Pecked to Death (13 page)

“That does clarify things a bit,” Sadie said. “But I don’t know where to go from here.”

“I think it’s obvious who you need to talk to next,” Hal said.

“Abe Kaplan?” Sadie suggested.

“Your father,” Hal said.

She sat back, defeated. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“A woman with daddy issues is prime pickings for a predator, and she’s sitting on my couch: this is my lucky day.”

Sadie poked him with her foot. “I may have daddy issues, but I’m nobody’s prey.”
Not anymore,
she added in a mental aside. “And I do think I need to speak with Abe Kaplan to find out what he and Abby talked about. And I want to have another stab at the doctor. I can’t help but feel like he was hiding something. That feels amazing,” she added as he plucked off her shoe and began massaging her foot.

“Did you know there are over seven thousand nerve endings in the foot?” Hal asked.

“Tell me more, doctor, but don’t stop what you’re doing,” she insisted.

“When I was in college, I took a class in reflexology. Thought it would impress the ladies.”

“Did it work?” Sadie asked. She slipped down until she was draped indelicately over the couch. She couldn’t help it; she felt boneless.

“You tell me,” he said.

The front door opened and Luke and his girlfriend stumbled in.

“Well, this is awkward,” Hal said, but he didn’t drop Sadie’s foot.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you had someone here,” Luke said. He looked back and forth between Sadie and Hal with blatant disapproval.

“Maybe it’s time to start utilizing the old sock-on-the-door trick, although it seems like sort of a moot point since you moved out a few days ago,” Hal said.

“Sorry,” Luke repeated. “I was just picking up more stuff, and I came in on autopilot without knocking.” His gaze rested on Sadie’s feet in Hal’s lap and he frowned.

“Is giant cheeken and Hal,” Vaslilssa said.

“Is giant Russian and Luke,” Sadie said.

“Sadie,” Luke snapped.

“What? I thought we were stating the obvious. Is that not what we’re doing?”

“Can I keep her?” Hal asked. He gave Sadie’s big toe a pinch.

“Wait a few years before you decide—you might want to send her back,” Luke said.

“You could trade me in for a foreign model,” Sadie said. “I hear it’s all the rage now.”

“This is better than television,” Hal said.

“Television?” Vaslilssa piped up. “Is cable now?” She turned expectantly toward the television.

“No, no cable, and we’re not staying,” Luke said. Vaslilssa gave him a vague look and shook her head. “No cable,” he repeated louder, pointing toward the door. “Leaving.”

Everyone turned toward Sadie when she pulled out her phone and took a picture. “I want to remember this moment forever,” she explained.

“I love you guys,” Hal said. “Seriously, sit down and stay to keep things interesting.”

“We’re leaving,” Luke said. He took Vaslilssa’s hand and tugged her toward the door.

“Cable,” Sadie called.

“Is cable now?” Vaslilssa said, turning hopefully toward the television once more.

Luke used both hands to tug her toward the door and then slammed it shut when they were on the other side.

“That woman is not a scientist,” Sadie declared.

“It’s true; I’ve seen her degree, and I’ve seen her working in the lab. Apparently when words aren’t involved, she’s a whole different person,” Hal said.

“Are they happy?”

“With Luke, who can tell? He’s notoriously bad at picking women. Except…”

“Except for the one in college, the one who got away,” Sadie said.

“Actually, I was going to say except for you. What happened there?”

“We were never together, not like that anyway.”

“Really? Because I’m getting the exes vibe from both of you.”

“No, never dated. Just friends. Neighbors. He’s like a brother to me. Well, more like a cousin. A distant cousin. Okay, not related at all, but still just friends.”

“I’m totally convinced,” Hal said. “So what’s next in our investigation?”

“Our?”

“I made the organizational flow chart; that gives me part ownership in the quest, the Sancho to your Don Quixote, if you will.”

“I guess tomorrow I’ll talk to Abe Kaplan and Doc Jones again.”

“What about the man who shares half your DNA?” he asked.

“Know your place, Sancho. I’ll talk to Gideon as a last resort, and not before.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Hal said, and then he yawned.

“I should go so you can get some sleep,” Sadie said.

