Shakedown

Chapter Forty-four

I had just finished feeding Ruby when the doorbell rang. I looked at my watch. It was six fifty-five. Walking from the kitchen through the entry hall toward the front door, I could see the driveway through the dining room windows. Joy had parked her car there and was ringing my doorbell. I quickened my pace, wondering why she was here, figuring that if she had news about Wendy, she would have called.

I checked my watch again. It was six fifty-six. Kate was astoundingly punctual. She would be here in less than 240 seconds. I had already screwed up my introduction of Kate to Wendy and was on the verge of repeating my mistake with Joy.

I couldn’t escape the?ushed feeling sweeping across my face. I was about to get caught cheating on my wife even though I told myself I couldn’t be cheating if the divorce she had asked for was going to be final in five days and if I’d put my romantic plans on the shelf until I found Wendy. My logic didn’t explain the heat under my collar.

I opened the door. Joy had cleaned up. Her hair was down, her lips shined with fresh gloss, and she was wearing a perfume that was as intoxicating as one of those umbrella drinks that went down easy and packed a wallop you didn’t feel until it was too late. She was wearing cocoa-colored linen slacks and a creamy scoop-neck camisole with a matching sweater tied around her neck that showed off new definition in her arms. She was holding a bag of Chinese carryout in one hand and a dog leash in the other. I pointed to the dog on the other end of the leash.

“Roxy?”

“I thought the girls should meet.”

Roxy saw Ruby and bolted from Joy’s grasp before I could answer. They sniffed, bonded, and raced through the house, tangling in the leash, tumbling across the?oor, and scrambling to their feet to do it again.

“Mission accomplished,” I said.

“I couldn’t stand not knowing what was happening with Wendy. I thought you might have heard something,” Joy said.

“You’re the first person I would have called if I had heard anything. Actually, I did call you to find out if you’d talked with her girlfriend at work. What was her name? Julie?”

“I was on my way here when I picked up your message. I finally reached Julie late this afternoon. She said that Wendy was at work yesterday and didn’t say anything to her about going away or about Colby or anything else that seemed unusual and that she hasn’t heard from her since.”

Julie’s lack of information confirmed my belief that Wendy had left her apartment unexpectedly and probably involuntarily. It was one more piece of bad news, but I didn’t want to add to Joy’s worry.

“You never know. Wendy might call her. Did you get Julie’s home and cell phone numbers?”

Joy reached into her pocket and handed me a slip of paper. “I learned a few things about investigating a case from living with you.”

“Thanks. I’ll check back with her.”

She looked around and past me into the house. “Are you going to invite me in?”

I took a deep breath before answering and held it when I saw Kate pull up at the curb. Joy turned around. Kate got out of her car. I shook, a quick shimmy like I was warming up for a Michael Jackson moonwalk.

Joy covered her face with her free hand. “I am such an idiot. I should have called first.”

“I’m sorry.”

She waved her hand. “Don’t be silly. I’m the one who should be sorry. Here we are not knowing where our daughter is and I’m acting like a jealous schoolgirl.”

She may have been acting like a jealous schoolgirl, but her comment made me feel like Louse of the Year for having a date instead of beating the streets to find Wendy. I retreated to my comfort zone of half-truths.

“That’s why Kate is here.”

Joy looked at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Kate’s helping me with this case. She’s an expert in something called the Facial Action Coding System. It’s a way of telling whether someone is lying. She’s going to help me analyze the evidence.”

It was the truth even if it wasn’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It wouldn’t help to explain that Kate and I had planned to screw our brains out all weekend but that, under the circumstances, I had sel?essly decided to delay that indulgence.

Kate was standing next to her car sizing up the situation before entering the zone of danger. Joy looked at her again and then at me, embarrassment giving way to rising anger.

“Is that why she’s wearing that slinky black dress and carrying a bottle of wine and that grocery bag from Dean amp; DeLuca?”

Kate was wearing a slinky black dress. She was carrying a bottle of wine and there was a French baguette sticking out of the Dean amp; DeLuca bag.

“She probably came straight from her office. We’re going to work through dinner.”

“That’s what she wears at the office?”

“It’s not her fault. We made these plans before I knew about Wendy. She still doesn’t know. I haven’t talked to her in a couple of days.”

There it was. I had admitted making plans with Kate, redefining the term as a synonym for getting laid. Kate’s slinky black dress illustrated my meaning in case Joy had any lingering doubts.

Joy spit out her response. “You could have called her.”

“I did. I left her a message. I left you a message. I left messages for half the civilized world. No one answered. Instead they’re all showing up on my doorstep.”

Joy covered her face again. “Oh my God. I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation. Look at me. I brought my dog and Chinese. She brought wine and bread and God knows what else.”

Kate began walking toward us. I didn’t know what to do.

“Stay. We’ll have potluck.”

Joy tightened her shoulders, held her arms rigidly against her sides, and balled her hands into fists. “You must be kidding! Where’s my damn dog?”

She elbowed past me into the house, scooped up Roxy, and came out as Kate reached the front steps. Joy’s face had morphed into a?at, cool, closed-mouth smile. She extended her hand.

“I’m Jack’s wife, Joy.”

Kate smiled in turn, accepting her hand. “I’m Kate Scranton.”

“I hope you can help my husband and me get our daughter back.”

Kate, her eyebrows raised, looked at me for a clue, then back at Joy. “I’ll do my best.”

“I’m certain you will, but as Jack will tell you, that’s not always good enough.”