On the Road [again] (The Girls Series Book 3) Read online

  Calming down, Anna shook her head. “I agree, but better safe than sorry.”

  “Yes. I promise to carry both. See you in approximately an hour?”

  “That will be perfect.”

  When Carolyn walked into the bakery, Anna and Adeline were already sitting in a booth.

  “My gosh, Adeline, look at you!” Carolyn was excited to see Adeline’s new look.

  “Do you like it?”

  “I do. Did you get your hair cut?”

  “No, I had my gal come to the loft, and she convinced me that new environs warrant a new look. She changed the color a bit and blew it out differently. I think I like it.”

  “It is much more casual, but I have to say, it takes ten years off of you. You’re absolutely stunning. And I like the outfit as well.”

  Anna smiled. “Me too.”

  “Actually, Cara picked this out for me. She said she could do a lot of the shopping I so hate if she had my tailor provide all my measurements. She and a personal shopper, with the input of some of my little dancers, went slightly out of control.”

  “I’m sorry, your little dancers?”

  “As you know, I’ve put Cara in charge of the more philanthropic side of being my assistant. She has another woman working with her part-time to deal with the other side of things. JoAnn came on when Cara was hurt. Anyway, Cara found a dance studio on the other side of town. A lovely woman keeps any number of little girls out of harm’s way by having them join her dance troupe. The whole endeavor was short of funds, which is what brought them to Cara’s attention, and we’ve helped with that. As a result, I have been blessed to come to know these little girls and young women.”

  “That sounds wonderful.”

  “It is. Cara takes every opportunity to make sure the young ones are introduced to a different way of life. She says it is important to show them a different path. Nothing outrageous, just little hints of what awaits them if they work hard in school and stay on the right side of the law. I am told her father has gone down to the dance studio and done some handyman work as well as spending a little time showing the girls how a father or grandfather should treat them. Many, not all, of these young women have fathers that either have completely abandoned them or are diligently working hard trying to keep food on the table and as a result have no time for the little things. I’m very indebted to the O’Flynn family for helping with my dancers.”

  Carolyn sounded refreshed and enthusiastic. “Sounds like a great group. Maybe we can help in some way.”

  “That would be lovely. And I will avail myself of your assistance, but for now I propose that we’ve spoken enough about my new look and me and my little dancers. Let us figure out if we can approach our Miss Pickles.”

  “Before Anna tells us that, can I ask a question?”

  “Of course.”

  Carolyn continued, “Last night when we were talking, I understood all that you said, but I must have missed something. Exactly how did you find this woman? How do we know she’s the right one?”

  Anna explained. “We can’t be one hundred percent certain, but I’m sure enough that it’s a possibility that the next step is to talk to her. As to how I got here from there, I was thinking about it, and it dawned on me, Barry was here when Suzi met him, right?”

  “Yes. They met here in town.”

  “And there wasn’t much time between the time Pickles was around and the time Suzi was around.”

  Adeline volunteered, “I’ve the uncomfortable feeling that there was no time at all, that in all likelihood they were both in Barry’s life at the same time. That makes me uncomfortable for a number of reasons.”

  Anna nodded as she continued. “So I asked myself if maybe Pickles was now a local girl. Maybe they had both relocated here instead of just Barry, which is what I originally assumed, that Barry came here alone. When you think of how transient this state is, that was a rather silly assumption. The population of this state is rapidly coming to meet that of New York.”

  “I hazard to think about the ramifications of that. From new business to taxing implications to sinkholes, but that is a discussion — and perhaps a financial opportunity — to be pursued another time.”

  Carolyn stayed on subject. “That seems pretty obvious. I don’t know why I didn’t think that way either.”

  “Most people have a tendency to make life much harder for themselves than it has to be. Anyway, I started snooping around here, looking for Pickles.”

  “And you found her. Where?”

  “Unfortunately, I found an arrest record.”

  Carolyn’s eyes rounded. “Oh, crap. What did she do?”

  Anna tried not to let her smile show. Carolyn was sounding more like her granddaughter every day. “Minor crimes.”

  Adeline suddenly sounded alarmed, well outside of her usual serene presentation. “Crimes? With an s?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “What kind of crimes, with an s?”

  “Petty stuff. She stole a few things here and wrote a bad check there. Nothing that is going to get us accosted should we find her.”

  “Okay.” Carolyn needed to confirm. “Nothing violent?”

  “No. Nothing violent.”

  Carolyn took a breath. “Okay, I feel a little better. Do we know where she is?”

  “We have her last known address.”

  Carolyn pulled a face. “I’m not sure we should saddle up and go riding over there like we think we’re the Lone Ranger or something.”

  “Wouldn’t we be more like the Three Musketeers?” Adeline allowed an eyebrow to rise slightly.

  “All that armor?” Anna playfully chided. “Not on your life.”

  Adeline’s tone was firm. “Tastefully engraved breastplate notwithstanding, I think it would be a problem to just walk into this young woman’s life and introduce ourselves and then hope for the best.”

  Anna, always blunt, said, “Do you have a better idea?”

