When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,71
I use the restroom?” I asked as she reached for the phone.
She waved her other hand in a shooing motion. “Sure. Whatever.”
I led Neely Kate into the women’s restroom, but given that I’d overheard Calista from a stall on my last visit, I figured I’d better make sure we were alone. I got the balance wrong when I leaned over, though, and almost fell flat on my face on the germy floor.
“What on earth are you doin’?” Neely Kate asked, grabbing my arm and pulling me upright.
“Tryin’ to see if anyone’s in here.”
“Oh, good gravy.” She pushed me toward the sinks. “Let me do it.” Bending over, she checked underneath all three stalls before joining me. “Empty, but you need to be careful. You’ve already been labeled as a pervert. Looking under women’s bathroom stalls won’t help that reputation much,” she said, giggling.
“It’s not funny,” I said, but I struggled to keep a straight face.
“What are we doin’ in the bathroom?”
“Stewart called in sick, and Calista plum didn’t show up. That’s odd.”
“Agreed,” she said with a nod. “But we could have discussed that in the truck.”
“We have the opportunity to gather more information here. We just have to figure out what to look for and how best to find it.”
“Yeah,” she said, resting her butt against the bathroom counter. “We should focus on Calista’s boyfriend, Pat. Based on your vision, he knows something. We need to find out more about him.”
“And how do we go about that?”
A bright smile spread across her face, but I already had misgivings. She was giving me her just go with it face. “I have a semi-plan.”
“Oh mercy. Why do I think I’m not gonna like it?”
Her smile widened. “Well, your reputation is already ruined. Might as well get what we can.”
Then she told me what she had in mind.
I adamantly shook my head. “No. I can’t do that.”
“Oh, come on, Rose. We need to check her out.”
“So have Jed get her address and we’ll snoop on her there.”
“She’s not there. Marshall watched her house all night and she never turned up.”
Marshall being the young man Neely Kate and I had saved from a spot of trouble. He’d been working with Jed and Witt at the garage.
“Maybe she went back to Dallas,” I suggested.
“Maybe, but if we find her boyfriend, we can ask him.”
She had a point, but still…what she was asking me to do was above and beyond.
“It might help us find the kids, Rose,” she pleaded, all teasing gone. “It’s a great plan. Sure, it’s a little embarrassin’…”
“A little?” But she was right. Finding Pat might not get us anywhere, but then again, it might. “Okay. Let’s do this before I change my mind.”
I took a deep breath, and the baby gave me a strong kick as I exhaled. “Not now, baby. Momma’s gotta work.”
Neely Kate gave me a questioning look but didn’t say anything as she held the door open for me to exit.
Instead of turning left, toward the double doors leading outside, I took a right, heading further down the hall toward the billing department. (Stewart had given me a tour after the remodel.) I’d figured it would be best to talk to someone who hadn’t been on the sales floor the previous day. When I reached the open doorway, I knocked on the doorframe and gave a shy smile to the two women there, who were sitting at two cubicles. One looked to be in her fifties, while I guessed the other to be in her twenties.
Neely Kate stood next to the wall, out of their line of sight.
“Hi,” I said. “I was wondering if I could ask you a question.”
They both glanced down at my stomach before lifting their gazes to my face.
“If you’re lookin’ for Stewart, he’s not here,” the middle-aged woman said.
The younger woman snickered. “And if you’re lookin’ for Calista, she’s not here today either.”
I knew she wasn’t laughing because Stewart and Calista had both taken the day off. Word had clearly gotten around about my mortifying run-in with Calista, and it was hard to mistake me for someone else right now. But her comment gave me an idea of a more natural lead-in to the crazy plan Neely Kate had cooked up.
I frowned. “Do you think they’re off…you know. Together?”
The younger woman burst out laughing. “Are you asking if they’re having an affair? No. Stewart’s gay, and Calista has a boyfriend.”
I leaned into the doorframe. “So her boyfriend…is it serious?”