Murder in the Marigolds by Dale Mayer (good books to read for 12 year olds txt) 📗

key that I had on my divorce search findings, and he is busy looking for the ones that the lawyer had. Or that he thinks the lawyer had.”

“And you think it’s the ones that you had all along?”

“It’s possible there’s more, so maybe the lawyer did have some of them,” she said. “I mean, he does a lot of business, so he could have any number of USB keys.”

“True. I don’t think there was anything like that on her person, but I’ll check in the morning.”

“And did she go anywhere else, meet anybody else, where she could have put it somewhere?”

“Was she alone at your house? Did she ever leave your sight?”

“I don’t think so. She was busy throwing a temper tantrum on the front steps, and she was a little bit wild and gesturing about, but I don’t think she had anything with her.” She stopped and frowned and said, “But maybe.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, I haven’t looked in the front garden at all.”

“You think she buried something in the garden?” he asked incredulously.

“No, but, if she had it in her purse, it’s quite possible that she flung it or dropped it or something, as she was quite riled. I’m sure she was hitting the door with her purse. Who knows what might have popped out?”

“Did she take off her coat? Did she drop her bag or anything?”

“Both of those things,” she said. “But I didn’t notice anything fall out.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “It could be anywhere.”

“Well, I won’t see anything tonight,” she muttered. “It’s dark.”

“I’ll be there first thing in the morning,” he said. “Now make sure you lock up and stay inside, and, if you get any unwanted visitors, call the police.”

“Sure will,” she said. “You’ll be the first one to call.”

“I’ll probably be the first one to get there anyway,” he said in a resigned voice. But then his voice thickened considerably, as he said, “Have a good night.” And he hung up.

She smiled, staring down at the phone. “Good night, Mack.” And then she wondered if she should have asked if he liked lemonade or just honey. And thinking it was such a stupid question, she deliberately tossed it from her mind and headed to bed.

Chapter 18

Tuesday Morning …

She woke up the next morning to pounding on her front door. She hurriedly dressed and raced down the stairs to see her ex standing there. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Hey,” she said in confusion. “What’s going on? Why all the panic?”

“Are you sure you don’t have any other USBs?” he said, almost desperately. She looked at the one that she’d given him and shook her head. “No,” she said, “that’s the only one. Why?”

“Because there’s nothing on it,” he said in disgust. He handed it back to her and said, “You really need help if you think that garbage on there will benefit you at all.”

“Well, I thought so at the time,” she said. “Unlike you, I was not quite ready for a divorce.”

“No,” he said, his voice softening. “I guess it was a shock, wasn’t it?”

“Not that you cared,” she said primly. “Now if you don’t mind, I need to go put on some coffee.”

“Good, I’ll have a cup,” he said, stepping inside.

She automatically stepped back, as he crowded her. “Why?” she said. “I don’t have anything else for you.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” he said, turning his gaze on her. “You look mighty fetching, still half asleep.”

She immediately flushed. “Don’t even go there,” she snapped. “You can stay for a cup of coffee, and then you’ll be on your way,” she said. “I’ve got to go out today.”

“Really? What are you doing?” he asked, with a sneer.

“Applying for jobs,” she said primly. “It’s not easy to get work, when you don’t have any job skills.”

“Well, you had the perfect skills for my job,” he said. “You were great at making people comfortable.”

“Maybe.”

“You also opened them up, getting information at an amazing rate,” he said. “People just love talking to you. It’s a skill I really miss.” He looked at her suddenly. “I could hire you to do more of that.”

She shook her head. “No. The only reason it worked,” she said, “was because I was your wife, and I believed in the business and what we were doing. I just didn’t realize that it was your business and that there was nothing in it for me, even after you threw me out.”

“Well, we could change that,” he said, smiling at her. “Remember?”

“Nah,” she said, “you didn’t mean any of that. You’re just trying to find whatever it is your mistress took from you.”

He shook his head.

“Did she make friends with any of the staff? Would she have hidden it somewhere in the house? Could she have paid the staff to move it?”

“She wouldn’t have dared,” he said, and then his tone darkened. “They wouldn’t have dared.”

She nodded, again clearly seeing the man she used to know. “In other words, you pay them for their secrecy.”

“And loyalty,” he said. “Remember that. It’s everything to me.”

“I get it,” she said. “What about a safe deposit box?”

He looked at her and said, “We checked. She doesn’t have one.”

“Well, maybe she doesn’t have one under her name, but what about another name?”

“What other name would that be?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I know that she was still friendly with her ex-husband.”

He stopped and stared at her for a moment. “I wonder.”

She shrugged. “Just an idea.”

“And a good one,” he said, tapping the table, as he sat down heavily on a chair. He propped his chin up on his other hand, as he kept thrumming the table with his other.

Thaddeus immediately popped up onto the table, pacing back and forth, bobbing his head. “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

Mathew looked at him in disgust. “Seriously, you have a bird? And you let it on the table?”

“That’s Thaddeus,” she said, “and be nice to him.