The Private Eye (24 page)

“They expressed an interest shortly after Agatha
Gladstone died,” Clay replied stiffly. “Nothing out of the ordinary about
that.”

“Except that you forget to mention their interest to
Maggie. Instead, you decided to see if you could interest the New York crowd in
a real steal of a deal. You'd get the land for them dirt cheap and in exchange
they would pay you a fat finder's fee. Nice work if you can get it.”

A speculative gleam appeared in O'Connor's eyes. Josh
could read the look on the other man's face, even in the dim light. He had seen
it often enough before on the faces of people who had been caught redhanded.

Their first assumption was that the person who had
caught them might be interested in making a deal. The theory was that everyone
else had the same kind of morals as they did. Just good business. “They want to
put in a world-class resort and spa here on the coast,” Clay eagerly explained.
“Big development companies like the ones behind this deal have to keep a low
profile when they go into a new area to pick up land. If people know they're
buying, the prices start shooting up in a hurry. Keeping quiet is Just good
business. That's all.”

“Just good business.” Josh closed the file, wondering
how often he had heard that excuse over the years.

“But in this case there wasn't going to be any business
at all, was there? Because you couldn't talk Maggie into selling. And you sure
as hell didn't want to tell her how much the manor was really worth. If you
couldn't get it cheap, you couldn't do a deal with the New Yorkers.”

“The manor is worthless to them. It's just an old
house. What they want is the land.”

“So you decided on a plan. You'd drive Maggie into
selling by making it appear that the manor was falling apart around her. If you
could convince her that it was too expensive to keep it going and that business
was going to fall off, she'd have to let it go. But Maggie can be stubborn,
can't she?”

“Damn stubborn. You don't know what I went through
trying to get her to sell. I had to pretend I was falling for her. I was
willing to take her to bed, if necessary. What the hell. No big deal. It
probably would have been mildly amusing. She's kind of cute—if you like the
sweet, innocent type.”

Josh jumped out of his chair in a flash. He barely
noticed the pain in his ankle as he whipped around the comer of the desk and
grabbed a startled O'Connor by the collar.

“What the hell...” O'Connor's eyes flared wide with
fear and anger.

“You got desperate tonight, didn't you?” Josh slammed
O'Connor up against the wall. He leaned in dose. “You decided to take drastic action.
Any idea what the penalty is for arson in this state, O'Connor?”

“Arson? I don't know what you're talking about. I told
Wilcox to stick to mechanical stuff.”

“Yeah, well, he didn't. Apparently you pushed him a
little too hard. Tonight he tried to torch the manor.”

O'Connor looked genuinely astounded. Then he looked
ill. “My God! What happened?”

“Nobody got hurt, if that's what you mean. You won't be
facing murder charges.”

“Murder.” O'Connor looked more nauseated than ever. He
started to crumple. He licked his lips. “Look, you said everybody's okay. Nobody
got hurt. So why don't we cut our losses and make a deal? Huh? Where's the
harm? I'll split the finder's fee with you if we can convince Maggie to sell.
Come on, January. You're sleeping with her. Everybody in town knows it. Surely
you can talk her into selling.”

“Forget it,” Josh said. “Your problem, O'Connor, is
that once in a while when I'm real bored, I like to play good guys and bad
guys. Guess who gets to be the good guy tonight?”

SHORTLY BEFORE DAWN Josh let himself into his room. The
manor was silent. Everyone else had apparently retired while he was busy
talking to the local sheriff.

He didn't bother to turn on the lights. Instead he
stripped off his clothes in the darkness, yawned, and pulled back the quilt on
the big, canopied bed.

“Hi,” said Maggie in a soft, sleepy voice. “I was
wondering when you'd get home. Lot of paperwork in your business, I guess.”

Josh smiled slowly as he looked down at her. A sense of
deep happiness and satisfaction welled up inside him.

“I'd have finished the paperwork a lot faster if I'd
known you were going to be here in my bed waiting for

“Where else would I be?” Maggie opened her arms and
smiled. Love glowed in her eyes. “Welcome home, hero.”

Home, thought Josh as he gathered her close. That was
where he was now. Home.

He lost himself in Maggie's sweet warmth. Nothing had
ever felt so right.

“I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE IT,” Odessa declared for what
must have been the hundredth time the next morning. “He seemed like such a nice
young man.”

“I never did like him,” Shirley announced. “Always said
O'Connor was soft around the edges.”

“Dwight's the one I feel sorry for;” Maggie said, carrying
a plate of crumpets and honey over to the kitchen table. “He was virtually
blackmailed into doing what he did. I wonder how Clay found out about his
past?”

“Wilcox let something slip once when he was doing a
small job for O'Connor.” Josh slathered honey on a crumpet. “O'Connor did a
little research after he got in touch with the New Yorkers. He realized he could
use someone like Wilcox to help him push Maggie into selling.”

“Well, it's all over now,” the Colonel added with
satisfaction. “We can open the manor after the first of the year and it should
be in good financial shape by early spring. We didn't lose much time, thanks to
our man January, here. You did a fine job, sir. A fine Job.”

“Thank you,” Josh acknowledged humbly. “I like to think
I give an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.”

Maggie's eyes sparkled with laughter as she bit into a
crumpet. “You get what you pay for. That's what I always say.”

“And sometimes a little more than you expected, hmm?”
Josh took a large bite out of his own crumpet.

The Colonel cleared his throat portentously.

“Speaking of the unexpected, Odessa and I would like to
make an announcement. We are officially engaged as of this morning and we will
be getting married as soon as possible.”

Odessa blushed becomingly. “We're so excited.”

Maggie put down her crumpet. “Married? You two? Why,
that's wonderful. Congratulations. I'm thrilled for you. But why the sudden decision?”

