“Well, things are not always how they seem,” he said before finishing his wine and bidding her good night.
As she watched him walk off, Graham came back to the table. Pine had been right. Her lipstick was fresh and her hair had been brushed.
“Is Jack coming back?” she said, sounding hopeful.
“No, he’s heading out.”
Pine had a sudden thought and looked at her. “Did you know he was going to be here tonight?”
“What? Oh, no. I had no idea.”
Graham was a lousy liar, thought Pine.
They watched as Lineberry headed out the front entrance. Pine thought she could see Jerry standing outside, waiting.
“He’s such a wonderful man, but he feels things so deeply. Maybe too deeply,” said Graham.
Pine was pondering something else.
Exactly when did Jack Lineberry fall head over heels in love with my mother?
Chapter 44
FOR THE SECOND TIME that night Pine heard the term “Wow” used in her general vicinity.
She had gotten back to the Cottage after dinner in Americus. Graham had already gone off to her room, but Pine had lingered in the foyer thinking about the discussion with Lineberry when a man had come out of the shadows and spoken the word.
She looked at Eddie Laredo.
“What are you doing here?”
He grinned. “I got a bump on the per diem, extenuating circumstances. I checked in here today. They had one room left. Much nicer than where I was staying.” He looked her over. “Where have you been dressed up like that? Some international ball or something?”
“Dinner with Lauren Graham.”
“You know, I’ve never seen you in a dress before.”
“Why would you? I never wore one to work.”
“Right,” he said quickly, taking a step back. “So how did dinner go?”
“I didn’t have enough to drink.”
“What?”
She checked her watch. “It’s early yet. You want to hit the Clink?”
He looked taken aback by the offer but quickly nodded. “Sure. You want to change?”
She eyed him sternly. “Do you want me to?”
He looked even more flustered. “What! No…That’s up to you.” He ran his gaze over her. “You…you look…um, I don’t have an opinion—I mean…”
She pushed past him and walked over to the door. “Glad we cleared that up.”
* * *
The Clink was three-quarters full, and Pine drew stares from all as she and Laredo walked in.
Standing beside her, he had to look up at Pine.
“What?” she said, catching his gaze.
“With heels on, you’re taller than me.”
“If your male pride is wounded I can go barefoot.”
“Depending on how many drinks we have, it may come to that.”
That just got him a snort in reply.
They found a table at the back near the singer and guitar player holding forth on an improvised stage.
Pine ordered a Budweiser and Laredo a gin and tonic on the rocks with three limes.
“You haven’t changed your drinking habits,” she noted.
“Neither have you.”
“Cocktails were beyond my pay grade.”
When the drinks came she tapped her metal can against his glass.
They sipped their drinks and listened to the singer and musician for a minute, their heads swaying to the sounds. Then Laredo said, “What was the dinner about?”
“Payback for Lauren Graham’s help. But there was an interesting development.”
“What was that?”
She told him about Jack Lineberry.
“So he had a thing for your mother?”
“Unless I’m reading him way wrong. In fact, for a minute there…”
“What?”
“Well, even though she’s in her fifties now, for a minute there I believed that he really thought I was my mother.”
Laredo ran his eye over her. “Well, you do look like some supermodel type.” He added quickly, “I mean, you know, dressed up like that.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “I’m definitely not a supermodel type. I can squat nearly five hundred pounds. My thighs are bigger than a typical supermodel’s body.”
Laredo glanced at her long, muscled bare legs and then he quickly looked up. “I only know you with a gun in one hand and a badge in the other and I’m leaving it at that.”
“Lineberry is really rich. Has his jet and this huge house. And a former Secret Service guy as head of security.”
“So?”
“So a guy like that, if he wanted to find someone, couldn’t he hire the best PI firm around and let them loose trying to find her? How hard would it be? My mom didn’t even change her name from when she lived in Andersonville. And I was making a name for myself with weightlifting. How many Atlee Pines are out there? I have a frigging Wikipedia page somebody put up that talks about my sister’s disappearance.”