“Don’t be silly. I have a good five or six minutes before I fall into a deep REM cycle.” He scrubbed his hand over his face, and she stood.

“Thanks for tonight. Despite the bad food and Russian invasion, I had fun.”

“It was my pleasure, and I’m being serious for once. This may surprise you, but I don’t get much chance for social interaction.”

“Too bad my time here is almost at an end, or we could do it again sometime.”

“Do you really think you’ll be leaving soon?” he asked.

“Definitely. Too many old ghosts lurking, if you know what I mean.”

“A more annoying man might point out that running from the pain of your past never works.”

“Maybe whoever said that wasn’t running far or fast enough. With Abby gone, there’s no reason for me to stay here.”

“Not even Luke, your family-but-don’t-call-him-brother friend?”

“Especially not Luke,” she said. “Believe me when I tell you that the farther I am, the better Luke’s life will be.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“You haven’t noticed how angry and on edge he is when I’m around?” she asked.

“I love Luke; he’s like a brother to me, so don’t take this the wrong way when I say he’s the human equivalent of white toast. Seeing him with you has been a revelation. Turns out even the most boring people are capable of feeling passion. I hate to see that slip away for him.”

“You’re a nice man, Hal, but then Luke has always had good taste in best friends.” She patted his chest and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Thanks for the worst supper I’ve had since college.”

“Do me a favor and tell the others about what you’ve seen and done here tonight.”

“What others?”

“The other beautiful women I imagine you’re friends with. You guys do have giant pillow fights, right? Don’t ruin this for me.”

“Oh, right, but I prefer to call it the club. Less conspicuous that way, and we can keep our pillow fight meetings secret. I’ll make sure and spread your name at the club.”

“Good deal,” Hal said. He yawned again, but he still walked Sadie to her car and remained standing in the driveway as she drove away.

Sadie’s mind was filled with the list she and Hal had made. Tomorrow she would track down Abe Kaplan, even if she had to go to his accounting office. After thinking it over, she was convinced that he was the reason Abby made the visit to the Kaplan household, and not to have her fortune read. Abe was an accountant, and by all reports Abby was concerned about her finances.

After she finished with Abe, she would talk to Doc Jones. He was hiding something. Maybe it was something as simple as Abby’s health issues. Sadie would have to make him see that whatever it was wasn’t helping Abby’s image. She needed him to trust her, but the task wouldn’t be easy. She had the feeling that the good doctor saw her as nothing more than a piece of blond fluff.

As one waking from a dream, Sadie pulled herself out of her deep thoughts enough to realize that a car was hard on her tail, their lights blaring in the rearview mirror. She flipped the mirror toward the ceiling to avoid the harsh glare and slowed down so whoever it was could go around. They didn’t. She sped up. So did they. She reached for her phone, indecisive about who to dial. She couldn’t go home because that would lead whoever was following her there. She decided to drive to the police station.

As if the person tailing her heard her thoughts, he finally sped up and passed. Sadie squinted to look at the driver, but saw nothing other than a dark SUV. Shaking her head, she deposited her phone back in her purse. Growing up as a cop’s daughter had made her paranoid. Of course no one was following her. Someone had a road rage problem.

She pulled into her father’s driveway, hoping against hope that he had already turned in for the night or was too engrossed in a sporting event on television to resume their earlier argument. By this point, she couldn’t remember what the argument had been about. But it was a safe bet that they had had one and that he would be spoiling to pick it up again. There were no sounds as she let herself inside, and she breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she finally caught a break and could go straight to her room. Still, she tiptoed down the hall, just in case her father was in his room but not asleep. She stepped into her room, turned on the light, and lifted the hem of her shirt in order to pull it over her head. That was when she realized two things. The first was that she had forgotten to draw the shade on the window. Rolling her eyes at her almost-exhibitionism, she stepped toward the window and froze. Then realization number two sank in: someone was watching her through the window.

She saw him as clearly as if he was in the room with her, a man dressed in black and leering like any common peeper. For a split second, she was paralyzed with fear and shock, but that was quickly followed by anger and an ear-piercing scream.

“Dad, there’s someone outside my window!” Sadie yelled loudly enough to wake the neighbors.

