I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t ever want to go back inside that house.”
He looked sympathetic. “Sorry, sweetie. It’s necessary. If you’d rather I go with you, I can.” He got a calculating look on his face. “In fact, if I brought my gun and he showed up unannounced, we could make his murder look like an accident.”
“Dad…”
“I could say we thought it was a home invasion…”
“Dad, I don’t want you to kill Thatcher for me.”
He looked slightly disappointed.
“I’ll call Blair, and if she can’t go with me, I’m sure Melinda or Sadie would be happy to help me out.”
He sighed, still obviously disappointed to have his murder plot thwarted. “I have to go to work anyway.”
His phone buzzed, and he answered. “Dr. Crenshaw,” he said automatically. So many of his patients had his cell number, it was more than likely one of them. “Yes, hello again, Mr. Malloy,” he looked at me while he listened to whatever the lawyer was saying. “Yes, that’s right. Crenshaw is her maiden name, and she grew up in Indigo Falls.” The slight smile that had been on his face slowly turned into a confused frown. “I don’t understand…” he stopped and listened. “Okay. Well, thank you. I’ll be on the lookout for it.”
He hung up and sat there for a moment looking perplexed. “That was weird.”
“What?” I asked.
“The lawyer I wanted for you said he had a conflict of interest and couldn’t take the case. He’s sending me the name and address of another lawyer. He went ahead and made you an appointment with him.”
“He said ‘conflict of interest?’ Not just conflict?”
He nodded. “Huh. Maybe he knows Thatcher?”
“That’s probably it.” I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and saw my mom standing in the opening between the kitchen and the dining room. Her face was pale and her eyes looked red. Had she been crying? Momnevercried.
I started to ask her about it but got distracted when Dad received the text about the new lawyer. After that, I didn’t think about it again as I made plans to meet Blair at my house for our spy mission.
***
I pulled up in front of the house, relieved to see that the driveway was empty. I didn’t think he’d be home, but you never knew. If it hadn’t been for the gifts that kept arriving at my parents’ house, I would have wondered if he’d ever come home at all since he’d been with her. I didn’t even know why he’d bothered apologizing. It was clear he was done with me.
I’d sent the flowers that were coming each day to the local nursing home. I’d sent the chocolates to the hospital. The nurses would know which patients could eat them. And if no one could, then the nurses could have a treat.
I’d kept the Jo Malone gifts, though. I freaking loved those soaps, perfumes, and candles.
I sucked in a couple of deep breaths, still trying to calm my stomach and make myself feel better about what was going on. I could do this. I could totally do this. I just had to be strong.
I got out and was about to head inside when Blair’s huge SUV pulled up. She got out, and I frowned.
“What are you wearing?” She was dressed in a very form fitting black shirt and pants.
“Long underwear.”
I was wearing jeans and a cream sweater with a pumpkin on it. “Why?”
“You said it was a spy mission. I just thought…” she gestured at herself, “this was the most spy-like clothing I had.”
“I think you and my dad should have done this together. He wanted to bring a gun and ‘accidentally’ shoot Thatcher if he came home.” I used finger quotes.
Blair nodded like this was an okay option. “I have mace in my bag.”
God. What was wrong with the people in my life? “We don’t need to hurt him,” I assured her. “We just need to have a story made up if he comes home and catches us digging around in hiscomputer and iPad. I figured if we hear him open the door, we would just run to one of my closets and act like we were going through some clothes.”
“Good plan,” Blair nodded. “I would feel bad macing him anyway. Though when I think about what he did…”
