The Private Eye (18 page)

Maggie heard Josh groan on the other side of the door.
In spite of her bold words to him a moment earlier, she felt herself blushing.
She tried to plaster a nonchalant smile on her face.

“Good morning, Odessa. I slept quite well, thank you.”
The thing to do, Maggie decided, was to act as if nothing out of the ordinary
was occurring. “How about you?”

“I got quite chilled in the middle of the night. The
Colonel must have set the thermostat too low. But it's warm and cozy this
morning, isn't it? And how is Josh today?”

“Josh,” said Josh, emerging from the bedroom with a
grimly determined expression, “is just fine this morning.”

Odessa started to say something else but before she
could speak, Shirley's door opened. “Hi, everyone,” Shirley pushed her
rhinestone-studded glasses firmly onto her nose. She beamed at Maggie and Josh.
“So you two have decided to take the big step, eh? Congratulations. Knew it was
just a matter of time. We'll have to have an engagement party, won't we,
Odessa?”

“Engagement party?” Maggie felt her stomach turn over.
Behind her she was aware of Josh lounging in the doorway.

“Of course,” Odessa responded. “I'm sure we have some
champagne left down in the basement.”

She turned as the Colonel appeared from his bedroom.

“Don't we have some champagne left. Colonel?”

“I expect we do. What are we celebrating?” The Colonel
looked down the length of the hall and saw Maggie silhouetted in Josh's bedroom
doorway. He gave a great start of surprise. “Ah. I think I get the picture now.
I take it we have something important to announce here?”

“Don't they make a darling couple?” Shirley asked with
a fond look. “Reminds me of my early days with Ricky,”

“You know, dear,” Odessa said lightly to Maggie, “I
hate to say I told you so, but I did tell you that I thought you and Josh were
made for each other. Didn't I say that, Colonel?”

The Colonel nodded, his eyes on Josh. “I believe you
did say that, my dear.”

Odessa smiled again. “And here they are engaged
already. I think it's just lovely.”

Maggie's initial embarrassment was giving way to a
sense of panic. She realized she'd been waiting for Josh to take control of the
situation, but he was making no move to do so. A quick sidelong glance out of
the corner of her eye revealed that he was just hanging out there in the
doorway, one shoulder propped against the wall, his arms folded across his
chest. She wanted to yell at him, order him to stop the teasing before it got
out of hand. But evidently he wasn't going to do a dam thing.

“All right,” Maggie said, trying for an indulgent
little laugh. “You've all had your fun. I think this has gone far enough. No
more jokes, all right? It's too early in the morning for this kind of humor.”

“Who's joking?” Shirley asked with perfect innocence.
“We're all happy for you, honey. It's time you found yourself a real man.
Nothing against that nice Clay O'Connor, mind you, but anyone could tell he
wasn't for you.”

The Colonel gave Josh a steely look. “Set a date yet?”

“No,” replied Josh in an astonishingly calm voice. “But
we'll get around to it one of these days.”

The Colonel nodded again, looking satisfied. “Well,
then, congratulations to you both. We'll see you at breakfast. Take your time.
We can get things going without you for one morning. I used to make a fair cup
of coffee in my military days. My fellow officers told me you could float
horseshoes in it.” He held out his arms to Shirley and Odessa. “Shall we go,
ladies?”

“Yes, indeed.” Odessa took his right arm. “I'm
famished.”

“So am I.” Shirley took the Colonel's other arm with a
flourish. Then she gave Maggie a teasing grin.

“And I expect you two have worked up quite an appetite
yourselves. See you in a few minutes,”

Maggie stood rooted to the floor until her three
tenants had vanished from sight. Then she whirled around to confront Josh. He
cocked a brow when she pinned him with a frosty glare.

“Just what in the world do you think you're doing?”
Maggie hissed. “They think we're engaged!”

“Yeah, I got that impression.”

“Well, why did you let them get that impression?” she
retorted. “Why didn't you say something?

Why didn't you try to explain?”

“And just how the hell was I supposed to explain the
fact that you were coming out of my room at six-thirty in the morning wearing
your nightgown?”

“You didn't have to go along with the notion that we're
engaged,” Maggie wailed softly. She was feeling trapped. “Why are you standing
there like a bump on a log? Doesn't this bother you just a teensy bit? Aren't
you the least bit concerned by the fact that those three believe we're halfway
to the altar?”

“What should I have said?” Josh asked softly. “Should I
have told them I spent the night with you but my intentions weren't honorable?
That would have been a little hard for them to handle, Maggie. They're from a
different generation, remember.”

“Since when do you worry about other people's
approval?” Maggie's eyes widened as a thought struck her.

“Josh, you're not really afraid of a shotgun wedding,
are you? I know you joked about it, but you can't possibly think the Colonel
would try anything like that. Not in this day and age.”

Josh glanced down at his folded aims and then back up
to meet her anxious gaze. His own gray eyes had gone cold and unreadable.
“Maybe I didn't feel like upsetting everyone, Maggie. I'm supposed to be doing
a job here, remember? There's a little matter of professionalism involved. Lord
knows my behavior has already crossed the line. I should never have let you
into my room last night. But what's done is done, and I'd just as soon be able
to complete this job without getting everyone hostile. It would complicate matters
a whole lot. I need cooperation to solve this case.”

Maggie felt as though he had struck her. She
instinctively retreated a step as she realized just what he was saying. “You're
allowing them to think we're engaged just so you can complete this case?”

He frowned. “It's the best way. Maggie, I think I can
wrap things up here in a few more days. I've got a couple of hunches I want to
check out, and then I'm going to see about setting a trap for whoever is behind
the incidents here at the manor.”

“I see.” Maggie swallowed heavily. Josh would be
leaving in a few days.

