Veiled Threats Read Online Free PDF Page A

smoke, so Eddie only lit up while leaning out one of the windows. Windows made up most of the office's western wall, echoing the glass sunporch downstairs. You entered the office through what we called the “good room,” the one with new paint and framed wedding photos and halfway decent furniture, including a glass-topped coffee table invitingly covered with bridal magazines, etiquette books, and portfolios of gowns, cakes, and floral arrangements. The workroom, through a connecting door, was larger and messier, with both our desks facing the lake, the secondhand computer on its stand in the corner, and a couple of scratched gray file cabinets along the back wall. With the door closed, clients saw only efficiency and elegance. With it open, as it was now, Eddie could easily bellow across both rooms.
    “You OK?”
    He'd gotten my message, then. “Yeah, I'm fine.”
    But he could see that I wasn't. As I crossed the good room and dropped into my desk chair, he came over to pat my shoulder. Pretty good for a non-hugger like Eddie.
    “ A t least Diane and Jeffrey have left for Paris by now, so they'll have lots to distract them.” I sighed. “Pretty grisly way to start a honeymoon.”
    “Well, try not to dwell on it.”
    “But I
am
dwelling on it. I should have stopped Michelle before she ran outside. And now I've got this spooky thing I can't get out of my head. See, there was this man….” I described the figure in the rain, the dead-end road, and my sudden suspicion that the Mustang had been tampered with. “What do you think?”
    The cigar swiveled to the other side of his mouth. “I think I remember when you saw a suspicious fellow casing the houseboat, and it turned out to be a real estate agent.”
    “Well, he was lurking around!”
    “And I remember you thought your friend Lily's new boyfriend was married, because he wouldn't show her his house, and it turned out he was just a lousy housekeeper.”
    “Didn't it strike you as funny when he kept putting her off?”
    “No, it did not. What strikes me is that you keep playing Nancy Drew, when you should be drumming up new business.” He lifted the invoices. “ We are seriously behind this quarter.”
    “I know, I know, but really, don't you think I should tell the police?”
    “Well, the police called this morning, as a matter of fact.” He picked up a notepad and glared at it. “A Lieutenant Borden. Wants you to call him, but not 'til this afternoon. Says a Mrs. Fenner told him you were encouraging the bridesmaids to get drunk.”
    “What?! I was not! That bitch. OK, I brought them a bottle of champagne, but I always do that. They all have a little toast and—”
    “Well, this Michelle kid had more than a toast, didn't she?”
    “I know. I should have stopped her. I … I … Eddie, itwas so
awful
—” Suddenly I was shuddering, and Eddie actually did hug me.
    “Hey. Hey, I didn't mean to upset you. Carnegie, don't.”
    “Sorry. I'm OK, really.” I took a deep breath, then took the slip from him with the lieutenant's number. A nasty thought occurred to me. “Eddie, if I tell the police I saw someone suspicious, they'll think I'm just avoiding this accusation about getting Michelle drunk.”
    “Well, they might. Honest to Pete, Carnegie, you do have a lively imagination. Why on earth would anybody try to hurt the Parry girl? She's only about nineteen.”
    “Twenty-two. Well, I don't know. Keith Guthridge must be pretty angry at her father, with his grand jury testimony coming up.”
    “Angry enough to kill Parry's daughter? Jesus, that would guarantee Parry's testimony against him. Doesn't make sense.”
    “No, no, of course it doesn't. Maybe I
am
just avoiding the accusation. I'll never give my bridesmaids champagne again.”
    “Worry about that later. Right now, worry about that faded old dress you bought the Parry girl. And about these bills. I've said this before and I'm going to say it again: You're undercharging for this wedding, and