piper's."

"OK, dulce. Good-bye," he murmured, his voice so masculine and full of promise that she felt light headed as she said good-bye.

Stuffing a change of clothes for later in her bag, she put on a tight red dress with
delicate black roses embroidered along the hem. A pair of red espadrilles completed the outfit. Finally Ava London had found a man she was more than happy to dress up for.

At Piper's, Ava made her way over to the boxing ring, where Cormac was just finishing a lesson
. He gave one last technique for his balding, middle-aged student to practice before jumping down from the ring.

"Ava London, we meet again," he said cheerfully, his colorful Scottish brogue lilting in her ears.

"Cormac Mac Gormaine. I heard you're looking for something a little more exciting," she said staring into his stormy blue eyes. He wiped some sweat off of his neck with a small towel and knelt down to look at her face on. A good minute of staring and he nodded.