Tall and thin, with small dark eyes that tilted up at the corners, a long, patrician nose, and mahogany-brown hair, she looked more like a prima ballerina than a CEO. She was dressed in black, as she’d been at their only other meeting, a jersey dress with ropes of pearls. She’d lost her husband in a snowmobile accident a year earlier, so Piper wasn’t certain whether the black was a statement of mourning or an exceptionally flattering fashion choice.
Deidre came around the front of her desk and shook Piper’s hand. “I hope the traffic wasn’t too awful this morning.” She gestured toward the arrangement of couch and chairs. “Have a seat.”
Noah remained standing by the door while Piper took a gray leather conference chair and Deidre resettled in a chair nearby. This assignment had meant everything to Piper, and she’d been determined to do it so perfectly that Deidre would continue hiring her for future work. So much for determination. Now she was a loser kid called to the principal’s office.
“Tell me what happened.” Principal Deidre crossed legs long enough for a grand jeté.
Piper outlined the details, leaving out only the appearance of Esmerelda Crocker.
Deidre didn’t believe in padding her words. “I’m disappointed.”
Piper had no grounds to defend herself. “Not as disappointed as I am. I followed him too closely. It isn’t a mistake I’ll make again, but that doesn’t change what happened.”
She could have added that Deidre was the one who’d issued the order to stay close, but that would sound like an excuse.
“I want you outside his home,” Deidre had said. “Trail him during the day, and get into the club at night. Find out how much he drinks. What kind of women he’s seeing, and how many there are. Before I consider a business partnership, I have to know exactly who I’m dealing with.”
Noah came over to stand beside Deidre’s chair. “I’m sure Graham demanded to know who hired you,” he said.
“He did, but I didn’t tell him.”
Noah didn’t hide his skepticism. “He’s an imposing guy. That’s hard to believe.”
“Under Illinois law, the only way I’d be forced to reveal a client’s identity is with a subpoena.” Piper didn’t mention how likely that was to happen. She had enough real alligators to deal with before she started worrying about the ones still lurking in the swamp. At the same time, she wished Deidre would give her permission to volunteer the information. Since Deidre was considering going into partnership with him, he’d surely understand the wisdom of her having his personal and business life investigated beforehand.
But Deidre wasn’t volunteering anything. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“I’ll take your report.” Noah held out his hand, and since he’d moved to stand by the door, Piper had to get up to deliver it to him. She’d stayed awake most of the night checking every detail to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. She’d also included a summary of the expenses she’d incurred, praying they wouldn’t try to back out of paying her because she hadn’t completed the job.
Deidre touched the pearls at her throat. “I hired you because your father did business with mine, and I believe in helping women who are starting their own businesses. I’m sorry this hasn’t worked out.”
She seemed genuinely regretful, and Piper’s disgust with her own incompetence made it impossible for her to fight back. “I only wish I’d been able to meet your expectations.”
Noah gestured toward the door, less sympathetic than his employer. As Piper followed him down the hallway, she could feel the ruins of her career crumbling beneath her feet.
For the next few days, she had to force herself to go to the office instead of staying home with the covers pulled over her head. It was mid-September, and unless something drastically changed, she’d barely make it to Halloween before she’d run out of money and have to close her doors. But not yet. One way or the other, she had to drum up some business.
In her father’s time, Dove Investigations had occupied the entire one-story brick building Duke had purchased in the eighties. Now, her stepmother owned the whole thing, and all Piper could afford to rent for herself was the former bookkeeper’s office in the back.
When she’d moved in, the office had been as dingy as a fictional detective’s office. She’d splurged on an olive-green rug with a black sunburst pattern to camouflage the vinyl floor tiles, then painted the walls off-white and hung some kitschy posters of old True Detective magazine covers. A secondhand store had yielded a library table she’d spruced up with flat black enamel paint to use as a desk. She’d added a good light and a pair of black steel-framed chairs for the clients she’d hoped she’d attract.
Her voice mail included another message from Graham’s attorney demanding a meeting for the following week. She deleted it, as if that would make it go away forever, and switched on her computer. Out of habit, she did a quick search to see if there was anything new on Cooper Graham. Nothing.
She made herself cold-call more law firms, then followed up by sending them a copy of her brochure.
DOVE INVESTIGATIONS
Est. 1958
Truth Brings Peace
Legal, Attorney, and Corporate Support
Insurance and Domestic Investigations
Hidden Assets Investigations
Background Checks
Missing Persons
She’d considered getting rid of the firm’s old slogan, “Truth Brings Peace,” but it was part of her family history, starting with her grandfather, and changing it would feel like wiping out her heritage.
A rap sounded on her office door. She jumped up. But instead of a new client coming in off the street, Berni barged in. She’d pulled herself together enough to tie a hippie headband around her Day-Glo-orange hair and wear a fringed vest over her sweatpants. “Now, Piper, before you say anything… I know you don’t believe I saw Howard in Lincoln Square. I hardly believed it myself. But I lived with that man for fifty-eight years, and I should know.” She brushed past Piper and settled in one of the chairs across from the desk. She opened her bag and pulled out an envelope. “Here’s a one-hundred-dollar retainer.” She slapped it on the desk.
“Berni, I can’t take your money.”
“This is business. I need an investigator, and you’re the best there is.”
“I appreciate your faith in me, but…” She tried a new tack. “I’m too involved personally. It would keep me from being objective. Another investigator would-”
“Another investigator would think I’m a crazy old woman.” Her fierce glare dared Piper to agree.
Piper settled behind her desk, hoping she could use logic to persuade Berni to give up her delusions. “Let’s look at the facts… You were in your stateroom with Howard when he had his heart attack.”
“But I wasn’t with him when he died. I told you. I’d slipped out of the ship’s infirmary to use the toilet, and then I fainted when that quack of a doctor told me he’d passed. Who knows what was in that casket they shipped back.”
If bureaucracy hadn’t gotten in the way of Berni seeing Howard’s body before he was cremated, none of this would be happening. “All right, Berni.” Arguing with her was futile, and Piper reached for her yellow pad. “Let me ask you a few questions.”
Berni gave her a smug smile. “You look very nice today, by the way. You should wear lipstick more often. And it almost looks like you combed your hair. You have beautiful, shiny hair, Piper. I know that eggbeater haircuts are fashionable now, but a nice pageboy would be more feminine.”
“Seriously, Berni, have you ever known me to give a crap about being feminine?”