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“Yes, yesterday,” he replied, realizing he had forgotten to call her when he found Ruth as he had promised.
“Where was she? I never saw her mom come for her.”
“She said she was here the entire time, but I checked every few hours, even in the middle of the night.” Anderson still hadn’t figured out where she had disappeared to.
So far, he hadn’t asked her again where she had been. They had talked about other things, but that hadn’t been a topic they had discussed. Mostly because he had forgotten, and he knew she wouldn’t bring it up. After all, it was her secret.
“Ruth Kennedy has some secrets, and I have been trying to crack her for years. So many questions.” She shifted the bottles in her arms.
“Like what?”
“Like why she’s never left. After Franky left her, she had nothing to keep her here. I know he broke her heart, and she needed time to get over that, but she could have done that anywhere.” Her pink head bobbed as she talked.
“She told me it was for her mom.”
“I call bull. Her mom wasn’t even twenty when she had Ruth, so that makes her around fifty today. Healthy as a horse, and she has Chester, so she doesn’t need Ruth living right here. Something else.”
“I guess we will have to wait until she tells us.” Anderson was done pushing; Ruth was in charge now.
“You don’t know her very well; she doesn’t tell her secrets.” Mia juggled the bottles in her arms for a moment again.
“What else do you want to know?” he asked.
“Where she gets her money. You don’t pay that well, and neither did Frank Berg.” She grinned at him.
“She doesn’t have money,” he said, though the comment stung. Was it a joke, or did people actually see him as cheap?
“No, she doesn’t spend money, Anderson. She has it. You know that the table of hers was left by someone who had moved out of Tess’s apartment a few years ago. I was eyeing it until she took it. Meanwhile, her sound system in there cost her a few grand,” Mia said, shifting her bottles again.
He had noticed that expensive system the first night in the apartment, but since she used it so much, he saw she felt it was worth the money. Then he recognized that the headphones she was wearing yesterday were an expensive brand. But Mia was right; most of her furniture was old and worn.
He defended his lack of knowledge of her finances. “She has no car payment, and her car is a 70s-something that needs a new muffler.”
“Do you not know cars? 1970 Dodge Charger in bright green? That car is probably worth fifty grand, Anderson. There’s a reason she only drives it a few days a year, and every year, it is worth more and more.” Mia finally turned and headed up the stairway.
Watching her go, he wondered about the car. He had only seen it a few times. Usually, it was parked outside the building, rarely driven around. And never in bad weather.
Once back out onto the street, he circled to the office and unlocked that door. Book club would only take a few hours, and he thought he could get some stuff done while she wasn’t there to distract him.
After a few minutes, he realized that he missed her. He hadn’t been in the office since after she had stormed out days before. Their lunches were still sitting on her desk. Getting up, he tossed them in her garbage can and looked at her desk. It was a little messy since she had left abruptly.
A bell dinged as the office door opened, and Rafferty swaggered in. “Did you ever find Angel then?”
Smiling at his friend, he said, “Yes, she was home all the time.”
“That’s Ruth. She’s usually in this building. I would have told you to check the basement, but I know she is scared of spiders, so she wouldn’t go down there.” Rafferty pulled a chair in front of Ruth’s desk and sat down. Anderson sat down in her chair.
“It’s snakes, actually. How do you know there is a basement?”
“Franky used to dare everyone to go down there. It is spooky, and I am sure the water heater and furnace are down there.”
“Did Frank Berg always have his office here?”
“Yup, bought the place and moved the Mrs in upstairs when they came to town before Franky was born. Then they bought the house on Fourth.” Rafferty grabbed Ruth’s candy jar and took out a piece.
“So, Frank owned it?” Anderson question.
“Yeah, he did. I wonder why he sold it to someone that wasn’t taking over the insurance office?” Rafferty noisily opened the candy.
