Unfortunately, I’ve seen both up close. Let’s just say ever since I fired him, I’m parking my own car in my garage, and I’ve got neighbors watching the house.”
“Fired?”
“I can’t say more.”
She had already said enough. Tracy’s stomach felt like a pretzel. So all along Janya had been right about the destruction on her patio. And what about Alice’s tablecloth? The one she didn’t remember unraveling?
Because she hadn’t. Lee had. Maybe he had come home and discovered that Alice and Olivia were at Janya’s with the other women. How easy it would have been to just destroy the tablecloth, then pretend Alice had done it herself.
She thanked Maribel and hung up; then she went to the window and looked out over the street. Now she was even more anxious to get the camera in place. If Lee was trying to make sure nosy neighbors didn’t visit, might he wait to leave until the weather was unpleasant enough to scare them off?
She couldn’t see Alice’s driveway from her window, but she wondered if Lee would use the approaching storm as cover and slip out for a little while.
Slip out in his brand-new car. And what about that? Where had the money for the Infiniti come from? She was afraid she knew.
Her phone rang again, more calls than she normally got in days. Janya’s musical voice greeted her.
“He just left.”
Tracy felt every muscle in her body tense. “Let Wanda know, okay? I’m heading over. Did he have Olivia with him?”
“It’s so dark, I wasn’t able to see.”
“Just keep your eyes open. And wish me luck.”
Tracy hung up. Fifteen seconds. Unlock the door, switch the real air freshener for the fake. Lock the front door and leave again by the back. The last visit had been a practice session, and this would be easier, because she wasn’t going to check on Alice. She would just pop in and out.
Right.
Of course she would check on Alice.
She slipped on a waterproof parka and slid the camera into her shorts pocket. She made sure her tennis shoes were tied, made sure she had the key ring with Alice’s key; then she left her own front door unlocked and took off down the road.
The street was empty, but the storm was closer now. The weather forecasters had feared it might turn into a hurricane, but it had weakened en route. Now the dark skies were her ally, as was the lack of streetlamps, although she was uncharacteristically spooked by both. She wondered if Wanda would call Ken. She hoped so. At least he would know something was in play.
Halfway to Alice’s, she remembered that Wanda was at the grocery store. Tracy had Wanda’s cell phone number at home on her kitchen counter, but that wasn’t going to do any good. And she’d been in such a rush to leave that she hadn’t brought her own cell, so now she couldn’t call Janya to alert her to the slipup.
There were no lights on at Alice’s, which seemed odd, because all the other cottages were softly lit. Even Herb’s had a lamp on a timer to discourage vandals. She gazed up the road, but she didn’t see headlights. She cut across Alice’s grass and up to the porch. Then, heart pounding from more than exertion, she unlocked the door.
The house was so dark that she had to pause near the doorway while her eyes adjusted. Why hadn’t Lee left a lamp on for Alice? Perhaps he’d planned to return so quickly he figured it didn’t matter.
Or maybe Alice was no longer in need of one.
She didn’t dare turn on a lamp herself. She waited until her eyes adjusted, then she let the slashes of lightning give her an extra boost. With the next burst she spotted an outlet near the door, on the opposite side of a small end table. She bent over, checking the line of sight. As far as she could tell, nothing would block a view of the room, but the outlet wasn’t obvious because of the table beside it. Best of all, Alice had one of her own plug-ins installed there, which explained the faint puff of lilac whenever somebody walked through the door.
Tracy pulled out the real air freshener, which was smaller and shaped a little differently from the one housing the camera, but the two were enough alike that she thought Lee would only notice if he were suspicious enough to investigate. They were probably safe. She doubted he would give any of