“Yeah,” Shirley said bluntly. “How come, after all this
time?”

“I guess it's just in the air,” Odessa answered
brightly. “The Colonel surprised me by popping the question this morning and I
said yes before he could change his mind. Apparently he's had some foolish notion
that I would think he was marrying me to get control of my mining stock. But I
told him I trust him completely. Always have. He's a perfect gentleman.” She
gave Josh an expectant look. “Have you two set the date yet?”

“No,” Maggie replied quickly before Josh could answer.
“But we do have some news. Josh is going to be staying on around here for a
month or two. He's thinking about making a career change, you see, and he wants
to test the waters. If everything works out, he may opt to stay in Peregrine
Point permanently.”

The Colonel frowned. “Sounds a bit unsettled, if you
ask me. What's the matter with you, January? Can't you make up your mind?”

“My mind's made up,” Josh told them. “I'm waiting for
Maggie to make up hers.”

“Why the delay, Maggie?” Shirley peered at her. “Take
it from me, in this world a gal's gotta grab her opportunities.”

Maggie felt herself turning a vivid pink. Everyone at
the table, including Josh, was watching her. “There's no point trying to
intimidate me. I refuse to be rushed. Josh needs time, in spite of what he
says. I want him to be certain about what he's doing.”

“I'm certain,” Josh countered.

“No, you're not,” Maggie shot back.

“You're the one who's still got questions.” Josh licked
honey from his fingers and stood. “But I think the mail has arrived, so maybe
we can get started on helping Maggie make up her mind.”

Maggie glared at his broad back as Josh left the
kitchen. She saw that he was limping again this morning. Her glare turned into
a look of concern.

“Don't fret, Maggie.” Shirley chuckled. “Josh is tough.
He'll do just fine.”

“I suppose. But I wish he hadn't reinjured that ankle.”

“Give him a few days and he'll be as good as new,” the
Colonel said.

“Right,” Josh agreed, limping back into the kitchen
with a small stack of mail in his hand. “Good as new in a few days. No sweat.”
He shuffled briskly through the letters. “Ah, here we go.” He selected a white
manila envelope from the pile and tossed it onto Maggie's lap.

“What's this?” She picked up the envelope, frowning.

“Answers.” Josh sat down and started applying honey to
another crumpet.

Maggie tore open the envelope and dumped the contents
on the table. For a moment she couldn't make sense of the assortment of official-looking
forms, licenses, and records that lay in front of her.

Then she saw that every one of the formal-looking
pieces of paper in front of her bore the name and description of one Joshua
January. She jerked her head up to meet Josh's watchful gaze.

“This is a file on you, isn't it?”

He nodded. “Anything you want to know about me should
be in there somewhere, Maggie.”

“Is that so?” Anger shot through her. She flattened her
hands on the table and pushed herself to her feet. “Will it tell me if you love
me. Josh? Will it tell me that? Because that's the only question that you haven't
answered for me. I already know everything else I need to know about you.”

“Maggie...” Josh started to get to his feet, obviously
taken aback by her reaction.

“I don't need data on you. Josh.” Maggie picked up the
pile of forms and papers and hurled them into the air. “I just need to know if
you can love me as much as I love you, damn it! A real simple question. Josh.”

“You love me?” Josh stared at her, a slow smile warming
his cold eyes. “You love me, Maggie Gladstone?”

Maggie was battling tears now. She wiped them away with
the back of her hand. “Of course I love you, you big idiot.”

“I was sure you did, sweetheart, but you never said it.
You kept saying you needed time.”

“I said you needed time. Time to figure out that you
loved me. You kept giving me all sorts of stupid reasons for letting our
engagement stand. You said it was a good cover story. And then you said you thought
maybe things would work between us, so we might as well give the engagement a
chance. And then you agreed to stay on here for another month or two while you
recuperated from burnout. But you never once said you loved me.”

“Maybe that's because I've never said those words to
“anyone else in my life and I wasn't sure how to say them “to you.”

“Oh, Josh.” She wiped her eyes again.

“I love you, Maggie.” Josh shoved his chair back and
moved around the table to take her into his arms. He folded her close, heedless
of the smiles on the faces of the Colonel, Odessa and Shirley. “I fell in love
with you that first night when you opened the door and told me I didn't look
like what you'd ordered up in the way of a private investigator.”

“Josh.”

“I'll be staying on for a lot longer than a month or
two, sweetheart. I've decided I need more than a vacation. I need a career
change.”

“Oh, Josh.” Maggie wrapped her arms tightly around his
waist and squeezed.

Josh sucked in his breath. “Easy, honey. The ribs took
a beating last night when I was rolling around on the basement floor.”

“Oh, dear. I knew you should have stayed in bed today.”
Maggie stepped back and examined him from head to toe. “I really think we
should take you to the Peregrine Point Clinic for a thorough check, Josh.”

“No. I am not going to another doctor,” he stated, “All
I need is plenty of rest and relaxation. I came out here to recuperate—if you
will recall, So far, I've had very little opportunity to do so, but I intend to
start working on it immediately. I'd like to be in reasonably good shape for my
wedding.”

Maggie raised her head, smiling brilliantly. “When is
that?”

“How about the end of the month?” Josh suggested.

“The end of the month?” Maggie was instantly horrified.
“I can't possibly get ready for a wedding by the end of the month.”

“I think we can manage.” Josh grinned at the faces of
the three people who were still sitting at the table. “We'll have lots of
help.”

“Might as well make it a double wedding,” the Colonel
announced cheerfully. He beamed at Odessa. “No sense going to all the expense
of two receptions in a short period of time.”

“You're right,” Josh agreed. “We're going to have to
watch the budget around here until the manor is taking paying guests again.”