to nail Bruce.

2. Where is Margaret?

3. Laundry—didn’t I just do it?

4. Order turkey.

5. Read to Laurie.

6. Sing to Laurie—Am I falling behind on any more milestones?

Paula and I sat inside my car and waited for Bruce to leave. I’d convinced her to watch his house with me for a while, hoping for an opportunity to search his place.

After about an hour of waiting and making small chitchat, Paula said, “Maybe we should call him and tell him the condo is on fire and that he needs to leave right away.”

I laughed. “It’s not a bad idea. What kind of believable reason to get him out immediately could we use?”

“A fire’s not believable?” she asked.

“No. I think he’d notice pretty fast that the place wasn’t on fire. No firefighters, fire trucks, et cetera.”

“I could set the place on fire,” Paula offered.

“No.”

“Okay, how about I set you on fire for dragging me along, then when the firefighters come and Bruce peeks out of his condo to see what the commotion is about, I sneak into his place and search it,” Paula said.

“I hate to break it to you, but a pregnant woman can’t really ‘sneak’ around.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but pregnant women have a lot of pressure on their bladders and sitting inside a car on a stakeout doesn’t exactly elicit brilliance.” She laughed. “Seriously, can’t you call Margaret and ask her to invite him over or something? She is your client.”

“I’m not sure where she is or where she stands in all this. What if we just go upstairs and talk to him? You can distract him while I search the place.”

“What am I supposed to talk to him about? And what are you hoping to find anyway? You think a murderer just keeps stuff lying around?”

I opened the door to the car and jumped out. I walked around to Paula’s and pulled open her door. “Come on, you can use his bathroom. I know you’re dying to go.”

Paula indicated my new Converse. “You’re actually willing to be seen in public in those?” Paula asked.

“They’re my getaway shoes. Just in case.”

We climbed up the stairs to the third-floor condo and rang the bell. After a moment, Bruce came to the door.

“Kate!” He scratched his head and smiled. “Was I expecting you?”

“I was in the neighborhood and I had a few questions for you. Can we come in for a minute?”

He stepped aside. “Sure. Of course. Nice shoes.”

Paula snorted.

I smiled. “This is my friend Paula.”

She stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you and all that, can I use your potty?”

Bruce laughed and pointed down the hall. “Help yourself.”

Paula disappeared down the hallway, while Bruce and I seated ourselves in his living room. Concern showed on his face. “What’s up, Kate? Did Gary send you?”

“No. I was just going through my notes last night and realized there was some stuff I hadn’t asked you about.”

“Okay, shoot.”

I was desperate to find out what Bruce knew of Helene’s affair, but didn’t want to alienate him before I had a chance to snoop.

“Can you tell me a little more about the adoption?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t think it’s going through now. Celia won’t return my calls, which is understandable. I don’t know how to reach Father Pedro’s. I feel so badly about everything that I think I should still give the girl the money, you know? Help her out. I mean, what’s two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to me?”

“What? Wait a minute. What do you mean, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”

“That was the agreement. Helene and I were going to donate money to Father Pedro’s orphanage.”

“You were buying the baby?”

“Well, no. I don’t consider it buying, more like we needed to give Father Pedro something. You know, get to the top of the line. I’ve got the money, that’s no problem.”

“Bruce, that day Celia and I were here. Did anyone else come over?”

He looked thoughtful. “No.”

I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I had to find out if he’d known about Helene’s affair.

I squinted at him. “What can you tell me about the affair?”

“What affair?”

“Between Helene and Alan. When did you find out about it?”

The color drained from Bruce’s face. He looked as if I’d landed a punch square in the solar plexus. “Helene was having an affair?”

I nodded slowly.

Bruce swallowed and took an involuntary step back. “How do you know this?”

“Witnesses on the cruise.”

Oops!

I wasn’t supposed to say anything about having that information!

Yikes, please don’t tell Gary. Please don’t