  “I suppose I could call Roland, tell him what we have found, and have one of his groups interrogate the woman.”

  Anna tried to remain calm. “I don’t like that idea. For one, it makes us the enemy before we have even said hello to the girl. Just the word interrogation brings with it all manner of negative connotations. Secondly, I’ll be damned if I’m going to work my hiney to the bone and then hand it all over to some young stud to do the interesting work. I want to talk to this young woman myself.”

  Carolyn jumped on the opportunity to lighten the mood. “Young stud? Really.”

  Anna muttered good-naturedly. “Don’t start with me. You know exactly what I meant.”

  “Sorry. I just can’t picture Roland as a young stud.”

  Anna relinquished her annoyance. “I wasn’t talking about Roland. Have you seen that blond number that started about two weeks ago? The child can fill out a pair of military cargo pants. Talk about hiney!”

  Unbelievably, it was Adeline who said, “Girls, can we set the hineys aside for a moment and focus on Pickles?”

  Sometimes it isn’t what is said. It is how it is said.

  The girls lost it.

  Great peals of laughter shook them from head to toe.

  By the time they were aware of their surroundings again, half the establishment had joined them in their fits of laughter.

  Anna would not be dissuaded for long. “I think this is the best approach we’ve come up with. What do you think?”

  Adeline was still trying to convince the girls to move forward with caution. “I think there is beauty in subtlety.”

  Anna gave in just bit. “I’ve never been good at subtlety, but I’m willing to give it a try. I think we can try it and see what happens, but I think the first thing we need to do is drive by the place and see what’s what.”

  Carolyn was back to being cautious. “I have a better idea. We’ll look at it on the computer. If the neighborhood looks okay, then we will drive by. Who knows what could happen? That approach worked out for us prett
y well when we met Molly.”

  “How my life has changed. If you told me a year ago that I would be in the company of two such brilliant women, enjoying every moment of my life, waiting for the return of my soldier daughter, and considering the chance meeting of a rather large and intimidating man who prefers the look of sparkles, spandex, and high heels and answers to the name of Molly, I would have certainly called the authorities and asked for their assistance in getting you proper medical care.”

  Carolyn took a moment to consider the comment, highlights and low moments careening in her brain. “Things have been a bit strange over the last few months. Some of the darkest days of my life. But there have been some true blessings, like meeting the two of you.”

  Adeline took Carolyn’s hand. “Today I choose to focus only on the positive. Girls, shall we go to the loft and look for the information?”

  “No need. We can do it right here on my phone.” Anna pulled her smartphone from her purse.

  Adeline pointed. “That reminds me. Kimberly called. She suggested that we might like a small tablet device. We would be able to garner more information on one screen and might preserve our eyesight for a little longer.”

  Anna kept tapping. “I’m happy with my phone, but I think maybe it’s a good idea to have it in our arsenal.”

  Adeline chided, “See, you think like a warrior, Anna.”

  “I’ll let you know if I ever invest in that hand-engraved chest plate. I think I’m a little well-endowed for something like that, but who knows? Oh, wait, look at this. I did a quick search. Seems, at least on the runway, they had a popular moment in fashion as recently as two thousand eleven.”

  Carolyn, confused, asked, “What did?”

  “Chest plates.”

  “You must be kidding me. Who would be that daft?”

  Carolyn tried to bring the subject back to Pickles. “I think I must have missed that trend. Thank you, God. Did you happen to look up the address?”

  “Give me one second.” Anna tapped keys. “Well, look at that. The address given is a nail salon.”

  Carolyn leaned in. “Is there a second floor? Maybe she lives above it.”

  Adeline’s thoughts always ran on a more aristocratic plane. “Maybe she owns the business.”

  “I guess we could go back to the house, and I could check business records or maybe tax records. We could do some research and find out how she’s attached to the place.”

  Carolyn’s reply was uncharacteristically bold. “Or we could just go get our nails done.”

  It was Anna’s turn to take a step back. One of the things the girls did best was to keep each other balanced. “What are you going to do, charge in there and ask if anyone has seen Pickles?”

  “I can be a little more subtle than that. I thought we could simply get a manicure and perhaps a pedicure, and get a feel for the place. Worst case, we get our nails done and no information.”

  Anna was quick. “Worst case, we pick up a nail fungus, and our feet fall off.”

  Adeline stepped in. “With that response I think you need the pampering more than we do. Shall we go?”

  Carolyn was grateful for the support. “Thank you. But please, can we agree that we are only going in to surveil, that we are not going to actively pursue anything? We are not going to put ourselves in a bad position. If anything happened to the two of you, I just couldn’t live with the guilt. I am battling it already because of my inaction with my Suze.”

  “Battle seems to be our topic of the day. I have to wonder where that’s coming from. Let’s stick together. We can take my car. Do our nails and then perhaps a quick stop at the mall. I want to find me an outfit like the little dancers got Adeline hooked up with.” Anna was already in motion.

  When they arrived at the little nail salon, they were impressed by the place. It was spotless and didn’t have the overriding chemical smell that is so common in modern nail emporiums. Even the places that market healthy alternatives to the old acrylics are slinging chemicals all day long.

