Five minutes later we were in the SUV, Rose on the passenger side wearing her boots and slicker and Elvis on the backseat looking toward the windshield. He’d already swiped his paw over his face to dry off.
“Why were you looking for me before?” I asked Rose.
“Oh yes,” she said. “I got sidetracked by the weather. I wanted to tell you that I’ve come up with a way to find Mr. Logan.” She fastened her seat belt and gave me that smile again.
“And that way is?” I prompted.
“Are you familiar with the movie The Sting?” Rose asked. “Robert Redford and Paul Newman.”
“I know it,” I said, pulling out on to the street.
“Well, that’s what we’re going to do.”
“You’re going to invite him to play poker on a train?”
“Don’t get saucy,” she said, but she was smiling, so I knew I wasn’t really in trouble. “We’re going to set up a situation that our wine broker won’t be able to resist.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
“Shady Pines has an e-mail newsletter that they send to all the residents.”
I cleared my throat loudly.
“Oh, excuse me,” she said with a slight edge of sarcasm to her voice. “Legacy Place has an e-mail newsletter that they send to all their residents.”
“Which you aren’t anymore.”
“Well, their system doesn’t seem to understand that, which is why I know that there’s going to be another one of those money management seminars for seniors over in Rockport.”
I came to a stop at the corner and took the opportunity to look over at Rose. “When?”
“Today.”
“Today?” I exclaimed. “That doesn’t give you enough time to set up anything.”
“You seriously underestimate me,” she said.
I gave a snort of laughter. “That’s one thing I never do. Tell me your plan.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see her smug smile. “Well, basically it relies on Alfred’s innate sex appeal.”
“I see,” I said, unsure of what else to say. Mr. P. was a darling man, but sexy wasn’t an adjective I’d use to describe him.
“I know someone your age doesn’t see it,” Rose said, “but to a woman of my vintage, Alfred is a chick magnet.”
“I like Alfred,” I said, keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the road. “And I’m going to take your word for it on the sex-appeal thing. Tell me the rest of your plan.”
“Alfred will go to the seminar. He’ll talk a bit about his desire to leave something to his son—and what a nice young man he is. That woman who reels in the rubes will end up hooked herself, and that will lead us to Mr. Thorne Logan.”
“And what are you going to do when you find Mr. Logan?” I asked. There was a small murp of dissatisfaction from my furry backseat driver. I flicked on the wipers to clear the mist from the windshield.
“Call Detective Andrews,” Rose said.
I shot a quick look in her direction.
“You didn’t expect I’d say that, did you?” she said tartly.
This time I did laugh. “No, I did not.”
Her expression grew serious. “We’re not stupid. If this man had anything to do with Mr. Quinn’s murder, the police should be involved.”
I reached back with my right hand and gave her arm a squeeze. “You never cease to amaze me, Rose Jackson,” I said.
I pulled in to the parking lot at the store and parked closer to the back door than I usually would in case it was raining later. The lights were on in the workroom, but there was no sign of Mac. I could smell coffee, though, which was a good sign.
“Alfred should be here in about half an hour,” Rose said, stepping out of her boots and pulling a pair of shoes out of her tote bag. “And Liz will be stopping in. We have to decide on the best look for Alfred. I don’t want him to turn it on too much. And he needs to look a little down on his luck.”
“So that’s going to be your approach?” I asked.
Rose patted her hair into place. “Hardworking father looking to leave an inheritance to his deserving son and grandchildren.”
“Alfred can pull that off,” I said. Then I remembered what she’d said in the car about Alfred’s so-called son. “We’ll have set up what a nice young man he is.” “But how exactly are you going to ‘set up’ what a nice young man his imaginary son is?”
With the perverse perfect sense of timing the universe sometimes has, Liam came strolling in carrying a mug of coffee. The ends of his hair were damp, but he hadn’t shaved. He was wearing jeans, a plaid work shirt, work boots and a big gooney grin. He held out both arms and bowed. “Alfred Peterson Junior, at your service.”
I turned and looked at Rose. “You’re kidding me, right?”
She shook her head. “No. For this to work we need the patsy to buy into Alfred’s character. We need her to see him with his hardworking son.”
Liam smirked at me and took a sip of his coffee.
“This will not work!” I said emphatically. Rose had been watching too many old movies again.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, baby sister,” Liam said. He was still grinning. He wasn’t taking this seriously enough. I was sure he wasn’t taking it seriously at all.
I folded my arms over my chest. “Liam, you have the acting skills of an iguana.” I looked at Rose. “When he was seventeen he was late getting home from a date and he told Mom and Dad that the road was blocked by an elephant.”
Liam pointed a finger at me. “That story is not as stupid as it sounds. The circus was in town. I could have been held up by an elephant.”
I shook my head, laughing too hard to speak.
Behind us someone tapped on the door. It was Mr. P. engulfed in a black-hooded raincoat. Rose turned to open the door. As she did she nudged me with her elbow. “Don’t worry, Sarah. Liam doesn’t have to say a word. All he has to do is look adorable, and he can do that in spades.”
I sighed and walked over to Liam. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Have you lost your mind?”
“No more than you,” he said.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. I reached over and took his cup from his hand, turned it around so I could drink from the other side and took a sip. Then I gave it back.
“C’mon, Sarah,” he said, wiping the edge of his mug where I’d drunk with his sleeve. “You’ve been involved in all this private detective stuff from the beginning and don’t say you haven’t, because I’ve been talking to Nick.”
“Nick’s biased,” I muttered.
Liam laughed. “When it comes to you, oh yeah. But that has nothing to do with this.” He gestured toward the door where Rose was peering into the huge duffel bag Mr. P. had brought with him. “They’re like Gram. They’re going to do this no matter what you or anyone else says. At least if I’m part of things I can hopefully keep it all from going south.”
I laughed then.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“I thought that. I thought I could keep them out of trouble, on the straight and narrow as Dad would say.” I leaned against him. “It’s not going to happen, big brother.”
Liam wasn’t the least bit bothered by my words. “We’ll see,” he said. “And for the record, that elephant story would have worked if you hadn’t pointed out that the circus was an animal-free circus.”
I kissed his cheek and straightened up. “I’ll be in my office if you need me,” I said.
Elvis had disappeared who knew where. I went upstairs, dumped my things on the love seat and went for a cup of coffee. Based on the morning so far, I was going to need more than one cup.
Mac was in the tiny staff room. He reached for the largest mug on the shelf and handed it to me without saying a word. I poured a cup, added cream and sugar and took a long drink.