She heard Gideon come charging out of his room. He didn’t stop to check in with her, instead, he darted outside. The one advantage of having a cop for a father was that she always felt safe. Gideon might not be the world’s best dad, but he was a super cop. Sadie pressed her face to the window and watched the ensuing chase. The man tried to run, but didn’t get far. Gideon was keeping himself in tip-top shape, apparently, because he ran the man down, tackled him, and then yanked him back up and pushed him toward the house with one hand while the other tucked his gun back in his belt and pulled out his phone.

By the time he reached the porch, he had called a cruiser to pick up the peeping tom, and was already questioning his suspect.

“Sadie,” he called, unnecessarily because Sadie was already standing in the living room, eyes wide, hands clenched into tense fists. “You know this guy?” he asked.

“No, how would I know him?”

“He said he knows you,” Gideon said.

Sadie came closer and took a better look. The man was a stranger. “No, I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

“I may have exaggerated a little. I meant that I knew of her. Look, I’m just after the story here, all right? You have no right to hold me like this, and I plan to call my lawyer,” the man said. He tried and failed to wrench out of Gideon’s grasp.

“You were trespassing on private property and peeping through my daughter’s window. If you would like me to quote Virginia’s Revised Code so that you know exactly which laws you just broke, then I would be happy to.”

The man’s demeanor changed from indignant to frightened. “Look, man, I wasn’t trying to peep or anything. I was staking out the house so I could get an interview first thing. I planned to sleep in my car across the street and try to get an interview when she came out.”

“An interview? With me? Why?” Sadie asked, although she had an idea and her heart began to thrum in nervous anticipation.

“Because you’re all anyone is talking about. The video of your butt-flap incident is the most downloaded video in the nation; it surpassed the sneezing panda. Everyone wants to know who you are and what you’re doing now, everyone wants an interview. But it’s like you fell off the face of the earth, and then this picture came across the wire of you in a chicken suit. People are dying to know the inside story. I wanted to be the first to get the scoop. So could I interview you? This would mean a lot for my career.” He gave her a puppy dog look, which wasn’t easy to do with his hands still twisted behind his back.

“No,” she said. Shaking her head, she took a step back. “Go away. I don’t want to do any interviews.” How had her private humiliation become public fodder? Rick would see her in the chicken suit, and so would her ex-husband. Everyone would know how far she had fallen and how low she had been forced to sink. “Go away,” she repeated, putting her hands over her ears.

As serendipity would have it, a uniformed cop showed up just then. He let himself inside, and Gideon handed over his prisoner. “You want to press charges, sir?” the cop asked with the deference of one talking to his boss, even though Gideon had been retired for three years.

“I’ll think about it,” Gideon said.

“Wait,” the guy sputtered. “I’m with the media. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“A night in jail will help you suffer for your art,” Gideon said. He gave an upward nod to the officer who cuffed the man and led him away, still protesting. When they were gone, Gideon turned to look at Sadie who was staring blankly at the spot the man had just occupied. “You okay?”

She nodded. Physically, she was fine. Even the peeper hadn’t rattled her too much. Instead her emotions were nearing a meltdown because of what she had just learned. The world was searching for her. Sooner or later, they would find her in her hometown, hiding out in a giant chicken.

“Come into the kitchen; we need to talk,” Gideon said.

Sadie followed him, resigned and a little bit relieved. Hal was right; she should have had this talk with him about Abby when she first learned of their fight. Maybe Gideon would be able to fill in the blanks and help her figure out what had gone on with Abby during her last days.

They sat. He placed his hands on the table and gave her a solemn look. “How could you not tell me you were pregnant?”

Sadie sighed, too weary for righteous indignation. “Dad, just once when someone tells you a rumor about me, could you not believe it? Think of it as a novelty, like trying sushi.”

“Don’t joke about this, Sadie. Are you pregnant or not?”

“Not!” She smacked her palms on the table and stood. “I am not pregnant, Dad. I was once, a long time ago, but you’ll be happy to know I was married first, so my morality remains intact. And I lost the baby, so you have no embarrassing grandchildren to worry about.” He flinched, but she didn’t back down. “I am not a kid, I am not stupid, I am not a bad person, and I am definitely not pregnant. So, in the future when one of our crazy neighbors tells you something about me, I would appreciate it if you did me the courtesy of giving me the benefit of the doubt before you believe it. Goodnight.”