“In the meantime, I don't want to muddy the waters any
more than I already have. I can't afford to send out any alarm signals to the
person who's causing the trouble here. We've got to make everything look as
normal as possible around the manor. Frankly, this isn't the worst thing that
could have happened.”

“It's not?”

Josh thought. “No. In fact, the more I think about it,
the more I believe this just might be the right move.”

“I don't understand.” Maggie's mouth felt dry now. She
wondered with horror if she were about to burst into tears.

“Yeah, I think this unfortunate little misunderstanding
is going to work to our benefit,” Josh stated.

“Don't you see, Maggie? It's the perfect cover for the
trap I'm going to set.”

Maggie gazed at him, feeling sick. “I don't
understand.”

Josh straightened in the doorway and started back into
his own room. “Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I'll explain the details
later. In the meantime, just go alone with the engagement story, okay? I want
everyone to believe it, including the Colonel, Odessa and Shirley.”

“But, Josh—” Maggie broke off when Josh gently closed
the door in her face.

She stood staring blankly at the door for a full minute
before whirling around and dashing into her own bedroom. She would not cry, she
vowed as she stripped off her robe and jerked off her nightgown.

She hurled the nightclothes onto the bed as she strode
toward the small bathroom. She would not cry.

But Josh's words about the “unfortunate
misunderstanding” being a useful cover story proved too much for Maggie's
bruised feelings. What had she expected? she asked herself forlornly. Of
course, the man wasn't going to allow himself to be pushed into a real
engagement. Nobody was that honorable, these days. In any case, the last thing
she wanted to do was try to force him into doing “the right thing.”

When she stepped under the shower, Maggie's tears
mingled with the spray of the water. It wasn't until she'd actually started to
cry that she admitted to herself what had really happened to her during the past
few days.

She had fallen in love with Josh January.

THE KITCHEN PHONE RANG just as Josh and the Colonel
were telling everyone about the mysterious severed wire inside the furnace.
Maggie jumped up to answer it. She plucked the receiver off the wall.

“Hello?”

“Josh January, please, said a crisp, male voice on the
other end of the line,

“Just a moment.” Maggie put her hand over the receiver
and looked at Josh. “It's for you.”

“Right.” He got to his feet and took the phone out of
her hand. “Yeah? Oh, it's you, McCray. No, you didn't interrupt anything except
breakfast. Just give me what you've got and stop trying to get cute.”

There was a short pause. Josh's expression turned into
a scowl.

“McCray, that is not funny. None of your cold jokes are
funny. When are you going to get that through your thick head? Just tell me
what you've got on Wilcox.”

Maggie and the others stopped talking at the mention of
Dwight Wilcox's name. The Colonel assumed his pondering expression and Odessa
looked disapproving. Shirley’s eyes widened in fascination.

“He's investigating Dwight?” Odessa asked Maggie,

“I guess so.” Maggie went back to her grapefruit. She
was not in a chatty mood.

“Wilcox does know his way around our basement,” the
Colonel observed softly. “And he also knows how to handle tools.”

“I don't know,” Shirley murmured. “Somehow I can't
picture that Dwight planning all those crazy incidents. My Ricky always used to
say that it took real brains to be a successful criminal. The dumb ones got
caught early.”

Josh ignored the commentary going on around the
breakfast table-He had taken a notepad out of a nearby kitchen drawer and was
busily scribbling down information.

“Okay, McCray. It's not much, but it's information.
Check something else for me this afternoon, will you? See if Johnny has the
time to do some background work on the manor itself, will you? No, I don't know
what I'm looking for at this point.” Josh slid a glance across the four rapt
faces around the table.

“Old legends Involving money or treasure... anything of
interest. Yeah, right. That kind of thing. Call me back when you've got something.
Take it easy.”

“Well?” Maggie gave Josh a challenging look as he came
back to the table and sat down. “What did that McCray person find out about
Dwight?”

“Not much.” Josh glanced down at the page on which he
had written his notes. “Wilcox was in some trouble with the law a few years
ago.”

Shirley stared at him. “Our Dwight is a crook?”

“Not much of one, by all accounts.” Josh tore out the
sheet of paper, folded it in half and stuck it into his pocket. “He got picked
up on a robbery charge. Did eighteen months. He's been clean ever since.”

“Robbery?” Maggie put down her grapefruit spoon. “Are
you sure?”

Josh nodded. “At this point it doesn't mean much. He
was just a kid at the time and he didn't get away with it,”

“Not surprising,” Shirley muttered. “Told you he wasn't
all that bright.”

“Still, it may mean the young man has criminal
tendencies,” Odessa observed. She frowned at Maggie. “Perhaps we shouldn't have
him do any more work around here, dear.”

“Who else are we going to get?” Maggie picked up a
piece of toast. “It's not like Peregrine Point is full of handymen.”

“Nevertheless, perhaps we should start advertising for
someone else,” Odessa stated.

Maggie put down her toast. “Aunt Agatha hired him,
didn't she?”

The Colonel nodded solemnly “That's right. About two
years ago. Shortly after he moved to town. She was always quite satisfied with
his work.”

Josh held up a hand. “Look, there's no point discussing
what you're going to do about Dwight Wilcox right now. I don't want Maggie
making any changes in the way things are run around here yet. It would alert whoever
is behind the incidents that we suspect they are more than just incidents.”

The Colonel nodded again-”Quite right, January. We must
all continue to give the impression that we think we've suffered from nothing
more than bad luck around

“Bad luck is right.” Maggie got to her feet and started
toward the sink. She thought about the horrendous dose of bad tuck she had experienced
earlier that morning when she'd walked out of Josh's room and ran straight into
Odessa. “There certainly has been a lot of it around here lately, hasn't
there?”