  “Ladies, what can we do for you?”

  “Do you take walk-ins?”

  “We do.”

  “Then we’d each like a manicure.”

  “Tips?”

  “I don’t believe so. Just a traditional manicure.”

  “If you will each pick out your color, we’ll be right with you.”

  The girls were quick to pick a nail polish color from the generous selection displayed on the wall, then chose seats as far from the other people in the salon as possible. They didn’t want to be obvious, but they also didn’t want to be overheard.

  “What are you going to do if she’s the one doing your nails?” Carolyn looked straight into Anna’s eyes.

  “That isn’t going to happen. How many college educated girls are working in little nail salons?”

  Adeline’s voice was hushed but clear. “Unfortunately, more than you would think.”

  “We just don’t have that kind of luck.”

  Anna pointed out, “We lucked out finding Molly.”

  Carolyn countered, “Molly found us. Besides, that was a fluke, and flukes are flukes because they never happen in real life.”

  Adeline spoke quietly. Their conversation seemed to be drawing attention. “Cara insists all things happen in threes. Let us focus on that. Perhaps we will be lucky after all.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it.” Anna tried to keep her expression bland, not wanting to feed the curiosity of the ladies in the shop.

  “You know, since staying with you, I have a minor addiction problem with detective shows on the television. It seems to me there is a blatant pattern. Virtually every one of the stories they present as a true representation of the facts comes down to a lucky break or the criminal element doing something so obviously stupid that the detectives are bound to catch them. It seems to me that detecting is more about being in the right place at the right time than anything else.”

  Carolyn weighed the comment for a moment. “Serendipity?”

  “Yes, a healthy helping of that as well.”

  Wanting to change the subject just in case they were being overheard, Anna said, “I saw a show about lottery winners.”

  Carolyn touched Anna’s arm. “Oh, I saw that too. It was on the screen at the emergency room. The people beside me said they know a man who won ten million, and within a couple of years he was further in debt than he had ever been in his life. Bought cars for everyone. Invested in friends’ businesses.”

  Adeline shook her head. “It is not an investment if you hand friends money and they have no expertise. That is simply a gift.”

  “I agree.”

  Adeline continued, “Cara believes that money simply makes you more of who you are. If you were good with money, you will be good with more money. If you are an unpleasant individual, money will simply give you permission to be more unpleasant.”

  Anna’s curiosity had been piqued. “Are you alright, Adeline? More to the point, is Cara alright?”

  “We are both fine. Why do you ask?”

  “You’ve just been talking about her a bit more than usual, and I wanted to make sure there was no reason for concern.”

  “How observant of you, Anna. Perhaps I am a little concerned, now that I think about it. Nothing, really. Cara just seems to be a bit distant.”

  “A.J. did mention to me that she is dealing with some issues from her past. Something like her past colliding with her beliefs and her future. He was very cryptic. He is concerned, but he is certain that given a little time and space, she will figure it out for herself.”

  “I hope that if she needs anything, she will be bold enough to ask.”

  “I’m sure she will. A.J. says she speaks of you with the most glowing mixture of respect and love, admiration and concern.”

  Adeline was quick, if a little bit defensive. “She has no reason for concern. Is it my health that concerns her? My competency?”

  Carolyn chuckled. “Her only concern is that
one day you will become aware that everything she does for you could be done in an automated fashion in concert with your other employees and that you won’t need her anymore.”

  “That is beyond ridiculous. The greatest service Cara provides for me can only be done by Cara. She is my eyes. People are instantly open and honest with Cara. She knows their entire life story in the first meeting. I’m quite confident that, as Jordan would say, she’s got my back.”

  Carolyn spoke for both herself and Anna without hesitation. “As do we.”

  “I take great comfort in that, because soon I will be confronting my children, and I will need all the wisdom and support all of us can muster.”

  “I look forward to taking them down a peg or two.” As soon as the words had escaped Anna’s mouth, she blushed. “I’m sorry. That isn’t right. I shouldn’t say something like that about your children.”

  “Not at all. I look forward to your doing just that. I have lawyers working around the clock to figure out all of my options. Once they have those options well defined and each is ironclad, I will have some serious choices to make. I’m depending on you girls to help me determine what it is that I want to do. Once I put it all in place, I want never to have to deal with it again.”

  “I appreciate the level of confidence in us, I really do, and maybe Anna is deserving of it, but I don’t have any wisdom for you, Adeline. I know nothing about business, and if you were to take a look at my own children, I know even less about parenting.”

  “Don’t be silly. Firstly, you are both very intelligent women. I have no doubt that you would grasp even the finest of points regarding all of this in virtually no time at all, but I pay a cadre of people to do that type of thing for me. What I want… What I need… is people who care about me. Me. Not my financial report. People who will be honest with me. Give me their opinions, their insights, and their gut reactions. Nothing more.”

  Anna was firm. “I can do that.”

  Carolyn nodded. “Me, too.”

  THREE

  THE GIRLS WERE walking to Anna’s car.

  Key in hand, Anna said, “If my nails didn’t look so good, I’d consider that a complete bust.”