“Sadie,” he called, but she didn’t stay to listen to whatever he might have said. Instead she blockaded herself in her room. She undressed with the light off, feeling more alone and insecure than she had in a long, long time.

In the morning, things felt better. Sadie was an optimist by nature. A night of sleep had a way of giving her a fresh new attitude each day. She brushed off the worries of the previous night as one shooing away a swarm of gnats. So people wanted to know about her. Big deal. There was no such thing as bad publicity. Isn’t that what everyone said? She would no doubt be able to spin her notoriety into her next job. Maybe she would be picked up by one of the big markets. Being a weather girl for a nationally-recognized station would be a dream come true, and it would also be lucrative. All she had to do was avoid detection for the remainder of her stay here, and then she could reemerge and spin the story the way she wanted. But now the pressure was on before another reporter tracked her down for an interview. She had to finish what she was doing here and make her escape before another latter day Woodward or Bernstein followed her to Virginia.

Her good cheer remained through breakfast because Gideon was absent. She ate quickly so she could try and catch Abe Kaplan before he left for work. She brushed her teeth, applied her lip gloss, flung open the door, and ran smack into Luke’s solid form.

He grabbed her biceps to keep her from falling over. “How could you not tell me you were pregnant?” was his greeting.

Sadie looked around for something large and heavy to throw at his head. She shook free of his grasp so she would be free to punch him if the need arose, but then she changed her mind and decided to try another track. She burst into tears and stumbled forward, pressing her face to his chest. “I was too embarrassed,” she said.

He encircled her with his arms and awkwardly patted her back. “Sadie, c’mon, this is me. We’ve had our differences, but you can tell me anything. Especially something so monumental.”

She nodded and sniffled. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I should have confessed immediately.” He missed the sarcasm through her tears.

“It’s okay. Who’s the dad?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “It was practically an immaculate conception.”

“So he’s not going to be involved?”

She shook her head, taking care to wipe her nose on his shirt. “No, and I really don’t want to raise this baby alone, Luke. I want my baby to have a dad, a last name, and everything that goes with it.” She did a mental countdown as she heard the wheels clicking in his head.

“I guess we could get married.” He said it in the same tone that one might use to commit to a visit to the guillotine.

Sadie shoved away from him and punched his gut. “Luke, you dope. First of all, you never commit to marriage with a woman who says she’s pregnant until you verify it through a reputable doctor. Second, didn’t I make you promise never to marry for anything less than true love? What are you thinking? You can’t offer yourself on the sacrificial altar like the world’s dumbest lamb. Use your brain.”

His brain was still working slowly because he frowned at her and tipped his head to the side. “Wait, you mean you’re not actually pregnant?”

“Not even halfway,” Sadie said.

His look changed from dismay to anger. “Sadie! That was a horrible thing to do. How could you manipulate me like that?”

“Because you let me. Wise up because I’m not the only woman in the world who uses tears to get her way, Luke. You are way too soft-hearted to be functioning in modern society. You need to develop a healthier sense of cynicism. Oh, and thanks for so easily believing the rumor. That’s two for two now.”

“Maybe if you didn’t act like every man on the planet was placed here to make your life more comfortable, then I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said.

“And you don’t think men look at me like I’m a big, shiny trophy they want to take home and place on their shelf? Do you think any man has ever appreciated me for my mind? No, men look at me, and they see an object. Why shouldn’t I return the favor? I’m simply using them before they use me. Believe me, Luke, I learned early and hard that no one was going to take care of me but me. So maybe you think I’m a hard-hearted user, but it’s better than being a soft-hearted doormat.”

“Like me,” he said.

“I didn’t say that, but I do worry about you. I’m glad you have Hal to look out for you.”

“Yeah, I saw last night how glad you are that I have Hal,” he said.

Her jaw dropped. “You are jealous,” she said.

“No, I’m not. I’m worried for Hal, okay? He has no idea what he’s getting in you.”